User Reviews

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.

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.

Thematically, the series(the manga, to be precise) is more like something that must have inspired some long running Shounen. It also feels like a straightforward version of Samurai Champloo.

The storyline and the characters are interesting, no doubt about that but be more careful because only few things are explained through dialogues, most of the events are subtly unfolded through the Graphics(those included mostly gory things). So, if you have a short attention span, there are chances that you will get bored easily. Having said that I wish I had got to see some more explanations of the Bloodworms or why they were so perfect and suitable only for the Manji's and probably Shira's body. The characters, even though, each of them are very well written and totally fit the storyline, I thought could've easily had either multiple or entirely different purposes but almost each character is surprisingly very loyal, something not so Edo-like.

The soundtracks are skippable and while the animation is inconsistent, it seems it hardly matters when they reveal things through flashy Graphics. Moreover, the cinematography felt tricky as well. While the characters have conversation, the camera many a times points at the surroundings.

It is probably one of the best anime I have seen in recent times but it seems lot depends on the preferences because it felt so different compared to the other shows I have watched. I don't know how many people would prefer this type. Perhaps I would say 'don't expect much.'

I came to this because the manga was a big inspiration for the video game Sekiro. I thought the whole series was wonderful. There were a lot of characters, and I did get the feeling that some story lines would have made more sense if I'd read the manga. Which I might now do.

I loved the main characters and felt real concern for them. A lot of emotion was conveyed with very little dialogue and minimal animations. I found that very impressive. The violence was impeccable. And very graphic.

I imagine I will watch this again at some point.

A fabulous Jidai-Geki ( Chanbara) anime set in the Edo period. Dramatic, deep, frightening, gory, bloody as hell, gripping story line, wonderful modern animation, fantastic fight scenes, wonderful music score.. One of my favorites of 2019/2020 next to "Dororo". Nothing for the faint hearted.... a classy high quality anime for adults. For me a 9.5/10

This one is between a 7 and a 6, but its visual hindrances stop it from transitioning into something worthy of major praise. Saying that, I very much think that the show, as a whole, has quite an accomplished story and a bunch of well-realized characters. It is underrated, I cannot stress that enough. Manji and Rin, our MCS, have a great dynamic, and besides them, there are a lot of others who serve their role well. Magatsu is a lovable warrior and a fitting rival to our main man, while Shira is a pure menacing evil. Kagimura's mustaches speak enough on their own, and many other colorful characters constantly refresh the action and give us many moments worth of remembrance. The key to this ONA being special is the directing, with a lot of experimenting that works most of the time, nice transitions, beautiful painterly animated movements, and action done in a cinematic and kinetic way. Although it came in 2019, in a lot of ways, it has old-school (90s/early 2000s) anime qualities. There's much more attention given to designs and strong drawings, while the fluid animation is used sporadically when needed. The music is also truly amazing, featuring faster jazzy tracks and traditional Japanese instruments in the slower ones. That is how the whole thing works. When there's carnage, the heads are flying and there are many cuts per scene, but there are slow contemplative moments too, where the "camera" lingers and the scenes breathe, full of atmosphere and buzzing dragonflies.

If it seems like I'm singing too many praises, I think the anime deserves it. The bad bits are as I called them, bits. The animation has those problems, it is rarely superfluid or incredibly impressive, but it's good enough. The directing elevates those scenes in a way that doesn't make them boring or straight-up bad or ugly. There are some pacing issues as well, which is to be expected when you adapt 200+ chapters into a mere 24-episode series. But the pacing in itself is A-OK, it's just when you compare it to the manga that it seems bizarrely fast, adapting sometimes a volume in an episode. But hey, look at the movie adaptation, it succeeds in telling the essence of BOTI in a 2 and a half hour movie. The series, succeeds as well, in telling that same story in a series format, simple as that.

Would it have been better if the anime got a better studio (sorry Liden Films), a better schedule, and a more talented crew of animators? Yes, but for what it is, it's a damn good time. The water wheel keeps spinning.

Not having read the manga but, as an avid anime consumer I can really say this one surprised me with the art and intensity aquired. I did not even click on "skip intro" several times as I was bewitched by the strange soundtrack. I'm sure it's not everyone's choice but it's jackpot for me.

Beautiful, inspiring and true to the historical era it depicts, it is obvious why Amazon picked this absolute gem up from Linden Films. Blade of the immortal goes to wonderfully dark places brings to light the frailty of human nature, while awing you with the humorous brutality of it's main character and the slight young woman for whom he fights. Disturbing and violent in the best of ways, the story will keep you coming back for more. Appreciable by those anime enthusiasts and new comers, do not miss this wonderful series!

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.

The manga speaks for itself at this point. It´s too long, too meandering at times, too fetishistic, etc. but it´s also one of the best chanbara manga of all time. Go and read it now. The new sequel is equally worth your time. The manga already had 2 solid adaptations through the 1 cour anime from the 00s and Takashi Miike´s live-action film. This one has trouble written all over it though due to the involvement of LIDENFILMS. Their last "full adaptation" of a long-running classic Seinen lead to the last gasps of the Berserk Saga Project, aside from the fact that the studio still has to produce even one actually good show. Terra Formars and Arslan Senki equally collapsed despite drowning in material to adapt... sigh. On to my review of ep. 1-3:

The 2008 anime from Bee Train of all people is now officially the best out of the 3 adaptations. Wow, just wow. Ep. 1 of the reboot corresponds to ep. 1-3, ep. 2 mercifully settled on only ep. 4-5 and ep. 3 corresponds to ep. 8-9. You read that right, the reboot already skipped a storyline. Most scenes with the main villain Anotsu are further cut or abbreviated and the backstories of the leads and Makie are rushed like crazy. The eclectic direction and the meager animation budget aren´t helping either. You could argue that last anime changed things around but Liden Films still rushed through 200 pages in 2 eps. and then though another 200 in ep. 3, while skipping 120 pages in-between. Argh. I may stick around as i want to see some of the later stuff come to life but a world of hurt is upon us if I consider that this was their best foot forward. Let´s see if they are mad enough to stuff 30 volumes into 24 eps. All signs point to yes... You've done it again Liden Films! Another classic wasted. Don´t watch this anime if you haven´t read the manga, as its 100% impossible to follow otherwise. 5/10 with room to drop further.

Update: I decided to suffer till the end. They it really condensed the whole 6000 page manga into 24 eps. The original´s quality somewhat shines though here and there but barely. The 2nd half especially is utterly incoherent and barley animated for long stretches. Don´t waste your time but nobody was tricked by this shallow and cheap mess anyway. Epic fail. 4/10.

If you are a fan of fictional violence. Do it. If you are a fan of this genre; midevil Japanese anime, it's fantastic. The death scenes are bloody and romantic. The bloodworms are beautiful flashes. The characters are many and with great arcs. I'll probably have to rewatch it eventually, to try and seperate done of the characters my mind. There was no shortage of anything, other than perhaps sex. Awesome piece of art.

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL (Mugen no Jûnin: Immortal) 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.

There some decent swordplay, but overall i was not to enthusiastic about this anime. The Manji character is a poor swordsman as the only reason he wins fights is his immortality. Frequently he loses and only triumphs after hes been "killed" and his opponents drop there guard. Kind of dumb. Will occupy some free time though.

The show lacks a great deal of dialog to keep consistency. What 1 episode in this show is 2-3 episodes of the previously made anime. If you care to watch this show I don't recommend this version.

I cannot believe how much they butchered this great work of art! Get the original, incredible music, touching moments, everything the others are missing. I cannot believe they removed the blood, gore, Mangi beginnings along with his sisters. Even his desperation to find peace for killing his king and all his men at a foreign church of all places. Only to have the minister try to kill him in confession. The original was deep and charming. The others are trash!