This final chapter of Kenshin seemed a bit like a studio wanting to re-live it's success from "Trust and Betrayal" but missing the mark.
First of all if I put aside that this is supposed to be a Kenshin story I would say that it's an ok story (this is what I rated it on). However even if you take it as a non Kenshin story it has a very weak plot and direction and relies very heavily on flashbacks, in fact if you cut out all the flashbacks you would probably lose 60 percent of this show. This story has a very depressing undertone and takes a long time to really carve out any direction for the tired characters. In contrast to the Prequel series "Trust and Betrayal" which stood on its own with a well defined story and plot that leads nicely through to both the conclusion and the beginning of the Kenshin series this series is severely lacking and just send to involve a depressing spiral in non stop introspective and gloomy dialogue with an even weaker plot that seems only to really exist as a spindly scaffold to tack the aforementioned dialogue.
If I take this as a Kenshin story it is terrible it does not fit with the series despite utilising no end of flashbacks from its events. The character in this series does not seem to be Kenshin.
In the Series Kenshin had already reconciled his past and found happiness. He had already put his wandering behind him and would have been a good father instead of being a non-attentive father too busy wallowing in his own guilt. This series totally regresses the character. They seemed more interested in achieving that "Bitter Sweet" Motief than actually culminating the character in an accurate and believable manner.
While I would happily accept the bitter sweet Prequel as cannon as it shows how much the character of Kenshin was able to grow and move forward, I am very happy that this series is not considered cannon and it's gloomy and regressive portrayal is ignored in the manga and will apparently also be ignored in any future Kenshin series which will stick more inline with the authors (Nobuhiro Watsuki) desired outcome for his character.
First of all if I put aside that this is supposed to be a Kenshin story I would say that it's an ok story (this is what I rated it on). However even if you take it as a non Kenshin story it has a very weak plot and direction and relies very heavily on flashbacks, in fact if you cut out all the flashbacks you would probably lose 60 percent of this show. This story has a very depressing undertone and takes a long time to really carve out any direction for the tired characters. In contrast to the Prequel series "Trust and Betrayal" which stood on its own with a well defined story and plot that leads nicely through to both the conclusion and the beginning of the Kenshin series this series is severely lacking and just send to involve a depressing spiral in non stop introspective and gloomy dialogue with an even weaker plot that seems only to really exist as a spindly scaffold to tack the aforementioned dialogue.
If I take this as a Kenshin story it is terrible it does not fit with the series despite utilising no end of flashbacks from its events. The character in this series does not seem to be Kenshin.
In the Series Kenshin had already reconciled his past and found happiness. He had already put his wandering behind him and would have been a good father instead of being a non-attentive father too busy wallowing in his own guilt. This series totally regresses the character. They seemed more interested in achieving that "Bitter Sweet" Motief than actually culminating the character in an accurate and believable manner.
While I would happily accept the bitter sweet Prequel as cannon as it shows how much the character of Kenshin was able to grow and move forward, I am very happy that this series is not considered cannon and it's gloomy and regressive portrayal is ignored in the manga and will apparently also be ignored in any future Kenshin series which will stick more inline with the authors (Nobuhiro Watsuki) desired outcome for his character.