Ruróni Kenšin: Saišúšó The Beginning

Beautifully shot and a brilliant blend of uncompromising action with intimate fateful melodrama. The only problem, unfortunately a major one, is that it doesn’t bring anything new. The reason? Everything (but, like, absolutely everything) in this film has already been said/shown/revealed in about nine hours of the previous four episodes. As a result, I have mixed feelings. All in all, a pretty good film, "only" useless, as it has nothing to offer fans of the franchise, other than the excellent raw action, although there is much less of it than usual in the series. But at the same time, as the fifth installment in a series, it's hardly for anyone but fans (though it can work on its own merits with a nod to both). (02.08.2021)

It’s good that we have Netflix. This is a beautiful ending to the Samurai epic series, which ends with a prequel, which is how it all began. This is the episode I was looking forward to the most, because it takes place during the time when Kenshin was still killing people, thus finally satisfying my insatiable taste buds for blood (unfortunately he doesn't kill people in the previous episodes and that was my biggest problem with the whole series). When it comes to action, it's pretty much a big deal, with blood spurting aplenty, it's properly raw and uncompromising, Kenshin is a great and fast samurai, and invincible machine, and watching him in action is a joy. Unfortunately, his enemies are not as diverse and don't have the pure anime/manga elements as in the previous episodes. It must be said that there is a lot of emphasis on story, romance and melodrama, which is a problem with me, but others will probably be happier, because after all, nobody cares about action and blood anymore, right? Visually it's amazing again and the snowy finale in the forest is beautiful. I probably won't watch this again, but I'm really happy for the uncompromising R-rated action. It's a nice ending to the series. Story 4/5, Action 4/5, Humour 0/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 2/5. 7/10. (03.08.2021)