{ "id": "epva36zey5", "slug": "blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5", "title": "Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_manga", "label": "Anime and manga", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_manga" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series", "label": "Anime series, episodes, and franchises", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming", "label": "OVAs, ONAs, and streaming-original anime", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: OVAs, ONAs, and streaming-original anime", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_manga", "label": "Anime and manga", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_manga" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series", "label": "Anime series, episodes, and franchises", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming", "label": "OVAs, ONAs, and streaming-original anime", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-, Mugen no Junin: Immortal) is a 2019 Liden Films ONA adapting Hiroaki Samura's samurai manga in 24 Amazon Prime Video episodes about the immortal ronin Manji and Rin's revenge on the Ittō-ryū.", "snippet": "Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-, Mugen no Junin: Immortal) is a 2019 Liden Films ONA adapting Hiroaki Samura's samurai manga in 24 Amazon Prime Video episodes about the immortal ronin Manji and Rin's revenge on the Ittō-ryū.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_anime_series.anime_ovas_onas_streaming", "markdown": "# Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-)\n\n**Blade of the Immortal** (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-, *Mugen no Junin: Immortal*) is a 2019 Japanese original net animation (ONA) series that adapts Hiroaki Samura's samurai manga *Mugen no Junin* in full. Produced by Liden Films and directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki, it ran for 24 episodes on Amazon Prime Video from October 10, 2019 to March 26, 2020, and was later broadcast on Japanese television.[1](https://theanimelist.net/anime/mugen-no-juunin-immortal) • [2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/368519)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | ONA, 24 episodes of about 24 minutes, Fall 2019 season, rated R-17+ for violence and profanity[1](https://theanimelist.net/anime/mugen-no-juunin-immortal) |\n| Run | Streamed weekly on Amazon Prime Video from October 10, 2019; final episode March 26, 2020; TV broadcast on TOKYO MX and MBS from April 7, 2020[1](https://theanimelist.net/anime/mugen-no-juunin-immortal) • [3](https://tsuginokan.com/work/mugen-no-juunin/) |\n| Source | Hiroaki Samura's manga *Mugen no Junin*, serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon from June 1993 to December 2012, collected in 30 volumes[4](https://www.crunchyroll.com/pl/news/latest/2019/5/22/blade-of-the-immortal-gets-new-complete-anime-adaptation) |\n| Studio and director | Liden Films; director Hiroshi Hamasaki; series composition Makoto Fukami; music Eiko Ishibashi[5](https://lidenfilms.jp/works/mugen/) |\n| Main cast | Kenjiro Tsuda as Manji, Ayane Sakura as Rin Asano, Nozomu Sasaki as Kagehisa Anotsu[6](https://mugen-immortal.com/caststaff/) |\n| Adaptation history | Second anime adaptation, after a 13-episode TV series by BeeTrain in 2008; a live-action film by Takashi Miike followed in April 2017[4](https://www.crunchyroll.com/pl/news/latest/2019/5/22/blade-of-the-immortal-gets-new-complete-anime-adaptation) |\n| Recognition | Recommended work, Animation Division, 24th Japan Media Arts Festival[7](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/blade-of-the-immortal/index.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise\n\nThe story is set in an Edo-period Japan in which samurai still exist. Manji, a ronin known as the \"hundred-man slayer,\" cannot die: the nun Yobikuni cursed him with immortality as punishment for his ruthless deeds, and his body carries bloodworms that heal his wounds. The only way to lift the curse is to slay 1,000 evil men, so he wanders Japan killing the wicked while weary of his ageless life.[8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/blade-of-the-immortal-2019)\n\nHis path crosses with Rin Asano, a teenage girl whose parents were killed by the Ittō-ryū, a school of swordsmen led by Kagehisa Anotsu. Rin hires Manji as a bodyguard for her journey of revenge. He initially refuses, but seeing in her a reminder of his dead sister, he agrees to help her.[9](https://mugen-immortal.com/) As the two travel, they find that the shogunate's forces can be as cruel as the swordsmen they hunt.[10](https://countzeroor.com/2020/04/10/blade-of-the-immortal-2019-anime-review/)\n\n## The source manga\n\nHiroaki Samura debuted as a manga artist with *Mugen no Junin*, which won the Afternoon Four Seasons Award grand prize in 1993 before beginning serialization in Monthly Afternoon that June. The series ran for nearly twenty years, ending with its final chapter on December 25, 2012, and was collected in 30 tankōbon volumes published from September 1994 to February 2013.[4](https://www.crunchyroll.com/pl/news/latest/2019/5/22/blade-of-the-immortal-gets-new-complete-anime-adaptation) • [11](https://www.lanovelibrary.com/mugen/) The manga won the Excellence Prize in the Manga Division of the first Japan Media Arts Festival in 1997, and cumulative circulation passed 5.8 million copies according to the anime's official site, with one source reporting 7.5 million by December 2016.[11](https://www.lanovelibrary.com/mugen/) • [9](https://mugen-immortal.com/)\n\nIn English, Dark Horse Comics published the series as a monthly comic that ran for 131 issues from June 1996 to November 2007, then moved to a trade-only collection format of 31 volumes. The English title *Blade of the Immortal* was suggested by the original translator and editor Toren Smith of Studio Proteus during negotiations between Kodansha and Dark Horse.[12](https://www.crunchyroll.com/th/news/features/2020/5/8/exploring-how-english-manga-gets-made-with-blade-of-the-immortals-editor) The Japanese title literally means \"inhabitant of infinity.\"\n\nAn official sequel manga, *Mugen no Junin ~Bakumatsu no Sho~* ([Blade of the Immortal](https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal): Bakumatsu Arc), was serialized in [Afternoon](https://www.edgepedia.org/afternoon).[13](https://news.ponycanyon.co.jp/2019/09/34365)\n\n## Production\n\nThe 2019 series was announced in May 2019 as a \"complete anime adaptation\" of the entire manga, a deliberate contrast with the earlier 13-episode TV anime by BeeTrain, directed by Koichi Mashimo, which had aired in 2008 while the manga was still running.[4](https://www.crunchyroll.com/pl/news/latest/2019/5/22/blade-of-the-immortal-gets-new-complete-anime-adaptation) Amazon produced and distributed the new version as an exclusive on Prime Video, with the first two episodes released worldwide simultaneously on October 10, 2019.[10](https://countzeroor.com/2020/04/10/blade-of-the-immortal-2019-anime-review/) • [13](https://news.ponycanyon.co.jp/2019/09/34365)\n\nThe staff list credits Hiroshi Hamasaki, known for *[Steins;Gate](https://www.edgepedia.org/steins-gate-tv-series)*, as director, Makoto Fukami for series composition, Shingo Ogiso for character design, and Eiko Ishibashi for music, with animation by Liden Films, the studio behind *The Heroic Legend of Arslan*.[14](https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190809dog00m200011000c.html) • [5](https://lidenfilms.jp/works/mugen/) The opening theme, \"Survive of Vision,\" was performed by Kiyoharu.[15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riGWbC0CvQI) The Japan Media Arts Festival citation praised the series for rendering visceral sword combat, in which blades clash and flesh is torn, through meticulously calculated drawing and cinematography.[7](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/blade-of-the-immortal/index.html)\n\n## Reception and comparison with other adaptations\n\nThe 24-episode format compressed roughly 30 volumes of manga, and pacing became the series' main point of criticism. Reviewers noted that the violence arrives in short, sharp bursts that do not linger, while the adaptation dwells on sexual violence that the manga treats less regularly, and that some members of the Ittō-ryū and their shogunate counterparts receive far less development than in the source; one reviewer judged that twelve more episodes would have made the series close to perfect.[10](https://countzeroor.com/2020/04/10/blade-of-the-immortal-2019-anime-review/)\n\nThe series holds a 7.5/10 rating on IMDb from about 1,800 users, and a 7.0 score on TheAnimeList.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10778040) • [1](https://theanimelist.net/anime/mugen-no-juunin-immortal) A contemporary review called it \"an anime of very few faults\" that continues the legacy of titles such as *Ninja Scroll* and *[Basilisk](https://www.edgepedia.org/basilisk-manga)*.[17](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/blade_of_the_immortal/s01)\n\nThe franchise's other screen adaptation, [Takashi Miike](https://www.edgepedia.org/takashi-miike)'s live-action film released in April 2017, starred [Takuya Kimura](https://www.edgepedia.org/takuya-kimura) as Manji and Hana Sugisaki as Rin. It earned an 87% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes from 98 reviews, with critics highlighting Miike's \"balletic violence,\" but it grossed only $149,200 in the United States and $7,162,617 worldwide against a 2 hour 31 minute runtime.[18](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_of_the_immortal) The 2019 anime, by covering the full story, stands as the only screen version to reach the manga's ending.[3](https://tsuginokan.com/work/mugen-no-juunin/)\n\n## Streaming availability\n\nAs of late 2026, the anime streams on Prime Video in 89 countries, Netflix in 22 countries (not including the United States), and the Hidive Amazon Channel in 6 countries. In the United States it is available on Prime Video, Kanopy, and the Hidive Amazon Channel.[19](https://www.flickfinder.net/tv/blade-of-the-immortal-2019-92090) • [20](https://www.moviefone.com/tv-shows/blade-of-the-immortal/3UD5Wl6zTGD5zTDIv1PGk2/where-to-watch/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Mugen no Juunin: Immortal, TheAnimeList](https://theanimelist.net/anime/mugen-no-juunin-immortal)\n2. [無限の住人-IMMORTAL-, allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/368519)\n3. [『無限の住人-IMMORTAL-』アニメの続きは原作何巻？, つぎの巻](https://tsuginokan.com/work/mugen-no-juunin/)\n4. [Blade of the Immortal Gets New \"Complete\" Anime Adaptation, Crunchyroll News](https://www.crunchyroll.com/pl/news/latest/2019/5/22/blade-of-the-immortal-gets-new-complete-anime-adaptation)\n5. [無限の住人-IMMORTAL-, Liden Films](https://lidenfilms.jp/works/mugen/)\n6. [CAST/STAFF, 『無限の住人-IMMORTAL-』公式サイト](https://mugen-immortal.com/caststaff/)\n7. [無限の住人-IMMORTAL-, Japan Media Arts Festival](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/blade-of-the-immortal/index.html)\n8. [Blade of the Immortal (2019), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/blade-of-the-immortal-2019)\n9. [『無限の住人-IMMORTAL-』公式サイト](https://mugen-immortal.com/)\n10. [Blade of the Immortal (2019): Anime Review, Breaking it all Down](https://countzeroor.com/2020/04/10/blade-of-the-immortal-2019-anime-review/)\n11. [『むげにん』の漫画・小説・アニメの概要、売上, ラノベライブラリ](https://www.lanovelibrary.com/mugen/)\n12. [Exploring How English Manga Gets Made with Blade of the Immortal's Editor, Crunchyroll News](https://www.crunchyroll.com/th/news/features/2020/5/8/exploring-how-english-manga-gets-made-with-blade-of-the-immortals-editor)\n13. [アニメ「無限の住人-IMMORTAL-」1話・2話先行上映会オフィシャルレポート, Pony Canyon News](https://news.ponycanyon.co.jp/2019/09/34365)\n14. [無限の住人：新作アニメが10月からAmazonプライムで配信, MANTANWEB](https://mantan-web.jp/article/20190809dog00m200011000c.html)\n15. [「無限の住人-IMMORTAL-」配信記念スペシャルインタビュー, YouTube (Pony Canyon)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riGWbC0CvQI)\n16. [Blade of the Immortal (TV Series 2019–2020), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10778040)\n17. [無限の住人 -Immortal-: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/blade_of_the_immortal/s01)\n18. [Blade of the Immortal (2017), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_of_the_immortal)\n19. [Where to watch Blade of the Immortal (2019), FlickFinder](https://www.flickfinder.net/tv/blade-of-the-immortal-2019-92090)\n20. [Blade of the Immortal (2019): Where to Watch, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/tv-shows/blade-of-the-immortal/3UD5Wl6zTGD5zTDIv1PGk2/where-to-watch/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Anime and manga › Anime series, episodes, and franchises › OVAs, ONAs, and streaming-original anime*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-)](https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5](https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人-IMMORTAL-)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-of-the-immortal-epva36zey5. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Blade of the Immortal is a 2019 Liden Films ONA adapting Hiroaki Samura's samurai manga in 24 Amazon Prime Video episodes about the immortal ronin Manji and Rin's revenge on the Ittō-ryū." }