It was a blast watching the live-action Rurouni Kenshin (“Samurai X”) movie in the cinemas, but then the Metro Manila Filmfest came, so all foreign films had to stop screening in the theaters. But I’d pre-ordered the DVD which was going to be released the day after Christmas, and it just arrived yesterday.
This was my first time to order anything from Yesasia.com. I love them now. The price of the RK deluxe dvd was just about the same as the retail price marked on the box, and I got free shipping. I’m ordering the Rurouni Kenshin OST next!
This is the deluxe DVD region 2 version. I didn’t get the blu-ray because I didn’t have a blu-ray player (yet), but I figured I could always get the BR Deluxe when it comes out with English subtitles. Yes, the Japanese first editions have no subtitles of any language. However, since I’d seen it nine times in the cinema, I’ve pretty much memorized the dialogue.
The DVD comes with a 2nd disc with the director Ōtomo Keishi, star Satoh Takeru, and a couple of other guys I’m assuming are producers doing commentary on the film. The 1st disc has the movie, plus all promotional trailers and videos (TV, etc.), interiews of each main cast member, and videos of the different movie premieres attended by the cast. The videos of the premieres were fun. Of course these had no subtitles either, so I just stare at Take-chan’s pretty face.
It came with the movie’s script. One day, when I know Japanese, I will be able to read it.
The photobook wasn’t as fabulous as I was hoping it would be. But it had nice photos taken behind the scenes, character profiles, and a really cool image board. If only the pages were bigger!
Ever since the DVD/Bluray first editions came out, Twitter’s been buzzing with people talking about how they’re all, uh, “acquiring” digital copies of the film, and how amazing the movie was. I hope Rurouni Kenshin gets a theater run in more countries next year. It’s already had its North America premiere at the LA EigaFest 2012, but there’s been no news of it being released in the theaters. C’mon, people! My friends in the U.S. are dying to see it. And it looks so amazing on the big screen.
ETA (2013.03.10): Great news! There will be a local (Philippines) release of the Rurouni Kenshin live action movie DVD to be available starting March 20. Apparently this will be Region 3-coded, and will have English subtitles for the feature film. The bonus feature will be a video of the making of the movie, but that won’t have English subtitles.
ETA (2013.03.28): Listen up! For those who’ve been patiently waiting for a DVD or Blu-Ray of Rurouni Kenshin with English subtitles, the Hong Kong versions (Blu-Ray | DVD) are up for pre-order (release date is 3 April 2013) on YesAsia. Blu Ray is Region code A, and DVD is Region 3.
Congratulations. :))
Mine’s still in Japan, hahaha. I might be over fangirling over Takeru before I receive it. Boo.
Well, yeah, there’s that. haha