Rurouni Kenshin: Difference between revisions

One of the most popular series of the late 90's, ''Rurouni Kenshin'' is notable for defying several established [[Shounen]] conventions. It features an older hero (Kenshin is 28 at the start of the series, [[Hollywood Old|which is ancient by shonen protagonist standards]] -- [[Older Than They Look|not that he looks it]]) who is world-weary and tired of fighting, instead of a wide-eyed young lad eager for adventure. Other themes which are rarely seen in the genre, such as politics and serious romance, pop up as well. This is what contributed to the ''legendary'' [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]] of the series, which crossed age, gender and ''national'' boundaries with equal ease.

 

 

Watsuki announced that he will be working on the series again, another manga series will start on May 2, 2012. '''Rurouni Kenshin Cinema-ban''' will be an adaption of the Live-Action movie; it will be a monthly run at ''Jump Square'' magazine, a short one since he plans to end in within the same year.

 

{{tropelist}}

 

* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: For the most part averted (which is kind of surprising considering that it's a shounen anime.)

* [[All Powerful Bystander]]: Seijuro Hiko taught the main character every sword skill he knows, except that, unlike Kenshin, Hiko's got the raw muscular power to use Hiten Mitsurigi style to its fullest, and doesn't bother with Kenshin's [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] philosophy. [[Word of God|The author stated outright]] that Hiko was far too powerful for anyone else in the series to handle. That's why he was made too apathetic and anti-social to ever go after the [[Big Bad]]s himself.

* [[Animal Motifs]]: Enishi (Tiger), Kaoru (Racoon dog), Kenshin (Dragon), Megumi (Fox), Misao (Weasel), Sanosuke (Rooster), and Saitou (Wolf).

* [[Anime Accent Absence]]: Partly averted with Enishi: having spent much of his life in China at first he speaks Japanese with a "visible" accent. Later on he loses it (Watsuki probably grew tired of it) but he still roars, groans and laughs in "Chinese."

* [[Art Evolution]]: Kenshin's art had three major shifts: the soft, shojo-esque initial design, the sharp, more shonen style used starting in the Kyoto arc, and a style that gradually became more streamlined during the Revenge arc. The new 2012 run is gearing to be just like ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' and ''[[Embalming]]'' in artstyle.

** Relatedly: Music Evolution for the anime. The first "season" (roughly the first two cours or 26 episodes) featured a fairly light, jazzy soundtrack. Once the Shishio arc kicked off, however, the show shifted to a much heavier, orchestral soundtrack and feel to match the scope and scale of the story.

* [[As Lethal as It Needs to Be]]: Kenshin almost kills Seijuro with the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, only sparing him because [[Deus Ex Machina|some bolts on his sword gave way]], lessening the blow. Kenshin never comes close to doing that kind of damage with the move again, even against enemies far physically weaker than Seijuro.

* [[The Atoner]]: Kenshin, for his time as Hitokiri Battousai.

* [[Blood From the Mouth]]: One of the few times the implications of coughing up blood is actually addressed in Shonen anime: Kenshin gets punched in the gut by Gein's giant puppet, and when he coughs up blood, Megumi worriedly notes that this means he's sustained major organ damage.

** Also, any character who has the [[Incurable Cough of Death]] (see below) eventually exhibits at least one instance of this.

* [[Boring Invincible Hero]]: Mostly averted, Kenshin is basically this for the first few episodes, but quickly gets enemies that can go toe to toe with him.

** Still, until the Kyoto Arc, most of Kenshin's fights don't actually have any threat of Kenshin losing. More important is the threat of him being forced to break his oath.

* [[Burn the Orphanage]]: Happens in Anji's back story, where a temple that was used to shelter kids who were orphaned by the war was burned down by the land owner more or less for the money.

* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Interrupted on one occasion when {{spoiler|Enishi punches Kenshin in the face}} before he can finish.

** Watsuki points out that that Kaoru is at least a national level ''kendoka'' (in modern terms), and she shows it when she handily drops two thugs that even the Yakuza won't mess with in the blink of an eye.

*** It's not hanging out with Kenshin and company that makes Kaoru look like a faux action girl. It was how she decides to stay home and prepare the bath when sending her newest student, a ten year old boy who had just started learning swordsmanship under her a few weeks ago at best (and who she is apparently still stronger than in the Epilogue where he has grown into a fine badass of his own) against gun wielding gangsters, or the time she stayed behind doing nothing when he was dueling an assassin who had trained for years to specifically hunt down friggin' Battousai. She stayed in the kitchen much less in the anime, however, and even joined in on the raid on Kanryu's place.

* [[Conscription]]: Kaoru's father was conscripted to help suppress the Satsuma Rebellion before the start of the story. He died during the war, leaving Kaoru as the sole master of the Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu.

* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: Many fights play out like this, though it is somewhat justified for Kenshin in that the Hiten Mitsurugi style is specifically described as an exceptionally rare and deadly discipline that specializes in combat against multiple opponents.

* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Kenshin is angelically good-natured and easy going, to the point of being a bit of a doormat, emphasized by his extremely formal and humble, almost groveling, manner of speech (he uses "this one" instead of "I", for one). He is also the most feared assassin in recent history and, even though he doesn't kill anymore, has no problem demonstrating just how terrifying he can be if push comes to shove.

* [[Crusading Widower]]: {{spoiler|Himura Kenshin whose protect the innocent without killing was inspired by the death of his wife Tomoe}}.

** Also Saitou in his introduction arc.

* [[Odd Couple]]: Sanosuke teaming up with either Megumi and/or Saitou; Kenshin also remarks how unlikely it was that he, a former Imperialist, and Sano, an warrior for the Shogunate, can be trusted teammates.

* [[Older Than They Look]]: Kenshin is 28 years old, while his master Hiko is a whopping (by manga standards) 43 - but you'd never guess it. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Yahiko and Misao, who wonder if the Hiten Mitsurugi style is the fountain of youth.

** Also pointed out in the End-of-Volume specials in volumes 1 and 4 of the manga, where characters thinking on Kenshin after he left come to the conclusion that if he really was a hero of the Meiji Restoration, he'd have to be at least 30...

* [[Revenge]]: Enishi Yukishiro; almost all his [[Mook]]s all have grudges against Kenshin in one form or another.

** [[Revenge by Proxy]]: Yukishiro, again. Subverted when {{spoiler|he can't bring himself to kill Kaoru, because she reminds him of his [[Dead Little Sister|Dead Big Sis]].}}

* [[Samurai]]: Myojin Yahiko, apparently a Tokyo samurai, and Saitou Hajime.

* [[Samus Is a Girl]]: {{spoiler|Shura}} the leader of the pirates in episode 25

* [[Time to Unlock More True Potential]]: It's a Shonen series, of course it's going to happen once per arc.

* [[Tone Shift]]: The shift in tone between the first and second seasons of the anime is noticeable; the shift in tone between the anime and the [[OVAs]] is ''massive'', quite possibly crossing over into [[Demographic Shift]].

** Sano took an in-series level during the Kyoto arc; {{spoiler|Anji}}, who trained him, notes this to himself when watching Sano leave.

* [[Toonami]]: The anime was long a staple of the programming block, and helped introduce an entire generation of American children to anime.

* [[Tragic Hero]]: Kenshin's backstory involving his {{spoiler|first wife Tomoe}}

** Yahiko's training is less hellish, but still fairly brutal (thousands of repetitions of the moves necessary for the succession technique so that he could operate purely on muscle memory).

** Sano, on the other hand, used up all the rocks in the area he was training to learn the Futae no Kawami, ''and'' <s> Anji threatened to kill him if he hasn't figured it out by the end of the week.</s> Sano suggested that to Anji, because he wanted to show him that he was serious about the learning the technique.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Nineties]]

[[Category:Anime of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Manga]]

[[Category:Toonami]]

[[Category:Studio Cockpit]]