Sidooh

Sidooh (SIDOOH―士道―) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from March 2005 to October 2010, with its chapters collected in 25  volumes as of April 2011.

Premise
Mid-nineteenth century in Japan. A woman dies in the cholera epidemic that is ravaging the country. She leaves two young children to fend for themselves: Shotaro, 14 years old and Gentaro, 10 years old. According to the last recommendations from their mother, they know that to survive, they will have to become strong because the weak are doomed to die. They then set out in search of a master who will teach them how to wield the sword to become like their late father, samurai. These innocent orphans are far from imagining how merciless the world around them can be towards those who do not know how to defend themselves.

Publication
Tsutomu Takahashi first published a one-shot of Sidooh in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Young Jump on January 6, 2005; it began its regular serialization in the same magazine two months later on March 3. The manga finished serialization in the magazine on October 28, 2010. Shueisha collected its chapters in Twenty-five volumes, released from June 17, 2005, to April 19, 2011. Shueisha released the digital version of all 25 volumes on May 17, 2013.

In France and Italy, the manga is licensed by Panini. in France, Panini published 14 volumes of the manga from 2007 to 2014, and in 2021 they republished all 25 volumes in a new edition. in Spain licensed by Glénat Éditions.

A spin-off titled Sidooh: Sunrise (士道 サンライズ, 士道Sunrise) was serialized in the same magazine Weekly Young Jump from March 17, 2011, to May 12, 2011. Kodansha collected its chapters in a single volume, published on May 19, 2011.

Reception
In November 2012, Sidooh manga ranked forty-six on AnimeClick website's poll of top 70 "The best 2000s seinen" with 8,100 votes. Sidooh has been widely acclaimed by critics. Reviewing the first volume, Manga Sanctuary, praised the story and drawings, call the story a classic but powerful tale of samurai in decline, dark, dramatic and incredibly well done considered drawings excellent, black, very sketchy, deep and described realism and the main characters as one of the strengths of the manga, they stated "Sidhooh is not conventional either in terms of design or scenario. It's dark, mysterious, disturbing and sometimes unhealthy." Writing for IGN France, Damien Hilaire described Takahashi's Sidooh as a sticky and suffocating title that spares nothing from its protagonists and likened the manga to Blade of the Immortal, adding: "The layout is sublime, the emotion is transmitted without dialogue, a play of looks... This economy of words is reminiscent of the cinema from which Takahashi's cutting is greatly inspired."

Manga News wrote: "The first volume of Sidooh is a slap in the face, in that Takahashi perfectly establishes, from the outset, a particularly dark and uncompromising atmosphere, which he then refines throughout the pages." Nicolas Demay of Planete BD described Sidooh as an uncompromising manga, considers manga similar to the works of Vagabond, Blade of the Immortal and Berserk, stating "The series is served by a very inky, black drawing, sticking very well to the atmosphere that emerges from the reading, where everything is shown without artifice, further accentuating the violent side of the action scenes. All this makes Sidooh a real visual slap in the face." Takahashi's artwork has been particularly praised by critics. In the review of the first and twenty-fifth volumes, fellow Planete BD reviewer Faustine Lillaz gave a "very good" grade to the drawings, and she calls the story of the first volume a good foundation for the sequel and describes the final volume as a well-managed finale. hk01-com said that the manga has a unique style of drawing and is a classic samurai realistic comic, adding: "the painting style of Sidooh vaguely feels a bit like Vagabond, but it is a little different."