General discussion (non-Usagi Yojimbo related) about all things Japan -- Feudal Japan, Samurai, Ninjas, Anime & Manga, Chambara films, Japanese Pop Culture, Otaku, martial arts, history, sushi, giant robots, Godzilla... anything Japan-related!
Controversial, tough, angry, highly skilled, and lost in a time of peace, the characters of Satsuma Gishiden tell a quasi-historical tale of social caste and brutal reprisal.
Readers with a taste for Kazuo Koike's gritty Lone Wolf and Cub will go nuts for master gekiga artist Hiroshi Hirata's tome of samurai struggle. Hirata's art and calligraphy leap off the page during scenes of action, only to unfold upon a full bleed that looks like a fine plate print. It's art at its most expressive, accentuating the classic stoic samurai characters you've come to know, only with a little more true society thrown in to help the reader understand what it was really like to be a warrior without a war.
• Presented in the authentic right-to-left format to preserve the art, Satsuma Gishiden promises some of the best samurai manga ever.
• First time any of Hirata's works have seen publication in English in twenty-five years!
• Often compared to Lone Wolf and Cub in storytelling scope and artistic depth, Satsuma Gishiden will appeal to all period-piece fans, as well as Koike/Kojima fans.
• Until the release of Lone Wolf and Cub in Europe, Satsuma Gishiden was the highest-selling samurai manga of all time in France.
I'm a big fan of Hirata's work. I don't think that statement that his work has not be translated into English is 25 years is correct. I lettered a story written by Sharmane DiVono that he illustrated. Samurai: Son of Death was maybe 20 years ago, published by Eclipse. Before then, he was in a magazine anthology, Manga, by Mike Friedrickson.
I even have one of his penciled roughs in my collection.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this book.
Wow, I didn't even connect the name with Samurai: Son of Death! Now I have all the more incentive to look forward to this series since I have an idea of what the artist is capable of. Tim Ervin from Dark Horse just recently posted the estimated release schedule for the first couple volumes on the Kozure Okami mailing list on Yahoo.
I read both Zatoichi (which is an adaptation of 2 movies) and Satsuma (the first one), it is really good !
"To sharpen its blade, to keep it up but to let it in the scabbard by maintaining it with wire. To be well behaved with everyone, to never draw its sword all life long. Such is Jigen school."
french commentary about bodisatva Hachiman and Jigen School.
In Satsuma what is really interesting is the description of samurai life and social ladder : samurai are not equals between them : joshi, jokashi and goshi (hishitebeko, warrior af a day). Those last ones are called potato eater (because they substitute rice by potatoes) and have an occupation. There is a short description of all jobs they can do.
Glad to know that I am not the only person looking forward to this release from Dark Horse. Obviously, readers in other parts of the world have already been treated to a wider selection of works by Hiroshi Hirata, while those of us in the USA have only had the Samurai: Son of Death graphic novel to enjoy. Maybe Dark Horse will decide to translate some of the Zatoichi material after they finish Satsuma Gishiden.
By the way, Azraelito, welcome to the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo.
Fanfan wrote:I read both Zatoichi (which is an adaptation of 2 movies)
no it is not an adaptation of the movies..
is an adaptation of the novel...
The "novel" is just a tale from Kan Shimozawa. This manga is the adaptation of the 14th en 15th movie (1966), Shonen gasho-ha wanted to work with Hirata and asked him to create a manga inspired by a movie. Hirata worked directly from scenario without watching the movies.
Fanfan wrote:
The "novel" is just a tale from Kan Shimozawa. This manga is the adaptation of the 14th en 15th movie (1966), Shonen gasho-ha wanted to work with Hirata and asked him to create a manga inspired by a movie. Hirata worked directly from scenario without watching the movies.
thx a lot for the info fan...I always though it was from the "novel"....
I noticed this in my local comic shop today. It was shrink wrapped (because it is 18+), so I couldn't see the art. I took a look at the Dark Horse preview pages instead:
sschroeder wrote:I noticed this in my local comic shop today. It was shrink wrapped (because it is 18+), so I couldn't see the art. I took a look at the Dark Horse preview pages instead:
In the 60s, there were basically two big names in historical manga. The first was Shirato Sanpei (you guys might know him as the author of Legend of Kamui) and the other was Hiroshi Hirata.
Both of these guys became incredibly popular with college students, mostly because they often had a good deal of social commentary within their works. They were like Kurt Vonnegut or Noam Chomsky to these kids, and their work were like manga manifestos for the radical student movement.
Maybe, if we're lucky.......if this becomes succesful, maybe Dark Horse will bring over Shirato Sanpei's 17 volume leftist ninja masterpeice, Ninja Bugeichou (literally, Chronicles of a Ninja's Military Accomplishments) over here.
We can only hope.
"But you should know this by now, Anjin-san. In this land of tears, death is our heritage."
Angelcake the Fox wrote:In the 60s, there were basically two big names in historical manga. The first was Shirato Sanpei (you guys might know him as the author of Legend of Kamui) and the other was Hiroshi Hirata.
As luck would have it, I got to work with both these wonderful artists.
I did the lettering and touch-ups for Viz's Kamui series. Sanpei both wrote and illustrated the first three volumes of the series, but they started the publishing from the fourth volume. Sanpei just wrote those. The first three were the best of the series.
I did the lettering for Samurai, Son of Death which was illustrated by Hirata and published by Eclipse Comics. It was written by Sharman Divono, and was the first comic collaboration between a westerner and a mangaka. Back then, there was no computer lettering, so I lettered directly on the original art. Hirata's art is just fantastic, and he incorporates calligraphy as part of the art. The one drawback in working with him was that he took 5 years to draw the (I think) 48 pages. Later, I was given one of his penciled layout pages. It's one of the prized pieces in my collection.
