Martial Arts/Samurai

There's going to be a massacre at Edo Castle! While the bitter Kagimura believes that he's sending his forces chasing after Anotsu and the entire Itto-ryu crew, Anotsu fakes them all out and risks his life in one mad dash back to the Edo Castle grounds! What is his strange mission? Also believing that she's still on Anotsu's trail, Rin travels with Manji behind a group of decoy Itto-ryu warriors, whose dreadful soldiers are still lethal without their leader.

The showdown that fans have been waiting for begins here, as Manji and Shira finally cross paths! Although he's missing an arm, Manji's mystical healing powers still ensure that he's a formidable opponent - but his greatest foe, the masochistic Shira, has a few depraved tricks up his own sleeves! With Shira deadlier than ever, having had plenty of time to plot twisted revenge schemes, will Manji be able to protect Rin from his deranged nemesis?

The vicious battle continues - and a key character meets a grisly end! With the help of some new allies, Manji and Rin may have a fighting chance, but can a wounded and road-weary Magatsu hold his own against an invigorated, freshly armed foe?

Anotsu Kagehisa's Itto-ryu crew is splintered and fatigued - as Habaki Kagimura's group of suicidal Rokki-dan soldiers closes in on them! The road to Blade's final volume begins here!

Makie is a natural-born killer bred to be a geisha. Splitting her life between servitude and slaughter could lead to an untimely death, so it's time she chooses a path, but her choice could mean trouble for Manji, the immortal samurai. It's round two for the man who gave up his right to die and the woman who gave up her right to dream. And this time, there'll be no winners.

It is said that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but couldn't he just be another enemy? Rin and her bodyguard, the immortal swordsman Manji, need to know the answer when they visit the headquarters of the mysterious Akagi assassins Can Rin and Manji hold to their own course once they've agreed to join forces with the misfit band of killers?

Manji and Rin's alliance with the mysterious Mugai-ryu assassins has failed, and now for Rin to pursue her parents' killer, she must pass through the Shogun's checkpoints that control the roads out of Edo, a task she must perform without Manji, who is one of the most wanted men in all Japan and she is sure to be detected...

While the immortal samurai, Manji, has his hands full with a trio of skillful and merciless killers of the renegade Itto-ryu sword school, Manji's charge, Rin, prepares to make her way through government checkpoints to leave Edo and find Anotsu Kagehisa - lord of the Itto-ryu and murderer of her parents - and fulfill her quest of vengeance.

In The Art of Blade of the Immortal, Hiroaki Samura's lush color paintings, detailed line work, and selected story pages and chapter breaks are on display in an oversized hardcover collection. This edition also includes an exclusive section with thirty-two extra pages of artwork, an introduction by Geof Darrow (The Matrix Comics, Hard Boiled), and a translated afterword by Samura.

Before he portrayed the legendary blind swordsman Zatoichi, Shintaro Katsu played Suganoichi, a blind court masseur with a dark side. An outcast since birth, he learned at young age that the only way to get ahead is to take advantage of others. Now an expert con-artist with a heart of coal, Suganoichi is on a vile quest for power, and everyone else will suffer along the way!

Japanese cult movie guru Teruo Ishii directs this deranged, over-the-top adaptation from the original manga by Kazuo Koike about a privileged samurai gang in charge of recruiting women for prostitution in old Edo's pleasure quarter. Tetsuro Tanba is the hardboiled mercenary swordsman caught in the middle between the sex slave business, the corrupt Shogunate and rival gangs. When he goes into action, blood sprays, and heads and limbs fly.

Inazo Nitobe, a Japanese philosopher writing in eloquent English, outlines the origins of bushido, or the way of the samurai, and shows how the code permeates traditional Japanese culture. Nitobe's extensive research results in an eclectic and far-reaching book. He delved into Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism while seeking similarities and contrasts by citing philosophers going back to the Romans, the Greeks and Biblical times.