Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins

Set in the early years of the Meiji era, this Japanese action film follows Kenshin Himura, a former assassin who once killed on behalf of a revolutionary faction. After the fighting ends, he abandons his lethal trade, takes up a sword with a reversed blade that cannot kill, and wanders the country as a drifter, offering help to those who need it as a form of penance. In Tokyo he meets Kaoru Kamiya, an instructor at the kendo school her father founded, who invites him to stay at her dojo. His attempts to leave his past behind are complicated when the violence he thought he had escaped returns to threaten the people around him and, eventually, the nation itself. The film adapts Nobuhiro Watsuki's manga.

Keishi Otomo directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Kiyomi Fujii. It was the first feature Otomo directed, and it began a series he continued with two 2014 installments and two further films in 2021. Takeru Satoh plays Kenshin, with Emi Takei as Kaoru, Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara, Yu Aoi as Megumi Takani, Koji Kikkawa as Udo Jine and Go Ayano as Gein among a credited cast of 24.

Released in August 2012, the film took in roughly 62 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.4/10 from more than 28,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.5/10 from around 945 votes, indicating a generally favourable response from viewers.