https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/hayao-miyazaki-union-man
This article has Miyazaki bring him up, which again reminds me, I want to read the work of Sanpei Shirato so badly. He was a Manga writer who was very explicitly a Marxist and tried to make all his works materialist analyses of a given point in history. None of his Marxist stuff is in english, none of his stuff at all actually.
Kamui Den, the first series published in Garo, can be considered his most important manga work. It is the story of Kamui, a ninja who leaves an organization that pursues him and clearly sees the true nature of the Edo period and the discrimination that existed in the feudal system. Shirato’s works are primarily historical dramas that focus on ninja, present a historical record of Japan, and criticize oppression, discrimination, and exploitation.
Like I NEED this
Damn this series is surprisingly elusive. I didn’t do an exhaustive search but I’m truly surprised a fan translation doesn’t exist somewhere unless even Japanese originals are hard to come by. I only found the short Viz run of like 37 chapters of Kamui Gaiden and 7 chapters of Kamui Den.
https://mangadex.org/title/1e428406-0629-405a-941d-f47a2cdf94bf/kamui-gaiden
