Blade of the Immortal

Plot

Manji is a skilled ja cursed with immortality. After his violent past results in the deaths of 100 samurai, including his sister's husband, an 800-year-old nun named Yaobikuni grants him agelessness through "Sacred Bloodworms". These creatures heal even fatal wounds by merging with his body, enabling severed limbs to be reattached, though they cannot regenerate large-scale tissue loss. Seeking redemption, Manji vows to kill 1,000 evil men to end his immortality.

He allies with Rin Asano, a girl whose parents were murdered by Anotsu Kagehisa, leader of the rogue swordsmen group Ittō-ryū. Anotsu's philosophy embraces any technique that ensures victory, and his conquest of rival ja forces survivors into exile. Opposing them is the shadowy Mugai-ryū, which employs similarly ruthless methods. Though Manji briefly joins them, he abandons the group upon learning its members are death row convicts serving the shogunate. Despite his disdain for their most brutal agent, Shira, he maintains ties with other members while continuing his quest alongside Rin.

Creation and conception

Samura stated that Tange Sazen was the largest influence on his characters and narrative style. In regards to the overall work he stated that he wanted to create a new style of manga, with his intended style being "Don't obsess about the details—just look at the story."

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Blade of the Immortal chapters{{!}}List of ''Blade of the Immortal'' chapters

Written and illustrated by Hiroaki Samura, Blade of the Immortal started in Kodansha's ja manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on June 25, 1993, and finished on December 25, 2012. Kodansha collected its 207 chapters in 30 ja volumes, released from September 22, 1994, to February 22, 2013. A 15-volume ja edition was released from August 23, 2016, to February 23, 2017.

A sequel, titled Blade of the Immortal – Bakumatsu Arc, written by Kenji Takigawa and illustrated by Ryū Suenobu, with Samura's collaboration, was serialized in Monthly Afternoon from May 25, 2019, to May 24, 2024. Kodansha collected its chapters in ten ja volumes, released from October 23, 2019, to August 22, 2024.

Dark Horse Comics release

The English language version of the manga was published by Dark Horse Comics. The manga began its publication in individual monthly issues, with the first issue being published on June 1, 1996. These issues were later collected into individual volumes, and the first one was published on March 1, 1997. On October 11, 2007, Dark Horse Comics announced that they would drop the monthly issues publishing, with issue #131, released on November 14, 2007, being the last one. The series continued publishing through trade paperback volumes only, starting with the 18th volume, released on February 6, 2008. The 31st and last collected volume was published on April 1, 2015.

To preserve the integrity of his art, Samura requested the publisher Dark Horse Comics not to "flip" the manga, that is, reverse the pages as if in a mirror. At the time, flipping was an almost universal practice for English-translated manga. Instead, Blade of the Immortal was modified for Western readers by the unusual method of cutting up the panels and rearranging them on the page in order to have the action flow from left to right. Another reason for not "flipping" the English version is Manji's clothing, which features a ja symbol, that if the pages were "flipped" would resemble specifically the Nazi swastika, instead of the ancient Eurasian swastika (that can be of any orientation), which for many cultures represents concepts such as peace and harmony.

Although American industry practice has largely changed over to publishing translated manga in its original right-to-left orientation, Blade of the Immortal had retained the labor-intensive cut-and-paste method. The publisher cautions that rearranging the panels is not foolproof, and can lead to continuity errors; this usually occurs when the flow of text bubbles is dependent upon character placement within panels. Some sound effects within the panel were retouched out and re-lettered in English. Japanese sound effects that are an integral part of the artwork were usually left as is. Additionally, some text bubbles or panel borders were redrawn, and script pacing subtly altered in order to understand the story or the placement of text bubbles.

In the monthly Dark Horse serialization, colored versions of title pages from the corresponding manga chapter were often featured as cover art, though in some cases different pieces of artwork, such as a ja covers, were used as well. The original Japanese ja volumes also collected more chapters than the English volumes published by Dark Horse, as such, they are longer and do not directly correspond to the English numbering scheme.

In July 2015, Dark Horse Comics announced an omnibus edition of Blade of the Immortal, each volume containing three original volumes, maintaining the left-to-right format. Ten volumes were released from December 28, 2016, to November 13, 2019. In March 2020, Dark Horse announced a deluxe re-release of the omnibus edition in hardcover. The volumes were released from October 7, 2020, to October 18, 2023.

Novel

A novel, titled Blade of the Immortal: Legend of the Sword Demon, written by Junichi Ohsako, with illustrations by Samura, was released by Kodansha on July 18, 2008. In North America, the novel was published by Dark Horse Books on January 27, 2010.

Anime

Main article: List of Blade of the Immortal episodes{{!}}List of ''Blade of the Immortal'' episodes, Blade of the Immortal (2019 TV series){{!}}''Blade of the Immortal'' (2019 TV series)

On March 23, 2008, it was announced that an animated television series adaptation of the manga would be directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by Bee Train in 2008. The series aired from July 14 to December 29, 2008, on AT-X. The opening theme is "Akai Usagi" by Makura no Sōshi, and the closing theme is "Wants" by Grapevine. In North America, Media Blasters licensed the series and released it on September 29, 2009.

A second anime adaptation titled was listed on the cover of the July issue of Monthly Afternoon on May 10, 2019. It was later announced that the anime adaptation would be a complete adaptation. The series is animated by Liden Films and directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki, with Makoto Fukami handling series composition, Shingo Ogiso designing the characters, and Eiko Ishibashi composing the music. It aired from October 10, 2019, to March 25, 2020 on Amazon Prime Video. Kiyoharu performed the series' opening theme song "Survive of Vision". On October 15, 2020, Sentai Filmworks announced that they had licensed the anime for home video and released it on Blu-ray Disc on January 19, 2021.

Film

Main article: Blade of the Immortal (film){{!}}''Blade of the Immortal'' (film)

In 2017, the manga was adapted into a live action film, directed by Takashi Miike with the screenplay by Tetsuya Oishi and starring Takuya Kimura as Manji.

Reception

By February 2017, the manga had five million copies in circulation. By May 2019, it had over 7.5 million copies in circulation.

Blade of the Immortal won the Excellence Prize at the first Japan Media Arts Festival in 1997; and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award in 2000 for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material.

Manga authors Masashi Kishimoto and Tatsuki Fujimoto have mentioned the series as an influence on their works.

References

References

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