Shimazaki in the Land of Peace Vol. 1 | Manga Review

Happy Monday. Someone (totally not me, of course) thought making homemade felt ornaments for the tree this year would be a great idea. Fast forward to now—I’ve finished exactly two and might lose a few fingers before completing enough for a full tree. Wish me luck!

Anyways, here’s the latest Manga Monday—

After surviving a terrorist incident as a child, Shingo Shimazaki was forced to join the League for Economic Liberations’ revolutionary army. Now, thirty years later, he’s back in Japan and trying to assimilate to a normal life. His Japanese may be awkward, and his grasp of ordinary tasks a little weak, but he has all the combat and surveillance training of a green beret. There are many kindhearted souls who want to help him-and a few not so kind ones who will do anything to stop him.

Shimazaki is the biggest man child ever in this, but in the absolute best way possible.

While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel—there are plenty of manga with similar premises—but it’s really well done. I love stories where the main character is older and just now trying to figure life out, although this is from a former terrorist trying to start over angle.

Since Shimazaki has been all over the world, they even included foreign dishes, coffee, and little cultural details, which I thought was such a nice touch. Like, sure, he learned how to murder people, but he also picked up a lot about other cultures along the way. I love when stories sneak in little things like that—it’s always fun learning something new in the most unexpected ways.

This one kind of has it all—it’s a slice of life with comedy, but it also dives into heavier issues and, of course, has action and fight scenes. For something that covers so much, it’s surprisingly well-balanced. The writing even caught me off guard a few times with how deep it got.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It wasn’t necessarily my usual cup of tea, but it had some really great touches that stood out. If you’re into action manga or the synopsis catches your interest, I’d 100% recommend giving it a read~

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