Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 22: End Song (2000)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi
English Version Directed by Kaeko Sakamoto
Original Story by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Translation by Rika Takahashi

Features:

• Dub Outtakes
  
• Liner Notes
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• quasi-lame villains
• sad to see Kenshin go

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Buy it if you love the series

Kenshin’s story is drawing to a close, but now he must confront a new enemy. Saeki Mizu is a Feng Shui Master, which means that he can never be defeated by a sword, even a sword as powerful as the one in the hands of Kenshin. Mizu’s goal is now to overthrow the Meiji government of Kenshin’s Tokugawa-era Japan. Two families specialized in this sort of power: the Mizu family of Kenshin’s enemy, and the Kaze family. Now Kenshin must locate Jinpu Kaze and learn what he needs to defeat Mizu.

I must say that this last story arc was a bit disappointing. As always, Kenshin is left holding the bag for the corrupt Meiji dictatorship, and finds some way of defeating the seemingly impossible. Kaoru was in this one very little, since she is injured early on by a magical attack, and Yahiko is stuck taking care of her. The ending leaves enough open that the creators could choose to add further OAVs or specials in the future, but we all know how rarely such a thing happens. There is a bit of progress on the romantic front, as Kenshin and Kaoru have a nice moment in the last episode, as do Megume and Sanosuke, but nothing is made too explicit. Basically, the ending isn’t bad; it’s just weak.

The audio and video quality are on par with the rest of the series, and are therefore just fine. The art continues to be quite appealing, with good coloration and nice movement. The new opening and closings are a nice touch, as well. The music continues to be quite moving and a great addition to this series; not all titles pay enough attention to the music, but this one does.

The features are nice enough: the liner notes are particularly useful, but it would have been nice to have had something special for this last disc. Perhaps the producers could have interviewed the creators about how it felt to end this long-running, much-loved title and where they were going from here. A retrospective, a special art gallery, or even a timeline or something would all have been nice additions to this final disc.

All in all, if you’ve been following this series, then you will need to own this last disc as well. Even if it’s a little disappointing in some respects, it’s still the end of Kenshin’s story, and those of us who love him will want to see how it all comes out in the end. Not all of our questions may be answered, but that may be all to the good, and at least there’s nothing here to anger us, as there sometimes is in the endings of other titles.