Maui Dimagiba                                                                                           October 12, 2014

Migo Fernandez

Emman Salcedo

9D

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends

The Legend Ends is the third film in the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy, based on the Japanese manga series of the same name. The entire series revolves around Kenshin Himura, a wanderer whose mission is to protect the people of Japan to redeem himself from his sins as a former assassin known as Battousai the Killer. The trilogy is one of the many adaptations of the original manga, including an anime and a video game.

The third film follows Kenshin after his defeat at the hands of the Shishio, a heavily disfigured warrior who was originally a replacement for Battousai the assassin, hired by Kenshin’s employers but soon becomes a madman whose goal is to take over Japan. Kenshin is separated from his love interest Kaoru during his climactic battle against Shishio at the end of the second movie, and ends up diving into the ocean from Shishio’s battleship in order to escape his wrath. At the start of The Legend Ends, Hiko Seijuro, Kenshin’s mentor and trainer as a child, finds Kenshin washed ashore, and takes his unconscious body to Seijuro’s home. When Kenshin wakes up, he decides that he needs to train more in order to defeat Shishio, and asks Seijuro to teach him one final technique, the ultimate technique that can be used against Shishio to end his plans to conquer the country.

Visually and aesthetically, the film is absolutely breathtaking. The set for Shishio’s ship, which was the main battleground for the climax, presented a sometimes claustrophobic, sometimes cramped, but always gleefully destructible environment that was the perfect place for the film’s final battles. The visual effects were also great, making up most of the film’s heavy but stylish violence, from the blood oozing from a character’s wounds to the explosions from a firing cannon. The film was also beautifully designed; no matter where the characters were, the set they were in would always complement the scene, whether it’s an elegant background for a solemn conversation between characters or a small and destructible space for a violent clash. Even the costumes added to the film’s authenticity, from Saito’s neat dark grey uniform as a Meiji Government official to Kenshin’s graceful red and white shining “armor”.

The story itself doesn’t fall flat in any way and actually makes for a decent set-up for the film, but it does take the film down a familiar path of retribution and justice without taking any groundbreaking or at least different steps along the way. Even the characters cannot make up for it; not much is given about the characters, and though the film gives a substantial amount of flashbacks to the first and second movie to be able to let viewers who have not seen the first two installments of the trilogy comprehend the story, the members of the audience who have not heard of Rurouni Kenshin might have trouble caring for the characters.

That being said, even with a story that’s all too familiar and a lack of character development, the best thing about the film, the thing that perfectly makes up for its flaws, is the fight choreography. Though the film is filled with stylized visual effects, it still leaves enough space for the audience to appreciate a battle between characters. Each battle is thrilling and violently raw, from Aoshi and Kenshin’s battle in the forest to the climactic clash of Kenshin and Shishio. The choreography is the main centerpiece of the film for casual viewers, and it definitely adds to the movie experience for Rurouni Kenshin fans. Though this type of fast-paced and intricate fight sequences are common in other foreign films such as The Raid, albeit in a modern setting, it cannot beat the authenticity of having a samurai action sequence in a realistic 1870’s Japanese setting.

Maui’s score: 9/10

Migo’s score: 8/10

Emman’s score: 9.5/10

Consensus: The final installment of this fast-paced, manga-inspired trilogy is spectacular, not only for its violent, raw, and sometimes unsettling sequences of clashing swords, but also for its ability to be breathtakingly beautiful at the same time.