(just for the record, this is a slight alteration of my anime review)

RuroKen is the tale of a samurai, who after a very brutal past decides to never kill again but instead fight for peace alongside a group of normal people. Well … the normal part was a bit off and everybody was doing their best to make him kill again, so that internal struggle was quite interesting.

Everything in the setting smelled pure win, as it was a historical era where Japan was exiting a long period of conservatism and bloody civil strife, where new ideas and technologies were entering their society and rapidly changed their traditional ways of life. All the fighters of that era are now considered a thing of the past, many of which are not fond of this and do their best to maintain Japan as it was. The struggle of leaving the era of war behind for an era of western influence that was not positive all the time, created a huge emotional impact on the viewer. The best term to describe this is “elegiac”, the sadness which the passing of time has on people who grow old and see their traditions and pure child innocence fading away under the cruelty of change and uncertainty.

The overall story is also very good, being about a powerful swordsman who doesn’t want to kill anymore, settle down, have a normal life, yet at the same time being constantly thrown in the midst of remnants of his past, people who don’t like their way of life to change for something they see as frail and foreign. There were no real good or bad sides in here despite the fact that anyone Kenshin fought was presented as pure evil to the most part. In reality it was just a clash of civilizations and ideologies. You can’t really blame a man who trained all his life in the way of the sword to one day be told to throw away all his skills and start plowing the fields.

The general plot was also very good in terms of build up, as Kenshin was slowly facing more and more grim sides of his past coming back to haunt him, while at the same time protecting all those he loves around him. The story is separated into 3 arcs with the second one being the overall best for having the most samurai action. The first had too many minor villains who were small fries to Kenshin, while the third had a bunch of supermen who felt too weird for the context of the story. I mean there were huge robots, rocket launchers and digging Venom look-alikes for Pete’s sake; THIS IS MADNESS! But it also does have a nice finale so it is otherwise a complete and enjoyable story.

Onwards with the cast. Kenshin is the epicenter of the story and truth be told, only he gets all the focus. If you follow his story, you really sympathize him for all the things he has done in the past, both good and bad, and how he tries to amend for the sins of all those he killed in the name of peace. A really great guy. So great, his style of “never kill” was copied later in other shows who wanted to profit from this, the most famous being Trigun’s Van. They still occasionally make characters with this feature today but it no longer has the same appeal. “Never kill” is after all a stupid way to follow if you expect to change the world. Heck, how shorter would each battle be if the all-powerful Kenshin was just going in for the kill? It would take away his charm for sure but come on, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some necks… err, eggs. But anyways, the whole deal is taken very lightly and most of the time you get to see him doing silly stuff rather than looking grumpy. During peaceful times the guy acts like a clown! And damn, he really looks far younger than he really is.

All the rest of the characters feel more like supplementary to the main lead, as they are all there just to bring out different facets of his personality. Not a bad thing but they don’t seem to be able to stand on their own without Kenshin around. Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, all have their different goals in life, as simple as they may be; but let’s be honest; they are just underlings to the lead. But heck, they are not cardboards as, let’s say, the Z Warriors were in Dragonball Z, where joining Goku is the same as throwing away your free will. The main antagonists and/or villains, Aoshi, Saito, Shishio, seem to have it better, as they are leaders of their respective teams and have portfolios of their own. All the supporting characters besides them are just… there. Some have personality but none does anything special. But heck, they are a colorful bunch who is overall treated with more respect than most casts. Many are memorable, likable, interesting.

The artwork is good although the feminine style of its creator may show too much in an otherwise action story aimed at males as well. Everyone looks rather… girly and definitely too bijin. Although there is a high amount of realism in terms of how people dressed or how buildings looked back then, Kenshin still wears pink. And a few other things here and there. Not anything major but it’s not historically accurate all the time. The battles are rather dull when it’s up against minor or filler villains and that makes a big chunk of episodes to have no replay value. As for the rest of the big ones … the magic of cinematics! They pulled out any trick of the book to make any slash or eye contact to create tension and excitement … even when it’s just a simple attack. Now that is what good action is all about! The actual choreography may be simple but the feeling it transmits with its use of camera angles, shading, insane looks, etc, THIS IS ORGASMIC. Yeah, you get to enjoy every bit of it. This is the REAL samurai action. Most other shows make it look like they are having a picnic while fighting for the salvation of the world. The only downside I can find in it is that they … err … yell the names of their attacks. And some of those techniques are damn long. Which feels weird when Kenshin yells “Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki” for an attack that lasts a fraction of a second. But heck, times freezes all the time during attacks and as I said it builds proper tension, so I excuse it.

Down to it, it really is a great show whose biggest issue is some parts that may feel dull or out of context (giant mecha???) yet in overall it is a great samurai action/comedy/drama. Recommended.