Reviews

Blade of the Immortal Volume 1: Blood of a Thousand by Hiroaki Samura

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crookedtreehouse's review

4.0

Purely from the point of view of the pencilling in this book, this is a 6/5 star book, and I've never seen any other manga above 4/5. The panelling is gorgeous, the two page spreads are exquisite, and it's one of the very few books that I'm glad hasn't had a version with inks or colors.

From a storytelling angle, this book takes a while to find its footing. Its concept is fantastic, a modern samurai has killed 100 good people, and also been gifted with worms that make him immortal. He decides that, to atone for the 100 deaths he's responsible for, he must now kill 1,000 bad people.

Unfortunately, the first issue has problems setting the groundwork. The timing of the events is unclear, it seems to be swaying between the actual story and the flashbacks with no way to discern them, and then it throws a major death in out of nowhere, and doesn't give it the emotional heft it needs, as it's supposed to be The Driving Factor in the character's road to redemption.

But once Samura gets past the first chapter, the story is compelling, easy to follow, and just gorgeously pencilled. I'm sure there are classes, if not entire courses on manga art that focus on Samura's process.

I recommend this to anyone looking to get into manga. It's violent, but it's not gorey, and it's not As Violent as you may imagine. There's a wonderful comedy scene where a massive battle is going on with multiple deaths but you're watching someone try and figure out what color they want to use to make a painting while you overhear the protagonists' battle taking place off panel. It's a great mix of drama, comedy, and art. I have a feeling most future volumes will be five star books, as Samura seems to get a handle on his pacing problem as soon as the econd chapter began.

floyd_jpg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

koseto_tliterature's review

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

xylem's review

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4.0

Blade of the Immortal seems to be the classic rollicking samurai tale - lots of blood, guts, and sword action. But underneath all of that, we get gorgeous art and a solid start. Manji has been cursed to live eternally, suffering for days on out while reliving the nightmares of his past actions and kills - the shame of hurting his sister's husband, the guilt at seeing his sister's present state, and the loneliness that living forever brings. However, if Manji can kill 1000 evil men, he will be able to break his curse of immortality.

Volume 1 wastes no time with this premise, and launches immediately into the story of Rin, a young girl, motivated by her past to seek out Manji. Hiroaki Samura's art is flawless, as any review will tell you, the brush strokes are smooth, a little on the light site, but finely shaded to be perceived as intricate and pleasing to the eye. The detail in some pages and character designs is extraordinary; this is a series to read for art itself, if not plot. So far, in Volume 1, the mangaka has built a strong base for the rest of the series to expand and crafted likable and capable characters, even if they spend all their time killing others. Best of all, there's room for even more plot development, background stories and subplots. I foresee this to be a grand manga, an epic, a classic of the samurai realm.

Blade of the Immortal has been hailed as one of the classic samurai stories of manga, and I couldn't agree more so far. Hiroaki Samura has managed to enchant readers into a world of samurai war while keeping the same traditional spirit of Japan alive. On par, or even above, any other samurai story, Blade of the Immortal proves to be worthy of the praise it has received.

pomtaro's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

eleven_hummingbird's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An immortal swordsman joins a young girl on a quest for revenge. The artwork is excellent, if grusome, with some wonderfully drawn two-page pieces. The contrast between characters is delightful, even if the characters themselves lack resonance. Full-throttle violence and tragedy.

imakandiway's review

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5.0

Muito bem impressionado. Tirando o pormenor da imortalidade é aquilo que se espera (e quer), um conjunto de boas histórias de samurais, à moda antiga, com a visceral mistura de beleza com morte. Espero que a série continue a este nível.