Jiraishin

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Jiraishin is an ultra dark detective manga by Tsutomu Takahashi. The title literally means "Landmine Quake". The manga ran on Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon manga anthology from 1992 to 1999. An ongoing sequel series by the same author, Jiraishin Diablo, begun serialization in 2008. There was also a short-lived English adaptation that was published during the late 90's by Mixx Zine (the predecessor of Tokyo Pop) under the title of Ice Blade. 19 Volumes were published in Japan with 10 Bunko/Aizobans published subsequently.

Jiraishin follows a case-of-the-week format (it has no ongoing storyline and only a few recurring characters), where the culprits are usually extraordinarily horrible criminal. Kyoya Ida is a detective and a pretty really, really sinister guy. The world is not a happy place, but he deals with it...and, by "deals with it", he ensures that justice is served no matter how morally wrong he appears to be. In Jiraishin Diablo, Ida has left the force while suffering from Keratoconus before he met with a police detective and a grown up Aya Koike in investigating what really happening in Amakura Island after most of its inhabitants were killed by an unknown disease. 3 volumes are now complete as Takahashi is now pursuing a new manga called Hito Hitori Futari.


Tropes used in Jiraishin include:


Jiraishin Diablo! contains the following tropes:

  • Abandoned Area: Specifically the Amakura Island in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture. It's said that a disease is responsible for killing all of the inhabitants, except for a few who abandoned it.
  • Cool Guns: Park's got a Beretta 92F when he covertly came into Japan.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Park does this after killing off the diplomat and his bodyguard escorts in Tokyo due to his disgust of people being left by their governments without helping them like the Amakura survivors.
  • North Korea: A North Korean agent named Park Tae-Hyun was involved in getting the survivors out of Amakura Island and helping them make their case known to the public via the internet after getting them to safety in North Korea. And he's got a secret agenda as he gets his North Korean commando comrades involved.
  • Straw Traitor: Park falling under this after a North Korean diplomat in Japan accuses him of being involved in a revolt when he shot a Japanese official in the left temple.
  • YouTube: How the Amakura Island survivors tried to make their case to the world.