SPOILERS: Samurai X - Reflection

[la_belle_laide]

So, long-time Kenshin fangirl here. Like, nine years long time, and recently I started watching the old anime again. The first time I watched it, it was because an old pal of mine, "Lisa S", had sent me some VHS copies of the Shadow of the Wolf arc. This was right before 9/11. After I came home from a family trip a few weeks later, I ordered some DVRs on ebay. They were crappy, and you could only watch them on the computer, but the subtitles were brilliant and completely undiluted by TV networks. ( Ridiculous otaku Old purists tend to love fansubs. This purist is no exception.) Kenshin is hard to translate, and even the best translations often miss the mark because of his specific dialogue quirk and how it signifies what's going on in his head: Helpful wanderer, or murder-hungry assassin? The first distinction is in the grammar the character uses, and the honorifics. A rudimentary understanding of Japanese honorifics and sentence structure is essential for watching this series, and I actually learned a lot of language, and a lot of Japanese history from it.

I speak like a fangirl, too, I know. Go on with your "OMG, it's just a cartoon, stop acting like it's some mature work of art!" But it is a mature work of art, and I learned more from it than I did from, say, reading the epic Shogun by James Clavell, which, by the way, WOW. Was an awesome read. I'm not defending myself here—I am a fanpoodle for the things I love and I fully own that—I'm defending the art. Animation and valid storytelling are not mutually exclusive. When are people going to get that? HOW MANY MORE INNOCENTS HAVE TO DIE What does it take for people to understand that not all cartoons are for kids?

Tangentially, it always irked the hell out of me that the American translation of the titles was "Samurai X." Kenshin was never a samurai and the use of a word that Americans would understand was just a cheap marketing ploy. Samurai were born into samurai families; it's an inherited title. Kenshin was a slave who learned ken-do and became an assassin for the revolution. The title "ronin" doesn't even apply, since that implies a masterless samurai. Which is why the writer invented the word "Rurouni" or, you know, for the geeks purists, "ruro ni" or "Ruro-ken" – "wandering sword."

So I loved the hell out of the series, which ping-ponged from goofy, super-deformed physical humor and light-hearted jokes, to torment and murder, without missing a stroke. The anime was pretty, pastel and soft, even during the most violent scenes.


^Kenshin and Sanosuke, after whom, yeah, yeah, I named my dog. I told you, I've loved this series for a longass time.

It managed to be shonen (for boys,) shojo (for girls) and jo-sei (for adult women.) Really, there aren't a lot of animated features that can pull that off.

The original movie was a totally different animal. Samurai X – Trust and Betrayal" told Kenshin's backstory. The murder of the slaves he was traveling with, his rescue by kendoka Hiko Seijuro, his life as a merciless assassin during the bakumatsu—revolution--and the story of how he ended up falling in love with the woman, Tomoe, who was assigned to spy on, and eventually betray him. She fell in love with him as well, they married and were happy, and then he accidentally killed her during a fight with the man who came to kill him. It was super-violent, disturbing, and a really awesome tragedy. Me, I love an awesome tragedy.



However, it was a HUGE departure from the more light-hearted, much more pastel and fast-paced series. The series really followed Kenshin's redemption and ultimate happiness. At the end of Trust and Betrayal, he promises to finish his time as an assassin, finish out the revolution, and then never kill again. Occasionally during the series, he starts to revert back to his murderous ways (evident mostly by a change in speech, but for those not subtle enough to get that, also by a cliché change in eye-color and the tvtropes' slipknot ponytail. I know that when I get pissed off, my hair magically falls out of my scrunchy. (Rurouni Kenshin list of tropes.)

But the idea of it was his redemption, the fact that he managed to shut away the hitokiri battousai, find friendship, community, help his companions, find peace, and eventually love again.

Soooo when I watched Samurai X – Reflection last night, I felt completely cheated. I know, I know, I'm a few years late on this. I seriously put off watching this because I heard a lot about it; that it wasn't a satisfying end to the series and such. Dude, until recently though, I had no idea that Kenshin dies horribly, useless and in agony from leprosy, after leaving Kaoru and enduring a life of misery.

Okay, so first, cool things: The animation in the movie was gorgeous, there's no denying that. It went far beyond the pretty pastels of the series and gave the characters the look they deserved all along. I'm a sucker for beautiful animation. They animated the jinchuu arc—where Tomoe's brother Enishi comes for revenge on Kenshin—which never made it into the series (the manga writers couldn't keep up with the show writers. This is eventually what got the series canceled.) They also re-animated some of my favorite scenes.

But they re-animated them wrong. They just went back and retrofitted, and, not to get all Annie Wilkes on you all here, but they cheated like dirty birdies. I watched the anime, I know how things went down. Man, what the hell? I don't even mind that he dies young. Like I said, tragedy and all of that; I eat that stuff right up. What I didn't like was how they went back and changed key scenes in order to make the movie what it was. They took away all of Kenshin's and Kaoru's joy. Sure, I mean yeah, awesome, we finally get to see them kiss,



which was very satisfying, and then there was a carefully but vividly implied nookie scene. Gorgeous animation for the most part, but marred by the fact that Kaoru is, you know, asking Kenshin if he can share his awful wasting disease with her through sex, so that she can die, too. And all throughout his "no, no you mustn't" and her "onegai Kenshin, please give me your disfiguring and lethal disease" and the (admittedly very eloquently implied) bonking scene, a distracting green firefly keeps going around on the screen like "Hey guys, are you doing it? Hey because you know, he's got that gross skin disease and all. So you guys remember me from the scene right before the Kyoto arc? Yeah same firefly! What are the chances!"

So they go back and re-animate the series scenes to make it so that all the times we thought that Kenshin had won his battle and was happy, and loved, and at peace, in reality he is really so miserable that all of his smiles are forced and he loathes himself. Then, he knocks Kaoru up and she has a totally irrelevant child named Kenji who tries to follow his father's path and trains with Hiko to absolutely no logical or meaningful end. Kenshin is so miserable and full of self-hate that he cries frequently and finally leaves Kaoru and Kenji to go out into the world to help other suffering people (screw his family,) and ends up getting leprosy or MRSA or Geostigma or some-such thing like that.

Actually, parts of this were so similar to Advent Children that I'm tempted to think Advent Children copied some of this. At one point Kenshin uses a line that Cloud says to Tifa, in exactly the same angsty tone that Kenshin says it to Kaoru. "Blah blah blah I'm not worthy to protect anyone, I just want to be forgiven..." Also, at one point, sick and dying Kenshin watches Sanosuke walk away and reaches his hand out to him in exactly the same way that sick and dying Cloud reaches out to Zack as he walks away. Hmm.

OMG, Sano. For some reason he is living in China and utterly unrecognizable. Kenshin is in China too (WUT?) and he meets Sano there, but doesn't recognize him, and in fact doesn't seem to have any memory of, well, pretty much anything. Sano gets the honor of caring for Kenshin as he begins his gruesome, protracted death scene, not Kaoru.



He tells him he's going to go get help and leaves him in his hut. He comes back a few scenes later with absolutely nothing. WTH? Then he goes back out again and randomly kills a tiger to give its liver to Kenshin. Umm, wow, thanks, Sano. Really.

Their scenes together are more romantic than most of the Kenshin/Kaoru scenes.





Seriously? Thought they were finally going to kiss and that UST was going to become RST.

Honestly the worst part of the whole thing is Sano watching him struggle to even speak, and remembering what he was like the first time they met, when Kenshin wiped the floor with his ass, and anyone's ass who got in his way. Man, why did you writers decide to take that away? Damn you lot.

Then Sano puts Kenshin on a ship to Japan and doesn't go along with him for completely unspecified reasons, never mind that he could die alone at sea with no memory of who he is or why he's on this moving wooden structure atop a big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in. Kenshin somehow finds his way home to Kaoru and she meets him at the Sakura festival where he falls down and dies while she yammers to him about how she wants to watch the cherry blossoms fall with him next year. His awesome scar (the symbol of his betrayal) disappears the moment he dies, Kaoru gets all "finally you're at peace" and cries hysterically AND THAT IS THE END, WTMFF.

I seriously do not mind when writers kill off the hero. Truly I don't. I love a decent tragedy, and I am not all for the cheerful ending with everyone happyassing around like everything is peachy. I don't require that at all; in fact sometimes that's a copout. I even really like a good esoteric happy ending. But this? Downer ending through and through. Not only does the hero die, but he dies alone. In the rain. without having ever known peace or joy, community, friendship or love. Which, hey fine, go ahead and be that way. But don't go retrofitting to undo the beloved series! Even the frigging manga, the canon, doesn't end that way. Jesus.

I mentioned earlier that my worst part was Sano mourning what has become of Kenshin, but now that I think of it, the worst part is the interview with Mayo Suzukaze—Kenshin's voice--at the end.

(Hey, apparently they animated Kenshin to look exactly like her in this motion picture, and she's dyed her hair red to resemble him:
For those who might not know, it's typical in Japan to use a female actress to voice a male character if he's supposed to be gentle, small or effeminate. Kenshin was supposed to fluctuate between murderously cold and gentle, and was also supposed to be small and pretty.)

Anyway, she's doing this interview and she seems unhappy to see the series end, especially on such a downer. Her eyes fill up and she insists that Kenshin always lives on in her, and that if anyone ever asks her to be his voice again, even random people who just come up to her in the street, she'll become him again. O_o And she asks that the audience please watch the movie in with the original Japanese cast, and YES, THANK YOU. I'm a ridiculous otaku huge fan of watching foreign films in the original language, with subtitles.

So in brief: beautifully animated movie which gives the characters the look they deserve, great soundtrack, and wonderful use of mono no aware which is one of my favorite Japanese sensibilities (Trust and Betrayal did a better job of it, though.) But complete retraction of canon in order to turn the ending nihilistic was just an unmitigated bummer. I'm not necessarily sorry that I finally watched it, but I'm glad I watched it before I finished re-watching the series, because I'm just now up to my favorite arc, so I get some of the old joy and fun out of it. (And blood and guts and violence. Yeah, I love that stuff.)

If you're a collector, see it. But be prepared to want to punch your TV in the throat.

Comments

[skitty-kitty.livejournal.com]

I want to bust out my DVDs now and watch me some Saitouuuuuuuuu. <3 I refuse to watch that OVA, I couldn't stand the heartbreak. :p

[la-belle-laide.livejournal.com]

DON'T WATCH IT! It's soul-sucking DisContinuity (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DisContinuity) and even the writer of the manga disowned it.

But Saitou, hehee. Just up to re-watching the Shadow of the Wolf arc now. ^_^

[la-belle-laide.livejournal.com]

BTW: OMG UR ICON.

[skitty-kitty.livejournal.com]

I peed my pants when I saw it, it's perfect! <3

[silverhawthorn.livejournal.com]

You described exactly why the series was perfect and why the movie wasn't. After I watched it, I immediately decided to regard it as an unsuccessful Elseworlds, and have nothing further to do with it.

Good post; made me wish I had my DVDs with me. :)

[la-belle-laide.livejournal.com]

Fortunately the creator totally disowned this movie, so Word Of God states it never happened.

[silverhawthorn.livejournal.com]

I feel justified, then. If Watsuki-sensei says it ain't so, it ain't so.

This was supposed to be a reply. -_-

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

I really didn't like Reflections because, like you said, a lot of it doesn't make in any sense. They tried to do too much in one place, and the central tragedy of the issue never really gets dealt with or explained or, you know, anything. Also, did I mention that it made no sense? They were definitely trying to recapture the darker, moodier feel of the first OVA without having anything to base it on, seeing as how the final arc of Kenshin just wasn't dark enough for them, so they were reduced to making something up. There was a good idea in there somewhere, I just don't know what it was.

There is one thing to admire about Reflections though, I thought the music was pretty good.

[la-belle-laide.livejournal.com]

The music was great; I thought so, too.

And I loved the dark mood of the first one. You're right, they tried to recapture it, but instead of just having a dark atmosphere, they went with "bummer" instead.

There was a good idea in there somewhere, I just don't know what it was.

I think I do. The good idea would have been to use that beautiful animation to do justice to a fantastic story. Like the Jinchuu arc, which, I'd give my left nut to see the entire thing. ^_^

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Well, it probably marks me as evil, but I wasn't too fond of the Jinchuu arc as a whole, as I found the supporting villains mostly uninteresting and sort of pointless, and more difficult to believe then in the Kyoto arc.

I think they had some inklings of an idea in how they wanted to put together a darker ending. Kenshin has two central tragedies that they tried to use in his twilight years. The first is his inability to say no, and his sense of responsibility, and how that would eventually tangle up his happy ending; after all sooner or later something will come up that Kenshin feels he has to deal with, and off he goes, leaving Kaoru, and the others, behind. The second is a much darker and less personal tragedy, touched on only briefly in Reflections. If Kenshin lives twenty years after the end of the show (not saying he does, but if he did), Japan has already fought and won the first Sino-Japanese war, conquered Formosa, assassinated Empress Myeongseong, and turned Korea into little more then a puppet state.

I thought the story seemed on the verge of mirroring this; Kenshin is asked to go overseas to deal with Japan's "enemies", IIRC, those who would capitalize on her weakness. But as months turn to years, those enemies are not so much opportunists as victims of a nation that is more Shishio then Kenshin, and that Kenshin's wasting away was supposed to be a symbolic mirror of the wasting of his dream. I expected him to eventually return to Japan to die and leave the flame to the next generation. But this theme is far too dark for an anime, because it touches on the whole issue of pre-war Japan, something that they don't talk about even academically without a great deal of caution, so I could be totally wrong.

But the problem is, you can't tell. They spend so little time on the "new" story, and so much time on things that had already happened, that you can't actually tell what the story is about. I thought, for some of the first part of Reflections, that this had real potential to deal with what I always saw as the historical tragedy of Kenshin, that he overthrows the old order to create a new order that turns even more bloodthirsty and genocidal, that the warrior spirit he represents must die in order for the country to move on. And then Reflections refused to do anything with that lead, and in fact basically refused to do anything period except "random cameos help two sick people find each other to die". There are tantalizing hints of a story buried in there somewhere, but I wonder where it died along the way.

Well, I probably have a different perspective then most, but I think everyone was disappointed.

[la-belle-laide.livejournal.com]

You know, sadly, I never managed (read: afforded) to finish out the manga, and have only looked at the ending sitting in the bookstore. So maybe I'm not the one to comment. However, I would have liked it better than the direction the anime went, with that stupid god-guy.

The first is his inability to say no, and his sense of responsibility, and how that would eventually tangle up his happy ending; after all sooner or later something will come up that Kenshin feels he has to deal with, and off he goes, leaving Kaoru, and the others, behind. The second is a much darker and less personal tragedy, touched on only briefly in Reflections.

I guess that comes down to Kenshin being meta (the nation's man) or being Normal Hero. Here I think it comes down to how you interpret him: is he more of a hero working for humanity, or staying with his family? Me, I am partial to both ideas. So I really think they could have gone with meta-hero Kenshin ("There's still so much for me to do, I have to leave") and to even have him suffer to some extent. But not to suffer for the atonement that we'd already been told he'd achieved. That's just cheating.

That's why the jinchuu arc worked in a logical way for me. Kenshin had already defeated his own killer. But he still had a past, he could still have to get some payback. I can't comment on Enishi's henchmen since I'm not familiar with them, or with how compelling Enishi was, but for Kenshin, to me, that arc makes sense.

But as months turn to years, those enemies are not so much opportunists as victims of a nation that is more Shishio then Kenshin, and that Kenshin's wasting away was supposed to be a symbolic mirror of the wasting of his dream. I expected him to eventually return to Japan to die and leave the flame to the next generation.

I can see that, too. But I think that the manga (again, forgive me if I'm wrong on this) actually addressed that. Kenshin is wasting away, right? He loses his ability to fight because of his body type or something? Symbolically, he fades into, maybe not obscurity but to irrelevance in regards to the era. Returning to Japan, fading away, like I said, even suffering or whatever, sure, that works. It works on a symbolic level and prosaic for me. I just didn't feel the whole leprosy / amnesia thing was necessary. And Kenshin's reason for leaving Kaoru and Kenji was lame. By this time, he would have learned (as he did through Sanosuke and Yahiko) that the best way for him to change the future would be through raising a child to not make the same mistakes. Instead he buggers off, while Kenji goes to learn Hiten Mitsurugi. Seemed totally out of character for Kenshin.

I thought, for some of the first part of Reflections, that this had real potential to deal with what I always saw as the historical tragedy of Kenshin, that he overthrows the old order to create a new order that turns even more bloodthirsty and genocidal, that the warrior spirit he represents must die in order for the country to move on.

I absolutely agree with this. But the warrior spirit did die. You never see Hitokiri Battousai after the Kyoto arc.

Reflections just felt tacked on and redundant to me. Kenshin spent ten years wandering and atoning. He already found peace. If they wanted to animate his decline, physical and symbolic great, awesome. But to at least keep him in character and not address (and retcon) everything he'd already dealt with.

In short, yeah. :)

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

My objection to the Jinchuu arc is based on the supporting characters. Clearly the arc couldn't get rid of them, clearly they couldn't just be ignored, but at the same time the arc was about Kenshin almost entirely. The result seemed to me that a lot of the arc was taken up with everyone else running around for no good reason, 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.

I agree with you on Reflections, Kenshin does not need a disease unless it's there for some other reason, the effects of years of continual combat is destructive enough that you don't need to add to it. I think that was pointless, and it's entire purpose seemed to be to keep Kenshin from just coming home.

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. In terms of the first OVA, 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.

I suppose I'm hung up on the history somewhere; I know that what Kenshin did was futile, that the Meiji era is the last gasp of sunlight before the long plunge into night. I don't quite begrudge Kenshin his happy ending in the manga, 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. Where the first one was the tragedy of Kenshin's idealism and the consequences of his actions, the second would have been the echo of his guilt and the failure of his idealism, and his final acceptance that he really can only protect those "within reach of his sword". And then it did not deliver.

I guess I'm looking at the manga's darker parts as related to the OVA and not the standard series, and I don't know why. I understand why the manga picked a lighter ending, and why the anime followed suit. I just felt that Reflections should have lived up to its darker promise.

As to the manga, I feel sometimes that there are two mangas struggling to get out of Ruroken. One is a much lighter Shounen/Shojo combination piece, where love conquers and Kenshin discovers his answer, and generally we expect happy endings. The other is a much darker and more mature manga, which sometimes pokes through the seams, becoming visible. They follow the same plot trajectory, but one of them is much more brutal, much more realistic (a lot less with the superpower gimmicks), and a lot more tied into the context. The first OVA comes out of the darker tradition, and I was hoping that there would be an end to the story of the same tradition. But there wasn't, so I was sad.

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.

[la-belle-laide.livejournal.com]

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.

[redswordheart.livejournal.com]

I couldn't stand Seisouhen at all. It wasn't Watsuki's idea at all. I too don't mind tragedy if it's warranted, but Watsuki said from the beginning that RK was meant to have "smiles and a happy ending" and I believe that should have been honored.

For those who require angst and tragedy for Kenshin and Kaoru after they're married, we know that Kenshin's body is deteriorating and he will likely be totally crippled by the time he's 50 and that Kenji grows up to be a twisted, sadistic bastard who enjoys killing people with Hiten Mitsurugi. Also, the growing militarization of Japan, which culminates in the Big Bang of 1946.

If those things aren't tragedy enough, I don't know what is.