Dear Kenshin OVA fans, Need your opinions

[Baakay]

Wow, go to sleep early and miss the best Kenshin discussion of the year.

I agree that he kept on in the war following Tomoe's death because he had given his word. Wonderful, stubborn, pigheaded Kenshin He had to follow through. I don't believe he was so grief-crazed that he couldn't control his own actions... There are a couple of times where he comes close to losing control, one being when he fights Saitou. Even in the heat of this intense battle, though, when his Battousai self was raging, when he could easily have flipped the sword over and removed Saitou's head, he didn't. We are shown, very carefully, that the sakabato is still reversed.

The fight with Jin-e is more problematic, because he *almost* loses it there, but he is able to keep control in the end. Barely. On the other hand, he's had 10 years for the horrible, mind-numbing death of Tome to work itself into every part of his soul. Right after her death, he was still a very young man, very committed to his cause, and wanting to set things right in the world.

The other question, though. Wow, that's a good one.

If I remember correctly, the final secret was only effective when its student realized that he HAD to stay alive because there were things to do that only he could do. (Incendentally, this is the same "life IS worth living and I have things I must not lose" message that moved me so much in Slayers. Howzzat for a contrast). Now... if he was able to master Hiko's final lesson would he be even more convinced that his sword should be used to bring about the new age? To protect the people who were suffering? Or would he have become a pacifist?

I'm leaning toward the idea that he would have still participated in the war, but more openly. I'm thinking he would not have agreed to be an assassin. But I'm not sure why I'm leaning that way. Maybe because the additional power and the confidence it would bring with it might have fed into that little streak of arrogance that sneaks out every so often... and he wouldn't have felt the need to work in the shadows.

But maybe that's way off.

Hmm! After my tests are over, I must treat myself to a complete re-watch!

(ok, and Kittens... isn't he technically the inheritor of the title Hiko Seijuro anyway, even though he refused to "assume the mantle", so to speak?)

[kittens]

I was talking to my hubby about this question and he thinks Kenshin would be the same as Hiko..... Including his cape?! (LOL)

(ok, and Kittens... isn't he technically the inheritor of the title Hiko Seijuro anyway, even though he refused to "assume the mantle", so to speak?)

Heeheehee Yes, but not officially though

[Elfstalker]

Bwahahahaha! Kenshin with the cape!!! That was a hilarious scene! I can see it now.

Hiko: 'You must wear this cape as the new successor, it's tradition. You know what tradition means, yes?'

Kenshin: 'But Master, with all due respect, it's HORRID.'

Hiko: 'It is what ALL our predecessors wore, my student.' :getting annoyed:

Kenshin: 'Yes but, it clashes with my red hair'

Hiko: 'Baka deishi!'

[irmgaard]

But that cute scene would never take place, because Kenshin would have [shadow=red]killed[/shadow] Hiko, just as Hiko told Kenshin that he killed his own Master when he gained the Ultimate technique of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. Hiko only survived because he was hit with the sakabatou and then only because one of the pegs holding the blade was loose.

If Kenshin had never joined the Isshin Shishi, Hiko would have been hit with a regular katana, doubtless in good repair...

That's one of the reasons I can't see Kenshin going through all of Hiko's training. I can't see him killing his Shishou!

[Baakay]

But that cute scene would never take place, because Kenshin would have [shadow=red]killed[/shadow] Hiko,

And who could blame him?

Yes, that's a good point. Hmmm. It's a good thing it happened the way it did, then, because the visual of Kenshin swimming in the white mantle is just too perfect to have missed.

I also had forgotten about the peg coming loose during that battle to gain the secret. Wow. There's a "what if..."

[kittens]

BTW, Baakay, I thought your avatar was mine so at moment I was confused

[iwakuralain16]

I have never seen the OVA and this is a bit off topic, but while i was hanging out with some people from funimation this past weekend at animefest one of the guys told me that the studio who made the Kenshin OVA sent ADV a bunch of cels from the OVA. ADV obviously didn't know a thing about cels so they put them in a storage garage that got up to 120 degrees F and almost all of the cels they sent them were ruined. He was there when a someone he knew had to go through the boxes of cels and try to find any that were not ruined.



----back to being on topic. haha

[kittens]

Faint...... I cannot believe someone could do this to the OVA cels

[iwakuralain16]

i dont know how long ago this happened but he brought it up because the manager of the anime shop i work for brought his cels(mostly crappy cels) to the show and i was putting them in order by series for him so that was the topic of the night for awhile lol.

i figured kenshin fans might want to know just in case they have a dream cel from that series... hopefully that cel was not ruined. :-/ I freaked out though. lol i would be so upset if a batch of cels, especially cels from an important scene, were ruined because of ignorance.... ~_~

[kittens]

So do you know anything about this incidence??? More details? I would love to know.....

[iwakuralain16]

I'd have to try to get more information out of him. lol All i know is that they had to peel apart the cels and it was not a pretty scene... haha

[Baakay]

i figured kenshin fans might want to know just in case they have a dream cel from that series...

That would include almost any cel from the OVA's. Dang, what an awful thing!

[Olivier]

He did this until he found the courage to decide he would start doing some good around him without killing anymore.

I think that is contradicted by the dialogue he delivers to Tomoe when they are by the fire in their little house in Otsu. Before Kenshin knows the part he played in her past or that their little peaceful respite is coming to a terrible end.

"The new world will come soon. Once it has arrived I will seek ways to protect people that will not involve taking lives. I will also look for a way to atone for the terrible things I have done.”

He had already decided on his future course of action before her death.

But the shock of her death could have changed his plans, don't you think ? To me the sequence where he sits next to a tree, with Tomoe's aura holding him in her arms shows his infinite sadness. I thought he did not care anymore about anything else, not even the "new world". Well, just my opinion

[Olivier]

He did this until he found the courage to decide he would start doing some good around him without killing anymore.

I think that is contradicted by the dialogue he delivers to Tomoe when they are by the fire in their little house in Otsu. Before Kenshin knows the part he played in her past or that their little peaceful respite is coming to a terrible end.

"The new world will come soon. Once it has arrived I will seek ways to protect people that will not involve taking lives. I will also look for a way to atone for the terrible things I have done.”

He had already decided on his future course of action before her death.

But the shock of her death could have changed his plans, don't you think ? To me the sequence where he sits next to a tree, with Tomoe's aura holding him in her arms shows his infinite sadness. I thought he did not care anymore about anything else, not even the "new world".

On the other hand you can think maybe he goes on fighting for Tomoe. If he didn't, she would have died for nothing.