Innocent (SAKAMOTO Shinichi)

Description

From Dark Horse:
Born into a family of executioners, Charles-Henri Sanson must take up his father's mantle as the Royal Executioner of Paris. Conflicted between his desire to honor the family name and rebelling against the longstanding practice, he chooses to follow tradition, but vows to be the last executioner--the last Sanson to spill blood in the name of justice.

Note: Nominated for the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Reader Award in 2014 and for the 8th Manga Taishou Award in 2015.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Innocent Rouge (Sequel)

Associated Names

Inocente

इनोसेन्ट

イノサン

純真的人

이노센트

Groups Scanlating

Hi wa Mata Noboru

Utopia Scanlations

Latest Release(s)

v.9 c.88-99 by Hi wa Mata Noboru 9 years ago

v.8 c.76-87 by Hi wa Mata Noboru 9 years ago

v.7 c.65-75 by Hi Wa Mata Noboru 10 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

9 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 7.8 / 10.0 (237 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.63 / 10.0

17%

18%

28%

19%

Last Updated

July 20th, 2025 12:32pm PDT - 1 month ago

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Genre

Drama Historical Mature Psychological Seinen Tragedy
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Innocent Rouge

Usagi Yojimbo

Akkanbe Ikkyuu

Les Miserables (ARAI Takahiro)

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shueisha

Serialized In (magazine)

Shuukan Young Jump (Shueisha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Dark Horse (3 Omnibuses; Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #846

(-18)

Monthly Pos #1762

(-31)

3 Month Pos #2466

(-595)

6 Month Pos #3079

(-1004)

Year Pos #4639

(-528)

List Stats

On 536 reading lists

On 735 wish lists

On 425 completed lists

On 29 unfinished lists

On 292 custom lists

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User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

the art style is godly lovely

by joaoflpe
1 month ago

Rating: 4.0 / 10.0

but the writing...

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title drop

by Lia121212
1 year ago

Rating: N/A

best title drop ever

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incredibly stylish

by ninakun
1 year ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

On chapter 85 there is a comment from Ikeda Riyoko-sensei, the author of 'The Rose of Versailles", where she says "I was shocked by the strength of the design and the unique aesthetics".

And I agree with her wholeheartedly and think this is the best possible review of this manga, which I regard highly for its stylish characters, theather-like scenes, over dramatic plot and sensible portrayal of haunting subjects.

As a commenter said below the artwork truly IS fantastic. And the 99 chapters pass by quickly, although the story doesn't end here. There is a sequel called Innocent Rouge.

... Last updated 1 year ago

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Messy

by VWombat
7 years ago

Rating: N/A

Great artwork and a great start, but the story devolves into a mess as the story continues. The protagonist develops in a bizarre and excessively sudden way (interesting idea, but poorly done). Arcs begin and end for no apparent reason, often leaving ideas inadequately explored. This happens prominently at the end, which is a 4-chapter arc introducing a new character and ending on a note that seems divergent from the development up to that point.

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Fantastic ageless artwork

by LUEser
9 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

If you're drawn in because of the artwork, you should be proud. The best thing about the artwork is the consistent attention to detail that has been presented in each panel, not to mention the fluidity and flow of both the plot and the artwork. The artwork is AMAZING, something you tend to stop and look at while reading each panel. I think the story has a good mixture of conversation and action. Although I am rather disturbed by some of the proportions of the human figure and even some themes presented in this manga, I still appreciate it overall.

The mangaka does a fantastic job of not only the artwork and the story (making you question which character existed in real life or which event happened in real life), but he's also able to create an atmosphere of melancholy, of fear, and even of excitement to pull readers in. He's able to create a background of both a physical and mental feel that lets the reader feel the character's personal pain and even joyous moments.

Overall, a very good read. The artwork won't leave you disappointed and the plot is definitely something that'll make you wanting more. There are however some confusion in trying to remember which character is who and what roles they play because of the (almost) mass introduction to a lot of characters who play an important role outside of the main plot, so you're left trying to remember who they are and what they did that was so significant to even be mentioned again.

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...

by imagenetik
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I don't know who wrote the summary to this manga, poor Louis XV was totally forgotten xD

All those summary facts though can't relay even 1 percent of drama that is going on with this manga. Manga itself is built on existing documents like memoirs of Henry Sanson (he's Charles' grandson) and others. If you read 4th volume notes, you will get all the information you need to know what sensei used as his basis. To be well-prepared on this topic at least a little bit, since I came to deeply adore this story, I read memoirs of Henry Sanson and other documents and I must say, though in general it looks like interpretation of sensei, it's still portrays many events that really DID happen in real life closely enough. After all you can't expect manga to be absolutely historically correct, can you? 🙂 That would be boring.
Secondly, to represent the atmosphere of those times, let's not forget that everything back then was nowhere near how we live and communicate now, including manners, way of speaking and etiquette (that's what sensei told himself, I'm sure anyone will get the same answer from him if they ask him a question on his Instagram) he draws things that way, which may seem a bit theatrical and dramatic he said that he finds it important. With what I cannot but agree.
And last, but not least - Charles-Henri Sanson. I'm sure if you carefully start reading this manga you will come to appreciate it. Charles was born into unusual family and had to bear everything that comes with his family's past into his own future. His situation, where he doesn't really have a choice but being an executioner, was hurting him to no end, because his whole being was against it. His personal struggle continues and he has nothing left but make decisions that will form his own future. Sensei doesn't portray work of executioner one-sidedly, he perfectly shows executioners, prisoners, crowd from all angles to his best abilities.
And art. No need to mention that Sakamoto-sensei is a genius, his art is on such high level that it takes hours to simply appreciate beautifully drawn panels. But 🙂 What I really want to thank him for is that he doesn't make this manga in a plain gore story, no, he takes it to a different level. He often uses something metaphoric to represent this or that action or something that is happening. Like pomegranate blowing up instead of skull, sword against a statue instead of vertebra etc. It doesn't happen all the time, but he uses it from time to time and that eases the reading process, but that's a personal opinion 🙂

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Er...

by NightSwan
12 years ago

Rating: N/A

Ah, well... I'm not even sure what to say about this.
Innocent is beautifully drawn, but strangely told.
All the scenes are very dramatic, even overtly so.
There are no "everyday" or "simple" moments, only epic and grandiose.
The pages have few panels and the close-ups are extreme in every way.

As for the plot, I'm not sure how well researched it is. I mean, I'm all for gay protagonists in unusual settings like this, but where is it documented? Who was that Jean de Chartois? Was he a real person? Was he based on a real person? Is it mentioned anywhere that Charles Henry Sanson had homosexual inclinations? I'd like to do some further reading into the subject, but the manga has all kinds of inaccuracies sprinkled about.
Same goes for all the other secondary characters. I'm not saying authors can't take creative liberties with their works, but some of the scenes seem to come from nowhere.
I also wonder about the botched executions. Did that really happen? And did they really give a child of 14 (or however old he was, because you simply can't tell in this manga) the job of chopping heads and tying nooses? I'm also very surprised about the attire which was chosen for the job. That, and the fact that they didn't cover their faces. It's common knowledge that executioners were well despised back then, hence the hoodies and secrecy, but it seems that there's not such thing in the Sanson family, who proudly embraced their grim family business.

Regardless, I'm interested in reading on and seeing how it develops.

Especially if Charles Henry gets more face time with some other boy/man.

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Interesting

by doda_me
12 years ago

Rating: N/A

I've read all existing chapters in a gulp, and realized I'm now hooked.
The manga is so beautifully drawn, that some panels made me "lick the screen" 🙂
The story is developing nicely, captivating the reader and sending him in France of the XVIII century.
Please give the serie a try, it's a interesting read.

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