Nio is a thirteen year old orphan living in Kyoto during the Bunkyu Era, a turbulent time in Japan's history. When two members of the infamous Roshigumi start to frequent his families shop Nio and his little sister decide that they are not the murderous group rumors have made them out to be. That is until one night when kidnappers attempt to take his little sister and Nio realizes the Roshigumi have been using them the entire time to draw out these villians. While Nio could have been angry he decides to become a member of the Roshigumi himself so he can find his own justice in a world full of corruption.

To be honest the only series I've ever enjoyed with the Roshigumi (later known as The Shinsengumi) is Kenshin so I feel like my bar is a little high for any manga featuring this infamous group and I don't feel like this first volume came quite close enough for me to say I liked it. I can't say I enjoyed any of the older members of the group, all of their personalities were a bit too extreme for me. However, I did like Nio and Taro. Nio, so far, seems to be just *good*, a bit like Kenshin and Taro's background, what we learn of it here explains his very pessimistic and understandingably so outlook on life. And I did enjoy that this seems to be going down a path of the Shinsengumi literally tearing itself apart. I know that's probably a bit messed up, but let's be honest their internal feuding is pretty notorious.

I can say with 100% certainty that I wasn't a fan of the art, which is genuinely a first.

Overall, I am curious to see how this story unfolds especially with the cliffhanger ending from this volume so I'll definitely read the next volume.

As a fan of Kenshin I enjoyed this historical japanese drama. It was a enjoyable and fast read. I will definitely continue the series.

Thank you so much for letting me read this manga. This is an action packed historical manga. The bold artstyle fits the story perfectly.

I went into this manga a bit naively. While the plot sounded like something I would enjoy it feels like it might be more of a slow build, I just wasn't hooked right away. The art is also not the 'traditional' style which took a bit of getting used to. I can see a lot of people really enjoying this book but deviates too far from my own palate.

Definitely think this is a solid 4 star. As the first volume I belive its trying to find it voice and rides the line between a comedy and a super dark manga. I'm hoping that in future volumes it dives deeper into the darker aspects.

The historical aspects are interesting and make me want to look more into the time period, samurai, and the my Miburō in particular.

TL;DR - 4 stars and I'm excited for future volumes.

3.5 Stars

This first volume is very promising and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. The art is really nice-it reminds me of Keito Gaku's work-and the story is interesting. However, the pacing is very fast and I wish it would slow down a little bit so the reader can enjoy the action and emotional scenes without an immediate tone switch. Still, a solid first volume.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc! This was good and cute and had some really heavy moments. The art was nice and for me, this is a definite 3.5. It's a quick, easy read and I will definitely pick up volume 2!

A japanese historical drama with some hijinks - I'm in! I love when the setting involves the history of the samurai or shinsengumi as I'm a huge fan of Japanese history in general. If you're a fan of Kenshin you'll definitely like this! An unlikely trio is formed that is basically a vigilante group that want to change the world for the better. Friendships are being established while power struggles occur and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes as well as seeing Nio grow! now that I know it's getting an anime too, reading it is a must!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Blue Wolves of Mibu ended up only being an okay story for me. It had a lopsided feel to it where it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a comedy or if it wanted to be a serious drama. Those two elements are not well balanced in the slightest, and because there is so much comedy, it makes the dramatic moments feel out of place. Also, this is historical fiction, and it features several characters that were real people in history. Unfortunately, most of my knowledge of Japanese history is from 1910 onwards so I didn't realize this until I looked up the characters afterwards. I think this manga assumes that the reader would be going into this story knowing the real-life history, so if you don't, you're going to feel a bit lost. The art style is fine, it's pretty good in parts. It has an older feel to it, reminiscent of 90s manga. But for some reason, it does the weird trope of "This character is being funny so they're being drawn with a giant mouth!". Which was completely distracting and it happens a LOT. I keep getting distracted and thinking "Why is their mouth wide open and taking up more than half of their face?" before realizing "Oh...it's supposed to be comedic..." There were also some weird moments where a character had their mouth wide open (Think Attack on Titan mouth wide open type of deal) but they drew each tooth individually??? It looked like I was looking at a dental diagram for a couple of scenes. Unfortunately, this manga left me feeling bored and lost and the "impactful" moments just fell flat because of the tonal imbalance of the overall story.

Kodansha Comics provided an early galley for review.

The cover of this manga is what instantly drew my attention. The composition and the colors created an intriguing invitation to check it out.

This volume presents the first five chapters of the adventure. It begins with a group of children begging an old man for a story, so he begins to recount something from his past. This is followed by a foreword for English readers, explaining the historical context for the tale. I found this to be super helpful for someone who is not up on the history of Japan.

The main story of young Nio moves along fairly quickly. The reader is pulled into this world of danger, action and intrigue. As he navigates a new life with the Miburo, we are slowly introduced to their ranks and start to learn some of the secrets some members have been keeping. I appreciated the pace at which the story unfolds.

The sharp lettering of the word balloons compliments the varied linework on the figures. This is all then enhanced by the shading and textures of the backgrounds. Together, the artwork creates a very pleasing reading experience.

Nio is an orphan who can't help dreaming of a better world, he have this huge ambition and burning passion to change the world to be a safer place for the children. In this action-packed manga, he meets two men who show him how much they can change the world with their swords: Hijikata Toshizo and Okita Souji, two of the original founding members of a group of hated ronin known as the Miburo, who would later become known as the Shinsengumi.

As someone who always love different version of Shinsengumi story (a small, elite group of swordsmen that was organized by commoners and low rank samurai). This manga tackles quite a heavy topics and violence. There is a body horror and bloody scenes. It giving a new insight of how Shinsengumi reform, their values and goals. This first volumes story was a slow paced, there is a bit action (mostly about how they patrolling around the town), mostly discuss about what happen in that year, and slight mention of politics. I guess the next volumes will giving us more on their history. I couldn't say much about the character for now since it's just pretty much just an introduction, but I really hope their characters will be well developed later on.

The art-style is clean, and sharp. It's quite different than I expected (since this is the same mangaka from Days series). With quite a complex plot, I was expecting the art-style to be darker, but this is just fine. I love the character designs, they look manly and giving me Arslan Senki and Rurouni Kenshin vibes. I honestly don't know what to expect for this manga, since we only know they just want to change the world, but the actual plot remain unknown. But I can see myself continue reading this series especially since the anime adaptation is coming. this October. Giving this 3.6 ⭐️

This was fine, but what was super funny was the detailed faces of the well-known shinsengumi figures in contrast to the much more manga-esque faces of the original for this manga characters. There wasn't a lot specifically here that drew me in except staring at Ultra-Detailed Okita Souji And Hijikata Toshizo but it was more interesting that this was set in the early days before they were called the shinsengumi, but there are so many historical fiction works with shinsengumi members that this doesn't really stand out at all despite the detailed art.

Many thanks to Kodansha and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for review!

I was drawn in by the cover and the historical premise, but was overall disappointed in this volume. The concept is really neat, a group of ronin forming during a time of political upheaval, but the actual plot is rather unclear. There's a lot of talking happening, but mc Nio's actual role, or what the group is even really up to is rather muddled. The characters have potential, but feel stunted, and boxed in to a common issue these types of stories have, namely that a predominantly male cast ends up over-relying on gags and juvenile humor to get some laughs. The story doesn't really seem to call for much humor, so this aspect felt really off-putting to me while reading it.

Male protagonists are harder for me to get behind in manga because they tend to lean heavily on juvenile humor and pre-teen lasciviousness. But the historical basis intrigued me.

I enjoyed the first half, getting to know the main characters, but this volume took a dark turn in the second half. While this makes sense, in the historical context, it felt a bit abrupt in the flow of the story.

Will cautiously be interested in the next one, but will have to be in the mood for dark.

The story really dragged on but I think the two “pretty boi” and “white haired boi” were far more interesting characters.

Cheers Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to add my honest review on this manga.

Thirteen-year-old orphan Nio wants to change the world for the better, especially for children. He grew up during a turbulent time in Kyoto. Nio encounters two mysterious yet interesting men at the shop he works at. When they rescue him from trouble, he agrees to become the third Wolf of the Roshigumi. Nio needs to discover his own sense of righteous justice, so he can move forward. What trails will Nio face?

I like to try out any new anime and mangas that involve the Shinsengumi. Hakuoki and Peacemaker – the animes -are to blame for my interest and curiosity about them. It is neat to see different artists’ and authors’ versions of Hijikata, Okita, Kondo, and the rest. Tsuyoshi Yasuda made both Hijikata and Okita “pretty boys”, I noticed; however, I still prefer Hakouki’s versions, along with their personalities.

THE BLUE WOLVES OF MIBU, like Hakuoki and Peacemaker, involve a teenager joining their ranks. Through trial and difficulties, these youngsters must discover for themselves what paths they should take. I cannot wait to see what kind of role models Hijikata and Okita will be to Nio and his future. I will definitely be picking up this manga to see what happens.

3.25
While I am not fully satisfied with this first volume I cannot deny that it made me want to read the rest of the series, at least just to see where it goes and continue to enjoy the very unique art style. The characters seem interesting and I was really getting invested into Nio's quest to find what "justice" means to him in a setting as dangerous and dark as the Miburo group, but suddenly the volume was over.
This was a quick read. Extremely fast paced in my opinion but enjoyable regardless. I cannot wait to see Okita and Hijikata's characters develop a bit more (maybe as Nio's mentor) since they are by far the most sympathetic members of the group.

This is an interesting historical manga, one that is not quite for me, but I think there will be a large audience for this. The art is good and depicts the action scenes well. I appreciate that there is an introduction that gives the readers the historical context for the story. I also enjoyed the three main characters and think they will have an interesting journey together. Overall, fans of works like Rurouni Kenshin will enjoy this.