::Rurouni Kenshin the Live Action; Review by the resident fangirl::

I totally owe Sato Takeru an apology ｡：ﾟ(｡ﾉω＼｡)ﾟ･｡

I’M SO SORRY!!!!!

And let’s go read my review shall we? Keep in mind that this is a review by a long-time Rurouken fan, who watched the anime religiously, knows the lyrics of the anime’s OP and ED and had them as ringtones and who chased after the mangas endlessly regardless of countries she moved to back in the days.

I’ve shed sweat, tears and literally blood for the rurouken fandom and I’m going to review this all out.

Read along if you’re ready and watch out for SPOILERS.

When I first heard news of a Live Action adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin back in 2011, I didn’t give it any thoughts. I mean, you know how things ended with Dragonball Evolution D8 I didn’t want Rurouken, one of my favs, to end up like that disgusting monstrosity!!!!!! So yea, I didn’t expect much of it…especially when I read that Satou Takeru, who I know better as Kamen Rider Den’ou is going to play Kenshin…..(´；ω；`) I think I shed a tear at the news and swore to myself that I would never watch this because it’s going to suck.

And I should have known better. Who knows, 2 years later, I saw this movie and I’m in love with it.

And I owe Takeru an apology m(_ __m)

I am a superficial fuck. I know. I never learn too, lol. Always judging things by the book…and you’d think after 21 years of living I would learn…but no *shakes head*

Anyway, me being an idiot aside, let’s go review this shyt! I have watched this 14 times in a row nitpicking everything I can remember to compare it against the anime/manga counterparts.

LETS GOOOOO!!! *cough*

***

Based on the famous, long running manga of the same name, this movie should be a perfect example, the general benchmark, of future manga -> movie adaptations. This movie not only satisfy all those Rurouken fans, but it’s also detailed enough to attract non-fans into watching this action-packed romance story. I can go on more and more but let’s do this in order.

STORY ADAPTATION – B+

I think this entire movie covers the first Takeda Kanryuu arc and also a little part of the Jinchuu arc with how some parts of Kenshin’s past were revealed. These two arcs were far apart in the manga, but I just love how they piece together the information in this movie. Not one thing seem out of place, even though they made a lot of changes, and everything just flow brilliantly. Several changes has to be noted tho, like how Raijuta, the one who was challenging the Kamiya dojo in the manga wasn’t here and his spot was replaced by Takeda Kanryuu’s men. Jin-E too has a bigger part here, and omg, I love his Live Action counterpart so much! There are other changes sure, but overall nothing for me to really complain about xDDD  Well, I do…kinda…about Gein. The live action counterpart is more like a hybrid of Gein + Hanya O_O….yea I dunno what would happen after this….

CASTING – A

Yes, again, another apology to Sato Takeru xDD I thought he was gonna suck, but damn, he was one of the best actors in this movie. He said he’d do his best, and he did. He gave everything 110% even to the dang fight scenes xD

Now, my Kamen Rider fangirl self has to say this but HOLY DANG MOTHER OF FLYING PUDDINGS KIKKAWA KOJI AS JIN-E?! To all you non Kamen Rider fans, Kikkawa Koji-san played Kamen Rider Skull in the Kamen Rider W series, one of the classiest mofo in the history of Kamen Rider >o< and then when he and Satoru were sword fighting all I can think of was “OMFG DEN’OU VS. SKULL!!” orz

But no, in all seriousness, Koji was awesome. His acting was marvelous like always and he totally took control of Jin-E. He nailed his performance, from the action scenes all the way to the black eerie pupils of his. Definitely a worthy antagonist for the movie, never a dull moment with him around.

Yu Aoi‘s appearance as Megumi took me by complete surprise. Last I see her was back in 2007 and BAM! there she was, playing the foxy doctor Megumi-san. Gotta say her acting was awesome, but you know…as Megumi…I think she kinda lack the adult-charm that doctor has. Still tho, lovely face, lovely acting, whenever she comes on screen it’s always a marvel to watch.

Eguchi Yosuke as Hajime Saito? My god, where should I start? I screamed in all fangirlishness when I saw him in Saito’s meiji-era police uniform. DETAILED POLICE UNIFORM WITH SLICK HAIR. My mom would look at me strangely for fangirling at people three times my age but I DONT CARE XD god, he was wonderful! Even tho I love how he plays Saito, I just can’t ignore the way he’s more of a charming jerkass in the live action when he’s kinda a total asshole in the manga xDD Still tho OMGGGGGGGG SO AWESOMEEEE. As much as I love his portrayal, still gotta laugh at the flying Gatotsu LOL

Now with the goods, come the bads. I’m sorry but I have to say Takei Emi‘s portrayal of Kaoru is probably one of the weakest in the movie ^^;;; Probably because she’s still new to the acting world, but I’m not sure….for one, SHE’S TOO PRETTY XDD Kaoru in the manga is shown as a typical looking japanese girl, whose looks was far from beautiful and lost to her rivals in love, like Megumi. But wow, Emi’s so pretty my eyes went O_O when I saw her. A pretty Kaoru??? Definitely not complaining, but just…not right you know? And I didn’t get the chemistry between her and Takeru’s Kenshin…so their exchange during the last Jin-E fight was kind of fake to me….but yea. Still good 83

Even so, amongst these awesome actors and actresses, the one who stole the show for me was the actor for Takeda Kanryuu himself, Kagawa Teruyuki. I can’t believe how he managed to almost single-handedly stole the show with how….flesh-like real his acting was. He was such an ASSHOLE and as an antagonist, if they managed to get to your nerve, it shows how good the actor’s acting is. I was fuming the entire time watching this and I really can’t believe how I was so in to this, drawn so much to his portrayal of the freaking annoying mob boss that I feel like kicking his face whenever he appears on screen xDD A round of applauce to Kagawa-san, everyone. I heard he’s from a long line of Kabuki family? No wonder his acting is so good….

In the entirety I think casting is awesome xD Even Sano’s actor, whose name I do not know, kinda portray him accurately. Kinda! I especially love the bits where they managed to put in his interest over Megumi. As a Sano/Megumi fan, this makes me happy xD No complain at all here, nu-uh.

FIGHT SCENES – OVER NINE THOUSAND A’S

I almost pissed myself in excitement at the fightscenes. As someone who grew up watching Jackie Chan/Jet Lee/Chinese Kung Fu movies, I love LOVE action scenes, and dear lord of the muppets, THE FIGHTING SCENES HERE ARE SO AMAZING. I can see wireworks, as always, but what impressed me so much was how they used the wires. As far as I know, the use of wire techniques was to help with the flying/jumping scenes. But here? They used it to speed up in non-flying ways. Example, it’s like the fight scene in Takeda Kanryuu’s manor. Kenshin’s almost horizontal kick along the ground was helped by wire, and fudge, I got to say I nearly wet myself at that scene. It’s a new implementation of wireworks and AHHH I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT. I can’t explain it better, but fudge, GO EFFING WATCH IT YOURSELF DANGIT.

So fast and neatly choreographed, none of the movements are stiff or out of place. Everything is just quick and efficient, especially regarding Kenshin’s famous Hitenmitsurugi Ryuu, which is supposed to be instant killing technique *shakes head* I’m having goosebumps just by imagining it. Seriously, go watch.

SOUNDTRACK/MUSIC – B+

I kinda expected enka and traditional music like in the anime OST….but no, we get freaking awesome orchestra o.o It sounds like it came out from a suspense/horror film or something, it feels weird to listen to such music while watching the swordfights, but it did give new flavor to it. Works pretty good too, tho I’m not that taken yet xD Lemme watch a bit and I know I’d prolly be downloading the music in weeks to come.

Now, the themesong however, I AM ALREADY HOOKED. By the band ONE OK ROCK, the single titled 「The Beginning」 was the perfect song to end the movie. It’s just so full of emotion and a perfect title for the first movie xD Since you know, it was said to be the first of many with a sequel to follow….Anyway yea! Go listen to this song now! I get goosebumps all over from the vocal ❤

OVERALL THOUGHTS – SO EFFING WORTH IT

My earlier expectation of watching a shitty adaptation of one of my favorite manga growing up was shattered into thousands of pieces. Like a slap on the face, this multi-million dollar production showed me how wrong I can be from judging a book by its cover and proved me oh so very wrong. It is an amazing movie, compact for it’s 2 hours worth of story telling with dense info about the amazing work of Rurouken. As a long time fan you can imagine how happy I am to know how this movie turned out, and of course, Nobuhiro Watsuki-sensei would agree with me. I haven’t read anything about his opinion of the movie, but I sure do hope he enjoyed it.

This movie is pure gold, and well…if possible, anyone who comes across this movie, please please, don’t overlook it and judge it by the cover like I did, and just damn watch it. It won’t be a waste of time, it won’t be a waste of your money, it won’t be a waste of anything. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the movie.

That’s all from me tho….I’ll see you in the next post xD

Thanks for reading this mammoth of a post! Laters!

Just give me a reason
To keep my heart beating
Don’t worry it’s safe right here in my arms
As the world falls apart around us
All we can do is hold on, hold on

***

P.S.

Kenshin lost his dango 15 minutes into the movie… He never retrieved it…

I’m still irked by it.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAMN DANGO?!