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ベアゲルター [Die Wergelder] #1
Die Wergelder 1
The new manga from "Blade of the Immortal" creator Hiroaki Samura!
Contains adult content. Not recommended for anyone under the age of 18.
A PRICE TO BE PAID IN PAIN AND BLOOD
In Germanic law, the money paid by a murderer or his family to the victim’s family in atonement. A mysterious deal goes down on a remote island known as a red light pleasure district. An insane fight between a blonde sniper and an assassin in a Chinese dress brings up questions about who the players are in this deal. A group of misfit yakuza gets caught in the crossfire while trying to get in on the deal, or at least find out what’s being dealt. At the center of it all is a woman who has been wronged in the worst imaginable ways. She will have her revenge. The Eisner award-winning creator of Blade of the Immortal, Hiroaki Samura, presents a new badass thriller with some very bad ladies!
Contains adult content. Not recommended for anyone under the age of 18.
A PRICE TO BE PAID IN PAIN AND BLOOD
In Germanic law, the money paid by a murderer or his family to the victim’s family in atonement. A mysterious deal goes down on a remote island known as a red light pleasure district. An insane fight between a blonde sniper and an assassin in a Chinese dress brings up questions about who the players are in this deal. A group of misfit yakuza gets caught in the crossfire while trying to get in on the deal, or at least find out what’s being dealt. At the center of it all is a woman who has been wronged in the worst imaginable ways. She will have her revenge. The Eisner award-winning creator of Blade of the Immortal, Hiroaki Samura, presents a new badass thriller with some very bad ladies!
448 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2013
16 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Hiroaki Samura
476 books246 followersHiroaki Samura ( 沙村広明) is a Japanese cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for writing and illustrating the manga Blade of the Immortal (1993-2012). Among his other manga series Die Wergelder (2011-2018) and Wave, Listen to Me!, the latter serialised since 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 28, 2024
Staggeringly violent crime / martial arts manga in which assorted Yakuza lowlives find themselves well out of their depth in a plot involving a shady pharmaceutical company, a pleasure island, an embryo trade, and a woman determined to extract bloody revenge on it all. The extremely convoluted story is largely an excuse to draw a bunch of deadly women assassins fighting each other and killing dudes off… when it’s not also an excuse to draw BDSM-inspired interrogation and torture scenes. Strong stuff and not for everyone, but Samura draws brutally kinetic fight scenes and once the story starts to come together the gruesome inventiveness is an asset.
February 24, 2024
The first half had me almost putting it down and not caring much, seemed like shock value for shock value. But it kind of exploded and turned a corner and became good.
January 19, 2024
Definitely had a hard time keeping all the characters straight at first, and all the factions, but there are a few spots where they pause to better explain/summarize what's happening and that helped a lot! Overall really interesting and can't wait to read the next one.
March 14, 2016
There’s something weird going on with the isolated island of Ishikunagajima. A decade ago, it was a poverty-stricken backwater inhabited mostly by fishermen and their families. Now it’s a thriving red-light district, despite being a five hour boat trip from Japan. It seems that someone has plowed a lot of money into making sure there are plenty of brothels there. More money than they could possibly be raking in from the tourists.
Die Wergelder 1
The mystery of Ishikunagajima is drawing in an assortment of criminals and shady people. Two loosely-connected yakuza gangs, a German pharmaceutical concern, a blonde sniper named Träne, a Chinese assassin named Jie Mao and a homeless woman named Shinobu who hasn’t been to her home island in years, and others, are converging on the remote rock in the sea. What’s really going on in Ishikunagajima, and will anyone survive finding out?
This is the new series from Hiroaki Samura, creator of Blade of the Immortal. According to the interview in the back of Volume 1 (which collects the first two volumes of the Japanese edition), this series is a homage to the violent and erotic “Pinky Violence” movies of the 1970s. And make no mistake, we’re getting plenty of violence and sex. In the first chapter alone, there’s nudity, some disturbing sex, a woman giving birth, and a man being killed in a particularly horrific way. As you might expect, in later chapters there’s rape and torture.
This is not a story with heroes so far; there are only evil people, amoral people, and those seeking revenge. “Wergelder”, we are told, is the price one must pay for murdering someone, and at least one character is determined to collect wergelder no matter what. That said, many of the characters are interesting; they have varying motivations and lines they don’t want to cross. Shinobu is as close to being an innocent as the story allows for. She’s been content to survive on only the pettiest of crimes, until a yakuza thug steals from his bosses and offers to take her with him someplace nice. They’re both caught within two days, and the boss offers her a deal–help him find out what goes on with Ishikunajima and she can live.
Träne used to be an innocent, but very bad things happened in her backstory that have left her obsessed with revenge. She will do just about anything to achieve that goal, including co-opting Shinobu and the yakuza into her plans to infiltrate the remote island of mystery. But precisely who is using whom remains in question.
Ro, the minor yakuza thug Shinobu initially runs off with, becomes something of the comic relief as he swiftly accepts that he’s a supporting character in this story–as long as he’s not being tortured or killed, he’s up for whatever.
The first few chapters are a bit disjointed as they set up the various pieces; we don’t really get a lot of the main plot points until after the first scenes at Ishikunajima.
Again, this seinen manga earns a “Mature Readers” warning, so be advised. Recommended for fans of “Pinky Violence” films and the creator’s previous series.
Die Wergelder 1
The mystery of Ishikunagajima is drawing in an assortment of criminals and shady people. Two loosely-connected yakuza gangs, a German pharmaceutical concern, a blonde sniper named Träne, a Chinese assassin named Jie Mao and a homeless woman named Shinobu who hasn’t been to her home island in years, and others, are converging on the remote rock in the sea. What’s really going on in Ishikunagajima, and will anyone survive finding out?
This is the new series from Hiroaki Samura, creator of Blade of the Immortal. According to the interview in the back of Volume 1 (which collects the first two volumes of the Japanese edition), this series is a homage to the violent and erotic “Pinky Violence” movies of the 1970s. And make no mistake, we’re getting plenty of violence and sex. In the first chapter alone, there’s nudity, some disturbing sex, a woman giving birth, and a man being killed in a particularly horrific way. As you might expect, in later chapters there’s rape and torture.
This is not a story with heroes so far; there are only evil people, amoral people, and those seeking revenge. “Wergelder”, we are told, is the price one must pay for murdering someone, and at least one character is determined to collect wergelder no matter what. That said, many of the characters are interesting; they have varying motivations and lines they don’t want to cross. Shinobu is as close to being an innocent as the story allows for. She’s been content to survive on only the pettiest of crimes, until a yakuza thug steals from his bosses and offers to take her with him someplace nice. They’re both caught within two days, and the boss offers her a deal–help him find out what goes on with Ishikunajima and she can live.
Träne used to be an innocent, but very bad things happened in her backstory that have left her obsessed with revenge. She will do just about anything to achieve that goal, including co-opting Shinobu and the yakuza into her plans to infiltrate the remote island of mystery. But precisely who is using whom remains in question.
Ro, the minor yakuza thug Shinobu initially runs off with, becomes something of the comic relief as he swiftly accepts that he’s a supporting character in this story–as long as he’s not being tortured or killed, he’s up for whatever.
The first few chapters are a bit disjointed as they set up the various pieces; we don’t really get a lot of the main plot points until after the first scenes at Ishikunajima.
Again, this seinen manga earns a “Mature Readers” warning, so be advised. Recommended for fans of “Pinky Violence” films and the creator’s previous series.
March 1, 2023
The eminent mangaka behind Blade of the Immortal takes on a gritty, hard-boiled noir story and the end results are pretty fun. The story is a bit convoluted with the intricate levels of twists and janky pacing. There are a lot of characters too - many of whom have a lot of personality traits and visual cues similar to one another making them a little difficult to distinguish at times. Most manga collections are a breeze for me to get through, but I really found myself needing to take the time to read Die Wergelder carefully.
The main narrative revolves around the mysterious island of Ishikunagajima, an isolated place devoid of industry and livelihood but thrives on a blossoming trade of sex, drugs and violence. The crux of the story revolves around a botched black market deal and how the various parties involved react to it. We get perspectives of two groups of Yakuza as well as a rogue hitter who interrupts the proceedings. The second story in this collection looks both at the aftermath as well as takes a bit of a detour into the backstory into one of the main characters.
This book really earns the mature rating, from its depiction of sexual violence, torture and gore. Very little is held back, and it's kind of refreshing actually. The story does feel a bit too overstuffed at times which did take me out of it at times, but the action sequences and gritty tone kept me more or less sucked in. Despite the heavy nature of the storytelling, there are moments of levity that land quite well and keep the book from being too dreary.
The main narrative revolves around the mysterious island of Ishikunagajima, an isolated place devoid of industry and livelihood but thrives on a blossoming trade of sex, drugs and violence. The crux of the story revolves around a botched black market deal and how the various parties involved react to it. We get perspectives of two groups of Yakuza as well as a rogue hitter who interrupts the proceedings. The second story in this collection looks both at the aftermath as well as takes a bit of a detour into the backstory into one of the main characters.
This book really earns the mature rating, from its depiction of sexual violence, torture and gore. Very little is held back, and it's kind of refreshing actually. The story does feel a bit too overstuffed at times which did take me out of it at times, but the action sequences and gritty tone kept me more or less sucked in. Despite the heavy nature of the storytelling, there are moments of levity that land quite well and keep the book from being too dreary.
December 30, 2022
Very exciting thriller chock full of action.
TW for rape
TW for rape
February 27, 2016
I was hesitant going into this with the Mature rating but ended up being impressed with the intense, complicated plot. This series is not going to be for everyone; let's get that out of the way first. It is graphic both in physical violence and sexual violence. It's a story of the yakuza to start with though there are many plot threads interwoven. It is a violent world of drugs, sex, and death with the language suited to it.The art is detailed and gorgeous! For me, I found the setting to be unique in a manga, taking place in Germany, China, and Japan. Many of the characters are also German or Chinese. This is a large volume actually combining the original Japanese volumes 1 & 2 so we are getting a lot of plot and as I've categorized them in my mind, there are the three "good" female characters and one "bad" one that have all been introduced. The story involves a lot of men, this is a man's world the yakuza (the Japanese mafia) where the men run things and they use and abuse women. The men are in charge, they are the bosses, they use, torture, rape the women. However, they are weak, unremarkable and forgettable characters. The women carry the story. They are strong, intelligent, some are there of their own accord using the men unbeknownst to them. They have their own agenda. For the women, this is a tale of vengeance. There is a terrible, wicked new product being sold in the underground world. The yakuza has sent three of their top agents into an island of elite prostitution to find out what that product is and how they can get in on it. Meanwhile, two of these women have personal connections to the island and what is being sold, turning undercover rogue. We get some background on each of the women, especially one "Nami", the one-eyed sniper, who has led a terribly brutalized past. An awesome action thriller with intense plotting and characterization, but viciously violent especially in sexual content.
January 15, 2016
This is another one of those omnibuses where it turns out to have been a really good idea to combine the first two books - while the first volume is interesting, it's also less cohesive, and it isn't until volume two that the story takes off and the characters solidify, especially Shinobu, who appears to be the main heroine.
The main thing to know about this series, however, is that it really means it when it's rated M. Sex, mostly nonconsensual, violence, and themes of using women as brood mares all contribute to this being a very heavy book and not one that will appeal to everyone. "Gritty" almost isn't strong enough to describe it. I'm not sure that it's a book I would classify as "good," but it did keep me reading to the end without dragging...
Full review will eventually appear on ANN.
The main thing to know about this series, however, is that it really means it when it's rated M. Sex, mostly nonconsensual, violence, and themes of using women as brood mares all contribute to this being a very heavy book and not one that will appeal to everyone. "Gritty" almost isn't strong enough to describe it. I'm not sure that it's a book I would classify as "good," but it did keep me reading to the end without dragging...
Full review will eventually appear on ANN.
February 3, 2016
This is the first time I've read anything from Samura, not having experienced Blade of the Immortal (although I've heard of it, of course). It took me a couple of chapters to get into this narrative, in that there are a lot of moving parts that are working to set up the premise. But into the third chapter, things began converging, and I started to appreciate, and enjoy, Die Wergelder much more. Shea and I discuss this on the upcoming manga episode of The Comics Alternative, and one of the things he points out is Samura's tendencies toward sexual violence. I noticed it, but it didn't bother me, in that I thought it wasn't gratuitous. Would others disagree? Sure, but I feel that what we see in Die Wergelder isn't anything titillating, but actually character-building. I want to get the second omnibus volume when it comes out.
April 13, 2020
Now this was a weird volume. First of all this is violent comic, very violent comic. Also one that centers on women abuse and slavery and involuntary prostitution. And added to all of this are rather psychopathic and deranged personalities that are part of the criminal milieu and that have ... let's say horribly unique approaches to solving issues.
That being said it is rather dark story and if you don't have stomach for it I would advise against picking it up.
With that being said I have to admit that I am pleasantly surprised about the path taken by the author to tell this story in the first place. First part of the book will have you scratching your head and wondering what is going. But as story progresses more sinister forces arise, forces that are doing unthinkable things to general population. Forces that make the various Yakuza clans seem people friendly (and believe Yakuza in this book are anything but). And then with the second part we finally get the background story and what is actually happening here.
So this is action manga, lots of highly skilled assassins and gangsters, lots of blood and ever present good old revenge story. Art is just beautiful - but again creator is also author of Blade of the Immortal so nothing less was expected.
Story reads very fast but it takes some effort to concentrate on the first part in order not to lose all the threads.
Ending shocked me to be honest and I am eager to finish the second volume to see how does it all end.
Recommended to all fans of crime stories but beware that this is mature content and some parts are definitely not for the kids.
That being said it is rather dark story and if you don't have stomach for it I would advise against picking it up.
With that being said I have to admit that I am pleasantly surprised about the path taken by the author to tell this story in the first place. First part of the book will have you scratching your head and wondering what is going. But as story progresses more sinister forces arise, forces that are doing unthinkable things to general population. Forces that make the various Yakuza clans seem people friendly (and believe Yakuza in this book are anything but). And then with the second part we finally get the background story and what is actually happening here.
So this is action manga, lots of highly skilled assassins and gangsters, lots of blood and ever present good old revenge story. Art is just beautiful - but again creator is also author of Blade of the Immortal so nothing less was expected.
Story reads very fast but it takes some effort to concentrate on the first part in order not to lose all the threads.
Ending shocked me to be honest and I am eager to finish the second volume to see how does it all end.
Recommended to all fans of crime stories but beware that this is mature content and some parts are definitely not for the kids.
November 5, 2020
Esta primera parte de la historia fue fantástica, aunque en un principio Die Wergelder parece ser un manga que solo ofrece violencia y acción, la verdad es que el trasfondo y las razones del por que ocurre lo que ocurre son muy interesantes y rápidamente capturan la atención del espectador y es que aquí podemos evidenciar que la narrativa no es lineal sino que muchas veces se recurren a flashbacks que nos otorgan mayor información sobre los personajes y las razones que tienen para hacer lo que hacen (ya sea Jie Mao trabajando para los Alemanes, Trane en busca de venganza y Shinobu que es una habitante de Ishikunagijima). El autor se toma su tiempo para mostrarnos a cada personaje y el espectador llega a tomarle cariño a ellos ya que todos son bastante carismáticos y siempre te mantienes a la expectativa de lo que sucederá.
En cuanto al arte debo decir que es increíble (no se puede esperar menos de Hiroaki Samura) y todos los dibujos y las escenas de acción se ven bastante fluidas y geniales. En conclusión, es un gran manga con una historia bastante interesante llana de acción, lastima que algunos le den baja calificación solo porque según ellos es "demasiada violenta y grafica" puesto que esas personas solo se centran en criticar a la obra por sus muchas viñetas y dibujos violentos y no por lo interesante de la historia en si misma.
En cuanto al arte debo decir que es increíble (no se puede esperar menos de Hiroaki Samura) y todos los dibujos y las escenas de acción se ven bastante fluidas y geniales. En conclusión, es un gran manga con una historia bastante interesante llana de acción, lastima que algunos le den baja calificación solo porque según ellos es "demasiada violenta y grafica" puesto que esas personas solo se centran en criticar a la obra por sus muchas viñetas y dibujos violentos y no por lo interesante de la historia en si misma.
August 4, 2018
Hiroaki Samura, the guy who does Blade Of The Immortal. Doing a book centered on female characters. One of which is a clear homage to Meiko Kaji. Ok, gotta give this a shot.
I liked it a lot. The art looks really nice, though it can be hard to follow from a story perspective at times. It also took me a while to be able to distinguish between characters, as there are a lot of them. And it takes a little while for the story to really get moving, but once it does, it's pretty fun. Violent, occasionally funny and, like I said, nice to look at. If Samura was going for a pinky violence vibe on this (and the afterward says he was), he nailed it.
I liked it a lot. The art looks really nice, though it can be hard to follow from a story perspective at times. It also took me a while to be able to distinguish between characters, as there are a lot of them. And it takes a little while for the story to really get moving, but once it does, it's pretty fun. Violent, occasionally funny and, like I said, nice to look at. If Samura was going for a pinky violence vibe on this (and the afterward says he was), he nailed it.
May 22, 2022
I'm torn about this one, because I think Hiroaki Samura's graphic storytelling is incredibly cinematic, and his action is great, but this is a baffling read for about half the time, and while things do start to be more linear, it's got an odd decompressed style that would have driven me mad if I had to read this in quarterly chapters. Impressively, the one big action scene in this makes brings things into focus, and the odd character to get to comes to the forefront by the way they act in tense situations.
It's a 3 and a half, but GOODREADS doesn't let users do halves!
It's a 3 and a half, but GOODREADS doesn't let users do halves!
June 11, 2020
After letting it languish on my (digital) shelf for a year, i finally opened up Die Ger Welder in hopes it'd break me out of my reading funk. Thrilled to say it was a success. I think i prefer this over BotI? Or maybe I'm burnt out on samurai atm? Can't say for certain. Just know that Die Wergelder sucked me in from jump. Once i started, you couldn't pay me to stop. The art is gorgeous, but also foreboding at the same time (No one draws murderous women like Samura). Samura's action remains fast, fluid, and gritty. The story is a trip too. Reeeeally wish it didn't rely so strongly of the rape/exploitation of women to tell it though.
April 11, 2019
Classic Hiraki Samura. Dark, kinetic, more than a little disturbing. Still, I'd like to see him move a little bit further afield with the characters in his stories... seeing the innocent but independent non-combatant traveling with a one-eyed killer with supernatural elements and a haunted past was just a little bit too similar to Blade of the Immortal.
March 11, 2021
This is my first taste of Hiroaki Samura's work and boy it did not dissapoint. Gorgeous artwork that sets the (extremely grim) tone and a drip feed of information that keeps you intrigued. If you like Asian cinema (Hong Kong kung-fu flicks, Japanese indie's) or even Tarantino you will more than likely enjoy this.
February 26, 2024
ชอบการลำดับภาพและลายเส้น แต่ลำดับเรื่องราวยังเฉยๆ ไม่รู้ว่าตัดสลับไทม์ไลน์ด้วยจุดประสงค์อะไรแต่คงต้องอ่านเล่มต่อๆ ไปก่อน ข้อเสียคือจะไม่ได้ hook กับคนที่ลองอ่านเล่มแรกว่าควรไปต่อไหม
สารภาพว่าอ่านเพราะจะดูงานวาดผู้หญิงในเรื่องก็คุ้มค่าทุกสตางค์แล้ว เพราะอ.ทุ่มเทกับตัวละครในเรื่องมากกว่าผช.เท่าที่รู้สึก 55
สารภาพว่าอ่านเพราะจะดูงานวาดผู้หญิงในเรื่องก็คุ้มค่าทุกสตางค์แล้ว เพราะอ.ทุ่มเทกับตัวละครในเรื่องมากกว่าผช.เท่าที่รู้สึก 55
April 12, 2024
Well, that was different. Hiroaki definitely swings for the fences with this one. Mermaid sex was not on my bingo card for the year. The art was fantastic. People getting killed, people getting tortured, people having sex,people having things inserted in to their bodies whether they like it or not but,yeah the art was top notch.
April 4, 2018
I am glad I started reading Hiroaki Samura with this volume.
I liked almost everything about this volume, the design, the characters, the illustrations... The story has just started, and I think it’s a great introduction, I hope It pays off.
I liked almost everything about this volume, the design, the characters, the illustrations... The story has just started, and I think it’s a great introduction, I hope It pays off.
January 18, 2024
I love me a good ol' grindhouse comic, done by one of the great master storytellers.
It's not for everyone. It's trashy and devoid of any dignity (Samura's words, not mine) but I'm a sucker for cheap trashy genre stories.
There's a Kung-fu girl with nunchuk-pistols.
I love it.
It's not for everyone. It's trashy and devoid of any dignity (Samura's words, not mine) but I'm a sucker for cheap trashy genre stories.
There's a Kung-fu girl with nunchuk-pistols.
I love it.
September 7, 2017
Dark, strange story.
One to read and re-read.
If you're not afraid of gore, and kick on a complex story in a world that slowly unfolds, this one is for you!
Great start!
One to read and re-read.
If you're not afraid of gore, and kick on a complex story in a world that slowly unfolds, this one is for you!
Great start!
February 6, 2019
Good Lord! This is a very rough one.
March 28, 2021
Confusing plot and artwork, only gave it two stars for the Company A storyline and the high amount of sex and BDSM.
May 10, 2022
me reading this volume: head spinning around on my neck like I'm in The Exorcist.
Read
September 29, 2022Had literally no idea what was going on
Read
December 10, 2022great aesthetic and having four female leads is sick - really gritty with great fight choreo, reminded me of tokyo ghoul manga/fire punch
April 24, 2023
Love the artwork and the action is beautifully done. Be forewarned that this series contains a lot of adult themes.
November 1, 2023
Such a weird sense of humor.
April 15, 2025
Violence, mob war and a mysterious company that is taking children from towns with a specific mineral composition. Lots of questions left after this first one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews