And when it did have music, it was exactly what was needed to elevate hype and drama. It was just Naruto and Sasuke giving it their all from start to finish. I love how the fight began and how most scenes didn’t have background music: This was the moment all Naruto fans were waiting for since they first read the manga or saw the first episode back in 2002 (or 2005 for the English air date) - and it was all worth it. But there’s also no harm in making amends and changing for the better. Not everyone will forgive Kenshin for his grave sins. Similarly, the thought of going back to Tokyo with Kaoru and the rest of the gang made him snap out of his dire situation to land the Kuzuryusen on Shishio. He wouldn’t have survived (and eventually won) if Sanosuke, Aoshi, and Saito weren’t in the same area to take on Shishio while he was down and out. He had good friends ready to support and fight by his side and make daily memories together.
He was no longer alone and feared by all. It was also about Kenshin reaping the fruits of his journey to redemption. Still, this wasn’t just about the losing or winning: Kenshin yearns for peace and redemption while Shishio is hungry for power and chaos. These two guys were highly skilled (and notorious) sword fighters who slaughtered many people, but the MC and the main villain of Kyoto Arc have taken different paths since their early years of murder. I recommend all duels in the arc, but Rurouni vs Kenshin takes the cake.
The local TV network probably showed this anime’s Kyoto Arc many times when I was a kid, and I’m glad they did.
Hitting bone and muscle, seeing copious amounts of blood, and taking the life of another isn’t a walk in the park. When you’re actually the one trying to kill (and not get killed), then killing suddenly doesn’t seem so easy or glorious. Sometimes it’s just a goblin that simply wants to survive no matter what - and it’s the same for people. Their movement and attack speed will depend on their weapon, they can actually miss their attacks, and that the monsters they slay aren’t always going to be dumb, inherently evil creatures. In this goblin encounter, they realize that it’s not a mere game: Instead of making the MCs immediately overpowered in their new strange fantasy world, the young group here are undoubtedly anxious and inexperienced in combat. I included the goblin fight from EP 02 because of its different take on isekai. And then you have the nonsense like him running off as if he's Sonic the Hedgehog as I've mentioned, which makes absolutely no sense when you consider how the body moves when you're running and is pretty jarring when his legs move like a circle considering the attempt to make movement "realistic" in that punch.Out of all the fights on my list, this is perhaps the one with the least spectacle and sakuga animation - because that’s not its focus. The art style in terms of how Pain looks as he's taking the punch doesn't help either. Pain's face looking like how a person takes a punch slow-mo. Like is there any reason to expect Pain's face to be discombobulated into so many directions when all he's doing is simply punching the ground? Other stuff like how he receives the punch is jarring because they use squash and stretch to show how he's taking the force, but the sense of timing doesn't work at all (in real-time, never mind the ninja speed they're going at, it'd be difficult as hell to see the stretch and squash taking effect, and yet the effect is portrayed in two ways: Naruto's fist moving at a regular/fast pace vs. I'll admit I confused the terminology in my previous post, but what I mean is how the squash and stretch is used. It all depends on how the animation is used in addition to the style of art. You can have high quality animation and still have it be terrible.