''Smuggler'' (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) 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 and illustrated by Shohei Manabe. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''

Monthly Afternoon is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as ...

'' from May 2000 to August 2000 and published in a single volume. A live-action film adaptation was released in October 2011.

Production

Manabe took inspiration from the works of filmmaker

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

in the making of the series.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Shohei Manabe, the series began serialization in

's ''

'' in May 2000; it completed its serialization in August 2000. Its chapters were collected into a single ''

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 ...

'' volume, which was released on August 21, 2000. A

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

prequel was released in August 2011. In August 2005,

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...

announced that they licensed the series for English publication. After Tokyopop ceased publishing the series, it was licensed by One Peace Books in March 2013.

Film

A live-action film adaptation was announced in October 2010. Directed by

Katsuhito Ishii is a Japanese film director best known for directing ''The Taste of Tea'' (2004), ''Funky Forest'' (2005), and ''Smuggler'' (2011). Career After graduating from Musashino Art University, Ishii got a job at Tohokushinsha Film and began direct ...

and starring

Satoshi Tsumabuki is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was ''Waterboys'' for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' prize. He is also the bassist and lead singer of the Japanese ...

, the film was released on October 22, 2011. A spin-off drama for mobile devices was released on October 7, 2011. In March 2012,

Cinema Asia Releasing Cinema Asia Releasing is a film distribution company founded by Ko Mori of Eleven Arts and Tim Kwok of Convergence Entertainment in 2011 to spread Asian films throughout the United States. Filmography * '' Heartbeat'' (Feature, Korea, 2010) * ' ...

announced that they licensed the film for international distribution. However, in January 2014

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 ...

and Giant Ape Media announced that they licensed the film. They released the film on DVD on April 1, 2014.

Reception

Ken Haley from ''Pop Culture Shock'' praised the story and characters, though felt the art in the early portion of the series was ugly and amateurish. In '' Manga: The Complete Guide'', writer Jason Thompson praised the artwork as realistic and the story as "well-written ndtightly plotted".

References

External links

* * * {{Katsuhito Ishii 2010s Japanese films Funimation Kodansha manga Live-action films based on manga Manga adapted into films Seinen manga Suspense anime and manga Tokyopop titles