Rurouni Kenshin
Director
Kazuhiro FuruhashiKazuhiro Furuhashi, Tsuji Hajiki
Production
Fuji TV, Sony, Studio Deen, Studio Galup
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
95 episodes
Year
1996
Rurouni Kenshin
By KRis
21st May 04  You might have heard great things about Rurouni Kenshin from other places, but does it really deserve all the praise? Of coarse it does. This is an anime staple for all of you out there that are new to this. It might even be a good series to begin with, as long as you're patient. This review will be quite a long one, given all the shit I have to cover. First off, the TV series. This is what introduces the story to you. It starts out with a woman named Kaoru that runs some sort of dojo. Lately people have been leaveing because there is a man going around saying he is the Battousai (Battousai - Greatest killer Japan has ever known or something like that), using her techniques to kill people. So her students think that she has been apart of that. Later on things get cleared up when Kenshin (the real Battousai) comes around. Except Kenshin is not like he was in the past. He has given up killing people, and to atone for what he did, he decides to help and protect people. Kaoru invites Kenshin to stay for a while, starting off this long, but nice, series. Over the coarse of the first 30 episodes you get introduced to the characters and get to know them a bit. It picks up after 30 and slows down after 60. The rest of the episodes are complete bull. Except for maybe around 70, this might be completely useless to know but hey, who's writing the review? By the end of the TV series there is the most boring few episodes of the series. I couldn't believe they made such a piss shitty ending to a well done series. Also there is the lost episode 95 which suits as a better ending. Kenshin had really bad grammer at the beggining, but learns to talk better because he starts sounding normal. The main characters of the series don't get much light in the OVA's. The series is done with more of a cartoony look then the OVA's. The music is good, great with the themes. I'm not going to get into the movie since Lyndon has already reviewed it, and I pretty much agree with it. Next up is the 1st OVA: Memory. Oh ya, from now on there will be a bit of spoiling, so if you're like me and don't want things ruined, be advised. So by the time your watching this you know a lot of what Kenshin is like, but what you don't know is what his past is like. How did he get that scar? Well wonder no more because all the answers are here. The first two OVA's are a little slow but pick up a little more by the 3rd. So like I said, the story is pretty much how he became a samurai and what he really did back then that was so bad. Great ending to it too. You would get more out of it if you saw the TV series. Now onto the 2nd OVA: SeiSouHen. In this one, it starts out as kind of a recap/after series kinda thing. Kenshin goes away and Kaoru catches some sort of disease. So while she waits, we see her relationship with Kenshin from her point of view. That's about all we see during the first part. The second part kind of connects with the first OVA, and how his past mistakes come back to haunt him. This OVA is truely the better of the two. I'm glad Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship is given more light. So overall, this series is great. But can you afford the price of the series? It's a lot to cough up I can tell you. I've never spent so much time watching a series in my life. Kind of feels weird that it's over. I really like this series, but I don't recommend it to people who have a short attention span because there is a lot of talking through out. That's all I can think up right now, now go watch. 8/10
-- KRis 21st May 04
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