I came to Onimusha: Way of the Sword for the sick samurai action, but I stayed for the surprisingly engaging, funny, and heartfelt storytelling. Musashi Miyamoto has made it into my top five all-time favourite protagonists, but the great character development doesn’t just stop with him: Shizuka Gozen, Dokyo, and Sasaki Ganryu all deserve their flowers, and as it turns out, one of them is getting some.
Mild spoilers for Onimusha: Way of the Sword ahead.
An Onimusha: Way of the Sword prequel webcomic has dropped seemingly out of nowhere, and it follows my second favourite character, Sasaki Ganryu. The story starts with Ganryu battling Musashi and ultimately suffering a humiliating defeat. According to the official Webtoons page “what follows is a bloody quest to reclaim his honor that leads him down a path of madness and obsession,” as he stumbles across an oni gauntlet that gives him more power than he could’ve ever imagined.
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The comic begins before the opening of the game, with its first chapter taking place on a deserted island where Ganyru is waiting to fight Musashi. The fight itself doesn’t last long, as Musashi makes quick work of him with a paddle, before announcing he’s headed over to Kyoto and jumping into the sea and swimming back to the mainland.
Ganryu obviously doesn’t heed Musashi’s warning not to follow him and after shaking off his bloody defeat catches a boat so he can follow Musashi because he’s “the only swordsman who gets my blood boiling”; jeez guys, get a room.
There’s no word as to how long this webcomic will last, though, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what its later chapters will include. It may end with their fight at Kiyomizu Temple as that would link the webcomic to the game pretty seamlessly. Although, I really hope it doesn’t stop there.
I’d love for it to bleed into the game and cover Ganryu’s descent into madness after his loss at the temple and before their fight at Arashiyama. Ganryu was already showing signs of a breaking at Kiyomizu Temple, but he’s like a completely different person when you see him in Kyoto with his corrupted Oni Lady.
I’m already well into my second playthrough on its Carnage level difficulty, before long I’ll have to move onto whatever next game climbs to the top of my to-do list. But at the very least I’ll have this webcomic as a solid source of Musashi and Ganryu content; that’ll help me through the dark days ahead.
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