Samurai Deeper Kyo



Imagine if George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson teamed up with Johnny Appleseed and Pocahontas to fight the Salem Witches, who have resurrected King Richard the Lionheart and the Knights of the Round Table in order to take over the world--now stir it into an Anachronism Stew, put it all in Japan, and you've got Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Samurai Deeper Kyo is a thirty-eight volume manga about the exploits of Shiina Yuya, a sixteen year old Bounty Hunter seeking revenge for her older brother's death, who meets Mibu Kyoshiro, a medicine peddler, and Demon Eyes Kyo, who is trapped in Kyoshiro's body.

And then it gets complicated.

Cue Loads and Loads of Characters, loads and loads of Character Development, lots of Badassery, several Quirky Miniboss Squads, several BFSes, and what is probably the biggest Bodyguard Crush in history.

The manga ran from 1999-2006.

Kyo and friends appear in the Massive Multiplayer Crossover game, Sunday VS Magazine Shuuketsu Choujou Daikessen.

Please feel free to edit the the Samurai Deeper Kyo character sheet

"Bikara: Getting distracted by a woman while a beautiful man like me is standing in front of your eyes. and Bikara: The suffering face of a good-looking man is dreamy."
 * Adaptation Decay: The anime. Very loosely based on the first sixteen volumes, and everything from the story to the character designs suffers. Most fans concur that the only good things to come of it were the outtakes.
 * Adaptational Badass: Oda Nobunaga in the manga, while being extremely powerful and Kyo's nemesis, is still a tool of the Mibu and the Four Elders can control him. In the anime he downright takes over Kyo's body and slaughters all the Mibu higher ups, becoming the Final Boss.
 * A God Am I: The vast majority of the Mibu think like this. And in truth, no one really disputes them on that.
 * All Your Powers Combined: The Former Crimson King possess the powers of all his Mibu underlings. Sadly, aside from the Mumyo Jinpuryuu, he doesn't show any of the other cool powers displayed before.
 * An Aesop: Played poker-face straight countless times
 * Anachronism Stew: Shameless and blatant, from usage of english terms, to referring to words, items and concepts that the early Edo Japanese wouldn't be familiar with, to the simple fact that apparently cosplay is a thing.
 * And That's Terrible: The main characters have been shown to be remorseless killers with no aim or goal in their lives (except for Bontenmaru).
 * Ambiguous Gender: Yuri Kamanosuke of the Ten Braves has a very effemminate appearence and the mannerism of an "Okita Beauty", a typically female stereotype... however, it's hard to say if he's actually a woman or not. Even the Japanese wikipedia page lists his gender as unknown.
 * Ambiguously Gay: During the fight against Kubira (real), at one point he uses his power to take the form of a woman the three opponents (Akira, Benitora and Hotaru) are attracted to. While it works for the former two, who see Yuya and Mahiro respectively, nothing manifests for Hotaru. When they ask him about it, he admit he was thinking of Akari, reasoning than he though he may appear, only to conclude that he probably did not because he's a man.
 * Animal Eye Spy: Lord Fubuki and his cat.
 * Anticlimax: Having found the truth, alongisde resolve and achievement of his fullest potential, Shinrei finally confronts his former mentor Fubuki in an all-out battle against his teacher-turned nemesis.
 * Anti-Hero: If Kyo, who got his nickname for perpetrating mass-murder on a ridiculous scale doesn't count, then there is no such thing
 * Art Evolution
 * Artificial Human:
 * Ax Crazy: Ninety percent of the main cast is this, including the title character. However, among the antagonists, two examples stand out: Oda Nobunaga and Chinmei. While arguably Kyo is, at his core, a Blood Knight who slowly grows into a better person, the former has no other goals safe for wanting to take over Japan and turn it into a blood-soaked hell because he can, while Chimei has simply been around for so long that he gradually lost all his feelings, with battle and killing being the only thing that still makes his heart race.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: The Shiseiten's special attack. Hotaru and Shinrei also do one of these, and it's a Crowning Moment of Awesome
 * Back from the Dead: Oda Nobunaga's soul is so full of hatred and bloodlust that it keeps trying to reincarnate, with the Mibu using their arts to provide him with a new body each time.
 * Backstory
 * Badass
 * Badass Normal: Yukimura and the Ten, minus Sasuke. Bontenmaru fills this role in the Shiseiten, having no elemental powers, Shaman skills or magical weapons, relying only on a bokuto and muscle power.
 * Berserk Button: Kyo is already pretty bad-tempered to begin with, but early on mentioning Kyoshiro will piss him off.
 * Kyoshiro is normally calm and controlled, but needless violence or reckless desire to escape one's duty will rile him up.
 * Akari doesn't take kindly when anyone reminds others that despite her façade he's Tokichiro Matari and still a man.
 * Best Her to Bed Her: Variation with the "deal" between Akari and Kyo: should Akari ever be able to land a clear blow in Kyo's face, he'll agree to marry "her". So far it has not happened.
 * BFS: Kyo's Tenro is repeatedly described as a five-foot tall Oodachi. Parodied when Kyoshiro remarks that it's very useful to pick up kaki fruits
 * Sasuke starts out with a sword the same size, despite having the body of a twelve year old.
 * Jaki and Maki of the Mibu Vanguard both have humongous swords: the former wields one resembling a sharpened slab of iron on a handle, the other wields a curious giant crescent blade with wooden handles at both ends, like a kitchen tool.
 * Haira (the fake one) wields multiple giant swords wtih curved blades he often uses to attack from far away, making multiple of them soar in the air like boomerangs.
 * Hishigi's Hakuya is even more impressive.
 * Big Bad: The Former Crimson King, the seemingly omnipotent and divine ruler of the entire Mibu clan.
 * Big Damn Heroes
 * Bishounen: Pretty much 90% of the cast is ridicolously pretty, untouched by scars.
 * Black and Gray Morality: Overall, you can divide the cast in three broad groups: evil dudes who perform ruthless acts for a greater good, insane psychopaths with no redeeming qualities and dudes who just do what they want regardless of morality.
 * Black Swords Are Better: Shibien is one of the four greatest swords of Muramasa. It has killed so many people that its originally shiny blade has turned black. Sasuke finds it sturdy enough to allow him to use the Lightning Blade without risk.
 * Blade Run: Sasuke has one of these early on.
 * Blade on a Stick: Red Tiger wields a collapsible jumonji-yari called Koyoku (Tiger Wing) and is able to use it with great skill. Later, when his weapon is wrecked against Shinrei, he obtains the Muramasa Spear Fomalhaut/Hokurakushimon, a massive trident-like jumonji-yari which feeds on his life force to inflict superior wounds. Among the enemies, we have Red Tiger's former senpai Mekira, who wields a spear with an enormous scythe-like blade, and Saisei of the 5 Planets, who wields a gargantuan Oonaginata.
 * Blood From the Mouth
 * Blood Knight: It would be easier to name the characters who aren't.
 * Body Double: Anayama Kosuke is this to Yukimura, looking exactly like him when her top is closed. Played for laughs with Rokuro Mochizuki, who acts as Yukimura's double by wearing a visible Yukimura mask over his face.
 * Body Horror: During the fight against the real Indara, it is revealed that the "abortions" made by the Mibu such as Sasuke and Kotaro normally live only for five years before physical decay strikes in. Turns out that, under the bandages, Kotaro's body is rotting at an amazing rate.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Go ahead, try to name a single time when a Kyo Killing Rampage isn't triggered by Yuya being directly threatened.
 * When he believes that Shinrei has.
 * In the anime, it's strongly implied Saizō has a crush on Yukimura. It's not helped by Yukimura teasing him
 * Bounty Hunter: Yuuya's job early on. Soon forgotten after volume 3, though she occasionally threatens to apprehend the villains/heroes alike.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy:
 * Brother-Sister Incest - anime only, betweeen Nobunaga Oda and Shatora.
 * The Brute: Subverted with Bikara: despite his huge size and muscles, he's far from being stupid and his real trump card is his speed.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Julian and Shihoudou: even Kyo admits to the latter's Badassitude.
 * These two probably cross the line into Crazy Awesome territory.
 * Buxom Is Better: Widespread belief in this manga, as Kyo prefers his ladies stacked and, when Yuya thinks about how beautiful Mahiro looks, she immediately remarks that "her boobs are huge".
 * Calling Your Attacks: The manga runs the gamut with all sorts of names and techniques (often distinguisheable only by name). More often than not, the technique names are quite long even in Japanese (with Shirogarasu's ones having six kanji each), some of them are even in english, including many techniques from the Four Berserkers, Akari and Hotaru.
 * Character Development: The most notable example in the manga are Kyo, who gradually grows from a murderous, frowny psycopath to an equally frowny man who genuinally likes and appreciates the people around him, and Benitora, who grows into a mature, steadfast leader ready to take over the Bakufu from his father.
 * Cast from Hit Points: Hotaru's Chikewai and Honoo Chikewai (Blood Markings) give him a massive boost in energy, at the cost of burning away his lifeforce at the same time. It's strongest attack actually involves applying the Chikewai to his opponents.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Cherry Blossoms: Kyoshiro seems to be really fond of cherry blossoms.
 * The Chick: Yuya
 * Children Are Innocent: Subverted with every character shown as a child except Yuya and flashback Tokito.
 * Akira, for example, is cheerfully slaughtering away on the battlefield by the time he's ten.
 * And the Mibu have no problem with using child soldiers.
 * Clean Cut
 * Climax Boss: Oda Nobunaga. Two times, actually.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Hotaru. It may just be Obfuscating Stupidity, as he proves many times that he's smarter than he seems.
 * Colourful Theme Naming: The Three-Colour Gang has Shirogarasu (White Raven), Kurosasori (Black Scorpion) and Benitora (Red TIger).
 * Combat Commentator: Akira and Bon serve as this at turns for Yuya. Averted in the Akira-Tokito fight, as Yuya isn't around for that one.
 * Combo-Platter Powers: While most of the other Elders have defined powers, Yuan's skillset include being an awesome hand-to-hand fighter, he's an even better swordsman, can control fire... and create illusions. All of them seemingly unrelated to one another.
 * Commedia Dell Arte Troupe
 * Conservation of Ninjitsu: Both played straight and inverted
 * Contractual Immortality: Can anyone name a non-villain who died at the end of the series? Sure, everyone gets badly beaten up, but...
 * Convection, Schmonvection: At one point, Red Tiger fights a Mibu who can puke molten metal to attack, boasting that the heat of the metal is 2000 degrees (3632 F, if you prefer). Yet, when some of the metal gets on his ankle, all he gets is a singe, rather than losing his whole foot. As for Hotaru, despite boasting about his flames and the use of the extremely hot black fire, he fails to reduce anyone who's not a mook to a charred corpse.
 * Cooldown Hug: Played straight during Kyo's Superpower Meltdown: Yuya runs through the mess he's making to bring him back.
 * Critical Research Failure: Whenever Tokito tries to scare people she interacts with, she hands them the 13th Tarot Card, Death. In truth, Death in tarots is not a symbol of death, but of change (or, at most, end of a relationship).
 * When Genma Kido uses his Antoki to Hulk Out, his wrists and hands grow huge while his biceps keep their normal size. In truth, unless you're born with big hands, it's nearly impossible to work out to add mass to your wrists and hands.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kyoshiro, though it's really hidden. The Former Crimson King is more overt about it all being just Obfuscating Stupidity.
 * Cute Bruiser: Antera, who's tiny and adorable but can swing around maces whose head is bigger than her entire body.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Taihaku, for some reason (as he's perfectly human aside from his long life) has dark tan skin and blond hair.
 * Deal with the Devil: Shindara and the real Kubira.
 * Delayed Reaction: The effects of Kyo's Mizuchi attack. Subverted when we learn that it happened because the Mizuchi he bragged so much about was actually imperfect.
 * Defeat Means Friendship
 * Depraved Homosexual


 * Diagonal Cut:Taken to its logical extreme, thanks to the Rule of Cool
 * Didn't See That Coming: At the end of the Forest Arc, when Shindara reveals that the four fallen generals (Haira, Mekira, Kubira and Indara/Okuni) were merely substitutes for the real ones, he admits that the defeat of Bikara and Basara was indeed unexpected.
 * Distant Finale
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Actually saves Yukimura's life when Chinmei slash his kimono open... only to be rewarded with a view of Kosuke's generous bust, mesmerizing him long enough for Yukimura and Kosuke to flee.
 * Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: During his battle against Yuan, who has sworn to fight back only with his right foot, Hotaru claims that if he makes him use anything else, Yuan will have to spin around three times and bark. When he manages to do so and smugly reminds him of the bet, Yuan briefly gets serious, delivering extremely powerful attacks with each spin and with the supernaturally-powerful bark.
 * Dojikko: Sakuya
 * Doppelganger Attack: Benitora, in a rare Non-Ninja example
 * Dramatic Wind
 * Driven to Suicide: Hishigi, until Fubuki tells him that he isn't allowed to die until Fubuki says he can
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Akari, twice. First on Benitora when Kyo bluntly tells him that no women are allowed in the Four Saints, and later when a Mibu Aristocrat gropes inside his dress, ending up with the manju used to simulate breasts.
 * Dual-Wielding: Mainly by Akira, who usually wields two swords at once.
 * Dysfunction Junction
 * Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Bikara, despite his massive frame and brutal looks, is actually extremely effemminate in mannerism and speech. He also hates women and tries to kill Yuya just for being there.
 * Elemental Powers: Kyo himself, through the use of the Dark Divine Wind Style (Mumyo Jinpuryuu) makes use of wind and slashing gusts with all his named attacks, while Akira attained (unexplicably) the ability to produce and control ice. The Five Planets, except for Taihaku, are all experts in their elemental powers over fire, water, earth (mostly gravity) and wood (healing powers and necromancy). These powers seems to be common among the Mibu, as Yuan and Fubuki display powers over fire (the former), water and wood (the latter). Sasuke is able to channel lightning bolts through his katana and Shindara has mastery over four elements (though he's only shown using fire), Fuuma no Kotaro can manipulate shadows to fight.
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Averted; It's demonstrated over the course of the series that the superiority depends on the wielder, rather than the element they are using. Hotaru initially wins out against Shinrei despite severe injuries from fighting Kyo, but only because he's using . Shinrei ultimately comes out on top because Hotaru's boost wears off. And of course, both of them get mercilessly curbstomped by
 * Empathic Weapon: The Muramasa demon blades
 * Enfante Terrible: Tokito, in the beginning Arguably Kyo himself when he took on Nobunaga.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: Yukimura
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Red Tower, where the Crimson King resides within the Onmyo Hall. It is large enough to be directly compared to the biblical Tower of Babel and apparently inside a mystical barrier (since it should be located on Mount Fuji, yet it cannot be seen from the outside world).
 * Expy: Kyo borrows a lot from Dark Schneider: extraordinarly powerful but wicked warrior known and feared by a lot of people? Check. Lecherous and blowhard? Check. Spends his introduction sealed in the body of a much more innocent and kind character who travels alongside a woman he eventually gets affectionate to? Check. Used to be in cahoots with a gang of four extremely powerful warriors who start off as antagonists? Check.
 * Hotaru has several similarities with Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho: he's a short, spiky-haired swordsman with an unusual personality, can use fire, possess an eye-related gimmick, starts off as antagonistic before being defeated by the hero and switching sides and his trump card involves black flames.
 * To go with the already-mentioned references to Rurouni Kenshin, Oda Nobunaga's first appearence, his burnt scars, opposition to the protagonist and plans of Japan domination makes him a simplified, supernatural deadringer for Shishio Makoto.
 * When Shindara opens his cloak to fight, the tattoos, long hair and tight pants make him a visual deadringer for Yusuke Urameshi's demon form from Yu Yu Hakusho.
 * Eyes Do Not Belong There: The real Mekira can sprout a mass of eyes on his arm called "Medusa Eyes" to perform his technique Paraffin Mason.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Bontenmaru hides his missing right eye under a stylish eyepatch. Up to Eleven with Hishigi, who hides the entire left half of his body, including face and eye.
 * Fake Boobs: As Okuni correctly guesses, Akari's boobs are actually fake, being a pair of nikuman (large steamed buns filled with meat).
 * Fake Memories:
 * Fan Disservice: Saisei and Saishi's army of zombie starts off as taking the appearence of a bunch of attractive girls in loose bandages... but they gradually become more corpse-like as the fight goes on.
 * Fantastic Racism: The monsters of Aokigahara are (rightly, in most cases) feared as demons by common humans and shunned. In turn, the divine Mibu look down on both the monsters and humans.
 * Fat Bastard: The real Haira breaks the cycle of handsome bishonens by revealing himself to be a disgustingly obese Gonk of a man with mold and filth over his body. When he gets serious he actually transform into a conventionally attractive bishonen, though he finds this form abhorrent and weak.
 * Faux Action Girl: Okuni.While she's supposedly one of the Twelve Divine Generals and looks pretty skilled with her steel wires, her only victims in the series are some wolves early on in volume 2 and that's it.
 * The Fog of Ages:
 * Foreshadowing: During the Forest Arc, Nobunaga is seen wearing a cross-shaped pendant with a sharp end and a circle in the middle.
 * The Four Gods: Kyo's sword techniques are named and themed after them: Suzaku (a phoenix-shaped slash that can reform if dispelled), Byakko (a tiger-shaped wind that relentlessly attacks a target), Genbu (a huge dome-shaped barrier surrounded by snakes), Seiryuu (a gigantic tornado in the shape of a dragon) and Koryuu (a massive blast of golden wind from the heavens).
 * Four Is Death: The Shiseiten are frequently described as being gods of death. The Taishiro are possibly even more lethal
 * Funny Background Event: During Okuni's introduction, as Yuya confronts the Miko she punches Kyoshiro out of the way, sending him crashing against the sign of a boys-only brothel. In a later panel, Kyoshiro can be seen in the background as the owner threatens to make him work out his debt for the broken sign as Kyoshiro begs him to reconsider.
 * Gentle Giant: Bontenmaru. Sure, he has the whole "god of war" thing going on, complete with a berserker mode and everything, but he has a soft spot--not like that--for little girls, even ones that punch holes in him and torture him; and Akari reveals that he likes shoujo manga. As for Bontenmaru's reason for taking over the entirety of Japan? He wants to take it over so people can live their lives in peace.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Subverted with Yuya, who has a hideous scar on her stomach
 * It gets de-hideoused later on.
 * Played straight with Hishigi, who is covered in rather disgusting scars
 * Also played straight with Akira, who is COVERED in scars, but they are not obvious seeing as they are usually covered by clothes.
 * Gondor Calls for Aid: In the final fight,
 * Graceful Loser
 * Gratuitous English: Especially starting with the Forest Arc, English somehow finds his way to Edo Japan. Notable examples:
 * Inside the Aokigahara Forest, the 100-Men Slayers are called "Devil's Arms" and the 1000-Men Slayers (like Kyo) are known as "Lucifer's Claws".
 * Hotaru's arsenal features several attacks with an English name and a kanji reading, such as: Demon's Breath (lit. Black Flames), Fire Wall (Fire Armor, with the latter spelt in katakana), Lucifer's Coming (lit. Fallen Angel's Advent) and Hell's Crush (lit. Jaws of Hell).
 * Shinrei, who normally uses fancy Japanese names, has his secret technique called "Dragon Red Tears" (lit Dragon's Brilliant Tears).
 * Chinmei, like Shinrei, uses Japanese for most of his technique except for two: Happy Come Come Missiles (read with kanji for Happy and Come in place) and his ultimate attack Black Hole Crisis (Gravitational Destructive Flight).
 * The Miyoshi Brothers of the Ten Braves call their attacks in English
 * The real Haira in the original versions and translations mixes fluently his speech with english words and sentences, usually calling Masamune a "chicken". In the English version he's given a Hulk Speak instead.
 * All the Berserker's techniques are named in English: Paraffin Mason (Stone Flower Eyes), Phenomenon Face (Transformation Phoenomenon), Siren's Breath (Sitting Maiden's Breath) and Serial Gourmet (Transforming Meal).
 * Akari's techniques are all in English: Air Vamp (Qi-Sipping Inhale), Reject (Expelled Light) and the English-only Cable Cross and Core High Crusher.
 * The Grim Reaper: Oda Nobunaga's attack all have the aura of a looming, cloaked skeleton behind him, including Tenma Mukurode (Heavenly Demon's Corpse Grip, sporting a hooded skeleton with an extended arm), Tenma Shiryokonran and Tenma Shiryoranma (Heavenly Demon's Chaos of the Dead/Pandaemonium of the Dead, featuring several robed ghosts) and, most blatant, Tenma Shiryougama (Heavenly Demon's Dead Scythe, featuring a complete Grim Reaper with a large scythe).
 * Guns Are Worthless: Yuya
 * The manga lampshades this by having Akari take Yuya's gun and attempt to shoot Santera with it. Santera stops the bullets, and Akari throws the gun away.
 * Having a Blast: Kitsunebi, the first opponent fought by Kyo in the city at the base of Mt Fuji in the Mibu Land, uses a peculiar fighting style in which he spreads iron dust in the air as he throws sharp stilettoes at the opponent, putting them in a lose-lose situation: if they dodge, the powder spreads further, while if they parry, the sparks will cause an explosion. He names the attack Bakujin'en (Explosive Dust Banquet).
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Sakuya spends 32 volumes hidden behind her bangs, and the manga-ka is fond of "lighting" characters whose faces we aren't to see yet from the back, or putting them in elaborate, face-covering costumes
 * Healing Factor: Saisei, the Planet of Wood, can regenerate from almost any attack and heal herself accordingly, recovering from attacks that cleave her in half. Shindara, thanks to his Shikaionju (Enchantment of the Sea of Death) has an even more formidable and fast regeneration.
 * Hellfire: Hotaru and Yuan have access to the Demon's Breath (Kanji for Black Flames), extremely powerful and searing hot black flames. Hotaru even names the attack after Hell, such as Lucifer's Descent and Hell's Crush. Nobunaga's strongest attack is called Heavenly Demon's Apocalyptic Fire Essence.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Dan Frickin' Green is the main character.
 * High-Pressure Blood
 * High School AU: The author wrote one as an extra in the fanbook, and liked it so much that s/he wrote two "Samurai High School" drama CDs
 * And they're absolutely rampant in the fandom, though it's almost justified, because the cast is one hell of a Commedia Dell Arte Troupe.
 * Historical Hero Upgrade: Date Masamune was more of a scheming warlord than a happy-go-lucky, freedom-loving fighter.
 * Historical Villain Upgrade: While Oda Nobunaga wasn't exactly Nobel Prize material, he hardly was a hammy psychopath with a penchant for literal blood baths. Zigzagged with Tokugawa Ieyasu who's initially portrayed as antagonistc before we learn that he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist who's determinated to bring peace to the land in the name of his family, probably not too different from the real deal.
 * Homage Shot: The manga opens with a lay-out and narration content ridiculously reminiscent of the first page of Rurouni Kenshin, which was still running at the time. The series probably originated as an attempt to cash in on Ruro Ken's popularity as historical drama with legendary swordsman incognito, but found its own very weird voice pretty quickly.
 * More precisely: SDK's first page runs, page-width panels going down:

"[First panel: bloody battle scene; whole page has artful blood drips all over it] "During the end of the warring states period... In a time of chaos, a war began to try to divide the country. This fight would later be known as the Battle of Sekigahara. Like thunder the war spread. Under this sound and bloody rain, many were killed.""

"[Second panel: 'shadowboxing' image of dramatic duel] "These warriors, without taking care for the issues of the battle, had found the meaning of their lives in sword-handling... They lived only to improve their skill... And died...""

"[Empty white bridge space extending across page] "Among the men who disappeared at this historical time...""

"[Third/final panel: bottom of page occupied by close up of Scary Eyes (Red Eyes, Take Warning in this case, but the manga's in black and white, so you can't tell)] "There was one who was called 'the unbeatable'...""

"[Two-page title spread, then complete tone-shift and Kyoshiro as The Ditz reading off a wanted poster, finishing the sentence] "The legendary wanted man, Demon Eyes Kyo.""


 * Meanwhile, Ruro Ken starts with, also page-width panels:

"[First panel: blood spatter flying] "One hundred and forty years ago, during the bloodbath in Kyoto touched off by the coming of Commodore Perry's black ships...there was a man known as the 'Hitokiri Battousai.'""

"[Second panel: similarly composed bloody combat scene, with our hero central] This man was a major player in the Meiji Restoration, for his skill with a sword was unrivaled. Once the war was over, he vanished without a trace. Time passed and legends formed, of how he was the strongest samurai to walk the face of the earth.""

"[Third/last panel: Scary Eyes Important Scar closeup] "And so, our story begins... In Tokyo, on the eleventh year of Meiji...""

"[Two-page title spread, next page opens with Kaoru's shout] "HITOKIRI BATTOUSAI!""


 * At the risk of insulting the hard work above: https://web.archive.org/web/20131103204944/http://ani-haven.net/hr-alpha/Rurouni_Kenshin/1/2 and https://web.archive.org/web/20131103234923/http://ani-haven.net/hr-alpha/Samurai_Deeper_Kyo/1/2. Check it out.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Non-romantic between Bontenmaru and . She can ride around on his shoulder. Earlier on there were Bikara and Antera.
 * I Have Your Wife:
 * I'm a Humanitarian: The four missing Divine Generals (Haira, Kubira, Indara and Mekira) became Berserkers, endowed with a lost power but also an uncontrollable appetite for human flesh. Before them it's made clear that the natives of Aokigahara all feed on human flesh.
 * Iaijutsu Practitioner: Earlier villain Jimon worked hard to learn the Hienken (Flying Swallow Sword), an extremely fast iai attack that hit three times. Kyo humiliates him by beating him at iai with his humongous Odachi without even using a scabbard.
 * The Idiot From Osaka: Red Tiger speaks with Osaka dialect and generally acts like a moron.
 * Important Haircut: Akira seems to be fond of sparing people who offers their lives to him by just cutting off their long hair.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: To the nth degree. Apparently, a sword stroke from Kyo has enough power to give truckload of high explosives a run for its money
 * Improbable Weapon User: Sasuke killing people with a kendama sounds impressive before you see Chinmei casually exchanging blows with Kyo with nothing but paper fans.
 * Informed Ability: It is almost a Running Gag that certain opponents or attacks seen against Kyo or the other protagonists are overly hyped and praised as the ultimate non-plus-ultra sure-kill stuff... only to fail to live up to said hype. After a while it becomes just ridicolous.
 * Incurable Cough of Death: The Death Disease
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Most of Shinrei's attacks involve summoning giant dragons made of solid water or acidic blood to maul his opponents. The Dragons can even enter the enemy's body and tear them apart from the inside.
 * In Love with Your Carnage: Izumo no Okuni is this way for Demon Eyes Kyo.
 * Jekyll and Hyde: Kyo and Kyoshiro. Subverted in the manga, played straight in the anime
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Kick the Dog: Every minor villain that the heroes have to kill off has one of these moments. Every single one
 * Kill'Em All: The Great Secret Plan of the Mibu which the Former Crimson King intends to carry on?
 * Lady of War: Saisei
 * Large Ham: Bontenmaru. Also Kyo, at times.
 * Last of His Kind:
 * Lethal Chef: Anri and his man-made Tengu-Manju, now avaible in viper flavour.
 * Licking the Blade: Name a character. Odds are good that they've done this at least once.
 * Light Is Not Good: The Mibu and the Former Crimson King have all majestic, divine-like appearences and supernatural powers. Most of them are murderous bastards who plan to wipe out mankind.
 * The Twelve Divine Generals are also known as the Knights of Paradise and are named after the Twelve Yaksha Generalswho normally serve the Buddha, but almost all of them are evil psychopaths working for the Demon King Nobunaga.
 * Living Statue: Four of them in the Forest arc guard the jewels needed to open the Hell Gate. As with most of the other things from the forest, they are hiped for a while until Kyo decides he can smash them to dust with one slash, which he proceeds to do.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Most of the time, one-shot characters who don't live long after their introduction.
 * Loved Ones Montage
 * Luke, I Am Your Father:
 * Made of Iron: Especially Bontenmaru, whose body is so strong ordinary blades cannot pierce his skin. Later on pretty much anyone important will survive anything, from sword slashes to giant water dragons to hellish flames.
 * The Medic: Akari of the Four Saints can heal the others... if they're willing to confess an embarassing secret first.
 * Mismatched Eyes: Migeira in the anime
 * The Mole: Yukimura
 * Don't forget Chinmei,.
 * subverts this trope by virtue of mind control.
 * Mook: Going from bandits, to goons-for-hire to Tokugawa soldiers and ninjas, to monsters, to fanatical, self-healing humans to downright golems made of blood.
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Every fight in the series goes this way. Every. Single. One.
 * Nakama
 * Names to Know in Anime: Excluding the big names in the anime, some other veterans do voice the manga-only characters, whether in games or drama CDs. Examples include Norio Wakamoto as Bontenmaru, Kotono Mitsuishi as Akari, Jun Fukuyama as the Sendai Aka no Ou, aka the former Crimson King. And you thought Lelouch was a Playing Against Type character for Fukuyama...
 * Nice Hat: Shihodo always wears an humongous gasa. It's actually so heavy that Sasuke's actually unable to lift it.
 * No Body Left Behind: Monsters and Mibu who died rapidly turns to ashes, leaving no corpse behind.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Hotaru is a good example, but the real winner is.
 * The Obi-Wan: Muramasa
 * Odd Friendship: Benitora and Akira, who progress from Worthy Opponents to Nakama
 * Official Couple: Kyo and Yuya, Kyoshiro and Sakuya
 * In the manga at least. In the anime, there's only [[spoiler: Yuya's crush on Kyo/Kyoshiro and their growing feelings for her.
 * One Head Taller: If Kyo wore a Western-style button-down shirt, Yuya would hold conversations with/have infuriated outbursts at his breast pocket.
 * One-Man Army: It would be easier to list the characters who AREN'T one.
 * One-Winged Angel: In the anime series, pretty much all the baddies are demonic monsters called "Kenyo". When forced to fight they assume a grotesquely demonic form to engage their opponents.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Yukimura towards Kyo.
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: Kyoshiro vs Benitora: "Can we just pretend the last 5 pages didn't happen?"
 * Parental Abandonment: Tokito and Hotaru
 * Petal Power: Early villain Shirogarasu (White Raven) uses masses of floating cherry blossoms as a catalyst for his illusion technique in which he traps his opponents in a corridor of whirling petals robbing them of their senses (Ouka Mugen Kairo) before he can land an attack on them (Kashoyoku Jujizan). Things go badly for him when Kyo answers with his own illusionary technique, Shin, to set all the petals ablaze.
 * Playing Against Type: Megumi Ogata voices both Yukimura and Kosuke. While Yukimura sounds like her usual voice, this troper was a little surprised at how well she can do a gentle voice.
 * Poisonous Person: Santera, much to her dismay, constantly sheds acidic scales, able to melt everything around her.
 * Promotion to Parent: Anna, Yuan's sister. Technically, their father isn't dead, but it's implied that he's not around often.
 * Public Domain Artifact: Shihodo's sword is none other than the legendary Kusanagi no Tsurugi, the sword found in the tail of the Yamata no Orochi. She claims that the Orochi still lives within the blades and can summon multi-purpose clouds from the blade.
 * Punched Across the Room
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: Taken to ridiculous extremes. You know they're overdoing it when even the main character gets one.
 * Race Against the Clock At the start of the Mibu arc, Seiya-ehm, Kyo and his companions have to cross the five houses and defeat the Five Planets to avoid Yuya's death.
 * Razor Wind: The basic essence of Mizuchi and most of the Mumyo Jinpuryuu techniques.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Kyo is the literal incarnation of this trope. Subverted in that this becomes a major factor in the story later on.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kyo and Kyoshiro, Benitora and Akira
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: All of the Mibu
 * Retired Badass: Shihoudou, Anri, Muramasa
 * Reverse Mole:
 * Rule of Cool
 * Running Gag: Hotaru trying to move caterpillars out of the way so they don't get crushed during fights. Also Yuya failing to learn/understand that Benitora is actually Hidetada Tokugawa.
 * Sadly Mythtaken: Suzaku is referred multiple time as a Phoenix with the ability to regenerate, just like the Phoenix can come back to life from its ashes. Unfortunately, Suzaku is not actually a Phoenix, but a different bird, resembling the Chinese Fenghuang. And despite being called "Chinese Phoenix", Fenghuang do not reform from fire, that's an exclusive trait of the western Phoenix.
 * Samus Is a Girl:
 * Admittedly, some fans weren't convinced she was a boy in the first place.
 * Say It with Hearts: Or in Chinmei's case, glasses-wearing smiley faces
 * Yukimura is the worst offender with this trope. Also, in Shihoudou's dialogue, everything from baseballs to little umbrellas show up.
 * Say My Name
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Inverted in that Chinmei looks his most sinister when we can see what's behind those dark lenses
 * Scenery Porn
 * Sharing a Body
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kyo's lack of reaction whenever someone tries to taunt him about Yuya
 * Akira has a few of these moments with . His reaction tries to be like Kyo's. It fails, hard.
 * Shirtless Scene
 * Shiritori: Weaponized by Haira: his modus operandi involves challenging his opponent to a Shiritori match, delivering a powerful attack named after the opponent's word so that they can't fight back. Bontenmaru is at a disadvantage until he starts retorting with whole idioms instead of words: as a result, Haira gets confused, takes longer to make his attacks and ultimately reuses a word he already said, losing the match.
 * Shout-Out: As mentioned above, the series makes several of these at Rurouni Kenshin, as seen in the nearly-identical introduction, as well as Nobunaga's debut being very similar to Shishio Makoto's and an early chapter centered on Yuya plays out pretty much like Yahiko's introductory arc. Minor villain Genma Kido can use an aura technique to increase his muscle mass, only to be defeated by the folliwing blow, just like Jin'ei Udo when he used Shin no Ippo on himself, while Kyo's iai duel against Jimon brings out the same problem Kenshin had in his attack against Jin'ei.
 * Mekira's Illusion Technique uses the same mechanics as Dominique the Cyclops's demon eye, what seems to be an impossibly fast movement actually a brief hypnosis to trick the victim.
 * Sanada Yukimura and many of his Ten Braves borrow something out of Brave 10 in looks and roles. Also, from the same series, Akira, the resident ice user, invokes Odin as he prepares his strongest attack, just like Anya, the Brave of Ice whose patron deity is Odin.
 * The entire first part of the Mibu Land arc is pretty much Kamijo's take on The 12 Houses Arc from Saint Seiya only with just five houses (still protected by celestial body-themed divine warriors) and a time limit of 12 hours, displayed as 12 vanishing spots in a circle on Yuya's cleavage
 * Possibly as a nod to Stephen King's books, the ruler of the Mibu is the Crimson King, who, yes, resides in a massive dark tower.
 * Shower of Angst: Yuya has a few of these
 * Single-Stroke Battle
 * Sinister Silhouettes: Full of them
 * Sir Swearsalot: Pretty much everyone, with a handful of exception, tend to spout profanities and swearwords. A reader even called the author out on this.
 * Slipknot Ponytail: Shinrei, during his fight with Fubuki
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil: We start with random strong hoodlums, then we get ninjas and henchmen of the Tokugawa, then a dozen of supernaturally powerful warriors following a revenant historical figure bent on destruction, then the five guardians of a clan of self-proclaimed gods, four real members of the above-mentioned dozen that were held back because they were too difficult to control, then the four supreme elites of said divine clan and their boss.
 * Speaks Fluent Animal: Muramasa, as a side effect of possessing Satori.
 * Stellar Name: The Four Muramasa Demon Blades are all named after different stars or constellations: the Oodachi Tenro (Sirius), the cross-spear Hokurakushimon (Fomalhaut), the katana Shibien (Purple Forbidden Enclosure) and the divisible sword Hokuto Shichisei (Big Dipper).
 * The Stoic: Hishigi
 * Super-Hero Speciation
 * Superpower Meltdown (Kyo)
 * Tagalong Kid
 * Tears of Blood: Played for horror with Chinmei, who has lived for so long that he has no more tears to cry, so whenever he feels sad he cries blood.
 * Token Good Teammate: Taihaku, who's morally superior to most of the Mibu (and, let's be honest, to most of the heroes as well), his main fault being his unwillingness to stop the Mibu for the sake of protecting his beloved children.
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: There is one at the end of chapter 12
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Yukimura tells Kyo not to die, as he is the only one who gets to kill him.
 * Time Stands Still: After persuading Anri to help him, Yukimura is bestowed the Sekireigan, a special eye technique which allows him to briefly stop time to deliver a devastating attack. Unfortunately, Yukimura can only use it a handful of times a day or he'll die.
 * Time to Unlock More True Potential: Kyo's training with Muramasa. The Training from Hell is offscreen allows him to learn the Four Gods of the Mumyou Jinpuryuu. Later in the story, Antony and Julian unlock the latent powers of the protagonists through acupuncture... in the butt.
 * Took a Level in Badass: Yukimura, Benitora
 * Transsexualism: Akari was Raised as the Opposite Gender to strengthen the shaman powers and claimed to have fully become a woman. It is extremely ambiguous however, as s/he's an Unreliable Expositor (and admits that his male parts are still there) and pretty much everyone else, especially Kyo, Yuya, Bontenmaru, Benitora and Hotaru seems to consider her as a crossdressing man and refers to him accordingly. The Japanese page of the series on Wikipedia specifies that Akari "looks like a woman at a first glance, but is actually a man".
 * Truth in Television: The giant forest of Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees surrounding Mount Fuji is actually real and, despite not hosting murderous psychopaths, monsters or divine beings deep within, is a truly huge and dangerous place where magnets won't work and getting lost and starve is a real danger. It's infamously known as a suicide spot.
 * Togo Shigetaka and his Jigen Ryuu fought by Kyo during the tournament was actually a real person and a Master Swordsman. Even his battle cry and use of fast, downward attacks are all authentic.
 * Tsundere: Kyo suffers from a mild case with Yuya--mostly tsuntsun, but it never crosses the line into abusive (unless you count his obnoxious habit of half-stripping and feeling her up at random, no matter who happens to be watching at the time).
 * Tyke Bomb: Santera and Tokito
 * Unstoppable Rage: Kyo, after Nobunaga almost fatally wounds Yuya. This troper was a little freaked out.
 * Bontenmaru can enter a "beast mode" where he acts purely on instinct and becomes an unstoppable killing machine that not even the other Four Saints can contain.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * Villain's Dying Grace:
 * Villainous Breakdown: Pretty much all the villains when they realize how screwed they are. Most notably
 * Walking on Water: Shinrei and Fubuki, as part of their powers over water.
 * Weapons Kitchen Sink: Katana of various size are common, but then there are far more unusual weapons along, from oddly-shaped blades to spears to foreign weapons such as chakram or an anachronistic Cat o Ninetails.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Eventually averted with Shinrei, Yuan, and Anthony, but played mostly straight with Fubuki
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Yukimura during the Tokugawa tournament. Everyone fell for it except Kyo. Also, Akari's official identity is this.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: Well, chapters
 * Worthy Opponent: The Four Saints and Nobunaga all considers Kyo one.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Subverted, as the gentlemen of the cast have no problem hitting their female enemies
 * Wrecked Weapon: Invoked when Julian suffers an almost-fatal wound in order to destroy the swords of Fubuki and Hishigi to even the odds. All for nothing, as Fubuki is such a skilled Necromancer he can revive dead swords.
 * Becomes a plot point when the Former Crimson King orders the destruction of the Muramasa Blades, since they can unlock the door to his innermost chamber where the Mibu's Greatest Secret is held. In a moment of Idiot Ball, he'scontent with pulverizing only one of the swords, Tokito's Hokuto Shichisei, rather than playing it safe and try to destroy at least Fomalhaut and Shibien, the weapons held by Benitora and Sasuke.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Sakuya the Shaman lady.
 * You Killed My Father: Subverted
 * You Shall Not Pass: In one of his best moments, Benitora, the "normal one" of the bunch, holds back an entire room full of tireless, costantly-regeneraing automaton soldiers so that Akira can fight Tokito undeterred.
 * Your Soul Is Mine: Yuan has the kanji for Soul tattooed on his tongue and claims to be able to devour the soul of his opponent, leaving the victim as an inanimate shell. He actually puts them under a powerful illusion.