is a Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. The manga started serialization in Shōnen Gahosha's magazine '' Young King Ours'' in April 2009. It focuses on various historical figures summoned to an unknown world where their skills and techniques are needed by magicians in order to save their world from total destruction. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation aired between October and December 2016; three additional

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA ...

(OVA) episodes were released from December 2017 to November 2018.

Plot

Shimazu Toyohisa or Shimazu Tadatoyo, son of Shimazu Iehisa and nephew of Shimazu Yoshihiro, was a Japanese ''samurai'' who was a member of the Shimazu clan. He was also the castle lord in command of Sadowara Castle. He served in the Battle of Kyushu (1587) u ...

, while involved at the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 ( Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

, manages to mortally wound

Ii Naomasa was a general under the Sengoku period ''daimyō'', and later ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano, ''Drifters'' debuted in Shōnen Gahosha's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Young King Ours'' on April 30, 2009. It is licensed in North America by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

, in France by Éditions Tonkam, in Germany by

Panini Comics Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectable stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hunga ...

, in Italy by J-POP, in Taiwan by Tong Li Comics and in Poland by Japonica Polonica Fantastica.

Volume list

Chapters not yet in ''
tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' format

Anime

A 150-second

adaptation of ''Drifters'' was packaged with the final volume of the ''

Hellsing Ultimate ''Hellsing'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Young King OURs'' from May 1997 to September 2008, with its cha ...

'' video series in December 2012. The short, produced under the supervision of Ryoji Nakamori, technical director Kazuya Miura, and animation director Masayori Komine, featured the voices of Yūichi Nakamura as Shimazu Toyohisa and

Mitsuru Miyamoto is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo. He is attached to Theatre Company Subaru. He is best known for Keiichi Nakagawa from '' Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo'', Roger Smith from '' The Big O'', Ougai Mori f ...

as Murasaki, with music composed by

Yasushi Ishii is a Japanese musician from Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. He specializes in experimental, jazz fusion and hard rock. He is famous for his work with anime scores. He composed music for and scored the first ''Hellsing'' anime, with the ...

. In the May 2015 issue of ''Young King OURs'', it was announced that a ''Drifters'' anime adaptation was in the works. A production site for the anime has been released. The anime was directed by Kenichi Suzuki, produced by

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. The ...

, animated by Hoods Drifters Studio, written by

Hideyuki Kurata is a Japanese anime screenwriter, light novelist, and manga artist, noted for authoring the series composition of such works as '' Read or Die'', ''Now and Then, Here and There'', '' Kamichu!'', and '' Gun Sword''. He has been a member of Yōsuke K ...

and

Yōsuke Kuroda is a Japanese anime screenwriter from Mie Prefecture, Japan. He has his own studio enterprise, Studio Orphee. Kuroda is noted for his work on authoring the scenario, screenplay and story composition of the anime series ''Excel Saga'', ''Please ...

, featuring character designs by Ryoji Nakamori.

and

Hayato Matsuo is a Japanese music composer and orchestrator who primarily does work in video games and anime. He has worked on titles such as '' Front Mission 3'', ''Final Fantasy XII'', the ''Shenmue'' series, '' Magic Knight Rayearth'', and ''Hellsing Ultim ...

composed the music together. The opening theme, "Gospel Of The Throttle 狂奔REMIX ver.", is performed by Minutes til Midnight, while the ending theme, "Vermillion", is performed by

Maon Kurosaki is a Japanese singer and songwriter signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan. After being discovered while working as a performer in Akihabara, Tokyo, she made her major debut in 2010, performing ending themes to the anime television series ...

. The 12-episode series began airing on October 7, 2016, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

. A specially edited version of the first and second episodes with a runtime of 36 minutes was bundled with the manga's fifth volume, and released on June 6, 2016. A special limited-pressing

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

box set was released on December 30, 2016. The box set includes all twelve episodes (with added unaired footage), an exclusive box illustrated by Hirano, a 200-page animation sketch collection by chief animation director Ryoji Nakamori, a 52-page booklet, a bonus extras disc, and a two-CD original soundtrack. The bonus extras disc contained an

omake ''Omake'' (, usually written ) means ''extra'' in Japanese. Its primary meaning is general and widespread. It is used as an anime and manga term to mean "extra or bonus." In the United States, the term is most often used in a narrow sense by a ...

titled "'", promotional videos, and other materials. Customers who pre-ordered the box set from participating retailers before November 6, 2016, would receive an exclusive illustration card set. Additionally, the box set included a form for advance ticket sales for an event that was held on April 2, 2017, at Maihama Amphitheater in Chiba. In Japan, the anime is exclusively streamed on the

AbemaTV Abema (, stylized as ABEMA) is a Japanese live TV streaming website owned by the entertainment company, AbemaTV, Inc. that provides over-the-top media services to customers in Japan. The website primarily acts as an online television network, ...

service simultaneously as the anime aired on Japanese television, starting on October 7 at 11p.m. The series has been licensed by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

for streaming in English-speaking countries and home video and on-demand distribution for the U.S. Additionally, Funimation streamed ''Drifters'' in English beginning on November 6, 2016, at 10:00 p.m. ET. As part of Funimation's partnership with

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...

, Crunchyroll also streamed ''Drifters'' as it aired in Japan. ''Drifters'' was also broadcast on

Aniplus Asia ANIPLUS is an Asian multinational television channel and anime distributor based in Singapore and South Korea. Launched on 7 December 2009, the channel is currently available on SK Broadband, LG Uplus IPTV service, and KT SkyLife. The company a ...

. Funimation released a DVD/Blu-ray combo package for ''Drifters'' on October 3, 2017.

Universal Pictures UK United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an ...

acquired the series for the United Kingdom and Ireland, and released it on October 8, 2018.

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

classified the series for release in Australia and New Zealand, and released it on October 17, 2018. At the end of the anime's twelfth episode, a second season was announced with the message "See You Again, Tokyo 20XX". On October 10, 2017, it was announced the thirteenth and fourteenth episodes, the first two episodes of the second season were released on December 23, 2017, on Blu-ray discs in regular and limited-edition versions. The limited edition includes an outer case illustrated by manga creator Kouta Hirano, a jacket illustrated by character designer and chief animation director Ryoji Nakamori, a bonus video, a drama CD, a 72-page booklet, and a "mystery disc." A fifteenth episode was released on DVD with the manga's 6th volume special edition on November 30, 2018.

Reception

The manga has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide in five different languages. ''Drifters '' has been nominated twice for the annual Manga Taishō Awards, once in the year 2011 and again in the year 2012. The manga was also received well by BAMFAS, saying that the "action paces itself throughout the volume, making sure to include only enough to keep readers moving quickly through the event until the next transition hits." Writers for

note that "''Drifters ''has all but jumped the shark by belligerently knocking over all the narrative pillars of the genre."

The Inquisitr Inquisitr, a website started in 2007 for news and entertainment stories, was relaunched in May 2011. It is owned and operated by Inquisitr Ltd. History The web domain for Inquisitr was registered in Iceland on August 6, 2007. The company was fo ...

agrees with this assessment, writing that "anime fans have been treated to a steady stream of the ''Isekai'' subgenre…but ''Drifters'' pretty much turns our expectations on its head." In a survey by the Japanese website ''Anime Anime!'', ''Drifters'' won fifth place among top 10 manga properties to have an animated adaptation.

Explanatory notes

References

External links