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Ice Blade
Jiraishin's Japanase cover, released originally by Kodansha.
地雷震 (Jiraishin)
Genre	Action, Detective fiction
Manga
Author	Tsutomu Takahashi
Publisher	Kodansha
English publisher	Tokyopop (Dropped)
Other publishers: Generation Comics Carlsen Comics Edition Star Comics Haksan Publishing Siam Inter Comics
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Afternoon (Former) good! Afternoon MixxZine
Original run	1992 – 1999
Volumes	19
Anime and Manga Portal

Ice Blade (地雷震, Jiraishin ^?, lit. Earth-Lightning-Quake) is manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Takahashi, published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1992 to 1999. It was announced by Afternoon's October magazine that a new Jiraishin series would be in the magazine good! afternoon and would be known as Jiraishin diablo^[1].

The story follows Kyoya Iida, a plainclothes police officer, and his colleagues at the Shinjuku Police Department.

Plot

Most chapters revolve around the life and the adventures of homicide detective Kyoya Iida. The plot reflects on Kyoya Iida and his colleagues and the interactions between and with the criminal underworld.

Characters

Kyoya Iida

A homicide detective who prefers to solve cases by using his Glock 17 pistol.

Tsuyoshi Yamaki

Kyoya's first partner, shot to death by an armed Chinese juvenile delinquent.

Director Narita

Head officer of Shinjuku's homicide division. He was a friend of Kyoya's father.

Eriko Aizawa

Kyoya's second partner. Her husband was killed by her stalker after their wedding. Speaks fluent English, Chinese, and Spanish.

Publication

The manga was serialized in Afternoon KC and compiled into 19 volumes (tankōbon) published by Kodansha.

• Jiraishin 1 (1993/10) ISBN 4-06-314071-7
• Jiraishin 2 (1994/02) ISBN 4-06-314077-6
• Jiraishin 3 (1994/08) ISBN 4-06-314087-3
• Jiraishin 4 (1994/12) ISBN 4-06-314099-7
• Jiraishin 5 (1995/03) ISBN 4-06-314108-X
• Jiraishin 6 (1995/07) ISBN 4-06-314115-2
• Jiraishin 7 (1996/01) ISBN 4-06-314125-X
• Jiraishin 8 (1996/06) ISBN 4-06-314133-0
• Jiraishin 9 (1996/12) ISBN 4-06-314143-8
• Jiraishin 10 (1997/03) ISBN 4-06-314148-9
• Jiraishin 11 (1997/08) ISBN 4-06-314161-6
• Jiraishin 12 (1997/12) ISBN 4-06-314168-3
• Jiraishin 13 (1998/03) ISBN 4-06-314172-1
• Jiraishin 14 (1998/06) ISBN 4-06-314181-0
• Jiraishin 15 (1998/09) ISBN 4-06-314188-8
• Jiraishin 16 (1998/12) ISBN 4-06-314192-6
• Jiraishin 17 (1999/07) ISBN 4-06-314212-4
• Jiraishin 18 (2000/01) ISBN 4-06-314227-2
• Jiraishin 19 (2000/01) ISBN 4-06-314228-0

Kodansha also released a high quality collector's edition (bunkobon) of the manga in 10 volumes.

• Jiraishin Bunko 1 (2003/05) ISBN 4-06-360212-5
• Jiraishin Bunko 2 (2003/05) ISBN 4-06-360213-3
• Jiraishin Bunko 3 (2003/06) ISBN 4-06-360562-0
• Jiraishin Bunko 4 (2003/06) ISBN 4-06-360563-9
• Jiraishin Bunko 5 (2003/07) ISBN 4-06-360564-7
• Jiraishin Bunko 6 (2003/07) ISBN 4-06-360565-5
• Jiraishin Bunko 7 (2003/08) ISBN 4-06-360566-3
• Jiraishin Bunko 8 (2003/08) ISBN 4-06-360567-1
• Jiraishin Bunko 9 (2003/09) ISBN 4-06-360568-X
• Jiraishin Bunko 10 (2003/09) ISBN 4-06-360569-8

The North American version of the manga, retitled Ice Blade, was serialized in Tokyopop's MixxZine^[2] but discontinued after three volumes. The series has also been translated into German, Italian, Korean and Thai.

North American censoring

When Jiraishin was serialized as Ice Blade in MixxZine, there were instances of censorships in some of its panels as it was a new magazine when it was released and didn't wish to offend potential distributors^[3].

Reception

Cassiel Kelner of Aesthesticism.com praised the manga as a study on human nature, "reminding [readers] just what people really are capable of"^[4]. Serdar Yegulalp of Advanced Media Network compares Jiraishin to Miami Vice as the "blood, grit, and sin spatter so thickly that it’s a miracle you don’t get your fingers dirty when you turn the pages"^[5].

References

External links

• Ice Blade page on TOKYOPOP
• Ice Blade (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia