Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends

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.

Keishi Otomo returns with the conclusion to the Kyoto arc, the writing and directing, and honestly everything with the production design holds up in Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends. The reason being that it was shot back to back with Kyoto Inferno which was the first part of this duology. I decided to watch this film a day after Kyoto Inferno because of how the story takes place immediately after as Kenshin recovers following losing Kaoru at sea, and that was the right choice to do. I don't have anything bad to say about the writing, it keeps the same level as Kyoto Inferno and the characterization as well. But one thing that I felt they fixed even more so than the previous movie was how they shot the dialogue and more drama sequences, the first film (Origins) had the tendency to not be engaging in the drama sequences but it feels like the director and actors got better with the experience, as with the previous film I found it engaging and The Legend Ends keeps up with engaging character interactions and dialogue. The scenes with Kenshin Himura and Hiko Seijuro were great, containing some of the best acting of the film. Tatsuya Fujiwara's performance as Makoto Shishio is another highlight in terms of acting. I'm glad Ryunosuke Kamiki who plays Seta Sojiro got more time to shine, especially in the fight sequences, the rematch was astonishing and epic like a lot of the fights are. There's one more character I want to write about and it's Saiko whom is important to the Kyoto duology but doesn't really have a big character arc, but I have loved him since his first appearance. The way he fight and the skills he posess, he is just so entertaining to watch and the actor does a phenomenal job.

Though the first act isn't as action packed like Kyoto Inferno first act was, I found it extremely well written and truly a strong point of the long length, it did everything it needed to do to build up for the climax and ending fight with Kenshin and Shishio. It tells us more about our main character and hero, and the darker characterization is truly perfect here. The second act is where The Legends Ends truly begin to shine, story and individual character arcs that Kyoto Inferno started come full circle, and it's where Aoshi Shinomori makes his anticipating return. Something that have been in the ten years making and something he told us in dialogue multiple of times, his need to kill Kenshin. I would actually say the fight sequence between them was way better than the one Aoshi had with Okina "Elder", it was fast and engaging but also epic in terms of quality and how the music played into it. The second act is stronger but the act that truly brings this samurai film to a 10 is the third and final act. Everything about it is breathtaking and incredible, a satisfying and action packed climax.

The fighting choreography and action sequences are like the previous film, truly superb and also beautifully shot. The sets that are used in this film are great, especially where Kenshin trains with his old master. Many sets and locations in these two films are beautiful, this second installment of the duology having the most stunning ones. The musical score during action sequences and in other scenes, are like Kyoto Inferno, quite brilliant. The music is powerful and memorable, edited well into the scenes so it flows really well.

Now this is far from the best film I have ever seen, but these two films together are some of the most entertaining films I've seen. Not a single minute went by that I found myself bored, Keishi Otomo created a film worth coming back to. If not just for the brilliant and epic action sequences, Kyato Inferno and The Legend Ends will become classics in the samurai/action genre. Without a doubt.

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

The action scenes just freaking brilliant can't get enough of it.

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?