Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President (Japanese: イーグル, Hepburn: Īguru) is a political manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi serialized in Big Comic, a seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan. Its plot, following a Japanese American senator as he runs for president of the United States, was thoroughly researched by Kawaguchi, including during several weeks of travel in the U.S. during the campaigns for the 2000 election.

Plot

Eagle takes place during the 2000 presidential election. Some of the characters are entirely original, such as Senator Kenneth Yamaoka (D-NY) (ケネス・ヤマオカ Kenesu Yamaoka) and the series protagonist, Japanese journalist Takashi Jo (城 鷹志 Jō Takashi). Others are fictionalized depictions of real people, such as campaign advisor George Tuck (based on Dick Tuck), Democratic Vice-President Al Noah (based on Al Gore), and the current president Bill Clayton (ビル・クライトン Biru Kuraiton, based on Bill Clinton), who hails from Arkansas, has faced multiple scandals, and has a politically ambitious wife named Ellery Clayton (エラリー・クライトン Erarī Kuraiton, based on Hillary Clinton).

Manga

The series was originally serialized from 1997–2001 in the Japanese anthology Big Comic, published by Shogakukan. From 2000–2002, Viz Comics published the English translation in monthly 100-page issues and then in five long tankōbon volumes. The series spans over 2000 pages in all. The series has also been published in France by J’ai lu [fr], in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime, and in Indonesia by Level Comic. Kawaguchi was reportedly inspired to create the manga after watching the 1992 documentary The War Room.

Reception

Eagle was nominated for five Eisner Awards, including Best New Series, Best Continuing Series, Best Writer/Artist, and Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material in 2001, and again in 2002 for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material. Writer Warren Ellis called it “A wild tangle of sex and secrets and hate and Machiavellian intrigue. It’s Primary Colors in a really bad mood.”

Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President
Cover of the first volume of Eagle
イーグル (Īguru)
Genre	Political thriller
Manga
Written by	Kaiji Kawaguchi
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	NA Viz Media
Magazine	Big Comic
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	1997 – 2001
Volumes	5