Shogi 20 January 2017
Five recommended Japanese Manga (comics) on Shogi besides “3-gatsu no Lion” (March Comes in Like a Lion)
As many know, “3-gatsu no Lion” (March Comes in Like a Lion)(Hakusensha) is at the zenith of its popularity. Its Anime movie is coming this autumn and live-action is also on the way to be released next year.
I am very sure that this Manga has triggered the interest of many people for Shogi. As a matter of fact, I myself am one of them. Taking this as a great opportunity, I hope that people deepen their interests in Shogi and even start actually playing Shogi. So, to help them to do so, I would like to introduce five more Shogi Manga books today. I am more than happy if someone falls in love with Shogi by reading this blog and Manga introduced here.
1. “Satoshi – Tensai Habu ga Osoreta Otoko” (Satoshi – The guy scared Meijin Habu) (Shogakkan)
Satoshi Murayama, 9th Dan. I think that all Shogi players know his name whether they are professional or amateur.
This legendary Shogi player died of kidney disease at such a young age of 29. He was one of the top players then, and people talked “There are Habu in the East (of Japan) and Murayama in the West.” Murayama rivaled Habu who won the 7 titles for the first time in history of Shogi.
The movie about Murayama’s life titled “Satoshi: A Move for Tomorrow (English title)” with Kenichi Matsuyama as a main character is scheduled to be released this autumn. Murayama’s dramatic life is drawing people’s attention.
The Manga “Satoshi – Tensai Habu ga Osoreta Otoko” describes two kinds of Murayama’s fights, fight in Shogi and another one is against his disease.
I just said that Murayama had two kinds of fights. However, as I read this Manga, I felt that these fights meant the same one thing to Murayama.
Murayama often said, “I find a way to live,” when he was in predicament during Shogi matches. It seemed that Murayama shortened his life for every single move he made. I felt that he was challenging the opponent and death in front of him concurrently.
2. “Hirake Koma!” (Open a Shogi piece) (Kodansha)
This Manga is about an elementary school boy, Takara who is passionate about Shogi and his mother who supports him.
Reading this Manga book, what I found interesting is his easy-going mother.
Actually, I had thought mothers whose children taking Shogi lessons were devoted to their children until I met this Manga book.
However, it seems that is not always the case, actually. Surely, Takara’s mother is devoting but she also enjoys herself by attending a good-looking instructor’s Shogi lessons and so forth. She is more competitive against Takara’s rival’s parents than Takara himself is. She was fed up with Takara when he nagged her to buy an expensive Shogi book. So, she is not a perfect mother. I feel empathy with her for her humanness.
As mentioned in the previous post, some mothers feel anxious about issues like Shogi rules since they are not familiar to Shogi themselves. I think that those issues will work out if mothers can enjoy themselves and assist children’s learning Shogi just like Takara’s mother.
3. “Narikin!” (Akita Shoten)
I would like to recommend this Manga for those who have no interest in Shogi. Surely, Shogi has a plain and sober image compared to popular games such as baseball and football. However, I come to think that professional Shogi players are so great as major leaguers and national soccer team members since I joined I-tsu-tsu Co., Ltd. three months ago. Shogi is not an old-fashioned children’s play but rather it is a type of sports without excessive physical moves.
I want to recommend this Manga for people without any interest in Shogi because I feel this Manga is claiming that Shogi is a great sport and comparable to soccer. The main character is called “Narikin Ayumu.” He is such a natural jerk who irritates not only other characters in Manga but also readers.
Nevertheless, he has incredible talents. He became a professional Shogi player at such a young age of 14. He is an unprecedented genius.
Ayumu joined a soccer club for some reason and accomplished a number of amazing jobs making great use of Shogi knowledge.
Ayumu is a jerk and far from cool but still he looks good when he shows a spirit of a professional player and courage as a fighter.
Ayumu could not draw others’ attention or could be disliked by others without Shogi knowledge. However, he showed off great success on a big stage of soccer games with his only one weapon, Shogi. This is really a dream story.
4. “Masaru no Itte!” (Masaru’s move) (Shogakkan)
Contrary to “Narikin,” in this Manga, a boy called Masaru who was originally passionate about soccer becomes fascinated with Shogi. There is a scene that Masaru used a soccer field to resemble a Shogi board to figure out Shogi strategy.
I hardly thought about this before, but as I read this Manga, I realized that Shogi and soccer actually have much in common.
So, it may be fun to consider a certain Shogi piece as your favourite soccer player when you observe Shogi games, or take soccer tactics as Shogi strategy.
I think this Manga’s storyline is easy, simple and understandable even to children. However, it is full of Shogi knowledge. So, it was hard for me to understand some of the Shogi-related contents since I am a novice Shogi learner.
Various Shogi tactics are introduced in this Manga, and thus those who know Shogi even just a little may find it very interesting.
I am more than happy if our readers feel motivated to learn Shogi by seeing Masaru’s growth in this Manga.
5. “Shion no Ou” (Shion’s King) (Kodansha)
A bloody murder of a whole family; This Manga’s opening is very shocking and gruesome.
The heroin of this Manga is Shion Yasuoka, and she was the only one survivor of the gruesome homicide of the whole family. She started Shogi because of her father and became the youngest lady’s Shogi player at the age of twelve. Though she lost her memories and voice due to a psychological shock after the murder, she recovered her memory thread by thread as she engaged in Shogi matches, and tried to find the murderer through the games.
It is a scary story.
As I started reading this Manga, I was constantly suspicious about Shion’s opponent feeling that he/she could be the murderer.
What I found in this Manga was neither the profoundness of Shogi nor interesting strategy, but a professional Shogi player’s obsession toward victory. Their obsession with victory was so serious that it almost scared me.
I often hear that every Shogi player looks like a demon during the match regardless his/her usual personality. I agree with that. I understand that a devoted Shogi player does not hesitate to be even a demon for victory.
I cannot tell you the denouncement here, but one thing I can say is that the murderer’s strong obsession with victory caused this homicide.
Although I understand Shogi players’ obsession with victory, I must say that homicide is too extreme.
I have introduced five Manga books on Shogi today. If you are interested in learning Shogi, check out our articles about Shogi rules!
この記事の執筆者Nae Kanamoto
