It is so good,

I've always wanted a manga about the gritty side of being a ninja. We've all seen the more glamorous fantasy portrayals in manga like Flame of Recca, which are super fun, but Azumi really shows you what it is like being an assassin, blemishes and all. I really got my wish running onto Azumi.

The story hits the ground running and moves at breakneck speeds. I think more happens in one volume of this manga (especially early on) than a lot of other manga can convey in 3-4 books. With this in mind, it never feels rushed, nothing has felt like filler, and every page has kept me hooked and entertained like nothing has in a long time!

The politics and drama between the characters is thick, the stakes are high, and the story pulls no punches when it comes to killing off characters, be them friend or foe. The fights are very well done, and I've never been lost trying to wrap my head around any of the physical exchanges taking place in the combat scenes. Not only are they easy to follow, they are creative in their execution, and the art overall is somewhere between 90s and old school manga, which is really neat!

If you are a fan of ninja or assassination manga, or manga with its own take on historical events, give Azumi a shot!

... Last updated on November 27th, 2020, 3:36pm

If you go into this expecting from the get go: spectacular, diverse faces and art, breathtaking actions scenes, a complicated and deep story line, and a very flawed protagonist, you might want to skip this.

However, if you give it a shot, it's incredibly interesting. This was started in 1998. The art is very stilted at first, the male faces start to resemble one another. The protagonist is a very skilled assassin who you meet as a kid, and follow her as she grows up, meets new enemies /friends /potential love interests.

Now, from the start, everyone comments on how strong Azumi is. And the story shows diligently that she's strong. Okay? Okay.

Azumi starts as a prodigy. Adept with speed, strength, and skill. She's raised along 9 other boys, so lacks the seductive wiles of a typical kunoichi, and wants to just be another of the boys. When you first meet her, she is a kid, frighteningly obedient and doesn't question her orders a bit.

You KNOW she is strong. Killing people? It's not hard for her.

So, what is the point of the story? What happens leading up to her kills, with regards to her friends and allies and sympathetic enemies. What happens afterwards, her philosophy, her point of living... eventually, all of these problems pop up. She starts to question what she does, who she does it for, why...

She's like Musashi Miyamoto. She is strong, she kills, her reputation grows and so does the list of people looking to kill her because of this. It starts getting darker and bleaker for her the more the manga goes on.

The art and action all get incredibly good later, but it's a gradual change, really. It's not hard to get into, and when it gets too "political" with the narrative boxes (every now and then there is a recap to summarize who has died, and what that means for certain other leaders etc) you can just glaze over them without stressing that it's going to matter too much.

A lot of readers seem to hate Azumi because she's somehow kept her naiivete and innocence knee deep in blood. They hate that this young teenager isn't drowning in angst like she's SUPPOSED to, and rush over the spots in the manga that have her softly hurting, vulnerable. I like that this manga shows her strong, but keeps her integrity. If you're looking for her to "finally" get her torture, or her physically harmed, you'll get there when she's older and I was dreading reading it the entire time, hoping for a way to get her free.

its one of my favourite manga's out there. The only thing i don't like about this manga is the translation speed... like seriously... by the time we'd get to its sequel, most likely 30-40 years would have passed by then. so frustrating! UGH! But i still love this manga.

Sometimes i really wish to comment on comments, but that would eventually start flame wars all over the site xD
So, i only wish you to heed my coments and disregard anybody elses... just kidding (?)

READ THIS ASAP.
I waited a long time to have a lot of chapters to read, it was worth it!.

Be aware that this is somewhat gory, but i have seen much, much, MUCH worse than this, this is mostly blood and a lot of dismembered bodyparts >_<, but hey, that is the way real samurai battles were fought.

This manga has good action scenes, and it's nice how the author tries to tie mysterious real life deaths to Azumi's assasinations, but the story has a big problem: Azumi is flawless. And this makes it ultimately uninteresting. It quickly gets into the formula of "nice secondary characters meet Azumi, very strong enemies try to stop Azumi but they can't even touch her although the secondary characters are all wiped out".

It gets ridiculous how some of the enemies are presented as the very best warriors of all Japan yet are killed by the main character in a couple of pages, managing at most to scratch her skin. Any tension is lost when you know that the protagonist is so overpowered, so the author resorts to killing secondary characters instead.

I had to drop it because this pattern tired me. It doesn't look like it's going to change.

Well, for one, if you're looking for a complex or layered story, you're not going to find it here. The dialogue remains (sometimes tiringly) simple throughout, and you'd probably need to be a major samurai fan in order to get into the politics later on. For me, I was willing to overlook these things because of the refreshingly invincible protagonist and the commentary regarding the mistreatment of women during that time, and I even tolerated Azumi's gullibility and softness towards the villains. Well, after she befriended a crossdressing cretin, it went downhill from there.

It has now taken a serious dive in ch. 104. There's really no plausible reason the author would turn a capable individual into a total dumbass (unless it was a sort of indictment on the idealist archetype). Well anyway, this unfortunate turn of events has lowered my rating from a potential 8.5 to the (generous) one you see before you. A real shame.

Anyhow, I don't know what's with all the talk about the faint-hearted. Sure there is violence as befitting the time period, but popular manga nowadays such as Berserk, Gantz, Blade of the Immortal, and Vagabond are much worse in terms of sadistic brutality.

... Last updated on September 30th, 2015, 11:53pm

Azumi is a tale of tragedy, revenge, and enlightenment. It's a recipe that's been done again and again (e.g. Vinland Saga), but like the many other repeats, it offers a fresh and interesting experience. This is particularly influenced by two things - the setting and the character development. The setting is Tokugawa Japan near the end of Ieyasu's life and afterwards, but what makes it unique is its focus on ninja. The character development is influenced by tragic and barbaric yet humanizing events. If I had any complaint, it would be that Azumi does not particularly face much challenge she has to overcome. The manga's focus is her as a person and her development, but she could easily kill anyone she wanted to. That's not necessarily bad. After all, that's a large part of the reason she's still alive while surrounded by death. Regardless, some might prefer external conflict over internal.

... Last updated on March 7th, 2015, 5:35pm

The first two chapters may astound and disgust you as it did to me, but it is quite good. The main character gets development as the chapter go on and it is a real page turner for me. I enjoy the action scenes, even though its old. The emotions the main character feel make this a great story in my opinion if you can feel them with her.

I watched the live action years ago, it was great, I even still listen to it's soundtrack.

The manga.... is even better, and yes, not for the faint hearted.

Bad, real bad things happened in this manga, but successfully stomach them and you will be presented with epicness.