|
Seijiro Hiko, the thirteenth master of the Hiten
Mitsurugi school, is wandering down a country road. He stumbles upon a
caravan under attack by bandits, but by the time he gets there,
everyone's dead except for a young boy. Hiko kills the rest of the
bandits, and after some deliberation, he takes the boy, whose name is
Shinta, under his wing. When he starts training Shinta in the Hiten
Mitsurugi school, however, he decides that his name is far too gentle
for a swordsman and tells him to start calling himself Himura Kenshin
(meaning heart of sword) from now on.
As the years go by, Japan progresses into the
Bakumatsu, and Kenshin thinks that they should join in the war. Hiko,
however, disagrees, because he says that the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is
far too powerful to be used for war. Kenshin persists, and Master and
student part on bad terms. After little trouble, Kenshin finds himself
an assassin for the Ishin Shishi faction.
Hundreds of men fall by his hand and his
lightning-fast Battou-jutsu, and he earns the name Hitokiri Battousai.
(Hitokiri means killer-- or shadow, if you want to romanticize it) One
day, however, on a routine assassination, he gets a slash on his cheek
by the young man he was supposed to kill. The young man was not very
skilled, but even when he was wounded and bleeding, his determination
to see his fiancée kept him going. Kenshin kills him easily after
their exchange of blows, coming away only with a single wound to his
cheek.
Anyway, a few weeks after, he meets a woman
named Tomoe and ends up taking her home with him. When the battle
takes a turn for the worse (the Shinsengumi are winning), the Leader
of the Ishin tells him to take Tomoe and hide out with her, posing as
husband and wife. They do so, but Kenshin tells Tomoe that he cannot
simply 'pretend' to be her husband. If they are to be living with each
other, he'd rather they get married for real.
So they get married and live peacefully in their
house for a few years, until Tomoe's old faction gets in touch with
her. They find out that she's been living with the great Hitokiri
Battousai, and want her to tell them his weaknesses. She's in love
with Kenshin, by then, so she lies and tells them he is easily killed
when asleep.
They are not impressed, and tell her to
return the following day with better news. She does, but they take her
hostage and say that she is Battousai's weakness. Kenshin goes after
her, of course, and starts killing everything in sight. When he
reaches the leader, however, he gets ready for the killing stroke, and
Tomoe jumps in between them. She'd realized that he was slowly
reverting to the hated Hitokiri he'd been suppressing their married
life, and when she jumped between the two, she thought he would be
able to stop. His killing stroke, however, was too powerful to
reverse, and he ended up running her through. She gives him a slash
running opposite his first, and dies in his arms.
Kenshin then goes back home, and a few days
later, the leader of the Ishin visits him, telling him that it is time
to take up his sword once more. Kenshin does so, and when the Ishin
Shishi finally win, he trades in his daisho for a sakabatou and
wanders as a rurouni. He wanders through ten years of the new Meiji
restoration, until he meets a girl named Kamiya Kaoru ^_^ who lets him
stay at her dojo. Over time, they are joined by Myojin Yahiko, an
orphaned boy with the blood of a Samurai, Sagara Sanosuke, the
streetfighter, and Takani Megumi, the doctor…
This is basically the point where the manga's
first issue begins, and after a few minor storylines, the Shishio
story arc begins
The Shishio Arc
This arc, in a nutshell, is where Kenshin's
successor, Shishio Makoto, comes back to take over Japan. (After
Kenshin retired the Hitokiri inside of him, the Ishin Shishi had to
find a replacement for their best assassin. The man they chose was the
cunning, razor-quick Shishio Makoto. However, they were unable to
control him, and as such ordered his death. He survived, however, and
ended up being horribly burned all over his body.)
This arc begins with the introduction of
Saitou Hajime, another old ghost from Kenshin's past. He was the third
captain of the ShinsenGumi during the Bakumatsu, and one of the
Battousai's main adversaries. (The two episodes where they fight are
widely acknowledged as the best in the anime. Watch it *now* if you
haven't.)
In any case, Saitou is now working as a Police
Officer for the government, and he is heading the investigation
surrounding Shishio (read: it's his job to kill Makoto). Under orders,
he goes to Kenshin to enlist his help, and after a brief fuss, Kenshin
eventually agrees. They separate on the way to Kyoto, however, and on
one of the lesser-populated areas of Kenshin's path, he meets
Makimachi Misao.
Misao actually tries to rob him, but Kenshin
being Kenshin, befriends her instead. They eventually end up
travelling to Kyoto together, since Misao lives there and decides not
to let him out of her sight. ^_^;; In any case, their journey to Kyoto
spans several manga, and a nothing noteworthy really happens. (Though
a brief tussle with Shishio, Soujiro (his right hand), and Saitou
(eventually meets Kenshin in a small village near Kyoto) does ensue
right before they reach Kyoto, though. Shishio leaves Soujiro behind
to fight Kenshin, and their battle ends in a stalemate. Make no
mistake, though-- Soujiro is very, very good. He ends up breaking
Kenshin's sword.)
Once they reach Kyoto, Kenshin realizes that
he now has two missions before he can face Shishio: a) he has to find
a new sword and b) he has to find his old master, Hiko Seijuro, so he
can finally become a Master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.
He succeeds in doing both (after another 2-3
issues of the manga =P ) and is joined in Kyoto by Sanosuke Sagara,
Kamiya Kaoru, and Myojin Yahiko. Saitou, Sano, and Kenshin leave to
fight against Shishio while Kaoru, Yahiko, Misao (and her Oniwabanshu),
stay behind to protect Kyoto.
Kenshin's group reaches the docks and try to
find Shishio's ship. They succeed in finding it, and manage to blow it
up. However, Shishio gets away and tells them that he'll be waiting
for them at his fortress for their final bout.
Meanwhile, Kaoru and her group succeed in
thwarting Shishio's evil plan to burn down Kyoto. The Juppon Gatana (Shishio's
elite force of ten warriors) return to his fortress as well.
In any case, Kenshin, Sano, and Saitou get to
the fortress and go through several battles before Kenshin faces up
against Shishio. (Battles: Sano Vs. Anji, Saitou Vs. Usui, Kenshin Vs.
Aoshi, Kenshin Vs. Soujiro, Kenshin Vs. Shishio) Kenshin is beaten at
first, but Sano, Saitou, and Aoshi desperately buy him time by
battling with Shishio. They all get beat up really badly until Kenshin
gets up and manages to fight Shishio off until his 15-minute limit
(don't ask-- this is a technicality and fans hated it) is reached.
Shishio dies rather spectacularly, and Sano,
Aoshi, and Saitou haul Kenshin up and drag him home to Kaoru. ^_^
The Jinchuu Arc
After a few chapters of reprieve, the Kenshin
Gumi returns to Tokyo. Once there, the Akabeko (the restaurant they
frequent the most), is bombed, and Yukishiro Enishi makes himself
known.
It is at this point that Kenshin reveals his
past to his group, and his story spans three volumes of manga. He also
confesses to Kaoru his true feelings for her, and that she is now
'home' to him.
Enishi attacks that very same night, and
after several explosive battles between his group and Kenshin's
friends (Sano, Yahiko, and Saitou all fight), the fight finally comes
down to Kenshin and Enishi. Enishi tells Kenshin that he cannot lose
because his sister, Tomoe, is urging him on. He wants Kenshin to know
the same sorrow that he has had to live with all his life.
After a fight that spans almost two volumes of
manga, Enishi wins and goes after Kaoru. Kenshin is too beaten up to
do anything against the monster/minion that has him pinned to the
wall, and by the time his friends manage to free him, it's too late.
They find Kaoru skewered through the heart to
the wall of her dojo, an x-scar carved into her cheek.
After this it's all-downhill for Kenshin. He
won't talk, won't eat, and after the funeral he goes to a really
disgusting area of the town that's reserved for low-lifes and bums.
This regression period spans a whole volume, with Yahiko, Megumi,
Aoshi, and Misao (just in from Kyoto to help, apparently), trying to
find out what happened. We eventually learn that Kaoru was just a wire
dummy, and that the real girl is alive and being held by Enishi in
some distant isle off the coast of Japan.
Kenshin eventually rouses himself from his
stupor and travels to the isle with Saitou, Aoshi, Misao, Sanosuke,
and Yahiko. He faces off against Enishi once more and manages to best
him, and spares his life.
Kenshin and Kaoru eventually get married, and
have a son of their own. Yahiko manages to make quite a name for
himself as the Master of the Kamiya Kashiin school of Kenjutsu.
Sanosuke's whereabouts are questionable-- the last letter they
received was from China. Aoshi and Misao are still together and with
the Oniwabanshu, and both have been traveling overseas.
In the last chapter of the last volume,
Kenshin and Yahiko have a single-pass bout. Yahiko manages to nick
Kenshin, and Kenshin awards him his treasured sakabatou. Thus the
curtain closes on Rurouni Kenshin-- with a happy ending and a summer
picnic. ^_^
|
