Manji is an amoral swordsman, who has been cursed with eternal life. He has grown tired of living with
all the death he has created. He has no skills other then those of killing, thus he forms a plan to
regain his mortality: he shall kill one hundred evil men for each good one he has killed. The old
witch who afflicted Manji with immortality agrees to Manji's proposition and Manji is set on his path
to kill one thousand evil men. On his journey he meets a young girl, Rin, who has her own vengeance to
seek against the sword school whose members slaughtered Rin's family. Rin and Manji journey together,
each hoping to find some kind of peace. In their way are many varied enemies. Rin and Manji are almost
constantly under attack and must learn to live their lives, avoiding being consumed by
revenge.
(Source: Anime News Network)
This will not be an especially long review so take that into account. Well as someone who read the manga first and has yet to see the newer anime version I can start by saying that this was very accurate and well done. My only complaint with this is that it never finished. Some of the pacing is a little different but if you've read the manga it really works. I'll discuss all my thoughts bellow. I want to start by talking about the voice acting ( saw the original Japanese , don't know why anyone would watch a story like this in dub lol. ) I want to say that in particular the seiyuu for Manji and Rin Tomokazu Seki and Rina Satou respectively are perfect for the characters imo. To me when I read the manga this is pretty much exactly how I pictured them both sounding even down the the speech mannerisms. I will say that I don't think Shinichiro Miki is the right voice for Shira though. He just doesn't suite him imo , he doesn't give the character the evil quality he had. I mean Shira is probably the most evil character I've seen in all the stories I've read and watched so I expected him to have a voice that maybe Takehito Koyasu would have been better for since he seems to have a talent for voicing scum ( cough cough Dio Brando cough cough lol. ) Mamiko Noto was solid as Makie though. The soundtrack was very good especially the ending theme. It made me feel exactly what it intended to and this is not always the case particularly when this sort of manga gets animated. I don't really have too much to say about the soundtrack other than it just felt perfect for this series and it made the scenes flow the same way they felt in the manga. The battle scenes are so well done too and it really feels like it did when i first read the manga in all honesty. Idk they managed to capture this certain feel that the manga had imo , like when Makie fought Manji it just flows the same way. I don't know if it's merely a combination of the soundtrack and the animation but it just works so very well. I really wish they had finished this version because though I've yet to see the newer one it I've sen clips and it doesn't eave me hopeful which is a crying shame really. Who knows maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Anyway I didn't have a ton to say about this version but I just felt like getting my thoughts out there for those who actually are interested enough to sit through this review such as it is. I highly recommend watching this If you've read the manga and I can't say yet what I think of the newer version. For the chapters this does cover it's a very very good anime adaptation.