I have read severals manga that depicts the life of Oda Nobunaga and out of all the one that catches me the most is the version drawn by Ikegami Ryoichi. This version is purely biography like Mitsuteru's version but when compared to other Oda Nobunaga's manga, the Ikegami Ryoichi's version appear to be really dramatic and got the most handsome version of Nobunaga. The art quality is quite outstanding too for a manga drawn from late 80s. It is quite possible that Koei got their inspiration for their version of Nobunaga for their long standing Nobunaga's Ambition and Samurai Warriors from Ryoichi's version.
One of Japan's most famous historical period was the 16th Century Warring States period and Oda Nobunaga is probably the most celebrated character out of that period. To explain why Nobunaga is so famous in Japan won't be sufficient in a single post but he is famous enough to appear alot in Japanese media especially manga and video games and the reason why we have Nobunaga no Yabou instead of Tokugawa no Yabou. To some people Nobunaga perhaps is no more than a devil incarnate since he slaughtered lots of people during his campaign including tens of thousands of civilians. However in the passage of history he left behind a great legacy as one of the three Unifier of Japan and arguably the one who did most of the legwork. While he may never trust fully his subordinates, Nobunaga is the paragon of a Pragmatic ruler who would made Machiavelli smitten like a little girl if two of them ever met each other. I hope one day some scanlators would be interested to pick up this manga for translation since this is one of those manga that would be a waste if kept in Japan only.
Nobunaga is indeed well known and my first exposure was through playing the game. He has make famous generals under his command. If I'm correct, he burnt temples and sparked discontent in his ranks which lead to betrayal. My most recent watched anime on samurai is probably 'Nobunaga The Fool'. It's a mecha and medieval blend.
ReplyDeleteFrom what i know the temple burning are not related to Akechi's cause of betrayal. The real reason why Akechi betrayed Nobunaga are not known until now but the popular one is because Nobunaga humiliated Akechi too much which tarnished his Honor and thats probably why Honnoji happened. But yeah, because Hideyoshi and Tokugawa worked under Oda that they were able to unite Japan and make themselves famous in the Warring States History.
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