Late last week, we got a brand new trailer for the return
of everyones favorite Rurouni, Kenshin Himura, to the big screen for one last
showdown with his past.
After being
delayed over a year due to the global pandemic, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final is
set to drop at the end of April and the new trailer gives us our best look at
whats to come yet and it looks like it will certainly live up to its “Final”
moniquer.
Could this indeed be Kenshin’s
final battle and the last time we’ll see him in live action form?
Well maybe, maybe not.
It has been a while since we’ve seen the
former Battosai in any form, particularly live action.
So for this weeks Top 5 Wednesday, I’m gonna
get you caught up on what’s happened and a couple of tiny tidbits of what’s to
come for Team Kenshin in about a month.
These are the Top 5 Things To Know Going into Rurouni Kenshin: The
Final.
#5-Previously on Rurouni Kenshin
In terms of his live action appearances, we last saw
Kenshin in the adaptation of the Kyoto Arc: 2014’s Kyoto Inferno and The Legend
Ends. In this two part tale, Kenshin was
brought out of his quiet life to battle Shishio, the man once chosen to succeed
him as Manslayer after Kenshin dropped off the grid for a little while. Kenshin’s fight took him and his friends to
Kyoto where they made allies with the Oniwanbashu and succeeded in stopping
Shishio’s attempted takeover of the government.
Kenshin with the help of Sanoskue Sagara, Hajime Saitou and Aoishi
Shinamori, took down Shishio himself and was allowed to return to his quiet
existence at the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Dojo.
Kenshin might’ve also expressed his more romantic interests in Dojo
Sensei Kaoru Kamiya but we don’t know if that’s gone anywhere…yet.
#4-We’ve Never Gotten a Proper Anime Version (Reflection
Doesn’t Count)
Anyone who’s seen the Rurouni Kenshin Anime Series knows
that the only parts of the Manga adapted fully were the Wandering Samurai and
Kyoto Arcs.
For whatever reason, maybe
the Manga was still ongoing, the Jinchu Arc, the third and final story, never
made it to the TV Series and instead we got a bunch of weird stand alone that
really dragged the show down.
The Jinchu
Arc got a little focus in the terrible Kenhsin OVA, Reflection…but that’s not a
properly done adaptation at all (also I hate that OVA and gave it a 1/10 when I
reviewed it).
The Final is going to be
the first time we see the Jinchu Arc done a bit more properly.
Not sure about how faithfully since even when
it was split into two parts, some questionable creative choices were made with
the Kyoto Arc.
But it’s gotta be better
than that half assed presentation we got in Reflection, right?
#3-Everyone’s Back
While it’s clearly been a few years since the last two
films (which many, including myself thought were gonna be it for the franchise),
its nice to see that many of the Kenshin Saga’s actors will be returning for
The Final.
This includes Takeru Satoh as
Kenshin Himura, Emi Takei as Kaoru Kamiya, Munetaka Aoki a Sanosuke Sagara, Yū
Aoi as Megumi Takani and Yōsuke Eguchi as Hajime Saitō.
To my surprise, the new trailer also revealed
that Tao Tsuchiya and Yusuke Iseya will be reprising their roles Misao
Makimachi and Aoshi Shinamori.
The only
major change in actor for the core cast will be Riku Ōnishi as Yahiko Myojin:
this being the third actor to take on the role after Taketo Tanaka in the first
film and Kaito Oyagi for Kyoto Inferno and The Legend End.
Anyone who’s been with these movies since the
first will no doubt be thrilled to see them back again as it is kind of hard to
imagine anyone else filling their shoes (obviously Yahiko is a young kid
throughout the story and actors tend to age when you take a long hiatus.
#2-Yukishiro Enishi
When it comes to Anime villains, Shishio Makoto sets a
pretty high bar.
From his motivations,
to his strength to his terrifying appearance, he sent shivers down many a spine
and also proved more than a match for Kenshin’s skills.
Yukishiro Enishi is the only other character
in the Kenshin pantheon who might surpass even his own menace and could really
hit Kenshin right where it hurts.
I wont
spoil why that is but I will say that Enishi has the greatest connection to
Kenshin’s past than any rival before him, maybe a close second to rival turned
frenemy Saito.
And much like Shishio had
Live Action Anime legend Tatsuya Fujiwara kicking ass under all that make up,
Enishi has pedigree behind him as well.
He’ll be played by Mackenyu, son of Japanese action legend Sonny Chiba
(Kill Bill Vol.1, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift).
And from the looks of his action scenes,
Mackenyu has more than what it takes to give Kenshin the fight of his life.
#1-Not “The Final” Movie
This is kind of a puzzling move but I’m still for
it. In the Manga, part of the Jinchu Arc
is dedicated to Kenshins backstory as the Hitokiri Battosai during the
Bakumatsu. The main Enishi plot kind of
pauses to let Kenshin tell the whole tale before getting back to Enishi
properly. Rather than try to weave these
two stories together, The Final will focus squarely on Enishi while another
film, a prequel appropriately titled The Beginning, will cover Kenshin’s
backstory. Don’t see why we couldn’t
have The Beginning before The Final but I’m also not going to complain about
more Kenshin movies either. The Beginning
will arrive in Japanese Cinemas at the beginning of June 2021. I’ve gotta say, Kenshin’s History is probably
my favorite mini arc of the entire Kenshin Saga and it got an amazing Anime
adaptation in Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal (which I gave a perfect 10/10
when I reviewed it a while back). The
Beginning has more to pull off in my eyes than The Final. But let’s hope that Kenshin Himura and
Kenshin The Battosai both get their stories told properly, especially if these
are the last two Rurouni Kenshin movies we’ll ever get since there’s no more
story to tell.
BTW if you missed my reviews of Reflection and Trust
and Betrayal, ill include links to them below.
Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/rurouni-kenshin-trust-and-betrayal.html
Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/rurouni-kenshin-reflection.html
No comments:
Post a Comment