Rurouni Kenshin OVA - Reminiscence
Some background information first: Nobuhiro Watsuki is the creator of a popular manga-series, that tells a tale of a lonely ronin, Kenshin, who lives his life traveling around in late 19th century Japan. Series is quite light-hearted, joyful and absolutely unrealistic, but there are bits and pieces there which occasionally raise deeper and more meaningful emotions and thoughts to the surface. The most remarkable of these pieces is sort of a flashback-storyline that tells us how Kenshin became what he is.
This background story of Kenshin’s past is brought to life in a remarkable way by Furuhashi Kazuhiro: This four-part anime is called Reminiscence and it tells a sad story of an orphan boy, who is thrown into a middle of the tumultous civil war, which razed across Japan in the middle of 19th century. Trained by masterful swordsman Kenshin tries to hold on to his ideals and believes that the world can be made a better place for everybody even though the way to the new world is laden with blood and corpses. So he joins the revolutionarists and lends his sword-arm to the leaders becoming one of the deadliest assassins world has seen. But no young mind can endure such a work, no matter how realistic the original reasons and hopes were, and slowly Kenshin is buried under responsibilities and guilt.
Through Kenshin we’re shown the cruelty and depth of political struggling. But the most mind-tearing part of the storyline is the relationship between Kenshin and a young woman. Shared silence and understanding can mend deep wounds and build bridges over chasms. But alas, nothing beautiful can last long in the middle of a raging storm. Love, even when shred to pieces, will endure, but it is painted with even deeper sadness than loneliness.
Thankfully all this is wrapped with Taku Iwasaki’s exceptional score. Music delivers us all there is to deliver and when the last 10 minutes of this masterpiece flow past our eyes and ears, it’s time to let go and let the tears flow.
I seriously can’t recommend this enough - 5/5
