they are NOT done by me!!! (BTW, Watsuki has really a horrible handwriting)
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VOLUME 22:
Watsuki (carrying his belongings): But when am I going to be able to have a decent place to live?
Gein: Sure, considering that these days you've got some ill happenings...
Watsuki: Your talking fills me with bad luck, so just stop, okay?
MOVING COMPLETED.
Well, to be accurate, I couldn't carry out things as planned due to time matters, but I think
it's all right now.
The new workplace is in the ninth floor. It's a nice place, with a good sight and no sounds
coming from the streets, but I've got to take care since it's also a place where I can attempt
a no rope bungee jump when in neurosis.
As usual, it's a rent (temporary) place, but I must work towards making here a better place than
the previous workplaces
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VOLUME 23:
Watsuki (crying with joy): Jerseys are now old! From now on, it's the "Samue"!
Tae: So, if you are happy, could you please increase my number of appearances?
"SAMUE" (the vest Zen Buddhist monks use when performing physical feats as a part of their
spiritual training; a general vest for work, specially when it comes to manga artists ^_^)
I've bought a "samue" as a everyday clothing in the workplace. Congratulations!
"Samue" always made me feel a touch of "mastership", so I used to wonder deep within my heart
whether "I could become a fully professional artisan" when donning such costume. And now,
finally my wished came true...Oh my!
Is this a kind of cosplay?
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VOLUME 24:
Watsuki (laughing and crying nervously): I've heard from a former assistant that in the Internet
people say that "Watsuki Nobuhiro is a neurotic cat-killer"!!! I want to see that pic!
(I kill cockroaches, but not vertebrate living beings!)
Oibore (.....'s ......): Info are info. You need wisdom to judge them correctly.
(and you don't deny the neurotic part?)
INTERNET.
Finally I'm surfing the Net once in a while. All I do is see the homepages of friends and
acquaintances and search the Web about the things I'm interested, but I see that this is
quite cool and useful. I've got to take care with situations like the above mentioned one.
If I get enough time, I'll try those subscription things and e-commerce, but before that
I've got to master this keyboard.
But what's this "Esc" key? And this "Alt"?
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VOLUME 25:
Watsuki (smoking): About that sakura stuff, now there's a boom at the workplace, y'know...
(everybody's quite into it...)
Kujiranami: I've heard that the assistants are collecting tons and tons of cards...
SAKURA IN THE SPRING.
This spring ('99) marks the fifth year of Ruroken. Man, I'm surprised.
In the spring of five years ago, I, who was then a stupid that understood nothing about many
things, used to go to a school at night to see the sakura (cherry blossoms) whenever I couldn't
write down a convincing "name".
(note from Serizawa: "name" (neemu) is the word manga artists use to refer to the draft of the
manga. First they decide the dialogs of the characters, then they draw a rough sketch of the
probable panels of the manga. And this sketch is the "name")
And I motivated myself, telling myself that "If it's the flower who blossoms, then it's also
the flower whose petals are scattered!"
Thinking about that now, what a stupidity.
But after five years, I think now that "If it's the flower who blossoms, then it's also
the flower whose petals are scattered!"
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VOLUME 26:
Watsuki (smoking and laughing evilly): I won't accept any crap like, "we were saved thanks
to everybody's prayers"!
Kamishimoemon (puffing his pipe): You're also a very twisted man...
THE END OF THE CENTURY.
It'll be July the month this volume will be released! Yeah, the time of the big prophecy!
Now it's the time!
I don't believe not eeeeeeven a little bit, but if that happens, I'll be proud to be
one of the people who were at the end of the world, and if that doesn't happen, I will expect
anxiously for the arguments and the babbling of those false prophets and researchers.
Even if it's the end of the century, it will only be a change of date! Just live your
life strongly and graciously as ever!
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VOLUME 27:
Watsuki (carrying some belongings): But, although we're the same age, there's quite a
big difference between us, isn't there?
Kenshin (smiling): No, that's because I was intended to look like somebody between 15 to 25
years old, so... (and why are you prepared to travel?)
ALMOST.
To tell the truth, before the series had begun, Kenshin was intended to be in his mid-thirties.
But my supervisor ("Tantou") pointed that "Isn't it a bit strange to have so old a man as the
protagonist of a story in a magazine for young boys?", so I tried to reduce his age as old as
possible, taking care not to twist too much the historical background, and thus Kenshin became
this "almost thirty" person.
And I realized recently that he and I are the same age.
This "almost thirty" is an age where you don't look too old as you are and you aren't as old
as you look. Probably I would get very old if I clinged too much to that idea...
So, let's go for another "challenge" then.
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VOLUME 28:
Thank you for reading so long!
RUROUNI KENSHIN
255 chapters, 28 volumes.
About five and a half years have gone by, and it's finally come to an end.
To the editing staff who have always backed up me,
to my boss who has tirelessly looked after me ever since my debut,
to the publishers who took such trouble with the tankobons,
to my hardworking assistants,
and to the reader who holds this in their hands:
Thank you very much!
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