Ice Blade

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Ice Blade

Jiraishin
地雷震
(Jiraishin)
Genre Action, Detective fiction
Manga
Author Tsutomu Takahashi
Publisher Kodansha
English publisher Flag of Canada Flag of the United States Tokyopop (Dropped)
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Flag of Japan Afternoon
Flag of Canada Flag of the United States MixxZine
Original run 1992 – 1999
Volumes 19

Ice Blade, known in Japan as Jiraishin (地雷震? "Earth-Lightning-Quake") is manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Takahashi, published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1992 to 1999.

The story follows Kyoya Iida, a plainclothes police officer, and his colleagues at the Shinjuku Police Department.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Most chapters revolve around the life and the adventures of homicide detective Kyoya Iida. The plot reflects on Kyoya Iida and his colleagues and the interactions between and with the criminal underworld.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Jiraishin characters
Kyoya Iida

A homicide detective who prefers to solve cases by using his Glock 17 pistol.

Tsuyoshi Yamaki

Kyoya's first partner, shot to death by an armed Chinese juvenile delinquent.

Director Narita

Head officer of Shinjuku's homicide division. He was a friend of Kyoya's father.

Eriko Aizawa

Kyoya's second partner. Her husband was killed by her stalker after their wedding. Speaks fluent English, Chinese, and Spanish.

[edit] Publication

Original version of Jiraishin, released in Japan.
Original version of Jiraishin, released in Japan.

The manga was serialized in Afternoon KC and compiled into 19 volumes (tankōbon) published by Kodansha.

Kodansha also released a high quality collector's edition (bunkobon) of the manga in 10 volumes.

The North American version of the manga, retitled Ice Blade, was serialized in Tokyopop's MixxZine[1] but discontinued after three volumes. The series has also been translated into German, Italian, Korean and Thai.

[edit] North American censoring

When Jiraishin was serialized as Ice Blade in MixxZine, there were instances of censorships in some of its panels as it was a new magazine when it was released and didn't wish to offend potential distributors[2].

[edit] Reception

Cassiel Kelner of Aesthesticism.com praised the manga as a study on human nature, "reminding [readers] just what people really are capable of"[3]. Serdar Yegulalp of Advanced Media Network compares Jiraishin to Miami Vice as the "blood, grit, and sin spatter so thickly that it’s a miracle you don’t get your fingers dirty when you turn the pages"[4].

A Gaijin Power review notes that Jiraishin "hits hard, rarely has 'happy endings' and is definitely not for everyone." as the manga goes deep in terms of plot and its themes of violence and sex and does not show a happy ending for most of its stories[5].

[edit] References

  1. ^ mixxzine. Retrieved on May 19, 2008.
  2. ^ About Jiraishin. Retrieved on May 19, 2008.
  3. ^ Kelner, Cassiel. Jiraishin review. Aestheticism.
  4. ^ Yegulalp, Serdar. What You're Missing, April 2008: Jiraishin. Advanced Media Network.
  5. ^ Weekly Manga Review #2 - Jiraishin. Retrieved on May 19, 2008.

[edit] External links