ADV Films Samurai X: The OVA Collection

This is a great buy because you get the motion picture plus Betrayal and Reflection. The best of the three would have to be Betrayal, the other two have horrible voice acting and they're still good but Betrayal outshines them both. In Betrayal you get what every fan wants to know and that's Kenshins past and the story of how he got that crossed shaped scarr.I truly love this Reflection and even though it is very good I can't escape the fact that these characters do not seem to be the same. Karou was not herself in reflection I know her love was deep for Kenshin but she seemed unreal, her love was deep for him in the series but she was still the funny, joyful, loud swordswoman she always was but with more love in her heart because of Kenshin. The same with Yahiko Megumi and Sanoske.It felt like Karou turned into Tomo Kenshins first wife, a soft-spoken loving caring wife who would never leave Kenshins side.I'm very sure Karou would become something like Tomo but in her own way. Plus after what happened in the series with Yahiko taking kenshins sword to fight Gohei Hiruma the crazed idiot who would stop at nothing to kill Kenshin for breaking his thumb it looked as if Kenshin would never let Yahiko touch the reverse blade sword again. To end this it's hard to believe that all of the characters hardcore Rurounie Kenshin fans have come to love could change so much. In a way I don't know these people but overall reflection is a good story sad but good and the big change is it's only downfall. I agree with other reviewers because the animation is just unbelievable and I wish they could of used it for the series.

Like everyone said, Trust & Betrayal were actually very enjoyable. Great sword fights and gives us more background on Kenshin's past. Reflection was just too much to handle after seeing the happy Kenshin in the regular series. I feel that they shouldn't have done Reflection at all because it is always great to think that Kenshin will live on a happy life in our own imaginations. And I don't think Reflection doesn't really reflect of the series too well because Kenshin finally finds happiness in the series. And in one episode that a fisherman told him to stay close to his love if ever finds one. And I do believe he took that advise well, that's why he married Kaoru and had Kenji. It just doesn't make sense that he keeps blaming on himself and keep on being a Rurouni after he has found a "home". I overall feel Kenshin deservers a happier ending or just never ended. Not only it made me cried my guts out when he died and the happy Kenshin in the episodes image was almost shattered for me in an instant. It is a tragic ending and it is too tragic for fans to watch it also...

This is without a doub one of the best pieces of anime ever. I would recommend reading the manga first (all 28 volumes). You can watch the TV series, but it's not true to the spirit of the series. The music is excelent and the story is wonderful. Trust/Betrayal are pre-Meiji; they are an in depth look at Battousai's period as a hitokiri and generally sty true to the manga. Reflections, on the other hand, is like fanfiction, except you have to pay for it. It doesn't follow the manga. And the characters are not themselves at times. Kenshin never moves forward, Kaoru is more of a Meiji Tomoe and she is almost never shown with a wooden sword, and the other characters just seem off occaisionally. That dosn't mean it's not a thing of beauty. I recommend to any open-mnded fan who doesn't mind a depressing-ish ending.The visuals have their stange moments (the real-time shots in particular are odd), and the english dub is not that bad. It is better in Japanese, though.If you love Rurouni Kenshin, you'll love Samurai X (what an asinine name that is!) OVAs.

Wactching trust and betrayal showed the prequel to the series and it was intersting how he came to be the man slayer, but reflection was just not kenshin. In the series, he has become more relaxed and happy and learned to live with what he has done in the past, but in the reflection dvd, it takes him out of character and makes him feeling guilty and depressed so much. It was nice to see an ending to kenshin story, but it was just too tragic. It should have been a happier ending. However, this was a excellent anime from the drawings to the story line. Its quite emotional. So, i recommend watching it, but keep in mind that, thats not really how kenshin changed in the series in the reflection dvd.

Samurai X (or Rurouni Kenshin) OVAs are among the best anime ever produced. The story, the art, the characters, everything just blew my mind away when I saw them for the first time, and still does. But, alas, something went awry, probably in the mastering phase of this release:For some unknown reason there are very annoying problems in the audio, which heavily affect the watching experience. Every now and then, when there is music, speech and sound effects playing simultaneously, music drops about 10-20 db, and the sound effects control the whole soundscape. Then, after a few seconds, the music strengthens again as suddenly as it weakened.Especially in this kind of story, where music plays a really big part in the atmosphere, these kinds of problems can't be forgiven. For me, it destroed the whole watching experience, which means that I'm forced to watch old digitized vhs-versions.Shame on the guys who mastered this.

The OVA series really opens your eye to what Kenshin was about before he turned in his killing sword for the Sakabatoa. You see his past from when he was a boy who witnessed the killing of innocent people right before his eyes to him roaming the streets of Kyoto killing loyalists of the Tokagawa. The first 3 DVDs are devoted to Kenshin the Hitokiri Battosai while the last 2 DVDs takes place years after the show when he started a family with Miss Kaoru. This is definatly 1 to add to your collection if you a big fan of Ruroni Kenshin.

I love trust and betrayal a classic tragic anime love story. Also gotta love how cool and cold the protagonist is in the story. Took me a little while to get my item but well worth the wait.

Product exactly as advertised. Fast shipping.