Story (8/10):
Will given the premise of the story, one could just assume it’s a character development OVA’s or made simply to please the fans/mill the franchise , in reality this 2 hour long show accomplished way more than that. It’s a work of art in it’s own regard that can be watch and fully enjoy be people who haven’t seen the original. Simplistic yet beautiful and even poetic writing has bless this little gem and made it shine more than most familiar with original series would expect. In a nut shell it’s a dramatic story of impossible love, filled with well choreographed action scenes and a little historical twist. On the other hand it could be look at as a life story that has way more to it, a story that made a man what he is.
Characters (8/10):
While despite our two main characters cast is pretty generic and others are there just to be there, to move the plot, to do their work, but not to be interesting or dynamical, this doesn’t take much from the show. It has a running time of a movie and it’s well aware that you can’t make to many strong characters and give them screen time whit that, so the focus is put only on the main two, and while in many cases it could be a bad thing, it’s not the way it’s this time. Chemistry between Kenshin and Tomoe is just amazingly beautiful, every interaction between them is seems quite a silent one, but at the same time so poetic, simplistic, emotional and colorful.
Visuals (9/10):
Studio deen is not always a consistent one, but when they want to make things look amazing they can, and this is one of those cases. Art style is well detailed and realistic, it made to set an atmospheric feeling of Japan revolution, there is not much one could take a way from it, it should be purely because it’s not what one prefers pretty much. The only part that makes this a 9 instead of 10 is animation, while most of the time fluent at what it does, fights even though well choreographed have some still frames here and there.
Sound (10/10):
Soundtrack is there do it’s job, which is to help build already well made atmosphere to new heights, and it manages to accomplish this whit ease. Japanese voice actor also did their job well, which is quite a usual case which Japanese voicing, there is no English dub, which is quite a shame as this show could make his way to the west pretty easily.
Enjoyment (9/10):
I would think it should be quite hard to find someone that would have nothing enjoyable for him in this little gem, it’s a short watch so imho every one should give it a try, you will probably be surprised from the start. As for personal Enjoyment, I did enjoy every part of it to at least some extend, there is really not a dull moment in this show, not a single boring or unimportant fight scene, even dialogues are written whit the same consistent touch of poetry and subtle color from a huge palette.
