Keisuke Itagaki is a manga artist and writer who is best known for creating the Baki the Grappler series. He is a practitioner of both boxing and Shorinji Kempo, Itagaki channeled his life-long passion for the martial arts into Baki, which is widely regarded as one of the most influential fighting manga ever made. Itagaki's works have made him into one of Japan's best-selling and most respected creators, with Baki being frequently cited as the direct inspiration for countless movies, anime and video games that followed it.