Purgatory Kabuki Volume 1 (v. 1) [Paperback]

Yasushi Suzuki (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2008

Purgatory Kabuki is a samurai action story set in the underworld of the afterlife. For reasons unknown, former samurai Imanoturugi is obsessed with leaving the afterlife. To die in battle is a samurai's greatest honor. Yet, he must claim 1,000 swords from the fallen warriors who now share residence in the dark underworld. By these means alone, this highly skilled blades master will be allowed admittance back into the living world. But to what end? Upon what stone purpose does he sharpen his edge? The story borrows heavily from various Japanese legends and myths. A skillfully mixed bag of action, suspense, classic ukiyoe style art and intrigue...

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Dr. Master Productions Inc. (January 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597960705
• ISBN-13: 978-1597960700
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,405,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes beautiful, sometimes muddily inchoherent, December 6, 2010

By 

David Mankins (Cambridge, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Purgatory Kabuki Volume 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

As others have noted, the artwork is often quite stunning. However, there's little dialogue and the action scenes are often an inchoherent jumble of lines and shade --- who is fighting whom? What are we looking at?

It doesn't help that characters change their appearance or size from time to time, as we alternately glimpse their human and spiritual forms. Oh, and sometimes the swords have spiritual aspects that manifest in the imagery.

And finally, sometimes the wonderful imagery is swallowed up by being done in dark-grey on a black background.

And note that it's volume one. The story is supposed to conclude in volume two, which is now two years behind schedule.

Still, I'm giving it four stars, because the artwork is stunning, and gosh, you can just make up your own stories to go with it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesomely drawn manga., January 7, 2009

By 

Robbie B. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Purgatory Kabuki Volume 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

This is a piece of art. It is beautifully illustrated. But to completely understand the story you must redad it more than once and look closely at the pictures (or at least that was the case for me). Use the Look Inside option to preview to see if this is the manga for you. Very Action packed. I could see this turned into an anime.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars nice seasoning but no meat, July 31, 2008

By 

Robert H. Klein - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Purgatory Kabuki Volume 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

I bought this manga because the cover and art work inside were unlike anything I've seen before as far as art styles go. As soon as I started the manga I though "not very much dialogue, but hey it'll probably have loads of action!"

I was right about the action, but as far as story goes, I couldn't follow it because, well, there was not very much story to follow. 75% of the time I didn't know what was going on. Sure it's volume 1, and there is still more story to expand on in later volumes, but this volume didn't give a clear description of what the story was.

With the confusing story, I naturally was confused with the characters' relationships, I had to resort to reading the bios on the back and re-reading parts of the manga.

I give this manga two stars just for the beautiful, original art-style but other than that, there's not much more to it.