Synopsis: Katsuji Yashima is a yakuza in love. He chased Yuka Katsuragi all the way to Barcelona where she is covering the progress of the Japanese Olympics Team. While interviewing some teenagers about their views on Japan a sudden earthquake makes them all fall into a cave that works as a time portal and sends them into the future, where Japan no longer exists and the Japanese are considered refugees, but instead are treated as slaves. Katsuji is disgusted by this future and will change it or die trying.
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Wait… time travel involving Japanese? Where have I seen this before? Ah, yes, King Of Wolves. What’s with Buronson-Miura and their time travel complex? Sure it allows access to a lot of different environments and atmospheres, but there are other ways to accomplish this, and much more imaginative at that. Then we have the pathetic dialog that is supposed to be ridden by patriotism and pride of being Japanese, but the reasons given are as typical as the flu.
Those that have read Japan will not let me lie that Katsuji Yashima is a mix of Zood and Gutts from Berserk. The character design has some uncanny similitudes with some of Berserk, not only in their facial aspect, but also in the costumes and clothes they use. This is understandable since at the time Miura was absorbed by Berserk and it is also great since the designs are vibrant with detail and there is no character that looks like any other, making it easy to identify who is who. Miura also takes this opportunity to show us, one more time, his ability and technique as he draws the different and well paced action sequences.
What I couldn’t stand while reading the entire and only volume, is the dialog and the plot. Both were ridiculously lame and uninspired making it a boring read, accompanied by uninteresting characters with no background or development at all. In the end we only have pretty pictures and good fights mashed with some sort of dialog and empty flasks for characters. Japan is truly something you should not be reading, even when it is short, unless you are either a fan of Buronson or Miura and must read all of their works.
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