Graphic Novel Review – Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, Vol 3 by Masaki Segawa and Futaro Yamada (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Manga/Fantasy
Size: 240 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: December 12, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0345482723
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Basilisk series
Source: Bought
Rating: 2/5 stars

This is the third book in the Basilisk series. The series is decently written and illustrated, but the plot has been pretty repetitive and I am disappointed at the roles the women in this series have been given.

Pretty much the synopsis of the story hasn’t changed.. The Kouga and Iga ninjas are all trying to kill each other out in order to determine who will be left standing and who will become the next Shogun.

I continue to have issues with this series. We get to see another woman ninja’s powers and they are basically that she kills anyone she sleeps with, sigh. Where are the women ninja with cool powers? In this volume we also get an attempted rape scene (between members of the same clan)…not my favorite.

The authors are starting to reuse plot devices as well. In volume 2 Oboru blinded herself with a potion so that she couldn’t participate in the Iga versus Kouga ninja battles. Oboru remains a weepy, passive, and weak female character that I intensely dislike. So to shake things up Gennasuke is blinded in this volume, making it so both clans have lost their Aces…it was so predictable.

The illustration is pretty good, but all the women have these ginormous breasts which are totally disproportionate to their bodies. To be fair a lot of the men are overly muscled as well (although we don’t see them naked nearly as much). I am not a fan of overly characterized body illustration.

Overall this series is just getting boring and bad. I am trying to decide if I will finish it or not, there are only two books left and they are quick reads…but I am beginning to really dislike these. I really dislike fantasy series in which all the females are given demeaning roles. I had to read a lot of fantasy like that while I was growing up (because there weren’t a ton of options with strong female characters in the fantasy genre) and it’s something I don’t ever need to read more of.

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