Following its massive opening in Japan last week where it grossed fifty percent higher than “Kyoto Inferno,” Warner Bros. Pictures' “Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends” arrives in Philippine cinemas this Wednesday, Sept 24 – fulfilling a promise to loyal fans of back-to-back bows of the twin sequels.
“Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends” is the final chapter to director Keishi Otomo's blockbuster trilogy.
To stop Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) who aims to conquer Japan, Kenshin Himura (Takeru Satoh) arrives in Kyoto and tries to face off against Shishio’s troops. However, his enemy has begun its course to start invading Tokyo with the steel-reinforced battleship. To save captured Kaoru (Emi Takei) who is thrown into the sea by Shishio’s men, Kenshin also dives in after her, but is washed ashore alone, unconscious.
Kenshin recovers with the help of Seijuro Hiko (Masaharu Fukuyama), the master of Kenshin who happens to find him on the shore. He realizes he is no match for Shishio unless he learns the ultimate technique of his sword style, and begs the master to teach him.
In the meantime, Shishio finds that Kenshin is still alive, and puts pressure on the government to find Kenshin and execute him in public for his sins during his days as the “Battosai the Killer”. As Kenshin faces his biggest challenge, can Kenshin really defeat his fiercest enemy Shishio, and be reunited with Kaoru?!
Directed by Keishi Otomo, “Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends” stars Takeru Sato (Kenshin Himura), Emi Takei (Kaoru Kamiya), Munetaka Aoki (Sanosuke Sagara), Masaharu Fukuyama (Seijuro Hiko), Kaito Oyagi (Yahiko Myojin), Yu Aoi (Megumi Takani), Yosuke Eguchi (Hajime Saito), Min Tanaka (Nenji Kashiwazaki), Tao Tsuchiya (Misao Makimachi), Ryunosuke Kamiki (Soujiro Seta), Maryjun Takahashi (Yumi Komagata) and Tatsuya Fujiwara (Makoto Shishio).
The “Rurouni Kenshin” movie trilogy was based on the Kyoto arc of `Rurouni Kenshin,' the popular manga series written & illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki.
Besides Kenshin the Wanderer: the Romance of a Meiji Swordsman, Nobuhiro's manga hits also include Gun Blaze West and Busou Renkin. HisEmbalming is being serialized in Jump Square magazine.
Of the manga's adaptation into feature films, Nobuhiro says, “Because there was too much in Kyoto Inferno to fit into one movie, I was ready for huge cuts and big changes, so I’d made up my mind right from the start, from the first movie, to respect the opinion of director Otomo. But the script has got everything into it very nicely. Mr Satoh has settled back into the role, and brings out that calm and gentle side of Kenshin even more. The action has jumped right over the first movie, and they’ve made it really amazing. Because Shishio’s face is covered in bandages, I thought it would require an actor who could bring a very strong emotion to his performance. I met Mr Fujiwara just before filming started, and he’d already gotten into the role so he was kind of frightening, and I went ‘He’s the guy!’ Mr Iseya’s perfect for his role, too, and he’s great in it. ‘Purgatory’ had to really jump out at you in this film, but in the original manga there was nothing for them to draw on. Unfortunately it was just an exit point with no real action. I’m really happy they adapted it. But the movie is very close to the original, so I hope that audiences will feel very close to it.”
“Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
