Story
Over a hundred years ago, during the Tokugawa Era, there lived a man of legend, Hitokiri Battousai, the strongest of the Imperialists. Helping defeat the Tokugawa and create the Meiji Era, the Battousai vanished once the revolution ended. Ten years have passed since then and Hitokiri Battousai is now a mere wanderer.

Contained on this DVD are four episodes. The first "The Handsome Swordsman of Legend: The Man who Fights for Love" introduces Kaoru Kamiya and Kenshin Himura. Their relationship is developed in this episode (which is just friendship) and she finds out that Kenshin is the real Battousai. The next episode, "Kid Samurai: A Big Ordeal and a New Student",  introdues Yahiko Myojin, a descendant of a samurai family. This is followed by "Swordsman of Sorrow: The Man who Slays his Past" in which Swordsman Police Officers terrorize Tokyo and Yahiko attempts to help despite the fact that he was searching for Kenshin, whom the police are after due to his killing lifestyle during the revolution. Finally, episode 4 "Bad!: Introducing Sanosuke, Fighter-for-Hire" does just that, introduces Sanosuke Sagara, a man with incredible strength who wields a gigantic sword. After finding out that Kenshin is the Hitokiri Battousai, Sanosuke, for unknown reasons, wants nothing more than to kill him. 

Packaging
The cover is of Kenshin, sword in hand, with various colored flowers around him. Around this image are images of Japanese Kanji. The title of the DVD remains at the top in a reasonable sized font. At the bottom is the DVD's title. The back cover contains a daizenshyu image along with screen grabs from the episodes. Beside this is a short description of the plot and episode summaries. After production notes, which is below the grabs and summaries, is a purple oval shaped image with a silhouette of Kenshin along with the Special Features (Extras) contained on the disc in bold black letters. Inside the casing you are provided one extra, which is a mail in slip for your opinions towards DVDs and how many you buy.

Menus
The main menu is organized by having a high quality artwork image of Kenshin looking to the  left. Above and behind this image are images of flowers. The background music is Kenshin's theme. Next to these images are the titles to the episodes (which is like having a scene access to just the episodes). Below the titles are "Scene Access", "Setup", and "Extras". Scene access is orgazined very well, four small boxes for each episode to access either the opening, beginning, middle, or ending. Setup contains an easy to read and navigate assortment of the various languages and subtitles you can access through this DVD. Also on this menu is another high quality artwork image of Kenshin accompanied by a beautiful piano/violin musical score. The extras menu is simply a silhouette of Kenshin and Tokyo behind the various choices you have for extras.

English
The dialogue in the English version stays pretty close to the original, many lines are changed to fit mouth movements, however the overall idea of the sentences remains in tact. Even the opening and closing themes have been left in the same manner, only re-mixed with English dialogue. For the most part, the voices are pretty good. Kenshin's VA has the right sound for the Hitokiri turned wanderer, and does a great job acting, but speaks far too quickly in some instances.

Dorothy Melendrez, who voices Kaoru, does an amazing job. Though she doesn't compare to Miki Fujitana, she does a great job portraying the hyper assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. 

Yahiko Myojin's VA sounded pretty good for the proud samurai descendant. However, the voice cracks which makes the character seem a little annoying in the dub at times.

Sanosuke Sagara's VA is simply too deep. The voice you hear just doesn't seem to fit with the physical appearence of the character.

Overall, the VAs chosen for the four main characters of Kenshin are pretty good. Though nothing compared to the original, they are very well chosen and do a great job acting.

Japanese
The Japanese version is perfect. Mayo Suzukaze portrays the perfect Kenshin as does Miki Fujitani's Kaoru. The subtitles are white with a black border, the perfect style for them. The story flows perfectly, nothing seems to happen without some explanation or deliberation as in real life situations. The only problem I have is the translation of Hitokiri. The subtitles read "manslayer" which is a translation, however a better translation is "assassin". Though both translations mean the same thing, I prefer assassin.

Extras
Six extras are included on this DVD. The first is "Liner Notes" which are short descriptions on why some words were translated the fashion they were. This is followed by "Art Gallery", containing two daizenshyu images (which are the same that were shown on the front and back covers). "Character profiles" contains a high quality image of the four main characters along with a paragraph explaining who they are. Next is a "Textless Opening" which is self-explanatory. Next to last is "Trailers" which contains four trailers for other anime. These include "Magic Knight Rayearth", "Virtua Fighter", "Ninku: The Movie", and "Shinesman". Of these four, only Magic Knight Rayearth looked remotely interesting. Finally, the last extra is simply the "Original Japanese Credits" which is the ending without the English production information.

Final Thoughts
Since I am a martial arts freak and have been practicing Kendo for the past six years, I found this anime amazing due to the use of swords and the research that went into the varying techniques used. Though the series is a bit lacking in action, this is only the first few episodes. With a plot such as a former assassin who can't escape his past and constantly has people challenging him, the story can only turn bloody. I look forward to seeing more of this awesome series. Later minna!

© Eric.

------------

So you wanted to know about the basis of Rurouni Kenshin? OK here's the deal.

The story takes place in the 1867 Meiji Era,in Japan. The Revolution has ended,and there was one who was known everywhere as Hitokiri Battousai,the manslayer. His name is Himura Kenshin,and he was known as undefeated. The current events happen in two places,since the story is split into two parts. The first part takes place in Tokyo,while the second occurs in Kyoto. Kyoto was where most of the major fighting was done,and this is where Kenshin's part of the Revolution took place. There are still some after him,such as Aoshi Shinomori,who wants to defeat Kenshin after all he's done. Or take Hajime Seito,who is evil and wants to use the "Battousai" version of Kenshin to do work for him. All in all,the story is great but it's got a little blood and isn't proper for kids under ten,unless they're really really unsensitive. I'll quickly describe the whole story,and then the characters.

Kenshin is about thirty years old. Before the war,he was married to a woman named Tomoe. After the war,he decided not to return and became a rurouni (wanderer). He is now our favorite wandering swordsman. Anyway,he wanders into Tokyo to find a place to live. He comes across a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru,who's running her dead father's swordsmanship dojo. She invites Kenshin to take shelter there,and it becomes somewhat of a home to him. After that,Kenshin meets other characters,like Yahiko Miyoshi,a boy of ten. Yahiko was originally a homeless boy and a thief,until Kaoru took him in. Another person Kenshin meets is Sagara Sanosuke,an ex-gangster who's tough and fights with his fists. (He could have used his Zanbatou,his gigantic sword,if Kenshin hadn't broken it when they fought.) They also meet Megumi,a doctor who was forced to make a drug called opium for a psycho called Kanriyou. (I don't think that's spelled right...) They have a lot of adventures together and I think Kaoru is falling for Kenshin but I say BACK OFF KAORU! HE'S MINE!! Sorry if I wasted your time,but this can be helpful...

-Anna