Shades of Death: Crying Freeman Graphic Novel

Enjoyed the book thoroughly as part of the series. Good plot, great drawing (black and white). Surprisingly sometimes the drawing of Crying Freeman himself is rather homoerotic.

Excellent series, even more excellent art by Ryoichi Ikegami. This great series spawned a really faithful live action movie with Mark Dacascos(sp?) and an even better anime series based on all the books. Trifecta of based on one heck of a title. Start with this Mange series first. It's hot!!!

I have the complete collection of Crying Freeman graphic novels. What impresses me most of Ikegami's work if the realism of his drawings and the beauty of his characters. In "Shades of Death" the hero, Yo Hinomura, a.k.a Crying Freeman marries Emu Hino. Both Yo and Emu acquire different Chinese names, and Yo is officially announced as the successor of the leader of the 108 Dragons clan. Before getting a chance to go honey mooneing Emu is kidnapped presummably by the grandaughter of the Dragon's leader, and now it is up to Yo to rescue Emu and find what are the intentions behind Emu's kidnapping... to know more read the novel... I love this series, I read it cover to cover , again and again, every time I enjoy it more. I look forward to more works by Mr. Ikegami.

This book is totaly amazing. Exellent artwork, great storyline and naughty bits for those that like them. The artwork is so good that it shows the facial structures of characters from all over the world. Plus the heroe's really cute. Ikegami can draw better than most manga artists. His work is very realistic and not simplified like other artists do. Crying Freeman is supposed to be serious and I'm glad that they've kept it that way. Not bad at all. Highly recommended.

Ryoichi Ikegami, a Japanese Gekiga illustrator known his fluent and sexy paintings. Men and women he paints are beautiful, realistic and sexy. I love them!  Japanese Gekiga (graphic novels) typically has system of division of labor, story-tellers and illustrators. Ikegami is working with several story-tellers. Be careful. Ikegami's works are usually for adult readers. They sometimes contains sexual and violent scenes. A young and promising Japanese ceramist is kidnapped by HongKong Mafia and made up to be an assassin. After the long and tough training, he becomes an expert assassin and the leader of the family. Once he was seen his killing by a Japanese woman and try to kill her, but they fall in love and get married. This story is about the adventure of violence and love. Sometimes Ikegami's works go too far to the extent of losing its realism, but in this series, well maintained.