History Film / RurouniKenshin

* FiveBadBand

* FriendlyEnemy: Despite being no less of a culprit than Kanryu's other men, the film incarnation of Banjin distinguishes himself with the fact that [[spoiler: he has no problems at all sharing a time-out meal with Sanosuke, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny graciously accepting a swig of wine before resuming their ferocious battle]]. He didn't accept the chicken though [[EvilVegetarian because he's vegan]], and [[PetTheDog prays for ''the poor thing'']] after Sano passes it to him for a bite.]].

* NobleBigotWithABadge: Saitou, full stop. The ''bigot'' part stems from the fact that despite working for the Meiji government, he still imposes his rigid and brutal sense of justice as a former {{Shinsengumi}} squad leader on his enemies. The ''noble'' part comes into play when 1) despite having it in for Kenshin and his enemies, he never goes beyond due process, and 2) he maintains his dignity and self-possession as a {{samurai}}, unlike the sell-swords serving under Kanryu.

* JapanesePronouns: As in the original manga, Kenshin overwhelmingly uses the old-fashioned "sessha" as his personal pronoun. When he walks in on Jin'e and the kidnapped Kaoru, he uses "ore" and "kisama", both for the only time in the movie. This is very, ''very'' bad...[[SuperpoweredEvilSide for Jin'e]].

* RawEggsMakeYouStronger: Sanosuke, just prior to challenging Kenshin, picks up a dish with one as a warm-up snack.
** He also gets one in the break between his fight with Banjin. And grabs another for later that he throws in Kanryu's face to temporarily blind him in the gatling gun scene.

** [[spoiler: When Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saitou and Aoshi fight Shishio, he thoroughly kicks their asses.]]

* DecompositeCharacter: While Gein is [[CompositeCharacter Aoshi and Han'nya's counterpart]] in this film, the actual Aoshi character will appear in the sequel.

* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: Sano takes a beating for most of his duel with Banjin. Same thing happens with Anji and [[spoiler: Aoshi]] in the sequel.
** [[spoiler: Shishio takes repeated blows from the four heroes and barely pauses in his kicking their asses.]]

** He also gets one in the break between his fight with Banjin.

* BottomlessMagazines: Gein puts up a ridiculous volume of fire for a pair of 4-shot pistols.

* AdaptationDistillation: [[JustifiedTrope Understandable]], given how long the anime ran. It's essentially the first eleven episodes condensed into two hours, with a sprinkling of Tsuiokuhen[[note]]notably Kenshin readily laying out the story of his scar to Megumi freely, instead of having been forced to reveal the whole of the story to the Kenshin-gumi due to Enishi's impending attack[[/note]] and Saito arriving way too early in the series. Considering how disparate the source episodes are, they are wonderfully meshed into one coherent story.
* AFatherToHisMen: Despite not outwardly showing it, Saito values the lives of his fellow policemen and subordinates. [[spoiler: When he sees Kenshin looking on at the dead bodies of policemen and thugs killed by Jin-e, he goes straight to Kenshin and reproaches him for his non-killing oath]].
--> '''Saito''': ''If you just killed one of these scum, [[spoiler: my policemen would still be alive]].''

* BookEnds[=/=]ArcWords: Spoken as Saito as a cynical rebuke to Kenshin's pacifistic idealism ([[AdaptationDistillation which were originally the swordsmith Arai Shakku's]] ArmorPiercingQuestion to Kenshin/Battousai just before he set out on his 10-year journey in the manga/anime).
--> Saito: ''"We live by the sword and we die by the sword. There is no other path for men such as us."''

%%* ColonelBadass: Saito.

** [[spoiler: When Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito and Aoshi fight Shishio, he thoroughly kicks their asses.]]

* EarlyBirdCameo: Saito wasn't supposed to be introduced until the Kyoto Arc. Likewise, Gein and Baijin are supposed to be introduced in the Jinchuu arc but was [[CompositeCharacter fused]] with the Oniwabanshuu.

* GoodCopBadCop: Played straight with Yamagata and Saito respectively when they try to win Kenshin over. It doesn't take.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Saito does this to Kenshin during their duel where he uses his superior strength to make the latter cut himself with his reverse-edge sword.

* IaijutsuPractitioner: Kenshin comes true to form not only with his practice of ''battoujutsu'', but also uses backhands with his sakabatou whenever necessary, as witness his match-in-the-rain with Saito.
* InspectorJavert: True to his manga/anime incarnation, Saito still has his unwavering grudge towards Battousai, and very appalled at his current pacifistic stance.

* NobleBigotWithABadge: Saito, full stop. The ''bigot'' part stems from the fact that despite working for the Meiji government, he still imposes his rigid and brutal sense of justice as a former {{Shinsengumi}} squad leader on his enemies. The ''noble'' part comes into play when 1) despite having it in for Kenshin and his enemies, he never goes beyond due process, and 2) he maintains his dignity and self-possession as a {{samurai}}, unlike the sell-swords serving under Kanryu.

* OnlyAFleshWound: Kenshin was cornered into being wounded by his own sword by Saito. Jin-e's face was split to bleeding by Kenshin (angered into being Battousai). Both of them keep up like nothing happened.

* RatedMForManly: Sanosuke, as to be expected of his boisterous energy. Saito manages to evoke this image just by standing there, smoking and looking scary.

* SceneryPorn: The production team [[ShownTheirWork went out of its way to properly replicate significant events/places]] in the manga/anime, such as the chaos and destruction of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi (Kenshin and Saito's last battle as samurai in the prologue), the streets and ditches of Edo-era Kyoto, down to the gate of Kanryu's mansion.

* SmokingIsCool: Hajime and Kanryu. Even Megumi indulges with a pipe, just one time.
** GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Hajime rocks that plain old cigarette like a badass, and Megumi's pipe is of a very elegant design, while Kanryu smokes these obscenely huge cigars like he's CompensatingForSomething.

* SwordPlant: Himura Battousai responds this way to Saito when the Battle of Toba-Fushimi ended in the prologue, his way of saying he will not kill again.

** TheSixthRanger[=/=]TheLancer: Saito Hajime.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the first film, Gein and Banji are both knocked out but still very much alive (Gein even shouting a variation of WeWillMeetAgain). But when we later see Saito aprehending Kanryu's gang, they're nowhere to be seen, leaving ambiguous if they fled the scene or were simply arrested off-screen.

* {{Badass}}: [[WorldOfBadass Plenty]].
** BadassAdorable: Kenshin.
** ColonelBadass: Saito.

* ChekhovsGun:
** Jin-e finds the SwordPlant Kenshin left in the flashback and [[spoiler:uses it on him in the final battle.]]
** Sano's love for eggs finds application in a pivotal battle.

* RedHeadedHero: They nailed Kenshin's hair. It looks very natural despite him clearly being Japanese.

* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Himura Kenshin.
** TheBigGuy[=/=]TheLancer: Sagara Sannosuke.
** TagalongKid: Myojin Yahiko.
** [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Guys]]: Takani Megumi and Saito Hajime.
** TheChick: Kamiya Kaoru.
** TheSixthRanger: Saito Hajime.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Sano is quite fond of raw eggs and will often down one before a fight. [[WordOfGod Director Ohtomo]] stated at the LA Eiga Festival that Sano's fondness for raw eggs became his character tic because the character tic of his manga/anime counterpart, having a fish bone in his mouth, would look too silly in real life.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Sano is quite fond of raw eggs and will often down one before a fight.
** For a reason: [[WordOfGod Director Ohtomo]] stated at the LA Eiga Festival that Sano's fondness for raw eggs became his character tic/trait because the character tic/trait of his manga/anime counterpart, having a fish bone in his mouth, would look too silly in real life.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Mooks by the hundreds can barely slow our one or two heroes down, much less touch them.

* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: Sano takes a beating for most of his duel with Banjin.

* AdaptationDistillation: [[JustifiedTrope Understandable]], given how long the anime ran. It's essentially the first eleven episodes condensed into two hours, with a sprinkling of Tsuiokuhen and Saito arriving way too early in the series. Considering how disparate the source episodes are, they are wonderfully meshed into one coherent story.

** The unfortunately merciful punishment of Takeda Kanryu. See KarmaHoudini above for more details.

* WarIsHell: Done quite subtly-yet-beautifully in showing the aftermath of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in the prologue. Seeing the dead bodies of all combatants, friend and foe piled up together in the field while being [[SnowMeansDeath slowly buried in snow]], drives home how many lives and personal futures have been sacrificed just to bring a new era. It's [[ShoutOut comparable to]] Creator/AkiraKurosawa's staging of post-combat deaths in his latter-year big-budget films such as ''{{Kagemusha}}'' and ''Film/{{Ran}}''.

After the success of the first film, sequels immediately followed: the second, ''Film/RurouniKenshinKyotoInferno'' was released on August 1, 2014, while the third, ''Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends'', was released on September 13 of the same year, both covering the Kyoto Arc.

* RatedMForManly: Sanosuke, as to be expected of his boisterous energy. Saito manages to evoke this image just by standing and looking intimidating.
* RedHeadedHero: They nailed Kenshin's hair. It looks very natural despite his clearly being Japanese.

* RightHandCat: Kanryu has these collies that he clearly adores, but closer to this trope, a white rabbit is seen on his desk. In a subversion, the ''only'' feline appearing in the film is [[CuteKitten a stray cat which got]] [[KindheartedCatLover Kaoru's fawning attention]].

* SequelHook: This film purposefully dosen't depict the ''exact'' circumstances to which Kenshin got his second scar [[spoiler:and avoids showing Tomoe's face, leaving the casting wide open]], which will neatly allow the ''Tsuiokuhen (Remembrance)'' and the ''Revenge'' arc of the manga to be adapted should it be successful enough to warrant future sequels.