Shinobi No by Rokurou OgakiHey, Shinsengumi fans! Here’s a new interesting Bakumatsu manga tha
Shinobi No by Rokurou OgakiHey, Shinsengumi fans! Here’s a new interesting Bakumatsu manga that’s not translated into English, but is being blogged about by my friend Bomber D. Rufi (aka the man who somehow got himself stuck translating Gintama every week). Shinobi No is based very loosely on the events surrounding the arrival of Perry’s Black Ships in Japan. You know, if the Bakufu had sent a grizzled old ninja to assassinate Perry, the Americans had a smoking hot blonde lady officer with a gun, and Toudou Heisuke and Yoshida Shoin teamed up to hijack one of the ships. The old ninja in the spread there is Sawamura Jinzaburo, based on a real guy who did do some intelligence gathering about Black Ships (though perhaps the Russian black ships, not the Americans!) Sawamura was historically a retainer of the daimyo of Tsu, Toudou Takayuki, who in this manga gives Sawamura the mission. Takayuki, you may recall, was rumoured to be the father of Shinsengumi eighth captain, Toudou Heisuke, and Ogaki uses the connection to bring in young pre-Shinsengumi Heisuke as the other main character on the spread above. Heisuke wants to be the greatest warrior in Japan and finds an ally in the rather alarming Yoshida Shoin, shown above looking back over his shoulder with a crazed look in his eyes.It’s great to see a manga focusing on lesser Bakumatsu figures (though one of those guys on the spread up there does look suspiciously like a young Sakamoto Ryoma) and the art is absolutely incredible. The first volume of Shinobi No is coming out this month, if you read Japanese/just want to soak in the art. But for us English-only-readers, you can read about the manga and take in some of the art every week in Bomber’s Weekly Shounen Sunday Talkback blogposts. He began his coverage of Shinobi No in the July 12th entry, and you can follow it from there on. -- source link
#shinobi ni#sawamura jinzaburo#yoshida shoin#toudou heisuke