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Rurouni Kenshin - Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1

Rurouni Kenshin - Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $26.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sword action for guys, slapstick humor for girls
Review: I won't lie. Kenshin is a humorous anime. Right from the begining of the first episode, Kenshin is spoken as a brutal murderer. And then his introduction is started by the main female, Kauru, calling him a murderer. All Kenshin says is "Oro?". Not what you were expecting. However, each episodes contain humor as well as some sweet fighting with some being a tad violent. For instance, in the first episode, Kenshin faces off against a guy who was expelled from Kouru's school for violents. His severence was losing his thumb. Thus, he wields a sword with one hand. Kenshin makes use of this by cutting his fingers so he will never hold a sword again. In the next episode, we are introduced to a child pickpocketer. After he meets Kenshin and is lectured by him, he decides to quit his job as a pickpocketer. But his friends won't allow this. First, Kouru puts up a fight and then comes Kenshin to save the day. The third episode seems kind of like a filler episode. When power-thirsty cops start tracking down Kenshin, they decide to disturb the villagers. However, Kenshin saves the day, but is presented with an offer to join the police force. Naturally, Kenshin declines as he is no longer a killer. The last episode was the best. The guy from the first episode is out for revenge. He hires Sansoke, a hired asassain who is payed how much of a challenge he gets from fighting. Even more, he carries the biggest sword ever made! He arrives at Kenshin's location and almost gets into a fight...until the children come. Doh! Can't fight in front of children so the fight is called off. However, the preview for the next episode has the fight continue. The one thing I despise on this disc is the lengthy company logo scene, so be sure you stop the disc when done watching an episode. The extras are ok. The linear notes are helpful, but the print is so small to read. This goes double for the character bios. The art gallery only has two pictures which can both be seen on the packaging. The textless opening was propably the best since it starts off with nice guitar. And ofcourse the Japanese credits are included. Overall, a good disc worth checking out and watching for an evening. Good stuff. Recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A pretty good series here
Review: I am not a Kenshin Otaku, a lot of people like the series a heck of a lot more than I do, but the series is passable and enjoyable at times. Let me say that I got a copy with the messed up Japanese track and as I result I listened to the dub. It is easily on of the best dubs that I heard and what they did with the opening song was downright genius.

Other people will probably describe more about the series, so I won't go into detail. About a guy named Himura Kenshin who is a samurai with a past. Pretty much introduces him and some other characters in this DVD, not all that much happens. Kenshin's plot does come later on in the series, and there are some earlier episodes that are good, but I don't think this series is anything special.

The DVD was nicely done though, outside of the problem with the Japanese track which has seen been fixed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oro?
Review: Among other series, Kenshin was my first introduction to anime, and it's one of the series I have found hard to top. I'm not entirely sure why... but the series is quite endearing and cute, but at the same time deadly. In the first DVD, we are introduced to Kenshin (as well as the other characters), and the series begins to evolve... I love the art style (check out kenshin-web.com for some excellent examples) as well as the characters themselves. It's touching, but also exciting, and very, very well done.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST ANIME POSSIBLE
Review: This series is about a Rurouni (Wanderer) named Kenshin Himura, who has sworn never to kill again. The time period is set 10 years in the Meiji Period,(1878) Tokyo Japan. Kenshin was Hitokiri Battousai (Battousai the Manslayer) during thhe Meiji Revolution. As an assassin, he killed countless amounts of men, if you wish to learn more about this watch the OVA Samurai X. Kenshin uses a sakabatou, or reverse blade sword that slays everything except people. It's a cute comedy mixed adventure, romance, I'm telling you this series has everything. Ever seen Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z? It wipes the floor with them. It's quite long with 95 eppisodes, but I say the more the better. It's an add-on series, so it's fun to think about what's going to happen next. I really enjoy the dub verion, Kenshin's voice is great! Kenshin falls in love with a girl 11 years younger then him named Kaoru Kamiya though he thinks he's unworthy of her. Ever heard of the Kenshin-gumi or Kenshin's Group? That would be Kenshi Himura, Sanosuke Sagara, former member of the Sekihotai, Kaoru Kamiya, trainer of Yahiko, Assistant Master of the Kamiya Kashin Style, and house and food supporter of the group, Yahiko Myojin, young orphan who is learner Kashin from Karou, and really looks up to Kenshin, and Megumi Takani, impressive doctor who loves to tease Kaoru. I don't want to spoil anything else, but I'm telling you... BUY THIS! You won't regret it, and there is either 4, or 5 episodes on every tape, you won't forgive yourself if you don't! Thank you, hope this helped!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A wonderful anime!
Review: This is a wonderful series with a mixture of depressing and humorous themes! The main characters are very easy to identify with and the interactions between them are always interesting! ^_^ Another thing that I like is how there are no totally good and totally bad characters. in this aspect it reminds me of Princess Mononoke! In short, this is a wonderful series that does get a little repetetive in speech, one can only take so much of "I am no longer the Batousai and am now a Wanderer" type thing. but other than that, it's great! ^_^

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS ANIME
Review: Ok. I watched Samurai X and i was interested in what the T.V. series would be like. Well I found out. It was the most mindless , least original, kiddie styled anime i have seen outside of Kids WB. DOnT BUY IT get SAMURAI X.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A must-have for -any- anime library
Review: This series is incredible. Funny, well-drawn, interesting story-lines, wounded and unlikely heroes... The gore- and hentai- factors are pretty low, making it suitable for almost the entire family audience (it's best for 12 and up). The attention to detail is beautiful -- the clothing and weapons are lovingly rendered. About the only bad thing about this series is that if you're a subtitle snob like me, the typos in the subtitles may annoy you. Other than that, Ruroni Kenshin is worth every penny I've spent on it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I don't know... does it get better than this?
Review: Ok, first off, I want to say that very few series can meet this one's standards. I mean, Kenshin is a great sword fighter (duh) but he doesn't like killing and prefers to stay away from fights (unless someone's in danger). But he isn't even always serious! He says lines like, "Oro!" and stuff. Ok, so here it doesn't sound funny, but I guarentee at least one laugh from his lines. As others have said, the last thirty episodes or so weren't that good, but they have some good parts in the series such as the seson long Kyoto saga, and the Amakusa Shougo/Magdaria series (Probably the best one). So this DVD will be the perfect way to start the series. Get it, because chances are it's worth the money. If you like this, I reccomend Trigun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You want to see a real anime?
Review: If you want to see a very well done anime try this one out. I saw Rurouni Kenshin a couple times and I really enjoyed it, it has a wonderful story line great animation and it's really funny. It has almost everything a great anime should have, and for people that like fighting and sword scenes you will enjoy it alot, for those who like the shoujo and humor it has it all there.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A decent start to a superb series
Review: (Very Neo-esque) Whoa. This is the first time I've seen any episodes of "Rurouni Kenshin," and I must say, I'm really impressed. Great story, great animation, great voices (well, save for the dub actors), yadda yadda yadda...

New to Kenshin? Boy, have you been missing out on something incredible. This anime is a *seemingly* light-hearted comedy, but soon turns to be very deep and emotional (*cough* OVA *cough*). The story is based on a fictional account which just adds even more "coolness" to it. "Hitokiri Battousai" lived in the Tokugawa regime. He was an assassin for a group of idealists that wanted to created a new world where everyone could be free. The Battousai did that job, but at the end of the war, he mysteriously leaves his life to become a Rurouni (a wanderer). Fast-forward ten years: it is now the Meiji Era. Swords have been banned. In Tokyo, a wandering samurai bumps into Kaoru. And from there it's all history.

To start off, the animation is gorgeous. The battle scenes are very different from DragonBall Z. In DragonBall Z, you can see most punches and kicks and blasts directed at each other and you can see them getting beat up and stuff. But, in Rurouni Kenshin, it's usually just one frame that slowly zooms out, while you see slashes being... uh, *slashed* at the bad guys. It's completely different from a lot of other animes, but is incredible, nonetheless.

The music is marvelous. It has the original Japanese music and sound effects. The dub voices are so-so, but I have a few problems with the dialogue. An important part of Kenshin's character is that he says things like "Oro?" which roughly translates into "Huh?" Also, if he were to say "The man is strong," he would say it as "The man is strong, he is." In the English dub, they would just cut out the "he is" part, which is vital to Kenshin's character, in my opinion. (But, maybe the subtitler just got Kenshin's lines wrong...)

That was the actual content's review, and here's the DVD part. In the original (when it was played on television), the animation was made for commercial breaks. Of course, that's gonna create some problems for the home video. Whenever the video fades out for the intended commercial, the screen stays black for a few seconds. However, the black flickers back and forth between black and grey, which is very annoying. The extras are un-needed. They include trailers, the original Japanese closing, a textless version of the introduction, liner notes, art gallery, and character profiles. Sounds pretty nice, huh? Well, seeing as how the art gallery has two (yes, you heard me, two!!) pictures, and the character profiles only having four biographies, it's not too much. Well, you really shouldn't be expecting anything like deleted scenes like in regular movies, so I can't see this as a disappointment.

Setup? The versions are pretty much like "DragonBall," with English voices, Japanese voices, and Japanese voices with English subtitles. Oh, which reminds me: the subtitles work very well.

Ah, great subtitles. Most companies merely put the standard yellow subs that can sometimes be hard to read, but AnimeWorks put in the new white ones with a black border. Much easier to read.

All in all, this is a decent start to a great anime. The episodes are mainly "filler" until the Kyoto Saga comes on. And boy, you'll be glad you took the time to understand the characters. The DVD is definitely worth buying, and I highly recommend it.


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