Description
"Rurouni Kenshin: End Song" presents the final five episodes of the Japanese anime about the masterless, roving samurai named Himura Kenshin. The first four episodes cover the rest of the Feng Shui story arc that began in the previous episode and then we have the final episode where the question of whether the wandering samurai is going to start wandering again or what:Episode 91, "The Magic of Feng Shui: Kamiya Dojo is Targeted," involves a lot of exposition to explain what is going on with all those pentegrams on the map of Tokyo. It seems that at the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate a seriesmore… of shrines were built by Ieyasu Tokugawa (circa 1603) that helped to define triangles in which evil spirits would be sealed. The triangles were joined to make penegrams which make them even more powerful and provide a clean chi for the great city. The "Circle of Eternity," defined by Mt. Fuji, the gulf of Edo, and the two great rivers, has been built and maintained by the Wind Clan. But the Water Clan wants their own circles and has returned to try and destroy the Circle of Eternity so that what happened to China with the Opium War will happen to Japan as well. So basically the fate of the nation is once again at stake for Kenshin and the gang, this time from the threat of a form of Chinese astrology.Episode 92, "Tokyo Under Martial Law: The Deadly Ryu Myaku" is about the effort to defeat the giant "dragon" of the Wind Clan, while Episode 93, "The Enemy Awaits in Senjo Gahara: In Search of the Jade Crest" actually has a key personal element as Kenshim finally resolves to live with his past, which has key consequences for the Hitokiri Battousai and his reverse blade sword. The battle climaxes in Episode 94, "The Elegey of Wind and Water: A Last Desperate Effort." The Feng Shui story arc is a bit over the top, but this is what happens when you keep trying to up the ante with each story line. By fans of "Rurouni Kenshin" have already agreed that the Kyoto story arc was the highlight of the series.Then we come to the end of the road with Episode 95, "End of Wanderings: The Bond of Scarlet and Azure is in the Sound of the Sea." As the title indicates, this is a rather poetic ending to the series in an episode that uses film for some interesting effects (including having characters animated into the film). The episode has two functions, the first being to resolve the situation between Kenshin and Kaoru, and the second to be a curtain call for the cast of characters. The latter takes away from the former a bit as we get flashbacks on series highlights, but the episode does achieve a sense of the lyrical on how it resolves the situation. I was afraid they were going to use some comic bit again to do this, as with Sanosuke and Megumi, but they actually come up with a small series of moments to play out the end song, and the final line spoken in the series is both appropriately simple and important. I was rather surprised to find out that these 95 episodes all took place within half a year, but they beyond the specific period of the Meiji Restoration I was not paying attention to the dates. So when we find out at the end that it is late summer in the 11th year of the Meiji (1878), there was no special significance to me. There is an impressive set of liner notes for this final DVD edition along with the usual sprinkling of outtakes and some trailers.Originally published in "Weekly Shonen Jump Japan" in 1994, "Rurouni Kenshin" was created in manga form by Nobuhiro Watsuki and ended up being told in 28 manga volume, these 95 episodes, and two OVA specials. The problem was that Watsuki was still working on completing the Jinchuu story arc when the Kyoto arc animation was done and anime original episodes were created as filler, which is why the ratings for the show plummeted in Japan and why we see such a noticeable drop off in quality in the Tales of the Meiji episodes. Still, overall this is one of the better anime series out there, despite its problem with coming up with really good story arcs after the Kyoto high point. The characters, the attention to strategic details in the sword fights, and the backdrop of Japanese history (not to mention the comic elements) make it stand out apart from its competition. As much as I was happy to see a resolution to the romantic subplot of the series I was more impressed that the reverse sword idea came to an appropriate conclusion as well.
| Richard Cansino |
| Dorothy Elias-Fahn |
| Lex Lang |
| Wendee Lee |
| Jane Alan |
Info:
- Category:
- Movies > Anime
- Case Type:
- DVD
- Release Type:
- Retail
- Language:
- English
- Region:
- R1
- Comments:
- 1 read add
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Cover Info:
- Title:
- Rurouni Kenshin - End Song (2002) R1 Retail DVD
- Part:
- Front
- Dimensions:
- 2949 x 1968 px
- Size:
- 1,972 KB
- Downloads:
- 44 (0 today)
- Uploaded:
- 16/03/08 by jphoto
- Quality Rating:
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- Currently /5 Stars.
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