fbpx
Wikipedia

Rurouni Kenshin

March 14, 2023

"Rurouni" redirects here. For the related word of wandering samurai, see Rōnin.

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (Japanese: るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-, Hepburn: Rurōni Kenshin -Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan-)[a] is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work against the bakufu, Hitokiri Battosai disappears to become Himura Kenshin: a wandering swordsman who protects the people of Japan with a vow never to take another life. Watsuki wrote the series upon his desire to make a shōnen manga different from the other ones that were published at the time, with Kenshin being a former assassin and the story taking a more serious tone as it continued. The manga revolves around themes of atonement, peace, and romance.

Rurouni Kenshin
Cover of the 28th tankōbon volume, featuring Himura Kenshin (front) and Kamiya Kaoru (back)
るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-
(Rurōni Kenshin -Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan-)
Genre
Manga
Written byNobuhiro Watsuki
Published byShueisha
English publisher
ImprintJump Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runApril 25, 1994 – September 21, 1999
Volumes28 (List of volumes)
Manga
Anime series
Original video animations
Live-action films

The manga was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from April 1994 to September 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes, while years later it was reprinted into 22 kanzenban volumes. Studio Gallop, Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime television series, which aired in Japan from January 1996 to September 1998. Besides an animated feature film, two series of original video animations (OVAs) were also produced. The first adapted stories from the manga that were not featured in the anime, while the second was a sequel to the manga. Several art and guidebooks for Rurouni Kenshin have been published, and writer Kaoru Shizuka has authored three official light novels which were published by Shueisha. Many video games have also been released for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable consoles. A series of five live-action theatrical films adaptations were released from 2012 to 2021. A second anime television series adaptation by Liden Films is set to premiere in 2023.

The manga, as well as the first light novel and first guidebook, has received a complete North American release by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English versions.[2] The Rurouni Kenshin manga has over 72 million copies in circulation as of 2019, making it one of the best-selling manga series. The series has received praise from various publications for manga, anime and other media, with both having received a good response on the characters' designs and historical setting. In 2017, Watsuki began a direct sequel titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc in Jump Square.

Plot

See also: List of Rurouni Kenshin characters
 
The series takes place in 1878, eleven years after the beginning of the Meiji era.

In the early Meiji era, after participating in the Boshin War as the assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai", Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan with a reverse blade katana. He is offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who is in the middle of a fight with a murderer - who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai - tarnishing the name of the swordsmanship school that she teaches. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai. After discovering that Kenshin is the real infamous assassin, Kaoru offers him a place to stay at her dojo, noting that he is peace-loving and not cold-hearted, as his reputation implies. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family who is also living with Kaoru as her student; and a doctor named Takani Megumi, caught in the opium trade. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including the former leader of the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi.

After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin faces a rival from the Bakumatsu turned police officer, Saitō Hajime. This challenge turns out to be a test to face his successor, Shishio Makoto, who plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that Shishio's faction may attack his friends, Kenshin meets Shishio alone to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, whom he meets in his travels, decide to help him in his fight. After his first meeting with him, Kenshin realizes he needs to get stronger to defeat Shishio without becoming the cold assassin he was in the past and returns to the man who taught him kenjutsu, Hiko Seijūrō, to learn the school's final technique. He finally accepts his friends' help and defeats Shishio in a close fight. After that, Shishio dies burning to ashes after passing the limit of his abnormal body condition. A reformed Shinomori stays in Kyoto with the surviving Oniwabanshū.

When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, he finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans to enact revenge. At this point, it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin was to be married to a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe. She had initially wanted to avenge the death of her first fiancé, whom Kenshin had assassinated, but instead, they both fell in love, and she got proposed to. It is eventually revealed that Tomoe was related to Edo guards who wanted to kill Kenshin. They outwitted Tomoe after realizing her deception first and captured her to use as bait. Kenshin rushed to the rescue. Although the ambushers managed to injure him severely, Kenshin managed to kill almost all of them and moved on. Then, in the final fight against the group leader, Kenshin accidentally kills Tomoe, who jumps in at the last second to help Kenshin create an opening to win the battle. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a corpse doll bearing a stunning resemblance of her for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set out to rescue her. A final battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows, and the former assassin emerges as the victor. Misao brings Tomoe's diary to Enishi who keeps it in a village to hide alongside his missing father.

Four years later, Kenshin has married Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji. Now at peace with himself, Kenshin gives his reverse-blade sword to Yahiko as a ceremonial gift.

Production

One-shots

A prototype series titled Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story appeared as a pair of separate short stories published in 1992 and 1993.[3][4] The first story, published in December 1992 in the Weekly Shōnen Jump Winter Special issue of 1993, featured an earlier version of Kenshin stopping a crime lord from taking over the Kamiya family dojo. Watsuki described the first Rurouni story, echoing the "Megumi Arc," as a "pilot" for Rurouni Kenshin. According to Watsuki, the final Rurouni Kenshin series was not composed entirely of 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 historical concept, Watsuki intended to use the Bakumatsu period from Moeyo Ken (Burn, O Sword) with a story akin to Sanshiro Sugata. 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.[3]

The second Rurouni story, published in April 1993 in the Weekly Shōnen Jump 21–22 double issue of that year, featured Kenshin helping a wealthy girl named Raikōji Chizuru. Watsuki recalled experiencing difficulty when condensing "everything" into 31 pages for that story. He said that he "put all [his] soul into it" but sighs when looking at it from his perspective after the publication of the Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 graphic novel in Japan. Watsuki describes that second Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story as receiving mediocre reviews and about two hundred letters.[4] He referred to it as a "side story."[3]

The design model for Hiko Seijuro, Kenshin's master, in Rurouni Kenshin is the character of the same name from his one-shot manga "Crescent Moon of the Warring States," but Watsuki also added some influences from Hiken Majin Hajerun in Takeshi Obata's Arabian Lamp-Lamp. At the time, Watsuki said that he was fascinated by images of "manliness" and that Hiko is one of the first characters to reflect this fascination.[5] Since Watsuki's debut work contained a tall, black-haired man in "showy" armor, he wanted to make a character "completely opposite" to the debut character; the new character ended up "coming out like a girl". According to Watsuki, he used "no real motif" when creating Kenshin and placed a cross-shaped scar on his face "not knowing what else to do." Like several characters, Kenshin was influenced the Shinsengumi with Kenshin being affected by Okita Sōji and Saitō Hajime in order to give him an air of mystery.[6]

Publication and influences

 
The final scene of the Kyoto arc was influenced by the animated adaptation due to its focus of the wanderer Kenshin being accepted in Kaoru's dojo.

During his childhood, Watsuki used to practice kendo, which influenced his making of the series. Although Watsuki developed various one-shots before the official serialization from the series. While naming the characters, he based some of their names from places he used to live such a Makimachi Misaos's "Makimachi" and Sanjō Tsubame, who are named after places from Niigata.[7]

When the manga series started to be published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Watsuki had little hope in the development of the series. He planned to finish the story in approximately 30 chapters, ending with Kenshin's departure from Tokyo similarly to the one from volume 7. Kenshin's enemies would have been people from Kyoto who would send an assassin to kill Kenshin. When the Oniwabanshū were introduced during the serialization, Watsuki noted that the series could be longer as he had created various main characters. In that time, there was a survey, and the series had become very popular.[8]

For its seventh volume, Watsuki's boss suggested to him that it was time to make a longer story-arc, which resulted in the creation of the fights between Kenshin and Shishio Makoto. The arc was only meant to be serialized for one year, but it ended up being one year-and-a-half-long. This arc was also done to develop Kenshin's character as he considered him not to have a weak point. Watsuki commented that his artistic skills were honed with this arc, as he could draw everything he wanted to. The last arc from the manga was meant to be much shorter, but it turned out to be a fairly long one as he could not present it simplistically. Watsuki originally made this arc prior to the series' start, having already thought about how would Kenshin's scar had been made.[8] Because of the dark style of the Kyoto arc, Watsuki created the comical Mikimachi Misao in order to contrast Kenshin's serious side.[9]

Being fascinated by the Shinsengumi, Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of the real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan.[10][11] The historical characters were considered to be a hard task by Watsuki. Due to problems with the characterization from Sagara Sōzō, Watsuki decided to illustrate Saitō Hajime in his own style avoiding the historical figure. He felt very good with Saitō's character having noted he fit very well in the manga.[8] However, Watsuki mentioned that many Japanese fans of the Shinsengumi complained about the personality of Saitō, as he was made sadistic.[10] Additionally, the final shot of Kenshin returning to Kaoru's dojo was inspired by the final shot of the Rurouni Kenshin anime's first opening theme:"Sobakasu" by Judy and Mary.[12]

In final arc of the manga, Watsuki wanted to make the five comrades in this storyline as "scum-like" as possible. But because he created villains with no ideals or beliefs, this made it difficult to portray them as an enjoyable read.[13] The story took a darker tone as most of the characters believed Kaoru was killed by Yukishiro Enishi which made Kenshin question his own way of living and escape to a village of wanderers. Watsuki did not enjoy angst in Kenshin so his friend Myōjin Yahiko took the place as the series' protagonist until Kenshin recovers.[8] Even though the plot for the "remembrance episodes" of Kenshin's past was already set before serialization started, which was three and a half years before her debut, Watsuki was filled with regrets in how he portrayed Yukishiro Tomoe for unspecified reasons.[14] The final villains, the Sū-shi,n had no personality models and were created simply to "fill out the numbers." As the story advanced towards Kenshin's final battle, Watsuki realized that the other characters would have no "glamour" and created the Sū-shin on the spot.[15]

Ending

Watsuki also had ideas to create a "Hokkaido episode, a sequel" but wanted to start a new manga and so ended Rurouni Kenshin with the last arc he made.[16] Due to the dark nature of Kenshin's life, Watsuki ended the manga in the Jinchu arc afraid that if he continued writing, the series would not fit the shonen manga demography.[17] In 2012, Watsuki revealed that when he clashed with the editorial staff at the end of the series, his editor Hisashi Sasaki understood his intentions and saw that he was at his physical limit and backed him up. He said it was out of respect and appreciation for the readers that he ended the popular series while it was still popular.[18] Nevertheless, Watsuki was happy with how he ended Rurouni Kenshin. He felt it was a good place to end the narrative. In contrast, most series keep being pushed and pushed until they lose popularity and be cancelled. Watsuki was glad Rurouni Kenshin did not end like this.[19]

For the series' ending, Watsuki conceived new designs with potential of a sequel in the future. Initially, Watsuki had planned to make Kenshin's hair shorter before the end; however, he found this to be similar to the character Multi in To Heart. Additionally, Himura Kenji was introduced in the finale as the son of Kenshin and Kaoru; even though the character was "cliché" Watsuki felt that Kenji had to appear.[20] An elder Sanosuke was drafted by Watsuki to appear in the manga's finale but this idea was scrapped. In the manga's final story arc, the design was used for Sanosuke's father, Higashidani Kamishimoemon.[21] The author added that he felt attachment towards Enishi and that he would someday like to use Enishi in a future work.[22]

Another idea explored for a sequel was the handling of Yahiko as teenager. Watsuki had redesigned his appearance. He wanted Yahiko to impress manga readers so that he could be a protagonist for a possible series sequel. He said this goal influenced his design of Yahiko, with Kenshin's physical appearance as well as Sanosuke's personality. He added Sanosuke's kanji of "evil" (惡, aku) to the back of his clothes, and was pleased that various readers recognized it. Although he suggested he was not going to make a sequel, he said the main characters would be Yahiko, Sanjō Tsubame and Tsukayama Yutarō. Watsuki thought about writing a story in which Yahiko and Tsubame would have a son, Myōjin Shin'ya, who would become a skilled swordsman.[23]

Themes

The series' main theme is responsibility as seen through Kenshin's action as he wants to atone for all the people he killed during the Bakumatsu by aiding innocent people by wielding a non-lethal sword.[24] Marco Olivier from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University said that the sakabatō symbolizes Kenshin's oath not to kill again which has been found challenging by other warriors appearing in the series.[25] This theme also encourages former drug dealer Takani Megumi into becoming a doctor upon learning of Kenshin's past and actions. Another theme is power, which is mostly seen by Sagara Sanosuke and Myojin Yahiko. However, like Megumi, these two characters are also influenced by the main character as they wish to become stronger to assist Kenshin across the plot. Additionally, the series discourages revenge as seen in the final arc when Yukishiro Enishi believes he succeeded in getting his revenge on Kenshin but starts having hallucinations of his late sister with a sad expression on her face.[24] As an "outlet" for Watsuki's kendo emotions, Yahiko "knows a pain that hero-types like Himura Kenshin and Sagara Sanosuke can never know".[26] As a result, Yahiko was made a stronger character little by little to relate with the demography. eventually giving him a stronger characterization during the Kyoto arc which surprised his readers.[27]

When questioned about the series' theme being Kenshin's self-redemption, Watsuki mentioned that when he was young, he used to read shōjo manga and that it influenced his writing of Rurouni Kenshin. He added that he wanted to make a story different from other comics as he considers the main character Kenshin is neither a good nor evil character. Since volume 7, Watsuki mentioned the series took a more adult tone due to the various conflicts in the story but commented it was influenced by the shōjo manga he read. Through the series' development, Watsuki was deciding if Kamiya Kaoru's character was going to die before the end. However, he later decided to keep Kaoru alive as he came to the conclusion he wanted a happy ending and that the manga is aimed at young readers.[8] In The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies, Kenshin is regarded as a "far cry" from American superheroes due to his androgynous look and selfdeprecating personality. However, the character is said to be relatable to the Eastern audience through Kenshin's quest of redemption, which is called as the main theme of the manga. The manga is further noted to have a balance between individualism and community.[28]

Watsuki said he was an "infatuated" type of person rather than a "passionate" kind of person, therefore Rurouni Kenshin is a "Meiji Swordsman Story" as opposed to being a "Meiji Love Story."[29] According to the book Bringing Forth a World: Engaged Pedagogy in the Japanese University the manga reflects the confusion of the Japanese society after the big economy disenchantment in the early 1990s. In confronts visualizations of Japanese education in a manner that contrasts school books especially because of the series' young demography.[30] Since the manga focuses on realism but is aimed towards young readers, the series is notable for changing the portrayals of samurais in order to create a more optimistic take in comparison to real life events. The unique take on Kenshin's handling gave the manga the concept of "neo shonen" due to how different it was from previous Weekly Shonen Jump series.[31]

Release

Main article: List of Rurouni Kenshin chapters

Written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki, Rurouni Kenshin was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from April 25, 1994,[32][33] to September 21, 1999.[34][35][b] The 255 individual chapters were collected and published in 28 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first volume released on September 9, 1994, and the last on November 4, 1999.[37][38] They re-released the series in a 22-volume kanzenban edition between July 4, 2006, and May 2, 2007.[39][40] Shueisha published a 14-volume bunkoban edition between January 18, 2012, and July 18, 2012.[41][42] A single chapter follow up to the series that follows the character of Yahiko Myōjin, Yahiko no Sakabato (弥彦の逆刃刀, Yahiko's Sakabatō), was originally published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2000 after the conclusion of the series. Left out of the original volumes, it was added as an extra to the final kanzenban release.[40]

In December 2011, Shueisha announced Watsuki would be putting his current series, Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein-, on hold to begin a "reboot" of Rurouni Kenshin, called Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, as a tie-in to the live-action movie. The series began in the June 2012 issue of Jump Square, which was released on May 2, 2012,[43] and ended in the July 2013 issue on June 4, 2013.[44] The reboot depicts the battles that are featured in the first live-action film. Another special titled Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story: Chapter 0, was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in August 2012 as a prologue to Restoration and included in its first volume.[45] In 2014, Watsuki wrote a two-chapter spin-off titled Rurouni Kenshin: Master of Flame for Jump SQ., which tells how Shishio met Yumi and formed the Juppongatana.[46][47][48]

Watsuki and his wife, Kaworu Kurosaki, collaborated on a two chapter spinoff titled Rurouni Kenshin Side Story: The Ex-Con Ashitaro for the ninth anniversary of Jump SQ. in 2016.[49] It acts as a prologue to the Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc, which began in September 2017 as a sequel to the original manga series. In 2021, Watsuki created the manga "Sakabatō Shogeki" (逆刃刀 初撃, "Reverse-Blade Katana: First Bout") that was exclusively shown at an exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of Rurouni Kenshin. It serves as an epilogue to chapter 81 of the original manga and shows the first time Kenshin used his sakabatō.[50]

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.[51] Although the first volumes were published on an irregular basis, since volume 7 Viz established a monthly basis due to good sales and consumer demands.[52] Therefore, the following volumes were published until July 5, 2006, when the final volume was released.[53] Yahiko no Sakabatō was also published in English Shonen Jump during 2006.[54] Between January 29, 2008, and March 16, 2010, Viz re-released the manga in a nine-volume omnibus format called "Viz Big Edition", which collects three volumes in one.[55][56] The ninth and final volume includes Yahiko no Sakabato and Cherry Blossoms in Spring.[56] They released a similar "3-in-1 Edition" across nine volumes between January 3, 2017, and January 1, 2019.[57][58] Viz uses the actual ordering of Japanese names, with the family name or surname before the given name, within the series to reduce confusion and because Rurouni Kenshin is a historical series.[59]

Adaptations

Anime series

Main articles: Rurouni Kenshin (1996 TV series) and Rurouni Kenshin (2023 TV series)

An anime television series adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin, produced by SPE Visual Works and Fuji TV, animated by Studio Gallop (episode 1 to 66) and Studio Deen (episode 67 to 95),[60][61][62] and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, was broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV from January 10, 1996, to September 8, 1998.[63]

A second anime television series adaptation by Liden Films was announced at the Jump Festa '22 event on December 19, 2021.[64]

Animated film

Main article: Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture

An anime film with an original story, titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 維新志士への鎮魂歌, Rurouni Kenshin: Ishin Shishi e no Chinkonka, lit. Rurouni Kenshin: Requiem for Isshin Patriots), also known as Rurouni Kenshin: Requiem for Patriots, originally released in North America as Samurai X: The Motion Picture, premiered in Japan on December 20, 1997.[65]

Original video animations

Main articles: Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal, Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, and Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc

A 4-episode original video animation (OVA), titled Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal, which served as a prequel to the anime television series, was released in Japan in 1999.[66]

A 2-episode OVA, titled Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, which served as a sequel to the anime television series, was released in Japan from 2001 to 2002.[67][68]

A 2-episode OVA, Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc, which remade the series' Kyoto arc, was released in Japan from 2011 to 2012.[69][70]

Live-action films

Main articles: Rurouni Kenshin (film), Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, and Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning

Five live-action films have been released theatrically. The live-action film adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin was announced on June 28, 2011.[71] Produced by Warner Bros., with actual film production done by Studio Swan, the films were directed by Keishi Ōtomo and star Takeru Satoh (of Kamen Rider Den-O fame) as Kenshin, Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara and Emi Takei as Kaoru.[72] The first film, titled Rurouni Kenshin, was released on August 25, 2012, in Japan.[73] In August 2013, it was announced that two sequels were being filmed simultaneously for release in 2014. Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends adapt the Kyoto arc of the manga.[74][75][76] On April 12, 2019, it was announced that two new live-action films will adapt the Remembrance/Tenchu & Jinchu arcs.[77] The films, titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Final and Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, premiered in 2021.

Stage shows

In 2016, the Takarazuka Revue performed a musical adaptation of the manga called Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story. The show ran from February to March, and starred Seina Sagiri as Kenshin and Miyu Sakihi as Kaoru.[78] The musical was written and directed by Shūichirō Koike.

In 2018, a stage play adaptation was performed in Shinbashi Enbujō theater in Tokyo and Shōchikuza theater in Osaka. Seina Sagiri returned to play as Kenshin while Moka Kamishiraishi play as Kaoru. Kanō Sōzaburō, an original character introduced in the previous musical, made a return appearance played by Mitsuru Matsuoka. Shūichirō Koike returned as the director and the script writer of the play.[79]

In 2020, a stage musical adaptation of the manga's Kyoto arc was scheduled to be held from November to December 2020 in IHI Stage Around Tokyo. Starring Teppei Koike as Himura Kenshin and Mario Kuroba as the antagonist Makoto Shishio, Shūichirō Koike returned as director and script writer of the play.[80] This stage musical was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.[81]

Art and guidebooks

Two encyclopedias of the Rurouni Kenshin manga were released in Japan. The first one, Rurouni Kenshin Profiles (原典), was released first in Japan on July 4, 1996, by Shueisha and in the United States by Viz Media on November 1, 2005.[82][83] Kenshin Kaden (剣心華伝), released on December 15, 1999, includes the story Haru no Sakura (春の桜, lit."Cherry Blossoms in Spring"), which details the fates of all of the Rurouni Kenshin characters. The story takes place years after the manga's conclusion, when Kenshin and Kaoru have married and have a young son, Kenji. Many of the series' major characters who have befriended Kenshin reunite or otherwise reveal their current whereabouts with him in a spring picnic.[84] For the anime, three Kenshin Soushi artbook were published from 1997 to 1998. While the first two were based on the TV series, the third one was based on the film. The film one was named Ishin Shishi no Requiem Art Book and was released along with the movie.[85][86][87] Also released was Rurouni-Art Book, which contained images from the OVAs. A guidebook from the kanzenban imprint of the series was published on June 4, 2007.[88]

Light novels

The Rurouni Kenshin light novels were published by Shueisha's Jump J-Books line and co-written by Kaoru Shizuka. Most of them are original stories which were later adapted in the anime. Others are adaptations of manga and anime stories.The very first novel, Rurouni Kenshin: Voyage to the Moon World, which was published in Japan on October 10, 1996, and in North America on October 17, 2006, details another adventure involving the return of Tales of the Meiji Season 3's Beni-Aoi Arc characters like Kaishu Katsu & the Kamiya Dojo's third pupil Daigoro.[89][90] The second, Yahiko's Battle, was released on October 3, 1997. It retells various stories featured in the manga and anime series.[91] The third novel, TV Anime Shimabara Arc, was published on February 4, 1999.[92] A novel adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin Cinema-ban, titled Rurouni Kenshin -Ginmaku Sōshihen- (るろうに剣心 ―銀幕草紙変―) and written by Watsuki's wife Kaoru Kurosaki, which was released on September 4, 2012, is a Japanese light novel version of America's Restoration's New Kurogasa (Jin-E) Arc mangas featuring Banshin & a different younger Gein. Both are Ishin members of Enishi's team of the Jinchu/Tenchu (Judgment of Earth/Heaven) portions of the Enishi saga in the main plot manga series.[93]

Video games

There are five Rurouni Kenshin games released for the PlayStation series of consoles. The first, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Ishin Gekitōhen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 維新激闘編) was released on November 29, 1996. It was developed by ZOOM Inc. and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game is a 3D fighting game with 9 playable characters, with the plot being based on the first seven volumes from the manga.[94] The second one, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Jūyūshi Inbō Hen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 十勇士陰謀編 - The Ten Warrior Conspiracy) was released on December 18, 1997, and was re-released in the PlayStation The Best lineup on November 5, 1998. The game is a role-playing video game with an original story unrelated to either the manga or anime.[95]

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Enjō! Kyōto Rinne (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 炎上!京都輪廻) is the only video game for the PlayStation 2 console. Its Japanese release was slated for September 13, 2006.[96] The game has sold over 130,000 copies in Japan.[97] The game was developed by Eighting and published by Banpresto. A 2D fighting game titled Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Saisen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 再閃) was released for the PlayStation Portable on March 10, 2011, in Japan.[98][99] On August 30, 2012, a sequel, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Kansei (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 完醒), was released.[100] Both games were developed by Natsume and published by Bandai Namco Games.

Himura Kenshin also appears in the 2005 and 2006 Nintendo DS games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars as the sole battle character representing his series, while others were support characters and help characters.[101] Kenshin and Shishio appeared as playable characters in the 2014 PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game J-Stars Victory VS,[102][103] and in the 2019 game Jump Force for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.[104]

Merchandise

Watsuki commented that there was a lot of Rurouni Kenshin merchandise released for the Japanese market. He recommended that buyers consider quality before paying for merchandise items and for them to consult their wallets and buy stuff that they feel is "worth it." Watsuki added that he liked the prototype for a stuffed Kenshin doll for the UFO catcher devices.[105]

Reception

Sales and popularity

Rurouni Kenshin has been highly popular, having sold over 55 million tankōbon copies in Japan alone up until February 2012, making it one of Shueisha's top ten best-selling manga series.[106] In 2014, it was reported that the series had 70 million tankōbon copies in circulation.[107] As of December 2019, the manga had over 72 million copies in circulation, including digital releases.[108] Volume 27 of the manga ranked second in the Viz Bookscan Top Ten during June 2006,[109] while volume 21 and 20 ranked second and tenth, respectively, in the Top 10 Graphic Novels of Viz of 2005.[110] Rurouni Kenshin volume 24 ranked 116th on USA Today's best-selling book list for the week ending February 26, 2006.[111] During the third quarter from 2003, Rurouni Kenshin ranked at the top of ICv2's Top 50 Manga Properties.[112] In the same poll from 2005, it was featured at the top once again based on sales from English volumes during 2004.[113] In the Top Ten Manga Properties from 2006 from the same site, it ranked ninth.[114] In November 2014, readers of Da Vinci magazine voted Rurouni Kenshin the 13th Weekly Shōnen Jump's greatest manga series of all time.[115] On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Rurouni Kenshin ranked 31st.[116]

Critical response

The manga has received praise and criticism from various publications. Mania Entertainment writer Megan Lavey found that the manga had a good balance between character development, comedy and action scenes. The artwork of Watsuki was said to have improved as the series continued, noting that characters also had reactions during fights.[117][118] Steve Raiteri from Library Journal praised the series for its characters and battles. However, he noted some fights were too violent, so he recommended the series to older teenagers as well as adults.[119] Surat described the series as an example of a "neo-shōnen" series, where a shōnen series also appeals to a female audience; Surat stated that in such series, character designs are "pretty" for female audiences, but not too "girly" for male audiences. Surat cited Shinomori Aoshi and Seta Sōjirō, characters who ranked highly in popularity polls even though, in Surat's view, Aoshi does not engage in "meaningful" battles, and Sōjirō is a "kid." Surat explained that Aoshi appears "like a Clamp character wearing Gambit's coat and Sōjirō always smiles despite the abuse inflicted upon him.[120] Surat said that the character designs for the anime television series were "toughened up a bit." He added that the budget for animation and music was "top-notch" because Sony produced the budget.[121] Watsuki's writing involving romance and Kenshin's psychological hidden weakpoints also earned positive response by other sites with AnimeNation also comparing it to Clamp's X based on the multiple elements the series.[122][123] In general, Mania found Watsuki's art appealing as well as its evolution across the twenty-eight volumes as it made female characters more attractive while the male characters seem simpler while retaining the early handome looks.[124]

As a result of the series taking a darker tone in later story arcs with Kenshin facing new threats and at the same time his Battosai self, Kat Kan from Voice of Youth Advocates recommended it to older teens. Kan also found that the anime viewers will also enjoy Watsuki's drawings due to the way he illustrates battles.[125] This is mostly noted in the "Kyoto arc" where Mania Entertainment writer Megan Lavey applauded the fight between Himura Kenshin and anti-hero Saito Hajime which acts as prologue of such narrative.[118] Mania remarks the build up Aoshi, Saito and other characters bring to the story due to how they similar goals in the same arc with newcomer Misao helping to balance the style by bringing more comical interactions with the protagonist.[126] Although the site Manga News enjoyed Seta Sojiro's fight and how it connected with Shishio's past, they said sixteenth manga's best part was Kenshin's fight against Shishio due to the build up and symbolism the two characters have.[127] The eventual climax led further praise based on how menacing Shishio is shown in the battle against his predecessor although he questioned if Kenshin had been a superior enemy if had kept back his original killer persona.[128]

Critics expressed mixed opinions in regards to the final arc. Zac Bertschy from Anime News Network (ANN) praised the story from the manga, but noted that by volume 18 of the series, Watsuki started to repeat the same type of villains who were united to kill Kenshin similar to Trigun. Although he praised Watsuki's characters, he commented that some of them needed some consistency due to various "bizarre" antagonists.[129] Due to Kaoru, Kenshin and Sanosuke missing from the final arc during the Jinchu arc, Manga News described Aoshi as the star of the series' 24th volume due to how he explores the mysteries behind Enishi's revenge and his subsequent actions that made him stand out most notably because he had been absent for multiple chapters.[130] IGN reviewer A.E. Sparrow liked the manga's ending, praising how the storylines are resolved, and how most of the supporting cast end up. He also praised the series' characters, remarking that Kenshin "belongs in any top ten of manga heroes."[131] Otaku USA reviewer Daryl Surat said that the manga's quality was good until the "Revenge Arc," where he criticized the storyline and the new characters.[132] Carlo Santos from the same site, praised Enishi and Kenshin's final fight despite finding the ending predictable.[133] While also liking their final showdown, Megan Lavey from Mania Entertainment felt that twist that happens shortly after battle is over serves to show Enishi's longlife trauma but at the same time Kenshin's compassion towards others.[124]

Cultural impact

Before becoming an official manga author, Naruto's author Masashi Kishimoto decided that he should try creating a chanbara manga since Weekly Shōnen Jump had not published a title from that genre. However, during his years of college, Kishimoto started reading Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal and Rurouni Kenshin which used the said genre. Kishimoto recalls having never been surprised by manga ever since reading Akira and found that he still was not able to compete against them.[134] Hideaki Sorachi cited Rurouni Kenshin as a major source of inspiration for his manga series Gintama. He also said numerous other historical manga were influenced by Rurouni Kenshin, stating that the "reason why historical stories are being dealt with in all sorts of manga and game media today, and why they are being supported by the younger generation, is undoubtedly because of "Ruroken" and that they "are all children of the "Ruroken" bloodline."[135]

For the series 25th anniversary in January 2021, 15 manga authors sent congratulatory messages: three of Watsuki's former assistants Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King), and Shinya Suzuki (Mr. Fullswing); Nobuyuki Anzai (Flame of Recca); Riichiro Inagaki (Eyeshield 21); ; Takeshi Obata (Death Note); Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto); Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (Toriko); Hideaki Sorachi (Gintama); Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun); Kazuhiro Fujita (Ushio & Tora); Yūsei Matsui (Assassination Classroom); and Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat).[136] In an interview for the event, Oda told Watsuki that Rurouni Kenshin is popular due to his loyalty to his fans.[137] Kenshin's characterization has been compared to Yoh Asakura's, protagonist of Shaman King, due to their strict pacifism, while Kenshin's former dark side was linked to Yoh's spirit partner, the samurai Amidamaru.[138] The lead of the manga Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Tanjiro Kamado, was also influenced by Kenshin's design as the author combined the character's androgynous design with a scar similar to Kenshin's in order to balance it properly for the audience.[139]

Watsuki felt that Kenshin was a "King Type" character similar to Monkey D. Luffy from Eiichiro Oda's One Piece as a result of how heroic they are. Watsuki also reflected on Kenshin's pacifism which became a common trend in other heroes in Weekly Shonen Jump protagonists like Luffy and Naruto Uzumaki who fight but are against the idea of killing their enemies while in the case of Dragon Ball dead characters are often revived. He believes newer series like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen explore more the concept of death. Nevertheless, Watsuki continued to depict Kenshin sparing his enemies in the Hokkaido Arc.[140]

Notes

  1. ^ "The Epic Tale of a Meiji Swordsman: The Wanderer, Kenshin". The word Rurōni (るろうに) is the author's altered reading of the word Rurōnin (流浪人), that means 'wanderer'.
  2. ^ Weekly Shōnen Jump #43 of 1999 (cover date October 4) was released on September 21; the issue where Naruto made its debut.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Official Website for Rurouni Kenshin". Viz Media. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 699. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ a b c Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2004). "Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (2)". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 3. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-356-0.
  4. ^ a b Watsuki, Nobuhiro (June 6, 2006). "Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (1)". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 1. Viz Media. p. 168. ISBN 1-4215-0674-2.
  5. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (32) Hiko Seijūrō," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 12. Viz Media. 92.
  6. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2003). "The Secret Life of Characters (1) Himura Kenshin". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 1. Viz Media. p. 56. ISBN 1-59116-220-3.
  7. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2005). "Interview with Nobuhiro Watsuki". Rurouni Kenshin Profiles. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-4215-0160-4.
  8. ^ a b c d e Watsuki, Nobuhiro (1999). "Interview with Nobuhiro Watsuki". Kenshin Kaden. Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-782037-8.
  9. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (23) Makimachi Misao," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 8. Viz Media. 146.
  10. ^ a b Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2004). "The Secret Life of Characters" (21) Saitō Hajime". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 7. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-59116-357-2.
  11. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2003). "The Secret Life of Characters (6) Sagara Sanosuke". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 2. Viz Media. p. 48. ISBN 1-59116-249-1.
  12. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2005). "Free Talk I". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 18. Viz Media. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-5911-6876-8.
  13. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (45) Otowa Hyōko," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 22. Viz Media. 178.
  14. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (41) Yukishiro (Himura) Tomoe," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 21. Viz Media. 46.
  15. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (51) Sū-shin (Four Stars), Sū-shin (Four Gods)," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 27. Viz Media. 96.
  16. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2006). "Free Talk I". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 28. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0675-0.
  17. ^ "剣心の人生の終わらせ方が見えた". Natalie. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  18. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2014). Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, Volume 2. Viz Media. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-4215-5570-6.
  19. ^ Tei, Andrew. . Mania Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 15, 2004. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  20. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2006). "The Secret Life of Characters (54) Himura Kenji and the characters from Meiji 15". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 28. Viz Media. p. 154. ISBN 1-4215-0675-0.
  21. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (50) Higashidani Family," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 26. Viz Media. 132.
  22. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2006). "The Secret Life of Characters (53) Yukishiro Enishi". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 28. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-4215-0675-3.
  23. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2006). "The Secret Life of Characters (54) Himura Kenji and the characters from Meiji 15". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 28. Viz Media. p. 154. ISBN 1-4215-0675-0.
  24. ^ a b Burnham, Jef (2013). "Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story". In Beaty, Bart H.; Weiner, Stephen (eds.). Critical Survey of Graphic Novels : Manga. Ipswich, Mass.: Salem Press. pp. 268–272. ISBN 9781587659553.
  25. ^ Olivier, Marco (2007). "Nihilism in Japanese Anime" (PDF). South African Journal of Art History. 22 (3): 66. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  26. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2003). Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 1. Viz Media. p. 103. ISBN 1-59116-249-1.
  27. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro. "The Secret Life of Characters (36) Hariwa Henya," Rurouni Kenshin Volume 15. Viz Media. 66.
  28. ^ Bronner, Simon J. (2019). "Free Talk". The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190840617.
  29. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2006). "Free Talk". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 27. Viz Media. p. 168. ISBN 1-4215-0674-2.
  30. ^ Kennedy, David; Bradley, Joff (2019). Bringing Forth a World: Engaged Pedagogy in the Japanese University. Brill. p. 109. ISBN 978-9004421776.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ Estrada, Oriol (2021). "Free Talk". Cultura manga. Ma Non Troppo. pp. 166–167. ASIN B093XRSPBC.
  32. ^ 週刊少年ジャンプ 1994年(平成6年)19 表紙=和月伸宏「るろうに剣心」 (in Japanese). Mandarake Inc. from the original on November 30, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  33. ^ 週刊少年ジャンプ1994年19. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  34. ^ 週刊少年ジャンプ 1999年(平成11年)43 表紙=岸本斉史「NARUTO」 (in Japanese). Mandarake Inc. from the original on November 30, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  35. ^ 【「ヒカルの碁」「るろ剣」「封神演義」「I"ｓ」――「NARUTO」が始まった1999年の「週刊少年ジャンプ」 デジタル版が無料配信！. ITmedia (in Japanese). November 9, 2014. from the original on June 28, 2021.
  36. ^ 【イベント】 「週刊少年ジャンプ」読者招待制音楽イベント「NARUTO THE LIVE vol.0」、4月11日(土)に東京国際フォーラムにて開催！出演アーティスト第１弾を発表！ [【Event】 "Weekly Shonen Jump" Readers' invitation music event "NARUTO THE LIVE vol.0" will be held at the Tokyo International Forum on Saturday, April 11! Announced the first stage of casting artists!]. Music Lounge (in Japanese). February 24, 2015. Archived from the original on June 20, 2017.
  37. ^ るろうに剣心 1 [Rurouni Kenshin 1] (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  38. ^ るろうに剣心 28 [Rurouni Kenshin 28] (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  39. ^ るろうに剣心 完全版 1 [Rurouni Kenshin Kanzenban 1] (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  40. ^ a b るろうに剣心 完全版 22 [Rurouni Kenshin Kanzenban 22] (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2008.
  41. ^ るろうに剣心 1 ―明治剣客浪漫譚― [Rurouni Kenshin 1 Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan] (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  42. ^ るろうに剣心 14 ―明治剣客浪漫譚― [Rurouni Kenshin 14 Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan] (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  43. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Manga Series to Return in Japan in May". Anime News Network. December 26, 2011. from the original on January 8, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  44. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Restoration Manga to End". Anime News Network. May 31, 2013. from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  45. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Manga's "Chapter 0" to Run in Shonen Jump". Anime News Network. April 24, 2012. from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  46. ^ "New Rurouni Kenshin Manga Spinoff to Be About Enemy Characters". Anime News Network. January 6, 2014. from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  47. ^ "Viz's Shonen Jump to Publish Rurouni Kenshin's Shishio Spinoff". Anime News Network. July 7, 2014. from the original on July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  48. ^ 「るろ剣」志々雄一派の読切と小説が1冊に (in Japanese). Natalie. October 3, 2014. from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  49. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin 2-Chapter Spinoff Manga Features New Main Character". Anime News Network. November 5, 2016. from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  50. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin 25th Anniversary Exhibit Previews Exclusive New Manga Draft". Anime News Network. January 4, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  51. ^ "Viz makes Hikaru no Go and Kenshin official". Anime News Network. July 24, 2003. from the original on January 23, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
  52. ^ Luther, Katerine (October 3, 2004). "Rurouni Kenshin Goes Monthly". About.com. from the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
  53. ^ "Kenshin Manga Bids Goodbye". Anime News Network. June 14, 2006. from the original on June 7, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
  54. ^ "Viz Media Announces the Release of First Rurouni Kenshin Fiction Novel". Anime News Network. June 14, 2006. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  55. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 1". Viz Media. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  56. ^ a b "Rurouni Kenshin (VIZBIG Edition), Vol. 9". Viz Media. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  57. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1". Viz Media. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  58. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin (4-in-1 Edition), Vol. 9". Viz Media. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  59. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2003). "Glossary of the Restoration". Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 1. Viz Media. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-59116-220-9.
  60. ^ ぎゃろっぷ作品履歴1999 (in Japanese). Gallop. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  61. ^ (in Japanese). Sony. Archived from the original on September 18, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
  62. ^ "Staff" (in Japanese). Sony. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
  63. ^ るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-. Akiba Souken (in Japanese). Kakaku.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  64. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 19, 2021). "Rurouni Kenshin Gets New TV Anime by Liden Films". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  65. ^ るろうに剣心 ―明治剣客浪漫譚― 維新志士への鎮魂歌. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  66. ^ (in Japanese). Studio Deen. Archived from the original on April 17, 1999. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  67. ^ "SonyMusicShop" オリジナル･ビデオ･アニメーション『るろうに剣心－明治剣客浪漫譚－』星霜編 ～下巻～. Sony Music Shop (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  68. ^ "SonyMusicShop" オリジナル･ビデオ･アニメーション『るろうに剣心－明治剣客浪漫譚－』星霜編 ～上巻～. Sony Music Shop (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  69. ^ "New Rurouni Kenshin Anime's Part I Promo Video Streamed". Anime News Network. from the original on November 29, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  70. ^ "New Rurouni Kenshin Anime's Part II Promo Streamed". Anime News Network. from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  71. ^ ""Rurouni Kenshin" to get film adaptation starring Sato Takeru!". Tokyohive. from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  72. ^ "Emi Takei to Play Live-Action Rurouni Kenshin's Kaoru". Anime News Network. from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  73. ^ "Live-Action Rurouni Kenshin Film Image Published". Anime News Network. from the original on December 2, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  74. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Gets 2 New Live-Action Kyoto Arc Films". Anime News Network. June 29, 2013. from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
  75. ^ "New Live-Action Rurouni Kenshin Sequel Image Previews Juppongatana". Anime News Network. January 1, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  76. ^ "New Live-Action Rurouni Kenshin Sequels' Photos Feature Kenshin vs. Sōjirō". Anime News Network. January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  77. ^ Mateo, Alex (April 11, 2019). "Rurouni Kenshin Gets 'Final' 2 Live-Action Films in Summer 2020". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  78. ^ "The Kenshin Musical Cast Looks Perfect in Costume". October 23, 2015. from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  79. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Gets New Stage Play in October". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  80. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Manga's Kyoto Arc Gets Stage Musical This Fall Starring Teppei Koike". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  81. ^ "New Rurouni Kenshin Stage Musical Canceled Due to COVID-19". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  82. ^ 原典・るろうに剣心―明治剣客浪漫譚―「剣心秘伝」 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  83. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (November 2005). Rurouni Kenshin Profiles (Rurouni Kenshin) (Paperback). ISBN 1421501600.
  84. ^ 全史・るろうに剣心 ―明治剣客浪漫譚― 剣心華伝 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  85. ^ るろうに剣心・剣心草紙―電影画帖―アニメコレクション1 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  86. ^ るろうに剣心・剣心草紙―電影画帖―アニメコレクション3 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  87. ^ るろうに剣心・剣心草紙―電影画帖―アニメコレクション2 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  88. ^ るろうに剣心 完全版 ガイドブック 剣心皆伝 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  89. ^ . Viz Media. Archived from the original on September 12, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
  90. ^ るろうに剣心1～明治剣客浪漫譚～ (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  91. ^ るろうに剣心 2 〜明治剣客浪漫譚〜 (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  92. ^ るろうに剣心～明治剣客浪漫譚～島原編 ルロウニケンシン (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  93. ^ るろうに剣心 ―銀幕草紙変― (in Japanese). Shueisha. from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  94. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin: Ishin Gekitouhen". GameSpot. from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  95. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenyaku Romantan: Juuyuushi Inbou Hen". GameSpot. from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  96. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne". GameSpot. from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  97. ^ "Charts Japon : le Top 500 de 2006". Jeuxactu. August 29, 2006. from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2008.
  98. ^ "Rurouni Kenshin Gets PSP 2D Fighting Game in Spring (Update 2)". Anime News Network. November 2, 2010. from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  99. ^ るろうに剣心-明治剣客浪漫譚- 再閃 (in Japanese). jp.playstation.com. from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  100. ^ るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 完醒 (in Japanese). jp.playstation.com. from the original on July 12, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  101. ^ "Jump Ultimate Stars" (in Japanese). Nintendo. from the original on January 22, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
  102. ^ "Bleach, Kenshin Join J-Stars Victory Vs. Team Battle Game". Anime News Network. June 5, 2013. from the original on August 12, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  103. ^ "Naruto/DBZ/One Piece/Kenshin Rivals Join J-Stars Victory Vs. Game". Anime News Network. January 15, 2014. from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  104. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (November 18, 2018). "Jump Force Game Adds Rurouni Kenshin's Kenshin Himura, Makoto Shishio as Playable Characters". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  105. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2005). Rurouni Kenshin, Volume 11. Viz Media. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-59116-709-9.
  106. ^ "Top 10 Shonen Jump Manga by All-Time Volume Sales". Anime News Network. from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  107. ^ "Top 20 Most Popular Manga Ranked By Publication Numbers". Anime News Network. from the original on September 6, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  108. ^ るろうに剣心：初の展覧会が2020年4月開催 作品誕生から25周年. Mantan Web (in Japanese). December 4, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  109. ^ "Viz Sweeps Bookscan Top Ten". Anime News Network. June 5, 2006. from the original on January 2, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
  110. ^ "Viz Takes Ownership of top 10 Manga". Anime News Network. December 8, 2005. from the original on January 2, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
  111. ^ "Viz Scores Highest Ever Sales Ranking for a Manga in Booklist". Anime News Network. December 8, 2005. from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2006.
  112. ^ "Manga Competition Heats Up". ICv2. October 18, 2004. from the original on February 10, 2005. Retrieved January 26, 2005.
  113. ^ "Manga Market Continues Robust Growth in '04". ICv2. July 12, 2006. from the original on January 29, 2005. Retrieved January 26, 2005.
  114. ^ "ICv2's Ten Most Powerful". ICv2. July 12, 2006. from the original on June 30, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  115. ^ ""Da Vinci" Magazine Asks Japanese Readers to Name Greatest "Shonen Jump" Manga". Crunchyroll. November 13, 2014. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  116. ^ テレビ朝日『国民15万人がガチで投票!漫画総選挙』ランキング結果まとめ！ 栄えある1位に輝く漫画は!?. animate Times (in Japanese). Animate. January 3, 2021. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  117. ^ Lavey, Megan (December 18, 2004). "Rurouni Kenshin G.novel 18". Anime News Network. from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
  118. ^ a b Lavey, Megan (October 27, 2004). . Mania Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  119. ^ Raiteri, Steve (March 1, 2004). "Watsuki, Nobuhiro. Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 1". Library Journal. Library Journals, LLC. 129 (4): 63(1). ISSN 0363-0277.
  120. ^ Surat, Daryl. "Heart of Steel." Otaku USA. Volume 4, Number 1. August 2010. 34.
  121. ^ Surat, Daryl. "Heart of Steel." Otaku USA. Volume 4, Number 1. August 2010. 34–36.
  122. ^ Luther, Katherine. . About.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
  123. ^ . AnimeNation. April 23, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2007.
  124. ^ a b Lavey, Megan. . Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  125. ^ Kan, Kat (June 1, 2004). "Samurai with a weird sword". Voice of Youth Advocates. E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC. 27 (2): 118(2). ISSN 0160-4201.
  126. ^ Lavey, Megan. . Mania.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  127. ^ "Kenshin le Vagabundo 16". Manga News. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  128. ^ "Kenshin le Vagabundo 17". Manga News. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  129. ^ Bertschy, Zac (October 2, 2005). "Rurouni Kenshin G.novel 18". Anime News Network. from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  130. ^ "Critique du volume manga". Manga News. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  131. ^ Sparrow, A.E. (June 27, 2006). "Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 28 Review". IGN. from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  132. ^ Surat, Daryl. "Heart of Steel." Otaku USA. Volume 4, Number 1. August 2010. 37.
  133. ^ Santos, Carlo (October 2, 2005). "RIGHT TURN ONLY!! Bye Bye Mr. Battousai". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  134. ^ Kishimoto, Masashi (2007). Naruto, Volume 13. Viz Media. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4215-1087-3.
  135. ^ Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition [Official] [@ruroken_ten] (January 25, 2021). ✘ #るろ剣展 15作家の「祝辞」紹介③！✘#MrFULLSWING の作者 #鈴木信也 先生、 #銀魂 の #空知英秋 先生、 #SHAMANKING の #武井宏之 先生、 そして #トライガン #血界戦線 の #内藤泰弘 先生！あのるろ剣の #夷腕坊 の麦わらマークの爆弾を描いたのがこの先生だったとは…！驚きです。 (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter. The reason why historical stories are being dealt with in all sorts of manga and game media today, and why they are being supported by the younger generation, is undoubtedly because of the work "Ruroken". As usual, I was one of the radish thieves, or rather, a senior member of the thieves, who trespassed into the fields cultivated by Mr. Watsuki without permission and sold radishes. (...) We are all children of the "Ruroken" bloodline, so please don't sue us or anything like that.
  136. ^ Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition [Official] [@ruroken_ten] (January 25, 2021). ✘ #るろ剣展 15作家の「祝辞」紹介！✘るろ剣展開催にあたり、和月先生と関わりの深い15人の先生から展覧会への「祝辞」をいただき、渋谷駅で掲出しました！（※掲出は終了しています）その貴重な先生方のコメントをご紹介！るろ剣展は東京ドームシティ・ギャラリーアーモで3月7日まで開催中！ (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
  137. ^ Watsuki, Nobuhiro (2021). Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition Official Catalog – Ruroken 25th Anniversary るろうに剣心展 公式図録 るろ剣 25周年記念. Shueisha.
  138. ^ Reyna, Leo (November 4, 2015). "Shaman King: A Look Beyond At Hiroyuki Takei's Series". NerdSpan. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  139. ^ "The birth of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba"". Manga Plus. Shueisha. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  140. ^ "和月伸宏インタビュー 『るろうに剣心 最終章』に至る、実写と漫画が歩んだ10年". Kai You. Retrieved December 8, 2022.

Further reading

  • "Rurouni Kenshin, vol. 1". Voice of Youth Advocates. E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC. 29 (5): 399. December 1, 2006. ISSN 0160-4201.
  • "OPINION: Japanese fiction holds life lesson". Quay County Sun (Tucumcari, NM). McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. March 15, 2011.
  • Dennys, Harriet (November 11, 2005). "Big in Japan, America and now the UK: manga novels are moving from niche status into the UK mainstream.(GRAPHIC NOVELS: MANGA)". The Bookseller. The Nielsen Company (5204): S10(2). ISSN 0006-7539.
  • "Publications of the week.(book lists )". The Bookseller. The Nielsen Company (5173): 39(13). April 8, 2005. ISSN 0006-7539.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Rurouni Kenshin.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rurouni Kenshin.
  • Official Shueisha Rurouni Kenshin manga website (in Japanese)
  • Rurouni Kenshin at Viz Media
  • Rurouni Kenshin (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

March 14, 2023
rurouni, kenshin, rurouni, redirects, here, related, word, wandering, samurai, rōnin, meiji, swordsman, romantic, story, japanese, るろうに剣心, 明治剣客浪漫譚, hepburn, rurōni, kenshin, meiji, kenkaku, roman, japanese, manga, series, written, illustrated, nobuhiro, watsuk. Rurouni redirects here For the related word of wandering samurai see Rōnin Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story Japanese るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 Hepburn Rurōni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan a is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan 1878 and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu known as Hitokiri Battosai After his work against the bakufu Hitokiri Battosai disappears to become Himura Kenshin a wandering swordsman who protects the people of Japan with a vow never to take another life Watsuki wrote the series upon his desire to make a shōnen manga different from the other ones that were published at the time with Kenshin being a former assassin and the story taking a more serious tone as it continued The manga revolves around themes of atonement peace and romance Rurouni KenshinCover of the 28th tankōbon volume featuring Himura Kenshin front and Kamiya Kaoru back るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 Rurōni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan GenreAdventure 1 Martial arts 1 Romance 1 MangaWritten byNobuhiro WatsukiPublished byShueishaEnglish publisherNA Viz MediaImprintJump ComicsMagazineWeekly Shōnen JumpDemographicShōnenOriginal runApril 25 1994 September 21 1999Volumes28 List of volumes MangaRestoration 2012 13 Master of Flame 2014 The Hokkaido Arc 2017 present Anime seriesFirst TV series 1996 98 The Motion Picture 1997 Second TV series 2023 Original video animationsTrust amp Betrayal 1999 Reflection 2001 02 New Kyoto Arc 2011 12 Live action filmsRurouni Kenshin 2012 Kyoto Inferno 2014 The Legend Ends 2014 The Final 2021 The Beginning 2021 The manga was serialized in Shueisha s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from April 1994 to September 1999 The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes while years later it was reprinted into 22 kanzenban volumes Studio Gallop Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime television series which aired in Japan from January 1996 to September 1998 Besides an animated feature film two series of original video animations OVAs were also produced The first adapted stories from the manga that were not featured in the anime while the second was a sequel to the manga Several art and guidebooks for Rurouni Kenshin have been published and writer Kaoru Shizuka has authored three official light novels which were published by Shueisha Many video games have also been released for the PlayStation PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable consoles A series of five live action theatrical films adaptations were released from 2012 to 2021 A second anime television series adaptation by Liden Films is set to premiere in 2023 The manga as well as the first light novel and first guidebook has received a complete North American release by Viz Media Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled Wandering Samurai in some English versions 2 The Rurouni Kenshin manga has over 72 million copies in circulation as of 2019 making it one of the best selling manga series The series has received praise from various publications for manga anime and other media with both having received a good response on the characters designs and historical setting In 2017 Watsuki began a direct sequel titled Rurouni Kenshin The Hokkaido Arc in Jump Square Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 2 1 One shots 2 2 Publication and influences 2 3 Ending 3 Themes 4 Release 5 Adaptations 5 1 Anime series 5 1 1 Animated film 5 1 2 Original video animations 5 2 Live action films 5 3 Stage shows 5 4 Art and guidebooks 5 5 Light novels 5 6 Video games 5 7 Merchandise 6 Reception 6 1 Sales and popularity 6 2 Critical response 7 Cultural impact 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External linksPlot EditSee also List of Rurouni Kenshin characters The series takes place in 1878 eleven years after the beginning of the Meiji era In the early Meiji era after participating in the Boshin War as the assassin Hitokiri Battōsai Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan with a reverse blade katana He is offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji 1878 he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru who is in the middle of a fight with a murderer who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai tarnishing the name of the swordsmanship school that she teaches Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai After discovering that Kenshin is the real infamous assassin Kaoru offers him a place to stay at her dojo noting that he is peace loving and not cold hearted as his reputation implies Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke a former Sekihō Army member Myōjin Yahiko an orphan from a samurai family who is also living with Kaoru as her student and a doctor named Takani Megumi caught in the opium trade However he also deals with his fair share of enemies new and old including the former leader of the Oniwabanshu Shinomori Aoshi After several months of living in the dojo Kenshin faces a rival from the Bakumatsu turned police officer Saitō Hajime This challenge turns out to be a test to face his successor Shishio Makoto who plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government starting with Kyoto Feeling that Shishio s faction may attack his friends Kenshin meets Shishio alone to defeat him However many of his friends including a young Oniwabanshu named Makimachi Misao whom he meets in his travels decide to help him in his fight After his first meeting with him Kenshin realizes he needs to get stronger to defeat Shishio without becoming the cold assassin he was in the past and returns to the man who taught him kenjutsu Hiko Seijurō to learn the school s final technique He finally accepts his friends help and defeats Shishio in a close fight After that Shishio dies burning to ashes after passing the limit of his abnormal body condition A reformed Shinomori stays in Kyoto with the surviving Oniwabanshu When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo he finds Yukishiro Enishi who plans to enact revenge At this point it is revealed that during the Bakumatsu Kenshin was to be married to a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe She had initially wanted to avenge the death of her first fiance whom Kenshin had assassinated but instead they both fell in love and she got proposed to It is eventually revealed that Tomoe was related to Edo guards who wanted to kill Kenshin They outwitted Tomoe after realizing her deception first and captured her to use as bait Kenshin rushed to the rescue Although the ambushers managed to injure him severely Kenshin managed to kill almost all of them and moved on Then in the final fight against the group leader Kenshin accidentally kills Tomoe who jumps in at the last second to help Kenshin create an opening to win the battle Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a corpse doll bearing a stunning resemblance of her for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over Once discovering that Kaoru is alive Kenshin and his friends set out to rescue her A final battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and the former assassin emerges as the victor Misao brings Tomoe s diary to Enishi who keeps it in a village to hide alongside his missing father Four years later Kenshin has married Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji Now at peace with himself Kenshin gives his reverse blade sword to Yahiko as a ceremonial gift Production EditOne shots Edit A prototype series titled Rurouni Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story appeared as a pair of separate short stories published in 1992 and 1993 3 4 The first story published in December 1992 in the Weekly Shōnen Jump Winter Special issue of 1993 featured an earlier version of Kenshin stopping a crime lord from taking over the Kamiya family dojo Watsuki described the first Rurouni story echoing the Megumi Arc as a pilot for Rurouni Kenshin According to Watsuki the final Rurouni Kenshin series was not composed entirely of 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 historical concept Watsuki intended to use the Bakumatsu period from Moeyo Ken Burn O Sword with a story akin to Sanshiro Sugata 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 3 The second Rurouni story published in April 1993 in the Weekly Shōnen Jump 21 22 double issue of that year featured Kenshin helping a wealthy girl named Raikōji Chizuru Watsuki recalled experiencing difficulty when condensing everything into 31 pages for that story He said that he put all his soul into it but sighs when looking at it from his perspective after the publication of the Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 graphic novel in Japan Watsuki describes that second Rurouni Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story as receiving mediocre reviews and about two hundred letters 4 He referred to it as a side story 3 The design model for Hiko Seijuro Kenshin s master in Rurouni Kenshin is the character of the same name from his one shot manga Crescent Moon of the Warring States but Watsuki also added some influences from Hiken Majin Hajerun in Takeshi Obata s Arabian Lamp Lamp At the time Watsuki said that he was fascinated by images of manliness and that Hiko is one of the first characters to reflect this fascination 5 Since Watsuki s debut work contained a tall black haired man in showy armor he wanted to make a character completely opposite to the debut character the new character ended up coming out like a girl According to Watsuki he used no real motif when creating Kenshin and placed a cross shaped scar on his face not knowing what else to do Like several characters Kenshin was influenced the Shinsengumi with Kenshin being affected by Okita Sōji and Saitō Hajime in order to give him an air of mystery 6 Publication and influences Edit The final scene of the Kyoto arc was influenced by the animated adaptation due to its focus of the wanderer Kenshin being accepted in Kaoru s dojo During his childhood Watsuki used to practice kendo which influenced his making of the series Although Watsuki developed various one shots before the official serialization from the series While naming the characters he based some of their names from places he used to live such a Makimachi Misaos s Makimachi and Sanjō Tsubame who are named after places from Niigata 7 When the manga series started to be published in Weekly Shōnen Jump Watsuki had little hope in the development of the series He planned to finish the story in approximately 30 chapters ending with Kenshin s departure from Tokyo similarly to the one from volume 7 Kenshin s enemies would have been people from Kyoto who would send an assassin to kill Kenshin When the Oniwabanshu were introduced during the serialization Watsuki noted that the series could be longer as he had created various main characters In that time there was a survey and the series had become very popular 8 For its seventh volume Watsuki s boss suggested to him that it was time to make a longer story arc which resulted in the creation of the fights between Kenshin and Shishio Makoto The arc was only meant to be serialized for one year but it ended up being one year and a half long This arc was also done to develop Kenshin s character as he considered him not to have a weak point Watsuki commented that his artistic skills were honed with this arc as he could draw everything he wanted to The last arc from the manga was meant to be much shorter but it turned out to be a fairly long one as he could not present it simplistically Watsuki originally made this arc prior to the series start having already thought about how would Kenshin s scar had been made 8 Because of the dark style of the Kyoto arc Watsuki created the comical Mikimachi Misao in order to contrast Kenshin s serious side 9 Being fascinated by the Shinsengumi Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of the real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan 10 11 The historical characters were considered to be a hard task by Watsuki Due to problems with the characterization from Sagara Sōzō Watsuki decided to illustrate Saitō Hajime in his own style avoiding the historical figure He felt very good with Saitō s character having noted he fit very well in the manga 8 However Watsuki mentioned that many Japanese fans of the Shinsengumi complained about the personality of Saitō as he was made sadistic 10 Additionally the final shot of Kenshin returning to Kaoru s dojo was inspired by the final shot of the Rurouni Kenshin anime s first opening theme Sobakasu by Judy and Mary 12 In final arc of the manga Watsuki wanted to make the five comrades in this storyline as scum like as possible But because he created villains with no ideals or beliefs this made it difficult to portray them as an enjoyable read 13 The story took a darker tone as most of the characters believed Kaoru was killed by Yukishiro Enishi which made Kenshin question his own way of living and escape to a village of wanderers Watsuki did not enjoy angst in Kenshin so his friend Myōjin Yahiko took the place as the series protagonist until Kenshin recovers 8 Even though the plot for the remembrance episodes of Kenshin s past was already set before serialization started which was three and a half years before her debut Watsuki was filled with regrets in how he portrayed Yukishiro Tomoe for unspecified reasons 14 The final villains the Su shi n had no personality models and were created simply to fill out the numbers As the story advanced towards Kenshin s final battle Watsuki realized that the other characters would have no glamour and created the Su shin on the spot 15 Ending Edit Watsuki also had ideas to create a Hokkaido episode a sequel but wanted to start a new manga and so ended Rurouni Kenshin with the last arc he made 16 Due to the dark nature of Kenshin s life Watsuki ended the manga in the Jinchu arc afraid that if he continued writing the series would not fit the shonen manga demography 17 In 2012 Watsuki revealed that when he clashed with the editorial staff at the end of the series his editor Hisashi Sasaki understood his intentions and saw that he was at his physical limit and backed him up He said it was out of respect and appreciation for the readers that he ended the popular series while it was still popular 18 Nevertheless Watsuki was happy with how he ended Rurouni Kenshin He felt it was a good place to end the narrative In contrast most series keep being pushed and pushed until they lose popularity and be cancelled Watsuki was glad Rurouni Kenshin did not end like this 19 For the series ending Watsuki conceived new designs with potential of a sequel in the future Initially Watsuki had planned to make Kenshin s hair shorter before the end however he found this to be similar to the character Multi in To Heart Additionally Himura Kenji was introduced in the finale as the son of Kenshin and Kaoru even though the character was cliche Watsuki felt that Kenji had to appear 20 An elder Sanosuke was drafted by Watsuki to appear in the manga s finale but this idea was scrapped In the manga s final story arc the design was used for Sanosuke s father Higashidani Kamishimoemon 21 The author added that he felt attachment towards Enishi and that he would someday like to use Enishi in a future work 22 Another idea explored for a sequel was the handling of Yahiko as teenager Watsuki had redesigned his appearance He wanted Yahiko to impress manga readers so that he could be a protagonist for a possible series sequel He said this goal influenced his design of Yahiko with Kenshin s physical appearance as well as Sanosuke s personality He added Sanosuke s kanji of evil 惡 aku to the back of his clothes and was pleased that various readers recognized it Although he suggested he was not going to make a sequel he said the main characters would be Yahiko Sanjō Tsubame and Tsukayama Yutarō Watsuki thought about writing a story in which Yahiko and Tsubame would have a son Myōjin Shin ya who would become a skilled swordsman 23 Themes EditThe series main theme is responsibility as seen through Kenshin s action as he wants to atone for all the people he killed during the Bakumatsu by aiding innocent people by wielding a non lethal sword 24 Marco Olivier from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University said that the sakabatō symbolizes Kenshin s oath not to kill again which has been found challenging by other warriors appearing in the series 25 This theme also encourages former drug dealer Takani Megumi into becoming a doctor upon learning of Kenshin s past and actions Another theme is power which is mostly seen by Sagara Sanosuke and Myojin Yahiko However like Megumi these two characters are also influenced by the main character as they wish to become stronger to assist Kenshin across the plot Additionally the series discourages revenge as seen in the final arc when Yukishiro Enishi believes he succeeded in getting his revenge on Kenshin but starts having hallucinations of his late sister with a sad expression on her face 24 As an outlet for Watsuki s kendo emotions Yahiko knows a pain that hero types like Himura Kenshin and Sagara Sanosuke can never know 26 As a result Yahiko was made a stronger character little by little to relate with the demography eventually giving him a stronger characterization during the Kyoto arc which surprised his readers 27 When questioned about the series theme being Kenshin s self redemption Watsuki mentioned that when he was young he used to read shōjo manga and that it influenced his writing of Rurouni Kenshin He added that he wanted to make a story different from other comics as he considers the main character Kenshin is neither a good nor evil character Since volume 7 Watsuki mentioned the series took a more adult tone due to the various conflicts in the story but commented it was influenced by the shōjo manga he read Through the series development Watsuki was deciding if Kamiya Kaoru s character was going to die before the end However he later decided to keep Kaoru alive as he came to the conclusion he wanted a happy ending and that the manga is aimed at young readers 8 In The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies Kenshin is regarded as a far cry from American superheroes due to his androgynous look and selfdeprecating personality However the character is said to be relatable to the Eastern audience through Kenshin s quest of redemption which is called as the main theme of the manga The manga is further noted to have a balance between individualism and community 28 Watsuki said he was an infatuated type of person rather than a passionate kind of person therefore Rurouni Kenshin is a Meiji Swordsman Story as opposed to being a Meiji Love Story 29 According to the book Bringing Forth a World Engaged Pedagogy in the Japanese University the manga reflects the confusion of the Japanese society after the big economy disenchantment in the early 1990s In confronts visualizations of Japanese education in a manner that contrasts school books especially because of the series young demography 30 Since the manga focuses on realism but is aimed towards young readers the series is notable for changing the portrayals of samurais in order to create a more optimistic take in comparison to real life events The unique take on Kenshin s handling gave the manga the concept of neo shonen due to how different it was from previous Weekly Shonen Jump series 31 Release EditMain article List of Rurouni Kenshin chapters Written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki Rurouni Kenshin was serialized in Shueisha s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from April 25 1994 32 33 to September 21 1999 34 35 b The 255 individual chapters were collected and published in 28 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha with the first volume released on September 9 1994 and the last on November 4 1999 37 38 They re released the series in a 22 volume kanzenban edition between July 4 2006 and May 2 2007 39 40 Shueisha published a 14 volume bunkoban edition between January 18 2012 and July 18 2012 41 42 A single chapter follow up to the series that follows the character of Yahiko Myōjin Yahiko no Sakabato 弥彦の逆刃刀 Yahiko s Sakabatō was originally published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2000 after the conclusion of the series Left out of the original volumes it was added as an extra to the final kanzenban release 40 In December 2011 Shueisha announced Watsuki would be putting his current series Embalming The Another Tale of Frankenstein on hold to begin a reboot of Rurouni Kenshin called Rurouni Kenshin Restoration as a tie in to the live action movie The series began in the June 2012 issue of Jump Square which was released on May 2 2012 43 and ended in the July 2013 issue on June 4 2013 44 The reboot depicts the battles that are featured in the first live action film Another special titled Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story Chapter 0 was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in August 2012 as a prologue to Restoration and included in its first volume 45 In 2014 Watsuki wrote a two chapter spin off titled Rurouni Kenshin Master of Flame for Jump SQ which tells how Shishio met Yumi and formed the Juppongatana 46 47 48 Watsuki and his wife Kaworu Kurosaki collaborated on a two chapter spinoff titled Rurouni Kenshin Side Story The Ex Con Ashitaro for the ninth anniversary of Jump SQ in 2016 49 It acts as a prologue to the Rurouni Kenshin The Hokkaido Arc which began in September 2017 as a sequel to the original manga series In 2021 Watsuki created the manga Sakabatō Shogeki 逆刃刀 初撃 Reverse Blade Katana First Bout that was exclusively shown at an exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of Rurouni Kenshin It serves as an epilogue to chapter 81 of the original manga and shows the first time Kenshin used his sakabatō 50 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 51 Although the first volumes were published on an irregular basis since volume 7 Viz established a monthly basis due to good sales and consumer demands 52 Therefore the following volumes were published until July 5 2006 when the final volume was released 53 Yahiko no Sakabatō was also published in English Shonen Jump during 2006 54 Between January 29 2008 and March 16 2010 Viz re released the manga in a nine volume omnibus format called Viz Big Edition which collects three volumes in one 55 56 The ninth and final volume includes Yahiko no Sakabato and Cherry Blossoms in Spring 56 They released a similar 3 in 1 Edition across nine volumes between January 3 2017 and January 1 2019 57 58 Viz uses the actual ordering of Japanese names with the family name or surname before the given name within the series to reduce confusion and because Rurouni Kenshin is a historical series 59 Adaptations EditAnime series Edit Main articles Rurouni Kenshin 1996 TV series and Rurouni Kenshin 2023 TV series An anime television series adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin produced by SPE Visual Works and Fuji TV animated by Studio Gallop episode 1 to 66 and Studio Deen episode 67 to 95 60 61 62 and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi was broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV from January 10 1996 to September 8 1998 63 A second anime television series adaptation by Liden Films was announced at the Jump Festa 22 event on December 19 2021 64 Animated film Edit Main article Rurouni Kenshin The Motion Picture An anime film with an original story titled Rurouni Kenshin The Motion Picture るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 維新志士への鎮魂歌 Rurouni Kenshin Ishin Shishi e no Chinkonka lit Rurouni Kenshin Requiem for Isshin Patriots also known as Rurouni Kenshin Requiem for Patriots originally released in North America as Samurai X The Motion Picture premiered in Japan on December 20 1997 65 Original video animations Edit Main articles Rurouni Kenshin Trust amp Betrayal Rurouni Kenshin Reflection and Rurouni Kenshin New Kyoto Arc A 4 episode original video animation OVA titled Rurouni Kenshin Trust amp Betrayal which served as a prequel to the anime television series was released in Japan in 1999 66 A 2 episode OVA titled Rurouni Kenshin Reflection which served as a sequel to the anime television series was released in Japan from 2001 to 2002 67 68 A 2 episode OVA Rurouni Kenshin New Kyoto Arc which remade the series Kyoto arc was released in Japan from 2011 to 2012 69 70 Live action films Edit Main articles Rurouni Kenshin film Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno Rurouni Kenshin The Legend Ends Rurouni Kenshin The Final and Rurouni Kenshin The Beginning Five live action films have been released theatrically The live action film adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin was announced on June 28 2011 71 Produced by Warner Bros with actual film production done by Studio Swan the films were directed by Keishi Ōtomo and star Takeru Satoh of Kamen Rider Den O fame as Kenshin Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara and Emi Takei as Kaoru 72 The first film titled Rurouni Kenshin was released on August 25 2012 in Japan 73 In August 2013 it was announced that two sequels were being filmed simultaneously for release in 2014 Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin The Legend Ends adapt the Kyoto arc of the manga 74 75 76 On April 12 2019 it was announced that two new live action films will adapt the Remembrance Tenchu amp Jinchu arcs 77 The films titled Rurouni Kenshin The Final and Rurouni Kenshin The Beginning premiered in 2021 Stage shows Edit In 2016 the Takarazuka Revue performed a musical adaptation of the manga called Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story The show ran from February to March and starred Seina Sagiri as Kenshin and Miyu Sakihi as Kaoru 78 The musical was written and directed by Shuichirō Koike In 2018 a stage play adaptation was performed in Shinbashi Enbujō theater in Tokyo and Shōchikuza theater in Osaka Seina Sagiri returned to play as Kenshin while Moka Kamishiraishi play as Kaoru Kanō Sōzaburō an original character introduced in the previous musical made a return appearance played by Mitsuru Matsuoka Shuichirō Koike returned as the director and the script writer of the play 79 In 2020 a stage musical adaptation of the manga s Kyoto arc was scheduled to be held from November to December 2020 in IHI Stage Around Tokyo Starring Teppei Koike as Himura Kenshin and Mario Kuroba as the antagonist Makoto Shishio Shuichirō Koike returned as director and script writer of the play 80 This stage musical was cancelled due to COVID 19 pandemic 81 Art and guidebooks Edit Two encyclopedias of the Rurouni Kenshin manga were released in Japan The first one Rurouni Kenshin Profiles 原典 was released first in Japan on July 4 1996 by Shueisha and in the United States by Viz Media on November 1 2005 82 83 Kenshin Kaden 剣心華伝 released on December 15 1999 includes the story Haru no Sakura 春の桜 lit Cherry Blossoms in Spring which details the fates of all of the Rurouni Kenshin characters The story takes place years after the manga s conclusion when Kenshin and Kaoru have married and have a young son Kenji Many of the series major characters who have befriended Kenshin reunite or otherwise reveal their current whereabouts with him in a spring picnic 84 For the anime three Kenshin Soushi artbook were published from 1997 to 1998 While the first two were based on the TV series the third one was based on the film The film one was named Ishin Shishi no Requiem Art Book and was released along with the movie 85 86 87 Also released was Rurouni Art Book which contained images from the OVAs A guidebook from the kanzenban imprint of the series was published on June 4 2007 88 Light novels Edit The Rurouni Kenshin light novels were published by Shueisha s Jump J Books line and co written by Kaoru Shizuka Most of them are original stories which were later adapted in the anime Others are adaptations of manga and anime stories The very first novel Rurouni Kenshin Voyage to the Moon World which was published in Japan on October 10 1996 and in North America on October 17 2006 details another adventure involving the return of Tales of the Meiji Season 3 s Beni Aoi Arc characters like Kaishu Katsu amp the Kamiya Dojo s third pupil Daigoro 89 90 The second Yahiko s Battle was released on October 3 1997 It retells various stories featured in the manga and anime series 91 The third novel TV Anime Shimabara Arc was published on February 4 1999 92 A novel adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin Cinema ban titled Rurouni Kenshin Ginmaku Sōshihen るろうに剣心 銀幕草紙変 and written by Watsuki s wife Kaoru Kurosaki which was released on September 4 2012 is a Japanese light novel version of America s Restoration s New Kurogasa Jin E Arc mangas featuring Banshin amp a different younger Gein Both are Ishin members of Enishi s team of the Jinchu Tenchu Judgment of Earth Heaven portions of the Enishi saga in the main plot manga series 93 Video games Edit There are five Rurouni Kenshin games released for the PlayStation series of consoles The first Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Ishin Gekitōhen るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 維新激闘編 was released on November 29 1996 It was developed by ZOOM Inc and published by Sony Computer Entertainment The game is a 3D fighting game with 9 playable characters with the plot being based on the first seven volumes from the manga 94 The second one Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Juyushi Inbō Hen るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 十勇士陰謀編 The Ten Warrior Conspiracy was released on December 18 1997 and was re released in the PlayStation The Best lineup on November 5 1998 The game is a role playing video game with an original story unrelated to either the manga or anime 95 Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Enjō Kyōto Rinne るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 炎上 京都輪廻 is the only video game for the PlayStation 2 console Its Japanese release was slated for September 13 2006 96 The game has sold over 130 000 copies in Japan 97 The game was developed by Eighting and published by Banpresto A 2D fighting game titled Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Saisen るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 再閃 was released for the PlayStation Portable on March 10 2011 in Japan 98 99 On August 30 2012 a sequel Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan Kansei るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 完醒 was released 100 Both games were developed by Natsume and published by Bandai Namco Games Himura Kenshin also appears in the 2005 and 2006 Nintendo DS games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars as the sole battle character representing his series while others were support characters and help characters 101 Kenshin and Shishio appeared as playable characters in the 2014 PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game J Stars Victory VS 102 103 and in the 2019 game Jump Force for Windows PlayStation 4 and Xbox One 104 Merchandise Edit Watsuki commented that there was a lot of Rurouni Kenshin merchandise released for the Japanese market He recommended that buyers consider quality before paying for merchandise items and for them to consult their wallets and buy stuff that they feel is worth it Watsuki added that he liked the prototype for a stuffed Kenshin doll for the UFO catcher devices 105 Reception EditSales and popularity Edit Rurouni Kenshin has been highly popular having sold over 55 million tankōbon copies in Japan alone up until February 2012 making it one of Shueisha s top ten best selling manga series 106 In 2014 it was reported that the series had 70 million tankōbon copies in circulation 107 As of December 2019 the manga had over 72 million copies in circulation including digital releases 108 Volume 27 of the manga ranked second in the Viz Bookscan Top Ten during June 2006 109 while volume 21 and 20 ranked second and tenth respectively in the Top 10 Graphic Novels of Viz of 2005 110 Rurouni Kenshin volume 24 ranked 116th on USA Today s best selling book list for the week ending February 26 2006 111 During the third quarter from 2003 Rurouni Kenshin ranked at the top of ICv2 s Top 50 Manga Properties 112 In the same poll from 2005 it was featured at the top once again based on sales from English volumes during 2004 113 In the Top Ten Manga Properties from 2006 from the same site it ranked ninth 114 In November 2014 readers of Da Vinci magazine voted Rurouni Kenshin the 13th Weekly Shōnen Jump s greatest manga series of all time 115 On TV Asahi s Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll in which 150 000 people voted for their top 100 manga series Rurouni Kenshin ranked 31st 116 Critical response Edit The manga has received praise and criticism from various publications Mania Entertainment writer Megan Lavey found that the manga had a good balance between character development comedy and action scenes The artwork of Watsuki was said to have improved as the series continued noting that characters also had reactions during fights 117 118 Steve Raiteri from Library Journal praised the series for its characters and battles However he noted some fights were too violent so he recommended the series to older teenagers as well as adults 119 Surat described the series as an example of a neo shōnen series where a shōnen series also appeals to a female audience Surat stated that in such series character designs are pretty for female audiences but not too girly for male audiences Surat cited Shinomori Aoshi and Seta Sōjirō characters who ranked highly in popularity polls even though in Surat s view Aoshi does not engage in meaningful battles and Sōjirō is a kid Surat explained that Aoshi appears like a Clamp character wearing Gambit s coat and Sōjirō always smiles despite the abuse inflicted upon him 120 Surat said that the character designs for the anime television series were toughened up a bit He added that the budget for animation and music was top notch because Sony produced the budget 121 Watsuki s writing involving romance and Kenshin s psychological hidden weakpoints also earned positive response by other sites with AnimeNation also comparing it to Clamp s X based on the multiple elements the series 122 123 In general Mania found Watsuki s art appealing as well as its evolution across the twenty eight volumes as it made female characters more attractive while the male characters seem simpler while retaining the early handome looks 124 As a result of the series taking a darker tone in later story arcs with Kenshin facing new threats and at the same time his Battosai self Kat Kan from Voice of Youth Advocates recommended it to older teens Kan also found that the anime viewers will also enjoy Watsuki s drawings due to the way he illustrates battles 125 This is mostly noted in the Kyoto arc where Mania Entertainment writer Megan Lavey applauded the fight between Himura Kenshin and anti hero Saito Hajime which acts as prologue of such narrative 118 Mania remarks the build up Aoshi Saito and other characters bring to the story due to how they similar goals in the same arc with newcomer Misao helping to balance the style by bringing more comical interactions with the protagonist 126 Although the site Manga News enjoyed Seta Sojiro s fight and how it connected with Shishio s past they said sixteenth manga s best part was Kenshin s fight against Shishio due to the build up and symbolism the two characters have 127 The eventual climax led further praise based on how menacing Shishio is shown in the battle against his predecessor although he questioned if Kenshin had been a superior enemy if had kept back his original killer persona 128 Critics expressed mixed opinions in regards to the final arc Zac Bertschy from Anime News Network ANN praised the story from the manga but noted that by volume 18 of the series Watsuki started to repeat the same type of villains who were united to kill Kenshin similar to Trigun Although he praised Watsuki s characters he commented that some of them needed some consistency due to various bizarre antagonists 129 Due to Kaoru Kenshin and Sanosuke missing from the final arc during the Jinchu arc Manga News described Aoshi as the star of the series 24th volume due to how he explores the mysteries behind Enishi s revenge and his subsequent actions that made him stand out most notably because he had been absent for multiple chapters 130 IGN reviewer A E Sparrow liked the manga s ending praising how the storylines are resolved and how most of the supporting cast end up He also praised the series characters remarking that Kenshin belongs in any top ten of manga heroes 131 Otaku USA reviewer Daryl Surat said that the manga s quality was good until the Revenge Arc where he criticized the storyline and the new characters 132 Carlo Santos from the same site praised Enishi and Kenshin s final fight despite finding the ending predictable 133 While also liking their final showdown Megan Lavey from Mania Entertainment felt that twist that happens shortly after battle is over serves to show Enishi s longlife trauma but at the same time Kenshin s compassion towards others 124 Cultural impact EditBefore becoming an official manga author Naruto s author Masashi Kishimoto decided that he should try creating a chanbara manga since Weekly Shōnen Jump had not published a title from that genre However during his years of college Kishimoto started reading Hiroaki Samura s Blade of the Immortal and Rurouni Kenshin which used the said genre Kishimoto recalls having never been surprised by manga ever since reading Akira and found that he still was not able to compete against them 134 Hideaki Sorachi cited Rurouni Kenshin as a major source of inspiration for his manga series Gintama He also said numerous other historical manga were influenced by Rurouni Kenshin stating that the reason why historical stories are being dealt with in all sorts of manga and game media today and why they are being supported by the younger generation is undoubtedly because of Ruroken and that they are all children of the Ruroken bloodline 135 For the series 25th anniversary in January 2021 15 manga authors sent congratulatory messages three of Watsuki s former assistants Eiichiro Oda One Piece Hiroyuki Takei Shaman King and Shinya Suzuki Mr Fullswing Nobuyuki Anzai Flame of Recca Riichiro Inagaki Eyeshield 21 Takeshi Obata Death Note Masashi Kishimoto Naruto Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro Toriko Hideaki Sorachi Gintama Yasuhiro Nightow Trigun Kazuhiro Fujita Ushio amp Tora Yusei Matsui Assassination Classroom and Kentaro Yabuki Black Cat 136 In an interview for the event Oda told Watsuki that Rurouni Kenshin is popular due to his loyalty to his fans 137 Kenshin s characterization has been compared to Yoh Asakura s protagonist of Shaman King due to their strict pacifism while Kenshin s former dark side was linked to Yoh s spirit partner the samurai Amidamaru 138 The lead of the manga Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba Tanjiro Kamado was also influenced by Kenshin s design as the author combined the character s androgynous design with a scar similar to Kenshin s in order to balance it properly for the audience 139 Watsuki felt that Kenshin was a King Type character similar to Monkey D Luffy from Eiichiro Oda s One Piece as a result of how heroic they are Watsuki also reflected on Kenshin s pacifism which became a common trend in other heroes in Weekly Shonen Jump protagonists like Luffy and Naruto Uzumaki who fight but are against the idea of killing their enemies while in the case of Dragon Ball dead characters are often revived He believes newer series like Attack on Titan Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen explore more the concept of death Nevertheless Watsuki continued to depict Kenshin sparing his enemies in the Hokkaido Arc 140 Notes Edit The Epic Tale of a Meiji Swordsman The Wanderer Kenshin The word Rurōni るろうに is the author s altered reading of the word Rurōnin 流浪人 that means wanderer Weekly Shōnen Jump 43 of 1999 cover date October 4 was released on September 21 the issue where Naruto made its debut 36 References Edit a b c The Official Website for Rurouni Kenshin Viz Media Retrieved October 28 2017 Erickson Hal 2005 Television Cartoon Shows An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1949 Through 2003 2nd ed McFarland amp Co p 699 ISBN 978 1476665993 a b c Watsuki Nobuhiro 2004 Rurouni Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story 2 Rurouni Kenshin Volume 3 Viz Media ISBN 1 59116 356 0 a b Watsuki Nobuhiro June 6 2006 Rurouni Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story 1 Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 Viz Media p 168 ISBN 1 4215 0674 2 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 32 Hiko Seijurō Rurouni Kenshin Volume 12 Viz Media 92 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2003 The Secret Life of Characters 1 Himura Kenshin Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 Viz Media p 56 ISBN 1 59116 220 3 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2005 Interview with Nobuhiro Watsuki Rurouni Kenshin Profiles Viz Media ISBN 978 1 4215 0160 4 a b c d e Watsuki Nobuhiro 1999 Interview with Nobuhiro Watsuki Kenshin Kaden Shueisha ISBN 4 08 782037 8 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 23 Makimachi Misao Rurouni Kenshin Volume 8 Viz Media 146 a b Watsuki Nobuhiro 2004 The Secret Life of Characters 21 Saitō Hajime Rurouni Kenshin Volume 7 Viz Media ISBN 978 1 59116 357 2 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2003 The Secret Life of Characters 6 Sagara Sanosuke Rurouni Kenshin Volume 2 Viz Media p 48 ISBN 1 59116 249 1 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2005 Free Talk I Rurouni Kenshin Volume 18 Viz Media p 63 ISBN 978 1 5911 6876 8 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 45 Otowa Hyōko Rurouni Kenshin Volume 22 Viz Media 178 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 41 Yukishiro Himura Tomoe Rurouni Kenshin Volume 21 Viz Media 46 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 51 Su shin Four Stars Su shin Four Gods Rurouni Kenshin Volume 27 Viz Media 96 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2006 Free Talk I Rurouni Kenshin Volume 28 Viz Media ISBN 1 4215 0675 0 剣心の人生の終わらせ方が見えた Natalie Retrieved December 8 2022 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2014 Rurouni Kenshin Restoration Volume 2 Viz Media p 207 ISBN 978 1 4215 5570 6 Tei Andrew Anime Expo 2002 Friday Report Mania Entertainment Archived from the original on December 15 2004 Retrieved May 8 2008 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2006 The Secret Life of Characters 54 Himura Kenji and the characters from Meiji 15 Rurouni Kenshin Volume 28 Viz Media p 154 ISBN 1 4215 0675 0 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 50 Higashidani Family Rurouni Kenshin Volume 26 Viz Media 132 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2006 The Secret Life of Characters 53 Yukishiro Enishi Rurouni Kenshin Volume 28 Viz Media ISBN 978 1 4215 0675 3 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2006 The Secret Life of Characters 54 Himura Kenji and the characters from Meiji 15 Rurouni Kenshin Volume 28 Viz Media p 154 ISBN 1 4215 0675 0 a b Burnham Jef 2013 Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story In Beaty Bart H Weiner Stephen eds Critical Survey of Graphic Novels Manga Ipswich Mass Salem Press pp 268 272 ISBN 9781587659553 Olivier Marco 2007 Nihilism in Japanese Anime PDF South African Journal of Art History 22 3 66 Retrieved November 12 2009 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2003 Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 Viz Media p 103 ISBN 1 59116 249 1 Watsuki Nobuhiro The Secret Life of Characters 36 Hariwa Henya Rurouni Kenshin Volume 15 Viz Media 66 Bronner Simon J 2019 Free Talk The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0190840617 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2006 Free Talk Rurouni Kenshin Volume 27 Viz Media p 168 ISBN 1 4215 0674 2 Kennedy David Bradley Joff 2019 Bringing Forth a World Engaged Pedagogy in the Japanese University Brill p 109 ISBN 978 9004421776 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Estrada Oriol 2021 Free Talk Cultura manga Ma Non Troppo pp 166 167 ASIN B093XRSPBC 週刊少年ジャンプ 1994年 平成6年 19 表紙 和月伸宏 るろうに剣心 in Japanese Mandarake Inc Archived from the original on November 30 2019 Retrieved November 30 2019 週刊少年ジャンプ1994年19 Media Arts Database in Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Archived from the original on December 4 2021 Retrieved December 4 2021 週刊少年ジャンプ 1999年 平成11年 43 表紙 岸本斉史 NARUTO in Japanese Mandarake Inc Archived from the original on November 30 2019 Retrieved November 30 2019 ヒカルの碁 るろ剣 封神演義 I ｓ NARUTO が始まった1999年の 週刊少年ジャンプ デジタル版が無料配信 ITmedia in Japanese November 9 2014 Archived from the original on June 28 2021 イベント 週刊少年ジャンプ 読者招待制音楽イベント NARUTO THE LIVE vol 0 4月11日 土 に東京国際フォーラムにて開催 出演アーティスト第１弾を発表 Event Weekly Shonen Jump Readers invitation music event NARUTO THE LIVE vol 0 will be held at the Tokyo International Forum on Saturday April 11 Announced the first stage of casting artists Music Lounge in Japanese February 24 2015 Archived from the original on June 20 2017 るろうに剣心 1 Rurouni Kenshin 1 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on March 7 2008 Retrieved February 29 2008 るろうに剣心 28 Rurouni Kenshin 28 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on March 7 2008 Retrieved February 29 2008 るろうに剣心 完全版 1 Rurouni Kenshin Kanzenban 1 in Japanese Shueisha Retrieved September 7 2021 a b るろうに剣心 完全版 22 Rurouni Kenshin Kanzenban 22 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on March 7 2008 Retrieved March 2 2008 るろうに剣心 1 明治剣客浪漫譚 Rurouni Kenshin 1 Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan in Japanese Shueisha Retrieved September 7 2021 るろうに剣心 14 明治剣客浪漫譚 Rurouni Kenshin 14 Meiji Kenkaku Roman Tan in Japanese Shueisha Retrieved September 7 2021 Rurouni Kenshin Manga Series to Return in Japan in May Anime News Network December 26 2011 Archived from the original on January 8 2012 Retrieved December 26 2011 Rurouni Kenshin Restoration Manga to End Anime News Network May 31 2013 Archived from the original on June 7 2013 Retrieved May 31 2013 Rurouni Kenshin Manga s Chapter 0 to Run in Shonen Jump Anime News Network April 24 2012 Archived from the original on June 6 2012 Retrieved June 5 2012 New Rurouni Kenshin Manga Spinoff to Be About Enemy Characters Anime News Network January 6 2014 Archived from the original on January 8 2014 Retrieved January 7 2014 Viz s Shonen Jump to Publish Rurouni Kenshin s Shishio Spinoff Anime News Network July 7 2014 Archived from the original on July 13 2014 Retrieved July 7 2014 るろ剣 志々雄一派の読切と小説が1冊に in Japanese Natalie October 3 2014 Archived from the original on November 29 2014 Retrieved November 19 2014 Rurouni Kenshin 2 Chapter Spinoff Manga Features New Main Character Anime News Network November 5 2016 Archived from the original on November 6 2016 Retrieved November 5 2016 Rurouni Kenshin 25th Anniversary Exhibit Previews Exclusive New Manga Draft Anime News Network January 4 2021 Retrieved June 8 2021 Viz makes Hikaru no Go and Kenshin official Anime News Network July 24 2003 Archived from the original on January 23 2009 Retrieved June 20 2008 Luther Katerine October 3 2004 Rurouni Kenshin Goes Monthly About com Archived from the original on August 4 2009 Retrieved June 26 2009 Kenshin Manga Bids Goodbye Anime News Network June 14 2006 Archived from the original on June 7 2008 Retrieved June 20 2008 Viz Media Announces the Release of First Rurouni Kenshin Fiction Novel Anime News Network June 14 2006 Retrieved March 11 2023 Rurouni Kenshin VIZBIG Edition Vol 1 Viz Media Retrieved September 7 2021 a b Rurouni Kenshin VIZBIG Edition Vol 9 Viz Media Retrieved September 7 2021 Rurouni Kenshin 3 in 1 Edition Vol 1 Viz Media Retrieved September 7 2021 Rurouni Kenshin 4 in 1 Edition Vol 9 Viz Media Retrieved September 7 2021 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2003 Glossary of the Restoration Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 Viz Media p 200 ISBN 978 1 59116 220 9 ぎゃろっぷ作品履歴1999 in Japanese Gallop Archived from the original on November 4 2013 Retrieved February 2 2019 Episode list in Japanese Sony Archived from the original on September 18 2009 Retrieved May 23 2009 Staff in Japanese Sony Archived from the original on January 31 2009 Retrieved May 23 2009 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 Akiba Souken in Japanese Kakaku com Archived from the original on June 2 2021 Retrieved June 2 2021 Hodgkins Crystalyn December 19 2021 Rurouni Kenshin Gets New TV Anime by Liden Films Anime News Network Retrieved December 19 2021 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 維新志士への鎮魂歌 Media Arts Database in Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Archived from the original on June 2 2021 Retrieved June 1 2021 るろうに剣心 in Japanese Studio Deen Archived from the original on April 17 1999 Retrieved June 2 2021 SonyMusicShop オリジナル ビデオ アニメーション るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 星霜編 下巻 Sony Music Shop in Japanese Archived from the original on June 2 2021 Retrieved June 2 2021 SonyMusicShop オリジナル ビデオ アニメーション るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 星霜編 上巻 Sony Music Shop in Japanese Archived from the original on June 2 2021 Retrieved June 2 2021 New Rurouni Kenshin Anime s Part I Promo Video Streamed Anime News Network Archived from the original on November 29 2011 Retrieved November 28 2011 New Rurouni Kenshin Anime s Part II Promo Streamed Anime News Network Archived from the original on June 6 2012 Retrieved June 5 2012 Rurouni Kenshin to get film adaptation starring Sato Takeru Tokyohive Archived from the original on June 30 2011 Retrieved June 28 2011 Emi Takei to Play Live Action Rurouni Kenshin s Kaoru Anime News Network Archived from the original on January 21 2012 Retrieved July 25 2011 Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Film Image Published Anime News Network Archived from the original on December 2 2011 Retrieved November 30 2011 Rurouni Kenshin Gets 2 New Live Action Kyoto Arc Films Anime News Network June 29 2013 Archived from the original on December 15 2013 Retrieved December 22 2013 New Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Sequel Image Previews Juppongatana Anime News Network January 1 2014 Retrieved January 1 2020 New Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Sequels Photos Feature Kenshin vs Sōjirō Anime News Network January 8 2014 Retrieved January 8 2020 Mateo Alex April 11 2019 Rurouni Kenshin Gets Final 2 Live Action Films in Summer 2020 Anime News Network Retrieved April 12 2019 The Kenshin Musical Cast Looks Perfect in Costume October 23 2015 Archived from the original on July 22 2016 Retrieved July 15 2016 Rurouni Kenshin Gets New Stage Play in October Anime News Network Retrieved August 8 2020 Rurouni Kenshin Manga s Kyoto Arc Gets Stage Musical This Fall Starring Teppei Koike Anime News Network Retrieved August 11 2020 New Rurouni Kenshin Stage Musical Canceled Due to COVID 19 Anime News Network Retrieved September 1 2020 原典 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 剣心秘伝 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on June 2 2009 Retrieved May 20 2008 Watsuki Nobuhiro November 2005 Rurouni Kenshin Profiles Rurouni Kenshin Paperback ISBN 1421501600 全史 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 剣心華伝 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on August 3 2009 Retrieved May 20 2008 るろうに剣心 剣心草紙 電影画帖 アニメコレクション1 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on August 22 2009 Retrieved June 6 2009 るろうに剣心 剣心草紙 電影画帖 アニメコレクション3 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on August 3 2009 Retrieved June 6 2009 るろうに剣心 剣心草紙 電影画帖 アニメコレクション2 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on August 3 2009 Retrieved June 6 2009 るろうに剣心 完全版 ガイドブック 剣心皆伝 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on August 22 2009 Retrieved June 6 2009 Viz Media Products Rurouni Kenshin Voyage to the Moon World Novel Viz Media Archived from the original on September 12 2011 Retrieved May 17 2008 るろうに剣心1 明治剣客浪漫譚 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on December 24 2008 Retrieved April 30 2008 るろうに剣心 2 明治剣客浪漫譚 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on December 24 2008 Retrieved April 30 2008 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 島原編 ルロウニケンシン in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on December 24 2008 Retrieved April 30 2008 るろうに剣心 銀幕草紙変 in Japanese Shueisha Archived from the original on October 24 2012 Retrieved November 19 2014 Rurouni Kenshin Ishin Gekitouhen GameSpot Archived from the original on May 11 2011 Retrieved May 24 2009 Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenyaku Romantan Juuyuushi Inbou Hen GameSpot Archived from the original on May 11 2011 Retrieved May 24 2009 Rurouni Kenshin Enjou Kyoto Rinne GameSpot Archived from the original on May 11 2011 Retrieved May 24 2009 Charts Japon le Top 500 de 2006 Jeuxactu August 29 2006 Archived from the original on January 13 2008 Retrieved October 19 2008 Rurouni Kenshin Gets PSP 2D Fighting Game in Spring Update 2 Anime News Network November 2 2010 Archived from the original on November 5 2010 Retrieved November 13 2010 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 再閃 in Japanese jp playstation com Archived from the original on July 1 2014 Retrieved November 26 2014 るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 完醒 in Japanese jp playstation com Archived from the original on July 12 2015 Retrieved November 26 2014 Jump Ultimate Stars in Japanese Nintendo Archived from the original on January 22 2008 Retrieved November 22 2008 Bleach Kenshin Join J Stars Victory Vs Team Battle Game Anime News Network June 5 2013 Archived from the original on August 12 2013 Retrieved August 7 2013 Naruto DBZ One Piece Kenshin Rivals Join J Stars Victory Vs Game Anime News Network January 15 2014 Archived from the original on January 16 2014 Retrieved January 15 2014 Hodgkins Crystalyn November 18 2018 Jump Force Game Adds Rurouni Kenshin s Kenshin Himura Makoto Shishio as Playable Characters Anime News Network Retrieved November 18 2018 Watsuki Nobuhiro 2005 Rurouni Kenshin Volume 11 Viz Media p 51 ISBN 978 1 59116 709 9 Top 10 Shonen Jump Manga by All Time Volume Sales Anime News Network Archived from the original on October 8 2016 Retrieved December 20 2012 Top 20 Most Popular Manga Ranked By Publication Numbers Anime News Network Archived from the original on September 6 2014 Retrieved September 4 2014 るろうに剣心 初の展覧会が2020年4月開催 作品誕生から25周年 Mantan Web in Japanese December 4 2019 Retrieved February 8 2020 Viz Sweeps Bookscan Top Ten Anime News Network June 5 2006 Archived from the original on January 2 2008 Retrieved February 13 2008 Viz Takes Ownership of top 10 Manga Anime News Network December 8 2005 Archived from the original on January 2 2008 Retrieved February 13 2008 Viz Scores Highest Ever Sales Ranking for a Manga in Booklist Anime News Network December 8 2005 Archived from the original on February 2 2007 Retrieved March 3 2006 Manga Competition Heats Up ICv2 October 18 2004 Archived from the original on February 10 2005 Retrieved January 26 2005 Manga Market Continues Robust Growth in 04 ICv2 July 12 2006 Archived from the original on January 29 2005 Retrieved January 26 2005 ICv2 s Ten Most Powerful ICv2 July 12 2006 Archived from the original on June 30 2009 Retrieved August 6 2009 Da Vinci Magazine Asks Japanese Readers to Name Greatest Shonen Jump Manga Crunchyroll November 13 2014 Retrieved August 6 2022 テレビ朝日 国民15万人がガチで投票 漫画総選挙 ランキング結果まとめ 栄えある1位に輝く漫画は animate Times in Japanese Animate January 3 2021 Archived from the original on January 3 2021 Retrieved January 3 2021 Lavey Megan December 18 2004 Rurouni Kenshin G novel 18 Anime News Network Archived from the original on April 26 2009 Retrieved May 27 2009 a b Lavey Megan October 27 2004 Rurouni Kenshin Vol 07 Mania Entertainment Archived from the original on February 20 2015 Retrieved April 15 2012 Raiteri Steve March 1 2004 Watsuki Nobuhiro Rurouni Kenshin Vol 1 Library Journal Library Journals LLC 129 4 63 1 ISSN 0363 0277 Surat Daryl Heart of Steel Otaku USA Volume 4 Number 1 August 2010 34 Surat Daryl Heart of Steel Otaku USA Volume 4 Number 1 August 2010 34 36 Luther Katherine Top 8 Anime Love Stories About com Archived from the original on March 7 2016 Retrieved June 26 2009 Ask John Should There Be More Variety in Shōnen amp Shōjo Anime AnimeNation April 23 2007 Archived from the original on September 27 2011 Retrieved July 1 2007 a b Lavey Megan Rurouni Kenshin Vol 28 Archived from the original on May 28 2009 Retrieved October 26 2020 Kan Kat June 1 2004 Samurai with a weird sword Voice of Youth Advocates E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC 27 2 118 2 ISSN 0160 4201 Lavey Megan Rurouni Kenshin Vol 08 of 28 Mania com Archived from the original on February 1 2009 Retrieved February 11 2008 Kenshin le Vagabundo 16 Manga News Retrieved October 27 2020 Kenshin le Vagabundo 17 Manga News Retrieved October 27 2020 Bertschy Zac October 2 2005 Rurouni Kenshin G novel 18 Anime News Network Archived from the original on April 26 2009 Retrieved May 26 2009 Critique du volume manga Manga News Retrieved October 28 2020 Sparrow A E June 27 2006 Rurouni Kenshin Vol 28 Review IGN Archived from the original on February 27 2009 Retrieved May 26 2009 Surat Daryl Heart of Steel Otaku USA Volume 4 Number 1 August 2010 37 Santos Carlo October 2 2005 RIGHT TURN ONLY Bye Bye Mr Battousai Anime News Network Retrieved October 26 2020 Kishimoto Masashi 2007 Naruto Volume 13 Viz Media p 66 ISBN 978 1 4215 1087 3 Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition Official ruroken ten January 25 2021 るろ剣展 15作家の 祝辞 紹介 MrFULLSWING の作者 鈴木信也 先生 銀魂 の 空知英秋 先生 SHAMANKING の 武井宏之 先生 そして トライガン 血界戦線 の 内藤泰弘 先生 あのるろ剣の 夷腕坊 の麦わらマークの爆弾を描いたのがこの先生だったとは 驚きです Tweet in Japanese via Twitter The reason why historical stories are being dealt with in all sorts of manga and game media today and why they are being supported by the younger generation is undoubtedly because of the work Ruroken As usual I was one of the radish thieves or rather a senior member of the thieves who trespassed into the fields cultivated by Mr Watsuki without permission and sold radishes We are all children of the Ruroken bloodline so please don t sue us or anything like that Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition Official ruroken ten January 25 2021 るろ剣展 15作家の 祝辞 紹介 るろ剣展開催にあたり 和月先生と関わりの深い15人の先生から展覧会への 祝辞 をいただき 渋谷駅で掲出しました 掲出は終了しています その貴重な先生方のコメントをご紹介 るろ剣展は東京ドームシティ ギャラリーアーモで3月7日まで開催中 Tweet in Japanese via Twitter Watsuki Nobuhiro 2021 Rurouni Kenshin Exhibition Official Catalog Ruroken 25th Anniversary るろうに剣心展 公式図録 るろ剣 25周年記念 Shueisha Reyna Leo November 4 2015 Shaman King A Look Beyond At Hiroyuki Takei s Series NerdSpan Retrieved January 1 2021 The birth of Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga Plus Shueisha Retrieved February 16 2020 和月伸宏インタビュー るろうに剣心 最終章 に至る 実写と漫画が歩んだ10年 Kai You Retrieved December 8 2022 Further reading Edit Rurouni Kenshin vol 1 Voice of Youth Advocates E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC 29 5 399 December 1 2006 ISSN 0160 4201 OPINION Japanese fiction holds life lesson Quay County Sun Tucumcari NM McClatchy Tribune Information Services March 15 2011 Dennys Harriet November 11 2005 Big in Japan America and now the UK manga novels are moving from niche status into the UK mainstream GRAPHIC NOVELS MANGA The Bookseller The Nielsen Company 5204 S10 2 ISSN 0006 7539 Publications of the week book lists The Bookseller The Nielsen Company 5173 39 13 April 8 2005 ISSN 0006 7539 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Rurouni Kenshin Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rurouni Kenshin Official Shueisha Rurouni Kenshin manga website in Japanese Rurouni Kenshin at Viz Media Rurouni Kenshin manga at Anime News Network s encyclopedia Portals Japan Anime and manga Film Martial arts 1990s Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rurouni Kenshin amp oldid 1144145415, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.