Japanese comics have never been very good in live-action film and television.
For example, in the previous "Attack on Titan", the evaluation of the live-action film was terrible, and the adaptation was out of shape.
Of course, there are exceptions. The live-action version of "Rurouni Kenshin" can be regarded as the best among the live-action movies and TV shows.
There are also many people who think that this series is "the ceiling of Japanese live-action manga".
The original live-action version of Rurouni Kenshin has already ended in the third "The End of the Legend", but there are still two chapters in this anime that are not live-action.
It's "Remembrance" and "Human Punishment".
"Star Frost" is an original animation, not the story of the original manga, so it is not included.
The Remembrance Chapter is closely related to the story of Ren Zhu, among which the Remembrance is the prequel to the entire anime, while the Ren Zhu is the real final chapter of Rurouni Kenshin, which echoes each other from head to tail.
Because the box office results of the live-action trilogy of "Rurouni Kenshin" are very impressive, of course the producers will not give up the plan to make these two chapters live, so the live-action films of "Remembrance" and "Human Punishment", It has also been released in Japan.
Since the live-action film of "Remembrance" will not be streamed online until July, let's talk about "Ren Zhuhen" this time.
The fame of the original manhunt is far less than that of the reminiscence, mainly because there is no animation. Of course, there is indeed a gap between the stories of the two.
After all, the reminiscence chapter can be called the absolute peak of the entire "Rurouni Kenshin".
In fact, in the live-action movie, the reason why "Ren Punishment" was released before "Remembrance" is also very reasonable.
Because this chapter is not bad, but as the last movie of a series, it is indeed a bit insufficient to watch.
At the very least, the shock of the story is far from comparable to that of "Remembrance".
The plot of "Human Punishment" is very simple. The protagonist Jianxin kills Shedaiba's husband in "Remembrance", and then Shedaiba approaches Kenshin for revenge but falls in love with him again.
In the end, in order to protect Jianxin, he was killed by his own hands, and Xuedaiba's younger brother Xuedaiyuan witnessed all this and wanted to avenge his sister.
So, the young Xue Daiyuan went to Shanghai to practice martial arts hard, and practiced in the struggle of major gangsters. After completing the kung fu, he returned to Japan to seek revenge for Kenshin.
Yukio Yuki first kidnapped Kenshin's second lover, Kaoru Kamiya, the heroine of the series, forcing Kenshin to duel with him.
In the end, after some struggle, Yukino finally let go of her hatred.
After watching this plot, probably most of the children's shoes will say:
That's it?
Yes, the original story of Renzhuan is not complicated. After moving to the big screen, it was simplified due to time and commercial needs.
From the perspective of filmmaking, the biggest flaw of Ren Zhuhen is that it is not a "complete" film.
What is a "complete" movie?
Even if the audience just watches this movie, they won't understand it. They don't need to watch other movies to know the ins and outs.
In fact, the sequels of many movies on the market are related to each other, but there are very few strongly related movies like "you will definitely be confused if you don't watch the previous one", only a few movies of "Avengers 3~4" That's it.
Although "Ren Punishment" has flashbacks about "Remembrance", if you haven't watched "Remembrance", or for ordinary passers-by viewers, there will be many plots that you can't understand.
For example, I don't understand why Yukiyoyuan has such a big hatred for Kenshin, but this hatred is very awkward, it looks very strong, but it is not like that kind of unforgettable hatred.
He didn't even understand why he didn't take the hostage and threaten him to commit suicide since he seemed to hate Jian Xin.
"Ren Punishment" itself is not such an excellent work, and a part of it was also divided by "Reminiscence", which also makes this film the lowest rated among the 5 live-action versions.
Due to commercial needs, although the martial arts scene in "Human Punishment" still inherits the style of the series, it is still relatively eye-catching, but there are too many inexplicable links.
For example, the more popular villain Sojiro Seta in the original work originally left the stage after the previous chapter, the Kyoto chapter.
Let him appear again here, and suddenly turned to the protagonist camp in the back.
What for? It is because of the popularity of this character that let him fight side by side with the protagonists to satisfy the fans.
But the consequence is that ordinary passers-by, or viewers who are more concerned about the quality of their own films, feel that this plot is very forced.
No matter how good the martial arts scene is, it can't save these defects.
Of course, if you are more familiar with the story of "Remembrance", or if you are a fan of the original work, "Ren Punishment" still has a big bright spot.
It is the villain Xuedaiyuan, and the entanglement between him and the protagonist Kenshin.
Because it's full of human battles.
Xue Daiyuan loves his sister Xue Daiba very much, and that kind of admiration even treats her sister as a mother.
Originally, Xuedaiba married his childhood sweetheart, and the two would live a happy life, but this life was ruined by Jianxin, who was still an executioner at the time, and Jianxin killed Xuedaiba's fiancé.
After that, he slashed Shedaba to death with a knife in front of him.
It stands to reason that Xuedaiba died to protect Jianxin, and she did not regret this move.
Kenshin and Ba's feelings for each other are absolutely clear to Xuedaiyuan.
Here, the original work has a detail that highlights this more than the movie, that is, when the two met, Xue Daiyuan called Kenshin: brother-in-law.
For Xue Daiyuan, it was precisely this that made him the most painful.
Xue Daiyuan is not a villain, nor is he a person who will go to extremes completely.
If Kenshin is a bad guy, a real executioner who likes to kill, or he doesn't really like Xuedaiba, with Xuedaiyuan's character, I'm afraid he will really cut him to pieces, or use all kinds of vicious means Let him live rather than die.
Yet it is not.
Jianxin is a kind person, and Xue Daiyuan understands it very well. He also understands that Jianxin and his sister truly love each other. Jianxin is the most important person in each other's heart.
That's why, he clearly caught Kenshin's current love, Kaoru Kamiya, but even if he didn't kill her, he had already strangled his throat with both hands, but he still couldn't do it.
It's not Jianxin's fault, and Xue Daiyuan blamed everything on him, just because the loss of his sister hit him too hard.
Or to put it simply, Yukino has lost the purpose of living since her sister died.
He didn't know why he was still alive.
So you must find a reason for yourself to live, and this reason is to kill Kenshin and avenge her sister.
In the end, he stabbed Kenshin with a knife, but Kenshin didn't evade and directly ate it, and Yukino looked like he couldn't believe it.
He really hopes that the other party is a wicked person. In this case, whether he kills him or he kills himself, it will be a relief, but Jian Xin is a good person, or his brother-in-law in the true sense.
Afterwards, Jian Xin apologized to him: "Yuan, I'm sorry for you." It also made Xue Dai Yuan completely sober, and the character design of this character was successfully completed.
In fact, Xue Daiyuan doesn't hate Jianxin. Some viewers think that Xue Daiyuan likes his sister, so she will kill Jianxin who stole his sister, and it is also out of jealousy, which is wrong.
Because of the role of Xuedaiyuan, it should be said that he wants his sister to be happy. Xuedaiba's originally happy life was destroyed by Jianxin, so he is hostile to Jianxin.
But later, when he saw that his sister would even give her life to protect this person, he actually knew who his sister's happiness came from.
It is also because of this that after sobering up, Yukio Yuki blocked the gun for Kamiya Kaoru with his flesh at the end, so that Kenshin's lover could continue to live, so that Kenshin could continue to be "happy".
It is because he loves his sister very much that he also hopes that the person his sister loves the most will not suffer as much as he does.
It's a pity that, regarding the role of Yukiyoshi, it is impossible to feel how outstanding it is by simply watching "Human Punishment".
Even, it is difficult to understand some of his behaviors even if he has only watched the animation and not the original manga.
Therefore, although Xue Daiyuan has the potential for bright spots, it is actually difficult to become the highlight of "Human Punishment".
So this movie is exactly like that.
Next time, let's focus on "Memories".
View more about Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter Part I - The Final reviews
