Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Rurouni Kenshin: The Final’ on Netflix, Japanese Period Action With Epic Battle Energy

When the bad guy has a crew that includes a guy with a gatling gun attachment for an arm, you know there’s some outrageous period action afoot. Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (Netflix) blends some fiery setpieces and furious fight sequences with quieter moments that address the main character’s stoic quest to forgive himself for a bloodsoaked past. It’s all pretty epic, and quite worth a watch.

RUROUNI KENSHIN: THE FINAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Rurouni Kenshin: Final is the fourth film in this series based on the long-running Japanese manga, and it gets the gang back together from 2014’s Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends: peace-loving nomad Kenshin Himura (Takeru Satoh), who was formerly an assassin named Battousai; martial-arts master and dojo owner Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei); Kenshin’s best friend, former soldier and designated comic relief, Sanosuke Sagara (Munetaka Aoki); and scrappy teenage hangabout Yahiko Myojin (Kaito Oyagi). It’s 1879, twelve years since the beginning of the Meiji Restoration and Japan’s embrace of the Industrial Revolution and Western practices, and folks in traditional kimono dress mix freely with bowler-hatted men in spectacles and brides in white wedding gowns riding in broughams. At Yokohama Station, Captain Saito Hajime (Yosuke Eguchi), his ever-present cigarette dangling, attempts to apprehend a train passenger suspected of criminal activity. But chaos ensues as the man kicks and punches his way free of the pursuing cops, only to tauntingly submit to Saito’s custody. A Chinese national, he’s protected from Japanese prosecution.

He’s not just a Chinese national. He’s a boss in the Chinese mafia, an arms dealer who brags about his access to “ironclads, gatling guns, and Snider-Enfield rifles. And when we next meet him, he’s in the hills above Tokyo. “Unleash the opening shot of vengeance,” he tells his accomplice, and the guy attaches a cannon to the linkage where his right arm would be. Bombs rain down on sites near and dear to Kenshin’s heart, and the interloper is revealed to be Yukishiro Enishi (Mackenyu Arata), who has sworn to avenge the death of his sister Tamoe (Kasumi Arimura) by Kenshin’s sword. “Battosai,” Enishi tells Kenshin, using the name he was called as an assassin, “I don’t want to simply cause you pain. I want you to suffer.”

Kenshin, who pledged a life of ascetic pacifism to atone for his years of killing for hire, nevertheless had to know this day would come. Someone he roughed up way back, or that someone’s someone, would come for him. And so it’s come to pass. “Enishi Yukishiro, brother to Tomoe Himura, my wife, who I stabbed to death,” Kenshin tells his friends, and they’re shocked to learn he was married, let alone that she died by his hand. But there’s little time for recompense, because Enishi and his minions are wreaking havoc on a panicking Tokyo.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? There are numerous flashbacks in Rurouni Kenshin: The Final to the action in the previous films, and even flash-forwards, in a sense, since the revelations about Kenshin’s slain wife Tamoe set up the events of Rarouni Kenshin: The Beginning, the prequel that was filmed alongside The Final and which dropped this June in Japanese theaters.

Performance Worth Watching: Each of Kenshin’s pals are finely wrought. From the studied grace and guiding hand of dojo master and love interest Kaoru (Emi Takei), to the shouting, eye-popping, and hilariously uncouth carrying on of Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki), they form the counterweight to Takeru Satoh, who plays the monk-like Kenshin with so much reduction that he barely speaks or moves, except to fight.

Memorable Dialogue: During the big final battle, Seta Sojiro (Ryunosuke Kamiki), an ex foe-turned-ally of Kenshin, turns to face another throng of attackers, but not before this serene farewell to his former enemy. “Go on ahead, Mr. Himura. And show me how that sword cuts old hatreds and frees those trapped in the past.”

Sex and Skin: None to speak of. The budding romance between Kaoru and Kenshin is told with bashful looks, flutters of eyebrow, and close-ups of delicate flower petals.

Our Take: With its lively visual aesthetic, sumptuous costuming, and grand scale production that brings to life the competing forces of Meiji-era modernization and the remnants of tradition, the Edo period, and the Tokugawa Shogunate that defined Japanese society in 1879, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final offers an inviting window onto history even as its main story sticks to those old chestnuts of honor, true love, family ties, and vengeance.

Some of those work better than others, of course. The bursts of action that establish Enishi and his hired guns give way to extended takes of Kenshin and/or Enishi gazing into the distance as a mist of rain gently patters on the shoulders of kimonos or nearby reflecting pools. Sometimes it feels like the vendetta binding these two together will never be fully realized. But The Final does, finally, get there, and the big battle energy is worth the wait.

With Kaoru in Enishi’s clutches, Kenshin strolls into his Tokyo compound with an eye to save her but there are barriers to that, like a legion of masked swordsmen led by two of Enishi’s best king-shit hired killers. Mumyoi, for example, is clad in an iron mask and attacks with two elongated metal flails. With hand-to-hand combat and swordplay boiling across multiple tiers, Kenshin manages to stay upright and in control, but it’s only a matter of time until he’ll be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Only that never happens, because his allies join the fray, including the heroic fighter Misao (Tao Tsuchiya) and police officers led by Captain Saito. They occupy the masked goons so Kenshin can infiltrate the mansion where Enishi is holding Kaoru, but inside he’s attacked by another raft of bad guys, this time the assembled henchmen of the Chinese mafia, who all fire their guns at him. No matter! He flips and flies his way up the walls, and bats the pistols from their hands. “I don’t have time to play now,” Kenshin says, and enters the inner sanctum to face Enishi in a final duel for Kaoru’s life.

Our Call: STREAM IT. For fans of the manga or previous films in the series, Rurouni Kenshin: Final ties a satisfying knot with a few loose ends, and, when it finally gets round to it, fully engages with its big battle energy.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges

Watch Rurouni Kenshin: The Final on Netflix