The Japanese Website Earl.box is reporting (via Anime News Network) that an anime series based on Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal manga will debut on Japanese TV this summer.  The announcement was made in the May issue of Kodansha's Afternoon manga anthology magazine in which Blade of the Immortal appears.  The Bee Train anime studio will produce the series with Koichi Mashimo (Noir, .hack) directing and Yoshimitsu Yamashita (Samurai Champloo) designing the characters.

While there is no guarantee that the Blade of the Immortal series will be licensed for North America, samurai anime have a pretty solid track record in the U.S. and this high concept property about a ronin warrior condemned to immortality unless he kills a thousand evil men for all the good men he killed is well known here thanks to Dark Horse's publication of Samura's manga, which features superb cutting edge art as well as a strong continuing narrative.  Already a hit in the direct market, the Blade of the Immortal manga could really take off with the aid of a popular anime.