Obscure Manga: KuroGane (Black Steel) Volume 1 Review

Kurogane is a fun manga, but it feels to familiar for me to consider it anything other then an abstract art book with a story that drags on in the middle of volume 1. While scrolling through the news feed on AnimeNewsNetwork I came across a peculiar article about a manga I've never heard of before, titled Kuro Gane. It talks about the sequel manga Kuro-Gane Kai going on a 3 month hiatus. It's cover was interesting and alluring seemingly done in oil paint, the character on the front a samurai with peering eyes. Apparently it was released by Del Rey Manga which is a publishing company that was the predecessor Kodansha that went out of business in 2010. It's Penned by artist Kei TOUME, who I haven't heard of until recently, but found out he worked on another manga title I liked when I was 13 called Lement of the Lamb. A series I all but forgot how much I enjoyed, and if there is one thing I have to thank the news article for is helping me find the title to a formative piece of media I long forgot. Over the past several months I've been looking for a good samurai manga to sink my teeth into, having finished Blade of the Immortal, Lone Wolf and Cub, Rurouni Kenshin, Dororo and fully catching up to Vagabond. Now I'm sure there are a number of other titles to look to but something about how hard it was to find scanlations online sparked my interest as it possibly being a hidden gem from English readers. An excitement brought to contention once I looked on amazon and saw the mixed reviews, some praising it as a decent and fun samurai manga, while others complaining about it to be a trite "discount Blade of the Immortal." All in all however it never got below a 4/5 in those reviews So I was pretty confident about reading it.

The story takes place in a similar time to Blade of the immortal with the shogunate in power. It has a lot of elements you could expect from a manga of this type with cool samurai politics, and characters talking of honor and such. The fights are cool but have strange compositions sometimes hard to follow with it's very off kilter whimsical art-style. Being a Chanbara super fan these things were apart of the appeal of the manga. I liked the first chapter especially with the introduction of ex-samurai Genkichi gave up on being a samurai to pursue a life of invention and smoking weed. Very different from other characters and I was hoping he would stay alive to continue in the story but his presence. back was short lived.He reminded me of Junkai from Dororo but if he was alot more laid. Take Blade of the immortal, mix it with the episodic nature of Lone Wolf and Cub, and a boy who cant talk with a mostly prosthetic body like Hyakkimaru and you get Kuro-Gane. While I'm a fan of each of these series in isolation I don't know how I feel about all of these elements being squashed together into one story. The series struggles in some ways to define itself in the first couple chapters. I like the central conceit of the sword speaking for Jintetsu, but the science behind it is rather strange and feels like the author is coming up with it as he goes along. One second it seems as though the sword can speak on its own but apparently in a later chapter we find out that it can't without Jintetsu being there. Another thing that had me rolling my eyes was the segment where the sword insisted that it wasn't an evil spirit. When there is no science to be able to explain why he can talk at that specific time. Artificial Intelligence didn't exist during edo period japan so why in the ever living fuck is there a sword that can speak without it being magic. It they just explained it as being some alchemist science I would believe it in the realm of the story because around the time period there were people exploring athose ideas. The central part of the volume is where I find some of the most enjoyment while feeling the most exhausted due to it's awful pacing and speech bubble layout. It didn't take me long to realize that the artist made a mistake by not including any indication of whose supposed to be speaking at a given time. And so I find myself rereading over panels multiple times to gauge what the fuck is going on. Apparently the plot is that there are these 3 families that are collecting tribute money from villagers to stop fires and  bandit attacks. Theres alot of internal politics that go over my head, because of the god awful composition of the speech bubbles. I found myself skipping through parts of the volume seemingly important. It was compelling in certain parts like the moment when Kyota was framed for killing off the members Eizo clan. If I were to rate the story element of it I would have to give it a 6/10. The first chapter was very fun and set up the series pretty nicely, the middle segment bored the hell out of me aside from the beautiful and abstract artwork an a few striking moments, and the last scenario was good with it's exploration of the new generation of samurai youth. Being careless in their violent escapades and their goal to get Jinketsu to join their ranks. The wild girl who steals stuff was cute and I liked hearing her back story and how he town was burned down by the children of the samurai. All and all pretty decent 7/10

The strongest element to this manga would have to be it's very stylistic artwork. It looks similar to Blade of the Immortal's but where it differs is it's focus on pushing a more cartoon 1960s manga look when it comes to Jinketsu, and a more 80s style with the other characters. Where Blade of the Immortal excels in it's incorporation of realism. This manga is a lot more abstract with more elongated legs and hands and less focus put on anatomical correctness. More emphasis is put on the extra artistic elements and while sometimes it's hard to tell whats on the page, I personally can enjoy the aesthetic and interpretive quality of it. Although I have issues with the story I still enjoyed reading it at the end of the day. Will buy more volumes.

and so I'm giving it a 7/10