Mugen no Juunin
Blade of the Immortal

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“I just want you to know one thing...I may be the one facing them. I may be the one cutting them down. The one who stands on their graves. But you will be the one that kills them.”

There are a great many stories that revolve around the concept of revenge. A great many writers have written a great many tales about revenge, each expressing their own sentiments towards the topic. Some glorify it, others ridicule it as a fool’s quest and others tell a more sympathetic story. Blade of the Immortal however simply tells it how it is, at no point is the author ... ever forcing his beliefs onto the story. The writer prefers to allow the reader to reflect on the story themselves and come to their own conclusions. An engaging, exhilarating yet quietly contemplative quest for vengeance, Blade of the Immortal is one of the greatest seinen manga ever created. Allow me to explain to you why I believe this is the case...

The story of Blade of the Immortal centres around the young Rin Asano’s journey to avenge the death of her parents at the hands of a sword school whose influence is growing within Japan: the Itto-ryu. Unable to deny her own powerlessness in the face of her powerful foe she seeks out the skills of a swordsman who has been cursed with immortality. A man known as Manji. He has his own aims and beliefs that make him more than just a simple bodyguard. Throughout the series we watch as Manji acts as a sort of mentor to Rin and we also watch as the relationship between the two changes and develops.

The premise is quite simple, chances are you can think up some series with similar plots, and the mention of immortality may seem a little silly to some but you shouldn’t write this series of just because of that. The story is an amazing journey for both characters and readers; it’s a grim tale of blood, violence and complex yet savage emotions, a story filled with political intrigue and numerous rival factions all gunning at one another. The premise may be basic but it is simply a backdrop for a deep, emotive, memorable and epic quest.

The only criticism I have with the story is that the pacing was a little bad. Initially the story didn’t really grab me and I took a little break from reading. In my opinion the story doesn’t really get into its stride until around about chapter 30, but once the story gets going it is a nonstop rollercoaster of pure awesomeness. Similarly at later parts of the story I feel that certain events were dragged on for a little longer than I would have liked, but this is a very small criticism it must be said.

The thing that really makes the story of Blade of the Immortal so captivating is without a doubt the characters. The cast of Blade of the Immortal is simply amazing. I would go as far as to say that this series has the best cast of characters I have ever come across. Over the course of the series the two main characters, Manji and Rin, go through a tremendous amount of development but that’s only to be expected really. While the development of the two main characters is exquisite, it is the side characters that really make this series extraordinary. With most series you can consider yourself fortunate if even a single character receives a good amount of development but in this series there are about are around 5 or 6 characters that receive just as much development and characterisation as you would expect of a main character. Ironically, on a personal level I was more interested in some of the side characters and their struggles than I was in the main characters (and the two main characters are really amazing). This is really a testament to how well written the characters in this series are.

All of the significant characters in this series receive a great deal of development and with this there is no clear divide between which characters are the ‘good guys’ and which are the ‘bad guys’. They all have their own circumstances, ideals, determination and reasons for fighting and because the author shares the limelight equally between all of the significant players there is truly no telling who will come out on top and during some of the fight sequences it becomes near impossible to determine whether a particular character may win or lose which really makes things genuinely tense.

Personally, I always like to see those badass female characters who know how to hold their own as in anime especially female characters are more often than not just waifu bait. So I just wanted to give this series props for having some of the most awesome female characters I have ever seen in Makie and Hyakurin, that being said I did feel that Rin sometimes came across as being a typical damsel in distress but this was really only in the earlier parts of the story.

This amazing story and these spectacular characters are all presented to us in Hiroaki Samura's fantastic artwork. It is a little difficult for me not to start gushing over his artwork because subjectively speaking this series has the best artwork that I have ever seen. I have always had a preference for old school art as opposed to the more moe art style that is prevalent in modern anime and well Blade of the Immortal is just about the least moe thing you will ever find so it gets a big thumbs up from me.

The artwork is just so perfectly styled and this series has the most well drawn action sequences you will see in any manga. Seriously, the fights in this series are absolutely brutal - blood and limbs are seen flying all over the place. There are so many great fights in this series and the flow of action in the panels makes it easy to follow the action, the fights are ridiculously intense and will have you on the edge of your seat. The scenery art in this series is also worth mentioning. The backgrounds are quite well detailed on the whole and the traditional Japanese landscapes that you will see over the course of the journey are all captured perfectly.

With all this being said, I cannot say that the art style will be to everyone’s taste. If you dislike sketchy artwork and prefer clean drawings then you may not like it. I really like it because it matches my personal preferences but that doesn’t mean everyone will think it’s as great as I do.

Also, as I have already alluded to, this series contains a lot of gore so if that is not your thing then this may not be a series for you. This series really doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to violence but unlike similarly violent manga series, such as Gantz and Akame ga Kill just to name two, this series never gave me the impression that there was just violence for the sake of it or that it was being used for shock value. While this series is very visceral I don’t think that it ever became excessive.

In my opinion this series is the pinnacle of the seinen genre. It is dark and it is brutal but it remains human. With a well constructed and deceptively complex plot, one of the most well fleshed out cast of characters you are likely to find and artwork to die for I cannot recommend this series highly enough to anyone who enjoys seinen manga. Although, if you are looking for or are expecting a story that is actually focused on samurai culture then I would point you in the direction of Lone Wolf and Cub instead. Blade of the Immortal is more focused on telling its own story than it is about what life was like in this time period and the way of the samurai and the all that sort of stuff.

Anyways, I hope you found this review helpful. Any and all feedback is welcomed (unless you are going to criticise me that is).

TL DR; If you can bear gore this one is a must read
(I would recommend listening to "sowulo - SOL (2016) album" with your reading for full experience (fits with it like key and lock) )

story 10/10
I won't tell anything about the story so rest assured.

A Gory samurai age story as the cover implies (as the most of this genre) but:

1- with a bit of science fiction and some medical knowledge.
2- many arcs not long few boring ones
... 3-many characters so you are not only following a single protagonist but multiple characters so you not get bored
(and easy to follow don't worry).
4-Things become crazier as you read. Sometimes the roller
coaster slows a bit but then you are near a cliff edge of future excitement in the next chapters.
5-Not the typical samurai wisdom and says you won't get like other ones of this type of stories always contain but
a semi-modern modified type you will enjoy.
6-mind blow ending

Character 10/10
Another special about this Gem is the characters..everyone has their up and downtime and None is invincible
The dialogue is impressive and it what I liked most about the series. (as much as the main story of course)
Also, they are easy to follow from their way of speech and the character art.
Every character with a motive, backstory, principles and enough screen (ehm paper) time :D .

Art 9/10
This one is the best I have seen in art but next to Vagabond.
the manga beats Vagabond in every aspect except for the art can't deny it.
Every character is special and art gets better every chapter.
People look real Japanese and that shading is Gold quality.

Enjoyment 10/10
To describe it in one sentence (one more chapter manga and then I will stop)

Overall 10/10
Read the manga with the album mentioned above and It's a whole new experience

You can't have a competent story with a horribly written protagonist.

Manji isn't the main character. His goal isn't the focus. Manji's goal isn't even worth mentioning. He'll complain and moan, but go along with some dumb girl and accidentally flirt with her because he's an unambitious hobo that stopped putting effort into fights due to being carried by immortality. At least he's honest about being a bloodthirsty adrenaline junkie gremlin. Despite being an immortal who's literally claimed to have met a ton of idiots like Rin before and turn them down, he warms up to Rin by projecting his dead sister on her. He ... doesn't actually like Rin (I mean who would tbh) but he does but he doesn't but he does since no actions are taken out of any hint towards the idea of him disliking or not valuing Rin.

The protagonist is a meandering indecisive girl who doesn't put substantial thought into her values or actions. Rin is genuinely so trite and insufferable whenever she decides on something before quickly backpedaling at an obvious drawback to a decision and/or mindset. She's overly sentimental, even getting bogged down by thoughts of dead people her bodyguard kills despite them being known murderers and rapists. She can come off as pretentious by how she loves to indulge in the moral and social high ground, the scene where she demands an apology from a rapist serves my point. When Anotsu points out an obvious contradiction in the relationship between her ideology and actions with the use of her weapons, I was left wondering why she never chose to train with a sword for 2 years instead of the one trick pony throwing knives. She had 2 years to think about all of this, and her thought process sucks. She had 2 years to train for this, and she can't fight no name thugs. Rin considers an alternate history, one where if she could know her weakness from the start she wouldn’t go on a revenge path. This is blatantly so asinine so I just won't go into detail why. The story goes through the motions of a typical revenge story with everyone telling Rin it's not worth it multiple times, just beating it over her head really. Rin is insufferable. She'll genuinely be baffled when a clearly stronger opponent rocks her world, then cry after being bailed out. Somebody tell this braindead sack of tears to hit the lab or hit the hay.

Anotsu deserves a better manga. He's somebody who rightfully grew to hate traditional samurai values but took the best aspects of them to form his own ideology. I've grown fatigued of the term "deconstruction" but that's what he brings to the table and it's quite entertaining. His ideas were well thought out and he had an honestly heartwarming relationship with Makie who was another interesting character.

This manga isn't worth your time due to the played out ideas behind Rin and her insufferable characterization.