Drifters by Hirano Kouta

[Pavitre]

Hey guys thought I would open up a new thread for a recently started ongoing manga series called Drifters(you would be familiar with it if you were a fan of Hellsing) by Hirano Kouta. Anyways their artwork is really similar and makes me remember the hellsing days.

http://www.onemanga.com/Drifters/

Plot-:
Shimazu Toyohisa whilst involved at Battle of Sekigahara is depicted as the one who critically injured Ii Naomasa (though actual sources say that stray fire was the cause), who then retreats. As Toyohisa walks from the field broken and bleeding, he is transported to corridor of doors with man at a desk in the center. While he is stunned by this, he sucked into the nearest door and wakes up in another world, meeting others like him who have been transported, referred to as "Drifters"
(yeah yeah I copied it from wikipedia)

Well this manga looks to be exciting though only 3 chapters have been released yet. So feel free to discuss.

[Saint Markus]

read all 3 chapters and i am intrigued by the story. can't wait for chapter 4.

[Laika]

*page turn*

Not to hate on the series or anything. I think the mangaka is pretty decent and I liked Hellsing anyways, but gosh the way the dialogue got edited makes me want to face palm.

[Pavitre]

Well guys, the 4th chapter came out and I seriously don't know what's going in in the story. I mean where is it going, old fighters from different era come to some mysterious place, some millitary type ppl then some elves appear, what is this story sbout?

[Koen]

Well guys, the 4th chapter came out and I seriously don't know what's going in in the story. I mean where is it going, old fighters from different era come to some mysterious place, some millitary type ppl then some elves appear, what is this story sbout?

That's definitely the purpose. You're getting hooked up because of those questions. People are sent to places with the purpose to save the world (that's what I make up thanks to that leader/observer's words). I like it and I expect it to be answered after this upcoming battle. The people making this ruckus in the village are probably the reason why they became drifters. The art is great imo. Drifters caught me and I definitely look forward to more

[cleodux]

I just read the 4 chapters just now, and yes the art remind me a lot with Hellsing. Especially the blood >.< I guess drifters are those guys who do battle and usually often are famous ppl. But maybe there are also drifters who are normal ppl.

I expect no less from Hirano Kouta, his new series will be the same kick ass like Hellsing. It just that he is really lazy (something that he clearly admit) and if we are lucky we get 24p chapter per month, if we are not, expect a 10p chapter >.<

I am not even sure if he intends to finish Hellsing: The Dawn

[Pavitre]

I hope he doesn't get lazy on this one, after Hellsing we need something even better or as good as it.

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One more chapter up guys. I guess the statement Alternate Warring Era gives a clue as to the gathering of these warriors from diff era's. Still no sign of the antagonist though.

[cleodux]

yup i have just read cp5. OMG even though its only 16p this chapter is quiet a badass.. I smile a bit when the 3 comparing their age lol.

It seems like all the famous people from all over the world got drifted to that place, and the local ppl are stuck on their war about claiming territory?

[Saint Markus]

artwork is good, but i'm lost now on the story. i expected more pages from a "monthly" series too. whatever.

[cleodux]

Yah, i think if Hiraro consitently draws 40 pages monthly, Drifters will has more love from readers >.<

[Meromorphe]

The series is so slow, I have to wait for 5 or 6 chapters to be able to give a proper opinion about it
It seems to be based on a "what if" interrogation: what if well-known warriors can have a match together, who will win? Oh, that looks like a question directly taken from manga forums It looks also like a Role Playing Game manga.
In the first chapters the author takes a lot of time to present the historical figures that are now the heroes of the story. It is hard for me to follow the author in his re-visiting of the history. I don't know anything about these characters or these different periods in history, so I can't find any enjoyment with what the author wants to do and explore in the history.
I also wonder if the characters are part of common knowledge in Japan.

So, what can I enjoy in this manga?
The colorful personality of the protagonists, so far they were interesting. The concept could turn out to be cool, but I do not know so far.
Art appeals to me, but battles were not dynamic. So, I still continue to read it, hoping historical facts and digressions won't burden the flow of the story.

[Pavitre]

well another chapter up

seems like some sort of mystical place where the drifters aka the famous people or people who are good warriors and strategists, end up while being close to death. The place is inhabited by other mythical creatures and humans, with humans most probably controlling them due to wining some war long ago.
Anyway seems the humans dont like these drifters and likewise, since they are evil
Still the whole person behind this situation seems to be the person who put these drifters in that place itself, the person who was sitting in a chair and first met them when they were transported to an empty corridor before being drifted to the place they are in now

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chapter 8 up
The last panel with the side text looks interesting

[kkck]

Manga seems interesting, I could see a future for it. Don't think it will be nearly as good as helsing was but I would expect a very decent reading from it.
I will give my opinion on what has been going on in general but I will put it in spoiler tags.

First chapter was confusing as hell. It started with a maniac who looks like alucard trying to take an unreasonable amount of soldiers on his own. It was pretty cool though. It kinda reminds me of one of the things which I enjoyed about hellsing. Fighting for the sake of that being your duty, not just glory or fame, just for the sake of principle.

Seeing the guy die was a shame given that he did not get the head of naomasa. It's conforting to know naomasa was an historical character and dies a year after that battle. Given that, I would think there is a chance naomasa would appear in future chapters. It'd be nice to give tokohisa a chance to claim the head.

The next part has a matrix feeling to it. Just WTF. A dude dies in year 1600 and suddenly he meets a creepy guy with a suit on a desk. Would think afterlife would be vaguely more interesting lol. At least would expect something less depressing. Let it to hirano to make things completely awkward lol. Then he just gets send elsewhere..... A thing worth noting is that that office seems to exist either outside time altogether(seeing how a guy from an entirely different year and age arrived there) or connects different worlds(it had a number of doors and a commando justa arrived). I could speculate about the place a lot more but it will get nowhere lol.


Seeing the guy just be thrown into another dimension and be rescued by elfs was the second big WTF of the story. It just lasted a second though. Then he gets we see another apparently histori character. At first I thought he was a girl due to the name and appearance..... never been more wrong lol. Damn hirano. Seems like an interesting character though. I will probably be disturbed by this every time I read a chapter lol. He, like most of hirano's characters also appears to be someone who is not going to be completely good but also not completely evil. He then met another historic figure although this one seems to be a tad more long term than naomasa.

Nobunaga also seems to have an attitude. Wonder why hirano chose such a common historic figure for his manga though(not like he hasn't appeared frequently). Probably hirano will be original with this guy lol. It was kinda fun to see him humiliate tokohisa though. Ever more remarkable is that yoichi stopped the fight by making them work. Not bad really....

Then we get a bunch of history and funny faces. not much to comment on. Only thing worth noting is a guy who also appears to be historical. The guy he speaks with also appears to be historical..... Just checked and it appears both of them were involved in the military.

Then the poor elves village gets attacks and the story's hero figures it is a good idea to charge in even though he was just on the verge of death. Wouldn't have it any other way though.... No manga would be even vaguely fun without reckless impulsive dumbass characters lol. Then we see some ass kicking and a pair of very VERY scared elves. Fun stuff lol.

Then we get some interesting development. It seems not only there are elves around but also a bunch of humanoid races such as dwarfs and whatnot. It also seems like humans are slowly taking over the world and eradicating humanoid beings. This leads me to believe this manga will deal a lot with things as racism, genocide and whatnot. I would not be surprised to see hitler and nazis around.

Then we see tokohisa kick some ass and finally he gets a fight with what would appear to be a mid ranking officer. It was good to see tokohisa just deeming the guy as trash for his actions and just killing him. The irony of the guy "being nothing' was brilliant though. Then we get yokohisa talking to the elves(the elves just heard giberish though) and inspire them(surprising right?).

I was thinking, this manga seems to take a number of important generals and whatnot from every age. I think it would be interesting if hirano takes a chance to bring back a few helsing guys. Seeing the mayor or pip come back from the dead would be nothing but awesome. I would prefer pip though, the mayor was already used as a main antagonist but pip simply has enough room for ass kicking lol. I do doubt the hirano is going to take that direction though.

So we have a number of derange generals and soldiers from different ages, elves, magic, genocide.... Seems like a good combination for a hirano manga. I would expect the manga to be about conquest and war basically. I think tokohisa is either going to meet up with someone else and join an army or have the elves rebel and defeat those who are trying to annihilate them. I am going to keep reading this manga and hope it keeps getting better and better. Don't expect it to get that much of a following though considering hirano has no consistency with chapter length whatsoever.

[ranigurung]

i love story better then hellsing but why is take so log to come next chapter

[Kaiten]

How is taking long? It's a monthly manga, Young King Ours comes out on the 30th of the month, and every chapter has been scanlated.