Sanctuary – Vol 1

Sho Fumimura & Ryoichi Ikegami Published by Viz

Story:

Set in 80′s (90′s maybe?) Japan, Sanctuary follows the path of a duo that have the dream to change the Japanese government from being full of old geezers to a younger group of fellows. In this duo, there is the educated and extremely wise political man Chiaki Asami and the yakuza gang leader Akira Hojo. Outlining the dark-side of Japanese government during this time period, Sanctuary grasps just how closely the mafia and the state heads ran two-and-two.

Presentation:

Presentation is really a killer for me. If something doesn’t look nice, I’m not going to waste my money on it… unless it truly is a classic and I know it is. I had never really heard of Sanctuary before, never seen it in stores, nothing. So when I ordered it, it was really off how the cover looked and the description. No wonder I hadn’t seen it in stores! It was published by Viz Communications in 1993. 1993. Almost 20 years ago! Viz isn’t even Viz

Comm anymore but Viz Media. Being so old, I did have to go through a random seller on Amazon to get it. I really wasn’t sure how it would look — was expecting yellow pages, small and ugly little thing.

How surprised I was when it came in the mail. It looks like a modern Viz Signature volume. It’s the larger format size, embossed lettering, and is overal EXTREMELY NICE. Gah, I really am blown away at how nice it is. It is flipped, now reading left-to-right, but that doesn’t bother me… and shouldn’t bother true readers. Most of the lettering on the pages (text in the bubbles) was fine, though sometimes it was cut off by the edge of the pages. Viz apparently published this three times. Once as a two chapter “comic” format, again as a combined “comic” format, and finally in a volume-sized version which I have. I’m sure cutting it down to fit in a volume probably is where the proble

m arised. Not a big problem though. Oh yeah, the pages aren’t yellow either! They used acid-free paper… which is amazingly awesome since things I have from just a few years ago from Viz are already yellow

Other Rambles:

So there’s a LOT of sexual stuff in this series. Almost every other chapter there’s sex or some boobs. It’s not too extreme… only lasting a few panels or something, but it’s there, so this is definitely for an older audience.

Also gotta say that I really wasn’t expecting much out of this series. I actually had ordered the second volume before even reading volume 1, then decided to cancel it. After finishing volume 1, I went back and re-ordered the damn thing. It really is just that awesome. I can really see the plot developing into a nice thriller. It’s only 9 American volumes long, so it won’t take me forever to read it, I suppose.

The art is extremely realistic. I truly love my more realistic artists than my big-eyed ones (though Tezuka is great). Ryoichi Ikegami (who did Crying Freeman, as well as other works with Buronson) really gives off a feel of Inoue’s Vagabond art mixed with Urasawa’s Monster… it’s just awesome awesome awesome.  The story too! This guy wrote Hokuto no Ken for crying out loud (even though I haven’t read it, it’s apparently godly). I was able to fly through this first volume in no time and I went to Amazon to grab volume 2 as soon as I was done. If you want to read this amazing thriller, grab all the volumes at once! Seriously.

Oh yeah, if anyone has volume 7… and they want to sell it to me for under $20, hit me up. People on Amazon are crazy… and I can’t find it anywhere else. All the other volumes are easy to find, but volume 7 is gone from /everywhere/. Thanks

Since this was published in 1993, it’s really hard to find. Amazon still has a few of the later volumes in stock (like 1 copy each), and there are a few sellers on there for the rest. Volume 7, however, is gone from everywhere :\