Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning

Japan, 1864.  It is the time of the Bakumatsu-where rebels loyal to the true Emperor battle to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Among their ranks is a young swordsman with nigh supernatural capabilities.  Some call him a demon.  Most know him as Himura Battosai.  Only a handful know him by his true name: Kenshin Himura.  Long before he became the kind hearted Rurouni who vowed never to take a life, Kenshin was the most feared and ruthless weapon of the revolution that would change a nation.  This is the story of how Kenshin became so feared…and how a chance encounter with a beautiful woman would forever alter his destiny.

This was it.  The second they announced they were doing two more Rurouni Kenshin films and this movie was one of them: the pressure was on.  More so than the first film in the series, my hopes for The Beginning were through the roof.  Not only is Kenshin’s backstory my favorite arc of the Manga, it’s also the basis for one of my favorite OVA’s, Trust and Betrayal, which is as perfect a Kenshin tale as you can get.  More than seeing Enishi on the big screen for the first time in The Final, THIS was the movie I really wanted to see…and I got it and I’ve gotta say inspite of one very minor nitpick that should keep me from giving this movie a 10/10…Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning accomplishes what I thought no film ever would…it has surpassed the King of the Live Action Anime mountain aka the first Rurouni Kenshin movie and now sits as my absolute, de facto THIS IS MY FAVORITE LIVE ACTION ANIME MOVIE EVER!!!!  I could just list the final score and leave it at that but I wanna brag about how good this movie is before I do.

I’ll admit, I was nervous about how they split the last two films in the Kenshin series for this final storyline.  In the Manga, the Trust and Betrayal Arc (as I call it) comes during the Enishi Arc and puts that arc on hold for a couple of volumes.  Instead, the filmmakers decided to put all the Enishi stuff into one movie (The Final) with small snippets of what was to come in The Beginning.  Much to my great relief, you don’t need to see The Final or any other Kenshin film to enjoy The Beginning.  This is a film that acts the way I wanted it to: as a stand alone epic that, much like the Trust and Betrayal OVA, is a far different beast from other Kenshin offerings.  It’s darker, grittier, bloodier and far more tragic, just as we knew Kenshin’s history always was.  The opening scene alone sets the tone and mood for what follows: a far more feral and sharper Kenshin effortlessly and mercilessly ripping through poor souls with his hands tied behind his back and a sword in his mouth…I’ll admit, I got chills.

In my review of Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, I applauded Takeru Satoh’s performance as Kenshin as being his best yet but reserved room for what we might get in this film.  I must amend that previous praise: The Beginning is where Satoh shines the best.  Not only is he clearly a master of all the dazzling action that has steadily evolved over the course of these films but his mannerisms, facial expressions, the way he speaks.  Satoh’s able to make this Kenshin stand so far apart from his eventual Rurouni persona they might as well be two different people.  He’s a stone cold killer but the way he wavers you can see how much of an internal toll it’s taken on Kenshin’s soul.  But that can all change when swords are drawn.  World weary or just tired from all the killing, if you cross this Kenshin in any small way you’d better be prepared to meet your maker.

For all of Satoh’s award worthy work, there’s no way The Beginning doesn’t work if you don’t believe Kenshin’s ill fated romance with Tomoe Yukishiro…and my God do they nail it.  I was so happy they got this romance right considering I thought they dropped the ball with Kenshin and Kaoru’s romance in The Final (I think I actually like Tomoe better as a love interest than Kaoru and that’s saying something for a character only in one movie…two if you count her fleeting appearances in The Final).  Kasumi Arimura is everything the girl who steals Kenshin’s heart should be: ethereal but direct; same stone face as Kenshin but more honest with her emotions; and…let’s face it, she’s absolutely beautiful.  From the second she and Kenshin first cross paths, I believed this was the same couple from the Manga and OVA and every second they shared screentime together I really wished it could work for them in the end.  Tomoe’s mere presence is enough to melt the hard exeterior of any man and Kenshin is no exception.  The casting on these movies has been damn near perfect and there is no one better suited to Tomoe than Arimura.  Next to Satoh’s Kenshin, Tomoe is the best part of The Beginning, her quiet but loving performance even topping the best saved for last actions sequences.

I’m sure once everyone learned Kenshin’s bloody history was gonna be a movie, everyone got excited to see what Kenshin was like when he didn’t hold back.  The choreography on the action scenes matches this agenda.  The pacing is faster, the blows feel deadlier and all the blood gushing makes this a Samurai epic reminiscent of Ninja Scroll or a hyper violent late 80’s/early 90’s Anime…with substance that is.  The famous Ikedaya Incident might be one of the greatest action sequences in the entire movie and makes me kind of wish we could see a Shinesngumi side story, kind of like Peacemaker Kurogane, if only to give us more time with Saito and his fellow Captain Okita.  Kenshin and Okita square off in a spectacular scene that sees two near equal sword of death clash without restraint.  That minor nitpick I mentioned: We never get a chance to see Kenshin and Saito ignite their famous rivalry that would follow them over the course of ten years until they became eventual allies.  Needless to say, The Beginning even manages to surpass the already above the bar awesomeness of The Final (especially with Enishi’s style of combat) and conclude an excellent saga of a new age of action choreography that began all the way back in 2012 with the first Rurouni Kenshin film.

HOOO!!! Yep, the payoff to get here has all been worth it.  Even if some liberties were taken with the Kenshin saga through it’s theatrical history, I’m glad that The Beginning doesn’t take as many liberties (there are a few, some events are shuffled around but nothing detrimental).  It sticks to the source material far more faithfully than anything else before it and requires no knowledge or previous screenings of other films to enjoy.  Hell, I’m almost tempted to say do as the title implies and start here before watching the other four films.  That said, I’m glad Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning saved the best of everything for last: Battosai Kenshin, the beautiful Tomoe, the violence of the Bakumatsu and action that will continue to dazzle and remain the gold standard for not just Japanese Cinema but Cinema around the world.  Yeah I have a minor quibble but I’m not going to let it distract me from what I knew halfway through the movie and am glad I get to write it here and now:

Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning finishes the live action Rurouni Kenshin saga as strongly as it began…if not stronger, and receives a 10/10.