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Further proof that I live under a rock. Just heard about this today:



Miike's 100th film (!?) is the legendary Blade of the Immortal story. I have been reading the English-translated manga from Hiroaki Samura since the 90's which finally completed a few years ago:



There was an anime series released back in 2008, but I only watched one episode, as I felt it was ruining the vibe that I had while still actively reading the books. The original manga artwork is some of the best I have seen in the samurai/historical fantasy genre, and the storytelling is very deep and satisfying with a large cast of recurring characters. I haven't followed Miike's output as closely as I used to, but I really enjoyed 13 Assassins. Anyway, I recommend the manga if you are interested in graphic novels. Here is the redband trailer, which looks very close to the original story and characters:

I like his historical epics, thought 13 assassins was great and his hari Kari remake was also very good. I remember reading the first few volumes of this years ago when I was in high school and really loving it, so I’m all on board for this

This is going to be playing at my local theater in early nov. stoked.

All of this is new to me. I might check out that graphic novel...

This looks fun and it seems to employ some serious Samurai action which is always good!
I feel a steady hesitation of watching real life anime adaptations but not in this case.

Here is the feedback I posted in the Now Watching thread:

Extremely faithful to the original manga art design, characters, and general storyline (although compressed to a film-length conclusion), it felt like a love letter to Hiroaki Samura's massive realm-building creation. Some people might have problems with that though, as some of the book-accurate characters look a bit outlandish if anybody is expecting a "realistic" historical epic. Some very stylistic baddies and weapons are lifted straight from the manga, and ended up causing some titters from the crowd. Go into this looking to have fun, including quite a few laughs (which Miike translates quite well), along with endless flying limbs and samurai gore. There were a few horrorshow moments that had the crowd gasping in shock, which shows that Miike still has the magic touch. I was glad to see some of the more poignant moments from the text captured on film, which is really the heart of the story. The actor playing the main character of Manji did a fantastic job. He was just perfect, and really brought the character to life. I need to track him down to see what else he has done. Great film. I hope it translate just as well if you have not read the graphic novels

here is the feedback i posted also.

Blade of the immortal is amazing.

that is all...

Too bad that cinema in Germany is not great at all. I´m afraid this will be played only at very few select theatres for a very short period.

monsterworship wrote:here is the feedback i posted also.

Blade of the immortal is amazing.

that is all...

Always succinct, on point, and down to business.

frost wrote:Too bad that cinema in Germany is not great at all. I´m afraid this will be played only at very few select theatres for a very short period.

@frost - It's no different here in the US. The film screened for barely a week at the single "art house" cinema here in Portland.
I am not sure what the licensing restrictions are, but the theater runs have been short. I have experienced similar brief US theatrical runs for other Japanese films.

deafmetal wrote:

frost wrote:Too bad that cinema in Germany is not great at all. I´m afraid this will be played only at very few select theatres for a very short period.

@frost - It's no different here in the US. The film screened for barely a week at the single "art house" cinema here in Portland.
I am not sure what the licensing restrictions are, but the theater runs have been short. I have experienced similar brief US theatrical runs for other Japanese films.

I always thought you were in a more fortunate situation over there. Will have to check at the one independent cinema nearby.