The Blade of the Immortal Manga Gallery

Thirty volumes, thirty paintings, one pencil line underneath.

This is the paper shelf: every Japanese tankobon cover of Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no Junin), volume by volume from 1994 to 2013, in the Afternoon KC editions Kodansha sells today. Hiroaki Samura painted each cover as a standalone illustration, and the cast rotates through them: Manji, Rin, the Itto-ryu swordsmen, the Mugai-ryu hunters.

Blade of the Immortal is a dark series written for adults, and this page keeps to the covers themselves: the art, the editions, and the publishing record. Every cover below was checked against two sources, Kodansha's own catalogue and the series wiki's cover archive, and the two agree volume for volume.

THE FIRST AND THE LAST

1994 and 2013

Volume 1 and volume 30

Same shelf · nineteen years apart

Blade of the Immortal volume 1 Japanese cover, 1994 — **Afternoon KC · 1994**The debut cover is a pencil drawing: grey, hatched, a blade held in Manji's teeth.

Blade of the Immortal volume 30 Japanese cover, 2013 — **Afternoon KC · 2013**The final cover is the quietest painting of the run: Manji and Rin walking under cherry blossoms.

The run begins in pencil and ends in paint. Between them the covers change medium and mood, but never format: the brush-lettered title, the Afternoon KC banner, and Samura's name stay in place for all thirty volumes, and unlike many long series the tankobon covers were never replaced by a later redesign. The painting on a current Japanese printing is the painting from its first printing.

VOLUMES 1 TO 10

The Afternoon KC run begins

Volume 1

Kodansha · 22 September 1994. ISBN 978-4-06-314090-3. The pencil portrait: Manji, a blade held in his teeth.

Volume 2

Kodansha · 17 December 1994. ISBN 978-4-06-314101-6. Blue and gold brushwork: Cry of the Worm opens the story of the bloodworms.

Volume 3

Kodansha · 21 April 1995. ISBN 978-4-06-314109-2. Rin takes the cover, blades ready: Dreamsong and Rin's Bane.

Volume 4

Kodansha · 23 October 1995. ISBN 978-4-06-314119-1. Manji carries the fallen: On Silent Wings begins.

Volume 5

Kodansha · 23 August 1996. ISBN 978-4-06-314137-5. A profile in muted paint: Dark Shadows follows On Silent Wings.

Volume 6

Kodansha · 23 June 1997. ISBN 978-4-06-314151-1. A seated swordswoman under maple leaves: Heart of Darkness.

Volume 7

Kodansha · 23 October 1997. ISBN 978-4-06-314165-8. Crossed blades: The Gathering assembles the cast.

Volume 8

Kodansha · 23 July 1998. ISBN 978-4-06-314183-2. Red in darkness: The Gathering runs on and Secrets begins.

Volume 9

Kodansha · 23 June 1999. ISBN 978-4-06-314210-5. A long blade carried at rest: Secrets, Skin and Beasts.

Volume 10

Kodansha · 21 April 2000. ISBN 978-4-06-314238-9. The face fills the frame: Beasts closes, Autumn Frost opens.

VOLUMES 11 TO 20

The long middle

Volume 11

Kodansha · 23 January 2001. ISBN 978-4-06-314259-4. Spiky hair in orange and blue: Magatsu and Autumn Frost.

Volume 12

Kodansha · 22 February 2002. ISBN 978-4-06-314268-6. The shamisen player: Mirror of the Soul begins.

Volume 13

Kodansha · 22 November 2002. ISBN 978-4-06-314306-5. Two figures, one road: Last Blood and Twilight.

Volume 14

Kodansha · 23 July 2003. ISBN 978-4-06-314326-3. Fire behind a silhouetted figure: Trickster.

Volume 15

Kodansha · 23 January 2004. ISBN 978-4-06-314337-9. Pop flowers and a hard stare: Cauldron and Shortcut.

Volume 16

Kodansha · 21 May 2004. ISBN 978-4-06-314348-5. Green chains: On the Perfection of Anatomy, the strangest arc.

Volume 17

Kodansha · 22 November 2004. ISBN 978-4-06-314363-8. The red archer: The Sparrow Net and Barefoot.

Volume 18

Kodansha · 23 June 2005. ISBN 978-4-06-314380-5. Crouched and ready: Badger Hole and Otter Holt.

Volume 19

Kodansha · 21 April 2006. ISBN 978-4-06-314409-3. The giant and the spear: Demon Lair opens.

Volume 20

Kodansha · 23 October 2006. ISBN 978-4-06-314430-7. Demon Lair deepens; the Anatomy arc reaches its conclusion.

VOLUMES 21 TO 30

To the final volume

Volume 21

Kodansha · 22 June 2007. ISBN 978-4-06-314455-0. Manji against a bruised sky: Footsteps and Restless Ghosts.

Volume 22

Kodansha · 21 December 2007. ISBN 978-4-06-314480-2. The crossbow aimed: Companion, Culvert and Scarlet Swords.

Volume 23

Kodansha · 23 June 2008. ISBN 978-4-06-314509-0. A face in pale paint: Entangled and the Massacre arc.

Volume 24

Kodansha · 23 February 2009. ISBN 978-4-06-314548-9. Snow settles over the cast: Snowfall at Dawn and the first Blizzard.

Volume 25

Kodansha · 23 September 2009. ISBN 978-4-06-314591-5. Two figures in broad green strokes: the Blizzard runs on.

Volume 26

Kodansha · 21 May 2010. ISBN 978-4-06-310654-1. Blonde hair, black clothes: Mist on the Spider's Web.

Volume 27

Kodansha · 21 January 2011. ISBN 978-4-06-310722-7. A sepia court portrait of the Itto-ryu: Raining Chaos.

Volume 28

Kodansha · 21 October 2011. ISBN 978-4-06-310775-3. Manji crouched in the snow: The Chosen Path and Rudderless.

Volume 29

Kodansha · 23 May 2012. ISBN 978-4-06-387818-9. Rin in violet, blades out: the endgame begins.

Volume 30

Kodansha · 22 February 2013. ISBN 978-4-06-387869-1. The quiet cover: Manji and Rin beneath cherry blossoms.

READING THE COVERS

What the grids show

The paintings

None of the thirty covers is a blown-up story panel. Each is a separate illustration made for the book, in paint and pencil, which is why the set reads as a gallery when it is laid out in a row.

The numbers

The volume number is part of the art, painted into each cover in changing colours and positions rather than printed in a fixed corner. Finding it is part of reading each cover.

The credits

Every cover carries the same two names: the brush title Mugen no Junin and Samura's name. No other hands are credited on the front of any volume.

The ISBN drift

The ISBN blocks quietly record Kodansha's numbering history: volumes 1 to 25 sit in the 314 block, volumes 26 to 28 in the 310 block, and the last two in the 387 block.