‘Rurouni Kenshin’ returns with fiery martial style

[yuiyoshida]

By Katsuo Kokaji / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff WriterJapanese kengeki (swordplay dramas) may change forever after this film. That’s how impressive the innovative action scenes are in “Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen” (Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno).

The film is a sequel to “Rurouni Kenshin,” and both films are based on the Nobuhiro Watsuki manga of the same name. The latest film, the first of a two-part story, surpasses the original in both action and scale.

The second part, “Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu no Saigo” (Rurouni Kenshin The Legend Ends), is due for release in September.

A much-feared assassin from the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate becomes a wanderer known as Kenshin (played by Takeru Sato) after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and helps ordinary people using a sword that does not cut, because he turns the blade blunt-side forward. However, Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara), who took over Kenshin’s job as an assassin, holds a grudge against the new government that betrayed him and gathers private soldiers to carry out a coup. To stop Shishio, Kenshin sets off for Kyoto...

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001461897