The arrival of Kenshin and her retainer into our world brings its own challenges.
What They Say:
Kenshin has assimilated to the modern world; her retainer Kanetsugu only sees a dull gray world. One is contempt while the other wishes to continue the dream of conquering. Is it time for Kenshin and Kanetsugu to part ways?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the first two episodes having separately introduced Nobunaga and then Ieyasu, the third episode goes for the fairly well expected alternate reality version of Kenshin. Unlike those past to forms of assimilation into “our” world, Kenshin’s arrival isn’t alone as she’s come with her servant Kanetsugu. Their arrival in this world isn’t done like the other two, which eased off from the first one, in how they got here as it instead just shows the two of them already here and living together, eking out a life that gives them what they need. With it being the two of them though, there are differences in how they feel about what happened. Kenshin’s pleased by it all but Kanetsugu isn’t all that keen on this.
Kenshin’s beauty definitely is a big factor to their survival here as she and her very pleasant and appealing personality have made it possible for her to dig into a modeling career, both with regular clothes and some form of costume play as well. Watching as the two of them go through their days is surprisingly fun in its very mellow way as they go about their routine with Kenshin working outside the apartment while Kanetsugu does things around the house and other chores. But Kanetsugu longs for something more as we see from how she responds to seeing some horse racing. Admiring the fine form of the horses gets her blood racing for what was in their past in their world that made her feel very much alive then.
While there is the general idea that this one is about Kenshin, it does turn more to things from Kanetsugu’s point of view as she really doesn’t like it here. Though it’s a world filled with colors and brightness, especially from Kenshin’s point of view, it really is in gray for Kanetsugu and it’s weighing down on her mentally. It’s actually quite appealing to see the divergent approach to how life is here because Kanetsugu wants to get back to the life of conquest that had defined her before and with what she believed Kenshin was all about as well. Seeing Kenshin wanting this different life is hugely confusing for her and has put her in this position that has left her feeling so out of sorts. But also filled with so, so much potential.
In Summary:
With the third episode of the series, it is relatively easy to write it off as kind of shallow and not exactly about much. And in some ways that is true, though there are elements of a larger storyline being woven into it ever so slowly in the final moments of each episode with Nobunaga. But right now, giving over each episode to focus on a particular character and their story as they adjust to the real world is proving far more interesting and fun than I imagined it would be. With the Kenshin and Kanetsugu storyline, we get to see things a little bit differently and that helps, especially since the Ieyasu story didn’t grab me all that much. This may be traditional in a lot of ways, but it also feels like it has a chance to really strike out with something unique when it hits its stride.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
