Forum - View topicConfused about which Samurai X to buy
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aflimmer
 Posts: 78 Location: Alabama |
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I haven't seen Samurai X and I found different ones on sale at the ADV site and other places, but I'm not sure which one to buy. I have seen Ruroni Kenshin so I know most everything from that series.
I have seen (for sale): Samurai X Samurai X: The Motion Picture Samurai X: Trust Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal Samurai X: Reflection Samurai X: Reminiscence Samurai X: Director's cut I would like to buy the whole thing, but I can't figure out which one to get. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks and happy holidays. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Personally, I'd just find a way to get Trust & Betrayal in their original OVA-episode format, and ignore the Trust & Betrayal "Director's Cut" and especially ignore Reflection. The Trust & Betrayal Director's Cut splices all four episodes into a movie format with a couple really unnecessary new scenes, all at the sacrifice of some of the masterful musical scoring (and no, the new scenes are not worth having the music rearranged). And Reflection is basically a cheesy, gaudy waste of time that basically sacrifices the characters' proper personas and the central themes of the rest of the series for the sake of telling a pissy, angsty, vastly needlessly "dark" story that's more laughable or annoying than touching (meh, some moments were touching, but mostly if you suspend disbelief and forget it's trying to be Rurouni Kenshin). Hell, even the original manga author has disowned Reflection.
The original Trust & Betrayal OVAs are your best best. The better telling of one of the better stories to come out of the whole Rurouni Kenshin franchise. |
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Azathrael
 Posts: 745 |
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I second this, although I still liked Reflection. Still, undisputable that Trust & Betrayal is the one to get. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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TO~~NY~~
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11355 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Ah, good. I'm glad you've seen the series before the OAV. Well then, to help you out I will suggest you go straight to the Tsuioku-hen OAV also known as the lame, bastardizing, but marketable misnomer "Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal" (*gag*).
This is basically a prequel to the TV series, but in fact was made a few years after it (the TV series) was over. The third season was nothing but filler, so they never got to cover what actually happened in the manga after Kyoto. And so, two OAV series were made to do so; Tsuioku-hen ("Trust & Betrayal") and Seisouhen ("Reflections"). Tsuioku-hen basically shows Kenshin's past as Hitokiri Battousai and the story of how he turned out to be the rurouni he is in the TV series. It's quite a work of art and is renowned by many as a masterpiece (in fact, it's rated #1 here at ANN). And just for the record, I always recommend people watch the TV series up to the end of Kyoto and THEN Tsuioku-hen. The shift in atmosphere is absolutely astounding, and I feel the transition from a lighter series to a so much darker one only makes it that more enjoyable. Seisouhen, on the other hand, is quite the debacle. It's supposed to be the animated version of the Jinchuu arc from the manga, but in actuality it's way to short and doesn't even tell the story truthfully. It messes with the characters that were so well written before and just totally disregards the work that the original creator had put into it. In fact, Watsuki-sensei himself publically disowned the title for its butchery and defamation to his franchise. The movie has no real meaning to the overall plot. It's basically a made up story to kill about an hour and a half. I would say that it sort of ties in with post Kyoto, but you really don't have to watch it to get anything extra. As for the different versions of the OAVs, there are basically two; an OAV version and a Director's Cut version. I will not recommend Seisouhen at all, but for a quick explanation about the Tsuioku-hen releases, please read this post. Hope that helps, and good luck with your purchases  .
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aflimmer
Posts: 78 Location: Alabama |
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Thanks for the info guys!
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one3rd
 Posts: 1818 Location: アメリカ |
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Just to be clear, the word prequel explicitly implies that it was made after the original work. |
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shirokiryuu
Posts: 714 Location: Northern California (SF Bay Area) |
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I agree, anyways the manga follows that format too, the kyoto arc,then kenshin's "recollection' too bad there wasn't a jinchu arc...and i doubt there is ever a chance it'll be picked up again and reanimated |
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prettygirl
 Posts: 127 Location: too far from home... |
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I also love Rurouni Kenshin and have watched the series but I haven't watched the OVA's yet because I'm getting it for my Christmas present. However, I was wondering if "Reflections" is the same as the motion picture. I was told it was the same. Is it???
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The Winking Samurai
Posts: 82 |
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[quote="Nagisa"]And Reflection is basically a cheesy, gaudy waste of time that basically sacrifices the characters' proper personas and the central themes of the rest of the series for the sake of telling a pissy, angsty, vastly needlessly "dark" story that's more laughable or annoying than touching (meh, some moments were touching, but mostly if you suspend disbelief and [i]forget it's trying to be Rurouni Kenshin[/i]). Hell, even the original manga author has disowned Reflection.[/quote]
Thank you so much for posting this. Reflections is an absolute travesty. |
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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The movie is another story entirely, which basically plays out like an extended episode of the TV series. Reflection is one director's lame attempt to end the Kenshin anime with a lot of pretentious, ham-handed angst that really had no part in the series at all. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11355 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Well they're the "same" if you mean they both don't do much for Watsuki-sensei's overall work. Seisouhen was supposed to tie into a little of what happened in the manga, but as you can see by Nagisa's post, it doesn't follow the original material very well at all. The movie can be seen as kind of a fanfic or filler. It's just their for the heck of it and to give fans a little more exposure of Kenshin, all the while not messing with the actual story or anything like that. It's a good movie, in my opinion, though it's pretty gloomy, but nowhere NEAR as gloomy as Tsuioku-hen (an absolute gem of animated perfection, at least compared to the movie and Seisouhen). You'll be in for quite a treat this Christmas  .
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