Visionary character design

posted in: 2 - Books and Manga | 5

Mining through various Japanese fan blogs brings about two things in me:

1.) I soooo wish I could read kanji…

and

2.) I find amazing scans of vintage manga covers, like the below!

I believe these are all by the godfather of ninja manga Shirato Sanpei. Absolutely awesome.

futari.jpg

ninjasenpuh_zanngetunomaki.jpg

kazenoisimaru2.jpg

okite.jpg

kdc002.jpg
Check out the line-up of ninja thugs in back - I love that bent angled hood design.

Any Japanese readers wanting to send translations of these covers, especially if an artist is listed, we’ll reward you handsomely.

5 Responses

  1. Daeva

    OH, SHIRATO-SENSEI–!

    I wanna help with the cover titles!

    1. “Futari Kozo” (“A couple/pair of Kozo”)
    2. “Ninja Senpuu” (“Ninja Whirlwind”)
    3. “Kaze no Ishimaru” (“Ishimaru of the Wind”) [the original version of “Kaze no Fujimaru”– Actually, the two stories are pretty different]
    4. “Okite” (“Law”)
    5. “Sanada Kenjutsu” (“Sanada Swordmanship”)

  2. Daeva

    You’re welcome, I’m always glad to share some knowledge with other Shirato fans ^^

  3. daitora

    for 5 it ‘s sanada kenryu
    the last kanji is ryu and not jutsu

  4. David Lai

    I am a late comer. Still I was enthrall by Sanpei Shirato sensei