The movie opens with terrific visions of the Battle of Toba Fushimi. The ground is strewn with the dead of both Bakufu and Ishin warriors, showing that war plays no favorites. Two men are carving a path through the humanity; one wearing the Shinsengumi mountain pattern haori and smoking a cigarette, the other, a short effeminate looking your man with long red hair, moving like a whirlwind, taking down two or three men in one swing. They meet and glare at each other. However, we are left wondering how the battle would turn out because at that moment, the Emperor's flag appears and the war is over, the Ishin taking the day.
The Shinsengumi captain taunts the young man with the red hair, telling him that since they are swordsmen, they must live and die by the sword. The young warrior responds by thrusting his sword into the snowy ground and walking away, shoulders slumped head down.
So begins the adventure.
Fans of the Rurouni Kenshin manga and anime will greatly appreciate Sato Takeru's faithful and detailed portrayal of Kenshin, both as Rurouni and as Battousai. Everything is there: the goofy smile, the large round eyes, the clueless "oro" sound he utters when confused or startled and even his archaic speech patterns.
When Takeru's Kenshin turns into Battousai, his face goes from innocent and round to that of a true, deadly warrior, eyes narrowed and hard, jaw jutting out with wrath. His voice is deep and booming as he shouts out invectives as the target of his wrath.
Takeru's foot and sword work are fantastic. One could believe he's truly a kenjutsu master and that he didn't just start sword training months before the movie was shot. He also incorporates one of his hobbies: break dancing! It makes for some fantastic Hiten Mitsurugi footwork.
Although she has been criticized by many RK fans, I think Takei Emi was fine as Kaoru. Some said that she was too pretty for the role. I didn't think she was. She was cute, but now jaw droppingly gorgeous, which is how Kaoru was presented in the manga. Could she have been a bit brasher? Yes. However, given her limited screen time, she did her best with what she had. We do get to see her attack Kenshin and even try to fight Jinei, which is something Kaoru would have done in canon.
Teruyuki Kagawa as Takeda Kanryuu is delightfully wicked, playing eeny, meeny, miny, moe in order to decide which doctor to kill off and which to let live. He keeps an office full of beautiful machines and furniture, even a Symphonion! Also, even though he is a total sociopath, he has a white bunny rabbit, a goldfish and even some beautiful Russian wolfhounds. His personality is over the top and rather reminds me of the Joker in the Tim Burton Batman film.
Eguchi Yusuke plays the role of Saitou Hajime very well. Although we don't get his famous Aku Soku Zan speech, he shows his philosophy by disdaining Kenshin's non-killing vow and calling the sakabatou a "joke of a sword," the proceeding to fight Kenshin until Kenshin was forced to draw his blade, thus forcing Kenshin to remember what a duel to the death is like.
Some people expressed initial doubt at Yuu Aoi portraying Megumi because they said she was too baby faced to suit the role of a mature woman. However, she put all doubts to rest with her performance in the film, especially the scene where she and Kenshin discuss their respective pasts.
My only real complaints were with Sanosuke and Yahiko. Not their portrayals; Munetaka Aoki and Taketa Takeo were very well cast in their respective roles. However, their back stories were completely excised and they didn't get a lot of screen time, leaving them feeling a bit one dimensional in comparison with their deeply fleshed out portrayal in canon. However, they were still fun to watch.
A questionable departure is them having Hitokiri Battousai express doubt about his assassinations in front of his superiors after his killing of Kiyosato Akira, the man who scarred him on the left cheek. Battousai didn't begin to feel doubt about what he was doing until he was confronted by Yukishiro Tomoe in canon and certainly never expressed it to his superiors.
The tone of the movie is overall serious, but is never overbearing or depressing. There are certainly moments of levity, such as Yahiko's commentary on Kaoru's cooking skills (or lack thereof). Another humorous moment is Sanosuke's kitchen fight with one of Kanryuu's lackeys.
Overall, I'd say the movie is 80% faithful to the manga. Some events are left out and moved around, but the spirit of the original story remains intact and that's what counts at the end of the day.
The Shinsengumi captain taunts the young man with the red hair, telling him that since they are swordsmen, they must live and die by the sword. The young warrior responds by thrusting his sword into the snowy ground and walking away, shoulders slumped head down.
So begins the adventure.
Fans of the Rurouni Kenshin manga and anime will greatly appreciate Sato Takeru's faithful and detailed portrayal of Kenshin, both as Rurouni and as Battousai. Everything is there: the goofy smile, the large round eyes, the clueless "oro" sound he utters when confused or startled and even his archaic speech patterns.
When Takeru's Kenshin turns into Battousai, his face goes from innocent and round to that of a true, deadly warrior, eyes narrowed and hard, jaw jutting out with wrath. His voice is deep and booming as he shouts out invectives as the target of his wrath.
Takeru's foot and sword work are fantastic. One could believe he's truly a kenjutsu master and that he didn't just start sword training months before the movie was shot. He also incorporates one of his hobbies: break dancing! It makes for some fantastic Hiten Mitsurugi footwork.
Although she has been criticized by many RK fans, I think Takei Emi was fine as Kaoru. Some said that she was too pretty for the role. I didn't think she was. She was cute, but now jaw droppingly gorgeous, which is how Kaoru was presented in the manga. Could she have been a bit brasher? Yes. However, given her limited screen time, she did her best with what she had. We do get to see her attack Kenshin and even try to fight Jinei, which is something Kaoru would have done in canon.
Teruyuki Kagawa as Takeda Kanryuu is delightfully wicked, playing eeny, meeny, miny, moe in order to decide which doctor to kill off and which to let live. He keeps an office full of beautiful machines and furniture, even a Symphonion! Also, even though he is a total sociopath, he has a white bunny rabbit, a goldfish and even some beautiful Russian wolfhounds. His personality is over the top and rather reminds me of the Joker in the Tim Burton Batman film.
Eguchi Yusuke plays the role of Saitou Hajime very well. Although we don't get his famous Aku Soku Zan speech, he shows his philosophy by disdaining Kenshin's non-killing vow and calling the sakabatou a "joke of a sword," the proceeding to fight Kenshin until Kenshin was forced to draw his blade, thus forcing Kenshin to remember what a duel to the death is like.
Some people expressed initial doubt at Yuu Aoi portraying Megumi because they said she was too baby faced to suit the role of a mature woman. However, she put all doubts to rest with her performance in the film, especially the scene where she and Kenshin discuss their respective pasts.
My only real complaints were with Sanosuke and Yahiko. Not their portrayals; Munetaka Aoki and Taketa Takeo were very well cast in their respective roles. However, their back stories were completely excised and they didn't get a lot of screen time, leaving them feeling a bit one dimensional in comparison with their deeply fleshed out portrayal in canon. However, they were still fun to watch.
A questionable departure is them having Hitokiri Battousai express doubt about his assassinations in front of his superiors after his killing of Kiyosato Akira, the man who scarred him on the left cheek. Battousai didn't begin to feel doubt about what he was doing until he was confronted by Yukishiro Tomoe in canon and certainly never expressed it to his superiors.
The tone of the movie is overall serious, but is never overbearing or depressing. There are certainly moments of levity, such as Yahiko's commentary on Kaoru's cooking skills (or lack thereof). Another humorous moment is Sanosuke's kitchen fight with one of Kanryuu's lackeys.
Overall, I'd say the movie is 80% faithful to the manga. Some events are left out and moved around, but the spirit of the original story remains intact and that's what counts at the end of the day.