Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi is a shonen action-comedy manga with a heavy dose of romantic undertones about a young perverted samurai, Yoichi Karasuma, who is sent off by his father for outclassing him at such a young age. Yoichi ends up living as a freeloader at the Ikaruga Dojo run by four young sisters: Ibuki, Ayame, Chihaya and Kagome Ikaruga. Being raised as a traditional samurai in the ways of feudal Japan his dress and mannerisms attract a lot of attention and he is at first an unwelcome guest, but eventually is allowed to stay.

Volume Two starts off with the appearance of two female assassins. However, one of those would-be assassins,Tsubasa Tsubame, just wants a normal school life and goes to great lengths to convince the other assassin, her retainer Angela Takatsukasa, of that. Meanwhile, Yoichi and Ibuki seem to develop a closer relationship which Ryo “Wa-san” Washizu, the loner and outcast delinquent who has a crush on Ibuki dislikes. However, to complicate matters further, Tsubasa falls in love with Ryo but is too shy to say anything and meanwhile gets involved with Yoichi. All the while Angela still seeks to kill Yoichi with or without Tsubasa's help.

Highlights:

This manga is really about fan service and they don't really skimp on that. What else would you expect from something titled Samurai Harem? Whether its action panels or undergarment shots there are a lot scattered throughout the manga. This volume also it seems to do both at once on several occasions. While the manga is heavily focused on the fan service elements, there is genuine character development and some morals brought into the manga. The introduction of the two new girls brought a twist to the Yoichi-Ibuki-Ryo love triangle as well as advancing the plot somewhat.

Overview:

Samurai Harem  is definitely not for younger audiences. However, I fail to see the reasoning for TokyoPop giving it an M-rating. Sure, there is violence, but its rather tame; more blood is seen from the sporadic nose bleeds Yoichi has when thinking perverted thoughts than anything else. The level of fan service is not that high either. There is no nudity, unlike some other titles like Dragonball which has occasional partial nudity. It's true there are a lot of sexual innuendos and racy scenes, but nothing that you might not see at one of the racier PG-13 movies. If something gets an M-rating, which restricts sales to adults, I expect it to have something worthy of that rating and I can't see Samurai Harem deserving that rating. Maybe later volumes get a bit racier and that's the reason for the M rating, but they could just label said volume(s) as its done for other media.

The rating issue aside, Samurai Harem is a great read. It's not for everyone and it won't be the next 7 Samurai, but it is still worth checking out if you are interested in martial arts action and/or lots of fan service shots. Unlike other some ecchi titles, there defiantly seems to be some kind of underlying plot development and there is an extraordinary focus on character development, particularly between Yoichi and Ibuki. I was constantly reminded of Ranma ½ when reading the book with Ryo as a deliquent version of Ryouga, except this time rival for the main female's love interest actually has someone who has a crush on him. There are major differences, like Ayame having a secret crush on Yoichi, the parental figures removed from the picture and Ryo seeming to not care for martial arts, but the similarities are too strong to dismiss.

I enjoyed reading the manga, especially as it brought back some other fond memories. I hope Yu Minamoto continues the series. I am looking forward to the next volume.

ComicsOnline gives Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi 4 out of 5 scantly-clad female martial artists.