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Live-Action Blade of the Immortal Film's Trailer Shows Manji, Makie Battling

posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Film featuring Erika Toda as Makie opened on Saturday

Warner Brothers began streaming a Manji and Makie battle trailer for the live-action film of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal "neo period drama" manga on Tuesday. The video previews the film's theme song "Live to Die Another Day ~Sonzai Shōmei~" (Live to Die Another Day ~Proof of Existence~) by MIYAVI.

The film's staff also revealed two stills that feature Erika Toda (live-action Death Note films' Misa Amane, Liar Game: The Final Stage's Kanzaki Nao) as Makie Otonotachibana.

Warner Brothers began streaming three highlights trailers for the film on Friday.

The film premiered in Japan on Saturday (at the beginning of Japan's Golden Week holidays) and will also be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from May 17-28.

Samura's original Blade of the Immortal manga follows Manji's journey of revenge as the yōjinbō (bodyguard) of Rin, a young woman who swears vengeance against a group of sword fighters who murdered her parents.

The film's lead actors include Takuya Kimura and Hana Sugisaki. Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle, Redline, live-action Space Battleship Yamato) plays the lead character Manji, a rōnin warrior cursed with an immortal body. Sugisaki (When Marnie Was There, live-action Humanoid Monster Bem, Tsukuroi Tatsu Hito) plays both the heroine Rin Asano and Manji's sister Machi. Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Yatterman, As the Gods Will, Crows) directed the film.

Samura launched the Blade of the Immortal manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in December of 1993, and he completed the series in 2012. The manga's 30 volumes have 5 million copies in print, and the series has been published in 22 countries and territories. The manga earned an Excellence Prize in the manga category of the 1st Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 1997, and it won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material in 2000. The manga is getting a reprint in Japan with new covers.

Dark Horse Comics published the Blade of the Immortal manga in North America, and is rereleasing it in omnibus form. The first omnibus volume shipped in January. The manga already inspired a television anime in 2008, and Media Blasters released it in English. The manga also inspired a stage play that starred Tomokazu Seki, who reprised his role from the anime as Manji.

Source: Anime! Anime! (Kōtarō Nakase)


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