| Jiraishin | |||
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| 地雷震 (Jiraishin) |
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| Demographic | Seinen | ||
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Police, Suspense | ||
| Manga: Jiraishin | |||
| Author | Tsutomu Takahashi | ||
| Publisher |  Kodansha |
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| Serialized in | Afternoon | ||
| Original run | 1992 – 1999 | ||
| Volumes | 19 | ||
Edition Star Comics
Haksan Publishing
Siam Inter ComicsIce Blade, known in Japan as Jiraishin (地雷震, literally "earth-lightning-quake"), is a Japanese manga series by Tsutomu Takahashi as his first manga comic. It was published in the early 1990's and was serialized in Kodansha's Afternoon Magazine from 1992-1999. It won the 1999 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category.[1] Although an official manga was released by Tokyopop under the Mixxzine label, it was discontinued after three volumes with some censoring done .[2] There are unofficial scanlations available on the internet.
Contents |
Plot
The story revels around Kyoya Iida, a plainclothes police officer, and the rest of his colleagues in the Shinjuku Police Department in battling against domestic and foreign criminals operating in Japanese soil.
Story details
Most of the episodes in the manga revolves around the life and the adventures of homicide detective Kyoya Iida (or Ky in MixxZine's Ice Blade, which is now part of TOKYOPOP's manga library) During the storyline, most of the plot merely reflect on Kyoya Iida and his friends/colleagues and his interactions with criminals, revealing most of their personality.[3] Little has been detailed out on his past.
Characters
Publication
Canada/United States
- The English version was published by Mixx, now known as TOKYOPOP, in MixxZine, but the series was discontinued after 3 volumes.
- Ice Blade Volume 1: Puppet (1998/12) ISBN 1-892213-03-6
- Ice Blade Volume 2: Snow Country (1999/08) ISBN 1-892213-14-1
- Ice Blade Volume 3: Inducement (2000/02) ISBN 1-892213-19-2
Germany - Carlsen Comics published Jiraishin in German. Hong Kong - Unknown Italy
- Edition Star Comics published Jiraishin in Italian. Japan
- The manga was serialized in Afternoon KC and compiled into 19 volumes (tankōbon) published by Kodansha.
- Jiraishin 1 (1993/10) ISBN 4-06-314071-7
- Jiraishin 2 (994/02) ISBN 4-06-314077-6
- Jiraishin 3 (1994/08) ISBN 4-06-314087-3
- Jiraishin 4 (1994/12) ISBN 4-06-314099-7
- Jiraishin 5 (1995/03) ISBN 4-06-314108-X
- Jiraishin 6 (1995/07) ISBN 4-06-314115-2
- Jiraishin 7 (1996/01) ISBN 4-06-314125-X
- Jiraishin 8 (1996/06) ISBN 4-06-314133-0
- Jiraishin 9 (1996/12) ISBN 4-06-314143-8
- Jiraishin 10 (1997/03) ISBN 4-06-314148-9
- Jiraishin 11 (1997/08) ISBN 4-06-314161-6
- Jiraishin 12 (1997/12) ISBN 4-06-314168-3
- Jiraishin 13 (1998/03) ISBN 4-06-314172-1
- Jiraishin 14 (1998/06) ISBN 4-06-314181-0
- Jiraishin 15 (1998/09) ISBN 4-06-314188-8
- Jiraishin 16 (1998/12) ISBN 4-06-314192-6
- Jiraishin 17 (1999/07) ISBN 4-06-314212-4
- Jiraishin 18 (2000/01) ISBN 4-06-314227-2
- Jiraishin 19 (2000/01) ISBN 4-06-314228-0
Kodansha has also released a high quality collector's edition (bunko) of Jiraishin comprising of a total of 10 volumes.
- Jiraishin Bunko 1 (2003/05) ISBN 4-06-360212-5
- Jiraishin Bunko 2 (2003/05) ISBN 4-06-360213-3
- Jiraishin Bunko 3 (2003/06) ISBN 4-06-360562-0
- Jiraishin Bunko 4 (2003/06) ISBN 4-06-360563-9
- Jiraishin Bunko 5 (2003/07) ISBN 4-06-360564-7
- Jiraishin Bunko 6 (2003/07) ISBN 4-06-360565-5
- Jiraishin Bunko 7 (2003/08) ISBN 4-06-360566-3
- Jiraishin Bunko 8 (2003/08) ISBN 4-06-360567-1
- Jiraishin Bunko 9 (2003/09) ISBN 4-06-360568-X
- Jiraishin Bunko 10 (2003/09) ISBN 4-06-360569-8
South Korea
- Jiraishin was translated in Korean by Haksan Publishing Taiwan - Unknown Thailand - Siam Inter Comics translated and distributed Jiraishin in Thai.
Reviews
Jiraishin, even though it had a short coming in its English translation, had good reviews done on the manga and had noted some points done in the story. For instance, Manga Reviewer had said that Jiraishin was great for its dark atmosphere and its main hero, Kyoya Iida, portrayed as an anti-hero sort of police detective[4]. Cassiel Kelner from Aesthesticism.com had commented that Jiraishin paints the actual nature taking places in cities, showing the dark side of human nature. In addition, Cassiel had said that Jiraishin had portrayed a gloomy ending to the series since there are always no happy endings.[5] Angry Manga had critiqued Jiraishin as a story that has Iida act like a tough bastard, using his unjustified skills to justify the means. Its gory and disturbing cases in the series were also highlighted as the means of driving the story forward aside from portraying Kyoya Iida as an anti-hero detective.[6] This sentiment is also shared by AnimeNfo.com's review as well, though it cautioned readers on reading Jiraishin if they want to read the manga from its lack of focusing on Kyoya himself for the most part. [7]
Movie Adaptation
According to Anime Nation, a supposed unknown studio had obtained the rights to do a movie based on Jiraishin[8]. Since then, there has been no major news about this development, suggesting that it may be in Development hell.
Notes and References
- ^ Kodansha Manga Award. Retrieved on November 17, 2007.
- ^ About Jiraishin. Retrieved on November 17, 2007.
- ^ Promising Works: Jiraishin. Retrieved on November 17, 2007.
- ^ "Jiraishin - 89%", Manga Reviewer, November 1, 2006
- ^ "Aestheticism Jiraishin review", Aestheticism.com, November 1, 2006
- ^ "Angry Manga Jiraishin review", Angry Manga, November 1, 2006.
- ^ "AnimeNfo.com's Jiraishin review", AnimeNfo.com, November 8, 2006.
- ^ Hollywood to Adapt Sky High. Retrieved on November 17, 2007.
