Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人) is a seinen historical action series based on the manga of the same name by Samura Hiroaki. This adaption of the story was made available on Amazon Prime between the Fall of 2019 and the Spring of 2020 and ran for 24 episodes.
Manji is a man cursed with immortality. On the brink of death, after murdering 100 innocent men, a wizened woman feeds him mysterious blood worms, which allow his body to heal its self, even in the face of death. Following the death of his sister he feels there is no longer a point to living and makes a deal with the old woman; kill 1000 bad guys to atone for the 100 good guys, then remove the worms so he can die. A few years later the orphaned daughter, Asano Rin, of a destroyed dojo seeks Manji out as a bodyguard and accomplice in revenge. Rin's parents were unfortunate victims in a far reaching plot of a scorned man to disrupt the countries approach to swordsmanship. Anotsu Kagehisa has gathered a band of disaffected warriors and is systematically destroying dojo's who do not agree to join his revolution. Under the name Itto-ryu they mercilessly murder anyone who opposes them, destroying legacies in their wake.
Rin's father was the heir to a dojo which has previously rejected Kagehisa's grandfather, causing some animosity on his part in the attack and murder of her parents. Not understanding the greater events in motion around her, Rin is wholly focused on vengeance. Manji begrudgingly goes along with her plan at first due to her resebmelnce to his long dead sister. As they track down and face the strongest members of Itto-ryu, they find themselves embroiled in actions by the Tokugawa shogunate against the murderous criminals. While Manji's hands are too deeply soiled in blood will Rin be able to achieve her revenge and find peace in her actions?
Blade of the Immortal takes place in an alternative history in which many things are fabrications by the author, most notably the weaponry employed by many of its characters. The story takes place around the end of the 1700's and is primarily located in and around the Kanto plain, the site of Edo, present day Tokyo. Due to the prohibitive nature of travel by unauthorized individuals the span of space tends to be exaggerated as they move from place to place. What is also a bit glossed over is just how easily it seems the characters, wanted criminals, can move about in a relatively small area avoiding detection...particularly when it is the seat of national governance and power. Those issues withstanding fans of shonen action titles will be pleased in the amount of extraordinary survive-ability by many of the characters. What they won't get is any sort of down time or training arcs or a sense of reinforced companionship. There are some well defined alliances that exists through out the story but individuals will choose to work with enemies at time for mutual goals. This isn't a tale of right versus wrong, none of the characters are morally pure. Instead what unravels is a significant series of events that only effect those at the center of them, nothing actually world changing transpires. The story sets out with a vague goal in mind but the road it takes to get there is unexpected and enjoyable. The cast of characters never gets out of hand and everyone is unique enough that they are easy to remember.
This most recent adaptation is not the first time this 30 volume manga has been adapted to film but is the most complete version, essentially covering the entire story. The first attempt was with a partial telling from 2008 that only churned out 13 episode and left much of the story untold. It also saw an abridged live action telling in 2017 by Miike Takashi. Neither of them come close to capturing the breadth and beauty of the original source material like the 2019 anime. Aside from telling the story from start to finish it also has a higher quality of artwork compared to the 2008 anime, which left much to be desired. For me, after nearly 25 years of fandom for this manga, it has finally received its adequate anime adaptation. The story is aimed at a mature audience and deals with a lot of detailed dismemberment and rape. That said its never done in a way that seems out of place. Sure the violence can be a little over the top at times but these people are over the top. Unfortunately what is lost in any adaptation is the amazing full page spreads that would be in every issue of the manga, artwork that Samura said in early interviews, would take him an entire day to do.
The anime is currently available for streaming on Amazon. The manga has been in print in English since the mid 90s and is currently available in a few formats.
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