Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 20: Soulless Knights (2000)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Original story by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Animation Character Design by Fumie Muroi
Translation by Rika Takahashi

Features:

• Liner Notes
  
• Outtakes
  
• Creditless Opening
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Übermensch attacks!
• Questionable fashion decisions
• Ninjas!

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Buy it.

A new arc begins as German nationals enter Japan for secret reasons of their own, guaranteed to cause trouble for Kenshin and crew. Yutaro has returned with his hand as good as new, along with the German doctor who fixed it for him. Yutaro and Yahiko seem set to resume their feud and take off for some sparring in the dojo. Soon, however, we find out that other Germans have followed Dr. Hans from Germany, intent upon stealing something Hans has. A secret order of Germans known as the Black Knights (possibly based upon the Masons), their goal is world domination, and they want to use the longevity serum that Hans has developed. To this end, the Black Knights have made a devil’s bargain with some ninjas set against Misao and her band of ninjas. Eventually, the map to the serum’s location falls into Kenshin’s hands, and the race to solve the mystery is on. The arc is not completed in this disc, but will finish in the next disc.

The video and audio quality are both quite good, as they have been for most of the previous volumes. Both the Japanese and English voice actors are solid, and by now, viewers are used to any peccadilloes they might have and are used to a certain voice as each character. There were minimal problems with video or audio with no obvious distortions, fuzzy spots, or much cross-coloration.

The extras on this disc are nice. The liner notes, as always, are a wonderful addition to this disc, filling in for Western audiences anything our culture didn’t prepare us to understand—they seem particularly long on this disc. The voice actor outtakes are always funny, and I love it when the production companies include them. The new textless opening is also nice, especially as there’s a new opening for these episodes. Fans of the art will enjoy seeing the visuals uninterrupted.

In short, if you’ve been enjoying the Kenshin saga, this disc will be no exception. As the beginning of a new story arc, this might be a good place to start, though you get little in the way of backstory on each character and you’ll probably have to just catch on to who Weasel Girl and Yutaro are. This may not be the best story arc the series has ever given us, but it’s not bad--it’s hard to keep up the fine quality of a tightly knit story forever. You’ll still be interested in what happens to the characters and what twists and turns the plot might yield. Rurouni Kenshin is still solid entertainment and lots of fun, mixed with good art and effective voice acting. Check it out.