Lone Wolf & Cub

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Lone Wolf & Cub
Original title 子 連 れ 狼
transcription Kozure Ōkami
genre Drama, action
Manga
country JapanJapan Japan
author Kazuo Koike
Illustrator Gōseki Kojima
publishing company Futabasha
magazine Weekly Manga Action
First publication September 1970 - April 1976
expenditure 28
Television broadcast
German title The samurai with the child
Year (s) 1973-1976
length 45 minutes
Episodes 79
music Takeo Watanabe
First broadcast July 1, 1973 - September 26, 1976 on NTV
German-language
first broadcast		 2005 on VOX
synchronization
Movie
► Okami - The Sword of Vengeance (1972)

Lone Wolf & Cub ( Japanese 子 連 れ 狼 , Kozure Ōkami , literally for example: wolf with child ) is a manga that was created by the Japanese author Kazuo Koike and the illustrator Gōseki Kojima . The work was adapted in the form of several films and a television series. It is considered a classic of the samurai genre.

action

The manga is about the Rōnin Itto Ogami, the former Kaishaku-Nin of the shogunate , who had the job of an executioner . Due to an intrigue of the Yagyū clan, however, he is suspected of betraying the Shogun . He opposes the command seppuku to commit, and draws as hitmen Okami with his young son Daigoro by the Japan of the Edo period . His goal is to get revenge on the Yagyū clan, the traitors and murderers of his wife Azami. Itto is an excellent fighter and master of the suio sword technique. He not only fights with his Dōtanuki sword, but also makes use of the arsenal of weapons that is part of Daigoro's wooden pram.

Origin and style

The style of the manga develops the vigorously articulated, gestural stroke of earlier works, such as Sanpei Shirato's From the Martial Arts of the Samurai , into a more realistic representation. Kazuo Koike wrote about the series: “I write about Bushidō at a time when it was all about taking responsibility for what you say and do. Today's politicians and leaders lack this spirit. "

The plot consists of individual episodes in which Itto has to endure fights and proves his martial art. The motif of revenge and the background story connects the individual episodes. The sword fights occupy an important place in the plot and sometimes last up to 30 pages in which there is no talk.

publication

Okami appeared in Japan from 1970 to 1976 in serial chapters in the Manga magazine Weekly Manga Action published by Futabasha and was also summarized in 28 anthologies, each with more than 300 pages. The individual volumes consist of several self-contained short stories. In the USA, Okami appeared under the title Lone Wolf & Cub in monthly installments from First Comics from May 1987 , making it the second manga series published in the USA after Barefoot through Hiroshima .

A 62-page chapter of the series was published in German in 1989 under the title Der Wolf und seine Jungs in issue 5 of the comic anthology “Macao” by the publisher Borchert & Querengässer, which also makes the series one of the first manga ever published in German. From 1996 to 1997 the Carlsen-Verlag published eight volumes of the US-American version under the title Okami in reverse reading direction, but this version was discontinued prematurely due to low sales. From 2003 the series was published under the title Lone Wolf & Cub on Planet Manga and has been available in full in 28 volumes since October 2009. The individual volumes have a smaller format than usual and are thus similar to the original Japanese editions, but the title drawings designed for the American edition were adopted by Frank Miller , Matt Wagner , Bill Sienkiewicz , Guy Davis and Vince Locke . Each volume contains an introductory text that clarifies the historical context and a glossary that explains the most important terms used.

Adaptations

Film series

Okami is the German title of a six-part Japanese film series from the 1970s that was based on the manga. The film series was released in Japanese with German subtitles on RapidEyeMovies in a box containing six DVDs. The main role was played by Tomisaburō Wakayama .

The six parts are:

  1. Okami - The Sword of Vengeance ( Kozure Okami: Ko o Kashi Udekashi Tsukamatsuru )
  2. Okami - At the Dead River ( Kozure Okami: Sanzu no Kawa no Ubaguruma )
  3. Okami - The Wind of Death ( Kozure Okami: Shi ni kaze ni Mukau Ubaguruma )
  4. Okami - The tattooed killer ( Kozure Okami: Oya no Kokoro Ko no Kokoro )
  5. Okami - The White Path of Hell ( Kozure Okami: Meifu Mado )
  6. Okami - Bloody Snow ( Kozure Okami: Jigoku e Iku zo! Daigoro )

An American compilation of the first two films appeared in Germany as the executioner of the Shogun .

In 1993 the film Kozure Ōkami: Sono Chiisaki Te ni was also released .

Television series

Also in the 1970s was a television series of the same name with Kinnosuke Yorozuya in the lead role, which includes 78 episodes. The series was first broadcast on Japanese television NTV from 1973 to 1976 . In 2005, the TV station VOX broadcast the first 26 episodes of the series under the title The Samurai with the Child , in January 2006 a second season was broadcast, from April 2007 the third. In addition, some of the episodes were broadcast on XXP .

reception

In Japan the volumes of the series sold over 5 million copies. The American cartoonist Frank Miller was a big fan of the series early on and took on many influences from Lone Wolf & Cub in his own series Ronin . He also wrote the foreword and designed the cover of the first American edition. This edition sold so well that three more followed, the second with 50,000 more copies. The American edition, published by Dark Horse Comics , received the 2001 Eisner Award in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category . In the same year the edition also received the Harvey Award in the category Best American Edition of Foreign Material and was able to repeat this in 2002 and 2003.

According to Paul Gravett, the manga combines "extraordinary brutality and tender silence" in that the fighting samurai stands in contrast to his young son. Kojima's drawings captured this contrast, but also the physical exertion and the dynamics of the fighting. Nicolas Finet counts the manga among the "great classics of the Gekiga " , the main characters of which have become icons of Japanese comics. The battle scenes are staged in “dynamic, rapid picture sequences and with powerful lines” and the work offers not only “gripping and repeatedly surprising” adventures, but also “a lively portrait of the Edo period” . According to Frederic L. Schodt , the series has set standards for the genre. The contrast between human bonds and the violence on the battlefield is the most important motif of Lone Wolf & Cub and also plays an important role in many other samurai stories. The German magazine MangasZene describes the series as a "breathtaking epic" and "a fascinatingly deep classic" . Despite its age, the manga looks modern and up-to-date. The drawing style and the skilful design of the pages create "practically wordless unbelievably atmospheric stories" with a clear, decompressed narrative .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frederik L. Schodt and Osamu Tezuka (preface): Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics . Kodansha America, 1983, p. 142.
  2. ↑ a b c Paul Gravett (eds.) And Andreas C. Knigge (transl.): 1001 comics that you should read before life is over . Zurich 2012, Edition Olms. P. 317.
  3. ↑ a b MangasZene No. 12, p. 37.
  4. ↑ Scott McCloud: Making Comics. Everything about comics, manga and graphic novels . Carlsen Comics, 2007, p. 226.
  5. ^ A b Paul Gravett: Manga - Sixty Years of Japanese Comics . Egmont Manga and Anime, 2004, p. 105 f.
  6. ↑ Frederik L. Schodt and Osamu Tezuka (preface): Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics . Kodansha America, 1983. p. 21.
  7. ↑ Frederik L. Schodt and Osamu Tezuka (preface): Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics . Kodansha America, 1983. p. 72.
  8. ↑ Scott McCloud: Making Comics. Everything about comics, manga and graphic novels . Carlsen Comics, 2007, p. 242.
  9. ^ Paul Gravett: Manga - Sixty Years of Japanese Comics . Egmont Manga and Anime, 2004, p. 155.
  10. ↑ Frederik L. Schodt and Osamu Tezuka (preface): Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics . Kodansha America, 1983. p. 71.

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