あずみ

AZUMI

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
48
RELEASE
November 14, 2008
CHAPTERS
350

DESCRIPTION

Azumi focuses upon the life of the female assassin Azumi. The manga begins an indeterminate number of years after the Battle of Sekigahara, but as the Azumi begins her assassination missions, the manga introduces the characters into mainstream history. Many of the early assassination missions that Azumi undertakes are the assassinations of the prominent supporters and generals of the Toyotomi Clan, against whom the Toyotomi Clan expected to again go to war.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Note: Won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival and the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1998.

CAST

Azumi
Mon
Gozan

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO AZUMI

MANGA ActionAzumi

REVIEWS

poutchouli
85/100
Azumi is a very fun manga with exceptional fight scenes and one of the best female protagonists.
Some of this is less a review and more of me gushing, so take that as you will

Azumi is a very fun manga. The characters are all distinct, memorable, and lovable (or detestable). The action is extremely well done. It doesn’t waste time. And it has what is one of the best female protagonists, up with the likes of Gally.

There is no overall story with a clearly defined goal in Azumi. The manga is more about Azumi’s journey, consisting of many arcs over a long period of time. This is perhaps Azumi’s greatest weakness. To facilitate this journey, an arc has to end in a way that allows this journey to continue, and for another arc to begin. Things become predictable in regard to the general outcome. As I heard someone once say, the manga should be called “Azumi gets her hopes up and then has a bad time”. While fun times are to be had, you begin to only expect that bad outcomes will eventually swoop in. Much like Azumi herself, you start to become somewhat numb to it after a while. The story isn’t necessarily deep or interesting; instead, your entertainment comes from seeing how Azumi will handle the situations she finds herself in—which brings me to the gushing part of this review and what I really want to talk about.

The way the author draws combat is more satisfying than any other manga I've read before. Every single motion is communicated extremely well. Every element of visual language is at play and employed with great fluency. Motion lines, polymorphic panels, blur, overlap, telephoto lens effect, etc...
(how many manga do you see have telephoto???)

Everything in the toolbox is frequently used in such a way as to maximize the flow of what is being portrayed. These are all things you're familiar with, but I can't think of a single other manga that I've read that has as much movement that is as clearly conveyed as in Azumi without becoming a confusing mess. Many of even my favourite manga, some of the best in action, fall into the trap of being confusing sometimes on exactly what is happening, or at the very least janky, yet Azumi flows like pure water. Reading Azumi's fight scenes is like experiencing 144hz when you were previously stuck with 60.

It doesn't sacrifice clarity for money-shots, nor does it go for actions scenes consisting of a series of panels that are cool for the sake of cool. If a character is in a pose or in a position, you know exactly how they got there, where they can go from it, and realistically how things could proceed. Fights are exceptionally fun to read, and they are very common. But this praise isn’t limited to fights, it applies to everything. Simple scenes of characters interacting with each other, like playing with each other while in sleeping bags, will have that same immersive expression of movement.

As you can see, the style is somewhat unique. Mostly, it sticks to what one might consider a dated style. I don’t think it’s so much that the style is dated as it is that the author pursues freedom. When he wants to be detailed, he is. When he wants it to be pretty, he does just so. The author allows characters to look frumpy, which makes for very expressive faces. Sometimes you’ll even get a mix of all three in a single panel, with simple emotive characters up front while detailed and shaded characters are behind them.

That said, none of that matters. What’s most important is that Azumi is cute and I love her.
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