"The greatest part of revenge, isn´t for the person who died. It´s for oneself"

Wow. What an intense ride "Blade of Immortal" was for me. I got interested in the manga throw the 13 episode anime, based on the first 44 chapters. But the anime adaptation didn´t get home to the viewers and the show was cancelled, so I decided to pick up the manga to see what happened to Rin, Manji and Anotsu. If you are a bit sensitive, this manga is certainly not for you. It contains a lot of detailed violence, deaths, blood, gore, torture and rape in a very realistic way (tip see the Seinen tag). To say the least this is a very dark and non-uplifting story. Why I gave it a 10 then? Because even if the story is very dark is very, very good. It´s detailed, well thought through, and has very human and gripping characters. And the art.. WOW. I will give a more detailed version down below of why "Blade" did a such huge impression on me.

Story: 10/10
Revenge story´s isn´t new and are often used as plot base in many mediums. Some are pretty empty, some are good, and then we have the amazing ones. "Blade" definitely belongs to the latter. In a historical and very believable setting we get to follow Rin on her quest of revenge for her brutally murdered parents. To her help she has Manji, the 100-hundred-man-slayer. The ones responsible are a outlawed samurai clan named Ittu-ryu led by Anotsu Kagehisa. Ittu-ryu´s members arn´t happy about how weak and bigoted the art of the sword and war has become in that time and age. So they are on a quest to destroy all dojos that are still practicing old sword techniques and rules, to build a new era with their rules. Rin´s father and mother was murdered for that reason. And Rin´s path for revenge and pursuit of Anutso is far from straight, which makes this story so much more believable and heart gripping to me.
The best part with the story is that it isn´t one sided. We get to know all sides of this revenge and historical drama, and what´s motivates all characters. So what´s first may appear as a very black and white story, soon blurres out to a wide grey area. Actions always gets consequences. The setting, the politics, and the characters and their relationships are all very realistic. I can imagine that that era in Japan was much like the one we are shown (minus immortal humans that is). We get a lot of Japanese history, geographic´s and culture in the story - in an interesting and story filling way. It never felt boring or out of place, it just made the whole scene so much deeper and vivid. It was a hard and unforgiving climate during this era, there small crimes could be a reason for execution, and the strong ruled the weak.

Art: 10/10
I can definitively understand why it took Hiroaki Samura 19 years to finish "Blade". The art is freaking awesome - and original. Each panel are so rich in detail and shadowing, so sometimes it could have been mistaken for a black and white photo. Hiroaki has even taken his times and draw single hairstrands - that´s say something. The character designs are very realistic, characteristic and detailed (no over sized boobs, eyes or unproportional bodies here) - each individual has been given personal memorable traits. I think that made the story so much more believable and hardcore. Facial and body expressions are in most cases flawless - I could really feel their pain, sadness etc. And extra credit for the unreal good fighting panels. No shortcuts taken. Body and weapon movements are so detailed and technical correct, that it out classes most mangas so much it´s not even funny. Some of these panels can be a bit "shadowy", but it´s meant to be so. It showcases the speed of the movement, often without you missing out of what happens. Brilliant. Speaking of the weapons. Wow.. Such detail and variation. Many characters has their own weapons of choice (you can read about the weapons in more detail in a appendix to the manga), which Hiroaki has displayed in a very impressive matter. The backgrounds are a masterpiece in them self. Unbelievable details and shadowing. How often do you feel like you are in a winter landscape in a black and white print? Not often, but here you can almost feel the snow flakes land on your cheek. By far the best art I have seen so far in a manga.

Characters: 10/10
I think I have mentioned that all characters felt very realistic and believable. The way they reasoned, the way they expressed emotions, and the way they acted felt.. in lack of better words.. very human. From unexperienced teenagers to ice cold seriekillers. It made me feel something for all the characters, and many times hard for me to pick sides (ok, in some cases it was pretty clear who you wanted to be sliced up - looking at you Shira). All characters had well developed personalities and character developments. I could really feel what kind of person they were, and the reasons behind their actions. All main and supporting characters are getting detailed backgrounds and own chapters dedicated to them, so most of them is really well fleshed out.

Rin starts out with a very naive idea of how strong she is and how she is gonna get her revenge. Throughout her journey she learns how powerless she is, and she starts to get doubts about her way to get revenge. A lot of people gets hurt in her wake, and that makes her question the pureness of her motives. Most of them all Manji, who gets hurt a lot throughout their journey, much due to her bad choices. Rin´s frequent encounters with Anutso also gives her doubts about if she actually is gonna kill him, a lot of what he says makes a huge impression on her. All those things makes her waver in her rightness and decision to take revenge.

Manji takes it up him self to be Rin´s bodyguard much due to guilt of his little sisters death (Rin resemble his dead sister a lot) and as redemption for all the innocent lives he took. Even due his character dosn´t develop so much, I like him do more fore his personality. Manji is a ruffie with a good heart. He goes out of length to protect Rin and give her revenge. He trains her in fighting skills and the way of the life she chosen. He smokes his pipe and drinks sake, and loves his naps. More then naps he loves sword fights. Always then entering a battle he has this crazy evil happy smile. I love it. Even due he is immortal Manji feels pain. And he is getting a lot of heavy punishment throughout the story - sometimes I was like "come on Hiroaki, give the guy a break". But he takes it all, and goes in to the next battle with the same crazy evil happy smile.

"Blade" has so many interesting and captivating characters. Anotsu (who I really wanted to see dead in the beginning), really grow on you. You get to know his past and the reasons he´s doing things the way he does. It don´t make the things his does right or good, but more understandable. He also feels love and compassion, which are shown mostly in his relationship with Makie. Speaking of Makie. One of the most badass fighters in manga history. She uses a kind of dubble-eged-3-way-split spear, that she can take out a half dojo with in no time at all, with out getting a drop of blood on her. Her fighting scenes are freaking awesome. Makie is one of the characters that moved me the most. Her past and her life is just to sad, and do she is that good at killing she don´t enjoy it at all. She always (battles and otherwise) has this sad face and eyes, that just makes your heart ache. Taito, Hyakurin and Giichi are also all fantastic characters, with fleshed out backgrounds and character developments. Just amazing to follow them throw out the manga. Shira can be the most sick and evil character I ever encountered. He makes many lives a living hell for many of the characters. He is a psychotic sadistic seriekiller, who really enjoys to slowly and painfully kill his victims. If you happen to be a women, rape during does sessions is highly likely. I have never wanted a character dead more then him. Cred to you Hiromaki, you really created a character that evokes feelings of pure hate and disgust.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Even if the story many times grows really, really dark it was awesome. The details in the story (cred for all the research in history, swordsmanship, martial arts and politics), amazing characters and character developments, and the fantastic art made this a lifetime memorable experience for me. Yes, I needed to take some breaks to collect myself after a extra intense sequences, but was soon on it again because I just had to know what was gonna happen next. Not for a moment was it dull, boring or uninteresting for me. I enjoyed all of it in it´s hardcore dark design.

Overall: 10/10
A incredible and fascinating revenge saga, with heavy focus on the characters and whats happen to them. All to it felt original and unique. I could really feel the characters emotions and struggles, they all really gripped me. I gonna buy this and have in my collection for shore. I can really recommend this to you that´s into good revenge story´s with a lot of blood and fighting, emotional rides, and complex and interesting characters. You absolutely won´t regret it.