History In The Making: Rurouni Kenshin Manila Red Carpet Premiere

I'm proud to say that yesterday we were part of history, as we were among the hundreds of fans who attended the Rurouni Kenshin Red Carpet Procession at the Event Center at SM Megamall. 

Whether they were event pass holders (thank you SM Cinema for not capitalizing on the event) corralled in barricades or fans who waited for hours behind barricades to greet their Idols, or the hundreds more who we're looking on from the floors above-there was a lot of love and enthusiasm for the franchise. 

It was also interesting to note that there was no specific profile for the Rurouni Kenshin fan. The event was not filled with screaming adolescent girls but was instead filled with different people from different ages and from different walks of life-and they were all fans! They were not just curious onlookers pretending to be fans just to see what was going on. 

One thing I failed to include in My Rurouni Kenshin Journey was that I got to meet different generations of Rurouni Kenshin fans. 

The realization dawned on me during the Rurouni Kenshin DVD Launch which was also organized by Sato Takeru Philippines and Amuse Philippines. I got to chat with the fans during the event and discovered that (Gasp!) these guys were still in College and were a good 5-10 years younger than me! 

I found out that they were of course fans of Sato Takeru who was playing Kenshin Himura, while I on the other hand have been a fan of the late 90s anime, which was a good 13 years ago more or less before getting to know (and become a fan of) Takeru Sato. 

It is overwhelming to think how the franchise continues to live on, gathering fans from different generations, allowing Himura's legacy to live on.

 The essence of that legacy manifested itself in that event, so much so that it was palpable and tangible in the air. 

We arrived at the Event Center at 3:30 in the afternoon, due to having had to do errands in the morning. At this time Paul and I haven't had any sleep yet and it was way beyond our sleeping time since we work the night shift. 

The line was already pretty long by the time we arrived and I was pretty bummed out that we weren't going to get good spots but Lady Luck was on our side when one of the members of the Production Team told us we could already enter the event through a side entrance that had no lines! 

So we did get the spot we wanted but the PRESS were actually stationed in front of us and that meant having our view blocked by big a** video cameras and when I say Press this was the PRESS with local stations like ABS-CBN, GMA 7, TV5, there, as well as Rappler, MYX and even HERO TV. So imagine trying to enjoy the program with their humongous video cameras in front of you! 

Paul was telling himself that next time we attend and event like this without PRESS/MEDIA Passes - he was bringing a step ladder!

Once inside the enclosed area for Event Pass holders we pretty much had to wait for more than hour or maybe it was two hours before the program started. 

We were wondering amongst ourselves whether the program would start on time (Japanese time) or start late (Filipino Time) - it ended up being the latter. 

So when the program finally started, our very own Rurouni Kenshin Live Action Cosplay Group awed and impressed the crowd with their costumes and how they acted out their characters. I even saw a post that the Japanese Staff were very impressed as well. I for one was very impressed how they stood for so long during the program. Kudos!

Special shout out to Jin Joson who cosplayed Kenshin! (^^x 

Tickets to the special screening of Kyoto Inferno were given to fans who were able to answer trivia questions from the series. Unfortunately our position was not accessible to the host - so we lucked out of that. I have to admit though that I was impressed that the crowd knew the answers to the questions, it's good to know that there were real fans out there. 

By this time, I had already accepted that we weren't groin to be able to watch the screening of Kyoto Inferno after the event and for those of you who got to read My Rurouni Kenshin Journey blog post you'd know that I tried oh so hard to get passes, even having my heart broken in the process. 

I'm a very optimistic person and I always try my best to look at the bright side of things. 

So even if we weren't able to catch the screening of Kyoto Inferno last night, I just told myself that we weren't in the best physical condition to enjoy the movie since we were about 24 hours awake by that time. It maybe a coping mechanism but at least it helps me get through right? 

Will definitely jump at any chance or opportunity to catch the earliest screening of the movie possible. 

Going back to the event, when the guests of honor finally arrived, it was such a big production of having each of them alight from vans being greeted at the door and of course all hell broke loose ad they walked across the red carpet and met fans, signing Rurouni Kenshin memento, pieces of paper or anything that could be signed. 

I'm pretty much torn coz I have a whole lot of Rurouni Kenshin stuff I could have had signed but chose to leave home because of the guidelines that were released for the event; (no selfies, no asking for autographs, etc) so yeah -pretty much torn. 

When the director and cast finally reached the stage (it took some time since they really went out of their way to greet fans and sign autographs. It was so nice to see their own personalities and how they interacted with the audience. 

Director Keishi Otomo was so nice - he even mentioned getting friend requests on Facebook just introduce yourself- he says - are you sure you want to open that can of worms? :P

He encouraged the fans to come and see the film and enjoy. 

And Munetaka Aoiki was just hilarious in person, as he really is Sanosuke Sagara. He got the  crowd cheering: Sano! Sano! And it was just so cute how he was doing his best to speak in English <3 And of course they all spoke some Tagalog words which always brings out cheers from us Pinoys.

Emi Takei was so beautiful and kind, she really went out of her way to sign autographs. It was so cute to know she shared that this was her first time attending a movie premiere outside of Japan and how overwhelmed she was with the response of the people. 

Takeru Sato is just a class act, how he addressed the crowd not forgetting the audience in the balconies, floors above. He is no teenage idol heartthrob, there is definitely more to him than just a pretty face. I was also impressed that he did his homework he knew that the first Rurouni Kenshin film became the highest grossing Japanese film in the Philippines. 

If you are still with me until this time dear reader, I would like to to acknowledge the man who made all of this possible - Nobuhiro Watsuki the creator of Rurouni Kenshin, who built a character that has been loved by generations. A character who chose peace at a time of war, who had strength and power he could use and abuse to get his way but chooses to wash clothes, go to the market and cook dinner instead. A character who chooses to save a life instead of taking it and in our world today, we need more of these characters.  

Even if I didn't get to watch the movie, I was lucky enough to cheer for these people who gave life to beloved characters, even if I was in my small corner in that huge hall. In my small voice, in a sea of shouts and cheers was my own and that makes me happy, because I was part of history, of Kenshin Himura's legacy. 

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