I hope they keep it manga accurate.
It is an EXCELLENT Kaoru moment. It shows that she's human, with real, deep feelings about the people she cares about. I would also crawl into bed and cry if the person I realized I was in love with told me they were leaving to go kill someone and they were never going to come back.
I prefer it so much more than movie version, where she just stands there like an idiot as Kenshin walks away in broad fucking daylight and then she goes and does laundry and practices kenjutsu. It's supposed to show that she's suppressing her feelings, but instead it came off like the landlady was slightly annoyed that her tenant broke the lease early, but whatever, no big deal.
I love the live action movies, but they were not particularly Kaoru friendly.
>I would also crawl into bed and cry if the person I realized I was in love with told me they were leaving to go kill someone and they were never going to come back.
And it's not just Kenshin leaving. Her father's >!"death"!< was pretty recent before the start of the series IIRC, and then Kihei betrayed her after she took him in following that loss. Her mother is never mentioned, so we presume she died awhile back, but it could have still been more recent. Almost everyone Kaoru has loved has left her, and she's 17. That's a crippling blow for anyone at any age.
I remember that being one of the chief criticisms for her depression back in the day: why was she grieving so hard for Kenshin? It was because this was the latest crushing loss in a series of crushing losses. It's hard to watch, but she battles back fast, and it was great character development for her.
It’s been a hot minute since I read it, but I recall a big part of it was the whole persona of Kenshin/battousai. Kenshin isn’t just leaving and never coming back, if he goes and kills again the Kenshin she knows is dead and he is the man slayer once again. So she is grieving him as if he’s already dead until Megumi lectures her. That was my interpretation of it at the time. I’ll have to reread this series again sometime.
Her father had died less than 6 months before meeting Kenshin, we know this because Saito says the government won't allow to deploy the army against Shishio because not even 6 months have passed since the Seinan War.
Kaoru is a mess at the beginning of the series, even more so than Kenshin. Her story is about maturing, becoming independent and leaving behind her teenage years, all of this she has done already by the Jinchu arc. In Hokkaido they don't show her much due to this, she's a mature woman without much more development to offer, that's why have new characters like Ashitaro and Asahi.
I've mentioned this before, but I will always appreciate the reasoning the director had for doing the live-action scene the way he did.
In the manga, the new anime series and especially the OG anime series with all the filler, Kenshin and Kaoru spent a very significant amount of time together. So the more drawn out goodbye, and Kaoru's reaction makes much more sense. On the other hand, in the first live-action movie, they really don't spend that much time together. So doing the more over the top goodbye to start the second movie just wouldn't feel earned at that point. It would have rang really false to me and would have come across like the movie checking a box in simply trying to adapt the source material. A pitfall that a fair amount of adaptations run into.
Also for what it's worth, it absolutely came across that she was suppressing her feelings to me. It felt like a realistic reaction. And while anecdotal, from what I've seen, it also came across that way to all the dozens upon dozens of people I've shown the movies to, including those who never saw the manga/ anime.
One of the biggest strengths of the live-action movies imo, is that it made it a point to try and adapt the manga/ anime as closely as possible, but also had the discipline to do so only up until the point it would contradict or be cheapened by something the live-action movies had already set up. Decisions like that is what allows the five movies to truly stand on their own two feet as a whole.
I think you pretty much nailed it in your second paragraph, so yeah fully agree: Kyoto is the arc that sees the most fundamental character growth that Kaoru goes through, from the naive depressive reaction to her stalwart defense of Aoiya.
So yes, while the whole sequence at face value seems cringe and very weak-female-character-crumbles-without-her-man, it's very much critiqued by the story and the characters themselves, is the catalyst for her development, and therefore should not be altered.
**So yes, while the whole sequence at face value seems cringe and very weak-female-character-crumbles-without-her-man**
I never saw it that way AT ALL.
It was a very human reaction to someone you love leaving you forever. It's completely normal to cry and be depressed when the person you love says they're leaving to kill someone and they're never coming back.
I liked it better in the OG anime because I think Kaoru's character development is stronger and as a result the true meaning/intent of her reaction comes across better than in the manga or what the new anime us likely to do.
In the OG anime, Kaoru is much more independent, spunky, and capable throughout. So when she falls apart after Kenshin leaves, it doesn't come across as she can't exist without someone else around, or that she's not capable or strong on her own. We've already seen that, that isn't true. It's much clearer that it has everything to do with her love for Kenshin.
In the current anime, they took almost all of that capability and confidence away from her so I'm not expecting to like the upcoming version of this part.
I hope they keep it manga accurate. It is an EXCELLENT Kaoru moment. It shows that she's human, with real, deep feelings about the people she cares about. I would also crawl into bed and cry if the person I realized I was in love with told me they were leaving to go kill someone and they were never going to come back. I prefer it so much more than movie version, where she just stands there like an idiot as Kenshin walks away in broad fucking daylight and then she goes and does laundry and practices kenjutsu. It's supposed to show that she's suppressing her feelings, but instead it came off like the landlady was slightly annoyed that her tenant broke the lease early, but whatever, no big deal. I love the live action movies, but they were not particularly Kaoru friendly.
>I would also crawl into bed and cry if the person I realized I was in love with told me they were leaving to go kill someone and they were never going to come back. And it's not just Kenshin leaving. Her father's >!"death"!< was pretty recent before the start of the series IIRC, and then Kihei betrayed her after she took him in following that loss. Her mother is never mentioned, so we presume she died awhile back, but it could have still been more recent. Almost everyone Kaoru has loved has left her, and she's 17. That's a crippling blow for anyone at any age. I remember that being one of the chief criticisms for her depression back in the day: why was she grieving so hard for Kenshin? It was because this was the latest crushing loss in a series of crushing losses. It's hard to watch, but she battles back fast, and it was great character development for her.
It’s been a hot minute since I read it, but I recall a big part of it was the whole persona of Kenshin/battousai. Kenshin isn’t just leaving and never coming back, if he goes and kills again the Kenshin she knows is dead and he is the man slayer once again. So she is grieving him as if he’s already dead until Megumi lectures her. That was my interpretation of it at the time. I’ll have to reread this series again sometime.
Her father had died less than 6 months before meeting Kenshin, we know this because Saito says the government won't allow to deploy the army against Shishio because not even 6 months have passed since the Seinan War. Kaoru is a mess at the beginning of the series, even more so than Kenshin. Her story is about maturing, becoming independent and leaving behind her teenage years, all of this she has done already by the Jinchu arc. In Hokkaido they don't show her much due to this, she's a mature woman without much more development to offer, that's why have new characters like Ashitaro and Asahi.
That's what I thought. It's been quite a few years since I sat down and read the manga.
I've mentioned this before, but I will always appreciate the reasoning the director had for doing the live-action scene the way he did. In the manga, the new anime series and especially the OG anime series with all the filler, Kenshin and Kaoru spent a very significant amount of time together. So the more drawn out goodbye, and Kaoru's reaction makes much more sense. On the other hand, in the first live-action movie, they really don't spend that much time together. So doing the more over the top goodbye to start the second movie just wouldn't feel earned at that point. It would have rang really false to me and would have come across like the movie checking a box in simply trying to adapt the source material. A pitfall that a fair amount of adaptations run into. Also for what it's worth, it absolutely came across that she was suppressing her feelings to me. It felt like a realistic reaction. And while anecdotal, from what I've seen, it also came across that way to all the dozens upon dozens of people I've shown the movies to, including those who never saw the manga/ anime. One of the biggest strengths of the live-action movies imo, is that it made it a point to try and adapt the manga/ anime as closely as possible, but also had the discipline to do so only up until the point it would contradict or be cheapened by something the live-action movies had already set up. Decisions like that is what allows the five movies to truly stand on their own two feet as a whole.
I think you pretty much nailed it in your second paragraph, so yeah fully agree: Kyoto is the arc that sees the most fundamental character growth that Kaoru goes through, from the naive depressive reaction to her stalwart defense of Aoiya. So yes, while the whole sequence at face value seems cringe and very weak-female-character-crumbles-without-her-man, it's very much critiqued by the story and the characters themselves, is the catalyst for her development, and therefore should not be altered.
**So yes, while the whole sequence at face value seems cringe and very weak-female-character-crumbles-without-her-man** I never saw it that way AT ALL. It was a very human reaction to someone you love leaving you forever. It's completely normal to cry and be depressed when the person you love says they're leaving to kill someone and they're never coming back.
I liked it better in the OG anime because I think Kaoru's character development is stronger and as a result the true meaning/intent of her reaction comes across better than in the manga or what the new anime us likely to do. In the OG anime, Kaoru is much more independent, spunky, and capable throughout. So when she falls apart after Kenshin leaves, it doesn't come across as she can't exist without someone else around, or that she's not capable or strong on her own. We've already seen that, that isn't true. It's much clearer that it has everything to do with her love for Kenshin. In the current anime, they took almost all of that capability and confidence away from her so I'm not expecting to like the upcoming version of this part.