Four Lives Remain: Tatsuya Endo Before Spy x Family

by Tatsuya Endo

A young girl fighting her way through bounty hunter school. A princess forced to flee her moon empire after a coup. Witch-hunters hell-bent on killing with bloodsucking swords. And a group of ragtag musketeers tracking down armed robbers.

In these early works by Tatsuya Endo, creator of the hit series Spy x Family, follow the adventures of four resourceful and unexpected heroes as they discover that true strength, power, and beauty can be found in walking the path one believes in.

Genres: Manga, Short Stories, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics

Kindle Edition

First published September 4, 2009

About the author

Tatsuya Endo (遠藤達哉 Endou Tatsuya) is a Japanese mangaka.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media LLC for an eARC of this book to read and review.

While I LOVE Spy X Family, I did not love this. Of the four stories included, three were all "GRRL POWAH!" re: the MC h was forced to fight the patriarchy trying to kill her and take what was hers. Three of the four, not the same three, had violent female MCs with bad attitudes.

None of these rang my bell, but I can see those who are interested in this author's work wanting to read this. It wasn't bad, I just wasn't in the mood for the stories and characters in this when I read it.

2, not my cup but might be yours, stars.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four seperate stories by Endo...all worthwhile..including a Blade of the Moon Princess story before it became serialized

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read more graphic novel reviews at The Graphic Library.

These short story collections are an interesting look to see how mangaka have progressed in their creative journey. There are two stories that are extremely similar to one another and probably shouldn't have been included in the same collection, but that was a weird editorial choice. From this collection and Endo's other published work, it is clear that he prefers to write female main characters who have special powers and are a bit badass.

Reviewed for Booklist Magazine.

Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

[Susanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of four stand-alone stories by Tatsuya Endo before he found fame with Spy x Family. They were all action-packed and imaginative, with female leads that were very, very angry.

Each story was inspired by something. First was a western set in a school of bounty hunters. Second was a sci-fi inspired by a classical Japanese story, third was set in an authoritarian society with witches, and the last was gender-bent three musketeers in a sort of modern society. Stories were pretty similar though; the first and the last practically the same, even according to the artist himself.

The art was very different from SxF. It was small, dense and small-panelled. It didn’t change much as the time progressed, and the characters, especially the leads, looked very much alike. The author told after each comic, that three of the four comics were drawn in a last minute panic, and maybe that shows in the art. The only exception is the last, which looked more familiar, but in the afterword the artist said the original was so bad that he’d redrawn it for this volume. So that expains the art.

As a whole, the stories were a bit over the top and not terriby interesting. But it was fun to see where Endo came from.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Ｂｅｅｌａｈ · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. PERMAINAN BARAT
Tema Wild Wild West tapi watak utama pakai ceongsam. Kontra sangat tu. Cerita ni terlalu syok sendiri, watak utama perempuan yang terlalu kuat tak terkalahkan dan dianggap cantik oleh beberapa antagonis. Lelaki pula lemah dan gatal berhidung belang yang sukakan perempuan watak utama yang cantik berdahi licin. Penceritaan yang agak kebudak-budak perempuanan untuk demografi shonen.

2. PEDANG PUTERI BULAN
Watak perempuan dan lelaki dalam cerita ni lebih kurang je dengan cerita kat atas. Bezanya dari segi tema. Cerita ni diolah dari cerita rakyat Jepun, Kaguya-hime sang Puteri Bulan. Ceritanya ada dijadikan siri Blade of the Moon Princess tapi saya tak berminat pun dengan sambungannya sebab tak menarik sangat cerita dan watak2 dia.

3. WITCH CRAZE
Cerita yang ni pula diolah daripada legenda Raja Arthur. Kisah pasal ahli sihir dan pemburunya. Menarik juga. Saya pun minat dengan legenda ni kalau diadaptasikan macam dalam drama bersiri British, Merlin. Jadi, kalau cerita ni ada sambungan pun ok juga.

4. PMG-0
Cerita yang diolah daripada karya Alexandre Dumas, 3 Musketeers. Budak pompuan bernama Tania yang menjadi anggota Musketeers (macam polis) selepas dia kehilangan ibubapa. Dia ni serba serbi hebat tak terkalahkan dalam pertempuran jarak dekat. Orang tembak pun tak pernah kena dia melainkan bosnya yang tembak. Tapi bosnya tembak guna peluru getah je la, kalau tak 3-4 mukasurat dah habis cerita ni sebab heroin dah mati.

Kesimpulannya peneraju utama untuk keempat-empat cerita adalah wanita yang ganas, panas baran, keras kepala dan sangat kuat, oh dan cantik...? (walaupun lukisan bentuk muka perempuan2 tu tak lawa pun hahaha ape2 je lah nok).

[Michelle Graf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media for the ARC.

Tatsuya Endo has a specific type of protagonist in most of his stories, and I'd include Spy Family in this generalization. They're all powerful female characters, with a strong moral code, but also a strong flaw; be it laziness, battle-hungry, naivety, this serves as both comic relief and a way for the big bad to underestimate them. It works better in some stories than others. My favorite was the witch-hunter story, and I hope that gets developed into a full series one day. The Kaguya retelling was already adapted into a 5-volume series, so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.

[Dan Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve watched SpyxFamily season 1 and I really enjoyed that. So when I was in my local library, I came across this. As it’s from the same author as SpyxFamily I knew I had to give it a shot.

To be honest I was bored half way through reading this. The stories felt very samey at times, it felt like it was aimed at a particular audience which I am not a part of. I can see people in that audience enjoying all of these.

The last 2 stories landed a little better with me, especially the last one as I had more fun reading that. However I am glad I read it so I could see early works by Tatsuya Endo. I won’t be coming back to this anytime soon though.

[Frank Jarome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another hit and miss short story collection, I’d say this one was 50/50. Surprisingly, the one I was most looking forward to - the musketeer one - was my least favorite. Blade of the Moon Princess was by far my favorite, and I see in the back of the book that it got turned into a series later. So I’ll probably end up checking that out. Witch Craze was pretty memorable too, but I don’t think I’d want a series. It was good as it was.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating collection of one-shots from Tatsuya Endo’s early days as a manga artist.

Three of the four stories are standalones while one is clearly an early concept for “Blade of the Moon Princess”.

If you—like me—enjoy the opportunity to see a writer’s progression and evolution over time, this is definitely something you’d enjoy. I always appreciate seeing the “seeds” of something you know is going to grow into a beloved character or storyline.

It’s just so infinitely fascinating to actually be able to see how a storyteller has evolved their craft over time.

Highly recommend if that fascinates you too~

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun collection to read! I have trouble enjoying some short story collections, because I feel like I don't have enough time to get attached to the characters, but I enjoyed this anyway. Out of the four of them I liked Witch Craze the most. The others were pretty good too, and I liked seeing the original oneshot for Blade of the Moon Princess, which I am currently reading the series for. The game at the back of the book looks fun too, so I might try that out!

[brookie the cookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars── .✦

i feel like this is the first time that "dnf" did not automatically mean the book as a whole was uninteresting or not worth finishing.....

bc this book was basically four stories in one
and i'm very bad at finishing collections of stories soooo


at least i made it 3/4 of the way :DD

the fourth story just seemed uninteresting so i called it a day

witch craze was probably my favorite, nei and morgana are so cute together <3

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four one shots that didn't make it, from a mangaka who would eventually come up with a much better idea. To be blunt, it's pretty obvious why none of these stories were huge hits, even if one of them did get picked up. I can't really fault the art, and three of the four stories had at least halfway interesting premises. The execution just feels cookie cutter to the point of being boring.

[JFG_Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two of the one-shots were decent and if anything more was ever done with them (Witch Craze and PMG-0) I would consider picking them up/giving them a shot. One of the shorts was kinda meh (Western Game) and one of the stories was actually picked up and became more than just a one-shot eventually (Blade of The Moon Princess)---I am thinking about picking this manga up and giving it a chance!

[Raymond Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rough around the edges. Felt like he was copying the One Piece format and style too much. I'm glad he changed and refined his style by the time Spy X Family was created. It was a richer series for it.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would be 3.5

I've never read manga short stories before, I did enjoy each of these one shots but just when I felt I was getting into the story, it stopped. Will have to look if any of the short stories were continued into a serial 🤣

[Prabeer Bhutani]

Spy Family is one of my favorite mangas and I could barely finish these short stories. Don't have the curious innocence and the surprising drama I seem to relate.

[Aurora]

Read the first story, was not impressed, saw the creator say “I feel that of all the one-shots in here, this one came together the best,” and felt it was best to throw in the towel.

[Vanna Lester · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Cara Palermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were fun little one shots, 2 of which I definitely wish got their own series. If you’re a Spy Family fan, I highly recommend checking out his other works.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were better than others but it was interesting to see parallels between these stories and Spy X Family.

[Sarah Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every story is enjoyably dense with it's world building, detailed without being overcrowded. These do a good job of acting like "pilots" in that they introduce premises that could be expanded upon, but still remain largely satisfying as one shots. The brash, crude women protagonists are also delightful.