Ahh would I love to klobber all the nuts at the production studio for screwing this one up. Rurouni Kenshin is a great series, don't get me wrong. However, the TV Series is FAR from anything spectacular. I am sure most of you know the story, The smalle arcs in the beginning, Raijuta and Yutaro, Megumi and Kanryu, etc, then Shishio and then afterwards, Jinchu. The TV series takes it a bit further with 95 episodes, however I have not seen the entire series. With Samurai X, Rurouni Kenshin, and then the Rurouni Kenshin Anime, all three take very different endings, and the correct one would be the manga ending. As far as I know, Samurai X: Reflection is a recap of the entire story, so I would assume that the ending in Samurai X: Reflection is the true ending of the entire series, however Watzsuki, the creator, has not specified (because he is too busy making other series).
The animation is indeed cell shaded since this was released around 1994 (correct me if I am wrong). The Animation becomes much better at the end of the series, however watching the first arc of animation makes me nearly sick to my stomach. There is actually nothing wrong with the dubbings of the main characters, however the minor ones I have concerns about. Unfortunatly, I have not heard this series in the original japanese audio track, and it would be a privilidge to hear it. The story is extremely in depth, but the manga was a bit more in depth, and then the Samurai X series takes a bit of history, series knowledge, and DEEP forethought to even understand (this is what makes Samurai X a masterpiece).
Dubbs are not terribly bad (does anyone notice that the voice actor that plays Kaoru, whenever she does another series the character ALWAYS has no idea how to cook good food??) and there is a minor bit of filler. Any side plots actually do have a meaning and can be quite fun with the anime. One thing that you do not see often with anime is that the theme of the movie is "swords". You have Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai 7, Samurai Shamploo, and that is basically it. Kenshin certainly does it well and this is a series to pick up if you are a diehard fan of the series. Casually you may like this as well, however XYZPDQ highly recommends picking up the manga series. I would actually like to upload the bloopers that came with the DVD set, so Ill see what I can do about getting some of those up.
1 comment:
I agree! ^ ^ RuroKen is a spectacular manga, but makes for a mediocre anime. If they had waited just a bit longer for Watsuki-sensei to finish up some of the later arc (ie. the Enishi arc), then the anime would have been amazing. Although, I have heard rumors about the Enishi arc being animated; they just haven't done any casting for it. I doubt they'll release it, if it's true, that is.
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