Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin is about an ex-assassin who vows never to kill again. Throughout the story, he is haunted by his past as he tries to uphold his vow and still be able to save the people around him.

This series, while still remaining shonen (for teenage boys) with majority of its tropes, can actually be pretty deep at times, and it is very poetic in how it tells its story. Everything has layers of meaning. Characters' names, appearances, and events that take place often have symbolic properties down to the trees in the background.

The most obvious example is how everyone around Kenshin either stands for his redemption or they are foils to him, particularly the villains; this is a lot more apparent in the second arc.

Another thing I really like about this show (and manga) is its depiction of history. It's not rosy-lensed about the new or old ages. It takes place in the 1870's right when Japan was beginning to modernize after the Imperialists defeated the Shogunate. It's basically the same time as "The Last Samurai", dealing with similar things, except it doesn't romanticize one side over another. It shows the good and the bad that the modernization led to. It also shows the reasons it happened in the first place. In short, it shows that corruption led to the civil war, and now the new government is just as corrupt. The ones constantly caught in the middle of it all are the common people, who suffer just the same under the new government. It can be surprisingly smart at times given how "cool", action-oriented, and comedic it is.

Comparison to the old series:

The action animation is much more fluid as should be expected. The colors are more vibrant. And the natural scenery is beautifully animated with digital effects only a modern anime can offer.

I think the music is pretty good. There are no themes I really object to. The old series will always have an iconic score, however. Personally, a lot of the music in the old show felt dated (90's) and out of place in an historical setting. The new show does not make the music sound any more authentic, but it distracted me less. With that said, the old show still had some really good music, which I admit was more memorable, but that should not discount the new score.

The style of the new show is certainly more mainstream. The directors did not choose to make the show feel radically different from everything else, which I do not mind at all. Whatever one can say about the old show, it had a very unique style. The choice of tilted angles, random color changes,bright flashes and their abilities being displayed in writing when the characters are in combat was both unique and fun to watch. Certain choices, however, I found to be odd and distracting, such as x-ray colors. So, with that said, I do not mind the more generic mainstream feel, but I do wish they were a little more creative, and they are difinitely getting there. The Kyoto arc so far has had some really cool creative visual choices.

The new show follows the source material much closer, which is almost always a possitive. There is no filler and the scenes take direct panels and put them to screen. Because the manga was not always that detailed and tended to make every conversation a simple back-and-forth of faces, though, the new show suffers a little bit from lack of unique angles; many shots are basic, but I do not think it is bad. That said, I like how the new show does not add filler and tries to be more faithful; we just have a less creative, less ambitious retelling of the original manga, and that is fine with me. It is better to be faithful and do a great job than to be less faithful and hope it works. For me, the old show felt like half the time the creative choices did not work at all, while the other half went above and beyond anything I could have hoped for.

The biggest advantage the new show has over the old one, which strongly justifies its production, is that the studio plans to adapt the ENTIRE story, not just the first two arcs. Yes, yes, the manga was not complete when the old show was airing, but still, even after the last arcs were written, I wonder why they didn't try to adapt them. There were several OVA's that adapted parts like Trust and Betrayal and Reflection, but they weren't continuations.

In conclusion, this new adaptation of the beloved manga faithfully honors the source material and even if you were not a fan of the original show, you would still probably really enjoy this show. I personally think it's better than the original in most ways (e.g. Lack of filler) and it's not hard at all to keep up with. I am not in any way downplaying the significance or greatness of the old show. I think it's really good, but it has its flaws as does this new one. If you were a fan of the old show, I still highly recommend this one because it still tells the story we all love; moreover, it will tell the WHOLE story.

Consider Full Metal Alchemist. The first anime adaptation was pretty good. Then after it ended, they came out with Brotherhood a few years later, and I think a lot of people were questioning why a remake was necessary, especially since the first few episodes seemed a bit too rushed in comparison to the original adaptation. But by the time you get to the point where the original adaptation diverged from the manga, hardly anyway says they prefer the original anime to Brotherhood.

I'm predicting it will be the same case with this new adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin. The original 90's anime was very good, especially for its time, and I can see why a lot of people are still preferring it to this remake. But unfortunately, after the Kyoto arc, it ran out of manga material to adapt, and the quality of the anime storyline really took a nosedive as it divulged completely into filler content. Plus, the final Enishi arc from the manga is arguably the best part of the whole story, so the fact that we never got to see this represented through the anime, and live out the true conclusion of Rurouni Kenshin is a tragedy. I'm really hoping this new adaptation will be able to produce the entire manga storyline.

For now, with the earlier parts of the story, it's hard to see much of an improvement. The animation is really very beautiful, but not a great deal better than the original which was kind of ahead of its time. Fight scenes are good but not necessarily as detailed or as exciting as the original ones. The focus seems to be more on sword slashes and light streaks than actual footwork and movement. I'm hoping this will improve as the story goes on. Characterizations are much better though, which I think is currently this anime's biggest strength. They made some weird choices with the original anime and while the filler episodes weren't completely terrible, they disrupted the flow of the story and kind of messed up the motivations and actions of the different characters. Karou in particular and Yahiko are much more accurate and likeable in this version I think.

The Jin-e arc was really the stand out moment so far. The final fight scene where we see Kenshin revert to his Battousai persona was chilling. Very good acting and animation there. The differences between Rurouni and Battousai were much more apparent in this adaptation I think. I remember feeling like Battousai in the 90's anime was just an angrier version of the regular Kenshin. This Battousai seems like a completely different character though.

I was also pleased that they did the Raijuta and Yutaro arc closer to manga cannon this time. The changes they made in the original were a bit bizarre and pointless. I'm also glad to see they didn't cut Maekawa and his dojo this time around.

I'm really excited to see where the rest of the story goes. I think a lot will be riding on the fight with Saito, since I know that's a favorite moment from the original anime. As long as they don't screw that part up and give the moment the gravitas it deserves, I think this adaptation will be golden.

The text is more coherent but very explanatory, almost obvious.

Kenshin is definitely more haughty, in the first episodes he is even a little arrogant, taking away the charm of the super humble wanderer.

Animation slightly updated but without surprising improvements.

But the biggest loss of all is the soundtrack. In addition to the completely dull opening and ending (when the originals were outstanding), you don't hear anything during the anime. No classical Japanese music or instrumentals demarcating the era, and nothing exciting. I don't like the acceleration of events, it also gives in to a generation Z culture, taking away the charm of shifting time and space to a historical era. It lacks the soul of the Japanese flute, the cuts of peaceful scenery and water fountains.

Another loss is the voices, especially for Brazil. It's not too bad because Kenshin hasn't changed that much but he's very youthful. Sano's voice was iconic. For now we await greater cohesion in the main arc of Kyoto hell, and the animated sequel to the manga. Maybe the remake of Seiso-hen.

Rurouni Kenshin, or Samurai X, is one of my favorite fictional stories, not just anime/manga. The anime of the nineties totally marked my generation, it is an epic with a very deep message, historical accuracy and great action.

This remake, based on the first episode, left me with very good impressions. Everything seems to indicate that it will be a completely faithful version of the original story, which is to be appreciated since said story is perfect. The animation and voice acting in general are very well done.

There is only one negative detail that I want to comment on, to my personal taste, the opening theme is horrible! It doesn't match anything with the style of the anime, it's a shame because the openings of the classic anime were very good. I was about to lower a note of the score for that, but the truth is a rather minor detail.

I'm glad that the new generations can now enjoy and learn from Kenshin Himura's philosophy, let's hope that everything continues on the right track and that they at least end up adapting all the content of the manga.

As a manga reader, I love shonen and watching anime. This series was the beginning of my manga reading journey, and as a long-term manga reader, the first time experience is the best but in the long-term you will have a sense and taste of artwork that will be provided to you throughout different mangas for me "Rurouni kenshin" stood out, it had it all, mind blowing paneling, the artwork and dialog was satisfying to look at and read through with these amazing fights with really badass characters with amazing motivation that delivers with a great moments in finding out more about the characters and having them engage in moments of life and death are beautiful that I say. Overall, I love the anime so much with its style and all. It's obviously different from the 90s work because we're in the future now, and it's not the 90s anymore. I hope it keeps going until we have a complete kenshin series from beginning to end. Keep up the excellent work.