Filed under: anime and manga, i just watched.. Tags:kenshin himura, samurai x, trust and betrayal
I just watched Samurai X and this would now be my favorite anime ever.. that I sure would! I loved the anime so much that it almost turns me to Japanese! (I found myself singing its ending theme song in Japanese! and found myself researching on wikipedia about Tokugawa shogunate, Shinsengumi, Kyoto, Imperialism!)
I watched all the 95 episodes in the series and the OVA’s, but what I liked best is the movie Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal because..
- of its bittersweet love story
- because of the beautiful script
- because of the boring and yet sexy voice of Tomoe
- because of the wise and poetic philosophy of Hiko Seijuro
- and because of the amazing stunts of Kenshin in battosai mode (oh how I loved those battosai eyes!)
The story starts with a boy named Shinta who was taken by slave traders. While travelling, the group was attacked by bandits and all were killed except for Shinta who was saved by Hiko Seijuro. Seijuro saw the regret on Shinta for not being able to save the people he has with. So he chose him to become his apprentice and taught him the sword art Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu (which teaches the principle of a sword that protects). He also change Shinta’s name to Kenshin (which means heart of sword).
As Kenshin grows older and as the meiji revolution began, he left Seijuru thinking that that time would be the best time to help the oppressed people. Though he hasn’t finished the training with Seijuru, his remarkable swordsmanship was noticed. He was then hired as an assassin by Katsura who heads a revolution to overthrow the shogunate. Kenshin kills as ordered without knowing any information or background of his target. He just knew that they were right to be killed.
During one of his assignment, he killed a bodyguard named Kyosato Akira, who’s apparently the fiancee of Tomoe. This encounter leaves kenshin with the first half of his cross-shaped scar on his cheek.
One night, Tomoe coincidentally witnessed how Kenshin brutally killed a ninja. But Tomoe was still depressed on Akira’s loss at that time and was a bit drunk, and she fainted. Kenshin took her to the inn where he’s staying, and was hired to work as a helper at the inn. Katsura noticed how determine Kenshin was on being a battosai. Thus, he asked Tomoe to take care of Kenshin to balance his emotions so he can stay humane as possible.
A member of Katsura’s group betrayed them which led the shogunate to sabotage the group. At this crisis, Katsuro asked Kenshin and Tomoe to leave Kyoto. He asked them to live on a far off village and pretend as husband and wife to cover Kenshin’s identity as an assassin.
During these times, Kenshin develop feelings to Tomoe and thought of living a 
normal life. Tomoe is also starting to have feelings on Kenshin, but we found out (based on her diaries) that Tomoe’s initial motive is to vindicate her fiancee. Tomoe’s brother, Enishi, comes to visit her and told her that the shogunate spies have plan on killing Kenshin, which would then makes her revenge complete.
Tomoe went to the shogunate men and tried to stop their plan by killing their leader on her own. But she failed, and the leader confessed that he only used her to make Kenshin at his weakest state because of his emotions towards her.
On the other hand, Kenshin was visited by a comrade and told him that the bodyguard he had killed before was Tomoe’s fiancee and that Tomoe is a spy and is currently meeting the shogunate men to kill him (but not known to Kenshin, his comrade is the one who truly betrayed Kenshin and Katsura’s group).
On his way to follow Tomoe, Kenshin faced very skilled ninjas one after another and managed to killed them even he was out of focus because of his thoughts on Tomoe. He had accepted the fact that although he still loves Tomoe, he deserves her betrayal because of what he has done with her fiancee.
When he reached the leader, he was already badly injured and was nearly bli
nded because of the bruises on his eye. Both the leader and Kenshin were on their last blow, but Kenshin didn’t see Tomoe stepped in between them. The leader was only using Tomoe’s dagger, but Kenshin’s sword went through Tomoe and reached the leader killing them both.
Before Tomoe’s death, as Kenshin cradled her on his lap, she gave Kenshin the second part of his cross-shaped scar on his cheek. Kenshin vowed to avenge her by following again Katsura so that they can stop the shogunate in order for them to live in a world where an ordinary man would not have to carry a sword (as he had said to Tomoe before). And so after the revolution, Kenshin wanders and vowed never to use his sword to take another life.
Kenshin: We once fought for an ideal with our swords. It wasn’t for power or glory, but to create a peaceful world where people could live without fear. And if you should forget that, then what did we fight the revolution for? — Rurouni Kenshin, episode 3.
No Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>