Samurai Commando: Mission 1549: Volume 1

While this was based on Ryo Hanmura's ill-fated movie that starred Sonny Chiba as 'Lt. Iba' ['Col. Matoba' in the book], this manga already is far better than that film. If you've seen the film then you know the basic premise of JDF soldiers going back to the time of the Sengoku period [mainly 1500s]. As an 'Age of Warring States', this period is the last thing that any JDF soldier would expect or be prepared for. I found this manga to be far better fleshed and though-out than the film. I also liked the fact that a rather young Oda Nobunaga got himself offed before he became the royal pain he was in the 1560s and later. Of course, if you saw the original film, it was Takeda Shingen who bought it. Even in 1549, Takeda would have been the absolute last person anybody would have been able to get to or be able to cross swords with- no matter what their 'reputation' might be. One can hope that Uesugi Kenshin gets portrayed better than the film made him out to be [ akin to a laughing hyena with a substance problem]. There are a few sideplots and a fair amount of detail in this book. Once you get done reading it, you'll be waiting for the Volume 2 due out at the end of October. I'm very interested to see where the story goes next and if the JDF can shut down Matoba before he makes complete toast of all of the history Japan knew and replaces it with a far different world.