The fun thing is, while the first four episodes tell Kenshin’s genuine past, as the author showed it in the manga volumes 19-21, the last two aren’t true to the manga AT ALL.
You see, the TV series only follows the manga until the end of the Kyoto Saga, and leaves out the later plot involving Enishi. That’s 11 volumes of the 28-volumes series, and a vital part because it contains so much character development for Kenshin, for Kaoru, for Yahiko and hmmm… for Aoshi, too. It concludes the manga in a wonderful way.
And then they produce this OVA. They waste one whole episode on old scenes from the original series, and then compress the 11-volumes story arch with Enishi into a tiny sorry excuse for a revenge story, leaving out everything that makes the plot interesting, characters etc, … and then commit the worst of crimes towards Kenshin-dom, by deciding to invent their own tear-jerking ending, ignoring EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING the author intended. People acting out of character!
The first OVA about Kenshin’s past is truly excellent. It’s a masterpiece, everything working together in perfection, music, art. The story from the manga is adapted well, although the artwork is changed and a few minor details are also changed, but all this only helps to make it into a beautiful anime.
It’s sad that the makers of the second OVA decided to do something as horrible.
No End
Many times I have walked,
down the same path in life.
Will I ever come to the end,
or will I walk forever endlessly,
across the desert sands.
Maybe there is no end,
maybe I will wander forever.
That’s me the Wanderer,
the one that’s life never ends.
So now I will wander forever,
with a journey but no end.
Now get out of here and take your Vogon poetry with you.