Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no junin) (Blu-ray) (2017)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2017
Running Time	141:06 (Case: 140)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Takashi Miike
Studio Distributor	Icon Entertainment	Starring	Takuya Kimura Hana Sugisaki Sota Yamamoto Hayato Ichihara Ebizo Ichikawa Erika Toda Yoko Yamamoto
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Koji Endo

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	Japanese DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     In a ten minute black and white prologue the background of Blade of the Immortal is set. Samurai Manji (Takuya Kimura) follows his master’s order to kill a man. But when Manji discovers his master is corrupt, and the man he killed innocent, he kills his master and some other retainers including the husband of his young kid sister Machi (Hana Sugisaki). Manji flees with Machi but he is now a hunted man with a price on his head. They encounter a huge group of bounty hunters; in the ensuing clash Manji kills them all but Machi is also killed. Manji is badly wounded and on the verge of death when the ancient crone Yaobikuni (Yoko Yamamoto) appears and inserts bloodworms into his body that heal his wounds. Manji is now, for all intents and purposes, unable to be killed.

     Fifty years pass; the film now is in colour. The Itto-ryu clan led by Anotsu Kagehisa (Sota Yamamoto) are taking over rival dojos in Edo, killing those who oppose them. When the family of young girl Rin (Hana Sugisaki again) are murdered she vows to get revenge. At her father’s grave she encounters Yaobikuni who tells her to seek out Manji, now living as a recluse. Manji, struck by Rin’s resemblance to his dead sister, agrees to help her track down and kill members of the Itto-ryu. Combats occur as their quest leads the pair to various fighters of the Itto-ryu, including Eiku (Ebizo Ichikawa), another man cursed to live an immortal life by Yaobikuni and the bloodworms, and female warrior Makie (Erika Toda); during these combats and others Manji comes off second best but survives due to the bloodworms. They also discover another group of fighters led by the less than scrupulous Shira (Hayato Ichihara) who also want Anotsu dead. Finally, the officials of the Shogun also think the Itto-ryu are getting to powerful. The stage is set for a massive, bloody climax with a body count in the hundreds.

     Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no junin) is based on the manga by Hiroaki Samura. The film is advertised as cult director Takashi Miike’s 100th film. Better people than myself have pointed out that this is not strictly accurate as it counts video shorts, but it is true that over the past two decades Miike has been incredibly prolific; his films are frequently confronting, often violent, but always unusual and they cover a wide variety of genres, crime, western, horror and action. Examples include Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001), Sukiyaki Western Django (2007), 13 Assassins (2010) and Over Your Dead Body (2014) although Miike does have his more light-hearted moments such as Yatterman (2009) or Ace Attorney (2012). Blade of the Immortal is a return to the samurai genre, with extreme carnage and a body count resulting from a single swordsman that outdoes even the Baby Cart series of films.

     Not that Miike’s films are ever simple or straightforward. In films such as Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2010) Miike calls into question the concept of samurai beliefs and honour. Blade of the Immortal does not go quite that far but Miike does take the time for reflections on traditional class, loyalty, duty, good and evil and death interspersed with the action scenes. The developing relationship between the gruff Takuya Kimura and the young Hana Sugisaki (who is very good) is delightful, the villain interesting and multidimensional. Between the prologue and the climax, both massive one / few against many battles, are a range of hand to hand fights with a wide array of edged weapons. While Manji cannot be killed, he can certainly be hurt but for all the blood and carnage in the action sequences, including limbs severed and blood spirting, this is not a particularly gruesome film for the action is filmed tightly in on the “hero” characters swinging at the enemies around them so there are few impacts of the weaponry on the screen, only the sounds. Mostly what we see is the result of fights – bodies and blood strewn all over the landscape, blood on faces.

     Running 140 minutes Blade of the Immortal is not a short film, but it is one of those films where the running time speeds by because of inventive action sequences, massive battles, the interesting relationship between the main characters and a decent villain, who is not even the most evil man in the film.

Video

     Blade of the Immortal is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code. The original theatrical aspect ratio of the film is 2.40:1 – why in this day are we still getting these b******ised prints? The cropping is quite obvious in some scenes where there is dialogue from a character off camera while the scale of the massive battles is diminished.

     Otherwise, close-up detail of faces is strong although detail is lost in the whirl of the action sequences as the camera spins. However the print is stable without motion blur even in these sequences. In daylight scenes colours are bright and glossy. There are a lot of scenes at night or in darkness where blacks are solid and shadow detail fine. Skin tones are natural, contrast and brightness consistent. I did not notice and marks or artefacts.

     The white English subtitles are burnt in. They are sometimes hard to read against light backgrounds but are error free.

     One mark is deducted in line with site policy.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     The audio for Blade of the Immortal is Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1.

     Dialogue is clear. Effects during the action, such as the yells and impacts of weapons on other weapons or on bodies, are quite front oriented with mostly the percussion heavy score by Koji Endo, some horses’ hooves, impacts and ambient sound, in the rears. The subwoofer did give support to gunshots, hooves, music and the waterfall.

     I did not notice any lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Audio Sync
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Overall

     No extras. The menu offers Play or Chapters.

     Both the US Region A and UK Region B releases of Blade of the Immortal are in the correct aspect ratio and come with a range of different extras including cast interviews, featurettes and interviews. The UK release is the best with:

• Audio commentary with Asian Film expert Tom Mes
• Takashi Miike on Blade of the Immortal (25:37)
• Manji vs. 100 (6:25) on the film’s opening sequence
• Cast Interviews (85:10)
• Stills Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer (1:59)

     This is a no brainer!

     Blade of the Immortal is Takashi Miike in fine form with impressive, chaotic action scenes and a massive body count but if the film was only that it would not be classic Miike; in addition we get a delightful developing relationship between a gruff samurai and a young girl, a multifaceted villain and reflection on Japanese society during the Shogunate, including just where the most evil can be found.

     Fans of Miike will not be disappointed but with an incorrect aspect ratio and none of the extras that are available elsewhere this Blu-ray release cannot be recommended.

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