Soulsborne games are notorious for being difficult; however, the amount of love and dedication that goes into making them from Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team at FromSoftware is completely unparalleled in the gaming industry. Masterpieces like Dark Souls, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Bloodborne have catapulted the studio into the mainstream, and for good reason.
With breathtaking worlds, stories, and weaponry, the inspirations behind such works require an equal amount of appreciation. Particularly in the case of Bloodborne and, surprisingly, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a world-renowned Seinen anime paved the way to creating these two jaw dropping experiences.
Blood and Blades: The Inspiration Taken from Blade of the Immortal
Originally created by mangaka Hiroaki Samura, Blade of the Immortal is about a cursed samurai attempting to regain his mortality by killing a thousand wrongdoers. The manga has received two anime adaptations, the most recent of which was in 2019, which performed decently critically.
But the series itself gave Hidetaka Miyazaki awesome ideas that he implemented in his games. In an interview, when asked about which anime served as inspiration, Miyazaki proudly stated Blade of the Immortal.
If I had to pick one, a small inspiration would have been Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal. That’s another manga. Blade of the Immortal was actually a small source of inspiration for parts of Bloodborne as well. It’s something I enjoy. The weapons are so cool in that.
Fans over on Reddit have pointed out how the trick weapons used in Bloodborne are incredibly similar to the weapons used in the series. The weapons used in Blade of the Immortal could be considered borderline ridiculous, if not stupidly cool, such as Kanetsura’s Mito-no-Kami, used by Giichi in the series.
The way that Giichi uses it is incredibly reminiscent of the most iconic weapon from the game, the Saw Cleaver. The longer blade is used to attack foes at a distance, before finishing off close quarters enemies with smaller blades attached to the same weapon. Both even look quite similar. One could say that both the Saw-Cleaver and the Mito-no-Kami are full of ‘tricks‘.
Comment
byu/re-probus from discussion
inbloodborne
Some of the lore and creatures from Bloodborne also seem like they were directly inspired by Blade of the Immortal‘s designs and world.
Hidetaka Miyazaki is a Lover for All Things Seinen
Typically, Seinen manga is considered to be geared towards adults as opposed to Shonen manga. With how big of an influence Berserk has had on the Soulsborne series, it’s clear that Miyazaki loves manga with similar darker tones, such as Blade of the Immortal.
In the case of Sekiro, the inspiration seems less direct. Some smaller details, like that of a centipede that makes you immortal, are really the only main similarities. Other than that, it’s clear that the tone of Sekiro was inspired by manga like Berserk and Blade of the Immortal.
With 30 volumes of manga and 7.5 million copies in circulation, it’s clear that Blade of the Immortal is one of the most respected and revered Seinen series to this day.
Have you checked out Blade of the Immortal? Did you notice any similarities between it and Soulsborne games? Let us know in the comments!
