Manga Monday: Blade of The Immortal Vol. 30: Vigilance Out This Week!

10/27/2014 4:20pm
The penultimate volume of Blade of the Immortal will hit stores this Wednesday—bringing some bloody battles, wicked weapons, and inventive deaths to your Halloween week. And yes, we’re almost at the end of this massive tale of revenge! The carnage continues as the body count rises and beloved characters get horribly mutilated! 
As this long-running series comes to a satisfying close (we do get some major doses of drama along with the buckets of blood that are spilled in Blade’s final volumes), creator Hiroaki Samura leads all of his main and supporting characters to a small snow-covered harbor town for a series of decisive confrontations.
Samura-sensei has been dovetailing plots and leading his cast toward the fateful port town of Nakaminato as far back as Blade of the Immortal Volume 22: Footsteps, when Rin frees Manji from the brutal dungeons beneath Edo Castle, grows as a character, and reaffirms her goal to see the end of Anotsu Kagehisa’s violent sword school, which is responsible for the deaths of her parents. She and Manji also start to follow Anotsu and the remaining members of his sword school to Nakaminato, mostly by foot, with a newfound hatred for Edo Castle military leader Hibaki Kagimura keeping them warm, too.
Anotsu is nurturing his own deep-seated revenge fantasy—and that has led to the deaths of countless members of “weaker” sword schools, scores of Edo soldiers, and some of his closest allies. 
A third party on Samura’s road of revenge is led by former Edo general Habaki Kagimura, who genuinely believes that his heinous actions against Manji were justified and who has his group of colorful death row criminals firmly in pursuit of Anotsu and his crew because of their wicked night of slaughter detailed in Blade of the Immortal: Volume 24: Massacre. Rin and Anotsu are eager to see Kagimura stumble further, and Rin is willing to bide her time with the hope that Anotsu and Kagimura will take each other out.
In Blade of the Immortal Volume 27: Mist on the Spider’s Web, Samura wove a complicated web indeed, where the fog in passing left not dew, but glittering drops of blood. Strange alliances have been forming and sympathetic characters are established in all camps, making it clear that the slaughter to come will lead to heartbreak—no matter who wins! Mist on the Spider’s Web really starts a rush to the end and several prolonged battles see Samura’s supporting characters meet their final fates. (Some characters do live, I promise! But as I’ve asked before: Will your favorite character make it through the final volume?) 
With Blade of the Immortal Volume 30: Vigilance about to hit stores, plenty of supporting cast members have been cleared from the playing field, some are hobbled but still deadly, and some are about to meet grisly ends. All of Samura-sensei’s major characters are ready for their final battles, and Volume 30 opens with two of Blade’s heaviest hitters already swinging furiously. With only two volumes to go in this epic series, are you ready for the frenetic rush of swords and limbs? Are you ready to see your favorite fictional fighters make their last stands?
—Philip R. Simon
Manga Editor
The penultimate volume of Blade of the Immortal will hit stores this Wednesday—bringing some bloody battles, wicked weapons, and inventive deaths to your Halloween week. And yes, we’re almost at the end of this massive tale of revenge! The carnage continues as the body count rises and beloved characters get horribly mutilated!
 
As this long-running series comes to a satisfying close (we do get some major doses of drama along with the buckets of blood that are spilled in Blade’s final volumes), creator Hiroaki Samura leads all of his main and supporting characters to a small snow-covered harbor town for a series of decisive confrontations.

Samura-sensei has been dovetailing plots and leading his cast toward the fateful port town of Nakaminato as far back as Blade of the Immortal Volume 22: Footsteps, when Rin frees Manji from the brutal dungeons beneath Edo Castle, grows as a character, and reaffirms her goal to see the end of Anotsu Kagehisa’s violent sword school, which is responsible for the deaths of her parents. She and Manji also start to follow Anotsu and the remaining members of his sword school to Nakaminato, mostly by foot, with a newfound hatred for Edo Castle military leader Hibaki Kagimura keeping them warm, too.

Anotsu is nurturing his own deep-seated revenge fantasy—and that has led to the deaths of countless members of “weaker” sword schools, scores of Edo soldiers, and some of his closest allies.
 
A third party on Samura’s road of revenge is led by former Edo general Habaki Kagimura, who genuinely believes that his heinous actions against Manji were justified and who has his group of colorful death row criminals firmly in pursuit of Anotsu and his crew because of their wicked night of slaughter detailed in Blade of the Immortal: Volume 24: Massacre. Rin and Anotsu are eager to see Kagimura stumble further, and Rin is willing to bide her time with the hope that Anotsu and Kagimura will take each other out.

In Blade of the Immortal Volume 27: Mist on the Spider’s Web, Samura wove a complicated web indeed, where the fog in passing left not dew, but glittering drops of blood. Strange alliances have been forming and sympathetic characters are established in all camps, making it clear that the slaughter to come will lead to heartbreak—no matter who wins! Mist on the Spider’s Web really starts a rush to the end and several prolonged battles see Samura’s supporting characters meet their final fates. (Some characters do live, I promise! But as I’ve asked before: Will your favorite character make it through the final volume?)
 
With Blade of the Immortal Volume 30: Vigilance about to hit stores, plenty of supporting cast members have been cleared from the playing field, some are hobbled but still deadly, and some are about to meet grisly ends. All of Samura-sensei’s major characters are ready for their final battles, and Volume 30 opens with two of Blade’s heaviest hitters already swinging furiously. With only two volumes to go in this epic series, are you ready for the frenetic rush of swords and limbs? Are you ready to see your favorite fictional fighters make their last stands?

—Philip R. Simon
Manga Editor

Tags

manga blade of the immortal hiroaki samura dark horse comics philip simon R. monday carl horn
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