Genre Action
Age Rating For Older Teens
Price $17.99
ONE HUNDRED and fifty years ago in Kyoto, amid the flames of revolution, there arose a warrior, an assassin of such ferocious power he was given the title Hitokiri: Manslayer. With his bloodstained blade, Hitokiri Batt sai helped close the turbulent Bakumatsu period and end the reign of the shoguns, slashing open the way toward the progressive Meiji Era.
Then he vanished, and with the flow of years became legend.
In the eleventh year of Meiji, in the middle of Tokyo, the tale begins. Himura Kenshin, a humble rurouni, or wandering swordsman, comes to the aid of Kamiya Kaoru, a young woman struggling to defend her father's school of swordsmanship against attacks by the infamous Hitokiri Batt sai. However, neither Kenshin nor Batt sai are quite what they seem...
The first time I encountered Rurouni Kenshin, I immediately fell in love with it. Of course back then, I was reading a Chinese translation and only understood half of what was going on. What got me interested in the series again was the VizBig edition. I mean if you're asking for the most bang for your buck, you can't beat this omnibus edition. And when I first saw the specs of the book, I thought hey, that's just a few inches larger than the regular manga. But when you actually grasp it in your hands, the VizBig edition does look large and is one of those books that you can kill someone with.
As for the manga itself, well, if you haven't heard of Rurouni Kenshin yet, it's this off-the-top samurai story that features a seemingly-hapless vagabond who is in reality one of the most skilled swordsmen in Japan. While the protagonist and his companions seem wacky at times, Watsuki alternates between super-deformed scenes with bloody and graphic sequences depending on the need. Ruoruni Kenshin also showcases some of the techniques used in manga for kinetic action and cinematic style. Since this edition compiles the first three volumes of the series, one more or less gets a complete feel of what the manga is like as the first part introduces the main characters, the second gives us a short story arc with closure while the third marks the beginning of one of the more compelling stories in the series.
As far as the treatment of the VizBig edition goes, the first few pages of the first chapter is in color and is renditioned quite competently. As for the extras included in the original manga, they're re-ordered in this omnibus edition. The short notes by the author on his character sketches remain where they should be but things like the author's note (usually on the manga jackets) have all been compiled into one page near the end and the bonus chapters (a side-story and pilot of the series) have been relegated to the back as well instead of interrupting the flow between the various volumes. Overall the changes are no big deal and it's great to see that what was included in the original Japanese manga made its way here.
I think one question existing fans of Rurouni Kenshin is whether to get this or not. Now I haven't seen the regular volumes released by Viz so I don't know if all the bonus material included here was missing from those previously-released manga. If you already have the set, I don't think this will give you a new reading experience. However, the size difference is actually quite noticeable (which is a good thing) and there's also the convenience of having all three volumes in one package. If you haven't begun your collection yet, well, the VizBig edition is cheaper than buying the three regular volumes and is in many ways superior to many of the manga being released production-wise.
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