Rurouni Kenshin - The Legend Ends

As an advent fan of the Kenshin animated series, I found this film and other the films a great live action adaptation. Everyone played their role spectacularly. I rarely write reviews but I felt that it was worth mentioning and I hope their sales do extremely well.

One of the best things I enjoyed about the movie(s) was obviously the action sequences costume designs and how the settings mimic'ed Tokyo & Kyoto was portrayed in the series. It felt like I was in that time line. Some hardcore fans would be disappointed that it was not EXACTLY like the series as far as the plot but how much can you condensed from a series into a 3-part movie. I thought it was well done.

The biggest difference between the anime series and the movie is that, in the series they focus on how techniques work and analyze fighters style in great detail & length. There is none of that in the movie which was not a big deal whatsoever.

I would LOVE to see if they could make a movie of the OVA series with Kenshin being the Manslayer (Hitokiri Battousai) and tell the story of the cross scar on his face.

Any one else agrees?

Fans of the manga may have issues with the story, but since I don't know the source material, it didn't bother me.

The key moments are well done, but in between those key moments things tend to drag on. I understand these are manga characters, so they tend to be on the unrealistic side. But something just feels off in the delivery of the dialogs, they seemed... disconnected. But once I got to those key moments I was thoroughly entertained.

The fights are fantasy style katana combat, but very creative and well choreographed. As a fan of martial arts movies, I enjoyed them very much. The "final boss fight" was fantastic and worthy of the climax of the trilogy. Bravo.

If you like action, especially martial arts action, I say this trilogy is worth a watch, but just keep in mind this came from comic books. As with most action movies, if you look too deep everything falls apart, so just sit back and enjoy.

I've read a few reviews on here about how wishy-washy the action was and the twisting of the plot. As a super fan of Samurai X, I really see no other way of having recast this story without overkill of CGI and long meandering plots. I doff my cap to the producers of this as trying to remake the history up Battousai, leaing up to the final battle with Shshio, was no mean feat. The character replications are exemplary, the sword fights are memorable and even some of the remakes of Kenshin's signature moves are brought to life in the most realistic ways possible. Condensing a series that went 96 episodes + 4 OVAs each going on average 23 min (though up to the Shishio battle would be about eps 50 something) into a trilogy of 2hr 15 min each is not easy, especially while trying to build some level of intimacy and depth with the characters is not easy.

Cons: I' have loved them to develop some characters further, or give the backstory at least (Sojiro, Aoshi and some of the Juppongata) to create more drama and depth, as well as inclide some more epic fight scenes.

Overall: 8/10

I reckon you'll have at least seen the two movies before this one. So I don't consider it spoiling talking about things that happened before this movies events. Like the fact, that our main character swore to not kill anymore. Something difficult to hold up, especially if you consider how many people are out to get him.

After that cliffhanger from the previous movie, we do get an introduction to that character we saw at the end. And it's a pivotal character to say the least. Since I'm not aware of the Manga or Anime made before this, I can't compare anything. I do know that the dynamic of the movie works nicely. Also the action scenes are really well choreographed (like the previous one). It might be a bit too long with its running time, but it's still very entertaining

When the live action movie of Rurouni Kenshin was announced, I was not pleased. I feared the adaptation would just kill this great story, and because of that, I ignored the installments. Yet here I am, beyond satisfied with the trilogy. Actually, I am thrilled to be alive in a time where stories like this one are respected and loved to be told in such a beautiful way by cast and crew. In every frame, you see the efforts in sound, photography, directing, writing and acting (among others) to make the most enjoyable moment for the audience, whether it's made of anime/manga fans or not. There is only one word to describe the AWESOMENESS in this flawless adaptation: subarashii (magnificent). I thank you all involved. And congratulate you on the marvelous job done.