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Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku roman tan: Tsuioku hen (1999) (V) More at IMDbPro »

A flower that blossoms in the rain … and in blood., 28 March 2007

Author: faintingfancy from Belgium

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Just to get this out of the way before I start my rant: I *love* 'Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku roman tan: Tsuioku Hen'! I fell in love with the film the first time I saw it and I can watch it over and over again without losing any of my initial enthusiasm for it. In fact, I seem to like it more with each viewing.

'Tsuioku Hen' is the combination of a coming-of-age story and a love story, wrapped in a tight package of vicious battles and political ploys. The animation is flawless. The sword fights are short, brutal and very convincingly portrayed. The characters are drawn more realistically than in the television series and especially Kenshin looks better than ever. The more I see of him, the more I believe he's one of the most interesting and complex fictional characters ever created. And Tomoe is a beautiful, mysterious character, and even though she comes across as quite stoical, it's impossible not to see her appeal.

In the manga volumes that cover the storyline of 'Tsuioku Hen', Kenshin was pushed forward as the sole protagonist with Tomoe performing as one of the more (most?) important milestones in his life. She was as a catalyst that shaped Kenshin into the person he was destined to become. However, I must admit, at the time I didn't regard her as much beyond that. Not that I didn't like Tomoe in the manga, but it was only after watching the film that I genuinely started to feel for her. The film gave her character more breathing space than the manga had to offer and allowed her to bloom into something more. She effortlessly managed to steal some of Kenshin's limelight and took up her rightful place as a second protagonist.

Another thing I admire about the film is that it isn't afraid to be slow. During the second half of the story, when the couple exchange the dangerous streets of revolutionary Kyoto for the 'boring' country life, the film takes up a much more leisurely pace. There is such a big contrast to their previous life, that as a viewer you find yourself adapting alongside the characters to this sudden change of pacing.

Also, I simply can't review 'Tsuioku Hen' without mentioning the music, which is positively one of the most outstanding features of the film. It gave me chills. Especially mind the music during the breathtaking epilogue. You think the music can't get any better, but then it suddenly does and lifts everything to a wholly new, superior level.

Something I really got a kick out of is that most of the characters in the film are based upon people that have actually existed during that time. And I love that they sporadically put Saitõ Hajime in the film (another historical personage). His short appearances throughout the storyline, leading up to his fight with Kenshin at the end of the film, weren't necessary to the story and could easily have been omitted. I'm glad they decided not to. Saitõ's fight with Kenshin during the Ikeda-ya affair, which had previously been animated in the television series in a slightly alternate version, presented mixed feelings of both deja-vu and foreboding. In an odd way it provided me with a satisfying sense of completion, like everything had come to full circle. Personally, I've always had a thing for Saitõ Hajime. He's a smug, cold-hearted, sadistic bastard, but I just adore him.

Now, to be fair, I will also discuss the few weaknesses of the film.

If you haven't read the manga or have watched at least a few episodes of the anime, the political aspects of the storyline will most likely pass you by. I also believe the secondary characters might not get enough screen time to satisfy the people who haven't 'met' them before. These characters might seem to be whizzing by, leaving viewers to wonder who they were, what they were doing and what they might mean to the story. The dialog gets a bit dreary at times, but I believe that's mostly because of the limits of subtitling. If you get twenty people to translate the same text, you get twenty different interpretations and the original meaning behind the author's words gets lost in the translation. It's sad, but it's true and can't be helped much.

But in the end, the positive aspects more than outweigh the negative.

'Tsuioku Hen' isn't just good as an anime, book-to-film adaptation, prequel, OVA, or whatever box you want to put it in. It's just *good*! I believe this is the kind of film that is so excellent it transcends its genre. Throughout the entire film the sheer beauty of it radiates of the screen, at times to a point it's almost blinding. There's only one word to describe this film, it's 'art'. 'Tsuioku Hen' highlights the fact that, beyond doubt, Nobuhiro Watsuki is one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

Now, I truly could ramble on for several more paragraphs on why I'd recommend this film, but I suppose I've taken up far too much space as it is. So, I'll shut up now and leave you all with one final piece of advice: Watch this film!

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