So I just finished the series and the OVA's. I don't have a whole lot to say about Reflections, mainly because I skipped a lot of it. I tried to watch all of it, but some of it was too annoying. It was bad enough that the voices were different, but I could deal with that much. What I couldn't deal with was when it was showing events that happened in the tv series, but different and how the characters acted. For most of what I saw until the end, the natures of the characters and their relationships did not fit the tv series at all. The scenes that were familiar from the tv series were very different too. The way Kenshin talked was all wrong and how situations were handled were different. Maybe it doesn't bother everyone, but it bothers me a lot. It's bad enough that during the series and during "Trust and Betrayal", some of the flashbacks they do change the words that are said during the flashback from the ones said originally, even though it's the same scene. This is worse because this isn't just words.
The movie also confused me. Granted, I skipped over the middle from about eight minutes in till the last thirty minutes (or somewhere around there), only stopping for the part where he told Koaru about Tomoe and the conflict with Enrishe. Still, most of that looked to be scenes from the tv series that had been altered. I'm not sure any of it would have helped with my confusion. I don't understand what was wrong with Kenshin and Kaoru. They had those marks all over their body but what on earth was it? At first I thought that maybe it was supposed to be from all the injuries he aquired and how far he pushed his body throughout his life. However, then Koaru had it too. Now granted, I suppose somehow Kenshin could have given her some of his 'consequences' (not sure what to call it) since the show isn't entirely realistic. A lot of it is possible but it did have moments of things that weren't possible at least to my knowledge. It is possible that happened I suppose, but, I read elsewhere someone was complaining about the ending and mentioned a disease that Koaru got and then ended up giving to Kenshin. How though? It didn't seem like a virus or any std I know of. And Kenshin was worse than Koaru, which is possible because males and females do not react to disease the same and because Kenshins body was more beaten than Koarus so perhaps even though she had it first it progressed quicker with Kenshin. Still, I can't think of any disease that would look like that.
I am also assuiming Yahiko married or is going to marry tsubume. What happened to Sano though. I had thought that MAYBE he and Megumi might get together. I didn't see him show up till the end when he found Kenshin in China. When he did show up he was dressed funny and looked a bit like a bum. Did Kenshin and Sano ever find out that Saito was still alive? Did Misao and Aoshi get together?
Outside of the few questions I still have, I want to talk about Kenshins son, Kenji. Um, cute name. Anyway, he comes off as a bit of a brat. At first it was hard for me to see how he could be Kenshins son and I know some other people thought he was awful. It took me a while to come up with an answer. I had to remember that when Kenshin was young, he wasn't exactly a saint himself. He went and became an assassin. Also, they lived in two very different times and two very different lives. Kenshin saw his parents die and then he saw people who tried to protect him die. He gave them and the bandits graves. He held a sword with the intention of protecting someone all before he was even ten years old. He was taken in by a master of swordsmanship and was trained in it. By the time he was just fourteen, there was a revolution going on in his country and he went to fight it. He was an assassin and had killed many by the time he was fifteen. He slept with his sword ready. He stained his hands with blood. He was one of the best assassins. He helped bring about a revolution by the time he was 18 by killing people (if I did the math right). He was in a fake marriage before he was 18 and ended up being betrayed by the woman and then accidently killed her. Kenji on the other hand had both his parents alive as he was growing up. Now, going by what the characters were like in the tv series, they were probably decent parents. They would have loved and protected their son, I think, as much as they did eachother. However, based of the OVA, I'm not so sure that they would not have been more devoted to each other than the child. I'm not saying they would neglect him, but it seemed they wanted each other more. I don't know how else to say it. Still, Kenji had his parents and was not assassinating people and sleeping with his sword and bringing about a revolution by the time he was 18. If I understand it correctly though, there was conflict in China during Kenjis life, in which Kenshins father left to help out with and was gone for a long time. That would be a bit hard on him but he still wasn't fighting it. He didn't fear for his life or live in a very dangerous place. So his life was very different. It's not entirely supprising how he ended up. However, he may be a bit of a brat, but it was obvious he was a good kid still. He was like Kenshin in that he ran off though.
The ending of the movie was both awful and awesome. In my opinion, they could have not bothered with the majority of the OVA and just made the last part. It was heartbreaking to see Kenshin so confused and old and frail. Okay so he was always a skrawny skinny short guy never big and muscular or even strong looking but at the end he looked so frail. He couldn't have been older than in his fifties, but he looked lost and dead. All bandaged up, falling, couldn't even catch a fish thrown to him, no light in his eyes, nothing like his younger self. I have to admit though, it made the moments with him and Sano very touching. I still don't really understand why Kenshin was living in that shack in China though or how Sano found him. Why hadn't he gone back to Japan? Was his mind and body unable to get him there without help? Was he too confused? He did seem to be confused about himself. I thought it was so sweet though how Sano took care of him. They were still such good friends. Sano took down a tiger just so Kenshin could make it back to Japan to be with Koaru before he died.
I must say that the whole Kenshin walking towards his home and Koaru walking out and going to meet him, totally cliche. I thought it was sad that it seemed he only got to say goodbye to his wife, that he didn't even see his son again before he died or Yahiko. Then again, I'm not sure he even remembered he had a son at that point. The way Koaru talked to him at the end though, I thought maybe they would have a day together and see their friends at least. I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. After all, he should have been dead a thousand times over during the series and never died! He just went to sleep and that was the end.
As much as I felt Reflection was almost a waste of time, I have to admit it was one of the best endings. I usually hate ending to stories whether they are tv show, movie, or book endings, I'm usually dissatisfied. I can't say that is the case with Rurouni Kenshin. While there are some questions I still have, those are minor. The show told me what happened right up until the main character died and for one of the very few times ever, I felt like I had closure to a story. It's very rare for me to be satisfied with any ending because few ever feel like real endings. Most of the time I feel like I want and need to know more. I want to know what happens right up to the characters death. I didn't get to see everything until every character died or even until Koaru died, but seeing up until Kenshins death was satisfying. The series only left me with two times where I wish I knew more, but it wasn't the end for once. I wish I knew more about Kenshin from the time he was born up until the time we meet him in "Trust and Betrayal." All we really get is that his parents died from disease and his father farmed. The other time I wish I knew more about is the time between the end of the revolution and the time he meets Koaru. I would actually like to know a few more details about the time between Tomoes death and the end of the revolution but it gives enough information for the most part. Mainly, I just wish I knew more about the other two parts. I can't complain though because I got an ending which is what I always want. I can't even say it was a bad ending, because I'm not sure how else Kenshin could die. I think killing him off in a sword fight would be rather stupid since so many already tried that and despite the fact that many of those attempts should have done the job, they didn't. And if the show did kill him off in a sword fight, the only way to make it even slightly believable would be to create a character far worse and more powerful than any of his previous opponents. That would be complicated and once he was killed I feel like it would require still a lot more afterwards to actually give the sense of a closing.
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