RUROUNI KENSHIN

Original title: Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku roman tan

Directed by: Keishi Otomo

Starring: Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei, Koji Kikkawa, Yu Aoi, Teruyuki Kagawa, Taketo Tanaka,

Runtime: 134 min

One does not simply have a samurai movie without duelling under the rain and slo-mo gasm of the epic battle. Based on popular manga (Japanese comic) and anime (anime actually means; animation/cartoon but those who are die hard Japanese anime fans refused to call anime as cartoon. I don't know why) I believe this one should stand alone as a movie, not to be compared with the anime/manga. Speaking of which I do not accept argument that this film should be loyal to the anime/manga, this is a two hour movie and the filmmaker has liberties to crunch or remove 'unimportant' sub-plots or characters.

I myself only familiar with the anime series. Civil War hero Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh) better known as Hitokiri Battosai (Hitokiri means manslayer) introduced in a battle in 1868. He is ruthless and cruel. After the war Kenshin decided to stop being a killer, ditch his sword (now he have a reversed sword so he will not kill again) and lead a life less ordinary by being a wanderer.

Ten years later Kenshin managed to live alone all by himself until he ran into Kaoru (Emi Takei). Kaoru runs the fencing school left by her father whise name has been smeared of having Battosai fingerprint of killing. Meanwhile a 'fake' Battosai is running around in Tokyo and killing people.

The fake Battosai works for a businessman named Kanryu (Teruyuki Kagawa) who is rich and have an opium business, protected by hundreds of ex-samurai. The opium 'pharmacist' is Megumi (Yu Aoi) who runs from the Kanryu mansion only to seek refuge at Kaori's school.

The rest of the story is easy to predict, especially to the anime fans. The best parts are not the acting but the fighting choreography which lucky for me, does not copy 100% of what the anime used to show and does not feel like a Hong Kong martial arts movie.

Blood being spilled but gore had been reduced to minimum so it does not feel too cruel. I think it would be better if the story is a bit darker, but  overall this one is enjoyable, mixing swordplay and easy to predict story to satisfy anyone. The cinematography is very nice, it shows beautiful pictures without resorting into postcard like scenery and last by not least, not a trace of the anime to be seen here, which is good in my opinion.

Will there be part two? Judging from the financial success and rave reviews from hardcore fans, I think there will be.