Rurouni Kenshin OVA
1st OVA
Then, then a mole in this government sector caused the whole section to dissolve. To protect Kenshin, his boss and leader told him to go into hiding with Tomoe as wife and husband so as to be unsuspicious. And other stuff happens...
2nd OVA- SeishousonThis is a continuation of things that happened at the end of the anime series. Right from the start, one can notice that the quality of the anime drawings has improved a lot. We see Kaoru atthe docks and her facial features shows that she has aged. Turns out that she was waiting to see if Kenshin was home on the ship. Little does she know that he had went overboard trying to rescue a little boy during a storm. The first part of this OVA has flashbacks of the past that we see in the anime series, but this time its more focused on Kenshin and Kaoru. This serves as reminiscing about the old days. It's the second episodes that sorta leaves one with a sense of lost. In the beginning of this one, we see that Kaoru has contracted a disease she got from Kenshin intentionally and she doesn't have long to live. But Yahiko calls Megumi to try to come help Kaoru from the pain, but that's all Megumi can do because the disease is fatal. Then Yahiko goes to Master Hiko's cabin to retrieve the runaway son, Kenji, who refuses to see his dying mother because she never loved him as much as his father. But, when Yahiko challenges him to a battle with the reverse blade, even though he won, Yahiko gives the blade to Kenji as a belated 15-year birthday present. And so Kenji returns home and when a bed ridden Kaoru asks forgiveness of him, Kenji replies "don't apologize to a run away son". Meanwhile, Sanosuke finds Kenshin in a cabin off in China somewhere and is hearbroken when Kenshin is ill and has amnesia. One heartbreaking scene is when after Sanosuke fried a fish and tossed it to Kenshin, Kenshin was unable to catch it at all, and Sanosuke is astonished that the once powerful Rurouni is reduced to this feeble state. Sanosuke purposely hunts down a tiger for Kenshin as food in hopes that it will keep Kenshin alive long enough to see Kaoru again. As they part in front of the outgoing ship, Kenshin says a very soft Thank you to Sanosuke.
My Bias Opinion-Okay, I didn't really have the patience to sit through an anime that I knew most of what the plot was doing thanks to the manga translations they had up online before Kenshin got licensed by some American comic book. Hence, I'm basically settling for reviewing the two OVAs that I saw. Both were pretty good with the first one talking about Himura Kenshin's past including how he got about becoming a hitokiri and most importantly, his crossed scar. The second OVA takes place after where the anime ends, although I have no clue where that is... and although there are occasional flashbacks to the previous events that occurred in the anime, this one revolves around the relationship between Kenshin and Kaoru while we get a glimpse onto how all the other characters are doing. Both stories are in a sense sad, with very little wacky humor we find from the series. Especially the last OVA. It left me feeling like the end of a great saga ends so sweet yet bitter in a sense. (UsagiSakura 2/13/04)
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Ah, the epic title of Rurouni Kenshin. From what I know, it airs on Cartoon Network on American TV. So the basics are that Himura Kenshin is a wandering rurouni (someone without any master) who carries a reverse blade sword and a crossed scar on his left cheek. His reason for wandering for over some 10 years is to repent for the people he killed in the name of Japan's Meiji GOvernment during Japan's Civil War. Now the anime series opens in Kyoto where he meets Kamiya Kaoru, the 16- year old sole master of the Kamiya School of Living Dojo. After Kenshin helps out Kaoru with a misunderstanding, he decides to settle down a bit from his wanderings at the dojo. Other characters that eventually show up are Yahiko, a 10 year old street urchin who joined as an apprentice under Kaoru, Sanosuke, a ganster with the word "evil" on his back, and Megumi, a young female doctor who is skilled in the fields of medicine. There are many many more characters, both evil and good... but hey, this is not a review of the anime.
This short series of about 4 episodes tells us the origin of the name Battousai as wella as Himura Kenshin's cross scar. The anime series supposedly never mentions it but in this we see the reason. Kenshin here is only 15-years old. He has left his master to join the government's side in the civil war as a ruthless killer. One night, he attacks two men on the streets. The first of them dies quickly, but the second man's will to live was strong and just before he dies, he manages to slash Kenshin's cheek. Hence this is only one part of that cross mystery. Then later on, as Kenshin is off on another killing expedition, a woman passes by just as the sky is raining "blood" and faints. Kenshin takes her back to the government hideout and this girl, Tomoe then helps out with the household chores.
Spoilers - Ok, there's nothing really worth mentioning about this first OVA except the big secret. Turns out that Tomoe is the fiance of the man that gave Kenshin the first slash on his cheek. Her finance's rebel group had sent her on a mission to kill Kenshin to seek revenge for her finance by finding his weakness. by the time Tomoe reports back to her boss, she had already fallen in love with Kenshin and tells the boss that he has no weakness. The boss sees through her though and says that she, Tomoe, has become Kenshin's weakness, just as he had intended from the start.
Spoilers- Kenshin gets back to Tokyo and somehow Kaoru in her sick bed senses this and goes out in her condition to try to meet him. Both of these sick patients stumble along through town and finally by the cherry groves where Kenshin said good-bye to Kaoru once before, they meet and embrace. Kaoru says "Welcome Home, Shinta". Shinta is the name that Kenshin had before his master took him as a pupil, which reflected his more gentle nature. Then we get a zoom out of the them under a tree, Kenshin's head is on Kaoru's lap as Kaoru talks about the others. Then we realize that Kenshin is sleeping... until Kaoru brushes away his left cheek to see that his scar has totally faded away. She weeps as we realize that Kenshin has passed on.