Creator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781593078713
Released: February 2008
Original release: 2004
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

The Sparrow Net, the eighteenth volume of Hiroaki Samura’s award-winning manga series Blade of the Immortal as released in English, was published by Dark Horse in 2008. Dark Horse’s English-language edition of the series divides the individual volumes by story arc rather than strictly by number of chapters. Because of this, The Sparrow Net is most closely equivalent to the seventeenth Japanese volume except that The Sparrow Net includes one additional chapter. Also because of Dark Horse’s tendency to compile the volumes by story arc, The Sparrow Net ends up being on of the longest books in the series. Blade of the Immortal is one of my personal favorites. I’ve been enjoying the manga’s mix of historical fiction, martial arts, and the supernatural along with Samura’s complex characters and great artwork.

After the Ittō-ryū was betrayed and nearly wiped out by the bakufu, the surviving members of the rogue sword school have been quietly working in the background, biding their time and preparing a return assault against the government. Although they are supposed to be in hiding and keeping a low profile while in Edo, two of the Ittō-ryū’s most recent members, Dōa and Isaku, can’t seem to help but draw attention to themselves. After a confrontation with the police force, Isaku goes missing and Dōa is left behind with Rin who in a strange twist of fate has been helping to hide them (her parents were killed by the Ittō-ryū.) Although their relationship is less than ideal, the two young women must work together in order to find both Isaku and Manji, Rin’s bodyguard who has also disappeared under troubling circumstances.

Dōa and Isaku are relatively new characters in Blade of the Immortal having first been introduced towards the end of the fifteenth volume, Trickster. Although Dōa in particular has been shown to be violent and easily provoked, The Sparrow Net is the first time that she and Isaku are seen to really fight. With Isaku’s size and strength and Dōa’s speed and viciousness they make an incredibly effective and formidable team. The Sparrow Net is also the first volume in Blade of the Immortal to delve into the pair’s backstory. Previously, there have been some hints as to their pasts and who they really are, but until now their history has largely remained a mystery. I am still very curious to learn how they joined up with the Ittō-ryū.

While chaos surrounds Dōa and Isaku, Rin continues her search for Manji. Eventually she hears rumor of a bizarre immortality experiment. The procedures being performed on Manji and the other felons have reached disturbing new heights of cruelty. However, this escalation means that more people are involved and it is increasingly difficult to hide. Even those who are only tangentially involved suspect that something horribly wrong is going on. And those who are at the heart of the investigation—the doctors and their assistants, not to mention their human guinea pigs—have all been affected in terrible ways. The change in Ayame Burando, one of the head doctors on the case who himself is on death row, and what that brings about is particularly horrifying. I’m almost afraid to see what is in store in the next volume, Badger Hole.

Creator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781593077822
Released: June 2007
Original release: 2004
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

On the Perfection of Anatomy is the seventeenth volume of Hiroaki Samura’s manga series Blade of the Immortal as published in English. Although the Japanese and English volumes collect slightly differently chapters, On the Perfection of Anatomy is most closely equivalent to the sixteenth volume of the Japanese release of the series, published in 2004. (The Japanese volume includes one additional chapter.) On the Perfection of Anatomy was released by Dark Horse in 2007. Blade of the Immortal has won several awards and honors, including a Japan Media Arts Award in 1998 and an Eisner Award in 2000. The series is also one my personal favorites. There were some fairly dramatic developments in the previous volume, Shortcut, so I was particularly interested in seeing where Samura would take things in On the Perfection of Anatomy.

Manji’s life has gotten more complicated ever since he became a near immortal. Even more so now that he has been captured and imprisoned in a hidden underground cell where he is the primary subject of an investigation into immortality. Manji and other felons are being experimented upon in an effort to transfer Manji’s bizarre regenerative powers to another person. Initially, the shogunate’s doctor Mozen was in charge of the investigation, but he was removed from the case after he was unable to produce results. Now the responsibility of finding the secrets behind Manji’s immortality has fallen to Ayame Burando, a young doctor who, due to his pursuit of Western medicine, is also considered a criminal. Burando sees the investigation not only as a way to redeem himself, but as an opportunity to advance the state of Japanese medicine.

Most of On the Perfection of Anatomy is devoted to Burando and the experiments he is conducting in the prison. Burando was first introduced in the previous volume, Shortcut. He goes through some very significant changes as a person by the end of On the Perfection of Anatomy. Burando was originally so devoted to advancing his own knowledge of medicine that he was willing to risk his own life. He tried to leave Japan in order to study Western medicine, inviting execution should he be caught or try to return. Ultimately he was found out which is how he became involved with the immortality experiments. At first things go astonishing well, but then Burando is confronted by failure after failure. Faced with this, his struggle as he tries to justify himself as both a scientist and doctor changes him.

Some of the experiments carried out in Shortcut and On the Perfection of Anatomy and their results are truly horrifying. Samura’s artwork captures the grotesqueness, terror, and despair as bodies fall apart and waste away. The experiments are not only physically damaging, they also take a huge mental toll on most of the people who are even remotely involved with them. Of course, there are also those who don’t appear to be affected much at all, which is a little terrifying in its own right. On the Perfection of Anatomy doesn’t actually advance the plot of Blade of the Immortal much, but it is a critical volume in the characters’ development, particularly Burando’s evolution. And, as usual, I’m very interested in reading the next volume in the series, The Sparrow Net.

Creator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781593077235
Released: January 2007
Original release: 2004
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

Shortcut is the sixteenth volume in Dark Horse’s release of Hiroaki Samura’s manga series Blade of the Immortal. Due to the differences between the Japanese and English releases of the series, Shortcut is actually equivalent to the fifteenth volume published in Japan in 2004. Shortcut itself was released in 2006. Blade of the Immortal has won several awards, including a Japan Media Arts Award and and Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material. I myself have been quite fond of Blade of the Immortal since its beginning. I enjoy the series’ morally ambiguous characters, anachronistic style, and dynamic artwork. Shortcut picks up the story immediately where the previous volume, Trickster, leaves off. Things weren’t looking particularly good for Manji in Trickster, so I definitely wanted to see how the events in Shortcut would unfold.

Rin hasn’t seen her bodyguard Manji since he was invited into the residence of Habaki Kagimura, the leader of the shogunate’s banshū samurai as well as the head of the Mugai-ryū assassins. Fearing the worst, Rin does her best to try to find him but she is unable to make much progress. She is right to worry. Manji’s disappearance has nothing to do with being forced to join the Mugai-ryū. Instead, Kagimura is very interested in Manji and his apparent immortality, something that Kagimura has personally been witness to. On top of Manji being missing, Rin suddenly has a couple of uninvited house guests to deal with, too. Isaku Yasonokami and Dōa Yoshino make a strange pair—he’s a hulk of a man while she’s a petite young woman who orders him around. Little does Rin know that she is helping to hide two members of the Ittō-ryū, the group responsible for the death of her parents.

I find Isaku and Dōa to be very intriguing characters. Not much is really known yet about either of them. Except for their apparent devotion to each other and their association with the Ittō-ryū, they largely remain a mystery. From the far northern reaches of Japan, they are out of place in Edo society. I’m curious to find out how they became involved with the Ittō-ryū, but it does go to show how accepting the sword school is of outsiders. This is in direct contrast to the majority of Japanese society during this time period. The shogunate’s isolationist policies made it extremely dangerous for anyone to even leave the country and hierarchical social classes were rigidly enforced. In part, this is what the Ittō-ryū is fighting against, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that social outcasts and criminals are to be counted among their number.

On the opposite end of the spectrum of power is Kagimura. He is very in control of himself and those around him, using his position as the bangashira to his advantage. Blade of the Immortal has shown Kagimura to be cunning and manipulative and not above using unsavory methods to reach his goals. This is very unfortunate for Manji in Shortcut. Simply put, being immortal can really suck. This certainly isn’t new to Manji who has repeatedly, and literally, been hacked to pieces in the past. But Shortcut is the first time in Blade of the Immortal that the extent of his immortality has deliberately, thoroughly, and methodically been put to the test. If things weren’t looking good for Manji in Trickster, they’re looking even worse for him in Shortcut. What else is in store for Manji will be revealed in the next volume, On the Perfection of Anatomy.

Creator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781593074685
Released: February 2006
Original release: 2003
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

Trickster is the fifteenth volume in the English-language edition of Hiroaki Samura’s award-winning manga series Blade of the Immortal. Because the series has been collected slightly differently between the Japanese and English releases, Trickster is actually equivalent to the fourteenth volume published in Japan in 2003. Trickster was released three years later by Dark Horse in 2006. Since Blade of the Immortal‘s beginning it has garnered numerous awards and honors. Among these are a Japan Media Arts Award from 1997 and an Eisner Award from 2000. Along with the end of previous volume, Last Blood, Trickster marks the beginning of the fourth major story arc in Blade of the Immortal. Last Blood established the groundwork for some major plot developments, so I was very interested in seeing how things would play out in Trickster.

Manji is a wanted man. He has killed more than one hundred men, and that was before he became immortal. While he and Giichi are “discussing” Manji’s joining the Mugai-ryū—a group of death row inmates serving the bakufu as assassains to earn their freedom—Rin is captured by the Ittō-ryū. The bakufu isn’t the only group interested in Manji and his bloody history. Serving as Rin’s bodyguard, Manji’s taken out quite a few of the Ittō-ryū’s best fighters. A few of the remaining members want revenge and are willing to hold Rin captive until they get it. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ittō-ryū is recovering from a devastating assault which left a majority of the members of the sword school dead. With only the core remaining, the Ittō-ryū is developing plans for its own attack, striking back at the bakufu in return for its betrayal.

The setup and location, an abandoned quarry, for the Ittō-ryū’s confrontation with Manji and Giichi in Trickster is marvelous. Unfortunately, the resulting combat, with the exception of a few choice sequences, was somewhat disappointing. The fight scenes are fantastic in concept but they are rather difficult to follow. How the series has been adapted for the English edition, a sort of cut-and-paste method, compounds the issue. I know that Samura can create phenomenal fight choreography, I’ve seen it in previous volumes of Blade of the Immortal, which is why Trickster didn’t quite meet my expectations. The fights in Trickster had a tremendous amount of potential and could have been incredibly dynamic but sadly their execution largely seemed to be wasted opportunity. But even considering this, Samura is still able to pull off some stunningly effective moments.

Although I was unhappy with some of the combat in Trickster, over all I was still pleased with the volume—there was some nice character and plot development. Several members of the Ittō-ryū who have only really been seen in previous volumes of Blade of the Immortal were more thoroughly introduced in Trickster. Some won’t last very long while others have been set up to play an important role in the story. And then there’s Rin who has been important from the beginning and continues to grow and evolve. Rin has been separated from Manji for several volumes leading up to Trickster. Now that they have been reunited it is readily clear that she has become very attached to him. Manji started out as a body guard but by now he means much more to Rin than just that. It’s important that these feelings have been established since by the end of Trickster, things are really not looking good for Manji. I am very interested in seeing how things develop in the next volume, Shortcut.

Creator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781593073213
Released: June 2005
Original release: 2002
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

Last Blood, the fourteenth volume in the English-language edition of Hiroaki Samura’s manga series Blade of the Immortal was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2005. The chapters collected in the English volumes are different from those collected in the original Japanese volumes; even the actual chapter divisions have been modified in some cases. However, in the case of Last Blood, it is nearly identical in content to the thirteenth volume of the Japanese edition published in 2002. Since Blade of the Immortal began its publication it has been very well received, winning many awards and honors such as a Japan Media Arts Award and an Eisner Award among others. Blade of the Immortal is one of the manga series that I enjoy reading the most. Last Blood is a transitional volume in Blade of the Immortal, marking the end of the third major story arc and the beginning of the fourth.

In a strange turn of events, Rin finds herself fleeing Kaga along with her enemy Anotsu, each one of them helping to keep the other alive. Unfortunately, Anotsu is dying from a infected wound. It’s only a matter of time before the remaining students of the Shingyōtō-ryū dōjō catch up with them. Although Anotsu never intended for it to happen, his presence in Kaga brought tragedy down upon the school. The Shingyōtō-ryū members are determined to take his life in return, even if it means their own deaths. And because Rin is accompanying Anotsu, her life is in danger, too. This is the mess that Manji, Rin’s bodyguard, walks into. Separated from Rin in Edo when she left him behind to pursue Anotsu on her own, Manji finds her again only to discover that she’s being held captive. The Shingyōtō-ryū isn’t too keen on the appearance of an unknown swordsman, making a tense situation even more volatile.

As previously mentioned, Last Blood largely serves as a transition volume. Although there are a few very important plot developments, for the most part there is very little evolution in either the story or the characters. Instead, Last Blood is the culmination of everything that has come before it as largely independent storylines begin to collapse together. Every group that has so far had a stake in Blade of the Immortal is involved in Last Blood, resulting in a sort of battle royal between the Ittō-ryū, Shingyōtō-ryū, Mugai-ryū, and even the bakufu itself. And then there’s Manji whose main concern is Rin. Depending on the circumstances, Manji has allied himself with the various factions over the course of Blade of the Immortal in order to protect her and keep her safe. With the exception of his loyalty to Rin, Manji’s allegiances are constantly shifting as he makes the most of the situations with which he’s confronted.

While there may not be much plot or character development in Last Blood there certainly is a fair amount of fighting going on. Blood has been shed and battles have been waged since the beginning of Blade of the Immortal. And, as Last Blood shows, that is something that won’t be changing any time soon. In one way or another the different factions are all fighting to change their lives and the society in which they live. Because they choose the sword to live, many will also die by the sword. Last Blood is anything but the last blood that will be shed as their struggles continue. The Ittō-ryū in particular is faced with some major setbacks, but they have always proven themselves to be versatile and adaptable. They will begin to make their next move in the next volume, Trickster.