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Rurouni Kenshin

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is a set of manga and anime series created by mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki, set during the early years of the early Meiji period in Japan. The English versions of the OVAs as well as the movie are sold under the Samurai X name. In other countries, the TV series itself is known as "Samurai X", as explained later in this article.
The series tells the story of an assassin named Himura Kenshin, who was known as the Hitokiri Battōsai (Translated as Man killer of the sheath. Kenshin later grieves for all the lives he's taken, and has vowed that he will never kill again).

The manga originally appeared in the Japanese Shonen Jump Weekly Anthology, and the completed work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes. The United States release of the manga is being handled by VIZ Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled Wandering Samurai in some English releases.

In Brazil, Rurouni Kenshin was published by "Editora JBC" under the title Samurai X in 56 volumes (each volume is a half of the original tankōbon), maintaining its original Japanese manga reading format (from the top-right corner to the bottom-left corner of the book). Yahiko no Sakabatō was released by the same publisher under the title A Sakabatou de Yahiko in July 10th of 2004, during an event that gathers anime, manga, and games fans from all over Brazil called "Anime Friends", which is held every year in São Paulo. Kenshin Kaden, a Rurouni Kenshin encyclopedia was also released by the same publisher in November of 2004. For more information, see Rurouni Kenshin Media Information.

A writer named Kaoru Shizuka wrote an official Rurouni Kenshin novel. VIZ Media will translate the novel and sell copies in the United States and Canada.

Contents

Storyline

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Himura Kenshin
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Himura Kenshin

The series was and first appeared as a pair of separate short stories (both are titled ) published in 1992 and 1993 in the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump Special. In 1994, Watsuki created a final ongoing version that was published in Shonen Jump until its conclusion in 1999, which the various anime series are based from. In 2000, it was followed up by Yahiko no Sakabatō ("Yahiko's Reversed-Edge Sword"). The manga consists of 28 tankōbon volumes (Yahiko no Sakabatō was never compiled). The storyline of Kenshin is divided into three storyline arcs: Tokyo, Kyoto, and the Jinchū (a made-up word, which could be translated as the revenge of the man) arc. The Jinchū arc was not animated, save for the parts about Kenshin's background which formed one of the OVAs released (see below)

There are four animated Rurouni Kenshin series. るろうに剣心 "Rurouni" is a neologism created from the verb "ru," meaning "to wander," and "ronin," meaning "masterless samurai." A rough translation of the title would be "Kenshin the Wandering Swordsman." This became the English title of the first story arc.

The OVA series -- which feature a number of historical characters -- attempts to be more realistic and accurate than the TV series, which begins as a romantic comedy but evolves into a period drama. The OVA made use of live footage spliced with animation cells giving the series a different feel than straight animation.

There is a good deal of debate regarding the authenticity of the second OVA. Most avid fans tend to completely ignore this OVA and disagree with the ending that was given in it. Creator Nobuhiro Watsuki also concurs with his fans and states that this OVA did not portray the ending he foresaw for Kenshin, stating that he enjoys happy endings best.

Both OVAs were re-released in "Director's Cut" forms that spliced the separate "episodes" together into continuous movies, as well as adding some extra footage. The order of musical cues in both director's cut OVAs were significantly altered, although the tracks themselves were not altered or omitted.

The animated series enjoys immense popularity worldwide, and although designed primarily for male fans, its detailed exploration of emotion and relationships (especially the romantic relationship that develops between Kenshin and Kaoru) attracts many female followers. Since the series ran for so long (95 episodes), each of the main characters was explored quite in depth. Together with the OVAs explaining Kenshin's past and future, this series is considered by many one of the most complete shows about the period and of the 'samurai' genre. The series is currently distributed by Sony Pictures Television International.

Samurai X was used for the Sony dub of the TV series, which aired in Europe, the Philippines and India. This version was also shown in some other countries. The Sony dub, while generally well-received by casual viewers in these countries, has been criticized by fans for its localization of the series (There is no variation on "de gozaru"; Kenshin is not unusually polite; there is plenty of slang), and for changing the names of some characters Kaoru was changed to "Corrie", Yahiko to "Yoshi", Saito to "Sato" (the "i" is missing) and Kenshin to "Kenshi" (the "n" in shin is missing). The pronunciation of Sanosuke's name also varies, sometimes Sanosuke and Sanosuki.

Jinchu Arc controversy

The television series and manga series of Rurouni Kenshin up to the end of the Kyoto Story Arc, had been nearly identical in terms of plot with only minor differences. However when the television series caught up to the manga in terms of story the producers of the Rurouni Kenshin anime decided to diverge from Nobuhiro Watsuki's manga and create their own story and characters (ie filler) until they had enough material to adapt without catching up, which in turn, led to the cancellation of the series.[[Citing sources citation needed]] This led to the last arc of Rurouni Kenshin manga, the "Jinchū" story arc, to have been never animated. The Jinchū arc contains a large amount of Himura Kenshin's backstory including the meeting of his first love and the events that resulted in his infamous cross-shaped scar. The story arc is primarily focused on characters from Kenshin's years spent as the Hitokiri Battōsai, who now want vengeance for wrongs he once did to them. Many fans felt the alternate stories and characters of the anime series were inferior to Watsuki's original storyline, and the VIZ translation of the manga's final arc (which spans volumes 18 through 28) is thus highly anticipated.
Spoilers end here.

Notes

Cover of Rurouni Kenshin volume 18 (English version).
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Cover of Rurouni Kenshin volume 18 (English version).

Characters

Himura Kenshin
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Himura Kenshin

Names are given in Japanese order with the given name after the family name. The English anime dub uses the Western order (family name after the given name) while the English manga uses the Japanese order.

See:

Something to note is that Nobuhiro Watsuki, on each tankoubon, details the creation of the characters, as well as the influences he had for the characters' personality and design. Those influences are historical (members of the Shinsengumi, mainly), and fictional (X-Men and Marvel characters, and SNK video games characters, mainly Samurai Shodown and Last Blade ones).

The games

There were two Rurouni Kenshin games released for PlayStation. The first was Rurouni Kenshin: Ishin Gekitouhen, released on November 29 1996 and released in the PlayStation The Best lineup on August 6 1998. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenyaku Romantan: Juuyuushi Inbou Hen was released on December 18 1997 and was re-released in the PlayStation The Best lineup on November 5 1998.

Rurouni Kenshin: Ishin Gekitouhen is a typical fighter platformer. The player can control several characters from the anime to fight against other characters. Both Kaoru and Saito are secret characters. Zanza (not to be confused with Sanosuke) is somewhat of a secret character in that the player has to press select when highlight Sanosuke to use him. The player progresses through six fights, the final being against Shinomori Aoshi. The game follows the first encounter with Aoshi and his group. One of the highlights of the game are the many anime cutscenes throughout the game.

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenyaku Romantan: Juuyuushi Inbou Hen is an RPG starring a male or female character, Hijiri or Hikaru. The story is unrelated to the manga or anime. During the story the player will recruit various characters from Rurouni Kenshin including Kenshin himself. Both Saito and Aoshi are playable depending on which character the player is playing. Saito is playable in Hijiri's story and Aoshi is playable in Hikaru's. The player journeys with the Kenshin-gumi to discover the truth behind the player's character's past and defeat an evil group up to no good. Many characters from the anime make cameos during the game, including Kenshin's master Hiko and Misao.

The gameplay is a more complex version of rock-paper-scissors. Each attack can be blocked, parried, or countered unless it is the character's unblockable. At first the player can only predict a few of the enemy's moves but as the player's character levels up the player will be able to predict more moves until the player can predict all the moves the enemies will do that turn.

The battles are not party-based. The first character in the player's party will be the first and only character to attack. The player's character and the opponent will fight until one of the characters is either defeated or replaced by another character. Other fights, usually boss fights, are one-on-one. Each character is paired with a boss. The battle sprites are highly animated with every character having their signature moves. If a character defeats an enemy with one of their specials, a short cutscene will play after battle.

Neither game has been translated into English.

In the Japanese Nintendo DS game, Jump Superstars, Kenshin, Kaoru, Saito, and Sanosuke appear as fighters in the game. Kenshin is a playable fighter, Sanosuke and Saito are supporting characters, Kaoru is a helper character.

A third game, Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne, has been announced for the Playstation 2 console. Its Japanese release is slated at 09/14/06 (according to Gamefaqs.com).[link]

Theme songs

Having a wide variety of music, Rurouni Kenshin counts with several album and CD box sets:

The opening theme to the RK movie (Ishin Shishi e no Requiem) is "Niji" performed by L'Arc~en~Ciel.

English Voice Actors

ADV Films' English dubs of the OVAs and movie were done at their Austin, Texas-based studio, Monster Island (closed down as of spring 2005). Media Blasters hired a Los Angeles-based dub studio, Bang! Zoom! Entertainment for their dub of the TV series. As such, all of the voice actors are different.

Character Actor
Kenshin Himura (Himura Kenshin) Richard Cansino (TV), J. Shanon Weaver (OVA)
Kaoru Kamiya (Kamiya Kaoru) Dorothy Elias-Fahn(TV), Samantha Inoue Harte(OVA)
Sanosuke Sagara (Sagara Sanosuke) Lex Lang (TV), Gray G. Haddock(OVA)
Yahiko Myojin (Myōjin Yahiko) Wendee Lee (TV)
Megumi Takani (Takani Megumi) Jane Alan
Dr. Gensai Steve Kramer
Hajime Saito (Saitō Hajime) Kirk Thornton
Souji Okita (Okita Sōji) Mona Marshall (TV), J. Shanon Weaver (OVA)
Makoto Shishio (Shishio Makoto) Steven Blum

Trivia

See also

Rurouni Kenshin Media Information

External links

 

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