Blade of the Immortal 2
Posted: January 31, 2010 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 6 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 1998 – 25+ volumes
So, one of the things I loved about Dark Horse’s large-format flipped volumes for their old series, particularly Oh My Goddess and 3×3 Eyes, was the fact that each volume was a self-contained story arc. I knew I would miss it when Oh My Goddess switched over to regular manga format, and I really did, because it is super-nice to have a story contained in one volume. Blade of the Immortal reinforces my belief, since this volume contained a short story about a fellow immortal and a poison that kills blood worms.
On one hand, I was a little bummed when this new character showed up. I really liked BotI for not making a big deal out of Manji’s immortality. Usually people start showing up that are bigger and badder than the main character’s amazing-at-first superpower, and the only people that had heard of Manji in the first couple stories were those that knew he slew a hundred men as a samurai working for a government employee. But then I got to the second volume, and here’s another immortal who knows all about what Manji can offer, and also has a way to take him out of commission. Bah.
Despite that, it was an interesting story, and I liked the series a little better for exceeding my expectations when it came to that particular aspect of storytelling. The reason this person knows was because Manji let someone live. In a way, it’ll be Manji’s carelessness that will be his undoing. And yet, I was pleased that the person lived, because he didn’t strike me as evil. After Manji’s speech at the beginning about there being two sides to every story and being careful about who he kills, I was going to be sad if he was just going to start slaying people on the other side for no reason. The head of the sword school that killed Rin’s parents is certainly evil since he’s going around killing people, and the mutant henchman who sewed heads onto his shoulders was evil too, but the sword school has a solid philosophy behind it (aside from it requiring the death of all sword masters), so the people who follow it aren’t necessarily evil. This particular guy only stole a sword. Did he deserve to die for it? Well, if that’s all he did, probably not. Manji doesn’t kill him. He “kills” Manji though, and finds out his secret and tells others.
There was also some deception involving Yaobikuni that I liked, and I also liked the slow, horrible way in which the other immortal tried to kill Manji. I mean, killing an immortal is awful work, but this was… pretty painful-looking.
I did like that Manji is immortal without being completely invulnerable. He is clearly feeling pain every time he is stabbed, and his slow death here truly is an awful thing. There also is a method to kill the immortals… two methods, actually, as of the end of this volume.
I’m going to keep reading. I need to find the rest of the volumes and read them right now. I mean… I still don’t think the overall plot is that interesting (it tries to give up on its purpose once again when Rin says that revenge is a silly way to live and forbids Manji from retrieving her father’s stolen sword), but I did like the mini-storyline here, and I have a feeling things will only develop more from here. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Let’s just say the story really isn’t and never wasn’t the strong point of this series. I’d say it’s a rather slow meditation upon lif and death (and of course, revenge) full of blood and gore. With the best artwork possible.
I still have the last two volumes to read of BotI before I catch up with it but I have to say that its cast of characters is as good as any manga series I’ve read.
I didn’t care much for Okkoshi. I totally believe the part where Samura says assistants did a lot of the jokes and text, as it feels so dense compared to BotI.
Wish DH would release it more than a volume every 7 months or so, as it’s constantly 4 volumes behind the jp release. It’s such a quick read that once I read 21 I think I’m going to give it up till it finishes many years down the line. This and Berserk are going to be lifelong commitments to finish.
Also, even though I’m not a big believer in the idea of series x gets better during part y, but the On Silent Wings storyline from volumes 4-5 is the point where the series really clicked for me and started to become a favorite.
The first several volumes follow a formula, but then a plot picks up. There’s a lot more to this series than it seems started out, though the fights are always awesome ^^
Thanks, guys. I think I’m going to place an order for the next several volumes at the end of the week. I did like what I saw of it, and I have no doubt that things get much more intense in later volumes. I’m pretty excited about this one.
I’m also glad to hear that one of the better story arcs will be in the next batch I read. That’s good news.
It’s also one of the series I fully appreciated only when reading for the second time. I know this is not gonna be easy with the number of manga you have.. ;-)