Well, the first chapter of the “reboot” of Kenshin to coincide with the live action movie has been scanlated.
I have only one thing to say after reading it: what a clusterfuck.
In just 40 odd pages, characters introduced: Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, Saito, Jin-e, Sanosuke, Kanryuu Takeda (Megumi’s drug boss) and some other miscellaneous guys I don’t remember the names of. What the hell? Never mind Kaoru’s predicament is now pretty damn retarded.
It could possibly be that Watsuki only gets a limited number of chapters to tell his tale, but in that case the series should have just focused on the parts that are relevant to the live action movie (i.e. the fights), rather than rebooting the story in such a sloppy fashion.
On the plus side, the art is more polished. Won’t be enough reason to stick around if the story does not improve rapidly though.
From ANN:
The May issue of Shueisha’s Jump Square magazine revealed on Wednesday that Nobuhiro Watsuki’s new Kenshin manga series, Rurouni Kenshin -Cinema-ban- (Rurouni Kenshin: Cinema Version), will focus on battles fought with characters from the upcoming live-action film. The issue has a feature promoting the “reboot” of the Rurouni Kenshin series, although the magazine is not necessarily using the term “reboot” with the English denotation in mind. The new manga series will begin in the next issue of Jump Square on May 2.
Trailer of the live action movie for anybody who’s not seen it:
Must say, it looks bad. This is a pretty damn good argument for the existence of anime and animation in general. The Tsuiokuhen (追憶編, Trust and Betrayal) with its serious moods, somewhat realistic fights and not to mention that outstanding story will make for an awesome live action adaptation done properly, but there is just no way the “ORO?”s and ridiculous techniques (what the fuck was that running with the body at an acute angle to the ground?) will translate well.