Review: Rurouni Kenshin Live Action (2012) ~ My Feeling Heart

I have been a fan of the RuroKen franchise ever since it first aired. I've watched both its original dub with subtitles, the english dub, and the filipino dub where it was subsequently known to us as Samurai X. I've bought posters and pins and related merchandises, memorized a song or two, and even got a high mark on Social Studies during the second year of high school because of all those historical pointers mentioned in the show.

Simply put, Kenshin was among the few fond memories I had of my childhood. So, when news broke out that a live-action adaptation for the franchise has been greenlit, I was ecstatic, and eagerly waited for the day to meet Kenshin again—on the big screen.

And man, was I not disappointed.

Rurouni Kenshin: Live Action follows the life of former legendary assassin and one of the civil war's greatest warriors: Kenshin Himura, also known as Hitokiri Battousai. Giving up on killing in exchange to living the remaining of his days in peace, he began to wonder around Japan as a rounin. However, the ghosts of his past seem to keep haunting him back...

Image via mbdb.

If I remember it correctly, the movie covered the first two arcs of both the manga and the anime where Kenshin had to deal with someone who claims to be himself, as well as Kanryu Takeda, a man trying to make loads of money by illegally dealing with opium. Though some parts of the story were tweaked to be able to fit in a 134-minute motion picture, as a whole it still mostly stayed true with the source material.

During the course of the film, I've been looking for familiar elements such as Aoshi Shinomori and the Oniwabanshu (since Hanya was already introduced), as well as Seijiro Hiko whom Kenshin learned his techniques from. They never really made an appearance in the movie, yet, it might still be too early to conclude that they will never make an appearance in the live action franchise since two other Kenshin movies are now in the works (yay!).

Takeru Sato did a pretty solid performance as Kenshin. I've never seen or heard of him before this so I hadn't really expected much from him. After watching him do a great job and give justice to the character though, I must say I'm more than impressed. Those sword fights he did totally blew me away, and knowing that no CG was used in the making of this film (aside for blood sprays), I'm even more impressed. Takeru Sato was able to deliver Kenshin's fierceness in battle with just wirework, and I love that aside from that, he was able to bring to life Kenshin's soft side without being fake or awkward.

And yes, Emi Takei did well as Kaoru too; though I find her rather distracting for being so pretty it seemed unfit for Kaoru's character. She's even prettier than Yu Aoi who plays Megumi Takani, which would be a snark contrast to the source material since Megumi is supposed to be prettier than her. Regardless of looks though, both her and Yu Aoi was able to do a great job being the character they portray (though I find Yu's eyebrows rather distracting). And Sanosuke Sagara! Who could forget that arrogant man? Muneta Aoki played Sano very well. Personally speaking though, I find him rather flat (physical-wise) compared to Sano's original brash and rough looks.

Protagonists aside, I love Koji Kikkawa's portrayal of Udo Jin-e and him being as creepy as his anime counterpart. Truyuki Kagawa, on the other hand, was a bit over the top as Kanryu Takeda.

Yet overall, I've pretty much enjoyed everything else about the movie. I've been home a couple of hours now after watching it with best friend forever, but my feels from the cinema still lingers to this point—nostalgia, amazement, awe.

And yeah, I feel such a geek.