Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal

Kenshin Himura was once known as the Hitokiri Battosai, the Manslayer.  During the Bakumatsu, he was a swordsman with no equal and no emotion.  He killed in order to topple the Tokugawa Shogunate and usher in a new age for the people.  But then he met a woman: Tomoe Yukishiro…and his world changed forever.  At last, the tale of the Battosai will finally be told.  How deadly was Kenshin in his prime?  How did he first encounter Hajime Saito and the Shinsengumi?  Just how deep did Tomoe reach into his soul and how did it give Kenshin his legendary scar?  This isn’t the Rurouni Kenshin you know and love.  This is the tale of the deadliest man in Japanese history.

 

So will someone explain to me why THIS wasn’t the Kenshin movie?  Well there are a couple of reasons for that but I will say that they aren’t negatives.  Though it is very different from the Kenshin we know, Trust and Betrayal is still a very well told, well crafted and emotionally charged telling of the history of Battosai the Manslayer, and all the cool and heartache that came with his legend.

 

Barely a minute in, Trust and Betrayal establishes what kind of a movie its going to be, and it isn’t your Dad’s RuroKen either.  It is bloody and relentless in its action.  The character models all look grown and mature, a vast difference from the big eyed, spikey haired designs of the Shonen Jump Manga and Anime.  And there are no laughs to be found, even Kenshins trademark “oro” is absent from the film.  You’d think this would hurt the movie a lot.  Nope.  Just because it doesn’t have the hallmarks of the Rurouni Kenshin we all know and love doesn’t mean Trust and Betrayal should be written off.

 

That’s because this is Kenshin’s dark and regretful past, the one he thinks of and we seldom heard about in the TV Series.  He’s grittier, deadlier, well into his prime as Battosai The Manslayer.  He’s a far cry from the bumbling Rurouni, he’s a cold and efficient Terminator.  It’s an existence that numbs him to any sort of joy or happiness…that is until he meets Tomoe, the woman who will play a large role in defining his past and shaping his future.  Kenshin and Tomoe have a tragic romance (hardly a spoiler) but it’s also a beautiful one.  From Tomoe’s first encounter with Kenshin following a bloody kill to Kenshin living life as a farmer in the country side with Tomoe (posing) as his wife, nothing about this relationship is ever really forced.  True Tomoe isn’t as emotionally expressive as Kaoru but she does have a gentle aspect that awakens Kenshin’s heart and helps him learn to love again…even if both realize that love is bound to doom them in one way or another.  Short version: it’s a beautiful romance and you can see why Kenshin was influenced by Tomoe, even if it’s not outright shown in the TV Series (mostly cause the TV Series never reached this point).

 

Kenshin and Tomoe’s doomed love story takes place against the backdrop of the Bakumatsu and man does the animation help it live up to the hype around it in the show.  Every duel is brutal, every sword slice can be felt.  On top of that Trust and Betrayal manages to insert several historic Japanese figureheads into the tale with their own story arcs, like Rebellion leader Kogoro Katsura, as well as show us Kenshin’s first runins with fan favorite Hajime Saito and his elite comrades, the Shinsengumi.  All of these are presented through some of the most gorgeous artwork in Anime history.  In many ways, the production values make Trust and Betrayal feel like an olden day Akira Kurosawa Samurai Film, and I think that’s a pretty big compliment.  Naturally, if you’re here for the samurai action, you aren’t going to be disappointed as Kenshin and his comrades and rivals make it rain blood relentlessly whenever a sword is drawn (all soooo much better than the relatively tame movie I last reviewed)  Again, it costs the film the presence of familiar, lighthearted RuroKen staples, but I think it all works out for the best.  I wont say it wouldn’t work at all without them, mind you.  The manga does explore the Trust and Betrayal storyline across a couple of volumes, keeping the Manga’s same artstyle and humor in certain places.  It’s good, but I do think the OVA films approach is more cinematic and fitting of the story as a whole.  There are a couple of moments where some CG animation is slipped in for random reasons I don’t understand.  It never took me out of the moment but I couldn’t just ignore it (though I wanted to).

 

Trust and Betrayal’s pacing is something I went back and forth on.  Overall, it flows great but it does feel like I was watching two different films at one point.  The first half plants seeds of the Kenshin/Tomoe romance against the backdrop of one of the Bakumatsu’s most infamous battle: The Ikedaya Raid (spoken of heavily in both Rurouni Kenshin and the Peacemaker Kurogane Anime I reviewed last year).  So the first half of the film is very action heavy and suspenseful throughout.  Not to say the second half doesn’t still retain those qualities, but the focus shifts directly onto Kenshin and Tomoe for a while and it slows things down considerably.  I say I go back and forth because the first half is such a rush that everything feels like it can grind to a halt in the latter half.  However, the slow build and development of Kenshin and Tomoe’s true romance feels appropriate.  It presents a genuine level of serenity and comfort before everything inevitably heads down the path of tragedy.  If I had to choose whether or not the pacing is a positive or a negative in the end…id go with positive.  There’s purpose to every scene, frame, and silent facial exchange between every character, not just Kenshin and Tomoe.  

 

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal is the movie every Kenshin fan deserves to see and should very much enjoy, regardless of the change in artstyle and the darker tone.  This is the story of how Kenshin became the man he is when he arrived at the Kamiya Dojo and met Kaoru, Sanoauke and Yahiko.  But more than that, this is a film that strives to go beyond just being a Rurouni Kenshin film.  It wants to be an epic Japanese Samurai Historical Romance and it succeeds on just about every front of that mission.  If you like Samurai action, this movie is for you.  If you like Historical Dramas, this one is for you.  If you like any kind of romance (fairy tale or tragedy), this one is for you.  If you have a deep admiration for the legendary Rurouni Kenshin Himura…then this is the film you really need to see to have a complete understanding of his character.  Short version: watch this movie in general and revel in its awesome glory.

 

10/10

 

Well now that we’ve taken a good look at Kenshin’s past, what about his future prospects?  I mean after such a life of tragedy and atonement, he mustve found some measure of happiness somewhere, right…right?  Well we’ll find that out tomorrow during the conclusion of this trilogy of reviews with Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection.  See ya then.