Rurouni Kenshin Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"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