Aniplex’s Online Fest 2022 event showcased the trailer for the new anime adaptation reboot of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin manga. The trailer reveals the main staff and new cast and character visuals for the anime that is set to premiere on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block in 2023 with no specific release date yet.
The anime will be re-adapting the main manga series, hopefully with no fillers.
The staff will include Hideyo Yamamoto (Cells at Work: Code Black, Strike the Blood, Darker than Black) will be directing the series at LIDEN FILMS, character design by Terumi Nishii (Jujutsu Kaizen 0, Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya), series composition by Hideyuki Kurata(Drifters, Goblin Slayer, Made in Abyss), and music composition by Yuu Takami (Library Wars, Rainbow-Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin).
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The new adaptation will be starring voice actors/singers Soma Saito (Record of Ragnarok’s Adam) as the wandering swordsman Kenshin Himura and Rie Takahashi (Re: Zero’s Emilia) as the steadfast Kaoru Kamiya.
Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump serialized the manga from April 1994 to September 1999. The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and SPE Visual Works which aired in Japan from January 1996 to September 1998.
The manga has sold over 72 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga. In 2017 Watsuki and his wife, novelist/story collaborator Kaoru Kurosaki launched the Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc manga in Shueisha’s Jump SQ magazine in September 2017. However, the series later went into hiatus after the author was charged with possession of child pornography. It resumed publication in June 2018.
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The complete manga, first light novel, and first guidebook are released by Viz Media in North America.
The manga also inspired a live-action movie series produced by Warner Bros. Pictures with actual film production done by Studio Swan. The first film Rurouni Kenshin premiered on August 25, 2012, in Japan, followed by Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno on August 1, 2014, and shortly after by Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends on September 13 of the same year. The last two movies, Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final were both released in 2021.
Watch the Trailer for the New Rurouni Kenshin Anime
Fun fact, the title of the series is actually a made-up word by the author, combining the kanji
流浪 ( rurō which means “wandering”) and 浪人 (rōnin “masterless samurai”, literally “wanderer”). It is spelled in kanji within the manga as 流浪人 or るるうに (Rurouni). A rough translation of the whole title would be “Kenshin the Wandering Masterless Samurai: Meiji Swordsman, a collection of Romantic Folk Tales”.
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