God this was a depressing train wreck of a film to watch. I know I should start this review a bit
more…professionally. But I cant help
it. As a fan of the Rurouni Kenshin
Anime (and more so the Manga), RuroKen: Reflection feels like the ultimate
insult. As a Anime watcher, I feel like
my time has been wasted. As a fan, I
feel a rage that will forever be associated with this film. It’s uneseccary, it’s depressing, it’s the
“finale” Rurouni Kenshin doesn’t deserve.
Basically, Reflection is an exercise in “how can you take
a story about a man who is trying to make up for terrible deeds from his past
and actually finds happiness and just destroy any and all progress he’s made
even after he’s found that happiness?”.
To shorten that up a bit, the feel good ending of the Kenshin Manga is
given a dark epilogue that says all of Kenshins hard work as a Rurouni has been
for not and all of his misery in life has been heading in one direction towards
an inevitable conclusion. Come on, it’s
like watching the beginning of Alien 3 and getting that gut punch that all the
caring you came to have for Ripley and her crew didn’t mean squat because Hicks
and Newt are unceremoniously killed off before the opening credits even end
(despite that I actually don’t mind Alien 3 like most people but that’s neither
here nor there). Kenshin is a lot like
the Elric Brothers of Fullmetal Alchemist.
After all the crap they both went through in their separate stories, you
wanted them to get their happy ending. In
the Manga at least, Kenshin got that ending, why couldn’t it be left at that?
The answer to that last question might lie with the
success of Trust and Betrayal, which was great, hands down, never disputing
that. However, the fault lies in
thinking that what made Trust and Betrayal work would also succeed by bringing
that same mature artstyle and darker storytelling to an already established
timeline of events (the main Kenshin series).
It doesn’t and it hurts to watch such an uplifting story made grim and
devoid of any of the warmth and heart that everyone loves about Rurouni Kenshin. The optimistic and bumbling Rurouni is
replaced with a somber, uninspired shamble of his former self and he just looks
more and more tired as the movie goes on, even in the action scenes. Karou’s spunk and spark is made equally as
dull as the man she loves. What makes
this mess complete: Most of the movie has both of these lifeless soulmates
onscreen together sharing the same conversation multiple times. No “oro”, no “KENSHIN!!!!” angry cries, no
nothing. In the Manga Kenshin and Kaoru
were a couple to root for, even if they never kissed. Here, God you just want to wish this travesty
of an Anime didn’t exist.
To what little credit I wish to give, Studio Deen is
trying to make this OVA look pretty and it is…but not as good as Trust and
Betrayal. As I said above, the more real
life and mature look Kenshin worked for TnB because it was Kenshin of the past,
a darker and deadlier man than the one we knew in the main story and it set the
perfect environment that would’ve crafted such a warrior. Here, the backgrounds and settings and the
sunsets look pretty damn good but the characters don’t feel like themselves
because they don’t look like themselves.
It sucks to say but as bad as it was, at least Requiem for the Meiji
Restoration Patroits still kept the characters looking like their Anime/Manga
counterparts. Even some callbacks to
Trust and Betrayal itself cant mask that this artstyle just isn’t working
here. Though we do get to see Yukishiro
Enishi in Anime form though…does that count for something?
Man, I feel like ive given this one more time and
attention than it deserves, so ill wrap things up with the biggest crime of the
OVA…besides the God awful ending that is a giant middle finger to fans of
Kenshin finding true happiness.
Reflection is, as of right now, the only attempt to bring some of the
Manga’s third and final arc, the Jinchu Arc, into Anime form. That should be exciting. As much as I like the Kyoto Arc like everyone
else, I think the Jinchu Arc is a very solid follow up and a great closing epic
for the Rurouni Kenshin story…and it only takes up about 20 minutes of this
OVA’s runtime. And we don’t even get the
full scope of the arc either (which features a lot of spotlighting Kenshins
support team and family and some of the best fights of the series). We get to see Enishi interact with Kaoru a
little before jumping right to him fighting Kenshin to quickly resolving that
for more introspective romance with the main couple of the film. Something tells me Reflection is more or less
meant to be a sequel to Trust and Betrayal but in that regard it fails. If you’re going to tell the story of the
Jinchu Arc, DO THE WHOLE THING. Don’t
just make it part of some poorly conceived cliffnotes of Kenshins greatest
hits. God, if anything watching how
poorly this all unfolds does make me want to go back and reread the Manga so I
can see it all done right.
Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection is right in title only. It is a Reflection of the life of Kenshin
Himura, wandering swordsman who seeks atonement…except it’s done by people who
clearly don’t know a thing about Kenshin and just decide to trample all over
his legacy. Reflection is boring. Reflection is lifeless. Reflection lacks any heart, soul or passion
that made fans fall in love with Rurouni Kenshin in the first place. And no amount of pretty pictures or decent
music or high energy fight scenes can mask its stink on Kenshin’s name. This
OVA makes me angry. And if you love
Rurouni Kenshin like I do…it would make you angry too.
1/10
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