Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi
The Elusive Samurai

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TL/DR : Elusive samurai is def not the bestest of the best but I think it’s a fun read🤤 there are moments that give me whiplash especially in the first chapter 😭 but the story and characters are fun, it’s a good manga for reading causally and I really hope it’s received well when the anime comes and and I’m anticipating the anime!!!

Characters : 8.5
The characters kinda have a similar relationship like in assclass, but they’re pretty fun to read about. For the most part they are all like able and interesting esp Tokiyuki, Shizuku, Yorishige, and Fubuki. The villains are fun and esp the ... pair with big ears and eyes, the main villain is one of the major draws, but some of the characters like Genba play on the pervert trope and it’s really distracting from the rest of the series 💀


Story : 7.5～
The story is kinda standard shonen and there are a bunch of tropes but after the whiplash u get from the first chapter the pacing becomes much more stable and coherent 😭 Its a pretty engaging story and watching the characters interact is always nice. I think Matsui Yuusei has a style of writing where things usually move pretty quickly and honestly after the first chapters it is kinda nice.

Art : 7.5 ～ 8
Matsui Yuuseis art is no doubt amazing but there are some truly goofy panels 😭 I don’t blame him at all though like he has to do this on a weekly basis and it’s amazing😭 The art really shines in the big panels of action, his brush stroke and the line of action is CRAAAZY it goes hard fr ‼️‼️ The designs are all solid and personally I like the a lot. The goofier panels are usually like the smaller in between shots, the armor can be very distractingly weird 😭 but as a whole, the art is very solid, and its clear his art is insane

Overally : 8
The manga has a vibe where it feels like this subject is something Matsui Yuusei is really interested in, there’s clearly a looot of work put into research and u can tell when reading. I’m unable to really get the historical references but nevertheless the depth of research really highlights the story. I feel like people should give it a shot if they see it!!

What would you do if your whole family was brutally annihilated and some of your relatives even killing themselves just to not let down the honor of your clan and all you could do is just run away? Elusive Samurai tells you that it's better to run away and survive than it is to give up and die for nothing.

The story is a grand adventure of a young boy's journey to redeem his seat as the heir to the shogun. This is the best written adventure/action shonen from recent times. The narrative about rejecting honorable death is amazingly executed. It follows the historical events ... very closely and the world feels lived in. The manga doesn't let up with it's satisfying arcs of tension and resolution. The stakes are high and it feels like that in every major battle and the fights aren't solved by some asspull power ups but rather by strategy and wit.

The main character is incredibly likable. Even as they are very young you can sympathize and relate to them. They are also the very definition of a hero; they're powerful, courageous and wise. The manga makes you actually care about their problems and you can't help but root for the kid.

The supporting cast is also great. They get the necessary characterization and small arcs of their own. You can see all of them grow throughout the story.
There's also the comedy which is more subjective but I found it pretty funny. It didn't break the tone ever.
The villains. Oh yeah they're awesome. They are very menacing, evil, selfish and will even betray their allies to get to the top of the power hierarchy.

The art is cute and cool. The huge battlefields full of warriors are nicely rendered. The action scenes are clear and you can understand what's going on. It's good.
Surprisingly gory and scary at times as well.
This is the best shonen action I've read so far. I don't think the historical aspect of this manga makes this any harder to get into. I hadn't read any history and I understood the story fine. Read it now

The pacing of this series is absolutely awful. The illustration, characters, and overall story are fine besides some questionable choices. This really makes you appreciate the amount of time Yasuhisa Hara spends on the battles in Kingdom to properly build tension and suspense. This story feels like a grand epic that should take place over 500+ chapters to explore all the historical details and intricacies of ancient Japanese battles, but the story flies by at a breakneck pace with no time to breathe. This is the manga equivalent of the new Star Wars sequels. You have no time to process anything before the next sequence ... begins.

Update: After fully catching up to this series, I feel even more frustrated than before. This series feels like a child is telling you about everything that happened to him this week. Some major events are covered in a few sentences. Tangents that aren't relevant to the overall story are covered in excruciating detail. This series needed more time and care to explore some of the genuinely good ideas it has.