THE ART: The art is amazing. Moving on.

THE CHARACTERS:
        So I had a bunch of time to kill, and I read several of the other comments. I'm going to refute a couple of the statements because I'm just a speshul snowflake that way. /shot Honestly, I thought the characters & the characterization was brilliant.
        First off, Manji. It's true. He's weak, at least in comparison to other characters we have seen in shounen/seinen manga. Compared to other protagonists we have seen, and compared even to the antagonists of this story, he's so weak it makes everyone cringe. However, his weakness is the whole point. His immortality doesn't necessarily aid him, making up for his lack in skill. It hampers his fights, as he has grown overly dependent on it over the years. (He complains about this in like chapter 10) It would definitely have made for a more interesting story action-wise if Manji had eventually learned to conquer his immortality. Yet he doesn't, at least not truly. And I think that's great. He grew dependent on his immortality for a reason. His immortality is there, it's useful, it's fantastic, who wouldn't use it? He has lost the sense of danger, the panic of risking his life. That's not something that can be recovered all that easily for someone who's immortal.
        Now Rin. She annoyed me at first. She was one of those chicks, one of the characters who have some sort of goal but are either too "good" or too "fragile" (or a combination of both) to fulfill it. One of the characters who whine and/or run off alone, getting the protagonists in trouble. Occasionally the character who opposes the inner omgdarkness in the male protagonist, prohibiting him from murdering the antagonists. And Rin really was/is like that. But she grows. She develops as a character and as a person. If I'm not totally high, Rin kills people herself (kinda). Several people. The scene when Rin seriously made me want to shoot myself. However, Samura made it work. Before she runs off without Manji, she's grown psychologically and suffered substantially. Yet it's honestly during the alone-time when Rin starts to actually grow noticeably, to morph into a dependable character.
        Now for the "antagonists". Yes, it's true that a lot of people may not like reading about the antagonists. And some of the antagonists, like that experimenting guy, made me want to vomit and kill them and vomit all over again. But then there were the antagonists like Anotsu, who had his own logical, if a little awkward, agendas and personal dilemmas. There were the antagonists like the father who had helped to kill Rin's mother, who was leading a new life as a benevolent craft artist. The men who felt bad for what they had done, but who were willing to do almost anything to keep their nice reputations in front of those they loved.

THE PLOT:
        The plot was brilliant. There were definitely several times when I was bored out of my mind, but the utter perfection of later/earlier chapters that made everything click kept me entranced. Aaaand I'm going to stop my rambling because I'm just lazy that way.

THE ENDING:
THE ROMANCE:

OVERALL:
        I'm tired, but I loved this story. So yeahhhh. <3

... Last updated on June 5th, 2013, 11:45pm

He was one of the greatest antagonist i have meet, i hate him so much, that i began to like that bastard, so goddamn badass and relentless, his words and that dead, even if the rest of the manga starts going downhill without him, his presence alone puts the numbers in this! an embodiment from the moment he appeared to the moment he departed! i will miss him.

Started out with lots of action and an overarching story with a revenge motive
nice and easy to like MC with her bodyguard
then something happened
lots of pointless characters gets thrown in our face just so that we can see them die,raped or get mamed in various fun ways
bones,flesh, clothes and armor is basically not working properly...things fly all over the place like its fruit or jelly they attack
no time is put into developing the story and making it belivable at this point
its now a splatter movie
then it just ends after some long boring speaches that as usualy makes little to no sense in a westeners ears[about as moronic as vagabonds long monologues at this point]
and
happyscans and co.s odd translations does not make it any easier

the whole last chapter is perhaps the worst of them all
should have ended with Manji walking out of edo
[so that we ourselves could fill in what happened later...now we got something that was shit instead]

Mugen no Juunin came to its end. Samura Hiroaki managed to create great piece of art, so it’s not such a bad idea to recall this long and magnificent journey. I re-read whole thing (again) and decided to write some thoughts about different story arcs (possibly with no actual spoilers) because Samura changes not only "mood" and "feel" from arc to arc but even "storytelling" to some point and to be completely honest, even quality of arc differs. Still, I wouldn't dare to forget that it's overall "result" what matters and I can tell you right away that Mugen no Juunin is great read.

Introduction Arc - As expected, here Samura introduces basic storyline, characters, their motivations, pasts and relationships. It's not surprising that this is the weakest part of whole story. Oneshot stories where only point is to kill whoever is the villain at the moment. It works fine as introduction but I remember asking myself years ago if this is really that "great and mature manga" which my friend recommended to me. Luckily enough the last part of this arc improves exponentially and sets up fluent pass to the next part.

Mugai-ryuu Arc - Here things finally starts to be good. Here comes the true genius of Samura Hiroaki's storytelling. While first arc served for introduction of characters, their beliefs, motivations and desires, this one starts moving plot forward. New characters are fleshed out quite finely. As I was reading this arc I could finally tell that this is that great manga I was expecting. In first arc action wasn't anything special. You just got one nice conclusive picture but in this part Samura demonstrates how good action he can draw. And he gets even better with time.

Aftermath Arc - This serves as a little breather before things start to get complicated again. Samura portrays several characters and path which everyone takes. It's actually really good part of the story and it definitely isn't unnecessary. It's not really that different from previous arc.

Prison Arc - Here we go. Some say that this arc is perfection in its pure form and some say that this arc is incredibly boring and slow as hell. To be honest, I like this arc but I have to admit reading it chapter after chapter while waiting whole month(s) for another is really pain. But once you can read it as a whole it’s great. Samura shifts his storytelling into diary-like story flow. Nothing is rushed, author is taking his time to fully flesh out characters, plot, goal, point and meaning. Also a lot of set up for last arc is being done here.

War in wintertime - The last part. Every set up which was done is used here to its fullest. This story arc is gruesome, brutal, action-packed and fast yet pretty moving at times. Characters beliefs have their final clash here as they take weapons. The death is omnipresent. Great end for a great story.

To be honest, Mugen no Juunin isn’t perfect series. It has its flaws. Yeah, I never really liked Rin as a character. At start I disliked her, later on I just started to ignore her. Manji on the other hand is pretty fine character. The art is rough and simply great.

Hiroaki Samura has written one of the finest manga ever. His art and ability to display action is unmatched, and no one has been able to craft so many engaging, complex characters (that end up stealing protagonism from the main characters). It's a shame that it ended, but it does so in such an amazing way that does this flawless title justice. A must read for everyone.

at first i thought i wouldnt be interested, thiking it would be your typical samurai manga where the protaganist just fights and fights but the characters have so much depth and the story itself is engaging. you just gotta be patient to read though the chapters since i think it's gonna be a long manga and i aint complainin...;p

plus the romance in this manga beats any shoujo/ josei i've ever read. it's not so obvious that it clouds the action in it but i really do feel their love!

... Last updated on September 15th, 2012, 7:02am

Its really worth it. Its a really good story, but its long and can take some time to get in to.
There is some hints of romance. The main character is a one hell of a bad ass and you will enjoy the fights. The art is superb. I usaly dont care about the art as long as the story is good, but in this manga the art is really something.

... Last updated on July 12th, 2012, 12:30am

I really do. Here's why.

Art: Top notch. The best 'realistic manga' styles I've seen in a while. On par in its own way with Takehiko Inoue's art, who I consider to be King of this style.

Plot: Very interesting. Our leading man, Manji, was given immortality through regeneration, wants to be mortal again, and so decides to kill 1000 bad guys to compensate for the 100 innocents he's killed. Our leading lady, Rin, seeks revenge for the senseless murder or her parents and annihilation of her dojo's sword style by the Ittou-ryou school, and enlists Manji as a bodyguard in order to do this. They proceed to fight members of the Ittou-ryou and come across other factions and individuals with different and/or similar goals and interesting things happen. One great strength is how none of the opposing sides are definitely 'villains'. They all have their individual reasons for doing what they do, and these motivations are what bring them to conflict rather than 'good guy vs bad guy'. The occasional twists are nice too. Fairly simple overall, though the plot is laid out rather basically from the first few chapters.

Characters: Fantastic. As I mentioned before, one of the strengths is that very few of these characters are definitely 'good guys' or 'bad guys'. There are a few exceptions of course, and they are dealt with accordingly. The character interactions are always good, a surprising number of romances/couples as well. One small criticism about Manji is that he barely changes, though this serves as a foil to Rin's development and possibly serves to remind us of his immortal and unchanging body. The fact that the main antagonists (almost all of them really) are characters you get to know rather intimately is a good way of making sure that you don't see them as black and while bad/good guys. Which is one of the themes of the manga, it's not a mindless killy killy samurai manga, it has heart. Rin's struggles over her quest for revenge, Manji's reluctance to define who is 'evil' so he can kill a thousand evil men as well as the overlaying theme of forgiveness, redemption and all that good stuff.
This isn't a macho-fest full of dudes playing with swords while the girls bandage them up afterwards, by the way. Arguably the strongest fighter in the manga is female, there are several strong female characters and fighters, and the point at which Rin springs Manji from jail is one of my favourite moments in manga.

Battles: Top Notch. Beautifully drawn, certainly gets better the further in and even the fact that Manji is an immortal doesn't retract from the tension. His immortality is not a Super-Sayian-like invincibility booster, there are still ways to kill him, disable him and defeat him, but the regeneration makes it a lot more work than it would have been. It certainly isn't a 'seen one swordfight, seen them all' scenario either, there are a diverse cast of warriors each with different styles and often completely varied (and often fictional) weapons, and this leads to a battle manga that stays fresh.

Offpoint: One common criticism is that Manji relies to heavily on his regeneration and not his actual skill. I'd like to point out that in battle, your basic reaction and the way you move ultimately stems from your instinctive fear of death. Manji still feels pain, but he doesn't really have a life-or-death reason to block a sword thrust to the gut anymore, I would argue that his regenerative abilities have pampered him and made hims somewhat soft - and that this is why he takes so many hits when he's supposed to be skilled.

And a little warning.

Maturity/gore: This is a seinen for a reason. The fact that it's a samurai manga should be caution enough, much heads being lopped off, dismembered limbs, geysers of blood (though not to the point of ridiculousness) and later, it gets worse. There's this one character who is definitely one of the 100% evil characters. He rapes girls while cutting them up and you get to see this. There is also a prolonged rape/interrogation of one of the characters, and an arc more or less given over to chopping people up for experiments. This is generally handled much better and is not as bad as some other seinen (Wolf Guy, Hellsing, Freezing, Berserk to name a few) but if you really, really don't want to go through these scenes, don't begin reading.

Overall one of my favourite and most well-balanced manga I've read, once I've finished it, I'll go take a gander at some of the mangaka's other work.

... Last updated on July 19th, 2012, 7:30am

characters- 100% i love all the characters, especially the leads. male and females are both incredibly strong. not so much Rin at first but she gets really good and she is a really likeable girl. I love Manji as well he is a perfect male lead in my opinion. I love to hate some of the bad guys, and just plain love the others.

Plot- Very action packed, samurai honor based stuff, but it is really good. Actually one of the arks in this manga is the best ark I have ever read in any manga ever. And the climax of it had me totally bouncing in my seat. It's very interesting and not to hard to follow if you don't pay attention to some needless details. But it is very mature, there are a lot of dark, twisted, and cruel scenes.

Action-Absolutely Killer! in a lot of the action scenes it was so fluid i just clicked through the pages really fast without reading the dialog (such as "i'm going to kill you"). it was like watching an anime. But it can be really gruesome not for the faint of heart.

Romance-

it really is there, it isn't something some fan girls made up.But it really develops later in the story. Their relationship is that of two people who care about each other more than anything else in the world. Like, if Rin gets attacked Manji goes berserk. And Rin is so blatantly in love with Manji it's adorable she goes through a lot to protect him even though he is immortal. There isn't anything really physical between them yet (except for a kiss while Manji was sleeping), but they don't have time to be perusing romantic interests because of all the violent, scary, life threatening things they have to deal with. basically their relationship transcends that of bodyguard and employer, friends or even lovers. They are this incredible pair, with bonds so strong and destinies so interwoven that normal shoujo-ish relationships seem petty and bland. Basically the romance is off the charts when it come to how much they love one another, but you only get to see glimpses. It is very subtle and not the main point of the story at all. However every hint and wink is real and is fully appreciated. people who really understand what love and romance is would think this is enough.

... Last updated on January 8th, 2012, 11:19pm

The art of this series is the one outstanding element that can't be criticized. Pencil-thin lines coupled with good figure drawing technique shows off the artistic training and basic drawing fundamentals the mangaka possesses. The premise of the story is also interesting. But in recalling this work, the similarities between this and a piece of Tarantino work could not be denied. Except the dialogue sadly cannot measure up.
The fights are interesting at first, but the weapons get more ludicrous and the reasons for fighting get more shallow as the series progresses. There's little entertainment to be had as the characters seem bent on mutual destruction with little to no self-reflection or thought of any deeper purpose to the fighting. In fact, the presence of the immortal Manji seems to catalyze the whole blood-bath to higher levels of pointlessness. Characters seem to become less cognizant of their own mortality.
Characterization also gets thrown to the wind because as quickly as someone gets introduced you expect them to become dead or maimed not too long after. The main characters also lose some of their allure in the process. Rin never stops being annoying, Manji never stops being the sloppy fighter that relies on his immortality. Probably the only reason Anotsu remains interesting is due to lack of exposure, and villains are more interesting by nature.
That brings me to the central conflict, which is where is the conflict? We started with a revenge plot but Rin seems less and less focused on that. There is the plot of itto-ryu versus the shogunate which gets far too much face-time when we don't even have a side to root for! They're both BAD GUYS. In addition, the parties of interest seem to have more coincidences/bad luck/good luck/horrendous decisions than absolutely necessary, even in a manga. Habaki lies there comatose, guilty of horrible human experimentation and you don't kill him? Even if you've never read a book, watched tv or movies, you know that one will bite you in the ass.
In summary, the plot is fraying into tatters, the characters mostly present as fodder, the dialogue borders on inane, but the art is unique. Please have somebody collaborate on a manga with this guy.