meteordust | Rurouni Kenshin: The Movie

I should be asleep by now. But then again, I should have been home over an hour ago, too.

Anyway. At this year's Japanese Film Festival, the one must-see movie for me was the live action Rurouni Kenshin. I watched the anime series back in the day, and retain fond memories of how cool and dramatic and fun it was.

So, the movie?

IT WAS AWESOME <3 <3 <3

The original series shifted in tone between serious drama and light comedy, and the movie captured that beautifully. And the casting! They got it right. How you get real life actors who look exactly like these characters, I don't know. They all played their parts brilliantly. And the story did a great job of bringing together the characters in ways that worked and gave them each a chance to shine, and having a plot that showed off the action and highlighted the themes.

It was cool and dramatic and fun.

You could tell the audience was made up of fans. There were cheers whenever a beloved character appeared for the first time, and there was applause at the start and the end. But I have no idea if there was any bonus material in the closing credits - I was too busy running out the door to Town Hall station.

The ranty bit (ie why I am awake and online):

The movie was delayed by almost an hour, which is very poor form for an 8:30 PM movie. During the second half, I kept wondering, "When do the trains stop running on weeknights?" and "I hope this isn't a three hour movie."

It turned out to be only two hours long, but that was still enough for me to miss the last train home by ten minutes. I ended up catching another line, and having to take a taxi the rest of the way, which cost as much as the movie ticket had. I'm sure I wasn't the only one affected.

(PS. It was great to catch up with

kawak and

fluffyduck and

evilhayama at the screening. I hope you guys made it home okay.)

(PPS. And what do you know, in my inbox has arrived an Event Cinemas feedback survey. I think I'll be making use of that.)