you might not like it as much after you find out what happens to a lead character. i was impressed though by how good the animation was in the fights
ok, i see what ya mean, that was a really dark part of the story, i was surprised by the amount of pure day-to-day charachter development episodes, but the pace didn't put me off, the fight scenes were stunning, especially the Ikeda Affair, which i was looking forward too after seeing it in the Kenshin/Samurai X OVA, My Favourite Charachter was Okita (who would have guessed!
looks at sig, hmmm....) I want to start reading the sequel manga to see what happens later, the finale was Soooo open-ended!