Kamui (manga series)
| Kamui | |
 | |
| カムイ | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, drama, historical |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Sanpei Shirato |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Garo |
| Original run | 1964 – 1971 |
| Volumes | 21 |
| Manga | |
| The Legend of Kamui | |
| Written by | Sanpei Shirato |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| English publisher | |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Big Comic |
| Original run | 1982 – 2000 |
| Volumes | 22 |
| Anime television series | |
| The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja | |
| Directed by | Yonehiko Watanabe |
| Music by | Ryōichi Mizutani |
| Studio | TCJ |
| Original network | Fuji TV |
| Original run | April 6, 1969 – September 28, 1969 |
| Episodes | 26 |
Kamui (カムイ) is a manga series written and drawn by Sanpei Shirato. Set in feudal Japan, it tells the story of a low-born ninja who has fled his clan. The series combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions.
Plot
Kamui is a ninja from the Edo period who has decided to leave his clan. After doing so he is pursued relentlessly by the members of his former clan; who consider him to be a traitor and therefore wish to kill him. Kamui then wanders around Japan to escape from them by using his intelligence and great abilities to survive. In the course of the series Kamui begins to suffer from paranoia because of his status as a persecuted man. Kamui then started to believe that everybody wished to murder him and became distrusting of everyone he came across.
Publication
The original series, Kamui (カムイ), ran from December 1964 to July 1971 in the monthly gekiga magazine Garo. The sequel titled Legend of Kamui (カムイ伝 Kamui Den) ran from 1982 to 2000 in Big Comic.[1]
In 1987, two volumes of the second series became one of the first manga titles to be published in the United States (by Eclipse Comics and Viz Comics), as The Legend of Kamui. The Viz edition featured lettering and retouching by Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai.
Adaptations
The manga was adapted into an anime series The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja (1969) and a live-action film Kamui Gaiden (2009).
The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja (忍風カムイ外伝 Ninpū Kamui Gaiden) was produced by TCJ in 1969. It was broadcast in Japan from 6 April 1969 to 28 September 1969 by Fuji TV. Kamui the Ninja had 26 episodes with a running time of 22 minutes each one.
References
External links
- The Legend of Kamui (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia