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]
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KANLen09
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.
whiteflame55
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 newand 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.
doughnutsfan
The remake (re-adaptation?) of one of the most seminal stories in the genre does the source material justice It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Rurouni Kenshin made a lasting impact on both the world of manga and anime in the 90’s that still reverberates to this day. From its heartfelt, thoughtful, tragic yet charming and poignant portrayal of characters living in one of the most transformative and tumultuous periods in the history of Japan to its over the top yet effective action, Rurouni Kenshin has truly left the lasting impact on people around the globe, myself included. The original works are so sacred thatthe new adaptation was not even necessary, incomplete 90’s anime notwithstanding, but here we are and by the time the credits roll on the last episode of the season there is no doubt. The 2023 adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin proved itself as a confident and necessary work that does the original justice.
What’s especially commendable is how much attention is paid to the source material’s writing: the exploration of themes of redemption, atonement, guilt and trauma, the difficulty of having to carve a place in the new and unpredictable world while having to bear the burden of your troubled past. What always made Rurouni Kenshin shine is the attention to careful character study and exploration of difficult topics over the entertainment value that works in the shounen genre typically provide. The main character is one of the most unique, yet relatable, grounded and complex protagonists in the works of this kind. The way the story masterfully treats most of the villains like real human beings without denominating them as either good or evil calls to comparisons with Hajime no Ippo, another great manga/anime that made its mark with its considerate approach to properly developing the opponents of the main protagonist.
The only thing the new adaptation doesn’t do quite as well as the 90’s version is animation itself. 90’s anime is known for its gorgeous camera work, stunning scenery and muted yet stylish presentation that creates a perfect atmosphere surrounding the proceedings. In comparison, the new adaptation looks a bit too similar to most of the current anime and doesn’t offer much in terms of Color palette and flair. It’s confidently made and gets the job done but it feels uninspired. It made me reminisce about the gorgeous backdrops of the setting sun in the 90’s work.
Nevertheless, whether you’re a newcomer or a longtime fan, Rurouni kenshin 2023 is a must watch, especially if you like shounen anime that offers so much more than just flashy action with one liners. And with the 2nd season already announced there’s no excuse to skip this one.
Vyaiskaya
At last, the season closes and I can start a review for the 2023 remake of Rurouni Kenshin, one of the biggest franchises in Anime history. I'm going to first of all, note that the remake doesn't actually quite achieve 10 stars, but I certainly feel it holds up well. Voice actors: I rather like the seiyuu for Kenshin. I feel it's exactly the voice I expect for the character. (In the OG I strongly prefered the EN track, especialy given the dialogue and kenshin-speak) The whole cast does a decent job and fits well. Full points. Art: The animation has a nice colour palette. The characters look good.Full points here.
Animation:
The animation quality uses a lot of fades in a more story-bookish manner for many scenes. It's not poorly done, just know the studio isn't MAPPA (nor Ghibli) and doesn't have as much in resources or room to add in consistently engrossing and dynamic minutiae of movement.
Audio:
I'm okay with OP and end songs, but as others have noted, the background audio track is, lacklustre to say the least. It would benefit in the soundtrack department greatly. The adaption has some issue with flatness, and much of what could be done about this is the audio.
Faithfulness:
The adaption accuracy is high and very faithful. And while some humour has been toned down, it still retains humour scenes.
Spirit:
The studio seemed a little unsure of their groove until around e6-e7, at which point things kick up. As noted in audio, the adaption suffers from some feeling of flatness due to especially the audio. I feel like I could be sitting and eating cereal and watching before rushing off to school with each episode.
Plot:
S1 is the background season, before the main arcs. In the manga, this was before it was a given that RK would become an overarching project. The important character backstories are the core of S1 and this is worthwhile. Those looking for an overarching plot or breaking action will not get that until S2 and S2 (the Kyouto arc) will be a ride. S1 is the set-up for S2.
Overall:
Overall, I give the remake a sole 8/10, with the points off mostly for the audio and and missing dynamism in execution.
I recommend it and feel it has strong promise, and hope to see the Kyouto arc live up to it's potential. I hope to see the lackustre and flat aspects in the audio and some of the scenes rectified.
Marinate1016
When remaking a classic such as Rurouni Kenshin, a couple questions have to be asked. “Is it necessary” and “Does it in anyway enhance the experience of the original?” In my opinion, the 2023 remake answers “yes” to both of those and does the legendary series justice. Enjoyable for newcomers and longtime fans alike. Before continuing, I have to say that it’s been a very long time since I watched the original Rurouni anime, so I don’t have a lot of the criticisms that younger fans of the original who watched it more recently have. With that out the way, I can’t emphasise enough howmuch I enjoyed this remake. It managed to capture the essence and magic of late 90s/early 2000s anime perfectly, while repackaging the timeless wandering samurai’s story for a modern era. It really does feel like I’ve been sent back in time to my childhood, watching this series on Toonami. Updated visuals, a great OST and Takahashi Rie in the cast list are just some of the things this remake has going for it. The fights, choreography and designs are all great modern updates on the original series.
Again, this story really is timeless and a reminder that it should always be substance over style with good storytelling. Yea, you have the crazy over the top samurai fights and dudes dodging bullets, but for the most part Rurouni Kenshin is a story about a man trying to right his wrongs and move on from the past. Something many of us can relate to. The interactions that Kenshin has with people he meets on his journey for redemption are well done and feel authentic. Every person he comes in contact with teaches him life lessons. Seeing Kenshin go from a lonely wanderer to someone with a place to call home and genuine friends is very satisfying.
While this isn’t anywhere near the entire story, in the short time we’ve had with this remake we can already see so much growth not just from Kenshin, but the other cast members as well. Every character receives ample development time and again, going back to the 2000s anime nostalgia, it feels good to see a group of characters who all matter in a story. In an age of OP MCs who outshine everyone else, it’s a literal blast from the past.
From a personal standpoint, one of the things I love most about this version is the more serious take on the story. The original anime has a lot of comedy and banter, and I’m sure that’s very important for some, being a fan of the live action Rurouni Kenshin movies starring Sato Takeru, I like this more grounded and serious approach. That’s not to say it’s devoid of comedic moments, they just don’t go into memey territory as often.
As I touched on earlier, the technical aspects of the remake are all very good. Even though I grew up with early 2000s anime art style, I personally like the modern look of anime more, so the updated character designs come as a welcome addition to me. The fight scenes feel weighty and are more than good enough for me as well.
The reality is that when it comes to remakes of beloved franchises, they’re always going to be divisive with nostalgia being a big factor for many. For me, Watsuki’s crimes and personal stuff aside, remaking this story made total sense. There’s a large segment of the manga that wasn’t adapted because of the legal issues, the original definitely shows its age and the live action films have been pretty successful. A perfect storm and a perfect time to bring this story back. It succeeds in staying true to the message and heart of the original, while adding a modern flair to it. This is a must watch for any early 2000s anime fan, Japanese history enthusiast or just those looking for a good historical action series.
Rurouni Kenshin gets 9, out of 10.
LastWhiisper
Basis of a prologue: "A sword is a weapon, kenjutsu is the art of killing" Ruroni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan is a work of fiction written in the 90s and published in the weekly magazine weekly shonen jump and currently has a sequel that is published monthly in the monthly magazine jump square from the same publisher (shueisha). This first season adapts up to chapter 57 of the manga and a one-shot or chapter zero of the reboot manga Rurouni Kenshin: Tokuhitsu-ban, the manga contains 3 main story arcs (leaving aside Hokkaido-hen) and they are Tokyo-hen, Kyoto -hen and Jinchuu-hen. The story is located at the end ofthe 19th century, specifically at the end of the Edo period (Bakumatsu) and the beginning of the Meiji era approximately in the years 1864-1878 in Japan, it focuses on our protagonist Kenshin Himura (his name is made up of two ideograms "ken", which is a sword and "shin", which means heart) in his past he was one of the greatest hitmen and swordsmen who participated in the Meiji revolution/restoration in favor of the emperor's side and against the Tokugawa shogunate, earning the nickname from "hitokiri battosai" based on kawakami gensai one of the "four Hitokiri of Bakumatsu".
In the present, see the first episode, the protagonist seems to have left that past behind and takes a pacifist attitude, avoiding the use of violence as much as possible and as an unbreakable rule never to take a life again, under the concept of weapons and kenjutsu. Kaoru, the first character who has contact with the protagonist, preaches that these concepts serve to protect people while the bad character random number 1 (Gohei Hiruma) from the first episode contradicts said philosophy with a real one of "a sword is a weapon, kenjutsu It is the art of killing" while Kenshin agrees with the bad guy Random No. 1, emphasizing that Kaoru's ideology is simple childhood fantasies, but despite that he wants to believe in it.
Basically, Kenshin takes refuge in a lie that he shares with Kaoru, not because he is a deluded or childish person at 28 years old, but because this ideology conveniently coincides with his path of redemption in the face of the crimes committed in his past. The initial message of the work is quite interesting since it is not very common to the typical self-improvement messages that are very common in the demographic.
The Tokyo arc is made up of self-concluding/episodic chapters and small arcs as we saw in this first season, Tokyo is undoubtedly the weakest arc since at all times only characters are presented and almost never any conclusion or conclusion is reached. The few conclusions feel wasted and lazy, giving the feeling that the work has no direction or is erratic, however in retrospect this feeling disappears since almost all the concepts and characters presented in this section of the story have relevance in the main arcs. of the work (kyoto and jinchuu).
The work has a large number of characters but the most notable are Kenshin among the protagonists and Saito if we talk about the antagonists, the rest is shown little but with a way to go such as Sanosuke, Yahiko, Aoshi and to a lesser extent Kaoru and Megumi, the antagonists are where Tokyo weakest but without a doubt the worst is Raijuta where clearly his influence is minimal along with Spiral but at least the latter has a small evolution in his personality.
The adaptation strives to show the historical and social context, taking into account at that time the country experienced a strong westernization and modernization after the Edo period where it was characterized by its accentuated isolation from the rest of the world, living a long middle age, it is important that the script highlight these concepts since many of the stories presented are related to this change, see the displacement of the samurai by a small army and a modern police, as well as removing kenjutsu from the center with an uncertain future for the time or how the ancient arts warriors of the country are nothing against modern firearms cough cough gatling, the treatment of opium that was a problem for the eastern countries of that time and how politicians ordered each other to be murdered resulting in internal purges between former comrades of the restoration.
Finally, the adapted one-shot seemed like a success to me since it gives the context of why Kenshin makes the decision to stop wandering in order to heal his emotional wound using the taste of tea as a metaphor and as a contrast to what happens in the last chapter. it's from the season.
I must clarify that this review is purely from the narrative point, taking this into account to close this first season it is a kind of prologue that tries to consolidate among so many things (social, political, ideological and historical) the redemption of a person and how the crimes of his past affect himself and the people around him, for better or worse, to enter the first main stage, which is Kyoto.
The arc alone in the manga does not go beyond 7/10 but this new adaptation enriched the script and adjusted some things such as improving the background of jine, the oniwabanshu, spiral, the mini tsunan arc and the arc of raijuta, that's why from my point of view the adaptation deserves an 8/10 as a final grade.
Dr_Stoned
I am honestly somewhat surprised that this series flew under the radar the way it has. Rurouni Kenshin is one of the anime that defined 90's shounen. Although I am not the biggest fan of remakes, I find it appropriate in this case since the original series has its downsides (lots of filler, incomplete adaptation etc.). Being a remake, it will naturally be compared the 1990's variant of the series. How does it compare? I think it's pretty solid so far. The voice actors are all casted pretty well in my opinion. Kenshin has an appropriate male voice in this series. It was difficult forme to watch the original in Japanese because Kenshin's voice was too feminine in my opinion. The animation is solid but not amazing. I really like the 90's aesthetic, but this version is fine in its own right. The music is a bit of a downgrade though. The original soundtrack had some amazing tracks, but most of the music here is kind of forgettable. The only thing that really holds this series back is the 24 episode cap that they had to set for themselves. The beginning arcs of Kenshin are still solid in their own right, but there's a lot of exposition, and the payoffs for the action sequences are good but not great. They serve as a strong foundation for the recurring conflicts and character dynamics throughout the series, but in a vacuum, they have a hard time standing out amongst the crowd. The next arc with Shishio (i.e. the most recognizable antagonist of the series) is one of the greatest shounen arcs of all time in my opinion. If you have made it this far as a new viewer, then I would definitely stick with the series. It only gets better from here. If you're a fan of the original, then we just have to hope that Lidenfilms does the series justice.
literaturenerd
Rurouni Kenshin 2023 has finally ended and most people never even knew it was airing. Despite being a reboot of a legendary franchise that was highly anticipated in Japan, very few people on MAL watched this one. Anitubers have largely gone out of their way to not talk about it. So why the ice-cold reception? You know why! If you’re a Zoomer, you probably only know Rurouni Kenshin as being “That one old anime that boomers overrated and then it turned the mangaka is…yeah…so now I’m never going to watch it or read it.” There is a LONG discussion that could be had on themorality of making this reboot in the first place. Personally, I wouldn’t have made this anime if I were a producer. Unless maybe a large portion of the profits go to child abuse victims or combatting human trafficking. There’s also a long discussion that we could have about the morality of pirating this anime vs watching it legally. However, I’m not going to have either of those discussions in this review. The fact is the anime did get made and I’m going to cover what I liked about it, and what I didn’t like.
Stuff I liked about the new Kenshin:
1.I think Kenshin’s new voice actor fits the character much better than his 90s actress. Kenshin is a kindhearted goofball, so they went with an actress in the 90s anime to try be sort of like Masako Nozawa’s Goku, but…I watch 90s Kenshin dubbed for a reason. It’s NOT a perfect dub either. It’s Media Blasters and I still vastly prefer it over the 90s Japanese voice acting.
2.There are some very impressive action scenes in the new Kenshin. The old Kenshin is much more stylized, and it has a charm to it for older viewers like me, but they try as hard as they can to not actually animate during the fights. You see a LOT of action lines, recycled animation, and flashes of light to represent the clanging of swords. The 90s anime is Studio Deen, which is basically all I need to say. The new Kenshin actually looks like a modern anime and will be much easier for younger anime fans to stomach.
3.Almost no filler! Do you want a highly faithful adaptation of the Kenshin manga that follows it EXTREMELY accurately almost panel for panel? This is it. There is one little filler arc, but it was pretty charming, and I had fun with it. I was also happy to see that it was a brand-new story and not a rehash of the 90s filler.
4.It’s Kenshin! I probably shouldn’t be excited for this series given my strong antipathy for Mr. Watsuki, who unlike his manga protagonist has seemingly taken zero action to redeem himself and atone for his crimes. However, I REALLY like Kenshin as a work of art. I think that its beauty, artistic impact, and being a source of inspiration for an entire generation of anime fans is something independent from its scummy author.
Things I didn’t like about the new Kenshin
1.The new OST is trash. It doesn’t help that the 90s Kenshin has my single favorite OST in ALL of anime. I’m not sure why they didn’t just use the 90s music but…who knows?
2.Manga and anime are different mediums of art. What works when you’re reading a manga and flipping pages isn’t necessarily what works best in an anime. That’s why I don’t think following the manga THIS closely is the ideal way of making a great adaptation. The 90s anime wasn’t afraid to put their own spin on things and make changes when they felt it would work better. The direction in the new anime feels timid and slavishly devoted.
3.The new character designs are very bland compared to the original. Megumi, Kaoru, and even Tsubame all look the freaking same! The character designer had an obsession with giving every character the exact same dark hair, blue eyes, and facial shape. When Sojiro showed up on screen in the final episode I wanted to throw something at the TV. Backgrounds are quite minimalistic in Kenshin 2023 and it feels like very little is moving or happening whenever our heroes are walking through the street. It really feels like they saved everything for the action scenes.
4.They followed the manga’s version of the Raijuta arc. An arc that even Watsuki himself admitted isn’t very good and that was massively improved by the 90s anime staff. I guess part of the appeal is that the new Kenshin really follows the manga, but if I wanted to see exactly what happens in the manga…I’d read manga. I own the entire manga series BTW. It’s one of the only manga series that I physically own.
If you’ve never seen Rurouni Kenshin before and you greatly prefer the aesthetic of newer anime, I’d highly recommend this one. Kenshin is a phenomenal shonen with great characters, great action, and is just amazing all around. Personally, I still prefer the 90s anime…that we all know ended with the Kyoto Arc because season 3 didn’t happen. MAL says there’s a whole 3rd season of bad filler, but real Kenshin fans know it didn’t happen! Anyways, check this series out. I think it’s one of the sleeper hits of 2023 to be honest. If you don’t want to financially support an unrepentant nonce, the series is free to watch on Kissanime, gogoanime, WCO, and a number of other sites!
chekkit
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 everyonewas 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.
Handler-_-One
This will be my longest yet review so buckle up! The early arcs show some potential with interesting villains and high-stakes battles, but as the series progresses, the plot tends to meander. The villains, while charismatic in design, often lack the depth needed to make their confrontations with Kenshin feel truly consequential. Several of the later arcs seem like a rehash of earlier material, relying on formulaic tropes rather than pushing the narrative forward or introducing more meaningful conflict. Characters: Shallow Yet Familiar Kenshin, the central character, is one of anime’s most iconic "tragic heroes," but his personality is far from complex. His constant internal struggle between hisvow not to kill and his need to protect the innocent is an intriguing concept, yet it becomes repetitive. His character arc—while grounded in redemption—is frustratingly static for much of the series. Kenshin's decisions often feel predictable, as his sense of righteousness overshadows any real growth.
The supporting cast, while colorful, are not much better. Kaoru, the headstrong dojo master, is a familiar anime archetype—a spirited but emotionally volatile woman who exists mostly to serve as Kenshin's emotional anchor. The side characters like Saito, Yahiko, and Megumi are often reduced to caricatures or plot devices, lacking the depth that would make them truly memorable. Their relationships with Kenshin are predictable, and while they do add moments of levity, the overall character dynamics feel one-dimensional at times.
Conclusion:
When it comes to the animation, Rurouni Kenshin is competent but rarely exceptional. The fight scenes, which should be the highlight of any action-oriented anime, are serviceable, though they often feel repetitive. The animation quality dips noticeably in the latter half of the series, particularly in some of the less action-heavy episodes, where characters are poorly drawn and backgrounds look generic. The lack of fluidity in certain battle sequences detracts from the intensity that the show is supposed to deliver.
RIO_WARLOCK
English: Incredible first season, it improved everything from the original, and even added improved scenes and corrected some weird scenes, and even added content from the manga that was released years later. Seriously, what a faithful adaptation and better than the original. Watch. The only flaw is that some scenes could have been improved, but man, it's very well animated, GO FOR IT.] PT-BR: Primeira temporada incrivel, melhorou tudo do original, e ainda colocou cenas aprimoradas e corrigiu algumas cenas esquisitas, e ainda adicionou conteúdo do mangá que lançou anos depois. Serio, que adaptação fiel e melhor que o original. Assistam. único defeito é que algumas cenaspodiam ter sido melhorada, mas cara, ta muito bem animada, VAI NA FÉ.
PapaSomm
This is probably the most well-intentioned anime I’ve ever seen, that just couldn’t hit the mark. It had all the right pieces: a well written story, lovable characters, great animation, and atmospheric music. I’m thinking where it went wrong is in being a little too faithful to the manga. It could have been a period piece, but it would have needed to be significantly more dramatic, with harder hitting stakes. Since, however, it flirted with superhuman techniques and abilities, it ended up falling far short of the multitudes of Shonen anime that feature far more exciting concepts. Shonen has come a long way since thiswas written, and I think it could have used some creative liberties with the fight choreography. Even with the updated animation, this anime is a victim of its age. Bottom line: this retelling is a fantastic, beautifully portrayed period piece that explores a pivotal time in Japan’s history, but ultimately does not manage to captivate the imagination, and comes off as being fairly bland.
Latooq
Ruroni Kenshin is considered to be one of the greatest shonen series even despite all negative information about the author. Plus, the fact that an old show is still talked about made me intrigued because it usually means that a show did something really outstanding for its time. However, an anime I watched has nothing like that and either it is a bad adaptation or the show gets better after 40 episodes or maybe the fame of the franchise is the result of pure nostalgia. The story itself is too simple: the anime doesn't try to use the full potential of the themes it presents, thecharacters don't undergo any changes, and it is episodic. These are properties of any simple story and what makes feel like a children story is a narrator that butts in and explains primitive stuff like what the opium is. The story was too primitive for me to be fully invested and the story structure didn't help. Episodic format is good for creating diverse situations and maintaining good pacing and Ruroni Kenshin partially succeeds in it but its every arc lasts only several episodes and it was underwhelming how every conflict was resolved. There is one character, who is really pissed on the government for what it did 10 years ago and he has been planning to overthrow it since then. And the only thing it took to stop him is to talk to him; it's cheep to think that you can really convince a person to stop doing something they've been doing for years. And every other arc concludes in the similar anticlimactic way.
The show did a good job in portraying the early Meiji era. That was a significant period in Japanese history that led to drastic changes in law, culture, and politics. And seeing it all shown in the anime was the only thing I fully enjoyed. This setting also presents a great opportunity to create compelling villains, who would refuse to accept a new government and, thus, acknowledge only the old law. Nevertheless, the villains are still cartoonish as hell and even if sometime they are motivated by the political changes it never becomes the central part of a conflict. Every other character is also simple as villains with the exception of Kenshin Himura, who has a background of a successful warrior. In the end he becomes a pacifist but the anime doesn't give any details why it happened neither it provides any philosophical background for the decision.
The animation outside the battles looks good in general and during the battles it can range from acceptable to just fine but never exceptional, so in comparison to modern shonen the animation looks dated. The ost again is good but none of the tracks is memorable. The OPs and EDs are worth skipping: uninspiring songs and even more uninspiring visuals.
I don't see any reason to make a remake of the original Ruroni Kenshin, if the goal wasn't to put everything in animation. It has an episodic format, which was perfect for 2000s but not now; the fight scenes isn't on a par with modern shonen as well. It's still going to appeal to the fans of the og show and to people who wanted to watch RK for whatever reason and now the modern filler-free version is available.
AkiraMiyazaki17
Completely pointless, insipid series. Credit where credit is due: the new voice cast does an impressive job of following on from the iconic voices of the original series, and honestly it has a pretty decent start, but there’s a complete lack of gravity and flavour here. The art style is SO bland; I can imagine not minding it if you’d never seen anything better, but looking back at how dynamic and rich the aesthetics of the 90s were, it’s enough to make one lament about the state of modern mainstream Shounen. The music—another major highlight of the original—is completely generic and lacks any presence inthis show, and coupled with the lack of filler to let the characters breath, it makes the whole thing completely emotionally inert. The action is fine, but also feels a little weightless; I knew it would be naive to wish for anything as good as Trust & Betrayal—but seriously… how is an obscure 1999 ova doing better action than a show from 2023? This is just a directionless, dull mess. I’d have been more forgiving if they just went straight to adapting the Jinchuu arc instead of spending so much time treading ground that had already been covered, but alas it will be years before we see any exciting new material.
CaptainKenshiro
I’ve seen many comparisons with the previous anime which I found a bit unfair so I thought why not write something about it? With my own take on said comparisons. In terms of visuals, this remake follows the same idea as the new Bastard!! which was also made by LIDENFILMS. Compared to the previous adaptation, the overall artwork here is more consistent and doesn’t have the same quality drops, and of course the characters look closer to what you can find somewhere else this day, instead of the typical 90s look they had in the 1996 anime. The models are also more consistent, as another decisionmade with this series was to be more faithful to the source material, which means that this show has less comedy which in turn is not as exaggerated, and thus the characters don’t turn into chibis during the funny moments. Still, from what I’ve seen and read, even the manga has more comedy than this, so clearly there´s an idea of presenting an overall more serious story.
With that said, at some point even the artwork begins to suffer from quality drops and being more inconsistent and with the character models going off.
The coloring is also obviously different from how it was back then, and even the directing seems to focus more on showing the characters, with very little of the backgrounds and even less long shots. A good example of this is the scene where Kenshin closes the door of the dojo and goes towards Kaworu on the first episode. Which is also the reason why the backgrounds on this newer version are such a mixed bag, all the crowds besides the main characters talking and moving instead of just standing still is fine, but the buildings and environment look so…uninspired and unpolished, especially every time that grass and water are shown.
The special effects are overall ok in both versions but don’t really make sense in either of them, as sparks and beams come out when swords clash or just move during an attack. Well, I guess not much can be done when the action is limited to just people jumping and fighting with swords. Also, just like the older series used negative colors at points, the newer show seems to have its own version, as you can see when Kurogasa paralyzes people on the sixth episode. I don’t know, this stuff looked cool to me when I was a kid but come off as silly to me now.
As for the actual animation, the idea behind it is to present the stronger characters as being way faster than everyone else. The 90s anime did it with a few frames followed by speed lines, the newer goes for teleporting the likes of Kenshin or Kurogasa with some light beams here and there to represent the slashes of their swords while everyone else falls to the ground. Since this version is more faithful, Kenshin isn’t AS stronger as he was in the previous anime, and some of the more over the top moments have been changed, as you can notice with how he stuck a dude on the ceiling with his barely visible sword and not just his finger as he was shown doing it in 1996. Both versions have quite limited motions but the 90s version is slightly superior.
As a whole, as a kid from the 90s and someone who watched the original Rurouni Kenshin as one of his first anime at, like, 13, I am biased towards the aesthetics of the previous version. The coloring and models may be more inconsistent, and the chibi bits unnecessary and clashing in tone, but there was a certain charm and warmth in it that the newer anime simply lacks, making it a bit more soulless. With that said, the highlights of the show are still left to be adapted in this version, so visuals and directing might surprise us all once the big arcs are adapted.
What’s undeniably worse in the new version is the sound department. The original Rurouni Kenshin has one of the best and most iconic soundtrack in any fighting shounen anime, for some even in the medium as a whole. Personally I don’t rank it THAT high, but I consider it to be very very good. The remake has a serviceable music, nothing wrong with it, but it just can’t even begin to think of competing with the older one.
Something I was never fond of in the original were both of its openings. I know they are some of the most cherished of all time, but to me that has to do more with nostalgia than anything else. The music in both is…acceptable, and the visuals and songs flow together really really well, but I just can’t stand the voice of the singer, which I rank among the worst I have heard in the whole medium. And I still prefer them to whatever the new anime went for in its first intro song, which not only do I think it sucks and skip every time, it doesn’t even fit the series, though to be honest, I thought the same thing with the classic ones. The second one is much better in my opinion, even if it’s still just fine.
As I mentioned in my Ravages of Time and Oooku reviews, what pisses me off not only about the Kenshin remake but other series like Vinland Saga and Golden Kamuy is that they are historical series, yet don’t even try to mix some elements from their time periods and setting to their intros. Just look at the latest one from the third anime I mentioned, which is half rap and half English, for a series that happens during the Russian-Japanese war and a big part of it is showing the Ainu culture. But apparently none of that matters as long as the song hypes you up, even with series that are not supposed to hype you up.
To me, openings and endings are not important nor do they reflect the quality of an anime in the least, but since they exist, they shouldn’t just promote an artist or sell on the product to be considered great, they should also reflect what the shows are like. Otherwise you end with the Death Parade situation, one of the most dramatic anime of all time about dead people, where the intro has one of the most unfitting upbeat songs ever while the characters dance like idiots to one of the silliest sounding voices I have heard in my life. If they don’t, they are just like those misleading trailers for movies and stuff, and since those are criticized, I don’t see the reason why these shouldn’t be as well.
Something that I always preferred in the 90s anime where the ending songs, there were seven of them if I remember correctly, and although they didn’t fit the anime that well either, by themselves they were pretty good songs, and just like the openings, the directing in all of them was great. The new anime has a first outro so bad and unfitting I couldn’t even finish it the first time, and I proceeded to skip it every single time. The second isn’t as bad, but I still find it unfitting and nowhere near as good as the ones from the previous anime.
The sound effects are…serviceable on both versions. The 90s one had good ones for its time that are outdated by now at times and surprisingly good at others. The most iconic fighting scenes and techniques haven’t been covered yet, so maybe this will change once that happens, but so far the adaptation from this year has presented some very stock sound effects. Again, not bad, but very generic and forgettable, and inconsistent in how impactful they are in different episodes. As a whole, this aspect is the one where both series are more on par with the other than anything else.
As for the voice acting, I can’t help but think that no version is really good, and ultimately, deciding which is the best one comes down to personal preference. The 90s anime had a curious cast, where a big portion of the most important characters were voiced by people that either weren’t voice actors, or barely have had experience in the field at that moment. Yet at the same time, others were performed by people that were already veterans, or would become veterans just some years later. The end result ends up being a mixed bag by itself. The thing is, the newer one was well selected and the voices fit the characters well and their performances are good, it’s just that it has a huge legacy to face. As so-so as the original voice acting was, those people voiced the characters so many times across so many different products, they inevitably got better at it, and practically became the characters themselves for long time fans.
To speak a little about the most noticeable changes, Kaoru sounds sweeter and younger now than she did back then, not just simply because Rie Takahashi sounds like that, at least when she uses her cute tone, but also because in the 90s anime, Kaoru was a lot more violent, a trait that many female leads had around that time for comical effect, that as a far as I remember from the little I read of the manga, she wasn’t like that in the source material, thus making her newer self to be more faithful to the original. In the end, both are good and fitting for the different takes on the character.
I don’t know who voices Sanosuke now but he sounds like Yuuichi Nakamura to me, his voice sounds good and fitting to me, and frankly I prefer this voice actor to Yuji Ueda, who I never liked much. With that said, the new voice lost the raspiness of the original, again, it’s not bad, but this way the character lost a little of the aggressiveness and the idea of a “badass sounding guy” from back then.
The biggest, most notorious and most divisive change was of course Kenshin, who now is voiced by a man and not by a woman. The thing is, the casting choice back then wasn’t just because, there was an in-story and directing reason for it. As he is supposed to be based around a supposed real samurai that was rumored to be a woman or a boy for how young he looked and sounded. Also, because that voice was simply funnier during the comical moments, which were drastically changed or removed in this anime. Since the new adaptation goes for a more serious approach and tone, the male voice fits better with the new take on the character, just like Kaoru. This way, the change from the normal Kenshin to the angry Kenshin or the Hitoriki Battousai may not be as impactful and noticeable as it was before, but eh, you gain some, and lose some.
Tomokazu Sugita as Kurogasa. He is a good actor that always gives his best on every performance, but I just can’t take him completely seriously for some reason. He did very well with his character, who was remade to look and sound younger than he was in the previous version, but he is simply not in the same league as Akio Ohtsuka for me.
Satoshi Hino as Saitou. I expected Ken Narita to take over what was once a role of the late Hirotaka Suzuoki and nailing the performance once more as his perfect replacement, but whenever this actor, Hino, uses his serious voice he isn’t bad, here he did a great job.
As a whole, the sound department is overall better in the original anime, but the voice acting is on par on both versions because of the different takes on the characters and tone on each one, and if for some reason you must choose one over the other, it ends up coming down purely to personal preference.
As for the writing, the plot revolves around a samurai from the Bakumatsu era reflecting on all the killings he did for achieving peace, and defending innocent common people in the Meiji era, as he is constantly challenged and faced by his past in one way or another. The show as a whole follows a very standard classic fighting shounen formula, in the first episodes Kenshin finds what comes to be the main group of characters, while he goes around saving folks from the corrupt authorities like Zorro, basically. Then a short arc establishes said group for good as well as his main rivals during the series, and then two (or three) big arcs follow, and then the series ends.
This essentially means that at the beginning, the anime is rather slow moving, even more so if you only watch this version and are used to the pacing of newer action shounen. Still, in terms of writing and pacing, things that I consider are most important, the new anime beats the original as far as I’m concerned. This season decided to adapt a short prequel manga which wasn’t all that good, even if it served to explained a major aspect of the main character, before stopping at the beginning of a big arc, one of the most highly acclaimed in the whole medium, so its quality is affected because of that compared to the previous adaptation, but in its favor it removed all the filler present in that version.
Not to say that fillers are bad by themselves, sometimes they can add more build up for a better pay off (Dragon Ball), rearrange events for the better (Hokuto no Ken), or show more fights that are completely skipped in the source material (Yu Yu Hakusho), but in the case of 90s Rurouni Kenshin, they were mostly used to stretch the duration with minor fights in between against clearly outclassed enemies, and then finishing the series with 32 episodes of original material that, before the so called big three, were considered to range from average to the worst filler arcs in all anime, before ending incomplete, with a sequel that was half recap and half rushed storylines, with a divisive original ending, which I personally found good and fitting. As good as the Kyoto arc may be, it can’t make up for so much inferior content.
Even when taking differences from both anime aside, I still don’t consider the writing in any of them to be that good. Sure, the characters talk about the new and the old eras, there are clashing ideological and political views, which in turn serve to flesh out the cast and what not, but the dialogues themselves are quite simple and come down to preachy monologues, as you would expect from a politician during a speech, basically. Plus, on a series where Kenshin is faced and challenged about his ideas and past actions, and what they led to, it’s a bit of a flaw when he is clearly right all the time since, besides Hajime Saito and Aoshi Shinomori, every other guy he fights is presented as a psycho, while he is the only one that makes a real point, and has grown and matured over time.
The exposition is awkward in both versions, since information and backdrops for the characters are presented in quite random ways and moments.
Speaking of characters, since the anime is all about fleshing out Kenshin, he is hands down among the best protagonists in all fighting shounen and the medium in general, while everyone else fills their role just fine. Kaoru is an ok love interest, and despite her naivety, she brings him the peace he so much longed for, and serves as the representation of his ideal new era. Yahiko is an ok student of both, he begins as weak and very rude but grows consistently in later arcs, and Sanosuke goes from a brute that fights against everyone just because, to the biggest bro that ever broed as the series goes on, way before Roronoa Zoro. His backdrop story was changed a little in the original anime, but both are good on their own.
Since the new adaptation took away all the filler of the previous one, that also means that the main cast no longer interacts with some recurring minor characters from the 90s anime, they added nothing on their own to be honest, but served to flavor the main ones during the relaxing moments and give the previous version that certain charm and warmth that the newer series lacks for the sake of plot progression, gain some, lose some.
Aoshi and Saito like I said are the only decent rivals Kenshin has in the early episodes and arcs. The former for his code of honor, the latter for being the strongest not psycho opposition to the protagonist in both strength and ideals.
As for what’s in for the future, the highly acclaimed Kyoto arc will present a whole new decent set of antagonists with strong backdrop stories and even different dynamics amongst them, while keeping all the themes from the series. If the remake adapts that arc with the same seriousness as this season, it will increase its overall quality by a lot. With that said, said arc will still have typical fighting shounen issues, such as characters fighting one against one while calling out their attacks and fighting styles as they already did so far, in unrealistic fights, especially for an historical series and setting, but at least all of that will lead to an epic and bittersweet finale.
When comparing the value of both series, the new one is clearly at a disadvantage, as the 90s anime was one of the most famous and beloved from its era, with some of the most praised arcs and soundtracks in the medium that made it super memorable, and it didn’t have much competition out there, while the newer one, while I’d bet it was big in Japan, didn’t have nearly the same impact in the west, partly because of nostalgic bias in favor of the previous version, but also because of all the competition it has right now, as well as many refusing to watch a series made by a pedophile author.
As for what is the version that I personally enjoyed the most, it’s the prequel ovas followed by the live action movies, but limiting it to these two, I have to go with the newer one by a little. As much as I prefer the aesthetics and the 90s feel of the previous anime, keeping the core story without all that inferior filler made it a more pleasing experience altogether for me.
In the end, I give the edge to the original anime only by a little thanks to its aesthetics and legacy, and only compared with this particular season. If the following ones do a job as decent as this one, or even better improve it with more polished dressing, I will rate those ones higher, and place the remake altogether as better as the older series.
Remake 6/10 for now
Original 6.5/10
camay1997
What I liked is the superior art and animation to the original. When I watched the original I was disappointed the art and animation didn't measure up to Samurai X's. That alone was my primary reason for wanting to watching this. Kenshin and his morale code and backstory make him a character you can understand even if you don't identify with him. It's a question we all have to deal with, "Should you never kill people, even if they deserve it?" This is combined with the villains and their motives giving us the viewers the chance to empathize or not with them. Always asking thesame question, do they deserve to die? Us the viewers and the characters have to ask this question every time. Also, I expected a more streamlined, less filler version this time.
Speaking of the characters, the rest of the main cast are one note chard board cut outs. Yahiko is always yelling and defiant, Sannosuke is always brawling and drinking, the rest are even less memorable. My biggest issue is this show requires a desire to learn about Japanese history to be truly enjoyed; or at least an intimate awareness of it. If history isn't your thing, this might not be the series for you. My last issue is, if you genuinely enjoyed the original version, I can give you no real reason to watch this.
In conclusion, I loved it for the visual upgrade from the original, but but it's a bit of a history lesson. And if you loved the original, there's no need to watch this
robert788
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023) A remake that was needed? no. A remake that is trying to set itself up as a serious? Not needed. This franchise has been done before and it was fine. The live-action films did what this couldn't. All this does is drag everything out in as long a format as it can. Whilst it was entertaining in some ways it also used a really stupid way for Kenshin to speak. Referring to himself in the third person repeatedly is not fun nor is it good to listen to. The characters are rushed yet the show takes ages to do anything.The animation doesn't look serious for the plot. It looks like a show a kid watches before school whilst also trying to be edgy.
The sound is fine, nothing great, nothing bad.
Overall, it lacks a soul, it wasn't needed and now they are going to drag it out for as long as they possibly can with most likely Kenshin speaking in that really stupid way.
4/10. Ruined a great franchise.
