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The sequel of the 2012 hit movie Rurouni Kenshin will be released in two parts this summer. The Great Kyoto Fire Arc and The Last of a Legend Arc will be released in theaters Japan-wide on Aug. 1 and Sept. 13, respectively.
The shooting of the movie, which started July 1, 2013, has ended recently at last. It lasted six months and took place in 11 areas of Japan––nine prefectures, one urban prefecture, and one metropolitan prefecture. Locations included Ibaraki, Yamagata, Kumamoto, Shiga, Hyogo, Kyoto, Nagano, Tochigi, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Tokyo. The gross distance between these locations add up to roughly 20,000 kilometers, half the circumference of our globe.
Having finished such a large-scale shooting spanning Japan, Takeru Satoh (Himura Kenshin) and Emi Takei (Kamiya Kaoru) shared their feelings regarding the movie.
Takeru Satoh, who also played Kenshin in the previous movie, talks about his attachment: “As I was thinking deeper about this person, Kenshin, I rapidly became attached to the character. This is the first time I’ve loved my role.” He added, “If I look at Kenshin objectively, it feels like he’s a friend living inside me. He’s a friend I love, a friend I can’t leave alone and want to protect, I love him that much...he’s a really nice guy. This is the first time ever that I’ve felt like this,” speaking from the bottom of his heart. It seems Kenshin has become an irreplaceable role to him. “Since the intense action continued, there was always the probability of getting hurt. If you do it all over, there’s even the possibility of suffering a serious injury. For that reason, we had to be a dozen times more concentrated than as if we were shooting a regular scene. We had to stay focused all the time,” he commented about the swordfights that had a scale-up since the previous movie. Having finished the shooting without problems, an expression of relief appeared on his face.
Kamei also challenged herself in the genuine action: “Compared to the previous movie, practising took more time, so I thoroughly engaged in action practise,” she said. “This time, I had a new weapon called a naginata, so the training was really worthwhile, and I gradually came to understand the parts that came to me even when moving and those that didn’t, it was a lot of fun,” she continued, showing confidence in her results.
The movie depicts the Great Kyoto Fire Arc, the climax of the original manga and most popular part of the animated series, in two parts. Keishi Ohtomo, director of Hagetaka: The Movie and Platinum Data, continues to have the director’s seat. We are looking forward to this movie that took the daring actions of having 5,000 people credited and shooting all across Japan in a period of six months.
Rurouni Kenshin: The Great Kyoto Fire Arc will be released on Aug. 1 (Fri) and Rurouni Kenshin: The Last of a Legend Arc on Sept. 13 (Sat) Japan-wide at Marunouchi Piccadilly, Shinjuku Piccadilly, and others.
[Comments on finishing the shooting]
Takeru Satoh: “Everything is bound to end sometime (laughs). In the case of this movie, even before the worries of whether I did good acting or if it will become a good movie, there was always this uneasy feeling of whether or not we’ll be able to complete the shooting, so I’m really relieved that I managed to survive until now. Also, in regards to the movie, I feel a certain emotion, I feel that I’ve experienced so many things it can hardly fit into a lifetime.”
Emi Takei: “I enjoyed having the chance to do real action. Although director Ohtomo was hard on us (laughs), I had a lot of fun. I’m honored to be able to appear in Rurouni Kenshin, so I’m looking forward to seeing the complete movie. Thank you very much!”
Source: animeanime
Source article written by Katsunori Takahashi
