Legend of Kamui: Volume Five

Shirato Sanpei was born in Tokyo in 1932. His father, Okamoto T?ki, was an oil painter whose artistic endeavors exposed the young Sanpei to a variety of perspectives. Okamoto notably trained Kurosawa Akira before the latter became a filmmaker. After a seven-year stint as a Kamishibai artist, Shirato would begin working in the kashi-hon manga market in 1957. By 1963, he scripted an animated television series, Kaze no Fujimaru, that was Miyazaki Hayao s first project. The following year, The Legend of Kamui debuted in the pages of Garo, now best known as a launching pad for other revered manga talents like Mizuki Shigeru and Tsuge Yoshiharu.

Every scene simmers with outrage at inequality and injustice, which Shirato links to the politics of the 1960s. Publisher s Weekly, Starred review. The author s chilly and spare narration bridges the gap between present and past, balancing hints of the fantastic with a clear-eyed fatalism. NYPL s Best New Comics for Adults. Astringent comics: tough-minded, tragic, but grand. The Comics Journal