Blade of the Immortal
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
ese manga
series by Hiroaki Samura
. The series won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival
and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award
in 2000 for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material. The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa
Shogunate period, beginning in the 2nd year of the Tenmei
era or 1782.
Blade of the Immortal is being released in the United States by Dark Horse Comics
and is up to 23 volumes. As of November 2007, Dark Horse has ceased publishing Blade of the Immortal in a monthly format, choosing to concentrate solely on the collected editions.
, a skilled samurai
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
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 1000 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're worms that were bred to be as close in their chemical and physical make-up to humans as you can get without 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 Asano Rin 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
, 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 leads 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.
In a broader context, the series covers the effects of death and the consequences of not being able to die, as well as the meanings behind living. Most of the principal characters have some sort of purpose which they inexplicably discover through the events that transpire.
Blade of the Immortal can be (so far) roughly divided into four main storyarcs:
A fifth (and final) arc ~ Winter War ~ has begun in the Japanese run of the manga. The first volume of this arc has been translated into English and published by Dark Horse comics as "Footsteps" (volume 22). There is no information on how long the final arc will run.
It is unknown how to infect a person with the kessen-chu, but Shizuma indicates it takes a lot more than blood to blood contact with someone who's infected.In later chapters the question how to transfer them becomes a major part of the story.
Manji himself carries a number of blades - Sukehiro Amatsubaki ("Rain Camellia"), Kotengu ("Little Devil"), Okorobi ("Man Toppler"), Merabi ("Lady Gadfly"), Karasu ("The Crow"), Shidō ("The Four Paths"), Imo-no-Kami Tatsumasa ("Sister Defender Tatsumasa"), a spear-like weapon called Aun, and an unnamed hooked weapon.
Some of Samura's other creations include Giichi's thresher
-like throwing blade, known as Kanetsura's Mito-no-Kami ("Guardian of the Three Paths"), which he uses to sever the heads of his enemies, and Anotsu's large Kabutsuchi battle-axe, which was based on an example from Nepal
.
One of the most striking features of Blade of the Immortal is its beautiful, realistic artwork. Although Samura stylizes and elongates his human figures to some extent, especially early in the run of the manga
, he has a thorough knowledge of anatomy that allows him to create uniquely expressive poses and angles. His unusual use of accurately detailed shots of hands and feet makes them almost as reflective of character and mood as his faces. Atmospheric backgrounds and landscapes round out the look of the manga
, which incorporates many panels rendered in a finished, shaded pencil style rather than in inked line art. His drawing skills are shown to their best advantage in these penciled panels.
Samura says that he always wanted to be a manga artist. However, unlike most manga artists
, he attended art school for a time and has a classical art education. He says in interviews that he disliked the smell of oil paint, and openly admits to hiring another artist to help him get through a required oil painting
course. Although he prefers to work in black and white, and does many freelance illustrations in graphite, Samura has painted some color promotional pieces and book covers in acrylics
for the collected volumes of Blade of the Immortal, such as the cover for 'Blade of the Immortal #111: Shortcut #5 (of 5)'.
Samura never completed his art degree, because he left school before graduation to create Blade of the Immortal for Afternoon
.
, not "flop" the manga (that is, reverse the pages as if in a mirror). At the time the English translation began its publication in individual monthly issues (1996), flopping was an almost universal practice for 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.
Although American industry practice has now largely changed over to publishing translated manga in its original right-to-left orientation, Blade of the Immortal has 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. In such cases, individual panels or entire pages may be flopped, and occasionally the artwork is modified accordingly; for instance, a retouch artist may draw a scar over Manji's left eye to disguise a flopped panel, though this is not always the case. Sound effects within the panel may also be retouched out and re-lettered in English, or removed completely. Japanese sound effects that are an integral part of the artwork are usually left as is. Additionally, text bubbles or panel borders may be redrawn, and script pacing may be subtly altered in order to preserve suspense or the placement of text bubbles.
In the monthly Dark Horse serialization, colored versions of title pages from the corresponding manga chapter are often featured as cover art, though in some cases a different piece of artwork, such as a tankōbon
cover, may be used, usually in cases where the original title page depicts graphic subject matter. The original Japanese tankōbon, which are not subtitled, also collect more chapters than the English volumes published by Dark Horse; as such, they are considerably longer and do not directly correspond to the English numbering scheme. The original tankōbon also contain different cover and interior art, and may contain additional special features, such as character biographies.
Another reason for not "flopping" in the English version is Manji's clothing, which features a Manji
, if the pages were "flopped" it would resemble the Swastika used by Nazi Germany
, some publishers issued an explanation of this in several issues, particularly in Norway, instead of the Japanese character Manji. Manji is Japanese for "the character for eternality" 萬字, and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites.
) by Kōdansha's
Afternoon KC division. The series is still ongoing, and volumes are usually published at the rate of 1 to 2 per year. The English
version of the manga is published by Dark Horse Comics
. As of October 11, 2007, Dark Horse has dropped the monthly issues for Blade of the Immortal following the completion of the "One Shot" storyarc. The following issues will only be released through trade paperback volumes.
and produced by Bee Train
in summer 2008. The first episode premiered on July 13, 2008 on AT-X channel
. The opening theme is , performed by , and the ending theme is "wants" by GRAPEVINE. American company Media Blasters
has acquired the license to the series and plans to release it in September.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series by Hiroaki Samura
Hiroaki Samura
is a Japanese writer/illustrator and creator of Blade of the Immortal, as well as several other short works. He has also done various illustrations for magazines and ero guro work. He has an ero guro book out that is mostly a compilation of some of the work he has created.His favourite bands are...
. The series won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
in 2000 for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material. The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
Shogunate period, beginning in the 2nd year of the Tenmei
Tenmei
was a Japanese era name , also known as Temmei, after An'ei and before Kansei. This period spanned the years from April 1781 through January 1789. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:...
era or 1782.
Blade of the Immortal is being released in the United States by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
and is up to 23 volumes. As of November 2007, Dark Horse has ceased publishing Blade of the Immortal in a monthly format, choosing to concentrate solely on the collected editions.
Plot
Blade of the Immortal follows the deeds of ManjiManji (Blade of the Immortal)
Manji is the protagonist of the Japanese manga series Blade of the Immortal. In the story, he's known infamously both as the "Hundred Man Killer," for the number of men he's killed by the beginning of the series, and "Mister Twelve Blades" for the number of weapons he carries...
, a skilled samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
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
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
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 1000 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're worms that were bred to be as close in their chemical and physical make-up to humans as you can get without 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 Asano Rin 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
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
, making them a family of outcasts. Anotsu's quest is to gather other outcasts and form an extremely powerful new dojo, the Ittō-ryū
Itto-ryu
, meaning "one-sword school", is the ancestor school of several Japanese Koryū kenjutsu styles, including Ono-ha, Mizoguchi-ha, Nakanishi-ha, Kogen, Hokushin, and Itto Shoden. The style was developed by Ittōsai Kagehisa.-Ono-ha 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
Mugai-ryu
is a Japanese koryū martial art school founded by in 23rd June 1680.- History :The founder of Mugai ryu, Tsuji Gettan Sukemochi 辻月丹資茂 was born to Tsuji Yadayū descendant of Sasaki Takadzuna, in the second year of Keihan ,in the Miya-mura-aza village area 宮村字 of Masugi 馬杉, in the Kōka-gun district...
has emerged, in opposition to the Ittō-ryū. Its true leadership and motives are initially a mystery, but its methods (any tactics that leads 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.
In a broader context, the series covers the effects of death and the consequences of not being able to die, as well as the meanings behind living. Most of the principal characters have some sort of purpose which they inexplicably discover through the events that transpire.
Story arcs
These refer to the English editions published by Dark Horse Comics.Blade of the Immortal can be (so far) roughly divided into four main storyarcs:
- Introduction: Volume 1 (Blood of a Thousand) ~ Volume 5 (On Silent Wings, part 2)
- In this story arc, the reader is introduced to the main characters, plot, central conflict and overall theme of the series ("documenting the human struggle"). The plot is superficially simple: Manji and Rin wander around Edo, occasionally meeting members of Ittō-ryū on their quest to find Anotsu. However, the bulk of Samura's philosophical ruminations can be found in this introductory story arc, from obsession (Conquest, Genius) duty (Dreamsong) the burden of time (Cry of the Worm) and revenge / redemption (On Silent Wings). Part of Samura's appeal is in not painting his "villains" with black-and-white strokes; even the supposed antagonist Anotsu, who espouses an "end justifies the means" philosophy, elicits sympathy from the reader via his ultimate goal - in that, fighting the widespread corruption of his era and therein fashioning a stronger Japanese society.
- Mugai-ryū: Volume 6 (Dark Shadows) ~ Volume 9 (The Gathering, part 2)
- This story arc introduces the Mugai-ryū, a mysterious sword school intent on hunting down Anotsu Kagehisa. After killing several minor members of Ittō-ryū, Mugai-ryū enlists Manji and Rin to help them track down the elusive Anotsu. The evolution of Samura's style can be seen particularly in this story arc: gone are the elaborate "death murals" and the stronger focus on inking denotes a preference for 'hard' technique in contrast to 'soft' depiction (very little penciling). The first truly despicable villain is also introduced in this story arc, the sadistic mercenaryMercenaryA mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
Shira who delights in blood and tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
. The climax of this story arc involves the separation of Manji and Rin, as Rin decides it would be better for her to hunt Anotsu alone; Manji attempts to track her across provinceProvinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
borders and ends up in a vicious fight with three Ittō-ryū members.
- This story arc introduces the Mugai-ryū, a mysterious sword school intent on hunting down Anotsu Kagehisa. After killing several minor members of Ittō-ryū, Mugai-ryū enlists Manji and Rin to help them track down the elusive Anotsu. The evolution of Samura's style can be seen particularly in this story arc: gone are the elaborate "death murals" and the stronger focus on inking denotes a preference for 'hard' technique in contrast to 'soft' depiction (very little penciling). The first truly despicable villain is also introduced in this story arc, the sadistic mercenary
- Aftermath / Last Blood: Volume 10 (Secrets) ~ Volume 14 (Last Blood)
- The third story arc follows the separate characters as they pursue their various goals: Anotsu to unify his sword school with the remote Shingyoto-ryū in KagaKaga Provincewas an old province in the area that is today the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called .Ruled by the Maeda clan, the capital of Kaga was Kanazawa. Kaga bordered on Echizen, Etchū, Hida, and Noto Provinces...
; Rin on her quest to locate Anotsu; Manji's recovery from his wounds taken in the previous story arc and, eventually, his search for Rin; Magatsu's hunt for the murderous Shira; the consequences dealt upon Mugai-ryū by the vengeful Ittō-ryū members. By volume 13, Mirror of the Soul, the divergent threads begin to come together and the series (as a whole) reaches a climax with volume 14, Last Blood, wherein most of the principal characters meet and engage in some form of battle. Last Blood also includes the beginning sections of the next and current story arc.
- The third story arc follows the separate characters as they pursue their various goals: Anotsu to unify his sword school with the remote Shingyoto-ryū in Kaga
- Prison: Volume 14 (Last Blood) ~ volume 20/21 (Demon Lair)
- Finished in Japan in volume 20; currently at least four trade paperback volumes have been published chronicling the latest adventures of Manji and company. Volume 15, Trickster, was released by Dark Horse as of February, 2006. This fourth story arc concerns the events after Last Blood, beginning with a few apparently random fights that, in consequence, lead Manji to join up with the shogunate in fighting Ittō-ryū. However, the government has a more devious plot, and imprisons Manji for issue after issue of experimentation, hoping to reproduce the effects of the kessen-chu. This story arc has concluded in AfternoonAfternoon (magazine)is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Kodansha. It is a monthly anthology, and each issue typically has around thirty ongoing stories by various authors and runs about 800 pages...
.
- Finished in Japan in volume 20; currently at least four trade paperback volumes have been published chronicling the latest adventures of Manji and company. Volume 15, Trickster, was released by Dark Horse as of February, 2006. This fourth story arc concerns the events after Last Blood, beginning with a few apparently random fights that, in consequence, lead Manji to join up with the shogunate in fighting Ittō-ryū. However, the government has a more devious plot, and imprisons Manji for issue after issue of experimentation, hoping to reproduce the effects of the kessen-chu. This story arc has concluded in Afternoon
A fifth (and final) arc ~ Winter War ~ has begun in the Japanese run of the manga. The first volume of this arc has been translated into English and published by Dark Horse comics as "Footsteps" (volume 22). There is no information on how long the final arc will run.
The Kessen-Chu
A bloodworm (kessen-chu) is an unexplained little worm-like creature, which lives in the bloodstream and tissue in a symbiotic way. It heals all wounds acquired by its host, replacing the missing tissue and organs with their own bodies as well as reattaching limbs. Many of the "scars" on Manji's body are actually worm flesh, holding Manji together like living sutures. However, it is noted that the bloodworms can only heal wounds acquired during infestation and not ones that were acquired prior (such as Manji's eye). They also do nothing to prevent pain. The only way to kill a bearer of the bloodworms is to use a bloodworm poison, although it has been implied that cutting off their head may suffice if it is not reattached quickly. During his battle with Makie, Manji said the only way to stop him would be to cut off his head. But whether this would kill him or just leave him unable to function is debatable, because in his battle with Eiku Shizuma, Manji cuts off his head after poisoning him with his own sword, and he does not die until after the kessen-satsu (blood worm killer) takes effect. Further adding to the debate were statements in Wizard magazine that Manji could survive a severed head, but it would take at least a year for the blood-worms to regenerate that much tissue. While not yet covered in the English version of Blade of the Immortal, another immortal is partially beheaded (to the point where only a flap of skin is keeping its head attached) only for the wound to heal within a few seconds This essentially confirms that Manji's regenerative abilities would allow him to survive a beheading. The time in which it takes for regeneration varies: Manji can reattach a limb within seconds and can partially recover from a bullet or stab wound to the brain. However the wounds to his head did have a negative effect (incapable of moving his lower body or weaker vision). Apparently, the kessen-chu give immortality to its host and everlasting youth (the host retaining the age he/she had at the time he/she was fed the kessen-chu).It is unknown how to infect a person with the kessen-chu, but Shizuma indicates it takes a lot more than blood to blood contact with someone who's infected.In later chapters the question how to transfer them becomes a major part of the story.
Weapons in Blade of the Immortal
The weapons found in Blade of the Immortal are largely fictional, most created by Samura, who confesses he has no idea what some of them are supposed to do. Usually, major characters have unique and specialized weapons - hidden crossbows, throwing knives, poisoned blades, and even weapons meant to inflict maximum pain.Manji himself carries a number of blades - Sukehiro Amatsubaki ("Rain Camellia"), Kotengu ("Little Devil"), Okorobi ("Man Toppler"), Merabi ("Lady Gadfly"), Karasu ("The Crow"), Shidō ("The Four Paths"), Imo-no-Kami Tatsumasa ("Sister Defender Tatsumasa"), a spear-like weapon called Aun, and an unnamed hooked weapon.
Some of Samura's other creations include Giichi's thresher
Thresher
Thresher may refer to:*Threshing machine , a device that first separates the head of a stalk of grain from the straw, and then further separates the kernel from the rest of the head...
-like throwing blade, known as Kanetsura's Mito-no-Kami ("Guardian of the Three Paths"), which he uses to sever the heads of his enemies, and Anotsu's large Kabutsuchi battle-axe, which was based on an example from Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
.
Art of Hiroaki Samura
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, he has a thorough knowledge of anatomy that allows him to create uniquely expressive poses and angles. His unusual use of accurately detailed shots of hands and feet makes them almost as reflective of character and mood as his faces. Atmospheric backgrounds and landscapes round out the look of the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, which incorporates many panels rendered in a finished, shaded pencil style rather than in inked line art. His drawing skills are shown to their best advantage in these penciled panels.
Samura says that he always wanted to be a manga artist. However, unlike most manga artists
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
, he attended art school for a time and has a classical art education. He says in interviews that he disliked the smell of oil paint, and openly admits to hiring another artist to help him get through a required oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
course. Although he prefers to work in black and white, and does many freelance illustrations in graphite, Samura has painted some color promotional pieces and book covers in acrylics
Acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...
for the collected volumes of Blade of the Immortal, such as the cover for 'Blade of the Immortal #111: Shortcut #5 (of 5)'.
Samura never completed his art degree, because he left school before graduation to create Blade of the Immortal for Afternoon
Afternoon (magazine)
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Kodansha. It is a monthly anthology, and each issue typically has around thirty ongoing stories by various authors and runs about 800 pages...
.
Editing in the English language adaptation
To preserve the integrity of his art, Samura requested that the publisher of the licensed English translation, Dark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, not "flop" the manga (that is, reverse the pages as if in a mirror). At the time the English translation began its publication in individual monthly issues (1996), flopping was an almost universal practice for 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.
Although American industry practice has now largely changed over to publishing translated manga in its original right-to-left orientation, Blade of the Immortal has 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. In such cases, individual panels or entire pages may be flopped, and occasionally the artwork is modified accordingly; for instance, a retouch artist may draw a scar over Manji's left eye to disguise a flopped panel, though this is not always the case. Sound effects within the panel may also be retouched out and re-lettered in English, or removed completely. Japanese sound effects that are an integral part of the artwork are usually left as is. Additionally, text bubbles or panel borders may be redrawn, and script pacing may be subtly altered in order to preserve suspense or the placement of text bubbles.
In the monthly Dark Horse serialization, colored versions of title pages from the corresponding manga chapter are often featured as cover art, though in some cases a different piece of artwork, such as a tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
cover, may be used, usually in cases where the original title page depicts graphic subject matter. The original Japanese tankōbon, which are not subtitled, also collect more chapters than the English volumes published by Dark Horse; as such, they are considerably longer and do not directly correspond to the English numbering scheme. The original tankōbon also contain different cover and interior art, and may contain additional special features, such as character biographies.
Another reason for not "flopping" in the English version is Manji's clothing, which features a Manji
Manji
Manji or mangi may refer to:*The Japanese name of the 卍 character , see swastika/sauwastika* Manji , a Japanese era name* A type of sai, a traditional Okinawan weapon* A kind of chiefship found among the Chaga tribe of Tanzania...
, if the pages were "flopped" it would resemble the Swastika used by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, some publishers issued an explanation of this in several issues, particularly in Norway, instead of the Japanese character Manji. Manji is Japanese for "the character for eternality" 萬字, and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites.
Manga
The original Japanese manga has thus far been collected into 27 volumes (tankōbonTankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
) by Kōdansha's
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
Afternoon KC division. The series is still ongoing, and volumes are usually published at the rate of 1 to 2 per year. The English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version of the manga is published by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
. As of October 11, 2007, Dark Horse has dropped the monthly issues for Blade of the Immortal following the completion of the "One Shot" storyarc. The following issues will only be released through trade paperback volumes.
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 1 (1994/09) ISBN 4-06-314090-3
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 2 (1994/12) ISBN 4-06-314101-2
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 3 (1995/04) ISBN 4-06-314109-8
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 4 (1995/10) ISBN 4-06-314119-5
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 5 (1996/08) ISBN 4-06-314137-3
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 6 (1997/06) ISBN 4-06-314151-9
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 7 (1997/10) ISBN 4-06-314165-9
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 8 (1998/07) ISBN 4-06-314183-7
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 9 (1999/06) ISBN 4-06-314210-8
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 10 (2000/04) ISBN 4-06-314238-8
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 11 (2001/01) ISBN 4-06-314259-0
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 12 (2002/02) ISBN 4-06-314268-X
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 13 (2002/11) ISBN 4-06-314306-6
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 14 (2003/07) ISBN 4-06-314326-0
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 15 (2004/01) ISBN 4-06-314337-6
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 16 (2004/05) ISBN 4-06-314348-1
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 17 (2004/11) ISBN 4-06-314363-5
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 18 (2005/06) ISBN 4-06-314380-5
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 19 (2006/04) ISBN 4-06-314409-7
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 20 (2006/10) ISBN 4-06-314430-5
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 21 (2007/06) ISBN 4-06-314455-0
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 22 (2007/12) ISBN 4-06-314480-1
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 23 (2008/06) ISBN 4-06-314509-3
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 24 (2009/02) ISBN 4-06-314548-4
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 25 (2009/09) ISBN 4-06-314591-3
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 26 (2010/05) ISBN 4-06-310654-1
- Mugen-no-Jūnin 27 (2011/01) ISBN 4-06-310722-1
Anime adaptation
On 23 March 2008, it was announced that an animated television series adaptation of the manga would be directed by Kōichi MashimoKoichi Mashimo
is a well-known Japanese anime director and the founder of the animation studio Bee Train. Since the creation of the studio, Mashimo directed or otherwise participated in all its works, for example, as a member of art or sound department...
and produced by Bee Train
Bee Train
, commonly referred simply as Bee Train, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with Noir, .hack//Sign, and Madlax they have a strong following in the yuri fandom for being involved in series portraying strong female leads with speculatively...
in summer 2008. The first episode premiered on July 13, 2008 on AT-X channel
AT-X (company)
is a Japanese anime television network owned by . AT-X, Inc. was founded on June 26, 2000 as a subsidiary of TV Tokyo Medianet, which, in turn, is a subsidiary of TV Tokyo. Its headquarters are in Minato, Tokyo. AT-X network broadcasts anime via satellite and cable since December 24, 1997.AT-X is...
. The opening theme is , performed by , and the ending theme is "wants" by GRAPEVINE. American company Media Blasters
Media Blasters
Media Blasters is an entertainment corporation founded by John Sirabella and Sam Liebowitz, based in New York City. They are in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American market manga compilations and anime and live-action movies and television series to home-video...
has acquired the license to the series and plans to release it in September.