Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Tsuioku Hen
Tags: neo noir, gothic, anti war, violence, flashback, psychedelic, tragedy

Plot synopsis:
In the early Meiji era, after participating in the Bakumatsu war as the assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai", Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who is in the middle of a fight with a murderer - who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai - tarnishing the name of the swordsmanship school that she teaches. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai. After discovering that Kenshin is the real infamous assassin, Kaoru offers him a place to stay at her dojo noting that he is peace-loving and not cold-hearted, as his reputation implies. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family who is also living with Kaoru as her student; and a doctor named Takani Megumi, caught in the opium trade. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including the former leader of the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi and a rival from the Bakumatsu turned police officer, Saitō Hajime.
After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin discovers that his successor as assassin of the shadows, Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that his friends may be attacked by Shishio's faction, Kenshin goes to meet Shishio alone in order to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, whom he meets in his travels, decide to help him in his fight. After his first meeting with him, Kenshin realizes he needs to get stronger to defeat Shishio without becoming the cold assassin he was in the past and returns to the man who taught him kenjutsu, Hiko Seijūrō, in order to learn the school's final technique. He finally accepts his friends' help and defeats Shishio in a close fight; Shishio dies being engulfed in flames due to the rise in his body temperature caused by his severe burns.
When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, he finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans to take revenge by killing his friends. At this point it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin had been married to a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe. She had initially wanted to avenge the death of her fiancé whom Kenshin had killed, but instead they both fell in love and got married. It is then discovered that Tomoe was part of a group of assassins that wanted to kill Kenshin, and Tomoe is betrayed by them and captured to use as bait. Kenshin rushes to rescue her, killing both his assailant and accidentally Tomoe, who jumps in at the last minute to save Kenshin from a fatal attack. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a corpse doll bearing a stunning resemblance of Kaoru for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set out to rescue her. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and when Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Four years later, Kenshin has married Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji.

Review: But at least I knew what I was looking at (and I suggest that people considering to watch this should familiarize themselves with the TV series first).Although the violence is very graphic and the dialog can be a bit of a drag if you lose track, everything else perfectly makes up for it.
Although the plot doesn't suffer from this, the story and especially the details and references to factual Japanese history do.But this shouldn't stop you from watching this movie, instead, it should encourage you to set out and find out as much about this movie as you can..
I see Kenshin OVA Trust/Betrayal as a movie and recommend every movie fan to watch it.If you are looking for a summary, read somewhere else.
The two main characters, Kenshin and Tomoe, have humane and non exaggerated personalities, they are conflicted with their emotions, and they grow and change.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the two main characters are not cliché.The stories' setting takes place during the late 1800's in Japan, where a civil war is taking place, where the samurai era is coming to an end, and the shogunate is fighting to keep its place.
People who don't know Japanese history of that time period probably going to get a bit confused, but the historical setting provided the movie more depth and political intrigue.
Far better than any live action choreography.Finally there are many subtle touches that makes the movie feel more like a work of art, rather animated violence.
Most importantly the soundtrack is memorable.Kenshin OVA Trust/Betrayal is on the top tier of anime, however if the movie had gotten greater exposure, it would belong in the top tier of movies..
If you look for an anime who has a romantic, horror, action, drama with a great philosophy and can make you learn about life even more, you should see Rurouni Kenshin Tsuiokuhen.This anime is just too adorable to be missed (but be sure you're over 13, don't fear of blood, and don't have a heart disease).
The coolest thing of this anime is the two characters, Himura Kenshin (Hitokiri Battousai) & Yukishiro Tomoe.
I can compare this anime with some great historical drama movies I've seen such as Life is Beautiful, Gone With The Wind, and The Last Emperor.
But in all, it's a great anime about love and life.Even though I gave it a straight out 10, but I have to complain about one thing: characters...
This is apparent in the way the movie takes it's time to build it's characters and develop their respective relationships, in fact very little time is devoted to the actual fights scenes with the numerous battles and duels being over in a blink of an eye.
What the movie actually focuses on is the doomed love story that develops between Kenshin and Toroe and the numerous symbols within nature that depict the character's fates.Kenshin is a true work of art that draws upon Japan's rich artistic history to create an epic tale of love and death.
Through these artistic devices we see the tale unfold of an assassin who is torn between continuing his life of bloodshed or taking his chance to escape into a more quiet life away from the killings.With all the emphasis on the artistic achievement of Kenshin it should also be mentioned that the movie also delivers on a purely entertaining level with blood splatter tinged into practically every scene, but what stands out even more is the spiritual aspect of the story that tells the audience -amongst other things- that what we do in life will eventually come to haunt us in our future.A stunning poetic reflection of an often banal genre..
this set of movies are very amazing and will not upset.But of course to understand some parts of Reflection (such as the parts in the past) it might be good if you watch the t.v. series, Rurouni Kenshin.but, either way, these movies RULE!.
I still shake my head in amazement at this truly awesome mini-series.Set in Kenshin's past, the OAVs focus on how he became the Hitokiri Battousai, the best fighter in the world, and his time during the uprising in Kyoto to depose the Shogun.For all intents and purposes, the Kenshin OAVs are simply one movie that has been split into four 1/2 hr parts.
It easily competes with any non-anime movie, and I think it deserves to be considered as one of the greatest films of all time.
It traces the events leading up to Kenshin's rise as the most deadly and fearsome samurai in Meiji-era Japan and what ultimately spurs him to renounce his ways and become the peaceful wanderer known to us in the television series.
Although created after the TV series, this four part original video animation takes place in the past of Himura Kenshin, the TV series' main character.
In the TV series Himura Kenshin was a rurouni(wandering samurai), but before he was a rurouni, he worked for the Meiji revolution as their best hitokiri(assassin).
And those of you who have seen the TV series would truly be missing out by skipping over this OVA series, which can almost be called a prequel.Just in case my review convinced you to watch these, you can find these Rurouni Kenshin OVA's soon(I hope) on DVD by MediaBlasters..
Rurouni Kenshin:Trust and Betrayal has to be one of the most interesting and powerful anime films I've seen!
From the bloody opening with Seijuro Hiko (Kenshin's master), Kenshin's discovery (as Shinta) in a field of dead murderers and victims, and the relationship between Kenshin and Tomoe (who's original lover was killed by Kenshin)...one gets the sense that this tragedy could not get any more difficult to bear.As viewers progress through the film, they will share the senseless feeling about Kenshin's bloody deeds and Tomoe's pain at losing one lover while gaining another surrounded by so much death.Revolutions may frequently be bloody, and Kenshin's acts fit in that respect, but for so much killing to come at the hands of a traumatized boy makes the viewer pity him and hope he finds some semblence of a real life...an opportunity that Tomoe can present him.I watched the un-broken version that joined Trust with the 2nd part, Betrayal...where we find the old story of Kenshin's past coming back to tear his world asunder, leaving him to start his quest for pennance once again..
Pros: Interesting and dynamic story, good voice acting after episode two, fast pacing, an amazing ending, some powerful and emotional scenes, and great fight sequences Cons: Dull voice acting before episode three, the story is a little confusing, and some slow pacingOverall Rating: 8.8P.S. This anime is very good.
It surely sparked something in me.I probably watched this when I was about 12 or 13 years old with my older brother (around 14 or 15 at the time) and none of us really knew what we were watching, what was an anime or even a manga.I instantly fell in love with this film and yes, if you put the 4 OVAs together what you get definitely qualifies as a film.First off, I honestly think that this is a very strong film with an excellent plot, great character development, amazing animation and fighting sequences especially for that time, a lot of depth, great music, solid dialogues, themes, amazing tension, I could go on.
You definitely don't have to be an anime fan to love this though I would say that the unique style, pace and tone of the film is not for every one.It is a pretty dark, gripping, tragic and yet beautiful story that nails fighting scenes but is far from revolving around it.
In fact, if you get into this expecting to see a lot of fighting you might be sorely disappointed, do not expect comedic relief, or tons of dialogues either.I won't waste time fully comparing it to the original manga or anime series but will say that this story is much more realistic and definitely darker than its original medium.
So I can say without a doubt that it offers something COMPLETELY different to the viewer.The films gets a bit slow at some point because it establishes something important for the rest of the story and after seeing it I'm sow glad that it did.I can't possibly write a proper review for this work of art because to this day, it is still my favourite anime film and one of my all time favourite film period.
During watching the whole Rurouni Kenshin series, I felt it is missing something.
Thought slightly melodramatic sometimes, we dive into the self-destruction and love-caused reconstruction of an assassin who kills for the only thing he can believe in, the happiness of people, being at the same time innerly tormented by all the deaths he has caused.
I had seen the original four episodes years ago, but there were certainly some differences in the Director's Cut.Kenshin is a young orphan when he is discovered by a samurai warrior/assassin, who then takes him in and teaches him how to fight.
The two end up striking up a cautious friendship, but she has a secret that threatens to destroy him.If anyone has seen the actual television series "Ruroni Kenshin", it is completely different from these episodes in that while the show was lame, at times goofy, and not drawn very well, "Samurai X" is the complete opposite.
The majority of the violence and emotional baggage belonged to the lead character Kenshin who was an utter badass and goes down as one of the greatest swordsman in movie history.
Taken alone this film is very good, but the sequels do nothing but degrade the original's reputation with cheaply drawn characters, ridiculous story lines, and anime-slaughtering humor.
This is for only the OVA series of Kenshin(includes the first 4 OVA's).This is the most bad-ass anime I have seen.Great story line, gory beyond belief(but if you can look past the fleeting moments of violence you are treated to a sensational story, definitely not for kids)I recommend for anyone that watches anime, and worth a shot even if you don't.one of my top anime picks of all time..
Although the story, storytelling and animation all suffer from a lack of balance, there are faint glimmers of brilliance to be found in the mini-series, explaining it being frequently mistaken for one of the masterpieces of Japanese animation.The first of four episodes serves as backstory for the backstory for the main plot, and with "backstory" (the first "backstory that is, for a lot more backstory is coming) I mean the protagonist's complete character development over the course of a small decade, conveyed through half an hour of exposition of differing subtlety and clarity.
The protagonist's struggle with the question whether blindly killing people is truly the best way to create a better world (superficial as this conflict may be) is beautifully represented by the leitmotiv of a continuously reopening wound on his cheek, while the interaction with the woman he is sheltering with is subtle and believable.
For a delightful thirty minutes, "Ruroundi Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal" was actually great.After the sudden increase in quality during the third episode, I prayed: "Please, let the last episode not just be sword fighting and shameless melodrama." How I hate to be right.
The final episode still is a melancholic portrait of a samurai's stoicism, but ultimately, "Ruroundi Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal" has thrown away any opportunity for nuance.The animation is hit-and-miss as well.
The backgrounds are plagued by a similar imbalance: the ones are not obscuring brown and oppressive grey, are so brightly coloured they interfere with the characters, making the frames feel unbalanced, as it is difficult to decide where to focus."Ruroundi Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal" is cobbled together from ill-fitting elements, most of which were not very good in the first place.
The Beginning Tales of Rurouni Kenshin, his Days as Battousai the Manslayer: the assassin life he lived before his retirement, the woman whom he fell in love, and the origin behind his cross-shaped cheek scar
I recommend you to watched the original dub with subtitles, more literary translation is better than a deviated scriptThis is definitely one of the best animation ever made.
It is great, from the beginning to the end, in this film everything is carefully prepared: the direction and the screenplay a memorable, told with an unusual beauty in anime, delve much into the characters and gives a faithful description of the time, both the politics and the era, and the problems that face the innocent who dies day after day about the politic situation.
And of course, I can't forget the score, one of the best anime score I never listen, it helps you with its delicacy and tragic beauty to believe the tragedy who have to live with poor Shinta (later knows like Kenshin)..
Samurai X is the movie prequel to the anime series Ruroni Kenshin.
The story is about Kenshin, an assassin trying to make the world a better place by the end of his sword, killing whoever is in his way.
This is a very bloody yet thought provoking movie that earns its rights to be consider one of the best anime films ever.
What makes the movie so great is not those awesome action scenes or the complex character development that Kenshin goes through but it is the ending that really delivers.
The characters are very well done and you gradually feel them evolving around the plot line, you can't help falling in love with them.I recommend the Japanese original version because it is flawless and the subs are very good, but still Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal is a must see even if you are not a anime fan, the story will grip you so hard that even after it is over you will be staring right trough the credits still thinking about the extraordinary experience you have just been through..
I was used to the series animation, but it is very easy to be drawn into the story and style of the first OVA.
I would recommend this highly to anyone who has seen the series, especially because it is easier to understand the message and plot of the story, but also to anyone who wants to see a great anime film..
Kenshin is Anime done right.The plot takes place at the end of the Meiji era of Japan.
And if you have seen Anime, most likely you have seen this one already.(The Kenshin OAV Episodes are now released on two Region 1 DVDs titled Samurai X:Trust (Ep 1,2), and Samurai X:Betrayal (Ep 3,4).
Plot: Years later, during his time as a Hitokiri, Kenshin kills a bodyguard named Kiyosato Akira, who is the fiancé of Yukishiro Tomoe.
See this wonderful anime film and find out.This film is not suitable for children and persons under the age of 18 as it contains graphic killing sequences.This film is good viewing for married couples and those who have been just married, as it shows just how true love between husband and wife should be.10/10, excellent.
*contains lots of spoilers* Rurouni Kenshin was the first anime that I ever saw.
Kenshin wanted to redeem himself for all of the people he had killed, but that was not the biggest thing that affected his decision to become a "rurouni" (actually, Nobuhiro Watsuki made that word  it doesn't exist in Japanese language  it's a combination of "rurouni" and "samurai"  at least that's what he said in a comment in his Maiga).
The real reason why Kenshin became a rurouni was because he felt great sorrow for those who had cared about the people he had killed.
Kenshin the ex-hitokiri bauttosai would definitely has not only a visible scar on his face, but the pain he inherited from Tomoe that is reflected on his sad face.Definitely bloody, any romance scene is modestly done, and the whole animation is made in the most realistic way possible.SPOILER: I can't help but to relate what kind of pain it must have been like.
when I saw both tv series and the OVA, it's almost like 2 different character/story...the tv is nice for an entertainment and good laugh...
The characters are drawn more realistically than in the television series and especially Kenshin looks better than ever.
You think the music can't get any better, but then it suddenly does and lifts everything to a wholly new, superior level.Something I really got a kick out of is that most of the characters in the film are based upon people that have actually existed during that time.
His short appearances throughout the storyline, leading up to his fight with Kenshin at the end of the film, weren't necessary to the story and could easily have been omitted.
Even if I don't get the language the deliver the acting so honest, sincere and focused that I don't see myself watching an animated movie..
In the end, he learns the hard way that every time he kills someone, he robs innocent people of their happiness.Vastly different in tone from the Rurouni Kenshin anime series or even the manga, this is understandable as Kenshin is not the Rurouni we know and love, but an assassin on the razor's edge of madness.
The sombre tone fits the time period in which this story takes place.I would love to give this story a perfect ten, but a plot diversion from the original manga, namely the reduced role of Yukishiro Enishi to a mere bystander, forces me to give it a nine instead.This OVA can be taken as part of the entire Rurouni Kenshin saga or as its own beautiful Japanese love tragedy.
I have for many years been trying to get my hands on a complete series of the original Samurai X Rurouni Kenshin.
As much as I love the way Watsuki san tells a story I was disappointed by the fact that this was nothing but the last five episodes of the last season of Rurouni Kenshin with a couple of effects added.