Rurouni Kenshin

A few years ago I saw an Anime series on Cartoon Network. I know by now you all know I love Japanese Anime, but this series was different. First, it is not set in the future. It is set in the past, Japan in the 1870s to be exact. That period of history is rich with drama, angst, and action-packed. The series is called Rurouni Kenshin. I think of it as historical fiction. It was a time when Japan was desiring to become an international player on the world stage. Japan became rapidly westernized after a brutal and bloody civil war. Up to that point Japan was feudal society. The ruling class were Samurais and if you know any thing about feudalism when a nation industrializes the peasants and serfs tend to "boss up". The civil war, simplistically was between people who wanted to see Japan modernize and take a place in the international community and people who wanted Japan to remain close to the rest of the World and keep their culture as it had been for centuries. Rurouni Kenshin is the story of a wandering Samurai named Kenshin Himura. He is fictional but his story has a real historical backdrop. He had fought 10 years earlier during that civil war serving the emperor, who wanted to westernize, with distinction because he thought he was doing the right thing. He thought that if the imperialist won poor farmers and peasants would have better lives and more freedom. Unfortunately, after the war he became disillusioned and guilt-ridden over all the people he killed, and started wandering. The series is about Kenshin finding redemption. He feels like he took so many lives that he himself does not deserve happiness - that he brings death to anyone close to him. We see him throughout the series protecting people from new and old foes and constantly being challenged by people who want to prove themselves the best by killing the best. A major theme of the series is asking questions such as: Are there something for which there is no forgiveness no matter how much "good" you do?

Kenshin is a powerful swordsman. During his battles he killed a lot of people. He picked up a nickname in those days "Hitokiri Battōsai" which means in English "The Man-Slayer". We see that Kenshin has taken an oath to never kill again. He still uses his skills to protect people and carries a sword. His Katana is very different. It's a sakabatō ("reverse-blade") sword. The cutting edge is on the slightly curved inside edge so it is almost impossible to kill anyone with it. However in the hands of such a skilled warrior, its nonetheless effective. Along the way Kenshin meets friends and builds healthy loving relationships, inspiring others by his example. The show has comedy and action because sometimes Kenshin seems too much of a country-bumpkin to be the threat he actually is. The show has real-world and fictional martial arts, weapons, and techniques. The animation is beautiful and epic. The action can be very stylized and over-the-top. Sometimes it's so out there, Kenshin has to explain what he did.

Kenshin training and skills grant him almost superhuman speed and strength. He appears so fast because he can read his opponents and figure out they are going to next and instinctually knows how to counter his opponents. The fictional sword technique he uses is called Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryū style meaning "Flying Heaven Honorable Sword Style" or sometimes referred to "Ultrasonic Sword Style". Kenshin's skills and knowledge grow throughout the series. He learns the ultimate technique called Kuzu-ryūsen and Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki which involve hitting your opponent 9-12 times with powerful strikes that are almost totally impossible to block or dodge.

The cool thing is that Kenshin was inspired by a real-life historical person. His name was Gensai Kawakami. He was born in 1834 and died in 1871. If Kenshin was a real-life samurai he and Kawakami would have been on the same side. Kawakami supported the samurai who wanted to keep Japan as it was and was loyal to the emperor not the shogunate. He died relatively young because the govenment excuted him because he did not agree with the decison not to close Japan to foreigners. Intersting how in 4 short years he went from being a hero to an executed crimninal. He was a master of Shiranui-ryu sword style and was said to be almost unbeatable. His picture is on the right.

If you have never seen this series, or seen its prequel series (shows how Kenshin got that cross-shaped scar on his face), or the movie called SamuraiX, I strongly recommend them. Tom Cruise's movie The Last Samurai is also set in the same time period and Cruise's character goes through much the same journey as Kenshin does. Kenshin is a very popular character in Japan and around the world among fans of Manga and Anime. There has been 2 or 3 video games based in his world and I have found MUGEN characters based on the series. I have found 4 distinct version of Kenshin characters for MUGEN. What follows is a video of the best of those Kenshins verses the "Big Bad" of the Anime series named Shishio. I was in control of Shishio and Keshin was controlled by the MUGEN's AI.






Here are some reference links
Gensai Kawakami - Inspiration for Kenshin Himura
Himura Kenshin
The Gallery of Antiheroes and Villians: Keshin Himura
Kawakami Gensai


And Here is clip from the show: