47 Ronin #5 – Review

By: Mike Richardson (story), Stan Sakai (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors), Kazuo Koike (editorial consultant)

The Story: The ronin launch their assault and avenge the betrayal and dishonor of their master.

The Review: 47 Ronin is probably the most famous and widely recognized classic tale of old Japan. There have been countless TV shows and movies made of the tale and many contemporary works of fiction have referenced the story, such as Robert Deniro’s “Ronin” and Forest Whitaker’s “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai”. There is even a movie of the story starring Keanu Reeves set to open on Christmas Day this year, although I don’t think this comic serialization has anything to do with the upcoming movie and judging from the movie’s trailer, the movie has almost nothing at all to do with the classic story.

Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai have created a faithful, if somewhat uninspired adaption. Perhaps it is Sakai’s cartoon drawings that give the book a very childish look. For one of the bloodiest and dramatic tales ever told, there is no blood and very little drama. Even during the climactic moment when the ronin have their revenge on the dishonest lord that initiated their yearlong odyssey of revenge, the facial expressions on the characters never change. The about-to-be-executed nobleman wears the exact same crazed, eyes bugging out, teeth gnashing expression for 10 consecutive panels and his mouth opens just a little wider and he gets a little cross-eyed as he is having his head hacked off. That’s it. One of the most dramatic moments in the history of literature reduced to crossed eyes and bared teeth. Even after his head is chopped off, washed and placed on a grave, the expression remains pretty much the same. Needless to say, this artistic style makes identifying the characters in the story difficult.

The whole scripted series just seems like a formality. Virtually every panel has dialogue balloons and there is no attempt to build tension. During the yearlong time between the death of their master and their revenge, the 47 ronin disguise themselves as madmen and drunks. Their plan is almost discovered several times during the year and only through guile and luck do they manage to avoid discovery or capture. This version of the story fails to develop any sense of apprehension or terror.  The characters careen along in primarily pastel colors with no shadowing or interestingly drawn angles or points of view. The reader never gets the sense of the larger mission and when the ronin surrender to the law and are sentenced to death, is left to wonder what it all meant.