Doushiro de Gozaru

道士郎でござる

by Nishimori Hiroyuki
ran in Shonen Sunday

Nishimori's follow up to the successful A Cheeky Angel is his best work yet -- a comedy that transcends it's simple fish out of water concept by underpinning it with a strong philosophical message, a cure for social ills.
Doushiro was raised by his father in Nevada among the Indians, and is now returning to Japan to attend high school and live with his mother and older brother. His father raised him to be a proper Japanese man....a bushi.
Full kimono and topknot, samurai language and customs, utterly ignorant of what Japanese is actually like to the bitter end.
He lives so passionately by the bushi code that people around him begin to transform -- thugs become warriors, cowards become leaders, scoundrels become picture book authors.
Despite being hysterically funny -- for my money, the funniest manga coming out -- Doushirou de Gozaru did not find an audience. While the story is complete, the final volume suffers from noticable pacing problems as he struggles to wrap all the loose plot threads up neatly -- with the sad result being it just isn't nearly as funny as the first seven. Hopefully this won't prevent it from being translated...

easternstandard