Crying Freeman
Crying Freeman is a Japanese manga series by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami. It tells the story of Yō Hinomura, a quiet potter who is kidnapped by a powerful Chinese mafia called the 108 Dragons and hypnotically trained to be their top assassin. He is tattooed with a large dragon, and after every killing he sheds tears as a sign of regret. The plot thickens when Emu Hino, a lonely Japanese artist, witnesses one of his killings. She falls in love with him and asks him to spare her life, which draws them deeper into a dangerous world.
As Freeman and Emu become involved with the 108 Dragons, they are branded as heirs to the organization, taking new names and facing internal rivals and attempts to destroy the dragons from rival groups. The 108 Dragons are a global mafia with vast resources, making Freeman’s path filled with intrigue and peril.
The manga ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits from 1986 to 1988 and was collected in nine volumes. In North America, Viz Media published the series in comic form and later released larger “Perfect Collection” editions. Dark Horse Comics re-released it in five volumes in 2006–2007.
Crying Freeman was adapted into a six-episode anime OVA by Toei Animation, released between 1988 and 1994. English dubs were produced by Streamline Pictures for the first five episodes and by ADV for the sixth, with later DVD collections bringing the series together. Discotek Media released a Blu-ray collection in 2023.
The franchise also spawned three live-action films: two Hong Kong productions in 1990 (Killer’s Romance and The Dragon from Russia) and a 1995 English-language French-Canadian film.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 00:15 (CET).