Blade of the Immortal, vols. 4-5 (Hiroaki Samura)

Rin has decided that she needs to beef up her martial arts skills so that she can be less of a liability to her bodyguard Manji in their quest to avenge her parents' death and have his curse removed. However, no matter how hard she trains, she doesn't seem to be getting any better, and she's getting despondent. Then a chance encounter causes her to begin doubting the wisdom and ethics of her entire quest. Her ambivalence leads her to make a very dangerous choice in handling the next Itto-Ryu swordsman she encounters, and Manji has his hands full trying to rescue her.

I should once again note that this isn't a series for the squeamish. In addition to a lot of general bloodshed during a fight scene, there's another flashback, in more detail this time, to the deaths of Rin's parents. Samura is a very talented storyteller, which makes this scene extremely unpleasant. His artwork remains stellar.

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