On the whole, movie adaptations of Anime and manga series tend to be hit or miss. When they work, they work splendidly. When they are bad, they are bad beyond explanation. Crying Freeman, Cutie Honey, and Blood: the Last Vampire were good adaptations, while Dragonball Evolution, Lupin 3rd, and Battle Angel Alita were not.
The trailer tells me that the Rurouni Kenshin adaptation feels like a good one. It seems to be a loving homage to the manga, with many of the iconic scenes, moments, and battles from the first 30 episodes of the series translated from the Anime into a live action format. We see Kenshin’s first meeting with Kaoru Kaimiya, his battles with Sanoske, Jinrei and Saito, and his first encounters with his new circle of friends. We see moments of his gravity defying swordplay many times in the trailer. We see all of the scenes that fans of the series would want to see.
But, it’s unfair to judge the entire adaptation based on a 2 and a half minute trailer. The scenes selected were meant to get fans of the Anime and manga excited about the project. What matters more is the rest we have not seen. How much of the source material will we see? Will we only see the main storyline? Will we see some of the other stuff as well? At the moment, we do not know enough about the movie judge it correctly.
Rurouni Kenshin will be released in Japanese theaters on August 25th. As for the international market, it is only a matter of when we get to see it. There is already an international distributor lined up to take care of it.
