The Library documents it. The store sells it. Shop SOJ on eBay →
SOJeBay Store
← Back to SOJ

THE LIBRARY

Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.

← Back to BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL on the Library shelf

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL

16 shelves
The Blade of the Immortal Manga Gallery
The Blade of the Immortal Manga Gallery
Every Japanese tankobon cover of Blade of the Immortal, volumes 1 to 30, Afternoon KC editions with release dates and ISBNs, from the pencil-drawn debut of 1994…
→
The History of Blade of the Immortal
The History of Blade of the Immortal
From a 1993 prize-winning one-shot in Monthly Afternoon to a nineteen-year run: the publishing history of Blade of the Immortal, its novel, its complete edition,…
→
Who Is Hiroaki Samura?
Who Is Hiroaki Samura?
Hiroaki Samura (born 1970): the classically trained painter who left art school for Monthly Afternoon, drew Blade of the Immortal for nineteen years, and built a…
→
Who Is Manji?
Who Is Manji?
Manji, the Killer of 100: the outlaw samurai made immortal by the kessen-chu bloodworms, bound to kill 1,000 evil men to buy back his death, and the arsenal he…
→
Who Is Rin Asano?
Who Is Rin Asano?
Rin Asano, heir of the Mutenichi-ryu: the girl who hired an immortal bodyguard to avenge her parents, the unusual weapons she carries, and how her quest changes…
→
What Is the Itto-ryu?
What Is the Itto-ryu?
The Itto-ryu, Anotsu Kagehisa's school of victory by any technique: its doctrine, its campaign against the dojo world, its core fighters, and its mirror image,…
→
How Does Hiroaki Samura Draw Blade of the Immortal?
How Does Hiroaki Samura Draw Blade of the Immortal?
Pencil before ink, hatching before tone: Hiroaki Samura's drawing method in Blade of the Immortal, the style switching between panels, and the painted covers…
→
What Is the Symbol on Manji's Back?
What Is the Symbol on Manji's Back?
The mark on Manji's back is the manji, an ancient Buddhist emblem of peace that marks temples on Japanese maps, and the source of the hero's name: the facts,…
→
Why Does the English Blade of the Immortal Read Left to Right?
Why Does the English Blade of the Immortal Read Left to Right?
Samura forbade flipping his art, so Dark Horse cut every page into panels and pasted them back in reverse order: the nineteen-year cut-and-paste method behind…
→
What Are the Blade of the Immortal English Editions?
What Are the Blade of the Immortal English Editions?
Dark Horse's English Blade of the Immortal: 131 monthly issues (1996 to 2007), 31 trade paperbacks (1997 to 2015), ten omnibuses and ten deluxe hardcovers, and…
→
What Is The Art of Blade of the Immortal?
What Is The Art of Blade of the Immortal?
The 2008 Japanese illustration collection Glittering Waves and its expanded 2010 Dark Horse edition: 160 oversized pages of Samura's covers and paintings, a Geof…
→
What Is the 2008 Blade of the Immortal Anime?
What Is the 2008 Blade of the Immortal Anime?
Bee Trains thirteen-episode adaptation of 2008: Koichi Mashimo directing, Kow Otani scoring, Tomokazu Seki as Manji, and why it covers only the opening movement…
→
What Is the 2019 Blade of the Immortal Anime?
What Is the 2019 Blade of the Immortal Anime?
Liden Films complete adaptation of 2019 to 2020: Hiroshi Hamasaki directing, Eiko Ishibashi scoring, Kenjiro Tsuda as Manji, all thirty volumes in twenty-four…
→
What Is the Blade of the Immortal Film?
What Is the Blade of the Immortal Film?
Takashi Miikes hundredth film (2017): Takuya Kimura as Manji, Hana Sugisaki as Rin, a Cannes premiere, an $8.4 million theatrical run, and Samura's verdict on…
→
What Awards Did Blade of the Immortal Win?
What Awards Did Blade of the Immortal Win?
The Afternoon Four Seasons Grand Prize of 1993, the first Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award of 1997, the 2000 Eisner for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign…
→
How Can You Tell a First Printing of Blade of the Immortal?
How Can You Tell a First Printing of Blade of the Immortal?
The colophon test for Japanese Afternoon KC volumes, the shifting ISBN blocks, the obi question, the never-redesigned covers, and the English keys: Dark Horse's…
→

THE FIRST WORD

First word on new listings, plus a subscriber promo code for the eBay store.