Blade of the Immortal

[tnynyn]

Summary:

Manji — a rōnin swordsman condemned to immortality unless he kills a thousand evil men for all the good men he killed. Rina Satou (Negima!'s Negi, Bamboo Blade's Satori) will play Manji's fellow traveler Rin. Hirofumi Nojima (Kagehisa Anotsu), Kazuya Nakai (Taito Magatsu), Masashi Ebara (Sabato Kurui), Katsuyuki Konishi (Eikū Shizuma), Daisuke Namikawa (Araya Kawakami), Mamiko Noto (Makie), Megumi Toyoguchi (Hyakurin), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Giichi), Shinichiro Miki (Shira), and Maaya Sakamoto (Machi) complete the cast.

Koichi Mashimo will direct the animators on Bee Train as he did for the .hack// franchise and Noir. Hiroyuki Kawasaki (The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Sorcerer Hunters) will oversee the scripts, and Yoshimitsu Yamashita (Murder Princess, Samurai Champloo animation director) will design the characters. Kō Ōtani (Ayakashi Ayashi, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing) will compose the music.

Dark Horse Comics publishes the manga in North America.

Coming Sumer 08...can't wait. Been awhile since I've seen a good samurai anime.

[Atheist]

Definitely something to look out for!

[Munsu]

This is awesome news... I just hope they don't screw it up as anime adaptations tend to do. I hope they keep the violence... without it, Blade of the Immortal loses 75% of its charm.

http://mugen.kc.kodansha.co.jp/
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-03-23/blade-of-the-immortal-tv-anime-confirmed-for-summer

[Kraco]

It certainly does have some very gruesome violence that's even very important to the story itself and not just slapped on top of it. Let's hope that aspect won't be too much watered down in the anime.

[Shinji Ikari]

This is the most awesome thing since bread came sliced. How I have longed for this to happen. The characters look awesome on the site.

As the manga already has so many volumes, at least it's possible for the story to stay true to the manga.

They would have to keep the violence and making it into an anime for adults only since it plays a pivital role in the manga, him being immortal and all.

[Idealistic]

Wow, I've never heard of this series, probably because I don't know much about mangas except for the more popular ones, but this looks really cool.

I've been wanting a more mature (hopefully) anime that has to do with sword-fighting/samurais and all that good stuff. I like Naruto and Bleach, but let's be honest, it's more targeted towards the younger crowd.

Well, can't wait for this.

[tnynyn]

Yeah I agree with Idealistic, I do watch and read the bleach and naruto manga/animes, but I feel its more geared towards younger audiences. Btw, I think the animation will have the same look and feel as Samurai Champloo, which IMO, was a very good anime.

[Koyuki]

This is really great news! I've read a bit of the manga before. But I haven't bought it in a while. I just hope they try to catch the art and stay true to the manga and make it a seinen anime. If they do it will be great!

[Everon]

The manga had good character development and fantastic art design, but I got disappointed with a few plot twists that happens in the later volumes.

[kAi]

WOW!!! This is awesome news!!

I can't wait for this, they better not fuck it up, I'll be so pissed.

This is a really good series, and as others have mentioned it can't be geared towards a younger audience, it will lose too much appeal.

[Munsu]

I wonder how BeeTrain will handle this... this wouldn't be the company that I would've thought would make this type of series, with their peculiar type of soundtrack that is abundant in all their series.

From what I see it's on AT-X, so we should get some HD versions which is nice... and I think they've had series series there that have had some level of violence. So we'll see.

[Atheist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rdZIFWNcYI

Here's a trailer for the anime! Looks awesome!

[Kraco]

Yeah. That didn't look bad. Jolly good.

[Munsu]

Well, all of those looked like scenes from the first couple of chapters of the manga, so it looks like at least the start will be loyal. Saw some blood in there, so that's good.

I hope this is a long series. 22 volumes and ongoing currently in the manga.

[Abdula]

IF they do this properly then it may actually get me to start posting in GA. I really hope they stay loyal to the manga and I too think this should be a long series because they certainly have a lot to work with. 22 Volumes, I should go read the rest then, I left off somewhere around 13 or 14.

[Buffalobiian]

It's here!! No guarantee for quality, so decide for yourself:

[Kesenai Subs][KSN-AEN]Blade of the Immortal - 01 HD[11B946A5].mp4 (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=9905)(224MB)
[Kesenai Subs][KSN-AEN]Blade of the Immortal - 01 SD[54042378].avi (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=9904) (174MB)

[Kraco]

I wouldn't mind if some reputable group picked this up as their next project but it's not like even this sub wouldn't have let you understand what's going on.

What comes to the content itself, I have a bit mixed feelings right now. The action showed much promise, which is important in this particualar show; lots of blood and body parts flying and all that stuff, blades wickedly shining in twilight like in all good samurai shows.

I don't remember the very beginning of the manga in great detail anymore, but somehow this gave me a bit disjointed feeling. Jumping from one place to the next in a rather chaotic manner with little dialogue. Well, no doubt that will change once we get to the main story with Rin.

However, the thing that bothered me most was Tomokazu Seki (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=529) as Manji's VA. That voice actor is actually one of my favorites but only in limited range. He was excellent as Sousuke Sagara (FMP) and Shinichi Chiaki (Nodame), but those both characters had something in common: Composed and calm, in control. I actually disliked him as Kenichi. My image of Manji from the manga was a bit barbaric and rough, though, unlike either Sousuke or Shinichi, which is why I would have rather heard some other VA there. Some wilder one.

[Shinji Ikari]

Have to hope some other group pics it up, the picture quality was pretty low and the subs were so-so with poor choice of font and coloring.

Unlike you though Kraco I don't think there was any jumping, I do understand what you mean though, and it will feel like that to anyone who hasn't read the manga, but as i recall the manga was like this in the beginning as well, only different thing there is that you could slow down and digest the changes in time and happenings. So I guess that I'd say it might have been just a tad too fast paced.

All in all a very good episode, and I'm looking forward with anticipation to see what this anime has got to offer, especially since I've longed for this anime ever since I started reading the manga.

I agree with you about the voice actor, I would have prefered someone like Kanna Nobutoshi (Guts in Berserk) because I think Guts and Manji are more alike than Manji and Sagara Sousuke :P

[Buffalobiian]

The story is new to me, as I haven't read the manga. I have to agree that I haven't comprehended everything yet, and the skipping most likely didn't help. But it's enough to get the background as to why Manji is on his redemption now, and that there's a girl who's out there to avenge her father.

Subs are okay, but better picture quality is a must. I don't know if it's the encoder's incompetence or the small file size. Though must groups pump out 350MB releases these days, I remember Shana II looked fine at ~233MB





edit: Live-Evil is the only other group I can find who have announced their intentions to sub this.

[kAi]

Watched the first episode last night.
I can't remember exactly how the manga goes, as it has been quite some time, but from what I can remember it was something to this affect.

I'll be looking forward to more.

[Everon]

The order was changed, but I can't blame them for putting it in a different sequence. I can't picture a flashback within a flashback working well on film.

[Bread-sama]

This is bad... I thought this was going to be oversubbed.

[Munsu]

This is bad... I thought this was going to be oversubbed.
Same here... hopefully Live-eviL will release soon and make it all better.

[Buffalobiian]

Perhaps Aone will pick this up after GR II?

[Bread-sama]

No chance, too many episodes. Naruto was enough. :/

[Buffalobiian]

No chance, too many episodes. Naruto was enough. :/

As you wish. Is Mahou Showtime! incorrect in saying there's 13 eps?

http://www.mahou.org/Showtime

[Atheist]

Same here... hopefully Live-eviL will release soon and make it all better.

I am hoping with you!

[Buffalobiian]

I really don't understand why this show's been overlooked by fansubbers. Here's another episode 1 release:

FrontalWeb Fansubs - Blade of the Immortal Episode 1 (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=26697)

[Atheist]

Not so great quality :/

[Bread-sama]

Where are the thousand of speed subbers when we need them... seriously!

[Shinji Ikari]

Where are the thousand of speed subbers when we need them... seriously!

And why does not Ecplise and gg sub this series? Or aone or anbu?

[hitokiriender]

Same here... hopefully Live-eviL will release soon and make it all better.
Live-evil is known to be quite slow with their fansubs. Their quality is great but even they admit that by waiting for their fansubs, you are basically 'in it for the long haul'.

[Munsu]

Live-evil is known to be quite slow with their fansubs. Their quality is great but even they admit that by waiting for their fansubs, you are basically 'in it for the long haul'.
I know.

Actually, for new animes they have been fairly quick with most of them... the ones that they drag along are mostly their "classics" projects.

[Bread-sama]

And why does not Ecplise and gg sub this series? Or aone or anbu?
We (AonE) don't have enough people to keep a long project like this, and ANBU is pretty dead as far as I know. Don't know about the others. :D

[Shinji Ikari]

We (AonE) don't have enough people to keep a long project like this, and ANBU is pretty dead as far as I know. Don't know about the others. :D

Oh cool, I got an answer from Aone directly, didn't expect that one. It was mostly a wish since you guys do a bang-up job, can't be helped if you don't have the peops to do it.

[Buffalobiian]

We (AonE) don't have enough people to keep a long project like this, and ANBU is pretty dead as far as I know. Don't know about the others. :D

I don't get it. Is mahou wrong then?

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4323/34470056nc4.th.jpg (http://img246.imageshack.us/my.php?image=34470056nc4.jpg)

http://www.mahou.org/Showtime

[Bread-sama]

I really think they are, 13 episodes for Blade is lame.

Still waiting for a watchable release!

[Shinji Ikari]

ep 2 is out by KSN-AEN

SD version http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=10934

HD version http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=10933

[Idealistic]

Hmmm.... So the way the story has just taken off in this episode.... Maybe it really will be just 13 episodes....

[Kraco]

The video quality is strange. Can it really look like that originally? There's no clarity to be found. I hope it's just due to the raw or some encoder issue, and a better subber group would fix it. Unless all the raws look like that, and that's the exact reason why no real group has picked this one up as their project.

[tnynyn]

I hope gg picks this one up. They're great speed subbers...maybe shinsen, I like their quality, but they dont seem to be subbing as much lately.

[Buffalobiian]

[KSN-AEN]Blade of the Immortal - 03 SD[244ABCE6].avi (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=11938)

No HD release this time, says KSN, because there's no HD raw.

[Jaitne]

This one sounds interesting. Plus I heard lots of violence, that's always a plus. I haven't had the chance to watch too many samurai type shows, so.. this'll be a nice change.

[Buffalobiian]

This one sounds interesting. Plus I heard lots of violence, that's always a plus.

Didn't expect that from you Jaitne.

Good deal of action in this episodes, and I have to say that guy gave me the holy shit moment when he showed his shoulders. When I learned they were simply sewn onto this shoulder rather than graphed to his body, it was somewhat less amazing, but just as freaky. Looking forward to some good action next time, with an opponent dubbed the genius.

[Jaitne]

I've publicly announced that I've watch Elfen Lied (Animeniax thread) and that I play God of War (What made you smile today). I thought my.. like of playing/watching things like that, >.> save for some things, was kinda obvious.

Though, I keep hearing that all the quality is bad. I think I'll watch it anyway and post my fun thoughts on stuff :D

[Idealistic]

Ok... So it's been 3 episodes... This show hasn't really absorbed me yet... Perhaps a couple more episodes... Or I might have to read the manga...

I don't know.... something about it just makes this show feel boring.

[Jaitne]

I finished the first episode today. It seems kind of odd, there were only a few parts of real action, and they were all short. Though it already laid down a nice background story for it all, so everything makes sense, even if it's all kinda odd.

[Atheist]

The anime is really dissapointing atm, haven't read the manga yet. I suppose the manga is better, because the anime really sucks so far :P

[Kraco]

It's quite an excellent manga. This anime still hasn't convinced me, though. Like I said before, I think the main character's VA was miscast, and somehow the atmosphere worked better in manga all in all. Plus the video quality seems consistently dodgy to me even if it's actually the style, I don't know. And I'm not even any manga is always better lol fanboy.

[Buffalobiian]

[Nipponsei] Mugen no Juunin Original Soundtrack.zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Mugen%20no%20Juunin%20Original%2 0Soundtrack.zip.torrent)

[Buffalobiian]

[KSN-AEN]Blade of the Immortal - 04 [XviD][62E087FB].avi (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=13666)
[KSN-AEN]Blade of the Immortal - 04 [h264][5CFBAEFD].mp4 (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=13665)

[Idealistic]

Hmmm..... So are the episodes coming out slowly, or are the subbers just not caring about this show?

[Shinji Ikari]

Hmmm..... So are the episodes coming out slowly, or are the subbers just not caring about this show?

Not that it's the most reliable source, but according to wikipedia the episodes are coming out really slow.

[Buffalobiian]

Not that it's the most reliable source, but according to wikipedia the episodes are coming out really slow.

This show's airing on a fortnightly basis. Episode 5 aired on September 7th.

I don't know what to think about this show. It's interesting, somewhat, but hardly gripping.

[Kraco]

Just a swordsman:

Episode 5 - KSN (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=14662)

[Buffalobiian]

Blade of the Immortal - 06 KSN-Subs (http://forum.anirena.com/viewtracker.php?action=download&id=14855)

[Buffalobiian]

Nice cliffhanger they ended on this time. They had the poison theme going since the beginning that it didn't come out of nowhere, but still surprised me. Makes sense, if you kill the bugs, you kill Manji.

[Kraco]

It was a pretty well executed episode as well. Not only did it have two separate poisoning incidents but the new enemy for Manji is a pretty cold bastard: "Nobody is immortal. You'll find that out tonight."

Man, the cases where I'm reading the manga and watching the anime are somewhat rare but even these rare cases prove me it's exceedingly hard to comment the anime when you know what's going to happen next.

[Buffalobiian]

Blade of the Immortal - 07 (http://forum.anirena.com/viewtracker.php?action=download&id=15474)

[Munsu]

It was a pretty well executed episode as well. Not only did it have two separate poisoning incidents but the new enemy for Manji is a pretty cold bastard: "Nobody is immortal. You'll find that out tonight."

Man, the cases where I'm reading the manga and watching the anime are somewhat rare but even these rare cases prove me it's exceedingly hard to comment the anime when you know what's going to happen next.
I haven't started the series yet, but how is the adaptation going? Is it loyal? Or are they going their own way about it?

Don't really care at the moment about the VAs, level of animation, music... just on the plot related aspects.

[Kraco]

So far it has been quite faithful to the manga as far as I can remember the stuff from the beginning. I can't really recall right away anything that different.

[Buffalobiian]

EPISODE 08v2 XVID[SD]: torrent (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=42710)
EPISODE 08 h246[HQ]: torrent (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=42711)

[Buffalobiian]

Am I the only one who's finding this show a bit...disengaging? Fortnightly (supposedly) release aside, it's not really hooking me in.

[Yukimura]

I was starting to feel that way as well and considered just giving up until the most recent ep. However, the strange assassin girl managed to capture my interest as I wondered what her deal was. Since it seems like the next episode or two will also feature her I'm curious to see how things turn out, but as a whole I've been pretty underwhelmed by this series as well.

[dragonrage]

The manga is awesome. I am not easily hooked in by a manga but this one had its claws well into me.

Haven't watched the anime series since the 3rd episode, the releases are slow, but it has been good from what i have seen so far. It would be a shame to drop it. Maybe you should take a break and come back to it sometime later. It works for me since i mostly like to watch a lot of episodes all at once.

[Xelbair]

Same thing goes for .hack//sign, try to watch episodes at release date(1 per week) and you will drop this show, watch them at once - and you will love it.

[Buffalobiian]

Blade of the Immortal - 10 (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=48315)

[Kraco]

Honest people are idiots:

Episode 11 - KSN (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=48916)

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 9 for the lazy. (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=47389) - we somehow missed posting that.

The recent episodes have been pretty good. I'd hesitate to say "tighter storyline", since pacing hasn't really changed that much. Perhaps just better/more fights, or villians with interesting backstories? I don't know, but it has definitely been quite enjoyable since ~Ep 9~ 11. I might just stick around this thread a little longer.

And if anything's apparent, it's that Manji's swordsmanship really isn't that sharp, despite going through so many battles. He keeps a few surprises up his sleeve, but is otherwise fairly mediocre.

[Kraco]

Yeah, he indeed gives such an impression. He's relying on his immortality a lot when fighting against tougher opponents. Kind of a bad habit but somewhat believable.

I don't have any grave complaints about this series. I have even got used to Manji's VA by now. The episodes have also flowed pretty fluently after the beginning.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 12 (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=50152)

[Buffalobiian]

Blade of the Immortal - 13 (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=56389)

[Buffalobiian]

That's it? That's the final episode? When the wind starts blowing, determination starts rising, and shit starts happening, they go "Thanks for watching"?

That sucks. :(

Episode 13 actually aired Dec 28th 2008, and since them I've heard no news of a sequel being planned or anything, suggesting that this was just some candy material to introduce the manga to anime fans, as well as the manga fans who want some motion picture.

These last few eps feel pretty decent, and so I was hoping this was going to be one of those series that start off slow with heaps of background and foundation laying before moving in for the bigger picture.

It's semi-complete in a sense I guess. Rin got revenge on the people who directly assaulted her parents, which was really all that mattered. The main guy too, for bringing them there.

More specifically on the episode, Manji's moves were pretty cool. I'm not sure if it's just Rin symbolically imagining Manji as the enemy to make her training more real, but it makes sense that Manji should be able to learn some really sweet techniques from all his past enemies. "What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger" as they put it, and since Manji just can't be killed (conventionally), he could potentially force the best moves out of his opponents and absorb it all. Why he hasn't used any of that till now is still rather confusing. Perhaps it's because he's never been in a life or death situation these last decades?


I'm sort of tempted to read the manga, since Ittouryou's finally found a rivaling school and a backstabber. I'll give this a decent rating. It's got good parts, but lately BeeTrain hasn't really been putting out anything of quality. A second season isn't unwelcome.

[Munsu]

Looks like we're potentially getting another anime:

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-05-10/afternoon-magazine-lists-new-anime-for-hiroaki-samura-blade-of-the-immortal-manga/.146511

It announces a sequel manga, and some anime project.

Seeing this I recalled that I didn't finish the manga (doing so now) and didn't watch the anime. Just watched the first episode, and recalled why I didn't. As I thought back then, Bee Train was a poor choice to handle this, the atmosphere is all wrong, and as others mentioned in the thread, the VA was a complete miscast.

In any case, a new series is more than welcome, and with Bee Train for all intents and purposes dead, crossing fingers that someone else does the series justice even if it's a continuation.

[Buffalobiian]

I had no recollection from this series aside from the general setting and knowing that I had watched it.

Just read my post from above and it seems I was keen for a sequel, so.. yeah, guess I'm keen lol

[Munsu]

Well, I wasn't expecting this yet (anichart doesn't have it listed under TV), but this series began this month. We're already 4 episodes in, it's also airing on Amazon Prime.

Watched the opening a bit to see how it looked, looks like they're going for stylish and bloody. At the very least, I think the main VA is much more fitting this time around.

[Kraco]

They were certainly going very heavily for their own style, to the point I found it a bit distracting. I've only watched the first couple of eps so far, but I intend to keep watching for the time being. It's such a jolly story.

[Kraco]

Ep 4


- - - -


I got used to the director's artistic choices. This has been pretty good so far. The character designs aren't super cute, which suits the story.

[neflight86]

Read some of the manga back in the day, but sadly, three episodes in, this adaptation was a bit too "art house" for my liking, and the fights lacked tension, choreography, and payoff. Couldn't get into it, not to mention the seiyu for the main character is in like three other shows this season, playing almost the same character...

Hope y'all enjoy it more than I did.

[Kraco]

You should at least finish the manga. It's pretty good. As far as I can remember, it didn't also lose steam towards the end like many others. Although I don't remember it truly well, so I might be wrong.



Episode 5



-- - - -


Dude travelled to Tibet and found some malaria medicine.

[Kraco]

Episode 6


-- - - -


I don't remember the manga so well, but I'm sure reading it I was also thinking what an idiotic man. If he had just done what Rin demanded, he could have kept living with his son, who would have remained none the wiser. But instead he thought he should, unnecessarily, hide a murder with another murder. Right within the walls of his own home, to boot.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm pretty sure more than half of his motivation is to murder Rin just like her mother. The dude is evil. Rediscovering fatherhood doesn't change that.

I don't like how inept Manji is. He is getting beat down all the time, this time by a dude with no weapon...

[Kraco]

I don't like how inept Manji is. He is getting beat down all the time, this time by a dude with no weapon...

It's actually quite interesting how he's no genius fighter. He has quite a lot of experience; without it he would totally suck, I'd say. His greatest strength, which he's constantly abusing, is the immortality. All the Itto-ryo people they have so far encountered have been vastly better than Manji.

I do admit, however, that even though it's interesting, it's also annoying.