Rurouni Kenshin eps 77-95
Oct. 23rd, 2006 02:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The episode with the fake Battosai was rather fun, if on the predictable side. I’m surprised there aren’t more actually. There was the one at the beginning when he met Kaoru, and then this guy, but that’s it. It makes sense, though, that Kenshin knew about him already...I really doubt that he would ever not know about someone running around using his name...I’ve always half-thought he knew about the guy in the beginning but did his (then) normal playing dumb bit. Next up we have an episode of an artist with a crush on Kaoru. I must say, all protestations aside, the boys certainly move at the speed of light when bath time is involved in rescues. Also quite fun, but it would have been nice to see a bit of jealousy from Kenshin. Then again, I’m not sure he’s capable of it.
The Voyage to the Moon World arc, I think more than made up for the religious arc. About halfway through it, I realized that it’s the same story as the Rurouni Kenshin novel I picked up. Anyway, it’s as good a title for the arc as any... It seems that the best Kenshin stories, whether storyarcs or standalones, are the ones that deal with others still living in the past, and this one was no exception. Katsu was a rather fun character, as was his brood, and he was a rather clever one, as well. Like with episode 63, the ending was perfect in it’s simplicity. Also? Daigoro=adorkable.
The Divine Elixir arc was also pretty good. The Sanadas may have pretty much ceased to exist with Yukimura’s death in 1615, but it seems they’ll always live on in some form or another of secret ninjas in fiction. I must say, though, that Misanagi Sanada had some serious wardrobe issues...I swear her shirt got more and more lowcut every episode. Nice to see Yutaro back...the fact that he never made a return in the manga was one of the few things that disappointed me about it, even though Yahiko no Sakabato and the epilogue both let us know that he eventually came back to stay. Was surprised he left again, but maybe they still thought they had another season where they could to Jinchu at that point or something. While vaguely on the subject, I’d like to see a good manga or show(either anime or dorama) feature the Sanada Ten. If for no other reason to see why there’s a Sasuke or a Sarutobe(or, like in Naruto, both) in almost every ninja story.
I’m amused that Megumi and Aoshi FINALLY make it back to the series in the same ep, since they originally showed up at the same time. It was nice to see Aoshi finally have it shoved down his throat that Misao isn’t a kid anymore. Sano and Yahiko trailing the ladies is among their more fun antics, I loved Sano’s sneezing when Megumi’s idea of relationship advice is to tell Misao to always make sure her boyfriend is younger than her so that he can be more easily controlled, and then giving a good demonstration of it later. Aoshi and Kenshin’s reactions to each other’s idea of relaxation was quite fun, too. I also liked the tea ceremony...very nice...I think I’ve only seen a tea ceremony a few times in manga(and I’m having to cheat and include Usagi Yojimbo for it to qualify as "a few") and this is probably the first time I’ve seen it in an anime. All in all, and excellent send off for the Oniwabanshu.
The Feng Shui arc was interesting. It was good, but I think a little too metaphysical for Kenshin, which, some over-the-top character designs aside, stays pretty well grounded in really. However, it had Tsunan, who I think is the most criminally underused nominally recurring character in the series.
The final episode was as good as it could possibly be without having the Jinchu arc. While things weren’t necessarily completely resolved for the characters, it was made clear to the fans exactly where things were headed for the characters.
Aside from the religious arc and the engagement episode, I’d say that, all in all, they did a pretty good job with the original material. Nothing compared to Jinchu, of course, but...
I shall now hope that one day, there will be a series called an approximation of "Rurouni Kenshin: Jinchu"
TRAGEDY ALERT!!! I cannot find find my Samurai X DVDs...I want Jinchu(without having to devote 10 hours to reading it) Samurai X may not be all of Jinchu, but at least it's a pretty good(if slightly oberly angsted-out) telling of half of it, and Reflections has good(if, again, overly angsty) closure for the characters.
*insert sadness*
no subject
Date: 2006-10-23 05:45 pm (UTC)