Yamada, Yoshihiro

It was the Sengoku-era, when the warlords usurped each other. There was a man whose soul was overtaken by the ways of tea and material greed, as he worked his way up toward greater power and status. His name was Sasuke Furuta, a subordinate warrior of Nobunaga Oda. With his world broadened by Nobunaga the Genius, and his spiritual insight learned from Senno Soueki the Master of Tea, Sasuke drove the road to hyouge. To live or not to live. For the power of the art. That is the question!

(Source: Kodansha)

Hyouge Mono

へうげもの

Koume, Keito

Hasekura, Isuna

Dreaming of someday owning his own shop, traveling merchant Kraft Lawrence spends his days looking for trade opportunities. One day, however, Lawrence's adventure takes an unexpected turn when he discovers a naked wolf girl asleep in his wagon.

The charming girl claims to be Holo, the wolf deity of the nearby town Pasloe. Having grown weary of the ungrateful locals, she requests Lawrence to take her back to her hometown of Yoitsu, located farther north. In return, she will help him with his mercantile affairs, lending him her shrewd mind and keen judgement.

The pair now travels from town to town, dealing with various people and the troubles they come with. But as their hearts and destination grow closer, their days of companionship are numbered.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ookami to Koushinryou

Spice & Wolf

狼と香辛料

Samura, Hiroaki

Manji is an infamous swordsman in feudal Japan who is known as the "Hundred Man Killer," as he has killed one hundred innocent men. However, there is something far more frightening than his ominous reputation: the fact that he is immortal. This is the handiwork of eight-hundred-year-old nun Yaobikuni, who placed bloodworms capable of healing almost any wound in Manji's body. 

To atone for his crimes, Manji resolves to kill one thousand evil men. Yaobikuni agrees to this proposal, saying that if he succeeds, she will undo his curse of immortality. Soon after this promise, Manji meets Rin Asano, a 16-year-old girl who requests Manji's assistance in killing those who slaughtered her parents.

Initially reluctant, Manji refuses Rin's desperate plea. However, owing to her evident lack of strength, Manji changes his mind and agrees to protect Rin for four years. With this partnership set in stone, the two embark on a perilous journey of bloodshed, vengeance, and redemption, each to fulfill their own life's cause.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Mugen no Juunin

Blade of the Immortal

無限の住人

Yamaguchi, Takayuki

Nanjou, Norio

The sadistic daimyo Tadanaga Tokugawa has decreed Japan's first martial arts competition with real swords, appalling even the most loyal of his retainers. However, when the spectators realize that the first match pits the one-armed Gennosuke Fujiki against the blind and lame Seigen Irako, even those with the most forceful objections declare the match to be a farce and the combatants' deformities an affront to their station.

Most of the attendees are unaware of the deep-seated hatred Gennosuke and Seigen hold for each other, which stems from their struggle to become the heir to the insane samurai Kogan Iwamoto, leader of the notorious Kogan-ryuu dojo. Their once-cordial rivalry for Kogan-ryuu and the hand of Kogan's daughter Mie quickly turns violent when one of the young warriors angers the master, causing a chain of events that eventually leads to their severe injuries.

Shigurui chronicles the decisions that led Gennosuke and Seigen to this desperate point, as well as the many lives ruined by the brutality of samurai culture.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shigurui

シグルイ

Urasawa, Naoki

Katsushika, Hokusei

Master Keaton introduces Taichi Hiraga Keaton, an archeology professor and part-time insurance investigator known for his successful and unorthodox methods of investigation. The son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, educated in archaeology at Oxford and a former member of the SAS, Master Keaton uses his knowledge and combat training to uncover buried secrets, thwart would-be villains, and pursue the truth.

(Source: VIZ Media)

Master Keaton

マスターキートン

Ayakura, Juu

A young traveling merchant, Kraft Lawrence, has become accustomed to days of roaming and trading with few companions. Or so it was until one peculiar day when the trader finds a young, naked, wolf-like girl asleep in his wagon.

The beautiful girl, calling herself Holo, claims to be a local wolf deity worshipped by locals as the God of Good Harvest. Year after year, she ensured they would reap a good harvest, but she has since grown tired of fulfilling the wishes of the ungrateful locals.

Holo ends up striking a deal with Lawrence: if he helps her escape the villagers, she will gladly help him in his merchant endeavors. Together, they roam from town to town in search of business, and Lawrence realizes both the ups and downs of traveling with a haughty and shrewd wolf goddess.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Watsuki, Nobuhiro

Ten years have passed since the end of Bakumatsu, an era of war that saw the uprising of citizens against the Tokugawa shogunate. The revolutionaries wanted to create a time of peace, and a thriving country free from oppression. The new age of Meiji has come, but peace has not yet been achieved. Swords are banned but people are still murdered in the streets. Orphans of war veterans are left with nowhere to go, while the government seems content to just line their pockets with money.

One wandering samurai, Kenshin Himura, still works to make sure the values he fought for are worth the lives spent to bring about the new era. Once known as Hitokiri Battousai, he was feared as the most ruthless killer of all the revolutionaries. Now haunted by guilt, Kenshin has sworn never to kill again in atonement for the lives he took, and he may never know peace until killing is a thing of the past.

Now in the 11th year of Meiji, Kenshin stumbles upon Kaoru Kamiya, owner and head instructor of a small dojo being threatened to close its doors. The police force is powerless to stop the string of murders done in the name of her dojo by a man claiming to be the famous Battousai. Kenshin's wanderings pause for now as he joins Kaoru to clear both their names. But how long can he stay before his past catches up to him?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Included one-shot:
Volume 28: Meteor Strike

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story

るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-

Yoshinaga, Fumi

In Edo period Japan (1603 to 1868), a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country's men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen to a quarter of the total female population. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the Shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected and the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the Shogun's Inner Chambers.

(Source: VIZ Media)

Oooku

Oooku: The Inner Chambers

大奥

Kousaka, Rito

Agitogi, Akumi

Miyo Saimori was the unfortunate child of a loveless, arranged marriage. After her mother died, her father brought in his lover and other daughter, Kaya. From then on, Miyo's life was reduced to that of a mere servant. Even worse, while Kaya inherited the family's psychic abilities, Miyo had none—she was truly the daughter with no merit.

After years of being treated like dirt, Miyo has learned to keep her head down, hide her pain, and obey every order. So, it comes as no surprise that she is arranged to be married to Kiyoka Kudou, a military captain rumored to be so cruel that he has driven away every one of his potential wives so far.

From a painful upbringing to a painful marriage, that is the future that awaits Miyo—or so she thinks. Contrary to her expectations, her new husband is actually kind-hearted. What really awaits Miyo is a blissful, everlasting marriage full of happiness!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon

My Happy Marriage

わたしの幸せな結婚

Ever since her mother's death, Miyo Saimori has had little other than her memories to remind her of happiness. Being talentless herself, Miyo has grown up in the shadow of her gifted stepsister and faced every snide remark thrown her way without complaint. Her stepmother's loathing for her is evident in the way she treats Miyo: devoid of any scrap of pity or concern. Miyo accepts that her fate is to slave away for her uncaring family—until her father arranges for her to be wed to Kiyoka Kudou, a revered man with a military background.

The rumors about Kudou are grim, and he is infamous for having been incredibly unkind to all his prospective brides in the past. When Miyo, armed with the barest of essentials for a new life, arrives at her betrothed's residence, she is bewildered to find that not all hearsay about Kudou is true. As she begins to separate fact from fiction, Miyo hopes that her marriage will finally give her the happiness she desires.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yatsuda, Teki

Kei Kitahara, a visionary screenwriter who has taken postwar Japan by storm, has made the difficult decision to lay down his pen for good after he realizes the people he's been basing his characters on have all met unfortunate ends. He spends his days in misery, waiting to die, until a reason to live finds him in the gutter, too drunk and beaten to move. Kei can't help but be attracted to his savior's bewitching innocence, and the urge to write about him grows stronger by the day. Knowing he can't take the risk, he vows to never use his pen against him, but will temptation prove too great?

(Source: SuBLime)

Kami no Fune de Nemuru

Sleeping on Paper Boats

紙の舟で眠る

Koike, Kazuo

Kojima, Goseki

In a prison world, there are few good stories, and this is the world of Kubikiri Asa, the beheader and master samurai under the Shogun. It's a world full of vengeance, greed, and violence. A world of depravity and sin. One man can set things straight if he can keep his wits. This is a story of extreme proportions, of sword study thick in tradition and with grim purpose, of blood rivers, agonizing screams, bondage, torture, and the evil prevalent in human failure. Drafted by the confirmed masters of the international medium of manga, Samurai Executioner is a shocking combination of darkness and fire, fine lines, and a fine man in the face of human decline.

(Source: Dark Horse)

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