There are five volumes following "Tears of Ice," Volume 23 in the Lone Wolf & Cub series, so the epic sword fight between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu can not be the climatic battle between the two bitter foes. But that does not take away from the drama of the drawn out encounter, which finds the pair returned to the swords they left standing in the ground when they went off to save the city of Edo from complete destruction from flooding. "Tears of Ice" contains five episode of the epic manga saga, three of which are devoted to the sword fight:

(112) "Frozen Edo" actually goes back in time a few minutes to recover the end of the previous episode from the perspective of the Shogun as we again see the destruction of the mountainside when Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu used Daigoro's totekirai. The result is that both foes, along with Daigoro and Abe-No-Kaii, are swept into the flood. The resulting enishi (a fateful, chance connection between two people) finds Lone Wolf rescuing the master poisoner's "corpse" and Retsudo saving Daigoro. Both of these acts will have implications throughout this volume.

(113) "Tears of Ice" finds Daigoro realizing he is in the household of his father's enemy and Retsudo explains to the boy the momentary truce that exists. Meanwhile, on their battlefield, Ogami Itto is burying the Yagyu dead. The symmetry of the two foes "helping" the other constitutes the final quiet before the coming storm. The fateful day of meeting is established for continuing the battle, but that night Abe-No-Kaii finds the two swords standing in the ground and comes up with yet another "final" plan to win the die for himself.

(114) "The Day of Meeting" begins the epic swordfight between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu, with only Daigoro and Abe-No-Kaii observing the action. Koike and Kojima make it clear that this is going to be a long sword-fight, with pages devoted to the posture and positioning of each samurai before the actual crossing of swords.

(115) "Death in the Moonlight" takes the duel into the night, as each swordsman tries every trick they know to win the battle. Meanwhile, neither knows that Abe-No-Kaii has poisoned their blades, which means a mere scratch could end the battle.

(116) "Silent Snow" adds the element of weather to the sword fight as it begins to snow. The two evenly matched foes struggle on, but Daigoro has reached the limits of his endurance. The long struggle, their wounds, and the poison on their blades, finally take their toll of the two warriors.

By this point reading through the Dark Horse publications of this great Japanese comic book I am atuned to the sense of pacing Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima are employing in their epic. Early volumes offered a variety of episodes, where we would periodically enjoy a Daigoro story or one in which Lone Wolf and Cub were periphery characters to the events. But now things have changed and the focus is almost entirely on four characters as the tension continues to build towards a final resolution. Reading "Lone Wolf & Cub" is a great investment of time (and money), but well worth the expenditure as this is a monumental work in the "field" of comic books.

The epic saga of Lone Wolf & Cub certainly changed once father and son finally entered Edo, the city of the Shogun. But the final confrontation between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu has been disrupted by the intrigues of Abe-No-Kaii, the master poisoner. As "In These Hands," Volume 24 of this manga saga by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima opens, the two master swordsmen have collapsed in the snow, felled not by the wounds they have inflicted upon each other, but by the poison with which Kaii tainted their blades:

(117) "Child in the Fields" finds Daigoro struggling to save his father's life, even though the child has a severe case of frostbite. If Daigoro succeeds, then who will save him? Another touching example of a Daigoro story in the series.

(118) "In These Small Hands" finds Daigoro's life in the hands of the most unexpected person of all. Meanwhile, the Yagyu letter falls into the hands of another.

(119) "Kaii Triumphant" reminds us that every dog has his day as Abe-No-Kaii's latest plot seems to bring him as close as he has ever been to his quest for power.

(120) "The Last Cherry Blossoms" begins with Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu appointing the time for the continuation of their duel. Each prepares for the resumption of the duel in his own way, Retsudo by spearing cherry blossoms from the air and Ogami Itto by visiting the house that once was his home.

(121) "Stone Upon Stone" finds Retsudo Yagyu called before the Shogun to answer for the Yagyu letters. This is a most unusual story because the sparring is all done with words rather than swords this time around.

The emergence of Abe-No-Kaii as a major player in the death struggle between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu brings to the forefront the way of the warrior, bushido, and what it means to be bushi, a member of the samurai class. Obviously Kaii is not bushi, a point that Retsudo reminds the poisoner of on several occasions. But it seems to me that in castigating Kaii for his failings in that regard and having been confronted with the example of Diagoro, that Retsudo adheres more to bushido in the last couple of volumes with regards to Ogami Itto than he has over the course of the entire epic. It is also interesting that so late in the game Koike and Kojima succeed in introducing another major villain, who not only functions to delay the climatic sword fight but to make Retsudo look good in comparison.

Only four volumes to go until the conclusion of one of the greatest comic books in the history of the known world.

By the time you get this far into the 28 volume manga epic from Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, you expect your expectations to be violated. When I started "Heaven and Earth," Volume 22 in the Lone Wolf & Cub series, the stage was clearly being set for the final, fatal confrontation between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu, while Abe-no-Kaii tries to find a way to bring them both down. Therefore I knew that something would stop this from happening and that whatever this something was, it was going to be unexpected and significant. Of course, the fact there are six more volumes to go suggests it is too early for the end to be nigh. "Heaven and Earth" offers up the next four installments of the Lone Wolf & Cub saga:

(108) "The Last Fistful" focuses on Abe-no-Kaii and the master poisoner's desperate attempts to find a way out of the whole he has dug for himself. Getting the better of Retsudo Yagyu proves to be just as impossible as besting Ogami Itto was for Kaii. But then he sees a one in a million chance to still win the big power struggle.

(109) "Totekirai" offers another significant surprise in our story. In the previous volume we finally learned what happened to all of the gold Ogami Itto has been accumulating on his bloody journey along the Assassin's Road. There have been a few guesses as to what he wanted all of that gold for, but, of course, those guesses were not even close to the truth that is revealed in this story.

(110) "Heaven and Earth" has to be the title for this volume because once again Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu stand upon the field of battle facing each other with their swords. But before that happens Daigoro has to save his father from the feared Yagyu wheel However, that fool Kaii does something that makes the final confrontation seem rather insignificant. Of course, it is raining throughout these fights, which is not at all surprising knowing the reverence Kojima has for Akira Kurosawa (show me a climatic battle in the rain, such as "The Two Towers," and I immediately think the end of "Seven Samurai").

(111) "Fire on the River of Blood" starts off as a Daigoro story and then becomes, well, something that can only be described as a story you never would have thought you would read (i..e, no way am I going to spoil this one for anybody who has gotten this far into the saga).

The final volume in Lone Wolf & Cub should be out soon, which means that my decision to start reading these comics one story a day (111 days ago) was a monumentally fortuitous example of timing. I have read more than my fair share of comic books and I have never read anything that was this good for this long. It has also been a long time since I have approached the end of an epic like this with so much regret. "Lone Wolf & Cub" is a classic comic book series, albeit, one for a mature audience.

"Gateway Into Winter," Volume 16 of the Lone Wolf and Cub epic manga by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima marks a major turning in the saga. Of the five episodes collected in this volume, three of them constitute major developments in the blood feud between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu. The fact that these three stories run consecutively only heightens the cumulative impact and make it very clear that we are entering a significant new stage in the epic:

(78) "Umbrella" is the quiet before the story, a tale of Daigoro left to fend for himself in a city. In addition to spending his time drawing on the wall, each day he witnesses the plight of a young girl, who must carry an umbrella to keep the sun out of the eyes of her mistress. Daigoro tries to lend a helping hand, but this only makes things worst for the young girl. As is often the case with stories focusing on Daigoro, the ending is simple and poignant.

(79) "Sayaka" is the last remaining child of Retsudo Yagyu and Ogami Itto's nemesis is training her carefully, sacrificing retainers so that she may hone her skills. Sayaka's strategy is simple: while attacking with her sword she throws a whirling o-teduma dagger into the air, forcing her opponent to make a choice: block her stroke and the dagger will strike. After she works out new attacks to all possible responses, her father sends Sayaka forth to slay Lone Wolf & Cub. But he also makes her a promise: if she, his last child should fall, then he will launch a frontal assault on their foes. Either way, there will be serious consequences for our hero.

(80) "Clouds of Silk" is one of the stories will have been waiting to read for a long time. I have engaged in speculation as to what the content of the Yagyu Letter might be, but I have given up on trying to guess the secret way that hides the message. I had no clue as to what it might be, but I did suspect that it would be something good. This episode proves I was right. I have been reading these stories one at night before going to bed and if this story had stopped sooner than it did I do not think I would have had the will power not to continue on to the next story. Fortunately, "Clouds of Silk" provides a better stopping place.

(81) "Demon Hide, Demon Seek" finds Ogami Itto and Daigoro in a whole new world where every city and village in the land has a poster with their pictures: 50 pieces of gold for the pair dead, 30 pieces of silver for information on their location. This story involves the first of what we have to assume will be many encounters with bounty hunters as the assassin becomes the target.

(82) "Gateway Into Winter" almost offers something of a respite from the high drama of the previous stories. Ogami Itto is persuaded to stay the night at the house of a woodcutter, who is tempted to try for the offered reward. But what can a poor woodcutter and his family do against the former executioner of the Shogun? One of the nice touches in this story are Kojima's drawings of Daigoro asleep.

I know I have said this before and I have little doubt I will offer up the same opinion again, but this is the best collection of Lone Wolf & Cub stories to date. Certainly it is has more pivotal stories than anything we have read previously. This might not be the final act in the saga (I certainly do not think that it is), but this is a whole new ballgame for our hero. Of all of the legendary comic series that come to mind, none of them were this good for this long. Most of the time the best of the best are limited series, ala "The Dark Knight Returns" or "The Watchmen," but there is no comparison to what Koike and Kojima have wrought.

When Ogami Itto slew the last of Retsudo Yagyu's children, the head of the Yagyu clan ordered a frontal assault on Lone Wolf & Cub, which began by putting a price of 50 gold pieces on the assassin's head, bringing forth every bounty hunter in Japan. However, in "The Will of the Fang," Volume 17 of this epic manga, the ante is upped considerably when the bounty is increased to 5,100 pieces of gold. This means Ogami Itto and Daigoro now have to worry about every peasant in the country:

(83) "To a Tomorrow That Never Comes" offers the return of a character who has crossed the path of Lone Wolf and Cub before. The orders have gone out for everyone to kill the assassin and his son, but there is one person who feels an obligation to instead help the duo make their way closer to their goal of Edo, where Ogami Itto can (we presume) show the secret message of the Yagyu Letter to the Shogunate.

(84) "Bounty Demons" is where the bounty on Ogami Itto and Daigoro goes from 50 ryo of gold to 100, with an additional 5,000 from the Yagyu. This story focuses on the cream of the crop of bounty hunters: the Sanka-Gumi, the Sendo brothers, and old O-Kuma herself. Think of this as the Edo period version of tag-team bounty hunting.

(85) "The Will of the Fang" reveals another chapter from Ogami Itto's past as he crosses the border into Sanuki Han. Once he makes it past the border, Ogami Itto encounters Masatsune Dono, who was once his student in trying to learn to be Suio-Ryu (the Suio School of Swordsmanship) by perfecting the wave-slicing stroke. For both warriors, this duel has meanings within meanings. Normally I quibble with which episode gives the book its title; not this time around.

(86) "When the Wolf Comes" finds all twenty-six villages of Togo making every effort to earn the large reward for Lone Wolf and Cub. After all the exotic weaponry we have seen in some of these stories there is something to be said for the ingenuity of using pinecones. This story has a nice little ironic twist at the end.

(87) "Life in Death" is the change of pace episode in this collection, with Ogami Itto hiding out in the mountains nursing a very ill Daigoro. The boy refuses to eat no matter how hard his father supplicates the demons they serve. But when Daigoro gives the slightest indication of what he would like to eat, there is nothing on land or sea that will stop his father from getting that for his son.

I am really getting a sense for how Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima are pacing the Lone Wolf & Cub saga, so that I fully expected there to be a couple of opening acts in this part of the drama, as we shift from professional bounty hunters to hungry amateurs trying to capture Ogami Itto and Daigoro. As much as I enjoy the individual stories, one of which I read each night before retiring, it is the complex pattern of the entire epic that is impressing me more and more.

Beautiful, colorful photos of Snoopy dressed up in designer outfits. This is a must for Peanuts book collectors.

The saga of Lone Wolf and Cub starts to move dramatically in this tenth volume in the series. Assassin-for-hire Ogami Itto (Lone Wolf) and his son Daigoro (Cub) end up being hunted down by Ogami's former masters, leading to some spectacular action sequences and stunning twists that will by quite interesting to see develop in future volumes. For a nearly 30 year old series, the artwork is beautifully done (the action sequences are large and striking to look at) and the story is well done, keeping a solid tension throughout. For Japanese comic fans and samurai epics, this is one series worth checking out.

At last, the true depths of the treacherous Retsudo Yagyu's obsession with Ogami Itto are explored, as he unleashes the dogs of war on the Father & Son. As you can see from the cover, with Frank Miller's stunning rendition of a Wolf and it's Cub standing atop a mountain of bodies, this book features a MAJOR battle scene, as Ogami and Daigoro face a seemingly endless horde of Yagyu's forces. The body count is high, but the true cost of the battle is more personal: Lone Wolf is seperated from his Cub. After the stunning battle between Ogami and Retsudo Yagyu himself, I was wondering how the series could possibly get any better. The stories featuring Daigoro on his own showed me exactly how. Great action, even greater characterization, superb writing and art.....Each volume is better than the previous one, and there are still 18 left!

In the last two stories of Volume 9 of Long Wolf and Cub the manga epic set up what we assumed would be a significant story line regarding Ogami Itto's theft of a secret communiqué from the Yagyu. However, this turns out to be something of a feint by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, for there is indeed a major development in Volume 10 "Hostage Child." The title is not exactly one of the give stories collected in this volume, but does represent a more literal meaning for the final story, "Straw Boy":

(50) "The Yagyu Letter" offers up the initial conflict between Ogami Itto and the forces call together by Retsudo Yagyu, beginning with the Kurokuwa. If their swords fail, then there are archers and rifleman to finish off Lone Wolf and Cub.

(51) "The Tears of Daigoro" reveals the subterfuge with the reader as we are finally offered a mano-e-mano duel between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu. However, the duel quickly becomes irrelevant as we learn what we should have suspected: that Daigoro cannot possibly hold on to his father's shoulders during every single fight. But Daigoro does more than fall down; he becomes separate from his father in what may well prove to be one of the most significant developments in the saga. The rest of the story become Daigoro's adventure as an unusual father and son living alone in the forest try to provide protection from the Yagyu assassins searching for the boy.

(52) "The Fisherwoman's Love" has Daigoro stumbling upon fishermen working a river. Even though he is offered something to eat, the boy who has never learned to accept the kindness of strangers must remain true to the code he has learned from observing his father. But while Daigoro learns to fend for himself after a fashion, there is one in the small village who not only recognizes the shishogan in the boy's eyes but also fears what it means.

(53) "Drifting Shadows" returns the focus to Ogami Itto, who has begun to follow the path of Daigoro and who has the chance to continue his duel with Retsduo Yagyu. The duel has a surprising resolution of sorts, that only adds to the emnity between the pair.

(54) "Straw Boy" is the most heart-rending tale to this point in the epic, which certainly says something. Daigoro is now at the point of starvation and finally comes to the end of his strength and lies down beneath a tree to die. As he lays there traveler after traveler sits under the tree's shade as well, all of them ignoring the dying child. But then two men come alone and hide in the tree, waiting to free their gang leader being transported to jail. Recognizing something in the boy's eye, the gang leader plans to use Daigoro as a "straw boy," which is to say, a hostage if they are trapped by the police.

The fun at this point is how long the separation of Lone Wolf and Cub will continue. It is, of course, foolishness to even hazard a guess and at the rate of one story per evening at bedtime, I can look forward to prolonging this major act of the epic for some time to come and continue to appreciate the irony that some of the best stories in this tale of father and son on the Assassin's Road are about Daigoro alone.

This episode, Retsudo throws more fodder into Itto's path. An interesting passage in which Retsudo refers to and strategizes Ogami Itto as if he were an entire army, which for all practical purposes he is.

Also, there is an stylized melee in which we see none of the fighting, only the horrfified looks of peasants as they watch the massacre, with the sounds of battle and dying scattered through the images. Pretty grim.

If you're reading this review, you probably don't even need to be - if you've gone through the first 18, you'll keep on going.

You always have to be wary about what is going to happen next in the Lone Wolf & Cub saga, but I have reason to believe that "The Moon in Our Hearts," Volume 19 in this manga epic constitutes the end of a major act. At the end of this volume, in the titular story, Ogami Itto and Daigoro "walk on the moon," and wait until you see what that means. Volume 19 offers up five stories:

(93) "Four Seasons of Death" offers a nice variation of the climatic battle between Lone Wolf and those who try to arrest him in a story where he is mostly a spectator to the action. A young woman on her way to her wedding is kidnapped by her lover, who holes up in a house and threatens to kill them both before letting her marry another.

(94) "Wives and Lovers" offers another different love story between Chiga, the widow of a Fukaya Han retainer and Karube Genjiro, a cavalry officer, who had been searching for four years for the Ronin who murdered her husband. During this time the two have become--well, that is the question here, which only becomes further complicated when the pair cross paths with Lone Wolf and Cub.

(95) "The Marksman" finds Retsudo Yagyu ordering Inaba Shigemasa, the foremost marksman of his age, to gun down Ogami itto, who has abandoned the baby cart to the sea and is climbing cliffs never climbed before by man (with Daigoro hanging around his neck).

(96) "A Mother's Flavor" is a story in which a prostitute spots Lone Wolf & Cub walking through town in the middle of the night and decides that if she follows them she will be free of her servitude. Noting that any one may walk the Shogun's roads, Ogami Itto allows her to follow. The title comes from the fact that Daigoro eats to survive and the taste of their rice means nothing to boy, who does not know "his mother's flavor." Before their paths diverge, the woman tries to do something about that.

(97) "The Moon in Our Hearts" finds Ogami Itto and Daigoro taking to the sea as the extended Yagyu clan comes to Edo for the final showdown. Meanwhile, Retsudo has the Shogun's finest warships patrolling the sea to blow Lone Wolf and Cub out of the water. Kazuo Kokie provides some of the most poetic descriptions of Ogami Itto's quest in this pivotal story that brings the assassin and his son one step closer to the end of their journey.

Once again there is a sense of the quiet before the storm, as Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima focus more of characters and less on a high body count in these five stories. Lone Wolf & Cub is a transcendent "comic book," now on the cusp of its 100th episode while maintaining a level of superior story telling that is unrivaled in the field. If there is something else this grand, I certainly have not heard tell of it to date.

The genre-defining masterpiece of visual literature that is Lone Wolf and Cub Saga continues in this book. Former Shogun's Executioner, the ronin Itto Ogami and his son Diagoro attempt to enter Edo, the stronghold of the dreaded Yagyu clan of Assassins to settle once and for all the feud that is the focus of the entire saga. Bushido (the Japanese warrior philosophy) is never as well illustrated as it is here as Ogami is forced to cut his way through men who admire him but are honour-bound to stop him. Powerful storytelling and stark, brutal visuals with few restraints.

How strange is it that one of the most compelling characters in comics today is a toddler who has barely uttered ten words in his comic career (As of Volume 6, anyway.)? Yet, in this world of overwritten characters, Daigoro, the "Cub" of the title, stands head and shoulders above the rest. I continue to be struck dumb by the epic battle scenes, the intricately detailed art in the "Quiet scenes", and the amount of characterization creators Koike & Kojima can effortlessly cram into a relatively small piece of an epic tale. There are some great moments her between father and son, and Daigoro gets a chance to show his "Meifumado" in the gut-wrenching final chapter. If you've been along for the ride, you don't need me to tell you how great Lone Wolf and Cub can be. If you're among the uninitiated, give Ogami & little Daigoro a try....You won't be sorry!

I keep thinking there has to be some sort of drop off in quality for the Lone Wolf and Cub stories, but here is yet another volume in this manga epic that proves me wrong. Volume 6 offers up the next five installments in this masterpiece of graphic storytelling by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, set in the Edo-period of feudal Japan:

(29) "Lanterns for the Dead," is a change-of-pace story in which Ogami Itto and Daigoro have ordered two toro (lanterns) to be built to carry their souls upon the water. But in that same town a series of events cause a young man to beg the Ronin to sell the toro. Ogami refuses, but takes an interest in why the request was made.

(30) "Deer Chaser" is the name given to tricksters who take advantage of people to take their money. When this particular group of conartists discovers the special symbols used to hire Lone Wolf and Cub, they decide to impersonate the assassin and get the 500 ryo payment. All they need is a child, and they happen to find one the right age sleeping all alone at a roadside shrine. You will never guess who the kid is...

(31) "Hunger Town" finds Ogami Itto training a dog to dodge the blunt arrows he is shooting. Diagoro is obviously in love with the dog, but the animal is a key part of a plan Lone Wolf has to catch his next target.

(32) "The Soldier is the Castle" concerns a ploy by the Shogunate to have an excuse for taking over Iwaki-Daira Han. This mission is so dangerous it involves a double payment of ryo to Ogami Itto. This particular story involves some of the more interesting discussions of the samurai philosophy in the series to this point.

(33) "One Stone Bridge" is essentially another one of those rare but treasured Daigoro stories and a sequel to the fiery conclusion of "The Solider is the Castle." A samurai and his lady watch as a group of older boys attack Daigoro, who has fishing near a bridge. Daigoro's behavior astounds the samurai and touches the heart of his lady.

I continue to read one episode of Lone Wolf and Cub each night before I go to bed, resisting the temptation to devour each volume in a single night. But something this great needs to be savored. The looks on Daigoro's face and the different meanings invested in the word every time he says "Papa" continues to impress and move me. Better to great around to reading this epic later than never.

Basically if you love all the other Lone Wolf and Cub series you'll love this one as well. The stories on these are just so great. I recommend if you like mangas, samurais, or just an epic story this one is it.

Black Wind is probably the most important volume of Lone Wolf and Cub to date, as we find out the reason why Ogami Itto travels the assassin's road with his son Daigoro. The blueprint for the coming conflict with the Yagyu Clan is laid out, and Itto gains an important new weapon for his quest. As usual, creators Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima create a richly layered story, with dazzling action and deep characterization. Highly recommended!

Being a fan of samurai epics and manga, I had heard of "Lone Wolf and Cub" over the years and became interested in it. So when it was set to be re-published in the U.S., I wanted to see what all the talk was about. Now after reading up to this volume (and two or three volumes ahead of this one), most of the enclosed stories in this volume start to bring in a major plotline which I'm sure will last throughout the run of the series. For the beginners to the series, it's best to start back at the first volume to see how it all starts. But for those of us who have been reading the series up to this volume, this is where the payoff for the series starts. Filled with lush Black & White imagery and stunning sequences of violence, this is a must for any hardcore Manga fan!

When I read the first story in Volume 5 of the Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, I thought that the manga epic had finally started to level off a bit. But "Black Wind" might be the most important volume so far in the series in terms of laying out the larger scope of the story:

(24) "Trail Markers" is much shorter tale than we have been used to of late in this series. The Yagyu have discovered the symbols by which Ogami Itto is contacted by those who wish to hire an assassin and they send the man who was his chief rival for the post of Kogi Kaishakunin. Given this particular part of the epic's backstory that is revealed, I would have thought this would have occasioned a more detailed story, but this one really cuts to the quick.

(25) "Executioner's Hill" has a group of bounty hunters deciding to go after Lone Wolf & Cub. Their leader has a personal score to settle for one of the executions Ogami performed for the shogun and the group decides to capture Daigoro and trade him for his father's fortune. For the first time, we have are given a reason for why Ogami has been collection 500 ryo for each assassination.

(26) "Black Wind" certainly deserves to be the title story of Volume 5. For the first time Daigoro may well be truly happy, for he has a new father who works in the rice paddies planting the crop. The Black Wind is a south wind blowing up during the rainy season, an unusual natural force, that serves as an apt metaphor for Ogami Itto's presence in this pastoral setting. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished in Edo-period Japan.

(27) "Decapitator Asaemon" tends to confirm the hypothesis from "Executioner's Hill" regarding Ogami-Itto's master plan. The Shogunate may well believe the Yagyu set up Ogami because the coveted the post of Kogi Kaishakunin, but they are still offended by Ogami having gone Ronin. The title character of this story holds the post of Kiri-Yaku, who tests the cutting edge of the Shogun's Sashiryo sword. Considered Ogami's equal by his master, Asaemon is dispatched to end Lone Wolf's walk along the assassin's road.

(28) "The Guns of Sakai" marks what may well be an important chapter in the Lone Wolf and Cub epic. The assassin is hired to kill a gunsmith who has been making guns for other clients besides the Shogunate. However, Ogami's victim has a very interesting final request: that he be allowed to pass on his secrets to his apprentices. Ogami's agreement to this request may prove to be very significant down the assassin's road.

So while the first of these five stories is a minor piece, the other four tales supply some of the biggest pieces in the puzzle that is developing. The attention to historical detail continues to become a bigger part of the series while continuing to offers it compelling mix of ultra-violence with deep honor and paternal love. I have been reading a single story each night in an effort to savor each one. "Lone Wolf and Cub" deserves the reputation it enjoys as a classic in its field.