Samurai Executioner Volume 1 (Samurai Executioner)

Rating:
Summary: Onibocho...broken?!
Review:



So...this is the second series of the wonderteam Kazuo Koike and Gojima Goseki, prior to the LONE WOLF AND CUB Series...so i guess, many here want to know if it's up to the other series, and strangely, the answer to that question is not as easily given as somebody would believe.

Iam not quite sure myself. When i finished SAMURAI EXECUTIONER: WHEN THE DEMON BLADE WEEPS, i was a little bit speechless, because this book contains two of the most shocking stories i ever read in a comic book...and perhaps easily four to five brutal and sinister scenes, which are not easily to stomach.

LONE WOLF AND CUB wasn't a children's tale either, but i think Samurai Executioner is something for an even older audience...in WHEN THE DEMON BLADE WEEPS there is for example a story about a child murderer/rapist, who is dying very brutally and the last story stars a woman, whose job is to wash the heads of the condemned Asaemon Yamada (The "Hero" of the Series) killed. That's the structure of the series up to date: Episodic tales about Asaemon Yamada dealing punishment to lawbreakers, whose tragic stories you're experiencing prior to their meeting with the Decapitator.

It lacks in an overall story like LONE WOLF AND CUB, and Asaemon Yamada himself is not really the determined hero pledging himself to achieve some quest, but more a working joe who is fulfilling the shoguns will.
A kind of Ogami Itto, who didn't lost his honour and standing.

The first two Stories - the first about the killing of his father...three little guesses, who is delivering the kindly coup de grace and the second are about Asaemon himself and attempt to round up his personality and character.
He is - essentially - an archetyp samurai like Ogami Itto, dedicated to the shogun and his duty, a master swordsman and full of bushido and honour.
I look forward in seeing him fleshed out more, but this isn't primarily a problem, because Ogami Itto too was in LONE WOLF AND CUB pretty stereotypical and distant and it worked there too...the anti-heroes of the little stories were the heart and the soul of LONE WOLF and supposedly you can find that in SAMURAI EXECUTIONER too and more so, i believe.

The only problem is that a kind of overall story of Asaemon like Ogami had in LONE WOLF AND CUB lacks and i hope Koike implemented some later on. Because we know full well how Asaemons LIFE will end...and i sure hope he experienced a nice little story with meaning before his fateful duell with the invincible One, when he stuttered dying:
Onibocho...broken?!


Rating:
Summary: Not Great but OK
Review: I loved lone wolf and cub, as for samurai executioner it is not as good. I did enjoy the first story in the book where he becomes the executioner however. After I finished reading it there were still no real emotions that i had for Aseamon or in other words i don't care about the character like i cared for Ogami after reading LWandC 1. It seems that all Asaemon does is chop off heads..he doesn't go anywhere and doesn't seem to have any other life outside of his job as decapitator. There was a story in this book concerning a child rapist and there is a scene in which he is actually shown assualting a little girl. I thought that was a little much. Even after the resolution i was still a little disturbed that they drew that in there. This is darker than lone wolf and cub so far there are scenes of decapitaed bodies being carried arround and the whole rape and much more sex scenes that in Lone wolf.. It can kinda turn ya off. I hope the rest are better.

Rating:
Summary: About time!
Review: I read this series in Japan several years ago and I couldn't remember the title. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I found it being released in the United States. I'm a big fan of Lone Wolf and Cub, so of course I was eager to read anything else I could find by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. This story is similar to Lone Wolf and Cub, but is even more adult-oriented and the stories are much darker. I definitely wouldn't recommend this for children as it was written for adults and has many adult themes. Decapitator Asaemon doesn't have the same goals or dynamics that animated Lone Wolf, but there are plenty of interesting stories nonetheless. To give you a general idea of what type of stories are contained within, here are a couple of examples: a beautiful prostitute/murderer who lures men with her sexual wiles and then kills them. Upon her capture, it is up to Decapitator Asaemon to execute her. There is a twist though; she is the first woman that he ever loved. The next story involves Zato Ichi, the blind masseuse. Readers may recognize the character from the popular television series (now on dvd) but as presented in this story he is a kidnapping murderer, and it is up to Asaemon to deal with him. These two stories represent the general tone of the series. Samurai Executioner is very well executed in black-in-white, and as usual the artwork is incredible and atmospheric(dark). The book is 330 pages and has a small glossary at the end which explains some of the terminology contained within. I highly recommend this for adults. However, children should steer clear of this as there are many adult themes and they would be better served by reading Lone Wolf and Cub.