History Manga / BladeofTheImmortal

* EatTheDog: [[spoiler:What literally happens in one of Shira's MoralEventHorizon moments]].
** And, in a weird case of LaserGuidedKarma, [[spoiler:he [[RasputinianDeath finally]] dies by being [[JustDesserts eaten '''by''' dogs]].]]

''Blade of the Immortal'' originally ran from 1993-2012, published in Creator/{{Kodansha}}'s ''Monthly Afternoon'' {{seinen}} magazine. Kodansha partnered with Creator/DarkHorseComics for an English localization. Unusually for manga, rather than use either the then-common practice of flipping the pages left-to-right for the English release (which can cause text errors), or publish the English version in the Japanese right-to-left page order (common practice nowadays), Samura insisted the pages be printed left-to-right with the panels rearranged, even partially redrawing many pages himself to facilitate this. From 2015 to 2020, Dark Horse reprinted ''Blade'' in ten three-book omnibus volumes.

A sequel manga titled ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortalBakumatsuArc'' is currently being published. As it name implies, the series takes place during the turbulent Bakumatsu era during the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Samura is a collaborator, but it is written by Kenji Takigawa and illustrated by Ryu Suenobu.

* AnythingThatMoves: Shira.

* DepravedBisexual: Shira, who apparently has no qualms about raping young boys along with women. Sometimes it borders on [[AnythingThatMoves something else]]...

''Blade of the Immortal'' originally ran from 1993-2012, published in Creator/{{Kodansha}}'s ''Monthly Afternoon'' {{seinen}} magazine. Kodansha partnered with Creator/DarkHorseComics for an English localization. Unusually for manga, rather than use either the then-common practice of flipping the pages left-to-right for the English release (which can cause text errors), or publish the English version in the Japanese right-to-left page order (common practice nowadays), Samura insisted the pages be printed left-to-right with the panels rearranged, [[DoingItForTheArt even partially redrawing many pages himself to facilitate this]]. From 2015 to 2020, Dark Horse reprinted ''Blade'' in ten three-book omnibus volumes.

* {{Bishonen}}: Anotsu is remarkably delicate and softly drawn in comparison to the other fighter characters. He himself acknowledges his slender build when explaining his choice of weapon, and other characters call him "pretty."
** This goes so far as that everyone (including professional government assassins) are willing to believe that Anotsu could sneak around as a woman unnoticed.

* GagBoobs: Tanpopo. At one point they help save her life when she gets stabbed in the chest. Downplayed however, in that though she is the bustiest woman in the cast, they're not ''that'' big.

* CurbStompBattle: Any time Makie get serious. Also, in a great KickTheSonOfABitch moment, [[spoiler:Rin VS Burando]].
** Four armed and armored shogunate guards run across [[spoiler: Shira]][[note]]He's been missing for a fair amount of chapters by now.[[/note]] and attempt to kill him on-sight. He kills three of them in ''one panel'', and the fourth gets her arm cut off as soon as she tries to attack. You... don't want to know what happens next.

* MouthToMouthForceFeeding: When Makie is on the verge of collapsing due to her [[IllGirl tuberculosis]] while being surrounded by Kagimura's men, [[BigDamnHeroes Manji]] swoops in and kisses her after drinking some tuberculosis medcine, allowing her to recover and immediately kill her opponents.

* IllGirl: Hisoka, and Makie later on. Anotsu seems to get involved with these.

* NonNaziSwastika: Manji has the swastika symbol on the back of his clothes as a reference to immortality. In fact, manji is the Japanese name for the swastika symbol. It is drawn in "Buddhist direction", and it is one of the reasons why the English translation was not flipped, but rearanged panel to panel. Every volume of the English version includes a NoteFromEd explaining the difference.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A fluctuating Level 8 for most of its run, though later arcs ''definitely'' peak at Level 9.

* BadassMustache: Kagimura Habaki. Also, Shishiya Arashino, TheBigGuy of the Rokki-dan sports one.

* RealityEnsues: During the Prison Arc Burando begins experimenting with Manji's HealingFactor by transplanting his limbs to other patients. However, the constant transplants are very stressful to Dewanosuke and thus his HealingFactor is so weak he's killed just like a normal person.
** Furthermore, like any transplant or transfusion, blood type is extremely important. Burando got lucky with Dewanosuke and Manji have compatible blood types. When he tries to replicate the experiment on other inmates the body count starts piling up due to most recipients rejecting the transplants.

* LooksLikeSheIsEnjoyingIt: Makie had [[spoiler: sewed her right hand closed so that she wouldn't be tempted to pick up her sword again]], and when Anotsu pulled out [[spoiler:the strings]], she started screaming in agony. Rin was sitting outside Makie's hut as they were doing this, and it's obvious by her expression and what she says to Anotsu afterward what she thought had been going on.

* BreakingSpeech-- Anotsu administers one (including a NotSoDifferent demonstration) to Rin during their first encounter

* MixedMetaphor: Doma of the Rokki-dan mentally drops a rather random one near the end of the series while Habaki Kagimura is proclaiming death sentences on their adversaries after [[MoralMyopia casually dismissing]] Anotsu's claims that [[NotSoDifferent they're all murderers here]].

* StalkerWithoutACrush: Rin for Anotsu, particularly when he goes to Kaga. Though he does make her incredibly [[FoeYay flustered]] sometimes.

** In the German version they had to remove the symbol on Manji's back and made it a simple cross, since it's forbidden in Germany to show it anywhere, despite the fact that the story takes place centuries before the rise of the Nazis. [[http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1024&bih=681&tbm=isch&tbnid=xsQjiCW2hKdFXM:&imgrefurl=http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/11/08/glory-pigs-swastika-censorship-germany/&docid=vJVCKZB3az8E9M&imgurl=http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/11/untitled-2-1320782409.jpg&w=371&h=258&ei=CrJfT9WwO4fV0QHknvWPBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=559&vpy=169&dur=617&hovh=158&hovw=233&tx=185&ty=78&sig=111901091765628668117&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=225&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0 For comparison]]

Creator/BeeTrain studio along with Creator/ProductionIG produced an anime adaptation which saw a US release from Creator/MediaBlasters.

In May 2019, a new anime, subtitled "Immortal", by Creator/LidenFilms was [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-05-22/kodansha-confirms-new-blade-of-the-immortal-anime-as-complete-adaptation/.146989 announced]]. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and will cover the entire manga.

''Blade of the Immortal'' (''無限の住人 Mugen no Junin'') is a {{Samurai}} epic by Creator/HiroakiSamura, set in 18th century Edo period Japan, which tells the story of a girl named Asano Rin, and her badass bodyguard [[MeaningfulName Manji]]. Manji is [[CursedWithAwesome immortal]] thanks to an infestation of ''kessen-chu'', sacred worms that pervade his system and knit together any injuries he sustains. He can die only by beheading or by coming into contact with a particularly rare poison. His goal in the series is to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever remove the curse of his immortality]], which will happen if he kills 1000 evil men in reparation for the 100 innocents he killed as an outlaw.

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Two members of the Rokki-dan are apparently dutch and give out some very quirky one-liners from time to time.

''Blade of the Immortal'' (''無限の住人 Mugen no Junin'') is a {{Samurai}} epic by Creator/HiroakiSamura, set in 18th-century Japan, which tells the story of a girl named Asano Rin, and her badass bodyguard [[MeaningfulName Manji]]. Manji is [[CursedWithAwesome immortal]] thanks to an infestation of ''kessen-chu'', sacred worms that pervade his system and knit together any injuries he sustains. He can die only by beheading or by coming into contact with a particularly rare poison. His goal in the series is to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever remove the curse of his immortality]], which will happen if he kills 1000 evil men in reparation for the 100 innocents he killed as an outlaw.