Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Blade of the Immortal: Cry of the Worm by Hiroaki Samura ISBN: 1-56971-300-6 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An awesome story with fantastic art
Comment: This is part 2 of a story of an immortal samurai who must kill 1,000 evil men to atone for his past sins. In order to facilitate his task he joins up with a young girl who is bent on avenging her dead family. Together they fight and kill each one of the Itto-Ryu, the men who killed the young girl's family. This manga is one of the best. I didn't like this series much until I read Cry of the Worm. The artwork is fantastic and the death scenes are awesome. Also all the weapons in it are really cool. If you get the first book, Blood of a Thousand, be sure to get this one too. I'm writing this because the other person gave it four stars. it's really a five.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best manga translation on the stands.
Comment: I stumbled onto "Blade of the Immortal" translations in comic book format. Attracted by the art, and the unusally deep dialogue between the opponents (as dramatic as Kazou Kioke's "Lone Wolf and Cub", but much more up-to-date in sensibility and subject matter) I immediately began looking for back issues, which was difficult. Many retailers don't seem to order many issues of this book. Fortunately the trade paperbacks started coming out soon after.
"Blade of the Immortal" starts off as a fairly typical samurai revenge story, with some unusual horror movie twists. We meet Manji, a guilt-ridden outlaw and expert swordsman, who is cursed with an odd form of immortality. No matter how grievously he is injured, he cannot die. Manji makes a deal with a magical buddhist nun. He will gain the release of death, if he slays 1000 evil men. Soon we meet Rin, a young girl, the daughter of a swordsmanship teacher who witnessed the horrific murder of her parents at the hands of the Itto-Ryu, a renegade sword school. Tortured by nightmares, she seeks revenge, but realizing she has no hope of surviving a direct confrontation with even one Itto-Ryu swordsman, she convinces Manji to serve as her bodyguard and stand in. Taking up Rin's quest seems a perfect confluence of both of their desires: her need to put her parents memory to rest, his to earn his redemption.
The stories take you through dramatic encounters with various members of the sword school. All are dangerous swordsmen with unique styles of combat. Some are quite literally monsters. Each has a unique story, an unique reason for having become a renegade, and this becomes the source of much thought provoking drama before, during and after the battles. All are memorable characters, in particular Shimuzu (Book Two: "Cry of the Worm"), a fellow immortal and Maki, a swordswoman forced into prostitution who fights like the wind (Book 3: "Dreamsong").
Harioki Samura has great timing, the panel layouts make the fight scenes breathtaking and exciting. Also wonderful is the developing relationship between Manji and Rin, a kind of older brother, little sister dynamic that lends the book much humor and necessary warmth (given the bloodiness of the battles).
Beginning with "Rins Bane" (Book 4) Rin's internal debate about the morality and human costs of her quest, takes center stage, and make this one of the deepest and most interesting books to cross the Pacific in years. There's still plenty of action, and the relationship between Rin and Manji continues to deepen, but it's the debates about the sanity of the bushido code, about memory, about filial duty, and hints of political intrigue to come, that make this book an thought provoking and engrossing read.
If you have any taste for the high drama and action, as well as the deeper issues running through comic books like "the Authority", you have to give "Blade" a try. This is the best dramatic manga translation I've read, and it compares favorably with "Lone Wolf & Cub" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion". I really don't think you will be disappointed.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Burden of Forever
Comment: Having been introduced to Rin and Manji in Volume 1 ('Death of a Thousand'), and given a taste of the nature of their confrontation with the Itto-Ryu sword school, we now enter the real rhythm of the story telling. At first glance, we are tempted to write this off as yet another samurai slasher, with its clear-cut division between good and evil. But Hiroaki Samura has other plans, and 'Cry of the Worm' is his first step in muddying the waters.
In the first episode ('The Fanatic'), Rin sees Magatsu Taito, one of the assassins, having her dead father's sword sharpened. When she voices her outrage, she catapults Manji into another fight sequence, this time to recover the weapon. Manji's method of regaining the sword is painful (to say the least), and young Rin begins to understand that her desire for vengeance has a price.
Manji's immortality depends on a type of bloodworm that cares for its host by healing all wounds. Manji has yet to deal with the long-term effects of gift, and is not completely prepared when he meets Erika Shizuma, another Itto-Ryu at a way station inn. Shizuma tries to involve Manji in a plot to overthrow the leader of the Itto-Ryu. Properly suspicious, Manji refuses, and in the following scuffle discovers that Shizuma is also infected with the worms.
The conflict between Manji and Shizuma become an inquest into the realities of immortal life. He is a mirror that forces Manji to look at own commitments. In addition, he provides a somewhat different insight into the Itto-Ryu than we have had so far. If their tactics are grim, their motives are not completely selfish. They are a natural reaction to the excessive complexities of the sword school system and the excesses of the samurai class, which is more about show and politics than it is about the disciplines of fighting.
In this second volume of the series, we are not so much asked to resolve the questions as to take note of them. As this series builds, the violence of the quest will play in counterpoint to these musings about meaning. Gradually the inner dialog will play a more and more vital part.
 |
Title: Blade of the Immortal: On Silent Wings, Volume 1 by Hiroaki Samura ISBN: 1569714126 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 25 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Blade of the Immortal: Dark Shadows by Hiroaki Samura, Dana Lewis, Toren Smith ISBN: 156971469X Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Blood of a Thousand (Blade of the Immortal, Book 1) by Hiroaki Samura ISBN: 1569712395 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Blade of the Immortal: The Gathering, Volume 2 by Hiroaki Samura ISBN: 1569715602 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 14 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: Blade of the Immortal: The Gathering by Hiroaki Samura, Dana Lewis, Toren Smith ISBN: 1569715467 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 15 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
