Innocent (manga)

Innocent (Japanese: イノサン, Hepburn: Inosan, from the French word) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shin-ichi Sakamoto, based on Masakatsu Adachi [ja]'s book The Executioner Sanson.^[2] It was published in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from January 2013 to April 2015, and compiled into nine tankōbon volumes. A sequel, Innocent Rouge, was serialized in Grand Jump from May 2015 to January 2020, and compiled into twelve tankōbon volumes. Innocent's story follows the Sanson family of executioners in France before the French Revolution, and centers around siblings Charles-Henri Sanson and Marie-Joseph Sanson.

Innocent
First tankōbon volume cover
イノサン (Inosan)
Genre	Historical, suspense[1]
Manga
Written by	Shin-ichi Sakamoto
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	NA: Dark Horse Comics
Imprint	Young Jump Comics
Magazine	Weekly Young Jump
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	January 31, 2013 – April 16, 2015
Volumes	9
Manga
Innocent Rouge
Written by	Shin-ichi Sakamoto
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	NA: Dark Horse Comics
Imprint	Young Jump Comics
Magazine	Grand Jump
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	May 20, 2015 – January 8, 2020
Volumes	12

Characters

• Charles-Henri Sanson^[3]
• Marie-Joseph Sanson^[4] (younger sister of Charles-Henri Sanson)

Media

Manga

Innocent is written and illustrated by Shin-ichi Sakamoto. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from January 31, 2013, to April 16, 2015.^[5][6] Shueisha collected its chapters in nine tankōbon volumes, released from June 19, 2013, to May 19, 2015.^[7][8] During their Anime NYC 2022 panel, Dark Horse Comics announced that it had licensed the manga and would release it in 3-in-1 omnibus volumes,^[9] with the first volume released on November 22, 2023.^[10]

A sequel, Innocent Rouge was serialized in Shueisha's Grand Jump from May 20, 2015, to January 8, 2020.^[11][12] Shueisha collected its chapters in twelve tankōbon released from October 19, 2015, to February 19, 2020.^[13][14] In February 2025, Dark Horse Comics announced that it had acquired Innocent Rouge.^[15]

Volumes

Innocent

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	June 19, 2013[7]	978-4-08-879565-2	November 22, 2023[10]	978-1-5067-3824-6
2	September 19, 2013[16]	978-4-08-879708-3	November 22, 2023[10]	978-1-5067-3824-6
3	December 19, 2013[17]	978-4-08-879718-2	November 22, 2023[10]	978-1-5067-3824-6
4	March 19, 2014[18]	978-4-08-879768-7	May 1, 2024[19]	978-1-5067-3825-3
5	June 19, 2014[20]	978-4-08-879854-7	May 1, 2024[19]	978-1-5067-3825-3
6	September 19, 2014[21]	978-4-08-879898-1	May 1, 2024[19]	978-1-5067-3825-3
7	December 19, 2014[22]	978-4-08-890076-6	December 3, 2024[23]	978-1-5067-3826-0
8	March 19, 2015[24]	978-4-08-890128-2	December 3, 2024[23]	978-1-5067-3826-0
9	May 19, 2015[8]	978-4-08-890195-4	December 3, 2024[23]	978-1-5067-3826-0

Innocent Rouge

No.	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN
1	October 19, 2015[25]	978-4-08-890267-8
2	May 19, 2016[26]	978-4-08-890414-6
3	July 19, 2016[27]	978-4-08-890503-7
4	October 19, 2016[28]	978-4-08-890535-8
5	March 17, 2017[29]	978-4-08-890620-1
6	August 18, 2017[30]	978-4-08-890736-9
7	December 19, 2017[31]	978-4-08-890834-2
8	June 19, 2018[32]	978-4-08-891032-1
9	November 19, 2018[33]	978-4-08-891131-1
10	May 17, 2019[34]	978-4-08-891292-9
11	November 19, 2019[35]	978-4-08-891412-1
12	February 19, 2020[36]	978-4-08-891486-2

Stage musical

A stage musical adaptation took place in November 2019 and starred Mika Nakashima in her musical acting debut.^[37]

Reception

In 2013, Innocent was one of the Jury Selections of the Manga Division at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards.^[38] In 2014, it was nominated for the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Reader Award.^[3] In 2015, it was nominated for the eighth Manga Taishō.^[39] Innocent Rouge received an Excellence Award at the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2021.^[40]