Chinggis and Philip

Well, I (Happyscans is blameless) took a break last month, but here's this month's release of Chinggis Khan. Only 2 more volumes to go, so we'll probably finish it off by Christmas. If you've read Ratchnevsky's Genghis Khan, His Life and Legacy as I've recommended before, you'll find the sequence of events from Jamuka's election as Gurkhan to the campaigns against Tartars, Merkits, and Naimans in the Secret History of Mongols (which Yokoyama follows) pretty interesting. I get the feeling that a possible reason for the skewed order may be to make the anti-mongol/Kereit alliance look more like aggressors without a proper casus belli. In any case, I liked how Yokoyama gave more detail on Jamuka's actions and whereabouts. Makes it a lot easier to follow than the Secret History.

New Historie is also out, hurray! I've never heard of the shorter sarissa thing in any account for the Battle of Chaeronea, so if that's a thing that Iwaaki himself came up with, I'd have to say it's a pretty cool addition as I think the battle makes even more sense that way. Also, if you're interested at all in Greek hoplite warfare, A Storm of Spears by Christopher Matthew is a MUST. READ. It'll be interesting to see how military historians in the coming years will either adopt or argue against Matthews' exhaustive arguments. My bet is on the decline of literal othismos and overarm-supporters once the older generation of academics retire. V.D. Hanson can get rekt for all I care.

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Chinggis Khan v3:   Mega;   Sendspace
Historie c88:   Sendspace
Hox's Mega Folder

Maneater/Tetsunagi Oni (half done)

I was planning to do more frequent and regular releases, but my life schedule is forcing me to do short bursts of releases instead. So here's chapter 6-11 of Maneater, which finishes up Maneater but only marks the half-way point of the re-released edition of Tetsunagi-Oni which includes both Maneater and Testunagi-Oni for a ~380 page volume as I mentioned before. Although I'm doing this oneshot collection more of as a showcase of Takahashi's art style since many of its stories, although amusing if you like black humour, aren't particularly impressive, there are a few chapters that I like the more I read them. In Maneater, even though I think the titular chapter "Maneater" will no doubt be most people's favourite, the above-pictured "Who's Being Hanged" is the real silent creeper for me due to its possible implications, whether intended by Takahashi or not.

In the second-half, Testunagi-Oni, I have a feeling either Takahashi himself or his usual readers responded most favourably to the titular chapter "Tetsunagi-Oni," hence the collection's title, but "My Father's Face" is by far more chilling for its social commentary. You'll see what I mean when I get to it.

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Maneater c6-11:   Sendspace
Maneater:   Sendspace