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Thinking about it, Ruroken has a really poo poo record regarding adaptations. Trust & Betrayal is good by itself but absolutely nothing like the source material in tone and mood. The anime was very good in many aspects but the constant studio changes made characters look like different people from one episode to another and everything past the Kyoto arc is a dumpster fire. All the original content (non-manga) OVAs & Movies are better off ignored and pretending they don't exist. The recent OVAs just make me go  wondering why anyone would ever think those were a good idea even at the conceptual level. The first live action movie was okay but the second one isn't on Netflix so I haven't watched it yet.Seeing Watsuki-sensei's art again is a treat. Ruroken is my favorite shonen pretty much ever, though HxH comes close and may surpass it if it ever finishes. Seeing this thread has made my day already.
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Oct 11, 2017 15:39
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:36 |
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I think that Shishio is a better foil to Kenshin, he's got power, charisma and aspirations that make him much more threatening than Enishi. What Enishi has over Shishio is that he's the manifestation of Kenshin's sins coming back to haunt him and he's a much better end boss to close off Kenshin's character development with. Comparing their fights, Shishio's is a grandiose climactic showdown where everyone has to team up and help wear him down instead of standing on the sidelines commenting like in every other series, it is like reading the platonic ideal of a battle manga climax. Enishi's battle is more nontraditional, which has its pros (insanely sick first arc) and cons (I liked the resolution of the final battle(s) but I can see why some find it disappointing). Ultimately it doesn't scratch the same itch for a good big ol' brawl with the fate of A lot of the flak that Enishi gets is probably due to his motivation. People don't like characters obsessed with vengeance. I disagree with them but, well, thinking about prominent examples in recent years, I can understand why they don't. 
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Oct 12, 2017 07:40
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Basically, the incident that kicked off the Meiji Restoration was the arrival of Perry's Black Ships, all but demanding that isolationist Japan open itself up to the rest of the world. Japan, being terribly underindustrialized, uneducated and frankly politically medieval compared to the western world, begrudgingly agreed. The cultural, political and economic backlash was part of what led to the war in Ruroken's backstory, with Kenshin on the side of the revolutionaries. Saito and Aoshi sided with the Tokugawa, the emperor that the revolutionaries fought against. Sano was a member of a peasant army that fought alongside the revolution but then were betrayed. One of the biggest things the Restoration did was the removal of the social caste-like system, in which samurai were nobility with hereditary civil administration roles. This, obviously, pissed a lot of them off and led to many of Ruroken's antagonists being bitter samurai. Someone please correct me if I'm loving up something in my gross oversimplification of historical events.
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Oct 12, 2017 18:44
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Watsuki was one of my inspirations to go into a creative field and Ruroken is the only manga I own a complete collection of. It was always a treat to pick up one of them and read a story with adult characters that didn't exploit women for titillation and had such a good mix of action, humor and drama. I'm not sure I can go back and enjoy them as I once did. Nor will I be able to recommend the series with a clear conscience either. gently caress. I'm going to sit in this corner here and be depressed for a while.
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Nov 21, 2017 19:14
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It is depressing as hell that one of the few mangaka out there that did popular shonen stuff without ever drawing as much as a single 2d boob or even having a scantily clad heroine in his work is an actual pedophile. Even if you avoid the fanservice and harem exploitation bullshit you might end up giving your money to someone even worse. There is no escape.
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Nov 22, 2017 04:40
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It's unlikely to continue anyway. Wasn't Shueisha pulling out tomes currently in stores?
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Feb 27, 2018 17:28
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Well this is depressing.
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Mar 1, 2018 03:07
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:36 |
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Wark Say posted:Didn't Kenshin admit that he would've likely killed himself after the Bakumatsu but decided that doing so would've been the easy way out for him? It has been months and it still boggles the mind that you can write such a compelling story about guilt, compassion, trauma, forgiveness, etc. and still participate in the systematic exploitation and abuse of minors.
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Apr 25, 2018 16:27
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