Azumi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yū Koyama. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Seinen manga magazine Big Comic Superior from 1994 to 2008, with its chapters collected in 48 volumes. A sequel series with the same title (rendered in all caps Latin-script) was serialized in the same magazine from 2008 to 2014, with its chapters collected in 14 tankōbon volumes. The story follows the title character, a young woman, brought up as part of a team of assassins charged with killing the that threaten the uneasy peace in Feudal Japan in the aftermath of its long Sengoku period civil war period.
The series has been adapted into two feature films starring Aya Ueto, Azumi in 2003 and in 2005, and a video game and a stage play in 2005.
Azumi received the Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival and won the 43rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category in 1998.
Plot
Azumi is a young female assassin operating after the Battle of Sekigahara. She eliminates supporters of the
Toyotomi clan at the behest of
Tokugawa Ieyasu, with these killings historically recorded as natural deaths. Raised in isolation by instructor Gensai Obata in Kiridani valley, Azumi trains with nine male students unaware of basic societal concepts. Their training culminates in two brutal initiation missions: first killing their closest companions (Azumi slays Nachi), then massacring an entire ninja village. As one of five surviving operatives, Azumi conducts political assassinations. Her work brings her into conflict with bandits, later revealed to be displaced samurai forced into criminality by Tokugawa policies. Throughout her missions, Azumi demonstrates exceptional survival skills compared to other warriors driven by singular motivations.
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Yū Koyama,
Azumi was serialized in
Shogakukan's
Seinen manga magazine from 1994 to 2008.
Shogakukan collected its chapters in forty-eight volumes, released from January 30, 1995,
to February 27, 2009.
Shogakukan re-released the series in a twenty-four volume
bunkoban edition, from January 14 to December 15, 2012.
A sequel series, also titled Azumi (Latin-script title in all caps), was serialized in the same magazine from December 26, 2008,
Film series
Azumi was loosely adapted into an
action film directed by
Ryuhei Kitamura in 2003. A sequel,
Azumi 2: Death or Love, directed by
Shusuke Kaneko, followed in 2005.
Video game
An
action game for PlayStation 2, based on manga's original story, was developed by Gargoyle Mechanics and released in Japan only by Entertainment Software Publishing in 2005.
The game was also re-released as part of the budget-range
Simple series (Vol. 32).
Stage play
The theatrical version, directed by Okamura Toshikazu, premiered on April 3, 2005, starring
Meisa Kuroki as Azumi.
Merchandise
Azumi Original Soundtrack containing music from the film was released by For Life Music in 2003.
Azumi figure line based on the manga version was released by figuAX in 2006.
[ figuAX あずみアートコレクション 【ハピネットロビン】 ]
Reception
Azumi received an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival,
and won the 43rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category in 1998.
-
Gifford, Kevin. "Azumi". (November 2006) Newtype USA. p. 154.
External links
