In Viz's latest released of their “BigViz” edition of the shōnen historical fiction manga Rurouni Kenshin BigViz volume 8, which covers volumes 22-24 in the original print run, we see all of the final battles between Yukishiro Enishi and his henchmen against all of the protagonists. After this the final section begins to move into the aftermath.
Highlights:
While this is suppose to be a historical fiction piece, the idea of the “historical” part has always bee taken loosely by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The setting for Rurouni Kenshin is duing the early part of the Meiji Restoration in Japan and as such the manga begins by taking several liberties, most notably that the story's titular protagonist, Himura Kenshin, would be able to carry around a sword wandering around as he was as the Meiji Restoration. The story takes place in 1878 and in 1873 the government had forbade ex-samurai, such as the fictitious Kenshin, from wandering around with their swords (although he could still use them at the dojo).
The second, and more obvious to most, is the use of some of the far-out technology and ideas. In volume 8, Watsuki really stretches and eventually breaks the “historical” part of the fiction work for Meiji Japan. At first he starts out with characters using technically plausible, but historically unrealistic elements such as the advanced mechanical puppets created by Gein or the magnetized sword weilded by Otowa Hyoko. While both of these could be done during that era, the knowledge and ability to produce them was beyond the concept at the time, especially the puppetmaster's creations. However, even Watsuki breaks the historical part for the purposes of his contriversial plot development when he has Gein produce a life-like doll from human corpses, steel wire and other odd items of Kamiya Kaoru, the young girl Kenshin cares about, in order to make Kenshin believe Enishi killed her. Even Watsuki admits to having no basis in reality for this.
This leads to the question then; can Rurouni Kenshin still be considered historical fiction rather than historical fantasy after this? Historical fiction has generally been narrowly defined to having nothing fantastical about it, and clearly Kenshin does. However, at the same time, this appears to be the only incident of truly fantastical element; everything else, while unrealistic, is still plausible. As if to not muddy the waters further though, those items of fantastical or supernatural elements usually are limited to items that people believe at the time, such as a house being believed to be haunted, but not actually being haunted; here Gein clearly made a fantastically realistic doll of Kaoru for everyone to see. Personally I say that pushes his story over the line, but I realize others may disagree.
Overview:
Rurouni Kenshin BigViz volume 8 is an action-packed volume. Originally this was divided into three separate volumes so you got to see a bit at a time. In the BigViz version though you get to see all of the battles, the aftermath and as if that weren't enough Gein comes back for a second battle. There is almost no downtime except a few chapters near the end before the confrontation with Gein. This makes it great for someone who just wants to see a lot of cool fights, but not so good if you want much in the way of a story.
I will say before this, I haven't read any of the Kenshin manga and seen only a few odd episodes of the anime as well as the movie, Samurai X. That basically means I knew a little about the setting and the series, mostly Kenshin himself. However, upon picking up this book I felt Watsuki wrote it to be easily accessible almost at any point to get into. Maybe volume 24 in the original would have been difficult due to being so late in the narrative and the fact the reader would have missed the emotional impact of Karou's supposive death, but every lengthy work has an award place for newcomers to start reading it. However, even by the time I read it, I was able to feel the impact and that was only a short time before.
As to whether Watsuki was correct and having her live, I disagree. While the series is a shōnen series, deaths occur for significant characters in such series even late into the series. While Watsuki's assertion that shōnen series are about smiles and happy faces isn't completely off base, many of the darker shōnen series have this after a tragic death; Naruto, My-Otome, several Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE), Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) are just a handful of such titles. FMA even has the same character, Hughes, die in every incarnation just to drive home the point of the tragic nature. Yes, at the end, when the story finally wraps up, shōnen series do tend to have a “happy” end to them such as NGE.
Despite my disagreement, I still find the story entertaining. Watsuki's artstyle is quite good and detailed, though some of his action scenes may make it hard for some to follow. His artwork tends to favor blacks with highlights which just makes those scenes a bit more difficult.
This volume offers a bit more to those who have volumes 22-24 beyond the bigger images and better quality. There are a few color pages throughout the volume as well as some brief historical background info that pertains to this volume at the end. There is also a small colored omake section in the “Author Notes” section as well. As I haven't read the original, I cannot say if those volumes contained additional author notes every few chapters on various characters, the setting or just random stuff.
In all Rurouni Kenshin BigViz volume 8 is a great read for both old and new Kenshin fans. This volume still allows newcomers to experience Kenshin while those who have read it this far should enjoy it, assuming they do not mind Watsuki's cop-out on Karou's death. Those who have the original tankōbon volumes that make up volume 8 may still find value in this purchase due to the higher quality paper and the color pages as it was originally seen in Japan.
ComicsOnline gives Rurouni Kenshin BigViz volume 8 4 out of 5 martial arts duels.
