Mugen no Juunin

Description

"To end his eternal suffering, he must slay one thousand enemies!" Manji, a ronin warrior of feudal Japan, has been cursed with immortality. To rid himself of this curse and end his life of misery, he must slay one thousand evil men! His quest begins when a young girl seeks his help in taking revenge on her parents' killers... and his quest won't end until the blood of a thousand has spilled.

Note: Won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival. Won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material in 2000.

Type

Manga

Mugen no Juunin - Bakumatsu no Shou (Sequel)

Associated Names

A halhatatlan pengéje

Blade - A Lâmina do Imortal (Brazilian Portuguese)

Blade of the Immortal

Hoja Del Inmortal

Klinge des Unsterblichen

L'Habitant de l'infini (French)

L'Immortale

Lame de l'immortel

Lưỡi Kiếm Bất Tử

Miecz Nieśmiertelnego (Polish)

Oštrica Besmrtnika - Samuraj Dvanaest Sječiva (Croatian)

Η Λεπίδα του Αθανάτου

Клинок Бессмертного

Անմահության բերան

شفرة الخالد

むげんのじゅにん

无限之住人

無限の住人

無限之住人

불멸의 검

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

v.30 c.206 (end) by HappyScans! 12 years ago

v.30 c.198-205 (v2) by HappyScans! 12 years ago

v.30 c.205 by HappyScans! 12 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

30 Volumes (Complete)
15 Volumes (Shinsouban, Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (2008 / Immortal)

Ends at Vol 6, Chap 24 (2008) / Vol 30, Chap 206 (Immortal) Highly abbreviated

User Reviews

Blade of the Immortal by mrsatan

Forum

11 topics, 55 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8.6 / 10.0 (970 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.53 / 10.0

33%

27%

22%

10%

Last Updated

February 16th, 2025 3:33pm PST - 2 months ago

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Genre

Action Adventure Drama Historical Martial Arts Mature Seinen Supernatural Tragedy
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Usagi Yojimbo

Kamui-Den Dai-2-bu

Berserk

Mugen no Juunin - Bakumatsu no Shou

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Kodansha (1993; 2016)

Serialized In (magazine)

Afternoon (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Dark Horse (31 Vols - Complete | 10 3/4-in-1 Omnibus - Complete; Print | 7 3-in-1 Deluxe Omnibus - Ongoing; Print)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #734

(-14)

Monthly Pos #1481

(-130)

3 Month Pos #2359

(+20)

6 Month Pos #2748

(+215)

Year Pos #2690

(+385)

List Stats

On 2490 reading lists

On 2000 wish lists

On 1197 completed lists

On 184 unfinished lists

On 626 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Question about the end (In the Forgotten, Fluttering Snow)

4 years ago

Afternoon Lists New Anime for Blade of the Immortal

6 years ago

Blade of the Immortal Slices Back with Sequel Manga

6 years ago

Kimutaku Stars in Takashi Miike's Blade of the Immortal Film

10 years ago

Blade of the Immortal to End After 19 Years

12 years ago

User Comments [ Order by time added ]

My thoughts :]

by taeny_ss
12 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

THE ART: The art is amazing. Moving on.

THE CHARACTERS:
[tab][tab]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.
[tab][tab]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.
[tab][tab]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

runs off to find Anotsu because she just "has a feeling he won't kill her if she's alone" 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.
[tab][tab]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:
[tab][tab]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:

It seems like a lot of people don't like the ending, but I loved it to death. It wasn't flawless, but it had its moments of sheer greatness. The whole loop thing (Granny say: "take care of dis kid kthxbi") was a tiny bit awkward, but it brought a smile to my face all the same. In a way, it was giving Manji a motivation(?) to keep living, something to do for a small fragment of his potentially very long life. Also, I loved that one quote. And I'm not going to bother digging the quote up, but it was how the era had changed so much and how everything one of the antagonists had lived for had now been reduced to sheer nothing. That quote was perfection right there.

THE ROMANCE:

The one thing I hated was what Rin said. (Rin say: "omg I b2 strong now Manji need weak girl") Dammit, girl. The romance was there, and you just throw it away thinking it's impossible because you actually have some backbone now? Like that makes total sense.

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

... Last updated 12 years ago

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totally awesome

by [deleted member]
19 years ago

Rating: N/A

Wow. Now, here's a good manga. I've read up to v15 and it's awesome. Very, very gory. But, more importantly plot is awesome. Lots of twists. Starts like a typical samurai manga w/ revenge story, but gets very interesting very quickly. The characters are unusual too. It's not a main-guy-is-godlike-and-kicks-everyone's-ass kind of story. If you like samurai genre, it's a must read.

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One of top 10 for me

by sUnDeAl
11 years ago

Rating: N/A

This manga is really good :

great combat scenes, with a HIGH sense of body movements.
drawings as realistic as I like them.
great character design, with both graphically interesting characters (and weapons as much as you should ever want) and equally interesting personalities. The main ~20 characters are figured out.
a great scenario, with an appropriate sens of flow (I mean I have the feeling the scenes are given the right amount of pages) and a significance for the characters how have been presented.

This manga is worth re-reading at several aspects.
I really don't see anything lacking in it. I consider it being a masterpiece.

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The Best Samurai manga!!!!

by Se3D03
16 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Amazing Art, Plot, Characters and Execution. The mangaka is truly a genious, I'd even go as far as say that I liked this betted than Vagabond, though vagabond is another one of my favourites.

Must read!!!!! totally!!!!

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top

by [deleted member]
19 years ago

Rating: N/A

unusual drawing style but athmospharic
awasome plot
nice fights
a lot of detailed characters
thats what you get...one of the top mangas!

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Took A long time to finish it!

by little1213star
12 years ago

Rating: N/A

But god was it worth it!
Blood, gore, humor, action, adventure, romance (A little bit/I'd rather say fluff), it's a mix of many genre to will seduce many readers.
This manga kept me on edge and I always wanted more and more and more!
So when it recently finish, my heart broke into many pieces, even if I was "somewhat" satisfied by the ending (Damn it, that ending -_-!).
I would have wished it continued forever but we all know it's impossible.
Anyways, the plot is uniquely crafted, as they're are many emotional conflict in it by the lead female character! Manji and her have a relationship that just grows, lots of characters evolution.
Anyways, it's an amazing read and I highly recommended like most who have reviewed this manga.

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Art of gore

by kasekimizu
14 years ago

Rating: 6.5 / 10.0

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.

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the plot seems to be lost somewhere .....

by urumi
15 years ago

Rating: N/A

its a lovely manga, great points to the art, very creative and unique, the storyline is rather compelling even if you think its a bit cliche.
i got hooked on the series, however as it goes on the main plot seems to have become skewed, the female lead is meant to be looking for justice from her parents killer and she hires manji to kill the leader of the itto ryu. maji the immortal warrior who is trying to remove his immortality by killing a thousand warriors. a simple storyline it would seem but its become rather convoluted, numerous sub plots have been included and now the girl no longer seems to seek revenge on her father's killer and is just pursuing him all over the country.
its getting rather stupid and i'm beginning to loose interest to

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Award Winner!

by lynda-chan
18 years ago

Rating: N/A

Haven't been this obsessed with a manga in a long time. 🙂

Hiroaki Samura has an obvious background in classic art and figure drawing... It makes reading this manga a pleasure at every panel.
The setting of Fuedal Japan has been reworked as a bright and honorless fashion that is unique to the genre, and there is some unparalleled character development through the course of this series.

The content speaks for it with gore and violence, but this is an incredibly mature read in themes and direction alone.
I recommend it. 🙂

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Awesome

by Heirojero
18 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This manga is just amazing. The artwork is just amazing, and despite the slow chapter releases, it is still worthwile, its just amazing. If god was drawing a manga, it would be this one, not particularly the story, which i do enjoy, but the art is amazing.

... Last updated 15 years ago

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