News
Yen Audio to Release Audiobooks of 'The Samurai and the Prisoner', Ishura Novels
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Yen Press will release Honobu Yonezawa's The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurōjō) novel in English in June. Yen Press initially announced the novel with the title Black Dungeon Castle (a direct translation of the Japanese title). Yen Press describes the novel:
The winter of 1578, four years prior to the Honno-ji Incident. Araki Murashige has betrayed his ally Oda Nobunaga and holed himself up in Arioka Castle—but a string of unsettling incidents within the castle walls has him at his wit's end. The desperate warlord's only hope for solving these mysteries is imprisoned in the castle's dungeon: a man named Kuroda Kanbei, one of Oda's most gifted strategists. When all the conflict and intrigue come to a close, what will these two men have gained...and lost?
Yonezawa and Kadokawa published the novel in June 2021. The novel won the Naoki Prize (a biannual Japanese literary award for new and rising authors)., and won Kadokawa's 2021 Fūtarō Yamada award. It also ranked #1 in the Mystery ga Yomitai!, Shūkan Bunshun Mystery Best 10, Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!, and Honkaku Mystery Best 10 guidebooks for 2022, and is the first to place at #1 in all four rankings. It ranked at #1 in Rekishi/Jidai Shōsetsu Best 3 (Historical/Period Novels Best 3) award from Asahi Shimbun's Weekly Asahi magazine in 2021.
Yonezawa is perhaps best known for his Kotenbu (Classic Literature Club) novel series began with Hyōka, the first novel, in 2001. The Credit Roll of the Fool (Gusha no Endroll) novel then followed in 2002, The Kudryavka Sequence (Kudryavka no Junban) in 2005, The Doll that Took a Detour (Toomawari Suru Hiyoko) in 2007, Approximating the Distance Between Two People (Futari no Kyori no Gaisan) in 2010, and Imasara Tsubasa o Iwaretemo in November 2016.
Kyoto Animation and late director Yasuhiro Takemoto adapted some of the stories in the series into a 22-episode television anime series titled Hyōka in 2012. The novels also inspired a manga in Kadokawa's Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine.
Yonezawa wrote the Shōshimin mystery novel series that has had several manga adaptations, including Anko Manjūya's Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken (The Case of the Springtime Limited-Edition Strawberry Tart).
In a world where the Demon King has died, a host of demigods capable of felling him have inherited the world. A master fencer who can figure out how to take out their opponent with a single glance; a lancer so swift they can break the sound barrier; a wyvern rogue who fights with three legendary weapons at once; an all-powerful wizard who can speak thoughts into being; an angelic assassin who deals instant death. Eager to attain the title of “One True Hero,” these champions each pursue challenges against formidable foes and spark conflicts themselves. The battle to determine the mightiest of the mighty begins.
The novel began serialization on both the Shōsetsuka ni Narō and Kakuyomu websites in 2017. Kadokawa published the first volume of the series in September 2019, and the seventh volume shipped on February 17. The novel series topped the tankōbon, novel, and new title categories of the 2021 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! (This Light Novel Is Amazing!) guidebook with the most number of votes ever recorded for a light novel series in the guidebook's history.
Meguri launched a manga adaptation in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine in March 2021. The manga's second volume shipped in December 2021.
The novels are inspiring an upcoming television anime.
Source: Press release
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.
