9 min readSep 8, 2021
Rurouni Kenshin: A Past Inferno Tale of A Mysterious Samurai
Hi there, this is Rurouni Kenshin (Ruroken)’s review. I know the title and the ideas seems pretty optimistic but I want to give it a try. First, this Japanese saga are some long project which consist of 5 movies:
Rurouni Kenshin (2012)
Rurouni Kenshin : The Kyoto Inferno (2014)
Rurouni Kenshin : The Legend Ends (2014)
Rurouni Kenshin : The Final (2020)
Rurouni Kenshin : The Beginning (2020)
With The Beginning finally came and be broadcasted in the rest of the world, finally 10-years-long project has come to an end. Do we feel sad? Yes, we do. But somehow we feel a little bit glad and relieve as if we know we had reached the destination.
I like Ruroken for I think almost everything. I grew up with my sisters and my brother watching Samurai X anime and reading the manga. When I first to know it got Live Adaptation, I was enthusiast, even more when I know the cast! It was the first time I ‘met’ Takeru Sato. He was quite unknown actor at that time with several small roles for his debut but later on fame follows him.
Funny fact, I didn’t watch it in the perfect order, but I watched the second installment first at the cinema and then I watched the first installment several months later. After that I follow the order by watching the third movie. The third movie, or The Legend Ends, gives so many answers about the Shishio arc, and it shows how Kenshin finally learns the last Hitten Mitsurugi act. And of course how love blooms and last eternally for Kenshin and Kaoru.
The movie stops or hiatus for about 6 years while at first the rumor said they’ll make the new movie two years after The Legend Ends. It turns out that the hiatus was because Takei Emi, the cast for Kaoru, married her husband, TAKAHIRO, singer from Japan. I didn’t know why the wedding or the marriage stops the filming for a while but what had been fun was how crazy fans being sad because Takei Emi didn’t end up with Takeru Sato. It turns out everyone was rooting for them because some say Takeru Sato had feelings for Takei Emi.
Not a surprise tho, their chemistry is a top notch. The Kenshin character always use another concept for saying ‘I love you’ and Takeru Sato plays it very well until we all flutter for his loving act towards Kaoru. Their love story is quite strong because Kaoru gives a home for Kenshin, a ‘Rurouni’ or a wanderer who runs from his dark past. I really went cry when Kenshin hugs Kaoru and says Kaoru makes him happy, even though after that he left for chasing Shishio to stops the villain.
Their home, Kamiya Kashin Doujo, is like a second home for people like Kenshin, someone with the dark past and something they want to forget. Sanosuke Sagara is a former member of the disgraced Sekiho Army, and after the Meiji Revolution he spends his time taking out his frustration as a ‘fight merchant’ under the name Zanza, and hating Ishin-Shishi which framed and murdered his comrades as well as the flawed Meiji government that they created.
After he met with Kenshin, Sano is able to let his feelings aside and end his fighting merchant days, while live together the group in Kamiya Doujo.
Then there is the beautiful doctor, Takani Megumi, which turns out had made a living by making opium. She came from decent family of doctor but she had to work with drugs cartel due to her father’s death and the missing of her mother and older brothers.
She was forced to worked making secret drugs after she became the assistant of a doctor who works for the industrialist Takeda Kanryu.
Megumi was in her way of escape when she found Kamiya Doujo, and without a word and knowing her secrets, they accepted her.
The story of Sanosuke and Megumi was told in the first installment, with the group tries to save Megumi from Takeda Kanryu, and Kenshin was able to save them all.
But Kenshin himself is someone who has the darkest past of all.
Kenshin Himura was known as Hitokiri Battousai, the nickname he got as one of the hitokiri in Meiji Revolution. At that time, there were fight between revolutionary supporters with Emperor’s guard. Emperor’s guard or the loyalists of the Emperor of Japan began a chain of murder and violence in Kyoto, which makes the Tokugawa Shogunate was formed.
Then in 1893, Roshigumi (Kyoto Defenders), which is a group of masterless samurai and the job was to protect Tokugawa Iemochi the 14th shogun, had something better in mind with Kiyokawa Hachiro’s thought. He wanted to gain masterless samurai to work with the supporters of the emperor so finally, thirteen members of Roshigumi became the thirteen founder of Shinsengumi. In other words, Shinsengumi was supporters of the Emperor of Japan which slays everyone who stood by preventing the Emperor gets his power.
Meanwhile, Shogunate was not a decent way of life for some, so anti-shogunate was formed, and they were Ishin-shishi which the goal was to support revolutionary government and ends the Shogunate era. Kenshin worked in Ishin-shishi and he was the best in the legion so he had to face the best of their enemies. Kenshin was never failed, until one day he met someone who wasn’t good at fighting but he had passion for his life and risked anything to save his own life. Kenshin finally killed the man, but his victim left a memorable marks for Kenshin in his left cheek. Kenshin was unknown about the desire his victim held was because there was a woman waiting for him, when the man was killed by Kenshin, it was a day before his marriage and he was soon to be a groom.
Alas, after the brutal murder, Kenshin had moved on although the scar in his left cheek remains. Soon enough, Ishin-shishi had a bit trouble because of Shinsengumi’s act. They believed there were spies entering their defenses and their fort. But what they never realized was there was a beautiful woman who entered the Ishin-shishi’s fort and worked as maid there. She quickly caught Kenshin’s attention and before he realized, he fell head over heels for the woman. The woman, Yukishiro Tomoe, was as beautiful as snow, and as quite as river. Before they even understood each other, they fell for each other, hiding from Shinsengumi and then lived peacefully. But no peace enough for Tomoe, because she was the bride-to-be for the man whom killed by Kenshin and she sold herself to Shinsengumi to be a spy and stole any valuable information from Ishin-shishi for Shinsengumi, including Kenshin’s weakness. Sadly and ironically, Tomoe fell in love so deeply for Kenshin, who slowly but sure replaced the face of the man she should be remembered. Tomoe hated herself because of it and finally decided to stopped the whole spy thing and surrender to Shinsengumi.
Tomoe never understood that she became Kenshin’s weakness, and so when Shinsengumi had her, Kenshin would directly came to Shinsengumi to saved her even though it would risks his own life. When the battle between Kenshin and Shinsengumi happened, Kenshin was saved by Tomoe, but for the cost, Kenshin was the one who took his wife’s life. Feeling finally peaceful, Tomoe gave the last prize for Kenshin, a cross scar atop of what’s left by her former groom so it made X scar in Kenshin’s left cheek.
Shinsengumi was defeated by Kenshin and Ishin-shishi, and Meiji Restoration was succeeded but no one felt more sorrow or guilt other than Kenshin. After that he swore to never use his sword again and wandered through all Japan for 10 years until he met Kaoru, someone who welcome him and love him without even looking Kenshin’s past.
Although he swore to never going back to his old life, Kenshin had to face two ghosts of his past. One was Shishio Makoto, another former member of Ishin-shishi legion whom was known as Battousai’s successor yet he was burned alive after the civil war and his troops expect him to die, while he was still alive and felt betrayed. Soon, he began to gain more power in the next 10 years to form an anti-government militia headed by his own privet elite warriors, Juppongatana.
Kenshin had once again, flee and left Kaoru to stop Shishio. But after a long fight, he succeed in fighting Shishio, yet his fight wasn’t stop there because after Shishio, Kenshin met the second ghost: Enishi, or Yukishiro Enishi. Enishi was trully from Kenshin’s past, because he was Tomoe’s younger brother. He joined Shinsengumi too soon and enter the war time too young. When Japan was peaceful after Shishio was defeated, Enishi had spread the terror by exploding city after city just to took revenge on Kenshin, because he saw Kenshin killed his sister in front of his eyes at that day.
Kaoru never understood Kenshin’s past until Enishi told her all about it. Feeling sad for a while, Kaoru realized that Tomoe was dead and Kenshin and Enishi should live to find a new purpose for their life. Kaoru was the one who stopped Enishi for killing Kenshin in the end.
For me, this is the most beautiful and tragic love story that was told. And the whole movie has succeeded to show it naturally without too much PDA or words. Who would think that a sentence like ‘You give me home, you make me very happy’ gives you so much love rather than the original ‘I love you’? The story also gives a very accurate historical detail of how Japan was in facing Meiji Restoration and what happened next.
No wonder this LA hold the best LA of all time, because they think and create every detail in the saga, with magnificent performance by all the act. Shishio Makoto was told in second and third installment and was played by Tatsuya Fujiwara, and while he had to put a heavy make up to make himself like a burnt man with bandages all over his body, Tatsuya still showed outstanding performance in fighting and martial acting for playing Shishio. Another applause should be given to Arata Mackenyu who played as Yukishiro Enishi in the fouth installment. He showed a very beautiful and classy martial skill fighting and absolute top-class act for playing the notorious Enishi.
