A lot of fun.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL was one of my favorite Manga for a long time because of the artwork (nor was it was badly written, either). Manji's irreverent tone made him more Contemporary in his attitude than most of the heroes or villains in Period Manga and the Rogue's Gallery of villains rivaled the lineup in Chester Gould's DICK TRACEY (which strip later influenced the BATMAN comics). The violence of the Manga is toned WAY down for this show, but it's all so beautifully rendered (especially the painted backgrounds) that one can make allowances for that. There are characters that've been added to make everything more "viewer friendly" (though the commercial breaks are as irritating on a DVD as they are during broadcast- if shorter), and Rin's bloodthirsty desire for revenge is also toned down, but at least we see Sabato in all his grisly glory, with the heads of two women (one of whom is Rin's mother) bookending his own (they've been grafted onto his body so that he "won't be without them").

This anime series follows Manji; a samurai who killed a hundred people in service of his master before learning that his master was evil. He is determined to atone but he can't kill himself as he has been infected with Sacred Bloodworms which render him immortal… so he decides he will kill one thousand evil men! He is joined by Rin Asano; a girl who wants revenge on the group that brutally murdered her parents when she was a child. Together they seek out the group and kill its members and eventually Rin comes face to face with its leader and learns why he murdered her parents.As one would expect from such a series there is plenty of blood shed here but not an excessive amount. The characters are well fleshed out; it was nice to see antagonists who weren't cliché cartoon villains and heroes who must occasionally question what they are doing and aren't more powerful than those they are fighting. The character designs are great as is the animation; this really helped draw me into the story which was just beautiful to look at. For all the good things about this series there is one noticeable flaw… it lacks a proper ending; it feels as though the makers intended to make a second season but never got round to it as very little is actually resolved by the end.These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

Probably an additional 13 episodes were planned. The story ends abruptly without resolution, but is pretty good as far as it goes.The action is good (not great). The hero is particularly interesting because all of his opponents seem to be noticeably better than him in combat. With minor exceptions, the young girl who is the companion of the hero is treated (by the writer) in a respectful manner and the show is only mildly adult as a result. The villains are "fleshed out" better than is the case with most anime - they have motivation, occasionally insane but usually rational and believable.The action is occasionally interrupted with long-winded philosophizing from the villains and, occasionally, from the hero.