三国志

SANGOKUSHI

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
60
RELEASE
January 1, 1987
CHAPTERS
438

DESCRIPTION

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel based upon events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era, starting in 168 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280 AD.
Yokoyama Mitsuteru's adaption begins from the decline of the Han Dynasty until the fall of Shu-Han.

(Source: Wikipedia)

CAST

Liang Zhuge
Bei Liu
Cao Cao
Yu Guan
Fei Zhang
Chan Diao
Bu Lü

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO SANGOKUSHI

Cover Art for Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi

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MOVIE DramaSangokushi Daiichibu Eiyuutachi no Yoake

MANGA ActionHuo Feng Liao Yuan

SPECIAL ActionSangokushi

Cover Art for Sangokushi II: Amakakeru Otoko-tachi

SPECIAL ActionSangokushi II: Amakakeru Otoko-tachi

REVIEWS

baba13
80/100
An All-Time Classic 50 Years Later
It took a while, but I've finished Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 60-volume adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This is the second time I've seen this story unfold, the first time was during the 2010 95-episode adaptation series, and this is the second time. It's interesting seeing how much the adaptations focused on certain elements. How they differ from each other but ultimately complement each other. Mitsuteru Yokoyama poured 15 years into his life crafting a faithful adaptation, and I quite enjoyed it. I do wish the scans were higher quality, but that's no fault of the Hox translations, who did the best they could do and spent six and a half years translating it by themselves. A Labour of Love. It's an intriguing adaptation because it's mostly an adaptation of Yoshikawa Eiji's (author of Musashi) retelling. From what I gather, beyond the beginning there weren't that many differences, and Eiji chose to end the novel, which the manga adopts how the original source material ended, albeit more rushed near the end.

Yokoyama does an admirable job at giving us readers a sense of clarity, especially with the abundance of names. Yet not as much as you need to focus on, and he captures the heart of the scene well. There are elements that can be criticised, like its character designs feeling sort of samey, yet with such a large cast it's inevitable. The art style feels reminiscent of Tezuka, the panel work is excellent, there’s a distinct atmosphere to it and overall it's just well done. The fact the series is over 5 decades old and still readily read just shows its staying power. It’s even more impressive because when he began it, Sino-Japanese relations weren’t normalised, so a lot of the earlier portions of the series he had to rely on his imagination, as he had no pictures, and only around Vol. 30 onwards did art references become available (so 7 years into the project).

While our heroes Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and other characters are as brilliant as ever. This time around I started to notice more of the “side cast” from Ma Chao, Lu Xun, Zhao Yun Zilong, Jiang Wei and others taking more of the spotlight. I do wish Wu had a larger focus, but I believe that was a complaint from the original novel. It’s not a favourite, but the fact this is 60 volumes long and I didn’t feel it overstayed its welcome (hell, the last volume could be argued was rushed as it sped through Ch. 107-120) is notable. I really enjoyed my read, and there’s something about this story which makes me want to experience the story again. I want to watch the 1994 adaptation. I want to read a modern adaptation called The Ravages of Time by Chan Mou, which retells the narrative through Sima Yi's perspective, and most importantly, read the novel. When I will read it, I cannot say, but I definitely do want to get to it.

Overall, a great read and worth my time and should be checked out.
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