Manga like Suna no Tsurugi

Mabui

Also known as Mabui.

Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

"Okinawa Prefecture is home to 75% of all U.S. military base facilities in Japan."

Susumu Higa continues to weave stories set in Okinawa. This is a collection of his unique and previously uncollected stories about the present day.



Collected Stories: Gunyou Jinushi (軍用地主, 1996-8-8)
Mokunin Kousakuchi (黙認耕作地, 1996 July)
Shima no Chuuzai-san (島の駐在さん, 1995-11-8)
Kikyou (帰郷, 1999-8-2)
Gun Koyouin (軍雇用員, 1998-12-4)
Jim Thomas no Tabi (ジム・トーマスの旅, 1997-11-17) Mabui (マブイ, 2010-8-31)

Tags: Anthology , Historical , Military

Kajimunugatai: Kaze ga Kataru Okinawasen

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Enemies outside, and enemies within — a realistic portrayal of the Battle of Okinawa and its aftermath is depicted in this profound human drama, which won the Grand Prize in the Manga Division at the 7th Japan Media Arts Festival. In the title story "Kajimunugatai," the people of a village unite to fight against three rapacious American soldiers.

Tags: Historical , Seinen , Military , Episodic , War

COCOON

Also known as cocoon.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

A heart-wrenching chronicle of loss and resilience based on the true story of the Himeyuri corps of student nurses in WWII.

San and her best friend Mayu attend a boarding school for girls in Okinawa, but their studies are interrupted when they and the other students are recruited to help the war effort as assistant nurses. Sent to the front lines, the girls must deal with more than just the threat of enemy bombs overhead. Stuck working in the horrifying caves of a field hospital, San wishes she could wrap herself and her friends in a cocoon of protection. But invisible threads of affection are no match for the carnage that surrounds them, and day by day, more students perish. Worn down by starvation and loss, what will San and her remaining friends do when they are told to find their way home through the fields of total war?



Tags: War , Tragedy , Historical , Survival , Female Protagonist , Josei , Suicide , LGBTQ+ Themes , Gore , Rural , Primarily Female Cast , Crossdressing , Medicine , Primarily Teen Cast

Souin Gyokusai seyo!

Also known as Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is his first book to be translated into English and is a semiautobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of World War II. The soldiers are told that they must go into battle and die for the honor of their country, with certain execution facing them if they return alive. Mizuki was a soldier himself (he was severely injured and lost an arm) and uses his experiences to convey the devastating consequences and moral depravity of the war.



Note: Won Best U.S. Edition of International Material at the Eisner Awards in 2012.

Tags: Military , Historical , War , Autobiographical , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Seinen , Guns , Suicide