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サンクチュアリ [Sanctuary] #5
Sanctuary
As children, Akira Hojo and Chiaki Asami survived the horrors of the killing fields of Cambodia. Now young men, they vow to transform the destiny of Japan, by any means necessary. In this, the sixth volume of the erotically charged saga of political corruption, Asami and Hojo face life-threatening challenges in their respective rises to the top of the Japanese parliament and the yakuza crime syndicate. Meanwhile, a yakuza crime war is brewing and the police are hot on Hojo's trail.
296 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 1992
4 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Ryōichi Ikegami
291 books28 followersRyōichi Ikegami (池上遼一) is a manga artist. He was assistant to manga artist Shigeru Mizuki in 1966. In 2001, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga as the artist of Heat. He became a professor at Osaka University of Arts in 2005.
Ikegami has worked on several popular series, such as Mai, the Psychic Girl with writer Kazuya Kudo, Crying Freeman, with writer Kazuo Koike, as well as Sanctuary and Heat with writer Sho Fumimura. He also wrote and drew Spider-Man: The Manga, a manga version of Spider-Man and collaborated with Garon Tsuchiya for the manga BOX (BOX 暗い箱). His most recent work is Lord currently serialized in Big Comic Superior.
Ikegami has worked on several popular series, such as Mai, the Psychic Girl with writer Kazuya Kudo, Crying Freeman, with writer Kazuo Koike, as well as Sanctuary and Heat with writer Sho Fumimura. He also wrote and drew Spider-Man: The Manga, a manga version of Spider-Man and collaborated with Garon Tsuchiya for the manga BOX (BOX 暗い箱). His most recent work is Lord currently serialized in Big Comic Superior.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 6, 2021
"Moving isn't all there is to governing! Sometimes the best way to govern is to not move at all!" - Isaoka
Neatly encapsulates the problem of govermnent by a bunch of impatient dreamers who feel everything must change now. Let the people do it is my motto. The basic problem with Asamis wake up the people strategy, is that when you find a place where everyone cares about politics it usually means it is a crap place with too much government. Voter apathy is usually a sign things are going well and the government is invisible in peoples lives, as it should be. Yes, I am a Libertarian Anarchist.
Too bad Wong had to do the whole suicide by pointless attack bit. He was non Japanese though in a very pro Japan manga, and he did not follow the code.
The Yakusa war continues to rage and the political counter attack begins. Will Asami and Hojo survive the assault?
On to volume 6.
Neatly encapsulates the problem of govermnent by a bunch of impatient dreamers who feel everything must change now. Let the people do it is my motto. The basic problem with Asamis wake up the people strategy, is that when you find a place where everyone cares about politics it usually means it is a crap place with too much government. Voter apathy is usually a sign things are going well and the government is invisible in peoples lives, as it should be. Yes, I am a Libertarian Anarchist.
Too bad Wong had to do the whole suicide by pointless attack bit. He was non Japanese though in a very pro Japan manga, and he did not follow the code.
The Yakusa war continues to rage and the political counter attack begins. Will Asami and Hojo survive the assault?
On to volume 6.
February 1, 2024
4.3/5
The plot's still cooking and I'm having a blast watching it simmer. Not much more to say so far that hasn't already been said. Asami's bold moves are really starting to throw everything into turmoil, and it looks like Hojo might have bitten off more than he can chew...
The plot's still cooking and I'm having a blast watching it simmer. Not much more to say so far that hasn't already been said. Asami's bold moves are really starting to throw everything into turmoil, and it looks like Hojo might have bitten off more than he can chew...
October 8, 2015
In the killing fields of Cambodia in the 1970s, two sons of Japanese expatriates helped each other survive and became blood brothers. When they were brought back to Japan, the boys were disgusted by how stagnant and corrupt Japanese society had become. They came up with a plan to reform Japan, a two-pronged attack through the Yakuza (Japanese organized crime) and the Diet (the Japanese parliament.) Which boy took which route was left to a game of rock paper scissors.
When we see them in the early 1990s, Akira Hojo is an underboss in the Kanto area (Tokyo and environs) of the Yakuza, while Chiaki Asami is a political advisor to a Dietman. They see their chances, and take them, Hojo taking over as boss of his gang, while Asami becomes a Dietman himself. Their relationship is a secret which allows them to support each other as they rise in their respective fields, always keeping the goal of a revitalized Japan in mind.
This political/crime thriller series has some great art by Ryoichi Ikegami (Mai the Psychic Girl, Japanese Spider-Man, Crying Freeman) which allows most of the main characters to be easily distinguishable from each other. The writer is otherwise known as Buronson, creator of Fist of the North Star. As you might expect from this combination, much time is spent on manly men mediating on what it means to truly be a man, doing manly things and shedding manly tears.
Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of having many female characters that are relevant to the story. Most of the women we see are lovers or victims of the men who move the plot (nudity makes this a mature readers title.) The most prominent female character is Deputy Police Chief Kyoko Ishihara, who rapidly winds up romantically involved with Hojo and fails to do much of anything police-like.
In the volume to hand, #5, Hojo spends most of his time recovering from being shot by a Chinese hitman hired by the Kobe area Yakuza. He isn’t even awake for the first third of the volume. Fortunately, he has able assistants who have his orders for just such a situation.
Thus the spotlight is on Asami and his “Rippu-Kai” (Rising Wind Association), an alliance of young and minority party Dietmen. Their plan is to reinvigorate Japan’s apathetic voter base by proposing an amendment to Japan’s Constitution, specifically Section Nine. This is the part that forbids Japan from having a standing military (with the Self-Defense Force being a dubiously justified kludge.) The young Dietmen don’t really care if the amendment passes, or in what form, but you can bet that the Japanese people would really care, have fierce debate, and get out the vote.
It’s at this point that Hojo’s arch-enemy becomes important. Norimoto Isaoka is the Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has had a virtual monopoly on power for decades. He realizes that if the Japanese public starts voting, that will upset the balance of power and all the connections he’s built up over the years. He knows where most of the bodies are buried, and decides that the constitutional amendment must never come up for a vote.
The Rising Wind realize that Isaoka is now their main obstacle, and try to bring him down with a corruption scandal, and that takes up most of the volume.
This is an interesting (if really skewed) look at the Japanese political and social climate in the early 1990s; it’s out of print in the U.S., but you can probably find the “flipped” Viz volumes relatively inexpensive on the used market.
When we see them in the early 1990s, Akira Hojo is an underboss in the Kanto area (Tokyo and environs) of the Yakuza, while Chiaki Asami is a political advisor to a Dietman. They see their chances, and take them, Hojo taking over as boss of his gang, while Asami becomes a Dietman himself. Their relationship is a secret which allows them to support each other as they rise in their respective fields, always keeping the goal of a revitalized Japan in mind.
This political/crime thriller series has some great art by Ryoichi Ikegami (Mai the Psychic Girl, Japanese Spider-Man, Crying Freeman) which allows most of the main characters to be easily distinguishable from each other. The writer is otherwise known as Buronson, creator of Fist of the North Star. As you might expect from this combination, much time is spent on manly men mediating on what it means to truly be a man, doing manly things and shedding manly tears.
Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of having many female characters that are relevant to the story. Most of the women we see are lovers or victims of the men who move the plot (nudity makes this a mature readers title.) The most prominent female character is Deputy Police Chief Kyoko Ishihara, who rapidly winds up romantically involved with Hojo and fails to do much of anything police-like.
In the volume to hand, #5, Hojo spends most of his time recovering from being shot by a Chinese hitman hired by the Kobe area Yakuza. He isn’t even awake for the first third of the volume. Fortunately, he has able assistants who have his orders for just such a situation.
Thus the spotlight is on Asami and his “Rippu-Kai” (Rising Wind Association), an alliance of young and minority party Dietmen. Their plan is to reinvigorate Japan’s apathetic voter base by proposing an amendment to Japan’s Constitution, specifically Section Nine. This is the part that forbids Japan from having a standing military (with the Self-Defense Force being a dubiously justified kludge.) The young Dietmen don’t really care if the amendment passes, or in what form, but you can bet that the Japanese people would really care, have fierce debate, and get out the vote.
It’s at this point that Hojo’s arch-enemy becomes important. Norimoto Isaoka is the Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has had a virtual monopoly on power for decades. He realizes that if the Japanese public starts voting, that will upset the balance of power and all the connections he’s built up over the years. He knows where most of the bodies are buried, and decides that the constitutional amendment must never come up for a vote.
The Rising Wind realize that Isaoka is now their main obstacle, and try to bring him down with a corruption scandal, and that takes up most of the volume.
This is an interesting (if really skewed) look at the Japanese political and social climate in the early 1990s; it’s out of print in the U.S., but you can probably find the “flipped” Viz volumes relatively inexpensive on the used market.
June 23, 2011
Since Goodreads doesn't have the fourth one, this is for #4 and #5. The stakes are getting higher and the plots are getting more complicated. #4 had some "too good to be true" moments that were only jarring because the writing has been so tight and clever up to this point. Four stars for that one.
#5 focused almost entirely on the machinations of the characters and less on Tokai and his abuse of women, so that was a definite improvement. I'd give it 5 stars. Great stuff! Looking forward to the next one.
#5 focused almost entirely on the machinations of the characters and less on Tokai and his abuse of women, so that was a definite improvement. I'd give it 5 stars. Great stuff! Looking forward to the next one.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews