Rurouni Kenshin
| Rurouni Kenshin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original Manga | Nobuhiro Watsuki |
| Director/Artist | Kazuhiro Furuhashi |
| Format | Anime (TV), Manga |
| Made By | Studio Gallop |
| Episode Length | 25 minutes |
| # of Episodes | 95; 1 Movie; 2 OVA |
| # of Volumes | 28 |
Contents
Genre
Sum it up in a Sentence
Rurouni Kenshin is a story about the eponymous Kenshin Himura, a legendary swordsman wandering Japan to atone for assassinations he committed during the Meiji Revolution.
Note: The two OVA series licensed by ADV were released as "Samurai X" in the US.
Main Description
During the Bakumatsu, a legendary assassin known as the Hitokiri Battousai merciless cut down those who supported the Tokugawa shogunate. But once the conflict ended, he vanished without a trace.
Some 10 years later, a kendo practitioner named Kaoru Kamiya has a serendipitous meeting with a wandering swordsman who she initially believed to be a murderer who had been attacking her sword school. She is shocked to find that not only is he (Kenshin Himura) not the man she's looking for, but the sword he carries is strangely reversed; the blade is on the inner edge, ostensibly preventing the sword from cutting anyone. In fact the murderer she had been looking for was claiming to be the Hitokri Battousai himself, a fact that is refuted once the reverse-blade-wielding swordsman reveals himself to in fact be the Battousai. After helping Kaoru defeat the impostor, he stays by her side to help her and their friends in times of need. After a life of bloodshed, the former assassin Kenshin now fights for peace while vowing to never take a human life ever again.
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Personal Opinions
Keyboard Kid
While I'm not a huge fan of shonen, I think Kenshin is a solid, enjoyable series. Kenshin is a great character, and many of the villains that appear for more than a few episodes are memorable (conversely, one-shot bad guys aren't so awesome here). Naturally, I watched this on TV when I was younger. I decided to revisit it a few months ago, and still thought it was superb. The Meiji arc (episode 1-26 or so) contains a lot of good individual episodes showing Kenshin's way of life and developing the story. The Kyoto arc has a lot of nonstop back-to-back fighting, but it never quite comes off like tournament shows (Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball's tournaments). The OVA series are superb, especially Tsuiokuhen (Trust and Betrayal). The final season of the anime is horrible, even for filler standards, and got the show canceled before the end of the manga could be animated. The final arc is fully contained in the manga (volumes 18-28), and is worth a read if you enjoyed the anime. The original volumes are dirt cheap, and they've even been reprinted in a nice 3-in-1 oversized edition as well.
Links
Sony's Kenshin site (Japanese)
