Forum - View topicREVIEW: Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning
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tintor2
 Posts: 2202 |
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Em, Netflix? 
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DQBunny
 Posts: 65 Location: Mechanicsburg, PA |
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Yes, I agree that the films need to be watched in reverse order. It’s also how the events were presented in the manga with the flashbacks happening in the middle of Jinchuu. It definitely gives extra weight to everything when you go in already knowing this.
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Soulwarfare
 Posts: 550 |
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I was always wondering about this after watching the trailer for "The beginning".
I saw the trailer and was thinking "Is this movie just an entire flashback???" and thought that was a weird way to end the franchise. I'm glad to read someone elses review of this and agreeing with it. I think when both movies are available in the west, I am going to watch beginning first. |
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BlueAlf
 Posts: 1556 |
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Wait. So this prequel chapter really is the final film?
That's kinda weird, but it makes sense if the producers thought they should end the series on a high note. |
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MagicPolly
 Posts: 1632 |
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Are the RK movies a good substitute for the anime? I'm interested in RK but the anime is pretty long and I don't want to watch the filler arc(s?)
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DQBunny
Posts: 65 Location: Mechanicsburg, PA |
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Yes, I feel it's a pretty good substitute, especially since the anime doesn't do the final arc at all. It got canceled before it could reach Jinchuu. I have thoroughly enjoyed the live-action movies. That being said, if you do watch any of the anime, the Kyoto Arc is still one of the single-finest series of anime I've ever seen. You would do yourself a favor to watch it. The first season is pretty great too, though it does have more filler. If you'd still like to see the anime and just get straight to the point, do the following: - Watch episodes 1-11. This will introduce most of the main characters and their arcs. You don't want to skip the intros, because you will become very lost very quickly. You'll also miss out on the motivations behind one of the main groups involved in the Kyoto Arc. - Skip to episode 28, which is the first episode of the Kyoto Arc. Watch straight through to episode 62. You can end the series here. The first OVA covers the same material as the Beginning movie. Ignore every other OVA that has come after it. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11637 |
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Having seen neither, I suspect I would agree about the viewing order. But these will probably hit theaters here in the release order, so the only way to do that would be to wait until both are available on BD. Which is a shame, since these would be the first movies I would've been willing to try to see on the big screen in years. C'est la vie.
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tintor2
Posts: 2202 |
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Weird though. Why are they calling these movies finals if they don't adapt the epilogue? Are they gonna adapt Hokkaido too? Even the anime made a minishort about the epilogue fora dvd box
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leongsh
 Posts: 181 |
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Good to read that the live action movie version of the Ruruoni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen OVA would not be overshadowed in comparison against the stellar OVA. That was my main concern. Looking forward to it when the movie shows up in my local movie theatre.
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Charou
 Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Have to admit my interest in the latter Kenshin films went up a lot once they were announced as Netflix releases rather than cinematic here in Australia -- I caught 'The Final' once it went up a few days ago. Satisfying but rushed, I guess. It excised most of the ridiculousness of the original Jinchuu arc but lacked (please don't hate me for this) some of the poignancy of the flawed but intense Reflection OVA (which still brings me to tears -- as with Trust/Betrayal, I blame Iwasaki Taku's incredible score). It was still, overall, pretty ridiculous but that's true to the source.
Equally, this prequel HAD to be the opposite, given its legacy. Again, I'm risking some heavy fire here, but I rewatched the Deen (!!!) Trust and Betrayal OVA recently and it's...not the masterpiece I remembered from my pre-KenshinTV days. It's since been outdone by stuff like Sword of the Stranger (ironic, given that also has an incredible Western-inspired score, by the same guy who'd go on to compose the Kenshin movies) and at times the animation just doesn't quite live up to the gravitas of the moment. There are some who, having been introduced to the series by the OVA, can't watch Kenshin the series due to its levity and goofiness, but I skew the other way: the goofiness and levity are entirely the reward after so much suffering and atonement. BUT this very serious arc also featured fairly deeply into the manga's run (edit: early/mid Jinchuu arc, not Kyoto arc, silly me) so even to readers, it came after a long exposure to the lighter side of Kenshin, the 'oro' and the 'de gozaru' utterly absent from Battousai's inception and plateau as a hitokiri. Which is all to say, I think 'when' to watch 'The Beginning' is debatable. Like any good prequel, it likely enriches what we've experienced so far, but it can be tonally jarring. I think, if it's anything like its OVA source, it works as a coda to add hindsight to why Kenshin is the way he is -- but there'll always be some argument for straight-up chronological experience as well. That said, I would never in a million years recommend anyone watch Fate/Zero before Stay/Night (yeah, even the Deen version), because it provides TOO much context and makes what comes after it seem shallow and incomplete. Good luck enjoying Shirou And His Gals after the heart-wrenching horror of Kiritsugu's struggle -- the latter gives grounding to the former, but it's hard to appreciate that in anything but release order. It was only by virtue of exposure opportunity that I saw Trust/Betrayal before Kenshin, but I sort of wish I'd experienced it the way it was released. The jump from bright shounen action-comedy to muted yet grisly realism would have been a revelation -- and yet not too surprising, given anime movies of that era often skewed more serious than their TV/OVA counterparts (Tenchi Muyo and Aa Megamisama both had really hefty films with huge, bombastic soundtracks and themes). Either way, when/if I rewatch Kenshin, Trust/Betrayal does not start the marathon. Release order has significance, more often than not. Similarly, I trust the release schedule here too. Unless 'The Beginning' was somehow released last due to production issues (wouldn't surprise me given the past year or so), then this is how it's 'meant' to be experienced: as a bittersweet farewell underlining Kenshin's tragic origin and his often concealed struggle to overcome it, now writ large in hindsight in every quirky expression and that gentle smile Satoh Takeru made his own over the course of 4 very good movies. |
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leongsh
Posts: 181 |
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Managed to watch the movie.
I can see that the movie definitely took inspiration from the stellar Tsuiokuhen OVA. It is just as good. It retains all the drama, the pathos and the tragedy and does it all in live action. I am very impressed and absolutely delighted. Satoh Takeru's performance as Himura Kenshin is definitive. Whether as a standalone movie on its own or the capstone to the 4 live action movies before it, it is an excellent movie. It's not just the best movie in the live action Rurouni Kenshin movie franchise but it's also the best live action movie adaptation of an anime/manga I have seen so far. I feel very fortunate to have been able to watch the move. |
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