art: Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura

[meganbmoore]

 Urm...originally I was just going to post a bunch of Manji and Rin covers, then I just kinda kept uploading a bunch of other things.    I have an odd obsession with Manji/Rin pics.  Not in a shippy way, I just like them.  Probably the "big tough scarred guy and teeny cute little(teenaged) girl" thing...

Anyway, I bring you Blade of the Immortal picspam.

See?  Big tough guy, teeny little cute girl.



And this one:



But what's with this one?



Or this?



Manji pretending to be a calm and peaceful samurai:



Random Anotsu:



Followed by bloody Anotsu(but not his):



And another non-bloody one...



I've never cared a lot for the coloring on this one, but I still like it:



I really like the imagery on this one:



And this one:



This is one of my absolute favorite BotI pics:



Random Magatsu:  Girls may die on him, but at least he gets trinkets to keep:




Aaaaawww....



Ok, this one is interior art that Dark Horse used as a cover, but without context, it looks rather...well...



Look grumpy aaaaallllll you want, Manji:



Random pensive Giichi:



Followed by random pensive Rin:



Random suspicious looking Magatsu:



But seriously, what's up with this one?



Or this?



Or this?  (let's face it, sleeping or no, any other hand would get lopped off...)



Manji and Magatsu pretending they don't like each other:



Ok, seriously, where the heck does Manji keep all these?  Granted, accidental stabbing isn't an isue with him, but...



Random Hyakurin:



Followed by another:



Random Magatsu vs Giichi:



See this one?  It could be a cute brother/sister thing, but it borders on hinting other things...



Rin finds all this exhausting:




Random Shira:



Sometimes the solo-Rin covers make me wonder, like this one:



Or this one:



But not this one:



There should be solo Manjis, too:





I had a coworker once who read my copies.  When I brought her this one, the rubbed the cover against her face...



This one she just stared at.  Maybe she wasn't crushing quite as much at that point:




A few interior Magatsu pics:

One of my fave BotI pics(and the first time we see Magatsu:



Vaguely spoilerish the next 3 pics...




NO MAGATSU! TAKE HER WITH YOU! TRUST ME!



You will not stay relieved.  Soon, you shall be sad: like this...



Looking down on Manji:



A couple black and white Rin pics:

I just like the imagery in this one:



This one's just pretty:

I want you all to know that my internet went out 3 times making this...

Comments

[madame-manga.livejournal.com]

Very, very pretty. :D

No one who reads my fic would credit it, probably, but I don't ship Manji/Rin either, not in the true believer fanshipping sense that wants to see it in canon. It's an interesting and complicated possibility that hovers in the background (and sometimes asserts itself straight into the foreground) but it breaks things if it actually happens. Breaking stuff that shouldn't be broken is how you generate fic plots, natch...

*must now pore over personal BotI collection all evening*

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Samura has it set up so that it could eventually develop(if anyone actually lives through the series...) On the one hand, Manji does primarily treat her as a little sister, but there are times that indicate he might be waiting...his "my woman" line is a good indicator, but at the same time, he uses it when he's extremely pissed and people are messing with Rin and he wants to scare the *hem* out of them. He doesn't contradict people when they refer to her as being "his girlie" though, and he's made a few comments that indicate he's aware of her in the man/woman way. We know he started protecting Rin because she reminded him of his sister, but aside from his obvious devotion, there does seem to be a bit of ambiguity on Samura's as to just what Manji's current feelings or plans for Rin are.

On the flipside, there's really nothing ambiguous on the Rin front. She has a mixture of a blatant schoolgirl cruh on him and flatout little sis to big brother adoration and bickering. The girl wears everything on her sleeve, and her reactions to his crass comments and other women around him fit with both. Where Samura seems to be a bit ambiguous with Manji, he seems to simply make Rin a normal girl.

Hrm...all this makes it sound like I analyze their relationship but...I don't(I just obses over most things BotI.) I love it the way it is in canon and I don't want or expect anything romantic to develop, but at the same time, I won't freak out if something does.

[madame-manga.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! Samura is awesomely good at that delicate balance -- does he or doesn't he? You could go on for ages about the factors on one side or the other.

*vague spoiler* That continues in upcoming issues, and it's a beautiful thing to see. He takes it even closer to the line -- Manji can be a terrible tease, such as in the scene during Dreamsong -- but as always, everything he does can be read in a number of ways. If the relationship ever does break out into something definite, I trust the creator to do it right... which certainly hasn't been the case with various other couples I have shipped, in any sense. :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

I tend to think that a large portion of hi outward behavior is to make others think that she's "his" so they'll stay away (such as the "my woman" in Last Blood) One thing that interests me is that Magatsu seems to have a good handle on the relationship(it's very similar to his relationship with O-Ren in some ways) and he's done the "your girlie" "your man" thing himself. Though, the "your man" was in front of the other Itto Ryu guys, and he seemed generally pissed off that he was involved in that whole thing in the first place.

It is interesting, though. Most of the relationships in the series really aren't incredibly clear cut...