Grenadier (manga)

Grenadier
Front cover of Grenadier Vol. 2
グレネーダー (Gurenēdā)
Genre	Action, Adventure
Manga
Written by	Sōsuke Kaise
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
English publisher	NA / UK Tokyopop
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Ace
Original run	2003 – 2006
Volumes	7
Anime television series
Directed by	Hiroshi Kōjina
Produced by	Toyoo Ashida, Hitoshi Kawamura, Yutaka Ohashi
Written by	Akira Okeya
Music by	Yasunori Iwasaki
Studio	Group TAC, Studio Live
Licensed by	US Media Blasters
Original network	WOWOW
Original run	October 14, 2004 – January 13, 2005
Episodes	12

Grenadier (Japanese: グレネーダー, Hepburn: Gurenēdā^?) is a manga series written and illustrated by Sōsuke Kaise, published in Kadokawa Shoten's Shōnen Ace in 2003. The manga was licensed in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing.

The manga was adapted into an animated television series in 2004. The anime series aired on WOWOW from October 14, 2004 to January 13, 2005, totaling twelve episodes.

Grenadier follows the travels of the buxom and beautiful Rushuna Tendō, an expert senshi, and the samurai Yajirō Kojima, a mercenary swordsman. A Senshi or "Enlightened" is one who is skilled to some degree in the use of guns. The series begins with Yajirō and a small army of samurai launching a frontal assault against a fort in an attempt to free their lord, which was taken over by a group of gunners. The assault fails.

Yajirō orders a retreat, but is spotted by the enemy and chased to a small cliff, which he jumps off of to escape. With his pursuers still following, he follows a nearby hot-water stream upcurrent where he finds Rushuna bathing in a hot spring. She seems undisturbed by his presence or her own nudity and hides him in the hot spring with her ample breasts as cover until the enemy passes them by. After this, she introduces herself as a traveler and reveals the ultimate battle strategy to Yajirō; to avoid battle by removing an enemy's will to fight.