English Dub Review: Rurouni Kenshin – Kyoto Disturbance “Sakabato First Attack”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

In a flashback, Kenshin recalls how he got his first Sakabato sword.

OUR TAKE

After Kenshin’s first big win of the season, we have another interlude to separate segments of the arc, but unlike the episode with Sanosuke, this takes us back to the fourth year since the war in which Kenshin gained his Battosai reputation. That seems like a pretty important period of his life to give some context to since the trauma of killing so many people has defined so much of his code in the present day story. But it also really breaks up the pacing of the story and the episode itself doesn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know or add anything that really matters. So, you may or may not be surprised to learn that this episode is (almost) entirely anime original, AKA filler. That seems like a weird move to make when this season is already going to be shorter than typical six month anime seasons, not to mention the manga this is based on ended a quarter of a century ago, so why pad things out? Or at least, if the Kyoto arc wasn’t enough to fill 24-26 episodes, why not stretch THAT out instead of coming up with a flashback filler story out of whole cloth?

Now, let me be clear, this episode isn’t some horrible time vampire abomination simply because it is filler. There’s lots of non-essential episodes of many shows that could technically be labeled “filler” but actually are quite entertaining in their own right. As for this episode specifically, it is a perfectly functional bit of story. Kenshin is the only regular character present in this flashback, which makes sense considering it is told from his perspective, and his personal emotional journey is about laying out how he finds the courage to fight to defend the happy couple that took him in when he was sick and rebuild his code and ethics with the use of his then-new Sakabato. At this point in his life, Kenshin knows he is a very good killer and if given a sword, he will likely kill whomever he faces in battle, even though he longer wishes to, so being given a sword with the blunt and sharp sides reversed gives him a way to fight for the sake of others without being at risk of killing someone. Essentially, it is reiterating everything we already discussed was significant about him getting the second Sakabato he just got last episode. So, with that fully reiterated, let’s get back to the real story.