Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi (The Elusive Samurai)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Nigewaka

Japanese: 逃げ上手の若君

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Jan 25, 2021 to ?

Genres: Adventure, Award Winning, Comedy

Themes: Historical, Samurai

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Matsui, Yuusei (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 6.63¹ (scored by 3,701 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #14781²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1522

Members: 14,007

Favorites: 70

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6.63

Ranked #14781Popularity #1522Members 14,007

MangaShounen Jump (Weekly)Matsui, Yuusei (Story & Art)

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Synopsis

Eight-year-old Tokiyuki Houjou, the next successor of the Kamakura shogunate, is a young boy lacking talent in everything besides hide-and-seek. One day, his carefree life is abruptly turned upside down when Takauji Ashikaga brutally seizes power from the Kamakuras, ending their reign. Rescued by a self-proclaimed prophetic priest, Tokiyuki manages to escape with his life. Now he must evade those trying to kill him while recruiting comrades who can help him restore the Kamakura Shogunate to its former glory.

Set during the Nanboku-chou period of Japanese history, Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi is a tale of redemption, documenting the life of the forgotten hero that altered Japan's destiny by running away.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi won the 69th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2024.

The series has been simulpub digitally in English as The Elusive Samurai through MANGA Plus. The volumes have been published in English by VIZ Media under the Shonen Jump imprint since July 5, 2022. It has also been released in Italian by Panini Comics since October 27, 2022.

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Characters

Houjou, Tokiyuki

Main

Suwa, Yorishige

Main

Shizuku

Supporting

Fubuki

Supporting

Mochizuki, Ayako

Supporting

Nezu, Kojirou

Supporting

Kazama, Genba

Supporting

Ogasawara, Sadamune

Supporting

Ashikaga, Takauji

Supporting

Ashikaga, Tadayoshi

Supporting

Reviews

Sep 5, 2023

Sebreme

Recommended

Preliminary (33/? eps)

IF YOU ARE GOING TO TRY THIS MANGA, READ THIS FIRST !

This is not a review at all, it's more like a motivational speech of why you shouldn't drop this manga just by reading the first chapter.

Story: 8

The first time I read it, I was like "oh cool, another shonen taking place in the past", but it's not. The story moves slow forward, but worth it! (imo) by the time I'm making this review the series has shown that it has great potential, but judging by the pacing, it might take a bit long to get to it's climax. The story is not bad ...

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Jun 29, 2024

turbo2x

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (106/? eps)

The pacing of this series is absolutely awful. The illustration, characters, and overall story are fine besides some questionable choices. This really makes you appreciate the amount of time Yasuhisa Hara spends on the battles in Kingdom to properly build tension and suspense. This story feels like a grand epic that should take place over 500+ chapters to explore all the historical details and intricacies of ancient Japanese battles, but the story flies by at a breakneck pace with no time to breathe. This is the manga equivalent of the new Star Wars sequels. You have no time to process anything before the next sequence ...

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Mar 14, 2025

GathererOfPain

Not Recommended

Preliminary (90/? eps)

Story/Characters: The setup for this manga had promise, but ultimately it fails to deliver a compelling or enjoyable read and is marred by a number of problems. Assassination Classroom had some pacing issues, but the modern day classroom setting made it easier to jump between slice of life, comedy, short episodic stories, and plot-driven chapters. The Elusive Samurai, on the other hand, has incredibly poor pacing that is at odds with the weighty historical narrative it seeks to tell. Characterization is uneven and strange in a way that can seriously cut into the dramatic tension, and often it feels like it can’t decide if it ... wants to be a goofy, light-hearted samurai/ninja fantasy story or a historical drama. The plot also often feels like it’s trying to get to the next big plot point or battle or set piece as quickly as possible, and frequently does so at the expense of important events, information, nuance, and character building.

Art: While others have praised it, I found it to be uneven. At its best, it delivers dynamic scenes packed with details. The issue is that the artist does not use restraint with his digital drawing tools. There is no issue with drawing digitally – much of the manga industry has moved toward digital, which has many upsides that have led to a surge of world-class art in recent years. However, The Elusive Samurai is filled with ugly and overdone digital effects and sometimes packed with so much visual clutter that it draws attention away from the action. There are copious lens flare and smudging and tippling effects that look odd. When action lines are added, they are so overdone that they cram the panel with ugly lines covering all of the art just being it’s easy to add a new layer and a bunch of straight lines on a drawing tablet. When characters furrow their brow, instead of a wrinkle the artist draws a ton of black lines converging in a way that is difficult to understand how it even abstractly relates to the expression. Characters with black hair (such as the main character) have so many shiny white highlights (that are drawn with individual, extremely clean digital pen strokes that look weird and mechanical) that their black hair is dominated by white. It can sometimes look their hair is half made up of long, white strands rather than coming across as sheen. One of the other biggest issues with the art is the constant use of pattern effects for things like the clothing. These effects are clearly just applied as a layer over the drawing, so none of the folds or texture in the clothing have any effect on the pattern, which is almost always just a perfect digital pattern without any dimension, folds, angles, inconsistencies, etc. that would make it look real. In panels that show many characters from a wide shot, the artist applies patterns to almost all of the figures, giving it a horrible visual clutter that is unnecessary and makes crowded panels look terrible.

This manga has some genuinely good moments with thrilling action, interesting historical facts, and amusing comedy, but the poor pacing, uneven storytelling, shallow characterization, tone clash between grounded historical drama and completely detached goofy fantasy, and art that ranges from great to some of the worst eyesores I’ve seen from a well known artist make it very hard to recommend. However, people who don’t mind the art and are seeking a casual read with no expectations for deep storytelling may find something that they like in here.

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Poll: Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi Chapter 194 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Mar 9	3 replies	by Timeline_man »» Mar 13, 2:05 PM
Poll: Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi Chapter 193 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Mar 2	1 replies	by Tamer2002 »» Mar 9, 12:26 AM
Poll: Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi Chapter 192 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Feb 23	2 replies	by Tamer2002 »» Feb 26, 12:53 AM
Poll: Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi Chapter 191 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Feb 16	3 replies	by EtherLux »» Feb 25, 11:48 PM
Poll: Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi Chapter 186 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Jan 3	2 replies	by EtherLux »» Feb 25, 5:02 AM

Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi
The Elusive Samurai
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The Elusive Samurai
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