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Samurai X - The Motion Picture (Rurouni Kenshin)

Samurai X - The Motion Picture (Rurouni Kenshin)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $23.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: gread
Review: good movie, can get boring after a while. Not a good as the ova or series. choice between series or this? series....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: In between the TV series and the OVA... Best of BOTH worlds!
Review: I've read many reviews on this film at Amazon, and it seems that OVA lovers hate it, and the Kenshin TV lovers accept it. I happen to appreciate BOTH series. I like the OVAs (Betrayal/Trust) for the more cinematic/artsy style and non-googly face scenes of the TV series, plus the harsh, dramatic story (though quite bloody at times)and the dark style treatment for dark times. The TV series (episodes 1-95) I appreciate because the violence is not as extreme and the stories are filled with drama, morals, and humor.

Now for Samurai X, the motion picture. This, I believe, is a perfect blend of the OVA series and the TV series. The artwork is more consistent with the TV series, as you see Kenshin's friends like Yahiko & Sanosuke, and Kenshin has the vibrant red hair & purple outfit. It seems suitable to me because he is trying now to rid of his dark past (which had a darker look to it). The only thing that made it difficult for me to get into this picture at first was the English dub; though I like BOTH the English and Japanese voices on the TV series, this movie, I thought, was TERRIBLE in the English voice department. So I switched to the original Japanese track and was very happy to find the voices from the Japanese TV version.

The story of the film is great, the characters are dynamic and the action is excellent. I read someone complain that they reused the open of the film 7 times throughout the picture... I was relieved to discover that each time they repeated they were not in their entirety, only mere images so it was fine and worked with the story... how could I FORGET about the OPEN?! The open to this film is what made me purchase it right away. Though the rest of the film doesn't have much of the feel or look as the open does (kind of like an OVA open, slightly watered down - but VERY well executed) it WAS a flashback of a different era. I cannot rave enough about the opening sequence, but I'll stop to spare you.

I think each Kenshin series has something good for anime lovers. The goofy faces / head bumps of the TV series is the only thing that has ever bothered me, but I get used to it. Fortunately, Samurai X, the Motion Picture doesn't have that element. Anyone think Toki & Kaoru look VERY similar? Anyway, this was an excellent movie - give it a chance! (Watch it in Japanese w/ subs!!)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: great
Review: good movie, can get boring after a while. Not a good as the ova or series. choice between series or this? series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie
Review: I have seen the movie and have on DVD the movie trust and betrayal and got adicted to Rurouni now i have the whole collection and have preordered the comming ones i thik is the greatest anime ever made got to love it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Beyond Disappointing - Catastrophic
Review: The two Samurai X videos released last year by ADV Films, titled "Trust" and "Betrayal", are two examples of an anime gone right - great story, great animation, great characters, etc. The story of Kenshin, a great swordsman, assassin, but more importantly, a kid. Literature could take a clue from this display of "innocence to experience." This 4 episode series is perhaps my favourite of all time.

Enter Samurai X - The Motion Picture, a standalone movie that some friends and I have been looking forward to ever since the two before mentioned tapes. Rather than repeat the synopsis, I'll just tell you what's wrong with it, and why you shouldn't buy it.

For starters, this is not the same animation studio that brought you the original. Instead of the gruesome, depressing, dark atmosphere that was the 4 episode series, now we see happier drawn characters and locale. Our heroes now sport the famous `embarassment bubble' that is found in corny anime such as "Sailor Moon" and "Sakura Diaries". Worst of all, we now see Kenshin sporting a pink outfit? If this is supposed to take place 10 years in the future, why does Kenshin look younger? Horrible - it boggles the mind at every turn.

The story isn't interesting. There is no plot twist, no interwoven storyline - nothing. There's hardly any action to keep you interested, mostly political talk that doesn't mean a damn. They'll play the same flashback scene from the introduction (the only good part) over 7 times during the course of the movie!

Let me finish with this - if you liked the 4-part OVA released by ADV Films, you will not enjoy this video. It will pain you to watch it. If you liked the TV series, you might like this. If you haven't seen either, get Samurai X, "Trust" and "Betrayal" and avoid this "movie" like the plague.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: decent but not as good as OVAs
Review: The style of the movie is closer to the TV series Rurouni Kenshin than to its 4-part OVA (Samurai X). I totally love the TV series (5 star), and IMHO, the OVA is the absolute number 1 in ALL anime. In every aspect: story, music and fighting scenes, this movies falls short of my expectation.

(1) Story: very predictable. (2) Length: tooooo short. (3) Music: not as good as OVA's, but still very good. (4) fighting scenes: only some cool ones in the beginning. But these scenes are shown too many times during the movie, which feels like these scenes are just used to fill the already very short length. Unlike the OVA where nothing is redudant. (4) I do not like the high-pitch voice of the main female character beside Kaoru (whose voice, BTW, is good as usual).

Do not get me wrong, the movie is still better than 99% anime out there (believe me, I have see a lot). So buy it, you would not be disappointed, unless you have already seen Samurai X and the TV series like I did.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not good as the TV series nor the OAVs!!!
Review: I love the TV series. I've seen nearly all of it awhile ago (I seen the fansubbed version -- now I'm collecting the DVDs). The four episodes OAV is awesome as well. I would give them both a perfect score. So why does the movie just get 3 stars? Simply because it's not as good as those two series. The only thing I like about the movie is the picture quality of the DVD version. The quality is higher the the TV series version. It's very crisp and clear, but it's still not as good the the OAV.

Here's a few things that makes it just an "okay" anime movie.

First, I don't like how everyone seemed to have lost 10 pounds. Everyone in the movie looks skinny compare to the TV series. The movie is more like the TV series, so I won't compare it with the OAV series.

What happened to the cool fighting scenes found in the TV series? There is no good scenes here at all. The fighting is really lame. I got irritated that they used the same boring fighting scene over and over again.

There isn't one memorable tune. The TV series has lots of awesome musics, but the movie has none.

Okay, there are more stuff that I don't like about the movie, but I won't say (actually type) anything anymore. If you're a fan of the series, I'm sure you'll definitely buy it, just like I did. You can then check it out for yourself and see how good (or bad) the film is.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. The movie actually takes place sometime in the TV series. Just thought you'll like to know. Some of the other reviewers said it takes place after the TV series and the OAV, but that's wrong.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ...
Review: ...The only reason I give it four stars is that the story was good. Otherwise, a three star or less wouldn't be bad since the animation was below what I would expect... Cheesy and wanting more realism....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's awesome...
Review: This movie is great. The d.v.d. has an incredible sound and picture but it falls short on the extras, thats why I give it 4 stars and not 5. But besides that there is nothing bad about this d.v.d. If you are not a fan of samurai X(a.k.a. Rurouni kenshin) you will be after you see this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not Like the OVAs at All
Review: First thing that came to my mind when I first watched the movie was: It's the TV series! I thought the motion picture was going to take place when Kenshin becomes a wanderer, but it doesn't. In fact, the viewer should only watch this movie after the OVAs and the TV series. I have watched the first two seasons thus far and the series gets better and better each time I watch it. The motion picture's animation is similar to the TV series and the character designs are still as extensive. I personally didn't enjoy the opening song but the end credits song is pretty good. You really become concerned about the characters in the movie which is a sign that the direction of the character development is excellent. This motion picture explains further about Yahiko's father's clan which I like a lot because even in the TV series, the young samurai's life has never really been explored. In all, I highly recommend this motion picture to anyone who loves the story and character development in Rurouni Kenshin TV series and in the Samurai X OVAs.


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