For the uninitiated, Blade Of The Immortal (無限の住人 Mugen No Junin) is a manga written and illustrated by Hiroaki Samura. The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa Shogunate period and follows a samurai named Manji, bestowed with immortality by the bloodworms that live within his body. Viewing his eternal life as a curse, Manji’s mandate is to kill 1,000 evil men in order to regain his mortality.

The manga was originally published in Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon from June 1993 to December 2012 and compiled into thirty tankōbon volumes, and has also been adapted into 2 different anime series as well as a live-action film starring SMAP star Kimura Takeya.

This new hardcover deluxe edition released by Dark Horse comics compiles 3 volumes of the original 7×10 serialized format just like the earlier released omnibus editions, albeit with a bigger print size. The reading format however has not changed and still reads like a Western comic; ie from left to right, and the SFX are in English as well.

The biggest highlights of Blade are of course Hiroaki Samura’s stunning art, topped by complex and spectacularly staged fight choreography as well as his vivid imagination in creating stylish gonzo characters of the Shogunate era, making his narrative deeply immersive and addictive.

(image above) One of the signature visual spectacles of Blade are the elaborate 2 page spread drawings of Manji ( and sometimes other prominent characters ) performing their coup de grâce moves, staged like a macabre but stylish Mandala, if you will. The dramatic effect is certainly accentuated in this edition with the bigger print size; I only wish they could have been presented in their original colored drawings.

(above) Scattered in the book between chapters are also Blade art work by numerous guest artists.

As a kid growing up I read the Taiwanese ( traditional Chinese ) version of Blade, and when I moved to Tokyo in 2004 and learned the language read the comic in Japanese, so it’s a little jarring reading it in English and on a reverse format as well. All that said, the sturdy hardcover format and bigger print size are definitely pros, and this edition is the best way to read and collect the manga for English readers in my opinion. I already have the full collection of the Japanese tankobons, but I’ll likely collect this edition as well. Recommended.

Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Volume 1 manga details :

– Dimensions – 7.2 x 1.69 x 10.3 inches
– hardcover, 576 pages
– Black & White, in English

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