[Anime] Lone Wolf and Cub

[Excretum Necris]

Hi to you all,

 

I have a recommandation for those of you who are interested in an old-fashioned Samurai Manga that was also made into a TV series (with actors) back in the 1970s:

 

It's called "Lone Wolf and Cub"

 

The setting is Japan, in the Edo period, the genre is definitely chanbara, but with a heavy dose of cultural and philosophical themes.

 

Allow me to be lazy and quote from Wikipedia.

 

Ogami Ittō, formidable warrior and a master of the sui suiō-ryū swordsmanship, serves as the Kogi Kaishakunin (the Shōgun's executioner), a position of high power in the Tokugawa Shogunate. Along with the oniwaban and the assassins, Ogami Ittō is responsible for enforcing the will of the Shogun over the daimyō (lesser domain lords). For those samurai and lords ordered to commit seppuku, the Kogi Kaishakunin assists their deaths by decapitating them to relieve the agony of disembowelment; in this role, he is entitled and empowered to wear the crest of the Shogunate, in effect acting in place of the Shogun.

 

After Ogami Ittō's wife Azami gives birth to their son, Daigorō, Ogami Ittō returns to find her and all of their household brutally murdered, with only the newborn Daigorō surviving. The supposed culprits are three former retainers of an abolished clan, avenging the execution of their lord by Ogami Ittō. However, the entire matter was planned by Ura-Yagyū (Shadow Yagyu) Yagyū Retsudō, leader of the Ura-Yagyū clan, in order to seize Ogami's post as part of a masterplan to control the three key positions of power: the spy system, the official assassins and the Shogunate Decapitator. During the initial incursion, an ihai (funeral tablet) with the shogun's crest on it was placed inside the Ogami family shrine, signifying a supposed wish for the shogun's death. When the tablet is "discovered" during the murder investigation, its presence condemns Ittō as a traitor and thus he is forced to forfeit his post.

 

The 1-year-old Daigorō is given a choice by his father: a ball or a sword. If Daigorō chose the ball, his father would kill him, sending Daigorō to be with his mother; however, the child crawls toward the sword and reaches for its hilt. This assigns him the path of a rōnin, wandering the country with his father as "demons"—the assassin-for-hire team that becomes known as Lone Wolf and Cub, vowing to destroy the Yagyū clan to avenge Azami's death and Ittō's disgrace.

 

 

I always felt this series was less anticipated than it deserved to be, nowadays. The production standards are low or average at best, but you never feel like watching a trash production, because the overall presentation is kind of realistic and imparts basic to advanced understanding of Bushido. The story lacks no tragic and no suspense, if you ask me.

 

What I can recommend is the version from the 1970s, although I do not know if this series was released in English. I am from Germany and watched it in German, but my guess is that the English audience will not have missed out on it. However: The Manga was translated for sure.

 

I hope I'll be able to please someone with this recommendation.