His character was not well-handled and there was a lot of forced acting and unnecessary movements whenever he appears on screen. However, I was quite particularly annoyed by Munetaka Aoki's over-the-top performance as Sanosuke. Yosuke Eguchi and Ryunosuke Kamiki both stand out as the icy cool chief of police Hajime Saito and cheerful young assassin Soujiro Seta (who's also one of the Juppongatana members) respectively. The goals for the characters were clear from the beginning of the film. The same could be said for Tatsuya Fujiwara as the main antagonist Shishio, who managed to create a frightful and imposing presence every time he appears on screen. Takeru Sato did a great job portraying as the reluctant and conflicted hero Kenshin, who's unwillingness to kill is constantly challenged by his desire to protect the innocent at the same time. The film benefits from the strong performances from the lead characters. On the other hand, Kenshin is joined by many new allies, The Oniwabanshu (Hidden Watcher ninjas), a surviving remnant of the old Shogunate's spy network in Kyoto and Saito Hajime, the current chief of police of the Meiji government who was the former Shinsengumi head (military police protecting the Shogunate). He is joined by his the Juppongatana (Ten Swords), a group of highly skilled, elite assassins and a huge army of warriors under his command to destroy everything that stands in his way. As the first of the manga/anime adaptation's two-part finale (Kyoto Inferno - Part 1 and The Legend Ends - Part 2), Shishio, a samurai with formidable skills equivalent to Kenshin's, declared an all-out war against the new government and he intends to bring back the old days of the Shogunate - "survival of the fittest" where the strong shall live and the weak shall die. Finally, fans get to see their beloved characters brought to life on the big screen again. This time, stakes are higher as Japan is facing a larger threat imposed by Kenshin's evil successor, Makoto Shishio and Kenshin struggles to stop this impending threat to the newly established Meiji government he helped to restore. The sequel picks up where the original left off and the story continued with the Kyoto Arc adaptation, the series' best story arc. However, his past soon comes back to haunt him. Kenshin must summon every warrior skill he possesses to fight dangerous and brutal enemies along fate’s journey leading to the ultimate bloody confrontation… blade on blade, soul against soul.Based on the hugely popular 1994 manga/anime historical fiction romantic action drama series, Kyoto Inferno is the second instalment of the Rurouni Kenshin (also known as Samurai X in many western countries) trilogy, which tells the story of Himura Kenshin/Battosai, a retired samurai who seeks redemption for his past killings as an assassin to topple the Shogunate government and restore power to the emperor.
In that moment it becomes clear why he has been summoned Kenshin is the only man alive who can find Shishio… and stop him.
Driven by a burning revenge Shishio commands a private army of bloodthirsty mercenaries and is planning to overthrow the government and will stop at nothing to take control. Without warning he is summoned by Home Minister Toshimichi Okubo (Kazufumi Miyazawa), and is informed that Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara), his successor in the service of the new government, believed to be dead, is in fact both alive and plotting in Kyoto. Fate however, had taken hold of Kenshin’s future and was now guiding him toward a new destiny. Once feared as ‘Battosai the Killer’, with the arrival of the new Japanese age and nursing the pain of losing many of his companions he is now a lone wanderer, roaming the land seeking to be of service to those in need. Kenshin Himura (Takeru Satoh) is a legendary swordsman, a hero in the wars preceding the turbulent fall of Japan’s Shogunate in the 19th century.