Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal
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| Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal | |
|---|---|
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| 追憶編 (Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen) |
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| Genre | Action, Drama, Romance |
| OVA | |
| Director | Kazuhiro Furuhashi |
| Studio | Studio Deen |
| Episodes | 4 |
| Released |  1999 |
Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen (追憶編 Recollection or Reminiscence?), distributed in North America by ADV Films as Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, is a four part OVA that serves as a prequel to the Rurouni Kenshin television series. It was released in Japan in 1999.
The OVA tells the story of how protagonist Kenshin Himura becomes the Hitokiri Battousai and how he obtains his infamous cross-shaped scar. Himura is six years old at the outset of the OVA and eighteen by its conclusion. The OVA is set during the final years of the Bakumatsu up through the start of the Boshin War.
In 2003, Tsuiokuhen was collected into a two hour feature-length motion picture with new animated sequences and released in North America as a Director's Cut DVD.[1][2]
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[edit] Summary
The story begins with young Shinta (Kenshin's birth name) with his future master Seijuro Hiko, who saves him from death in a bandit raid. Hiko tells the boy to go to the nearby village and live there. But when he visits the village, there is no boy. Upon his return to the site of the attack, he finds all the dead buried by Shinta, who expresses his regret for not being able to protect the ones he was with. Hiko then offers to properly train the boy so he could protect people, and changes the boy's name to Kenshin, a name more appropriate for a swordsman.
During his time as a hitokiri, Kenshin kills a bodyguard named Kyosato Akira, who is the fiancé of Tomoe. The encounter with Kyosato leaves Kenshin with the first half of his cross shaped scar.
After a fight with an assassin, Kenshin meets Tomoe. Kenshin takes her to the inn where he is residing, where the owner mistakes her for a prostitute and nearly sends her away. The presence of her there brings a sort of relief to the stressed men of the Choshu clan, but raises the suspicion of the leader, Kogoro Katsura, who has her investigated covertly.
After the Ikedaya affair, when Kenshin's cover as the shadow hitokiri is blown, Katsura arranges for Kenshin and Tomoe to hide in the village of Otsu. After a few months, Tomoe's brother Enishi comes to visit and secretly reveals to his sister that the shogunate spies assigned to track down and kill Kenshin are close by, and that her revenge will be complete. After sending off Enishi, Tomoe leaves the house and tries to persuade the shogunate men to give up their pursuit of Kenshin, and attempts to kill their leader.
The morning of his wife's disappearance, Kenshin is visited by a comrade who tells him that the one who set the assassin on him was Tomoe and that she is meeting at that moment with her co-conspirators.
On his way toward the house where Tomoe is supposed to be, Kenshin faces three of the four shogunate agents and is badly injured. While Kenshin is fighting with the fourth agent, Tomoe steps in between the two persons and gets killed by accident. Before her death, she gives him the second part of his cross-shaped wound. Kenshin takes her death hard and swears after burning her body to fight to bring about the age desired by his employer Katsura, and after that to continue fighting to protect down-trodden people without taking another life.
[edit] Characters
- Kenshin Himura also known as Hitokiri Battōsai.
- Tomoe Yukishiro: Kenshin's wife.
- Seijuro Hiko: Kenshin's master.
- Kogoro Katsura: Leader of Kenshin and the Choshu clan.
- Hajime Saito: Assistant to the vice commander of the Shinsengumi (Captain of the 3rd Shinsengumi unit at the end of the OVA).
- Enishi Yukishiro: Tomoe's younger brother.
[edit] Reception
Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other related media have consistently voted Tsuiokuhen as one of the best animes of all time. As of May 29, 2008, Tsuiokuhen sits atop Anime News Network's top ten anime list with a 9.02 voter rating based on 3681 votes.[1] It also sits atop anime fan-site AnimeNfo's top 196 anime rankings with a 9.5/10 average voter rating based on 226 reviews.[2]
| Source | Reviewer | Grade / Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime News Network | Bamboo Dong | Overall: A | DVD/OVA Review |
| AnimeOnDVD | Chris Beveridge | Content: A Audio: A- Video: summarized in review Packaging: A- Menus: B Extras: N/A |
DVD/OVA Review of Director's Cut |
| THEM Anime Reviews | Carlos Ross | 5 out of 5 | OVA Review |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Anime Top 10. Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
- ^ Reviews. animenfo. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
[edit] External links
- Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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