Name Anji
Voice Actor Unknown
Nickname The Warrior Monk
Hair Color No hair
Eye Color Brown
Height Unknown
Age Unknown
Weapon Whole Body
Weapon Technique None
Special Moves Futae No Kiwami
Personality Anji is a bitter man who had those he cared for ripped away from him. Anji spent the 10 years after the start of the Meiji Era preparing to "destroy the world so he could create a new world where innocent will be the only ones alive, and the evil people will be punished" (e.i. Killed by Anji). He was a very quiet monk who took care of several orphans in a small temple. He never got angry and was very kind to the kids, treating them as his sons and daughters. When the kids where killed, he lost faith in Buddha and gained an inner fire of rage within him. It eraced all traces of the quiet, kindhearted monk he used to be.
Backround History Not much is know bout Anji's earlier past. Anji took in several kids who where orphaned by the Douran and took care of them as if they where his own kids. He taught them the ways of Buddha,. They all lived in a remote mountain village temple. In the second year of the Meiji era the village's leader ordered Anji to leave because of the new law that the Meiji government had passed. This law prohibited buddhism. Although Anji agreed to the villages request, a henchmen working for the village's leader suggested just burning the temple wich would be quiker and more efficient. Most of the villages took the new anti-buddhism law to the extreme, trying to please the Meiji Government, burning all the sacred text, temples ect.. The village leader agreed to the idea and the temple was set on fire while Anji was away praying at the near by waterfall. With the orphen children inside, the temple burned to the ground. Anji was helpless to save the kids because he was struck in the head by the village leader's henchmen and left for the dead. Surviving the blow to his head and crying in anger to the God that did not protect his beloved children, Anji took the ashes from one ofthe children's hands and put them aroudn his eyes. (Thats why you see Anji with dark circles around his eyes. I thought they where from lack of sleep.) His anger exploded, and for 5 years with intence training of Futae no Kiwami, Anji repays the village leader and his henchmen for what they have done. (Anji crushed there head with his are hands.) Sometimes afterwards Anji joined Shishio and the Ten Swords to destroy the current government in order to start a new government and a new world. While training in the forest Anji meets a young man by the name of Sagara Sanosuke who he teaches Futae no Kiwami. When the ten Swords where all defeated, Anji tunred hiself in to the police and spends a quite large amount of time in jail praying to Buddha
Watsuki's View "After I finished writing the Anji story and revising it, I realized I'm still pretty inexperienced at this. Reader response has been pretty much positive, but this is only three-quarters of the original . . . I got carried away drawing it, and by the time I realized, I'd already spent five weeks on it. Drawing any further could have got in the way of the flow of the story, so I couldn't help but cut it . . . (In the original plot, there was a whole other chapter about the Sanjuu no Kiwami stopping Anji's heart for an instant.) Like I said in the previous "Makings of," planning the stories is fun, but when it comes to drawing the manuscripts it's just so much work . . . If you read closely I think you'll understand that from just what I've written here, Anji's heart is not yet saved. He has only stopped spinning out of control when the story ends I read somewhere that "Man, in the end, can save only one other at the cost of a lifetime of toil," (I think this was an essay about religion after the Aum sarin gas attack.) I felt strongly, drawing this story, that it's true for the manga world as much of the real one. I want to do something, but . . . What happens to Anji next is still vague, but I've got some ideas, so if I get the chance, I'll draw another story about him. It'll probably be sad, though…" "Actually I created this character before writing Kenshin. In fact he was a secondary character in the two complete volumes (also the original model of Soujiro appears as a secondary chracter). My problem however was to decide only whether to describe him as a friend or an enemy, for this reason he has remained in the drawer for so long. To develop the story I needed that Sanosuke became stronger and so I have decided to make appear Anji as the enemy of Sanosuke. In this way I can resolve two problems, to increase the strength of Sanosuke and to put him against a tenacious enemy, anticipating the clash that will happen in the future… Sanosuke brings on himself the weight of the tragedy of the Sekiho Troop, but also Anji has the cross of the Haibistu Kishaku on his shoulders. If I have to tell the true, I think that their clash will be terrible. Ahhh, I want to represent it as soon as possible."
"I have not looked elsewhere for a model for his character, but at the end it results to resemble the fifth leader of the Shinsengumi, Kai Shimada. I am challenging myself to succeed in realizing the idea of the strong and intelligent man that I had not succeeded in making Raijuta. The sketch this time do not come form any character of video games or other manga, but to the solo voice of an existing band punk, but now loosed, called Anji (the name Anji derives from that of the band). It was a skinhead with the bandana and with the black eyeshadow under the eyes, it had an intelligent look and it was very beautiful. But to move this image to the Anji of this manga I have had to draw him more musclar. Really the songs of the Anji were very beautiful and I liked them a lot. 'Silver clock' it was one of their more famous pieces, if you have the occasion listen at it. You know that I am so stupid and easily influenceable from the video games and from the mangas, but sometimes it is not this way. This time I have thought about the Anji, another my passion they are also the Kiikis Shojotai (the muscular girl)."