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Series Summary
My Rating - 3.5 out of 5 stars
The story of Rurouni Kenshin takes place in Japan during the
1870's during Japan's restoration period known as the Meiji Era. This was
a time of economic growth where the shoguns were overthrown and the government
of Japan changed to include trade with Europe and the Americas.
The story revolves around a red-haired man named Himura Kenshin who paved the
road into the restoration period and was known for his deadly sword skills in
the style and art of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.
The true story first starts with the 2 OVA episodes preceding the anime series.
Himura Kenshin, who's real name is Shinta, was an orphan after his low-class
family died in a cholera outbreak in his village. He was taken under the care of
three young women who cared for him till they were killed by bandits protecting
him. Before the bandits could lay a hand on the young Shinta, a man appeared out
of the darkness and killed the bandits with a few strokes of his sword. This man
was Hiko Seijuro and would become Shinta's teacher of the deadly sword style,
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.
Shinta's name was changed to Kenshin by his master and he trained under him for
years till he turned fourteen and wanted to leave his master to go help ease the
suffering of Japan. Against his master's wishes, he left the mountain and became
a Ishinshishi and a hitokiri or hired assassin. He killed
countless people with his powerful sword technique and earned himself the name
of Hitokiri Battousai. A name that haunted him for the rest of his life
even if he was still a young teenager when he acquired it.
Kenshin later meets a woman by the name of Yukishiro Tomoe and he eventually
falls in love with her though she is truly out to kill him because he had
assassinated her fiancé. She falls in love with him and eventually helps ease
the pain and the madness of being a killer and they get married. Sadly for her,
she is killed and Kenshin vows from then on never to kill again. This marks the
end of the Bakumatsu era and the start of the Meiji era. After this event,
Kenshin disappears for ten years. His whereabouts, unknown.
Ten years later in Tokyo, a red-haired man is chased down by a young woman
carrying a wooden sword. She claims he's the Hitokiri Battousai that has been
disgracing her dojo and her sword art, Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu or the Sword
that Protects. He shows her his sword, which, instead of a katana, has been
replaced by a sakabatou, or a reversed edge sword. This woman is Kamiya Kaoru,
and Kenshin's future wife and lover. They later discover that a man has been
posing himself as the Hitokiri Battousai to scare others off and Kenshin reveals
himself as the true Hitokiri Battousai and saves Kaoru's life from the man. He
then apologizes and starts to leave, but Kaoru asks him to stay at the dojo with
her as her family died years ago and she is lonely by herself. Kenshin agrees
and becomes a permanent member of the Kamiya household.
The story progresses much in this fashion with Kenshin once again appearing out
in the public's eye and the return of the Hitokiri Battousai, or at least that's
what most everyone thinks. Kenshin has long since vowed never to kill and he
never breaks that promise once during the series as he fights for peace and the
betterment of Japan.
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