![]() For me the high water mark for Kenshin themes was Bonnie Pink’s “It’s Gonna Rain”, which accompanied the Kyoto Arc, but Reol’s “Kissaki” could have been one of the ’96’s EDs and not sounded out of place. I’m not waxing nostalgic for JUDY and MARY – it’s just that “Sobakasu” blows this out of the water. ![]() Let’s start with the OP, since the themes were such a big part of the original anime experience. It looked more than good enough, and the voices all clicked for me – though that’s a complicated part of this story in and of itself. On-point Kenshin, very faithful to the manga – more so than the 1996 premiere was. As to the episode itself, the short answer is, “whew”. If they’re not being adapted this series is pretty damn cruel, that’s for sure. But the fact that there were both Kyoto and Jinchuu Easter eggs in the first episode is certainly a good sign. I’m not one for counting embryonic chickens – the production committee system has beaten that out of me. Not to mention skipping the manga’s (and maybe shounen’s) greatest arc in “Kyoto”. Truthfully, to finally – finally – reboot Rurouni Kenshin at last and not adapt Jinchuu would be bizarre. I’ve been somewhere between hoping, guessing, and assuming that’s a “for now” number, and this reboot is going to go much longer with some season breaks interspersed. But in theory this is a 24-episode series – on NoitaminA no less – and if that were that it would be a disaster in the making. Simply getting what looks like a faithful re-adaptation is itself huge, to be sure. There are some question of where “here” is, to be sure. It should have happened years ago, long before the reason came along to justify why it hadn’t. Yet the anime never adapted the manga’s large and beloved final arc, “Jinchuu”, instead veering off into original and sometimes baffling directions. It spawned a series of blockbuster live-action films. It’s a truly massive property, one of the most popular manga in Weekly Shounen Jump history, with an enormously big TV series and OVAs. Of all the series that have had reboots over the years (and they’ve become quite trendy) one could argue that Rurouni Kenshin makes the most sense (along probably with FMA and Hunter X Hunter). ![]() I can’t imagine anime or manga without RK, and I’m not even sure I’d be a fan today without it. It’s so ingrained that it’s basically part of my DNA at this point. This is the series that, as much as any, nests at the core of my anime being. I did cover the truly execrable Okada Mari original OVA 8 or 10 years ago, and a couple chapters of the “Kinema-ban” manga. To be blogging Rurouni Kenshin – real Rurouni Kenshin – closes the circle in so many ways. Without question, this is one of the most surreal moments of my life as an anime fan and writer.
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