More Screencaps from Blade of the Immortal 03
The scene opens with a young Kuroi Sabato, singing some nonsense about beauty. A young woman (his wife?) is kneeling in front of him when all of a sudden Kuroi draws his blade and kills her.
Fast forward to the present, Kuroi sings the same nonsense to a woman whose face is covered. The woman turns out to be Rin. After she uncovers her mask, she declares that she's come to kill him. Kuroi is absolutely taken by her youth and beauty, saying that he wants to preserve it by taking her life. But Manji is not about to allow that to happen.
Meanwhile, somewhere in thicket of woods nearby, Hyakurin and Shinji are spying on the fight between Manji and Kuroi Sabato. They seem to take a great interest in Manji and also know that Rin is on a quest for vengeance against the Itto-ryuu.
During the fight, Manji manages to slice through Kuroi's mask and cape. The action unexpectedly reveals a gruesome sight:
Kuroi's obsession with beauty and youth goes to a point that he keeps the stuffed heads of the beautiful women that he loved and stitch them to his shoulders. He identifies the woman on his right shoulder as Wagatsu, his first wife.
At the sight of the woman on his left shoulder, Rin doubles over in horror. Kuroi confirms that the woman is Rin's mother.
In her rage, Rin blindly attacks Kuroi Sabato, using her -- according to Manji "weird" techniques. Kuroi blocks the move. While he appears distracted, Manji takes the chance to attack but instead gets sliced on the chest. He falls down "dead."
Kuroi then pins Rin to a nearby tree and tries to convince her to kill herself. He promises that after she is dead, he would remove Wagatsu's head from his right shoulder and replace it with Rin's head; that way, mother and daughter would be together for eternity. In return, he says that he will die and turn himself into a specimen.
With Manji dead, Rin accedes to his demand. She is about to stab her throat with Kuroi's tantou when Manji revives just in time to stab Kuroi through the back and stop Rin from committing hara-kiri.
Kuroi is enraged to find out about Manji's immortal body. Then follows a most engaging fight scene between the two. But then Kuroi catches sight of Rin standing nearby. Forgetting about Manji, he runs towards her instead, intending to kill her. Manji quickly releases his hidden weapons and slays Kuroi.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Tokyo, a bald man wearing dark shades reports to his master about what Hyakurin and Shinji found out concerning Manji. It seems their group are interested in making Manji as one of their members.
Back with our heroes, Rin has buried her mother's head beside her father's grave. After praying over them, Manji once again tries to convince her to give up her quest. But Rin only thinks of Anotsu Kagehisa, the man ultimately responsible for her family's death.
In the headquarters of the Itto-ryuu, Habaki presses Anotsu Kagehisa for an answer to his earlier proposal (for the Itto-ryuu to become the official sword school of the Bakufu). Before giving his answer, Kagehisa remembers his ultimate goal in setting up the Itto-ryuu: he wants to build a sword school whose sole objective is to win at any cost. Then, with a smile, he turns to Habaki and asks him when he (Kagehisa) is required to meet with the "teacher."
COMMENTS:
I immediately noticed that this episode is considerably lighter. It's still quite dark but at least now I can see the fight scenes. I don't know if this is how the original episode really looks like or maybe it's the fansub group's doing. Whatever, this is much better than the earlier episodes.
Departure from the manga? We're not supposed to meet Hyakurin and her merryband of spies until the Tokyo arc. But the anime has the story introducing Hyakurin as early as Episode 1. Then again, I don't mind. This way, it feels like more is happening in a very short time.
It's kind of difficult to make a blow-by-blow account of Blade of the Immortal episodes since the scenes are either talky, action-packed or just better taken when you're actually watching it.
Of course, I know that Manji isn't really a bad fighter. But it seems that way. In fact, it's mentioned in the manga that his having an immortal body is making his skills rusty. Naturally, since it's the instinct for survival that makes one give it all to each and every fight.
I wonder if Kuroi Sabato is kabuki. At least, I think it's kabuki. I don't really know. I don't think it's noh since that kind of theater usually deals with heroics. Kabuki is supposed to be more...err...pedestrian than noh so it would make sense if kabuki plays revolve around racy love stories. Just my guess.
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