Ruroni Kenshin is created by another genius Watsuki Nobuhiro who had rocketed to stardom by this Manga series, Ruroni Kenshin which is a Manga based on a wandering samurai with a more than dark past. The Manga has 28 volumes, and a 95 episode TV series as well as an OVA series. Watsuki Nobuhiro is a great artist - he draws some of the best art I've seen for a long time. Rurouni Kenshin is his first manga serial, though it's been a while since it's ended and we haven't heard news of a second on the works. I doubt he'll be a one-shot wonder though; his art is good enough to carry a story through even if it's not top-grade material. If you want a sampling of his other works (all short stories), then I suggest you buy all 28 volumes of Rurouni Kenshin. He has 3 pilot stories for Kenshin in there somewhere... and one short story at the end of volume 28 to fill out the volume. The name Ruroni means a wandering person, usually in reference to samurai who had lost their employers (and their honour), while Kenshin is the name of our hero. Kenshin is otherwise known as hito-kiri Battousai, which is his previous (but not necessarily real) name; hito-kiri means to cut people, while Battou means to pull a sword from the sheath (in Western terms). Sai is just a word put on the end to make it sound like a name. May I say that for this manga, the names of the characters are placed after the surname. This is because we are talking about 19th century Japan. Some of the images on this website are from the Kenshin's Rurouni Resource Center and from Pysho Shonen, and Sony's official RK page.

It was illegal to carry any type of nihontou into Tokyo for the safety of the town, and anyone who tries will be prosecuted by the (very corrupt) police. This proves a big problem for the our hero Himura Kenshin, who had just wandered into downtown Tokyo with a SakabaTou for protection. Almost at once he was confronted by an aggressive-looking girl, Kamiya Kaoru, who wants to beat the crap out of him, thinking he is the evil do-no-gooder "hito-kiri Battousai" who has been terrorizing the police in the name of her Kendo dojo, the Kamiya Katsushin Ryuu. Kenshin has no idea what she is talking about, but she just as soon runs off when she hears the sound of policemen being sliced to pieces by the evil do-no-gooder. Kenshin follows and saves her, and finds out that because the evil masked man had used her Kendo dojo's name to chop up policemen in back alleyways, all the students had run off, and she is the only one left being the one who had inherited and managed the dojo. Kaoru was actually betrayed by a trusted friend who had planned the whole evil masked man business to scare off all the students, and then force Kaoru to hand over the dojo. When the ex-friend barged in with much more people than needed to confront and force Kaoru, Kenshin appears and saves the day. Using the fighting technique of Hitenmi Tsurugi Ryuu (a fighting style combining neck-breaking speed with incredible strength), he totally destroys the 30-something people there in a matter of seconds. Logic hits, and they realise he is hito-kiri Battousai! Surprise, surprise. Kenshin then smashes the fake Battousai 10 feet into the ground. As he turns to leave, Kaoru orders him to stay, and says he is welcome to stay in order to repay him. Kenshin, being unemployed, penniless and without a roof over his head, gladly obliges. Otherwise there would be no story. Later on in the story we are joined by a young pick-pocket Myoujin Yahiko, and street fighter Sagara Sanosuke. A "rival" for Kenshin appears in the doctor-in-distress Takani Megumi. Enemies also appear out of the blue, with the mysterious killer Udou Jine and Kenshins's former enemy from the Bakufu period, a ShinSenGumi fighter, Saito Hajime arriving. It is then revealed that Kenshin has something of a split personality. He is either the maid and agony aunt of the Kendo dojo, or he is the fearsome assassin. He seems to be perfectly aware of this "condition", and Kaoru's voice seem to trigger the agony aunt personality when he is in assassin mode. In other words, Kaoru makes Battousai remember that he is now Himura Kenshin. Kenshin soon left the Kamiya Kendo dojo for Kyoto soon after his fight with Hajime, with whom he had become reluctant allies with to battle a darker, more sinister force threatening Japan. This force is Shishio Makoto, known as something like the "Second hito-kiri Battousai", the political assasin who succeeded Battousai. He lived through the changeover of governments, and was then living in Kyoto, with a large band of faithful followers and the ambition to undermine Japan's current government system. Kaoru and co wouldn't let Kenshin go, but after one of the three founders of Meiji, Ookubo Toshimichi was murdered, he had no choice. Before he leaves, he expresses his love for Kaoru (He hugged her - it was 19th century Japan, don't expect too much), but ofcourse, as soon as he hit the road everyone else followed. And so once again, the action heats up in Kyoto... And this part of the series is where all the good stuff is. Poor penniless Kenshin travels by foot because he feels a fight on a ship will endanger other passengers, and runs into poor penniless Makimachi Misao. So they're both poor and penniless, but Misao turns out to be a Kyoto resident and a ninja - a member of the Oniwabanshuu (ain't the world small!). Misao is journeying to find her beloved trainer and leader of the Oniwabanshuu, a no-personality but extremely strong and handsome Shinomori Aoshi. Kenshin is actually an... "acquaintance", okay, deadly enemies with Aoshi, but that doesn't stop Misao from latching onto Kenshin and joining forces with him to fight Shishio Makoto. She introduces him to the gung-ho Okina and his "associates" - all highly skilled ninjas who go out of their way to help Kenshin defeat Shishio. Once firmly settled in Kyoto, Kenshin reunites with the rest of the Kenshin-gumi, including Saitou Hajime (no no, he's not part of the Kenshin-gumi). Kenshin finds his ex-master, the obnoxious but invincible Hiko Seijurou, and powers up, learning a few nifty attacks, as well as the most powerful technique in the school of HitenmiTsurugiRyuu. Meanwhile Shishio hasn't been sitting around twiddling his thumbs. Sensing that it is time to take over the country before some annoying redhead rurouni crashes the party, he recalls his most powerful fighters, the nefarious JupponGatana. He also manages to recruit Aoshi into his forces, because Aoshi's goal is to fight Kenshin and ultimately defeat him. He then sends the first stage of his plans rolling into action - by setting Kyoto on fire and sailing right into Tokyo Harbour with what looks like a massive battle cruiser. Luckily, his plans were thwarted by the combined efforts of Kenshin, Saitou and Sanosuke, who... swam out and jumped on his ship. That was the least of Shishio's problems, to be honest, because the engine room of his battlecruiser was on fire. It was Sanosuke's explosives that saved the day, and Shishio ended up having to abandon his ship and retreat to his underground base. Meanwhile, his plan to turn Kyoto into a giant bonfire failed also, because of the intervention of Kaoru, Yahiko, Misao and the other ninjas. But never to be thwarted by failure, Shishio's other right hand man and member of the JupponGatana, Houji, immediately cooked up another plan. They will lure Kenshin, Saitou and whatever rag-tag bunch of mercenaries comes along to Shishio's HQ, and have them fight the strongest of the JupponGatana. The rest of the JupponGatana will sneak over to Kyoto and eliminate those pesky aides of Kenshin that insist on butting in their grand plans. Shishio accepts these plans, and the JupponGatana goes off to carry out their prospective jobs. Kenshin, Saitou and Sanosuke get to face off with Aoshi and the 3 most powerful members of the JupponGatana; while Kaoru & co back in Kyoto struggle against the other 5 members. Both battles were bloody and hard-won, and if Hiko didn't show up to save the day, Kaoru's company would most certainly have been killed. It was an especially gruelling fight for Kenshin, as he had to fight Aoshi, Soujirou and Shishio in succession - without taking a break. Despite this, he was still fighting Shishio toe-to-toe, and so deserves the victory he eventually gains. That the hero won and the villain died is hardly surprising, but? And lo! Behold! The gang is back from Kyoto, having "defeated" Shishio Makoto and his evil henchmen (Kenshin lost 5 litres of blood while Shishio spontaneously human combusted - so I won't call it a decisive win). The next adventure soon comes knocking on the door; this time it is an old enemy of Kenshin coming to claim his revenge. This story is about how Kenshin's scar came to be; the result of a hatred deep from the grave. And his new nemisis, is out to destroy Kenshin's life with (another) bunch of blood-thirsty ruffians. You know someone is after you when everyone around you gets seriously hurt by weirdos appearing out of thin air. Kenshin's "new" nemisis is Yukishiro Enishi, the younger brother of Yukishiro Tomoe, Battousai's wife who also died by his hands. Enishi is out to get Kenshin, having destroyed the Akabeko restuarant (centre of Kenshin's social life), Megumi's "hospital", Maegawa Dojo (the Dojo Kaoru and Yahiko train at occasionally), Shochou's house (the head policeman of the area and Kenshin's friend), and is about to hit Kamiya Dojo. 10 days later, things are really going to heat up at Kamiya Dojo. With such imminent danger, Kenshin has no choice but to reveal the secret of the cross-scar to the residents of the dojo and to Kaoru... Battousai/Kenshin's scar came from two people; his wife when he killed her, and a young man called Akira Kiyosato, a Kyoto beaurocrat. Kiyosato and Tomoe were engaged when Battousai chopped Kiyosato to pieces. Kiyosato was no swordsman, but his will to live was so strong he managed to get a nick on Battousai's face before he collapsed. Shrugging off the incident, Kenshin carried on with with his usual assasinations, until he meets Tomoe. Tomoe witnesses some spectacular butchering by Battousai, and faints. Battousai has no choice but to carry her home, hoping she would leave in the morning. But not only did Tomoe refuse to leave, but she stayed with Kenshin until the height of the civil war, when Kenshin's home was burnt down. The affection they have both developed for each other by living together leads them to the conclusion that they should - get married. Tomoe is actually a spy of the Yaminobu who was out to avenge her fiancee's death. Her and Kenshin decides to live in a small village where Kenshin lived as a herbalist. It is here that Enishi and Kenshin first meet each other, and where Tomoe falls in love with Kenshin and leaves him, no longer wanting to act as a spy. She was captured by the Yaminobu and used as bait for Battousai, who came to her rescue in a frenzied rage. In the middle of the battle, Tomoe suddenly leaps in between Battousai and his opponent, hoping to help, but only ends up being slashed by Battousai. The dagger Tomoe was holding flew backwards and cuts Kenshin's face, thus forming the cross-scar. Tomoe died smiling in Kenshin's arms, and from that time onwards Kenshin no longer wanted to kill; but rather to protect. But with Enishi threatening all those Kenshin loves, will he kill again...to protect?? Ofcourse not. Kenshin is forever pro-life Kenshin, and nothing can change that, not even the death of Kaoru. Yeah, you read right. Kaoru dies. Who killed her? Enishi. When Enishi and co landed in Kamiya dojo, they levelled it completely. After a long and bloody battle, Enishi manages to kidnap Kaoru, and nail her to the wall of her own dojo with his long sword. When the others came to and saw her... it seemed that all was lost. Enishi has evaded capture, and Kenshin disappears, only to be found days later, eyes vacant, sitting in the ruins of a village. Nothing moves him, he cannot be budged; he appears to be the living dead. It is at this new low in Kenshin's life, that Misao and Aoshi come from Kyoto, having been called by Kaoru before her death, to try and break the deadly cycle of fate that binded Enishi, Tomoe and Kenshin together. Things escalate, and the plot is on the rebound. With Sanosuke gone, Yahiko, Misao, Aoshi and Megumi struggle to bring some life back into a Kenshin who seemed to have lost all will to live. Things made no progress, until Yahiko encounters someone way stronger than him, and in typical Yahiko fashion he challenges him him to fight. Yahiko is aided only by a bunch of incompetent rookie policeman, and needless to say, gets his butt kicked in the extreme. Not wanting to see him crushed to a pulpy mess, Tsubame runs to where a lifeless Kenshin sits, and pleads with him to save Yahiko. There's no reply. After some more pleading, the message finally registers in Kenshin - Yahiko needed his help, and if Yahiko dies, he will have one more sin on his shoulders. Thus, Kenshin recovers!! and saves the day (yet again). He then decides to go after Enishi, and along with the regular gang Yahiko, Sanosuke, Aoshi, Saitou, Misao and Megumi, arrive on Enishi's secret island resort (well, his headquarters, actually), for the final fight... The rest of the story is pretty straight-forward (they fight? And Kenshin wins), and I can assure you that it all end happily. Saying that "it all ends happily" probably tells you all what the complimentary plot twist is going to be. To be honest, I didn't really like the revenge arc (book 18-28), except for the flashback part where we get to see Battousai in action (he's so cool...). After that, it sort of goes downhill (for me anyway). I still think the Kyoto arc (book 8-17) is the best - a good reason to own the series, actually. When I first saw this manga, I thought, This looks good. And does it ever look good. The art in it is beautifully drawn, which was what interest me in the first place. When I looked at the content, I thought, this IS good. And so I bought it. It was the right choice, I can tell you. The three important aspects; the art, the plot and the characters were all achieved pretty well in this manga. The only setback for anyone is not the author's fault; people who know very little about 19th Century Japan or like more modern style manga may find this manga hard to follow. Other than that, there are no other major setbacks. This manga is violent but doesn't have disembowelments every second page, and does investigate aspects of humanity (you'll have to look for that). So therefore I can't think of any other reason why anyone wouldn't want to read such a well- balanced mixture of action, adventure, mystery and romance.