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| below, Kenshin was rescued from bandits as an orphaned boy by Seijuro Hiko,age 43. Hiko is a master swordsman and was Kenshin's teacher. |
| below, Kenshin Himura, age 28 |
| left, Kenshin's closest friend is Sanosuke Sagara, age 18, a former gangster. right, Kenshin lives at the Kamiya Dojo with Kaoru Kamiya, age 18, and her only fencing student, Yahiko Myojin, age 10, whom Kenshin rescued from gangsters |
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| left , the other residents of the Kamiya Dojo are Doctor Gensei and his two young granddaughters, Suzume and Ayame. below right, Gensei's assistant is the beautiful Megumi Takani, age 22, who was rescued by Kenshin from an evil drug lord who had forced her to make opium for him. |
| Kenshin's greatest challenge comes from the man who replaced him among the Imperialists. Makoto Shishio (above left), age 31, is a master swordsman who served the cause of the Imperial revolutionaries. But they grew fearful of his power and tried to murder him. They failed and now he wants to take over Japan and gain revenge on those who betrayed him. His right hand man/boy is Sojiro Seta (above right), age 16. Sojiro is the son of a wealthy rice merchant and a prostitute. He was rescued from an unhappy childhood by Shishio who trained him as a swordsman. Sojiro possesses an unbeatable combination of blazing speed and unshakeable calm. They are the third and fourth of Kenshin's main rivals. His struggle against them covers the entire second season of the animated series and is referred to as "The Kyoto Arc". |
| Kenshin faces many dangerous opponents in his wanderings. Chief among them are five men. The first is Aoshi Shinomori (above left), age 26, commander of the Oniwaban ninjas. Hajime Saito (below left), age 35, an old opponent of Kenshin's from the Revolution, is the second of Kenshin's great rivals. |
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| In the battle against Shishio, Kenshin acquires some unlikely allies: The remaining Oniwabanshu who help him in defiance of their commander, Aoshi Shinomori. They are led by the elderly ex-ninja Nenji Kashiwazaki called Okina (above left) & Misao Makimachi (below left), age 16, who is deeply in love with Aoshi Shinomori. |
| Rurouni Kenshin is set in the year 1878 after a long and bloody Civil War overthrew the military dictatorship that had ruled Japan for 300 years. Kenshin Himura had been a young assasin who help the revolutionary Imperialists overthrow the dictatorship by quietly removing it's obstacles. |
| Kenshin hates the violence and bloodshed he participates in, but believes that it is a sacrifice that he must make to ensure the happiness of future generations. But he eventually rejects this bloody lifestyle altogether and vows to never kill again. He becomes a wanderer ("Rurouni") intent on spending the rest of his life making up for the sins he commited in his youth. |
| below, The last of Kenshin's great opponents is Enishi Yukishiro, age 24. Enishi is the younger brother of Tomoe, the slain heroine of the first OAV. He blames Kenshin for Tomoe's death and vows revenge. The Revenge Arc is the final story arc Nobuhiro Watsuki's manga upon which the Kenshin animated series is based. Unfortunately, the arc was not included in series and is covered only in a short segment of the most recent Kenshin video release, Seishou han |
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| Above, Kaoru eventually gains a second fencing pupil, Yutaro Tsukiyama, age 10. Yutaro has quite a rivalry with Yahiko, but deep down the two share a very close friendship. Yutaro appears in episodes 20-22 of the anime and returns for episodes 83-88. That second appearance, along with all of the third season, does not appear in the Kenshin manga. |
| Blending fictional characters with actual events in Japanese history, Rurouni Kenshin began in 1994 as a serialized manga (comic), written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki, that was later published in 28 volumes as a graphic novel. It was turned into an animated series starting in 1996 which ran for 3 seasons on Japanese television. In the middle of its television run, a theatrical movie was released as well, and after the series ended, several videos were released detailing the early years of Kenshin's life and his later years. |
| An Introduction to Rurouni Kenshin |
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| The animated series had caught up with the manga by the end of the Kyoto Arc and the producers turned out sub-par filler episodes while waiting for Nobuhiro Watsuki to finish the Revenge arc. Unfortunately, the ratings dropped and the series was cancelled before the Revenge Arc was animated. |
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| There are detailed character biographies attached to some of the characters. Click on the portraits to go to those pages. Currently the Kenshin, Sanosuke, Yahiko, Aoshi and Sojiro pages are up. *WARNING* The character pages include SPOILERS for the entire series. |
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