Author: David Mack
Title: Kabuki: Circle of Blood (Volume 1)
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publication Date: 1997
Number of Pages: unpaged
Geographical Setting: Japan
Time Period: The near future
Plot Summary: This book is an award winning graphic novel series. Ukiko, known as Kabuki, was the child of a woman who was known as a “comfort woman”. Comfort women entertained the Japanese soldiers during World War II. This woman was raped and beaten by her fiancée’s son, only to die during childbirth. The man who was supposed to marry her mother raised Ukiko to become a master at martial arts and an assassin. Kabuki was no ordinary assassin, she was a member of the Noh, a secret government agency that was assembled to fight organized crime and corporate feudalism. This book can be found in the juvenile section as a Young Adult book, yet it really should be rated “R” for sex and violence. Its moments of Japanese culture, poetry, literary allusions, and philosophy will be appreciated by an adult audience, but not necessarily understood by children.
Subject Headings: Japan, Organized Crime, Politics, Assassins
Appeal terms: fast-paced, action-oriented, explicitly violent, flashbacks, historical details, political, poetic, explicit sex, emotionally charged, dramatic, haunting, dangerous
Three appeal terms: action-oriented, explicitly violent, historical details
Similar Authors and Works:
Fiction-
Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui- This book is about fighting corporate corruption in Japan, but is more focused on Mind Control technology than Kabuki is.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden- This novel shares elements with Kabuki that relate to the culture behind “comfort women” in Japan.
I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason- This is a graphic novel about a time traveler’s attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Non-Fiction-
The Art of War by Sun Tzu- This is a Chinese, philosophical collection of essays about war, which relates to some of the philosophical elements in Kabuki.
Comfort Women by Yoshiaki Yoshimi- This is a book about the “comfort women” that were forced into sexual servitude by the Japanese military during World War II.
Kabuki by Masakatsu Gunji- This book is about the history and origin of the Japanese theatrical style, Kabuki. The graphic novel references Kabuki and Noh throughout the book.
Name: Rachel Fischer