manga: Peacemaker Vol 1
At the beginning of the Meiji Revolution, 13 year old Tetsunosuke hid in a closet while his parents were slaughtered in their home. Two years later his brother, Tatsunosuke has become an employee of the Shinsengumi, and Tetsu believes that if he can join them, he can become a stronger fighter and get revenge against his parents' killers, despite his father's desire that he become a Peacemaker instead. After constant rejections because of his small size, Tetsu catches the attention of Okita Shouji, a member of the Shinsengumi, and "close friend" of one of its vice commanders, Hijikata. Despite his reservations, the ill tempered Hijikata takes Tetsu on as his page. This also displeases Tatsu, who dislikes violence and only joined the Shinsengumi so that he could have a job and support his brother.
I watched the anime about two years ago and enjoyed it and its more serious take on the history of the era, but was amazingly annoyed by Tetsu, who would have greatly benefitted from being permanently gagged. While not the best thing ever, he doesn't annoy me in the manga, and is more the sympathetic-if overeager-kid he's supposed to be. More interesting are Tatsu, with the conflict of choosing to do something he hates-working with people who make their living killing-to protect something he loves-his brother, who wants to become a killer himself-and the Shinsengumi, who range from cheerful and effeminate to loud and brash to surly and to ill-tempered, but who are all cold killers at their core.
Despite the shrimpy redheaded kid as the lead and occasional light moment, the book is very serious and dark, and seems to be historically and politically driven. My only complaint is that eyes tend to disappear into the shadows when the mangaka decides to show us that these are scary men we're dealing with. I think the blood spatters accomplish the same without people suddenly going one-eyed, myself.