Rurouni Kenshin - The Final
I didn't know another Kenshin film had been made, until Anapan mentioned it in another thread. It recently dropped on Netflix, and apparently another one comes out at the end of this month. I guess Netflix is proud about this, as when the movie starts you see the word Netflix come onscreen with the X stylized to look like the one on Kenshin's cheek. It's a neat little touch
So anyway, I don't believe anime and manga are known for having lots of well done live action adaptations. I guess there's Alita: Battle Angel. I don't know much about the source material, but I thought that movie was good. Nothing else really comes to mind though. The Kenshin series though, has made the transition quite well. As a fan of the anime and manga, I enjoyed the last three movies. I feel the same way about this one.
Interestingly, this movie covers the Jinchu arc, which I don't believe was ever properly adapted in the anime. Now, being that this is simply a movie, don't expect it to fully do justice to the entire manga arc, but it hits the major points of the story and like the previous three movies has some great action mixed with good music, casting, and performances. One thing I like about these movies is that in addition to the kick ass action they do a good job of capturing the emotional beats of the source material. It's nice to see this arc done outside of the manga since the anime wasn't able to. The next movie will be a prequel that basically covers Kenshin's back story, basically sounds like a live action version of Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal. I feel like that movie should have preceded this one given that its events influence this movie but whatever. Maybe this is how they did it in the manga too, it's been so long since I read it that I'm not sure.
Kenshin fans will probably dig this, if nothing else you can watch it if you just want some awesome, samurai action. If you're someone who knows NOTHING about the Rurouni Kenshin anime or manga, you should watch the other three movies first.
In addition to the existence of this movie, I only just recently learned of The Hokkaido Arc in the manga. I will need to check that out too
As I finished watching this, I saw that Netflix also has a Dynasty Warriors live action movie. It's crazy seeing some of the things getting movie adaptations these days. I don't know what to expect from a Dynasty Warriors movie, but the trailer seemed to have the same crazy, over the top action as the video games. Whether that's good or bad I guess I won't know until I watch it.
