Rurouni Kenshin Trilogy Movies

Two posts in a row! I'm on a roll! Not really. I've had this as a draft for a while..And I never ended up finishing it.. So I thought I'd publish it anyway~ This is what happens when you take a break lol. I had to delete the rest of my food post drafts because I remember eating the food but I can't remember how it tasted like lol. Totally heartbreaking. It's amazing how appalling my memory is lol. I always remember the feelings I get from them but I can never remember much of anything else, so I didn't really want to just say every dish was edible lol. Anywho, for a change of pace, I've always wanted to try reviewing movies, anime and books and stuff as well since I don't always have the time and money to eat out so here ya go!

This is mainly stemmed from my love for Rurouni Kenshin since I was a child. I usually don't like live action adaptations of anime because they're never the same and usually never do justice for how good the anime/manga was but I think this trilogy was a nice light-hearted and simple dose of Rurouni Kenshin.

RATING: 3.5/5

RATING: 4/5

RATING: 3/5

If you don't know about Rurouni Kenshin, I would definitely recommend reading the manga! Probably more so than the anime just because I'm not too keen on his voice in the anime. It's basically the story of an ex-assassin whovows to never kill again and wanders around helping people and thus carries a sword with a reverse blade to keep to his word which is one of the main appeals of Kenshin. The fact that he won't bow down and go back to killing no matter how hard it gets is something typical but I think Kenshin makes you think that even though it's cliche, you can see his determination and perseverance to keeping to this. If you're aware of the plot, the 1st movie is about the fake battosai, about Megumi and the drug dealer. 2nd movie is about helping out Kyoto and 3rd movie is about defeating Shishio Makoto.

For the movies, I personally loved the second movie the most. It was engaging and exciting and there was lots of action! More action than the first one hehe! It was also interesting to see Shishio and the others and it would make you feel excited to watch the third movie. However, the third movie was quite lacklustre in comparison to the others. I'd say it was quite dramatic and draggy. I guess it just wasn't the way I liked it. I guess the excitement and expectations of what was to come made the second movie shine. But I think mostly, it was the nostalgia of seeing Kenshin again that made me really like the movies haha. The fights with Kenshin were always the best for obvious reasons and they were really cool and exciting to watch. It's always a good change from the explosions you usually see hahaha. That is the charm of Kenshin I guess. Also, the soundtacks for the fights and the suspenseful and anticipation of what is to come is felt pretty well through the music. Wouldn't say it was amazing but I admit that I did like it and it did seem to fit the mood pretty nicely.

As for the actors, I think Sato Takeru portrayed a live Kenshin pretty well, I was impressed! I've always been a person that is always like "the original is always the best" but as I've gotten older, I think I've come to appreciate adaptations more and are more open to them. For me, I think I could see Kenshin in him. But I have to say I really did not like how Sanosuke was portrayed. I'm not sure if it was the actor or his scenes but I really didn't like it. I'm well aware that Sanosuke can be an idiot at times but overall, he was cool. He wasn't cool at all in the movies so I was disappointed. As for Kaoru and Megumi, I really couldn't see them in their roles, maybe because they look too young and their scenes are rather static. Megumi didn't have that mature feel to her that I loved. To be fair, they're movies so if Kenshin doesn't have enough screen time, how could the others, but I was still sad. Yahiko was really cute and funny though. And my memories of Misao and Aoshi aren't good enough for me to compare to their anime or manga counterparts but I have to say the costumes were done really well because the moment I saw them, even if I didn't remember their characters, I could tell that I knew them. The only gripe I have with Kaoru is that she never had that beautifully coloured ribbon on her head that defines her character in the anime. I always loved how Kaoru looked and dressed in the anime and I think the movies didn't do that justice. Oh and Shishio looked goood~

All in all, I'd say I enjoyed the movies and would recommend Kenshin fans to watch it just for him cause there is no such thing as too much Kenshin in your life. Otherwise, I'd probably just watch the anime or read the manga just because there's much more depth to the other characters in there rather than just his side kicks. I mean, seriously, Sanosuke is one of my favourites!! I can't get over it lol. And just because Kenshin's "Oro?" face in the anime and manga is just irreplaceable, I don't know how to describe it. Sato Takeru did a good job in it but an anime is an anime and there are expressions that you just can't imitate in real life and this one is quite the memorable one.