so i recently re-read rurouni kenshin and omg is it amazing. im not a avid fan of naruto or bleach but i have seen/read quite a bit of the manga/anime for those series. the one big diffrence i find between RK and Naruto and Bleach is RK has a serious story that deals with mature themes for a shounen. Personally i think RK is way better than Naruto or Bleach. What about you? i would like to hear ur honest opinions.

________________


Current Favorite:Seishun For-get!
Manga That Needs More Attention: S Senjou no Tena

i don't think you can compare naruto/bleach with rurouni kenshin. as you have mentioned Rk is a more story oriented and more mature and as for naruto/bleach is more of a kids type classic shounen kinda like DGZ[dragonballZ]. One more is that RK is already a legendary slasher where else naruto/bleach is where the weak shounen gets more stronger is each small arc. no comparison can be made cause RK is in a league of its own.

RK has many mature themes in it, and the main char starts as a legendary swordsman so you don't get any of the (usually) annoying "I must get stronger" stuff every time he fights a new enemy. I like RK more than bleach and naruto cos Battosai is way more badass.

The let down from bleach for me is every time Ichigo meets a new enemy (as far as I can remember), he gets his ass handed over to him. I don't have anything against the "I must get stronger" cliche, it's just that when it's done like that, I get bored reaaal fast.

As for naruto, I don't really have to say anything about it right?

Rurouni Kenshin, to me, is like a classic. It really is the perfect example of what a shounen should be (in my opinion). There will always be Bleaches and Narutos and One Pieces, but as far as i'm concerned, there will never be another kenshin. That manga is untouchable.

plus, it knew when to end. i lost interest in bleach and naruto after i realized it was just the same kind of repetitive stuff over and over again.

Watsuki talks about RK never being/turning out quite like he wanted it the basic story was but as a whole it wasn't.
In 1 hand he was doing a story which he was satisfied with for the most part but on the other he was doing a series in Weekly Jump where he was forced to make it very typical shonen esque and a battle manga and follow the WSJ rules to a series a bit.
The series had enough popularity to finish its run but was often criticized for not being shonen enough or following the WSJ rules.
Basically it was the start of Weekly Jump becoming wimpy and hey everyone lets copy Dragon Ball,Yu Yu Hakusho,and or Slam Dunk.

Another series of his which was canceled Gun Blaze West had incredible potential to be a great adventure story with a setting really not touched upon much by manga/anime.
First 10 chapters nice. After that although naturally done you can tell he really hammering the basic rules to a WSJ series to hopefully get a bit more popular before it was canceled.

Really don't think he's a good fit with WSJ and should have tried the series somewhere else.

Pretty much any Weekly Shonen Jump series that started before 1999 is better than whats in there today.
Some of the legends that have sold tons can't even get a new story in WSJ these days without getting canceled so they all moved to some other Jump or somewhere else.




Last edited by mibutenma at 12:24 am, Mar 2 2011

seriously...kenshin was criticized for not being shonen enough
that just....cant be true lol
it was filled with your typical shounen crap
even if kenshin himself was good all the side characters had their powering up arcs
even kenshin had them
he had not used his full ability in a long time...so he needed to get beaten up for 20chapters to let lose his awesome sparkle powers
or they showed him as young when he was going doing the powering ups
we have cute girls,angry side char,weird child,epic villians,lots and lots of comedy,main character acting weak/stupid in most cases then saving the day in the end

also
its one of the more popular manga that started around DBs end

was popular enough to make the 9th longest running wsj anime[beaten by db,op,naruto,bleach,gintama,kochikame,kinnikuman,hnk]
thats pretty good when you think about it

i might personally like kenshin better than
narto,bleach,op ASO
but i dont think it is better in any way
its up to the reader to decide

You left out an important point. Rurouni Kenshin is mostly realistic. It depicts historical events & doesn't diverge far from its focus on swordsmanship. There are no zombies, no magic, no people infused with an element, & no earth-shattering seals.

The battle with Shishio was to protect the country.

The battle with Uchiha was to protect the planet.

Besides, most shounen/action manga start out with weak main characters that improve, while Kenshin was already a famous Hittokiri.

________________

Well, I have read some Naruto, some Bleach, but RuroKen is in that special shounen place where everything is 99.99% perfect. Because there is no such thing as perfect. Bleach and Naruto are both somewhat entertaining, yet the animes are sucking. RuroKen anime still doesn't have that original fell, of course, but both the anime and mange beat all those other popular shounen mangas. So I like RuroKen much better. Plots are better, art is excellent, long story, completed. Naruto and Bleach: small story plots, arts is comme ci comme ca (so-so), and is one of those never ending mangas that won't stop until the author retires. Yes, they're both long...but infinity long.

________________
"'The lives I've taken will be paid for with my own life.' That's one way to look at it...but it doesn't mean they come back once you die. Lives can also be paid for by the sword; by redeeming yet other lives. That is why 'Hitokiri Battousai' is still alive in the Meiji Era."

don't click this link...