Samurai X: Reflection

The Last arc of Rurouni Kenshin, it's all about the final days of a great man that is Kenshin. Everything has been decipted well in this OVA, from the stunning sceneries and up to the stunning orchestral score that it has. The story is delivered very well. It contains flashback of some of Kenshin's greatest battles and is remade or should I call it "Remastered", with a stunning animation. It also includes some scenes/events which you won't find in the manga. The OVA itself will give you a timeslip of what has happened to Kenshin through all of the years he has spentduring his swordsman days. If you have seen the TV Anime, Rurouni Kenshin. This OVA is highly recommended and should I say that you "must" also see the OVA masterpiece Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku Hen for these are the best OVA's of our time.

***Please do not read this if you have not seen this and/or do not like spoilers*** Thank you. Samurai X: Reflections - the good and the mostly bad So what's my beef with the third Samurai X OVA? Well, for starters, it's never a real positive when the creator is not involved with development of a new story (with George Lucas as the exception, as exemplified by the SW prequels). Also, I know people praise the animation as being far superior to the TV series, Rurouni Kenshin, but I wasn't a big fan of the new character designs. I'm all for high-quality, better action, more violencewhen appropriate, but don't strip the characters of the cool looks that made them unique. I am very grateful for the OVA having animations of the parts of the manga that were never realized by the show (to which it COULD have been done if the third series followed the manga, versus coming in with some totally random and meaningless storylines - but that's a whole 'nother rant I could get into...) especially the Enishi battle, but that too had a lot of problems. And here we go! The good: Original voice actors (BTW, anyone who watches anime with the English dub - you do realize you're not a true anime fan?) Short of death, productions should NEVER try to substitute their actors - EVER. Hearing all of the original cast can't begin to express my pleasure at knowing production did their job. More realistic and tender actions by the characters I loved seeing Kenshin and Kaoru actually touching hands, sharing a kiss, and simply taking the time to stand next to one another while looking out across the horizon, etc. Flashback re-animations It was a real treat seeing previous situations brought to life again, such as Kenshin's fight with Jineh, the montage of battles with Sojiro and Shishio, and including important figures like Hiko Seijuro, Shinomori Aoshi, and Saito Hajime. Yukishiro Enishi brought to life! The Jinchu arc of the RuroKen manga is my favorite, by far, because it is the most personal story of Kenshin's and the one in which Kaoru is spotlighted as his great love. So seeing Enishi moving and talking and fighting was a huge deal for me, even if the moment only lasted some minutes. The bad: Character designs... "Hated it!" As stated, I did not like the character designs for the OVAs. Hey, I'm all for the realism and a new look, but can't we make Kenshin still look "sharp" and Kaoru prettier? Even Tomoe looked really generic and beyond hairstyles, the two ladies could be interchangeable. BORING. And something in the way about Kenshin made him less attractive - as Kenshin or even as any anime character. M.I.A. - Saito and Aoshi!! WTF! We get one glance from Saito in the dojo flashback and you spend all this time on the Jineh fight, but you don't bother to animate ANY of the battle between Saito and Kenshin?! This battle could have been done in a montage fashion without any dialogue, but where is the Gatotsu! And then we get a faraway image of Aoshi when he, Sano, and Kenshin return from Shishio's lair - again, NO Aoshi interaction AT ALL! And hello! Where was Misao! I realize people may not like her, but I liked the fact she loved Aoshi and didn't have feelings for Kenshin. Tweaking Kaoru's "Reflections" - especially versus Enishi I understood that some of the events were changed from how things transpired from the manga or even the TV series, when recollected in the OVA, but some things altered so much, I find it unforgivable. Yes, you can skip the faked death doll as that would be too long and confusing to get into, so I was fine with Enishi straight-kidnapping Kaoru. I even enjoyed the fact they kept in the little exchange of understanding that Kaoru had for Enishi's pain in losing his beloved sister. But what about the final Enishi vs. Kenshin battle!?! There is no real reason to change the entire events of the Enishi vs. Kenshin battle on the island. Here was the perfect opportunity to show the fans all the major characters in RuroKen even if they never speak or are shown battling the "Four Gods" from the manga. I loved this part where Kenshin allows his comrades to shine in their respective artform in battle - Saito/katana; Aoshi/kodachis & martial arts; Yahiko/shinai; Sano/fists. Instead, Kenshin arrives alone - not even Yahiko and Sano are allowed. What a complete waste. And then, they completely altered the concept of the "truth" that Kenshin had found within his heart that brought him out of the self-imposed living hell he fell into once he thought he'd lost Kaoru. That truth was that no matter what, Kenshin would always pick up his sword to help someone in need - that is his way to find atonement for his past, and to carry on the sacrifice Tomoe made for him to live on. So WHY the hell would Kenshin offer up his life to Enishi? He is completely tossing aside the truth he found for the sake of one person when his goal was to save as many because dying is too easy - living is what is hard. They could have bypassed the gun fight problem by still letting Kaoru stand between Enishi and Kenshin at some point, but to have Kenshin not only fall to the ground to offer his life up, but to lie there and not even react when Kaoru fell over him to protect him from Enishi's sword? Wrong, wrong, wrong! And now, we step into the realm which completely pissed me off the first time I saw this OVA years ago that made me want to throw this DVD away. (Actually, I was going to sell it until I stumbled across some images of Enishi online that made me realize this "flashback" was on this disc. Whew!) The mighty UGLY: The major problem here is that not involving Watsuki in the creative/development department meant missing his desire for Kenshin, as evidenced by the open-ended but happy place Kenshin and Kaoru found themselves at the end of the manga. Watsuki's own feelings about the OVA ending was that, "Kenshin went through so much crap and deserved a happy ending." And what did these OVA people do instead? - Kenshin decides to help his country by assisting those devasted by war and disease throughout Japan, so he leaves behind his son, Kenji, and his wife, Kaoru, for weeks upon weeks. - Then, Kenshin has some kind of incurable disease (some surmise it is leprosy) and they decide to further this depressive them by letting Kaoru sacrifice herself by contracting the disease as a sign of love and devotion. (Um, YEAH.) - Finally, Kenshin using his last bits of energy returns home to Tokyo to at least die in Kaoru's arms, to which only then his cross-shaped scar finally disappears because he has found his peace and happiness in death. And based on Kaoru's health, she is soon to follow Kenshin aka Shinta to the grave. WHAT THE F*CK people! What upsets me about this ending is how far from the truth of Kenshin's character this OVA Kenshin has proven to be. For instance, at the manga's end, his truth is to stay alive and protect the helpless. However, in the end, Kenshin has found some peace by starting a quiet life with family. He evens gives up the sakabato as a symbol of having moved on past the concept of living and dying by the sword. I found Kenshin's desire to help the sick and destitute while he himself is sick and forsaking responsibilities to his own kin as being incredibly selfish and narcissistic. WHY? Because, the idea that one man, who has already done so much would continue to try and save the world, is a man who is acting as a martyr - even acting like God. He should let the era continue on. He should not try to affect the outcome for every generation. That is egotisical. He is supposed to help those he sees in front of him, not the memories of his past, etc., as expressed in the Jinchu arc. But that is all thrown out. **huff, huff, huff** ... OK. I'm calming down now. But there really was no need to let us see Kenshin die, let alone in such a pitiful and painful way, after "all the crap" he went through. We don't need to be given any kind of "realism" for a beloved character. There's nothing wrong with "happily ever after." There's a reason Cinderella and Prince Charming ends with the wedding and a kiss. We don't need to find out that 10 years later, they have a kid and marital problems, whether that be the truth or not, you know? Give us our joys. I gotta stop ranting - I'm getting annoyed and losing focus. Plus I'm tired and cranky and there is still work tomorrow morning. Basically, I totally dismiss Reflections from the official RuroKen canon and will adhere to the manga as Kenshin's true ending. Naturally, this is all my own personal ranting opinions, so it is what it is.

I have to say, ever since Naruto before the Shippuden arcs in the manga, I have come to hate flashbacks in the middle of an important segment of a story and does nothing to advance it, and this oav does nothing more than reinforce that. I am grateful they did include Enishi and has pretty much his foundational motivations down, but he wasn’t fleshed out and doesn’t really explore him in full depth such as his fighting style and the significance of his sword. I say you’re going to have to read the manga to fully understand his character and it also excludes Enishi’s comradesand the fights they have with Kenshin’s crew, and how Kaoru was able to stop Enishi from going crazy. I say if they dropped the flashbacks and did the Jinchu arc or part of it instead, they could have gotten a fraction of it down and I would have been satsified. And another thing I personally didn’t like about this installment was that it was so damn depressing. I know the first oav was sad, but at least there was character development. And in further addition, not only did fans protest the bullshit ending to this oav, even Watsuki, the original manga author of all people disapproved of it. How the fuck can you have Kenshin die of a disease? I can understand dying from abusing the shit out of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu, but a disease? Come fucking on here. At least give him a death as epic as Joe Yabuki from Ashita no Joe! Also, can’t we have at least a comedic moment? I want Sano to make me laugh his with idiocy, or Kenshin act like a klutz, or Yahiko have a brother-sister like argument. Where the hell was all that? Did a bunch of emos write this shit or something? And one last thing? Where the fuck was Saitou? He deserves his right to settle his score with Kenshin dammit!!! I know Saitou in the manga sort of buried the hatchet, but I still think we need a fight at least for the sake of some kind of closure to that rivalry whether or not the Kenshin that he is now wouldn’t give Saitou the fight he wants. If they managed to squeeze that, I would have forgiven this oav for it’s flaws. The art style and character design is pretty much the same from the first oav, so nothing too much to add and it does make up for the bullshit story. I’ll also admit it also still suits the more serious mood. In the flash back scenes, I did like how they executed the Jin-E and Kenshin fight, and I liked how they made Sano’s hair look more realistic, but yet still feel true to the character, and I thought his Rambo look was pretty cool. There is action, but I felt it could have had more. I thought the Enishi and Kenshin fight didn’t live up to the manga and we really don’t see any of the other cast members such as Kenji, Yahiko, or Sano in action either. Pretty much the voice acting cast from the TV series is back and still do their roles well and in conjunction to the tone of the TV series. And Enishi is played by Sasaki Nozomu most famous for playing Yusuke from Yuu Yuu Hakusho and Tetsuo from Akira, and I felt he brought those qualities to Enishi as well. The music presence in this oav is pretty much the same from the last so you can see my review on that in that oav as well. All I can say is that the ending to this OAV is pretty much an insult to the franchise and its fans. They managed to do the origin story very well, and they had no excuse to fuck up with this one. You might as well end it with Kenshin meeting Tom Cruise in his last samurai character and deciding to convert to the church of scientology to atone for his sins. To me, the people who wrote this god awful story raped Kenshin in the same light that Lucas and Spielberg raped Indiana Jones. Just animate the whole fucking Jinchuu arc and you had what I would call an epic master piece, but instead, we get an epic piece of crap.

As a Ruro-ken manga purist, all I can say is that this OVA is crap. Basically, the Kenshin in this OVA has to be from an alternate universe because the personality and the actions of Kenshin, and even Kaoru are totally different from how they are portrayed in the manga and in the anime. Naturally, the story line in the manga flows much better, as well. [spoiler] As many other manga purists have already pointed out, the real Kenshin would have never agreed to have gone to China to aid in the Sino-Japanese war, even as an advisor, and leave Kaoru toraise Kenji by herself. And of course, you have the case where Megumi gave Kaoru a wake-up call by chewing her out about how she initially chose to cry and feel sorry for herself, rather than go after Kenshin, when he left without her for Kyoto to face Makoto Shishio. In this OVA, Kaoru uncharacteristically continues with this display of weakness and cries and runs away from Kenshin after finding out the truth about the meaning of Jinchuu and the fact that he himself was the one that killed Tomoe. Of course Kaoru never did this in the manga and never made the same mistake after being chewed-out by Megumi. [/spoiler]