Some rant and comment on Rurouni Kenshin

As the title indicates, I'm just using the space to vent some of my frustration after revisiting Rurouni Kenshin (the anime and the manga) for the Nth time. Where is my Jinchuu arc anime?! And better yet....where is my faithful remake?! With RK's 15th anniversary in 2011, I was hoping to finally receive the news I had been waiting for, but what I got was a bunch of side projects that accomplished little more than bringing about another wave of nostalgia that reminded me just how remarkable the series is – and the grim reality that we probably won't see a reboot anytime soon. It's disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that the industry still remembers this wonderful story and is showing some effort in preserving the public interest, but with so much that could be and should be done for this franchise, I am simply not satisfied with the result. 

I am a passionate RK fan and has been for almost 10 years. This is one of the first series I've watched after being introduced to anime, and curiously, my love for the story and the characters only grew deeper and deeper with each revisit. The TV series has 95 episodes; the first 60 episodes follow the manga faithfully, but the last 35 episodes are fillers due to the fact the last arc (Jinchuu arc) of the manga wasn't finished when the anime was in production. Well, this is a pretty big deal given the length and significance of the last arc – it spans roughly 100 chapters, and the entire manga is only 255 chapters in length. The Jinchuu arc explores the titular character Himura Kenshin on a profound level, connecting his past to the present, and thus bringing everything full circle. Perhaps to compensate for the lack of closure in anime format, two OVAs were produced after the manga concluded. The first OVA (Tsuioku Hen - Trust and Betrayal) details Kenshin's life amidst the revolution as the feared Battousai and more specifically, his encounter and ensuing relationship with Tomoe that ultimately ended in tragedy. It's told beautifully – poetic in narrative and in style. The second OVA (Seisohen - Reflection) recounts the manga story with a self-invented ending for the MCs. Adopting the same art style and atmosphere as the first OVA, it leads to an conclusion that's overbearing and simply too heartbreaking to accept – this is another reason why I want the last arc adapted, to see Kenshin getting the happy ending he deserves. Now, I want to talk about Himura Kenshin, the titular character.  

From all these years of being an anime fan, I've never come across a more sympathetic character than Kenshin. Similarly, I've never come across a character who's been through more pain and suffering than Kenshin. I guess that's not exactly a fair statement to make since pain isn't something that can be quantified. It's a feeling too subjective to measure. But frankly, there is no character whose predicament hit me as hard as Kenshin's did, and whose strength inspired my despite so. My heart went out for him; even his fortitude didn't come through without equal amount of sadness to carry it. He takes pacifist ideals to such extremes not because he's ignorant of the evils in the world, but because he understands loss and despair better than anyone else. When he's introduced in the beginning of the story, Kenshin appears to be a man with a gentle temperament, it's easy to mistake him as an easy target to take advantage of with his meek and amicable personality. But eventually we see that his actions are coloured by a deep wisdom that almost contradict his assumed simplicity. He's a pacifist but was also once the most feared assassin in the era of revolution, killing hundreds seemingly without remorse. With so much complexity and emotional nuances, Kenshin is a character worth exploring. Orphaned and sold to slave traders at a young age, his childhood was full of insecurities and grim circumstances. When the bandits attacked the slave traders caravan, he watched in horror as his companions who shielded him out of love were brutally murdered. To my surprise, he didn't wail and panic like you would expect of a child his age, but instead went out of his way to burry all the corpses, including those of slave traders as well as the bandits. Even as a child, he had a heart big enough to carry an unbelievable amount of pain and a rare mentality to treat all human life as equal. The sword-master Seijuro saw the untainted kindness in the young soul and adopted him as his pupil. During the revolution, driven by the belief that violence is inevitable to bring about peace in a chaotic time, Kenshin willed himself into a ruthless assassin whose name made people's blood run cold. But he paid a heavy price for the radical justice he believed in – psychologically and emotionally damaged, there wasn't a single moment gone by that he didn't engage in a battle with himself. Meeting Tomoe is a turning point in his life, she showed him a simple kind of happiness that he never knew existed and he vowed to protect it at any cost, but fate had unexpected plans for him. Tomoe was his salvation but also his deepest and most brutal scar, quite literally in a way, that played a big part in shaping his pacifist attitude. Knowing his past, we can understand why Kenshin is so insistent on shouldering the burdens himself without involving those he care about – there is no one more afraid of loss because he's a man who already lost too much. Kenshin's story is about finding the meaning of life and how to make peace with one's darkest memories. It's so very rare in anime where we are granted such intimate looks into a character's past, present and future – we develop an understanding of his whole being, not just a snapshot of him.

As for the other characters in the cast, I think they all more or less became quite special in relation to Kenshin. They are not exactly unique as far as Shonen stereotypes are concerned. But their roles developed and unfolded with more pathos than it is possible in most series containing parallel functions, largely owning to how effective Kenshin's character is. Take Kaoru for instance, she's a headstrong high-spirited girl who's righteous and kind – in other words, doesn't exactly scream originality – but she's a much needed presence in Kenshin's life marked by self-blaming, serving as his anchor and his will to live. When it comes down to it, the dynamic works out extremely well and it is one of the very best I've seen of any anime relationship. 

I have said this many times, hero syndrome is not an element I'm too fond of in a character, but I think I should clarify. It's not so much I don't like heros, but in my opinion many anime characters who preach heroism don't possess the depth or credential to do so. Even heroes need to earn the right to be heroes. I suppose shallow characterization is fitting in some series where the focus is inspiring a sheer thrill and momentary high, but with a show like Rurouni Kenshin that seeks to connect the audience on a deep level, justification is needed for a character to be believable. 

Well, I feel much better getting that off my chest. My hope for a remake (or an adaption of the Jinchuu arc) is not completely dead. The live action movie certainly made a lot of noise and successfully aroused enough interest to warrant a sequel, so maybe someday an anime studio will find another anime incarnation worth the investment. If you haven't seen/read Rurouni Kenshin, what exactly are you waiting for? =)