is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the who becomes a wanderer to protect the people from Japan. Being a fan of the Shinsengumi, Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan.
The manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 2 1994, to November 4 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes. The United States release of the manga has been completed by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English releases, as a rough translation of "Rurouni." The English-language versions of the OVAs as well the film is released as Samurai X, although the original title was included in the DVD releases. Writer Kaoru Shizuka has written an official Rurouni Kenshin novel titled Voyage to the Moon World. The novel has been translated by Viz and distributed in the United States and Canada.
The series has been highly popular in both Japan and America. The manga has sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007 while the anime has ranked between the 100 most watched series in Japan multiple times.
After three months of living in the dojo, Kenshin discovers that his successor as assassin of the shadows, Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government starting with Kyoto. Feeling that his friends may be attacked by Shishio's faction, Kenshin goes to meet Shishio alone in order to defeat him. However, many of his friends decide to travel to Kyoto to help him in his fight. He decides to accept their help and defeats Shishio in a fight, who dies in the process due to the rise in body temperature caused by his burns.
When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, Kenshin finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans revenge by killing his friends. At this point it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin used to be married to a woman called Yukishiro Tomoe, who initially wanted to avenge the death of her fiancé, whom Kenshin had killed, but instead both fell in love and got married. When it was discovered that Tomoe was part of a group of assassins that wanted to kill Kenshin, Kenshin blindly swings his sword, killing both his assailant and Tomoe, who jumps in at the last minute to save Kenshin from a fatal attack. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a tortured figure bearing a stunning resemblance of the girl for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set to rescue her. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and when Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Five years later, Kenshin has found true peace; he is married to Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji.
The second story, which though released second in the manga format was indeed the first 'Rurouni' one-shot, has Kenshin saving the Kamiya family's dojo from a corrupt crime lord who seeks to marry the family's oldest daughter, Megumi (later to become Takani Megumi), with the aid of her younger siblings, Kaoru and Yahiko (the heir to the Kamiya dojo, later to become Myojin Yahiko). While Kaoru and Yahiko's characters are similar to their incarnations in Rurouni Kenshin, Megumi's personality is distinctly different as she is more timid and submissive than her eventual incarnation in the series.
Watsuki said that he remembered the difficulty experienced when he condensed "everything" into 31 pages for the first Romantic Swordsman story. He said that he "put all my soul into it" but he sighs when he looks at the story from his perspective after the publication of the Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 graphic novel in Japan. During the development of the 1st Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, Watsuki and his editor argued over Kenshin's speech pattern. For the story they settled for a "slangy" pattern. Watsuki said that he wonders what the story would have been if he had permission to add two pages to the story. Watsuki describes the first Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story as receiving mediocre reviews and about two hundred letters.
Watsuki said that if one thinks of the first Rurouni story as a "side story," then one would consider the second story, echoing the "Megumi Arc," as a "pilot" for Rurouni Kenshin. According to Watsuki, the final Rurouni Kenshin series did not being entirely from his free will. Describing the creation of historical stories as "hard," Watsuki initially wanted to make his next series in a contemporary setting. An editor approached Watsuki and asked him to make a new historical story.
With the historic concept, Watsuki intended to use the Bakumatsu time period from Moeyo Ken with a story akin to Sugata Sanshirō. Watsuki experimented with various titles, including Nishin (Two-Hearts) Kenshin, Yorozuya (Jack-of-All-Trades) Kenshin, and variations of "Rurouni" and "Kenshin" with different kanji in that order. According to Watsuki, he took eight months to write the 45-page second Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story. Watsuki originally planned to create a Hokkaido arc and a sequel, but felt it would be better to start with another manga and so ended the series with the Jinchū arc.
Rurouni Kenshin was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. The first volume of the series was released on October 7, 2003, with volumes released normally every other month until July 5, 2006, when the final volume was published. In January 2008, Viz began re-releasing the manga in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition", which is a collection of three volumes in one.
The first OVA series, Samurai X: Trust and Samurai X: Betrayal, collectively known in Japan as and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal -Director's Cut, was set during the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and telling of Kenshin's childhood. Only a few characters from the TV series appear in this OVA. The OVA mainly depicts the life of Kenshin as Battōsai and his time with his first wife, Tomoe.
The second OVA series Samurai X: Reflection, known in Japan as and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Reflection -Director's Cut. It was set both during and after the timeline of the series and tells of Kenshin and Kaoru's later years, much of which is not derived from the manga. It also differs from the manga on some points, such as details in regard to the Jin-e and Enishi fights. The OVA is seen as a montage of singular events surrounding the life of Kenshin, told from the point of view of Kaoru.
For the OVAs series, all themes were composed by Taku Iwasaki and the Cds were released by Sony Visual Works. The first, Rurouni Kenshin : Tsuioku Hen OVA OST was released on March 20, 1999 and contained sixteen tracks that were used in Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal. For the Reflection OVA a sondtrack called Rurouni Kenshin Seisouhen OVA OST was released on January 23, 2002.
Several compilations of the anime songs were also released in collection CDs. Thirty tracks were selected and joined in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin - The Director's Collection, that was released on July 21, 1997. Rurouni Kenshin Best Theme Collection was released on March 3, 1998 and contained ten tracks. All of the opening and ending themes were also collected in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin OP/ED Theme Collection. The Japanese voice actors of the series also composed songs that were released as two Cds Rurouni Kenshin Songs Album. All of the anime, including OVAs and films tracks were collected in Rurouni Kenshin Complete CD-Box that was released on September 19, 2002. It contains the four TV OSTs, the two OAV OSTs, the movie OST, the two game OSTs, an opening & closing theme collection, and the two Character Songs albums.
Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is the only video game for the Playstation 2 console. Its Japanese release was slated at September 14, 2006. The game is also the last work involving the late voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki as Hajime Saito.
Rurouni Kenshin also ranked at tenth place in the Web's Most Wanted 2005, ranking in the animation category. Volume 27 of the manga ranked second in the Viz Bookscan Top Ten during June 2006, while volume 21 and 20 ranked second and tenth, respectively, in the Top 10 Graphic Novels of Viz of 2005. Rurouni Kenshin volume 24 also ranked in 116th position in the USA Today's best selling book list for the week ending February 26 2006.
Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other media have provided praise and criticism on the series. Anime News Network comments about a well crafted plot and good action but they also criticize that during the first episodes the fights never get quite interesting as it becomes a bit predictable that Kenshin is going to win as the music of moments of victory is repeated many times. However, they mention that all those negatives points disappear during the Kyoto Arc as they remark amazing fights and soundtracks.
The OVAs of the series have had several good reviews. Anime News Network noted them as one of the greatest OVA series of all-time. However, they commented that fans from the manga may be disappointed when seeing Samurai X: Reflections since most of the fighting scenes have been deleted in the OVA and as there are many out-of-character performances.
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the who becomes a wanderer to protect the people from Japan. Being a fan of the Shinsengumi, Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan.
The manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 2 1994, to November 4 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes. The United States release of the manga has been completed by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English releases, as a rough translation of "Rurouni." The English-language versions of the OVAs as well the film is released as Samurai X, although the original title was included in the DVD releases. Writer Kaoru Shizuka has written an official Rurouni Kenshin novel titled Voyage to the Moon World. The novel has been translated by Viz and distributed in the United States and Canada.
The series has been highly popular in both Japan and America. The manga has sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007 while the anime has ranked between the 100 most watched series in Japan multiple times.
After three months of living in the dojo, Kenshin discovers that his successor as assassin of the shadows, Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government starting with Kyoto. Feeling that his friends may be attacked by Shishio's faction, Kenshin goes to meet Shishio alone in order to defeat him. However, many of his friends decide to travel to Kyoto to help him in his fight. He decides to accept their help and defeats Shishio in a fight, who dies in the process due to the rise in body temperature caused by his burns.
When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, Kenshin finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans revenge by killing his friends. At this point it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin used to be married to a woman called Yukishiro Tomoe, who initially wanted to avenge the death of her fiancé, whom Kenshin had killed, but instead both fell in love and got married. When it was discovered that Tomoe was part of a group of assassins that wanted to kill Kenshin, Kenshin blindly swings his sword, killing both his assailant and Tomoe, who jumps in at the last minute to save Kenshin from a fatal attack. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a tortured figure bearing a stunning resemblance of the girl for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set to rescue her. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and when Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Five years later, Kenshin has found true peace; he is married to Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji.
The second story, which though released second in the manga format was indeed the first 'Rurouni' one-shot, has Kenshin saving the Kamiya family's dojo from a corrupt crime lord who seeks to marry the family's oldest daughter, Megumi (later to become Takani Megumi), with the aid of her younger siblings, Kaoru and Yahiko (the heir to the Kamiya dojo, later to become Myojin Yahiko). While Kaoru and Yahiko's characters are similar to their incarnations in Rurouni Kenshin, Megumi's personality is distinctly different as she is more timid and submissive than her eventual incarnation in the series.
Watsuki said that he remembered the difficulty experienced when he condensed "everything" into 31 pages for the first Romantic Swordsman story. He said that he "put all my soul into it" but he sighs when he looks at the story from his perspective after the publication of the Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 graphic novel in Japan. During the development of the 1st Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, Watsuki and his editor argued over Kenshin's speech pattern. For the story they settled for a "slangy" pattern. Watsuki said that he wonders what the story would have been if he had permission to add two pages to the story. Watsuki describes the first Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story as receiving mediocre reviews and about two hundred letters.
Watsuki said that if one thinks of the first Rurouni story as a "side story," then one would consider the second story, echoing the "Megumi Arc," as a "pilot" for Rurouni Kenshin. According to Watsuki, the final Rurouni Kenshin series did not being entirely from his free will. Describing the creation of historical stories as "hard," Watsuki initially wanted to make his next series in a contemporary setting. An editor approached Watsuki and asked him to make a new historical story.
With the historic concept, Watsuki intended to use the Bakumatsu time period from Moeyo Ken with a story akin to Sugata Sanshirō. Watsuki experimented with various titles, including Nishin (Two-Hearts) Kenshin, Yorozuya (Jack-of-All-Trades) Kenshin, and variations of "Rurouni" and "Kenshin" with different kanji in that order. According to Watsuki, he took eight months to write the 45-page second Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story. Watsuki originally planned to create a Hokkaido arc and a sequel, but felt it would be better to start with another manga and so ended the series with the Jinchū arc.
Rurouni Kenshin was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. The first volume of the series was released on October 7, 2003, with volumes released normally every other month until July 5, 2006, when the final volume was published. In January 2008, Viz began re-releasing the manga in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition", which is a collection of three volumes in one.
The first OVA series, Samurai X: Trust and Samurai X: Betrayal, collectively known in Japan as and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal -Director's Cut, was set during the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and telling of Kenshin's childhood. Only a few characters from the TV series appear in this OVA. The OVA mainly depicts the life of Kenshin as Battōsai and his time with his first wife, Tomoe.
The second OVA series Samurai X: Reflection, known in Japan as and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Reflection -Director's Cut. It was set both during and after the timeline of the series and tells of Kenshin and Kaoru's later years, much of which is not derived from the manga. It also differs from the manga on some points, such as details in regard to the Jin-e and Enishi fights. The OVA is seen as a montage of singular events surrounding the life of Kenshin, told from the point of view of Kaoru.
For the OVAs series, all themes were composed by Taku Iwasaki and the Cds were released by Sony Visual Works. The first, Rurouni Kenshin : Tsuioku Hen OVA OST was released on March 20, 1999 and contained sixteen tracks that were used in Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal. For the Reflection OVA a sondtrack called Rurouni Kenshin Seisouhen OVA OST was released on January 23, 2002.
Several compilations of the anime songs were also released in collection CDs. Thirty tracks were selected and joined in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin - The Director's Collection, that was released on July 21, 1997. Rurouni Kenshin Best Theme Collection was released on March 3, 1998 and contained ten tracks. All of the opening and ending themes were also collected in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin OP/ED Theme Collection. The Japanese voice actors of the series also composed songs that were released as two Cds Rurouni Kenshin Songs Album. All of the anime, including OVAs and films tracks were collected in Rurouni Kenshin Complete CD-Box that was released on September 19, 2002. It contains the four TV OSTs, the two OAV OSTs, the movie OST, the two game OSTs, an opening & closing theme collection, and the two Character Songs albums.
Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is the only video game for the Playstation 2 console. Its Japanese release was slated at September 14, 2006. The game is also the last work involving the late voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki as Hajime Saito.
Rurouni Kenshin also ranked at tenth place in the Web's Most Wanted 2005, ranking in the animation category. Volume 27 of the manga ranked second in the Viz Bookscan Top Ten during June 2006, while volume 21 and 20 ranked second and tenth, respectively, in the Top 10 Graphic Novels of Viz of 2005. Rurouni Kenshin volume 24 also ranked in 116th position in the USA Today's best selling book list for the week ending February 26 2006.
Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other media have provided praise and criticism on the series. Anime News Network comments about a well crafted plot and good action but they also criticize that during the first episodes the fights never get quite interesting as it becomes a bit predictable that Kenshin is going to win as the music of moments of victory is repeated many times. However, they mention that all those negatives points disappear during the Kyoto Arc as they remark amazing fights and soundtracks.
The OVAs of the series have had several good reviews. Anime News Network noted them as one of the greatest OVA series of all-time. However, they commented that fans from the manga may be disappointed when seeing Samurai X: Reflections since most of the fighting scenes have been deleted in the OVA and as there are many out-of-character performances.
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