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Reviewed by Craig Johnson Manji, the immortal swordsman, lies imprisoned in the bakufu stronghold of the mysterious Habaki Kagemura. Seeking to impart the life-extending powers of the Manji's kessen chu bloodworms to other humans, Kagimura orders his medical examiners to discover the secrets of Manji's amazing regenerative abilities. Using a series of convicts as live subjects in an increasingly grisly series of twisted experiments, Burando, Kagimura's lead medical examiner, begins to grow more desperate and sickened with each horrifying failure. And through it all, Manji lives, and regenerates, and bides his time for the moment that he can pay back his tormentors...limb by limb! What sort of man can perform experiments on another human being – even one he knows will automatically regenerate even the most grievous wound – and how does it ultimately affect his state of mind? What motivates him to continue chopping and transplanting limbs between his regenerative prisoner and unwitting volunteers? How much is too much in the pursuit of pushing back the boundaries of medicine? Look at it another way – if you could create a cast-iron cure for cancer at the cost of a dozen innocent lives, is it worth it…and what does your decision do your mental health in the long run? The bulk of this book deals with the gradual disintegration of Doctor Ayame Burando, as he strives to get to the bottom of Manji’s regeneration, successfully transplanting limbs and getting more and more involved in making it a success that even minor failures risk plunging him into deep depression. All the while he tears through his subjects, trying to find the magic combination to transfer the regeneration to another person for longer than a couple of days…to save his sanity he has to work this out, but every time he tries he slips further over the edge. There’s even room in this volume to progress Rin and Hyakurin’s quest to rescue Manji, stopping off on the way to encounter an old friend and find out what really happened a few volumes back. Mature, contemplative, intelligent. This is the sort of book you thrust at someone who claims manga is all high school and knickers. Comment on this review of Blade of the Immortal v17: On the Perfection of Anatomy on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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