Back in the 90s, before internet streaming and the widespread availability of anime that is the reality in America today, I had to hunt down anime in specialty rental stores, trying hard to avoid shady ones, though often it was really hard to tell the difference. One series of anime that I couldn’t even wait for in rental stores and just had to order as soon as each episode was available on DVD delivery was Rurouni Kenshin.
It’s the tale of a wandering samurai trying to atone for a past of murder by wielding a reverse-blade sword, a sword with the blade facing him and the blunt side facing the world. This series is one of those enduring classics, and anyone who’s interested in consuming the best of the best anime and manga definitely needs to add this to their queue.
The live action film for this series is scheduled to release this fall, and as I watched the trailer above, I wrung my hands nervously repeating over and over in my head “Please don’t suck, please don’t suck…” I wasn’t surprised to see the comments on the Youtube trailer with tons of fans reacting the same way. The thing is, us fans are so invested in the characters that we know we will HAVE to watch it no matter what. If the film turns out horrible, we still feel absolutely compelled to see it through to the end. It doesn’t help knowing that the probability of the adaptation being bad, and not even in an awesome way, is extremely high.
First impressions? The action doesn’t look too bad, but it seems to be a bit too visually cartoony. I’ve got my fingers crossed. And my scars too, if that will help any.
