History Manga / ChoubuNoShinobi

''Choubu no Shinobi: Lepidoptera'' is a 2017 FightingSeries manga written by Murata Shinya and illustrated by Hayami Tokisada, who previously worked with him on ''Caterpillar''. It is published under the monthly Gangan Joker magazine.

The story spans 25 chapters compiled in 5 volumes and was finished in July 2019. It takes place in the same setting of ''Manga/{{Jackals}}'' and ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}''.

** Ayano is sliced from the top of her shoulder while she's naked, and then she dies with eyes wide open while a horrified Ayano mourns her.

** Sarasa, is violently sliced in half and collapses dead before a panel frames her NavelDeepNeckline and her [[DiesWideOpen wide-eyed face]] with her tongue rolled out.

* AuthorAppeal: Yet more bug trivia from Murata. Also, his profile on his old H-doujin circle website read that he really likes ear-cleaning, and he openly explains in the omake for the first volume why the protagonist is a courtesan who does just that.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The story is more violent than that of ''Arachnid'' and has a way higher death count. The volume releases also get away with detailed female nudity.

* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Iroha and Ayano bare their breasts to get the jump on distracted male opponents, but this just gets the two killed like chumps when both dudes don't die from their wounds as expected.

* RazorFloss: Ayano summons threads around her to trap and garrote enemies. Unlike [[Manga/{{Jackals}} Turis]] and [[Manga/{{Arachnid}} Alice]], she does it without any kind of tool..

* ShownTheirWork: As usual, battles are juxtaposed with trivia about the bugs the characters represent.

* WhipItGood: Sarasa wields a whip in combat.

* AdvancingWallOfDoom: At one point Rin is imprisoned for torture in a room with a grate separating her from what are essentially the ant-like rape zombies previously featured in ''Arachnid'', who similarly to ''Allomerus decemarticulatus'' ants push the grate foward to try to molest and smash her against it. Fortuntely, Hanza breaks through one of the walls to save Rin in the nick of time.

* AuthorAppeal: Yet more bug trivia from Murata.

** "Gokikaburi" Megumi is just Megumi "Gokiburi" Oki but [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue]].

* AdvancingWallOfDoom: At one point Rin in imprisoned for torture in a room with a grate separating her from what are essentially the ant-like rape zombies previously featured in ''Arachnid'', who similarly to ''Allomerus decemarticulatus'' ants push the grate foward to try to molest and smash her against it. Fortuntely, Hanza breaks through one of the walls to save Rin in the nick of time.

* ButtMonkey: Gokiburi fares as well as her counterpart in ''Arachnid'', actually surviving to the end but getting beaten up all the time and not being able to achieve much throughout the story. Goki's last scene has her getting tossed around by Ran, and then lying unconscious with her [[GoingCommando bare butt]] left exposed.

* GunsAreWorthless: One of the clan leaders kills two characters offscreen, and in the second-to-last chapter is revealed to have done that with a pair of guns. Seeing this, Rin uses a spray of volatile powder to detonate the entire room when he shoots, making his HealingFactor moot at the same time.

* RazorFloss: Ayano summons threads around her to trap and garrote enemies. Unlike [[Manga/{{Jackals}} Turis]] and [[Manga/{{Arachnid}} Alice]], she does it without any kind of tool.
* RecycledInSpace: It is ''Arachnid'' as a dark fantasy story set in Feudal Japan, though the two clans killing each other is more akin to the premise of ''Jackals''.

%%* ActuallyADoomBot: The <to do> who attacks Hanza and is cut in half by Rin turns out to be a construct. The second who gets killed, however, was the real deal, as her corpse doesn't dissolve.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Hanza is hypnotized by a female enemy into believing he's caring for a distraught Rin, and in this state he's reduced to being a harmless puppet and gets repeatedly raped by her. Rin later gets Hanza back to his senses by performing [[IntimateHealing erotic ear-cleaning]] on him.

** The ending makes mention of how [[LateArrivalSpoiler a certain ageless parasitic girl]] will begin brewing trouble in Japan some centuries later.
%%* DarkSkinnedBlond: <to do> and <to do>.

%%* DistressedDude: Hanza is tied up in spider strings by Ayano for his betrayal and spends a couple of battles stuck on the background until Rin saves him. Later on he also gets brainwashed by <to do> and has to be saved by Rin again.

%%* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe:
%%** Rin slices <to do> in half, but she was some kind of clone construct.
%%** Hanza flips <to do> in the air and cuts her in half.
%%** <to do> chops Hiyori in half.

** The spittlebug assassin lady can, well, piss out a ton of sticky slime which she attempts to use as blockades and hazards. More plainly, she can also harden her hair and stab people with it.

** The body snatcher from the beginning raped and killed Rin's little sister.
** One flashback shows some male ninjas raping a woman and a girl on-panel. To their side is a child whom they killed by impaling her in the navel and crotch.

* MythologyGag: Ran meeting Megumi at the very end and walloping her is amusing and ironic because of the teacher-student relationship their counterparts in ''Arachnid'' have. The ending also states Ran grows up to train the next generation of Iga ninjas.

* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Two female characters bare their breasts to get the jump on male opponents, but this just gets the two killed like chumps when both dudes don't die from their wounds as expected.

%%* WhipItGood: <to do> wields a whip in combat.

* RazorFloss: Ayano summons threads around her to trap and garrote enemies. Unlike Turis and Alice, she does it without any kind of tool.
* RecycledInSpace: It is ''Arachnid'' in Feudal Japan, though the two clans killing each other is more akin to the premise of ''Jackals''.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Megumi and Ran are enemies instead of student and teacher, respectively. And they don't even interact until the end, when Ran knocks Megumi out.

* AdaptationRelationshipChange: Megumi and Ran are enemies instead of student and teacher, respectively. And they don't even interact until the end, when Ran knocks Megumi out.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Hanza is hypnotized by a female enemy into believing he's caring for a distraught Rin, and in this state he's reduced to being a harmless puppet and gets repeatedly raped by her. Rin later gets Hanza back to his senses by performing erotic ear-cleaning on him.

* MacGuffin: The two groups of ninjas attempt to obtain a box that contains the severed head of Oda Nobunaga.

* MythologyGag: Ran meeting Megumi at the very end and walloping her is amusing and ironic because of the teacher-student relationship their counterparts in ''Arachnid'' have.

** Megumi Gokikaburi is just Megumi "Gokiburi" Oki but [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue]].
** Ran Scarab looks and acts like Ran "Kabutomushi" Kabuto did as a child in ''Caterpillar''.

* BackForTheDead: Subverted; Megumi[=/=]Gokiburi survives getting hit by a poison dart in the neck and sits out of the entire conflict, only showing up in the very end to sabotage the protagonists. Then Ran appears behind Megumi and knocks her out.

** Megumi the cockroach [[ShapedLikeItself is Megumi the cockroach]], but [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue]].
** Ran is a child Kabutomushi (same given name, personality and super strength), as portrayed in flashbacks from ''Caterpillar''.

* BackForTheDead: Subverted; Megumi[=/=]Gokiburi survives getting hit by a poison dart in the neck and shows up in the very end trying to sabotage the protagonists, but Ran appears behind Megumi and knocks her out.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: This is a distant prequel to ''Arachnid'', and yet it directly references the true antagonist of that story by name during the closing narration for the ending.

** Ayano is named after Alice Fujii's mother and fills the spider assassin role. Her friend Hiyori is closer in looks and personality to Alice herself, like [[Manga/KillingBites Pure Inui]] and [[Manga/{{Himenospia}} Himeno Endou]].

** ''Caterpillar'' once had the narrator explain that insect-themed superpowered assassins had existed in the setting since ancient times. The same group shot panel from that scene is reused by the narrator in this story, though the samurai character in it (that we have never seen in person) got retconned to a different design.

* FanDisservice: Three female ninjas [[DropDeadGorgeous die half-naked]]. One dies from offscreen BloodlessCarnage, but the others all get [[{{Gorn}} sliced]]. Regarding how the volume releases have uncensored nudity, the artist actually advertised their death scenes in a BlackComedy tone.

** Ran is a child Kabutomushi (super strength and all), as portrayed in flashbacks from ''Caterpillar''.

** The ending makes mention of how [[LateArrivalSpoiler a certain ageless parasitic girl]] will begin brewing trouble in Japan a few centuries later.

* QuestForSex: Hanza really wants to catch some tails but is out of luck, at least until everything is done with and he gets together with Rin.

The story spans 5 volumes and was finished in July 2019. It takes place in the same setting of ''Manga/{{Jackals}}'' and ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}''.

* GunsAreWorthless: One of the clan leaders kills two characters offscreen, and in the second-to-last chapter is revealed to own a pair of guns. Seeing this, Rin uses a spray of volatile powder to detonate the entire room when he shoots, making his HealingFactor moot at the same time.