Togari Shiro
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is a Japanese
manga 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written and illustrated by Yoshinori Natsume. The story follows orphan Tobei, who was beheaded for committing countless crimes in the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
and sent to
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
where he suffered for 300 years. The regent of Hell makes Tobei an offer to slay 108 "Togas" (spiritual manifestations of sin) in 108 days in 21st-century Japan with Togari, a magical sword. Tobei readily agrees for the chance to be free from Hell. The manga was serialized in
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...
'' from August 2000 to February 2002, ending the series prematurely at 68 chapters. The individual chapters were collected in eight volumes. The abrupt ending was intentional, as the last four pages of the eighth volume has a spoof advertisement for "Togari: The Perfect Edition". Then the publishers apologized for the spoof in the last page of the volume. The manga was licensed for English release in North America by
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
. A sequel, titled ''Togari Shiro'', was serialized in
Media Factory , formerly known as , was a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History The company was founded on December 1, 1986, and was a subsidiary of Recruit (Japanese company), Recruit Co., Ltd., based in Shibuya, Tokyo. ...
's '' Monthly Comic Flapper'' from October 2009 to May 2011, with its chapters collected in three volumes.


Plot

The plot centers around an orphan known as Tobei who lived in Japan 300 years ago and committed countless violent crimes until the age of 16, when he was beheaded by villagers and subsequently sent to Hell as punishment. During his supposedly eternal punishment, Tobei made repeated escape attempts and became known for a particularly fiery spirit, everlasting determination, and a continuing refusal to repent for his sins. Given Tobei's dismal moral progress over the course of 300 years, he was made an offer to escape: take the Togari, (a magical with strength proportional to the user's evil spirit) and slay 108 "Toga", spiritual manifestations of great sin that drive a human's actions, in 108 days. Ose, the demon responsible for torturing Tobei in Hell, was told to watch over Tobei while Tobei accomplished his mission. However, Tobei was subject to two particular rules so as to facilitate his moral reshaping: Firstly, he cannot commit any sins or crimes; even if he begins thinking about committing a sin, the wounds from his decapitation 300 years ago will begin opening. If he actually completes a sin, he will be decapitated and sent back to Hell. Secondly, he cannot physically harm people. If he does, then the same damage is done to himself. Impeding Tobei's mission, however, is a property of the sword Togari: if Tobei loses control of it, then Togari will absorb him (so that he suffers eternally within Togari, along with all other souls of people who have failed this mission in the past). Furthermore, unlike in Hell, when all his physical wounds healed almost instantly, Tobei's body is mortal on Earth. Under the supervision of Ose, who often takes the form of a dog while watching over Tobei, Tobei attempts to slay 108 Toga in the real world, and lives a different life than he did 300 years ago in part because of the people he meets and the restrictions against sinning placed on his body.


Characters

; :Tobei lived as a young child during the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
of Japan. He did not have any parents and lived on the streets and barely survived as a child. After killing a nobleman, he took away his
identity document An identity document (abbreviated as ID) is a documentation, document proving a person's Identity (social science), identity. If the identity document is a plastic card it is called an ''identity card'' (abbreviated as ''IC'' or ''ID card''). ...
proving that he is Tobei Kihara, but his real name is unknown. Everyone who came to meet him told him over and over again that he should "just die" and "go to hell". He was often abused and tortured by the townsfolk. As he grew up he learned he had to steal things, including lives, or he would not survive. Eventually, he ended up going into murderous rages and killed everyone who was in his way. He was soon caught after killing so many people and was beheaded at sixteen. Since his death, Tobei had been living in Hell for 300 years, tortured by Ose so he can "repent for his sins". Tobei has tried to escape Hell numerous times, but was always caught by Ose. One day, however, Lady Ema offers him a deal where if he collected 108 sins in 108 days he'd be free to return to Earth. He hastily takes the opportunity without thinking of the consequences. ; :Itsuki is a young high school girl whose cop father was murdered when she was still a child. She hates that her father's killer is still at large and probably living in peace. She became a
tomboy A tomboy is a girl or young woman who generally expresses masculine traits. Such traits may include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and engaging in activities and behaviors traditionally associated with boys or men. Origins The w ...
after her father's death. Itsuki has a strong sense of justice and is the first to get a reaction from Tobei, other than bloodlust, just by thanking him for saving her (even if unintentionally) after she was nearly raped and murdered by a thug. ; :Ose has been Tobei's handler for 100 years and was originally an
angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
. He was ordered by Lady Ema to follow Tobei in the human world as a dog to make sure he did not disrupt the order of the natural world. He is often mistaken by other people as Tobei's pet. ; :Lady Ema is the regent of Hell. She offered Tobei his freedom if he could collect 108 sins in 108 days using the Togari. She oversees Tobei and Ose in the present time as a young business woman. ; :Detective Sawazaki is a
University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...
graduate. He is an over-qualified police
detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
who's passed the first-class
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
exam. He is highly suspicious of Tobei and follows the Toga-removed victims of Tobei closely. He comments that all the victims have suffered from "psychological trauma" when arrested. He was also the junior partner of Itsuki's father ten years before the start of the story.


Development

Inspired by Japanese
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
films and with a concept that the protagonist is a "pure bad guy", author Natsume drew Tobei based on "someone who looked like he
ould Ould is an English surname as well as an element of many Arabic names. In Arabic contexts it is a transliteration of the word wikt:ولد, ولد, meaning "son". Notable people with this surname include: English surname * Edward Ould (1852–190 ...
be beheaded as a criminal". Lady Ema was first drawn by Natsume with an image of
Enma Daio In East Asian and Buddhist mythology, Yama ( zh, c=閻魔/閻摩, p=Yánmó, w=Yen-mo) or Yanluo Wang ( zh, c=閻羅王, p=Yánluó Wáng, w=Yen-lo Wang), also known as Yan Wang ( zh, c=閻王, p=Yánwáng, w=Yen-wang), Master Yan Wang ( zh, ...
in mind but "she ended up turning into a sexy bombshell". The serialization of ''Togari'' was canceled by ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...
''.


Publication

Written and illustrated by Yoshinori Natsume, ''Togari'' was serialized in
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...
'' from August 2, 2000, to February 13, 2002; the series ended prematurely at 68 chapters. Shogakukan collected the chapters in eight volumes, released from January 18, 2001, and March 18, 2002. The abrupt ending was intentional by the publishers, as the last four pages of the eighth volume includes a spoof advertisement for ''Togari: The Perfect Edition''. Then the publishers apologized for the spoof in the last page of the volume.
Media Factory , formerly known as , was a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History The company was founded on December 1, 1986, and was a subsidiary of Recruit (Japanese company), Recruit Co., Ltd., based in Shibuya, Tokyo. ...
republished the series in a four-volume edition, released from October 23 to November 22, 2010.
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
released the manga in North America, with English translation by
AltJapan Co., Ltd. AltJapan Co., Ltd. is a Tokyo based company specializing in the translation and localization of Japanese entertainment. It is particularly active in manga and game localization, video game localization. It specializes in Japanese-to-English and E ...
The eight volumes were released between July 10, 2007, and September 9, 2008. Natsume wrote a sequel, titled , serialized in Media Factory's '' Monthly Comic Flapper'' from October 5, 2009, to May 2, 2011. Media Factory collected its chapters in three volumes, released from May 22, 2010, to June 23, 2011.


Volumes


Reception

Natsume's art was commended for featuring "heavy inks, lots of crosshatching, and copious amounts of shading". Mania.com's Patricia Beard feels that the manga makes a "compelling read" by "laying out its premise and conditions by the mid-point of the first volume". Manga Life's Michael Aronson comments that the manga simply rearranges the "premise of every other pop manga series. We have an anachronistic protagonist ('' InuYasha'') who’s rather impure at heart (''
Death Note ''Death Note'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's Shōnen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to ...
'') hunting spirits that no one else can see (''
Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...
'')". Ed Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading criticises the series for ending its unfinished story with volume 8. As well as "putting salt in the wound" by advertising for "Togari: The Perfect Edition" in the last four pages, with the last sentence of the ad reading: "Sorry, this was all a joke! Thank you all for reading." Jason Thompson's online appendix to '' Manga: The Complete Guide'' compares ''Togari'' to ''Inuyasha'' in their shared theme of "a villain gradually urninginto a good guy" commenting that "''Togari'' makes a stronger than usual effort to show Tobe’s gradual socialization process." Thompson also comments on the art "while not nearly as scary as the premise suggests, is clean and chiseled, similar to Ryōji Minagawa." In a series of reviews on Manga News, the manga's graphics is commended for its "pure style with panels that are not overdone", commendation on the level of precision through explanation, with discrete action and advancing the plot through the use of intrigue.


Notes


References


External links

* {{Comic Flapper Action anime and manga Dark fantasy anime and manga Kadokawa Corporation franchises Media Factory manga Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Viz Media manga