First episode of Kenshin

[Vance]

Okay, I just watched the first episode of Kenshin today. What I'm curious about, who ripped who off? Did Trigun rip Kenshin off, or did Kenshin rip Trigun off?

I mean, the setup is the exact same, in fact, Vash and Kenshin are nearly indistinguishable. I even heard lines directly cut between the two.

"He really is the legendary Batosai the Manslayer!"
"He really is the legendary Vash the Stampede!"

They both slaughtered tons of people, but are both wanderers seeking peace and love. When Kenshin was playing with the kids it looked exactly like when Vash was playing with the kids, even down to the kids pulling their mouths apart. Both are legendary with dark pasts yet extremely humble. And of course, there's the same plot line where noone can believe that they're who they really are because they don't act it at all, and finally one of the main female characters finds it out after he does some impossibly skilled act that saves someone's life.

The similarities between the two were so great that I just had to laugh. Especially the part at the end of the episode - "He beat us all without killing anyone!"

Of course there's also the code to not kill anyone.

I mean, Kenshin is dope and all, but I really felt like I was watching Trigun in a weird world where everyone had different hair-dos. It also doesn't help that in the dub I believe the same actress that plays Merrill plays that girl who owns the dojo, so whenever she said anything I was constantly reminded of Merrill. I just can't express how freaking similar they seemed to me, it was stunning o_O

[Buckets]

Vash didn't slaughter tons of people. He destroyed July with his angel arm, but nobody died from it if I remember correctly. I thought the town was empty. Or was it that Knives had already killed everyone? Then again there's the possibility that I'm completely insane. But yeah, they are pretty similar. Although Vash had always seeked "love and peace" from the very beginning, but Kenshin was an assassin in the past.

[Vance]

Well, I do admit, their pasts aren't exactly the same, but they are both formidibly powerful and have a past that gives people cause to fear them, even though it is not warranted with their current attitudes.

[kakoi_sugoi_yama]

The first volume of the Kenshin manga came out in 1994, and the first issue of Trigun came out in 1995.

Vash has killed directly and indirectly. People have died because of his innablity to harm another human being. Not everyone in the town of July were dead either. Knives loves to torture Vash, and what better way than to make him kill people.

[morgorath]

OK just A little bit of what I know... Knives killed most of the towns people and since they are brothers those people who lived confused the two... also what ever evidence that could clear Vash went up when his Angel Arm went off... As for Kenshin he lives to make up for his past... Vash is striving to achive the dream (that girl Kakoi help me with her name) ________ hand for the future of mankind when Knives and Vash were on the ships together. I see the common threads they have (and watching Kenshin in Japanese will save you from the horrors of some of the later voice actors) but what you are saying is like me saying Cowbot Beebop and Outlaw Star are the same because both Spike & Gene Starwind are bounty hunters and fly around the universe in space ships....

[Buckets]

Rem Saverem.
Good point morgorath :wink:

[kakoi_sugoi_yama]

Rem is great. I know every word to the song she sings. That series is so emotional. So many great things to say about it. Looks like I'll be popping my DVDs in soon. Even though I have seen each episode over 20 a piece. :wink: :wink:

[Shinn Asuka]

Personally, I don't think the two should really be compared. Trigun, though a great series in it's own, is based off pure comedy for a long time before it becomes serious. Kenshin is comedy and serious at the same time. Don't believe me. Wait until the episode with Sanosuke. Or Aoshi. There's humor within the seriousness.

Trigun takes place in the desert. Vash was rather innocent for everything he did (Lagato is a great badguy, heheheh). No one really know WHO Vash the stampeded is, only what he looks like.

Kenshin takes place in Meiji era Tokyo. Kenshin DID everything he was blamed for. Kenshin DID kill thousands of people in the war. When people are looking for Battousai, EVERYONE knows that's who he is when he begins to fight. We're not talking about that fat dipshit in the first episode, either. weatdrop:

I'd go into this deeper...but I need to go take a shower weatdrop: If you WANT to continue this conversation in a more private setting where I can delve deeper into both series without spoiling the hell out of them for everyone else, give me a PM. Hell, I was trying to get your brother to get AIM....get AIM and we'll chat on that.

[Vance]

Well, Kenshin and Trigun aren't exactly the same series, I'm just arguing that Kenshin and Vash are modeled after the same archetype and act the same way. The similarity runs deeper than simple plot analysis, it's in the way they conduct themselves, and in the way the director portrays them.

For instance, in the episode of Trigun I watched last night, Demon Eye, there is a scene where Vash is walking into a bar. There are tons of slaughtered people inside, but he doesn't know that yet. He's being his usual goofy self, and when he's walking in, the audio has him say Hello in his goofy tone just like you'd expect him to when walking into a cafe. However, a split second afterward when he is out of the view of Millie and Merrill it shows him opening the doors to the pub with a deathly serious look on his face.

In Kenshin you get the exact same vibe when dojo girl throws his sword up in the air. He acts all goofy trying to catch it, with giant eyes tripping back and forth, but then when dojo girl is out of sight it instantly cuts back to him, standing with a perfectly serene and serious look on his face and the sword falling neatly into the sheath.

(What's dojo girl's name by the way? Although dojo girl isn't bad, kinda like police girl for Seras.)




I have no doubt that they'll break apart in the long run, it just seems that from what I've seen a lot of the same directorial techniques, story elements and themes were almost copied from oneanother.

[Shinn Asuka]

Dojo girl = Kamiya Kaoru.

[kakoi_sugoi_yama]

They do have many similarities, but they are both completely different at heart. I love Trigun, and If I had more Kenshin manga. I would probably love that too. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: I have seen the entire first DVD and the second part to the first OVA set. I wouldn't mind getting more of the anime, I just don't have the cash to drop at the moment. :mrgreen:

[morgorath]

There are a lot of plot points that are on the same level but hell Samuri and cowboys are like pee's in a pod. The showdowns... the build ups to even the cut and dry who's a bad guy and who isn't. But I loved both shows... I just wish Kenshin would have stopped at SHiro... that would have been a good ending point... Final sword attack and all