Story wise there is nothing new to be told here. It is story of revenge, where samurai try to clear their master's name after he is accused of capital crime and executed in a matter of hours by the Shogun. As a direct consequence of his crime his entire family is banished and his household is no more. Angered with the way their master is brought down his samurai decide to take action and bring the parties involved to justice.

For all means and purposes this is a story of a suicide attack executed by group of people that have no further reason to live (loss of position and rather rigid social rules that do not allow for survival of anyone who lose their face - in a manner of better to die than live [in shame]).

Story is as far as I know (having read few translations) the most popular telling, one were spotlight is on honor and justice.

Art is more comic-y than one might expect. It is classic Stan Sakai comic with only difference being that he is not working with anthropomorphic animals but human characters. For some this style might be in conflict with the seriousness of the story but I had no issues with it.
Shots and angles are great and you cannot get lost and wander what is going on. Colors are a little bit subdued but I think this was for a dramatic visual effect. All in all I liked the art pretty much.

So for a classic story this is a really good book. If you never heard the story then I wholeheartedly recommend this book. And if you have I recommend this one as a pretty good comic adaptation. ( )

Se la leggenda diventa realtà, vince la leggenda.

(146) ( )

Fascinatingly brutal depiction of honor in feudal Japan. It designs a perfect moral conflict with their society’s strict do-or-die rules, so I can see why this is an essential tale. The art is reliably well-drawn and spaced. It was interesting to see Stan Sakai in a supporting role here solely as artist, though I imagine he had some input with Richardson’s clear (yet plain) dialogue. Very good! ( )

I only got this for the art to be honest. I love Stan Sakai's art. I'm use to him just drawing anthropomorphic animals, so this one was a little weird for me...humans? LOL. This comic is worth getting if you like Sakai's art. He draws beautiful landscapes I think.

Now let's talk about the writing. This book reads quickly. In someways that is good and others it's not that great. I'm still a little confused about the event. This book is historical fiction, but it needs a little more meat within the story.

Overall I still liked these book. Got me more interested in the "full" history. Kind of curious about the lives of the other ronin this book didn't cover. All their names are mentioned at the end, but only a few are in this book with a story. ( )

Excellent rendition of a traditional Japanese tale