Rurouni Kenshin (2012-14)


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Ryu

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Title: Samurai X
Japanese: るろうに剣心
Blu-ray & DVD release date: 26/12/2012 (live-action movie)
Theatrical release date: 25/8/2012 (JP) and 5/12/2012 (other countries)
Genres: Action, Drama, Chanbara
Original creator: Nobuhiro Watsuki
Director: Keishi Ōtomo
Written by: Kiyomi Fujii and Keishi Otomo
Music by: Naoki Sato
Cinematography: Takuro Ishizaka
Editing by: Tsuyoshi Imai
Produced by: Osamu Kubota, Shinzō Matsuhashi and William Ireton
Distributed by: Warner Bros
Studio: Studio Swan

Main Cast: Takeru Satō as Kenshin Himura (Hitokiri Battōsai)
Emi Takei as Kaoru Kamiya
Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara
Taketo Tanaka as Yahiko Myojin
Yosuke Eguchi as Hajime Saitō
Yu Aoi as Megumi Takani
Koji Kikkawa as Udō Jin-e
Teruyuki Kagawa as Kanryu Takeda
Gou Ayano as Gein
Genki Sudo as Banjin Inui
Eiji Okuda as Aritomo Yamagata
Movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/embed/90ubrsSxrKc?rel=0&autoplay=1
Official website: http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/rurouni-kenshin/1/index.html

Synopsis: Former legendary assassin Kenshin Himura (Takeru Sato) has now become a wandering samurai. Offerring aid & protecting those in need as atonement for his past deeds. During this time Kenshin Himura comes across and aides Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei). Her father opened the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu, a kendo school located in Tokyo and Kaoru is now an instructor there. Kaoru then invites Kenshin to stay at her dojo. Their relationship develops further, but Kenshin is still haunted by his violent past.
 
This movie was showing on the plane I was traveling on so I took the chance to at least see it
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Here's my take:
The movie primarily animates the Oniwabanshu arc or so I thought until it became evident that it was heavily modified. The movie also compresses the introduction episodes and manages to weave them into the overarching story. The other arc that the series animates is the one that Kaoru is captured by a samurai (anyone remember this one because I sure don't?)

In terms of likes, good action, fair pacing, and a decent story overall though I think they may have stretched it a bit by having Kaoru get captured just as when everything was about to be resolved.

In terms of dislikes, the obvious being not following the source material for Oniwabanshu arc. My main issue is the lack of Aoshi and how his "group" is really just a bunch of bandits working for Kanryu. This massive deviation made the plot feel really cheap where "hero beats up bad guys for the sake of justice" with little to no chance of retaliation.

Hajime and Sano also get very short screen time though many of the Sano scenes were hilarious.

Overall, it's not a bad movie but I feel like there was a lot of wasted potential. It's not a very long movie but it would have been much better had they animated something like Trust and Betrayal, which is effectively movie length material.
 
animated? Isn't this live-action?
 
QUOTE (Kit-Tsukasa @ Dec 30 2012, 07:44 PM) yeah it is. I guess adapts would be the more appropriate word choice.
Kit, you know I was trolling.

I remember seeing the trailer a few months ago I think and I actually thought it was a trailer for a sequel live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie, so I had to check and find out that the trailer wasn't for a sequel, it was just the 2nd trailer for the movie. I was sorta glad I made the mistake because I would have felt dumb missing this movie in the first place. I might be getting this on Blu-Ray since I'm a fan of the series.
 
Already seen it here in my country almost a month ago.

I have to say the movie was well done. The writing was good in a sense, as you were watching it, THIS IS rurouni kenshin. It had a good introduction too on the whole franchise aiming to attract not only the fans but New comers as well(Avoiding complicated stuffs so the audience can chew and swallow first). I like it for a fact the humour is present in the movie as well. The fighting scenes are very hongkong kungfu-style though but nevertheless it was well done(Thank god also that the actions scenes were unnecessarily long). Not to mention the Actors REALLY looked liked their parts. Good acting too.

The way they handled the show was how Hollywood handled Comic/Novel adaptations. As taking into account the necessary key points in the story and leaving the unnecessary out. You can't go 100% exact adaptation but you can hope to be faithful at least getting what really matters.

They condensed some character appearances as they wanted to focus on our Battosai which was one of the main points of the movie although not "all" was revealed yet. But well enough so the present story could be understood Easily.

Im glad in the end that THERE is an implied sequel if you've watched the movie already Jin'e is the main villlain. Meaning we can expect the later arcs to be tackled as well. .

Seeing how this movie was a commercial success in my country (They even extended the premiere due to demand). And possibly in other countries too. We can expect a more heavily budgeted next movie hoping decent production team handles it well.

Overall it was good introduction to the franchise in live-action form as I have said it also aimed to target newcomers(its an entry for a film festival too). leaving potential enough for the later arcs. As a student in animation we work in scriptwriting too and from my perspective they did a decent job in its entirety.

Should they have aimed for a more epic driven story, rather than a balanced character-driven(introductions included) with a tint of epicness. It could have been appreciated by a certain no. of people only (the fans).

Final say? 8/10 Fantastically well done. It just wasn't a gimmick to slap a name from a well known franchise. Fans may be expecting more but its definitely fresh and great. If there is a possible sequel expect a sleeper hit in the live action franchise.
 
QUOTE (Kit-Tsukasa @ Dec 30 2012, 12:09 AM) In terms of likes, good action, fair pacing, and a decent story overall though I think they may have stretched it a bit by having Kaoru get captured just as when everything was about to be resolved.

In terms of dislikes, the obvious being not following the source material for Oniwabanshu arc. My main issue is the lack of Aoshi and how his "group" is really just a bunch of bandits working for Kanryu. This massive deviation made the plot feel really cheap where "hero beats up bad guys for the sake of justice" with little to no chance of retaliation.

Overall, it's not a bad movie but I feel like there was a lot of wasted potential. It's not a very long movie but it would have been much better had they animated something like Trust and Betrayal, which is effectively movie length material.
QUOTE (lavenderdays @ Jan 02 2013, 03:55 AM)Should they have aimed for a more epic driven story, rather than a balanced character-driven(introductions included) with a tint of epicness. It could have been appreciated by a certain no. of people only (the fans).

Final say? 8/10 Fantastically well done. It just wasn't a gimmick to slap a name from a well known franchise. Fans may be expecting more but its definitely fresh and great. If there is a possible sequel expect a sleeper hit in the live action franchise.I agree with the pros/cons you guys pointed out so I think it's a good start even though they mixed the Oniwa Banshu and Jin-e's arcs, if they plan sequels I guess next will be about Shishio's arc (most likely introducing Aoshi there ¬¬)... if they'll make a third it could be a mix of Trust and Betrayal with Enishi Yukishiro's arc as both are linked in the manga ^^ overall I wasn't disappointed, this live-action is way better compared to the last New Kyoto arc i found subbed recently -.- even more rushed and unfaithful to the source than the first part:

RK Ishin Shishi e no Chinkonka: Motion Picture (theatrical film) fall 1997 - 7/10
RK Tsuioku-hen: Trust & Betrayal (1st OVA series, 4 eps) 1999 - 10/10
RK Seisou-hen: Reflection (2nd OVA series, 2 eps) fall 2001 - 9/10
RK Shin Kyoto-hen: Zenpen Homura no Ori (theatrical film) fall 2011 - 6/10
RK SKh: ZHnO part 2 (theatrical film) spring 2012 - 5/10
RK (theatrical live-action film) summer 2012 (BR/DVD) fall 2012 - 8/10
 
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen & Densetsu no Saigo-hen, new live-action films based on Shishio's arc

Titles: Samurai X: The Great Kyoto Fire & The End of a Legend
Japanese: るろうに剣心 京都大火編 & るろうに剣心 伝説の最期編
Theatrical release dates: 1/8/2014 and 13/9/2014

Main cast: Takeru Satō as Kenshin Himura
Emi Takei as Kaoru Kamiya
Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara

Yosuke Eguchi as Hajime Saitō
Kaito Ōyagi as Yahiko Myojin
Yu Aoi as Megumi Takani

Oniwabanshu: Yūsuke Iseya as Aoshi Shinomori
Tao Tsuchiya as Misao Makimachi
Min Tanaka as Nenji Kashiwazaki (Okina)

Juppongatana: Tatsuya Fujiwara as Makoto Shishio
Maryjun Takahashi as Yumi Komagata
Ryunosuke Kamiki as Sōjirō Seta
Ryōsuke Miura as Chō Sawagejō

Supporting cast: Kazufumi Miyazawa as Toshimichi Ōkubo
Yukiyoshi Ozawa as Hirobumi Itō
Two-part movie trailer: http://www.youtube.com/embed/a7HrF77Ewkg?rel=0&autoplay=1
Official website: http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/rurouni-kenshin/index.html

Synopsis: After his ordeal with Udō Jin-e, Kenshin Himura's brief period of peace is interrupted by the presence of Hajime Saito, the former captain of the Shinsengumi who assumed an alias in Tokyo's police force. With Megumi Takani's freedom at the balance, Kenshin learns that he is being enlisted in a covert operation at the city of Kyoto. There, Kenshin deals with a small army under the leadership of Hitokiri Battōsai replacement who was deemed a great enough threat to the Meiji government's stability that they attempted to burn him alive: Makoto Shishio.

Necropinion: so as expected they skipped directly into the most popular arc but I think it was better to split it in 2 parts, instead of rushing its story in a single movie though I wonder if they'll finish this saga or next is Enishi's arc?
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just saw this, me and my friend had thought at first when the trailers just came out that it was gonna
be a movie. I normally dont watch live action but this looks interesting, the characters look well
played and the actors well picked.

But doesnt kenshin look a little fat?
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i always thought he was a bit more bones.

Thanks for the summary
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QUOTE (Klyern @ May 21 2014, 09:22 AM)Thanks for the summary
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you're welcome! I just found Kyoto Inferno, its trilogy finale will be subbed soon
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