Forum - View topicHistorical Manga
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Who here reads on historically based manga? I have recently begun reading a couple of volumes from a series I acquired from Book Off, titled Nobunaga. This is obviously based off the infamous leader, from when he was campaigning against the Imagawa and his first meeting with a commoner soldier named Tokichiro (Toyotomi Hideyoshi). So far it has been interesting, and I think it is one of several ways to get a take on Japanese history.
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I do read historically themed manga but its not something I specifically go looking for.
You might want to give Lady Snowblood a go - the story itself is fiction but the setting is meticulously researched and it's full of (often quite suprising) references to / notes about the the politics and culture of late 19th Century Japan. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Under normal circumstances neither do I. But I do consider the Warring Era of Japan to be one of the more eventful ones of its history, especially when it comes to those involved with shaping Japan. |
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Raven Shinobi
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I'm currently reading Red River which takes place in the Hittite empire and based off the story of Mursili II.
The story starts off with one of my least favorite themes in a fictional work: a girl who's transported into another world/era, but the manga-ka's own interpretation of that era and the historical figures kept me reading despite of that and all the historical details that she had implemented implied that she had done extensive research before starting this manga. I remember at one point when there was twist that Nefrititi was the older sister of one of the antagonists and I did some search on my own and found out that there was indeed a theory going on that she was in fact that character's sister 
The problem that I find with the series, however, is that I personally don't see Yuri and Mursili as a good match and therefore, care little for the romance between them. The characters also lacked a certain charm for me and for that reason didn't find many of them to be endearing, including the two main characters. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I read volume on of Cantarella, a manga about Cesare Borgia. I didn't think all that much of it though, it seems a bit too fantastical and less historical than I would have liked. I think there is more enough within the history and intrigue around the Borgia family that adding in deals with the devil wasn't really necessary.
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sirgalahadthegreat
 Posts: 108 |
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Well, believe it or not, D.Gray-Man is pretty much a historical manga, though its characters as well as its storyline is completely fictional. At the same time, another pretty much historical manga is Emma, which is based on the English classic and is a great guide to Victorian England. Rurouni Kenshin also gives a splendid idea of the Japan of the Meiji period.
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Oh, and of course, while I haven't read it (being that it's not available in English, though I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a French version), there is Rose of Versailles (where my icon comes from) that has a mix of fictional and historical characters, mostly set in pre-Revolutionary France. A lot of the events are historical as well, though of course the author has her own take on them.
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Masayume
 Posts: 115 Location: Indiana |
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*squee* Hearts for BeruBara, I actually have it in the French... even though I can't read it, but it's not out in English
 And I plan to learn French... some... day... >_>
Historical manga are a lot of fun, I think. I'd really love to pick up that title Fighterholic, since I generally agree that anything about the big 3 (Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Tokugawa) is bound to be interesting. I haven't actually managed to pick anything up but then again I miss being in Japan and just going into Book Off and getting to read something and deciding if I wanted it. I do also love the historical drama's over there too. But then again I really enjoy learning about the Heian and Tokugawa periods specifically. As for manga's set in particular historical periods with some historical references... all the titles mentioned here are good ones. I'm a big fan of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de even though it barely has much to do historically speaking, it is set in the Heian period in Heian-kyo and it's actually really interesting, if you like shoujo ;D I picked up a title called Onmyouji at my university' library the other day, which is what the two movies of the same title are based off of, so I'm hoping to get those read here soon. |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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Genuine historical manga are hard to come by in English, legal or otherwise. And by genuine I mean stuff that's well-researched and grounded piece, instead of something that feels arbitrarily set in that period -- Rurouni Kenshin comes to mind for the latter...
My favorite historical manga is Historie, by the author of Parasyte. Three volumes in and it's one of the best manga I've ever read, further cementing my belief that Hitoshi Iwaaki is one of the most underappreciated manga-ka in the English fandom. (Come on, folks; Miura, Inoue and Urasawa may be talented, but their output and absolute command of the narrative doesn't reach Iwaaki's heights.) Emma and Vagabond are two other very excellent series that are legally available in English. The former just ended its main story recently, and I highly suggest that everyone check it out. Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms also cannot receive enough attention. It's recently been nominated for multiple Eisner awards, and I hope that it wins 'em. It's probably my favorite manga released in 2007, though I didn't warm up to it that much at first; I re-read a few months later and fell in love with it. Everyone NEEDS to read this. The Times of Botchan is also severely neglected. Volume one left me a bit cold, but it picks up in volume two with a lot of the exposition out of the way and Taniguchi's talents for painting human quirks making way for one of the more interesting on-going manga in English. And stretching it a bit, Vinland Saga has begun to turn into a very, very impressive epic that might start to give the likes of Berserk a run for its money if Yukimura expands his scope enough. I still prefer Planetes to VS for now, but that might change... |
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Daiyoukai Ramza
 Posts: 21 Location: Fort Wayne, IN |
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I'd like to second the recommendation for Historie. I'm not a huge fan of historical manga (I'll read 'em, but I don't actively seek 'em out), but... when I picked up Historie on a whim, it hooked me right from the start. The protagonist, Eumenes, was a real-life historical figure... and the manga's plot is basically the story of his life. ... That's all I'm gonna say... but it's definitely a manga to check out ASAP! |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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All six of them are available in Taiwan legally (although two of them are hard to find now...). Be envious, folks! 
It's really sad that Historie might have been canceled by Afternoon. 
Something (maybe a message by His Noodly Appendages) told me that I should buy it ASAP. After I checked some of the largest manga bookstores here with no avail, I bumped into the PR guy of its licensee last Saturday. D: "Your Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms is just two years old (local version released on 2006-01-21) yet can't be found anywhere." PR: "Yeah, it sold really miserably and is on the list of 'meltdown' (i.e. recycling) now." D:  "Then I MUST buy it NOW before all copies are destroyed."
PR: "I'll check if we still have some copies in the company HQ. If so I'll be sure to have one reserved for you." Darn I have to rely on personal relationships to buy this rare item (sigh). Might have to buy Historie as well, just in case (I already own Emma up to volume 8, and volume 9 is coming out next month).
Well, I was not very impressed with Planetes at all, so I didn't bother with Vinland Saga.  On a different note, I feel that Berserk has really gone berserk -- the author can't quite keep its plot under his control now.
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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The U.S. is ass-backwards when it comes to comics compared to the French and many south, south-east and east Asian countries -- both the perception of the medium and also within the industry itself.
Not seen anything of this before. Has it not appeared in Afternoon for a while for unspecified reasons?
The appeal of the two are vastly different, so I would absolutely recommend giving Vinland Saga a try.
Completely disagree; I'd say the opposite, really. While very compelling, the first 20 or so volumes are very limited in scope and ooze repetitive gore and rape for shock value. Ever since the end of volume 21, Miura has changed his focus to expanding the world into a palpable universe on its own with a fittingly vast aray of characters to accomadate its epic plot instead of a grit and revenge story set against a stereotypical fantasy setting. |
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Jedi General
 Posts: 2485 Location: Tucson, AZ |
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I second this. Since you'd be hard-pressed to find many other manga set in Victorian England, Emma feels quite fresh despite it's story a being bit cliched in the early going. I haven't read volume 7 yet (purchased it not too long ago), but the first 6 were great reads. I'm very much looking forward to the conclusion of main story. Vagabond, on the other hand, is worth checking out for Inoue's art alone. Not to say the storyline isn't great also, of course. |
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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DUDE. As soon as I read the title, before even opening the thread, I thought to myself "I am going to mention Nobunaga in this thread." Back when I was a kid, I used to play the ever-lovin' crap out of Nobunaga's Ambition 2 for the NES, and when a friend went to Japan, he bought me the first volume of this. I was beyond stoked -- not only was it the story of Oda Nobunaga in manga form, but it was drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami! Holy crap! I just wish I could, y'know, actually read it, but I love flipping through the thing. Somebody really needs to license and translate this series. i was hoping Comics One would get to this after the other Ikegami manga they translated, but to no avail.
Speaking of Ikegami, one of the odder historical manga released stateside was Samurai Crusader: The Kumomaru Chronicles, which was set in 1920s France and featured a young Japanese samurai and his sidekick Ernest Hemingway (!) battling Nazis. Kuh-ray-zee. The book was published by Viz, and serialized in Manga Vizion magazine back around '95-'97 or so. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Ikegami has some interesting titles beyond belief, and a lot of his works that I have read take place in feudal Japan. This one has had some interesting takes so far on Nobunaga's rise to power, makes me want to go and research some of the events that did indeed happen when he was taking over Japan at the time.
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