The Meiji Era of Japan as personified in Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal lets me know a couple of interesting things about the time. Notably, if you are a woman, and you’re not being murdered, chances are you’re being thrown to the ground and treated like street-trash, unless you’re the wife of the protagonist of a cartoon. Even then, you’ll still get a pretty raw deal. Respect is a little thin in Japan, so you’d better hope you’re a totally bad ass sword-master.
The violence of the time period tells viewers that if you’re dead, you’ve been cut in half. The only exception to being bisected is having a katana through the bottom of your jaw. Yikes. Scary place. This crazy violence, however, sets a frighteningly ambient tone to the two hour OVA that deals with, among other things, moral decisions, love and – you guessed it – Trust and Betrayal.
Kicking off the depressing, ominous feel of the entire OVA, Trust and Betrayal immediately begins with a young boy, Shinta, surviving a roadside attack by devious bandits. With his entire family and all of his friends slain at his feet, a mysterious savior emerges from the forest, taking the child, re-named “Kenshin” under his wing to become an assassin of incomparable fortitude. What Kenshin’s life entails is a bevy of confusing flashbacks, and dedication to your complete satisfaction. Providing your definition of satisfaction is “watchin’ dudes hit each other in the face with swords”, our main man doesn’t disappoint.
Not being from Japan, or knowing the history as well as some might, I find it difficult beyond the point of even trying to remember names of clans, places and certain characters. In reality, Kenshin’s story isn’t about the political intrigue and overthrowing of the government by the Shogunite or something. That is there to fill the space between the sweet nectar of samurai-on-samurai action, of which there is enough to keep viewers happy the entire time. Kenshin reflects on his life as an assassin around the halfway point, deciding that he’s content with his new I’m-a-farmer-not-a-killer lifestyle, and while the drama is obviously less interesting than the sword swingin’, it’s still interesting and compliments a fairly tolerable story, even if I can’t comprehend the who’s-who and what’s-what.
Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal epitomizes why anime is cool, and that cartoons aren’t just for kids. The series the OVA is based on (or is it the other way around?) holds a completely different tone, however. Thematically, Samurai X is dark and almost horrifying throughout. Kenshin reflects on his decisions to become a killer and it asks a couple questions about whether the end really justifies the means, but the message isn’t why you watch this. You’re going to sit down and watch this only to jump up and down in glee as our boy, my buddy Kenshin completely rocks Japan’s world, since the guy is virtually untouchable.
He’s a little dramatic for a hero that encompasses everything we’ve come to appreciate as a society regarding bad-asses, but his story is engaging enough that you actually care whether he lives or dies, succeeds or fails. I’m all for sword fighting that’s choreographed, as opposed to action that’s reliant on a “Spinning Fire Death Slash of Hyper Violent Wind” attack or something, so maybe I’m a little bias, but a violent anime that takes itself seriously in a non-ironic way is always good for me. I want more.
BUY THIS MOVIE HERE
Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
ADV Films
120 Minutes
For Mature Audiences
1 Response to “Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal Review”