While the Hidden Gem article may come out late, it will not be forgotten. For this week, we decided to recommend the fifth and final film in the ‘Rurouni Kenshin Series’ – ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning’. This live-action film is based on the animated series that came from the Japanese comics (AKA Manga series), both of the same name which was written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. While the story in the manga series begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period (around 1878-1879 A.D.) in Japan, ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning’ is set in the year 1867-68.
While recommending the fifth film of any film franchise is simply not done (or any other film, in this case, besides the first one), there is something special about ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning’. This movie is actually a prequel film, set before the main events of the four films in the film series – ‘Rurouni Kenshin’, ‘Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno’, ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends’, and ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Final’. Another reason for our recommendation is that the first film, which is titled ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ (another good film), is currently unavailable for streaming within India. So we chose the next best option.
While this movie does have a few surprise cameos and a couple of important side characters, ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning’ is still a good standalone movie set in mid-1800s Japan which has some brilliant cinematography, choreographed fight sequences and acting. The story is pretty solid as well. The film follows a man, Himura Kenshin, who joins up the war effort to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate to bring peace to Japan. He works his way up the military as a political assassin and eventually becomes the feared Hitokiri Battosai.
Check out ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning’ which is currently available for streaming on Netflix.