Basilisk | |
Kouga Gennosuke on the cover of Basilisk volume 1.
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バジリスク〜甲賀忍法帖〜 (Basilisk - Book of the Kouga Ninja Arts) |
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Genre | Action, adventure, historical fantasy, romance, tragedy |
Manga | |
Written by | Masaki Segawa |
Published by | Kodansha |
English publisher | |
Demographic | Seinen |
Magazine | Young Magazine Uppers |
Original run | February 2003 – July 2004 |
Volumes | 5 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Fumitomo Kizaki |
Studio | Gonzo |
Licensed by | |
Original network | TV Saitama, Animax, TV Kanagawa, Chiba TV, Mie TV, KBS, AT-X, Jidaigeki Senmon Channel |
English network | |
Original run | April 12, 2005 – September 20, 2005 |
Episodes | 24 |
Basilisk (Japanese: バジリスク〜甲賀忍法帖〜 Hepburn: Bajirisuku ~Kōga Ninpō Chō~?, lit. Basilisk: The Kōga Ninja Scrolls) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masaki Segawa. It was published in Japan in 2003 and 2004 in Kodansha's Young Magazine Uppers magazine, based on the novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls by Futaro Yamada published in 1958. The anime, produced in 2005 by Gonzo Studios, closely follows the manga aside from a handful of distinctions. The manga won the 2004 Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. The manga was later followed by a sequel series titled The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls which was also based on a novel by Futaro Yamada.
The story takes place in the year 1614. Two ninja clans, Tsubagakure of the Iga and Manjidani of Kouga, battle each other to determine which grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu will become the next shogun. The deadly competition between 10 elite ninja from each clan unleashes a centuries-old hatred that threatens to destroy all hope for peace between them.
At the dawn of Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period (the late 16th century) two rival ninja clans, the Iga Tsubagakure and Kouga Manjidani, are engaged in a bitter blood feud that has spanned for centuries. The fighting finally ends when Hattori Hanzo the 1st succeeds in forging a cease fire between the two clans by conscripting both into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu (the man who seized power to become Shogun and form Japan's first truly stable form of centralized government). Regardless, hostilities and bad blood remain between Kouga and Iga, ensuring a tenuous co-existence at best.