English Dub Review: Rurouni Kenshin – Kyoto Disturbance “The Great Kyoto Fire (Part Three)”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Great Kyoto Fire BEGINS! And ends.

OUR TAKE

Thus concludes the three part arc about The Great Kyoto Fire, wherein the fire is finally started!…and ended just as quickly. Of course, despite the title, this wasn’t really ABOUT the fire itself, but the people trying to start it and the people trying to stop THOSE people. And as we know now, that battle is far from over, as Shishio and the Ten Swords are forced to retreat for the time being when Sannosuke is finally able to use that extra strong punch technique he learned from Anjin, as well as learn that Anjin is a member of the Ten Swords, setting up THEIR conflict to come. Anjin himself is in Kyoto with most of the other Ten Swords, but their efforts are also thwarted by Misao’s Oniwaban, who manage to hold their own pretty well! Also of note is a moment with a few mooks from Clan Shishio who end up in Megumi’s nursing station with one on the verge of death. Most of the people there want them gone, but Megumi eases tensions and tends to the injured man’s wounds, showing that a little kindness can really go a long way. No clue if that’s leading to these guys defecting or helping out in the future, but it’s a nice scene nonetheless.

As for the fights with Shishio and Aoshi, those have to be put on hold for the time being when the ship all of the strongest guys are on gets blown up by Sannosuke’s punch. Luckily Aoshi’s thirst for vengeance does not override his survival instinct, and Shishio is way too important to go down like this without getting a proper fight with Kenshin. So, as anticlimactic as it is, the big showdown will have to wait for another time. Except…despite the big three-parter being over, we still have two more episodes left in this season. And even then, that still puts this season at an episode short of the last one. Plus, remember we even had a filler episode awhile back to pad things out, so this part of the story must’ve been REALLY short! I guess all that’s left is to have some falling action about this section and then set things up for the next one, whenever that decides to come out. But as for this episode and arc it concludes, it’s a solid opening salvo for what is to come.