God I love rice. Just to think that eating some rice, along with slaughtering 365 samurai, would lead me to the meaning of life is just a wonderful dream. A wonderful, blood red, nightmarish dream. J. P. Kalonji’s 365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice is an interesting comic to say the least. In a bloody and fiendish quest, we see how a sword-wielding loner is often the best character to send out soul-searching.
The story follows Ningen, a samurai who goes out to learn the meaning of life. After a member of a rival clan kills Ningen’s master and the remainder of his people, the foe tells Ningen that he would understand the meaning of life after killing 365 samurai. From there he does certainly go out to take those lives, encountering a different woman who influences his journey every season. As he continues on, the body count rises, leading Ningen to aim at challenging he who set him upon the search in the first place. The most interesting aspect of the book storytelling-wise? Each page is a single panel.
That’s right. Each page is just one panel, and the dialogue is sparse. You wind up sometimes going thirty pages before Ningen even has anyone to talk to. Otherwise it’s all just a cinematic you put together mentally. He slaughters his enemies in a way that allows you to really animate it in your mind. Every drop of rain, every bird fluttering by, every slash of a blade – you can practically hear it all coming off the page. The story is a work of art, and it’s definitely worth a read. Don’t fly through it, though. As quick of a read the book is, you’ll want to let the art of each page really sink in.
