''Smuggler'' (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) is a Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

series written and illustrated by

Shohei Manabe is a Japanese manga artist. Writing and drawing gritty ''seinen'' manga about the Japanese underworld, he is best known for ''Ushijima the Loan Shark'' (2004–2019), which won the Shogakukan Manga Award and spawned several films and series. Li ...

. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''

Monthly Afternoon is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as ...

'' from May 2000 to August 2000 and published in a single volume. A live-action film adaptation was released in October 2011.

Production

Manabe took inspiration from the works of filmmaker

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensemb ...

in the making of the series.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by

, the series began serialization in Kodansha's ''

'' in May 2000; it completed its serialization in August 2000. Its chapters were collected into a single ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' volume, which was released on August 21, 2000. A one-shot prequel was released in August 2011. In August 2005,

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...

announced that they licensed the series for English publication. After Tokyopop ceased publishing the series, it was licensed by One Peace Books in March 2013.

Film

A live-action film adaptation was announced in October 2010. Directed by Katsuhito Ishii and starring

Satoshi Tsumabuki is a Japanese actor. His breakthrough film was '' Waterboys'' for which he was nominated for the 'Best Actor' award at the Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academ ...

, the film was released on October 22, 2011. A spin-off drama for mobile devices was released on October 7, 2011. In March 2012,

Cinema Asia Releasing Cinema Asia Releasing is a film distribution company founded by Ko Mori of Eleven Arts and Tim Kwok of Convergence Entertainment in 2011 to spread Asian films throughout the United States. Filmography * ''Heartbeat A heartbeat is one cardiac ...

announced that they licensed the film for international distribution. However, in January 2014

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializ ...

and Giant Ape Media announced that they licensed the film. They released the film on DVD on April 1, 2014.

Reception

Ken Haley from ''Pop Culture Shock'' praised the story and characters, though felt the art in the early portion of the series was ugly and amateurish. In '' Manga: The Complete Guide'', writer Jason Thompson praised the artwork as realistic and the story as "well-written ndtightly plotted".

References

External links

* * * {{Katsuhito Ishii 2010s Japanese films Funimation Kodansha manga Live-action films based on manga Manga adapted into films Seinen manga Suspense anime and manga Tokyopop titles