Basilisk: Kouga Ninpouchou

Manga Review: Basilisk (also known as ‘Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scroll’)
Genre: Romance, Tragedy, Action, Supernatural, Historical, Adult
Writer: Masaki Segawa
Director: Fumitomo Kizaki
Publisher: Kodansha
No. of Chapters/Issues/Volumes: 34/34/05
Original Run: February 2003 – July 2004
Anime Television Series -
No. of Episodes: 24
Runtime: approx 24 minutes per episode
Original Run: April 12, 2005 –September 20, 2005

Synopsis:
Basilisk is, if you all know about it, the name of a lizard species. Legend has it that if anyone would, even for once, look or peep into the eyes of a legendary titan, King Basilisk, he/she/it would be turned into stone at once. The incidents are somewhat similar to that of the Greek folklore which speaks of Medusa the Gorgon.
The story in the manga is picturised in a similar manner. There are two main characters in the series namely, Gennosuke Kouga and Oboro from the Iga Ninja Clan.
These two ninja clans, the Iga and the Kouga are supposed to be the sworn enemies of each other since the beginning of the time, despite the fact that they derive their origin from the same blood. A peace treaty has been made between the two clans by the well known Historical Figure, Hattori Hanzou, with the co-operation of the then Shogun in the 16th Century A.D., which is later, broken down by the clan leaders, who end up killing each other in the very first chapter. A scroll is given to each ninja clan which contains a list of the TOP 10 warriors appointed by the clan leaders, each from the Iga and the Kouga, who possess unique skills which make them more terrific than the normal foot soldiers. After the leaders kill each other, they strike out each other’s name from the scroll with their own blood and perish. Thus begins the battle between the two clans as the peace treaty has been broken, which means the Kouga and the Iga are free to kill each other. :D Sounds funny I know…
Meanwhile, the ‘would be leader’ of the Iga, Oboro is in love with Gennosuke Kouga, who were supposed to get married in the near future. I won’t say anything further and provide spoilers. Read the Manga to know more. It is indeed a cool one with a fair Storyline (It is an irony-filled Love story actually).
I’ll give the story a rating of 8/10.

Character Illustration & Artworks:
There are only a handful of characters in the entire Manga. The List Includes:
Iga Tsubagakure Group Leader, Iga no Ogen; Yashamaru; Oboro; Azuki Rousai; Mino-Nanki; Hotaru Bi; Amayo Jingoro; Akeginu; Yakushiji Tenzen; Chikuma Koshiro
Kouga Manji Daini Group Leader, Kouga Danjo; Kazamachi Shougen; Kouga Gennosuke; Udono Josuke; Jimushi Juube; Muroga Hyoma; Kasumi Gyobu; Asaragi Saemon; Kagero; Okoi (Asaragi Saemon’s Little Sister)
I’ve named them in order of their Appearances in the Manga. I’ll give a rating of 10/10 for the character designing, as all the characters are illustrated perfectly as per their special Ninja Skills.
The artwork is also good, as it is in all the manga. So, 10/10.

Dialogues:
Well, the dialogues are well-written, but there are a few situations where it appears that the story is following a slow pace. So, you must not get impatient.
A rating of 6/10 for the dialogues/script.

Overall Rating: 8.7/10

WARNING: The Basilisk Manga is a terribly great one but it is full of MATURE CONTENT. So, watch the Anime/ Read the Manga, on your own risk. It is strictly meant for people above 18. Rating is ‘A’. Soft-hearted people, stay away from it as it has a lot of violence and blood as well. The Anime Series is Totally Based on the Manga. There is no change in the story and the Scenes…

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.

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 manga that reveals honor, loyalty, cleverness and abilities of the ancient ninjas, with some awesome and unique power in each character. It has a fantastic story which shows love can overcome anything, but the path the couple have to follow is a bloody and hard way.

The first thing I like about Basilisk is story. It shows you an old Japan, where samurais and specially ninja still exist. Even if they had to serve to their lord, they have feelings and ulterior motives to keep in their sides and fight. The love of the msin characters maintains strong and pure, althought the others want to stain it and sometimes they have to make difficult decision between love and loyalty. Even though the story is not anything beyond normal, each character has a different development in the story that makes it more complicated and scheming.

About graphics, it's a very good seinen art. Even though. I'm not affectionate to seinen, this manga makes me feel captivated with the battle scenes and the gore scenes. They really impact you and the backgrouund is very well done They really makes the quick and running action of ninjas stand out.

To conclude, this manga has many doses of action, gore, supernatural powers, scheming and crude story. If you like ninja with high amounts of crude action, this manga is one of the best choice for you.

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*)