Ex-Shinsengumi (Kenshin's no.1 enemies during the Bakumatsu) now policeman. Ruthless in carrying out his justice of Killing Evil Instantly.

Woah, if he isn't one of the coolest people I've ever seen, real or fictional. I mean, he even makes smoking look super-cool! A couple of months of reading Rurouni Kenshin just about did away with a decade or so of anti-smoking conditioning. (Sorry, my various educators...)

He's totally calm and collected at all times, and like Aoshi, never seems to go into chibi mode. The closest he gets to it is the veins-on-the-temple thing he gets sometimes, usually when Sano just said or did something stupid. *wink*

Just as an aside, Aoshi is generally seen as the most unflappable guy in the series, but in my opinion Saitou ought to be the one holding the title. Aoshi's just more expressionless most of the time, but when confronted with the same situation (e.g. when yumi was murdered by shishio) Aoshi often displays more shock than Saitou does.

I don't think Watsuki-san intended for him to be handsome, but Saitou turned out to be quite good-looking anyway. *laughs*

One wonders how Saitou got married in the first place and stays it in the second;

1. Same reasoning as Kenshin and Misao: any woman who can put up with that smirk and that overbearing attitude has gotta rank somewhere with the saints on the endurance scale.
2. How'd he ever get to care enough about someone to marry her in the first place? Wasn't justice and that aku soku zan thing the only thing he cared about?
3. With him running all over Japan and no doubt neglecting the wife, I wonder what stops her from running off with another man? (of course, having a husband who's arguably one of the finest swordsmen in the country AND who has access to the government's intelligence network might be a deterrant. =P)