SAMURAI X: RUROUNI KENSHIN – BETRAYAL
May 26th 2009 03:11
Category: Videos
Based on the Rurouni Kenshin manga by: Nobuhiro Watsuki
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Screenplay by: Masashi Sogo
Producers: Yoshinori Naruke & Kazuki Noguchi
Starring: J Shannon Weaver (Kenshin/Okita), Rebecca Davis (Tomoe), Douglas Taylor (Katagai), Lowell Bartholomee (Iizuka), Corey M Gagne (Katsura), John Paul Shepard (Tatsumi) & Brian Gaston (Enishi)
Produced by: Fuji TV & SPE Visual Works
English Version by: ADV Films
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 60 minutes Rating: MA 15
After having read several volumes of the manga on which this anime series was based upon I was naturally curious to see how it would translate onto the small screen. For those of you who have not read my reviews on the Rurouni Kenshin manga I’ll fill you in at this point to give you some idea on where the story in this particular anime is coming from. The place is Japan; the time is the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, roughly around the eighteen sixties. For roughly three hundred years the Tokugawa Shoguns have effectively ruled Japan and have brought a degree of peace and stability to the island nation, but such stability has come at a price, and it is a price that has been swiftly demonstrated with the appearance of the black ships of Commodore Perry. Change in the guise of the US Navy has effectively kicked in the doors of Japan’s isolation and brought about potential chaos and turmoil. It seems that in the light of this sudden intrusion the Shogunate is seen as weak and unable to defend either the sovereignty or people of Japan.
Into the breach step the Ishin Shishi, a party seeking to restore the Emperor as the paramount authority within Japan and remove the Shogun and its Bakufu (military government). These patriots also realise that there is value in adopting some of the ways and technologies of the west, Japan may have superior sword making techniques and swordsmanship but that means little against the ironclads, rifles and cannon of a western military. Change must be ushered in, and this is something that they know will never happen under the Shoguns who in the last three hundred years have become too rigid in their rule, they’re incapable of adapting and meeting the changing circumstances of the world outside of Japan’s shores.
As a result conflict arises as the forces of the Ishin Shishi clash with those of Shogunate loyalists, the Shinsengumi, and blood flows in the streets of Japans cities. Into all this is thrust Kenshin Himura, an Ishin Shishi patriot who is better known as the assassin Hitokiri Battosai, a man whose hand is stained with the blood of hundreds of men loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate. Of course few people are actually willing to point out that many of the men that the ‘infamous’ Hitokiri Battosai has slain had hands just as bloodily stained. This particular period of Japan is one filled with bloodshed, still there are very few bloodless revolutions in history and this is what is occurring within the Land of the Rising Sun, a revolution that will change not only the nation but the world as well.
History lesson aside though this particular tale sees our erstwhile protagonist and a female companion leave the confines of Kyoto, the Imperial capital of Japan for some several centuries whilst Edo is the seat of the Shoguns, thus the country has become effectively divided on east west lines as much as along political belief. Precisely why Kenshin or his lady friend Tomoe are forced to leave the Imperial capital is never quite specified, suffice it must have something to do with both of their involvements in the political situation that is consuming the land. To Otsu, a rural community far from prying eyes and ears the pair journey. It is here that they live on a small farm holding in the mountains making ends meet from what resources they find on the farm.
It looks as if both Kenshin and Tomoe are laying low; waiting for the heat to die down before they can return to the world they know. Yet as time passes on the farm it seems that the pair of them are slowly beginning to see the value of the quite, stillness and peace of a rural life. In growing and harvesting crops Kenshin seems to find a peace within that he was never able to achieve to any satisfactory degree as a swordsman, the simple yet rigorous lifestyle of a small farmer appeals to him in a way he never expected. He muses to Tomoe one night that if he had never picked up a sword he probably could have been content as a farmer.
Of course Iizuka, the spymaster for the Chosu clan, supporters of the Ishin Shishi, feels that Kenshin needs to adopt a more commercial role in the area in order to support both himself and Tomoe. He provides Kenshin with a pack full of medicines and the paraphernalia of an apothecary which will get them both started and hopefully keep them supplied with that which they cannot readily provide for themselves. He also keeps Kenshin informed on the situation unfolding with the Shogunate and lets him know that no doubt at some point he will eventually be called upon to aid the clan.
This anime is essentially the beginnings of the Rurouni Kenshin story, the parts of the wandering swordsman life that are hinted at but never quite revealed in the manga, or at least at not in the volumes I have managed to get my hands on. What we are seeing here are the episodes that formed into the man he would later become, the cross scarred master swordsman who despite being a bearer of a blade was very reluctant to take a life, having already taken far too many than any man should have to bear.
If anything one could look at the character of Kenshin and almost see within him the nation of Japan in microcosm, his own suffering and questioning being that of a nation that knows that at this point in history there is a need for change but what change? And should this change be brought about as all other change has down through the ages, by blood, tragedy, carnage and tears? Kenshin seems to feel that change is needed but he knows unfortunately that the pattern will continue unless here and now someone takes a stance against violence, a stance to make a better world for all where hopefully future change will not require strife and grief.
Of course this realisation within the legendary swordsman does not come without price; even though he finds some inner harmony in his rural life with Tomoe it is tragedy that prompts him to follow the path he will come to tread, a path that will hopefully see some fulfilment of his dreams and goals. Still don’t they say that the best stories are the tragic ones? Without tragedy how can we the audience relish and be thankful for the joys of our own lives and come to the realisation of just how precious and wonderful these things are. That’s the wonderful thing about anime is that it can prompt such deep thoughts without pretension. I have to commend the voice actor, J Shannon Weaver who does the voice of Kenshin; he gives the character real gravitas and a certain earnestness that makes you like the character in spite of his bloody past and profession. This is one superbly produced anime and I recommend it heartily to anyone who enjoys anime, track down a copy and sit back and enjoy.
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Screenplay by: Masashi Sogo
Producers: Yoshinori Naruke & Kazuki Noguchi
Starring: J Shannon Weaver (Kenshin/Okita), Rebecca Davis (Tomoe), Douglas Taylor (Katagai), Lowell Bartholomee (Iizuka), Corey M Gagne (Katsura), John Paul Shepard (Tatsumi) & Brian Gaston (Enishi)
Produced by: Fuji TV & SPE Visual Works
English Version by: ADV Films
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 60 minutes Rating: MA 15
After having read several volumes of the manga on which this anime series was based upon I was naturally curious to see how it would translate onto the small screen. For those of you who have not read my reviews on the Rurouni Kenshin manga I’ll fill you in at this point to give you some idea on where the story in this particular anime is coming from. The place is Japan; the time is the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, roughly around the eighteen sixties. For roughly three hundred years the Tokugawa Shoguns have effectively ruled Japan and have brought a degree of peace and stability to the island nation, but such stability has come at a price, and it is a price that has been swiftly demonstrated with the appearance of the black ships of Commodore Perry. Change in the guise of the US Navy has effectively kicked in the doors of Japan’s isolation and brought about potential chaos and turmoil. It seems that in the light of this sudden intrusion the Shogunate is seen as weak and unable to defend either the sovereignty or people of Japan.
History lesson aside though this particular tale sees our erstwhile protagonist and a female companion leave the confines of Kyoto, the Imperial capital of Japan for some several centuries whilst Edo is the seat of the Shoguns, thus the country has become effectively divided on east west lines as much as along political belief. Precisely why Kenshin or his lady friend Tomoe are forced to leave the Imperial capital is never quite specified, suffice it must have something to do with both of their involvements in the political situation that is consuming the land. To Otsu, a rural community far from prying eyes and ears the pair journey. It is here that they live on a small farm holding in the mountains making ends meet from what resources they find on the farm.
It looks as if both Kenshin and Tomoe are laying low; waiting for the heat to die down before they can return to the world they know. Yet as time passes on the farm it seems that the pair of them are slowly beginning to see the value of the quite, stillness and peace of a rural life. In growing and harvesting crops Kenshin seems to find a peace within that he was never able to achieve to any satisfactory degree as a swordsman, the simple yet rigorous lifestyle of a small farmer appeals to him in a way he never expected. He muses to Tomoe one night that if he had never picked up a sword he probably could have been content as a farmer.
Of course Iizuka, the spymaster for the Chosu clan, supporters of the Ishin Shishi, feels that Kenshin needs to adopt a more commercial role in the area in order to support both himself and Tomoe. He provides Kenshin with a pack full of medicines and the paraphernalia of an apothecary which will get them both started and hopefully keep them supplied with that which they cannot readily provide for themselves. He also keeps Kenshin informed on the situation unfolding with the Shogunate and lets him know that no doubt at some point he will eventually be called upon to aid the clan.
This anime is essentially the beginnings of the Rurouni Kenshin story, the parts of the wandering swordsman life that are hinted at but never quite revealed in the manga, or at least at not in the volumes I have managed to get my hands on. What we are seeing here are the episodes that formed into the man he would later become, the cross scarred master swordsman who despite being a bearer of a blade was very reluctant to take a life, having already taken far too many than any man should have to bear.
If anything one could look at the character of Kenshin and almost see within him the nation of Japan in microcosm, his own suffering and questioning being that of a nation that knows that at this point in history there is a need for change but what change? And should this change be brought about as all other change has down through the ages, by blood, tragedy, carnage and tears? Kenshin seems to feel that change is needed but he knows unfortunately that the pattern will continue unless here and now someone takes a stance against violence, a stance to make a better world for all where hopefully future change will not require strife and grief.
Of course this realisation within the legendary swordsman does not come without price; even though he finds some inner harmony in his rural life with Tomoe it is tragedy that prompts him to follow the path he will come to tread, a path that will hopefully see some fulfilment of his dreams and goals. Still don’t they say that the best stories are the tragic ones? Without tragedy how can we the audience relish and be thankful for the joys of our own lives and come to the realisation of just how precious and wonderful these things are. That’s the wonderful thing about anime is that it can prompt such deep thoughts without pretension. I have to commend the voice actor, J Shannon Weaver who does the voice of Kenshin; he gives the character real gravitas and a certain earnestness that makes you like the character in spite of his bloody past and profession. This is one superbly produced anime and I recommend it heartily to anyone who enjoys anime, track down a copy and sit back and enjoy.
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