▪	RELEASED BY:		DARK HORSE
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		KAZUO KOIKE / GOSEKI KOJIMA
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		296
		▪	RATING:		183
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		03/26/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		08/05/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

Volume ten of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's rich series finds Ieyasu both fighting for his life and looking to the future. First, a couple of eerie and mysterious ninja try to take his life, but find themselves foiled by the increasingly able ninja Hattori Hanzo. And then a nation’s tribes face off and spin through intrigue and tactical web-works, all while fascinatingly dark ninja politics weave subtext and sexy action throughout the masterly-drafted pages.

This manga is almost instantly involving – it just grabs a hold of your attention and keeps it throughout the entire read. The characters are so key here – the characters are so well written and well developed that it would be near impossible not to feel involved in the conflicts and plots they work themselves into and through. The art has a very classic, artful quality to it – you won’t likely see manga art like this anymore. It’s very interesting and enjoyable – it’s very mature in visual presentation and the people and settings look realistic to a point, rather than being stylized in a cutesy, big-eyed anime sort of way. The writing is just as fantastic, and very in depth and involved. The plots and the motivations of the vast amounts of characters and clans who make their marks in this series are very interesting to read about. There is always a lot going on – a lot of trickery and hidden dealings go on behind people’s back. It’s actually quite intriguing and intelligent. But the books are also fun and raw at times – the fights can be brutal, and there’s no lack of sex to go along with the violence. This is a mature series for the mature reader, but it still manages to keep the overall product quite intelligent and very worthwhile for a wide range of readers.

This series of books is unique because it is being published in a smaller than usual format. The books are all slightly smaller in overall size than most manga, but is awesome because they still contain an average of a whooping three hundred pages and they are still reasonably priced. You would be hard pressed to find too many other three hundred paged books at the low price of $9.95 US. So the reasonable cost factor is certainly there, and especially so because the series is such a work of art as well as being entertaining.

The author actually has quite an interesting history, and it’s worth knowing a bit about him if you want to know where Path of the Assassin came from and how it influences other works today. Though widely respected as a powerful writer of graphic fiction, Kazuo Koike has spent a lifetime reaching beyond the bounds of the comics medium. Aside from co-creating and writing such classic tales as Lone Wolf and Cub and Crying Freeman, Koike has hosted the popular Shibi Golf Weekly instructional television program; founded the Albatross View golf magazine; produced movies; written popular fiction, poetry, and screenplays; and mentored some of Japan’s best manga talent. Koike started the Gekiga Sonjuku, a college course aimed at helping talented writers and artists – such as Ranma ½ creator Rumiko Takahashi – break into the comics field. His methods and teachings continue to influence new generations of manga creators, not to mention artists and writers around the world. Examples of Koike’s influence range from the comics works of Frank Miller and Stan Sakai to the films of Quentin Tarantino.

IN SUMMARY:
Path of the Assassin is a lot of really great manga for a low price – it’s the perfect purchase for any fan of samurai and ninja epics, but who doesn’t want to break the bank to enjoy such.