Rurouni Kenshin: The Complete TV Series

OMG I finally got this awesome series. Kenshin Himura is a seemingly timid and somewhat clumsy guy who in reality is a highly skilled agile samurai and assassin who is also known as Battousai the man slayer. Orphaned after the brutal slaughter of his parents which he witnessed young Kenshin is taken under the wing of a master swordsman who trains him in swordsmanship and fighting skill. Years later after living as an assassin Kenshin one day walks away from his old life leaving everything behind living as a wanderer, he meets up with feisty Koaru Kamiya owner of a dojo he ends up saving her from a huge guy with a sword who ironically is claiming he is Battousai the man slayer, and was trained in Kaoru's dojo a total lie, Koaru asks Kenshin to stay and he acceptsOne day while Kenshin is in town with Koaru he comes across Yahiko a young pick pocket stealing a guys money bag, but seeing the guy with a kid he doesn't have the heart to keep the stolen loot and sneaks it back to the old guy. Kenshin compliments him on his honesty and Yahiko gives him a a hilarious sour look. Kenshin soon learns Yahiko is being forced to steal by a gang and saves the boy, and this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship/war because Yahiko, and Koaru fight like brother and sister and are totally hilarious to watchAs the story moves on he meets and is challenged by a new arrival Sanosuke who friends call Sano a tall black haired warrior carring a weapon almost bigger then himself, and who sometimes hires out as a worrior. A man who wants to bring Kenshin down hires Sanosuke to battle Kenshin, but the greedy male makes the mistake of following Sanosuke and trying to horn in on the situation which infuriates Sano who believes battle should be one on one matches and hates ganging up on one guy making him turn on the guy, Sano quickly becomes a close friend and part of the new makeshift familyOn the run from a gangsters men who's boss wants her to make a hard core drug they can sell fleeing for her freedom beautiful doctor Magumi spots a restauraunt and runs inside to hide from her pursuers. She stumbles into Kenshin, and Sanosuke who come to her aid, in hiding she is found out and agrees to go back with the men to save her new friends from being killed. Kenshin and friends set out to save Magumi from a doomed existance a drug maker. As the series progresses it becomes obvious that Koaru is very much in love with Kenshin and though subtle you can tell he feels the same about her, it is revealed that Magumi is in love with him as well. I myself had always thought that Sanoske, and Magumi would make a beautiful coupleSeries musicFor music lovers the ending theme song Tactics Performed by ( The Yellow Monkey ) the original Japanese version, and the english version sung by singer and anime voice actor who's also the voice of ( Sanosuke ) in the series ( Lex Lang ) are both amazing the lyrics in the English version are somewhat different But I love both. The original opening theme song Freckles is performed by ( Judy and Mary ) in Japanese, and English version sung by ( Sandy Fox wife of Lex Lang ) the lyrics differ somewhat but both are great and so cute I love both. The original Japanese version is longer I just watched Judy, and Mary performing it in a video what a treat. Both bands play and perform killer rock musicWARNING fellow fans watchout out for this 2nd altered english dub versionThere are 2 english dubbed versions of this series this 1 on ( Amazon is the original english dub version ) My friend invited me to watch the series he has Hulu. Crackle has this same 2nd version I'm not knocking the voice actors their great, what SUCKS is what was done to the dialog fans know how Kenshin speaks example ( it will be a nice day that it will ) not in this his personality is altered as well. Names were changed to Kenshin's called Botchosai the slasher instead of Battousai the man slayer hate that.Yahiko is called Yoshi, Koaru is called Corey, Sanosuke's called Sanosuki that's how we learned there was a 2nd dubbed version. I was like WTF? Read reviews complaining about it. Part I cracked up on was Battousai said like this Botchosai because the first part Botch made me think of the word botched much like the dialog lol, yes peeps I am evil and I know it muwhahaha

As the other reviews will state I had the following problems.1. Disks didn't match the season box they were in except for season three. The were also out of order. Two reviews at least have the correct order.2. The season three box set is falling apart when I opened it once or twice.3. I know I didn't get a pirate copy according to the reviews because the container holding the disks would have been white plastic. However, I still have the Media Blasters/Anime Works advertisement at the beginning.New Issues1. On the first season of Battle in the Moonlight I can't access the setting on the title page and can't access the extras. I can only get the dub version which is no problem because that's what I grew up with however I can't get the subtitles in certain sections and I want to see the differences in the translation.2. On the same disk when trying to access select parts of the episode it is a jumble or hassle to get to the next section. It's a whole circus to do so.3. Each season has a different menu board and the third season box set is the most jarring.Not Related to Product1. Everything I've touched related to this company has been good in the past so I don't know what's up with this release. The product I got was shrink-wrapped so I honestly don't how it was such a mess.2. Rurouni Kenshin what I've seen of season one in the past is a wonderful series and the filler episodes for the most part at least for the first season are wonderful. They don't make them like they used to. All in all, nothing is wrong with the series, it's the product I have an issue with.

First, the series itself: Definately worth watching. Action, Comedy, Drama, a classic through and through. It has both Japanese and English (the good dub) audio, as well as the option for English subtitles so fully watchable whichever your preference.The condition of the disks: In my case, the set, including both the disks and cases, was completely undamaged. Other reviews have had some issues in this respect but I have yet to find any flaws with mine (I have only started actually watching the episodes, or more precisely re-watching them, as I've seen them before).Lastly, the disk order: This seems to be the one common flaw everyone has had with these. The disks are not only completely out of order across all 3 boxes, they are only labeled with a name referencing one of the episodes (each disk contains 3 or 4 episodes, or equivalent). This label is usually only "sort of" an episode name, and will probably require looking up a list of episodes to try and work it out. I loaded the disks one by one, looked up the episode number, and wrote it on the disks until id gotten them in order. That being said, given the rarity of the collection itself, I still gave this 5 stars. It was worth the trouble.All in all, Id say my experience has been worth it, though the issues others have had gave me pause in regards to packing and shipping damages.