ARTICLE
Warner Bros Singapore to Release Rurouni Kenshin Popular Manga Series Adaptation!
By InCinemas / 12 Jun 2014 (Thursday)
Warner Bros. Singapore to release 'Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno' and 'Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends'!
Rurouni Kenshin was the first motion picture inspired by Kenshin the Wanderer: The Romance of the Meiji Swordsman (Shueisha Jump Comics), the monumental manga comic by Nobuhiro Watsuki that has sold more than 5.8 million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages.
The filmmakers faced a serious challenge in meeting the high expectations of the manga fans, a challenge they surpassed beyond anyone’s expectations as the film was met with rapture throughout Japan, quickly taking in more than 3 billion yen at the box office. Word-of-mouth spread quickly overseas, and Ruroni Kenshin has now been shown at 31 festivals and received distribution in 64 territories.
[Synopsis]
Kenshin Himura is a legendary swordsman in the wars accompanying the turbulent fall of Japan’s Shogunate in the 19th century. Once feared as ‘Battosai the Killer’, he has adopted a peaceful life since the arrival of the ‘new age’ in Japanese history. But Makoto Shishio, the ‘Shadow Killer’ who succeeded to Kenshin’s position in the service of the new government, has since then been active in the Kyoto underworld. Because he knew too much of the dark side of the new government, he was stabbed and his body set on fire. He survived, however and, wrapped in bandages, has raised an army of disaffected former samurai with the aim of overthrowing the new regime. Agreeing to a request by Toshimichi Okubo, the Home Minister, Kenshin leaves his friends in Tokyo and sets out for Kyoto. He and Shishio are a match in skill and in wits, but their aims are opposite. Kenshin seeks to preserve the nation without breaking his vow that he will kill no more.
Rising to the challenge of playing Kenshin, who leaves those he loves to devote himself single-mindedly to the cause of peace, is Takeru Satoh, whose performance in a breathtakingly revolutionary style of intense action unlike anything to be found in Hollywood or continental Asia will leave no viewer unmoved. Also returning from the first Kenshin movie are Emi Takei as Kaoru Kamiya, Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara, Yu Aoi as Megumi Takani, and Yosuke Eguchi as Hajime Saito.
A wealth of famous faces joins the cast this time out. Appearing with Takeru Satoh for the first time, as the crazed Makoto Shishio, is the popular character actor Tatsuya Fujiwara.
Returning as director is Keishi Otomo, highly respected around the world for such works as Ryomaden and Platinum Data. The theme song is by the internationally popular band ONE OK ROCK, who has written two individual songs for both films. With a production budget of 3 billion yen, six months of filming, 5,000 extras, and locations all over Japan from Yamagata in the north to Kumamoto in the south, this is a project that pushes back the boundaries of Japanese film: two films that break new ground, and whose successive release will set off shock waves everywhere.