Rurôni Kenshin: Seisô hen (2001) (V)

Director:

Kazuhiro Furuhashi

Writers:

Nobuhiro Watsuki (comics)
Reiko Yoshida (writer)

Release Date:

19 December 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Action | Romance

Plot:

Kenshin and Kaoru are married. Kenshin leaves Kaoru with their son, Kenji, to lead a revolution in China...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai Warrior | Zen | Samurai | Sequel | Dark Hero

Cast

Mayo Suzukaze	...	Kenshin Himura
Miki Fujitani	...	Kaoru Kamiya
Mîna Tominaga	...	Yahiko Myôjin
Yûji Ueda	...	Sanosuke Sagara
Mika Doi	...	Megumi Takani
Yuri Shiratori	...	Tsubame Sanjô
Nozomu Sasaki	...	Enishi Yukishiro
Shûichi Ikeda	...	Seijûrô Hiko
Yuki Kaida	...	Kenji Himura
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Hajime Saitô
Akio Ôtsuka	...	Jine Udô
Harî Kaneko	...	Aritomo Yamagata
Mitsuru Miyamoto	...	Ujiki
Sukekiyo Kameyama	...	Police Captain Muraki
Junichi Miura	...	Newspaper Seller
Takahiro Hirano	...	Noodle Shop Master
Mayumi Akado	...	Mother of Samurai
Reiko Fujita	...	Chizuru
Naomi Matamura
Mika Ishibashi
Mariko Nagahama
Hiroshi Shimozaki
Hidenori Konda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Meg Bauman	...	Tsubame Sanjo (voice: English version)
Martin Blacker	...	Jin'e Udou (voice: English version)
James Brownlee	...	Seijuro Hiko (voice: English version) (as J. Hudson Brownlee)
Charles Campbell	...	Ujiki Boss, Newspaper Seller (voice: English version)
Elena Carrillo	...	Chizuru (voice: English version)
Katherine Catmull	...	Kaoru Kamiya (voice: English version)
Gray Haddock	...	Sanosuke Sagara (voice: English version) (as Gray G. Haddock)
Sammy Harte	...	Additional Characters
Bill Harwell	...	Aritomo Yamagata (voice: English version)
Joey Hood	...	Kenji Himura (voice: English version)
Rebecca Robinson	...	Megumi Takani (voice: English version)
Derek Wade	...	Yahiko Myojin (voice: English version)
J. Shanon Weaver	...	Kenshin Himura (voice: English version) (as J. Shannon Weaver)
Bill Wise	...	Enishi Yukishiro (voice: English version)

Directed by
Kazuhiro Furuhashi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nobuhiro Watsuki		comics
Reiko Yoshida		writer

Original Music by
Taku Iwasaki

Production Companies

• Fuji Television Network
• Studio DEEN

Distributors

• SME Visual Works

Also Known As:

Rurôni Kenshin: Time (USA) (informal literal English title)
Samurai X: Reflection (USA)

Runtime:

83 min | Japan:90 min (director's cut)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:12

Company:

Fuji Television Network

Trivia:

The flashback to Enishi's revenge scheme in episode two was a major part of the final story arc of the Rurouni Kenshin manga. However, the television series ignored it completely. Thus, this is the only Kenshin anime production in which any scenes from the manga's revenge arc were animated.

Movie Connections:

Follows "Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku roman tan" (1996)

Don't view it as the end

I have one major complaint about Seisô Hen. Seisô Hen was not written by Watsuki (creator of Rurouni Kenshin, so the ending in the manga is different than the OVA. The ending to this OVA is far more depressing, and according to an interview with Watsuki, he prefers the manga ending because "Kenshin went through so much crap he deserved a happy ending". The beauty of Rurouni Kenshin being fiction, you can choose which ending to believe in. Quite frankly the ending entirely ruined it for me.

That aside, what you do have is a masterful OVA. The animation, artwork, and sound are of spectacular quality. When it comes to technical merit, this gets a 10/10. However technical qualities won't make up for the ending.

If you've read the manga, go ahead and give it a watch. Just keep in mind that the ending is not what Watsuki wanted. I've seen it once and plan on never watching it again