Kuramadera said:
Background info: I'm somewhat biased because I saw the 90's RK series as a teenager and loved it despite its shortcomings.
My thoughts after seeing first four episodes of 2023 Rurouni Kenshin:
- Not sure if better or worse than I expected - I think I feared worse but hoped for something better…
Overall impression is bland. Like, am I supposed to feel something while watching this? I really don't. This lacks energy and dynamics, both of which the *good* parts of the 90's series had. - There's something that feels calculated in this. Are they trying to please western audiences by toning "weird" and quirky stuff down a bit? Not sure if this is just how anime is these days in general, or if growing foreign audiences affect their choices. Whatever the reason, it makes this reboot feel less sincere and genuine.
- I prefer the old character design over the new one. I liked their sharp 90's noses, why do all shounen characters have to look like pugs these days? And what's wrong with their eyes, they look like they're not set in the skull and they look like something flat floating detached on their faces. And like they're wearing overdo contact lenses with eyesore colors.
- Animation looks mostly good in action parts, but there's still something that feels a bit lazy in it. Like it's made look better than it actually is by sharp digital look and that tiresome "glow-effect" they seem to use in anime these days to camouflage it's laziness.
- Good episodes of the 90's series were much more ambitious both in creating the atmosphere and with the art. There were much more interesting "camera angles", cuts and effects, overall better, dynamic feeling. Needless to say, this does not apply to the crappy part of the old anime, which was terrible.
- OST of the 90's series is legendary, music in the reboot is not bad either but it doesn't touch me in any way.
- The movement of the characters felt more concrete and had more "weight" and credibility in the 90's series. The movement in the reboot is smooth, but also floating, unrealistic and lacks impact. I think that big part of what makes japanese animation great and unique is the way they highlight certain concrete aspects in things, expressions and movements, while rest can be more vague and sketchy. These highlighted details act as anchors that get the viewers' attention and where the viewers can sense recognition, which creates the feeling of… well, "feeling" what you see. With these anchors the rest, vague and airy stuff allows the story to breathe freely. But without these concrete-feeling anchors, the animation just feels floating, detached and does not move the viewer or offer feelings of recognition. It leads to this "Blah, bland" -feeling that the reboot unfortunately has. It's not enough that the line is smooth: fabric should also have the FEELING of fabric, hair should have the FEELING of hair and stomping should have the FEELING of stomping on the ground, you get what I mean.
- I'm not sure how I feel about their decision to leave the humour and "oro" -faces etc. out of the reboot. Maybe there was a little bit too much of that in the old series, but on the other hand, it also made Kenshin… Kenshin. However, I know many (non-japanese) people who cannot stand "anime humour" of that kind, and they must be happy about this change in style. I get that and can relate.
- I know that the reboot is more loyal to original manga, but it doesn't automatically make it better. While manga is definitely visual, reading a comic is still a different thing than watching animation.
- I'm pretty sure that the reboot will be more coherent and the quality will be more stable, which is great. It alone makes this reboot worth a while, despite all the critique above. While this reboot is definitely not as good as the 90's series at it's best, it definitely will be better than the 90's series crappy part, which unfortunately is not a small part considering the crazy amount of lazy filler episodes and the uneven animation quality.
- I'm eagerly waiting to see how the Kyoto arc will be like in the reboot. Especially the fights with Soujiro and Shishio. I'm pretty sure that the reboot cannot surpass the old one in these, but how close can they get?
I close this review by stating that I'll soon be 40 years old hag who mostly doesn't stand to watch anime series anymore, so the reason I'm watching RK is pure nostalgia and the fact that I grew to the characters when I was younger. So if you are young and pure at heart and just genuinely enjoy the reboot, don't mind my cynical critique. I remember how tiresome old cynical haters were when I was young and enthusiastic. Guess it's just the world order.
I agree 100% with everything you've said. It's a very "safe" reboot. They're remaining faithful to the manga but doing little to nothing to elevate it as an anime. That's why it feels soulless. Whereas the original anime was elevated beyond the manga and complimented it very well but we got some changes, fillers, and no Jinchū arc. That was the tradeoff, but what worked, worked really well.
The thing is, the manga is mid until the oniwaban arc. The OG anime adaptation tried to compensate for this by going overboard with the humor/slapstick comedy and by changing up things from the manga /adding filler. This new one isn't trying to elevate it in any kind by leveraging the medium difference. I'll bet the lows won't be as low as the 1996 version but neither will the highs.
Though it's still ongoing and I'm fairly certain it will be a solid entry based on the decent animation and what I expect to see that was never animated, this could have been AMAZING if they went all out but instead is okay at best. There's a version that could have stuck to the source material but also maximized their potential to tell a story in an animated format by leaning into what made the emotional beats land.
The music is okay, not bad but doesn't make me feel anything. The animation is okay, not bad but doesn't blow me away or feel impactful, and the tempered approach at everything makes everything feel okay but not great. It's too safe. I'm enjoying it but it's makinging me want to rewatch the original instead. I kinda of wished this instead got the Dragon Ball Kai treatment with an HD redrawn, minus the fillers with added missing scenes and just slap the Jinchū arc at the end in place of the third season.
