Customer Reviews

Blade of the Immortal Volume 1

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love the books. Its story line, major underlying themes, and the illustrations are incredible. It is a modern day work of art.

About the only thing good about the anime is that it has decent visuals. Other than that I just don't understand how someone can mess up something like Blade of the Immortal when everything (visuals, pacing, dialog, plot, ... ) is already handed to them on a silver platter from the books. The anime has a rushed, confusing story that will make most people (who haven't read the books) have a hard time understanding (or even wanting to understand) what is going on.

Whoever directed or wrote the scripts for this crappy anime series just doesn't seem to understand that you can't fit a whole Blade of Immortal book inside 30 minutes. Someone else needs to take charge, and redo this anime series. It is a horrible waste of money. I can only imagine the author of the books cringing when he watches any of this garbage.

I've been reading Blade of the Immortal (manga) since before I was a teenager. It's been over a decade since then... I've been following the series ever since.

The manga is amazing. It is hands down the BEST manga I have ever read... possibly rivaled by one but I'm not sure. I read alot of manga, and Blade is amazing. The drawing, the writing, its all good. The author has even won Japanese literature awards for the series. That is why, when I saw this, I bought it immediately.

The problem?

The Anime is AWFUL!

The animation is really cheap terrible quality, the voice acting is awful, beloved characters appear cheap and cartoony, they dumbed down scenes, the whole thing is SO bad I cant even make you a complete list.

I will put it this way.

I put away money so that I can buy the books of blade that I am missing. They aren't cheap, to get the rest it will cost me over $100, and I'm saving up for it, which is no small task for a college student. I've been saving up for months, and I will continue too, because it is a fantastic amazing series. Hell, I've been following it for 12 years now, give or take, and I adore it! It is so beloved to me.

In fact, it is SO beloved to me, that I tried, as hard as I could, to give the anime a shot. I really did. I really really did. I PUSHED myself to watch the first episode. meanwhile, the feeling of some money hungry producer urinating all over my beloved series that introduced me to so many things, is burned into my head. I tried to watch the second episode too, but finding it even worse then the first, I had to turn it off and throw it shamefully in the corner, hugging my knees and sobbing. Okay maybe the sobbing part is a bit of an exaggeration... but not too far. I love this writer, and it's crimes against art and writing like this that kills good series's.

All of the author's amazing artistic ability, his use of fine tipped rapidograph pens, the beautiful playing with darkness and shadow, the emotion and story development, long pannel sequences with no dialogue just illustrating scenes... all of that is lost in this cheaply done piece of garbage. The only redeeming thing about this anime is the box... it's sort of nice, I guess, but they managed to even screw that up. The art work is not even in the style of the manga... its poorly done, but I will give them this, the white box is unique. yep... dont get alot of white boxes. Was that worth having them lay a giant turd on something beloved and special? Really really it's not. >.<

If you want to read the story, please do go pick up the manga, you will not be disapointed. But if your like me, long time blade fan looking for more, DONT BUY IT! you will be sorry you did, and once you watch it, you can never UNwatch it... no matter what >.<

I am an avid Blade of the Immortal fan, and I like many others have been reading it for over a decade. It's not only the first manga I ever picked up, it's the only one to this date that I read. It's absolutely one of my favorite things.

Even the manga is not perfect, however. The current English-version arc, Demon Lair, is severely lacking. So I don't expect the anime to be perfect either.

It's still /quite/ good however. It's very true to the manga in most ways, though characters are introduced a little earlier in some instances. The only glaring mistake, in my opinion, is Rin. Especially in the casting of her voice-- it just seems all wrong. Her animation also feels stiff, and ironically the still images of the manga feel much more expressive, visually, than the animated characters.
The other major flaw is the music. It doesn't fit, it's far too loud, and it detracts from the mood and feel of the story.

It's a mistake to expect a different medium to tell the exact same story in the exact same way. It never works. The anime certainly does not replace the manga, but as a supplement, a different way to tell the story, it works pretty well. I'm still somewhat concerned about how the anime will end. As long as it doesn't detract from the impact and the story of the manga, I'll be satisfied.

This series was easy to get a grasp of even though I never read the manga.
I don't read manga so I have nothing to compare this series to but if you like historical/violent/action anime with just a tad of light comedy thrown in, this seems to be a pretty good title so far.

A solid presentation throughout and it's well worth the money. Good job, Anime Works. Glad to see you're back!