Caveat 2/11/2021: For anyone wondering yes I did watch and like the Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal OVA. I had even considered reading the manga at some point. However I wrote this review two years before it was revealed that Nobuhiro Watsuki the creator of Kenshin was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography. And faced absolutely zero jail time for it. Because of this while my feelings on the OVA remain unchanged I have absolutely no desire to have anything more to do with the Kenshin franchise as a whole. Why the hell would I want to read or financially support anything made by a pedophile??? I have a confession to make: Ive never seen Rurouni Kenshin. Ive known of its existence for a long time but I havent seen the 90 episode anime. I did see one episode of it dubbed but that was because my college anime club showed it for historical fiction week along with three other shows. It never interested me and in a way it still doesnt interest me now. I dont think I can commit myself to a 90 episode anime especially if its full of pointless filler. But one of my favorite bloggers was praising this up the wazoo and said that I didnt need to know about the show or manga in order to enjoy it and I kinda wanted to watch something dark and mature since I hadnt seen any dark and mature shows for a while. I cant believe Im saying this...but I absolutely adore Trust and Betrayal despite not knowing anything about Rurouni Kenshin at all neither anime nor manga I might read the manga when I can. Ill probably just rent it at the library. On a cold night a band of warriors kill slave traders leaving a young boy as the only survivor. A swordsman named Seijuro Hiko takes the boy in renaming him Kenshin and teaching him the ways of the sword. Kenshin grows into a killer who kills people in order to defend the innocent in a world infected by corruption disease poverty malice and greed. One would think that his humanity is as good as gone but when circumstances force him to pair up with a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe Kenshin gradually realizes that life without the sword can actually be good for him and that the world isnt all evil. But the awful truths still remain and not everyone can be trusted. I have to admit the animation for its time was absolutely sumptuous especially in the fight scenes. They are all well choreographed there are so scenes where characters just fly faster than the speed of light to hit their enemies the blood and gore yes it is very bloody and not for the faint of heart actually serves a purpose instead of just being there for the sake of being dark and edgy the gore itself is realistic and the characters move believably. The anime also takes a lot of care in showing both the good and the bad of feudal Japan especially in regards to dress customs food etc. I love an anime that does its research. But if theres one thing that bothers me its the fact that sometimes for no real reason the scenes switch from 2D animation to live action scenery such as candle flames flickering snow falling sunbeams through the trees etc. It really doesnt fit well here. I dont get why they didnt just draw those scenes out as putting in live action scenery just really takes you out of the atmosphere. Also I have a very hard time believing that someone is actually capable of slicing a persons entire head in half right through the skull and all let alone slicing an entire person in half with just a katana. For the most part the fight scenes are realistic and well animated but I do think some of the feats Kenshin pulls off such as the ones I mentioned above kinda push my suspension of disbelief VERY much. The music really does its job well. Theres no opening theme song and the ending theme song is mostly an instrumental piece but I dont really have much to say about the music except that its plain awesome and the assigned pieces fit their assigned atmosphere well. When it wants to be creepy the music is creepy. When theres battles and sword fights going on the music is epic and bombastic. Quiet moments have quiet music. Every single piece of background music is used very well and they all fit their assigned scenes. It knows when to be subtle and when to really go all out. The main characters are the ones who steal the show and since the story is centered completely around them in a span of just four episodes they develop wonderfully. Even the romance between them is beautifully and subtly executed and nothing is forced or artificial between them. The side characters on the other hand dont have much to go on. Some of them I even hate because of their actions. Kenshin and Tomoe are the stars of this OVA and the OVA knows it and it fleshes them all out in great detail. They pretty much make the OVA what it is a tale of two lovers learning from each other and learning about new sides of life and each other even in the face of tragedy. I dont think this OVA would be good if they werent in it. I have to admit though I saw the English dub first and while normally I dont like to be negative about English dubs as I prefer to be someone who gives things a fair chance as Ive seen many good dubs that people hate for no real reason but...Trust and Betrayals English dub isnt very good. Granted the scripting is faithful to the sub the dialogue fits with the setting and the time period and the lip flaps match the lines just fine. Its just...the voice acting. Either the characters voices dont fit or the actors clearly CANNOT emote for the life of them the worst offenders being Kenshin and Enishi. I may not have seen the TV series in its entirety but I know that in the show Kenshin was voiced by Richard Cansino but in the OVAs hes voiced by someone named J. Shannon Weaver who...makes Kenshin sound like an emotionless emo kid who smoked too much crack. And thats not his only problem During emotional and epic scenes Weaver absolutely cannot emote or raise his voice enough to make his performance convincing in any way whatsoever which really kill the moments for me. Everyone else is the exact same way. The actors dont seem to care about their work here and dont seem to want to give their all in their performances. Say what you want about the Attack on Titan dub and its scripting problems but at least the actors could emote and put their heart and soul into their performances. Also Enishi. GOOD GOD Enishis voice is the worst in the entire dub Hes supposed to be a preteen kid or something but he sounds like a 40 year old man whos trying way too hard to sound like Carl from the Jimmy Neutron cartoons its THAT bad Ive heard bad voices but Enishis...is pretty much the worst voice Ive ever heard. You want to know what the sad thing is? Even though ADV licensed this in their early days they picked Monster Island studios to do the voice casting and Monster Island is usually known for producing very good dubs for anime such as Nadia and Petite Princess Yucie among other titles. Clearly Trust and Betrayal was not one of their better dubbing efforts. And who was the casting director responsible for giving Kenshin and Enishi terrible voices? But yeah if you want a genuinely good story with great build up intense scenes and a well executed romance definitely put this on your list especially if youre into periodanime. Just dont watch it in English. And theres a lot of blood and gore so its not for the faint of heart.