Both adaptations have their strengths and weaknesses.
Summary:
- Fans wonder if they should watch the first Rurouni Kenshin adaptation or the remake.
- The original has a lot of fillers, while the new one has rather poor animation.
- The manga is worth reading.
As the remake of the Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan aired recently, fans are wondering if they should just watch it instead of the original. After all, the new adaptation promises to be more faithful to the source material, and the first anime was notorious for its fillers.
On the other hand, the new anime had a particularly poor reception. While it was more faithful as an adaptation, it failed to deliver good action animation. So, which anime should you actually watch?
Are Fillers from the Original Series That Bad?
Funnily enough, the two anime had very similar pacing. The 2023 adaptation stopped at the same place where Episode 31 of the original series stopped, so you probably won’t notice much difference in pacing.
However, there are real differences in content between the two series. The old anime relied on fillers a lot and changed some minor plot points. The new one was mostly faithful to the manga, but also included side stories from spin-offs — a choice that was welcome by fans.
Some fans feel like the mini-arc skipped in the first adaptation wasn’t very good anyway, though. The first anime also changed the introductory arc, making the first meeting between Kenshin and Kaoru more emotional.
Other Strengths and Weaknesses of Both Adaptations
While the new anime made the character designs more appealing to newer fans, it also sacrificed the animation quality. While the 90s series wasn’t the best-looking thing ever, it had its own charm and was consistently well-drawn.
The canon content in the old anime stops after 62 episodes, and after that, it’s all fillers. The new anime is likely to cover the same amount of content in four cours, and two are already out with a sequel announced. Still, there’s a chance the new anime will continue adapting the manga further.
Just Read the Manga
Both the old and the new anime have their strengths and weaknesses. Remakes in general are not liked much by anime fans — the airing Spice and Wolf (Ookami to Koushinryou) remake is an exception — and while manga fans were happy to see a faithful adaptation, they were dissatisfied with the presentation.
It seems that reading the source material remains to be the best way to experience Rurouni Kenshin — the only anime adaptation that is widely acclaimed is the Trust and Betrayal OVA, which covers Kenshin’s past.