Rurouni Kenshin - The Review

It's one of my first series ever, it's one of my favorite series ever.
This is one of those rare shonens where being Teh strongest is thankfully NOT the main driving force of the narrative and that is far more nuanced than what people let on. Seriously , the way some shmucks talk about it, you'd expect Kenshin to solve everything though the power of friendship or something like that.
Since I am going to give it the Dragon Ball treatment in terms of reviews, let's adress some general thoughts :
* This is one of those mangas where the funny moments work to its advantage rather than being overall annoying www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo7e6n… . Oh, and it helps Kenshin's japanese voice is actually pleasant unlike the grating annoyance that Goku utters...
* Nobuhiro Watsuki's artwork is generally good. It hit its peak around mid-Part II to mid-Part III.
* Watsuki is a huge fan of Video Games ( Samurai Spirit seems to be the most quoted ) and of American comics, his favorite Comic being X-men. HOWEVER, unlike with most American writers who very predictably go with the stuff that I deem to be either overrated or colostomy bags, Watsuki seems to be in many ways MY kind of X-men fan.
* Rurouni Kenshin was one of the first Shonen Jump series to have female fans and Watsuki kept getting in trouble with his editors at the time XD
* YES, the action feats are totally exagerated. And that's GLORIOUS !
* At first, it was never planned to be a long-running manga.
* Watsuki served as a mentor for Eiichiro Oda who was part of his staff ...He also credits Oda for the creation of Kamatari Honjo
* Due to reading a lot of Shojo as a boy, Watsuki got that "boys" and "girls" stories weren't necessarily all that different...
* When it comes to animation, RK had pretty mixed adaptations; TV Series ? good despite the fillers (what's with that last season ?) and copying the panels word for word at times. "Trust and Betrayal" ? I honestly have no words to do it justice. "Reflections" ? Ah the utter waste of celluloids and animators efforts. And no, I don't mind a sad ending, but this is SURPASSING "Steel Ball Run" in terms of contrived ending. Its only really good point is the OST which deserved a better movie !  "New Kyoto" ? OKAY, let me get this straight ; people trash the APPP Phantom Blood movie (that looks way better than what David Prod went with BTW...),YET THIS shit gets a release ? What a dumb world we live in...
* When it come to live-action : Holy shit! I am pleasantly surprised ! They did what any OVA post-"Trust and Betrayal" SHOULD have done but did not.Those deserve their own essay...
* If there's one thing I also love about Nobuhiro Watsuki, it's his informative pages about characters creation. It is always nice to know about them, especially when the impression that I get from his characters can be disparate...


The series itself is comprised of three main story arcs, related to one longer plotline within the series. So let's go on with the show...


I KAMIYA DOJO ARC (Vol 1 -> 6)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TykEbC…

I know that the first arc doesn't really have an official name, but since it mostly happens close to the dojo (which is the HQ of the protagonists if you will...) I found it the most fitting title.
To put things into historical context, here's what happens a little prior to our story : Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji government. Like any socio-political transition (an I am living through one right now....), it's met with conflicts and bloodshed with the pro-imperial nationalists called ishin shishi (the side Kenshin worked with ) and the shogunate forces, which included the elite shinsengumi swordsmen (Saito being the 3rd division captain).
The turning point of the Bakumatsu was during the Boshin War and the Battle of Toba-Fushimi when pro-shogunate forces were defeated.
As such , in the 11th year of the Meiji era, Kenshin Himura is now a peaceful wanderer who has vowed never to kill again (kinda like Batman when he he went from his original to his optimal incarnation...). However, This Meiji-era Tokyo is crawling with new problems: fanatical swordsmen, corrupt police, drunk people and amoral business tycoons who is force doctors to make a super-potent opium, Kendo fanboys and out of job ninjas.

This arc introduces the main characters, sets up their personalities and their backgrounds with the exception of one of them:
* Kaoru Kamiya, a young woman and kendo teacher who will be Kenshin's anchor to this place. Is rather blunt and headstrong but that, unlike many female characters I've seen, didn't go in the way of likability. Plus she can turn into a Pac-man while drunk apparantly www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrkour…
* Yahiko Myojin, an orphan who was forced into pick-pocketing for a Yakuza group. Reveals himself to be more perceptive/clever than he lets on AND will get a good amount of development as the series advances.
* Sanosuke Sagara, my favorite supporting character. He's got a tragic past as part of the unjustly-maligned and disgraced Sekihotai army and while it does drive him (his hatred of the Meiji Government remains constant throughout the whole story) it does not consume him. Would make a fantastic fight club member !
* Kenshin Himura... I don't like Kenshin, I FUCKING ADORE Kenshin ! Compared to what most shonen mangas go with as main characters, I felt that he was a great distinction . Yes, I know that Kenshiro from HNK is unusual too in that regard but Himura himself is allowed to be incredibly funny and a pratfall guy while Kenshiro is a stoic deadpan snarker. In fact, Kenshin's goofy side was so well-done that the first time I saw his shift to Battosai, it was kind of a shock! And now that I've reread the manga as a whole, it struck me : We barely know anything about who Kenshin was until the very last arc. Here, aside from his general polite to a fault attitude and altruism, he's a general mystery.
Kenshin's opinion on Kendo can be summed up as such: "A sword is a weapon. The art of swordsmanship is learning how to kill. That is the truth. What Miss Kaoru says is sweet and innocent talk that only those whose hands have never been stained with the blood of men can believe. But to tell you the truth, I much prefer Miss Kaoru's sweet and innocent talk over the truth, that I do."

As for the arc in and on itself, here are my thoughts:
* The Hiruma brothers are rather funny, then again in these kind of series , the first antagonists tend to be paltry compared to what follows.
* Jin-Ei Udo, the first major threat, is both cool design-wise and as an antagonist. For the former, he's a dead ringer for Gambit with a Joker smile (in fact, if you draw him with a smirk and rise the eyebrows a bit, you'll just get Remy...) and for the latter, he's the one villain to win against Kenshin despite losing to Battosai. And it helps that he does not overstay his welcome.
* Takani Megumi. Helllloooo Doc !
* Aoshi Shinomori is quite interesting goal wise since well... for a guy who seems distant and cold, he's extremely caring towards his team, to a fault even. In fact, his biggest problem is that the Oniwaban group was not able to fight back in the day because if they did, the Nationalists would've lost. As such , he wants to defeat Himura to get back the title of legend, not for himself but his team (his companions would , unlike him, not have been able to get new posts under the Meiji Government. Now that's a leader !). His crew's tragic demise will become his driving force for the next arc where he'll be more than eager to take Kenshin's life and his legendary title...
* The chapters about Yahiko finding a job and defending the extremely shy Tsubame were pretty damn fun.
* The Raijuta stuff was...errr... the weakest part of the manga. It's not awful BTW, but it's just not that engaging to me compared to the rest.
* The last part about the Sekihotai and one of Sanosuke's friends and ex-partners, the artist Katsuhiro "Tsunan" Tsukioka, was definitely a step up.




II KYOTO ARC (Vol 7 -> 17)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-MY9r…

This is where things do improve story and scale-wise due to Watsuki's editors reportedly asking for an epic saga. And damn DID IT DELIVER ! Kenshin finally gets a Big Boss to take on. But I'll leave THAT guy for last.
While Kenshin just started getting used to life at the dojo, Saito Hajime the ex-captain of the Shinsengumi 3rd squad 1) appears 2) beats up Sanosuke 3) ferociously fights Kenshin who nearly returns to his Battosai mindstate. All of that because Saito came on the orders of one of the three great leaders of the Meji Restoration (well the remaining one anyway...) Okubo Toshimichi. And like any politician, he wants Kenshin to go to Kyoto and clean their own shit for them :assassinate Makoto Shishio. Who's Shishio ? Well, back in the day, we know that Kenshin was an assassin and that he stepped down for (at this point) unknown reasons. The Nationalists decided to give that job to another extremely skilled swordsman... and then they thanked him for his efforts by burning him to a crisp. Still, Shishio survived and managed to recruit enough henchmen and the necessary forces to overthrow the government. And he repays Mr Toshimichi by having his most trusted killer, Seta Soujiro, put him to sleep.
As such, Kenshin will go to Kyoto and find the best way to stop Shishio's ambitions. The task will not be easy since Aoshi Shinomori is still after him...
Let's go with the thoughts :
* Saito Hajime is in many ways the perfect ruthless anti-hero. While the guy does have his honor code, it remains an unflinching and ruthless one. Plus as his very first appearance demonstrated, he is in no way above manipulating or coldly insulting others (well, hitting them with the truth anyway...). The only downside to Saito really is that he's too badass for his own good. Watsuki would end up regretting that since Mr Hajime will become the bane of all henchmen ! Also doesn't take kindly to corruption. “You tame a dog with food, you tame a man with money, but there is nothing that can tame the wolf of Mibu!”

* The Oniwaban Chu gets more involved since their base of operation is in Kyoto. Though the 2 really important members here are Nenji Kashigawa/Okina (The senior, ladies and gents !) and Misao Makimachi. Now about Misao , she was created by Watsuki because he wanted a light-hearted counter to the rather dark atmosphere of this arc ... and it's a plus ! Though due to her attachment to Aoshi, she thankfully does not feel like a distraction but has a clear role within the narrative and getting Aoshi's character arc to come full circle and become able to surpass his past and losses.

* Seijuro Hiko, the strongest swordsman ever in the whole manga AND Kenshin's mentor. The best thing about Seijuro is that Watsuki did not fall into the old as fuck cliche of having the pupil surpass the master or overusing said master to save everyone in the final battle (he just fights a glorified giant mook.). And while indeed wise, the master of the Hiten Misturugi school comes off as a cocky jerk (not without good reason...). For the rest, it's interesting to note that Kenshin was a "failed disciple" since he disobeyed the apolitical stance of the Hiten Mitsurugi school and will only complete his training a decade later. But hey, learning the Amakakeruryu No Hirameki (try repeating that 10 times fast !) was definitely worth it so better late than never !

* The RenGoku ! Also known as that big threat that was stopped thanks to Sano's hand grenades ! Where the hell did Shishio buy it ? That's to be known for later...  

* The Juppongatana themselves ... now unlike most Kenshin fans I find half of them really necessary and cool as all hell. The others kinda felt like padding quite sincerely and while I get that it's a common occurence in these types of fiction.
The really cool ones anyway are :
+ Soujiro Seta,'The Tenken'. Shishio's very first recruit in the team and in many ways the Kenshin to Shishio's Seijuro. And DAMN did I LOVE his background chapter !
+ Anji Yukyuzan,'The Destroying Bright King'. A tempered fallen monk claiming the titles of the Wisdom Kings of Buddhist lore who uses hand to hand martial arts, alongside kenpo and a devastatingly powerful move : Futae No Kiwami. Will serve both as a mentor and main nemesis to Sanosuke in this arc. Has been compared by some fans to Colossus in the ‘Fatal Attraction’ story arc of X-Men, but I honestly think it should be the OTHER way around as I don't find Piotr as sympathetic/compelling as Anji...
+ Sadojima Hoji,'The One Hundred Fold Knowledged'. Skilled in marksmanship with a rifle, he is Shishio’s adviser and his most loyal follower.
Sawagejo Cho, also known as 'Cho, The Sword Hunter'. Wields various blades and swords of unique rarity and extremely deadly and fatal designs that he has collected over the years.
+ Yumi Komagata,'The nocturne'. Shishio's lover and one of the coolest prostitutes ever along with Miss Luca from Berserk. Is extremely hard to cosplay ...
The others are quite okay, though only one of them will get an upgrade for me thanks to the next arc !

* Makoto Shishio HIMSELF. Ladies and gents, I do not like Shishio, I FUCKING LOVE Shishio ! The charisma, the history, the simple yet understandable motives AND the honesty of the dude. Shishio , to me , is like the ideal fusion of Apocalypse and Kang The Conqueror, both respectively the Top BOSSES of X-men and Avengers antagonists (and you can sue me.). Like the former, he's a social darwinist through and through, will never waver from his convictions AND will NEVER beg for the sympathy of the reader or anyone else (which has the opposite effect on me most of the time , quite ironically. Villains like that gain my admiration as a result...). Like the latter, there's a clear sense of adventure, devouring ambition and a love for seeking worthy challenges to amuse himself.
A pretty unique characteristic to Shishio among RK antagonists when you think about it is that his special techniques (Kaguzuchi excepted) are mostly there for show or to toy around with his prey. What makes Shishio REALLY special and deadly as an opponent are his observation skills AND his uncommon physical strentgh and resilience. The fact the fights with his anhidrosis makes him even more badass ! The guy simply won't turn back from a challenge.
Also, I have no problem with the final fight. Even if its live action version was better...
What? He one shot the others because they were hurt ? That's exactly why he punks them with zero effort, baby.
His end was far fetched ? Not at all. He was severely damaged by Kenshin's ulimate move and Kenshin, while at death's door himself, was thinking that the new generations will be ready for Shishio since he was way too much physically hurt to rise properly ever again. Plus, the spontaneous combustion was far more badass looking than croaking and dying from a fever due to his efforts and physical traumas on the arena (realistically, it would have gone that way.).
All in all, Shishio was a fantastic villain with a more than impressive epilogue : He ends up in hell and decides to take over it. Simple as that !



III JINCHU ARC (Vol 18 -> 28)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NrkA4…

Finally. The arc that never got animated like it deserved.It has been compared to the Majin Buu saga but I call BULLSHIT on that. Why ? Because it is actually necessary for the narrative and it fucking FITS, that's why ! It closes the whole story effectively and we finally KNOW who Kenshin actually is. It is NOT the Kyoto arc and it certainly not trying to be. Here, the stakes are far more personal and the main antagonist is not another assassin/manslayer like Jin-Ei or Shishio but a guy whose life Kenshin affected inadvertently as the Manslayer Battosai.
Prior to it, Watsuki mentioned that he was actually planning to kill Kaoru way before the Jinchuu arc started. However, when serializing the chapters of the Kyoto arc, Watsuki decided to leave her alive for a happy ending. Evenmore, Kenshin's original ending before the series became popular was Kenshin leaving Tokyo as a wanderer once again.
This final saga is divided in 3 main phases, and while the last one had the most problems, its qualities more than make up for its flaws.

* Remembrance
Kenshin finally reveals his past to his friends at the Kamiya dojo, and this is hands down my absolute favorite part in the manga.
The Kenshin we see in the past has barely anything in common with his current personna , aside from the idealism. And even then , while current "Oro" Kenshin shows how his idealism saves people , THIS Kenshin KILLS A FUCKTON of people due to his idealism and looks coldly terrifying while doing so. Whoever said the road of hell was paved with the best intentions was never more right...
Then, Himura's world view would gradually change once he meets Tomoe Yukishiro. This will eventually lead him down his path of peace after her tragic death... a death that was witnessed by her younger brother Enishi.
This section of the Jinchu arc was adapted in the OVA "Trust & Betrayal" which was balls out BRILLIANT ! It went with a different mood  and art style than the TV series which is EXACTLY what those chapter NEEDED to be translated properly on-screen. My only nitpick with the OVA is that I wish they'd have let Shishio's murder of the nationalist traitor exactly as IT WAS in the book, since it set up Makoto's character pretty well... plus I can't get enough of that predatory smile.
I don't want to say much because "Remembrance" is a a ride that needs to be EXPERIENCED ,both printed and on-screen, to be enjoyed.


* Defeated by The Past
Since Kenshin can't escape his past, he'll have to confront some jolly fellows that have some unfinished business with him. As such, they decided to punish him (well 2 out of 6 want that for varying reasons).
Now the 6 comrades have always been unfavorably compared to the Juppongatana, but quite honestly both groups had members with more heft to them than others. In thi case we have:
+ Gein the puppetmaster (was Iwanbo tha whole time ! Shockers !). Now , much like Jin-Ei, Gein is mostly dedicated to his art  and obsessed with the concepts of functional beauty and Physical beauty. Creates combat puppets and fights skillfully with diamond laced strings.
+ Mumyoi Yatsume. A pro-shogunate miner-turned assassin for the Yaminobu. Fights with his clawed elongated left arm. Joined Enishi in hopes of getting revenge on Kenshin. Is physically an hommage to a fuckton of comics characters...
+ Hyogo Kujiranami. A former samurai of the bakufu who, after losing his right arm in battle against Battosai during the late days of the Bakumatsu, joined the Six Comrades in search of revenge and a proper warrior death. Not only did Watsuki model him after Apocalypse, but he also gave him a persona close to the younger and more tempered En Sabah Nur. Apocalypse was one of Watsuki’s favorite villains and through Hyogo, Watsuki wanted to give the Big A a chance since he felt that few appreciate the mutant's true manliness at its right value.
The 2 others are indeed unneeded but hey, them's the breaks and at least they give Sano and Yahiko something to do.
And as for the big boss of this arc, He is also pretty great but more than disturbing and disturbed. How could you equal Shishio ? Well, you just give us an antagonist that is a reverse-Shishio, simple as that. Everyone meet Enishi Yukishiro ! I don't lik... ah fuck it, you know the drill !
Whereas Makoto was more a product of the government's dark side, Enishi is an extremely personal nemesis (he kinda reminds me of a mix between Stryfe and Harry Osborn quite honestly).
Back as a kid, he was indifferent to most people except Tomoe who was both a sister and a mother to him. When she died, time basically stopped for him. While Shishio is the antagonist that moved forward despite his physical trauma, Enishi is the antagonist who could not due to mental traumas. They say that time heals wounds but in Enishi's case, it just got worse ! He became nigh-heartless, murderous and violent. Around the end of the Bakumatsu, he fled to Shangai where he nearly died on many occasions and yet forced himself to live on for vengeance and vengeance. At some point, a wealthy Japanese family took Enishi in and nursed him back to health.And he murdered them out of disgust ! He could not stand seeing a happy family after what happened to Tomoe. While looting, he came across a book discussing sword arts,laying the foundation for him to learn Watojutsu, a combination of both Japanese and Chinese sword arts. Then he managed to become a weapons dealer , gaining considerable wealth and connections (he's the one who sold the RenGoku to Shishio BTW...). Now,Enishi will not be satisfied with Kenshin's demise. He wants him Kenshin’s new found will to live utterly obliterated. Hence why he plotted the Jinchu...
The first fight between Enishi and Kenshin was indeed badass and I love how Enishi's best technique, the Kofuku Zettosai, was able to counter Kenshin's Divine Dragon. But at the end of it and this phase... THIS HAPPENS  33.media.tumblr.com/a5033d6b4b…


* Closure
Now the final phase is where there have been the most complaints about the story's direction.
In his notes from Volume 24, Watsuki believes the series' message was almost ruined by the twists involving Kaoru being "killed" by Enishi causing a horrible reaction on Kenshin and his friends only to reveal few chapters later that she was alive. Watsuki even noted that some people were so disappointed with the twist, they stopped reading it.
FOR SHAME ! I did not have any problem with the twist !
I dug the explanation behind it ! Even if Enishi wanted to off Kaoru, his traumas would not allow him ; he simply could not see a young woman around his sister's age die by his hands. It's not out of mercy that he pulled that whole conspiration. Plus I did like some of the interactions Kaoru had with him.
I am also glad that Watsuki took the time to develop the other characters.
+ The fight between Aoshi and Gein ? It's actually my favorite Aoshi fight in the whole manga.
+ Yahiko trying to stop an enraged and out of his mind Hyogo Kujiranami ? That shows how far Yahiko have come since the start.
+ We have an entire volume dedicated to Sanosuke's sidequest and it IS glorious !
+ Kenshin struggles in the Fallen Village because he felt too tired to carry on and YET looking for an answer. But the fact that he decided to come back from that depression WITHOUT knowing that Kaoru was still alive shows that his resolve only got stronger.
As for the final fight, I do agree that the sushin stuff was pure filler and that it would have been much better if they went directly to Enishi VS Kenshin confrontation.
But all in all, all is bad that ends well. Kenshin actually earned his redemption, he finally moves on from his past (represented by Shishio and Enishi) and starts a new life with Kaoru. Seeing how his life started, I'd say the dude deserves a break !

Thus, let's seal the deal with the proper tunes ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaB43j…