Dr. FangLang 's Pavement

Webmaster's Mini Review of TV-anime Kenshin

Caution! TV-series Kenshin ended. Studio Dean and Studio Gallop made the TV-anime type Kenshin. The number of stories was 94.
They make the next series "Memories" as OVA at present.

Kenshin TV series included almost of stories in the original comics.
However it did not include Enishi Yukishiro's revenge.
In the TV-series, in 1997, Makoto Shishio's Ten Swords story ended.
Since then, TV series dealt with newly written episodes.
However those episodes were not very intresting.
At last in 09/08/1998, the TV-series ended.

Amakusa Series (till 02/03/98)

On the other hand, a new series of TV-animation type Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X) started since 11/18/97 till 02/03/98. Mr. Shougo Amakusa was a Christian. He fought against the Meiji Geovernment and Kenshin Family. He was like a ghost of Mr. Shirou Tokisada Amakusa. He also knew "Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki," the secret sword art of "Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu" fencing art. His true name was Mr. Shougo Mutou but he called himself Shougo Amakusa. Mr. Aoshi Shinomori and Ms Misao Makimachi helped Kenshin Family.
Mr. Junichi Inoue, a famous TV actor, played the role of Amakusa. Ms Hiroko Kasahara, a popular voice actress who played the role of Ms Fu Hououji in Magic Knight Rayearth, played the role of a mysterious woman Magdaria Sayo.
In 1878, Mr. Shougo Amakusa the Christian swordsman appeared in Kyoto to kill three men who had persecuted the secret Christians in the Tokugawa Shogunate. He was called God. He had many followers including the evil merchant Kaiou. Kaiou and Dutch mafias planned to conquer Japan taking advantage of the riot of Shougo Amakusa. Amakusa's party entrenched themselves at Shimabara (Nagasaki Prefecture). Most of them were very poor for many years.
Kenshin (CV = Mayo Suzukaze, a musical star), Kaoru (CV = Miki Fujitani, a former idol), Yahiko (CV = Miina Tominaga, a veteran voice actress (She has been a CV since her childhood.), Sanosuke (CV = Yuji Ueda) and Misao Makimachi (CV = Tomo Sakurai, a famous voice actress) went to Shimabara in order to fight against Shougo Amakusa.
Mr. Ersten, Consul of the Netherlands, did not know the plan. Mr. Ersten was an old friend of Himura's and medical doctor. Kaiou was killed by the follower of Magdaria Sayo. Kenshin and Consul Ersten tried to dissuade Meiji Government and Shougo Amakusa from fighting each other. At last Shougo was defeated by Kenshin's Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki (The scene was broadcast on 01/27/98 in Japan.)
Magdaria Sayo was dead and Shougo and his followers were all arrested. Nagasaki Prefecture wanted to sentence them to death. Consul Ersten tried to dissuade Meiji Government from sentence them to death. Mr. Toshiyoshi Kawaji, the first Commissioner of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in Japan, came to Nagasaki. He exiled them from Japan and Consul Ersten wanted them to go to the Netherlands. Shougo Mutou and his followers went there.(till 02/03/98)

Kaishu Katsu Series (till 04/14/98)

Thereafter Kenshin TV series started new series based on an original novel on Kenshin. The novel was not written by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The novel dealt with Mr. Kaishu Katsu, a real character. It is well known that kaishu had a hidden wealth owned by Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the last shogun. A gang, "Beni-Aoi" organized by a follower of Kaishu, tried to kill Kaishu. Kaishu and his family were pinched. Kenshin and his family helped them. Kaishu said to Beni-Aoi, "I surrendered the Edo Castle to the imperial force without battles. I still think it was not false." (The Kaishu series ended on 04/14/98.)

Yutarou Series (till 06/16/98)

From 04/21/98, next series "Yutarou returned." started. You know Mr. Yutarou Tsukayama (CV = Ms Mayumi Tanaka, she often plays the role of heroes in animation.) was wounded at Raijuta Affair.
You know Yutarou is a member of a Tokyo samurai family. He was an elementary school student at Raijuta Affair. His family was very rich. He had studied sword art under Raijuta, and had become good rival of Yahiko.
Raijuta aimed at Tsukayama family's estate to fight against Meiji Government. He was famous for his secret sword art "Izuna." However Raijuta was defeated by Kenshin. This is Raijuta Affair. Then his right arm was seriously wounded by Raijuuta. Finally Yutatou went to Germany with his followers for better treatment on his arm.
These Raijuta series appeared on the original comics by Nobuhiro Watsuki. However Yutarou's German life does not appear on the original comics. Therefore most Kenshin fans in Japan did not know the new Yutarou's story.
In the new series, Yutarou recovered completely and got healthy. He can fence using his right arm. Yutatou studied medicine in Germany under Dr. Hans (CV = Mr. Tateno Hitouchi, he formerly played the role of the principal from Ranma 1/2.). One day Dr. Hans discovered an old map of Suwa district of Japan. Thereafter Black Knight Group tried to kill him to aim at the map. Dr. Hans and Yutatou went to Japan to find the secret of the map.
German First Lieutenant Meldars (CV = Mr. Kazuhiro Yamaji) was a member of Black Knight Group. The group aimed at the conquest of the world. The old Suwa map showed the place where a secret drug was hidden. The Group wanted to monopolize the drug. So Mr. Meldars and his followers went to Japan. At last they found Dr. Hans. They woulded Dr. Hans to take the map by force. However they could not find the drug though they studied the map.
Kenshin helped Dr. Hans and Yutarou. On the other hand, Dr. Hans had wrote a memo on the map. Yutatou and Kenshin family found the memo. They read it and thought the drug might be hidden at Suwa district. They went to Suwa.
Misanagi of Moriya (CV = Ms Chisa Yokoyama, a famous and popular voice actress, she formerly played the role of Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Wars 2 and Sasami Kawai from Magical Girl Pretty Samy.) is a Ninja girl. She was the head of Sanada Ninja Group. Sanada Family was defeated by Tokugawa Shogunate at the beginning of Tokugawa Era. Sanada Ninja Group lived in Suwa district to fight against Tokugawa Shogunate. You know Tokugawa Shogunate had a Ninja group called "Oniwaban-shu." Oniwaban-shu had watched the Sanada Ninja Group for a long time. Ms Misao Makimachi (CV = Ms Tomo Sakurai, a former idol star, thereafter a musical actress) is the head of Meiji Oniwaban-shu in Kyoto. You know she is a friend of Kenshin. She and his followers chased Sanada Ninja Group. Misanagi aimed at the conquest of Japan. Misanagi appeared at the German embassy to cooperate with Black Knight Group. Misanagi and Black Knight Group began to fight against Kenshin and Oniwaban-shu. (till 05/05/98)

You know Chisa Yokoyama played the role of pretty girls for justice more than ten years in a lot of Japanese animation. This time she played the role of an evil character. This is a rare case. She recently played the role of the heroine of Sakura Wars 2, a popular video game in Japan. A critic said, "She is 28 years old. She felt it difficult to play the role of 10-year-old girl, Sasami. However her many fans expect Chisa's Sasami masker. She seeks for a new stage as voice actress. She has her own office and is the president. She can discard Sasami."

Kenshin, Sanosuke, Yahiko, Yutarou, Misao Makimachi and Kaoru Kamiya went to Suwa to find the secret drug written on Hans' memo in Latin. Yutarou could read Latin phrases. However Sanada Ninja Group and Black Knight Group attacked Kenshin party there. Kenshin party was defeated and advanced along an underpass. Sanada Ninja Group sent three fighters to kill Kenshin party. Kenshin party defeated Sanada killers. On the other hand, Misanagi and Black Knight Group found a secret flower. Then German First Lieutenant Meldars tried to kill Misanagi. Second Lieutenant Schneider, a member of Black Knight Group (CV = Junichi Takeoka), covered her with his own body. That time Mr. Meldars attacked Mr. Schneider. Kenshin party found them fight against each other. Misanagi was betrayed. (till 06/02/98)

They found the secret drug. The true character of the drug was the extract of bulbs. Kenshin defeated Meldars using Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki. Then the bulbs were burnt. Schneider and Lenz (CV = Jouji Nakata) escaped. Kaita, a ninja of Sanada Ninja group (CV = Tomohiro Nishimura) helped Misanagi. German Black Knight Group went home, and Misanagi lead the Ninja group again.
Yutarou gave up fencing. He decided he would make effort to be an excellent medical doctor. Yutarou went to Germany again. (till 06/09/98)

Ms Misao Makimachi stayed at Tokyo for a while. At last Aoshi Shinomori (CV = Yoshito Yasuhara) and two female ninjas (Omasu (CV =Yuki Nakao) and Ochika (CV = Shizuka Okohiro)) came to Tokyo to meet Misao. They brought her a letter written by Nenji Kashiwazaki (CV = Kouichi Kitamura).
Formerly in the original comic series, Kenshin promised Aoshi to have a tea meeting. However it was not realized yet in the origina comics. Now in the TV series, Kenshin and Aoshi had a tea meeting. Then Aoshi was surprised that Kenshin kept house in the Kamiya Doujou hall. Especially Kenshin took care of two female children, Suzume (CV = Noriko Namiki) and Ayame (CV = Kaori Yuasa) in front of Aoshi. Aoshi remembered Misao's childhood.
On the other hand, Tae, a manager of Sukiyaki Restaurant "Akabeko" (CV = Sumi Shimamoto, a famous voice actress) said to Kaoru, "You had better reduce your weight." Misao was troubled with her style. Tsubame, a waitress working for Akabeko, Yahiko's friend (CV = Yuri Shiratori, a famous voice acress) laughted at her. Dr. Megumi Takani (CV =Mika Doi) advised Misao to massage her breasts. (till 06/16/98)

Fusui (Feng Shui) Series (till 09/08/98)

What is Feng Shui?

Frankly speaking, I do not like Fusui. In Japan, the culture is very popular among young woman.
Dr. Sachiaki Kobayashi promotes the culture in Japan.
Now Feng Shui means wind and water. It is an ancient Chinese technology of the natural environment. It has already appeared on CLAMP's Card Captor Sakura.
It is said that Feng Shui can determine the best or most favorable location for anyone and assist that person to avoid their worst or least desirable location in any environment. It is said that Feng Shui makes the determination based on the year the individual is born, the environment surrounding them, and through the movements of the solar system.

Now at the end of the series, TV-anime type Rurouni Kenshin was ended.
A lot of Japanese Kenshin fans cannot understand it yet.

In Feng Shui series, in the beginning of Tokugawa Shogunate, there were two large-scale groups on Feng Shui method.
One was Kaze (Wing) family. The other was Mizu (Water) family.
The first Shogun, Ieyasu Tokugawa employed Kaze family.
Then Mizu family was defeated by Kaze family. Mizu family went to China.
In Meiji Era, Mizu family came back to Tokyo to defeat Meiji Government.
Head of Mizu family was Unsui (CV = Hiro Yuuki). Finance head of Mizu family was Saeki (CV = Kazuhiro Ouguro).
Tokyo was protected by Kaze family's Feng Shui barriers.
To destroy those barriers, Saeki bought up several places in Tokyo.
For example, Saeki tried to buy Akabeko restaurant and Kamiya Dojo hall.
Kenshin tried to fight against Saeki. Then Kenshin was defeated.
Then Jinpu (CV = Takehito Koyasu) appeared in front of Kenshin family.
He was the last master of Kaze family Feng Shui method.
Kenshin, Jinpu, Sanosuke, Sanosuke's friend Tsunan Tsukioka fought against Mizu family.

What! Aritomo Yamagata, who was the leader of Japanese Army in Meiji Era, knew Feng Shui and its risk. So Yamagata came to Tokyo Metropolitan Police to meet Commissioner Toshiyoshi Kawaji. At last Kawaji and Yamagata met Jinpu. They began to fight against Mizu family. But Ministry of Military Affairs was destroyed by Mizu family. Moreover Yamagata was ordered to be on his best behavior.

Mizu family used their method to destroy Meiji Senate at Senjougahara. Kenshin and Jinpu went there...

Former Japanese feudal lord, Mr. Masayoshi Hotta was one of the Shogunate Senate members. He knew details on Ieyasu Tokugawa's Feng Shui of Tokyo city very well.
On his direction, Hokuto No Jin "Position of Big Dipper" was made.
Then Tsunan Tsukioka, Tokyo Metropolitan Police and Commissioner Toshiyoshi Kawaji helped Hotta.

On the other hand, Water Family formed Gyokuza No Jin "Position of Imperial Throne" to protect Ryumyaku "Dragon Impulse."
Then Kenshin and Jinpu attacked Water Family leaders.
The leader, Reisui exchanged his life for protecting Gyokuza No Jin.

However another leader Saeki wanted Reisui to be dead.
Gyokuza No Jin lead the dragon impulse to Tokyo Genrouin Senate.
Tsunan Tsukioka, a painter, a former member of Sekihoutai, an intimate friend of Sanosuke Sagara, used small bombs to keep Senate members away from Senate buildings.
Saeki had the Jade Crest having an extraordinary power.
Using the Crest, Saeki fought against Sanosuke and Kenshin. He was defeated.
Thus Dragon Impuse disappeared.

Thus TV-series ended in Japan on 09/08/1998.
Oh! God!

"Rurouni Kenshin": Copyright (c) Nobuhiro Watsuki/ Shueisha, Fuji Telecast, SPE Visual Works, 1996, 1997, 1998

"Makoto Monaka": Trademark (TM) Kyoto Tsuruya Confectionery

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