Issak

During the 17th century, Europe is being devastated by the Thirty Years' War. Although the Netherlands send reinforcements to The Holy Roman Empire, almost all of them end up deserting, with the exception of a single Japanese man.

Travelling all the way from East Asia, Issak is searching for the man who murdered his master and stole something precious to him. Suspecting the killer has joined one of the opposing armies, Issak participates in the war as a mercenary, hoping to find and end his nemesis once and for all.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Issak has been published digitally in English by Kodansha USA since August 15, 2023, and in print as 2-in-1 omnibus volumes since June 10, 2025.

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Characters

Issak

Main

Lorenzo

Supporting

Shibakusa, Shihori

Supporting

Shibakusa, Sahei

Supporting

Zetta

Supporting

von Wittelsbach, Heinrich

Supporting

Reviews

Jun 21, 2020

TheSpanishInquis

Recommended

Preliminary (21/100 eps)

I've waited for so long. SO LONG!!!! "Its such a good setting, WHY HAS NOBODY USED IT BY NOW!" Is what I was thinking of for years. I am a total history nerd, and an avid consumer of Japanese media, and while I love every manga with a historical setting, like Vagabond, Vinland Saga, Kingdom, and so on, I ALWAYS wanted a manga set in the Holy Roman Empire(HRE). Its just such an interesting setting, from the Protestant Wars that occurred in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, to the Investiture Controversy that caused so much fuss in the 11th century going forward, and even ... back to Charlemagne's conquests, everything about the HRE is so interesting and WEIRD. Its literally a league of nations, city-states, and republics that somehow stayed together for almost a thousand years, which is a ridiculous accomplishment considering how decentralized they were for a vast majority of that time. I always though it was a massively overlooked setting, and I was legitimately considering getting better at my mediocre skills at drawing just to make a one-shot or something, BUT NO LONGER MUST I WAIT!!! AT LAST!!! Shinji Makari used it, and its freaking amazing. Just from looking at the first Volume, I found what has to be one of my favorite manga of all time. Everything about it screams history nerd. The armor is historically accurate for the most part, the weapons are historically accurate, and most of all, the battles are BRUTAL, just like real medieval battles. Only nitpick I have is that sometimes, the armor does nothing, like in the first chapter when Issak uses a matchlock rifle (I think its a tanegashima, but I'm no specialist in rifles, so idk for sure) at a ridiculous range and penetrates plate armor. If he was using any matchlock rifle at that time period, his feat would literally be impossible, and would likely land nowhere near his target or if it did hit, it would simply bounce of the plate. But that is just me nit picking at whatever I can find, and otherwise, its like a Vagabond based in the HRE. Its so well drawn I have absolutely nothing to give but praise to the artist. Issak looks pretty distinct form the other characters, which makes sense because hes Japanese and they are European, and it adds a bit of flavor to his character. The characters around him are interesting, and we get a lot of information about characters from their actions, rather than simply using dialogue. The story is well written, and is simple, which I think is good. Issak is out for revenge, and that is all I'll say, because I don't want to go past the first chapter and spoil the fun for anybody reading this review. And on a side note, the author Shinji Makari also has some cool tidbits at the end of some chapters. Overall, this manga is on par with other like it, including Vinland Saga and the famed Vagabond. Honestly, it might just be me freaking out over finally having my imagined manga come to life, but this is just so good. Highly recommended for anybody who likes Seinen or history.

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Sep 6, 2020

AspR2rafa

Recommended

Preliminary (26/100 eps)

Issak brings together two distinct battlefields, the Japanese and the European, bringing a clash between two Japanese snipers, who venture out as mercenaries while one of them seeks his revenge, with everything going on in the ancient Holy Roman Empire in the 17th century. The way in which the author approaches the battles shows that he had a lot of study of him, to bring about such realistic clashes. Issak is a perfect work for history fans, in which they will be impressed with the correct traces of European armor.

Now the downside, Issak fails to try to bring in interesting characters, with the group around ...

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Jul 18, 2022

SenseiMedo

Not Recommended

Preliminary (35/100 eps)

Spoiler

What started as a masterpiece quickly started to go to ruin after chapter 6 like the calm before the storm.

The first 6 chapters were a new ray of light that had you not knowing what was coming next, nothing could be predicted and gave a strong ray of excitement chapter after chapter, unfortunately, it all tumbles downhill from chapter 7 onwards...

Initially, I wanted to rate this 10 then 6 then 3 and now 2 every chapter I read it gets ridiculous full-on nonsense.

Story: The first 6 chapters are clearly written by someone else aside from the rest of the story, it's like ...

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Poll: Issak Chapter 1 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 8, 2018	1 replies	by otakuweek »» Jun 13, 8:54 AM
Poll: Issak Chapter 9 Discussion Major_Gilbert - Mar 23, 2019	0 replies	by Major_Gilbert »» Mar 23, 2019 3:20 AM
Poll: Issak Chapter 7 Discussion Major_Gilbert - Jan 18, 2019	0 replies	by Major_Gilbert »» Jan 18, 2019 11:26 AM
Poll: Issak Chapter 6 Discussion Major_Gilbert - Oct 13, 2018	0 replies	by Major_Gilbert »» Oct 13, 2018 9:43 AM
Poll: Issak Chapter 3 Discussion SurgeonOfDeath7 - May 22, 2018	0 replies	by SurgeonOfDeath7 »» May 22, 2018 1:09 PM

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