My objection to the Jinchuu arc is based on the supporting characters. ...ending up in the traditional Shounen "everyone gets their own personal fight" dance. Also I found crazy nerves guy to have a stupid superpower gimmick, and to be a much less threatening villain than Shishio, who felt like he was motivating the arc.
Clearly I've got to get back to the manga and eventually finish reading it. I tend to agree with small things like that. I am not really fond of filler subplots, no matter how much I love a series. On some occasions I can enjoy something so much that I don't care what kind of cream they put in the middle, but for the most part I prefer stories to get right down to the heartwood. I'll have to get back into this. :)
In the manga I'm somewhat more satisfied because it fits the manga, it's happier. Even with Sano's very strange disappearance, Kenshin retires into a life of happiness, or close enough, Yahiko becomes his successor, and eventually Kenji, and everything is mostly wrapped up.
Sano disappears? Do they ever clear up what becomes of him, or is it open-ended? From what I have heard, the manga ends on a note that's mostly happy, but still sort of realistic in that Kenshin knows nothing is ever going to be perfect and that what he believed in (and sacrificed much for) was never to be and a lot of his work--and consequent guilt--were in vain. BUT. I haven't read it; that's just what I heard.
I'm disappointed, because whereas the OVA and several parts of the manga are very historically centered, and explore the issues of historic Japan, it doesn't quite end on that note.
As much as I loved the Kenshin anime (which, I mean honestly, I did, and do, and always will,) what I'd truly love is an anime that, like you said, was similar in tone to Trust and Betrayal. If you watch T&B and then follow it right up with the first episode, it's just plain jarring when Kenshin busts out that first "ORO" and goes super-deformed.
But, I get it. Years and years of blood and darkness do not a series anime make. And especially politics and history. The anime manages to squeeze in a few good references (the end of the Shadow of the Wolf arc through much of the Kyoto arc) and heck, even some history lessons, but I can imagine that sustaining that wouldn't have gone over well with most of the audience.
I would have liked it, though.
but with the first OVA being so spectacular in both the brutality and the tragedy, I felt that it deserved a mirror echo from the other end of the story. ... And then it did not deliver.
Exactly. Instead of writing a plot with depth, that dealt with these issues and their implications to Kenshin as a person (and his family,) AND their implications politically (T&B managed to do both,) they took the easy way out and went for personal tragedy in the form of pointless tearjerker. There wasn't much about the world around them. Just a lot of personal angst.
Tell you something else when it comes to personal angst / suffering. The most brutal scene for me in T&B is Kenshin beaten half to death, set upon by ninjas, and still fighting his way through the snow ("To...mo...e") no matter what happens. It was so harsh but so captivating.
Kenshin coughing and puking all over Sano and acting like a geriatric patient in Reflections was just gratuitous angst. IMO.
As to the manga, I feel sometimes that there are two mangas struggling to get out of Ruroken. ... and a lot more tied into the context.
I guess I can understand that. I've still got to read most of it, but I can get the sense of the writer wanting to keep the work dark and real, but having to do a certain amount of fanservice. Kenshin became popular with the lighter-hearted crowd and maybe it was like a snowball effect.
Tangentially, one manga that manages to never pull a punch and still appeal to anyone with the stomach for it is Blade Of The Immortal. So it can be done. But then it wouldn't be RK, I guess. :)
Also some people keep trying to tell me that the anime continued after the Kyoto arc, but these people are obviously insane, so I ignore them.
Honestly, I saw one episode after that and then stopped buying the DVDs. :/ Ahhh well.
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Clearly I've got to get back to the manga and eventually finish reading it. I tend to agree with small things like that. I am not really fond of filler subplots, no matter how much I love a series. On some occasions I can enjoy something so much that I don't care what kind of cream they put in the middle, but for the most part I prefer stories to get right down to the heartwood. I'll have to get back into this. :)
In the manga I'm somewhat more satisfied because it fits the manga, it's happier. Even with Sano's very strange disappearance, Kenshin retires into a life of happiness, or close enough, Yahiko becomes his successor, and eventually Kenji, and everything is mostly wrapped up.
Sano disappears? Do they ever clear up what becomes of him, or is it open-ended? From what I have heard, the manga ends on a note that's mostly happy, but still sort of realistic in that Kenshin knows nothing is ever going to be perfect and that what he believed in (and sacrificed much for) was never to be and a lot of his work--and consequent guilt--were in vain. BUT. I haven't read it; that's just what I heard.
I'm disappointed, because whereas the OVA and several parts of the manga are very historically centered, and explore the issues of historic Japan, it doesn't quite end on that note.
As much as I loved the Kenshin anime (which, I mean honestly, I did, and do, and always will,) what I'd truly love is an anime that, like you said, was similar in tone to Trust and Betrayal. If you watch T&B and then follow it right up with the first episode, it's just plain jarring when Kenshin busts out that first "ORO" and goes super-deformed.
But, I get it. Years and years of blood and darkness do not a series anime make. And especially politics and history. The anime manages to squeeze in a few good references (the end of the Shadow of the Wolf arc through much of the Kyoto arc) and heck, even some history lessons, but I can imagine that sustaining that wouldn't have gone over well with most of the audience.
I would have liked it, though.
but with the first OVA being so spectacular in both the brutality and the tragedy, I felt that it deserved a mirror echo from the other end of the story. ... And then it did not deliver.
Exactly. Instead of writing a plot with depth, that dealt with these issues and their implications to Kenshin as a person (and his family,) AND their implications politically (T&B managed to do both,) they took the easy way out and went for personal tragedy in the form of pointless tearjerker. There wasn't much about the world around them. Just a lot of personal angst.
Tell you something else when it comes to personal angst / suffering. The most brutal scene for me in T&B is Kenshin beaten half to death, set upon by ninjas, and still fighting his way through the snow ("To...mo...e") no matter what happens. It was so harsh but so captivating.
Kenshin coughing and puking all over Sano and acting like a geriatric patient in Reflections was just gratuitous angst. IMO.
As to the manga, I feel sometimes that there are two mangas struggling to get out of Ruroken. ... and a lot more tied into the context.
I guess I can understand that. I've still got to read most of it, but I can get the sense of the writer wanting to keep the work dark and real, but having to do a certain amount of fanservice. Kenshin became popular with the lighter-hearted crowd and maybe it was like a snowball effect.
Tangentially, one manga that manages to never pull a punch and still appeal to anyone with the stomach for it is Blade Of The Immortal. So it can be done. But then it wouldn't be RK, I guess. :)
Also some people keep trying to tell me that the anime continued after the Kyoto arc, but these people are obviously insane, so I ignore them.
Honestly, I saw one episode after that and then stopped buying the DVDs. :/ Ahhh well.