I first encountered this a few years back when I read a few volumes of the manga but eventually fell off track with the books as a whole, however I can happily say I'm glad I came back to this series. With this, the sequel film and follow up series "The Kyoto Saga" now available on Netflix I've decided to power through them and boy did I make the right choice! This show was truly a fantastic watch and easily up there with some of the best anime I've seen of all time. Fantastic character, deep and thoroughly established world, and an amazing spectacle/scale as the series unfolds it's a masterpiece to be honest. Apparently deviating off book much like Game of Thrones the handover is seemless and has a fitting end after setting the stakes at a ridiculous level, there's so much to say I could be here all day so I'll round it off by saying a few things, note that the final 6/7 episodes are discounted when watching the Kyoto Saga, secondly and finally definitely give this a watch