Customer Reviews

Rurouni Kenshin: The Best Theme Collection

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What more could you ask for?
Not only you have here one of the greatest animes you'll ever see, but its greater Soundtrack.

In this ST you can find all the opening/ending themes from the anime series "Rurouni Kenshin" ; from the first opening "Sobakasu" (Judy & Mary) to the last ending "Kimi Ni Fureru Dake De" (Curio), I can say that all the songs are really good. There are performances by one of Japan's most famous Pop groups L'ARC~EN~CIEL, with songs such as "Fourth Avenue Cafe" and "Niji", the last one being the opening theme to the Rurouni Kenshin movie "Requiem for the Ishinshi"; I must also mention the the Japanese group ANIMETAL with their song "Towa no Nirai" (ending theme from the movie).

If you're into JPop or saw the anime and liked it, you sure can't miss this extraordinary ST.

It's often very difficult to buy anime soundtracks without knowing exactly what's on them. The CD that one thinks has lots of vocals may be filled with nothing but instrumental background music.

Not so with this CD. You're guaranteed the best themes from Rurouni Kenshin, from the crazy "Sobakasu" by Judy and Mary to the hard-hitting "Heart of Sword" by T.M. Revolution to the very groovable "It's Gonna Rain!" by Bonnie Pink. Purchasing this CD is a sure thing. The only thing holding this album back is its length. It's a little under 50 minutes long, making it a rather short CD. But the music is excellent...some of the best you can get. And it covers a wide variety of J-pop and J-rock genres.

If you're looking for your first Kenshin album or want a solid addition to your j-pop/anime soundtrack collection, you can't do much better than this!

This CD contains most of the best TV anime opening and closing themes except for "Fourth Avenue Cafe" by L'ARC~EN~CIEL. Apparently there was a controversy surrounding this artist's arrest which, subsequently, has made this particular song rare. I was misguided by "rdmencia"s review that mentions this song. Upon purchasing it, I found that it does not contain this song. However, a CD soundtrack with a very similar name "Best Collection", apparently contains the song.

Initially I had purchased this CD strictly for the song "Heart of Sword." I have always loved this powerful song with it's extremely unique sound and very sharp edge. The guitar rifts are amazing and they blend perfectly in contrast to the synthesized keyboard. To add to it's distinct power is the incredible vocals, which are entirely in Japanese.

No, I am not fluent in Japanese.. Although I really wish I were. I must confess that I did take the time to find the English translation of this particular song and, in my humble opinion, learning it's meaning has only increased the power behind it.

I was also very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the rest of the songs on the CD. I had heard them all previously during the course of watching "Rurouni Kenshin" but had never really paid much attention to them. Now I am almost as fond of them as I am "Heart of Sword."

This is a definite must for any "Rurouni Kenshin" fan and an excellent investment for any fan of good music.

I picked up this CD at an anime convention for ten bucks, and though it was worth the buy, it is far from holding all of the songs of the series that I love on it. However, this is a great place to start if you're just looking to get the main themes to the show.

If you want more of Rurouni Kenshin's instrumental music I suggest you look somewhere else. There is also a great deal of J-POP centered around Kenshin, and if you can track those down, they're great fun to look into also.

The Rurouni Kenshin anime has some very good ending and beginning songs. Though I heard some of them in English first, I'm not sure where to get them in English. Meanwhile, the ones in Japanese are just as fun (just a little harder to sing along to).

If you import the CD onto iTunes (or whatever), the tracks will, for the most part, pop up with title and artist names in kana (pictographs). To make life easier, here is a list of the tracks as far as I've been able to get (so if I'm wrong, I'm sorry):

Freckles (Sobakasu), by Judy and Mary. This song can seem really annoying at first, but give it a few chances, it's pretty cute.
Tactics, by The Yellow Monkey. A great rock song, I really like the melody.
Tears Know (Namida wa Shitte iru), Various Artists. A kind of slowish song, maybe a little annoying, but it's pretty.
Heart of Sword - Before Dawn (Heart of Sword - Yoake Mae), by T.M.Revolution. This is a very good rock song, with a nice melody and very good harmonization (fun music).
1/2, by Various Arists. This song probably will also sound annoying at first, but give it a few chances, because it's fun.
It's Gonna Rain! by Bonnie Pink. A slower rock song, lots of fun to sing along even if you don't know the words, because 'ciao' is lots of fun to say....,
1/3 True Feelings (1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou) by Siam Shade. I always think of it as 'my heart', because that's what he says a lot amidst the Japanese lyrics. It's a very pretty song, maybe a little sad.
Everlasting Future (Towa no Mirai), Various Artists. I would like this song, except that I don't much care for the singer's voice at some points. I'm sure it doesn't annoy lots of people, but for me it keeps me from listening to it, even if I like the melody.

Then there are 2 other songs which are over 7 minutes, and not very interesting in my opinion. Sorry I can't give any information on them.

If you like this soundtrack (even if you don't), I also recommend Best of InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo Vocal Album, and Naruto: Best Hit Collection.

This CD was the first anime CD that I ever recieved. And I must tell, you, it's been with me ever since. It's a great CD to take on trips and to listen to alone or with others. It's got songs for lots of different occaisons. Like "Towa No Mirai", that's a slow-ish, rubato song, very sensual, too. The music rises and falls slowly and dramatically, and it captures the sorrow that Kenshin harbours in so terribly in his heart. But then there's track one, Sobakasu (the first opening, known in the American version as "Freckled Face"). That's one for jumping around. Hehe. It's all in Japanese, as is the rest of this CD. Really, my friends and I all get up and bounce around during this song, it's so upbeat, fun, and, well, bouncy. There's some really neat guitar stuff in that song. <----There's some really neat guitar stuff on the entire CD, too. The last two song are longer than their predecessors, at about 8 minute. This album contains only ten songs from Kenshin, excluding some very nice ones, but, as this CD says, it has the Best Themes.

For Kenshin fans, you already know why it'd be worth buying a cd of the opening and closing themes ... they're just all so great! And even if you haven't seen Rurouni Kenshin (you should), this cd provides a fantastic range of J-pop and J-rock selections. Very highly recommended.

Being a fan of Rurouni Kenshin, just having finished the TV series and looking forward to the movies and OVA, this CD was a must. I love Tactics and One Half and already know the lyrics from watching the episodes! I listen to the CD while looking at manga and artbooks.
It was a must for my music library. A lot of time and money went into the making of these soundtracks and it was worth it! The CD would make a great gift for kids - upbeat and fun!

This CD contains some of the Best Themes in Rurouni Kenshin series (mentioned above); However, It would have been better if all the RK themes were in one CD. I enjoyed it very much and still listen to it. I have to buy another CD to get the rest of songs though.