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Ice Blade
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Kyoya Ida
地雷震 (Jiraishin)
Manga
Written by	Tsutomu Takahashi
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA: Tokyopop (dropped)
Magazine	Monthly Afternoon
English magazine	NA: MixxZine
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	1992 – 1999
Volumes	19 (List of volumes)
Manga
Jiraishin Diablo
Written by	Tsutomu Takahashi
Published by	Kodansha
Magazine	Good! Afternoon
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	November 7, 2008 – November 7, 2011
Volumes	3 (List of volumes)

Ice Blade (地雷震, Jiraishin, Earth-Lightning-Quake or Landmine Quake) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Takahashi. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from 1992 to 1999, with its chapters collected in nineteen tankōbon volumes. The story follows Kyoya Ida, a plainclothes police officer, and his colleagues at the Shinjuku Police Department as they investigate and solve crimes in the Greater Tokyo Area. Sometimes, these crimes are solved with some prices to pay.

A sequel, titled Jiraishin Diablo, was serialized in Kodansha's Good! Afternoon from 2008 to 2011, with its chapters collected in three tankōbon volumes. It portrays Ida and his interactions with various people after his absence from the force due to an eye disease while hearing of mysterious deaths of villagers living in the fictional Amakura Island in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture in the year 2008 while assisting a police detective in initially trying to figure out who or what was responsible for their deaths after it was reported back in 2007.

Plot

Jiraishin: Ice Blade

Kyoya Ida is a hard-nosed detective from the Shinjuku Police precinct, known to use lethal force to solve cases whenever they need to be solved. He works in a bleak, gritty representation of Shinjuku alongside his partner Tsuyoshi Yamaki in hunting down suspects and arresting them before he was killed in the line of duty. Ida was later assigned to another partner named Eriko Aizawa, the two working together to solve cases pertaining to the city's interests.

Jirashin Diablo

In the year 2008, Ida was beginning to suffer from the effects of Keratoconus after leaving the police force. He later gets wind of mysterious deaths of an unknown plague that killed the villagers in Ishikawa Prefecture's Amakura Island when he meets up with Taichi Kogure, a detective of the Ishikawa Police precinct and a now grown up Aya Koike, who is a known information handler in the underworld.

Publication

Written and illustrated by Tsutomu Takahashi, Ice Blade was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from the 1992 to 1999 (November 1992–January 2000 issues). Kodansha collected its chapters in nineteen tankōbon volumes, released from October 23, 1993, to January 21, 2000. The series was republished in a ten-volume bunkoban edition in 2003, and in a ten-volume aizoban edition in 2009. to November 20, 2009.

The North American version of the manga, retitled Ice Blade, was serialized in Tokyopop's MixxZine, but it was discontinued after three volumes. 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 did not wish to offend potential distributors.

It was licensed in France by Génération Comics; in Italy by Stars Comics; in Germany by Carlsen Comics; in South Korea by Samyang Comics; and in Taiwan by Tong Li Comics.

Jiraishin Diablo was serialized in Kodansha's Good! Afternoon magazine from November 7, 2008, to November 7, 2011. Kodansha collected its chapters in three tankōbon volumes, released from February 5, 2010, to December 7, 2011.

Reception

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".

It was nominated for the 23rd Kodansha Manga Awards in the general category in 1999.

References

1. Takahashi, Tsutomu. Works – 地雷震. Tsutomu Takahashi Official Website (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
2. "Look! It Moves! by Adi Tantimedh #14 – When The Angel Of Death Carries A Badge". Bleeding Cool. 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
3. 地雷震（１） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
4. 地雷震（１９） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
5. 地雷震（１） - 漫画文庫 (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
6. 地雷震（１０） - 漫画文庫 (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
7. 新装版 地雷震（１） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
8. 新装版 地雷震（１０） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
9. Roderick "Agitator" Lee. "mixxzine". EX. Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
10. Adam "OMEGA" Arnold. "Full Circle: The Unofficial History of MixxZine". Retrieved 2011-03-25.
11. "TOKYOPOP Inc. Out of Print Titles". Tokyopop. Archived from the original on 2006-01-26. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
12. "About Jiraishin". Retrieved 2010-01-15.
13. "JIRAISHIN" (in French). 2004-10-14. Archived from the original on 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
14. "Jiraishin" (in Italian). Retrieved 2011-03-25.
15. "Jiraishin" (in German). Retrieved 2011-03-25.
16. "地雷震-JIRAISHIN (지뢰진-소장본)" (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
17. 地雷震 1 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
18. Loo, Egan (2008-08-25). "Takahashi's Ice Blade Manga to Relaunch in Japan". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
19. ｇｏｏｄ！アフタヌーン　初号. JBook (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 15, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
20. Fin de Jiraishin Diablo. manga-news.com (in French). September 23, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
21. 「地雷震 ディアブロ」完結、掲載誌には気になる予告も. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. November 7, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
22. 【2月5日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. February 5, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
23. 【12月7日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. December 7, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
24. Yegulalp, Serdar. "What You're Missing, April 2008: Jiraishin". Advanced Media Network.
25. "Kodansha Manga Award". Archived from the original on 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2011-03-23.

External links

• Ice Blade at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

• Manga series
• 1992 manga
• 2008 manga
• Detective anime and manga
• Kodansha manga
• Seinen manga
• Tokyopop titles