T5W#303-Top 5 Things To Know Going into Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning

Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, the fifth film in the Live Action RuroKen Franchise, drops this Friday in Japanese Cinemas, after being delayed nearly a year due to the Pandemic.  This comes a couple short months after the release of the first part of this two part finale, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final.  While film chronologically concludes Kenshin’s saga, there’s still one more story to tell and it’ll take us back to…well to the beginning as the title implies.  Mind you, I don’t live in Japan so I haven’t seen The Final and don’t know how much set up they do to lead into The Beginning.  However, I am very familiar with the arc that movie will be covering.  So, just like I did for Rurouni Kenshin: The Final back in March (scope out that Top 5 right here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/t5w292-top-5-things-to-know-going-into.html), I shall do for the next (and possibly truly final) chapter.  These are the Top 5 Things To Know Going into Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning. 

#5-Living History

The main story of Rurouni Kenshin begins 10 years after the end of the Bakumatsu and the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate.  During this time period, revolutionaries fought against the armies of the Shogun, looking to overthrow him and install Emperor Meiji as ruler of Japan.  A young Kenshin was right in the middle of this, fighting alongside actual historical figures like Katsura Kogoro and Takasugi Shinsaku.  So The Beginning is not just a Live Action Anime adaptation but also an old school samurai historical drama as well.  Could make for a very interesting history lesson seeing Kenshin take part in the transformation of Japan as a nation.

 

#4-Kenshin Unleashed

As I said above, since this is a prequel, we’re going to see a younger, more shaprer edged Kenshin, back when he truly was the Hitokiri Battosai (or Battosai the Manslayer in the Anime English Dub, I don’t like how they call him Killsword in the new version tbh).  This is a Kenshin who is pretty far removed from the bumbling and kind hearted Rurouni who wont kill even when its absolutely necessary.  This Kenshin will strike you down just for looking at him funny and his use of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu make him almost supernatural and nigh undefeatable in battle.  Needless to say, Kenshin’s got a pretty lengthy kill list to his name and now we’re gonna get to see just how those battles went down.

 

#3-New Cast

In the Rurouni Kenshin Manga, Kenshi shares the details with his friends over the course of a few volumes, briefly putting the Enishi Arc on hold.  I could be wrong on this but I feel like The Beginning will be a purely stand alone experience, one you don’t need to see the other films for.  That said, I don’t expect many of the usual cast to appear in this last film.  Obviously, Takeru Satoh and Yosuke Eguchi will return as Kenshin and Saito respectively, we’ll definitely see how they first met in the movie.  Everyone else will be fresh face cast members playing important supporting roles including Kasumi Arimura as Tomoe Yukishiro, the girl who will change Kenshin’s life forever; Issey Takahashi as Katsura Kogoro, one of the chief leaders of the Resistance; Ninjiro Murakami as Soji Okita, one of Saito’s fellow Shinesngumi Captains; and Towa Araki as a young Enishi Yukishiro, the future villain of Rurouni Kenshin: The Final.

 

#2-The Most Important Kenshin Story

Back when I was doing my Top 5 prep for The Final, I talked about how much I love the Rurouni Kenshin OVA Trust and Betrayal (it got a rare 10/10 when I reviewed it).  Several important images from that OVA and the Manga have appeared in various trailers so i hope they do the story proper justice.  The events of this movie aren’t just history in the making for Japan, theyre critical moments that change Kenshin’s life and his outlook on the world forever.  We’ll see how Kenshin evolves from heartless killer to atonement seeking Rurouni and there’s gonna be some heavy moments before the end credits roll.  Sure we’ll hopefully see some of Kenshin’s best action sequences saved for last (I really wanna see Kenshin and Saito fighting in their prime during the Bakumatsu).  But even those pale in comparison to the drama that will mold Kenshin Himura the Battosai into Kenshin Himura the Rurouni.

 

#1-This IS It

As sad as it is to come to this realization, this is pretty much it for the Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Franchise.  With The Final and The Beginning, the last Kenshin stories have been brought to the big screen.  It puts some bittersweet expectations onto The Beginning, not just because it’s adapting my favorite Kenshin arc but also because this is the grand finale of one of the greatest Live Action Anime adaptations in history.  From carefully reconstructed towns to costumes sharply identical to their Anime counterparts to action that has changed the way action is choreographed and executed in Japanese Cinema, the RuroKen series has had a lot of triumphs and a few stumbles too (might do a future Top 5 on that AFTER I see the last two movies…come on Funimation get those things over here, we can sort of go back to the movies now).  Here’s hoping the best has been saved for last…even if it is the most tragic time in Kenshin’s life.  This is The Beginning and hopefully it’s going to rock.