Manga Review – Basilisk 2: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls by Masaki Segawa and Futaro Yamada (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Manga/fantasy
Size: 240 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: August 29, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0345482716
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Kouga Ninja Scolls series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the 2nd book in the 5 book long Kouga Ninja Scrolls series. This book was very much like the first book in the series; lots of ninjas and lots of fighting. I enjoyed reading it for the most part.

This book continues the story of the battle between 10 Iga and 10 Kouga ninja who are vying for the position of Shogun. In the last book we were introduced to a number of ninjas as well as Oboru an Iga ninja who has a passive fighting technique (her eyes basically stop all ninja powers). In this book we get to see her lover’s powers; Gennosuke has a power that he can use with his Enchanted Eyes and it is much more vicious than Oboru’s power.

There is a lot of nudity and violence in this series, so I would recommend for older teen or adult only.

I enjoyed meeting new ninjas and seeing their powers. The idea of a list of ninjas that has to be eliminated before either the Iga or Kouga can take power is strangely compelling. That combined with the rather strange and disturbing powers of the different ninjas makes this a very engaging read.

I will say that so far the female ninjas have been pretty lame. Also there is a lot of emphasis on the…uh…bustiness of the female ninjas… The majority of the female ninjas use their naked body in some way to fight. Either that or they are airheads like Oboru. One of the female ninjas also fights with butterflies…I mean that is kind of seriously lame.

Aside from the above complaint, I have been enjoying this series and will continue to read it. I would recommend to those who like action packed fantasy manga and ninjas…lots of ninjas.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge