Blade of the Immortal

It took me a month to finish this series due to pure brutality of the scenes. But overall the story triumphs the nasty little things in it. Interesting story. Good character development. Good ending.

I think I've reached a time of life where I seek out moral ambiguities and complex plot lines, and this promises to tick those boxes and then some. Looking forward to another series, maybe they can backfill with some details that have been missed out.

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL (Mugen no Jûnin: Immortal) (2019-2020) is a fantastic (remake/reboot) anime series that is based on the epic dark historical fantasy Japanese Manga series; created, written and illustrated by the brilliant mangaka, Hiroaki Samura, in 1993. This series, however short it is for an adaption, is completed, compared to the previous unfinished anime series. In my opinion, both have their charms, and I watch them both back to back for a good BOTI experience.

"In medieval Edo Japan, an 800 year old witch curses Manji, a master swordsman with immortality, after he commits sins that cause the death of 100 innocent samurai. After many years living as a wild Ronin, he grows tired and asks the witch to make him mortal again if he can manage to atone for his sins by killing 1000 wicked men and use his skills to protect the innocent. A young girl, Rin, who seeks revenge for the death of her family, hires Manji as her bodyguard and trainer, and together they go on a journey of revenge and redemption."

I'm a hardcore lover of the original Blade of the Immortal manga masterpiece in all its gory, brutal appeal. Samura is a brilliant genius. His characters are brilliant and creative, flawed and memorable. Manji and Rin especially so. For an anime adaptation this was a really great series, beautiful animation, moving music, and super dark twisted scenes according to the original series. Yes, it was super condensed, as most animes tend to be. Yes, it is a bit toned down (in violence and gore) comparatively. Yes, it skips scenes that are in the original manga, but it would probably take years upon years to accurately animate the original manga, scene by scene, caption by caption, panel by panel.

Would I love for this beautiful dark twisted manga story to be animated into a giant 800 episode beast? Of course! But until that day comes, we fans have to settle for these mini series, which you have to consider as a snack rather than the main course. PLEASE read the manga if you want the full story. Don't expect the anime to substitute (and spoonfeed) for any original piece of art. The original is nearly always best. In my opinion, these short anime series are more like snapshots of the epic journey the manga takes us on, a refresher not a replacement. I deeply enjoyed these series! Both series make great additions to my BOTI collection. So glad to have a completed anime, at last. Wish it was longer.

Some people might find the plot line(s) too disorganized. To a degree I don't disagree but I think this series was meant for people that are more familiarized with Japanese pre-1842 culture. Ronins and Samari have a very different code of honor and they would perform their duties or pursue their ideals to such an extent that they would show an ultimate disregard for human lives, others as well as their own. With that attitude in mind, this series' tone is somehow fitted in such a background vibe, that anything can be poetic and random, sometimes extremely romantic, and that vibe is well expressed.

Rich, complex storyline with violence matching AOT, Blade of the Immortal does not immediately draw you in from episode 1. Stick with it, however and there are moments of anime magic.

Violence (of all types) is extreme and not for the faint hearted. Another good thing is the a good number of secondary characters whose story line develop over the season.

My main criticisms are:

• No effort to explain the background, context etc. of what we are watching, the timeline and history of the era.
• Fight sequences seemed very artificial in the beginning, even for anime. It was almost like the each fight was cut short to show the viewer the start and the end. This did improve over time.
• Too many side characters will little or no introduction to help understand how they fit into the story.
• The protagonist is too powerful and quite a few of the initial fights were very predictable / boring. This did improve in the end.