Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (るろうに剣心 最終章 The Beginning Rurouni Kenshin: Saishūshō – Za Biginingu) is a 2021 Japanese live-action film directed by Keishi Ōtomo. It is the fifth and final installment in the Rurouni Kenshin film series based on Nobuhiro Watsuki's manga of the same name, and was produced alongside Rurouni Kenshin: The Final. The narrative of the film approximates the plot of the manga's Tsuiokuhen (追憶編, "Recollections / Reminiscence") arc, previously adapted into the 1999 OVA Trust & Betrayal.
The film is a prequel to the other Rurouni Kenshin films (Rurouni Kenshin, Kyoto Inferno, The Legend Ends, and The Final) and depicts how Himura Kenshin received his cross-shaped scar. It focuses on Kenshin's past as the assassin Hitokiri Battōsai during the final years of the Bakumatsu and also explores his relationship with Yukishiro Tomoe.
The film's theme song "Broken Heart of Gold" is performed by One Ok Rock.
Cast[]
- Takeru Satō as Himura Kenshin
- Kasumi Arimura as Yukishiro Tomoe
- Issey Takahashi as Katsura Kogorō
- Yōsuke Eguchi as Saitō Hajime
- Nijirō Murakami as Okita Sōji
- Kazuki Kitamura as Tatsumi
- Masanobu Ando as Takasugi Shinsaku
- Towa Araki as Yukishiro Enishi
- Shima Ōnishi as I'izuka
- Takahiro Fujimoto as Kondō Isami
- Sōkō Wada as Hijikata Toshizō
- Mansaku Ikeuchi as Katagai
- Mayu Hotta as Ikumatsu
- Makiko Watanabe as a landlady
- Wataru Ichinose as Sumita
- Kinari Hirano as Nakajō
- Eita Okuno as Murakami
- Eiki Narita as Yatsume Mumyōi
- Masataka Kubota as Kiyosato Akira
Differences from the Manga/OVA[]
The film features many scenes adapted from both the Rurouni Kenshin manga and the Trust & Betrayal OVA, in addition to some new elements:
- Like the manga, Kenshin first meets Tomoe at a Kyoto pub before he is ambushed by a Shogunate assassin.
- Instead of engaging a group of Shinsengumi on his way to the Ikedaya house as in the OVA, Kenshin fights Okita one-on-one to a standstill and also encounters Saitō briefly before retreating with his fellow clan members.
- The scene where Kenshin almost kills Tomoe when she interrupts his sleep occurs after the Ikedaya incident rather than before as in both the manga and OVA.
- Like the manga, Kenshin outright asks Tomoe to marry him officially before they leave Kyoto together.
- Like the OVA, the timing of when Kenshin learns of Tomoe's betrayal and motive is before the battle against the Yaminobu instead of after as in the manga.
- Kenshin actually helps Tomoe cut the second scar on his face in the film before she dies.
Gallery[]
