anime: Blade of the Immortal: ep 1

[meganbmoore]

I should state up front that not only is Blade of the Immortal my favorite manga ever(its status was threatened a bit during the never ending prison arc, but it still wins) it's WHY I'm into anime and manga. For those of you who have known me long enough, around 2001~, I was very vehement about not reading manga. Mostly, I didn't care for the art style, didn't want to read backwards, and was generally pissy about US comics trying to mimic it and making reading issues as they came out ANNOYING. But people kept telling me and telling me that it was good and I'd like the stories, and the art would grow on me, etc. etc., so I started picking up some odds and ends, mostly manhwa (Hey, want to build up an immunity to the stuff manga and manhwa can churn out? Start with Les Bijoux!) and some older flipped Viz stuff, and I acknowledged that it was better than I thought, but I still wasn't incredibly into it. But I kept seeing this flipped manga that sounded interesting and had very different art, and I was curious, but it was priced higher than the rest. I asked around a bit and decided to try it out, and I was completely addicted by the end of the first volume and had ordered and read all the other available trades within a few weeks. And then I needed more stuff like it so I found and started reading other samurai manga-Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vagabond...Lone Wolf and Cub and I, sadly, did not click well, what with every woman in it being evil, a prostitute, dead, or some combination...I do appreciate its value, though-and I eventually became the manga loving psycho I am today.

Blah blah blah, testimonial over.

The point is, they will never make an anime I anticipate or fear as much as this one.

The basic plot is this(much of this is revealed in the first episode, all in the first few chapters of the manga, skip these two paragraphs if that's too many spoilers): In the Edo period, a man named Manji killed his master after learning he was corrupt. Manji was declared an outlaw, and over the next 2 years, he killed 100 men who were sent after him. One day, he ended up in the village where his sister, Machi, lived. Manji fought and killed Machi's husband, not realizing who he fought until he saw Machi as he was killing him. Seeing her brother cut her husband into pieces in front of her drove Machi mad, reducing her mind to that of a child. Of course, having to take care of a mad sister doesn't exactly make people decide to stop hunting you. Somewhere along the way, Manji met an immortal nun who (apparently against his will) made him immortal by stuffing him full of worms that heal him from any enemies. Eventually, Machi is killed by Manji's pusuers, and after he avenges their deaths, he makes a deal with the nun: He'll kill a thousand evil men to atone for the hundred good men he killed, if she'll finally let him die.

Also in Edo is a teenaged girl name Rin. Two years ago, her parents were murdered in front of her by a rogue band called the Itto-Ryu. Unable to get revenge on her own, she eventually stumbles across the nun, who suggest she get herself a bodyguard. It should be obvious who she suggests. So Manji and Rin make a deal: he'll take care of her for four years while she seeks her revenge. As long as he keeps her safe, he's free to use or sell her as he wishes (the likelihood of him following up on that is already obvious at that point) but if she's ever hurt, the service is free.

SPOILERS OVER.

If you've ever seen the artwork for BOTI, you know that there's no way it could ever possibly be transferred to anime form. See this post? The interior art looks exactly the same, only without color. See also this post. Or this one. As you can see, there's simply NO WAY those designs or that style of storytelling will transfer well. You'd see it a lot better if I actually had or knew of some posts with action sequences from the manga.

My fear regarding the anime art was that they would make it too stylized. Instead, they went with streamlined, more simple versions of the designs. For the most part, I think it works pretty well. If you don't think about Hiroaki Samura's artwork, the anime art is excellent. Unfortunately, they seem to be trying to overcompensate for that and the anime fighting slash lines by very stylized death scenes. The opening and ending credits are gorgeous, but there are random modern skylines that jar me. And a couple "WTF??" shots, ONE OF WHICH GOT IT'S OWN POST! (Unfortunately, I don't think I care much for the song.)

As far as the story and characterization goes, so far, everything seems pretty spot on. A few things have been moved forward a bit, and one character who doesn't show up until later in the manga is very briefly seen in the episode. While the cameo is anime-original, what the character is doing fits with what's going on with them later in the manga, so I'm not worried about it. The darker elements of the story are definitely still there, but they seem to be slightly cleaned up. We'll know for sure how far the anime will go when it fully gets into the night Rin's parents died.

I'm not sure what i think about Manji's voice, though. I'd never really thought about how Manji would sound, but he doesn't sound as laid back as he should. The other voices, though, seem ok so far.

At this point, I give it a tentative thumbs up. If I weren't used to the manga, I'd probably be flailing all over the place. But if you've read the manga, you know the real tests are soon to come.

Screencaps:












The opening credits. Warning: includes nudity.

Comments

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

Oh man, you would not believe how excited I am about this. I have to wait a bit so that this torrent I'm downloading finishes, but after that I'm downloading this baby as quickly as I can.

I'm terrified about how Manji's and Rin's voices will sound. ( Voices are something I'm very picky about) From the screencaps and vids on youtube, I think the art came out pretty well. Everyone knew that they wouldn't be able to copy the art from the manga and I'm glad that they didn't try to. Some types of artwork don't translate well at all and when you try to force that onto a tv screen you end up with stuff like the Wallflower anime, and NOBODY wants a repeat of that.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

With the possible exception of the fight scenes(I'm waiting to see more before casting a final judgement) I think they made the best visual choices they could.

So far, Rin, Anotsu, Hyakurin and Habaki's voices seem pretty good, even though all only had a few words. Manji's voice isn't bad, it's just...if it makes sense, it's too angsty noble samurai. It should be kinda laid back sardonic, rough around the edges, maybe.

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

Manji's voice isn't bad, it's just...if it makes sense, it's too angsty noble samurai.


AHAHAHAHAHAHA!


If Manji ends up sounding emo, I think I'll either die from laughter or poke my eardrums out and save myself the pain. Either seems possible.

[hello-scorpling.livejournal.com]

'Sup, drive-by commenter. :)

I pretty much agree with all you said here, especially about Manji and his voice. No, I like his voice, and he gets some really great acting, but...yeah. A little too angsty for me. I rambled on about it in my own review here (http://hello-scorpling.livejournal.com/65100.html), sounding a lot dumber than you did here, haha.

Thanks a lot for uploading the screencaps! Even if the anime can never ever get as amazing as the manga, I'm still looking forward to seeing some pretty graphics, hopefully. :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*waves*

Manji's voice has every right to be angsty, what with the whole bit where he became an outlaw for killing an evil man and then accidentally drove his sister mad then got her killed. That's enough angst for anyone! But his voice should be more laid back and even a bit self hating and disgustedly amused with the world. Then again, we've really only heard him as he's about to become the Manji we love. He could sound more like what we expect in future episodes.

Honestly, when it's viewed completely independently of the manga, the anime art is pretty darn spiffy. It's only when we start comparing and when it tries too hard to compensate in the fights that we have issues.

[hello-scorpling.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree, it's just. In the manga he never really gets a chance to get that down, Samura always throws in some comic relief somewhere or lets his own laid-back attitude stop him before it goes into proper angsty here-mode. In the anime...it still wasn't so much as to be annoying, but I guess I miss the mood of the original manga a bit.

There's definitely hope for the future, though. Definitely. And...I like the art of the anime, it's a lot better than I had hoped for. I just. Machi's death scene was not...what I had hoped for, r-rofl.

Also, UM do you mind if I friend you? I'm always eager to meet more Boti fans. :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Machi's death was a little too cleaned up.

Feel free! I shall friend you back.

[hello-scorpling.livejournal.com]

Added.

gfhd You like Claymore, too? Good taste.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yup. I only got into it this year, but right now, it's pretty much my favorite shounen. Though I suspect that Fullmetal Alchemist will claim that prize in the end.

[sureasdawn.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree with you on everything, except that I really like Manji's voice.

The last fight was so over the top I was reminded of the Ninja Scroll anime, particularly when he cut the manji into the guy's face. I have a feeling I'm going to be comparing this to Ninja Scroll a lot.

Lol, he was carrying his foot in his kimono.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I like the voice in general principle, I'm just hoping he has Manji's laidback-ness and mocking in future episodes.

Out of curiosity(as I don't think we've ever discussed it) have you read the manga?

[sureasdawn.livejournal.com]

Yes. I own all of the ones that are out in the US. I just picked up Badger Hole last week. Lots of women kicking butt in that one. I love it muchly, and I really want the anime to do it justice. :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool. I read MOST of that in monthly form as it was coming out. I'm waiting for rightstuf to send me the trade, now.

I want to find someone who's getting introduced via the anime, to see what they think of it. I suspect, though, that it'll mostly be watched by manga fans.

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your "catalogue raisonnée" of things BotI and the first episode. :-) I've come here via your post @ thegathering.

Oh gods, I've been so afraid of this thing. I've been reading/gobbling up BotI since 1996 - my "first, last and always" manga love, I can safely say that....

And like you, I think this series is pretty much the litmus test for the genre, at least art-wise; it bridges the gap between literature and film like very few graphic novels do, really justifying the term "the eighth art" for comics/manga - for art it is, and Samura's pen and ink work like Akira Kurosawa's film lenses - his sequences, the narrative "editing", the "shots" - it's all so incredibly cinematographic. Obviously, that's what makes it nearly impossible to animate conventionally - unless the studio went with a much, much bolder approach. The dynamics of Samura's bold'n'sloppy zen-like brushstrokes, his clever directing of sightlines - that all defies run-of-the-mill animation, I believe. My personal jury is still out on the 1st episode, which I watched last night, pretty much trembling all the way. The rather ghastly music is a major stumbling block that might keep me from rewatching, I confess.

It was a surprise to see Habaki already - that could suggest the studio already knows how Samura will wrap up the series.... what do you think?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I...I...I am ignoring the music. It's not the worst soundtrack ever, but also far from the best. I'm chalking it up to their trying to maintain the anachronistic feel.

Based on this episode, it looks like they realize they can't get the art the way it is in the manga, and, aside from the slashes and a bit of oddness in the fights, are mostly focusing on plot and character, which is for the best. If the live action movie really does come to pass, I suspect it'll be able to come closer to getting the visual effects of the manga.

I think we saw Rin, Habaki and Anotsu, and Hyakurin in this episode both to hint at things to come and the bigger story, and to save time later on. Samura had all the time in the world to add characters and alliances and backgrounds and such, but the anime is on more of a schedule. Showing these things now saves a bit of time later. I've seen the anime listed as both 13 and 26 episodes, so I guess we'll see how it goes.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Surprise, surprise, we agree. ;)

I've seen some people really complaining about Hyakurin appearing so early but it's not like she changes the entire direction of the storyline (right now, anyway) and her actions are in line with what we know the Mugai-ryu has been doing.

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

A live action movie would make me keel over, I swear. *g* Can I lobby for Gomoto Naoya to play Kagehisa? Oh, that would be the spiffiest thing.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I don't know why they'd complain. It was about 10 seconds, and we know that they were looking for him. (Though I had the impression they didn't start looking for him until a bit later.) Really, I think the things we saw in the ep that "shouldn't be there" were just to save time later. I mean, the ep itself was a touch slowly paced (to tell the tale of Manji's Deep and Tragaic Angst) but I'm sure they know they have more time constraints than Samura.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I honestly think they're just looking for things to hate.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Pft. We already knew that!

[artillie.livejournal.com]

In your humble opinion, should I read the manga or watch the show first? I've been meaning to hunt the manga down ever since I saw your post on it (the second one you link to), but I've never gotten around to it. The cover art is gorgeous. I must get around to it ASAP.

My English teacher last year, who was the one who got me into American comics and who is probably one of the biggest geeks I have ever known, plugged Lone Wolf and Cub to me. You forgot to mention that if they weren't evil, dead, or prostitutes, they were getting raped. I still liked it, despite the occasional squick moment.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

True. They were raped and became evil, raped and became prostitutes, or were raped and died. I dumped Samurai Executioner after one volume because it stated that if she didn't fall in love with him because he raped her, then he would kill her and she'd deserve it. Good stories, but the trappings were beyond my ability to tolerate.

As far as BOTI goes...well, with only 1 episode of the anime out, we can't really say how it'll go. At this point, I'd say check out the anime to see if it looks like you'd like it, then die trying to get the manga.

[artillie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like it. I like it a lot. I mean, the music wasn't up to my usual standards (the only reason I bothered with the Tsubasa anime was to hear the music), and it was poorly used, but it wasn't bad. Except for the music in the end scene. That was bad.

I'm totally getting the manga.