レイリ 1

Reiri #1

by Hitoshi Iwaaki, Daisuke Muroi (Illustrator), 岩明均

In the Sengoku Period (1579), there is a young woman who has lost everything, and dedicated herself to seeking strength and a death on the battlefield. Reiri once lived happily with her family, until the day soldiers came by after a battle. Her father, mother and brother sacrificed themselves in order for her to survive. She was only saved with the intervention of Okabe Tanpa no Kami, who had been sheltering in the village. In his service, she grew and learned to fight well, chasing her goal of a death in battle. However, her path to death may not be as short and straight as she hopes...

Genres: Manga

194 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2016

About the author

Hitoshi Iwaaki (Japanese: 岩明均 Hepburn: Iwaaki Hitoshi, born July 28, 1960) is a Japanese manga artist, whose works include the science-fiction/horror series Parasyte. The Mixx editions of Parasyte romanize his name as "Hitosi Iwaaki", while the Del Rey Manga editions use "Hitoshi Iwaaki".

In 1993, he received the Kodansha Manga Award for Parasyte. He was a finalist for the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize for Historie. In 2010 Historie took the grand prize in the manga division of the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival.

Reviews

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing historical fiction. Some things were embellished and there are liberties taken with the more ambiguous events, but the story is overall quite grounded in reality. This series does not shy away from the truth of war and it's quite violent. If you're interested in reading further on certain characters, be aware that most English sources are lacking. Wikipedia, for example, has an embarrassingly lackluster amount of information on the Tsuchiya clan.

I've found that most Japanese works tend to make Nobunaga into a godly kind of figure and this is one of those rare stories where he is painted as a relentless force of wanton cruelty and cunning. He's not drawn as some handsome man and looks much more like the portraits do. It's very refreshing!

Reiri is an interesting character. I love a tale about someone seeking death and stumbling upon a new lease on life along the way. Reiri is very similar to Nico Robin from "One Piece" in this way. She's an absolute badass, but you come to learn that it's because she buried herself so deeply into training as a response to incredible trauma. This image she projects is one created solely to protect herself.

I really enjoyed reading this series.

[Max Ga · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good story, no trendy spectacular things. Realistic. Growth from a traumatised child to a good person. A good ending.

[Bom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice plot and drawing. The girl and his lords are all good with Japanese spirit.

[Booksandsoup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful. Phenomenal character writing for such a short series.

No one really talks about Iwaaki Hitoshi's works other than Parasyte The Maxim, but I highly recommend checking them out. Especially Reiri and the still ongoing Historie.