By Live action adaptations of long running manga are more miss than they are hit. A great majority of filmmakers attempt to condense years of story and character development into a relatively short runtime, typically leading to rushed, inconsistent films.
Maybe that’s why news of an adaptation of the 28 volume long Shonen Jump series, Rurouni Kenshin, was a bit troubling.
I would imagine that most people shudder at the thought of trying to adapt a Shonen Jump property into a live action film. Nobody out there wants to see a live action Naruto, One Piece or Bleach; we all know how poorly that would end. Yet Japan has always done well with period pieces and samurai film, making Kenshin seem like the perfect fit.
And fit it does.
[You can read Elliot Gay’s full review over on our sister site, Japanator.]