Thread: Rurouni Kenshin Kanzenban: Character redesigns

A couple of years ago the Rurouni Kenshin manga was re-released in kanzenban form, which from what I have read is like a collector's edition printed in high quality paper with extras from the mangaka. Has anyone here bought the kanzenban?

What interested me in particular is that Watsuki included a bunch of 'character redesign' sketches illustrating what the cast would have looked like if he had drawn the manga in the 2000s with his present art style.

Here are a few highlights. It seems this site doesn't have the feature of spoiler brackets so to keep the size of my post under control I used code tags instead. Simply right click and select the 'view image' option.

Kenshin

Code:

Kaoru

Code:

Sanosuke

Code:

Saito

Code:

For the full gallery go to http://the-oro.com/kk_lay.php?x=multi/zanz. Along with the above sketches it has the villains and supporting characters. In my opinion the new art style is more mature and at the same time more fantasy-ish(villains are even more freakish).

What do you think?

Continued with more images.

Megumi

Code:

Aoshi

Code:

Misao

Code:

Hiko

Code:

Rest at the source.

Hmm... all of the characters (with the exception of Misao) look much older. They also give off a more serious / grimmer / grittier feel, like a seinen manga rather than a shounen art style. Personally, I still think I like the more rounded faces of the original, and the more Japanese-style clothing (though maybe that's less historically accurate... Hiko's clothing was eye-opening).

-Dizzy-

use "[img] /img]' instead next time please. =/

Some designs look good, others look terrible.

I don't know Hiko but Kenshins scar was too long to me

Only alternates I would have preferred were Kaoru and Megumi.