"The
Meiji Revolution marked the end of the rule of the Shogun and
the Samurai in Japan. In Tokyo, where swords with blades
have been banned, Kaoru bumps into the wandering Kenshin while
looking for the man that is tarnishing the name of her
fenching school."
Rurouni
Kenshin Wandering Samurai: The Legendary Swordsman was
released by Media Blasters in early July. Rurouni
Kenshin DVD's will be released monthly.
Let's
get to the reviewing.
DVD
Vol 1: Rurouni Kenshin Wandeirng Samurai: The Legendary
Swordsman
Saga
1: The Handsome Swordsman of Legend
Saga
2: Kid Samurai
Saga
3: Swordsman of Sorrow
Saga
4: Bad!
Appearance,
the Cover: The cover to this DVD was nicely done, though
some would debate the word "samurai" on the
cover. The picture on this DVD cover is Himura Kenshin
with his sakabatou (reversed blade sword). His whole body
is in a shade of purple with colorful leaves surrounding
him.
Menu
Design: Picture of Himura Kenshin from the ending theme from
"Tears Know" (Namida wa Shitteiru). The menu was
poorly done. The words seem "scrunched"
up. Some things were out of place such as "scene
selection" in "extras". The scene selection
was not that great at all. The selection was quite
strange. "A" and "B" were the letters
when you want to pick a scene. I just find that quite
annoying.
English
Dubbing: Dubbing was NOT that bad. I really like
Kaoru's voice even though her voice is mainly from Pioneer works
such as from Battle Athletes V (Kris Kristopher),
Trigun (Meryl Strye), etc. Kaoru's English voice
matches her. Kenshin, on the other hand, was okay.
It wasn't good and it wasn't bad either. Yahiko, on the
other hand, surprised me. Yahiko's English Voice is from
Battle Athletes V [Ichino), as well and for some reason, I kinda
think that her voice matches Yahiko's Japanese voice. You
DO know that Yahiko's Japanese voice is also a woman. =)
[Not many people know that.] Sanosuke's voice isn't that
bad either. Though, when it came to Himura Gohei, it was
just awful. He sounded ridiculous. All of the voices
were fine except the enemies. They just sounded so unreal,
all I can do is but laugh. The Opening and Ending
Sequences matched totally from that of the original singers, but
the dialouge messed the whole thing up.
The
dialogue was disappointing. Their voices suited the
characters (some of them, at least) but the dialogue didn't
quite match what they were supposed to say.
"S-S-S-STRONG..." is different from "I'm
sorry." Some dialgoues were changed to the point
where it's totally different from that of the original.
"Battousai-The Manslayer" totally gave me a stomache
from laughing too much. "Hitokiri Battousai"
literally translates into "Sword Wielding Assassin",
which sounds MUCH better than "Battousai, the
Manslayer." Also, English Dub doesn't have the word
"ORO" instead it's "HUH". Kenshin's
English Voice Actor would have done a much better job if he put
more enthusiasm in "huh". The "oro"
scenes are meant to be funny.
Subtitling:
The subtitles were white. It was readable but not too big,
so that is good. Though, I would have prefered yellow
subtitles like that of in the opening and ending sequences (but
not italiczed).
Other
stuff: There is a flaw in switching from Japanese to English or
vice versa in the ending credits. (Maybe that's just my
DVD?) Also, I spotted some weird split second color
distoration.
Overall
View:
I
encourage everyone to buy the DVD even with the flaws. I
HIGHLY recommend everyone to watch it in Japanese with English
subtitles. Kenshin's Japanese Voice Actress brings out the
TRUE character of that of Himura Kenshin. The menu was
devastating. I didn't expect it to be like Pioneer's Trigun
but I expected much more than scrunched up words. Also,
there were some flaws as color distoration that ruins the spirit
of watching it, even if it was a split second. I would
rate this DVD 5
out of 10. (Maybe some people think that I'm being
lenient?)
Special
Features from this DVD: Liner Notes, Art Gallery, Textless
Opening "Freckles" (Sobakasu), Scene Acess,
Interactive Menus.
This
anime is rated 13 and up and the running time in 100
minutes. Action/Adventure.
Contains
4 episodes on each DVD.
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Last
Updated: 08-02-00
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