Rurouni Kenshin – Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1 “I’m a little tired of wandering” – Sebastian Fernandez – Tampa, Florida United States
This series is definitely off to a very good start, since this volume is good enough to pique the interest of the audience with an enthralling story, unresolved questions about the characters’ past, and a little humor to boot. The fact that the series has appeal to a broad audience, young adults and up, is also a definite plus. The story is set in Japan late in the nineteenth century, with the imperialists ruling the country and laws in place that forbid carrying swords. In this setting, we find Kenshin, a mesmerizing character that carries a reverse-blade sword and has vowed not to kill anyone else in his fights.
Kenshin is a wandering samurai (thus the term Rurouni in the title), but when he meets Kaeru, a teacher of the Kasshin style of fighting, which involves not hurting others, he decides to stay put for a while and help her with her dojo, the Kamiya school. Through the interactions of these two characters and some others, like the young and fierce Yahiko, we start to get a glimpse of Kenshin’s past and thus understand what drove him to behave like he currently does. Not only he has a style of fighting designed not to kill others, but also, his approach to life can be described as almost Buddhist, since he is willing to avoid a fight almost at all cost. The problem is that when the bullies are taking it out on someone else, even Kenshin has to stand up and fight, and this happens often enough for the series to have a lot of action. The type of fighting results in almost bloodless action scenes, which in turn means that the violence is held in check at all times.
The graphics are good but nothing spectacular, and the anime follows the style of the manga, in the sense that it uses distorted eye and face expressions to communicate strong emotions or funny situations. There is a fair amount of humor but in general it is a little silly, not that there is anything wrong with that. One can also see that in the future romance will also play a part in this story.
In the final episode on this disc, another interesting character makes his appearance. Sanosuke Sagara (Zanza) is a fighter for hire that is always looking for a challenging opponent. He hates the imperialists and carries a huge sword, which was clearly borrowed from “Berserk”, since the Berserk, Vol. 1 came out four years earlier than the Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 1. Anyway, this character looks as somebody that will provide us with a lot of entertainment in future volumes.
There are not a lot of extras in this disc, but I found the Liner Notes to be educative. They clarify a few things about use of terms in the dialogues and the environment in which the series develop, and also there is a great explanation regarding Kenshin’s manner of speak. Overall, I think this is a promising start and I believe that there are great things to come.
Picture this: a feminine-looking, goofy swordsman who has vowed not to kill, but is secretly a lethal ex-assassin known as Battosai the Manslayer.
Yep, the title character of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s “Rurouni Kenshin” is a pretty unusual lead for an action series, but then this series is really rather unusual — a meditation on changing times, and on fighting to preserve peace and life rather than to bring death. And “Rurouni Kenshin – Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1″ smoothly introduces the main characters in a flurry of sword-swinging action, delightfully wacky humor and a teeny hint of romance. Okay, more than a hint.
Searching for the legendary manslayer Battosai, a young dojo owner named Kaoru assaults a sword-carrying stranger whom she assumes is the one she’s searching for. Turns out his sword blade is upside-down, and he insists that he’s just a wandering swordsman. Unfortunately someone using the name Battosai is disgracing Kaoru’s dojo — and they have their eyes on revenge for an old wrong. It’s only then that the mysterious Kenshin shows what he’s really capable of, and who he really is — the true Battosai, who is so skilled that after a brawl with the corrupt police, he’s asked to join the military.
Kaoru asks him to stay on, and it turns out to be a good thing — the dojo becomes embroiled in the fate of a feisty young samurai boy, who’s being used as a pickpocket for a gang of yakuza thugs. And there’s the Fight Merchant Zanza (real name: Sanosuke), a powerful young man seeking fights with strong opponents who is hired to fight Kenshin. But he has a personal reason to want to defeat Kenshin as well — he’s seemingly the last survivor of a military unit that was sacrificed as a scapegoat.
Nobuhiro Watsuki’s “Rurouni Kenshin” has become a classic for its story about overcoming the past, fighting for the sake of peace, and for the setting of the early Meiji era — when Japan awkwardly leapt forward technologically and socially. But on a less epic scale, it’s about one young man with a terrible and bloody past, who is now atoning for his past deeds by using his sword to protect instead of to destroy.
It starts off fairly light-hearted, but gradually gains some darker shadings (such as Yahiko’s miserable life and the) and explores the sociopolitical corruption and strife of all these sweeping changes (Sanosuke’s tragic captain Sagara). And obviously any series with a swordsman is going to have some action, and these scenes deliver a whirlwind of sword blows and superhuman leaps, which can do anything from smashing an opponent’s arm to hammering a crowd of people to the ground.
But there’s also plenty of comic relief in here, usually supplied by Kaoru’s short fuse (particularly when Kenshin tries to save her from suicide) and Kenshin’s sheepish space-cadet attitude and tendency to get in trouble by doing the right thing. Not to mention the most unsubtle mugging in the history of thievery.
Kenshin is a pretty likable if odd hero — he’s goofy, spacey, eager to please and polite to a fault, with rumpled red hair and threadbare clothes. But he gets creepy empty eyes when he gets serious about fighting. Kaoru makes a good counterpart, being as blunt and strong-willed as Kenshin pretends not to be, while Yahiko is an unexpectedly likable younger sidekick. And Sanosuke makes a good addition to round out the cast — he’s got a tragic past as part of the unjustly-maligned Sekihotai “false army,” which still drives him on.
“Rurouni Kenshin – Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1″ is a brilliant introduction to Kenshin, a manslayer-turned-wanderer with the upside-down sword. Definitely a must-see for fans of anime. : The Meiji Era was one of great renewal for Japan, where swords and killing were outlawed. How-ever, many survivors from the time of Revolu-tion still lived, lurking in the shadows and waiting for a chance to use their killing blades again. Only Kenshin Himura, formerly one of the most brutal of killers, hopes to keep his swordsman’s honor and still live in the new era. Set during the second half of the 19th century–a time of enormous change in Japanese society–Rurouni Kenshin begins when a wandering swordsman saves the life of a young woman on the streets of Tokyo. The wanderer’s name is Kenshin and his blade is sharpened only on the back edge, meaning that he can use it to disable, but not kill, his enemies. The woman, Kaoru, invites Kenshin to stay at her father’s kendo dojo, and he comes to her aid when she is attacked by a disgraced student. During the battle it emerges that Kenshin is Battousai the Manslayer, a vicious assassin who terrorized Japan in the turbulent years before the beginning of the Meiji Era. Now he is looking for redemption, but the forces arrayed against him will make it very difficult for him to escape his past. This first installment contains the first four episodes of a long and complex series, and the plot doesn’t really begin to gather steam until episode 4. There’s plenty of entertaining scene-setting in the other episodes, which introduce the main characters and give a glimpse of Kenshin’s troubled past. The series strikes a nice balance between adventure and cute comedy, but its real strength is its convincing evocation of a fascinating historical period. A refreshing change from the more common science fiction and fantasy titles, Rurouni Kenshin is a thrilling adventure that only gets better as the plot develops. Suitable for ages 12 and up. –Simon Leake
Rurouni Kenshin – Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1
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