Blade of the Immortal vol. 23: Scarlet Swords

Yes, it’s still incredibly awesome.  I’m not going to bore you with the details since you’re all well aware that I drank the Kool-Aid for this series quite some time ago.  Instead, some observations:

If you told be back when I was reading, say, vol. 3 that twenty volumes later that the Itto-Ryu’s ambitions would suffer a major setback and I’d be rooting for Anotsu, Magatsu and co. to escape the government’s wrath — I’d have called you a liar.

If you told me after I’d read vol. 21 that two volumes later I’d be sympathetic towards the plight of Habaki Kagimura and come to a greater understanding of his situation and motivations — I’d have called you a liar and tried to smack you with something.

If you told me after I’d read the last volume that the transition from longtime translator Dana Lewis to Kumar Sivasubramanian would be utterly seamless — I’d have welcomed your reassurance.

Noises are also made by Anotsu in this volume about the Itto-Ryu gearing up for a final reckoning.  Given how you can divide the “acts” of the series in Dark Horse’s serialization into seven-volume chunks, I’m expecting the series to wrap up around vol. 28.  If it doesn’t, I’ll re-evaluate my stance then.

I’d like to see more Manji and Rin in the next volume.  Also more hints as to what Shira’s been up to.

Finally, I’d like to see another volume before the end of the year.  Would that be too much to ask, Dark Horse?  Would it really?