YMMV / Blade of the Immortal

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Shira's last words are to tell Renzo to give up on his revenge, then telling him never to listen to men like him. While the most popular (Not to mention most in-character) interpretation of that is that it's one last Kick the Dog moment to talk Renzo back into his revenge quest, it's ambiguous enough that he could be genuine in his desire to keep Renzo from traveling the same path he did.
• Arc Fatigue: Like most long-running manga, it varies depending on who you ask. The most popular choice seems to be the six-volume Prison Arc.
• Awesome Art: Easily some of the greatest art in the industry, with dynamic panels, unique designs for every character (mostly), and great storytelling.
• Complete Monster: Shira is a sadistic, misogynistic Serial Killer and the most depraved member of the Mugai-Ryu. When hunting the Itto-Ryu, Shira rapes, tortures and mutilates a kind prostitute named O-Ren, leaving her to die after he's done. When he initially teams up with Manji and Rin, Shira puts on a facade of acting like a human being, only to torture and attempt to rape another prostitute serving a decoy for the Itto-Ryu leader, trying to murder Rin when she attempts to stop him. Losing a hand to Manji as a result, Shira grows more and more unhinged with dreams of vengeance to the point he willingly submits to twisted immortality experiments to combat Manji. Raping a woman to death and keeping a boy with a grudge against Manji named Renzo as a helper and Sex Slave, whom he violently abuses on a regular basis, Shira proceeds to massacre the Shogunate's forces sent after him and kidnaps Rin. Tying her to a dock, half submerged with a boulder tied to her feet in the dead of winter, Shira attempts to force Manji to choose to drown saving her or leave her to die to face Shira himself. Shira proceeds to attempt to murder his other nemesis, O-Ren's beloved Magatsu, while trying to cripple and rape a Shogunate kunoichi assisting him. When finally defeated, Shira uses his last words to implore Renzo to abandon his revenge, only to crush his spirit even further by spitefully telling him to never listen to men like him.
• Creepy Awesome: Despite everything wrong with Shira (see Complete Monster above), his various psychological problems only serve to make him an even better villain. Plus, since he's the only character in the series with truly black morality in an otherwise gray cast, his appearances do a lot to spice things up.
• Designated Hero: Manji. He's almost always played sympathetically despite being known throughout Japan as "the guy who murdered 100 people". Even by the end of the series, he still hasn't become any more of a good guy. This fact is lampshaded by Renzo when he attempts to assassinate Manji after Shira's death.

  Renzo: " Shira is dead. He died all alone. And he was eaten by wild dogs...Torn to pieces! A really terrible death. That's probably the way it should be. A man like him wouldn't [deserve to] die like a human. But what's with this guy? How many people has he killed?! He's a big criminal too! Why do you all care so much about him?"

• Draco in Leather Pants: Anotsu Kagehisa has this in spades. There was continuous hinting at a relationship between him and Rin for a while, although in the end it didn't amount to anything because Rin kills him, completing her journey.
• Evil Is Cool: Shira is easily the most villainous character in the entire series. Unsurprisingly, he's also one of the cast's top badasses.
• Heartwarming Moments: Manji and Rin are reunited, a bunch of guys hot on Rin's heels. She commands Manji to kill them, but he retorts that he will not kill just anyone simply because she tells him to: He has promised that he will kill 100 evil men to make up for the 100 good men he killed in the past. So, first and foremost, she has to answer him: Are they evil men? Rin near on has a breakdown, tearfully confessing that she does not know if they are evil, she does not know if they really deserve to die, all she knows is that if Manji does not kill them, then they will kill her... This, as it happens, was all Manji needed to hear.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Anotsu Kagehisa desires a world where "the sword excuses all". Creating the Itto-Ryu, Anotsu begins to hunt down dojos to eliminate them in order to abolish the stifling sword styles from the world in favor of a world of pure determination. Cleverly eluding his pursuers via having prostitutes disguise themselves as him and lead his hunters into ambushes, Anotsu's utter tenacity sees him through other attempts on his life and rallying the itto-Ryu against the shogunate, culminating in a dynamic assault on Edo castle itself. Even to the end, Anotsu remains a complex figure, stopping at nothing to achieve his dreams despite all the wrongs he has committed on his path.
  • Habaki Kagimura, secret master of the Mugai-Ryu and the shinbangashira—a major figure in the Shogunate—forms the Mugai-Ryu to secretly destroy the Itto-Ryu before luring the organization's strongest members into a trap and destroying them. Capturing series protagonist, the immortal man Manji, Habaki subjects him to experiments to perfect immortality for the sake of the Shogun. When ordered to commit seppuku, Habaki uses his time to try to destroy the Itto-Ryu, dealing a series of decisive blows before engaging Anotsu himself with surprising good humor and mutual respect, with his only regrets at the end being the loss of the two loves of his life and his dead children.
• Moral Event Horizon: After dancing around it for several volumes, Kagimura makes a flying leap across when he orders a shipyard to be made inaccessible to the Itto-Ryu...by murdering everyone who works there.
• Narm
  • The Tear Jerker of Shima's suicide is somewhat lessened by the most gratuitous use of High-Pressure Blood in the series; one stab in the throat results in a twenty foot blood fountain.
  • Manji's use of Arashino's own arm to defeat him is pretty cool, but he keeps using it for the rest of the scene, which is pretty distracting since it's the Final Battle.
• Nightmare Fuel: Lots and lots, but a special mention goes to the entire latter half of the Prison Arc.
• Rooting for the Empire: As the series goes on, it gets really easy to start rooting for the Itto-Ryu.
• Tear Jerker: Dewanosuke's sub-plot is one of the most saddening moments in the entire series.
• The Woobie:
  • Makie, who is an unbelievably tragic figure whose life has been nothing but suffering, pain and isolation. The man she loves values her more for her skill than for her as a person, her relationship with her family was dysfunctional at best and she has no purpose in life that she can name. All she can do is resign herself to her own lonely corner of the world and live quietly, troubling and being troubled by none.
  • Also, as mentioned above, Dewanosuke.

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