Rurouni Kenshin: Wandering Samurai - The Legendary Swordsman [DVD]

There are plenty of other general summaries here on amazon.com about the story of this series in general, so I'm including more specific information in these reviews. One thing worth special note about the American AnimeWorks release of this series, is that (in my opinion) the English vocal dubbing is very well done (better than the ADV release of the theatrical film, although not better than the Trust/Betrayal OVA).This DVD features episodes ('eps') 1-4, first season. They are all critical eps, insofar as they introduce important characters and/or move the main story along. All eps are taken from stories of the original manga (Japanese graphic novels). None of the eps move the story very far. All are written quite well. There are no significant threats to Kenshin in these first episodes, although there are plenty of people who _think_ they're awesome.|G| Consequently the amazing fighting scenes you may have heard about, don't really begin on this DVD. The DVD ends with a split of a two-episode story arc, which slightly annoyed me.These episodes feature one of the better end-title song/credit sequences for the series, 'Tactics' (although the actual words, when translated, are extremely dippy.|g| This is normal for the series, btw.) The English version of the end-title song is sung by Lex Lang, the actor who plays one of the main characters (introduced in the 4th ep), which is sort of cool (if you can get past the puerile lyrics |g|). I found the opening title song, 'Freckles', to be annoying, even listening to it in Japanese.

Wow! I had a feeling I was going to like this when I first bought it, but if you had told me it was going to make me fall in love with anime in a whole new way I would have never believed you.The first 4 episodes of the shows introduce you to the 4 principal characters. The ever mysterious Kenshin Himura, Kaoru who is spunky as hell but also delivers us most of the insight into Kenshin, the precocious young Yahiko, and last but most certainly not least Sanosuke who is a tough assassian for hire. Sanosuke begins a rivalry with Kenshin, but deep down you can sense a greater force drawing these two together.While primarily trying to make character introductions these first few episodes also set the ground work for future rivalries, upcoming friendships, and endless directions for character growth. Oh, the possibilities...The greatest thing about this series is that it has a wonderful way of mixing the drama with the humour so that neither one seems forced or out of place, plus they throw in a little moral in each episode, just for flavour. I haven't had this much fun watching anime in a long time. It really is just fantastic, I would give it 6 stars if I could!

Himura Kenshin was a lengendary assassin (hitokiri) during the war in Japan that brough forth the Meiji Era. Near the end of the war, he disappeared. Kenshin decided to give up his killing ways and become a wonderer who protects people in order to atone for all his sins of killing. The story starts some years after the new government was in place and starts a story revolving around Kenshin that is grepping like no other series.The plot of the series is absolutely wonderful! No other anime series I know has a plot comparable to it (and believe me I watch a LOT of anime). Many apects of the story are taken from real life including certain characters, fight moves and historical events. The plots involves the clash of the old era and the new government, the clash in Kenshin's own mind between his killer side and his wonderer side, the people living in the new era who do not want to accept the new government and those people who want to protect and make the new era a wonderful one (aka Kenshin and others) - it is a tightly knitted story that absolutely takes your breath away.The characters in this series are believable and each has his/her own strong personality and depth of character.As far as the artwork is concerned, it is absolutely beautiful! The music is incredibly wonderful as well and extremely fitting to the various scenes.The first 4 espisodes contains introduction to various important characters. The first episode introduces Kenshin and another main character. It is a wonderful introduction like no other! The second episode introduces another main character. The 3rd espisode contains some politics with a little plot revoling around Kenshin - it develops Kenshin's character and give the viewer glimpses into his core character. The 4th episode is one cool introduction to yet another important character in the plot. It might sound boring that all there is are introductions but the introductions are embedded in a great plot and is not boring at all. Just these few episodes will be enough to get you hooked!Try out Kenshin :)!

Never having watched much anime before, I thought, 'oh, it's going to be cheesy with the big eyes and stuff', or 'grossly violent and sex-laden' but not at all, it's really fun. Very clever. Very charming. Very artistic. The hero is a reformed manslayer of amazing swordsmanship who carries a reversed blade so he can fight without killing. There is a lot of interesting cultural subtext and a moral message as well, I daresay. Awfully good for three dollars. I don't know if I'd like other anime but this one is really interesting on many levels. Despite the hero's cute pointy nose... I also ordered the second dvd. This one has had at least four episodes. I am still watching it. Very funny and amusing. It's kind of like playing a video game without having to face the horrid boss monsters who kill you. I am in a REALLY difficult phase of FF12, so I know whereof I speak. I'm a convert, anyway...