Subject: Manga Reviews: Samurai Commando: Mission 1549, vol. 1 | Author | Messages | Billy Aguiar
Posts: 84
 | Posted: 9/28/2007 8:16:56 AM | Samurai Commando: Mission 1549, vol.1
CMX Manga
$9.99, B/W, 176 pages, Available Now!
Original idea by Ryo Hanamura, Story by Harutoshi Fukui and Art by Ark Performance
Rated for 16+
Reviewed by Billy Aguiar
2 1/2 Stars
Six years ago a Special Forces team disappeared in an unexpected time travel accident, and by changing the past they are replacing the current time with bubbles of otherspace. The Japanese military is preparing to repeat the accident purposefully with a team to capture the original Special Forces team and bring them back to the present, preserving our reality. The only advantage they have is the original Special Forces commander Matoba had a protege who left the military before the time travel experiment, and that protege Kashima is convinced to go back with the new team. But things almost immediately go wrong, with Matoba having not just sat around for six years waiting to be caught, and the original team very quickly turns the table on the new force sent back to stop, with Kashima convincing the new team to surrender and be brought to Matoba directly.
There is some historical touches here that a Western reader wouldn't immediately get. For instance, the closest analogue that the character Matoba killed in the first few panels was a George Washington like figure. There are also some aspects about the conflicted nature of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces that many Americans wouldn't get, since the last Japanese military an American reader is likely to be familiar with is the World War 2 one, a very different beast from the current incarnation of the Japanese military. But even with those problems, this is a pretty good story, as you work through the cleverness of the characters and the action, as samurai have figured out how to even the odds with modern day soldiers. I am not sure exactly where this is going, and I appreciate that as in the creators have made it seem possible that literally anything could happen.
This is a weekly manga review here on the CBG site, but don’t forgot to check out my other review site, Prospero’s Manga for more manga reviews.
www.cmxmanga.com
Vol 1. ISBN: 1-40121-438-X
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