Ichigeki

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Once a katana is bent, it cannot be placed back in its sheath. It is useless. It is thrown away.
I came across this theme at least 3times in this manga. Initially, I thought cool, nice tidbit to know. But later on I understood the deeper analogy that is shown here. It’s not just swords, it’s same for people.

Ichigeki or (One strike, One kill squad) is a manga set in one of the most famous historical period in Japan. The Meiji Restoration. The Shogun has a military rule, supported largely by Satsuma region, while the Imperial loyalists hold Edo and want to modernise Japan. They want ... to do away with the 4 occupation-class divide.
The manga doesn’t teach us about this political backdrop too much. We, like the peasants in the story only know what little we are told.
I have read manga like Jin, Ichi, Golden Kamuy etc where this period is referenced, so I’ve read up on it.

When I saw the Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai” I was totally emotionally convinced about the honor of the great samurai. Katsumoto was based on Saigo Takamori. The movie is black and white, I still love it though. Reality is grey. The samurai were privileged class, they didn’t want to lose that privilege.
If you see Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Harakiri and The Twilight Samurai you’ll find that not all samurai were rich. There were sometimes super poor, especially in times of peace.

Back to the manga.




Story. 8/10

The Satsuma are gathering in Edo to revolt against the Emperor. The Imperial lords can’t attack them overtly. So, they recruit 10 strong peasants/villagers.
These guys are physically strong. Lord Shimada is responsible for forming, training and utilizing this group.
Initially, to him they are expendable. They are trained only in attacking and running. No defence. The poor villagers don’t even think about why they aren’t getting trained in defence. They don’t realise that they are expendables. Their eyes are too busy looking at the katana that they are given. A peasant, holding a katana!! Is that even possible in their wildest dreams??
There is one guy, Ushigoro who thinks about this situation. He is our MC. And I’m glad to have him. A smart lead, means a smart manga.

These guys carry out missions against Satsuma at night and train on daytime. They are paid well, and their families will receive money when they die.
That’s all I’ll say. Any more, and I might spoil some story. The plot will thicken, believe me.



Art. 7/10

The art is dark. It is indeed fitting for a gory, cruel manga. I like the fight scenes, and the way expressions are drawn. One big complain—— initially, I had a hard time understanding who is the main guy. A few of them looked too similar.
A couple of times the art resembled Takemitsu Zamurai......going a bit exaggerated. That is drawn by Taiyo Matsumoto(Ping pong, Sunny).
This manga is drawn by Jiro Matsumoto (Freesia, Jigoku no Alice).
Both are amazing.



Characters. 8/10
There are 10 guys in the One strike squad. I remember 5 properly. Ushigoro, the MC is super realistic. He is a level headed guy. Thinks things through, and is prone to impulsive decisions from time to time, as all men are. Relatable.

Lord Shimada is a man with a great poker face and intelligence to boot.
He is a skilled swordsman. Not to be taken lightly.

I feel there is another MC hidden in this manga. Imuda from Satsuma. He is a rival to Ushigoro. I could’ve never imagined the scope of influence that he would have on the story when he first appeared in the story. He is a strong samurai. The kind of man he is, you’ll only grasp by the end of the story.

Chiyo, Sono, Ichizou are all well drawn characters. Even as side characters, they have growth and are memorable.





Enjoyment. 8/10
I love chanbara manga ie. Samurai related manga. Mainly because I love historical fiction. This story is no exception. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and finished it in only 2 days. 6hr maybe.
It has a great pace, unputdownable. I only wish it was longer. I want to read more.
The mystery part was a great touch. Ending is really cool.

I recommend this if you like Samurai, historical, deep philosophical, action manga. Seinen, through and through.

Not recommended if you are looking for a light, comedy, highschool read.

So give it a shot. Let me know if you find some similar manga!

Thank you for reading!

So far I've read 11 chapters, I liked it, even the political side of the story, what made it interesting is that they're so clueless yet so creative, as the story progresses, I learn more about japanese culture, the samurais and the arts. The politics in the story may be boring but, I adds more depth to the story, why were they doing what they were doing.

The cover is really eye catching right? I love the gritty-ness of the art style, The art compliments the gore, however, it takes time to memorize the characters.

Character development...don't know yet, but the mc is a short guy with ... a brain. And the rest of the squad has realistic personalities, with natural reactions to what happens based on the direction of the story.

Not recommended for lazy eye readers

As of now, 7/10
Wait for more releases.
Thanks for reading!

Of all of Matsumoto Jiro`s work. Ichigeki is the most grounded. The unhinged, chaotic art style is still here. And as usual, contains copious amounts of sex, violence and madness.
Mix that with political intrigue, brotherhood and some of the best fight choreography i`ve seen, and you`ve got Ichigeki.

Taking place during the death throes of the Shogunate in the 1860`s (the Bakumatsu).
Ichigeki is a story about a group of peasants taken in by pro-shogunate Samurai officials to be trained and used as political weapons against samurais of the Meiji faction.
Like Shigurui, it perfectly conveys the madness that comes with the rigid fixation on Bushido, and how ... inhumanely the Samurai class viewed the peasantry.

Some of the characters and the overall story is based on true(and important) events, so if you`re interested in japanese history make sure you check this out

Ichigeki is one of those manga that you can tell was written because the author wanted to write it, if that makes any sense. To be honest, I don't get it, but the passion put into this is palpable. It's a story about samurai cutting each other up. The art is pretty sketchy (sketch as in sketch-like not shady) which might put some people off but it didn't really detract from my experience. If you're looking for some good action, some good swordplay, or you just like samurais I'd say this is well worth checking out.

Story 7/10
Art 5/10
Character 7/10
Enjoyment 8/10
Overall 7/10

Wish the art would be as good as the cover, unfortunately it's far from it.

The story is also mostly uninteresting, lots of random segment of politic kinda talk, mostly boring.

Then it's about our peasant turned samurai main character and his squad doing mission, the fight are very violent and are probably the best part of the manga so far, they feel real, the peasant turned samurai fight kind of "dirty", like beast trying desperately to survive, it feel very raw and realistic.

Other than that it doesn't have much to offer, i wouldn't particularly recommend it, expect obviously if you're looking for that kind of manga ... precisely.