Rurouni Kenshin, Wandering Samurai: The Legendary Swordsman: volume 1

Reviewed By: Carla Land

Anime Works DVD

Review based on disk 1 (episodes 1-4)

Rating

What it’s (basically) all about: Kenshin is a samurai in feudal Japan. He’s a darn good one, too, gaining status during the last wars for the number of kills he made. What makes him a legend, though, is that at the end of it all he walked away, never to be heard from again. Well, almost never. The truth is he’s settled down a little at a dojo where he helps out…as the cook.

Nitty Gritty: Kenshin is a nice guy, but when he fights his demeanor pulls an about face- he goes from sickeningly sweet to lethal. Most of the time he avoids killing, though, knocking out his opponents instead. His opponents are usually classic bad guys- cops who enjoy executing innocent people, swordsmen who kill for the thrill of it, or even mobsters. The violence isn’t too gory, but there is the occasional blood splatter when someone gets cut, or sometimes the bad guy’s head goes through the ceiling and gets stuck.

Language to look out for includes goddammit, b*tch and hell.

At one point Kaoru, the girl who owns the dojo where Kenshin ends up, is taking a bath. Thinking that she has tried to drown herself, Kenshin busts into the bathroom after her, and she freaks out. There is no full frontal or backside nudity, but you do see her in the tub.

The theme songs don’t match up- though sung in English, the subtitles have nothing to do with the words in the song. Also, the end theme seems to be about sex, which doesn’t relate to the story in any way.

Special features include: liner notes that are nearly impossible to read which talk about cultural things unique to Japan; an art gallery; character profiles which are also very hard to read; a clean opening; trailers for Magic Knight Rayearth (which has a lot of stylized nudity in it), Virtua Fighter, Ninku the Movie, and Shinesman; and lastly the Japanese end credits for all four episodes.

Survey says: Unless things get more violent as the series progresses (and I believe the possibility of this is high and shouldn't be ruled out) this disk is fine for the teen age.  Some of the teens in my anime club have requested that I show it, so I know they are watching it anyway.

Personal Ad: I like Samurai Champloo better than this. Kenshin is just too nice for me.