Comments on: Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal – Jaded no more

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:50:32 +0000

I love the Kenshin OVA, it’s a work of art. I’ve watched it at least a dozen times, and will continue to watch it well into the foreseeable future. What I love about it is just what you said – it has real value. The trend in Japan is to focus on the child stage of life, which lends itself to overly optimistic, fantastical stories (into which category most Shounen manga falls). What sets the Kenshin OVA apart is that it focuses on the transition to the adult stage of life, and just what life as an adult is about. I love the Kenshin OVA for the same reason I love Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade – neither one of them tries to hide the brutal realities of life that many people tend to forget living in their upper or middle class communities. Rather they serve as reminders and lessons to us about human nature and where it can lead us, from the light to the dark.

By: kuromitsu

kuromitsu — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 15:15:41 +0000

For me, the first OVA was like a stilted, theatrical tragedy – aesthetically beautiful, but somehow removed and stylized, played out by random tragedians. In the manga, the story, the characters are much more alive and they have much more personality (and for me, the story had a much stronger emotional punch, specially for this reason).

Someone once said that after watching the manga they took out the manga and scanned numerous pictures from the corresponding storyline that show the different emotions that Kenshin was feeling at the time, to contrast it with the anime where he just has the same melancholy expression on his face for the majority of time. I realize that it’s a dark world and all, but for me, an important part of Kenshin’s character is that despite the times and his job, he remained "alive" instead of becoming numb like he is in the OVA.

By: bateszi

bateszi — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:59:40 +0000

@Anonymous:

Tomoe is a great character. I love how at the end of Betrayal, the bearded military bloke’s last words were to the effect of "I don’t understand women". He deserved this shock given the way he manipulated her.

@kuromitsu:

I can understand where you are coming from, but I think you’re being harsh in calling Kenshin "two-dimensional". Although a bit more of his trademark humour could have perhaps worked as a gap between the tragedy, I don’t think it’s being too angsty; just look at the way all of his friends are slaughtered in the first 5 minutes. In a world like that, it’s hard to smile. I see enough of the lighter side of his personality when he moves out of Kyoto with Tomoe and becomes a farmer for six months; he looks so happy and at peace just digging in his garden and planting vegetables.

By: kuromitsu

kuromitsu — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:03:20 +0000

And once again I feel alone – while I love Rurouni Kenshin (especially the manga), I never liked the first OVA and I despise the second. It’s a good story and all, superbly animated, with very beautiful music, but somehow it lacks life and the characters seem to me two-dimensional angstmachines… Kenshin, especially, is almost out-of-character. In the manga version of this story, one can see flashes of the older Kenshin in him, as he plays with children and stuff, one can see how he became the Kenshin he is in the rest of the story. In the OVA he’s just dark and angsty. Maybe I’d have appreciated this OVA more if I hadn’t read the manga before watching it.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:25:31 +0000

I’ll even rank it S.
I was absolutely not bothered by the relatively slow pace and the "angst". That’s how good it is.

And I cried, a lot. But then again, I’m a girl and I love Tomoe.