Flick Review: Rurouni Kenshin the Legend Ends

10/09/2014 10:36:57 AM

I was never an avid fan of Rurouni Kenshin, or known ehre in the country as Samurai X. Maybe because I never managed to keep my eyes glued on the program when I was a kid, especially during those era where I only get a regular hold on Zenki, Hell Teacher Danube, Monster Rancher Dragon Ball, Magic Knight Rayearth, Lupin III, Ranma ½ and even Yaiba; and rare times on the likes of Samurai X, as well as the popular Naruto, Detective Conan, Gadget Boy.

Perhaps if these mentioned Anime toons had all in common: is that they're all adventurous in terms of plot maps.

I never even had a chance to watch Kyoto Inferno which I believe is an instant hit, considering Warner Brothers backed them up in terms of producing this trilogy (yes, thanks to my friends whose more FBIs than the typical program researchers, the first film was made in 2012, before the two-part epic brought to life this year).

Apparently, some friends of mine, Otakus by nature or just plain fanboys and fangirls, told me RK TLE was as beautiful as shit. In another hip-hop lingo, sick as fuck.

Well, good thing you guys did not made me disappointed at all.

Battosai, after murdering a shogun, and moreover, after falling off the sea and apart from Kauro (which I believe in the previous movie) and recovered by his master, was up for revenge — and taking down his successor Shishio Makoto, whose on the verge of taking over Japan.

The latter though had another in mind: capturing Kenshin Himura and kill the assassin's legacy afterward.

I got one thing in mind that makes this movie awesome: the fighting scenes. Unlike what I saw on the previous Anime movie (which is by the way, Lupin III), RK TLE somewhat makes action sequences as both real and sic as it gets. From Himura's training with Seijuro Hiko, to his blade slugfest with Aoshi Shinmori, and ultimately on his duel with Shishio.

I can't say that The Legend Ends will be really a fitting one to culminate the series (yes, despite the title) since I have yet to see the previous Ruroni Kenshin movies though.

Plus what's an action movie without a bit of comical antics? That's why Munteka Aoki's character was more vivid on the latter part of the movie. It doesn't matter if he speaks Japanese right there (well, all character used to be that though) but checking on the subtitle's enough to back his humor with punches. I could even thought he was doing some German suplexes a la Brock Lesnar at one point.

And perhaps another upside for this movie is the fact that there are minimal scenes with Kauro, Himura's love interest. Though her character exposure dwindled (according to my friends who followed this series), I think the fight scenes backed the romantic imbalance. Still, I'll take it a positive point. No romantic scenes, much better overall output.

I've got to wonder though, the very limited exposure on some antagonists and supporting characters on the hero's side affected the overall cast's output.

But maybe, like any other films we used to see, some flaws are backed up with much, much better elements. Still, it's as sick as fuck.

The verdict: 7.8

Author: slickmaster | ©2014 september twenty-eight productions