Hideo Kojima loves a good sniper, especially if they’re female. His Metal Gear Solid franchise features 2, Sniper Wolf and Quiet, plus The End if you want to pad the count. So when the gaming auteur recommended a manga with a young female sniper protagonist, it wasn’t a huge surprise—but that didn’t mean I wasn’t intrigued.
Miharu’s Seat of War, written by Hamada Gouten (Shimazaki in the Peaceful Land), is a lot like the popular manga-turned-anime Gunslinger Girl. But instead of a league of young female assassins, it blends typical shonen tropes of a young rogue coming to trust her companions, set against a more mature, seinen backdrop. Beyond its focus on girls carrying big guns, the manga also examines classic Kojima themes, what it means to be a soldier, war, and the geopolitical state of Japan. But despite its heavy subject matter, the story isn’t afraid to be goofy and heartwarming, either.
Miharu’s Seat at War is currently available to read for free in Japanese on Manga One, with English translations floating around online and findable through Google. The hassle is worth it, especially if you’re a Kojima head like me.
The manga is set during a fictional WWIII outbreak, in which Japan has been devastated and partially occupied by foreign powers. Miharu is a young girl with extraordinary sniper skills whose personal mission of revenge becomes intertwined with the larger struggle to save her homeland. She crosses paths with Shou, a former expert marksman who’s lost the will to fight, and together they are drawn into key battles that could determine the fate of their nation, forming a tense “sniper buddy” dynamic as they confront both external enemies and their own psychological burdens in a war-torn Japan.
Their partnership feels reminiscent of various versions of Batman and Robin; a lighthearted adult keeping a miraculous pre-teen at bay. Or Hit-Girl and Big Daddy from Kick-Ass, a young girl fashioned for violence with an adult father figure enabling her, training her, but knowing when to treat her like a child. Most of all, however, Miharu and Shou resemble Solid Snake and Otacon. Miharu is stoic and calm, there to learn new information; Shou provides that information and acts as her spotter. He’s a bit more involved in the field than Otacon, but their designs and personalities are nearly identical. Shou is comedic and goofy, despite his knowledge and experience as a soldier. He also wears glasses and has a ridiculous afro that would no doubt be seen on the battlefield and cause a hindrance. Their odd-couple partnership is hilarious, with their odd-couple ways, but also heartfelt, as Shou is one of the few people Miharu can warm to. Miharu even has a little stuffed pig plushy named Buu-chan that she treats like her support animal, which Shou also treats as an equal partner on the field, much to Miharu’s delight.
Without spoiling too much, Miharu is the product of war, and she was left alone to see those horrors, hardening her as a survivalist out for revenge against a man who sacked her home and killed the people most important to her. Now that she’s been recruited into the military, she views it as home, but doesn’t know how to be a member of this found family, because she’s been out on her own for so long. She believes might is right, and it’s up to Shou and their squad leader, Louise, to teach Miharu that war isn’t about violence; it’s about tact and negotiation. Miharu is tasked with learning teamwork, not relying solely on her own strength, and that soldiers are not assassins; they’re deterrents. To be a good soldier, she must step outside herself and her path of revenge, which makes Miharu’s eventual confrontation with the mystery man (who looks like Vulcan and Skullface put together) all the more interesting. The camaraderie at play evokes the dynamics of Attack on Titan, and you can expect just as many friends to get knocked off in this story.
Fujimoto Kenshi’sartwork is excellent, too, and the paneling is phenomenal. They’re big and broad, showcasing characters in full scale or highlighting their design, along with the massive sniper rifle Miharu uses. It also makes reading a breeze and less confusing to digest, unlike more contemporary manga. The action is also ruthless, with military arms blowing whole torsos clean from beneath people’s feet. Headshots look as glorious as they do gruesome, and I couldn’t help but cheer at a fantastic trick shot Miharu pulls off, followed by a grimace at all the blood splatter in the next panel.
If you’re knee-deep into Death Stranding 2, but miss some of the core aspects that made you love Kojima’s work in the first place, give Miharu’s Seat of War a read — and then pray it gets popular enough for an anime adaptation soon.
