Guin Saga

Japanese novel series

Guin Saga (グイン・サーガ) is a best selling heroic fantasy novel series by the Japanese author Kaoru Kurimoto, in continuous publication since 1979. A record 100 volumes were originally planned, but the final total stands at 147 volumes and 26 side story novels, with the last seventeen volumes and five side stories being published posthumously. She was working on the 130th volume of Guin Saga up until May 23, 2009, after which point she became too ill to write and died three days later. After the 100th book in the series was published in 2005, an event to celebrate this was held in Tokyo, with 600 attending. Guin Saga is the longest single writer's work in the world, with total sales of 30million copies.

Painted covers and interior illustrations for volumes 1 19 (1979–1984) were done by Naoyuki Kato. Noted artist Yoshitaka Amano then took the reins until vol. 57 (1997), upon which time he was replaced by Jun Suemi. Shinobu Tanno, whose style closely resembles Suemi's, has been the series artist since vol. 88 (2003) until the final 130th book in 2009.

Berserk creator Kentaro Miura has stated that Guin Saga was a large influence on his work. Science fiction critic Mari Kotani regards Guin as "a hero who lives on the border between man and beast". Erin Finnegan from Pop Shock Culture comments that the book "is absolute torture for the first 100 pages, but suddenly at page 105 it turns good". She also comments that the fight scenes, "although cheesy at times", "are all entertainingly well written". The Seattle Times's Nisi Shawl comments that "the book's intense images and dreamlike simplicity give it an anime air". Jason Thompson of Otaku USA criticises The Seven Magi for trying to summarise "116 volumes and still going" novel series into a few volumes, which "means a lot of backstory that isn't explained for the casual American reader". Later, writing for the appendix to Manga: The Complete Guide, he found the English dialogue in the series "captures the retro pulp fantasy style almost to the point of self parody", describing the art as "macho and grotesque", although finding the background art "flat". Thompson also found the story was too open at the end. Ian Randal Strock of sfscope. com commends the manga for its "black and white pen and ink work". Theron Martin enjoyed the broadening of scope of the series in the second half of the anime.