A live-action film adaptation of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal "neo period drama" manga has been green-lit for 2017. Takuya Kimura will play the lead character Manji, a rōnin warrior cursed with an immortal body. Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike is directing the film. The manga follows Manji's journey of revenge as the yōjinbō (bodyguard) of Rin, a young woman who swears vengeance against a group of sword fighters who murdered her parents.
It has been over a decade since Kimura last starred in a period drama film (2006's Love and Honor by director Yōji Yamada). He said that he personally loves the worldview of the original manga, and that the film script also depicts the original manga's opposing themes of "I will not die" and "I cannot die."