Blade of the Immortal
By far the coolest Samurai Graphic novel series out there. Beautiful artwork, excellent writing, and tons of blood and gore. I highly reccomend this series to any samurai/swordplay fan. So far there are 15 trade volumes out now.

You know I was kinda excited seeing some new member post in the thread that I created, especially because I love Blade of the Immortal. But now all I can think is, Fuck you Sharon

Great, more S&M advertisement. Black leather jacket FTL

At a cut throat price too!

I love Blade of the Imortal one of the few stories I've expereinced that rival Killer7's story.

Holy shit I totally forgot to check this thread! I figured no-freaking-body likes Blade of the Immortal! Well DUDE! We got lots to chat about. I don't even care if we spoil it, like I said, no-one here would give a shit anyway. So did you get the most recent trade? I just follow those since i can't find the single issues.

I'm in the opposite situation. I usually buy the smaller issues as opposed to the larger volumes. I have volumes 1-13 in the larger form but I've been collecting the smaller issues in the series since then. You apparently miss out on allot of extra stuff when you just buy the graphic novels. I know its more expensive in the long run but I prefer the artwork a bit larger. So who's your favirit character? I like Shira allot(if you have seen anything past the jail scene please dont give it away I dont think I have all of the newer smaller volumes) he's my favirit villian of all time. I'll post more later I gotta do something. EDIT:The creepiest part about Shira's story is what you dont see. Sure you see him cut up guys in the middle of a street, you see him eat dog meat and fight viciosly with his arm bones but what really gave me shivers was thinking about Shira sitting alone carving on his arm flesh, him mutilating female genitalia or him doing whatever he did to those two poor kids in that jail cell. I like the main character allot. He's manly and tough without being a determined pretty-boy-ish character that occupy allot of manga and anime. The pencil artwork is incredible. It manages to be diffrent and almost abstract looking yet still vastly satisfying to look at. The story is very basic imao but uses very untraditional situations to set it apart. The story just flows so well and never disapoints, its like you get used to such an awesome cast of characters but somehow more sweet persona's are introduced all the time. I also like how every little thing that happens in earlier parts of the manga always come back to haunt the main characters.

Shira turned my whole fucking world upside down in terms of villians. I mean, I'll quote him myself: "Shira my man, you're one bad-ass DUDE!" Yet I do like him! I mean yeah hes the bad guy and all, but still, its invigorating to see such brutality from someone who looked on the level. Topdrunkee you would so dig this guy, what a fucking head case. I mean when you first meet him, you think hes some novice samurai who talks big. I mena they made that clear when the Itto Ryu guys cornored him on the stree with Rin. "What, are you gonna duel me with a saw?" And he just took the abuse, like a bitch, but oh man did he change my thoughts. Just like Rin, you're in shock, then you admire his skill, then you get disgusted. Quite literally in that order. I mean, the brutality and disregard for human life exceeds most serial killers. Makes a few deaths in Killer 7 look like Disney did em. When I found out he had carved off his own flesh just to reveal bone he could use as a spear, it freaked me out royaly. I mean what like of fucking psycho would mutilate himself just so he can continue to hurt others? I love how his hair turned white because of that. Blade of the Immortal is one hell of a good story. The characters are second to none. Few works today can compare. Manji is one awesome guy too. I love how he takes the weapons of those he kills, then uses them for later. Plus isn't he nicknamed twelve blades or something since he carries so much sharpened death with him? And he's immortal. He's purely surprised me time and time again. Gicchi (or whatever) also is a trip. Dude has one weird ass weapon, but man does it work. I loved the scene where the two dudes are pissing, and he lops off both their heads. And thats another thing, its so unpredictable! One minute its like a traditional samurai-bushido fest, then its pure street style survival! What a freaking ride! Anyway, you can see how passionate I am about this. I loved the guy's art, such a suberb use of B&W and I love, like you said, the penciled textures. Damn so many awesome deaths come ot mind. LIke the time when Manji was being stalked by the three guys, and he used one dead body to turn the river red, and he hid under the water, then split a dude in half starting from the groin on up.

One of mi favirit scenes is when Giichi manages to get his handcuff like blade around manji's neck and Manji simply punches him till he lets go of the chain, then he uses almost super-human strenth to get breah Giichi's weopen. I also loved the fight scene with the three Itto-Ryu guys and Manji duking it out by the road. I love the line:(your whining about one little hand when your immortal it can get a whole lot worse then that). I'm typing off a school computer because my home computer is broke. I wont be able to post much for awhile, but hopefully we'll be able to talk more BOTI later.

Well I would like to read it,but there's hardly any stores that carry Manga/Comics around here....

I've found every single volume at Borders. Even TPB #1. Yeah, you are talking about the same three Itto Ryu that I was talking about. I love how even when the dude lost both hands, he tried to kill (forgot her name) her by biting her neck and her helper guy (forgot his name too) had to cut off dude's head just to stop him. Wild. I love when Manji met the other immortal samurai. I just loved how he talked aobut his life. I've seen Dynasties fall, I've had more wifes and friends who have all died before me. He really made the argument that immortality is a curse rather a blessing. The ninja guy that used to work for Itto Ryu is also cool, I loved how he fought with Shira after Shira killed his girl. Magatsu is his name?

What volume are you up to True Grave? Have you seen the scene were Giichi jams his broken "Head Catcher" into the guys arm then he jams his knife into Giichi? Its probaly the most painful looking image in Manga history(although the spikes in the hand in "Warriors Of Tao" is a close secound). Another interesting thing about Shira is the name of his weapon. I can't remember the Japanese name for it but it translates to "Woman Shadow eraser", but if you put the japanese name for "woman" and the japanese word for "shadow" together it translates to Vagina.

Lets see, I'm up to the most recent trade, Shortcut #16. And I think I remember what you're talking about, I'll double check later. Woman shadow eraser huh? Quite fitting. I still was enamored when I saw him cut the first woman up. Freaking starts off by saying that shes the worst one of all, she freaks, runs, and Shira lops her leg off. She then begs for mercy, and in a brilliant display of shadowed artwork, Shira just says "No way." Loved it, even if I was cheering the bad guy. Heh and I loved Manji when he cuts his hand off. Uses his crazy chained sickles, and said "whoops nicked ya did I? Buddy."