The Shinsengumi is a fairly common topic for anime and manga. They appear in stories ranging in style from the comedy Gintama to the shonen samurai action series Rurouni Kenshin. The real life special police force that existed during the final days of the Shogunate is indeed quite fascinating; their talent was renowned and, despite having lost their war, it is difficult to not paint them in the very least a remarkable light.

Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker follows Tetsunosuke Ichimura as he struggles with the concepts of revenge, killing, and friendship after joining the Shinsengumi in order to become stronger and avenge the brutal murder of his parents. To my understanding, it is impressively historically accurate, with Tetsunosuke and his brother, Tatsunosuke, being the only fictional characters to appear, and all major events having more or less gone down as they do depicted in the book. The story asks many questions, and the character development because of this is excellent. This is complimented by the often gorgeous art, which typically remains detailed while not becoming confusing.

However, the book is clearly written by a girl in her late teens to early 20s. The character designs lean almost exclusively towards bishounen or chibi. Situations often cater to the yaoi fandom at unnecessary times. The story (even ignoring the historical fiction aspects) is rather predictable. The pacing also leaves something to be desired, though it is interesting to see how Nanae Chrono becomes better at panel layouts as she goes on.

All in all, Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker is incredibly entertaining. Despite its flaws, it is an incredibly good read, especially for those interested in Japanese culture and history. This being said, if one generally unfamiliar with Japanese culture, this book may seem somewhat confusing and inaccessible.