Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023)

In the late 19th century, as the cruel times of the Bakumatsu period came to a close, a new Meiji era marked the age of restoration for Japan. With the war over, its infamous hero Hitokiri Battousai disappeared into thin air, leaving only his legend behind.

Years later, a seemingly plain wanderer named Kenshin Himura encounters Kaoru Kamiya, the owner of a struggling local dojo in Tokyo. Kaoru pursues a self-proclaimed Battousai who roams the streets, indiscriminately killing citizens and police officers. Furthermore, the warrior professes to use the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu—a sword style developed by Kaoru's father deeply rooted in the essence of life, not death.

Kenshin decides to help Kaoru take down the impostor and restore her father's dojo. Unbeknownst to all, Kenshin is none other than the real warrior whose name still terrifies the people. Although Kaoru eventually learns the truth, his oath to atone for his murderous history by bloodlessly protecting the weak moves her, and she welcomes Kenshin to stay at her dojo. However, Kenshin's ideals are soon challenged by ghosts of the past and enemies of the present.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Himura, Kenshin Main

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Sagara, Sanosuke Main

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Kamiya, Kaoru Main

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Myoujin, Yahiko Main

Koichi, Makoto Japanese

Saitou, Hajime Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Shishio, Makoto Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Seta, Soujirou Supporting

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Hiko, Seijuurou Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Shinomori, Aoshi Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Makimachi, Misao Supporting

Yamane, Aya Japanese

Kumada, Kiyoshi Producer

Hashimoto, Ryuu Producer

Takeeda, Yoshinori Producer

Niwa, Masami Producer

Reviews

Dec 14, 2023

KANLen09

Recommended

Rurouni Kenshin, the remake – For better or for worse, a somewhat competent effort the second time around, because this isn't studio Liden Films's first attempt at a remake.

For those who are not in the know, Liden Films was actually handed the task back in 2019 to adapt one of AniManga's most classic and famous works: mangaka Hiroaki Samura's Mugen no Juunin a.k.a Blade of the Immortal, which was one heck of a work back in the early 90s under Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine, which ran from 1993 to 2012. The first anime adaptation being Bee Train's rather mediocre effort in Summer 2008, and afterwards, ... Amazon Prime had to license yet another complete re-adaptation for the Fall 2019 season, which seemed like a rather huge task for a rather low-ball studio like Liden Films at the time. And the results...spoke for themselves of everything that had gone wrong with the remake from rushed pacing to bad animation, with production values being the biggest elephant in the room.

4 years later, and once again from Liden Films, we get yet another classic remake: the now infamous mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan a.k.a Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, serialized in the ever-so-popular Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1994 to 1999. And before I start this review proper, I need to put a disclaimer that I know nothing about the 1996 to 1998 OG series, but at the very least, I do know that it was a marvel back in the day thanks to both studios Gallop and Studio Deen's efforts to bring essentially what was still an ongoing series at the time and is still revered by the people who've seen it back in the day and even till now. So, I'm betting that everyone wants to know the answer to the long, debated verdict between the 2023 vs. the 90s version: is it any better or worse than the OG?

For one, most of you in the context of remakes would've already seen the OG series, which was one of the highlights of 90s yesteryears anime and is a recommended must-watch, that must be said first. But if you do not know anything about Rurouni Kenshin, the story plot is exactly in the name: the famous (or infamous, whatever is your term) Hitokiri Battosai of said legendary assassin, said to wield his Sakabato a.k.a reverse-blade katana, who've laid waste to kill lots of people back in the Boshin War, and after that harrowing incident, vowed to never kill once again. This brings him (and us the audience) to Meiji Year 11 a.k.a 1878, where he parades under the poised name of Himura Kenshin, a wandering samurai rurouni who's just enjoying life as it is after the posthumous of his infamous killings, seeking to atone for it by meeting new people, helping to seek peace and prosperity in the current Meiji Era times to avoid conflict as intended.

It's the people that Kenshin meets that set the course of his new life forward: Kaoru Kamiya of her Kamiya Kasshin-ryu Dojo; the samurai family orphan Myojin Yahiko; the former Sekiho Army member Sagara Sanosuke; and last but not least, physician Takani Megumi. For Kenshin, the biggest blemish of his life is his assassination history. Once he found solace in the very first person that he met, Kaoru would start to mold Kenshin's life for the better, at a time when an impostor parading as the legendary assassin Hittokiri Battosai had developed a nasty reputation within the Kamiya Dojo, potential samurai began to shun her school, leaving Kenshin to route out the imposter and restore its reputation. Plus, it's not hard for Kaoru to develop feelings for Kenshin, especially since she can understand his gentle and kind-loving nature as opposed to being a Hitokiri on the verge of evil. Adding to that, Yahiko may come from a family of samurai, but he's not the most well taken care of since he was a pickpocket to settle debts for his family until he was given a new lease of life training in Kaoru's dojo. Kenshin's best bud comes from someone hired to do mercenary work, a fighter-for-hire after the destruction of his Sekiho Army by the Meiji government. But while Sanosuke does have the looks of a fighter, he is a rather unrefined fighter who acts on his anger, which serves as his outgoing personality. And yes, people like Sanosuke are easy targets for Kenshin to defeat, though he quickly humbled himself and began to focus on protecting the people. Last but not least, most certainly, is the physician Takani Megumi, who comes from a famous Aizu region physician family. She got into trouble coming to Tokyo to create the opium business (which is rather big back in the old days), only to fall victim to industrialization and corruption and be forced to create opium until Kenshin and Sanosuke came to her rescue. Also, Megumi is always the "vixen" character trying to flirt around with Kenshin, which earns the ire of Kaoru, though helping the latter realize her feelings for said rurouni.

It's no secret that throughout the Meiji Era, Kenshin would coincidentally meet with old comrades, friends, and enemies alike: some fearless like Udō Jin-e; swift like Saitō Hajime; and brutal like Isurugi Raijūta. The people associated with Kenshin are many and in-between the character cast world that Nobuhiro Watsuki creates in his long-term romantic story, one that spans different eras and times. As of right now, this first season re-adaptation covers the first 7 volumes of the manga with the Tokyo Arc, throwing in a bit of the 2-volume long Restoration prequel, then right into the very beginning of the Kyoto Arc, where Rurouni Kenshin really takes a big hit, with it presenting the meat of the entire manga series.

As expected, the people will nitpick in certain areas, one of which is the newly formed cast of VAs taking up the positions of the classic Rurouni Kenshin characters. And sure, for what VA Mayo Suzukaze managed to hit her stride for the entire series, starting from the OG series right until the Shin Kyoto-hen OVA in 2011, she was a force to be reckoned with for being the voice of the classic assassin protagonist. For the remake, Soma Saito assumes that position, and I have to say that he did a knock-out job of portraying Himura Kenshin as both a kind and fearsome assassin who's not a fool to be played around with, considering that he has been a fan of the manga since his childhood days. Along with the other VA companions, Rie Takahashi (Kaoru), Makoto Koichi (Yahiko), and Taku Yashiro (Sanosuke), they too did a decent job with the respective portrayals of their characters as well. But the main differentiator would have to be Liden Films's in-house director Hideyo Yamamoto, who, like Soma Saito, has watched the OG series in his youth and aims to perfectly replicate the Meiji Era into anime form, making the narrative into a more serious showing and avoiding adding anything else to the comical slapstick humor that the manga already had going for it in order to make it more realistic. This was consulted with the mangaka Watsuki himself, who worked on the remake's scenario and character designs with character designer Terumi Nishii, and the adaptation was made concise from the manga with supervision. All of these changes are left to the eye of the beholder (especially for the stringent OG fans) to determine if the re-adaptation is any better than the OG series, though there is still much debate left to be said if the re-adaptation continues down the road.

Still, I'd feel that it's director Hideyo Yamamoto who gave the call to adapt the classic Rurouni Kenshin as best as he could in the current modern heyday, and regardless of how staunch fans will complain that Liden Films is not the right studio to do re-adaptations, I think that what came out of this first inning of the modern remake was really very good. The production was concise, with the animation being swift, fast, and furious, especially with the action scenes that delivered as expected, if you're one like me who has never experienced the OG before with the excuse of it being "too old and outdated." Nevertheless, if this classic show's remake can be Liden Films's saving grace, then it can set the path forward to have people see the studio as a way to "bring back the lost while cutting costs" with older, more prominent series that rightfully deserve a remake.

The music, however, is kind of hit-and-miss (but mostly good). The 1st cour's pairing of Ayase and R-Shitei, along with Reol for the 1st half's OP/ED theme songs, really hit it out of the park, being a modern rejuvenation interpretation of the classic 90s anime feel (espeically with Reol's ED song) and being great banger songs for what they're worth. The 2nd cour's pairing of Masaki Suda and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, along with Kid Phenomenon, the latter ED song continues the greatness through its striking visuals, but the former OP song feels like it belonged to another anime whilst trying to sound old-school with modern instruments, and honestly, that song was the only miss for me.

So far, the Rurouni Kenshin remake or re-adaptation, from what I can tell, is quite a success, while still having its detractors who will ever so claim that the remake will never quite live up to the serendipity of the OG series. That's just my two cents on this matter, which will continue to be a debate as the remake lives on. What I can hope now is a complete adaptation of the manga (just like what David Productions is doing right now with Urusei Yatsura (All-Stars)) that we can see from start to finish, apart from the OG being a combination of both story and filler segments at the time.

The fictional living classic legend that is Hitokiri Battosai, the wandering Rurouni samurai Himura Kenshin, is back for more peace and less conflict.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 15, 2023

chekkit

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Going to try to keep this short and simple. This is my first experience with the Rurouni Kenshin series and as such I have no prior knowledge or nostalgic rose-tinted glasses when it comes to giving this anime a try. Despite what's been said about the author, I'd heard plenty of times how good this series was and how much of a classic it is. That everything gets better the further into the story we go. Well I gave it a go and stomached the whole 24 episode season for the sake of giving it a fair shot.

But c'mon... no matter how much everyone ... was trying to sell it to me about the story, there was nothing great about it. Its lackluster at best. With potential here and there, but I found myself watching a shoddy villain of the week-type anime with the most subpar animation that just barely kept me from falling asleep.

There's potential. I'll admit that much. Especially with the ending being as it was and hinting towards much more to come. Perhaps I'll give it that last shot in the future! But nothing is particularly memorable to me as it currently is. The OST is basic. The "story" is basic. The relationships are basic. Everything about Rurouni Kenshin screams basic anime that might have been popular were we back in the 2000s era. It's just not up to par with anime in this day and age. The only interesting character here is Kenshin and everyone else is a bland support trope that will never be as helpful or as good as he is.

About the only thing that really caught my attention was the beautiful OP/ED for both cours. I've listened to those enough times and the ending songs are true bangers. But would I watch this anime again? Nah. It was a snooze fest from start to finish.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 14, 2023

whiteflame55

Not Recommended

So, I grew up on this series and loved it. Given what we've come to learn of the mangaka behind it, my feelings on the series' legacy aren't quite so nice as they were when I was watching it back in the late 90s, but this was a story I really enjoyed. And so when it was announced that it would be getting a reboot, I was... well, pensive. Reboots don't always work, particularly when you're talking about taking a classic and updating the style, and I always worry that a reboot won't justify its own existence by modifying the plot or finding some new ... and interesting way to animate it. Beyond that, nostalgia is a double-edged sword. It certainly got me to watch this 24-episode season through, but it's also hard to fully distance myself from the aspects of the original series that made me love it so much back in the day.

So, how is it? It's Rurouni Kenshin all over again, this time with a basic and clean animation style that looks pretty good, but has sanded off all the edges of the original series. If it changed the story, I didn't notice. They certainly changed some scenes and fights, and not for the better. In particular, a match with Saito, which stood as one of my favorites from the series as a whole, just felt sanitized and weak. I watched the original back after watching it, and the differences are very obvious: it doesn't feel nearly as claustophobic or dynamic, it lacks the rapid changes to camera angles, and you just don't really buy that anyone's out here to kill anyone else. It's just... wrong.

And that pretty much embodies this whole season. It does the basics well enough, but when it comes to what makes this series sing, it just feels muted and weak. I wanted to like this, but as I worried from the outset, it just didn't give any reason to justify its existence, even leaving the best arc for later. I'll probably watch it because it is a great arc and be disappointed once again.

A series like this with characters like these shouldn't just be "fine." It shouldn't just keep me mildly invested as I wait for the moment that it's going to do something interesting, only to realize that it won't deliver. I don't hate it by any means, but there's just nothing here to recommend. I recognize that much of this review has been me comparing it to the original, but part of the point is that the original had an identity to it, something that made it distinct and memorable besides a solid cast of characters and decent fights. This just doesn’t have it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023) Episode 23 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 7, 2023	81 replies	by PraneshChow »» Dec 13, 1:53 AM
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	Poll: Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023) Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 21, 2023	70 replies	by PraneshChow »» Nov 21, 2:36 AM