Mugen no Junin

Design - 9.4

Story - 9.1

Character - 9.5

Value - 9.4

Enjoyment - 9.6

Average - 9.4

Reviewed 33 times

Help | Review it

User Review

nauXolo

(2006-05-12 23:13:01) 2006-05-12 23:12:01

Average	8.2
Design	9
Story	7
Character	8
Value	8
Enjoyment	9

Blade of the Immortal is not a "smart" manga. Our main protagonist is one of those types who doesn't really use any type of battle strategy or extremely smart tactics to win his fights. Even though he admits to it, the fact that his body is immortal basically makes him more haphazard and careless. He relies too much on the fact that if he's chopped up, he'll just eventually heal despite the pain. So, for a large part of this manga, I thought that this would be one of those mindless random fighting samurai mangas with a bit of supernatural element. However, as the story progressed, the characters really started to grow on me and I couldn't put it down.

Lets start with evaluating the beginning of the story: the two main characters share a bodyguard client relationship. The girl, Rin, is both emotionally and physically weak and becomes somewhat reliant on Manji. As he follows her on her quest to kill the leader of the Itto-Ryu, he encounters various other members along the way. They fight. He gets slashed up but heals. Rin feels bad that she can't do anything. This cycle basically repeats for quite a long time. All this time various characters are introduced, our main characters and important side characters are given background information, we get to see more closer personal relationships, and a lot a lot of fights.

Blade of the Immortal's story telling style is very simplistic. One simple overarching story, a pretty predictable plot line, but full of sword battles. Manji is the type of character who fights however he likes. He carries a dozen weapons on him, doesn't really care in the Bushido code, and just is a lonewolf who happens to become devoted to this one girl. The villain is the typical ambitious strong young man with horrible past who has something to prove. He isn't total evil - he doesn't enjoy killing for the sake of it, but sees it as a means to achieve the end. His various underlings all have various different personalities, each of which have their own unique background story, yet their personality basically fits some type of mold.

There really isn't much in terms of true character ambition to do anything in this manga. Only the main characters have the remote trace of such feelings - and even that seems to not be heavily enforced in this manga's storyline. However, one thing I absolutely LOVED about this manga was how characters seem to genuinely interact with each other, especially the women. For example, Rin seems to touch the heart of almost everyone she meets and it is extremely touching to read about her journey.

Blade of the Immortal, again, is not a thinker manga. There are various behind the scenes type things that kind of plague you since the beginning, but aren't really slowly developed and all of a sudden is revealed when the manga-ka deems it necessary. Rather, this is more of a fighting manga with a cast of loveable free spirited characters who encounter a lot of hardships long their path.

Despite how simplistic this manga seems, Blade of the Immortal is still very enjoyable. It twists the familiar style of samurai storytelling by throwing in this immortal element to it. Furthermore, the fighting scenes are nicely drawn out and it is easy to picture the numerous fights in detail. Although not the most complicated storyline and not the most wide of scope, it has a diverse cast of characters that all actually interact with each other.

Based up to chapter 111.