Hello people of the world. As you can see from the title, I have just watched Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends and I currently have a lot of feelings. I should really stop calling these posts reviews because its basically just me vomiting out all of my feelings. It's 2AM and I just screamed for 5 minutes after watching the movie. Hopefully I won't receive any complaints BUT HONESTLY WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO WHEN YOU GIVE ME SUCH A SQUEAL-INDUCING ENDING PLUS THE NEW ONE OK ROCK SONG?!?!?!?!?!?
Sigh. I'm was going to try to calm down but I don't think its going to happen anytime soon. However, I will be respectful and lay down on the all caps even though I wanna slam my keyboard so hard due to all of my FEELINGS.
Anyways, since I wrote a shit load on my review for Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, you can just refer to there for my thoughts on the characters and such. That post actually resembles a real review while this post will just be all over the place. In fact, you don't even need to read this post unless you want to join me in squealing for 5 hours! Man, I thought I was at my maximum crazy level after watching Kyoto Inferno but I was wrong. It seems I can't even pretend to be calm now that I have just finished The Legend Ends. This post will be filled with my feelings (I HAVE A LOT) and the OTP (OBVIOUSLY!).
Review & Thoughts
IT WAS PERFECT EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT! All the action scenes were amazing! Each of the actors did a superb job including Sato Takeru who has outdone himself once again!
The development on all of there characters were just the right amount given the short amount of time. I especially loved Misao in this second half because we could really see how hard it hit her when her view on Aoshi completely changed. I didn't expect to cry in this movie but I totally felt tears welling up when Nenji (who she calls grandpa here) passed away o(╥﹏╥)o It was sad seeing her so bright in the first half but now having to face such horrible events. Tsuchiya Tao did good in the first half but she impressed me immensely in the second half with her acting. It's always hard to shine as a side character but it can definitely be done like here with Misao.
The fact that Shishio didn't feel like the evilest villain here was also pretty satisfactory. We can sorta feel for him because we know that the Meiji government really effed him over (like setting him on fire...) but he's just so psychotic that I can't even sympathize with him for more than 2 seconds lol. But not gonna lie, I did feel bad when he was carrying Yumi (his lover if you will) up the stairs of the ship before he combusted. Sigh, I'm so glad I came to like Fujiwara Tatsuya before watching this last instalment because now I can fully appreciate his portrayal of Shishio without any negative bias. Even if I didn't like Fujiwara, I wouldn't be able to say anything because he literally became Shishio.
Okay, we obviously have to talk about Fukuyama Masaharu if we're going to be talking about The Legend Ends. I just don't understand how there can exist such a perfect man! He played Seijuro Hiko, Kenshin's master/mentor and an amazing swordmaster. He is pretty much the best and thats why he doesn't appear that much because he could literally solve all the problems with his amazing. Off topic: Fukuyama's role was supposed to be a surprise but one of the movie staff accidentally tweeted a picture of a t-shirt with all of the actor and eagle-eyed fans spotted his name. It wasn't a surprise anymore but it sure was good news. I mean, who could complain about Fukuyama Masaharu? (Obvious bias here).
I also want to add that Kamiki Ryunosuke is amazing at giving me the heebiejeebies with his crazy emotionless portrayal of Sojiro. He only had like maybe 3 minutes of standalone screen time in this movie but he still managed to give me shivers.
OTP
Throughout Kyoto Inferno and this movie, there were so many instances where you could just see Kaoru's importance to Kenshin and vice versa. Their relationship in the movie was really a slow burning process that ended becoming so strong to the point where you could tell how much they needed each other. Like when Kenshin returned to the Kamiya dojo and had a flashback to when he first met Kaoru and the words that she said. That scene flooded me with nostalgia and I could see Kenshin gaining strength as he thought back to that time. And then from Kenshin's reaction when he thought Kaoru was dead to his smile when he found out she was safe and alive. That is perhaps why this ending didn't feel unreal or rushed at all. Seeing that Kenshin and Kaoru were apart for almost the entire movie, their reunion at the end was all the more meaningful. Even when they were apart, we could see how they were constantly thinking of one another.
Compared to a lot of my other OTPs, Kenshin and Kaoru are probably the ones who I love the most. Their relationship developed slowly but with so much meaning. I love how Kaoru is a source of strength for Kenshin and that she's always there for him. She definitely understands Kenshin on a much deeper level and it's evident in all their scenes together. Sato Takeru and Takei Emi just blew me away with their chemistry. At the execution scene where all the names of the people that Kenshin had killed were being read out, Kaoru's face was shown and even though she couldn't say anything, it felt like she was the only one who could understand Kenshin's pain. That scene represents everything I love about this OTP (movie version of course :P).
Now lets talk about the leaf scene. We have all seen the leaf scene in the movie trailers and I've read countless speculations of the meaning of it but seeing it for real was just so different and impactful. Why do all the RK movies end with scenes that disable my ability to function?
Even though I would love for there to be more OTP moments, I feel that there was a perfect amount of focus on romance in this second half. Having subtle, sweet, and meaningful moments is actually way more impactful than an abundance of loveydovey-ness. Buuuut I wouldn't complain if there was an abundance of loveydovey-ness ;) I guess what I'm saying is that the ending left me thinking and imagining their future together and I wouldn't change it for anything else. I am completely satisfied with the ending.
Here are some extra screencaps to end off this post and I want to say thank you to the director, Keishi Ohtomo, for doing justice to the manga and giving us such an amazing movie series.
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