Die, All Right!
It is the era of the samurai in Japan; a time of blades and blood. And determined to define this era is Anotsu Kagehisa, the young leader of his own ruthless sword school. "The way of the sword is the way of victory," is the motto of Anotsu's clan of unorthodox swordsmen known as the Itto-ryu, and to prove it they're wiping out any sword teachers that don't forfeit their schools and unite with them. It's their way or the highway... to hell.

One of the first schools to fall to Kagehisa's Darth Vader-like Catch-22 is the Myutenichi-ryu. As her father is cut down before the blades of the Itto-Ryu, young Rin Asano vows revenge against Anotsu no matter what the cost. Though later, after four years of self-training, she seems no closer to ferreting Anotsu out, let alone taking on one of its deadly alumni. At the grave of her father, she meets Yaobikuni, a nun who suggests a man who would be able to help Rin in her quest for vengeance.

Gotta Kill 'Em All
Thus, Rin meets the world weary ronin, Manji; known in killer's circles as "Mister One-Hundred", so named for slaying that amount of men over his career; starting with his former crooked master and ending with the accidental slaughter of his sister's policeman husband. Manji's knack for the art of making people stop moving is complimented by a little quirk - thanks to the nun and her knowledge of blood parasites known as the Kessen-Chu, he is effectively immortal, save for the Highlander rule (no head, he's dead).

Growing tired of his back-handed blessing of eternal life, Manji struck a deal with the nun: for the deaths of a thousand evil men, he will finally know death. After some cajoling, the samurai accepts the girl's proposal, giving Rin a bodyguard, and Manji a steady flow of bodies, since they'll have to cut their way through the ranks of the Itto-Ryu to reach the head honcho. And so, the tale begins in earnest...

No, Manji, not Nazi!
One of the most eye-catching things about Blade of the Immortal is far beyond its plot or violence, but rather the symbol borne upon its hero's back. Whoah there, Dr. Jones - before you grab your bullwhip and take aim at those Kraut crosshairs, notice the subtle difference: the logo of the most easily recognizable hate group since a bunch of rednecks decided to wear duncecaps and bedsheets is clockwise, while this particular symbol is reversed.

Commonly known as the crux gammata, or in Japanese, (surprise, surprise), manji the sauvastika is a symbol of well-being and occasionally used as a Buddhist icon in Japan. Although I must admit, if I was directing Indy 4, Nazi samurai would be high on the list of new enemies Harrison Ford would take on. However, were that the case, that would mean that I was the person who thought up midichlorians and a rastafarian lizard. And I can't deal with that line of thought without wanting to slowly slip ever-tightening fingers around my own neck.

Genius Fanatic
On the exchange rate of a picture being worth a thousand words, one of writer/artist/rapper/actor Hiroaki Samura's panels would easily be worth every article I've written and will write. In addition to his shifting style of ink and pencil to create his signature art, what most impresses is the framing of the image. Samura has created a movie in his mind and laid it down in readable storyboards that link the saga together, ranging from the tense series of pictures that do everything but make the sound of the wind whistling through the trees to murals of the final strike of Manji's latest gristly battle.

The frozen moments come alive with Samura's dialogue as well - some people speak the language of the period, while others have the contemporary scornful dialect of young street punks. Genuinely funny moments are liberally mixed in to lighten the mood: for instance, the day-to-day interaction between the often coarse Manji and naive Rin are priceless. Blade of the Immortal is a study in contrast; light and dark, good and evil, victims and monsters - a black and white world with characters and their motivations rendered in shades of grey.

Last Blade
Indeed, one of the recurring themes is the question of who should really die in harsh feudal Japan, where murderous men raise children and may just as well have been as wronged as the people they kill. Or is there no difference at all? Is Rin no different than Anotsu by stopping at nothing to kill the man who murdered her family? Can a man like Manji ever hope for redemption? The characters struggle with these problems as the story wanes on, as the the only sure thing, the only true ending to the journey in Blade of the Immortal is death.

And as the saying goes, getting there is half the fun.