Rurouni Kenshin: Wandering Samurai

Ruroni Kenshin (Known in Samurai X in the US) is one of the greatest animes of all time. Ruroni Kenshin has everything an anime fan could want: a compelling story, interesting characters, and equal amounts of bloodshed and character development. I have seen a few episodes of the subtitled version and the first two OAV's "Trust" and "Betrayal.

I recommend both of them, but the subtitled version is much better.

If you haven't seen it before, then buy it (don't rent) and add it to your anime collection. It is an essential anime title for the anime fan I also recommend Ghost in the shell, Ninja scroll, the Dragonball Z and Gundam series

When I first saw Rurouni Kenshin, I was still relatively new to the world of Japanese animation. I had only seen a handful of series before, and though they all entertained me, it had yet to earn the same status with me as so many millions of anime fans claim Japanese animation to be worth. Rurouni Kenshin did that for me.

The first 20 episodes or so were nothing out of the ordinary; A lighthearted comedy series, with a bit of action and drama mixed in. And even though these aspects were handled extraordinarily well, it wasn't anything remotely special. The animation was slightly mediocre, though not too bad considering, but the feel was nice. Good music, great characters and average plots, for a swordfighting anime. But with episode 28, the series made an incredible flip over. The change in atmosphere was shocking in fact, and took me completely by surprise. It was like a complete opposite of the episodes that had come before it. All of a sudden, the plot thickened incredibly. The animation went better. The storytelling of the images changed dramatically and the music went through the roof. (Well, at least for a Japanese animation newb like I was at the time)

But all this was only to increase in the coming arc... The plot turned a lot darker, the lightheartedness was all but erased, and the animation increased incredibly. There's a lot of controversy about this change to the Kenshin fans. A lot of people seem to appreciate the lighthearted beginnings more. I am not one of those.. This new arc (Entitled the ''Kyoto Arc'') was indeed really masterful to me. It enchanted me. And to this day, Rurouni Kenshin ranks above the top of my favourite anime list.

However, don't go rushing out and buy this; after this ''Kyoto Arc'', the series takes a dive for the worse. Apparently unable to keep consistent and on par in release speed to the original ''manga'' comic (Which was released at the same time), the animation studio had no choice but to continue with a self-created filler Arc. It was a tedious, boring and quite frankly annoying arc, which disgraced the beauty of before. Even worse: Bad ratings forced the company to shut and end the Rurouni Kenshin series, leaving the final arcs of the original manga (Which were just as powerful as the previous ones) unanimated and untouched.

However, Rurouni Kenshin (Despite the mistake listed above), is truly a powerful series with a stunning storyline and great characters and I recommend it heavily. Though, if you're looking for some brainless entertainment with lots of ''cool'' action, don't go here. Rurouni Kenshin also pleases there, but you'll get a lot more out of it if you can appreciate all the series has to offer.

(9/10)

If you're looking for a great samurai story it doesn't get much better that Ruroni Kenshin.

Kenshin is just about the best samurai to ever pick up a blade, but now that Japan has settled into the peaceful Meiji period guys like him are no long needed. In fact, ex-samurai are scorned by the public in general. So Kenshin sets out to try and find a normal life for himself. In time Kenshin finds a home and friends in a Tokyo dojo but ghosts from his past keep popping up as do people out to destroy the new government. Kenshin, who has vowed never to kill again, isn't about to let anyone disrupt the new life he's built for himself. So such times come he reluctantly heads out to knock some heads.

I really just can't get over how great this show is. Richly draw characters, great action, compelling stories, romance, humor and more all set against a very real felling backdrop of late 1870's Japan. RK works not only as a good anime, but historical show as well.

One other thing I like about the show is the villains. RK's creator (whose name escapes me at the moment) is an admitted fan of American comics and you can see that in some of the villains. Psycho killer Jin-E bears an (pardon the expression) uncanny resemblence to Gambit from the X-Men. I've also seem elements of characters like Spawn, Wolverine, Omega Red, the Absorbing Man, the Incredible Hulk and Daredevil in some bad guys. Really cool.

In short, Kenshin is a show that belongs on the shelf of anyone who calls themself an anime fan.

This is one of the most memorable and most recognizable anime I know, with a cast of great characters and story lines and funny sub-plots, it's everything you'd want to see in an anime. It starts out as Kenshin Himura a wanderer in the Meiji era, ends with a kendo teacher Kaoru Kamiya, and he starts living with her, and eventually she finds out this is no ordinary traveler, this is Battousai, the slasher! An infamous samurai who killed a lot of people in his past. But finds him to be a sweet gentle man who is kind towards children, who wants to restore peace, and end his days as a slasher. Later more characters appear, Yahiko, and then Sanosuke, then Megumi. A great cast with very dark and dramatic backgrounds filled with tragedies. Every episode seems to give each character some background and info and their dark secrets. The soundtracks are also great, I love the one by L~Arc~Ciel in the latter episodes. The sword fighting is also cool, and unforgettable. But wait, a few characters portrayed or based on actual people, like Saitou Hajime and Aritomo Yamagata, oh my, I wonder if they were really like that in real life, I mean their personalities as seen here. Anyways recommended to all anime fans, and to non-anime fans who are not familiar with anime yet, forget Dragon Ball or Pokemon, watch this.

Without any doubt this is one of the best animated series ever done and my favored of all times.

The way they combine fiction and real facts of Japanese history occurred during the Mei Ji era make it more interesting.

What make it different from other Japanese series is that in this case the main character, Kenshin Himura, has a real purpose to fight for in order to mend all those terrible things he did in the past.

Another point about it is the way they combine drama, action, romance and comedy. The backgrounds and the music are just brilliant and exquisite. There's no doubt these series has one of the best soundtracks.