Every scene is a splendid work of art! For example.
Once again, I am very impressed with the choreography in RK live-action series. Kenshin's fighting techniques are gracefully presented. The filmmakers did not speed up the fight scenes at all. What we see is the actors' REAL speeds in real time. The fight scenes look so authentic as a result!
Absolutely love "THE FLOW OF TIME" soundtrack! So fitting for a series like RK!
The RK live-action series is easily THE best live-action ever made!
The acting is perfect! The entire cast did an awesome job! Takeru Sato is the perfect cast as Kenshin!
Hiko was such a big part of Kenshin's childhood and should've been included in this movie!!!
Tomoe's actress is very pretty but her face looks a bit too cheerful for the role.
Seta's reappearance is a pleasant surprise.
Jinchu Arc has a lot of substance in the manga but here it feels empty because these movies focused too much on the fight scenes that they neglected the characters' developments. It bothers me that Kaoru is treated like an extra in the movie when in fact she should be the heart of this Arc. A complete let-down for me is how indifferent Kenshin is towards Kaoru. Manga at this point shows how clearly their relationship has grown stronger and how important she is for him in his path to redemption.
I guess the director is more of a Tomoe's fan than a Kaoru's fan. Because he cut out 50% of Kaoru's scenes and added 50% extra scenes for Tomoe. Two particular scenes that I'm pissed about them being cut out:
- Kaoru's "death" and its impact on Kenshin : This is a very impactful scene in the manga for their relationship as well as for Kenshin's character development. When Kaoru "died" in the manga, he hit his lowest point, completely gave up and joined a homeless camp waiting for death until HE found a new strength and a new purpose to live to pull himself out of that place. Kyoto Arc taught Kenshin how to live for his loved ones. Jinchu Arc taught him how to live for himself and his ideals. The movies did not deliver this.
- Kenshin-Kaoru's leisure walk when Kenshin paused to appreciate the beauty of a normal life and talked about how everyone would eventually on and then Kaoru straight-up proposed to him and his reaction was awesome : Instead, the LA had Kenshin very low-key propose to her in "The Legend Ends", and the scene ended abruptly. I guess Japan still doesn't like women proposing to men, huh? Or at least the director doesn't? LOL. The whole scene was a very meaningful and beautiful "peaceful moment" in the manga. As Ghibli director Miyazaki Hayao has said, a film needs to have those "peaceful moments" to balance out the action scenes. If packed with too many action scenes in a row, the audience won't have time to "breathe".
Manga Kaoru is much more badass and in charge than LA Kaoru. The LA made Kaoru a damsel-in-distress too many times.
LA Tomoe has more personality than manga Tomoe.
MOVIE TITLES: Before watching, I thought that "The Final" meant "the past, the end of hitokiri" and "The Beginning" meant "a new future", and I thought that that was a very thoughtful order for the films because "putting the past behind and looking toward the future" is the central theme of RK. But I was disappointed to find out that "The Final" includes everything in the Jinchu Arc except Kenshin's past and "The Beginning" is solely Kenshin-Tomoe's past. Dedicating a whole movie to Kenshin's past was unnecessary. It feels dragged out. I think that half or 2/3 of a movie would've sufficed. I was expecting the scene to shift from the past to the present to convey the flow of Kenshin's life but that continuity was lost when the movies were organized this way.
I do not like how they added an extra scene in which Tomoe told Kenshin there's nothing worth fighting for. Not even ideals. Not even a peaceful world. I disagree hard. Because this is the "I don't care what's happening in the world" apathetic mentality. I understand that a path of bloodshed isn't Kenshin's favorite, but it's better to try to work toward a better world, to have ideals, than not.
Scenes that I wished the movies had included:
- How Kenshin parted with Hiko
- When the swordsmith gave Kenshin his reverse-blade sword
- Kenshin-Kaoru's leisure walk
- Kaoru's "death" and Kenshin's reaction to it
- Geezer's (Tomoe's father) interactions with Kenshin and Enishi
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