When the first news broke out that Rurouni Kenshin will have a live action movie, as a fan of the manga series, i was honestly afraid. I've felt that it would work out as a comic and animation, but as a live action movie; i had my doubts. Thankfully as i saw the trailers and eventually caught the movie, i'll say that it is worth the time spent waiting for it and every cent spent to catch it on the big screen.
Anyone reading the manga series would know that this is the earliest "adventure" of a wandering Kenshin in the manga/animation and the premise is definitely suitable for a movie. Even non-fans would be able relate to it instantly, so it does a pretty decent job of holding everyone in place for whole ride.
But fans of the manga would definitely notice that there's been some changes of the story, but thankfully the change doesn't feel out of place. The other thing that bugged me a bit was how little purpose Saito Hajime had (fyi - he wasn't even supposed to be involved in this part in the manga) and poor Sanosuke's character entered the story without much purpose or explanation which kind of downplay his role and might be hard for non-manga reading viewers to ask, "So what was his purpose?". My friend and myself also recalled that Kenshin had a habit of covering up his cross-scar but somehow, he doesn't do that in the movie.
Speaking of the scar, i personally felt that the flashback scene of how he ended up with his first scar, became comical as opposed to something serious. You have to watch it to understand why.
All in all, this is one movie that is awesome from start to finish but i'll be even more worried if they ever decided to do a sequel ...
Anyone reading the manga series would know that this is the earliest "adventure" of a wandering Kenshin in the manga/animation and the premise is definitely suitable for a movie. Even non-fans would be able relate to it instantly, so it does a pretty decent job of holding everyone in place for whole ride.
But fans of the manga would definitely notice that there's been some changes of the story, but thankfully the change doesn't feel out of place. The other thing that bugged me a bit was how little purpose Saito Hajime had (fyi - he wasn't even supposed to be involved in this part in the manga) and poor Sanosuke's character entered the story without much purpose or explanation which kind of downplay his role and might be hard for non-manga reading viewers to ask, "So what was his purpose?". My friend and myself also recalled that Kenshin had a habit of covering up his cross-scar but somehow, he doesn't do that in the movie.
Speaking of the scar, i personally felt that the flashback scene of how he ended up with his first scar, became comical as opposed to something serious. You have to watch it to understand why.
All in all, this is one movie that is awesome from start to finish but i'll be even more worried if they ever decided to do a sequel ...