Tenken no Sojiro
Nickname: Tenken no Sojiro - Tenken means 'Heavenly' - Sojiro's swordsmanship as a gift from Heaven
Seiyuu(voice actress): Noriko Hidaka
Age: 16 (There seems to be some discrepancy about Sojiro's age among Kenshin fans. I have seen websites listing him as being 22 years old, but if he was born in September, 1861, that would make him only 16 at the time he assassinated Okubo Toshimichi in May, 1878.)
Height: 163cm
Weight: 51kg
Date of birth: September 1861
Zodiac sign: Virgo
Place of birth: The Kanagawa Prefecture
Blood Type: AB
Family: None living. His father was a wealthy rice merchant. His mother was a prostitute. He was adopted by his father's family while he was a small child.
Weapon: Kikuichimonji Norimune (a katana that had previously belonged to Okita Souji, Captain of the 1st troop of the Shinsengumi)
Skills: Shukuchi - Reduced Earth;
Shun Ten Satsu - Instant Heaven Kill
First Appearance: Episode 31 (anime); Tankoubon 7 (manga)
Traits: He is always seen with a smile on his face. He apparently completely lacks the emotions of 'Hate' and 'Sorrow'
Characteristics: Though he is still in his 'teens, Sojiro is Shishio Makoto's right-hand man and is the strongest of the Jupongatana, Shishio's group of elite warriors. He possesses amazing speed, superior even to Himura Kenshin's and his lack of visible emotion makes him impossible to anticipate in battle.
"Like Shishio, this character wouldn't ordinarily appear here yet, but I've gotten a lot of questions so I'll do him now to avoid difficulties.
The model for Soujirou's personality--I shouldn't say this--is the captain of the Shinsengumi first unit, the handsome swordsman who died young, Okita Soushi. Even the name Seta Soujirou is a parody of Okita's childhood name Okita Soujirou. There have been a lot of people reading too much into that, asking "Since he has the same name, Soujirou, could Seta be any relation to Okita?" I'll say it now, the answer is no. Okita is just Seta's model.
Okita Soushi is famous enough that I don't need to write about him here (Those who want to know more should go to a bookstore; I'm sure they'll have good books about him. He's very famous and popular. In the first Ruroken character poll, even though he only appeared in a couple of frames in a flashback, he came out of nowhere to take seventh.) I'm taking the Okita that Mr. Shiba Ryoutarou wrote about in his novel as my model. But not the Okita from "Burning Sword," but from "Record of the Bloodshed of the Shinsengumi", in which Okita's utter lack of human emotion causes great fear in his enemies. I know there are Shinsengumi fan angry with me for putting a character based on Okita on the enemy side, but since he's based on "Records"'s Okita, Seta seems more like a strong bad guy to me.
Other than this model I didn't have any particular design. Instead of Okita's topknot I saw him with a cropped head, so I drew him like that. Other than that, to go with the ever-smiling face, he looks a little like a girl."
from volume 9, part 70
The Makings of the Characters--Seta Soujirou--Supplement
"Soujirou was really popular, but in the end, he caused me a lot of grief. I used Okita Soushi of the aforementioned "Record of the Bloodshed of the Shinsengumi" by Shiba Ryoutarou as the basis of his character, but when it came time to draw him, expressing his personality was really, really difficult, and on top of that it came just at the busiest time of the year, the year-end advance. I didn�t have time to consider the problem seriously, and my assistant ended up coming to my rescue. (My assistant understands Soujirou a lot better than I do.)
Since Okita Soushi died young, a lot of fans were worried that Soujirou would see the light and then die. But actually I had decided he would survive from the beginning. Because of his painful experiences Soujirou left everything to Shishio and gave up thinking for himself; he couldn�t finish off his life and escape into death, but had to live on even in pain and atone. It�s a rejected, harsh way of thinking, but it�s a choice one should make as a human being. (If you replace Soujirou�s relationship with Shishio with that of a fanatical believer who entrusts his mind to the leader of an extremist religious cult, I think you�ll understand my reasoning.) No matter how harsh the external influence of family or society, no matter how bitter your life, I believe that the one thing you can�t do is give up thinking for yourself.
Well, no matter how much of this I write, because of Soujirou�s personality, he�ll go on smiling and looking innocent as always. Like Anji, he�s a character I feel I didn�t use as much as I could have, and I�d like to bring him back at some point. Maybe it�s a false hope, but ..."
Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin manga
volume 16 part 135
from Maigo-chan's translation