|About Manji|
[series]: Blade of the Immortal
[character]: Manji
[character history / background]: Wiki knows all
[character abilities]: His body is infused with kessen-chu, blood worms that effectively give him immortality. He's also a master swordsman and somehow (nobody quite knows how he manages it) carries twelve different blades on his person, all of which he can use quickly and with deadly force.
[character personality]: There's a sharp distinction between how Manji describes himself and how he actually behaves.
Manji's an ass. He's brutal, gleefully violent, coarse, crude, and more than a little lewd. All of these things he owns and owns proudly. He isn't shy about his bloodlust, or his sexual appetite; beyond that, he keeps his feelings locked away. He pays lip service to emotions like worry, concern, and sadness, but he's always very calm and detached about it. It's as though those feelings aren't actually real to him.
But while Manji plays at being emotionally detached, those feelings work under the surface, motivating his every action. He speaks casually of his sister's madness and death and how he is to blame for both, but Rin's resemblance to his sister prompts him to become her bodyguard and help her on her revenge quest, even though her case has the same moral quandry that he had as a samurai. He mocks Rin for being a stupid sentimental girl, but whenever she tries to grow up or shows signs of becoming jaded, he pushes her to remain childlike, to hold onto her parents' memories and her determination to get revenge for their deaths. He claims to love killing simply for the sake of killing, but when offered the opportunity to kill Anotsu and become head of the Itto-ryu, he refuses, saying "When men like us get power, it leads to one thing: mass murder."
Because here's the thing: Manji's not a man comfortable with moral quandries, although he's bright enough to see them and principled enough to want to do right. He was trained as a samurai to obey his lord, right or wrong, without question, and while he has rejected that philosophy by killing his lord and becoming an outlaw, those habits are still deeply ingrained. While Rin's quest may not be entirely morally sound, it at least allows him to atone for his sister's death and kill without worrying too much about who he's killing and why.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Somewhere in volume nine, when Rin goes off to find Anotsu by herself and Manji has to chase after her.
[character]: Manji
[character history / background]: Wiki knows all
[character abilities]: His body is infused with kessen-chu, blood worms that effectively give him immortality. He's also a master swordsman and somehow (nobody quite knows how he manages it) carries twelve different blades on his person, all of which he can use quickly and with deadly force.
[character personality]: There's a sharp distinction between how Manji describes himself and how he actually behaves.
Manji's an ass. He's brutal, gleefully violent, coarse, crude, and more than a little lewd. All of these things he owns and owns proudly. He isn't shy about his bloodlust, or his sexual appetite; beyond that, he keeps his feelings locked away. He pays lip service to emotions like worry, concern, and sadness, but he's always very calm and detached about it. It's as though those feelings aren't actually real to him.
But while Manji plays at being emotionally detached, those feelings work under the surface, motivating his every action. He speaks casually of his sister's madness and death and how he is to blame for both, but Rin's resemblance to his sister prompts him to become her bodyguard and help her on her revenge quest, even though her case has the same moral quandry that he had as a samurai. He mocks Rin for being a stupid sentimental girl, but whenever she tries to grow up or shows signs of becoming jaded, he pushes her to remain childlike, to hold onto her parents' memories and her determination to get revenge for their deaths. He claims to love killing simply for the sake of killing, but when offered the opportunity to kill Anotsu and become head of the Itto-ryu, he refuses, saying "When men like us get power, it leads to one thing: mass murder."
Because here's the thing: Manji's not a man comfortable with moral quandries, although he's bright enough to see them and principled enough to want to do right. He was trained as a samurai to obey his lord, right or wrong, without question, and while he has rejected that philosophy by killing his lord and becoming an outlaw, those habits are still deeply ingrained. While Rin's quest may not be entirely morally sound, it at least allows him to atone for his sister's death and kill without worrying too much about who he's killing and why.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Somewhere in volume nine, when Rin goes off to find Anotsu by herself and Manji has to chase after her.