Quote:
Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor
Kenshin here is a different person from someone we knew from the series.
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That, right there, is why I said Tsuiokuhen is disconnected, not just from the TV series but the manga as well. It's pretty common that people watch the OVAs first (because they're short and praised by everyone), then watch the TV series or read the manga, and are completely baffled by the Kenshin they see there. This shouldn't be so. In the manga flashback!Kenshin is still Kenshin, just at a different stage of his life. But he can still smile and have various other facial expressions, he sneaks around with an unconscious Tomoe so people won't get the wrong idea, he regularly plays with the village kids, etc. (
Like in this scene.) In the OVA he's a dark, emotionally dead guy who has two facial expressions at most. (Same with Tomoe - unlike in the OVA, in the manga she's actually
alive.) Drama is fine and all, but what we have in Tsuiokuhen is all drama and no human element, it's all cold and impersonal.
Sure, Tsuiokuhen is less "typical shounen" than the manga or the series, but it also sacrifices the details that make the whole thing
work as far as I'm concerned, and ultimately turn it into a standalone story.
I suppose whether it works or not depends on what one is looking for in a story - me, I'm character centric so I focus more on these things. Other people are more into mood or story, etc.