Manga: Burai

[Umeko]

I'm currently reading quite an interesting manga about the Shinsengumi by Youko Iwasaki. I really reccommend it. ;D

The Taiwanese title is Xiao Sa Jian Ke, [translation = The Carefree Swordsman(?) ] The original title is Burai. [Translation = Rogue ] It's of the shoujo genre.

The timeframe is prior to the PMK timeline. It starts off with the lead (Saitou Hajime) a loner, meeting the gang at the Sheiken dojo by chance. They investigate a mysterious cult after a series of strange happenings... After killing the evil cult leader, Hajime hi-tails it out of town to avoid getting the folks at the dojo into trouble.

;D Little did he expect he'll wind up in Kyoto signing up with the Roshigumi (later the Shinsengumi) & finding the dojo gang there...

It's 5 volumes (complete). I believe it ends shortly after they killed Serizawa Kamo.

It has a bishounen cast. (Okita looks like a hunk. Thank you. ) Poor Saitou seems to be a lightning rod for trouble, especially of a supernatural kind. Think demon tiger paintings, possessed swords etc. And what gives with that haori? Toshi & Kamo almost duelled over Toshi's choice of uniform. Think a major split into 2 camps. Serizawa vs Kondo... And poor Saitou's caught on the fence! He's nothing like the RK bad-ass cop or the enlightened PMK captain.

[Gentatsu]

I have heard about this manga. Unfortunatley it has not been published in the US.

[Umeko]

I finished reading the series! Great read.

Yamazaki looks very ordinary. (That's how he can spy without getting discovered, at least till Kamo's aide tries to skewer him...) Saitou's future wife Takagi Tokio shows up in a very unexpected way in the series. She's cool. ;D ;D ;D

They got Sanosuke telling about how he got that scar... Trust me, it's really a lame example of Harada's hot-headedness in his younger days.

Serizawa & pals just can't seem to get through a day without riling Kondo & Co. and causing some disturbance in the vicinity. I mean, blasting away a shop with cannon for some obscure insult?

And Shinsengumi training never looked so fun. Put Okita in charge and he thinks up devious plans like launching mock attacks on unsuspecting rookies in the dead of night or having them in a mock solo combat scenario in a creepy building at night. ;D ;D