Blade of the Immortal

nox969 · 02-07-2008, 12:41 AM

Blade of the Immortal (1996 - Present) Dark Horse Manga (Dark Horse Comics)

Publisher: Dark Horse Manga (Dark Horse Comics)
Status: (x) Current ( ) Finished ( ) Cancelled
Schedule: ( ) Weekly (x) Monthly ( ) Bi-Monthly ( ) Other
Format: ( ) Crossover Event (x) Ongoing Series ( ) Mini-Series ( ) One-Shot
Publication: 1996 - Present

Blade of the Immortal (Japanese: 無限の住人 or Mugen-no-Jūnin, abbreviated as BOTI, lit. "Inhabitant of Infinity"), is a Japanese manga series by Hiroaki Samura.[1] The series won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival[2] and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award in 2000 for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material.[3] The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa Shogunate period, beginning in the 2nd year of the Tenmei era or 1782. Blade of the Immortal is being released in the United States by Dark Horse Comics and is up to 17 volumes. As of November 2007, Dark Horse will cease to publish Blade of the Immortal in a monthly format, choosing to concentrate solely on the collected editions.

Blade of the Immortal follows the deeds of Manji, a skilled samurai who has a decisive advantage: no wound can kill him, except for a rare poison. In the past, his criminal actions led to the death of 100 other samurai (including his sister's husband). He becomes immortal at the hand of a 800-year-old nun named Yaobikuni, and is compelled by the death of his sister to accept the quest that will end his agelessness. He has vowed to make amends by killing 1000 evil men, and until he does Manji will be kept alive by kessen-chu ('sacred bloodworms'), remarkable creatures that allow him to survive nearly any injury and reattach severed limbs even after hours of separation. They work by sacrificing themselves to seal the wound - they're worms that were bred to be as close in their chemical and physical make-up to humans as you can get without being human. They cannot handle regrowth on a large scale, but, for example, can reattach a severed limb or seal a hole in the brain....

additional note: The original Japanese manga has thus far been collected into 22 volumes (tankōbon) by Kōdansha's Afternoon KC division. The series is still ongoing, and volumes are usually published at the rate of 1 to 2 per year. The English version of the manga is published by Dark Horse Comics. As of October 11, 2007, Dark Horse has dropped the monthly issues for Blade of the Immortal following the completion of the "One Shot" story arc.

Single Issues