Title: Blade of the Immortal.
Volume: 2.
Writer(s): Hiroaki Samura.
Illustrator(s): HIROAKI SAMURA.
Translator(s): Dana Lewis & Toren Smith.
Letterer(s): Tomoko Saito.
Publisher: Black Horse Manga.
Format: Hardcover – Deluxe Edition.
Release Date: February 23rd 2021.
Pages: 536.
Genre(s): Comics, Fantasy, Historical Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781506721002.
My Overall Rating:
Previously in the Blade of the Immortal Manga:
Blade of the Immortal (Vol. 1) by Hiroaki Samura.
Vengeance has often seemed like an easy path to take to achieve the peace of mind that we crave deep down. The journey to realizing vengeance, however, is one riddled with obstacles, the mind being the first wall of reason. The mere resilience and conviction that one must showcase to achieve their goal are often misjudged. After all, when vengeance implicates the death of another, it is not unwarranted to see people’s persuasion become shaky and crumble under the weight of their own consciousness. But how far would one go if they don’t have anything to lose anymore? Receiving Dark Horse Manga’s faux-leather hardcover treatment once again, this second deluxe edition of the critically-acclaimed manga series collects the next three volumes (On Silent Wings, On Silent Wings II, and Dark Shadows) in the original 7×10 serialized format with a red bookmark ribbon.
What is Blade of the Immortal (Vol. 2) about? Rin, driven by revenge against the Itto-Ryū clan that murdered her parents, continues her journey to avenge them alongside her immortal bodyguard Manji, a rōnin warrior of feudal Japan. As they travel across the country, they train in hopes to build the right mindset and physical skillset for Rin to face her adversaries. They also remain alert for any hints to the members of the clan who is out to eliminate all rival schools, making sure to put an end to their existence as soon as possible. As they run into these killers, they learn about their motives and intentions, ultimately forcing them to reflect upon their own purpose in life. Meanwhile, the Mugai-ryū seeks to put an end to the renegade clan. With multiple parties out hunting one another, no one is safe from a devastating fate but who will have their most profound desires answered?
“So long as the winds stir the waves of my heart… The wings of hate will never stop beating.”
— Hiroaki Samura
Surprisingly enough, mangaka Hiroaki Samura steers clear from the fantasy elements introduced in the first deluxe volume to focus on Rin’s psychological plight and the Edo-era samurai landscape. In fact, Manji goes into the background with just one major encounter where he’s fully involved, allowing Rin to become the centerpiece. Readers are especially invited to acquaint themselves with her struggle, fully embrace her pursuit of vengeance, and understand her desire to get strong enough to face other swordsmen. Although the plot progresses steadily, without rushing into every encounter with a member of the Itto-Ryū, the story looks to bring into play the intricacies of vengeance, life, and death through various characters and their own motives, whether it’s blanketed in good or evil, presenting their raison d’être as warriors.
Mangaka Hiroaki Samura also doesn’t fail to maintain the outstanding penciling work from the first deluxe volume as he embraces his style’s detailed and expressive nature once again. He continues to brilliantly capture tenser moments by occasionally shifting his rougher penciling for smudged grayscale work and by discarding dialogue for silent moments. His signature splash pages are also present yet remain toned down in their poetic qualities to simply paint a more soothing exchange between characters. There’s rarely any instance that is hard to follow, even during key battles, properly conveying the story without feeling overly choppy or pointlessly drawn out. Violence and sexuality are still important ingredients in this recipe but are never in abundance or romanticized, simply presented in their raw form, while leaving the gruesome details to the reader’s imagination. Properly giving readers more insight into the past events and the current emotional state of the protagonists, it is clear that more crucial events will be coming soon. It is only a matter of time.
Blade of the Immortal (Vol. 2) is an enthralling journey that continues Rin’s quest for vengeance and explores her resiliency amidst adversity.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
Love that hardcover edition, looks great! As for the content, looks definitely interesting, but it seems to me to be something for the right mood. Great review, Lashaan!
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Very wise of you to say that! 😛 It is indeed something that needs to be read in the right midnset. Otherwise, you’ll spot way too many flaws and get drowned in them along the way. 😀 Thanks for reading, Ola!
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I’m waiting for my copy of Fullmetal Alchemist right now, so this might linger on a while… Good to know, though! 😀
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I am always a fan of larger format manga. I think that is why I like Akira so much 😀
How heavy is this book anyway?
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I agree! It’s also much cooler on a bookshelf than the traditional tankobon format hahah They weigh around 1.5kg. Nothing too insane. 😛
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Awesome, glad to hear the series continues to deliver. Definitely still one I’d love to read one day. When you’ve collected them all it’ll make quite an impressive addition to your book shelves. 🙂
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Speaking of your book shelves, I see the first volume resting atop Watchmen. 🙂
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Hahahah I need to rearrange my shelves soon; it’s a bit chaotic nowadays. I told myself I’ll do that when I make my big move soon! 😀
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I look forward to discovering how the rest of the manga goes. It was definitely interesting how the fantasy elements were suddenly gone for the span of the three volumes included in this one. Hope you’ll enjoy this manga when you get the chance, Todd! 😀
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I like ‘character going on journey and learning things along the way’ trope. This sounds great and that pencil art looks amazing. Fantastic review, Lashaan!
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Yes! It’s easy to blindly go after someone out of vengeance but when you got time to think about it, you start asking yourself a lot of questions! Thanks for reading, Yesha! 😀
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Well I don’t know what to say except that this seems like amazing art!
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I’m glad to hear your appreciation of the art! It is indeed impressive! 😀
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I don’t think, you’ll persuade me to try manga, but I really like the art work, both the cover and the black and white drawings.
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Hahah no worries! I’m glad that you still took the time to read this review even if you don’t have any interest in the medium though. I appreciate it! 🙂
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I like how the black and white sketch seems to focus the reader’s attention on the content more than on the “flashy.”
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Exactly. It’s the upside of manga and some black-and-white comic book/graphic novels! 😀
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Funnily enough I recently just started watching the Amazon anime series that adapts these manga – which I guess you haven’t watched since you’re making your way though the manga volumes?
As with Invincible, I highly recommend it and based on your review I think I’ll be checking out the manga when I finish the anime series (that art is fantastic, gladly the anime adopts the same sort of style) – great stuff Lashaan, I think I missed your review of volume 1 so will check that out now!
P.S. Tangent alert! Have you seen Batman: The Long Halloween Part One yet? It’s ACE. Warners/DC are knocking it out of the park with this new line of DC animated films, Superman: Man of Tomorrow was really good, Justice Society: World War II was flippin’ great and now this…I am HAPPY.
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Yep. I have a great who finished watching the Amazon anime adaptation and mentioned that it was pretty cool. Like Invincible, I’ll probably save them up for after I finish through the source material but I’m glad to hear how it has caught your attention though!
I’m a bit ashamed to not have gotten through any of those but I’m extremely happy to hear your quick thoughts on them (where are them exquisite review at, sir???) 😀 I definitely got them queued up for viewing though and am convinced that they’ll be pretty good! 😀
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Haha, yeah I know man, I just consume that much that I get a bit lost/overwhelmed and don’t find time to review them. Hope you enjoy, I really do think DC are doing exceptionally well with these recent animated efforts.
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