Streaming Sleepers: All Five RUROUNI KENSHIN Films Are Now Streaming On Netflix
Today is July 4. It is also the start of Independence Day weekend in the U.S., and, it is also high time I posted a Streaming Sleepers piece which I haven’t done in a while, and for this, we turn to Netflix in its recent release of the Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends.
The streamer was already home to the first installment, 2012’s Rurouni Kenshin which stars Takeru Satoh in the lead. Subscribers also got to check out 2021’s Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, and Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, and now the streamer is home to all five movies.
Set against the backdrop of 1870s Japan, Satoh heads franchise as Himura Kenshin, a wandering samurai whose fearsome reputation re-surfaces amid a spate of killings. Banding together with newfound friends and allies, and armed with a pacifist sense that emboldens his use of a reverse blade, our hero is challenged by hordes of foes who wish nothing but to bring the country to its knees – including enemies from his dark and deadly past.
The franchise also stars Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, Yu Aoi, and Yosuke Eguchi, along with Teruyuki Kagawa, Koji Kikkawa, Yusuke Iseya, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Tao Tsuchiya, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Masaharu Fukuyama, Mackenyu, and Kasumi Arimura, among others. All five films released to Japanese cinemas from Warner Bros. Japan for a combined global gross of $198 million at the box office.
Director Keshi Otomo is the man behind the lens of the sprawling samurai saga inspired by Nobuhiro Watsuki’s 1994 manga, with action sequences by Kenji Tanigaki, whose stellar action design has made him a favorite among action aficionados. His credits of late partially include Snake Eyes: G.I. Origins, Donnie Yen’s Sakra, Soi Cheang’s Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled-In, and his upcoming directorial outing, The Furious, starring Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, and Yayan Ruhian.
Watch all five Rurouni Kenshin films now on Netflix!
Lead image: Warner Bros. Japan
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!