History Manga / Shigurui

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Tokugawa Iemitsu and Tadanaga. A contemporary of their grandfather, UsefulNotes/DateMasamune, also makes an appearance. Appropriately, the name of the chapter was "One-Eyed Dragon", which is also Date's RealLife nickname. As he meets Tadanaga, he noted Tadanaga's resemblance to UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga, Tadanaga's "granduncle". [[note]] Tadanaga's half-uncle, Nobuyasu, married Nobunaga's daughter. Nobuyasu and Hidetada (Tadanaga's father) had different mothers.[[/note]]

* TheCaligula: Tokugawa Tadanaga

* ForegoneConclusion: Historically, Tadanaga committed seppuku just before the death of his father shogun Hidetada, this after Iemitsu stripped him of all possessions and offices. Here, the same thing happens, but the series purports to show the ''real'' reason why Tadanaga was condemned.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Tokugawa Iemitsu and Tadanaga. A contemporary of their grandfather, UsefulNotes/DateMasamune, also make an appearance.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Tokugawa Iemitsu and Tadanaga. A contemporary of their grandfather, Date Masamune, also make an appearance.

** Made worse by the fact that in the very first chapter of the manga, [[spoiler:Tokugawa Tadanaga is executed for treason and planning a coup]], so [[spoiler:Fujiki's]] brief moment of [[spoiler:glory, even if it's unimportant to him]], will fall sooner than anyone expects.

* ForegoneConclusion: Zig-zagged. Historically, Tadanaga committed seppuku just before the death of his father shogun Hidetada, this after Iemitsu stripped him of all possessions and offices.

** Made worse by the fact that in the very first chapter of the manga, [[spoiler:Tokugawa Tadanaga is executed for treason and planning a coup]], so [[spoiler:Fujiki's]] brief moment of [[spoiler:glory, even if it's uniportant to him]], will fall sooner than anyone expects.

* WorldOfBadass: Being a piece of {{Jidaigeki}} fiction, this is a given.

** Irako doesn't fit the cutie archetype too well

** Made worse by the fact that in the very first chapter of manga, [[spoiler:Tokugawa Tadanaga is executed for treason and planning a coup]], so [[spoiler:Fujiki's]] brief moment of [[spoiler:glory, even if it's uniportant to him]], will fall sooner than anyone expects.

* HandicappedBadass: both main characters

* NoWomansLand: Played with. Shigurui is a very misogynistic setting where women are treated as little more than property or bargaining chips. however, the setting is extremely cruel towards men as well since it's a world were MightMakesRight.

* SlidingScaleOfGenderInequality: A very strange case that mixes level 2 (Whores, whores, whores) and level 7 (Can't Stand Men, Can't Live Without Them). On one hand all female characters of the show are just here to be fucked and discarded like mere prostitutes and/or being taken advantage of. On the other hand, men are not presented as being particularly heroic for doing this to women who are all described as deeply depressed and broken because of how men treat them. But unfortunately, InAWorld where MightMakesRight, if a woman can't fight she has no choice.

* MadeOfPlasticine: It's the type of world wherein all it takes to slice throu people like warm cheese is a very sharp sword and a gruelling martial arts regimen.

* BrainBleach: If Kogan, Yamazaki, and the Funaki Brothers are pretty grotesque.

* BrainBleach: If Kogen, Yamazaki, and/or the Funaki Brothers don't make you ''lunge'' for a bottle, you have [[TheSoulless no soul]].

Character sheet is [[{{Characters/Shigurui}} here.]]

The story starts with a fight between the blind, lame samurai Irako Seigen and the one-armed samurai Fujiki Gennosuke in a tournament for the daimyo Tokugawa Tadanaga. Both samurai are accompanied by women; Irako is led by a woman named Iku, and Fujiki is aided by a young woman named Iwamoto Mie who seems to bear a grudge against Irako. The fight is about to begin - and then we cut to a {{flashback}} which lasts the rest of the series (so far). The series tells the story of the two samurai who once belonged to the same school and how they got to this point, both maimed and determined to kill each other.

* {{Backstory}}: Basically the whole thing

* BadassNormal: Irako, Fujiki, Ushimata, Kogan

* EyeScream: How Irako was blinded

* {{Gorn}}
* TheGrotesque: Gannosuke Kutsuki

* GenreThrowback: This series, both visually and story-wise, brings to mind old JidaiGeki manga like LoneWolfAndCub.

* TheAce: Irako Seigen initially appeared to be this.
* TheCaligula: Tokugawa Tadanaga
* TheGrotesque: Gannosuke Kutsuki
** Anyone dumb enough to challenge the Kogan-ryu. "Give him a new look and send him home", indeed.
* TigerVersusDragon: Kogan Iwamoto and after him Gennosuke Fujiki symbolise the Tiger while Seigen Irako symbolizes the Dragon.

* AnyoneCanDie - Several characters had backgrounds, flashbacks, and exposition about their [[ChekhovsSkill various physical feats]], only to die with one sword slash, or even one punch, during a fight.
* ArmorIsUseless - Mostly averted. One of the characters is saved when the light chain mail woven into his clothes prevents a blow from cutting deep enough to kill him. Played straight, though, by two minor characters whose special skill is the ability to chop through helmets.
* ArtifactOfDoom - Kogan's sword is said to be this.
* AttemptedRape - Mie has to deal with this a couple times - once from her crazy father, and again when her crazy father orders all his students to hold her down so Irako can impregnate her. Irako declines.
* {{Backstory}} - Basically the whole thing
* BackToBackBadasses - the helmet-chopping twins.
* BadassNormal - Irako, Fujiki, Ushimata, Kogan

* {{BFS}} - Ushimata's wooden practice swords
* BlackAndBlackMorality - the closest thing to a genuinely good guy is a minor character who only appears in a couple chapters.
* BrainBleach - If Kogen, Yamazaki, and/or the Funaki Brothers don't make you ''lunge'' for a bottle, you have [[TheSoulless no soul]].
* BreakTheCutie - Irako, though he doesn't stay broken for long, and Mie. Subverted by Iku, who has horrible, horrible things happen to her [[spoiler: and her breasts]] but stays fairly constant throughout. She's a tough lady.

* BrokenAce - [[spoiler: Irako]].
* BuryYourGays - [[spoiler: Yamazaki]]

* CrapsackWorld - Between executions and bandits, people did not live very long, whether they were samurai or not.

* DespairEventHorizon - Supposedly the cause of Iwamoto Kogan's madness after his betrayal by Yagyu.
* DiagonalCut - used, but not as often as you might think.
* DissonantSerenity - Fujiki as he [[spoiler: helped maim Irako]].
* DownerEnding - [[spoiler:Fujiki finally got his revenge and killed Irako. Lord Tadanaga's officials commend him, then order him to cut off Irako's head and stick it on a pike. Fujiki is appalled by this order--by this point he has come to respect Irako (if not like him), and finds the command disgraceful to Irako's memory. But when the official invokes his duty as a samurai, he reluctantly obeys, severing Irako's head and humilliating the corpse. Mie, his betrothed, sees that he is still the same puppet that held her down on Kogan's orders to be raped, and kills herself in despair.]] In the end [[spoiler:Fujiki lost everything to his quest for vengeance, his pride is dead, his wife is dead, and most important to him the Koganryuu school is dead as well.]] What is left to him is to live as [[spoiler:a puppet for the Lord]], attained the [[spoiler:highest honor as a samurai but cannot enjoy any of it as he apparently ended completely mind-broken]].

* EyeScream: how Irako was blinded
* FinishingMove - [[strike: Irako]]. ''Every'' main character. The Kogan-ryu is basically nothing but this.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown - Fujiki a couple times. Also Yamazaki.

* TigerVersusDragon: Kogan Iwamoto and after him Gennosuke Fujiki symbolise the Tiger while Seigen Irako symbolises the Dragon.

* VillainProtagonist: sort of. It's open to debate whether any of the characters are technically a hero.

* DownerEnding - [[spoiler:Fujiki finally got his revenge, he killed Irako]] in a very morally questionable way, this resulted in the shogunate [[spoiler:not respecting the showdown]] in any form instead it was seen as [[spoiler:two handicaped fools trying to kill each other]]; with [[spoiler:Fujiki losing his pride Mie couldn't take the pressure and killed herself]], in the end [[spoiler:Fujiki lost everything to his quest for vengeance, his pride is dead, his wife is dead, and most important to him the Koganryuu school is dead as well.]] What is left to him is to live as [[spoiler:a puppet for the Lord]], attained the [[spoiler:highest honor as a samurai but cannot enjoy any of it as he apparently ended completely mind-broken]].

* GeorgeLucasThrowback: This series, both visually and story-wise, brings to mind old JidaiGeki manga like LoneWolfAndCub.

** And let's not forget Tokugawa Tadanaga, the man responsible for the tournament being fought with real weapons. He's been shown killing or torturing somebody ''in every scene he was in''.
** Special mention goes to [[spoiler: apparently serene Fujiki Gennosuke, who scares a man to death by hitting him once then staring at him.]]
*** This series was basically a [[CompleteMonster Complete Monster Pileup]]. Kogen without a doubt left his sanity with the [[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizon Station Attendant]], but arguably so did his followers by explicitly following his orders.

* WhatTheHellHero: Fujiki are you really [[spoiler: just going to sit there as [[BrokenBird Mie]] is about to be raped]]? Yes, [[JustFollowingOrders yes you are]]. Resident [[JerkAss jerkass]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards Ira]][[VillainWithGoodPublicity ko]] [[MagnificentBastard Sei]][[CompleteMonster gen]] is the only one to [[BatmanGambit oppose this]].

* ThePesci: Tadanaga Tokugawa is described as having a "temper like a natural disaster" and anything could set him off and there's no controlling him.

* HardGay: [[spoiler: Yamazaki]]. Also the Funaki Brothers. Though they drop hints to being [[DepravedBisexual Depraved Bisexuals]].

* AnimeAnatomy: Female breasts are drawn in great detail, but genitalia are drawn as just a blank

* BerserkButton: You will not disparage Iwamoto Kogen or praise Irako Seigen front of Fujiki, not if you want to remain whole anyway.

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*** This series was basically a [[ThirtyGambitPileup Thirty]] [[CompleteMonster Complete Monster Pileup]]. Kogen without a doubt left his sanity with the [[MoralEventHorizon Moral Event Horizon Station Attendant]], but arguably so did his followers by explicitly following his orders.