Series: Blade Of The Immortal - Volume 3
Release date: 10th January 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 100 mins
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Starring: N/a
Genre: Anime
Studio: MVM
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
The third volume of Koichi Mashimo’s Blade Of The Immortal anime, an adaptation of the manga series of the same name by Hiroaki Samura, brings the first series to a close with four climatic episodes.
The volume sees the immortal samurai Manji and Rin, the young girl he has vowed to protect, continue on their quest to find and kill the members of the Ittō-ryū to satisfy Rin’s thirst for revenge following the murder of her mother and father at the hands of the rogue dojo’s leaders…
In the first episode of the volume, the tenth of the series, Mask Of Change, our heroes take a welcome break from the action-packed slaughter of the previous few episodes and enjoy the surroundings of a festival. A chance encounter with a mask maker at the festival and his son leads to an unusual confrontation with one of the Ittō-ryū who raped Rin’s mother.
At times the dialogue in Blade Of The Immortal can become clunky in its unremitting attempt to be at all times profoundly exploring the meaning of life and death, revenge and forgiveness, yet the patient discussion over tea between Rin and Araya Kawakami is full of heartfelt truth on both sides and builds to a tense finale.
The viewers patience is paid off, too, as Manji arrives in time to bring his no-nonsense badass stab-first-talk-later attitude to bear in the next episode, and the fight at close quarters with short blades is just as exhilarating and well conceived in terms of animation and direction as any battle in previous episodes.
The animation continues to be solid and engaging, with clever tropes well used and not over-relied on, and the combat scenes imaginatively designed. As one might expect for an anime about an immortal samurai carrying such a vast array of sharp objects as Manji does, the series is no stranger to gushing blood and violence. However, the creative fight sequences, relieved by affecting exchanges of dialogue between the protagonists and those they meet on the road never allow the violence to become mundane.
This is particularly true in the concluding episodes of the volume when, having retreated to the country to train, Rin encounter’s Anotsu, the Ittō-ryū’s ambitious leader and the ruthless architect of her family’s murder. As in the previous encounter with the mask maker, the dialogue delves deeper in to the past and the reasons behind the Ittō-ryū’s rise to power.
One of the triumph’s of Koichi Mashimo’s adaptation of the story is his ability to build the tension to a simmer and keep it there, almost without being noticed, only to surge forth and award meditation with energetic fight scenes; his ability to engage the audience equally in the musings of Anotsu on the philosophy of the sword, as he does in the rampaging combat of Manji. Mashimo combines in Blade Of The Immortal both these stalwarts of samurai anime, and this volume will satisfy any true aficionado of the genre. A particular scene where Anotsu’s mastery of gentle violence, the paradox of fighting philosophy, is deftly demonstrated shows him slicing falling leaves with a colossal axe. The set piece is indicative of the whole volume: it looks cool, but suggests a little something to reveal below the surface. This suggestion comes from the presence of Rin who watches on unnoticed.
Blade Of The Immortal has more to offer beyond sword swinging and an appreciation of martial arts theory, and it is Rin who ties the combat scenes and an abstract admiration of the minutiae of swordplay to something more real. Her quest for revenge, her fluctuating self-doubt and assurance, make her the emotional heart of the story, acting as a foil to Manji’s jaded cynic, and thus driving him and the narrative forward. The interaction of the two gets a little more screen time in this unhurried volume, providing humour and a hint of affection, adding another layer to the slowly more complex characters.
Although the dialogue is suitably mystical and dreamy for the subject matter, it is sometimes overly so, and could do with pairing back slightly. So, too, with Kô Ôtani’s soundtrack; it helps to juxtapose the fighting and the more measured scenes of dialogue, and makes effectively haunting use of traditional shamisen music, yet it can be obtrusive, especially when the traditional makes way for modern driving guitar typical of anime combat.
The slight flaw of sometimes over-egging it is less prevalent in this final volume, which makes it all the more watchable as the charm of its animation, story and characters are allowed to shine the brighter.
Blade Of The Immortal is definitely at its best when embracing this less is more philosophy, and the final volume of the series is testament to that. The measured pace of the series finale is against the grain of concluding episodes generally, denying an explosive cliff-hanger, yet achieves the same aims admirably. The audience are left with a thirst for more; we have been allowed to peek at certain things, shown possible directions the characters may take, and tantalised rather than let down by an anti-climatic final showdown. There has been no word as yet of a second series, which would be a great shame – the third volume is an improvement, but it is not the polished finished article yet, so it would be great to see where it can be taken. GC
