Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku romantan - Tsuioku-hen

At this point the only thing better than the original Rurouni Kenshin TV series is this prequel OAV series. People may pass over this because it is a mere 4 episodes long and figure there isn't much to it. Let me stop you from making a major mistake. Pick these videos up, you won't regret it. Despite only 4 episodes, this series packs in a lot of information and I do mean a lot. It traces the events leading up to Kenshin's rise as the most deadly and fearsome samurai in Meiji-era Japan and what ultimately spurs him to renounce his ways and become the peaceful wanderer known to us in the television series. Now to that gut-wrenching part. This series is a far cry from the television series it precedes. There is no comedy here, but there sure is a lot of violence and the blood flows freely for most of the 4 episodes. More shocking than Kenshin's relentless killing though, is the what happens at the end of the 4th episode. Your jaw probably will hit the floor. Other than the amazing plot there is a lot to look forward to. The animation is superb, eclipsing anything I have see recently and sometimes you begin to wonder if you are looking at photos, not drawings. The music also fits the series well and has a tender yet sad feel to it. The last thing is, DON'T miss this!

The movie Kenshin deserves it's place among the best of anime, it stands as a reminder of what animation is capable of. It is rare to find a Samurai/Shogun animation movie that contains such attention to detail. This is apparent in the way the movie takes it's time to build it's characters and develop their respective relationships, in fact very little time is devoted to the actual fights scenes with the numerous battles and duels being over in a blink of an eye. What the movie actually focuses on is the doomed love story that develops between Kenshin and Toroe and the numerous symbols within nature that depict the character's fates.

Kenshin is a true work of art that draws upon Japan's rich artistic history to create an epic tale of love and death. The movie incorporates distinctly Japanese arts within it's narrative, for example in this movie there is a strong emphasis on the depiction of the landscape, the changing of the seasons, the stoicism of the Japanese mentality. Through these artistic devices we see the tale unfold of an assassin who is torn between continuing his life of bloodshed or taking his chance to escape into a more quiet life away from the killings.

With all the emphasis on the artistic achievement of Kenshin it should also be mentioned that the movie also delivers on a purely entertaining level with blood splatter tinged into practically every scene, but what stands out even more is the spiritual aspect of the story that tells the audience -amongst other things- that what we do in life will eventually come to haunt us in our future.

A stunning poetic reflection of an often banal genre.

If you look for an anime who has a romantic, horror, action, drama with a great philosophy and can make you learn about life even more, you should see Rurouni Kenshin Tsuiokuhen.

This anime is just too adorable to be missed (but be sure you're over 13, don't fear of blood, and don't have a heart disease). It's so realistic, tragic, but also fantastic. The coolest thing of this anime is the two characters, Himura Kenshin (Hitokiri Battousai) & Yukishiro Tomoe. They are such cool cynical character who really show the characters of Japanese in 19th century time. They are the coolest couple of all time anime history!

I can compare this anime with some great historical drama movies I've seen such as Life is Beautiful, Gone With The Wind, and The Last Emperor. Only one that you can't find in this movie: Laughter. Well, this is not a drama comedy like the TV series after all.

And by the way, the soundtrack is so wonderful too. Really magnificent!

First and foremost my goal is to write a review about a movie, not an anime. Many people consider this one of the greatest anime ever made but it kind of saddens me that people only treat it as an anime and recommend fans of anime to watch it. I see Kenshin OVA Trust/Betrayal as a movie and recommend every movie fan to watch it.

If you are looking for a summary, read somewhere else. If you are trying to find out why this is a great movie, I will try my best to convince you.

Kenshin OVA is a character driven movie with excellent character development. The two main characters, Kenshin and Tomoe, have humane and non exaggerated personalities, they are conflicted with their emotions, and they grow and change. I guess what I am trying to say is that the two main characters are not cliché.

The stories' setting takes place during the late 1800's in Japan, where a civil war is taking place, where the samurai era is coming to an end, and the shogunate is fighting to keep its place. People who don't know Japanese history of that time period probably going to get a bit confused, but the historical setting provided the movie more depth and political intrigue. Like the current trend of war movies, the historic conflicts are not presented in black and white, but rather shades of gray.

The action sequence is something to behold of. It is violent, gruesome, bloody, but does not feel gratuitous, due to the mood and setting the animators have created. The sword fights short, but quick, intense, believable (realistic), and original in presentation. Far better than any live action choreography.

Finally there are many subtle touches that makes the movie feel more like a work of art, rather animated violence. The animators are created a lot of scenes with nature. Whether it is the subtleness of snow flake or sakura leaves falling, or the glistening of the lake from the sun, the animators created a world of beauty. On top of that, the soundtrack just masterfully sets up the mood of the scene. The soundtrack is haunting, kinetic during battle, and subtle and poignant. Most importantly the soundtrack is memorable.

Kenshin OVA Trust/Betrayal is on the top tier of anime, however if the movie had gotten greater exposure, it would belong in the top tier of movies.

I'm not easily impressed by a movie. Even worse with an animated one. But this one got me drooling. I picked this one up by recommendation, and I'll recommend it to anyone from now on. I was familiar with the story of the TV series, but that didn't excite me in the least. But at least I knew what I was looking at (and I suggest that people considering to watch this should familiarize themselves with the TV series first).

Although the violence is very graphic and the dialog can be a bit of a drag if you lose track, everything else perfectly makes up for it. The animation is fluid, the art is beautiful, the pacing is impeccable and the soundtrack is gorgeous. Now combine all these elements in a single concluding scene, and you've got at least half of its viewers reduced to tears.

This movie is very re-watchable. I've seen it at least 6 times already, and I'm eager to watch it again. Like most people advice; you should avoid the dub like the plague, but even the subs can be a bit misleading. I've had the pleasure to have seen 3 different subtitles on this movie, and the degree of accuracy of any of them is debatable. Although the plot doesn't suffer from this, the story and especially the details and references to factual Japanese history do.

But this shouldn't stop you from watching this movie, instead, it should encourage you to set out and find out as much about this movie as you can.