| Black Lion | |
|---|---|
 Page of Kuro no Shishi, showing a similar style to Satsujinsha | |
| Manga information | |
| Kanji | 黒の獅士 |
| Romaji | Kuro no Shishi |
| Other names | Il leone nero (it) |
| Genre | Historical fiction with robots and spaceships |
| Author | Go Nagai |
| Illustrator | Go Nagai |
| Original publisher | Kodansha |
| Other publishers | Asahi Sonorama (jp) Chuokoron-sha (jp) Island Comics Primo (jp) |
| Demographic | Shounen |
| Magazine | Shukan Shonen Magazine |
| Original run | 1978-05-28 ~ 1979-06-10 |
Inspired in Satsujinsha, one of Go Nagai's first works, this violent period piece takes place in the 1500s and stars a talented low ranking ninja named Shishimaru Tenoh. In it, Shishimaru fights against Ginnai Doma (an immortal samurai who, despite being butchered multiple times doesn't die ) because Ginnai murdered his comrades. Despite being set in historical times, it has machine guns, lasers, robots, and atomic reactors with no real explaination for the first bit of the film. It was made into an anime and released in Japan in 1992 and the early 00s in America.
Characters[]
- Shishimaru Tenoh
- Ginnai Doma
- Oyu
- Hayabusa
- Kojiro Ryuzuki
- Momoji
- Saburu Nobunaga
- Nagatoji
- Saburota
- Yurimaru
- Sayo Momochi
A montage of the highlights of the anime (its gory to the point of comedy and all the violence is packed into a few minutes makes it seem long)
Plot[]
First Confrontation[]
The OAV starts out with a building being attacked and alot of people getting brutally(and comically since its so gory) killed. A man who looks just like the last few men who just got killed says that Oda Nobunaga's rifle team can't use their rifles in the rain. He is then Shot (FAR) more times than necessary and the building (and surrounding area) is blown up by explosives that FAR exceed the periods technology. Then, Shishimaru Tenoh and his team come in and kill some people and Shishimaru talks for a few seconds about how to win they must retreat. Suddenly, Ginnai Doma comes in and Shishimaru says they won't retreat so they can fight Ginnai. Ginnai chops up some of the ninja and the rest stab him, only to have their blades break off and for Ginnai to kill one of them. Oyu is surprized that Ginnai Doma was not killed and Shishimaru refuses to believe that any man can be immortal and attacks Ginnai...but he gets owned. In an attempt to save Shishimaru, Oyu attacks Ginnai and gets killed. As Shishimaru's men fight and die, Shishimaru mourns Oyu and blacks out.
Flashbacks and Friends[]
After the rain Hayabusa and Kojjiro talk about how the destruction from the first few minutes only took 30 minutes and talk about Nobunaga's expansion. Then they find Shishimaru and take him to get treatment for his wounds. Meanwhile, a man is working on a computer and viewing projections for Oda Nobunaga's future conquest of Japan. Then a ninja come to a cave somewhere and whips out some kind of gadget computer and a guy comes in asking for help when a light shines on him and goes into him and he becomes possessed. The scene is revealed to have been a flashback from the man at the computer and he says that the guy was transformed into Saburu Nobunaga and it then shows flashbacks about stealth Bombers nuking samurai. The man then says that Nobunaga has access to things that shouldn't exist in this time and that Nobunaga is changing the flow of history. The man says he must ask the time control department for guidance. Then an alert goes off and he comes out of his wall and a poster covers it after he leaves. A man comes and tells the computer man(who is revealed to be called Momoji) that Shishimaru has returned alive. It then cuts back to Shishimaru having a flashback about what happened when his friends were butchered and wakes up panting. He stumbles out of his room and down the hall calling for Oyo and is stopped from entering a room by the guards for being too low ranking. Shishimaru then punches out the guards and enters the room (despite being unable to walk properly mere seconds ago) and finds Many people in a room around a map. Shishimaru thinks a girl is Oyu but she punches him and says she is Hayabusa. Kojiro Ryuzuki says Shishimaru was the only one alive and he weeps for the fallen and Hayabusa]criticizes him for crying over a woman, which causes him to cuss at her and as, it is about to come to blows, Shishimaru's master Yurimaru says they saved his live and he should thank them. He goes on to say that Nobunaga has teamed up with Ginnai Doma and they are pwning them with new never before seen weapons and how they gotta pull together or every ninja dies. Shishimaru says he understands and wants to kill Ginnai but he don't wanna work with Hayabusa and that her klan has loud women. After Shishimaru leaves the rest of the ninja talk about him behind his back (Momoji defends him) and Nagatoji offers to make Shishimaru his responsibility. Momoji says that Saburota has been spying on Ginnai Doma and they will soon plan...but Shishimaru was listening from behind the door.
More Flashbacks and Death[]
Somewhere else, a ninja(Saburota) is fighting Ginnai Doma and stabs his head/body with kunai and wacks off a chunk of Ginnai's head with his katana...but Ginnai survives and kills him by spliting him in half. Then Ginnai has a flashback of his brutal ninja death and waking up as a cyborg made by tentacle monsters( aliens). He talks to Nobunaga and says with his wifea nd child killed, he has no reason to live and to kill him. Nobunaga convinces Ginnai to kill the ninja who killed them even though killing them won't be enough and tells him he has an immortal body. After the flashback, Ginnai buts back the wacked off piece and it sizzles together leaving a white fluid cream. At Nobunaga's castle, Nobunaga (this time it's a different Nobunaga) talks about the men killed in battle and how it don't matter who dies as long as they all get iced. Later, Saburota's head is found in a river and Shishimaru is in the crowd that found it. Later, the ninja talk about Saburota and how he did his job. Shishimaru realizes/is angry at the fact they sent him on a suicide mission and after a few sentences, leaves with Yurimaru to kill Ginnai.
Round 2 with Ginnai[]
Later Shishimaru is training and says that Saburota's message said that Ginnai is coming by the road they are now at. Yurimaru says that Shishimaru is the best of the lower ninja and later Ginnai comes in. Yurimaru is burning something as Ginnai walks by him and Yurimaru puts something in the fire that makes blue smoke. As Ginnai walks through the smoke he comes across a robe on a stick man with a sign that says that Ginnai will die there. Then the Stickmen(scarecrows) start moving around and Ginnai stabs one, only to have it come back up with Shishimaru's face. Shishimaru reveals his family name (Tenoh) and that he will revenge his klansmen! He claims to be immortal and taunts Ginnai as the Stickmen circle around him and Ginnai cuts one down. Shishimaru pops out of a Stickman and clashes blades with Ginnai, only to be split in two by Ginnai's long hard blade! But it turns out it was a Stickman and Ginnai reveals that Shishimaru was using the child's trick of using marijuana chronic in the barley that Yurimaru was burning to make him see an illusion(despite it not affecting Shishimaru and saying that marijuana is a childs trick. After a short fight, Ginnai/Shishimaru are in a oily place with bamboo (Ginnai on the oil and Shishimaru on the bamboo) and Shishimaru uses some fire pell to burn/blow up the area. Shishimaru seems to be comfy with avenging Oyu but Ginnai comes out of the fire and splits Yurimaru in half with a katana slash! Shishimaru fights Ginnai and is almost kiled but is saved by a bright distracting light and Nagatoji by taking him underwater until Ginnai walks away a few seconds later(much like Violence Jack). He implys that Shishimaru's vendetta is what got Yurimaru killed, to which Shishimaru replys that Nagatoji sends his own men on suicide missions. He tells Shishimaru that Ginnai killed Kojiro/Hayabusa's parents 1.5 years ago on another one of his killing sprees and Shishimaru suspects they ignored their parents assassinations, to which Nagatoji says they kinda did. A flashback shows that they were leaving the Koga village right after Ginnai started attacking and, while Hayabusa wanted to go back, Kojiro made them go onward(away from Koga village). He trys to convince Shishimaru that he isn't the only one who feels like that but Shishimaru leaves.
Moar Spatter/Assassinations[]
Later at Ginnai's place, Kojiro/Hayabusa's team nails Ginnai while he was sleeping with a dart and, while he is seizuring they shank him alot with their blades. As they start to leave, Ginnai gets up and starts killing them but when he is about to slice Hayabusa, Shishimaru nails Ginnai's hand with a kunai, which makes Ginnai stop his death blow for some reason despite it being a small wound and basicaly only attracting his attention. After some dialogue, alot of Ginnai's men come out and ninja slices a candle dow and it causes Ginnai's place to explode part by part since a ninja set up explosives and power to blow it up. Kojiro/Hayabusa's team + Shishimaru go under the building's floor but Ginnai is following them above somehow and comes out of the fire at them. They throw bombs at him and after the smoke clears, his head rolls down but is still alive and, after the body comes out of the rubble, puts his head on and takes a guys head off. As they run away, Shishimaru says Ginnai is right behind them so he will stay behind and wait for him to kill him. Ginnai comes in and fights Shishimaru but Nagatoji catches Ginnai in a chain web. He says he is old and whips off his coat to reveal lit dynamite but Ginnai breaks out of the web and beats up Nagatoji. Nagatoji urges them to go but Hayabusa doesn't want to leave until gets his throat ripped out after telling Shishimaru to look after her. He blows up off camera and the ninja's escape the tunnel's they were in and agree to set a trap while using comically bad dialogue and Shishimaru agrees to be bait.
Final Fight 4[]
Ginnai comes and fights Shishimaru in the Violence Jack like background and the other ninja's come out with guns and blow up gunpowder barrels in the rocks to make a rockslide to kill Ginnai. They find Ginnai's arm but its a machine and Ginnai comes out of the rubble, with half his face open and machine looking, and breathes fire on someone. He explains he pushed his body too far and his atomic reactor will over heat and kill everyone. Shishimaru headlocks him in an attempt to save the others but Ginnai's head rockets off and kills most of the other ninja's before returning to the body. Ginnai cuts off Shishimaru's right arm and slashes Hayabusa. Kojiro gets Ginnai's spare sword and gives it to Shishimaru while getting beat up and, after a sword wrestling match(think arm wrestling) Shishimaru cuts through Ginnai's blade and splits him in two causing a massive explosion and a mushroom cloud that is shown as a still image slow pan for twenty-nine seconds. The three ninjas are somehow alive after the explosion since the aliens teleported them away and healed their wounds while saying they will meet again and to call him the Black Lion.
Unanimated manga chapters[]
Shishimaru meets up with some other time warriors including a caveman, encounters strange creatures (God like mammoths) and a Darth Vader Samurai.. (Who turned out to be Ginnai Doma. Huh, go figure.)
So Nobunaga captures a Caveman who beat a robot mammoth with a stone club as he's got strong will, and is gonna cyberize him stronger than Ginnai. Then Shishimaru goes to see Momochi as he knows Momochi is his Grandpa but finds a space ship is busting up the castle. In it he finds a time patrol room room in a hidden area. Meanwhile, in the 23rd century (a century after Sherlock Holmes came back) they get a message from Momochi in the Sengoku era saying they need help so they send Burn Mano, Jimmy Rocca and Yuki Hayabusa who go back and see space ships f-kkin up things. Hayabusa finds Ulysses, Billy The Kid and Zhang Fei who work for Nobunaga and capture her but fight Robot Ninja like the 80s TMNT series. They kick ninja a55 but Billy gets slices and blows as he's a cyborg or w/e by a badder a55 Shishimaru using Ginnai's blade that is super Overpowered. He slags Zhang Fei but Ulysses escapes on a space ship with Hayabusa. Burn Mano meets one of The Black Lions named Mohz and on the ship is Shishimaru who says The Black Lions were formed to fight The White Devils and they gotta save Hayabusa. During a space fight with the White Devils, Mohz tells Burn that the W D came from another Dimension of space called White Space and are trying to wipe out all sentient life in the universe and already took out his home planet and other guys planets too. So they team up to save the universe from em like its Robotech II The Sentinels. Oh and Momochi bit it when the place got busted. They meat Gilly who asks for help from the future as the W D is gonna cyberize all humans. Also they possessed Nobunaga and wiped out Gilly's home planet. Shishimaru says his dad was from the heavens and was f'd by the White Devils and he got Momochi's daughter preggers by b0ning and Momochi raised him as a ninja to make him bada55. Also now Shishimaru goes by his grandpa's name. They go to the Time Room in the Momochi home but the equipment is f'd and might need years to fix. Later, Shishimaru is training in the snow and beats a robot ninja and the White Devils are watching and gonna send da cave man Zanbo after his a55. Shishimaru returns saying he went under cover to get close to Nobunaga but it didn't work. Burn sez they might as well wait the 15 years until they get to the year the other time guy was sent. Later, its summer and Zanbo attacks and uses his special ability to make it snow in the area. The Black Lions come to help but a huge mammoth thing stops em. its a space ship illusion or w/e sending da cold of da ice age to japan and they go back in time, beat it, and escapee back to the Sengoku era. Shishimanu beats Zanbo with Nanomachines and Ginnai's blade. So 20 years later they fixed the communication equipment and Nobunaga chats with the White Devil King to tell him sorry for being behind schedule. Years later, Nobunaga is going to attack with Robots and Jimmy is gonna be here soon. The White Devils see there's a time distortion and send a tank on a Kamikaze mission to wack Jimmy and bust the Time guys base. So in da future they say it can take another century to make a new time reactor so they use an older time machine to send items back to help stop history from being f'd. So after Nobunaga creams the resistors, he makes it to the good guys land, Iga, and The White Devils Space Fortress comes does and the White Devils start an all out battle. Ulysses tells Hayabusa, who's had her mind scanned for Future info all this time, that the White Devils universe is shrinking and the cause is our universe cuz sentient live has a psychic effect when it grows and it causes pressure on their universe. The Black Fortress rams the White Base and it sinks into the sea like the Nemesis in G1 Transformers and Ulysses frees Hayabusa as there's no reason to ice her or be enemy's. Ulysses fights Shishimaru and it fulfills his warrior blood and he stops and lets Shishimaru leave with Hayabusa as he's satisfied with that last fight (see you in h-ll Ulysses!). so the Whites escape the ship and go to save Iga bbut its f'd. but then reinforcements from the future come in and they fight til both are wiped out. When Shishimaru gets back, Burn is iced and history will think Momochi got it and they find it was Ginnai Doma again as the final boss somehow. He uses bull sh-t of "Its the other universe that makes things possible there" as an excuse and the Black guys use their space ships to zap Ginnai and he blows but his head flies off again (but no one else saw it but Shishimaru). So with the Whites beat on Da Urth, Shishimaru and Hayabusa go off into space with the Black guys to fight for the universe like its Robotech II The Sentinels. Oh and in the future they say that Nobunaga was beat later and this time f--king was part of history and meant to happen.
Cameoes[]
- Not a cameo, but, the idea of sending inorganic things like weapons back in time, as well as guys going back in time and meeting friends, and guys in the past trying to contact the future is reused in Shutendoji OVA 3.