Heroism is no longer fashionable, so long live betrayal! To prove it, the first volume of Mibu Gishi Den goes back in time. Discover in our article how a samurai leaves the path of honor.
Fleeing defeat
Mibu Gishi Den began with the burning of Osaka Castle on January 31, 1868 during the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. A samurai leaves the battle camp. Kan'ichirō Yoshimura is alone, badly wounded and covered in blood, his own and that of his enemies. He advances with the help of the improvised cane: his sword all bent. Despite all this visible suffering, he is holding on to find his children.
One might think that this man is a survivor, but Kan'ichirō Yoshimura disgraces himself by fleeing the battlefield. Based on a book by Jirō Asada, Takumi Nagayasu is responsible for adapting the text and images of the complex portrait of a samurai. Mibu Gishi Den was published in 2014 for the mangaka's fifty-year career.
A member of the Shinsen Gumi militia, Kan'ichirō rejected his clan, with Lord Nanbu's clan becoming a ronin. But this militia is collapsing, so he wants to return to his group. The reception is hostile. Guards spit on him. He is insulted, knocked to the ground and spat on. As he goes to commit suicide, he returns to his past. How did it fall so low? So does Mibu Gishi Den tell the adventures of a traitor? Nothing is less certain.
The context is not easy to understand. There are militias, seigneurial clans and agents of the emperor. All said they were loyal to the emperor but each had his vision of the imperial project. The militia supported the shogun and the loyalists supported the emperor. Westerners arrive reviving Japan's powerful xenophobia. This difficulty can make you go out of the narrative but by hanging on, you gradually grasp the situation.
Mibu Gishi Den or the entry into a movie
By Mibu Gishi Den, the reader is immersed in a movie. This is all the more sensitive as the title and credits of the authors arrive after this prologue. Mibu Gishi Den is not the first series on the Shinsen Gumi from publisher Mangetsu. Indeed, Chiruran also offers to discover this group of mercenaries become the most powerful police force of the archipelago. The authors' view of this group of mercenaries is profoundly different. Chiruran is a supercharged action series that offers a fight sequel in a very cartoon style. Mibu Gishi Den adopts a much more serious tone. Opportunism dominates in Chiruran and honor in Mibu Gishi Den. To reintegrate the clan, the only solution is suicide.
The shape is also different. The many boxes without dialogue allow to appreciate the talent of Takumi Nagayasu and install a heavy and ample atmosphere. Its precision is breathtaking to the point that we would have loved a large format. The faces are splendid in precision. We see the folds of the kimonos and the twisting of the ropes. You can see even the sand and dust on the feet during a duel. The reader understands every detail of a seppuku and the layers of a fighter's outfit. But not everything is pretty. The final execution is sickening, far from Chiruran's distracting gore.
To honor this series, the publisher Mangetsu puts the small dishes in the big ones. The title imitates calligraphy and adds a relief effect. The first pages in color do justice to the splendid drawing of Takumi Nagayasu. The translator points out that the book is written in the dialect of Tsugaru, a region known for a very specific pronunciation and accent.
Mibu Gishi Den is the second side of the same coin. If Chiruran returns with passion and modernity on the rise of a group of ambitious young people, Mibu Gishi Den shows the crisis of a father who has denied honor for the ambition and love of his family. Touching and beautiful series, it deserves that you take a look… and much more.
Mangetsu has made a specialty of historical manga as evidenced by our columns on Butterfly Beast and Keiji.
