Blade of the Immortal Volume 11: Beasts [Paperback]

Think it would be great to live forever? Manji, a crass ronin of eighteenth century Japan, doesn't agree. Cursed to immortal life for prior misdeeds, he must dispatch a thousand evil men to the judgment of the Buddha in order to die himself. Joining a young girl on her quest for vengeance against the rebellious Itto-Ryu sword school, Manji soon has dire need for his twelve blades as he faces a motley of hardened warriors, psychopaths, philosophers and just plain jokers. The thousand-man requiem is met by the painful stroke of give-and-take; and is told in a fashion that puts most modern epics to shame.

Now with that said, I have a bone to pick with Dark Horse. Manji is not present in this volume, yet his face (cool as it is) adorns the cover of "beasts" and would seem a blatant selling point to ignorant fans of the series. I take offense to this on an _asthetic_ level---I'm well aware that the Japanese and Thai graphic novels use this cover as well---but a picture of Hyakurin (the main character of this particular episode) would be much more appropriate. Still, I'm not _quite_ as upset as I was to find that the beautful Anotsu cover of "secrets" had been replaced with the armless manji-in-action from "The Gathering" #12--now that was TRULY a travesty!!

Anyway, on with the review (warning---some spoilers ahead). This long storyarc features a bunch of Itto-Ryu swordsmen who have 'gone rogue' (an oxymoron, I know) to settle an old score with the Mugai-Ryu. Hyakurin is captured and tortured for information. Giichi searchs the whorehouse district of Tatsumi for her. Events lead up to the typical Samura showdown: lots of hacked-off limbs and macho posturing, though ol' Giich is a bit more reserved than the average kenchi. Several dream sequences flesh out the personalities of Hyakurin and Shinriji, and expose some of the conflicts inherent within Japanese culture and society.

A note on the review below: considering how sex is portrayed by the bulk of adult Japanese anime/manga, Samura actually handles the material with far more subtely and sensitivity than his contemporaries. There is no real nudity, and the most offensive act is thankfully restrained by a dream/memory sequence. Still, this is a fairly harrowing storyarc, about as rough as "Heart of Darkness", and those of a weak violence-threshold need not venture further.

Five stars. Hopefully Dark Horse is saving that Anotsu cover for the storyarc after Fall Frost...

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the level of violence in Samura's stories. Moderation is rare in these stories, and there is a limit to the number of body parts I can accept as plot devices. Don't misunderstand me, I like this series a lot, but sometimes it gets out of control. This is especially true of violence against women. Of which there is more than is needed to establish the villainy of the villains. At a certain point it stops being a plot device and becomes a major theme, but Hiroaki Samura doesn't seem to be going anywhere with it.

'Beasts' is a story that stands pretty much on its own. Its main characters are Hyakurin and Shinriji, two of the remaining members of the Mugai-Ryu sword school that is hunting the same Anotsu Kagehisa who is the object or Rin's quest for revenge. Both are resting from their last conflict when, suddenly, members of Kagehisa's Itto-Ryo show up in a surprise attack. They make a valiant defence, but Hyakurin is captured, bundled off to a secret location and tortured to find out what she knows about the people for whom she is working.

And tortured, and tortured, and tortured. This is a nightmare that successfully proves Hyakurin's determination, but is otherwise a test of what the reader can stomach. As relief to the inventive ways to cause pain, we see many flashbacks about Hyakurin's history. This part is indeed interesting, and I would have relished more history and less splatter. So this manga has a good story, good art, but is a test of intestinal fortitude. Be warned. If you like nails coated in hot pepper you won't have much of a problem. If you have a touchy stomach like me be prepared to take it carefully.