, also known as ''Rainbow Samurai'', 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 u ...

series written by

Tetsuya Takeda Tetsuya Takeda (), born April 11, 1949, is a Japanese folk singer and actor. Takeda is perhaps most known in Japan for his starring role in the Tokyo Broadcasting System's (TBS) long-running, highly rated television drama '' Sannen B Gumi Kinpa ...

and illustrated by

Yū Koyama is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from the University of Shizuoka he moved to Tokyo and in 1968 took a job with Saito Productions, the company run by Takao Saitō. In 1971 he worked with Kazuo Koike at Studio Ship. Koyama debuted in ...

. It is a comical and serious account mixing history and fiction of the life of the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...

leader

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppon ...

. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

Shōnen Big Comic was a bi-weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan from 1979 to 1987. From 1976 to 1979, the magazine was titled before being renamed ''Shōnen Big Comics'' in 1979. In 1987, the magazine changed format and was renamed ''Weekly You ...

'' (1986–1987) and ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Weekly Young Sunday was a weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan since the first issue on March 27, 1987. It replaced ''Shōnen Big Comic'' in Shogakukan's lineup of shōnen titles, and many of the titles in ''Shōnen Big Comic'' were continued in ' ...

'' (1987–1996), with its chapters collected in 23 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. It was adapted into a 39-episode

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 by Nippon Herald Films and Animation 21 and broadcast on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

from April 1992 to March 1993. The manga has over 15 million copies in circulation.

Synopsis

It is November 15, 1835, near

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

. The youngest daughter of the Sakamoto family, Otome Sakamoto, is stargazing and sees a comet. That day her mother, Sachi Sakamoto, is about to give birth. The comet appears as a dragon and a horse, and Otome shouts to it: "Make the child born tonight a boy! I promise I'll make him a strong samurai!", after which the comet changes to a soft glow. Soon the first cry of the baby is heard—a strong baby boy. However, the newborn boy has long hair on his back which is seen as strange. At this the father, Yahei, is dumbfounded but Otome names the boy Ryōma, a name combining Japanese characters for dragon and horse. Ryōma quickly grows but is a coward and a crybaby. He is mocked for his back hair and bullied every day by children in the neighborhood. He is not a good student and is thrown out of his

juku ''Gakushū juku'' ( ja, 学習塾; see cram school) are private, fee-paying schools that offer supplementary classes often in preparation for key school and university entrance exams. The term is primarily used to characterize such schools in ...

. Otome and the second oldest sister Ei do not give up on Ryōma, and raise him more strictly. Even so, Ryōma's unique characteristic is his kind heart. This kind heart amazes the bullies in the neighborhood, led by a young Izo Okada. Zuizan Takechi, helped by Ryōma, is also impressed by his capacity for good. It looks as though Ryōma will enjoy a peaceful childhood, but he soon learns about the oppression of the by the upper class samurai. His mother is chased to her death by the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' Yamanōchi, after which Ryōma vows to himself: "I want to become stronger!", at the age of 16.

Media

Manga

Written by

and illustrated by

, ''Oi! Ryoma'' was serialized in

's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Shōnen Big Comic'' from 1986 to 1987, when the magazine ceased its publication and was transferred to the ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

'', where it ran until its conclusion in 1996. Shogakukan collected its chapters in twenty-three ''

'' volumes, released from October 5, 1987, to July 5, 1996; it was later republished in fourteen '' wideban'' volumes from January 16, 1998, to March 16, 2000; and twelve '' shinsoban'' volumes from October 30, 2009, to March 30, 2010.

Anime

The manga was adapted into a thirty-nine episode

television series, produced by Nippon Herald Films and Animation 21 and broadcast on

from April 7, 1992, to March 30, 1993.

Reception

As of November 2009, the manga had over 15 million copies in circulation.

References

External links

* {{Weekly Young Sunday Historical anime and manga NHK original programming Shogakukan manga Seinen manga Shōnen manga Yū Koyama