"Rurouni Kenshin Final Chapter The Beginning" Director Keishi Otomo What is necessary in manufacturing is an awareness of details [Director's Interview Vol.120]

The ``Rurouni Kenshin'' series, a live-action film adaptation of manga artist Nobuhiro Watsuki's blockbuster work directed by Keishi Otomo, is an indispensable work when discussing Japanese film history. Even if we ignore the category of ``live-action adaptation of a manga,'' the influence it had on subsequent works and on us, the audience, is immeasurable, such as the sword fights, the heat, and the strength of the work itself.

The ``Rurouni Kenshin'' series will end its 10-year journey with the fifth installment in the series, ``Rurouni Kenshin Final Chapter: The Beginning'' (released on June 4th). That's why I highly recommend you to watch "The End of the Legend" in theaters.

This work is a prequel that takes place before the first work, `` Rurouni Kenshin .'' The setting is Kyoto at the end of the Edo period. The young Kenshin Himura (Takeru Sato), who was working behind the scenes as the assassin "Hitokiri Battosai" for the anti-shogunate faction, and Tomoe Yukishiro (Yukishiro), who later became his wife and whom Kenshin would kill with his own hands. It depicts the tragic love of Jun Murakashi. This is a masterpiece worthy of the name "masterpiece."

This time, we have an exclusive interview with director Keishi Otomo. We talked a lot about not only the deep story behind the work and the theory behind its creation, but also his thoughts on movie theaters.

Index

• Eliminating the line between action and drama
• Unusual tension in the Rurouni Kenshin team
• Sympathy for director Christopher Nolan
• The importance of the “diary” that connects “The Final” and “The Beginning”
• A passion for making movies that can only be created in movie theaters
• Everyone should advocate for the necessity of movie theaters.

Eliminating the line between action and drama

Q: I heard that the concept of ``Rurouni Kenshin Final Chapter The Beginning'' (hereinafter referred to as ``The Beginning'') was to ``do a period drama properly.'' Specifically, it seems that they took an approach such as reducing the fixed images and colors, but the ``dynamic'' nature of the ``Rurouni Kenshin'' series has not been lost.

Otomo: In terms of this work, the main point is that it uses a serious sword that is not a reverse blade sword. If you cut someone, blood will flow, and you will be showered with blood in return. Moreover, Kenshin in this work is a terrorist who is steeped in ideology and aspires to revolution. He is a swordsman steeped in madness who devotes all of his time and skill to cutting down his opponents. When you explore these aspects in a realistic manner, a sense of ambiance or atmosphere naturally emerges.

However, the ``difference'' when compared to the Meiji era ``Oro Kenshin'' that I have drawn so far will be shocking.

Q: As you said, the surprise that comes from watching the previous four films is also effective.

Otomo: It's not that we were conscious of how to make this work unique, but I think that our team itself has that kind of mindset. The same goes for the scene at the beginning where Kenshin looks like a rampaging horse, and for example, the scene where Kenshin and Okita Souji (Nijiro Murakami) fight, the fortune-telling fortune reflected in the background is an accent... Everyone is thinking about what should be put in place to make Gairenmi occur naturally.

“Rurouni Kenshin Final Chapter The Beginning” © Nobuhiro Watsuki / Shueisha ©2020 Movie “Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter Part I - The Final/The Beginning” Production Committee

Introducing the confrontation scene between Kenshin and Okita, there is a scene in which the anti-shogunate clan warriors who have run away from Ikedaya see fireflies at a waterhole. This is an omen before Kenshin and Okita, those who ``dedicated their lives to the sword'' moving about in the darkness of Kyoto, face ``death,'' and it shows the ``instantaneous life'' that was unique to that era. It is a production that conveys the vividness of life by ``a dying person finally seeing the beauty of a firefly.''

Q: In your play, fireflies also symbolize the soul. I think the connection between ``drama'' and ``action'' is what makes ``Rurouni Kenshin'' and director Otomo's work so appealing.

Otomo: When you're on set, there's always preparation, so you're like, "Now it's the action part!" However, I think that especially in the case of ``Rurouni Kenshin,'' action and drama are not separate entities within a single movie. That's why I've always said, ``The action is an extension of the drama.''

Q: Director Otomo's philosophy is "motion and emotion."

Otomo: That's right. It's connected, isn't it? Kenshin, the strongest swordsman at the end of the Edo period, embodies this. Because of that, I said, ``Please, Takeru Sato'' (lol). It's not a matter of ``how to express the action'', but rather ``remembering the Hiten Mitsurugi style properly'', and even if he were to achieve ``divine speed'', Takeru Sato would have to express it only with his own body to a certain extent. In other words, it needs to be incorporated into all of your everyday actions.

"Serious" transcendental action behind the scenes! Special training video for the movie “Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter Part I - The Final”

For convenience of production, I have separated it from "action", but all of them are necessary elements to depict the character "Kenshin". That's why on set, we don't have the feeling of ``starting with the action part'', we eliminate the line between action and drama, and we all think and create together. ``The Beginning'' is the result of delving into these issues.

Unusual tension in the Rurouni Kenshin team