They present her as a character Kenshin perceives with a pure, phantasmal presence in contrast to the horrors of war around him. Through costuming, art direction, and performance, the film deftly explores the grey area of morality in each of its characters, and much of that color is exhaled by Tomoe, whose mysterious story is slowly unfurled.
That is until the film’s climax, where he’s cast in white representing atonement, paralleling Tomoe Yukishiro’s appearance, and her influence inciting his transformation into the pacifistic vagrant he would become. Kenshin appears here as a reaper, donned in black through most of the film, emblematic of his anonymous moniker as Battosai, supported by lead actor Takeru Satoh with a performance that is a dark mirror to his presence as Kenshin in years past. There is far less vibrancy here compared to the other films, suitable for a world with very little color or levity, conveying Kenshin’s psychology as he becomes entrenched in war. An era of brutality and unrest, the visual language of the entire film articulates this with muted earth tones and frigid blues. You also don’t need to know anything about Rurouni Kenshin to view this film as its own isolated tragedy.Set ten years before Rurouni Kenshin: Origins (2012), Himura Kenshin works as a political assassin for the Choshu, a group of Anti-Shogunate revolutionaries, working to overthrow the Shogun and bring upon the Meiji Restoration.
It prioritizes accessibility without contrivance or need for knowledge in Japanese politics or culture. It keeps the fast, gritty pace of Hong Kong action cinema while balancing Shakespearean drama, feverish action and political intrigue. The Beginning, however, is a tonally different film from the rest of the franchise. This, in tandem with action director Kenji Tanigaki, a protégé of Donnie Yen’s since the 90s, creates an innovative marriage of Wuxia, Japanese style swordsmanship and Hong Kong style action. These elements set them apart from the modern repertoire of Chambara and Jidaigeki costume drama.
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Over the last decade, the Rurouni Kenshin series has been praised for its heightened realism and exaggerated fantastical approach. However, as a work adapted from manga and anime, a format often mired with struggle adapting to film, The Beginning is a shining example and one that may even improve upon a most beloved source material. To declare that the film is a definitive “best anime adaptation” does a disservice to its caliber as a work of cinema. The Beginning is one of the most beautiful and raw genre films recently released. While this film functions as a prequel to the main Rurouni Kenshin franchise, it’s also a self contained narrative detailing the past of Kenshin, seen here as Battōsai The Manslayer, and is intrinsically tied to the narrative of the film’s co-star, Kasumi Arimura as Tomoe, and her brother Enishi, the antagonist of The Final released earlier in 2021. With this last release, The Beginning lays a foundation for Himura Kenshin’s story for the entire series.
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning is the conclusive prequel that sees director Keishi Ohtomo return in his adaptation of the 1999 iconic OVA Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal. Review: A star-crossed love drawn in blood 8.2.21 ‘RUROUNI KENSHIN THE BEGINNING’ KEISHI OHTOMO
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