Blade of the Immortal (4 Stars)

Takashi Miike’s Blade of the Immortal (2017) adapts Hiroaki Samura’s long running manga into a bleak, violent jidaigeki that uses genre spectacle to question the value of revenge, immortality and moral absolutism.

The film opens in late Edo period Japan. Manji is introduced as a feared samurai whose life has been defined by killing. In the past, he slaughtered a group of men he believed to be criminals, only to discover that they were honorable samurai defending their lord. When Manji realizes his mistake, he also understands that his actions have destroyed any claim he had to righteousness. His sister Machi, horrified by what he has become, has become nad with grief. Shortly afterward, she is murdered by bandits, leaving Manji broken and suicidal.

Manji attempts to end his life, but his death wish is interrupted by Yaobikuni, an ancient crone who possesses supernatural powers. She infects Manji with kessen-chu, blood worms that regenerate his body and make him effectively immortal. Any wound heals, even decapitation. Yaobikuni condemns Manji to live until he has atoned for his sins by killing one thousand evil men. Immortality, rather than a gift, becomes a punishment that forces him to endure endless pain and moral compromise.

50 years later, Manji is living as a wandering outcast, hated and feared. His path crosses with Rin Asano, a teenage girl whose parents were brutally murdered by the Itto-ryu, a radical sword school led by the charismatic and fanatical Anotsu Kagehisa. Anotsu seeks to overthrow the established dojo system, which he sees as corrupt, stagnant and tied to feudal hypocrisy. His methods are extreme; he annihilates rival schools, including Rin’s family dojo, in order to force a violent rebirth of the martial world.

Rin asks Manji to become her bodyguard and executioner, promising to end her own life once her revenge is complete. Manji accepts, because Rin looks identical to his sister Machi. He even calls her Machi at first. Together they hunt the members of the Itto-ryu. Their journey is episodic and brutal, with each confrontation revealing different shades of cruelty, idealism and despair. Manji’s immortality allows Miike to stage extreme violence; limbs are severed, bodies impaled and Manji himself is repeatedly torn apart, only to regenerate. The spectacle emphasizes suffering rather than power fantasy.

As the story progresses, the line between good and evil becomes increasingly blurred. Some Itto-ryu members are sadistic killers, others are tragic figures driven by loyalty or survival. Anotsu himself is not portrayed as a simple villain. He genuinely believes that only destruction can clear the way for progress, even if it means becoming a monster. Parallel to this conflict, government agents and rival factions attempt to manipulate both Anotsu and Manji for political ends, suggesting that institutional violence is as ruthless as personal vengeance.

Rin grows increasingly traumatized by the bloodshed carried out in her name. Manji, despite his vow, tries to protect her from becoming consumed by hatred. In the climactic battles, alliances collapse and nearly all major characters meet violent ends. Manji finally reaches the symbolic threshold of killing one thousand evil men, though the exact morality of that number is left deliberately ambiguous. Rin ultimately abandons her quest for revenge, choosing life over endless hatred. Manji, having guided her away from the path that destroyed him, is released from his immortality. He walks away alone, mortal once more, carrying the weight of his memories.

Miike uses Blade of the Immortal to dismantle romantic ideas of the samurai, revenge narratives and even immortality itself. Violence in the film is relentless and ugly; it is meant to exhaust the viewer rather than thrill them. By making Manji immortal, Miike removes the heroic stakes usually associated with sword fights. Pain has no release through death, and killing solves nothing permanently.

The central message is that revenge is a self-perpetuating cycle that consumes both victim and perpetrator. Rin’s journey demonstrates how easily moral certainty turns into dehumanization. Anotsu’s ideology, though grounded in real social decay, becomes monstrous once it justifies limitless slaughter. Miike refuses to offer a clean moral hierarchy; institutions, rebels and lone warriors all participate in the same machinery of violence.

Immortality functions as a metaphor for historical and personal guilt. Manji cannot escape his past through death; he must live with it, confront it and guide the next generation away from repeating it. Redemption, in Miike’s view, does not come from righteous killing but from breaking the cycle and choosing compassion over ideology.

In the end, Blade of the Immortal argues that progress and honour built on blood are hollow. True change is quiet, painful and often invisible. By letting Rin live and allowing Manji to become mortal again, Miike suggests that accepting fragility and moral uncertainty is the only way out of endless violence.

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