REEL DEAL: Teaser poster Arrives For “RUROUNI KENSHIN: THE LEGEND ENDS”

Kenshin Himura is washed ashore and found by a mysterious man holding a sword in the teaser poster of Warner Bros. Pictures' “Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends,” the final chapter to director Keishi Otomo's blockbuster trilogy, “Rurouni Kenshin.”

The second installment, “Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno” is now playing to capacity crowds in Philippine theaters, and is trending to open at No.1 for the weekend box office.

Asked if “The Legend Ends” will be the same as “Kyoto Inferno,” director Keishi Otomo replies, “The theme of Kenshin’s atonement for the many people he’s killed does not change. A man who lives in atonement, and a man who does not, must inevitably do battle. But I want Kenshin to be falling apart. Kenshin doesn’t face Shishio as a straight-down-the-line champion of justice. He gets confused; his certainties are shaken.”

Based on the Kyoto arc of the popular manga series written & illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the “Rurouni Kenshin” sequels follow the story of Kenshin Himura (Takeru Satoh), a legendary swordsman in the wars accompanying the turbulent fall of Japan's Shogunate in the 19th century. Once feared as 'Battosai the Killer', he has adopted a peaceful life since the arrival of the 'new age'.

REEL DEAL: Meet Shishio, Ruthless Villain in “RUROUNI KENSHIN: KYOTO INFERNO”

A powerhouse cast of famous Japanese actors is assembled by director Keishi Otomo for the epic action thriller “Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno,” the first of two sequels to the 2013 blockbuster “Rurouni Kenshin.”

Appearing for the first time opposite the hero Kenshin Himura (Takeru Satoh) as the crazed Makoto Shishio is the popular character actor Tatsuya Fujiwara. Performing in hot, heavy, stifling bandages that even make it hard for him to hear, he becomes the personification of pure evil. And Fijiwara gives justice to the role with a powerful, terrifying performance.