The mid 19^th century was a chaotic period in Japanese history.  The Tokugawa government was under extreme pressure both domestically and from abroad.  Foreign countries wanted trade rights with Japan, with Admiral Perry's war ships opening a few ports to American goods in the 1850's.  Domestically, it was a time of upheaval.  The merchant class, one of the lowest in the hierarchy, was becoming very powerful because of the money they were making, while the noble samurai were becoming indebted to the lowly merchants.  There were a series of natural disasters and famines during this time that resulted in riots, and there was terribly high inflation.  All these factors led to the Edo period ending in 1867-68, and power being restored to Emperor Meiji.  This transition of power did not happen easily though.  There was much violence and bloodshed.  The time following this turbulent period, is when the TV series Ruroni Kenshin, Wandering Samurai takes place.  That series, which has been released on DVD in 22 volumes, tells the story of a swordsman during the revolution, Kenshin, and what he did after the killing stopped.  Samurai X is the six episode OVA series, made after the TV series, that tells the origin and ultimate fate of this intriguing character.   ADV has gathered together these six shows, previously released on three separate DVDs, into one boxed set at an attractive price.

The first two DVDs, Trust and Betrayal, relate Kenshin's origin in four shows.  They show how he was a young slave in a caravan that was attacked by bandits.  Everyone was killed, but a wandering swordsman happened upon the carnage before the bandits could kill the young boy.  Dispatching the villains, the swordsman takes Kenshin under his care, and trains him in the art of sword fighting.  Years later, as a young man, Kenshin leaves his master to join the revolution.  He wants to use his sword to help people, and he feels that ending the Tokugawa government and the injustices it perpetuates will be the best way to aid all Japanese people.  But this idealistic young man soon turns into an assassin.  Kenshin is very deadly with his sword, and excels at his job.  The opposition grows to fear him, and start to lay traps for the deadly assassin, but they cannot kill him.  During one assassination, Kenshin disposes of his target and several bodyguards.  One of the guards has just become engaged, and begs Kenshin not to kill him.  His pleas falling on deaf ears, Kenshin attacks the young guard and brutally kills him.  But in doing so the man cuts Kenshin's cheek.  This slash, though not deep, will not heal.

Time passes, and Kenshin grows more cold and brutal.  The leader of his faction talks with a young girl Kenshin knows, Tomoe.  He asks her to become his 'sheath.'  To temper his violence.  She agrees, and when things go wrong, Kenshin and Tomoe have to flee Kyoto for the country side where the hide in a safe house under the guise of being man and wife.  They grow comfortable together and Kenshin stops fighting and takes up selling herbs.  Things seem perfect for the couple, but things don't stay calm in the middle of a revolution.

The third DVD, Reflections, contains two OVAs that take place after the TV series has ended.  Fifteen years have gone by, and Kenshin was training troops overseas to fight a war.  But the war has ended, and all the troops have returned, except Kenshin.  His wife, Kaoru, patiently awaits his return, going to the docks every day.  Soon she takes ill though, and in her sickness, she recalls her life with Kenshin in a series of flashbacks.

I am a big Rurouni Kenshin fan, and the first story told on the beginning discs is excellent.  It is exciting, and touching and surprising.  It manages to capture the excitement and drama of the TV series, and fill in a lot of the blanks at the same time.  The art is gorgeous, a very attractive looking show.  This is much more violent than the TV show was, and it shows Kenshin being rather brutal.  There is a lot of blood and graphic violence.  The show is rated 17+ for that reason.  I would not show this program to younger children.  Still, a great addition to the Kenshin story.  I was very moved by it.

The second story, presented on the third DVD, is also very beautiful.  It takes an interesting angle by retelling a lot of Kenshin's story through Kaoru's eyes.  You see him as she viewed him, and can understand what she was feeling.  This is a terribly sad story, with several very moving, tear jerking moments.

Unfortunately, I didn't like it.  I didn't mind the heartbreaking parts, or the fact that it was animated differently from the series.  I thought that there were too many flashbacks.  I understood their purpose, but these episodes felt like clip shows.  There were so many flashbacks that I was slightly confused at times as to when something was taking place.  Was this contemporary or did it happen years ago?  After a few moments things it was easy to tell, but it did cause some confusion.

Another complaint I have is that in order to understand the story, you need to have seen the TV show.  This is not a stand alone program like the first story is.  The characters are never really introduced, the creators expect you to know them.  That makes the multiple flashbacks even more irritating since you can't justify it by thinking that they are for the people who have missed the show.

Even with those complaints, it is worth watching this DVD to see what happenes after the series ended.  If they had cut it back and focused on the present a little more, this would have been an excellent show.

Audio:

The box that these DVDs come in states that there are English and Japanese 5.1 audio tracks.  I was really geared up to listen to this in 5.1, but the Japanese track is only stereo.  It is clear and clean, but the English track pack much more power.  The music in the English track is much more effective with a good amount coming from the rears.  I found the sound effects in the Japanese track to be much more subtle, to the point of being lost in some cases.  Footsteps and cricket chirping in the night were in the background but easily audible in the English track, but very hard to hear on the Japanese.  A good sounding disc otherwise.

Video:

The video for these shows was very crisp.  The show looks great.  There were some very minor bits of aliasing on a couple of background lines, but you really had to look to find them.  I was very pleased with the video.

The Extras:

Each disc has a couple of extras.  In addition to previews on each DVD, the first volume has a scrolling text feature on the historical background to the series.  I thought it was scrolling by too fast, and I had to pause it several times, but that's a minor complaint.  It was a nice short introduction to Japanese history.  There is also text character introductions with a short clip from the show for each person.  Disc two has a note from the screenwriter who adapted the script to English.

The third disc has a series of interviews with the Japanese voice actors talking about their characters and how they feel about them, and how they approached the roles.  Each clip lasts between 3 and 5 minutes.  There is a clean opening and a series of production sketches on this disc too.
 

Final Thoughts:

Taken as a whole, these shows are nice bookends to the Kenshin saga.  The first story is excellent, and touchingly tragic.  Though I didn't like much of the way the second story was told, the plot was interesting though not as exciting and captivating as the TV series. It was a good ending to the story.   Highly Recommended.