Series: Blade Of The Immortal - Volume 1
Release date: 4th October 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 125 mins
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Starring: N/a
Genre: Anime
Studio: MVM
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Blade Of The Immortal - Volume 1 consists of the first five episodes in the thirteen-part Japanese anime-style television series. Each episode focuses on different aspects and themes, with the titles: Sinner, Conquest, Love Song, Genius and Prisoner.
Manji (Tomokazu Seki) was a samurai warrior serving an evil master. When Manji decided to rebel against and ultimately kill his master, however, he also killed 100 fellow warriors who remained committed in their servitude.
Looked upon as a beast and a monster for his actions, Manji is haunted by his deed, and is referred to as Manji “with the 100 killings” wherever he goes. Blessed (or cursed) by an ancient mystic woman with immortality, Manji protects his fragile sister Machi from harm, even while dealing with the dilemma that he killed her husband as one of the 100 killings.
However, in a confrontation between Manji and another bitter rival, Machi dies at the hand of her brother’s vicious foe. In his grief, and as a way of penance for his murderous acts, the unconventional samurai warrior vows to redeem himself by killing 1000 evil men, whilst seeking an end to his curse of perpetual life in order to die an honourable death.
On his travels, Manji meets Rin (Mela Lee), a girl who seeks revenge for her father’s murder at the hands of the notorious Itto-ryu dojo group. Together, Manji and Rin strike out against the dojo and its followers in a trail of blood and brutality, as they seek the members of the group responsible for the reprehensible crime committed against Rin’s family…
The anime style of Blade Of The Immortal is hugely effective in evoking a sense of Japan in the time of the samurai, in addition to the levels of bloodletting and violence that comes with the territory of being a warrior. Indeed, there is a level of detail and often macabre beauty in the animation that brings a strange sense of hard-hitting realism to events, even in the midst of ultraviolent deaths and fight scenes. In many ways, the pain of the characters – even the immortal Manji suffers – can be felt in the brutality of the visuals. Splashes of blood red are common throughout the episodic series, in some cases highly contrasting with dark, almost black-and-white backgrounds to create a semi-chiaroscuro effect. For instance, this is used to startling effect in Rin’s flashback sequences in recalling her father’s death, and in the opening blood-spraying sequence of episode four.
The interaction of Manji and Rin is central to the story of Blade Of The Immortal, and the continuing theme of Manji acting as Rin’s protector in the wake of his sister’s death is an engaging and often touching element. There is a clear story arc for Manji as the story progresses, and he grows to truly care for Rin, such as in episode five where he fights a shockingly formidable opponent to win back the stolen sword of Rin’s father. However, the interaction between Manji and Rin is also prone to cliché, where some elements of the dialogue (“will Manji save the girl, or will the girl save him?”) and Rin’s seemingly constant flashbacks to her past can occasionally grate when viewed as a whole.
Yet there are many hugely intriguing and engaging moral questions raised by the characters in Blade Of The Immortal, and a sense of spirituality that is again wonderfully evocative of Japan in the era of the samurai. Manji as the ‘immortal’ of the show’s title is a complex hero, who bears the weight of a dark past filled with regrets and bad deeds. He is a man immersed in his search of spiritual enlightenment and atonement for his sins, where he even wears the sign of a swastika (a symbol with a deep spiritual meaning in Eastern culture) on his back. At one stage, Manji says to Rin that he must know who is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ before striking out at evil, when Manji himself is equally capable of morally murky powers of destruction, also used by those he deems to be ‘bad’.
Of course, the main antagonists in the members of the Itto-ryu are overtly evil, where Manji has no qualms in setting about creating their destruction in honour of his pledge to himself and Rin. In one of the standout sequences of the series, in episode three, Rin comes across the man responsible for killing her father. This is a hulking warrior in full fearsome samurai regalia, and when he is unmasked, it is revealed that he is wearing the heads of his ex-wife and another person who was close to Rin - both stapled to his shoulders as sadistic mementoes of death. The killer has fallen for Rin to the extent that he wants to kill her as an ultimate “expression of love” (even going as far as to promise to remove his former wife’s head and replace it with Rin’s on his shoulder); an example which highlights the sheer darkness of this tale of emotional anguish and retribution in an effectively gruesome way.
Blade Of The Immortal - Volume 1 is an anime series well worth following. In spite of some clunky dialogue and clichéd elements (and, as a sidenote, quite frankly irritating title and end credit theme songs), the show also raises a great deal of intriguing moral and spiritual questions. It is also a visually superior production, bringing to life the brutality of the ways of the samurai as well as highlighting the moral dilemmas of one who is capable of destruction whilst on a path to enlightenment. DB
No comments:
Post a Comment