Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Kyoto Douran

Well the second season is here and I’m sure that what most people would want to know about it is if the visuals improved from the previous part, and the answer is…a little bit, but ever so slightly it’s not even that noticeable. The artwork, storyboard, character figures are all practically the same. The actual animation and the special effects are a bit better, particularly during fight scenes, and partially thanks to not try to mimic 90s special effects as regularly as the previous entry did. The backgrounds improved a little as well. The downside is the directing, which is still rather uninspired and doesn’tadd much, particularly to the action. Some of the key moments like Kenshin training with Hiko Seijuro were done justice, but others, like his fight with Cho, could have been better. In all, the visuals improved a little compared to the first season, but are still below the ones from the 90s. Even the audio aspect improved a little thanks to the sound effects not sounding like stock material, they are louder, more impactful and plain better than the ones used before, for sure. Unfortunately everything else feels about the same, the music is still just ok and doesn’t add anything to the scenes to make them memorable. There are two new openings and they both suck, like Kenshin’s openings always did, and two new endings, which although they are typical romantic jpop stuff, they reflect the perspectives of the girls from the series fine, and are not bad on their own, definitely an improvement over the ones from the previous season. The voice acting is still fine, but like I said a year ago, the tendency to have the characters sounding younger (and hotter) to match the younger looking designs from this remake keeps being the same. The cast did an appropriate job, and is full of recognizable names in it, of whom you can usually expect good results of, but it is definitely not as iconic nor as crazy sounding as the one from thirty years ago. Since the major arc of the show started, the writing definitely improved by having less mini arcs against minor opponents, and having a long ongoing arc full of important events instead. There is kind of a lot of character immersion, flashbacks of Kenshin’s previous life from bonus manga chapters that are better than the ones from the first season, clashing ideological and political views discussed with some more details, and the protagonist actually struggling against his opponents for a change. Add to that the main cast trying to find out about the schemes of the main villain, who keeps stuff secret even from most of his strongest underlings, and the whole of Kyoto at stake for a sense of pressure. With all that said, the anime is still a rather typical fighting shounen, so minor villains are changed after just a speech from the protagonist, major ones keep going after the main character one on one as they have some quite unrealistic fights; there is lots of downtime and training, and comical moments thanks to the newly introduced support cast. At the very least the training doesn’t last for long, and it’s a nice change of pace of main characters becoming far stronger practically out of nowhere or out of screen, as the genre tends to do these days. The downtime serves to show the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and the comedy, as silly as it is, is not overdone nor thrown in during dramatic or serious scenes. The major issue is of course the lack of a proper ending, but that is preferable over rushing through the whole content just to get to the major events, that was done before in this franchise and nobody liked it. Filler was added to make a specific plot point last longer than it did time ago, but resolution aside, I didn’t find it to be bad. I don’t have a lot to say as far as characterization goes, but Kenshin keeps being great and looked into, Kaoru keeps going after him, Sanosuke comes across against an enemy and learns a technique from him on his quest to become stronger and help Kenshin and everyone else, Aoshi keeps spiraling down, and Saito appears as someone to figure out Shishio’s schemes and challenge Kenshin’s pacifist ideas. For newly introduced characters, minor side characters appear to remind Kenshin of his wish of a peaceful era, Hiko Seijuro hits him with the idea that trying to achieve that dream and refusing to kill a dangerous and strong enemy like Shishio aren’t compatible, just like Saito. Misao appears as just a funny fangirl but gets a growth after learning a hurtful truth and realizing she has to become a leader (or so it seems). Shishio Makoto is strong, deranged, scheming, imposing and manipulative, even to his own men, so he is great as a villain. From his henchmen, the only ones that get fleshed out a little are Cho, appearing as just an evil asshole but with a sense of loyalty, and Hoji, willing to do the dirty work needed, sacrifice himself, or even defy Shishio himself, all for the cause. So the season as a whole was a slight improvement over the first one, but it still quite can’t reach the levels of the previous adaptation. Nevertheless, all things considered, it leaves me somewhat hopeful to see it getting better on the next one, as it will be the most important part of the series with most of the key moments.

I had a great deal to say about S1 of this reboot that was rather negative. It just didn’t evoke a lot of what I loved about the original series, and a large part of that is the all-too-clean animation style that just can’t evoke the gritty nature of so many of its fights. So I strode into this second season trepidatious. Luckily, my concerns proved largely unwarranted. The series uses that smooth animation to detail some striking gore this time around, which certainly seems warranted given that the Kyoto Arc is the best in the series and features the best fight scenes in the series,and some of the fights in this season go hard, so it lives up to that portion of the hype. I no longer doubt that this can pull off a similar feel to the original series in a cleaner package. However, this season is nonetheless held back by a different problem: it’s almost a little too adherent to the original series, particularly that series’ pacing. After 23 episodes, we’ve set up the arc’s main bouts with Shishio and his lieutenants, but there have been scant few real clashes in this season. Most of the real bouts were either one-sided affairs or were interrupted before they could reach their zeniths, so unfortunately this loses some steam along its run. That’s not to say that there’s nothing of note here: Kenshin vs. Chou is visually spectacular, even if the latter is not much of a character; Aoshi vs. Nenji hits hard and leaves a lasting impression; Kenshin vs. Seijurou is another spectacle with some narrative weight; and Sanosuke’s training arc has some teeth to it as you watch him break and rebuild himself under the pressure. But these stand-out moments are diluted a bit in the broader swath of the plot, which is well-explained, but stands a lot on exposition and extended conversation, something I’m normally game for that feels very much out of place in this narrative. So yes, the pacing of the series holds it back. Could that have been resolved by just adding a few episodes to round out the arc with the major fights yet to come? It certainly would have helped. Maybe the goal is to really put in the time on those fights to make them pop, in which case I’ll be eager to see the end result. For now, though, with another two cours out of the way, I’m a little underwhelmed even as I find myself praising the series more. So I end up giving it roughly the same score I would have given the original series at this point, both recognizing that my feelings up to this point just weren't that strong for the series in this arc, but that I'll be hungry for the next entry. Let it come soon, please and thank you. For now, worth recommending the lead-up.

Ruroken Kyoto Disturbance arc was amazing. To me it was a significant upgrade production and writing-wise over the first season. The stakes, drama, fights, Kenshin’s development as a swordsman and of course the threat of the incredibly menacing Shishio, made this season a joy to watch. It is an absolute shame that Ruroken has to have the author it does, because in any other circumstance this remake would be a lot more popular. It’s got the classic charm of the 90s series with modern production values and a really cool cast of characters who you can’t help but love. If you’re even considering watching this,it’s likely because you saw the original or the first season of the remake, so it goes without saying you need to check this out! This season of Ruroken really resonated with me because of the focus on side characters and how much Kenshin had to develop as swordsman. The new additions to the story like Misao were great and the build up to and gradual unraveling of the Kyoto fire conspiracy was awesome. My one big complaint with this season is how we had so much build up to the Kyoto fire and then it ended up being like 3 episodes and we didn’t even get a real big fight out of it other than Aoshi being in his edgy depressed e boy arc. This season sort of functions as a proper introduction to Shishio and the ten swords and as a segue to a new portion of the story. BUT, the build up was so good that I can’t complain. Particularly enjoyed how we got to see Kenshin evolve as a fighter. Shishio is the most difficult opponent he has had to fight yet and it became clear early on that there’s no way Kenshin at his current level could beat him. So we see a sort of return to the basics/mini training arc with Kenshin and his former master and those 2-3 episodes were some of the best storytelling in the show thus far. For as bad ass as Kenshin is, he was to that point, still a boy in many ways. Seeing him unlock his full potential and master his sword fighting school’s ultimate technique was great. As I said before, the side characters really got to shine this season. Whether it was my goat Sano, Saitou, Misao or even Kaoru and the usual gang, everyone had a role to play in stopping Shishio from destroying Kyoto and it was dope seeing everyone come together to do so. The 10 swords were a bit underwhelming for me. They were really hyped up, but other than the one that Kenshin fought earlier in the season, they looked pretty mediocre. I do think they’ll have some cool moments next season, but they were more of a background threat in this one. Conversely, the Oniwabanshu group had a lot of focus in this arc and got fleshed out a lot more than their brief introduction in the first season which was cool. I felt like before they were just sort of this interesting group of mercs who happened to take on the wrong job. But I came out of this season with a deep appreciation for them and their ethos. It will be really interesting to see how they factor into the next season. The few big fights we had this season looked really good. I have high hopes for the real big fights sure to come later in the season if this is how they handled these. The art has always been solid in the remake and this is no different, PLUS we have the best OP of the remake so far with Yama’s Burn. This was an improvement over season 1 because of how the character development was done, everyone got some time to shine, the higher stakes, Kenshin being pushed to the limits and frankly how cool and intimidating a villain Shishio is. Much better than the smaller arcs with weaker villains in season 1. It might not have as much action as I wanted, but the drama and tension were awesome and it sets up a highly anticipated showdown between Kenshin and shishio. Ruroken Kyoto Disturbance arc gets 9 out of 10.

S2 is fantastic!! I had mixed feelings on some of the execution of S1, but S2 has it all together. The animation is much better! S2 sees my favourite character arrive as well xD Makimachi Misaocatching, but the second season has not only the animation perfected against the first, but the use of all the right framing and angles. There are two OP and EDs, there's a touch of modernity,.with a lot of 90s nostalgia I must say, these are the perfect choices, especially that first closing! Wow! Heartstrings! Anyways, this story really heats up. You'll definitely enjoy!!

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