is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Hiroaki Samura is a Japanese manga artist, known for ''Blade of the Immortal'', as well as several other short works. He has also done various illustrations for magazines and ero guro work. Education Samura says that he always wanted to be a manga artist. How ...

. The series is set in Japan during the mid- Tokugawa

Shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

period and follows the cursed samurai Manji, who has to kill 1,000 evil men in order to regain his mortality. The manga was originally published in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''

Monthly Afternoon is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as ...

'' from June 1993 to December 2012 and compiled into thirty ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. A 2008

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation was produced by

Bee Train , commonly referred to simply as Bee Train, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with '' Noir'', '' .hack//Sign'', and ''Madlax'' (among other series) they have a strong following in the yuri f ...

. Also in 2008, the novel ''Blade of the Immortal: Legend of the Sword Demon'' was released in Japan by Kodansha. A

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the same name was released in April 2017. A second anime adaptation by

Liden Films is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise headquartered in Kamiogi, Suginami, Tokyo, and has animation studios in Kyoto and Osaka. Establishment Liden Films was founded on February 22, 2012 and, shortly after, joined joint-holding ...

was broadcast from October 2019 to March 2020. In North America, the manga has been published by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

. The first anime series was licensed by

Media Blasters Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

. The second anime series is licensed by

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

. In 1997, ''Blade of the Immortal'' received the Excellence Award at the 1st

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Plot

''Blade of the Immortal'' follows the deeds of Manji, a skilled ''

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...

'' who has a decisive advantage: no wound can kill him, except for a rare poison. In the past, his criminal actions led to the death of 100 other samurai (including his sister's husband). He becomes immortal at the hand of an 800-year-old

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

named Yaobikuni, and is compelled by the death of his sister to accept the quest that will end his agelessness. He has vowed to make amends by killing 1,000 evil men, and until he does Manji will be kept alive by , remarkable creatures that allow him to survive nearly any injury and reattach severed limbs even after hours of separation. They work by sacrificing themselves to seal the wound - they are worms that were bred to be as close in chemical and physical make-up to humans as possible without actually being human. They cannot handle regrowth on a large scale, but, for example, can reattach a severed limb or seal a hole in the brain. Manji crosses paths with a young girl named Rin Asano and promises to help her avenge her parents, who were killed by a cadre of master swordsmen led by Anotsu Kagehisa. Anotsu killed Rin's father and his entire

dōjō A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

, making them a family of outcasts. Anotsu's quest is to gather other outcasts and form an extremely powerful new dojo, the Ittō-ryū (a school teaching any technique that wins, no matter how exotic or underhanded), and has started taking over and destroying other dojos. In addition, another group calling itself the Mugai-ryū has emerged, in opposition to the Ittō-ryū. Its true leadership and motives are initially a mystery, but its methods (any tactics that lead to victory) resemble those of the Ittō-ryū. They try to enlist Manji's help as they seem to want the same thing. Eventually, Manji joins but quickly pulls out after he finds out a member, Shira, is way too sadistic for his tastes. After a while, Manji finally discovers that the Mugai-ryū work for the government. They are all death row inmates who are allowed to live only if they serve the shogunate. While Manji and Shira quickly grow to hate each other, after Shira runs off, Manji remains on friendly terms with the other members of the group.

Creation and conception

Samura stated that ''

Tange Sazen Tange may refer to: People: *Arthur Tange (1914–2001), Australian senior public servant * Jun Watanabe Tange or Watanabe Jun (born 1954), Japanese architect, former professor at Chubu University *Kenzo Tange (1913–2005), Japanese architect, win ...

'' 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

''Blade of the Immortal'', written and illustrated by

, began in

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

'' on June 25, 1993, and finished on December 25, 2012. Kodansha collected its 219 chapters into thirty ''

'' volumes, released from September 19, 1994, to February 22, 2013. A sequel titled , written by Kenji Takigawa and illustrated by Ryū Suenobu, with Samura's collaboration, started in ''Monthly Afternoon'' on May 25, 2019. Kodansha released the first ''tankōbon'' volume on October 23, 2019. As of April 21, 2022, six volumes have been released.

Dark Horse Comics release

The English language version of the manga was published by

. 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 ''manji'' symbol, that if the pages were "flipped" would resemble specifically the

Nazi swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

, 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 a different piece of artwork, such as a ''

'' cover, were used as well. The original Japanese ''tankōbon'' 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 3 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 edition in hardcover and the first volume was released on October 7, 2020.

Anime

On March 23, 2008, it was announced that an animated television series adaptation of the manga would be directed by

Kōichi Mashimo (born June 21, 1952) is a Japanese anime animation director, director and the founder of the animation movie studio, studio Bee Train. Since the creation of the studio, Mashimo directed or otherwise participated in a large number of the studio's ...

and produced by

in summer 2008. The series aired from July 13 to December 28, 2008, on AT-X. The opening theme is by Makura no Sōshi, and the closing theme is "Wants" by GRAPEVINE. In North America,

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 will be a complete adaptation. The series is animated by

and directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki, with

Makoto Fukami is a Japanese manga artist, novelist, and screenwriter. He started writing manga in 1999 and since has had multiple of his series adapted into other media. In addition to manga, he also did screenwriting for ''Psycho-Pass'' and its first film ' ...

handling series composition, Shingo Ogiso designing the characters, and

Eiko Ishibashi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. She has frequently worked with Jim O'Rourke (musician), Jim O'Rourke, with O'Rourke producing several of her albums and Ishibashi playing on his album Simple Songs (Jim O'Rourke album), Simple Song ...

composing the music. It aired from October 10, 2019, to March 25, 2020 on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

Kiyoharu , better known by his stage name . is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter, known for his work with Kuroyume and Sads. In 2003, he began his solo career, performing as both a singer and guitarist. Music career Independent career and K ...

performed the series' opening theme song "Survive of Vision". On October 15, 2020,

announced that they had licensed the anime for home video and released it on

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

on January 19, 2021.

Film

In 2017, the manga was adapted into a live action film, directed by

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films run through a variety of different genres, and range from violent an ...

with the screenplay by Tetsuya Oishi and starring

Takuya Kimura is a Japanese actor, singer, and radio personality. He is regarded as a Japanese icon after achieving success as an actor. He was also a popular member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia. A 1996 television drama series, ''Long ...

as Manji.

Reception

''Blade of the Immortal'' won the Excellence Prize at the 1st

in 1997; and the

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

in 2000 for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material. The manga had 5 million copies in print as of February 2017.

References

External links

* *
Official 2008 anime website

Official 2019 anime website

Official 2008 anime blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blade Of The Immortal 1993 manga 2008 Japanese television series endings 2019 anime ONAs Anime and manga about revenge Anime series based on manga AT-X (TV network) original programming Bee Train Production Dark fantasy anime and manga Dark Horse Comics titles High fantasy anime and manga Historical fantasy anime and manga Japanese serial novels Kodansha manga Liden Films Manga adapted into films Manga adapted into television series Media Blasters Ninja in anime and manga Production I.G Samurai in anime and manga Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks