Red Hot Chili Samurai is the new series from creator Yoshitsugu Katagiri. This series mainly follows Kokaku and his obsession with chili peppers and beating down the bad guys. With him are his friends, Ento and the adorable Ran. In this world of slight anachronisms will Kokaku have the strength and peppers to fulfill his goals of being a hero?

Highlights

With this being the first volume, we aren't shown much of just who Kokaku is, obviously, but what we are shown is his personality. He is a laid back young man, only really caring about his peppers. When given a mission by the head of the house, he sends out a ninja to get his friends to do the job for him. This makes him look lazy, but it turns out to be all part of a plan to get into the bad guy's home. A nice hidden bit is whenever Kokaku is asked who he is, he simply says he's the hero while showing a tattoo of a black crane he has on his chest. We aren't told the importance of this symbol, other than that it is very important and Kokaku's enemies know what it means.

The next chapter is similar to the first, except this time it involves a brothel. Nothing is shown, mainly so as to not make this a mature title, but also because Kokaku is a 16 year old boy. Following that, we are introduced to a man named Shiki who is a Hatamoto, a type of police force and from a high family, who starts off by taking Kokaku's thunder. It's a nice chapter that gives away an important clue about Kokaku that was hidden.

In the final two chapters, we are treated to a lot of humor as Kokaku tries to hunt down the owner of the land that he was growing his chilli peppers on. In the last chapter especially, we see just how many anachronisms are in this. Not only is it a little kid owning a water gun he built himself, but he also has a radio controlled car, and makes a working bottle of pepper spray with nothing more than a chili pepper.

Overall

This is a funny series. Not only with the interactions between the characters, but also Kokaku's obsession with peppers. He literally gets weak when they are taken from him. The anachronisms of Tsumugi were just odd in this setting of samurai; not a bad odd but the kind of odd that makes you wonder what kind of weird thing is next. I loved the art style. If I didn't know better, I would think that the creator of this worked on Samurai Champloo. The lines are smooth and action is well drawn. There is a nice blend of detail and abstract that is pleasing to the eye.

ComicsOnline gives Red Hot Chili Samurai Volume 1 3 out of 5 chili peppers.

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