Rurouni Kenshin: Greatness, or an overrated show that came along at the right time?

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selah-cyclones-are-#1

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Shounen Jump titles have always been quite famous, both in America and in Japan, and Kenshin was one of the most famous ones for quite awhile, particularly in the states. But while I see people listing it as one of the best, I can't help but ask, is it really that good?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I hate Kenshin or anything, I simply find it an above average series. Decently entertaining, but with quite a few faults. It baffles me how people can list it as one of the best of all time.

I have a bit of a theory on this. For most western anime fans, Kenshin was probably their first, or one of their first, non-Dragonball Jump series. When all you've seen is Dragonball, Kenshin certainly seems quite groundbreaking and really serious and dark. But when you consider all the previous series like Saint Seiya, Fist of the Northstar, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, you realize Kenshin isn't really anything all that special.

Looking at it, Kenshin himself is a rather dull lead. Yeah, the idea of this ex-assassin who is a total spazz and goofball is funny at first, but his character is too much of a Mary Sue. Kenshin is boring. Now certainly it's not uncommon for there to be characters more interesting than the lead, but I actually found the best parts of Kenshin were when he wasn't around.

Yahiko and Sanousuke are better, but they still fall into the basic stereotypes of the kid and the loudmouth who isn't as skilled as the main character. Saitou and Aoshi are the most interesting characters, but they also don't have enough time to really make the series great.

Rurouni Kenshin does have some great moments, such as the death of the Oniwaban, the Kenshin vs Saitou fight, and the fights against Jin-E, Soujirou, and Shishio, but ultimately, I find the series to be very overrated, and just above average at best.
 
I found it to be a rather dull show. It was slightly entertaining, but I'd definitely say it's overrated.

Fanboys need something to live for, and it might as well be fighting for or against random anime on the intarwebz. *noRAB*
 
In some essence it's still pretty good, if a bit overrated.

I'm sortof tired of all the heaps and praises though people give to the Kyoto Arc. It was good, but it wasn't a masterpiece. This is most prevalent in the final fight, when a person can simplify all the dialogue into this:

Shishio: Darwinian natural selection is befitting to the survival of the fittest. I will make Japan an example of praise in the vein of true evolution!
Yumi: Shishio-sama! Shishio-sama! You're ichiban daiiiiisuki! You are losers and hobags because you'll never beat Shishio. He will kick your asses.
Hoji: Shishio nuraba one! Shishio nuraba one! You will never defeat the greatest man of Japan!
Shishio: Darwinian natural law rulez!
Yumi: Shishio-sama you sexy gadfly! You will never be defeated!
Hoji: That is true because Shishio-sama is the best!
Shishio: blah blah blah evolution, blah-blah-blah Japan strongest blah!
Yumi: WAAAAAAIIIII! SHISHIO-SAMAAAAAAA!
 
The Kyoto arc carries the anime, I think most fans will agree on this. It went beyond simple fighting and put forth incredibly powerful drama. The goal of defeating the "big bad" takes second place to Kenshin's quest for redemption, and similarly the supporting cast (Sansouke/Saitoh/Yahiko/Aoshi) aren't just extra faces but characters driven by their own beliefs, goals, and moral codes. In terms of drama only Yu Yu Hakusho compares, with Kenshin a good ways ahead. I like it so much because its very much a character driven series with great action, not a series that only relies on shonen fighting to carry the whole thing.

In addition the Kenshin OVA's, Trust and Betrayal, are some of the best anime I've seen period. Its impossible to not emphaize with Kenshin's character after seeing these, the quality animation and top-notch directing corabine to turn a simple flasrabroadack from the manga into a remarkably compelling narrative.

I then followed the manga as it was released, and it only increased my opinion of the series. Instead of trying to top the Kyoto arc where the fate of Japan was in the balance, the Revenge arc was all about Kenshin and brought things full circle. Kenshin was brought to his knees in despair, only to rise up again with newfound resolve. We got Sanosuke backstory and a truckload of Yahiko development. And finally we got an immensely satisfying ending to top it all off.

Ultimately, it was a really good story that included the shonen formula while not being defined by it. It went places and hit a level most shonen series don't even bother to reach for, and for that I think Kenshin deserves a considerable amount of respect.
 
Rurouni Kenshin, is by far my favortive Shonen Jump title.

The Manga was better than the Anime, IMO. As it has IMHO the best Rurouni Kenshin arc.

But, I find that Rurouni Kenshin is alot better than other newer Shonen Jump series. (Like Naruto and Bleach)

But, it is only IMO.
 
Well it would have been one of the greatest animes in my mind except,

NO REAL JINCHU ARC!!!!!!!!

Sure there was some back story but come on! just come up with a new anime adaptation.
 
My introduction to Rurouni Kenshin was of course through Toonami and back then it was easily the coolest thing Toonami had played in years. For whatever reason I liked it quite a bit more than Yu Yu Hakusho while both were airing on the block.

I didn't really get hooked on Kenshin until I read some of the manga though. The manga took everything I liked about the anime (the characters, the designs, the pseudo-history and the story) and presented it in an even more statisfying fasion. I really do love the art of Rurouni Kenshin. So much so that I can't stand looking at the supposedly "much nicer looking" OVAs. That's not Watasuki's style at all so I don't care for it from a visual stand point.

Rurouni Kenshin definently has flaws it also lacks a significant purpose I suppose. It's somewhat "fight of the week" in it's execution but the characters are interesting and entertaining enough for me to forgive that. Along with that there is no question that Kenshin himself isn't a really awesome character and fun that's fun to watch or read about.

It certainly wasn't ground breaking. It's pretty typical shounen and the characters don't have a great deal of depth to them. None the less I find them to be somewhat endearing.

On the action side, it's got a lot of politics that keeps action from being constant but when the action is there it's a beautfiul site in my opinion. Kenshin's techinques aren't the most insane out there but he's definently got an interesting bag of tricks for an otherwise "down to earth" shounen.

So I think it's a solid title that's very "mainstream" acceptable and thus why it's sold well in the US. However it's not the best out there by any means but I would say I like it a lot more than many Jump series. However I haven't read even most of them at this point.

I also agree if the final arc was animated the anime could be considered to be one of the best adaptations for a shounen Jump title at the very least. But unfortunately that isn't the case so while I really like the anime especially I'd have to rate the manga higher for being complete and having consistantly better looking art. Still Kenshin is a darn good series and could work well as a "starter-drug" for anime fandom in the same ways as most people use DBZ or Naruto.
 
This show was perhaps my favorite anime of all time. Many of the moments during the Kyoto arc rank among my favorite moments in any animated show ever. GWOtaku said much of what I have always felt

There were flaws to be sure, but they are far outweighed by the good stuff. A great protagonist who has alot of deapth and is not always sure of himself (the Jinchu arc of the manga underlines this), a strong suppourting cast with a great dynamic (though more could have been done with Karou), and some truly amazing antagonist (the Sojirou story got even my anime hating sister to stand and take notice.) It was a great show.
 
Really right now I'm angry cause, Kenshin is ofcourse my most favorite series of all time, Anime/Manga period.
Sure it does prove to have its flaws but whatever.
Kenshin rather dull? Are serious? He is probably besides Light Yamami the deepest and of course most tragic Jump character there is.
Really it all goes to the final arc in the manga, the Jinchu Arc.
The Reflection OVA is so blasphemous its not even funny. Really the character of Enishi is one of my favorite Villians of all, (Besides Johan.. [Monster] )
Why is he? Well besides being just utterly twisted, and not really saying it in the manga ? He didn't just love his sister, he was probably in love with her, which adRAB to this "F upped" ness to him, but over most people don't give RuroKen the credit it deserves cause Jinchu was never animated.

For the Kanzenban release of Kenshin, Watsuki did redesigns of most of the characters in his current style ( just pictures and such) So anyone thinking "Remake"?
 
I really liked the show. I'd seen anime before it, so it's not like it was my first one and thus my favorite. It was just an entertaining show with a great plot. I first saw it on SVES (well, actually, I'd seen bits of it on Toonami before that, but I didn't watch it regularly until SVES) next to stuff like .hack//SIGN, Justice League, Dragonball, and Cyborg 009... I really miss SVES.
 
The first story arc is okay, but the Kyoto arc still stanRAB as one of my favorite anime works. It has its flaws, of course, but I love the story, and the opening arc sets up the characters for it very well.
 
I think Kenshin Proper doesn't really live up to the reputation its gained through the ova which is still a great piece of art. It has one good season out of three and that fails to hold much water in the long run. Maybe if the team had time to adapt Revenge then it would've been great. But alas...
 
That OVA...*makes disgusted grunt*


I find that Manga charming, action-packed, filled with characters who aren't annoying, and sort of romantic. I'm glad Watsuki delivered on his happy ending.
 
Well, I found the manga to be a much better Kenshin medium. So, its not surprising I found most of the conon material the best. I agree the Jinshuu arc was the most entertaining, and added the most depth to Kenshin as a character.

I watched it back in 2003 and currently don't remeraber much about it at all, as I found most of the series very forgettable.
 
The Kenshin manga was the first "long" manga series I've finished, and needless to say I enjoy it quite a lot. Not my favorite Shonen Jump manga (I like Naruto, Bleach, and Hikaru no Go more), but still enjoyable.

The anime I'm not so hip on. There were several good episodes that easily lived up to being as good as they could be, but many of the episodes felt rather dull and had bad pacing. Not to mention the music wasn't as good as it could be and the only good vocal song was "Heart of Sword."

I do find it interesting that Media Blasters used Viz's Kenshin logo for the economy sets, yet never did try to get the "Shonen Jump" name on the cover.

The best things about the Kenshin anime are "Heart of Sword," the 90-second Toonami promo, and the hilaious answering machine recording DVD extras at the end of the Kyoto arc.
 
manga-wise: it's a masterpiece. beautiful art, beautiful characters, wonderful storyline. watasuki is one of the more impressive manga-ka.

anime-wise: unless we're talking about strictly the good portions of the kyoto arc (kenshin vs. shishio and kenshin vs. saito are some of the anime battles i will never forget), the series has almost no replay value. i also found the filler arcs, the movie, aond the ovas boring and unwatchable (actually, "samurai x" wasn't that boring, but the other one put me to sleep).


i do agree however that the anime came along at the right time seeing how it basically filled the void for "popular shonen action series" between dragon ball/yu yu hakusho and naruto/bleach/one piece. had kenshin came out either earlier or later, it would've been overshadowed by those mentioned.
 
It's not my favorite shonen, but it's easily in my top 5. My first introduction to it was during it's Toonami airing and I absolutely loved it. I liked it more than YYH for a good while before YYH hit it's stride in the Dark Tournament and didn't look back. But the Kyoto arc was very good and is still one of my favorites, though the Jinchu arc was absolutely amazing, IMO. Had it been animated, I think the anime might be held in even higher regard than it is now. And while Trust and Betrayal weren't exact adaptations, I thought they were very very good. It was the first anime I ever watched that made me cry.

So yeah, in essence, I'm just going to agree with pretty much everything GWOtaku said.
 
Iv' never really watched the anime, but as this is about Jump series ....Well Iv'e read all of it.

Quite frankly, I think I can see why its a big hit, it earned its popularity.
But in terms of actual quality I think its obscenely overated.
Its not THAT great.
Just about everything about it could use alot of work.
Art, Corabat, Villains, Pacing, Characterization, Emotion.
Goofier lighter series like Dragonball and One Piece seem more tightly executed in those regarRAB.
Kenshin seems to strive for really dramatic seriousness, but it always fell flat for me.
In terms of shonen its very mediocre.
In terms of dramatic sworRAB period pieces its not even a contender. Theres alot of big tough seinen that would absolutely beat the **** out of it.
 
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