Rurouni Kenshin/Awesome

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Three Words: Gatling Gun Scene.
    • Kenshin: "WHERE'S YOUR MONEY NOW, KANRYU?!!"
    • English version: "Why don't you ask your money to save you!?"
    • VIZ Manga: "If you're going to beg for your life... PRAY TO YOUR BELOVED MONEY!!!"
  • Chapter 4 in the manga, Kenshin cuts a cannonball in halves.
  • Kenshin's fight with Shishio, coming after two incredibly difficult fights in which he was heavily injured in which he is repeatedly burned against a man who can take blows from Sano, Saito, and Aoshi. He proceedes to get up and hit Shishio with a massive combination, culminating in the Kuzu Ryu Sen, then defeating him with the Amakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Shishio then bursts into flames and dies.
    • Shishio's own moment comes after his death when Houji commits suicide and finds himself in Hell, Shishio and Yumi have been waiting there for him... and Shishio calmly announces his intent to overthrow the Devil: "On Earth, there were the likes of Battousai to oppose me. Here, there are only demons."
    • Actually, that scene might be even better in the English version of the manga, where Shishio's final line becomes: "The Earth couldn't stomach my defeat of Battousai. But here... here, they're our kind of people."
    • In this troper's humble opinion, Shishio's defining CMOA was his death scene. After thoroughly thrashing the main character and his buddies, Shishio's body temperature causes him to combust... and when he realizes he is about to die in his own personal inferno, he throws his head back and laughs maniacally.
  • Sanosuke's fight with Anji where both go to their limit, and then just keep slugging away with each other. Sanosuke's hand is so beat up from the fight that later, when he punches Shishio, his hand shatters. Which also leads into a crowning moment for Shishio when he somehow takes the blow without flinching.
    • An even earlier CMOA comes when he faces Shishio's battleship with Kenshin and Saitou. Shishio recognizes the other two, but ignores Sano. The crew fire on him with a gatling gun, he responds by deflecting the bullets by hitting the water really hard with his Futae no Kiwami technique and throwing several experimental grenades at the ship, setting off a chain reaction in the engine room and completely disabling the ship.
      • This also prompts Shishio's first CMOA in the series. When his entourage is fretting about how the plan failed, he calmly says it was his own fault the ship went down for underestimating Sanosuke. To have a villain recognizing his weak spots and doing it without freaking out or having all of his gambits crumble like a card castle is awesome with an A, and cements Shishio as a brilliant Magnificent Bastard.
        • You've forgotten Sanosuke's first major fight after his heel-face turn; against Shikijo, Aoshi's subordinate. Both are power fighters and are evenly matched. But Shikijo seems to only care about strength which is why he follows Aoshi. unlike Sanosuke and comes off as somewhat arrogant. Sanosuke delivers a lecture about how Kenshin is strong because he has people he cares about, while Aoshi just wants to be the strongest. The outcome? Sanosuke defeats Shikijo with a single punch to the forehead. Sanosuke's fights are all a reflection of his first fight with Kenshin; trying to influence his opponent for the better. It's ironic because he states to one opponent that "personal matters aren't his thing." Badass.
  • While it was awesome how Saitou curb-stomped Sanosuke in their second fight, you have to give Sanosuke some credit for standing up to a guy who was Kenshin's level and relentlessly mocking him the whole time. Sano even acknowledges that he's weak now, but neither Saito nor Kenshin started out strong either. He kind of gains Saitou's respect, and as a result, Saitou informs of him of his main weakness.

"Even a fledgling can break your arm."

  • When Shishio's headquarters are blowing up, the way is blocked for Saito, and it looks like certain doom. He then calmly starts smoking, walks back and says his goodbye. He completes it by showing up in the Jinchuu and stating that he is the only Shinsengumi considered immortal.
  • Enishi's first fight with Kenshin has him defeating Kenshin's ultimate attack, Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki. That's not the Crowning Moment of Awesome. The crowning moment of awesome is later when he traumatizes Kenshin so badly that Kenshin chains his sword, and goes to a dump to slowly die, by making him believe that he had killed Kaoru - blood-spattered life-like Kaoru doll included.
    • Enishi's second fight deserves some credit as well. After all, he did block all 9 hits of the Kuzu Ryu Sen, countered Kenshin's Ryu Tsui Sen and Ryu Sho Sen (the former by essentially by double jumping!), ate up Kenshin's Ryu Kan Sen with his Senran Tosei, and finally freaking palmed Kenshin in the face before he could even say Kuzu Ryu Sen, much less use the attack, all of which was done one after the other. And this is BEFORE his Nerves of Insanity activate.
  • Aoshi not only figures out Enishi's true plan, and reveals it to everyone else: he also sets it up so that he will duel Enishi's partner Gein. After Gein taunts Aoshi that he if Aoshi continues his ways he will only be an innkeeper, Aoshi says that isn't such a bad life revealing the answer to his meditation. He then kills Gein with his own attack, after telling Gein that he will kill him with his own dark powers while being surrounded by flames.
    • Aoshi gets another in the Jinchuu arc when he faces Suzaku of the Su-shin. Suzaku's talent allows him to use the same exact moves his opponent uses against him, and his versions of the attacks are somewhat faster and stronger. During his battle with Aoshi, he is able to use every attack in his arsenal, including Aoshi's ultimate attack, Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren and even disarms him. Just when he's about to kill him, Aoshi sends the guy reeling back with a single side kick to the face! Suzaku then charges again, thinking that in the end, his swords will prevail over Aoshi's kempo. However, Aoshi catches one of the swords and BREAKS it with just one hand! The line before he breaks it makes it even more badass.

Aoshi: Because they are my swords, they can never defeat me.

  • Yahiko's got quite a few. He beats one of the Juppongatana by copying the man's technique and riding the shockwave from the dynamite thrown at him to deliver his imitation of Kenshin's Ryu Tsui Sen after being repeatedly stabbed and blown up. He then proceeds, despite being nearly dead, to face down the massive giant that comes next. However, what is quite possibly his coolest moment comes after the timeskip, where he indicates his mastery of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu by stopping a sword with two fingers. Bad. Ass.
    • No, while it's great, it's not his most coolest moment. His coolest moment came during Jinchuu arc, where he fight Kujiranami Hyogo, armed with GATLING GRENADE LAUNCHER, who ready to destroy the town just to find Kenshin. Those stopping him from entering the town by cornering him in a narrow street, along with several policeman, and almost manages to stop him... if his enemy is not such an unstoppable giant. Luckily, Kenshin arrives. And then while Hyogo threatens to destroy the town had Kenshin not killed him, Yahiko verbally slap him to his senses, making him surrender in tears. That's, my friends, is true CROWNING MOMENT. And to prove his point, he's willing to fight Hyogo with just one arm.
      • And that moment has a Crowning Moment of its own. After getting the aforementioned officers motivated to help him, a child wanders into the fight. Hyogo's rage leads him to start firing on the child. Yahiko leaps to protect him, Hyogo fires at them IN MID AIR AT ONE POINT and they end up in a pile of rubble. After a moment, a battered Yahiko gives us this:

Yahiko: NO INJURIES HERE!
Officer1: No injuries?
Officer2: The child, he has no injuries.

    • You should watch it directly. This pages can't describe sheer awesomeness on that scene.
    • Yahiko is generally just a complete badass, if you think about it. Not only does he regularly go toe-to-toe with older, more experienced opponents and win, but he does it armed with a bamboo shinai.
  • Saitou's fight against Usui culminates in Saitou using an attack so powerful it not only splits Usui's shield in half but also rips his torso from his still-standing legs and pins him to the wall across the room. Usui then spends his last living moments listening to Saitou explain to him why he is so pathetic he barely even warrants pity.
    • I'm honestly surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet. During his fight with Kenshin shortly after his introduction, Saitou is disarmed by Kenshin (who is in full-blown Battousai mode, and looking for a kill for the first time in the series). When Kenshin dashes in for the kill, Saitou disarms him by whipping the sword out Kenshin's hands with his belt, and then, in one motion, taking off his coat, wrapping it around Kenshin's throat, and strangling him while trying to break his neck. Kenshin gets out of it, but it was still so mind-blowingly awesome that it pretty much cemented Saitou as my favorite character in the series right there.
    • Let's not forget what happens AFTER that battle, which contains not one but THREE of the most badass lines in Rurouni Kenshin. So after Akamaru overhears that Saitou is actually working for Okubo, he tells the politician Shibumi, whom he and Saitou work for, and Shibumi decides to attempt taking over Okubo's position. Akamaru believes that it would be suicide to attempt something like that and tries to leave for another country, not before running into Saitou himself who leaves Akamaru with this line before decapitating him:

Saitou: But there is a safer place you can run to. It's called Hell.

    • Saitou then turns to Shibumi, who is literally shitting himself. Prior to this, Shibumi essentially called Saitou and all possible remaining Shinsengumi dogs. Saitou now calls him on out on that, saying that his reason for joining the government despite being on the losing side is so that he can continue living by the Shinsengumi code of "Aku Soku Zan" (Swift death to evil/Kill evil instantly), by destroying anyone who would dare to corrupt the nation of Japan, even Okubo. Shibumi then begs for his life by offering Saitou money, but...

Saitou: You can tame a dog with food. You can tame a man with money. But nothing can ever tame the Mibu wolf.

      • And then finally, you get this line...

Saitou: Whether it's the past or the present, the Shinsengumi will always be the Shinsengumi. A wolf will always be a wolf. And a Hitokiri will always be a Hitokiri. Isn't that right, Battousai?

    • After listening to Sano whine that the only reason Saitou was able to beat him at the dojo was because he had surprise, Saitou agrees to fist fight him right there in the street. Saitou proceeds to beat the holy hell out of him, despite Sano being easily fifteen years younger, the unarmed combat expert and superhumanly strong. Even more impressive, Saitou makes a point of winning the fight without taking advantage of Sano's wounded shoulder. This realization completely breaks Sano's confidence and is his motivation for seeking out training from Anji.
    • This troper thinks Saitou's first Crowning Moment (the moment that truly revealed how easily he can turn Kenshin's life into a living hell) was when he used Akamaru, a goon to the man who had hired him, to distract Kenshin in a meaningless battle far away from the dojo while Saitou, wearing his police officer disguise to gain their trust, came to the dojo and was let in by Kaoru, then proceeded to simply sit inside sipping tea for hours until the battle ended. When Kenshin returned that night, the moment when he realized that he had left his friends totally unprotected and Saitou could've killed them all at any time was chilling.
  • And not only the boys get to shine! The Medic and Team Mom of Kenshin's group, Megumi Takani, has *three* of them:
  • Kaoru, who is usually stuck as a Faux Action Girl, gets one when she beats one of the Juppongatana with nothing more the hilt of her broken wooden sword (and a bit of assistance from Misao, who gets a mini-CMOA in this same battle by continuing to fight with a set of broken ribs).
    • Kaoru prior to that, gets one before fighting Kamatari. Kamatari tells her that he's impressed with Kaoru's calmness when compared to Misao. However, Kaoru actually admits that she is no different from Misao, but that's not the real crowning moment. The crowning moment is this line...

Kaoru: But, when I take the ribbon from my hair and put this uniform on my shoulders, I have the resolution of a swordsman and gender no longer matters. So in that aspect, I'm no different from you.

    • Misao's true CMOA comes after that, though. It's when she stops Kamatari from killing himself. "I detest him and I can't really understand the feelings of a gay guy... but I'm nevertheless touched by his devotion towards his loved one."
    • This one is often denied by her rabid bashers, but it's still nice: Kaoru freeing herself from Jin-E's hypnosis and her And I Must Scream state, via pure sheer willpower. No, haters, she didn't do it because Jin-E killed himself; actually, Jin-E commited suicide because he had been defeated by both Kenshin and Kaoru: he beat him as Battousai, she undid his "unbreakable" hypnosis.
  • Yumi's death is both a Tear Jerker and her CMOA, specially for how calmly she accepts what has just happened and uses her last breath to explain how she's finally free of her frustrations and feelings of uselessness after being only a Neutral Female for so long.
  • Shishio`s main CMoA was defeating not one, not two, not three, but four of the most powerful fighters in Japan all at once. Admittedly, they've all come out of brutal fights but the ease with which he completely defeats their ultimate techniques (or, in Sano's case, taking it head on and not even flinching, then defeating the Made of Iron Sano in one punch) marks him as the most Badass Rurouni Kenshin character right there.
    • The height of Shishio's awesome comes after he takes the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Keep in mind, this attack has floored and incapacitated both people who have felt it thus far. Well, Shishio takes it at double strength - and gets back up. Cue Oh Crap reaction.
      • Not only did Shishio take the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki, but before that he'd taken pretty much every OTHER attack of Kenshin's moveset in a row. After he got hit with the A Rn H, his body temperature exceeded his limits and he started thrashing about and clawing at his chest to relieve the excess heat. A few seconds later, he's calm again and ready to fight
  • Everything you need to know about Shonen in general is this: going against two hundred mooks and wiping the ground with them (as Sanosuke did in Jinchuu arc) is nothing to write home about.
    • Let us note that Sano was on vacation from the problems of the main cast, and just trying to relieve some stress.
  • If Shishio takes the gold for "Most Badass Villain", Soujiro definitely takes the silver. In his first appearance, he breaks Kenshin's sword by beating him at Battoujutsu - which is Kenshin's specialty. In their second fight, Kenshin is completely unable to land a single blow on him until he uses Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Soujiro's even able to figure out the secret to the technique!
    • Also, when Sojiro decides that evil is bad (weird, eh?) and goes insane.
        • He got better. And decided to emulate Kenshin by becoming a wanderer to find his own truth.
  • The whole Shishio fight in general for everyone involved.
  • Early moment: when Kenshin bashes a Yakuza's head through the ceiling and says "I wasn't finished speaking." Makes me smile to this day.
  • The pure awesomeness when Kenshin, after Cho threatens to kill Iori, a little toddler he was holding hostage, goes apeshit, screams and charges at Cho at full speed. He then dodges Cho's Urumi, which was going to stab him from behind, and draws his new sword (his previous Sakabato being broken by Soujiro and he previously didn't want to use this one due to his "no kill" rule), while charging at him upside down, still screaming at the top of his lungs, eyes blank white and uses "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji", taking Cho, whom he had had trouble fighting due to his broken sword and had been fighting him with his sheath, out with one strike. Never threaten an innocent while Kenshin's around or that'll happen to you.
  • The final moments of the first OVA definitely qualifies. The icing on the cake is in the Director's Cut where Kenshin is going through literally hundreds of soldiers without pause. Then after the war is over, Kenshin leaves his sword in the ground and a subtitle appears that quotes the very beginning of the series.

Bakumatsu...In Kyoto, there was once an Imperialist known as the Hitokiri Battousai. He was a man who killed like a demon and cleared the way for the new Meiji era with his bloody sword, but with the end of the upheaval, he disappeared without a trace.

  • Unbelievable that no one's added this quote from Kenshin's fight with Aoshi in the English manga:

Aoshi: It's still too early to gloat. One width of paper closer, and I'd have sliced your jugular.
Kenshin: But the width of that paper... is the gulf between us.

  • An early quote by Sanosuke

"I don't know, I just came for the fight...but if you arrest this woman, I'll have some more fighting to do.."
"One fist...against two tekkou and two arms..."

  • A subtle CMOA for Magdaria from the Filler Shimabara arc. She, her bodyguard Shouzo and Sanosuke have barely escaped a lethal trap, but poor Shouzo has been pinned under debris after a Diving Save to help her. Her reaction? "I... I won't let you be buried!", and calmly starts doing her best to push rocks off him. What makes it awesome is how she is a very delicate Ill Girl almost in the last stage of tuberculosis, so any big physical efforts will make either her collapse or downright kill her -- but she refuses to let that stop her.
    • A more open one doubles with Dying Moment of Awesome, as Magdaria choses to go Taking the Bullet rather than letting Elsten (the Dutch Ambassador and pretty much the only person who, alongside Kenshin, can save the Japanese Christian colony) die. She dies in Sano's arms in complete peace, finally free from her bitterness.
    • And aside of his Diving Save, Shouzo earns two massive CMOA's. First, via using a bomb that Sano had given him to kill the Smug Snake Kaioh via blowing up his boat, fully knowing that he would most likely not survive. And then, via actually surviving that and giving a Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! to Sanosuke, who is (rather understandably) in an Heroic BSOD after Magdaria's Dying Moment of Awesome.
  • Kenshin in both fights with Kujiranami Hyougo In the first, he calmly cuts the giant cannon attached to the guy's arm, then proceeding to bash said guy's ribs with his sakabatou. The second, has Kenshin simply racing a grenade and cutting the gatling grenade luncher clean off Kujiranami's arm... badass. Let's not forget his first fight with Enishi, right after the bad guy defeats Kenshin's ultimate technique and starts bolstering about how awesome he is, Kenshin bitch-slaps him and then says the next line:

Kenshin: I WON'T LET YOU LAY A FINGER ON KAORU DONO!!!

  • How is Hiko Seijuro not mentioned yet? Besides being introduced as the most badass sword master ever (a man who raised, trained, and can constantly beat and ridicule Kenshin with no effort), his only official fight that wasn't training counts. For those who don't know, during the Shishio arc, all of the allies of Kenshin are beating the Juppongatana when Fuji, a freaking GIANT, shows up, ready to kill them all. And then Hiko appears, and not only treats the massive Fuji as an equal, but beats him in two moves while sparing his life. Watsuki said that this character was too powerful to be used in the story too much for a reason.
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