History Manga / Azumi

The manga won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival and the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1998, and received two film adaptations: ''Film/{{Azumi}}'' in 2003 and ''Azumi 2: Death or Love'' in 2006. It also received a HackAndSlash UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game adaptation in 2005, also called ''Azumi''.

* VagueAge: Azumi's age isn't specified, but when the manga begins she's decidedly a preteen. Her missions under Gessai begin around 1611, and at least six years pass over the course of the manga.

* MasterSwordsman: Several skilled warriors are introduced, but by the time she's on her own Azumi's bujutsu vastly outstrips ''everyone else'', letting her mow down dozens of opponents at once. After slaughtering a large group of bandits, she becomes so renowned that people come to believe she's a {{youkai}}. Even the legendary swordsman UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi is impressed and intrigued by how skilled she is when he sees her in action in Chapter 173.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Tenkai sends Azumi, Tobizaru, a samurai named Tsudzura, a kunoichi named Hatsune, and two samurai named Utsobu and Kagari to assist the daimyo in eliminating a group of ronin planning to instigate a rebellion by the commoners and ronin against the Shogunate in Ise. Azumi manages to [[TheMole infiltrate the rebel group]] and ingratiate herself with their ringleaders, but before she can act Tsudzura is pegged as a castle samurai and brutally murdered by a mob of armed peasants as practise for the revolt against the Shogunate, the daimyo's castle is overtaken by the rebels, and Hatsune, Utsobu, and Kagari are found out and drugged by the ronin to expose Azumi's involvement. It should be noted that while Shizune is nominally the leader, he wants the people to live in peace but the ronin under him are hijacking his message to stir up violence and conflict. [[spoiler:The one who is masterminding it turns out to be Shizune, who manipulates the ronin leaders and Shunjiro's desire to overthrow the feudal system and instigate industrialized capitalism so that people can profit from their work and not have to suffer under the tyranny of the samurai class, all to drag the world back into civil war for their sadistic amusement.]]

** Konishi Shizune is a kind but naive half-Japanese Christian who seeks to unite the people of Ise into a peaceful classless society. However, Shunjiro and the eight ronin commanders working under him have hijacked Shizune's message to start a violent revolution. He doesn't realize he's being manipulated until after Azumi shows up, but she doesn't have the heart to spell it out for him. [[spoiler:That is, until Shizune and his twin brother are revealed to be the true mastermind.]]

* OreOnna: Azumi, having been raised amongst a group of boys, uses "ore" to refer to herself. When she has her first period, Gessai tries to teach her proper feminine etiquette, but to no avail.

** While working to peacefully resolve a conflict between two noble houses without one being executed for treason against the shogunate, Azumi meets a lascivious kunoichi who openly flirts with her while also having sex with several ronin to avoid having her cover blown. Suspecting that the kunoichi is spying on her, Azumi pretends to have sex with the scion of a noble family who'd been taken hostage to pass a message from his family on to him, and the kunoichi becomes too busy having ADateWithRosiePalms to pay attention to her spycraft.

** Azumi was sent to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyori, but wound up befriending him. The scheme was uncovered by his mother, Yodo-dono, who forced Azumi to kill Ukiha.
** Kiku's friendship with Azumi was a charade in order to make her let her guard down... until it stopped being a charade.

* BetaCouple: Shortly following Ukiha's death, Nagata met Yae, a girl whose father and brother were killed when they were mistaken for Gessai, Azumi, and himself. Nagata and Azumi persuaded Gessai to take Yae in and she and Nagata fell in love. When Yae departed to return to her hometown, Azumi persuaded Nagata to go tell her how he felt. Tragically, Bijomaru killed Nagata before he could do so, while Yae was within eyesight, and she never saw it happen.

* BullyingADragon: Despite Azumi developing a reputation as a MasterSwordsman and borderline OneManArmy, the Yagyu clan sends countless mercenaries and assassins after her. All this manages to do is get a number of Azumi's would-be love-interests -- as well as said mercenaries and assassins -- brutally killed.
* CartwrightCurse: Beginning with Nachi, almost all of Azumi's love interests have kicked the bucket and are pushing up daisies. Two she was forced to kill by her enemies, one committed seppuku, one was cut down without her knowledge,[[note]]though he survived and returned as a villain, only to be shot in the gut and fall off a cliff[[/note]] one was raped and beaten to death by bandits, one she cut down in a duel to spare him wasting away from consumption, one turned out to be a sadistic warmonger, one was gutted while trying to perform a HoneyTrap on assassination targets, and two were cut down in the middle of a pitched battle against a group of ronin, and one was impaled protecting her. Azumi had to threaten to go AWOL to prevent a young lord with anti-shogunate leanings from being put to death by Tenkai, but turned down his proposal out of her sense of duty.
* ChasteHero: Azumi was so naive as a young teen she didn't even know what the differences between boys and girls were, having been raised in complete isolation from the outside world. She eventually grows out of this naivety, but almost every person she falls in love with or who falls in love with her is killed, usually right in front of her.

* DoomMagnet: Almost all of Azumi's friends except for Yae and Tobizaru, and [[CartwrightCurse all of her love interests without exception]], have been killed due to their involvement with her.

** Azumi's first meeting with Sakon consists of him asking if she wants to have sex, after she unwittingly follows him to a field where a bunch of people are having APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy. Azumi is mortified and immediately turns him down.

** In Chapter 295, Azumi meets a stoic prostitute named Akane, who becomes attracted to her after Azumi purchases her services so she won't be forced to sleep with a pair of slovenly ronin. Akane quickly figures out that Azumi is DisguisedInDrag and helps her hide from the ronin -- who are hunting for her, [[spoiler:but the ronin eventually figure out who Azumi is and take Akane and a young prostitute hostage for her trouble]].

* {{Expy}}: Konishi Shizune, a half-Japanese Christian who claims to be the Son of God, is based on UsefulNotes/AmakusaShiro.

** When Kiku is captured by a group of bandits, Azumi promises not to interfere as long as Kiku is unharmed. The bandits proceed to murder Kiku in the worst way possible, and Azumi massacres them all.

** In Chapter 295, Azumi goes on the run disguised as a male samurai and ends up staying at a brothel-inn, where she befriends a stoic prostitute named Akane who eventually figures out her secret and helps her maintain her ruse until her cover's blown. Azumi also befriends a young prostitute she witnessed being raped en-route to the brothel and was unable to save without blowing her cover.

** Kiku, a transgender assassin who joins up with Azumi intending to befriend her and then kill her when she lets her guard down. Kiku, much to her confusion, falls in love with Azumi and ultimately can't go through with it.

* JidaiGeki: The series is set in the death throes of the Sengoku Era and the early years of the Edo Period.

* LittleMissBadass: Azumi kicks ass and takes names like you wouldn't believe. Opponents constantly underestimate her and find themselves sliced to pieces.

** Konishi Shizune has blond hair and is dazzlingly handsome, [[spoiler:as does his identical twin brother Tadane]]. This exoticism facilitates his claim that he is the reincarnation of Jesus... [[spoiler:and lets them manipulate everyone into starting a civil war]].

* RapePillageAndBurn: Every time a group of bandits or ronin show up, chances are this is what they'll be doing.

* SilentScapegoat: In order to prevent the AwfulTruth of [[spoiler:Shizune being a manipulative [[TheSociopath sociopath]] using the faith of the Japanese Christians in his territory in order to orchestrate a war]] from being revealed, Azumi willingly plays herself as a SatanicArchetype towards the rest of the populace and kills him, earning her the severe hatred of the entire town. Only two kids, Gacchi and his sister, know the full truth.

* TautologicalTemplar: Gessai Obata raises Azumi and her comrades to believe that everything they're doing is good, and the people they kill deserve to die.

* WorthyOpponent: Miyamoto Musashi himself begins seeing Azumi as this after he sees her sword skills firsthand and desires to cross swords with her. Sakon, of course, likewise sees Azumi as the only person he can accept being killed by before his disease claims him.

* RaisedAsTheOppositeGender:
** Azumi grew up among a group of boys, all of them war orphans, and was completely oblivious that she was a girl until their foster grandfather gave her TheTalk when she got her first period.
** Kiku is physically male, but dresses as, acts like, and identifies herself as a woman. She's also an assassin who aims to befriend Azumi and kill her once she lets her guard down... or at least she did, before she fell in love with her.

* DangerouslyShortSkirt: Azumi wears a thigh-length kimono and frequently ends up exposing her underwear when she fights.

** While working to peacefully resolve a conflict between two noble houses without one being executed for treason against the shogunate, Azumi meets a lascivious kunoichi who openly flirts with her while also having sex with several ronins to avoid having her cover blown. Suspecting that the kunoichi is spying on her, Azumi pretends to have sex with the scion of a noble family who'd been taken hostage to pass a message from his family on to him, and the kunoichi becomes too busy ADateWithRosiePalms to pay attention to her spycraft.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Almost all of Azumi's love interests are killed off, often in brutal fashions.

** In Chapter 295, Azumi meets a stoic prostitute named Akane, who becomes attracted to her after Azumi purchases her services so she won't be forced to sleep with a pair of slovenly ronin. Akane quickly figures out that Azumi is DisguisedInDrag and helps her hide from the ronin -- who are hunting for her, [[spoiler:but the ronin eventually figure out who Azumi is and take Akane hostage for her trouble]].

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Chapter 118 reveals Yae became a prostitute, but her EmotionlessGirl nature turns off her clients.

* RaisedAsTheOppositeGender: Kiku is physically male, but dresses as, acts like, and identifies herself as a woman. She's also an assassin who aims to befriend Azumi and kill her once she lets her guard down... or at least she did, before she fell in love with her.

* MixedAncestry:
** It's speculated that Azumi has a European ancestor, due to her brown hair and dark blue eyes, which are frequently remarked upon.
** Shizune has blond hair and blue eyes due to one of his parents being a foreigner.

* CartwrightCurse: Beginning with Nachi, almost all of Azumi's love interests have kicked the bucket and are pushing up daisies. Two she was forced to kill by her enemies, one committed seppuku, one was cut down without her knowledge,[[note]]though he survived and returned as a villain, only to be shot in the gut and fall off a cliff[[/note]] one was raped and beaten to death by bandits, one she cut down in a duel to spare him wasting away from consumption, one turned out to be a sadistic warmonger, one was gutted while trying to perform a HoneyTrap on assassination targets, and two were cut down in the middle of a pitched battle against a group of ronin, one was impaled protecting her. Azumi had to threaten to go AWOL to prevent a young lord with anti-shogunate leanings from being put to death by Tenkai, but turned down his proposal out of her sense of duty.

* DoYouWantToCopulate: Azumi's first meeting with Sakon consists of him asking if she wants to have sex, after she unwittingly follows him to a field where a bunch of people are having APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy. Azumi is mortified and immediately turns him down.

* CartwrightCurse: Beginning with Nachi, almost all of Azumi's love interests have kicked the bucket and are pushing up daisies. Two she was forced to kill by her enemies, one committed seppuku, one was cut down without her knowledge,[[note]]though he survived and returned as a villain, only to be shot in the gut and fall off a cliff[[/note]] one was raped and beaten to death by bandits, one she cut down in a duel to spare him wasting away from consumption, one turned out to be a sadistic warmonger, one was gutted while trying to perform a HoneyTrap on assassination targets, and two were cut down in the middle of a pitched battle against a group of ronin, one was impaled protecting her.

* DecadentCourt: The backdrop of the series is the early Edo period, where the newly established Tokugawa shogunate moves against the vassals of its enemies, and various noble houses jockey for the shogun's favor or influence over him.

* DepravedBisexual: Bijoumaru, the arrogant, sadistic, and ''very'' flamboyant iaido master hired to kill Azumi and Gessai. He kills Nagara and wounds Gessai, but is killed by Azumi.

* DisguisedInDrag: [[spoiler:After Chiozō is killed protecting her, in Chapter 295 Azumi disguises herself as a man and runs away from Tenkai's temple to do some soul-searching, ending up staying at a brothel/inn while pretending to be mute to avoid giving away her voice.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: All of Azumi's love interests are killed off, often in brutal fashions.

** In Chapter 295, Azumi meets a stoic prostitute named Akane, who becomes attracted to her after Azumi purchases her services so she won't be forced to sleep with a pair of slovenly ronin.

* SilentScapegoat: In order to prevent the AwfulTruth of [[spoiler:Shizune being a manipulative TheSociopath using only the faith of the Japanese Christians in his territory in order to orchestrate a war.]] from being revealed, she willingly plays herself as a SatanicArchetype towards the rest of the populace and kills him, earning her the severe hatred of the entire town. Only the two kids Gacchi and his sister know the full truth.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge:
** Kiku, a transgender assassin who falls for Azumi, is taken hostage by a bunch of bandits who rape and murder her after they discover she is biologically male. Azumi goes berserk and slaughters all of them, having been promised that Kiku would be unharmed if she didn't interfere with their plan to rob a gold convoy.
** When Azumi's squad is sent to assassinate Date Masamune, Hatsune is captured while performing a HoneyTrap on one of his retainers. [[spoiler:While on their way to rescue her, Azumi and co. come across a sack in the middle of the road and open it to find Hatsune's impaled and disembowlled corpse.]]

* NotSoDifferent: When telling Azumi why he [[spoiler:had the people they travelled with together executed]], Shunjiro states that he sacrificed the few for the needs of the many, saying his reasons are the same as Azumi's and daring her to deny it.

* CartwrightCurse: Beginning with Nachi, all of Azumi's love interests have kicked the bucket and are pushing up daisies. Two she was forced to kill by her enemies, one committed seppuku, one was cut down without her knowledge,[[note]]though he survived and returned as a villain, only to be shot in the gut and fall off a cliff[[/note]] one was raped and beaten to death by bandits, one she cut down in a duel to spare him wasting away from consumption, one turned out to be a sadistic warmonger, one was gutted while trying to perform a HoneyTrap on assassination targets, and two were cut down in the middle of a pitched battle against a group of ronin.
* ChasteHero: Azumi was so naive as a young teen she didn't even know what the differences between boys and girls were, having been raised in complete isolation from the outside world. She eventually grows out of this naivety, but every person she falls in love with or who falls in love with her is killed, usually right in front of her.

** Kiku, a {{transgender}} assassin who joins up with Azumi intending to befriend her and then kill her when she lets her guard down. Kiku, much to her confusion, falls in love with Azumi and ultimately can't go through with it.

* {{Transgender}}: Kiku is physically male, but dresses as, acts like, and identifies herself as a woman. She's also an assassin who aims to befriend Azumi and kill her once she lets her guard down... or at least she did, before she fell in love with her.

* KlingonPromotion: A rather bizarre example of this is committed by Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu's son and the reigning Shogun. After Ieyasu's murder at Azumi's hands, Ieyasu's closest advisors suggest using Ieyasu's last ''kagemusha'' (body double) to cover up the death of the retired Shogun for a while longer in order to further solidify the Tokugawa shogunate's hold on power. However, Hidetada, who resents having held all of the responsibilities of the Shogun for the past 11 years while his father has had all the actual power, will have none of this, and personally butchers his father's lookalike in a rather gory manner, thereby ensuring that his father's death will have to be publicized and he will finally be Shogun in fact as well as in name.

* KlingonPromotion: A rather bizarre example of this is committed by Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu's son and the reigning Shogun. After Ieyasu's murder at Azumi's hands, Ieyasu's closest advisors suggest using Ieyasu's last ''kagemusha'' (body double) to cover up the death of the retired Shogun for a while longer in order to further solidify the Tokugawa shogunate.