Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
elumizu
Rurouni Kenshin is a historical action-drama set during the Meiji era in Japan, following the story of a wandering swordsman seeking redemption for a violent past. Without glorifying bloodshed, the series balances intense sword battles with quiet character moments that explore morality, atonement, and the human cost of violence. At the center is Kenshin Himura, a former legendary assassin known as “Hitokiri Battousai” who played a pivotal role in ending the Bakumatsu wars. Haunted by the lives he took, Kenshin vows never to kill again and travels Japan as a "Rurouni," a wandering swordsman that offering protection and aid while wielding a reverse-blade sword designed to incapacitate rather than kill. His internal struggle is balancing a desire for peace with the violent skills ingrained by…
Read at the sourceStridertheRanger
Finally, a faithful adaptation of the legendary manga of the same name.
The Rurouni (Wanderer) Kenshin is an ex-assassin who vows never to take another human life again. Throughout the story, he is haunted by his violent past as he tries to uphold his vow and still protect the people around him. It is a remake that follows the original source material more closely than the 90's show. This series, while still remaining shonen, is actually pretty deep and very poetic (not saying shonen cannot be deep, but Kenshin is just smarter than average). Everything has layers of meaning. Characters' names, appearances, and events that take place often have symbolic properties down to the trees in certain locations and the colors that are worn by each character. The most obvious example of symbolism in…
Read at the sourcePezguy97
I really enjoyed this. I am not familiar with the source material or any of the other adaptations, but as far as I could tell, this was a solid period piece that takes place in the aftermath of the Meiji restoration. I thought the character designs were excellent. I also liked the characters. The world felt pretty engrossing. The openings and closings were also extremely solid. The animation quality was quite good. The only things I did not like is that some of the villains felt a little one-dimensional. There also is not that much action in the very beginning of the show. The first opening had more action in it than a lot of the first few episodes. I liked that a lot of the things in the story are based on things that actually happened or people who actually existed.
Read at the sourceHandler-_-One
This will be my longest yet review so buckle up!
The early arcs show some potential with interesting villains and high-stakes battles, but as the series progresses, the plot tends to meander. The villains, while charismatic in design, often lack the depth needed to make their confrontations with Kenshin feel truly consequential. Several of the later arcs seem like a rehash of earlier material, relying on formulaic tropes rather than pushing the narrative forward or introducing more meaningful conflict.
Characters: Shallow Yet Familiar
Kenshin, the central character, is one of anime’s most iconic "tragic heroes," but his personality is far from complex. His constant internal struggle between his vow not to kill and his need to protect the innocent is an intriguing concept, yet it becomes…
Read at the sourceLastWhiisper
Basis of a prologue: "A sword is a weapon, kenjutsu is the art of killing"
Ruroni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan is a work of fiction written in the 90s and published in the weekly magazine weekly shonen jump and currently has a sequel that is published monthly in the monthly magazine jump square from the same publisher (shueisha).
This first season adapts up to chapter 57 of the manga and a one-shot or chapter zero of the reboot manga Rurouni Kenshin: Tokuhitsu-ban, the manga contains 3 main story arcs (leaving aside Hokkaido-hen) and they are Tokyo-hen, Kyoto -hen and Jinchuu-hen.
The story is located at the end of the 19th century, specifically at the end of the Edo period (Bakumatsu) and the beginning of the Meiji era approximately in the years 1864-1878 in Japan, it focuses on our pr…
Read at the sourcedoughnutsfan
The remake (re-adaptation?) of one of the most seminal stories in the genre does the source material justice
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Rurouni Kenshin made a lasting impact on both the world of manga and anime in the 90’s that still reverberates to this day. From its heartfelt, thoughtful, tragic yet charming and poignant portrayal of characters living in one of the most transformative and tumultuous periods in the history of Japan to its over the top yet effective action, Rurouni Kenshin has truly left the lasting impact on people around the globe, myself included. The original works are so sacred that the new adaptation was not even necessary, incomplete 90’s anime notwithstanding, but here we are and by the time the credits roll on the last episode of the season there is…
Read at the sourceAkiraMiyazaki17
Completely pointless, insipid series. Credit where credit is due: the new voice cast does an impressive job of following on from the iconic voices of the original series, and honestly it has a pretty decent start, but there’s a complete lack of gravity and flavour here. The art style is SO bland; I can imagine not minding it if you’d never seen anything better, but looking back at how dynamic and rich the aesthetics of the 90s were, it’s enough to make one lament about the state of modern mainstream Shounen. The music—another major highlight of the original—is completely generic and lacks any presence in this show, and coupled with the lack of filler to let the characters breath, it makes the whole thing completely emotionally inert. The action is fine, but also feels a little weightless;…
Read at the sourcePapaSomm
This is probably the most well-intentioned anime I’ve ever seen, that just couldn’t hit the mark. It had all the right pieces: a well written story, lovable characters, great animation, and atmospheric music. I’m thinking where it went wrong is in being a little too faithful to the manga. It could have been a period piece, but it would have needed to be significantly more dramatic, with harder hitting stakes. Since, however, it flirted with superhuman techniques and abilities, it ended up falling far short of the multitudes of Shonen anime that feature far more exciting concepts. Shonen has come a long way since this was written, and I think it could have used some creative liberties with the fight choreography. Even with the updated animation, this anime is a victim of its age. Bottom lin…
Read at the sourceLatooq
Ruroni Kenshin is considered to be one of the greatest shonen series even despite all negative information about the author. Plus, the fact that an old show is still talked about made me intrigued because it usually means that a show did something really outstanding for its time. However, an anime I watched has nothing like that and either it is a bad adaptation or the show gets better after 40 episodes or maybe the fame of the franchise is the result of pure nostalgia.
The story itself is too simple: the anime doesn't try to use the full potential of the themes it presents, the characters don't undergo any changes, and it is episodic. These are properties of any simple story and what makes feel like a children story is a narrator that butts in and explains primitive stuff like what the o…
Read at the sourceSmilomaniac
A short review from the perspective of someone who watched the original show and OVA back in the day.
This is a remake of the TV show Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X (because he has a cross scar on his cheek). The show contains both episodal content and overarching stories with deeper running plots.
On its own this show is absolutely fine, good or maybe even great depending on your familiarity with Japanese history and high powered katana wielders that move impossibly fast.
The story in very short summary is that Himura Kenshin is a wandering ronin, a samurai without a cause (master). Very early on we learn that he was a 'manslayer' during the Boshi war (Japanese civil/revolutionary war where the country went from feudal to the Meiji era) on the side of the revolutionaries. They won.
Skip f…
Read at the sourceS_Yellow
What I liked is the superior art and animation to the original. When I watched the original I was disappointed the art and animation didn't measure up to Samurai X's. That alone was my primary reason for wanting to watching this. Kenshin and his morale code and backstory make him a character you can understand even if you don't identify with him. It's a question we all have to deal with, "Should you never kill people, even if they deserve it?" This is combined with the villains and their motives giving us the viewers the chance to empathize or not with them. Always asking the same question, do they deserve to die? Us the viewers and the characters have to ask this question every time. Also, I expected a more streamlined, less filler version this time.
Speaking of the characters, the rest o…
Read at the sourcerobert788
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023)
A remake that was needed? no. A remake that is trying to set itself up as a serious? Not needed. This franchise has been done before and it was fine. The live-action films did what this couldn't. All this does is drag everything out in as long a format as it can.
Whilst it was entertaining in some ways it also used a really stupid way for Kenshin to speak. Referring to himself in the third person repeatedly is not fun nor is it good to listen to. The characters are rushed yet the show takes ages to do anything. The animation doesn't look serious for the plot. It looks like a show a kid watches before school whilst also trying to be edgy.
The sound is fine, nothing great, nothing bad.
Overall, it lacks a soul, it wasn't needed and now th…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Rurouni Kenshin 2023 has finally ended and most people never even knew it was airing. Despite being a reboot of a legendary franchise that was highly anticipated in Japan, very few people on MAL watched this one. Anitubers have largely gone out of their way to not talk about it. So why the ice-cold reception? You know why! If you’re a Zoomer, you probably only know Rurouni Kenshin as being “That one old anime that boomers overrated and then it turned the mangaka is…yeah…so now I’m never going to watch it or read it.” There is a LONG discussion that could be had on the morality of making this reboot in the first place. Personally, I wouldn’t have made this anime if I were a producer. Unless maybe a large portion of the profits go to child abuse victims or combatting human trafficking. There…
Read at the sourceVyaiskaya
At last, the season closes and I can start a review for the 2023 remake of Rurouni Kenshin, one of the biggest franchises in Anime history.
I'm going to first of all, note that the remake doesn't actually quite achieve 10 stars, but I certainly feel it holds up well.
Voice actors:
I rather like the seiyuu for Kenshin. I feel it's exactly the voice I expect for the character.
(In the OG I strongly prefered the EN track, especialy given the dialogue and kenshin-speak)
The whole cast does a decent job and fits well. Full points.
Art:
The animation has a nice colour palette. The characters look good. Full points here.
Animation:
The animation quality uses a lot of fades in a more story-bookish manner for many scenes. It's not poorly done, just know the studio isn't MAPPA (nor Ghibli) a…
Read at the sourcechekkit
Going to try to keep this short and simple. This is my first experience with the Rurouni Kenshin series and as such I have no prior knowledge or nostalgic rose-tinted glasses when it comes to giving this anime a try. Despite what's been said about the author, I'd heard plenty of times how good this series was and how much of a classic it is. That everything gets better the further into the story we go. Well I gave it a go and stomached the whole 24 episode season for the sake of giving it a fair shot.
But c'mon... no matter how much everyone was trying to sell it to me about the story, there was nothing great about it. Its lackluster at best. With potential here and there, but I found myself watching a shoddy villain of the week-type anime with the most subpar animation that just barely…
Read at the sourceCaptainKenshiro
I’ve seen many comparisons with the previous anime which I found a bit unfair so I thought why not write something about it? With my own take on said comparisons.
In terms of visuals, this remake follows the same idea as the new Bastard!! which was also made by LIDENFILMS. Compared to the previous adaptation, the overall artwork here is more consistent and doesn’t have the same quality drops, and of course the characters look closer to what you can find somewhere else this day, instead of the typical 90s look they had in the 1996 anime. The models are also more consistent, as another decision made with this series was to be more faithful to the source material, which means that this show has less comedy which in turn is not as exaggerated, and thus the characters don’t turn into chibis du…
Read at the sourceDr_Stoned
I am honestly somewhat surprised that this series flew under the radar the way it has. Rurouni Kenshin is one of the anime that defined 90's shounen. Although I am not the biggest fan of remakes, I find it appropriate in this case since the original series has its downsides (lots of filler, incomplete adaptation etc.). Being a remake, it will naturally be compared the 1990's variant of the series. How does it compare? I think it's pretty solid so far. The voice actors are all casted pretty well in my opinion. Kenshin has an appropriate male voice in this series. It was difficult for me to watch the original in Japanese because Kenshin's voice was too feminine in my opinion. The animation is solid but not amazing. I really like the 90's aesthetic, but this version is fine in its own right.…
Read at the sourcewhiteflame55
So, I grew up on this series and loved it. Given what we've come to learn of the mangaka behind it, my feelings on the series' legacy aren't quite so nice as they were when I was watching it back in the late 90s, but this was a story I really enjoyed. And so when it was announced that it would be getting a reboot, I was... well, pensive. Reboots don't always work, particularly when you're talking about taking a classic and updating the style, and I always worry that a reboot won't justify its own existence by modifying the plot or finding some new and interesting way to animate it. Beyond that, nostalgia is a double-edged sword. It certainly got me to watch this 24-episode season through, but it's also hard to fully distance myself from the aspects of the original series that made me love…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Rurouni Kenshin, the remake – For better or for worse, a somewhat competent effort the second time around, because this isn't studio Liden Films's first attempt at a remake.
For those who are not in the know, Liden Films was actually handed the task back in 2019 to adapt one of AniManga's most classic and famous works: mangaka Hiroaki Samura's Mugen no Juunin a.k.a Blade of the Immortal, which was one heck of a work back in the early 90s under Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine, which ran from 1993 to 2012. The first anime adaptation being Bee Train's rather mediocre effort in Summer 2008, and afterwards, Amazon Prime had to license yet another complete re-adaptation for the Fall 2019 season, which seemed like a rather huge task for a rather low-ball studio like Liden Films at the time…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
When remaking a classic such as Rurouni Kenshin, a couple questions have to be asked. “Is it necessary” and “Does it in anyway enhance the experience of the original?” In my opinion, the 2023 remake answers “yes” to both of those and does the legendary series justice. Enjoyable for newcomers and longtime fans alike.
Before continuing, I have to say that it’s been a very long time since I watched the original Rurouni anime, so I don’t have a lot of the criticisms that younger fans of the original who watched it more recently have.
With that out the way, I can’t emphasise enough how much I enjoyed this remake. It managed to capture the essence and magic of late 90s/early 2000s anime perfectly, while repackaging the timeless wandering samurai’s story for a modern era. It really does feel…
Read at the source