Lenni Reviews: Blade of the Immortal Vol 25: Snowfall at Dawn
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Warning: If you’re
reading this and you haven’t read the first 24 volumes, there will be spoilers.
This review operates on the assumption you have read every volume but this one.
Are you ready? Then proceed:
Have you ever been hip deep in a series - book, comic or
television - and had a favorite villain? You almost look forward to their
repeat appearances. You wonder what they will do to the hero next and if the
hero will finally end their reign of terror for good. Shira is NOT such a
villain. In fact, he is one of those villains who you wonder when the hell he
will be finished off so you don’t have to deal with him anymore!
Volume 25 of this
fantastic, award winning series by Hiroaki Samura promises such a showdown with
Shira, who is known for his sick predilections with torturing and murdering
women. So, I guess as a female manga fan, I am one of many psyched to see get
Shira dead in a fantastic way. I don't enjoy seeing him and I almost regret him
lasting so long over other villains I enjoyed seeing more. But therein lies Hiroaki
Samura's genius; Shira is so fantastically created, I can't freaking stand him.
I suppose you don't get rid of a villain so crazed and sick, he carves off his
own flesh to make the bones of his forearm into a double blade dagger.
Rin and Manji have
recovered from their adventures at Edo castle where Manji was the victim of
some pretty heinous immortality experiments. But there is no real rest as they
hurry on their quest to find and punish Anotsu. Anotsu is also on the move,
with Magatsu in tow and the funniest pair so far in this series, Meguro
and Tanpopo, get more screen time. It’s hard to really get into the meat of
this volume without completely ruining all the surprises. I can say this; You
will laugh, you will cringe, you will gasp, and you will scream when you get to
the cliffhanger and can’t find an American release date for the next volume!
This series has never let me down.
It’s one of the few I will still outright buy rather than read in the store or
borrow from my library. My art idol, Hiroaki
Samura, is fantastic as usual; remaining on my list of creators that I will
purchase pretty much anything with their name on it. The detailed explanation
on how the kessen-chu worms work lost me for a moment but not because it
wasn’t interesting! I went back and read it on my second pass though the book.
When your heroine is in peril and your hero embattled, you don’t want science;
you want the fight. And my friends; do you ever get it. Stick with this series if
for nothing more than the supreme hope Shira will FINALLY get his.
