rurouni kenshin

when people listen to me speaking in english, they often surmise that i must be a reader. the simple assumption would exasperate me sometimes, particularly because i actually read a lot less books and writings than the self-professed bookworm and also because a lot of what i read i read because i have to, not because i want to.

but today, sitting on my bed thinking of the movie rurouni kenshin: the legend ends, i realize that people were right - i am a reader, but not, i think, in the sense in which they think. i am a true reader in that i have a reader's mindset - especially that mental receptiveness for allowing an author or creator to establish a world or a storyline and having it fully come alive in one's imagination. to that kind of thing, i could give myself whole-heartedly.

the night before, i had watched rurouni kenshin 3 again with mai. i was impulsive about watching it - i had just wanted to get lost in a story. and maybe in kindness the stars decided to align for me that night because the movie's story unfolded inside of me even more fully than the first time i had watched and it wrapped itself around my imagination more grippingly.

i fell asleep last night thinking of rurouni kenshin. i woke up today still thinking of rurouni kenshin. hihihi. i don't let up on my favorite things so easily. and then i listened to the movie's song on loop and finally cried my first tears for the rurouni kenshin saga. because it was just so romantically beautiful and wonderful and inspiring and - those adjectives don't even begin to describe it! beautiful things hurt, but in a wonderful way. the story of rurouni kenshin was that kind of beautiful thing. and i'm so glad i cried for it, because those tears were an expression of the painfully beautiful things that the story had made me feel and experience.

rurouni kenshin 3: the legend ends
thoughts and comments

Shinta

himura kenshin is an intensely romantic character. i love how in the movie we get a glimpse of his early life as a lone boy without parents, family, without anything. and he was just in that desert of a hill, digging graves, for bodies of people killed by a dark, mysterious swordsman he didn't know. "what is your name, boy?" the swordsman would ask while he uses his sword to lift the boy's smudgy face up to him. "shinta," the boy would answer. "that's no name for a swordsman. from now on, call yourself 'kenshin'. i will teach you my style of fighting."

Kenshin

"kenshin" is a japanese name meaning probably either "sword with a heart" (according to rurouni kenshin 1) or "heart of sword" (according to urban dictionary). it is here that i realize what it is that captivates my heart and imagination so much about rurouni kenshin. a lot of it is kenshin himself - the idea of a character being a personification of a sword with a heart. even the simple idea of a person being a personfication of a sword is romantic enough. i mean, think of all the connotations - deadly, lethal, strong, fighter, legendary, epic, honor, excellence, nobility, bravery, etc. add to those things a heart of gold and you've got something that's epic, just epic. haay. :)

and i love how the character of kenshin went from being a boy with nothing to a man who finally found the things in life that are worthwhile.

Kenshin and His Master Fight Scenes

i love that scene where kenshin was a young boy getting schooled by his master in the art of swordfighting and he kept on fighting though he was getting beaten up. "back then, you'd never quit no matter how much i knocked you down," Seijuro, the master, had said in the movie.

i like it so much particularly because i like thinking that what made kenshin the inimitable swordsman that he was was not just simply exemplary athletic ability but that it also had something to do with his spirit.

i also like to think about the wisdom being imparted by the master in those scenes but i'll not write about them because i prefer to think about them more silently in my mind.

Kaoru's Dojo and Their "Family"

i said to mai that it's just so nice how they are together - sanosuke, megumi, yahiko, kenshin and kaoru. :)

The Fight Scenes, Etc.

of course, the fight scenes were epic. i close my eyes and i still see kenshin and the others slashing, moving and flying with their swords held high (or low). i plan to record those fight scenes in great detail with my mental video recorder and watch them over and over again. heehee.

the cinematography was excellent, the color and the natural landscapes being shown were picturesque, takeru satoh embodied himura kenshin so fully...everything was exhilarating. love, love, love it! :D

i'll be walking around in a daze of cloud with rurouni kenshin in my mind for, possibly, a few more days/weeks. the legend lives on! weeee!!! :D