Manga: JIN - A Modern Surgeon Gets Thrown Into the Samurai Era
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Written by Young Jeohn
STORYLINE
What would happen if a brain surgeon with modern medical knowledge time-traveled to the samurai era? Through twists and turns, Dr. Jin Minakata finds himself in the Edo period of Japan. By chance, he saves a samurai's life, and that becomes the start of his new life.
He finds himself helping the ordinary people of Edo with diseases and injuries that were fatal at the time, using ordinary tools that he could find in the era. However, eventually he struggles with the fact that he may be affecting history by changing the destinies of people in the past.
OUR THOUGHTS
JIN is an intriguing story by Motoka Murakami, a famous manga author known in Japan and South Korea. The most interesting thing for me is the believability of the medical procedures and seemingly real conditions this doctor has to struggle with, using only the things of that era. Add to that the suspicion and distrust the Japanese locals must have felt towards outsiders and foreigners and you've got yourself a time bomb that can explode violently - or be diffused (with an extreme amount of patience.)
The story is so good that it's won cultural prizes, sold 8 million copies in Japan and has been adapted into a TV series in Japan and South Korea. Now it's making its way to English speakers everywhere via Patreon with a chapter released each week.
To introduce you to the story, you can read the first two chapters of JIN for FREE! This is an especially enjoyable read for those people who like stories around Samurai related things (including myself.) But what makes this really fun is the "what if?" factor. Being in possession of future knowledge can be a very helpful - or a dangerous thing, for good or for ill results. You can only find out by reading it!
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE!
The first two chapters are available at:
https://www.patreon.com/motokamurakami
ABOUT Motoka Murakami
A Japanese manga artist who writes primarily seinen (comics for adults) titles. He started his career as a manga artist influenced by the manga magazine COM published by Osamu Tezuka.
In 1984, he won the 29th Shogakukan Manga Award for the hit comic The Sword of Musashi (Musashi no Ken). In 1996, he won the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award, and in 1998, he won the 2nd Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Art Festival Manga Award for Ryu-RON (which was serialized for 15 years), a story about the only son of a plutocrat in the Showa era (1920's - 80's) of Japan.
In 2011, he won the Grand Prize at the 15th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize for JIN, and in 2014, he won the 43rd Japan Cartoonists Association's Award for Fuichin Saiken, a story based on the real life of the first female manga author in the early 20th century.
