Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins(2012)

TV-MA
2h 14m

Release Date: Aug 25, 2012

In the years following the Bakumatsu war, a legendary assassin known as the Hitokiri Battosai vanished. He now calls himself Himura Kenshin, wanders the countryside with a reverse-blade sword, and has sworn never to kill again. When he arrives in Tokyo, a local dojo owner and a ruthless drug lord pull him back into a world he tried to leave behind. An action film about atonement, identity, and what it means to put down a weapon for good.

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Releases

Original Release | Aug 25, 2012

2016 Re-release | Aug 8, 2016

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Director & Top Cast

Keishi Otomo
Director

Keishi Otomo

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: Japan

Language: Japanese

Summaries

Plot Summary

Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins is a 2012 Japanese jidaigeki action film directed and written by Keishi Otomo, with additional screenplay work by Kiyomi Fujii. Based on the manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the film is set in the early Meiji era and follows Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh), a former assassin now wandering Japan with an inverted sword, offering protection without taking lives. Emi Takei plays Kaoru Kamiya, the dojo owner he comes to protect. The cast includes Munetaka Aoki as street brawler Sanosuke Sagara, Yosuke Eguchi as the stoic police officer Hajime Saito, Yu Aoi as Megumi Takani, and Teruyuki Kagawa as the villainous Kanryu Takeda. Action direction is by Kenji Tanigaki. The film was theatrically released in Japan by Warner Bros. Pictures on August 25, 2012, grossing over $36 million domestically and over $60 million worldwide by November of that year. It was licensed for distribution in over 60 countries. A North American release under the title Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins followed in 2016 via Funimation Films. The film spawned a multi-part sequel series. Core themes include atonement, identity, loyalty, and the tension between a violent past and a chosen future. The film is for fans of the manga and anime series and for audiences drawn to Japanese period action cinema.

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Fun Facts

Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012) follows Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh), a former assassin known as Battosai the Manslayer who helped forge Meiji-era Japan but now wanders as a rurouni wielding a reverse-blade sakabato sword, vowing never to kill again.