THE SWORD OF SHIBITO

This strange historical horror/martial arts manga takes an inordinately long time to get going, but it opens interesting possibilities for future installments. Set in a medieval Japan without stable government, in a countryside littered with the bones of unburied warriors, the story begins with three travelers—an actor, a samurai and a mild-mannered pharmacist—being ambushed by a supernatural female who slashes the heads off of two of them. The pharmacist survives and is forced to carry the body parts to a castle where an elderly magician sews the actor's beautiful head onto the brawny body of the samurai in order to create a living, perfect home for the spirit of the magician's long-dead son, Shibito Saezuki. The magician intends to take over the country once Shibito has become the most powerful warlord. His plans go awry, however, when another supernatural force intervenes, so that the body awakens with his remarkable martial arts instincts intact—but he's also mute and apparently unaware of Shibito's prior identity. The translation of Kikuchi's script is sometimes stilted, but the author does have a nice sense of pacing, delaying events to build suspense. Kakurai's detailed, realistic art (in the vein of Love Wolf and Cub ) creates an eerie setting where readers don't know whether to hope for or dread impending developments. (Jan.)