Crying Freeman vol 1 - Portrait of a Killer

The saga begins with the introduction of Emu Hino, a 29 year old woman who has witnessed a brutal assassination by a killer who "cries" every time he takes a life. Before he disappears, the assassin identifies himself as "Yo". Revealing his identity marks Emu as a future victim.

Yo Hinomura is an assassin for a chinese mafia organization known as the 108 dragons. Yo was a potter who, at a exhibition four years ago, found a roll of undeveloped film left inside one of his exhibits by a murdered photographer. When he develops the film, he finds evidence of a chinese mob murder. Instead of taking a bribe and handing the film over to the gang, he mails the developed photographs to the police and tries to flee back to Japan. He is abducted and, over time, conditioned to become an assassin. Being a peaceful man at heart, unable to resist his conditioning, he weeps every time he kills. The 108 Dragons give him the code name "Freeman" because he is a man who longs to be free.

Some time later, Emu is witness to the assassination of a mob boss who is being held under police protection. The assassin, Yo, is masked, but she still recognized him by the tears visible under the mask. She whispers his name as the realization dawns on her. This comment is heard by the police escort and she is taken into police custody, but she refuses to talk. The police decide to lay a trap for the Freeman, revealing Emu's name to the media.

That night, now knowing her identity, the assassin enters her home to end her life. Before he kills her, she surprises him with a request. She is still a virgin and she wants the Freeman to make love to her before she dies. Shocked, and not understanding why she has made this request, she gives him her diary to read. After reading her innermost thoughts, he reveals that he is a virgin as well. This act of love gives him the strength to resist his conditioning and instead of killing Emu, he carries her off to safety when she is injured when the police trap is sprung.

He takes her to a hospital where she is treated for life-threatening injuries. Before he leaves, he gives her a clue about how to find him when she recovers. She still refuses to reveal any details to the police and, with the help of a friend, she evades the police guards. She meets up with the freeman and he recounts his past and how he became the killer he now is.

The story ends with the 108 Dragons allowing her to live and becomes the Freeman's mate.

Crying Freeman vol 2 - Shades of Death / The Killing Ring

The second volume of Crying Freeman is broken into two major story arcs: Shades of Death and The Killing Ring. Shades of Death begins with Emu Hino's initiation into the 108 Dragons. During a series of unexpected tests, she demonstrates fearlessness and selfishness. She is formally accepted into the 108 Dragons with two conditions. She must get a full-body tattoo and undergo surgical sterilization (to keep the leadership succession unchallenged by bloodline).



At a meeting of the top executives of the 108 Dragons, an attempt is made on the life on the Freeman. The attack is thwarted, but it is clear that the organization has been compromised. The assassin was perfectly disguised as one of the elders. The trail leads to Ivory Fan, the grandchild of the current leader of the 108 Dragons who wants her place as heir to lead the organization. Ivory Fan's father was a deranged madman and leadership succession by birthright was forbidden to keep him from assuming control. She kidnaps her grandparents and the Freeman's wife. The Freeman defeats her and ends up saving her life as she almost plummets off a cliff during their skirmish. She is overcome by his kindness (the Freeman refuses to fight her during their confrontation) and she joins the 108 Dragons as an assistant to the Freeman and his wife.

In the Killing Ring, the Freeman attempts to track down a terrorist group known as the Askani. A hijacking attempt is foiled and all hijackers are killed except one. He is stabbed, but not fatally. The knife contains a transmitter which allows the Freeman to track him as the hijacker seeks help. The hijacker is killed by his superior who finds the transmitter and lays a trap for the Freeman. Anticipating their attack, the Freeman returns to Japan. The Askani send an assassin who is able to infiltrate the 108 Dragon's operation and manages to kill all the elders, including the leader, before the Freeman is able to kill the assassin. The Freeman is now the leader of the 108 Dragons.



A funeral is held for the elders killed in the attack. The Freeman is declared dead, allowing him to go undercover to find the Askani leader who ordered the attack. He finds and kills the man who is assumed to be the leader, but he has made a mistake. The true leader is a woman, known as Bug-Nug. She wounds the Freeman and, during the fight, he is able to overpower her but he does not kill her. This act makes her desire to be with him. She nurses him back to health and joins the 108 Dragons where she is given the name "Dark Eyes".



In the final story, a cursed sword (the Muramasa) is sent to the Freeman as a gift. This is a masked attempt to kill the Freeman as all owners of the sword succumb to madness. Instead of the Freeman taking ownership of the sword, Emu takes it. Through training, she is able to become master of the sword and is not affected by its influence.

Crying Freeman vol 3 - A Taste of Revenge

The third volume of Crying Freeman was an experiment by Viz Comics to see if they could sell more issues of their manga series if it was in color, rather than just black and white. Unfortunately, their production costs increased dramatically and their page count dropped by almost half while the cover price remained the same. Crying Freeman remained colored for the entire first volume and for the first 3 issues of volume 4. The graphic novel collections of those story arcs are published in black and white, making the colorized individual issues a real rarity.



The beginning of the story arc starts with a confrontation between the newest member of the 108 Dragons (Dark Eyes) and a wrestler-turned-assassin called Tohgoku Oshu. Dark Eyes is injured, raped, and left for dead by Oshu to lead the Freeman into a trap. Oshu is being manipulated by Ms Hanada, a character that was wounded and almost killed in the penultimate battle in vol 1 (Portrait of a Killer). She seeks revenge for her defeat, hence the title of this volume (A Taste of Revenge).

The Freeman tracks down Oshu and surprises him in the wrestling ring as a masked opponent. He allows Oshu to beat him and get taken prisoner in an attempt to learn who is behind the attack on Dark Eyes. The real strings are being pulled by Naija Kumaga, the leader of a strange cult. Kumaga desires to take over the 108 Dragons. He physically alters two of his men to look like the Freeman which will allow them to infiltrate the 108 Dragons and do his bidding. While in captivity, the Freeman discovers which of his clones is to be sent to the 108 Dragons. He switches places with the clone and foils the infiltration attempt. Oshu is killed (asking the Freeman to look after his family) and Emu dispatches Kumaga with the Muramasa, the very sword he sent to possess the Freeman in volume 2 (The Killing Ring).

Crying Freeman vol 4 - Abduction in Chinatown

This story has a different theme from the last two volumes. Those volumes dealt with various attempts on the Freeman's life to takek over the 108 Dragons. This story arc's main protagonist is a beautiful woman named Nina Heaven. Nina was a customer clerk in a major hotel and witnessed the Freeman's first assassination. Like Emu, she fell under his spell and refused to speak to the police, but the Freeman never comes back for her. She has become obsessed with a quest to replace Emu at his side or kill him if she can't have him.



The story begins with the abduction of a little girl and her parents. The little girl's grandfather has long-standing ties to the 108 Dragons and he asks the Freeman to rescue his daughter and granddaughter. The Freeman accepts the request but before he can act upon it, an attempt is made to capture him. It becomes clear that the kidnapping is part of a larger plot to bring the Freeman to Chinatown and capture him. To have arranged this kidnapping, the grandfather realizes that he must have been betrayed by one of the men in his employ. A trap is set, the mole flees, and he is tracked to an boat moored offshore. The Freeman goes to the boat and allows himself to be captured to discover who is behind the kidnapping. The Freeman is brought to an island where he meets Nina and discovers her obsession for him.

Unknown to Nina and the men under her command, the Freeman has been tracked to this location by the 108 Dragons. To satisfy her desires, Nina has prepared a ring where the Freeman will fight opponents to their death. The Freeman refuses to fight. He only agrees to participate if Nina promises to release the hostages that were taken in the kidnapping.



Ivory Fan, Dark Eyes, and Emu lay in wait while the fight drags on in the ring. After they receive a signal from the Freeman, they release hundreds of grenades into the arena. Nina and her men in the stands are killed. The Freeman dispatches his opponents in the ring and the group escape with the granddaughter.

Crying Freeman vol 5 - Journey to Freedom

Journey to Freedom, the final story arc, starts with the search for the ex-wife and son of Oshu, the wrestler killed by the Freeman in volume 3 (A Taste of Revenge). His wife, Kimiryu, is working as a geisha when the Freeman arrives with enough money to look after her and her son for life. She refuses to accept the blood money, never approving of how Oshu made his extra money. He also finds Oshu's ailing son and tells the boy how much Oshu loved him and as a way to express his grief, the boy is allowed to pummel the Freeman to symbolically avenge his father's death.



The presence of the Freeman in the villiage is a great concern with the local Dons. An assassin named Tateoka is hired by one of the Dons to kill the Freeman. Two rival Dons are concerned that an attempt on the Freeman's life will cause a gang war and be the end of their organization, so they conspire to kill Tateoka before he can attack the Freeman. Tateoka survives the attempt on his life and brings the Freeman to him by poisoning Oshu's son (now under the Freeman's protection). The Freeman and Tateoka battle for the antidote. The Freeman kills Tateoka, retrieves the antidote from his body, and the boy is cured.

The Don that ordered the hit now goes into hiding and becomes restless. A strip-tease is ordered for him in his bunker. The stripper is Dark Eyes and she kills the Don in retribution for the attack on the Freeman.



The next story arc involves the russian mob being used as middle-men to sell a cache of advanced night scopes to the 108 Dragons. The russians are being employed by the Aido family to kill the Freeman. They have an assassin who can see perfectly in the dark. The plan is to kill the Freeman when it is perfectly dark as he tests the new equipment. The Freeman surprises them all when he evades the attack in the dark and kills everyone. The Freeman can also see in the dark perfectly. The Freeman then attacks the Aido family in their home where it is revealed that it is Tsunaike of the Kanto Brotherhood Association who had paid the Aido family to kill the Freeman. In a warehouse battle, Tsunaike and his bodyguard are killed.



In one final twist, it is revealed that there are 5 crime bosses who are behind this gauntlet of assassins. On the body of the final assassin, a key to a safety deposit box is found. The Freeman sends a copy of the key to each of the crime bosses. Thinking the key came from the paid assassin, each goes to the safety deposit box for proof of the Freeman's death. One by one they are killed. After the fifth boss is killed, the Freeman has now completed his journey to be free from immediate threat.

Note: Crying Freeman has been recently re-translated and released by Dark Horse comics.