Drifters Omnibus 1 Review
If you are at all familiar with the name Kohta Hirano, it’s most likely as the creator of Hellsing, a manga that very much feels like a mixture of every single B-movie theme you can think of, featuring as it does vampires, buxom women and Nazis (including a Nazi catboy dressed as a Hitler Youth). Hirano’s follow-up series, Drifters, features many of the same elements, albeit in an isekai setting.
The series follows several people from world history that have been reincarnated after death into a fantasy world containing elves, dwarves, goblins and everything else typical of such places. When these people die, they end up being brought back to life by one of two people: one is a woman named EASY, who has brought back people who have forsaken their humanity, and gives special powers for the purpose of taking over the world. The people under her rule are called “Ends” and are led by the mysterious Black King. The other person is a man named Murasaki, a man whose reincarnated forces are not magical, but have more morals and won’t hurt the innocent. These people are called “Drifters”, and are at war with the Ends.
The first Drifter we encounter is the samurai warrior Shimazu Toyohisa, who is saved by a group of elves who take him to a ruined castle. Living there are two more Drifters: the eye-patch wearing warlord Oda Nobunaga, and the androgynous Nasu no Yoichi. When a group of humans who have been using the elves as serfs threaten to kill the tribe, the trio work together to help the elves and win. Eventually they help the elves form their own army, using it to fight against the Orte Empire, an expansionist nation that was created by a reincarnated but now once again deceased Adolf Hitler, which discriminates against all non-human species in the land.
As the story progresses, Shimazu and his friends gather more Drifter allies, including an increasingly senile Hannibal of Carthage, as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Meanwhile the Ends include a fire-wielding Joan of Arc and Grigori Rasputin.
When it comes to reading Drifters, there is no shortage of action. There are plenty of battles and fight sequences to keep the reader entertained. The use of real-life people from history is also an interesting twist to the isekai format, with this manga being one of the earlier works of the most recent wave of the genre.
However, perhaps inevitably there is mainly a focus on Japanese people in history, and the closest we get to any translation notes describing them are tiny patches of text squeezed in between frames. Also, these explanations are only given to the Japanese characters, so when it comes to those people from other parts of the world no details are given, which can be confusing for those that don’t know certain periods of world history. Then there are certain elements of the story which, shall we say, lack subtlety. For example, when Shimazu rescues a group of dwarves from an Orte camp, it is clear that it is a concentration camp, right down to the sign which in the native language reads: “Work sets you free”, which was the phrase written on the gates at camps such as Auschwitz and Dachau.
This is not the only issue with this manga. For some reason, Hirano has given Oda an eye-patch to wear, which is something he never wore in real life. Not only that, but for large passages the patch covers one eye, and then in another section it will cover the other. There is a lack of consistency. Also, the original manga is published monthly and there have been hiatuses, meaning there is not much left after this. Since the series began back in 2009, there have only been seven printed volumes of Drifters, and the most recent of those has yet to come out in English. Thus, this omnibus edition covers half of what is available to English readers.
That’s not to say this series is all bad. As I said, the action is still exciting, the use of real-life people makes it stand out from most other isekai which seem to relay on the same bunch of stock characters, and the plot is engrossing. Plus the lettering used, especially when it comes to the languages used by the elves, is done very well by Studio Cutie. We also get some colour pages with the manga, including pictures of the other front covers that make up this 3-in-1 omnibus. Translator Matthew Johnson, editors Chris Warner and Judy Khuu, and designer Skyler Weissenfluh all provide good contributions. Also, Dark Horse has made this omnibus edition the right size. While this book is nearly 700 pages long, it still feels comfortable to hold in your hands to read over a long period of time.
While Drifters has some flaws, overall it is still a decent work. The second omnibus is already out, so it probably won’t be long before I dip into the rest of the story.
Our review copy from Dark Horse was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
