#basilisk kouga ninja scroll

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 3 Ramble#3 - The Martial Way ver.2

This month, as you probably picked up from the ramble title, I focused on reading martial arts manga for the second time because once was just never gonna be enough.

~[before I get into the episode I have a moment of silence for akira toriyama sensei who passed on earlier this… his legendary impact on media as a whole is beyond what my feeble words could hope to describe so a minute of silence is probably the most appropriate thing I could do. rest in power toriyama sensei.]~

The format is pretty much the same as last time, the meat of the matter is that I'll be speaking on the top 5 martial arts manga I read this month, focusing not so much on plot but more on what I think are the 4 cornerstones of martial arts manga, namely; art, action, technique and philosophy. For each manga in the list I'll be talking on these 4 things and giving them a rating on a 5 star scale.

I won't be talking about older top favorites this time so I encourage you to check out v.1 if you're interested but I will be doing what should be a quick breeze through of some martial arts manga I caught up on this month before I got into the newer reads.

So without further adeiu ~

CATCHING UP/OLD BREEZE

- boruto, shamo, batuqe, eternal force, tenkaichi

(pretty disappointing)

- peerless father, tsuyoshi, Sakamoto days

(pretty great)

THIS MONTH

#5) Kenji (art by Yoshihide Fujiwara and story by Ryuchi Matsuda, complete w 202 chapters)

Didn't have much expectations going into this one. I picked it up because the summary I saw on anilist listed a bunch of different martial art styles and among them was tai chi which I practice. So as someone who’s interested in different forms of mind and body tempering through martial arts, I figured even if the manga wasn’t particularly good, the exposure would be.. Glad to say my expectations were exceeded which is probably apparent as it’s one of my top 5 reads this month. but enough idle chatter.

The story here centers on a boy named Kenji (shocker), who is taught the basics of an ancient form of chinese kung fu called Bajiquan from his grandfather at an early age. When his grandfather suddenly has to leave the country to fulfill a promise to an old friend, Kenji decides he must keep practicing so he can have the strength to follow after his grandfather and present his growth as a person and martial artist proudly when they meet again.

Art - 3 / 5 stars

It was pretty unique but not altogether super impressive. When I say unique I mean that most of the manga had a sort of calligraphy or deceptively real water colour painting vibe, which I usually really dig for impact in action scenes or so but for this it was the whole way through so it kind of lost that effect. It did end up having a neat Chinese scroll type vibe with the whole calligraphy feeling I was getting though and it was solid throughout so no real complaints.

Action - 3 / 5 stars

The action wasn’t very impressive either. Undeniably and consistently solid but there were rarely any real wow factors. The mood or atmosphere surrounding the action was always very fitting though, usually engaging and immersive so although the illustrations weren’t anything to lose my mind over, holistically I found the fights quite pleasing.

Technique - 5 / 5 stars

Technique variety and illustration was pretty top tier. As in to the point where a good chunk of this manga feels like beginner kung fu for dummies, even going so far as to show numbered step by step illustrations for a lot of moves used. Most of the story actually unfolds this way as Kenji has nobody to teach him when his grandfather left and the only lead he had to go on was his kungfu. So in seeking out and practicing with different interim teachers, he ends up traveling from Japan deep into mainland China, gaining new friends and foes along the way. What I really really loved was how his core technique developed over time, as in yes he got new techniques within his original style and a few tricks and tweaks from other styles he interacted with, but what got him through from the beginning was sharpening the core fundamentals his grandfather taught him when he was a kid. And when I say got him through I don't mean just in fights, I mean that to be accepted by certain people in the martial arts world you have to be able to prove yourself as a martial artist in your own right first, which more often than being able to do a flashy killer move, really means being able to show a certain level of dedication to cultivating the art you claim to practice. Also loved seeing how the variety, views on and uses of martial arts changed as he traveled from Japan to China.

Philosophy - 5 / 5 stars

Philosophy here was top notch stuff. The best I've read in a long time and definitely top 2, if not the best in that aspect this month. It's so great that I'd really want it to speak for itself as much as possible so I won't be going into much detail but I will say I really appreciated the importance placed on strength of mind and character in no uncertain terms.

#4) Under Ninja (story & art by Kengo Hanazawa {also known for being the creator of the manga, I am a Hero}, 115 chapters ongoing)

This story follows ninja in the modern day and shows the struggles between different ninja ranks, organizations and the government.

Art - 4 / 5 stars

Was pretty cool, very cool even, sort of sharp in a kind of overtly digital way I tend not to like too much but it was still cool. Especially with all the rad spreads they had sprinkled throughout.

Action - 4 / 5 stars

It was odd in a good way that's kinda hard to describe. Maybe because of how well they modernized the ninja in my mind. As in the methods of combat were for the most part fairly recognizable (sword, shuriken, camouflage) but they were presented in such a fresh way from a modern technological standpoint + it all takes place within the context of a modern city landscape and everything,, pretty rad pretty rad.

One definitely kinda odd thing was the choreography. It wasn't very fluid or detailed how I'd usually like my action manga. This almost had a laggy game type feel which I'd usually not rate, or even hate, but because the main focus was ninja I couldn't help but think that was the creator’s intention. As in a ninja’s whole thing is to be unseen so how would an illustration of them and their activities really look yk. And unlike what's been popularized by Naruto with lots of hand to hand combat and big flashy moves, especially later on, I think it definitely leans more toward what was shown here in under ninja, with more of an “in n out" / “now you see me now you don't" type feel.

Technique - 5 / 5 stars

The techniques were pretty rad too, especially because of the technology, as I said very fresh stuff like the creator definitely had a very clear vision of how they thought a modern ninja would act. Very cool that they didn't go the usual route of just having a traditional ninja in the modern day but it actually looked and felt like how ninja may carry themselves had they advanced along with society from what we know of them back then. There wasn't any specific martial art used perse but in any case I really liked how they illustrated the "attack” of a ninja. As in it's not all hand signs and ninja stars, we get a more holistic view of the strategies employed from something as simple as misdirection to something as crazy as a fucking satellite laser. absolutely loved it. crazy crazy work I'm telling you.

Philosophy - 2 / 5 stars

There doesn't seem to be any great cause or meaning to much so far tbh. Which although generally important, isn't anything hyper critical in a fighting story, but as a cornerstone of martial arts in general it's something I look forward to seeing expressed uniquely by different creators in martial arts manga. For the most part in under ninja the thinking seems to be “complete the mission and fuck you if you try to get in my way” which I guess is fitting for ninja tbh but grain of salt here, it's ongoing and where I left off the story kinda took a mad left and a bunch of stuff is coming to light so I wouldn't be surprised if my view on the philosophy of under ninja changes when I come back to it next year.

#3) Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru (story & art by Yasushi Baba, complete w 500 chapters)

This is the journey of a guy who couldn’t make it as a gymnast and was bullied out of his club somehow becoming a karateka

Art - 5 / 5 stars

Pretty great in all the senses, casual and action wise. It was great and there's not much else to say there so no point lingering.

Action - 5 / 5 stars

Action was pretty great too, kept steadily building in intensity and technicality as the story progressed and the main character developed as a martial artist. Choreography was pretty up there as well, maybe not exceedingly dynamic perse like Sakamoto Days but it was all clear and fluid which is ultimately more important in stories dependent on action sequences. I will say they did have a lot of explody effects tho like.. idk… they were generally really cool tbh but would have probably been fine without THAT much, like the impact of each individual bomb effect kinda falls off when you're constantly carpet bombing yk,,, anyways the action was still a 5 so clearly it didn't bother me THAT much, just thought it kinda odd…

Technique - 3 / 5 stars

Was pretty solid in terms of illustrating, naming and using a variety of techniques but it fell kinda short behind the others because the techniques were like 93% Karate, and of that 93% about 80% was the specific kind of karate used by the mc, whereas pretty much all the other manga in this list showed more than a few other martial arts or at least had stronger individualization of a technique through its practitioner as was the case in under ninja and the next manga on this list. What was shown was pretty solid though and fairly thorough so it held up. variety is the spice of life and all but variety paradoxically encompasses a lack of variety so,, it is what it is.

Philosophy - 3 / 5 stars

Not bad, again pretty solid but nothing too crazy. could kind of be boiled down to different personal views on karate and maybe a bit of fighting on a whole but they didn't really push past how that affects the way one carries themselves outside the ring too much. Kind of an aside but I did appreciate that they had a fair bit of slice of life which is where you could see a bit, in action more than word, the various ways different martial arts practitioners carried themselves.

#2) Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls (original story by Fuutarou Yamada with story & art by Masaki Segawa, complete w 34 chapters)

Basically Romeo and Juliet but if they were ninjas. families. I could give a bit more detail but honestly that pretty much covers it and I already said this ramble wasn't really gonna be too plot focused.

Art - 3 / 5 stars

Sort of overtly digital in a scanny kind of way that I usually wouldn't like but for the most part it was solid enough where it counted.

Action - 4 / 5 stars

Ultra vibes, especially for how short it was, just 34 chapters but they used them extremely well as pretty much from the jump the atmosphere was constantly building. Fight scenes were clear although not very consistently fluid but the core choreography of the fights was definitely there. Something I really liked was how it could have easily been done as a standard tournament type beat or your average battle royale but all the confrontations were pretty dynamic throughout the story, shuffling through 1 v 1s, gang v 1s and gang v gang seamlessly. not to mention the pretty cool and unique techniques they all had.

Technique - 5 / 5 stars

Actual old school ninja stuff which was very cool although ultra hyper specific. Basically there were 20 main characters with 10 on each side, all having some unique jutsu that they alone could use. This could've made stuff play out in a sort of almost obvious rock paper scissors type thing but the way they introduced/removed characters throughout the story and juggled opposing character interactions was just so well done that it never got boring.

Philosophy - 4 / 5 stars

Tbh most of the cast didn't have all that much about them philosophy wise. As I said this was a kind of Romeo and Juliet type beat so besides the main pair they all just hated the other family. There's some very light sprinkling of something you could probably call philosophy through the rest of the main cast as their individual jutsu sort of mirrors their beliefs, so you could almost say they're all literal embodiments of their beliefs but that's not exactly a one size fits all thing and is probably more of a stretch than anything. In any case this gets a 4 because of how moved I was by the main pairings actions. especially because of how little chapters there were so it hit all the more. If I go into detail about such actions it'd be spoilers so what can I say but to go check it out.

#1) Tekken Chinmi (story & art by Takeshi Maekawa{breakshot, #1 S2R8}, read 131/158)

A talented lad named chinmi is seen in action by a traveling monk who invites him to further train at his temple. Simple shonen type beat except the hero’s journey isn't really thrust upon him, he kinda just actually goes on the journey willingly which is kinda refreshing. #end the era of child soldiers.

Art - 4 / 5 stars

Really easy to digest, kinda toony but well proportioned, has a really smooth old school vibe to it like you look at it and immediately succumb to the propaganda that everything really was better back then.

Action - 4 / 5 stars

Great all round, great choreo, great flow, pretty solid dynamics and I really dug how they showed that lessons learned in one thing can typically be applied to every other thing. As in he'd learn a martial art skill and it'd help him improve in a day to day situation or vice versa.

Technique - 5 / 5 stars

Widely varied, usually unique and v cool, as in they had from a Poison hand guy, to a one legged cane weilder and even someone who used a one finger technique. It was really great and sort of inspiring to see him improve step by step, from teacher to teacher and from fight to fight. Really loved that when he got new techniques he didn't just spam that from then on, he stuck with sharpening himself holistically and never using more force than necessary. Also dug that even though he was definitely quick on the uptake for story's sake there wasn't anything he ever just got immediately. He'd always have to take the time to sit and think through how to get some desired effect, which is what gave rise to his sometimes unique applications of certain techniques.

Philosophy - 5 / 5 stars

Loved how close they made everything to nature, nature even being his teacher a few times. Again the philosophy here was so great I want it to speak for itself but I loved the hammering of the importance of both body and mind. the philosophy here was definitely right up there with shinji though it felt a bit warmer here for lack of a better word.

honourable mentions:

Tenjo Tenge & Record of Ragnarok

btw this is a list of 5 with 2 hms but in total I read 15 new manga this month and maybe you wanna see the rest for yourself, for holistic, comparative or some other reason but in any case you can see those and all my other reads on anilist which is in my bio on all social media I'm on so yh

ofc I do some extra kinda off cuff rambles afterwards so you can listen in for that but if not have a good one regardless, hope you enjoyed this and hope you tune into the next 🍻

[ghostfriendly5]

Grimdark manga that are better than Goblin Slayer & Shield Hero

The Legend of Mother Sarah

Berserk

Eden: It’s an Endless World

Monster

Gunslinger Girl

Battle Angel Alita

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle (She absolutely deserves three entries)

Bokurano

Lone Wolf and Cub

Samurai Executioner

Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls

Blade of the Immortal

Black Lagoon

Claymore

The Heroic Legend of Arslan

Attack on Titan

Hellsing

Franken Fran

As the Gods Will

I am a Hero

Aijin

Inuyashiki

Ousama game

Promised Neverland

Not one of these series shame rape victims, romanticise sex slavery, use contrived rape and dependence to degrade strong women, or join the Trump manifesto in using the lowest, cheapest, sexualised and misogynistic, appallingly banal contrivances to glorify racist hate and genocide (Though not so explicitly right wing and chauvinist as High School of the Dead). Read anything else on the list above, you almost certainly deserve a better series than Goblin Slayer or Shield Hero. 

I could add Zombie Shop Reiko, Elfen Lied and Gantz to this list, and none of them are much good. Though not so bad as Overlord and Tanya the Evil, or the series worthily denounced in this post’s title. If I wasn’t restricting myself to unambiguously grimdark manga, I could seriously just link you to my MAL list. 

[r0semultiverse]

How to handle TERFs

[potate-tayto]

Has anybody seen Basilisk cuz I have not met a single person who has seen this anime and I can talk to them about it.. especially Hotarubi and Yashamaru 

[unblinded-by-nostalgia-blog]

The Story

The story is a (yawn) retelling of Romeo and Juliet...with nin...zzz...ja...zzz...

Even though it has ninja and samurai in it, it is so freaking boring! With uninspired writing, uninteresting powers and dull fight scenes, it's no wonder that I almost fell asleep reading this. And the plot holes. Oh, boy the plot holes.... And some of the scenes are so goddamn stupid. Such as a ninja fucking another ninja, while another ninja who has poisoned breath when the is sexually aroused (this sounds like more like a dumb Hentai) because he will die if he fucks her. Have none of the ninja figured out that you don't need to cum inside her to pass on an heir. All you have to do is jerk off till you are close to cumming (when she doesn't know) then when you are close, run to her room and cum on her pussy, not in her. It's not as likely to get her pregnant than putting it in, but it's better than getting poisoned and having one shot in impregnating her! This is basic sex ed! In fact, you have a better chance of getting an heir with her that way instead of one minute of glory in her!

The Characters

The characters are given very little to no personality, then they are killed off a minute later and the novel tries to make you care, but you can't because we know nothing about these characters and the novel has given us very little reason to care! And the characters are just so gotdamn stupid! All of this bullshit in this novel is easily avoidable.

The Illustrations

There are no illustrations in this novel. But if there were... They'd probably be okay.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this novel is just crap. The story is a dumber version of Romeo and Juliet. In fact, the Romeo and Juliet about the Gnomes is a better version, and it's more entertaining as well! Watch that instead of reading...THIS!!!

The Story 0.5/5 The Characters 0.5/5

Overall 0.5/5

[yosoiii]

Exciting series about the fight between “i keep my hair inside a bag” and “you should go to sleep” ninja clans

[shirtoid]

Ninja Scroll by FunTimesTees

[inuh]

[escenario]

[the-big-ol-guardian]

Basilisk (2003)

Hyoma’s dojutsu

[otakunews01]

Las novelas secuela de Basilisk tendrán adaptación a Manga el 24 de julio

Basilisk - Ouka Ninpou-chou se ubicará diez años luego del final del Manga original

La edición 30 de la revista Young Magazine de Kodansha ha anunciado que Tatsuya Shihara lanzará un nuevo Manga titulado Basilisk - Ouka Ninpou-chou en la edición 34 de la revista, a la venta el 24 de julio. El Manga es una adaptación de las novelas secuela de Masaki Yamada para el Manga de Basilisk de Masaki Segawa. Kodansha publicó ambas novelas en noviembre y diciembre del 2015, con ilustraciones de Segawa.

La nueva historia se establece diez años después de la conclusión del Manga original, centrándose en Hachiro y Hibiki, dos ninjas de élite de los clanes Kouga e Iga.

El Manga original de Basilisk de Segawa adapta la novela The Kouga Ninja Scrolls por Futaroh Yamada lanzada en 1959. El Manga inspiró un Anime para televisión en 2005. La novela también inspiró una película live-action en 2005 titulada SHINOBI - Heart Under Blade.

Shihara previamente dibujó el Manga de Robotics;Notes Revival Legacy en la revista Ultra Jump de Shueisha en 2012. 

[ghostfriendly5]

Ryo and Kaori from City Hunter. Never seen the anime, but this is my mental picture for both Fighter in a scoop neck top (romantic scene in Agency, singing career in Saga), AND Akeginu, the kunoichi with a heart from Basilisk, in modern dress. So the artist evidently did something right.

City Hunter has amazing music, but criminally hard to find. Plot sounds very silly...but better than Goblin Slayer, which would be hugely improved by a giant hammer splatting everyone who mistreats or exploits women.

[eli-chika]

Gentle as the water, fierce as a flower

[lostphrack]

Packing stuff up for an eventual move and wow...these bring back memories.

Faust was a short lived attempt at publishing a manga/light novel anthology in the US. Pretty sure those are the only two volumes that were released from the now defunct Del Ray Manga imprint.

The same company that released Futaro Yamada's The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, an ultraviolent Romeo and Juliet style story about rival super powered ninja clans during the Tokugawa era. The novel was eventually adapted in the anime and manga series, Basilisk.

Missing were the first two volumes of a much longer light novel series by Gakuto Coda. They were released by Tokyopop back in the day and play around with supernatural phenomena, yokai, UFO's, psychic abilities, mysticism, and conspiracy theories. I'm not sure if anything else by Gakuto Coda has ever made it stateside.

Ninja Justice is a very old translation of a pulp-y short story series by Shotaro Ikenami. It's about Baian, an acupuncturist/doctor who moonlights as a brutal assassin. The stories were adapted into a TV show starring Ken Watanabe as Baian the Assassin. He's a lot more likable in the TV show than he is in the novel.

[inputanimeoutput]

Spring 2018 Anime Season (Final Thoughts Part 1)

I really don’t have time to do reviews, and I know I haven’t been very active on here (something I do want to change), so I figured I’d start with posting some final thoughts on some the anime I watched last season.  I’ll probably post them in parts, and this is part one.

Winter-Spring 2018 Shows

First, I’ll start with the multi-cour shows that began in the Winter season and finished up in the Spring.  I’m not going to say much more than my general final impression for each show, but I’m more than willing to talk more about these shows if anyone is interested...so don’t hesitate to send me an ask or a message about them!

Well, lets get started!

Yowapeda: Glory Line

It started well, and it finished strong despite not actually finishing the race in this season.  Ultimately, it was the same as the first season except without the 3rd years, with some new characters, and a lot less of a focus on Onoda.  Many things got weirder (i.e. Komari might creep me out more than Midousuji, their bike “powers” are even more unrealistic) and the action just seems to drag on more than the original season.  Continuations are always hit or miss, and this one was mostly miss.  Still, I’m in this far, so I might as well stay all in.

Anime-Planet Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls

Oh boy.  I liked the initial premise and really was rooting for the decedents of Iga and Kouga to finally end up living peaceful and happy lives together, but this series was just a mess.  It was just good enough to not be a waste of time, but altogether, it just didn’t live up to the passion and drama of the original Basilisk series.  The original wasn’t without defects, but this fell completely short in character and plot development, not to mention not once explaining how Obero and Gennosuke each had children despite dying, which is kind of the whole crux of having a continuation in the first place...yikes.

Anime-Planet Rating: ★✯☆☆☆ (1.5/5)

Record of Grancrest War 

Some anime start out so typical that they’re written off by reviewers and, therefore, fandom before they get very far.  Grancrest started out like your average fantasy anime, but in my opinion, it was honestly one of my favorites from both seasons.  The story it wove ended up being incredibly powerful, and the sociopolitical plot present in the series was just wonderful.  While not nearly as narratively strong, it reminded me a little of The Heroic Tales of Arslan, and I’m a sucker for medieval-fantasy.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was a great story.

Anime-Planet Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

Darling in the FRANXX

I don’t really want to jump into the FRANXX rabbit hole and the controversy surrounding this series.  It gained a lot of hate this season, but it also gained a lot of support making for backlash against backlash within both the reviewing community and the fandom.  For my part, I’ll start with saying that I’m not a very huge fan of series done by Studio Trigger in general, so I was hesitant about this going in.  The first few episodes didn’t make me feel any better.  I found the plotline very pieced together, the characters (save for a few) tiresome, and the sexual symbolism uncomfortable.  Yet, I was entertained, mostly due to the themes despite them being as patchwork as the narrative.  Ultimately, despite all the hype, it’s forgettable.  I can say I watched it, was part of the fray so to speak, but in the end, I’ll likely not return to it.  To summarize...it wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good either. 

Anime-Planet Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)

[animecovers]

“Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls” (バジリスク ～桜花忍法帖～ ) is  a 2018 anime series produced by Seven Arcs Pictures based in a two-part novel sequel titled “The Ōka Ninja Scrolls: Basilisk New Chapter” (桜花忍法帖～バジリスク新章 Ōka Ninpō Chō ~ Bajirisuku Shinfumi), penned by Masaki Yamada.

The story is set 10 years after “Basilisk: Kouga Ninpou Chou” in 1626.