Kirihito Sanka

Description

A promising young doctor, Kirihito Osanai visits a remote Japanese mountain village to investigate the source of the latest medical mystery. While he ends up traveling the world to discover what it takes to be cured of such a disease, a conspiracy back home attempts to explain away his absence. Hinging upon his fate are those of his loved ones: an unstable childhood friend and colleague trapped between factions of the medical establishment that nurtured him; a fiancee emotionally transformed by Kirihito’s mysterious disappearance; and a stranger who becomes his guardian angel, a sensual circus-act performer with volatile psychological secrets.

Type

Manga

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

Eulogy to Kirihito

Kirihito

Oda a Kirihito

Ode to Kirihito

きりひと讃歌

桐人傳奇

Groups Scanlating

N/A

Latest Release(s)

N/A

Status in Country of Origin

3 Volumes (1974, Complete)
4 Volumes (1977, Tezuka Daizenshuu)
2 Volumes (1986, Wideban)
2 Volumes (1989, Hardcover)
3 Volumes (1994, Bunko)

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: 8.2 / 10.0 (113 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.8 / 10.0

17%

33%

20%

19%

Last Updated

July 2nd, 2021 5:26pm PDT - 4 years ago

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Genre

Mature Mystery Psychological Seinen Supernatural Tragedy
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Recommendations

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Daitosha (1974, 1986)

Kodansha (1977)

Shogakukan (1989, 1994, 2000, 2003; 2008)

Serialized In (magazine)

Big Comic (Shogakukan)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Kodansha Comics (Spring 2022 - omnibus ed)

Vertical (2 Volumes - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #747

(-22)

Monthly Pos #1670

(-134)

3 Month Pos #3125

(-272)

6 Month Pos #5002 (No change)

Year Pos #7073

(+91)

List Stats

On 59 reading lists

On 215 wish lists

On 252 completed lists

On 8 unfinished lists

On 133 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Unbearable suffering might become your lot. But, Miss Helen, don't you think this might be God's test for you?

by StoneLuigi
4 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Endlessly nasty and memorable. In this relentlessly mean story, every moment of comfort is hard won. Feels like a long burn, but utterly satisfying when the payoff rolls around. You will want there to be more, yet you'll also be secretly relieved it's over, so the poor characters can finally get some rest.

One particular minor character's fate is a little too obviously contrived and foreshadowed, and misses the mark as a result. But in a comic full of sublime images and bizarre, exciting twists on every other page, who can complain?

Like any manga of great quality, immediately impresses a unique atmosphere upon you that will stick around in your brain. An all-time classic and highly recommended.

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Proto-Monster

by nozomiEX
6 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

The comparisons between the two are unavoidable, and while they are distinct enough to stand by themselves, having read this first, I wouldn't bother reading it had I read Monster first. Ode to Kirihito succumbs to a lot of the ills of its time, most specifically in the pacing and depth of the narrative itself, being a bit rushed and shallow. While I think that it's deeper themes are explored a tad more intelligently and fully than Monster (which, if you look at my comment on Monster's page, you'll see that I'm rather lukewarm on that as well,) I don't feel the narrative itself is intriguing enough to justify a slightly more cerebral (being generous there) look at the human condition, when essentially it just boils down to "HUMANZ WAS THE MONSTAH ALL ALONG BUT ALSO OPTIMISTIC JESUS ALLEGORY BOTTOM TEXT."

Give it a go if you loved Monster or haven't read that yet. Or if you just have a morbid curiosity to compare the two.

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A Gekiga masterpiece

by residentgrigo
11 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Kirihito is firstly Tezuka´s darkest manga and a page turner from the first chapter so it comes highly recommended for lovers of "serious" manga. Be warned though that this series is intended for a mature audience only and i am not talking about the usual and vapid combo of boobs & violence. You will see and the art is superb as always. This is lastly his best manga after Buddha / Hi no Tori (both are a 10/10) and i would love to read a remake by Urasawa.

... Last updated 10 years ago

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The only thing terrible about this was takitogr's review

by GGpX
12 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

I'm not even sure takitogr was even reading the same manga I was.

There's nothing "silly" about Ode to Kirihito.

This manga has tons of elements that make it an all-time classic.

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superb

by whitespade
12 years ago

Rating: 9.7 / 10.0

this is a great roller coaster ride of a manga, so much suffering does this dog-christ receive, but he persevere. the characters are all interesting, the plot is intriguing, and i really really love the art. it is not as beautiful as today's standard, but it convey emotions so much better. a must read.

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that was terrible

by takitogr
15 years ago

Rating: 3.0 / 10.0

that was the 5th manga i've read from tezuka and nothing suprised or entertained me yet from tezuka...i do have respect for him because he created manga and all but....

it started interesting and atmospheric but after 200 pgs it started going downhill....400 pgs on the manga i stopped enjoying it and after that it became so silly that it was unbearable and i couldn't wait to finish it! we do have respect for him as manga fans but seriously give that manga to anyone who doesn't have a clue about osamu tezuka and hardly anybody would think it's good...it's terribly cheesy actually

the only thing i enjoyed from start to finish were the backgrounds...the assistant who did the backrounds was terribly talented and created a great atmosphere...if only the story was as good...
it started seriously and atmospheric with innovative panel constructions (my favourite is the sun setting), then more silliness started to occur with slapstick-like characters behaving weirdly and doing silly things (you don't really need a comedic effect in this story really, but I bet tezuka just used it in all his manga serious or not...his style was like this...but it started without any of this for the first 200 pgs 🙁 ), then characters were saying stupid non-sensical things, the story kept dragging on, started becoming very melodramatic, characterization was terrible and changes in character and behaviour were so sudden that it was just idiotic...dialogues started to suffer an awful lot and silly non-sensical situations started to pile near the end that this was starting to become such a pain to read...seriously now...

i have yet to read black jack and buddha but after this i dont know if i'll enjoy them...i mean this was among his most critically-acclaimed manga....bleh....an experience i'd like to forget

... Last updated 15 years ago

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A little disturbing

by Telecaster
16 years ago

Rating: 9.5 / 10.0

This is an awesome comic. It's really disturbing, but it's a beautiful story. Osamu Tezuka really knows what he's talking about in medicine. Some of the parts I didn't understand very well because of the big medical words, but they all eventually got explained through pictures or explanations. One of the interesting things about this book is that you don't always like the people on Osanai's side. The pictures are also really nice.
There are some racist pictures of black people in this book, but I really think Osamu Tezuka meant them to be racist. All the foriegners are funny looking, regardless of race, its just the pictures of the black people are the same as old timey racist cartoons were. Some people theorize that Tezuka drew all foriegners funny looking to give them an air of difference.
So, if you can take some disturbing stuff and some racist pictures, I would recomend this book.

... Last updated 16 years ago

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