Machi — boti

"Ooh, Manji.. Your clothes kinda smell like blood!"

Machi (町, Machi) is the sister of the main character Manji in the manga Blade of the Immortal.

In her introduction, she is 22 years old, as revealed in Prologue: Criminal (Issue #1, collected in Volume 1, Blood of a Thousand), making her four years younger than her brother Manji, who is revealed to be "ten years older" than Rin Asano in Heart of Darkness, making him 26 years old.

Appearance

She has cropped hair and a loose-fitting floral kimono. Her clothes are usually quite loosely secured and have sometimes revealed too much, making her appear indecent. Prior to her breakdown, she wore her hair in the style that many young Japanese women and wives favored. Her kimono was also secured and positioned properly and correctly.

Personality

Machi is almost always depicted in her "insane" state, In one scene (a flashback) however, she is shown as being the perfectly stable wife of a samurai and policeman, Oi Tatsumasa Saito, as well as being well-groomed and dressed.

After going insane, Machi has quite a playful and naivé personality, like that of a small child. Little is known on her personality before she went insane but she was portrayed as having quite a standard and normal personality as the wife of Tatsumasa Saito.

Relationships

Manji comparing Machi to Rin in his mind. They are shown in exactly the same pose, along with the kanji for Machi and the kanji for Rin.

Manji: Machi's only known relative is her brother, Manji. Manji settled down somewhat after she became insane to take care of her, even rejecting the idea of seppuku as he feels she would die without him ("I commit seppuku now, she dies in a ditch somewhere, all alone..."). Ironically, soon after stating this, Machi is killed because of Manji.

Oi Tatsumasa Saito: Machi used to be married to the samurai Tatsumasa Saito, with whom she had a presumably normal relationship.

Yaobikuni and Yo: The nun Yaobikuni and the meshimori-onna O-Yo are often seen in the same place as Machi, but neither of them are seen actually conversing with her.

Rin Asano: Although the two have never met, Rin Asano is often compared to Machi by Manji. To Manji, Rin looks very much like Machi.

Biography

Prologue

The younger sister of Manji, Machi was a regular young woman who married a policeman, Oi Tatsumasa Saito. This was about the same time that Manji, after killing 100 innocent men for his old master, Shigenobu Horii, turned on his master and murdered him as well. Manji, consequently a wanted criminal, is unfortunately found by Saito, who is accompanied by Machi on this occasion, after only just killing two other samurai that had been hunting him down.

Machi as the wife of Tatsumasa Saito, witnessing her husband's death at the hands of Manji.

While Saito and Manji face each other, Machi peeks around the corner. She shouts "Tatsumasa," to get her husband's attention, though it is unknown whether or not she knew at this point that Saito was facing her brother. Manji then realises that Machi is the wife of Saito, but before he can act to stop a fight, Saito attacks him and he kills Machi's husband out of self-defense.

Machi, witnessing the incident, breaks down and reverts to a childlike version of herself. Machi's death occurs soon after Manji kills Johnny Gyobutsu, the brother of Hishiyasu Shido, the leader of Shinsen-gumi, a ronin gang. At first, Machi is kidnapped by the Shinsen-gumi, but as Manji wants to wash his hands of killing, he ends up telling Shido that he'll fight him and the rest of his gang barehanded. Shido, already infuriated by Manji's insult, is pushed over the edge by this and kills Machi after briefly setting her free. He then impales Manji, but being immortal, Manji doesn't die.

Machi is the reason that Manji has since vowed to kill a thousand evil men, as he felt it was entirely his fault for her going insane, as well as being murdered. She is also the reason that Manji became Rin Asano's bodyguard - because of Rin's resemblance to his dead sister.

Gallery

Quotes

Big brother Maaaan-jiii!
You're worried about saving face? You don't have any to save, my dear, after you got sick in front of all those people.

Trivia

Manji compares the faces of Rin and Machi in his mind - Volume 21.

After not appearing at all in any of the chapters after Prologue, she makes a brief appearance in Manji's memories in Volume 21, Footsteps.
Manji has often mentioned that Machi and Rin look very much alike, something that he expands on in Volume 21; later in the story he does not see them similarly anymore and then realizes that when he thinks of Machi he can only see Rin's face instead.
The kanji used for Machi's name is 町, which means 'town'.
In the live-action movie she was portrayed by Hana Sugisaki, who also played Rin.

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