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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Rurouni Kenshin: The Final Live-Action Film
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leongsh
 Posts: 181 |
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Already expecting a lot of edits and cuts from the manga to squeeze the whole Jinchu arc into 1-and-done movie. Bottom-line is as long as the movie is coherent in the core instigation and theme of the arc, it will have to do.
The next movie (and the last live action of this series) is where there's an Everest to match - the Rurouni Kenshin OVA - Tsuioku-hen. That 4-episode OVA is an anime masterpiece even after all these years. The live action movie series could potentially end with its peak by matching up to the OVA or could forever leave a bad taste in the mouth if it stumbles. |
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Rob19ny
Posts: 1977 |
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Coming into this, we knew there would be story changes, so I was prepared to enjoy the film for what it is. If you want the true story then just read the manga. Simple as that. Overall, you gave it a good grade, so I'm looking forward to seeing it myself. We've got one film and then thats it. What a journey its been.
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tintor2
 Posts: 2285 |
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Did I write something bad? Well, Enishi is quite a menacing villain but the fandom seems to prefer Shishio. I still remember that review of volume 18 that said Enishi's group was kinda cliche even if they seemed inspired by Trigun
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Jefcat
Posts: 107 Location: Palm Desert |
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We had already seen them play fast and loose with the source material in the first three movies. The Oniwabanshu and even the Jupongatana got reduced to cameos at best so no surprise that Enishi’s companions meet the same fate. As you say, how do you fit 10 volumes of souce material into a 2 hour movie? I do regret that Yahiko has gotten so short changed throughout the live action series. His growth and development culminating in his breakout during the Jinchu arc is one of the most cherish-able parts of the manga. And worse, poor Kaoru has been reduced to a cardboard damsel in distress and more’s the pity because she was a really three dimensional protagonist in the source material. Butheading into the final film, the producers have done a very fine job adapting the sprawling source material into a cohesive narrative, not perfect but much better than so many other live anime/manga films.action
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tintor2
Posts: 2285 |
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I think the problem with adapting the Jinchu into a single movie is that the manga had several acts to the point they give Sanosuke an arc that has nothing to do with the rest of his friends. There is also the fact that the Jinchu starts with Kenshin telling eveybody about Tomoe. Kyoto also has this problems but Otomo split the movie in two to try adapting the arc as faithful as possible (though I don't mind the further usage of that battleship).
Back in the OVAs (man time flies fast), every adaptation of Jinchu was Kenshin just facing depression from Kaoru's magic point of view (seriously, how did she see his interactions with Tomoe?) leaving only a trimmed fight scene between Kenshin and Enishi to show since Tomoe's past was already shown in the Trust and Betrayal. |
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gedata
 Posts: 617 |
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Well, it sure beats the reflections OVA at least
They were inspired by characters from Marvel comics, that's what I recall from the author's notes. Or just at the very least, this guy in particular being a visual reference to Venom https://kenshin.fandom.com/wiki/Yatsume_Mumyōi |
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Generations
 Posts: 207 |
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This arc being completely different from the manga is a blessing, not an issue. the Jinchu Arc was only good up to the end of the backstory being told and no further.
That said, the titles of these two last movies confuses me. Is the next and last movie, ironically titled 'The Beginning', the end of the Jinchu Arc, or was the arc actually completed in this movie and the next one is solely for the backstory? Was Enishi defeated here or is it still going to be in the next movie? |
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gpanthony
Posts: 242 |
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Kujiranami's look is also inspired by Apocalypse. |
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BockLefty
Posts: 28 |
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It's honestly been so long since I read the manga, that I don't really remember the final arc terribly well. I have a loose grasp on what basically happened, but I don't even remember it being 10 volumes long. That's probably a good thing going into this, since the cuts and edits won't bother me much. I am looking forward to this. The Kyoto Arc gets a lot of the attention, but this was always my favorite one, in part because of how personal it is to Kenshin, and in part because I liked Enishi a lot more as a villain. So, of course, I always wanted an adaptation of this and was sad we never got one in anime form.
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tintor2
Posts: 2285 |
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I didn't mean designwise but writingwise. Both Enishi and Knives formed an organization of guys with the entire process of making the main characters' lives miserable. |
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gedata
Posts: 617 |
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I see, it's not unthinkable considering this arc and the early chapters of Trigun were in publication around the same time. |
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Charou
 Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Unless they've drastically changed things from the anime and manga, you've sort of misrepresented the notion of Tenchuu there, Richard. In RnK: Tsuiokuhen and other bakumatsu works, Tenchuu (divine punishment, also translated as divine retribution) was a slogan of the Isshin faction, for whom hitokiri such as Kenshin committed almost unquestioning murder in the pursuit of a 'better world': that which would become the Meiji era. Enishi, very much hating the personal cost he paid for this new world, inverts and mocks that presumptuous slogan with Jinchuu (Human punishment). It's a rebellion against what seems like Heaven's will. To Enishi, human suffering and the revenge it demands eclipses even that. Or maybe it's just pointing out the hollowness and hypocrisy of a mere human faction invoking divinity to carry out very human intentions in very human ways.
"God" as a Western concept has almost nothing to do with it, even if the temptation to drag Him into it is hard to resist thanks to Watsuki's need to make Kenshin's face visibly striking. All backstory of the scar aside, I think the usage of cruciform iconography there can be attributed to something Tsurumaki clarified when asked: why crosses in Evangelion? Because "they're cool". Maybe Anno and he weren't on the same page given all other evidence Anno was cutting *deep* into Judeochristian symbolism, but eh, that's an outlier. As big a fan of Eva as Watsuki was/is, it's probably a misstep to impose Western religion onto his work. Anyway, yeah. Jinchuu. A very loaded pun, best read within the context of a Japan reeling from Western cultural imposition, not yet embracing it. On a broader note, heck knows when this will hit Australia and the GF has already made clear she's no desire to see it (the manga suffices, all things considered) so I have to admit this hasn't been a bright blip on my radar. Glad it turned out as good as the others. |
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scriver058
 Posts: 127 Location: NY |
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Judging by the review, sounds like Enishi is indeed wrapped up in this movie, and the next is essentially an adaptation of Tsuioku-hen. Maybe we get an epilogue along the lines of Kenshin and Kaoru visiting Tomoe's grave or something at the end of it. I am disappointed in Yahiko apparently getting shortchanged the worst in here when the Jinchu arc had a few badass moments for him and is supposed to culminate in the beginning of his own legend, would've liked the movie to have paid some homage to that (and maybe it does and the review glossed over it, at least I hope). Otherwise, I never expected an accurate adaptation here, and while I'm forever waiting for a faithful Jinchu adaptation, i'll gladly take this in the meantime; it's undoubtedly better than what Seisou-hen did with it. |
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karyuudo0127
Posts: 143 |
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Just heard that Netflix will be bringing this to Asia / Latin America on their streaming services. Definitely looking forward to Geo hopping with a VPN and watching this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohk7puxlIZs |
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