So what do you think is the best samurai-themed manga? The most engrossing, most exciting, most thought-provoking etc.?

My vote goes to Vagabond as being the best damn samurai manga out there.

Honorable mentions go to Sidooh, Lone Wolf and Cub and Samurai Executioner.

I still feel Vagabond is the best, though. Its spiritual approach to violence seems somehow very relevant to modern life.

Hey, out of curiosity... Are there actually any shoujo or josei titles that deal with samurai? Or maybe even the women in the samurai's lives... The only one I've been able to find so far is Kaze Hikaru, which is comedic and cute, but without any real gravitas.

As for yaoi... There is of course the absolutely insane and hilarious Neko Samurai. (Yes, you can guess what the "neko" stands for. ) Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any yaoi or shounen ai manga that deals seriously with the homoerotic bond between samurai. Does anyone have any recommendations? Even shounen ai or implied homosexual love would be okay.

Thanks!

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My vote goes to Vagabond and considering it's probably the highest ranked samurai manga here @ mangaupdates.com, most people will agree I think.

Another great samurai manga is offcoursely the legendary Samurai X a.k.a Rurouni Kenshin. I think this one gets my 2nd place.

Samurai Deeper Kyo recieves my 3rd place after putting up a good fight for the 2nd. SDK has much resemblance with the Kenshin manga, but the main characters are all less of a goody-goody

Hmm I don't think I've read much more samurai manga. I remember Samurai Champloo but my 4th place would go to the short 18-chapter manga called Zan (It's shounen, but since it takes place in a high-school world where everone's a samurai, you can also find samurai girls there )


[ Edit: completely forgot about SamuraiDeeperKyo ]

Last edited by Zacharias at 5:17 am, Jun 17 2007

The only one I've read so far is Rurouni Kenshin, and that rocked.

Blade of the Immortel

Peace Maker

Peace Maker Kurogane

Samurai deeper kyo and blade of the immortal get my vote, for some reason i never really got into vagabond

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Thanks, guys! Samurai Deeper Kyo sounds interesting, especially if (as Zacharias said) the main characters are morally ambiguous. I'm a huge fan of moral ambiguity, so yay!

As for Sakuya, I totally get where you're coming from. Everyone has different inclinations when it comes to manga... Some of us just can't get into a particular kind of story. I really wanted to like Blade of the Immortal, but for some reason the whole self-healing thing put me off... I guess I like my samurai with physical scars as well as emotional ones. The bloodshed's much more satisfying that way.

God, I'm weird... >_>;

Can't believe I forgot Peacemaker Kurogane! Thanks for reminding me. Nanae Chrono is my goddess, even though I think PK isn't her best art. Her more recent work, like Vassalord, really lives up to her artistic potential.

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"They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm." - Dorothy Parker.

i think the best samurai manga are
samurai deeper kyo and Rurouni Kenshin

i second that

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I've only read two:

Rurouni Kenshin, which I found amazing.

And Samurai Deeper Kyo, which I wasn't fond of, and stopped at vol2.

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Manga Fan Since 2002

Gintama man... GINTAMA!

Vagabond
Blade of the Immortal

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Vagabond is the best!! Yeah I like the spiritual approach to brutality hehe...The character development is just amazing, not just the main character but all the side characters too..the scenes are action packed and so thrillling...

Blade of the Immortal is good but not my favorite..skills-wise he just suck, using immortality to kill off opponents just doesn't click for me. and i dont see any character development at all(stucked at vol11), maybe except for the girl..but the artwork is just topnotched...

i am wondering how good the mangas of rurouni kenshin and samurai champloo, they were great animes...

i've tried reading samurai deeper kyo and after volume 1, i stopped..

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Rurouni Kenshin! Even though I never finished it

Anyone know if the anime was any good?

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it was pretty good, but it only covered the first two arcs of the manga
still a great anime by my standards
the ending video is beyond phat

lady snowblood was awesome but short. violent, a little episodic, smart, and super serious (always wanted to that)

Ah, that's a shame. What about the dub? Any good? Cuz I know it was on TV at one point, but I missed out on it...(wasn't into anime when it was on )


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