•        
 


Title:
  Blade Of The Immortal volume 1

UK Distributor:
  MVM

BBFC Certificate:
  15

Suggested Retail Price (SRP):
 £15.99

Episodes: 
1 - 5 (of 13)

Audio options:
  English 2.0; Japanese 2.0

Subtitles:  English

Release Date:  4th October 2010

Reviewer:
  Tom (Webmaster)
 

Even if you have only been an anime fan for a little while, chances are you have seen a samurai anime.  Samurai drama and action is the Japanese equivalent of British detective drama, with both remaining hugely popular despite there being too many of both.  With such a high output from each sub-genre though, classics emerge often.  The anime adaptation of Blade Of The Immortal is based on such a classic, the manga of the same name. 
 

The series focuses on the character Manji, a highly skilled samurai with the dubious reputation of murdering a hundred honest men.  We quickly learn that Manji cannot die due to being immortal, hence the title.  This is achieved by 'bloodworms', creatures which live inside his body and are able to repair all wounds.  The creatures were placed in his body by the nun Yaobikuni, whom Manji approaches with a deal: she will remove the bloodworms if he kills a thousand evil men.  Not only will this allow him finally to perish, but will also redeem his previous foul deeds. 


There are two main types of protagonist in samurai anime - the honourable type who takes the samurai code very seriously, rarely indulge in pleasure and never crack a smile.  Then you have the loutish type which sees the samurai code as outdated, enjoys killing and indulges in all manner of pleasurable activities.  Both are polar opposites and difficult for the viewer to relate to and cheer on, being as they are either an a) annoying git or b) pretentious git.  Manji falls somewhere in between, with a lean towards being a loveable rogue despite being a mass murderer.  He is likeable due to having a 'getting the job done' attitude, by not prolonging the suffering of his victims and by analysing situations, rather then just jumping in.  When the character Rin shows up with a lust to avenge her father's death, Manji questions her about her father and the killers to check if the death was justified and the men were evil.  If he is going to kill a thousand men in order to lift his curse, he better be damn sure he is killing the right people.  It is good to see a lead character which isn't blindly following a quest and instead takes careful decisions. 
 

As you would hope from a samurai anime, there is a lot of sword fighting.  The fights are handled well, with excellent animation and lasting a realistic length of time.  Interestingly though, Manji isn't that great a swordsman and dies frequently during battle.  Although it is to be expected at least once to explain his immortality, I wasn't expecting to happen in, well, pretty much every fight.  In fact the fights follow the general formula of Manji receiving a fatal wound and then killing the bad guy, once said bad guy assumes they have been

victorious.  If that doesn't happen it will be another character doing the killing on Manji's behalf, usually attacking the enemy from behind.  Looks like no-one follows the samurai code in this series. 

Manji's immortality makes for boring viewing in my opinion.  As he receives vital wounds often, I quickly grew uninterested in his fate since he seemingly has no weakness.  At least the hero in the immortal actioner Highlander could be killed if his noggin was lobbed off, or there was a chance that the seemingly indestructible Wolverine could be killed in the X Men Origins film.  Not here though.  This leaves one caring about Rin more, which, refreshingly, isn't a totally useless bimbo which relies on Manji to save her all the time.  She is actually pretty handy with a sword herself, determined also in her fight to avenge her father.  Despite being saved by Manji during fights, she does come across as an equal rather then a standard sidekick. 

So Blade Of The Immortal is predictable and formulaic but does feature some decent action and good animation at least.  There isn't anything here which you haven't seen before, but the pace of the series helps pull it all together into something which is entertaining enough.  Just don't expect anything spectacular. 

Extras:

Clean opening and closing plus trailers.  Nothing major. 

Ratings

Feature:   Extras:
___________________________________________________________________________

 

Back To Reviews Archive