How actor Takeru Satoh sets up stunts for the lead role

Takeru Satoh has played the character of Kenshin Himura since 2012 and has done all of his own stunts since he first took on the role.

And to mark the end of the franchise with the fourth and fifth films, The final and The beginning, the actor explained more closely how he is preparing for the role.

Keishi Otomo’s film adaptations of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s classic manga series feature incredibly well-choreographed fight scenes between Satoh’s Kenshin and his co-stars.

Satoh plays Kenshin in all five films of the franchise: Rurouni Kenshin, Ruoruni Kenshin: Kyoto’s Hell, Rurouni Kenshin: The legend ends, Rurouni Kenshin: The final, and Rurouni Kenshin: the beginning.

News week can reveal everything you need to know about how Satoh prepared for the movies.

How Takeru Satoh prepares his fight scenes

Kenshin is an expert in “Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu”, a sword technique that allows the fighter to attack multiple attackers at once.

And, staying true to the source material, Satoh is regularly confronted with several actors whom he has to push back through a series of intricate and detailed movements in all five films.

Embodying his samurai character, Satoh is said to have spent weeks perfecting swordfights with choreographers, repeating the movements several times in both costume and costume in a studio before heading to the set.

In one compilation video showing his workouts for The beginning, Satoh is seen training with a number of stuntmen, dodging them with smooth side steps and hitting them at the incredible speed required for the movie.

A workout saw Satoh fight with his hands behind his back and a fake sword in his mouth, to simulate the film’s opening scene in which Kenshin kills a number of Tsushima estate members as he is tied up.

Not only does he train with the stuntmen with his hands behind his back, but he also uses flips and kicks to throw them out of him and piece together how his character takes over.

These aren’t just fight scenes Takeru Satoh is preparing for

Aside from learning the choreography for the sword fight scenes, Satoh also makes sure he’s ready to do other stunts like jumps and twists in the air.

A scene in The legend ends saw Satoh running on the roof of a building on the set without the aid of wires or a harness holding him in place.

In a making-of clip that was revealed at the time of the film’s release, Satoh was seen in character as he ran from one end of the rooftop to the other where the team members waited for. stop it.

Meanwhile, in a fight scene with co-star Ryūnosuke Kamiki in the same movie, Satoh runs into a wall to dodge an attack, a move he also did without wires or harnesses.

For The final, Satoh also prepared a number of scenes where he ran a long distance before jumping over props and diving into the action.

What reaction to the actor of ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ doing his own stunts?

Satoh prides himself on being able to do his own stunts and has once claimed that he will “quit” as an actor if he isn’t good enough to do them.

Meanwhile, Otomo revealed that he asks his actors to do most of the stunts themselves in order to improve the authenticity of a scene.

In an interview with InCinemas in 2012, Otomo explained, “The goal for me was to portray the humanity and the drama of the characters in the fight and action scenes.

“The action sequences were not just action, but rather an important factor in the portrayal of the characters. This is why the main cast, including Takeru, performed almost all the action sequences without any liners. . “

He added, “I always take acting scenes in a seamless sequence, and the action scenes in this movie were basically shot with the same approach.”

The director added that while it might be “difficult” for his actors to do the stunts themselves, he felt it made the action scenes “more moving”.

The five films of Rurouni Kenshin franchise are available to stream on Netflix now.