Unraveling the mystery of Ogami.

September 21, 2009 12:12 PM

In the "Lone Wolf and Cub" mangas about the fictional samurai Ogami Itto, is there any discussion about how Ogami selects and fabricates the weapons for his son's perambulator?

Last night, I watched the DVD version of Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Hades (子連れ狼　死に風に向かう乳母車、Kozure Ôkami: Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma), the third installment of the manga-based movie series. In the beginning of the film, Ogami launches the perambulator into a river, where it floats. The movie ends with an epic battle between Ogami and an army of samurai, many of whom he mows down with a battery of guns concealed in the baby carriage.

Now, I know that the story is fictitious and will dissolve if placed on an analytical dissection table. But I couldn't help wondering if a scene had been elided in which Ogami had added the guns to the perambulator midway in the movie. Were this not the case, and if the guns are an ongoing weapons complement of the carriage, it obviously wouldn't float.

In the manga version, are there any scenes showing Ogami's selection of armor for the perambulator? Did he build it from scratch, or did he hire a blacksmith who (like Q in the Bond movies) modifies the perambulator from time to time for different strategic goals and battles? Is there any discussion of how Ogami decided upon the standard complement of weapons?

Do the weapons change at different intervals in the series? I seem to remember that, in one of the later movies, Ogami flees ninjas on primitive skis using sled-like attachments on the perambulator. Is there any mention of this or other one-time-use weapons in the manga version?

posted by Gordion Knott to society & culture (4 comments total)

SPOILERS POSSIBLY MAYBE?






I have only read the first 8 volumes, but there is an episode where Ogami is given a prized prototype gun by a dying gunsmith. Ogami uses the gun to defeat the guys trying to steal it, and then at the end he incorporates the gun into the cart.

I *think* we eventually see the gun in the movies as well. As I recall it is a row of barrels hidden behind a panel that slides down.. sort of like a gatling gun, but in a straight line instead of a circle.
posted by utsutsu at 12:49 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]

I seem to recall at least one chapter in the manga where he has a blacksmith lend him his forge and he does many adjustments and weapon fitting to the carriage. In a separate chapter, some interesting events with a gunsmith and his apprentice (not saying more to avoid spoiling it) leads to the fitting of an impressive multibarrel gun to the carriage's bottom.
posted by Iosephus at 12:53 PM on September 21

I think the skis are in the manga too. Can't recall the fight/flight you mention specifically but I know he had to travel through a lot of winter country at one point in the series, and the carriage had skis of a sort then. Another neat trick he used at least once is shielding himself from gunfire with the carriage, since its bottom is metal at that point.
posted by Iosephus at 1:00 PM on September 21

Yes, the guns appear in no 28, "The Guns of Sakai", with much grim staring and invocation of Meifumado. The cart shielding trick also appears in this episode. It's in volume 5 of the Dark Horse edition, which I happen to have right here if there is something else you want to know.
posted by Dr Dracator at 1:16 PM on September 21