Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Shin Kyoto-hen

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Alternative Titles

English: Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc

Synonyms: Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto Hen

Japanese: るろうに剣心-明治剣客浪漫譚- 新京都編

Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 2

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Dec 17, 2011 to Jun 23, 2012

Producers: Aniplex

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: Studio Deen

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Samurai, Historical, Drama, Shounen

Duration: 46 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 7.11¹ (scored by 9,600 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3111²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3343

Members: 21,013

Favorites: 37

7.11

Ranked #3111Popularity #3343Members 21,013

OVAStudio Deen

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Episodes: /2

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Synopsis

A large scale remake of the time after Kenshin leaves Tokyo up until before the inferno of Kyoto.

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Parent story:

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Himura, Kenshin

Main

Suzukaze, Mayo
Japanese

Shishio, Makoto

Main

Ikeda, Masanori
Japanese

Makimachi, Misao

Main

Sakurai, Tomo
Japanese

Saitou, Hajime

Supporting

Narita, Ken
Japanese

Sagara, Sanosuke

Supporting

Ueda, Yuuji
Japanese

Seta, Soujirou

Supporting

Hidaka, Noriko
Japanese

Hiko, Seijuurou

Supporting

Ikeda, Shuuichi
Japanese

Shinomori, Aoshi

Supporting

Yasuhara, Yoshito
Japanese

Kamiya, Kaoru

Supporting

Fujitani, Miki
Japanese

Myoujin, Yahiko

Supporting

Tominaga, Miina
Japanese

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Staff

Furuhashi, Kazuhiro

Director

Kaburagi, Hiro

Episode Director, Storyboard

Kato, Toshiyuki

Episode Director

Okada, Mari

Script

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#1: "Nanairo no Kaze (七色の風)" by Rina Sumioka (住岡梨奈)
#2: "feel you" by Rina Sumioka (住岡梨奈)

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Mar 23, 2013

2 of 2 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

Hayzee (All reviews)

25 people found this review helpful

The most succinct way to describe Shin Kyoto Hen would be: "glossed over." What else would you expect from a two hour retelling that attempted to cover 27 episodes of the original series? That's not to say, however, that the OVAs are entirely without merit.

ART
The environments are strikingly beautiful. The characters are modernized: cleaner and redesigned to better suit the current aesthetic, but unfortunately look washed out and unfinished when set against the detail of the backgrounds. Cinematography is done very well; the usage of color and light, particularly contrasting Kenshin's meetings with Misao and Shishio, is a nice touch.
Animation was hit and miss. Where the TV show would use light and sound to indicate a superhuman move being performed, Cage of Flames impresses with full animations; noteworthy in Kenshin’s confrontation with Misao and battle with Chou. The fights in Song of the Light, however, lack the impact of those in the series. (Saitou’s evaluation fight with Kenshin comes to mind.) An argument can be made for the finesse of Kenshin vs Soujiro’s shukuchi duel, but the gatotsu and the futae no kiwami just don’t have the same raw explosiveness.

MUSIC
The soundtrack is still excellent. While the renditions lack their predecessor’s quaint appeal, they are more intricate in timbre and more “cinematic.” Familiar themes are used accordingly and don’t fail to accentuate the mood of a scene or remind us that this is indeed Rurouni Kenshin. Just don’t expect something as amazing as Tsuiokuhen’s OST.

STORY *SPOILERS*
Much of the gag humor and lightheartedness of the series was omitted in favor of a serious tone that accurately reflects the gravity of the arc. Studio Deen was aware of the age of the RuroKen fanbase, and thus had no qualms about showing the brutal reality of the fights and Shishio’s world; things that were implied and understood but not displayed by the series. This is where Cage of Flames truly shows its potential, setting all the scenes for conflict, building tension, and acknowledging all the right events from the original anime.
As if discouraged by the nostalgia-biased criticism of OVA1, the staff seemed to give up in Song of the Light. Sloppy animation aside, every character seems deflated. Both writing and delivery are unnatural given how little the development of their camaraderie is depicted. (I did like the more mature Misao, though; more convincing for the role of Okashira.) Aoshi and Shishio, obviously keeping their desire to strike in check in the first OVA, never demonstrate that catharsis, wasting all the anticipation.
As for how everything plays out... The absence of so many things (and members of the Juppongatana) completely overshadows the version of the story they attempt to tell.
Kenshin and Sanosuke never meet up; Sano is instead exclusively partnered with Saitou.
Sano’s parallelism with Anji is not explained.
Hiko’s arrival at the Aoiya is far less grand, because Yahiko never proves himself against Henya or demonstrates his impressive spirit.
Soujiro’s internal struggle to reconcile Kenshin’s and Shishio’s philosophies is barely there.
Saitou does not show his loyalty to Aku Soku Zan & police fighting Usui.
In fact all the duels that are glossed over don’t take place in Mt. Hiei, even though it was shown in Cage of Flames. I can go on, but the greatest wtf of the OVA and absolutely unforgivable omission is that Kenshin never uses his ougi…every major fight is won handily and anticlimactically. The conclusion of Watsuki’s Kyoto Arc is fundamentally altered and weakened.
*One thing did pique my interest: Saitou didn’t disappear in the blaze; he escapes with Soujirou. What might happen should the prodigy be taken under the wolf’s wing?
And so our heroes return (heroes being Kenshin and Aoshi, wtf happened to Sanosuke?) While Studio Deen apparently forgot how to make shounen/seinen fights epic, they do reunions passably well. (Kaoru finding Kenshin in OVA1, Misao welcoming Aoshi back.)

TL;DR Longtime fans of RK, Cage of Flames is worth checking out. Song of the Light is a waste of the va’s reprising their roles. Newcomers, don’t bother, watch the series, but feel free to stop before the Christian Knights and FengShui >_>

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Dec 25, 2014

2 of 2 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Ray_Monster (All reviews)

10 people found this review helpful

First thing is that if you haven't seen the Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai x's serie, you can enjoy this OVAS, but surely will not understand much of the things that happen. Second thing, I noticed that people were disgusted with the OVAS because of difference between the original and this one's, but I don't see it like that since this are, again, OVAS, not the remake of the arc or anything else but a great scale ensemble of the Kyoto arc events within another more dramatical point of view and story, that personally love it.
Ok, here I go:

STORY: 8/10
I rate the story as very good because, read more

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Jun 11, 2015

2 of 2 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

fullmetaljo (All reviews)

9 people found this review helpful

I’m not going to use any arbitrary numbers because that won’t provide an accurate representation of what I just watched. One thing I’d advise before ever picking this title up is be sure you watched the original Rurouni Kenshin series prior. If you don’t you might be completely undone before you get to some of the juicier bits of this two part series. For everyone whose unaware of the story surrounding the New Kyoto Arc in Kenshin these films(?) are hard to follow and don’t convey enough of what made the original run of the arc so satisfying.

Now I’m not going to waste time arguing read more

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Oct 15, 2017

2 of 2 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

tomateunmate (All reviews)

6 people found this review helpful

what's the point of this?
Every five minutes or so I had to wonder that. Why would you have the sword collector and not give him swords? Why have over the top techniques and not show the name painted across the screen? Why reanimate and exclude the animation intensive scenes? Why have Kaoru and Yahiko if you take out all their scenes? Why have Kenshin's master and super fast Soujiro if there is no secret super fast final technique? Why have Soujiro loose his calm over a moral issue if you don't show whis moral issues? Overall this feels like someone with a plot synopsis was asked to highlight the plot points on their first read without take backs.

(For example you'd assume at first that Chou is filler, and he originally was, but his character developed enough to put him in charge of the epilogue. Actually, all the characters that earned an epilogue are no longer part of the story.)

Ruroken always had some rhythm issues with Watsuki improvising way too much along the way. The artwork of the manga and some great episode directors made the originals work, but if there's a remake that changes events they could had fixed a lot of stuff.

So, what's the point of it? Was there really a need to do it this way? I think they wanted to capitalize on the live action films to promote the original, so they took out some sort of middle ground to motivate people to check it out. But the movies can do whatever they want because they are for a new audience and being live action you have a lower limit to push the fights before you lose the audience. There's nothing gain in this adaptation of an adaptation.

I would had been happier with 90 mins of the final fight, but that would make it exclusive for fans who still care about it and are willing to rewatch it. Maybe a retelling from Shishio's perspective would had been attractive to people who watched the anime/movies while being significantly shorter. But Ruroken without fights is just really boring, and there are literally no fights for more than an hour. And the ones there are after that fall flat because the motivations are said out loud 2 minutes before being refuted if there's any build up at all.

Usui constantly cock blocking Shishio was probably the only extra content that I sincerely loved. All historical elements were taken out (the burning of buddhist temples, prostitutes officially being defined as farm animals, the british economical control through Hong Kong, and so on) with all the great dead scenes. How do you dumb down an action show for 12 year olds? What's even the point?

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Recent News

New Manga Series of Rurouni Kenshin Announced

According to Jump Square magazine, a new manga series of Rurouni Kenshin was announced to start in the magazine from May 4th 2012. Details of the manga will be revea...read more

Dec 25, 2011 11:30 PM by dtshyk | Discuss (99 comments)

Blu-ray of Rurouni Kenshin New OVA Due in March

According to the official website, the Blu-ray and the DVD of Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto Hen Part 1 will be released on March 21st and is 45 minutes long. The secon...read more

Dec 16, 2011 9:03 PM by dtshyk | Discuss (15 comments)

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	Poll: Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto Hen Episode 2 Discussion tsubasalover - Aug 27, 2012	46 replies	by justlynn6785 »» Jul 3, 2019 8:34 PM
	What are the episodes of the arc in the anime? PikachuAnime93 - Aug 23, 2018	3 replies	by Puchkov »» Aug 23, 2018 8:24 AM

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Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Shin Kyoto-hen
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