(CR) Rurouni Kenshin (new TV series)

[FlareKnight]

I'm not sure how to read Saito's goals. Maybe he's taking the approach of Jine and is trying to piss off Kenshin enough to get him back into a killing mood? Seems like the type that will say whatever the other side needs to hear and if he does tell the truth it's mixed into a bunch of lies. Effective since I can't tell if he doesn't care about Kenshin or cares a whole lot about setting the stage for a revenge match.

Honestly until near the end I figured Saito wanted to use this idiot to weaken or distract Kenshin before going in for the kill.

Will be interesting regardless since even Kenshin doubts he can win with his current restraint and choice of weapon. Going to be one crazy fight whenever they do clash though. Too bad by this point most of the Shinsengumi are dead and we won't see them outside of flashbacks. But Saito will probably represent their skillsets well even if his current mindset doesn't seem all that honorable.

Also seriously...Sano needs to: A) get a freaking job and 2) get a weapon if he's going to be picking fights like this. Trying to punch it out with a swordsman doesn't seem like a great tactical decision.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Is there anything more iconic to the Bakumatsu era than the Shinsengumi? I mean, they have so many anime's or historical fiction based around them and their members. Even that bit of animation and group shot felt like it was showing how this totally could be a Shinsengumi series if the author had been interested in that .

There really isn't. Such an iconic group that lives on through various dramas and anime even today. Can see their impact and legends in various franchises.

[grecefar]

pretty obvious saito send that nobody so kenshin would beat him easily. Well, that what he gets by just running his mouth like that.

[Master_Yoma]

So Hajime is finely here and all ready sending a message to Kenshin its just to bad Sanosuke got in the way

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Kenshin really shouldn't be this naive. It felt out of character for him to fall for such a simple trick.

Guess you could say his worries about Saito are really throwing him off his game .

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

After a couple of winner episodes with Raijuta, unfortunately this is the episode where the 96 Furuhashi one just can't be beaten by this new one. The art direction, the atmosphere, the build up & the music of the 96 is simply on another level compared to this. It doesnt help that this episode's direction is actually pretty flat compared to some of the best ones from the first cour. The fact that Saito's face was derpy in some shots just further drags this episode down. Here's hoping they saved their A+ game for the actual "Saito vs Kenshin" confrontation. This episode ain't it, chief.

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Too bad by this point most of the Shinsengumi are dead and we won't see them outside of flashbacks.

Well, other than Saito, you can still meet a couple of them in Golden Kamuy where they actually survived the Bakumatsu

[MeoTwister5]

Wonky pacing issues aside, I think I love Satoshi Hino's work as Saito. He also has big shoes to fill and he's doing it great.

[Mad Pierrot]

The flashback to the Shinsengumi made me realize why the art direction feels so different from the 90s. It's not only Furuhashi but the fact that the character designs have changed over the decades. Originally, Kenshin was influenced by shojo manga leading to notable bishonen designs everywhere especially in that image that shows all Shinsensgumi members. Now everybody looks kinda manlier, which also resulted in the guys' hairs looking simpler.

Still, this is gonna be a challenge for the staff considering I think Furuhashi's Kenshin vs Saito was the franchise's best fight ever as he took liberties with the colors and length. Kenshin's final fight in the Kyoto arc is also often celebrated but that thing took a lot more time than Saito.

Also, Kenshin dreaming about his past is something that caught me offguard. Is there something about his mind that enjoyed such cold days like when he changed in his fight against Jine for Kaoru's sake? Even the liveaction showed Kenshin becoming more violent against Jine for Kaoru. Still, Kenshin waking up in shock at least shows that he is in shock about the Bakumatsu.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Is there anything more iconic to the Bakumatsu era than the Shinsengumi? I mean, they have so many anime's or historical fiction based around them and their members. Even that bit of animation and group shot felt like it was showing how this totally could be a Shinsengumi series if the author had been interested in that .

Some months ago, I asked on Reddit as to why the Shinsengumi still remain major Japanese pop culture/heroic icons until today. A user, Daishomaru, explained that their popularity is due to the lingering effect of Taisho and prewar Showa era nationalist propaganda and historical revisionism.
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comme...ent=t1_k0ikjf9

Early-Showa Era Propaganda...revisited the Meiji Era and made samurai figures who were historically the enemies of the Meiji Government heroes in an attempt to boost samurai values.

During the Taisho-Early Showa Era, Japan needed more heroes in their history department, and the Shinsengumi were easy to make as a group of "last samurai" alongside actual last samurai like Saigo Takamori. While (the Shinsengumi) were respected in the Meiji Era,... they weren't worshipped as heroes per se. The general consensus of the last samurai group during the Meiji Era were that they had some good points on honor, but were horrifically outdated and died in vain.

(Showa Era)...propagandists played up the more tragic elements (of the Shinsengumi), calling the Westernization of Japan (less good for romanticised Bushido values)...and that if they continued following the West, they'd lose what it meant to be Japanese.

The problem with the Showa (propaganda) definition of "Bushido values according to history" is that they told Bushido in a way (equivalent to) using 1900s portrayals of Native Americans (as savages) to learn about Native American culture.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot

Also, Kenshin dreaming about his past is something that caught me offguard. Is there something about his mind that enjoyed such cold days like when he changed in his fight against Jine for Kaoru's sake? Even the liveaction showed Kenshin becoming more violent against Jine for Kaoru. Still, Kenshin waking up in shock at least shows that he is in shock about the Bakumatsu.

On some level, he's still a swordsman.

[Engels]

Hello to all,

I am probably one of the biggest fans of RK here. I posted a lot about the series in the original anime's thread, starting probably more than 5 years ago, and I am probably the author of the last post on that thread too (last I saw it, anyway).*

I haven't been posting on this thread purely due to RL issues (which is to say: lack of time), but I totally fell in love with the announcement of a new anime series a long time ago (what was that anyway? 2021?); when it was confirmed that it would be indeed a reboot of the original anime, from scratch, probably adapting the whole manga from start to finish, as should have been done from the beginning anyway, my excitement only grew further.

Although RK is quite a long manga series, it is the only one so far in my life that I have read in its entirety. I read all 28 tankobons, plus Yahiko's Sakabatõ; and even as a super huge fan, I purchased Kenshin Kaden almost one year ago but didn't read any of it, shamefully (my main reason for getting it was that it contained the Kanzenban ending, which is only like 6 pages anyway, but I don't care; it's RK, after all ). And as far as that is concerned, I got this volume(?) because there's no Kanzenban of RK in my country (plus I don't even own all the 28 tankobons anyway, I read like half of thrm for free at a local library; as an avid RK collector, I plan to correct that someday ).

So even though I read and watched it all (the original run anyway...I didn't read Hokkaido or any of the newer publications...although I have purchased a few too!), I still got excited about a new, "proper" adaptation of the manga (which in my opinion is far superior to the original anime in almost any way you slice it), and when it premiered, I meant to follow closely and even post here, but as I said...RL got in the way.

There wasn't really any reason to fear or avoid spoilers (again: read and watched the entire original run on both mediums, so I know all the story...), but I didn't read all the posts in this thread for various reasons. Now that I have introduced myself, I feel like I can finally join in the conversation here.

Because of these aforementioned damn RL issues, I only have watched 10 of the 21 episodes released so far, but it is my intent to catch up. I have to say I have been super glad with what I was delivered so far. From the very first episode, a more accurate adaptation of the legendary manga...finally, after more than 20 years waiting...

OK, I will stop being so dramatic and crazy for a moment, I just couldn't restrain myself more than that in writing this post.

Still, while I immensely enjoyed what I have seen so far, I have read some things here that seemed to hint that the Kyoto/Shishio arc was not being adapted this time...which, honestly, even with the quality delivered so far, would basically just ruin the entire project for me...

Luckily, there is ol' good (well...) Wikipedia for me apart from this thread (which I was generally avoiding until now), where I have been reading each week's episode sumaries...and it looks like Kyoto is being adapted after all, and that is excellent news.

So, that was my long-winded rant/introduction post about my fandom, the series itself, how I generally feel about the new anime...and that's pretty much it. I hope it was at least worth reading for some of you.

And I hope I will finally be able to keep up with you guys...

*I don't know if "last I saw it" was the correct way to write what I meant (English is actually my second language); anyway, I hope it was (!)...

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Frontier

On some level, he's still a swordsman.

On every level IMO, which is the main theme of the series. He can never escape who he is, but he's doing the best he can in the context of accepting that reality.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot

The flashback to the Shinsengumi made me realize why the art direction feels so different from the 90s. It's not only Furuhashi but the fact that the character designs have changed over the decades.

They don't quite have the Hakuouki look, but they're still portrayed as a bunch of handsome, dashing young men. The photographs I've seen of guys like Hijikata and Kondo are less flattering.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

They don't quite have the Hakuouki look, but they're still portrayed as a bunch of handsome, dashing young men. The photographs I've seen of guys like Hijikata and Kondo are less flattering.

Hijikata looks pretty good. He goes by Hirohiko Araki nowadays.

[deadite]

The amount of hate this remake is getting from the RurokKen reddit is off the charts

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by deadite

The amount of hate this remake is getting from the RurokKen reddit is off the charts

You're exaggerating it; bound to happen, like it or not.

I still remember when five episodes of RK '23 started, there were a bunch of accounts dissed RK '96 for not being extremely faithful to source material and have filler (saw this kind of attitude on some tokusatsu community as well, I guess this is more of problem of audiences nowadays).

Now RK '23 reach 20+ episodes, people already have firm grasp of what they got. AFAIK people found it mediocre at best;
Reminder that RK '23 is not the only action this season, JJK S2 airing as well. There's also Frieren and SxF to account. So RK legendary status really put on test.
Some greatly disagree with that outcome for whatever reason, what to do? Make '96 looks bad, which angered some people. Action and reaction. I don't know what you read, but I found it silly to see some people accuses '96 done by lazy animator because Kenshin sometimes flash mobs and have cartoon deformed mode (or insect face, Obelisk said) for jokes compare to '23.

Some others chose to "All hail source material accuracy" whenever talk about '96 start to arise; to each of their own.

Personally, my assessment not much different from what seems to be general consensus. If anything, to this point I don't get what RK '23 tried to tell.
We're moving from Jin'ei to Aoshi to Saito but romanticizing Meiji era seems to be the main concern. BTW, OP shown detailed food and scenery really bugged me.
There's historical explanation for Megumi and some others-- cool, but did we watch this for Meiji documentary or story about swordsman? Young Black Jack did historical snippets much better. I also don't find Katsura and Takasugi addition matters more than "look, look, be excited that sometimes later you may get Jinchu arc."

As if there's not much thought put into it, in my opinion.

[Frontier]

I think it's a pretty solid remake and I think they've nailed certain important aspects.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by deadite

The amount of hate this remake is getting from the RurokKen reddit is off the charts

Who could have predicted...

[grecefar]

people will hate no matter what, that's how it's today.

[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by Tactics

Personally, my assessment not much different from what seems to be general consensus. If anything, to this point I don't get what RK '23 tried to tell.
We're moving from Jin'ei to Aoshi to Saito but romanticizing Meiji era seems to be the main concern. BTW, OP shown detailed food and scenery really bugged me.
There's historical explanation for Megumi and some others-- cool, but did we watch this for Meiji documentary or story about swordsman? Young Black Jack did historical snippets much better. I also don't find Katsura and Takasugi addition matters more than "look, look, be excited that sometimes later you may get Jinchu arc."

As if there's not much thought put into it, in my opinion.

I'm finding myself wondering how cool it would've been to get the full story back during the 90's. I'm missing the coloring and style in particular. Maybe I'll read the manga eventually, the few bits and pieces I've glanced seemed nice.

[Engels]

So, will the first ''season'' finish with 24 or 26 epsiodes?

Originally Posted by grecefar

people will hate no matter what, that's how it's today.

Heh, I agree completely.