Akira Houjou and Chiaki Asami are childhood friends who have experienced hell and lived to tell about it. They arrive in Japan to attend school, and soon witness the corruption and apathy of the country's population. Enraged, Akira and Asami vow to create a new Japan; a sanctuary with a new form of politics, devoid of corruption, where people are empowered to participate in the politics and future of their country. To accomplish this, Houjou and Asami aim to conquer Japan through two dramatically different routes: the Japanese Diet and the Yakuza. Decided by a game of rock-paper-scissors, Houjou ventures to seize control of the underworld while Asami pursues the position of Prime Minister.
Sanctuary is a dark, political thriller that tells the story of these two friends as they attempt to change Japan from the inside out and create their sanctuary.
*Note:* While this was originally 12 volumes in Japanese, when translated into English by Viz it was printed three ways: first in comic book form (each issue had 2 chapters), second in a 5-part 14-vol compilation of the comic books, and finally in a 9 volume manga series. Because the translation is so early, the books were flipped to English left-to-right orientation.
The nine English volumes correspond to these compilation parts, floppy issues, and original chapters:
V1: Part 1, Issues 1-4, Chapters 01-12
V2: Part 1, Issues 5-9, Chapters 13-27
V3: Part 2, Issues 1-5, Chapters 01-13
V4: Part 2, Issues 5-9, Chapters 14-26
V5: Part 3, Issues 1-7, Chapters 01-13
V6: Part 3, Issues 7-8, Chapters 14-16; Part 4, Issues 1-5, Chapters 01-09
V7: Part 4, Issues 5-7, Chapters 10-14; Part 5, Issues 1-3, Chapters 01-05
V8: Part 5, Issues 3-8, Chapters 06-15
V9: Part 5, Issues 8-13, Chapters 16-22
