There are four scenes that lingered in my mind after watching the last installment of Kenshin last Sept. 24 (Rurouni Kenshin The Legend Ends).
First: Master Seijūrō Hiko
I am accusing him for being so utterly handsome. And he is guilty of it!
What sorcery is this? Huh Joan? Did he put a spell on me that will make me go gaga for a couple of days thinking about his distinct voice and his prominent face, which you have stalked online a day before and found out that he’s already 45 years old!?! Yep! A 45 year-old man (take note: Man!). A character of a man that will surely do everything to protect you. A man that you know from the start that he’ll fight for you, and wouldn’t let anyone harm you. A man that you would do anything to be worthy of his glance. Right there and then, I want to be a “damsel in distress.” I guess when there are plenty of women online willing to take their clothes off and show what they have for free??? For him, I’d be willing to take my clothes off (oh, please don’t!) hahaha! You would likely find my story somewhat less plausible as we all know how rare those kind of men. Perhaps I am just living in my own fantasy. Master swordsman Hiko Seijūrō was portrayed by Fukuyama Masaharu a well-known singer-songwriter-musician.
Seeing him on the big screen made me happy and sad simultaneously. Why sad? Because I got frustrated. On a whim, I want to see such guy. I want to travel to Japan — the soonest, the better — and meet him. If I won’t be able to see him in person, I would bitch, cry and mourn. Seriously though, I think if I won’t meet him, I would rather look for a Japanese guy who’s exactly looked like him. But I’d prefer the former to the latter. Yet my wallet/credits are crying, let alone the expenses in Japan are quite pain in the ass. In the event that I have given an opportunity to earn a lot of money next year?! I can finally say this line, “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will….. toinks” 😀 UGH!!! I need more work or just a high paying job very very soon.
I’m sorry Kenshin, but the Master had the limelight in my mind this time.
Hi master! Kampai!
Second: The setting: Master’s abode, and Master Vs. Kenshin’s (what I called) “Bamboos fighting arena” scene
Yeah, another thing I have noticed was the aesthetically pleasing forest where Master Hiko Seijūrō enjoys his leisure time making his clay pots and enjoying his herbal tea. I can’t find any photos of it, but I promise to post it here whenever I got a decent one.
When I was young (within 16 to 19 range, I guess), I dreamt of living in the forest and said to myself when I get older I would definitely choose a house far from the noises of civilization, and far from society living standards. In the forest where I could plant my own food, read, and have an existential angst most of the time as I’ll be having too much time to kill in my hands. Seeing that particular scene had me thinking that old promise that I made to myself then. But of course, that was from my younger version’s perspective. It just made me think that again. It was less eerily beautiful as I imagined. More peaceful indeed. A scene where they let the moon shine through the darkness while they were having a “real man talk,” so to speak, is one of the most remarkable, well at least for me.
And now, let us talk about the “bamboo scene.” No other word except masterpiece. To be honest, I am not so focused on Master and Kenshin’s fight scene. I was focused on the stunningly beautiful background in the entire scene. Visually stunning to be precise. Those bamboos are the witnesses on how Kenshin begged his master to teach him the ultimate technique of Hiten Mitsurugi (whatever the hell it is). Oh by the way, that part is lacking, won’t spoil it to you so might as well see for yourself.
Third: The funny part — Bunch of shogun’ soldiers tries to stop Kenshin (Somewhat spoilery)
Oh come on, you have a heart of stone if you didn’t laugh at this part. I’m not easy to please when it comes to humorous stuff, but this scene really gets me right in the funny. Probably it almost beat out all of Sanosuke’s punchlines combined.
be afraid.. be very very afraid..
Fourth: Seta Sōjirō versus Himura Kenshin
No offense to Kenshin and Shishio fight, as we all know that they were the climax of the story — the two main rivals in the film ( that scene was a 4 is to 1 battle, being true to the manga and the animated series). But I like this fight scene better. This particular sword fight was fantastic in any form. They have both executed their crafty fight moves, and I wish this scene would last longer than it did.
In contrast to the Kenshin altruistic point of view, Shihio was driven by vengeance and his desire to be the strongest were quite overwhelming, either in the manga version or in the live action. Which was obviously shown by Seta Sōjirō disturbing dialogue (was also driven by his depressingly dark back stories, which they hadn’t shown in the film).
“The strong shall live and the weak shall die. That’s the natural order of things. He taught me to kill the weak and be aware of the strong people. He also made me realize that I don’t have a choice. If I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me.”
After hearing him saying that, I was like, Aha! Seta Sōjirō had a misconception about the natural law, or should I rather say, Shishio taught him “the greedy part of human species”. Natural selection clearly explains how this premise was completely wrong. Eliminating the weak simply violates the law of nature, and it also creates a suspension of the other traits, from one species to another, to emerge within the “community”. What he called “weak species” can also be a candidate for the species’ reproductive success due to their other physical attributes, not only because of their weakness trait.
Thus, “the weak” might also be likely to survive their predators, see the case of the dinosaurs and our distant cousins — small mammals managed to survive the extinction about 65 million years ago. It is quite a struggle for them, since the Earth’s surface had been destroyed, including their food — the plants. They had been able to survive by eating underwater plants and insects, which were abundant after the mass extinction. Thanks to our ancestors’ survival adaptability after the meteor strike. If they didn’t survive that explosion, I won’t be able to write this blog today. The human race will unlikely to continue. (SCIENCE!!!) 😛 Oh WAIT! sorry this is not even my science blog. Okay, enough of this. I think you already got what I mean.
Keishi Otomo and his team did a good job once again by giving us a satisfying epic ending of the Rurouni’s trilogy live action. Yet another film that will give you a new reason to love without a doubt the Japanese style of filming. Like I said before, It was kinda hard to put together in a full length film all the important scenes from the anime. And yet, they still manage to make it pleasingly effective and entertaining.
Joan of Art's Ship of Imagination 