Kenshin's meido in the original series is scattered and philosophical. This remake burns through 27 episodes in 90 minutes and doesn't apologize for it. You get the arc's skeleton stripped clean: the animation is gorgeous, the fights breathe differently than the TV show, and the character designs feel like they aged into themselves. The compression means you lose the slow deterioration that made the original work. What remains is pure momentum, the version of Kyoto made for people who already know why it matters.

Kenshin leaves Tokyo, and this two-episode OVA remakes the Kyoto arc on a large scale, covering the stretch from his departure up to the eve of the great fire in Kyoto. The retelling is seen through the eyes of Makimachi Misao, and it follows the wandering swordsman Himura Kenshin as he sets out to stop the villainous Shishio Makoto, who schemes to seize control of Japan. The result is an action drama that revisits the arc from both the original manga and the earlier anime adaptation, told from a fresh angle.