8 July, 2003
Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 15: Brothers of the Grass, Kazuo
Koike and Goseki Kojima (340 pp, PB, 2001)
Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 16: Gateway into Winter, Kazuo
Koike and Goseki Kojima (315 pp, PB, 2001)
I really expected the last story in Vol. 14 to be continued in Vol. 15, but that turned out not to be the case. I guess it was concluded "off-screen." Most of Volumes 15 and 16 deal with the feud between Ogami Itto and the Yagyu clan. The stories aptly-named Brothers of the Grass focus on the Yagyu "grass": sleeper agents dispersed throughout the country, ready to act on the Yagyus' behalf when they are activated. Several of the stories show the human side of this arrangement, as various agents are forced to face the conflict between their normal lives and their obligations as "grass."
There's a good amount of movement on the overall plot arc in Vol. 16. In "Sayaka," Retsudo (head of the Yagyu) sends the last of his children-- his illegitimate daughter-- out on a mission to slay Itto and Daigoro, and thus restore the family honor. She fails, and Retsudo decides to set all the power of the Shogunate against Ogami; he's now wanted dead or alive (preferably dead), with a 50 ryo price on his head. (This is only a tenth of what Lone Wolf and Cub charges for an assassination-- the Yagyu are apparently cheap, as well as corrupt and evil.) Ogami has upped the stakes, as well-- he finally solves the mystery of the Yagyu's secret code (and what a weird secret code it is, I might add). Who will have the ultimate advantage? I will probably have to read several more volumes to find out.