Satsuma Gishiden Volume 1

Satsuma Gishiden Volume 1 by Hirata, Hiroshi. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781593075170.

This is the Edo-era samurai guts. 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 Koikes gritty Lone Wolf & Cub will go nuts for master gekiga artist Hiroshi Hiratas tome of samurai struggle. Hiratas 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. Its art at is most expressive, accentuating the classic stoic samurai characters youve 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.