Basilisk: Kouga Ninpouchou
Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

With beautiful artwork and a beautiful story Basilisk is a one-of-a-kind Graphic Novel.

The battle between two clans, which are sworn enemy's for over 400 years makes the story intense. Every character is special in his own, because of his/her ninja technique or his/her appearance.
But it's not only a story about ancient old rivalry, this story also shows how beautiful, and painful, love can be.


It's not only a great Graphic Novel to look at, it's also a Graphic Novel that you can read anytime. It won't get bored.

(10 - MASTERPIECE) (*my opinion*)

When you have two rival clans that hate the living guts out of each other your bound to get a blood spilling manga, and that's exactly what Basilisk is. The Iga and Kouga clan are the two clans that take their differences to the battlefield in this exciting manga.

First of all I basically told you the story plots in my introduction. Other than the fact that these two clans fight to the death to see who would become the new shogun of Japan there's isn't much to the story. It sticks to this all the way untill the finish of the manga.

Art is ... very good. It's a manga that makes you visualize every fight scene and it makes it look great. The artwork is very realistic and it feels like your watching the anime and not reading the manga.

Now to my favorite part of this manga, the characters. Every character is so special and different from the rest. There are twenty main characters. Ten from Kouga and ten from Iga. You will like at least one of them by the end of the manga. Every character shows different feeling to different things and every one of them has a special power that you can't wait to see. My personal favorite character was Kisaragi Saemon.

This manga was very enjoyable. I was able to finish it in about two hours. It isn't too long so anyone that is looking for a nice quick read and is a fan of ninjas and Japanese history should read this manga.

Basilisk is a Seinen, Action, Romance filled with sword fighting, ninja skills and psychological battles enough to satisfy Samurai fans out there.

Basilisk reminds me of the Shakespearian classical tragedy Romeo and Juliet, two people from two rivalled clans falling in love. The two intended to marry to stop the fues between their groups and create peace but in certain circumstances, greed for power, the thirst for blood and drive for vengeance can't be stopped as such thruce can't wipe away hatred. Thus starts the war between these groups.

The manga design including character, background and battle scene was somewhat appreciated by seinen readers, dark, bloody ... and a few nudity.

Diffinition of each character is more on their ninjutsu (ninja ability). But as I said before the story is similar to the Romeo and Juliet and even the characters are in one way or another, alike:

Romeo - Ginunsuke
Juliet - Oboro

Kouga Group - Montague
Iga Group - Capulet

This manga feeds readers with bunch of ninja actions, well defined battle scenes and tactics. Though the romance was somehow a bit of a cliche but can catch few tragedy fans.

Overall, this is a worth read taking a 7.5 for me.