Samurai Executioner Recommended

Publisher
Dark Horse
Writer
Kazuo Koike
Artist
Goseki Kojima
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1967

Samurai Executioner vol.1

By otaku_kei
15th Aug 04

Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima are renowned for the creation of one of the most famous manga series around: Lone Wolf & Cub. But before they ever set ink to paper on the tale of the ronin Itto and son Daigoro they created Samurai Executioner: the tale of Decapitator Asaemon.

This 10-volume tale follows the saga of Asaemon set in Edo-period Japan as he works as the shoguns own weapon tester, used upon the necks and bodies of the condemned. Now as you would expect from any samurai tale the story is filled with very noble warriors all dedicated to the code of bushido. Or so you would expect. One of the great parts of Koike's writing is not only the depth of historical research that clearly goes into his tales but also the very human nature that he invests in his characters. People are not stereotyped in his tales unless they are just briefly passing characters. Whilst the central character appears to have little personality, becoming almost a living embodiment of bushido and samurai stoicism, the characters that he comes into contact with are more fleshed out. Some sickeningly evil, others victims of circumstance and others just career criminals pushed to the fringes of society by japans rigorously enforced social structure.

As you would expect from a first volume the first couple of chapters are setting up the character of Asaemon and how he became the shogun's executioner. It then does become a story of bad man, what have they done, brought before the executioner choppy-choppy.
Whilst this appears formulaic it is held together by Koike's plotting and characterisation, as well as Kogima's phenomenal artwork.

Kogima's artwork has not been touched on yet but it is beautiful and cinematic in so many ways. The energy and detail that goes into each panel makes these stories wonderful to behold, although sometimes the character design can get a bit weak with many people ending up looking shockingly similar. And for you action fans the action is always cinematically visceral. Like Kill Bill on paper.

The print is also of a very good quality with Dark Horse printings with the quality of flop transfer good, printed in the Japanese size and translated as close as possible to the Japanese. DH to their credit were also unwilling to translate words if there was no direct translation, and so the dialogue is peppered with Edo-period references and the books supplied with a glossary at the back. The series is also very good value for money coming in at only 6.99 for over 300 pages per volume.

All in all, i would recommend this to just about anyone who likes samurai's, and lets face it who doesn't? Not quite as good as the Lone Wolf series but shows great promise.
I'll post up reviews as and when the next volumes come out.

And just because reviews should have a rating we'll give this 8/10.

-- otaku_kei 15th Aug 04