Grenadier (manga)

Grenadier (Japanese: グレネーダー, Hepburn: Gurenēdā) is a manga series written and illustrated by Sōsuke Kaise, published in Kadokawa Shoten's Shōnen Ace in 2003. The manga was licensed in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing.

The manga was adapted into an animated television series in 2004. The anime series aired on WOWOW from October 14, 2004 to January 13, 2005, totaling twelve episodes.

Plot

Grenadier follows the travels of the buxom and beautiful Rushuna Tendō, an expert senshi, and the samurai Yajirō Kojima, a mercenary swordsman. A Senshi or "Enlightened" is one who is skilled to some degree in the use of guns. The series begins with Yajirō and a small army of samurai launching a frontal assault against a fort in an attempt to free their lord, which was taken over by a group of gunners. The assault fails.

Yajirō orders a retreat, but is spotted by the enemy and chased to a small cliff, which he jumps off of to escape. With his pursuers still following, he follows a nearby hot-water stream upcurrent where he finds Rushuna bathing in a hot spring. She seems undisturbed by his presence or her own nudity and hides him in the hot spring with her ample breasts as cover until the enemy passes them by. After this, she introduces herself as a traveler and reveals the ultimate battle strategy to Yajirō; to avoid battle by removing an enemy's will to fight.