Ask John: What’s the Difference Between Rurouni Kenshin TV and OAV?

Question:
What is the difference between the Ruroni Kenshin TV series and the OVA series? Which one comes first?

Answer:
The Rurouni Kenshin OAV series was the last original Rurouni Kenshin animation produced, but is chronologically the earliest event in the Kenshin story. The entire 95 episode (94 broadcast episodes) TV series had aired on Japanese television, and the theatrical film had come and gone before the OAV series premiered. In a way, the exceptional OAV series was the swan song for Rurouni Kenshin: on it, no expense was spared. The Rurouni Kenshin TV series tells the story of wandering samurai Himura Kenshin and his life of protecting his loved ones. The Rurouni Kenshin TV series begins with Himura having already long since given up the life of an assassin. In the TV series, Kenshin is a light-hearted, mature young man whose path in life is firm and determined. The four part OAV series reveals Kenshin’s childhood, the origin of the name “Kenshin,” the origin of the cross shaped scar on his cheek and details his early life as a professional killer and his time as the “Battousai” man-killer. The Rurouni Kenshin TV series is a long, dramatic story that alternates between light comedy and serious drama, always focusing on the historical conflicts of late 19th century Japan and the characterizations of the individual characters. The OAV series is a much darker, introspective, heart wrenching and graphically violent tale that focuses heavily on Kenshin’s personality and maturation rather than on the social unrest of the time.

Media Blasters is currently releasing the Rurouni Kenshin TV series, and the 4 part OAV series is available through AD Vision. Which series you watch first is a matter of personal choice. Japanese audiences watched the entire TV series and became used to a particular character for Kenshin before being introduced to the totally different, darker and more conflicted Himura Kenshin of the OAV series. Because the OAV series was created after the TV series, a degree of familiarity with the characters and events of the TV series will provide a broader understanding and appreciation of the OAV series, but the introspective and isolated nature of the OAV series makes it very watchable as a stand alone series.