Lone Wolf & Cub, Vol. 2 The Gateless Barrier by Kazuo Koike

This book is just as beautifully illustrated as the first book in the series was. Unfortunately, like the last book it was mostly focused on showcasing individual adventures rather then how each adventure relates to Lone Wolf as a person/character.

The lack of closure in individual stories was also starting to bother me in this volume. We never learn what happens to the other characters involved in Lone Wolf & Cub's adventures, which was especially frustrating in chapter where Diagoro is accidentally captured and helped by a servant girl. I really wanted to know what happened to the servant girl after she was rescued.

I am not really sure if this manga series is supposed to have an over arching story line or not, and while there are certain really wonderful attributes to this series I don't think I will be reading anymore of them.

Lone Wolf & Cub, Vol. 1: The Assassin's Road by Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima

Lone Wolf and Cub refer to the title character and his child, a man who was once a samurai that performs assassinations as a ronin (a lordless samurai). The beginning chapters of the manga left me a little bit disappointed. It was action sequence after action sequence that had very little story, just how the main character became involved in the current debacle and the completion of the job.

The illustrations from these stories are what really make this manga worth reading and what kept me reading even though I wasn't into the story. The illustrator uses the illustrations to create tension and mimics how movies are shot. The illustrator uses long shots and close ups in a very dramatic way. The reader should pay careful attention to these illustrations because the author relies very heavily on the drawings to move the story along, with little to no text for long sequences.

The last chapter in the book finally starts in on the personal story of the ronin and his son. This was by far the most interesting story in the book. I am hoping it will be continued in the next book, in which case I might consider reading the whole series.