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Sentai Filmworks Licenses Blade of the Immortal Anime

Sentai Filmworks announced on Thursday that it has licensed the Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no Jūnin: Immortal) anime in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Latin American countries, and Nordic countries. The company will release the anime on home video in winter 2021, and it will stream the anime on select digital outlets at a later date.

The new anime adaptation of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no Jūnin) manga premiered in October 2019 worldwide (except in some areas) exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

Hiroshi Hamasaki (Steins;Gate, Shigurui: Death Frenzy, Orange) directed the anime at LIDEN FILMS. Makoto Fukami (2016/2017 Berserk, Psycho-Pass) oversaw the series scripts, Shingo Ogiso (The Heroic Legend of Arslan, The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance) was the character designer, and singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi composed the music.

Kiyohar performed the anime's opening theme song "Survive of Vision." (The song was created specifically for this anime.)

Samura launched the Blade of the Immortal manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in December 1993, and he completed the series in 2012. The manga's 30 volumes have more than 5.8 million copies in print, and the series has been published in 22 countries and territories. The manga earned an Excellence Prize in the manga category of the 1st Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 1997, and it won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material in 2000. Dark Horse Comics published the Blade of the Immortal manga in North America, rereleased it in omnibus form, and is publishing deluxe editions of the manga.

A official sequel manga titled Mugen no Jūnin: Bakumatsu no Shō (Blade of the Immortal - Bakumatsu Arc) launched in May 2019. Kenji Takigawa is writing the story, and Ryū Suenobu is drawing the art, with Samura credited for collaboration.

The original manga already inspired a television anime in 2008, and Media Blasters released the anime in English. Takashi Miike's live-action film adaptation of the manga premiered in Japan in April 2017. The film premiered in North America at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in September 2017. The film then had a wider theatrical release in November 2017. The manga has also inspired a stage play adaptation.

Source: Sentai Filmworks