Caught in a fratricidal war, and confronted with superstitious farmers, Kogaratsu lives the way of the samurai: his honour, his weapons, and his love are the things dearest to him, in that exact order.

And in the tumultuous Japan of the 17th century, honour is the small margin between life and death, wielding a weapon is a calling, and love is a weakness.

The success of the series, written by Bosse and illustrated by Michetz, inspired then-illustrator and script writer Bosse to give up illustrating in order to focus solely on script-writing.

"Volume Zero", a short story collection, titled Le Pont de nulle part (ISBN 2800118121) was published in 1991.

UK-based Acme Press published it in 1987 as Kogaratsu: The Lotus of Blood (ISBN 1-8700-8415-2), and three years later the US-based Catalan Communications published it as Kogaratsu: The Bloody Lotus (ISBN 0-8741-6103-7) under their ComCat Comics imprint.