Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 1, 2007 20:02:42 GMT -5
The story starts with Kenshin meeting Kaoru in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Kaoru is in pursuit of a man who claims to be the Battousai, and at first believes Kenshin is the man, but after seeing Kenshin's clumsiness and "sakabato" ("reverse blade sword"), she decides he can't possibly be the legendary manslayer. The actual culprit turns out to be a former student of the Kamiya dojo who seeks revenge after being expelled. Kaoru is captured and held captive by the fake Battousai, but Kenshin appears on the scene, reveals that he is the real Battousai, and proceeds to defeat both the fake and his gang without killing any of them. He uses a powerful, ancient style of swordsmanship known as "Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu." When offered a place at the dojo, Kenshin decides to temporarily stop being a Rurouni and stay at the dojo, starting the first of three manga arcs.
Rurouni Kenshin is about a man named Himura Kenshin who was once an assassin called "Battousai the Manslayer." He fought in the revolution and was believed to be the strongest imperialist. However, due to a horrible incident, he put away the sword that kills and decided he would never kill another human being, no matter what. He took up a reverse-blade sword. This way, even though he used the impressive Hiten Mitsurugi style, he could protect others without killing.
Ten years after he starts wandering, he meets a girl named Kamiya Kaoru who mistakes him for a man who calls himself "Battousai the Manslayer" and is killing people in the name of the Kamiya Kasshin style. Kaoru attacks Kenshin, thinking he is this person, since he carries a sword. However, she quickly learns that he is not the one she is looking for.
Later, she is fighting with the "real" Battousai, who injures her and is about to kill her when Kenshin jumps in the way and quickly carries Kaoru to safety. She lets him stay the night at her place, and he accepts. The next day, she is attacked again, when Kenshin appears. He defeats the man and tells him the Battousai doesn't use the Kamiya Kasshin style, but he uses the Hiten Mitsurugi style. Kaoru realizes that Kenshin really is Battousai, but she tells him she doesn't care about his past. Kenshin decides to stay at the Kamiya dojo. Later, a boy named Yahiko comes to live with them, and they also meet new people such as the lady doctor Megumi, the freeloader Sanosuke, the brooding Aoshi and high-spirited Misao, and the merciless Saitou.
Rurouni Kenshin focuses on how Kenshin affects other people's lives, and how they affect his. It also sends messages such as "no matter how many sins you commit, you can still repent". It deals with the problems Kenshin has with his "no kill" policy, and how he finds solutions to them.
Kenshin is a gentle, polite man who lives at the Kamiya Dojo with Kaoru and Yahiko. He fought during the revolution as "Battousai the Manslayer", but vowed to Tomoe that he wouldn't be a manslayer after the Revolution, and so he became a wanderer. After 10 years, he met Kaoru and started to live at her place.
Kenshin has a peculiar style of speech in which he uses "gozaru," an obsolete form of the verb "to be." He also uses the "samurai" pronoun "sessha," which is supposed to be polite. He also prefers doing the laundry, cooking, and playing with Ayame and Suzume to fighting. However, when he needs to protect someone, he will fight, and well. He uses the Hiten Mitsurugi style, which revolves around predicting an opponent's moves. Pushed too far, however, and Kenshin will revert back to his former self, Battousai. It is easy to tell when this happens. First, his eyes glow amber. Then, his speech changes. He no longer uses the cute "de gozaru" or the polite "sessha," but the more masculine, vulgar "ore" instead.
Many people are after Kenshin, either for revenge or because he's "in the way." Many have tried to force him to become Battousai again, but only a couple of people have actually succeeded.
Kenshin Himura was born a peasant under the name Shinta, with no family name. Kogoro Katsura, the leader of the division he fought in during the Boshin War that gave him the family name of Himura, and Shinta was renamed to Kenshin by Seijuro Hiko after Hiko saved his life and took him as an apprentice.
Kenshin got the scar on his face from two different sources. The vertical portion he received first while fighting Tomoe's fiance, Kiyosato Akira. Then the horizontal scar was made by his betrothed. He was fighting someone, and as he was dealing the death stoke, she got in the way, and as she was dying in his arms, she picked up her dagger and added the line to make the cross. In the manga, the dagger was knocked from her hand and coincidentally made the cut.
Megumi is a beauty. She likes to tease people and has some interest in Kenshin, which Kaoru does not like at all. When she first appears, she seems cold-hearted and selfish, but later on we see her true self, a young woman who is lost in the world, searching for her family and friends. Megumi usually acts stouthearted, but she is actually just trying to hide her loneliness and the guilt she holds in her heart. She blames herself for the spreading of a new type of opium, and the deaths the opium caused.
Megumi Takani's family was prestigious in the medical field for generations. They treated all their patients, disregarding any class difference. During the Aizusensou, all of them except young Megumi went to the battlefield to fulfill their roles. As a result, Megumi's father was killed, and Megumi was separated from her mother and her two brothers. She was left alone in the world to fend for herself
Sanosuke is a good friend of Kenshin's. They started out as enemies, but after Kenshin defeated him, he followed through with a lecture that reminded Sano of how his idol, Sagara-taichou, used to talk.
Sano likes to spend his time gambling and drinking. He also never turns down a fight. He tends to rush into things, which often results in him getting hurt. He also has an incredible stamina, and takes hits a lot more easily than most people. He won't quit until he's practically unconscious.
Sano used to be a fighter-for-hire, but now he's just a freeloader. He gets free food at the Kamiya Dojo, so why bother working? He also used to carry a Zanbattou, which is a HUGE sword. This was broken by Kenshin. Now, he uses his fists all the time, and is still a formidable fighter. He's also incredibly fast, which is a result of him using the extremely heavy Zanbattou.
Sanosuke always wears a simple white shirt and pants. On the back of his shirt is the symbol of "aku" (ˆ«), which means "evil". Many think he wears it to enhance his "bad guy" character, but he really wears it to remind himself of the label the Sekihoutai were given when they were denounced as a false army--one of the many things he hates about the government.
Yahiko is a young boy who is Kaoru's first apprentice. He studies the Kamiya Kasshin style, but has also picked up a bit of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.
Yahiko can be a little rude sometimes. He calls Kaoru "ugly woman" on occasion and sometimes he calls Sano "rooster head". But he respects Kaoru a lot, as well as Sano.
Yahiko likes a girl named Tsubame, a waitress at the Akabeko. He freed her from a man named Mikio, who was using her to steal money from the Akabeko.
In the English dubbed version, Yahiko also goes by the name "Yoshi".
Yahiko has a short manga work by Nobuhiro Watsuki as "Yahiko no Sakabato" in which Yahiko is the main character and older. Kenshin tells Yahiko to train with some kids. It turns out to be a hostage situation by a man named Muto who thinks is fighting for freedom and equality. Yahiko opens his eyes to the truth that he is isn't 'cause he is one of Shishio Makoto's followers. Muto gives up and was shot by Lt. Kitaki and Yahiko used the reverse blade on him. Then the story ends when he goes to Akabeko.
Yahiko is Kaoru's apprentice, and is a student of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style. He also has watched Kenshin fight, and has picked up some of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style as a result.
He used Ryu Sui Sen on some bad guys in order to protect a town, but then fell unconscious. He is a kid who uses a bamboo sword like Kaoru, because the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style is meant to protect people not kill them.
Rurouni Kenshin is about a man named Himura Kenshin who was once an assassin called "Battousai the Manslayer." He fought in the revolution and was believed to be the strongest imperialist. However, due to a horrible incident, he put away the sword that kills and decided he would never kill another human being, no matter what. He took up a reverse-blade sword. This way, even though he used the impressive Hiten Mitsurugi style, he could protect others without killing.
Ten years after he starts wandering, he meets a girl named Kamiya Kaoru who mistakes him for a man who calls himself "Battousai the Manslayer" and is killing people in the name of the Kamiya Kasshin style. Kaoru attacks Kenshin, thinking he is this person, since he carries a sword. However, she quickly learns that he is not the one she is looking for.
Later, she is fighting with the "real" Battousai, who injures her and is about to kill her when Kenshin jumps in the way and quickly carries Kaoru to safety. She lets him stay the night at her place, and he accepts. The next day, she is attacked again, when Kenshin appears. He defeats the man and tells him the Battousai doesn't use the Kamiya Kasshin style, but he uses the Hiten Mitsurugi style. Kaoru realizes that Kenshin really is Battousai, but she tells him she doesn't care about his past. Kenshin decides to stay at the Kamiya dojo. Later, a boy named Yahiko comes to live with them, and they also meet new people such as the lady doctor Megumi, the freeloader Sanosuke, the brooding Aoshi and high-spirited Misao, and the merciless Saitou.
Rurouni Kenshin focuses on how Kenshin affects other people's lives, and how they affect his. It also sends messages such as "no matter how many sins you commit, you can still repent". It deals with the problems Kenshin has with his "no kill" policy, and how he finds solutions to them.
Kenshin is a gentle, polite man who lives at the Kamiya Dojo with Kaoru and Yahiko. He fought during the revolution as "Battousai the Manslayer", but vowed to Tomoe that he wouldn't be a manslayer after the Revolution, and so he became a wanderer. After 10 years, he met Kaoru and started to live at her place.
Kenshin has a peculiar style of speech in which he uses "gozaru," an obsolete form of the verb "to be." He also uses the "samurai" pronoun "sessha," which is supposed to be polite. He also prefers doing the laundry, cooking, and playing with Ayame and Suzume to fighting. However, when he needs to protect someone, he will fight, and well. He uses the Hiten Mitsurugi style, which revolves around predicting an opponent's moves. Pushed too far, however, and Kenshin will revert back to his former self, Battousai. It is easy to tell when this happens. First, his eyes glow amber. Then, his speech changes. He no longer uses the cute "de gozaru" or the polite "sessha," but the more masculine, vulgar "ore" instead.
Many people are after Kenshin, either for revenge or because he's "in the way." Many have tried to force him to become Battousai again, but only a couple of people have actually succeeded.
Kenshin Himura was born a peasant under the name Shinta, with no family name. Kogoro Katsura, the leader of the division he fought in during the Boshin War that gave him the family name of Himura, and Shinta was renamed to Kenshin by Seijuro Hiko after Hiko saved his life and took him as an apprentice.
Kenshin got the scar on his face from two different sources. The vertical portion he received first while fighting Tomoe's fiance, Kiyosato Akira. Then the horizontal scar was made by his betrothed. He was fighting someone, and as he was dealing the death stoke, she got in the way, and as she was dying in his arms, she picked up her dagger and added the line to make the cross. In the manga, the dagger was knocked from her hand and coincidentally made the cut.
Megumi is a beauty. She likes to tease people and has some interest in Kenshin, which Kaoru does not like at all. When she first appears, she seems cold-hearted and selfish, but later on we see her true self, a young woman who is lost in the world, searching for her family and friends. Megumi usually acts stouthearted, but she is actually just trying to hide her loneliness and the guilt she holds in her heart. She blames herself for the spreading of a new type of opium, and the deaths the opium caused.
Megumi Takani's family was prestigious in the medical field for generations. They treated all their patients, disregarding any class difference. During the Aizusensou, all of them except young Megumi went to the battlefield to fulfill their roles. As a result, Megumi's father was killed, and Megumi was separated from her mother and her two brothers. She was left alone in the world to fend for herself
Sanosuke is a good friend of Kenshin's. They started out as enemies, but after Kenshin defeated him, he followed through with a lecture that reminded Sano of how his idol, Sagara-taichou, used to talk.
Sano likes to spend his time gambling and drinking. He also never turns down a fight. He tends to rush into things, which often results in him getting hurt. He also has an incredible stamina, and takes hits a lot more easily than most people. He won't quit until he's practically unconscious.
Sano used to be a fighter-for-hire, but now he's just a freeloader. He gets free food at the Kamiya Dojo, so why bother working? He also used to carry a Zanbattou, which is a HUGE sword. This was broken by Kenshin. Now, he uses his fists all the time, and is still a formidable fighter. He's also incredibly fast, which is a result of him using the extremely heavy Zanbattou.
Sanosuke always wears a simple white shirt and pants. On the back of his shirt is the symbol of "aku" (ˆ«), which means "evil". Many think he wears it to enhance his "bad guy" character, but he really wears it to remind himself of the label the Sekihoutai were given when they were denounced as a false army--one of the many things he hates about the government.
Yahiko is a young boy who is Kaoru's first apprentice. He studies the Kamiya Kasshin style, but has also picked up a bit of the Hiten Mitsurugi style.
Yahiko can be a little rude sometimes. He calls Kaoru "ugly woman" on occasion and sometimes he calls Sano "rooster head". But he respects Kaoru a lot, as well as Sano.
Yahiko likes a girl named Tsubame, a waitress at the Akabeko. He freed her from a man named Mikio, who was using her to steal money from the Akabeko.
In the English dubbed version, Yahiko also goes by the name "Yoshi".
Yahiko has a short manga work by Nobuhiro Watsuki as "Yahiko no Sakabato" in which Yahiko is the main character and older. Kenshin tells Yahiko to train with some kids. It turns out to be a hostage situation by a man named Muto who thinks is fighting for freedom and equality. Yahiko opens his eyes to the truth that he is isn't 'cause he is one of Shishio Makoto's followers. Muto gives up and was shot by Lt. Kitaki and Yahiko used the reverse blade on him. Then the story ends when he goes to Akabeko.
Yahiko is Kaoru's apprentice, and is a student of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style. He also has watched Kenshin fight, and has picked up some of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style as a result.
He used Ryu Sui Sen on some bad guys in order to protect a town, but then fell unconscious. He is a kid who uses a bamboo sword like Kaoru, because the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style is meant to protect people not kill them.