Just like Marvel's massively popular MCU, all anime needed was a creative team who understood and respected the source material, and who put care and time into being honest with adapting what they're creating.
It also helps that Rurouni Kenshin is an anime/manga that has some fantastical concepts, but is an idea mostly attemptable in terms of live action film, too. I've been waiting to see this as a long-time Kenshin fan since I was a teenager. It was released in 2012, but getting a properly subtitled version to the US has been challenging until now.
Some of the live-action adaptations of anime/manga out there are nearly unwatchable, and poor representations of their material, so I can faithfully say that aside from some loose adaptations or other movies inspired by anime/manga, I personally think that Rurouni Kenshin is the best live-action version of a mainstream, well-known anime (particularly from the popular Shonen genre) ever made.
That doesn't mean it's perfect: Dragonball: Evolution and 1990's adaptation of The Guyver aren't exactly tough movies to surpass.
Kenshin: Origins still has some clunky storytelling and packs *a lot* of the first season of the anime into one 2 hour movie. In some ways it makes it seem overstuffed, in some ways it's impressive they could fit this much material from the anime, balance fight scenes and dialogue, and still come away with something pretty watchable.
Because manga is in chapters, anime in episodes, you lose some of the character complexity in the movie, as well as background on some character's motivations, but they nail the main points of who Kenshin is and what he stands for in the story.
One of the main flaws I can point out is that it's very catered to fans of the source material, and you might be a bit confused by the pace of the story and inclusion of some characters at some moments. Sometimes it seems like the movie expects you to know the Rurouni Kenshin story already, whereas the best comic book/manga adaptations stand on their own.
Regardless, the cast is all great in their roles, and I know Takeru Sato in particular trained very hard to embody Kenshin's acrobatic sword-fighting style, and it all shows. The costumes and makeup are accurate to the material without looking too over-the-top or ridiculous.
There's lots of well choreographed fight-scenes packed into the runtime, and while I enjoyed them, I almost felt that if there was ever an excuse to use CGI in a fight scene, maybe this could've used it.
In the anime, Kenshin can turn into a literal blur of movement and pure speed, unable to be seen by the eyes of (most) other people, and they tone it down a little bit in the movie.
Kenshin is still agile, balanced, skilled, and has a great assortment of techniques, some of which fans will recognize from the original material, but he never quite cuts loose (pun intended) to the point that the anime version does: with motion-blurring speed, rock shattering sword swings, and being able to bounce off of ceilings and descend into super-powerful sword attacks.
Maybe on the budget or with the filmmaking techniques they had available, they couldn't figure out how to embody these moves without it looking really awful, so if that was the case, I can understand why they went this route, and it still looks fine. The cast clearly all rehearsed their movements well, and the fight scenes are not over-edited into oblivion.
Overall, I completely recommend Rurouni Kenshin: Origins to anyone who was even mildly interested in the anime or manga, or anime in general. If you're not, maybe watch this with someone who knows the anime or manga, who could fill in gaps the movie has in its story. Otherwise, this is a treat for Rurouni Kenshin fans, and it's nice to see the curse of live action anime adaptations finally be cut down by the (former) Manslayer himself.
It also helps that Rurouni Kenshin is an anime/manga that has some fantastical concepts, but is an idea mostly attemptable in terms of live action film, too. I've been waiting to see this as a long-time Kenshin fan since I was a teenager. It was released in 2012, but getting a properly subtitled version to the US has been challenging until now.
Some of the live-action adaptations of anime/manga out there are nearly unwatchable, and poor representations of their material, so I can faithfully say that aside from some loose adaptations or other movies inspired by anime/manga, I personally think that Rurouni Kenshin is the best live-action version of a mainstream, well-known anime (particularly from the popular Shonen genre) ever made.
That doesn't mean it's perfect: Dragonball: Evolution and 1990's adaptation of The Guyver aren't exactly tough movies to surpass.
Kenshin: Origins still has some clunky storytelling and packs *a lot* of the first season of the anime into one 2 hour movie. In some ways it makes it seem overstuffed, in some ways it's impressive they could fit this much material from the anime, balance fight scenes and dialogue, and still come away with something pretty watchable.
Because manga is in chapters, anime in episodes, you lose some of the character complexity in the movie, as well as background on some character's motivations, but they nail the main points of who Kenshin is and what he stands for in the story.
One of the main flaws I can point out is that it's very catered to fans of the source material, and you might be a bit confused by the pace of the story and inclusion of some characters at some moments. Sometimes it seems like the movie expects you to know the Rurouni Kenshin story already, whereas the best comic book/manga adaptations stand on their own.
Regardless, the cast is all great in their roles, and I know Takeru Sato in particular trained very hard to embody Kenshin's acrobatic sword-fighting style, and it all shows. The costumes and makeup are accurate to the material without looking too over-the-top or ridiculous.
There's lots of well choreographed fight-scenes packed into the runtime, and while I enjoyed them, I almost felt that if there was ever an excuse to use CGI in a fight scene, maybe this could've used it.
In the anime, Kenshin can turn into a literal blur of movement and pure speed, unable to be seen by the eyes of (most) other people, and they tone it down a little bit in the movie.
Kenshin is still agile, balanced, skilled, and has a great assortment of techniques, some of which fans will recognize from the original material, but he never quite cuts loose (pun intended) to the point that the anime version does: with motion-blurring speed, rock shattering sword swings, and being able to bounce off of ceilings and descend into super-powerful sword attacks.
Maybe on the budget or with the filmmaking techniques they had available, they couldn't figure out how to embody these moves without it looking really awful, so if that was the case, I can understand why they went this route, and it still looks fine. The cast clearly all rehearsed their movements well, and the fight scenes are not over-edited into oblivion.
Overall, I completely recommend Rurouni Kenshin: Origins to anyone who was even mildly interested in the anime or manga, or anime in general. If you're not, maybe watch this with someone who knows the anime or manga, who could fill in gaps the movie has in its story. Otherwise, this is a treat for Rurouni Kenshin fans, and it's nice to see the curse of live action anime adaptations finally be cut down by the (former) Manslayer himself.