Blade of the Immortal Episode 9

Act Nine – Gathering

I’m going to be honest, Blade of the Immortal episode 9 was a little suspect. After the events of the previous episode, a member of the Mugai-Ryo receives information regarding the whereabouts of Kagehisa. Apparently he made it safely into Kaga.

I wasn’t sure if he was really going to travel to Kaga, or if this was all a setup, but it seems like he really is there. That’s not the problem, however. The problem is that it’s decided that Rin is the only one who can cross the border, likely because she’s the only one without a bounty.

That logic in itself is fine, but who expects Rin to defeat Kagehisa at this point in time? It wasn’t all that long ago that she was easily defeated by him, and it’s not like she’s trained all that much since then. He has far more practice and real combat experience than she does.

Manji’s job is to be Rin’s bodyguard, and apparently even he thought this was a good idea. In fact, it seemed like he was the one who suggested it in the first place. I know she’ll be fine because she’s the main character, but from Manji’s perspective there’s no reason to think Rin is ready for this.

And to make things more perplexing, she sets off on her own. You’d think that Manji would accompany her until she gets near the border, but instead what we see is Rin traveling through towns alone. Where did the sense of danger lurking around every corner go?

Also, do I know I said Kagehisa does appear to be in Kaga now, but should the Mugai-Ryu really be trusting their mole that much after what happened?

Wanted Poster

Unfortunately for Rin, this plan for her to cross the border on her own falls apart almost immediately after she discovers a wanted poster with her face on it. It also includes Manji, but we know he already had a bounty so that’s nothing special. The poster also mentions a 10 ryō reward for information leading to their capture.

However, even though her plan has now been foiled, Rin doesn’t return to Manji. Instead, she decides to take matters into her own hands and cross the border at any cost. To do this, she visits a woman whom she previously met who mentioned there being only one way to cross the border illegally.

This woman puts Rin in contact with a couple who live in the town next to the border crossing. The couple has a history of smuggling people across, but hasn’t performed that kind of work in the past three years after being caught once. At that time, the woman they were smuggling was beheaded for her crime.

Rin does eventually convince the couple to help her, but again, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The couple initially doesn’t want to smuggle her across the border because they don’t want her to lose her life if they get caught. But Rin assures them that they don’t have to worry about that, because she’s already a wanted woman. Even if she she doesn’t get caught and killed here, it’s only a matter of time.

She also confides in the wife about needing to avenge the murder of her parents. As we learn, the wife also lost her parents. But what doesn’t make sense is that if caught, the couple will be killed too. Don’t their lives matter?

Sawa’s Resolve

Anyway, it doesn’t seem like the couple value their own lives either, because they agree to help Rin cross the border. And per the wife’s plan, Rin takes on the role of Sawa, her sister.

To do so, she had to memorize Sawa’s family history, including that of her birth family and the family she was married into. This is to combat the fact that the guards have a detailed list of everyone who lives in the border village and their family histories.

But that’s not the crazy part about this. After all, memorizing someone else’s life so you can pretend to be them for an hour isn’t much of a commitment. No, the real commitment comes in the form of what Rin had to do to her own body in order to truly become Sawa.

Sawa has twin children who were born via cesarean section. This is something the guards are aware of, and so before allowing Rin to pass as Sawa, they ask to perform a check of her body for signs of this. And to their amazement, not only does Rin oblige, but she willingly disrobes to prove her identity to them.

Now, Rin can’t get a cesarean section scar that quickly, so she relied on the guards not inspecting the scar closely. It was a real wound, but it was too new to actually be a real scar. The wife had sliced open Rin’s stomach (not deeply) so that there would be a visible wound there should she be made to strip.

And I have to say, if I was in Rin’s position, that’s where I’d tap out. I know the wound is supposedly superficial, but that knifed looked like it went in a little too deep.

Conclusion

What do you think about Blade of the Immortal episode 9? Do you think Rin is actually ready to take on Kagehisa? Or is Manji being too reckless? Should the couple have helped Rin cross the border? And how far are you willing to go to avenge your parents’ murder by the hand of Kagehisa? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.