The Unfortunate Truth of Being A Rurouni Kenshin Fan
Rurouni Kenshin has to be one of the more beloved samurai manga out there, with a sizable fandom spanning the classic manga to the anime which ran on Toonami. The franchise also grew exponentially beyond the main series, spawning the lauded Trust and Betrayal OVA, and several live-action films, yet the actions of the franchise's creator sometimes give fans pause.
In 2017, Nobuhiro Watsuki, 47 at the time, was charged with possession of child pornography and was ordered to pay a fine of just 200,000 yen, which equates to a little under $2000 USD. The continuation of Rurouni Kenshin's manga that started just months beforehand — «The Hokkaido Arc» — was put on hiatus, yet actually resumed just half a year later in 2018. Fast-forward to September 23, 2022. During the Aniplex Online Fest, a reboot of the Rurouni Kenshin anime, produced by Liden Films, was shown off in a new trailer. The video was dazzling and would have been the source of much excitement if it didn't also reignite a discussion of Watsuki's deeds and the morality of supporting the series despite them.
You Can (Almost) Watch Every Rurouni Kenshin Movie on Netflix
No one enjoys watching a creator responsible for something beloved be in the news for doing something bad, but there are different ways people react to and interpret that information. Some find it difficult to love the art the same, finding it tainted by the deeds of the creator, while others try to dissociate the art from the creator to preserve what is arguably (or demonstrably) worthwhile.
Neither is necessarily easy, especially when there is some emotional connection to the art in question and Kenshin hit quite a chord with many fans, regardless of the medium it was consumed. The discourse surrounding
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