 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DARK HORSE | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | KAZUO KOIKE / GOSEKI KOJIMA | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 320 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 18+ | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 06/11/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 09/04/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
In this fictional telling of to-be shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu’s early life, Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima weave an intriguing, sexy, and charming story of young lives passing into very unusual adulthoods – if they can actually live that long that is! The fighting clans of pre-Tokugawa Japan are gathering their arms and are on the move. Classic historical warlords, such as Takeda Shingen, Oda Nobunaga, and a young Ieyasu Tokugawa himself take the field in this quasi-historical graphic novel series. Combining the best of these two great creators’ talents and with the history of a great nation providing the backdrop, Path of the Assassin is a series to collect and read many times over. Volume eleven finds our hero in a very tight spot. Hanzo, the hero ninja for the future shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, has been in some tight situations before, but nothing like the trap set for him by a ninja from a competing warlord's clan! And to settle this trickery, a battle of wits and weapons must be fought. Meanwhile, Tokugawa is moving across the battlefield on his way to Japan's future. Path of the Assassin is a pinnacle in Lone Wolf and Cub creators Koike and Kojima's fantastic and seemingly unending stable of awesome samurai manga. And as usual, these works don't wane as they draw toward their final volumes, so we can be assured a great read from start to finish. As ever the case, Path of the assassin has numerous fantastic things working for it that makes it such a great series. Volume eleven again showcases the classic art style used in all of Kazuo Koike’s works, and it really is a very affective style to portray the time and place that Path of the assassin takes place in. The art is very mature in visual presentation and the people and settings look realistic to a point, rather than being stylized in the usual “anime of today” sort of way. People that don’t read manga usually would likely still look at the visuals in this series and be able to agree that it is art, and not just “cartoons.” But as entertaining as the art style is, it’s often the plot twists and well-written story that makes these books stand out as something worth reading. Just when you think you’ve got everything figured out, something will change and the motivations of several characters will shift accordingly. It’s changes in allegiance and motivations like these that help keep the series involving throughout its long run. There is always a lot going on – a lot of trickery and hidden dealings go on behind people’s back, so 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. It should be mentioned that his 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 widely appealing balance of so many good things – it’s a hard read to pass up for anyone into epics and samurai/ninja manga. It has an intelligence and a maturity to it that is hard to find in a lot of manga – it’s one of those unique finds that will pull readers in and make them glad they gave it a try! |
