I watched this yesterday and was overwhelmed by how awesome it was and forgo writing this review to watch the first movie. Oops?

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno is the sequel to the first movie and it’s based on the best-selling manga and anime. If you are not familiar with the manga and/or anime, where have you been? Rurouni Kenshin (also known as Samurai X) was so popular when I was in school. I used to watch the anime so many times because I love it so much. And I had/have a big crush on Kenshin Himura and told myself if only I could marry an anime character. Lo and behold, they did the live-action movie and… I still want to marry the character.

Anyway, this movie picks up from the first one. After his ordeal with Udo Jin-e in the first movie, another villain is after the new age government – Makoto Shishio, the successor of Battosai the Killer (aka Kenshin Himura). The new government deemed him as such a threat that they enlisted the help of Kenshin. Kenshin has vowed not to kill anymore. Will he continue with that vow to stop Shishio?

I do not have anything bad to say about this movie, to be honest with you. I was so in awe by how they manage to stick to the essence of the whole story.

Anime, as it is, has some ridiculous stuff like the character’s eyes will sparkle purple as he gathers his inner power, etc. I can tell you that if Hollywood took over, that would be exactly what happened in the live-action (and white-washed the whole movie as well, see: Avatar). But thankfully for us all, Hollywood did not produce this movie franchise.

The director, Keishi Ohtomo, did extremely well by making the live-action movie as realistic as possible without losing the essence of the anime. (Author’s note: As I did not read the manga, I cannot tell you how the anime and manga differs and as such, compare the live-action movie to the manga.) They nailed it with the perfect casting in Takeru Sato as Kenshin Himura, Emi Takei as Kaoru Kamiya, Yosuke Eguchi as Hajime Saito, Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara, Yu Aoi as Megumi Takani and Kaito Ohyagi as Yahiko Myojin. Of course, there are additional casts for this sequel such as Tatsuya Fujiwara as the villain, Makoto Shishio, and Yusuke Iseya as Aoshi Shinomori. But it’s not just the perfect cast. The battle scenes and swordplay were just so fantastic, paired with an equally awesome soundtrack. The friendship between Sano and Kenshin are just perfect. I can’t say anything bad about the movie. Well, except that maybe it was too long. However, if one is familiar with the anime, one will probably remember (I vaguely remember) that this part of the storyline took a lot of episodes to conclude. So, I understand the length for the live-action movie.

Last but never the least, I cannot wait for the third movie, which is the second part of the sequel. Oh yes, they split the sequel into two.

If you are a fan of the anime and didn’t know there is a live-action movie, what are you waiting for? Go watch it! If you are not a fan of the anime or have absolutely no clue what this whole thing is about, I just gave you a summary of sorts above. You may want to give it a try.

I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5.

The trailer… (which includes the second part of the sequel as well called The Legend Ends)