Is it me or has Kotonoha lately developed a penchant for stories set in the past? After Shigurui and Historie we’re adding yet another historical manga to our project list. However, rest assured that we aren’t bringing you just any title from this vast genre.

Nominated for the prestigious Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize and voted the second best manga series in 2007 by Japanese readers, Yoshihiro Yamada’s Hyougemono (lit. odd or funny things) is one of those manga whose covers alone radiate style and class. And that’s exactly what you get… plus much more. Set in Japan’s tumultuous Sengoku (Warring States) period, Hyougemono tells the story of Sasuke Furuta, a Sadō (tea ceremony) addict who also happens to be a messenger in Nobunaga Oda’s army. A bon vivant and art connoisseur, Furuta is more interested in collecting tea ceremony utensils than fighting, a behavior that causes him much trouble and makes for a lot of hilarious situations throughout the series. Don’t get me wrong, Hyougemono is far from being a laugh fest. There are enough epic battles, sword fights and intense drama in this series to satisfy any action fan, but thanks to Furuta and his antics the story never becomes too serious and can be enjoyed even if you’re not interested in the period in question or the subject matter (tea ceremony, famous utensils). Though it does help if you are familiar with the background of real-life personalities such as Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi Hashiba (aka Hideyoshi Toyotomi) as well as the basics of Sadō.

To make it short, Hyougemono offers everything you could expect from a great manga: fascinating and memorable characters, an astonishing artwork whose beautiful richness is a treat for the eyes, an elegant story filled with action, humor, drama and pathos that’s simply a blast to read. And read it you should.

Many thanks to richvh who lent us his translation skills for this difficult project and boke who took some time off his busy schedule to make sure the script is up to snuff. Now if only he could give us more Osen to go along with Hyougemono (I would like to think of them as sister projects)!

But I guess that’s life. We can’t get everything we want, though sometimes we get what we need: like new chapters of Historie (today’s batch concludes the 3rd volume), The Hour of the Mice (the tension is mounting) and Seizon - LifE (we’re close to wrapping up the 2nd volume)!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 9:30 pm and is filed under Release(s). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.