Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 5: Black Wind

子連れ狼 [Kozure Ookami] #5

by Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima (Artist), Dana Lewis (Translator)

This volume contains five powerful, classic tales of the assassin Itto Ogami, the Lone Wolf, as he continues his journey to hell. The Yagyu clan, fearful of the growing legend surrounding Lone Wolf, has decided to protect itself by sending its own assassin after him, and later pit the greatest swordsman of a rival clan against him. Also, Lone Wolf must face the leader of a bounty-hunting gang who seeks revenge against Ogami for slaying his young lord years ago, and a master gunsmith who values the art of warfare above all else and will change his life forever. Don't miss a single volume of the acclaimed epic series that belongs on every Lone Wolf and Cub.

This volume contains the following
Trail Markers
Executioner's Hill
Black Wind
Decapitator Asemon
The Guns of Sakai

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Japan, Historical

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1996

About the author

Kazuo Koike (小池一夫, Koike Kazuo) was a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist and entrepreneur.

Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series.

Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Koike and Kojima became known as the "Golden Duo" because of the success of Lone Wolf and Cub.

Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans.

Kazuo Koike started the Gekika Sonjuku, a college course meant to teach people how to be mangaka.

In addition to his more violent, action-oriented manga, Koike, an avid golfer, has also written golf manga.

Reviews

[Algernon (Darth Anyan) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ogami Itto is back on 'meifumado', the path between the rivers, the assassin's way, in this fifth album that for me encapsulates the best elements of the series in a magnificent display of violence, honour and history in the making. After the fourth volume dealt mostly with background adventures that fleshed out the main character and the 'state of the nation' as Ogami seeks his revenge against the Yagyu clan, this time it's the turn of the main storyline to be pushed forward in major reveals.



Trail Markers reveals the method Ogami Itto uses in order to get clients for his assassination missions. The markers are a special, antique set of map signs that he leaves at shrines by the road, together with a picture of two demons representing 'meifumado' . Those in the know can trace Ogami Itto to the marked locations and present their requests to him. But the same method can be also used by Ogami's enemies, and so the Yagyu, the shogun's own assassin clan, send their best swordsman (after the clan leader) after our ronin. A spectacularly drawn duel fought in the rain is the conclusion of this opening episode.



The birds fly, returning to their homeland ... without fail. The dying wolf turns his head towards the hills. But around this father and his child the wild dogs gather, ready to savage even those wild things; even that wolf in death ...

Executioner's Hill
Over the past two years following the assassin's way, Ogami Itto has become quite famous to the criminal underworld. When he is recognized on the road by a group of six bandits, they decide to kidnap his son and hold him for ransom, hoping to force Ogami to reveal where he has hidden the large amounts of money he has earned from each mission. But they have not taken into account the true despair that has made Ogami Itto such a formidable opponent.

We fight ... and what remains? Corpses in the sand.

The story was especially noteworthy for me for the writing, which for once surpasses the powerful, cinematic graphics.



Black Wind is right now my favorite story in all five albums I have read so far. Told mostly from the perspective of Daigoro, now three years old, it describes a rare moment of peace in their wanderings along the assassin's road. A 'black wind' is what villagers call a south blowing, out of season storm that is very rare but produces a better crop of rice.

A wandering ronin, helping to plant rice for people he doesn't know. Is not this, in it's own way, a black wind?

Why did Ogami Itto decide to put down his sword for a moment and help with the planting of rice in a village deprived of fighting age men by a ruthless administrator? Why is this more important that the pursue of the Ura-Yagyu clan?
I will not spoil the reveal, only mention that it all ties beautifully with the sense of honour that drives all the actions of Ogami. The most heartbreaking moment is the sadness in the eyes of the three years old as he sees his moment of peace crumble once again under pressure from arrogant and reckless adversaries.



Decapitator Asaemon is another episode dealing directly with the main storyline, as it reveals that the high officers in the shogun's administration are aware of the feud between the Ogami and the Yagyu clans, and of the underlying betrayal that have brought Ogami Itto down from his position of official assassin.

'Decapitator Asaemon' is a traditional post held at court, as the person who is responsible to test the quality of the sword the shogun uses in battle. The Asaemon is ritually using this sword to cut down a convicted criminal. It is a post that requires great skill and integrity, making the current holder one of the best swordsmen in the land and, as such, suitable for a secret mission to confront both Ogami and the Yagyu. Another finely drawn duel concludes the episode.



The Guns of Sakai is excellent both for its historical information on Japanese gun developments and for the complications it may produce in future events in the series. Ogami gets hired to kill one of the five master gunsmiths in the town of Sakai, but the mission goes off track when the victim is revealed to be far more interesting that the clients who ordered his demise.
Some very thought provoking dialogue deals with the function of a gun, the hand that wields either a sword or a long range weapon and the larger implications of a nation's ability to defend itself against more technological advanced foreigners.
As a bonus, Ogami gets his hands on plans for a very advanced gun that may help him in later quests.

Onward to the next album ! Yay!!!

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 5 of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series does some good work in moving forward the main story arc by giving us further insights into the events that brought about the downfall of the Ogami clan especially in regards to the motivations of the insidious Yagyu clan. It’s always interesting in these stories to see how Ogami is both something of a selfless hero and at the same time a remorseless killer truly willing to follow the ‘demon’s road’ of Meifumado and abjure normal human feelings and values no matter their cost to himself and others. On the one hand he is a man of honour willing to undergo severe trials in order to remain true to his obligations and pay his debts, yet at the same time he is a remorseless killer willing to follow his contracts to the bitter end whose ways are often incomprehensible when viewed through the lens of ‘normal’ human relations and expectations.

“Trail Markers”: The Yagyu clan, masters of the ninjas of the Shogunate and perpetrators of the destruction of Ogami’s clan, discover the way in which Lone Wolf communicates with his prospective clients and make use of it in order to lure him into a confrontation with one of their greatest warriors. More is learned about the whys and wherefores of Ogami’s fall and the motivations of the Yagyu and Lone Wolf proves to still have a surprise or two up his sleeve.

“Executioner’s Hill”: Six down on their luck bounty hunters come across Lone Wolf and Cub in their wanderings and realize who they have seen. Their leader, who has a connection to the former Kogi Kaishakunin, hatches a plot to abduct Daigoro in order to extort the huge sums of money that Lone Wolf is said to be hoarding from his assassinations. Of course Ogami does not act according to their expectations and a bloody battle ensues.

“Black Wind”: Ogami is found helping a group of peasants in their rice field planting at a time when all of the men of their village have been conscripted into building levees to help prevent the seasonal floods from destroying their crops. This is an unheard of thing for a man of the samurai class and many of the villagers wonder what could have stirred him to perform such a menial and degrading task. When the local authorities discover another able-bodied man they could make use of they try and conscript Ogami for the levee building as well. He is less than willing to help them and we discover the lengths to which he is willing to go to complete his ‘quest’ of planting as well as the tragic motivations behind it.

“Decapitator Asaemon”: The man entrusted with testing the edge and quality of the Shogun’s newly forged swords is approached by his masters as one of the few men in Japan with the requisite skill to kill Ogami Itto. Afraid of the waves that the ongoing feud between the former Kogi Kaishakunin and the powerful Yagyu clan are sure to cause in the rule of the Shogunate they dispatch him on an errand of death and the Yagyu see an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. In his duel with this skilled and honourable enemy Ogami comes to appreciate the depths to which the Yagyu will stoop in their efforts to destroy him.

“The Guns of Sakai”: The arms race is on. The age of the gun has arrived on the shores of Japan and the most brilliant gunsmith of the Tokugawa era is targeted for death due to his unwillingness to share his innovative new designs with his peers. When Lone Wolf tracks down his mark he discovers the reasons behind the man’s reticence and makes a promise to him that will perhaps further his own quest for vengeance…but of course not before he must deal with the double-dealing efforts of his clients once again.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gunsmithing finale of this volume is most likely my favourite story so far. It got quite intense.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

The role of comic books in America is in transition, and so comics hold a tenuous and unusual position in the American psyche. To some degree, they are still considered dirty and cheap, still artistically bankrupt, and there are good reasons for this. For a long time, the industry had its hands tied by the 'Comics Code', a punitive ratings system. One can realize the effects the code had by imagining what movies would be like if the government stated that all films released must attain a 'G' rating.

Imagine a G-rated Star Wars, a G-rated Godfather, a G-rated Blazing Saddles, and you may begin to understand the impossibility of trying to write quality comics under the code, which held sway over comics for thirty years. To give you an example of just how punitive the code was, at one point author Marv Wolfman was not allowed to be credited with his real last name because under the code, it was too scary.

It wasn't until the early eighties that publishers began to break away from the code, first under the daring pen of Steve Gerber, who lost his career in comics over it, and then under Alan Moore, who was made a household name for helping break the grip of the code. But comics are still fighting a bad reputation, as evidenced by the fact that the term 'graphic novel' has been coined solely so people who consider themselves sophisticated don't have to condescend to read 'comics'.

But this struggle for recognition as an art form has played out very differently around the world. In Europe, the revolution took place in the mid sixties, so that today, an individual can get a government grant to work in the field of comics, so that, instead of trying to please the narrow requirements of a multimedia conglomerate bent on cannibalizing old stories (like Marvel and DC), they can freely bring to life their meticulous, experimental visions, pointing towards a future for comics, instead of a well-thumbed past.

And it's this level of experimental artistry that I have come to expect from comics, since my experience with them has been primarily from foreign authors. Even the early books I read from the big publishers were mostly the result of their hiring British and Irish authors. After this experience, I explored the Franco-Belgian and Italian traditions, much to my edification.

But oddly enough, I had never read any Japanese manga. Here I was, searching the back shelves fruitlessly for English translations of rare European comics when every bookstore has a thickly-stocked manga section. It's partially a sense of stubborn iconoclasm I can't seem to shake, but there are other reasons I have remained wary.

Like anyone my age, I'm familiar with 'anime'--animated cartoons from Japan. In fact, I got into them fairly early, around '94, before we had the word 'anime' to describe them. So it's odd that I never became a committed japanophile like so many of my peers.

Most of the anime I've seen is just repetitive escapism, but there have been a few works, here and there, that impressed me. But then, that's true for any medium: most books are sub par, as are most movies and comics, and we hold out for the rare good one.

But there are some larger complications to get around. Firstly, America has an Animation Age Ghetto to match its Comics Age Ghetto, meaning that when companies bring in animation from Japan (or Europe), they are looking for something to sell to kids, and aren't very picky about the quality of the writing or acting.

But, even when this isn't the case, and we've got entities like Cartoon Network who are deliberately trying to bring in adult animation fare, we aren't getting the most conceptual and experimental stuff from Japan, because translating such a work is no enviable task. The wordplay, allusions, cultural content, and literary traditions are just not in the reference pool for Americans. Hence, the average American can only appreciate a story which is simple enough to translate clearly.

Even with European comics it's less challenging, because we are culturally and linguistically closer to France than we are to Japan. Unless you're willing to go in there and learn the language, culture, and history, the most complex and involved works will remain remote. Eventually, when you get a large academic community committed to the works of the culture, you can start producing expert, informed translations, but it's only recently that we've begun to look seriously at our own comics, much less those of Japan.

But there are still those stories that translate well, even across such boundaries, such as the film work of Akira Kurosawa, which I loved as a child, long before my occasional studies of Japan. But then, Kurosawa is, in many ways, reflecting our own culture back at us: he takes American film and story techniques--most notably Westerns and Shakespeare--and adapts them to his culture.

Even though the content and language are different, the film techniques and literary tropes are recognizable. But then, that should also be true for comics and animation, both of which were explored and refined in America three-quarters of a century ago. In both Disney's Fantasia and McCay's Little Nemo, we have visions of great experimental artistry in both animation and comics.

Unfortunately, the great conservative backlash of the nationalistic fifties put an end to that. The intense controls put onto films and books hurt these fledgling forms, who had few defenders in the arts and academia to keep fighting for authorial rights.

So, our comics and animation were sent out, all over the world, inspiring both Europe and Asia, where Carl Barks is still a household name. Without the same cultural controls and juvenile expectations, they thrived. And they have provided great inspiration for American authors and artist throughout the years, from the Spaghetti Westerns to Valerian and the abortive European 'Dune', which birthed Alien, Blade Runner, and Star Wars, the cultural exchange of ideas continued, though other media.

So it is far past time for me to crack open some of the great Asian works, daunting as their unfettered length might be (no thirty page issue limits, here), and see for myself how the visions of Osamu Tezuka--the innovative father of both manga and anime--have played out. After all, Tezuka based his stories off the works of Disney and Carl Barks, so in many ways, manga and anime are prodigal children, finally returning.

We should thank the Japanese and the Europeans for keeping the artistic vision alive and thriving for those long decades when we, blinded by fear and nationalism, had forgotten them. And now, they deliver them back to us, fully-formed, and I can only hope that some American artists will be able to help us get back on track, moving forward to a bright, innovative future for comics and animation.

Though perhaps I should have started with Tezuka, the appeal of the traveling ronin story was a great draw for me. As epitomized in the Kurosawa/Mifune films (Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and Seven Samurai), and also in the Zatoichi films, such stories, while straightforward in concept, allow for many variations of theme and many explorations of characters and cultural elements.

Lone Wolf & Cub takes the form of a series of vignettes: small, self-contained stories. Each one has its own theme and tone, each shows the complete arc of an idea; but, like a poetic cycle, these stories are greater as a whole than they are alone. We return again and again to concepts, and each time, a new layer is added, a new side of the story is explored.

Gradually, these small stories build up into a much larger arc. They are not related by a continuous plot, but by continuous thematic explorations. I often find such collections of short stories are much more effective in creating intriguing settings and characters than a protracted plot full of exposition. The author is free to move through time and place, exploring character and world elements as they come up, and is not forced to create tenuous, convenient connections to string the plot together. The characters and themes anchor the story more deeply than a simple sequence of events.

The art takes its cue from traditional sumi-e ink and wash painting, with the swift, decisive strokes which were so equated with sword strokes that it was said you could read a man’s fencing style in his art and calligraphy. The marriage of this style with Western sequential art is seamless, and it’s hardly surprising that the stylized forms displayed here have proven so inspirational in the visual arts.

Some of the story comes off as cliché, but it’s always difficult to say with an original work how much of that is because other artists have copied the style in the meantime. We have the amusingly esoteric discussions of styles, attacks, and schools which grew up as Japanese society formalized and striated, turning death-dealing into an academic exercise for the literate. But that’s part of the charm for adherents of samurai and wuxia.

We also have the inevitable ‘passing stroke’ which dramatically ends every battle, which might seem repetitive to a Western eye, until we recognize that every Western fight ends with a haymaker. The scenarios which play out prior to this final blow are widely varied, action-packed, and fully realized in the onrush of dark, ever-moving lines.

Many of the plots are likewise variations on a theme, presenting us briefly with a complicated bit of feudal shogunate politics which necessitate our protagonist’s intervention. Though he is an impossibly strong, invincible warrior, sometimes to the detriment of tension, his methods of solving these problems are often surprisingly insightful and subtle, showing a deep and shrewd intelligence behind his mighty sword arm.

The stories are unapologetically violent, which includes graphic sexual violence. However, the sexual violence is not pornographic: it does not linger upon carefully detailed forms, but is used to tell a realistic, if sometimes unsettling story. Nor does the book get drawn down into taking itself too seriously, as so many of its imitators have. Violence is only one part of the human story, portrayed in equal footing with love, honor, sorrow, hope, and humor. It is the nature of the story that physical conflict often takes the forefront, but never to the exclusion of other human desires.

My Suggested Reading In Comics

[Ill D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boom!

[Jesus Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lobo Solitario 5

La historia del asesino Gunbei Yagyu, un tanto decepcionante, y se suponía que él era el único del clan, entonces…..
La de los cazarrecompensas Eto, me gusto el razonamiento del jefe de ese grupo al final, aunque también un tanto anticlimático el desenlace, aun así muy buen dibujo.
La historia donde se pone a sembrar en el arrozal, esa es magnífica, no solo en si misma, también le da una humanidad y complejidad tanto al personaje de Ito como al niño.
La del Asaemon Yamada, también genial historia, y el dibujo en el pastizal, soberbio.
La historia del armero, el honor y compromiso que tenia el armero, la inteligencia para detectar que ocurría, y el desenlace, esa carriola.
4.5 stars

[Petergiaquinta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am happy to report the return of the baby cart. Where's it been? I dunno. The author doesn't really give us much. I'm just glad it's back. And in this volume's final episode, "The Guns of Sakai," we learn how the baby cart of the films comes to be equipped with its heavy fire power, something that seems a little absurd in the movies, but now begins to make sense.

If we get no explanation where the baby cart has been, we do learn a little more about the Yagyu clan, the trail markers Ogami uses to communicate with his employers, and the ox- and horse-headed demons of Meifumado that Ogami uses as his talismans, along with the events that won Ogami his position as Kogi Kaishakunin, chief executioner for the Shogun. In one of this volume's more interesting episodes, Ogami and Daigoru take a break from the Demon Way to live with peasants in a farming community, joining them for the rice planting season. It is a temporary pastoral respite from the violence and death overshadowing father and son.

[Jedi JC Daquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me emphaisize a particular chapter first. I am surprised that Yamada Asaemon shows up this early in Lone Wolf. With how he was built up in his own series, Samurai Executioner, he would have been introduced late in the series, when Ogami Itto deals with the big names and strongest samurais. Moreover, their duel was too fast. I expected a great, long fight.

This volume advances the whole story with the Yagyu clan and the shogunate both getting a foothold with the escalating number of assassinations by the Lone Wolf. They now know how to ensnare wolf, so Ogami has to be extra careful.

Daigoro offers some lighthearted moments while the Zodiac gang brings back some backstory when Ogami was still a decapitator.

[The Lion's Share · Rating 4 out of 5]

The black wind a beautiful story of honour and grace.

This series never disappoints. A true mastery n manga beyond any other.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth volume of Lone Wolf & Cub yields another great five stories of Ogami Ittō and Daigorō walking the assassin's road. The stories are paced well and Kojima's artistry continues to shine as Ogami Ittō carves his way through his never-ending enemies.

The first story, "Trail Markers", pits the Yagyu Clan against the Lone Wolf. They uncover Ogami's creative form of communication via trail markers, and use this as a way to lure him into a duel with one of their finest swordsmen. Ogami deters from his typical style to deal with a formidable opponent who has previously bested him before. A simple, yet wonderfully executed tale.

The second story, "Executioner's Hill", sets a depleted clan of bounty hunters against Ogami. The Zodiac clan are desperate for money and find the Lone Wolf and Cub on their shared path. Believing that Ogami has money stashed somewhere, the six bounty hunters attempt to dangle Daigorō's life before Ogami as a means of getting him to give up the cash. But Daigorō has passed on the ball to choose the life of the sword instead, and Ogami is more than willing to let Daigorō die instead of caving to criminal demands. This was probably one of the two strongest stories in the bunch since it shows how much of Ogami's humanity has been shed to walk the assassin's road, and how the relationship between father and son will always be atypical.

"Black Wind" is the third story and gives this volume its name. Ogami has taken up work on a rice paddy, which bewilders the other workers since samurai (and even ronin) typically see themselves as above farm work. The phrase "black wind" refers to an abnormal weather pattern that has been known to benefit farm yields, but it is mostly considered a superstitious thing. Nonetheless, the story makes it clear that a black wind can come in more than one form, and that the Lone Wolf may indeed be akin to a force of nature. This was my favorite story of the bunch easily.

The fourth story, "Decapitator Asaemon", yet again features the Yagyu Clan's efforts to down the Lone Wolf, this time by focusing on acquiring the requisite blade needed for the job. While a fun story overall, this one felt a bit lacking in substance overall.

The final story, "The Guns of Sakai", looks into how the use of firearms have begun to percolate into the warrior class. The blueprints of a new design made by a brilliant gunsmith is targeted by rival gunsmiths, and the Lone Wolf is contracted for the job. Despite the dubious nature of his employers, Ogami must balance his own honor with that of the assassin's honor. This was a strong final tale for this volume.

[Jefi Sevilay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kalabalık: Adını söylemedin?
Ogami Itto: Bunu söylemem sizin için hiç hoş olmaz.

Siyah beyaz olmasına rağmen yine çok başarılı bulduğum bir sayıydı Kara Yel. İçindeki hikayelerden her biri sanki kendini tekrarlıyor gibi görünürken bir yandan da genel bir hikaye üzerinden ilerledi.

Geçen kitapta Ogami Itto'nun her suikastten 500 ryo aldığını, bu ryo'ların fiziksel olarak bir torbada verildiğini ve acaba bu paraların nerede saklandığını merak etmiştim. Bu kitapta Ogami'yi soymaya kalkan bir avuç gerzek de aynısını merak etmiş ve sonları malum. Bu gizem hala korunuyor. Bir de Daigoro'cuğum için 2-3 yaşlarındadır dedim. Kara Yel'de de 3 yaşında olduğu ortaya çıktı. İyi tahmin. Bu arada Daigoro birkaç karalamadan ibaret dünyanın en tatlı çocuk karakterlerinden biri olabilir.

O kadar başarılı bir Manga ki bende filmleri izleme isteği uyandırıyor. Özellikle o kılıç oyunlarını gözümle görmeliyim. Renksiz çizimlerin bu kadar hayranlık uyandırması beni hayrete düşürüyor. Hikayesi o kadar sağlam ve döneme öyle güzel ışık tutuyor ki eminim roman olarak okusak bile çok memnun kalırdık. Sakai'nin Silahları bölümünü ayrıca çok çok beğendim. Ogami'nin ateşli bir silah kullanması çok garibime gitti, Daigoro'yla bir demirciye kapanıp planları uygulamaya başlaması ayrı bir merak uyandırdı.

Ne mutlu ki şu an için 27'ye kadar yolu var.

Herkese keyifli okumalar!

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο ροδομάγουλος Νταϊγκόρο, που κοιτάζει τον πατέρα του να φυτεύει ρύζι. Τι εικόνα!

[Darren-lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - Great artwork...

[Recep · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Black Wind comes

Kazuo Koike is a joy to read and the classic volumes of Line Wolf and Cub hold up. This one continues the air of mysterious victory and the idiosyncratic code Lone Wolf lives by and we increasingly see into the mind of cub. A gem.

[Václav · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4,2 of 5 for this splendid o-samurai manga)
Another batch of stories from Lone Wolf travels. It's nice how they're still fresh, interesting and somehow different. Wolf meets a dire wolf, wolf meets a pack of hungry jackals, the wolf's honour leads him to redeem consequences of his own actions, the lion sends another wolf to sniff the lone wolf and the snake who forced his path. The idea is the same, but the circumstances and the surroundings change. Again, there is a high saturation of historical facts, skillfully stitched together and high spiritual value in all stories. I really liked the story about shogun's sword tester or the one about gunsmith. Story with stray hungry bounty hunters was also great. there isn't any particularly different story or really strong one, but the quality is high (and again, there is usually one which resonates more than others, as for me it was the story about yoshitsugu Yamada Asaemon (shogun's performer of o-tameshi - the test of anew blade on dead body)

[Paco Correa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un poco más de lo mismo, sigue poco a poco el desarrollo de la trama, va muy lento pero a paso firme aunque este volumen si es el más flojo hasta el momento, aun asi el capitulo "viento negro del sur" es buenísimo y emotivo

[Stephen Richter · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing the Mandalorian on Disney+, it reminded me of the Lone Wolf and Cub films and TV series I have watched in the past. But I did not know it was based on a Magna series. Thankfully Dark Horse Comics have reprinted the series and so far the series is free to borrow along with my ComiXology subscription . Kazuo Koike has researched the Endo Period of Japan history which flows through the tale. Goseki Kojima Black &White art fit the tales perfect. On to Vol 6

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great volume, one small minor detail, Asemon a great foe of Itto, and supposedly the equal of Itto and Yagyu, gets killed very easily, i hoped for more of him. But again, a very solid volume.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some more of the same, as well as some surprising developments - especially in the last story! I really enjoyed getting to see some of the stories from the child's perspective. I wish I knew what their end goal is, but I suppose for that I will have to keep reading.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ya no sé que más decir sobre esta serie que no haya dicho con anterioridad. Simplemente impresionante.
La historia que le da nombre a este tomo, El Viento Negro, es quizá una de las historias más enternecedoras y bellas que he leído en los últimos años. Imposible no sentirse conmovido, obviamente esta historia responde a la cultura japonesa, que es fuertemente impulsada por el honor y el deber. Este capítulo que es narrado por Daigoro, nos da luz sobre cuáles son los sentimientos del hijo sobre el padre, y también es contrastante darse cuenta que no es como suponíamos.
Los combates siguen siendo inmersivos y en este volumen se enfrenta contra adversarios retadores que inclusive, Itto admite que podrían derrotarlo.
Itto se enfrenta contra un Yagyu, uno de los miembros de la familia que traicionó a Itto y orquestó la muerte de su esposa.
Sigo sin ver cómo es que esta historia durará 18 volúmenes, pero cada tomo lo espero con ansias, es impresionante.

[Tiago Germano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trata-se de um volume importante na série, já que vai explicar o sentido dos douchu-jin, o código extraído do manual militar através do qual Ogami vai se comunicar com seus clientes. É neste volume, também, que se conta a origem da arma de múltiplos disparos que o ronin vai instalar no carrinho de bebê no qual carrega o seu filho Daigoro. Embora a primeira história não tenha tanto brilho, esta última se destaca pelo olhar que pousa num período de transição da história da indústria bélica japonesa, no qual as armas de fogo começaram a assumir o lugar das armas brancas. A Panini peca em não traduzir os ideogramas que explicam os componentes dos arcabuzes, aliás a questão da tradução é muito problemática em toda a série: não me agrada a maneira um tanto arbitrária como ela é dividida entre notas de rodapé entre os quadrinhos e glossário ao final dos volumes.

[B. P. Rinehart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't sure I would get back to this book, but I decided to go on some more (inspired by my reading of Usagi Yojimbo). This sees us start getting into the main story more though it is still more filler here (this title is going to be like Neil Gaiman's The Sandman where I read only volumes relating to the main story). I wish the translation could be better: Dana Lewis' attempts at localizing-slang for the peasants is too distracting to me interrupted my reading experience some. The illustrations by Goseki Kojima is on-point as always.

[Jason Holtzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was packed with a lot and kept up the series' ability to be entertaining and informative historical fiction.

"Executioner's Hill" was a small but interesting look into psyche of Ogami in relation to his son, while "Black Wind" was a similar more emotional tale, albeit a little cobbled together at the end.

"Decapitator Asaemon" introduces the character that would later become the central focus of the prequel series Samurai Executioner, and "The Guns of Sakai," the last entry, is the most interesting. It delivers a brief history of guns in Japan, commentary on they are/were viewed, and provides Ogami with an interesting tool (which I'm curious to see how/if it will continue to pop-up in the series).

[Liam Strong · Rating 5 out of 5]

y'know, i never really liked horses to begin with (because they are grossly muscular meat motorcycles with unrealistically dazzling locks and also because they scare me) but hachi machi there's so much brutal horse death in this that it's almost cooler than samurai getting their torsos sliced open

don't get me wrong you shouldn't become an assassin-for-hire just willy nilly but if a local stallion murders the lemonade stand kid in your neighborhood named gregory please do not hesitate to take up the closest dotanuki blade, take the horse to your local shogun, and decapitate the damnable human-toothed vagrant yourself and get those honor points, queen

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the usual quality of Lone Wolf and Cub. This collection of stories shows plot moving as the Yagyu and Tokugawa take interest in Ogami. We see Ogami getting character development as he abandons older styles and traditions and adopts new tools.

Black Wind is the titular story and the best of the bunch where Daigoro reflects on what a peaceful life would look like for them both. Then there is The Guns of Sakai which is a fascinating story about how gun smithing came to Japan and is beginning to change the samurai and culture. In a series with multitudes of one-off characters, Shichirobei the gun smith and his quest are memorable.

[Nordic Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tanken är densamma, men omständigheterna och omgivningen förändras. Återigen finns det en hög mättnad av historiska fakta, skickligt sammanfogade och högt andligt värde i alla berättelser. Jag gillade verkligen historien om shoguns svärdtestare eller den om vapensmed. Historien med herrelösa hungriga prisjägare var också bra. det finns ingen särskilt annorlunda historia eller riktigt stark, men kvaliteten är hög (och återigen, det finns vanligtvis en som ger mer resonans än andra, eftersom det för mig var historien om yoshitsugu Yamada Asaemon! Fem stjärnor.

[Nick Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong suite of episodes that illuminate Itto’s pre-kōgi kaishakunin days through characters that either vied for the position, or were parallel to it. Key introduction to Yamada Asaemon, the character who would be the title role in Koike and Kojima’s later series SAMURAI EXECUTIONER.

Though every episode is superb, BLACK WIND stands out for a variety of reasons, most notably the handling of gender and class.

[Highland G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really starting to get into these characters but I feel these stories are like bullet points of a story with lots of historical context, they lack any true character development or stakes.
I want more development of our main characters and the things THEY WANT TO DO, rather than just using them as a stand in for the reader and telling random other characters stories constantly.
Even a story about training his son, swords, etiquette etc would be nice.

[Nate Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each volume gets stronger and stronger. The chapters' lack of continuity make it easy for practically anyone to drop in wherever and read a chapter. This volume demonstrates this idea the best so far.