OVA: Reflections, Who dislikes it?

[poisonarrow713]

I dont really like the OVA's because the art is stupid and its not even right neutral it bugs the heck out of me :X  

[wolfarisonu]

I personally liked the OVA...yeah it was sad, but come on. How many times can you be stabbed, broken hearted, a accidental death on your hand and...well other stuff, and not be really weak...I'm not calling him weak, but he was older in the OVA with a son that was training to use the sword! It's just like anyother story other people have variations and what if's they want to make stories. Some of it was ehh. I LOVED the animation. I don't know, I'm a sucker for the "real-made" animation effect. I could of been worse. Yahiko was...out there, I don't really know his story. If some one could cue me in on that one! Okay this is too long sorry!  

[hakubaikou]

My main problem with Reflections is that almost every character in the OAV acts... well, not like him/herself. I thought a serious tone was fine for Trust & Betrayal since that was about Kenshin's darker past, and a dark tone would be appropriate there. But for the Rurouni timeline, it just doesn't work. None of them are acting the way they would normally act, and that out-of-character behavior really bothered me far more than the actual storyline.

My second biggest complaint is (like others here have said), the fights are just terrible. You simply can't squish an entire manga arc into half an hour. It's just not possible. It makes it disappointing for those who have read the manga and confusing for those who haven't.

Personally, I tend to just ignore Reflections and pretend that it never happened. blaugh  

[Elliot_Rhymeless]

Yami no Hitokiri> Yeah, I'll readily agree with you that there could've been a much better way to show the physical (and/or mental) consequences of all the battles Kenshin's been in, and there could've been a point in them where he acknowledges that it's okay for him to ask for help, or be supported by others. Maybe there was a hint of that when Kaoru-dono begs him to "share some of the burden" with her, which also could've been done in a better/more coherent way, but the fact that she wanted to do everything she could to help him was touching, nevertheless.

I also admit that it was something of a shock to see him look so... exhausted through both episodes, even through the portions set during or before the Junchuu Arc. It would've made more sense to have that happen when the disease started taking its hold, not for the entirety of both episodes.

But as much fault as there is in it, no one will ever be able to convince me that there aren't some touching and important sentiments in it, or that the cinematography (especially the inclusion of live footage, which you don't see that often in anime) and music (yay, Taku Iwasaki!) isn't wonderful.  

[savage-charley]

The only thing I liked about Reflections was the Enishi part. I was curious about Tomoe's brother because of how he reacted when Tomoe died, and so Reflections gave me peace of mind. However, I didn't really like to see Kenshin dying of disease (ugh.), because, come on, he survived dozens of deadly attacks from his past and survived then to just die of that...whatever it was...I admit people can die of disease, but for me Kenshin deserved a better fate, being happily settled with his family, a family he had not had for so long. Anyone deserves a happy ending to their lives.  

[BunnyCupCakes]

I wasn't very happy with Kenshin's death [as in why the hell kenshin just had to die gonk ] but I'm glad he died a peaceful death......and not during some battle to get his head chopped off because I wouldv'e cried even MORE T^T

So I'm thankful for that ^^  

[ll --SakuraKatana -- ll]

I never liked Seisouhen, but I liked the OVA parts that came before it, the parts with Tomoe. Although they weren't my favorite, and at parts didn't follow the manga, I was just happy it was animated.

I would have liked it better if they let the original animators do it, but... I don't know what exactly happened with that. They were probably too busy with an episode or something that they couldn't fit it into the schedule. That's my guess.

They should have added the humor back into it, and near the end, it was also way too rushed. My opinion is, for those who haven't seen it yet (although if you still didn't, you probably got the general idea through everyone here), read the manga first. It's a million times better, and it portrays everything in a much better way.

Ah, well. It's no use hatin' on it now. What's done is done. Plus, they could have made it alot worse. Just look at it that way.

I don't exactly know HOW but...

 

[Empress_Tsubame]

No I do not feel the same way as most of you.

I'm Satisfied with the ending and how they ended it with Kenshin dying it was sad but, if you think about it, it was also happy at the same time.

~Kenshin is finally free of his debts ^^~  

[Ice Street 7]

I watched this thing over the last two nights at my house and I knew that the whole thing wasn't even according to what happened in the manga. They had the plot right but Kenshin's death was just a bunch of bull. The art really sucked too. They didn't take much time to make anybody look like they did in the manga. I noticed that they made Katsura the same as in the manga but seriously, he was only a minor character and only got to see him a few times. The way Kenshin died was really stupid too, I don't think that it would have ended like that. They even made battle scenes shorter and inaccurate to the manga. I will probably never watch it again because it was seriously just a sad story most of the time, and it wasn't very good.  

[KinKin-chan]

HOW COULD THEY!? First off, the animation is weird, and it's over dramatic. And the inconsitencies! And Kenshin would never leave his family, not like that. It's a jacked movie that killed off my hero, and I'll never forgive them for that.  

[My Lovely Ora]

I like the OVAs because they are sad. I loaned them out to various friends and all complained to me that I ruined their weekends with such anime. I wonder if they watched the epilogue after the credits?

For those who are upset about Kenshin dying of an illness, would you rather have seen him die in battle?  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

I thought Tsuiokuhen rocked. Seeing Kenshin as a young hitokiri was cool. There were some deviations (like reducing Enishi to a bystander and turning Kenshin into an emo kid in the Binding Forest battle), but over all, they're minor and do not really detract from the story.

The only remotely good thing about Seisouhen was Kenji. Honestly, he was the only character I even liked in that OVA. While everyone else was falling all over themselves worshiping Kenshin and cheering him on in his selfish quest for atonement, Kenji said it like it was: His father had abandoned him and his mother and was irresponsible. I also thought the fight between him and Yahiko was pretty cool, although way too short. I would have had Kenji beat Yahiko and then leave to go off and become a kick-a** swordsman on his own.  

[HikyuuTera]

I actually likes the first OVAs however the last one... it just didn't fit right into the Rurouni Kenshin universe. For one thing it played Kenshin off as a dead beat dad and made it look like he was never home. The Kenshin we all know wouldn't abandon his life and family in Tokyo like they portrayed him in the last OVA. Despite the awesome animation and art. It was too sad and nothing like what Nobuhiro Watsuki's original plan for the series.

I read the Jinchuu arc long before I saw the last OVA and was quite disappointed in how they showed the flashbacks to it and the past battles. The thing that got me was that it didn't add up to the original storyline of the manga nor anime. The artwork was amazing the storyline was,although a bit sad, very good but that's the only thing I thought was.

I don't consider it the real ending to the Rurouni Kenshin story however but a fanfiction that was animated and nothing more. This is my opinion though... >.>x  

[halogazer]

Reflections is far too depressing for me to watch. I have it and have probably only watched it three times since I've owned it because I just don't like the way it ends. After everything Kenshin went through, I think it would have been justified for him to live a longer, happy life with his wife and child. But noooo, he had to go roaming around the country and had to die from a disease. Sorry, but I like happy endings, and THAT wasn't happy. I would have liked it better if Kenji didn't about hate his father (even though he was young and didn't fully understand) and while I thought Kaoru's sacrifice to take on his disease was sweet, I just didn't like the way everything turned out. Kenshin should have stayed in Tokyo with Kaoru and Kenji.  

[Tristan_Alexander]

I guess I'm in the minority here, I actaully like Reflections. Even a stand alone movie it wasn't that bad in my opinion, it was an alternate take on the ending of the story. Its kind of nice to see Kenshin a bit more humanized as well, in t.v. series hes practically a superhero (even though Megumi said he wasn't), in Reflection we see him as a character whose actually feeling all the mental and physical damage that he endured in his life, and him dying of a disease a little more humility to the character. Sure it was a sad movie, but I enjoyed it.

I'm certainly in the majority however when I say I like the t.v series and comic a lot better though.