Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Movie Adaptation Releases First Awesome Teaser
On my list of top mangas of all time (around 30 or so currently reside on said list) is Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚). It’s one of the rare shonen mangas that I love without reservation, with great storytelling, illustrations, and a gut wrenching story at the core of all the battles and lighthearted moments. Kenshin is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, who was the most dangerous and deadly fighter during the Bakumatsu period. After the end of the samurai ways, in the early Meiji period Kenshin becomes a wanderer to protect the people of Japan.
The story straddles Kenshin’s former life of death and destruction with his current choice to live a peaceful existence atoning for his sins. The manga has finally been adapted into a live-action movie set for release this August, and the first still of lead Sato Takeru has been released. I’ve been drooling ever since I saw it. He doesn’t have Kenshin’s perpetual baby face, but he’s got the smolder that makes me all googly-eyed. The first teaser trailer is similarly wonderful, giving glimpses of all the characters with some fabulous action sequences.
Playing leading lady Kamiya Kaoru will be Takei Emi. Aoi Yu will be Takani Megumi and Aoki Munetaka will be playing Sagara Sanosuke
Below are more heavyweights of this tale. Eguchi Yosuke is Saitou Hajime, former Shinsengumi Captain and current Tokyo police officer. Kagawa Teruyuki gets the chance to go all-out-evil as opium dealer Takeda Kanryuu. And lastly Kikkawa Kouji will play damaged-goods assassin Udou Jine.
I love love love the first teaser for this movie. It’s dark and serious, just like I hoped the movie would be. This isn’t an easy story, but one that rewards the patient and is truly memorable. Fingers crossed the movie turns out awesome.
First teaser for Rurouni Kenshin Live Action Movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLHC_RFumqE
OMG!!! This is the very first anime I ever loved with all my heart. It’s English title when it was shown in the Philippines was “Samurai X”. This looks so awesome, can’t wait!
Yeah Right!
Rurouni Kenshin is one of my most favorite animes of all time. Now that it has turned into a live action movie, I really felt the joy to watch the film. Moreover, the movie is produced and distributed by Warner Bros, which is one of the most successful film producers in the industry. In my own critical perspective, the Rurouni Kenshin movie is a must watch film. The characters were portrayed by the most talented actors and actresses in Japan. The story is very good, even though they slightly altered some of the events in the original storyline.
seems awesome!! Can’t wait 😉
OMG!!! I had never dared to dream that there would be a live action rurouni kenshin movie. Now it’s almost here!
He was my first loved manga I even have a poster of him….hope there will be subtitles for this
BAtusai!!!Samurai X
I’m super excited for this…though a bit weary. It doesn’t seem to have the level of lighthearted-ness the original had (gosh, I will just die to hear him say “oro!”). But perhaps that is just what this teaser shows. I don’t know. Seems more like the Samurai X prequel than Rurouni Kenshin…though I’ll take either!!
Oh God, Kenshin is BY FAR my favorite fictional character since childhood… Forever in love with him. Pray to the Gods this movie turn out awesome and epic!!!
OMO…OMG..Kenshin!!! my longtime hero…cant wait to watch this!!!
The preview looks mighty good and Sato Takeru looks hawt!!!!
Yay… more Jmovies galore…
kyaaa…
Kenshin Character is totally awesome…
can;t wait for the release in TV..
XDD
Thanks for covering the trailer!
I like you hope the movie is as awesome as the teaser is.
Now time to release my old obsession and start the count down!
oh my God..! this is the reason why i love japan history, love japan culture, love japan movie, love japan dorama, love japanese, and loveee anime ^^
can’t wait for this movie.. aaargghh august still a long way to come…patient..patient..
thanks for the news!1 realy realy GREAT NEWS EVEERRR
oh my God..! this is the reason why i love japan history, love japan culture, love japan movie, love japan dorama, love japanese, and loveee anime ^^
can’t wait for this movie.. aaargghh august still a long way to come…patient..patient..
thanks for the news! realy realy GREAT NEWS EVEERRR
i love this manga. My brother introduced it to me. Definately gonna watch this.
Looks awesome! Sato Takeru is perfect for the dark side – the Battousai. But I wonder if he’ll be showing the goofy harmless persona of Kenshin too. Can’t wait. 🙂
OMG Kenshin was my very first japanese animation that I’ve watched long time ago and i loved it. I’m so going to watch this film. 😀
Woohoo! I love Takei Emi as well so I am very excited for this to release! She did such a great job in Taisetsu, even though she’s only 17!
I almost didn’t even want to press play, I was so worried that the producers would have messed up Kenshin. But I’m glad I did, it looks amazing. 😀 Almost makes me want to go to Japan just to see it when it comes out. Thanks for sharing!
Oh! Oh! Oh! I found this on Tumblr a while back and I’ve written and ranted and raved at length on there and on Facebook with fellow die-hard fangirls from high school.
As I said elsewhere on the Internets:
I assume they’re going to be adapting the Tokyo arc? (I don’t know what else makes sense–everything after the monster of the week bits builds its own mythology very heavily, so if they go for the Kyoto or Jinchuu arcs, it’ll be very inaccessible for new viewers.) The problem with Tokyo, though, is that the characters are at their least interesting. It’s not until later that they start morphing into truly compelling beings.
As for Kenshin, at least, it’s not until the last ten volumes or so that we truly start peeling back the layers. Kenshin is a man of great contrasts, yes, and he does smile through the pain, but when he’s angry, you can tell he’s angry. It’s just he’s very…hidden in Tokyo. You never see him get really PASSIONATE on a personal level about anything, really, until he fights Shishio, and even then, it’s passion on behalf of others–it’s just as much a battle of ideologies as it is one of swords (though that is simplifying it quite a bit, as Kenshin himself explains). It’s why I love Jinchuu so freaking much: it is when Kenshin, who has been the very bedrock of this narrative, is shattered and reforged and who emerges far more beautiful than before. It’s gorgeous, momentous thing because this time, baby, it’s personal.
Back to Tokyo, though–I suppose it all depends on how he delivers the seminal lines: a swordsmanship is a tool designed to kill, and Kaoru’s philosophy–that of a sword that saves and soothes instead of hurts–is a pretty lie of she who has never dirtied her hands with the blood of others. But he’d like nothing better than for that lie to become a truth.
Because isn’t that what Kenshin does? He sets about transforming that lie into truth. That’s why Kenshin needs to be played with great restraint and with great warmth–he is a man who has forged a new chapter in Japan’s history and yet will still risk great swathes of himself to protect a single child. He doesn’t have any pretensions about saving the world; he’s content with saving it an inch at a time, about creating bubbles of happiness and driving away the sorrow. He’s a weary soul, but not a jaded one. Can this actor play that? Who is this Sato Takeru? Has he read the manga? Has he torn it apart, panel by panel? Can he recognize what panel is from what chapter in what volume? Does he know who Kenshin is? We’ll see, I guess.
That, actually, is my greatest concern with this movie. Kaoru, Yahiko and Sano are, to a certain extent, stock characters: the plucky girl, the loud, hotheaded brat, the cocky gangster. Kenshin, however, is emphatically not stock, and he needs to be played with great sensitivity and poise.
AND IF THEY DON’T GET THE ORO RIGHT, I WILL NEVER FORGIVE ANYONE INVOLVED IN THIS PRODUCTION.
I am beyond excited. I’ve been waiting for this. Like most people here this was the first Manga and Anime that I fell in love with. The only other ones that comes close are Inuyasha and maybe Vagabond. I’m also really scared. I am going to have to prepare myself to accept it for what it is and not for what I want it to be. No matter how excellent the cast, I know I am going to compare it to the manga or my imagination.
OMG, I hope they don’t mess up this live action adaptation. Rurouni Kenshin was the first series that caused me to go out and buy the original manga. Not even Sailor Moon caused me to do that in my fully obsessed 5th grade self.
With the anime, I actually liked the anime TV series before it died via filler arcs better than the OAVs. Mostly because the tone in the OAVs were so different and grim compared to the TV series and manga.
SATO TAKERU!!! i’ve been waiting for him to get a good leading role. and i love takei emi too. crossing my fingers this turns out good.
Super excited! I can’t wait.
I saw this trailer a while ago but it still gives me gossebumps now as much as when I saw it a week ago. I was really skeptical of a liveaction movie but after watching the trailer, I have hopes that it can me done.
My only concern is that the actress they picked to play Megumi doesn’t fit her character. I’m guessing that they’re doing the whole opium arc where they first meet Megumi which is a smart move because if it does well, they may be able to churn out a couple more including the Kyoto-Shishio arc and even a prequel like Samurai X.
But I just have to say that RK was my first shounen love. It was the second manga series I read but it propelled my love for Japanese manga, culture and history. Everything I know about the Shinsengumi, Meiji Restoration and the Tokugawa Shogunate, I credit because of RK. I swear, if the producers/writers/actors etc. butcher this movie, I will Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu their butts.
OMG!! It’s finally here! I never dare to imagine that someday Kenshin would come to live, yet here we are!! soooo excited!!
Wow…I’m sooooo watching this!
Me muero por verla que bueno sacarcon a Samurai. Gracias por el dato.
i dont know why but i think japanese actors are truly amazing in their jobs. sometimes i get bored in k-drama characters but japanese make and play their characters very realistically! so the teaser looks so cool! that i’m more into side characters i think:DDD
AHHHHH!!!! How can I comment on this enough to express g,k rhafd ;klaflkjfd gadogjaeh[
Okay. I loved Rurouni Kenshin so much that I actually wrote moderately successful fanfiction for it on fanfiction.net back in like 2004 (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1502239/1/Silver_Cross). In my defense, this was before vampires became popular.
I have already watched the trailer 5 times. I think I need to stop now. Thank you for posting this. Thank you.
I guess we ALL had the same reaction…OMG!
Funny thing is, I was just saying to my friend the other day, “I wish they would make a live action Kenshin”……my prayers were answered…..Arigato!
It’s awesome,..
I want to watch it now,..
WOOWOOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWOW…