Director Kazuhiro Furuhashi has recut the four-episode "Samurai X" OVA into a seamless feature that serves as a prequel to both "Samurai X: The Movie" and the light-hearted TV series. The action unfolds in 1864, at the beginning of the revolution against the Tokugawa Shogunate that culiminated in the Meiji Restoration. The orphan Shinta is transformed by master swordsman Hiko into Kenshin, an assassin who believes he is using his sword to bring about a better world. When he and the mysterious Tomoe hide from the intrigues of Kyoto in a remote mountain village, Kenshin finds peace, raising crops and savoring the passage of the seasons, but this tranquility cannot endure. Furuhashi choreographs the characters' inner conflicts as skillfully as the epic sword fights, infusing them with an elegant sensuality. In either format, "Samurai X" OVAs capture the violence and poetry of samurai culture in a story of exceptional emotional depth. (Rated 17 and older: violence, alcohol use, mature themes) "--Charles Solomon"