Anime: Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan

This anime changed my life. It means so much to me, and so much to most of the people I know. It's deep, and profound, but completely full of filler.

I started watching it when I was about twelve, and fell in love with the characters; I wanted join their brigade, and study Kamiya Kasshin ryu kenjutsu with Kaoru. I loved the idea behind practicing with a sword to help people, to cultivate your spirit, and build your personality. Three years ago, I started studying iaido at a local dojo, in which pretty much everyone there had been a fan of this show. They're like family now, and a lot of it is thanks to this one anime. Please keep in mind that this review is going to be very biased.

The animation, for it's time was beautiful, the sound and music were fitting and uncomplicated. Efficiency is universal, and I find that the animation quality and sound quality are both at the level they needed to be, and didn't go any further. For it's time, I couldn't think of any anime that had a higher production value other than Hayao Miyazaki's films.

I fell in love with the characters, especially Kenshin Himura, who, when he first has to fight with his blade, admits that he thinks that the Kamiya Kasshin style of thinking is wrong, because the only reason one can have to a three foot curved razor blade is to kill people. He then adds, that he much prefers Kaoru's way of thinking, even if it's heavily skewed. He's a man whose killed a lot of people, and because of that, he doesn't feel like anyone can understand him. He doesn't feel like he belongs in a world of peace, because from a young age, he has seen nothing but death, and been trained to kill. He stays with Kaoru, and begins to fall in love with her lifestyle.

She lives a life of peace, and has trained from young age on how to defend the weak, how to control your body, control your mind, and how to move. Kenshin had never really understood or seen these aspects of training with the sword, because he could only ever view the sword as a tool to kill people. He slowly learns to respect Kaoru as a martial artist, and does everything he can to make sure that her life is never made difficult the way his was.

Slowly but surely over the course of this anime, he accepts a life of peace, but is slowly forced into a life of war. The story continues in the OVAs, but they're incredibly sad. I won't spoil them for you if you haven't seen them, but I will tell you that the story ends.

This anime has been there when I needed it. So I love it.

Rurouni Kenshin is without a doubt one of the most memorable and successful action titles of the 90’s. It combined a lot of elements that were quite popular and likable back then, creating an immerse fanbase who had it in their tops. Even I was quite fond of it. But as much as I liked it for what it offered, there is very little actual good story in it and it was left incomplete, and murdered by the F-ing DEEN’s Filler Killer TM.

The 90’s were a pure time. You could take any simple premise and make a huge success out of it as long as it had likable characters and nice pacing. A good story, or a not predictable/repetitive/original one, was not an issue back then. You could be watching a hundred Slayers or Sailor Moon episodes and you wouldn’t feel bored. That is why a series such as RuroKen was able to reach great heights, as it actually had far more than a simple story. It was the ongoing tale of a samurai, who after a very brutal past decides to never kill again but instead fight for peace alongside a group of normal people. Well … the normal part was a bit off and everybody was doing their best to make him kill again, so that internal struggle was quite interesting.

Everything in the setting smelled pure win, as it was a historical era where Japan was exiting a long period of conservatism and bloody civil strife, where new ideas and technologies were entering their society and rapidly changed their traditional ways of life. All the fighters of that era are now considered a thing of the past, many of which are not fond of this and do their best to maintain Japan as it was. The struggle of leaving the era of war behind for an era of western influence that was not positive all the time, created a huge emotional impact on the viewer. The best term to describe this is “elegiac”, the sadness which the passing of time has on people who grow old and see their traditions and pure child innocence fading away under the cruelty of change and uncertainty.

The overall story was also very good, being about a powerful swordsman who doesn’t want to kill anymore, settle down, have a normal life, yet at the same time being constantly thrown in the midst of remnants of his past, people who don’t like their way of life to change for something they see as frail and foreign. There were no real good or bad sides in here despite the fact that anyone Kenshin fought was presented as pure evil to the most part. In reality it was just a clash of civilizations and ideologies. You can’t really blame a man who trained all his life in the way of the sword to one day be told to throw away all his skills and start plowing the fields.

The general plot was also very good in terms of build up, as Kenshin was slowly facing more and more grim sides of his past coming back to haunt him, while at the same time protecting all those he loves around him. The story is without a doubt a solid 10 … if it was not so goddamn erratic, butchered, watered down and thrown away in the bin!

Although the manga version offers a complete story with a beginning, a middle and a powerful ending, the anime did the usual shit most series that want to drag things resort to. They called in the Filler Monster. Yup, fillers are abundant, to the point were the series was canceled because of poor ratings. So ok, the manga was still on-going at the time and they were making fillers until it was complete. Thank you very much, here are the results: You killed the show. Out of the 3 arcs the third is useless filler where nothing is going on, and on top of that it was animated by DEEN, by far the most despicable studio of all times. The other two have a rather high amount of stand alone short arcs between important events but they are still better because they were not animated by f-ing DEEN. Some were funny or semi-good in terms of action but overall they were without replay value. That alone takes out a lot of the charm of an otherwise good story. Especially the third arc is a bunch of BS, full of events that are out of context with the rest of the show.

Onwards with the cast. Kenshin is the epicenter of the story and truth be told, only he gets all the focus. If you follow his story, you really sympathize him for all the things he has done in the past, both good and bad, and how he tries to amend for the sins of all those he killed in the name of peace. A really great guy. So great, his style of “never kill” was copied later in other shows who wanted to profit from this, the most famous being Trigun’s Van. They still occasionally make characters with this feature today but it no longer has the same appeal. “Never kill” is after all a stupid way to follow if you expect to change the world. Heck, how shorter would each battle be if the all-powerful Kenshin was just going in for the kill? It would take away his charm for sure but come on, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some necks eggs. But anyways, the whole deal is taken very lightly and most of the time you get to see him doing silly stuff rather than looking grumpy. During peaceful times the guy acts like a clown! And damn, he really looks far younger than he really is.

All the rest of the characters feel more like supplementary to the main lead, as they are all there just to bring out different facets of his personality. Not a bad thing but they don’t seem to be able to stand on their own without Kenshin around. Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, all have their different goals in life, as simple as they may be; but let’s be honest; they are just underlings to the lead. But heck, they are not cardboards as, let’s say, the Z Warriors were in Dragonball Z, where joining Goku is the same as throwing away your free will. The main antagonists and/or villains, Aoshi, Saito, Shishio, seem to have it better, as they are leaders of their respective teams and have portfolios of their own. All the supporting characters besides them are just… there. Some have personality but none does anything special. As for the filler villains, well, screw them, any attempt to develop those means nothing to the story and it happens in a rushed and uninteresting way. But heck, they are a colorful bunch who is overall treated with more respect than most casts. Many are memorable, likable, interesting. If only the story was complete, they would feel somewhat more complete (but not too much more).

Artwork and sound are good. Actually they are very good. Actually … they are great! Although there is a high amount of realism in terms of how people dressed or how buildings looked back then, Kenshin still wears pink. And a few other things here and there. Not anything major but it’s not historically accurate all the time. The battles are rather dull when it’s up against minor or filler villains and that makes a big chunk of episodes to have no replay value. As for the rest of the big ones … the magic of cinematics! They pulled out any trick of the book to make any slash or eye contact to create tension and excitement … even when it’s just a simple attack. Now that is what good action is all about! The actual choreography may be simple but the feeling it transmits with its use of music score, camera angles, split screen, shading, insane looks, etc, THIS IS ORGASMIC. Yeah, you get to enjoy every bit of it. This is the REAL samurai action. Most other shows make it look like they are having a picnic while fighting for the salvation of the world. The only downside I can find in it is that they … err … yell the names of their attacks. And some of those techniques are damn long. Which feels weird when Kenshin yells “Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki” for an attack that lasts a fraction of a second. But heck, times freezes all the time during attacks and as I said it builds proper tension, so I excuse it. Besides some sloppy looks here and there and the occasional frozen panels, it’s good stuff. And this applies only to the action scenes as the peaceful moments don’t pull the same powerful cinematics and thus the excitement is also a bit lower.
Sound is on an even better level as things sound good even in peaceful moments. The soundtracks are amazing pieces of work, silly pop songs included. I still listen to them from time to time. They really do fix your mood when you are down. Voice acting is also great, making all characters sound properly funny in comical moments and dead serious during grave moments.

Down to it, it really is a great show whose biggest error was bringing in the Filler Monster and switching the animation studio to f-ing DEEN. From the three parts, the third one has no value at all (because DEEN made it and because it has the most ridiculous storilines you can imagine). The first is semi-interesting to follow again in the heavy on action moments and the second is pure joy all the way. It can be extremely good if supposed you just skip all fillers and boring episodes.

SUGGESTION LIST
The manga version
Don’t miss the Trust and Betrayal OVAs
Sword of the Stranger
Samurai Champloo

The first part is good I'd give it a 6 - 7, some episodes could be left out and it has a slow start. but worth watching.
The first part makes the meat of the story the second part soo much better. However the second is far away the best of it, I'd give it a 9 - 9.5... The story is riveting, and the climax is incredible you truly want to skip to the next disk to see what happens even thought you are part way through the current one.
The third part could be given a miss especially immediately after watching the second part. The start is slow and left me disappointed however topping the second part would be next to impossible... I'd give it a 5-6.

Bottom line if your after a quick fix of samurai goodness skip the first part as you can quickly pick it up quickly plus it saves time as this anime is exceptionally long.

over all i'd give it an 8 - 9 perhaps a 9.5 given it was made in the early 90's.

There always comes a time of changes, changes that can sometimes affect ways that have gone unchanged for centuries.
Rurouni Kenshin brings before us Japan, 10 years into the Meiji Era. The warriors of old, the samurai, are slowly losing their place into this new world that Japans strives to become. Some take the path of wandering, some become instructors, some chose to lay down they swords and some cannot renounce the ways in which the have their roots.

This is the story of Rurouni Kenshin, an anime that presents very well that changing world through the eyes of a wanderer that is finally about to find his own peace of mind.

Read further if you wish for my opinions...this is a long anime and there are many things to be said.

Animation
So the tale of RK starts and the first episode seems promising. The animation is noticeable even at first through almost everything from character designs to movement and backgrounds. And the style continues on as the anime progresses, with slight variations at certain points, reaching a peak in the vicinity of episode 60 after which...

After which it seems to break down. I can't seem to place my finger on the wound but something after episode 60 seems to be lacking and I believe that it's basically because of the tempo of the action that drops like a stone in the last 35 episodes. But more on that a bit later.

RK looks fine for its years. I can't say that it has aged gracefully but it's watchable even by today's standards. For 1996, the clean models and the mostly fluent action work very well.
I say "mostly" because there are the eventual flashes of light instead of sword cuts or the eventual still-frames brought from nowhere.
But all in all, the series looks fine, except for the last episode that is simply ridiculous looking, sparing a horribly meshed together combination of cell animation and filmed sections that looks simply horrifying.

Sound
The sound in RK is not something one would come to remember. The opening and ending songs are fine, all of them but the problem stays with the BGM that simply is not griping. The scenes flow well through it but I repeat: it's nothing to remember. I would go as far as call it generic for most of the time.

On the other side of the coin, I can say much more about the voices that proved not only fitting for the character but also something to remember. Kenshin's trademark sound of "Oro" had me chuckling each time I head it and saw the situation that the character got himself into. The other character have not been ignored either as each voice that was chosen for them fit them like a glove.

Story
Finally...the story and all that has gone straight down the drain because of shabby anime-making.

One of the greatest problems that this anime has been endowed with is the way in which it's been structured. There is no general sense of direction for the story but instead there are story-arcs. One of the worst arrangements of said arcs has been created in this anime.
The reason I'm saying this is the fact that for the first 60 episodes the anime picks up steam and slowly, yet surely, it builds up suspense and a somewhat background story for Kenshin, a story that simply explodes at around episode 60, the ending of the Shishio saga. That would've been an ideal place to end the series as it would've ended with a BANG. But the sad part is that it continues by bringing in new villains in a DBZ like fashion...each one crawling from God knows where and being stronger than the rest.
This is where it all breaks down. Each new saga that Kenshin must face fails miserable at reaching the peak that the Shishio saga imposes. The ending 35 episodes are at best described as boring and filler material. This and the fact that the ending episode is inconclusive only lead to my overall enjoyment of the entire series to sink like a stone.

Besides the annoying filters and the disappointment that the final sagas are, not to mention the last saga that is simply out of context...I must say that the anime redeems a bit of its honor through the character stories. Each villain that is brought in, each new character that is introduced, each one has his/her own story to tell and a solid background for this. This would count as a redeeming factor for RK, if not for another slight annoyance...
THE PSHYLOSOFY... before almost each fight the characters stand around and talk like old buddies. At some point it gets to be redundant...
"A: bla bla bla I'll kill you all! hahaahaha
B: bla bla bla...no, killing is wrong...bla bla bla" Such arguments get to be most annoying at times as they slow down the anime and, despite the fact that the characters talk their mouths off, they don't say anything that leads to anything. Too much talk at times can be a bad thing and RK is living proof of this...

Character
As I've said earlier, the characters are each introduced with their own stories and motives. This makes for an anime with a set of characters that proves to be most interesting to watch in action. Again, this is only true until episode 60, everything afterwards being simply too shallow and... stupid... to take into consideration.

But, as far as the good things last, the characters are not only interesting, they're amazingly so. Kenshin proves to be a very good lead-character even if his non-killing ideology proves to be a bit too... how should I call it... fantasizing at times. Despite this, the character proves that beneath his goofy exterior there are many levels to be shown to the viewers and this makes for some really unforgettable moments (ex: road to the battle with Shishio).
The side characters are nothing to be laughed at either. Off-course there are the usual bands where only the leader proves to be something more than a generic face in a samurai anime but that can easily be overlooked as you see the way the characters evolve and develop. One good example would be Aoshi if I remember the name right... when you'll watch the anime, keen an eye on him.

So, minus the villains in the last 35 episodes, the characters were a treat from the producers and, in this much time allocated to the anime, I wouldn't have expected anything less.

Value
To conclude this review, all that I can say is that RK can be viewed as a double anime: the first 60 episodes are of a samurai anime beautifully imbued with humor, action and a great set of characters, with sagas that develop very well; and the last 35 episodes that are no more than fillers that go nowhere as far as the characters and the background story is concerned.
Because of this double nature of the anime, my enjoyment of it has dropped drastically in the end. It's only rewatchable as far as episode 60 goes. Nothing more after that...

A tad overrated due to the fact that the OVAs (especially Trust and Betrayal) are so amazing, Rurouni Kenshin is nonetheless a good anime. What prevents it from becoming a great anime, however, is the fact that it is about 30 episodes too long.

The animation is great, it stands up even today, though obviously is not as detailed or well done as the animation of today.

The story is terrific through the 60th episode or so, the end of the "Shishio Arc." However, even within these episodes there are fillers and the story is pretty repetetive until episode 30 or so when Shishio is first brought into play as a plot figure and the story becomes more overarching. The reason I say it is repetitive is because, after all the main characters are introduced by about episode 10, there are merely 10-20 episodes of "monster of the week" type fighting, and there is little to no character development at all during that time.

Finally, after the Shishio Arc the story is just boring and to be honest, it got kind of old. The lack of any character devlopment shone through, and if you watched episode 1 and episode 81 you would probably find no difference between the way the characters act.

Kenshin himself is an ok main character, though I must confess that it is a lot easier to like him if you have watched the Trust and Betrayal OVAs. Kauru and Yahihoko are both a bit annoying and stereotypical anime characters. Megumi is interesting, and has the most depth of the side characters, though she is not utilized as much as the others. Overall, the character interaction is enjoyable and the characters themselves are interesting. The villians after the Shishio Arc, however, leave a bit to be desired.

This anime, however, is rated highly by many people for a reason: it is a very enjoyable anime, despite the fact that during fights there are lengthy pauses for diplomatic exchanges and preaching by Kenshin the fight scenes are exciting.

The amount of pain he felt, the agony he endured, the strong determination to atone those he killed, the will to protect others even if it means self sacrifice; those are the values that make Himura Kenshin a magnificent character. And thats why no matter how many times I will rewatch Kenshin, I am sure that I will enjoy it.

The animation of Rurouni Kenshin was fine. I had no problems with big eyes during the "Oro" scenes. The environment was very beautiful and detailed, specially when it comes to natural scenery. They were really eye catching. During the last episode, they integrated some real videos with the animation and I did not like the results (basically, this integration of video with animation was due to some funding problems). Most of the fight scenes were good, but the best one I guess was the one with Saitou.

The best part of the Sound was the BGM. Two special pieces "Departure" and "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki" are beyond description by words. The op/ed themes were nice but I did not think that they fit the series. The sound acting was another strong aspect of Rurouni Kenshin. Though Kenshin was performed by an actress, it suited him very well. The voice actors maintained a steady performance along the series. I dont remember being annoyed by any character's voice, which is surely a rare thing in anime that contained too many characters.

The Tv series came before Samurai X Reminiscence and Seisouhen. Since Reminiscence is a prequel to the tv series, I watched it first. And I thought that there will be no way for the tv series to keep up with Reminiscence. But this was not the case. The fact that the tv series was a very successful sequel to a masterpiece like Reminiscence was shocking. This is mainly due to the strong story that supported the Tv series. I enjoyed the episodes that followed Shishio's death but too a lesser degree than those before. Those episodes weren't taken from the manga but still, they were enjoyable enough for me to continue the show.

All of the characters are well written. The pacing of their development was really good. They gave each of the supporting characters the exact amount of time so that you never get bored with them. By time you get to like almost all of them. One of the good things about the characters in Rurouni Kenshin is that you can feel the emotions they have for one another. This really deepened the story and contributed to reveal the character of Kenshin in a clearer way. The enemies in the series were also good. And in order for a fight to be exciting, you need to hate the enemies and I did almost in all of the fights.

As for Value/Enjoyment: Rurouni kenshin lives up to what it is expected to be. For me, It exceeded those expectations and became one of my favorites. I rewatched it 3 times till now. and I am sure that I will rewatch it many times again. This is one of the few animes that are worth keeping.