Whenever they add their own scenes and deviate, it constantly conflicts with scenes from the canon and the ENTIRE POINT of some of the scenes/story moments!
I will be using the OG anime as a reference as it's the thing people are most familiar with and it was very loyal to the manga anyway (in terms for Kyoto arc atleast)
The Rengoku section in the OG lasts about 10 mins, which is half an episode.In the 2024 season 2, these 10 minutes have been stretched to 4 EPISODES???
This in itself is not a big problem, the problem is that while doing so, they completely missed the entire point of the Rengoku section. And them missing the point of key moment and scenes is not limited to just Rengoku, I'll come back to that later.
OG:
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The OG is 10 minutes, Shishio was not planning on them figuring it out, it catches him by surprise, but he's got cannons and a machine gun.
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Then Sanosuke happens, out of nowhere he busts out Anji's technique... "He's not just a nobody!".
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Then Sano throws the bomb "no worries!" and BOOM big explosion. Shishio's plan is ruined. Because he underestimated his biggest adversary and a nobody. Very expensive lesson.
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Scene over...
In the 2024 version.
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It all starts out the same and very good Shishio looks very surprised by Sanosuke. Then Sanosuke boards the ship, LITERALLY SHOWS EVERYONE HE HAS BOMBS and goes on his merry way to the engine room.
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What does Shishio do? Nothing... just lets Hoji deal with it... Someone who is not a fighter... Against someone who has the same technique as Anji.
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Sanosuke is succesful blowing up the engine room NOT EVEN USING THE BOMBS!!! which makes Katsu giving him the bombs ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS! In the Manga and OG, it was a nice callback to Katsu and a funny gag, THE ENTIRE POINT OF THAT MOMENT!
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Shishio then gives the same speech as the OG which is not warranted AT ALL. Shishio was not caught of guard this time, he literally LET it all happen he LET Sano destroy the ship, while the ENTIRE POINT OF THE RENGOKU SECTION IS THAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE CAUGHT OF GUARD!
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But this is not even the worst part of it... No... The worst part is as they are all going their separate ways... Sojiro just casually turns around and says "Oh yea, the one who taught you that technique works for us, Ok, bye!"
Why on earth did this scene needs to be included? Literally in the next scene when they go to the Aoiya the reveal as it should be still happens, where Kaoru tells about the monk who saved Misao. It's the same scene as OG and Manga, great... BUT THEN WHY INCLUDE THAT SCENE OF SOJIRO TELLING HIM? This really seems like a toddler wrote it... I can't for the life of me imagine why that scene was necessary, it literally ruins Sano's shock when Kaoru tells him because he already knew it.
There are more problems with the Rengoku section (like Saito doing nothing?) but these were by far the worst...
Sorry if this seems like a rant but it has been boiling up for a while. And I don't understand why ppl were ok with these episodes when they came out... The whole reason this Rengoku thing happens is to show Shishio getting caught of guard by our heroes which literally does not happen in the 2024 version.
Again, this bleeds into more issues, like Megumi giving the medicine to Kaoru so she can deliver it to Kenshin. This scene happens! Kaoru gives it to Kenshin along with Megumi's wishes... And then 1 second later MEGUMI IS LITERALLY THERE WITH HIM!!! Again completely ruining the point of Megumi giving Kaoru the medicine in the first place.
It just seems like the writers are making stuff up with literally no regard on how it will impact other scenes that are already planned. Their improvisation is 10000% messing with canonical scenes.
OG proved that adding scenes can elevate the source material if done right, to me, the Remake is proving that adding scenes can devalue and conflict with source material if done wrong.Which is a shame because the Remake definitely has good moments. But whenever they deviate from the canon it completely falls flat and ruins the point of the entire scene.