Himura Kenshin

Creation and conception

Manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki discovered and used the story of Kawakami Gensai, a hitokiri (人斬り; literally "manslayer") executed by the Meiji Government. Watsuki enjoys drawing Kenshin due to how he tends to sacrifice himself for others. While writing the series, once he thought Kenshin should think more about his future since he is more connected to his past. He also stated he would like to be as Kenshin but he does not believe their lives' style match. Kenshin's morals in regards to having the strength to protect others were influenced by Miyamoto Musashi's questions about the meaning of strength.

Ever since writing his first storyboards for the manga, Watsuki did sketches of Kenshin's appearance and noticed that he looked like Kurama from Yoshihiro Togashi's manga YuYu Hakusho. Watsuki considered himself younger back and that he preferred always drawing goodlooking men in contrast to Hiko Seijuro from a previous one-shot. When competing with these series, Watsuki felt Rurouni Kenshin competed more with YuYu Hakusho that focused more on drama rather than action like Dragon Ball. In contrast to the YuYu Hakusho young lead Yusuke Urameshi, Kenshin was written as an adult with a dark past based on the Edo period in order to make the series stand out. Nevertheless, the manga managed to compete well against other Weekly Shonen Jump manga from the 1990s including Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball and YuYu Hakusho. Kenshin's age was also a departure from common archetypes in manga as the themes and lore in the story made him an adult in contrast to other young protagonist besides City Hunter. Nevertheless, he was careful with how writing these characters as they get old.

During the development of the series' pilot chapter, Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, Watsuki and his editor argued over Kenshin's speech patterns, settling for a "slangy" one. For the final version of the first Romantic Story, Watsuki adjusted the dialogue; in his view, he made Kenshin sound "more as I prefer him now". Nevertheless, Kenshin was concerned about how Kenshin's manner abruptly changed when facing his opponent. Watsuki added Kenshin's trademark "oro" (おろ) as a placeholder to be an expression of the English speech disfluency "huh". Watsuki notes that he was surprised at how well it caught on, and how much he ended up having Kenshin use the sound during the series. Watsuki also planned to make Kenshin older than 30 years old; his editor commented that it was strange that the main character of a manga for teenagers to be of such an age, so he instead made him 28 years old.

Design

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. According to Watsuki, when he found that Kawakami maintained a duty to his dead comrades, he decided to create the title character. 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." During his fight against Shishio Makoto's army, Kenshin is given a new sword with a sheath made of wood. Though it is more difficult to draw, Watsuki decided to redesign the sword to make it look like the first one Kenshin had in the series.

At the end of the series, Kenshin appears with short hair. Initially, Watsuki had planned to make his 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.

In the first Rurouni Kenshin kanzenban, published in Japan in July 2006, Watsuki included a draft page featuring a redesign of Kenshin's character. To make his X-shaped scar more notable, Watsuki made it long enough to cross his nose. Kenshin's hair is tied in two tails, which are flowing to make him look younger, and shorter, and less androgynous. Watsuki also added a Habaki to Kenshin's sword to make it easier to draw by simplifying its structure, while also emphasizing strength. Kenshin's hitokiri look was also redesigned slightly, by making his clothes more worn and giving him Yukishiro Tomoe's neck scarf.

Portrayal in other works

When the live-action of the manga was made, Watsuki had several ideas about Kenshin's mind about his early appearances in the series. This resulted in the manga reboot Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration where Kenshin's characterization was expanded by the author who thought in retrospective about what he could add to him. He also wrote a prequel chapter to the original series which helped the readers to understand why Kenshin would stay in Kaoru's dojo. He challenged himself to express Kenshin's inner feelings. Watsuki compared Kenshin's role in the original manga to that of Kōmon in Mito Kōmon or Yoshimune's in Abarenbō Shōgun, where the supporting characters built the drama and he was the hero who would defeat the villains. This made it easy to express the thoughts of the surrounding characters but not Kenshin's, so he wanted to "dig deeper" into Kenshin this time. It turned out harder than he imagined. Although drawing it was not difficult, when he tried to make it entertaining the story got gloomier due to Kenshin's regrets. By chapter four he got worried it would be a repeat of the Jinchū Arc of the original manga. This is when he gave up digging deeper into Kenshin's thoughts.

Watsuki tried expressing more of Kenshin's inner feelings in Restoration; a man who brought about a peaceful new era can not find his place because of the acts he committed in the past. He tried expressing this with the "pool of blood" theme. The author said this version of the character seems slightly more immature than the original because he is more reserved and excitable; "perhaps he isn't too hero-like." Watsuki changed the way Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū and its techniques are written purely for fun. The editorial office even got a phone call pointing this out. The most noticeable change in his appearance is the addition of a white scarf, "scarf = hero." Watsuki also changed his cross-shaped scar; leaving it white for Kenshin, but shading it black when his Battōsai persona takes over. The author said because of the way he draws now, he struggled with Kenshin's hair, unable to get the original bushy feeling it had until the end. Alongside Restoration, Watsuki decided to write a prequel to the original series set before Kenshin's first meeting with Kaoru. Watsuki elaborated on the common question of "Why would Kenshin, who wandered for ten years, suddenly stop in the First Act?" In Act Zero an elder notices Kenshin's unhealed emotional scar and her kind advice has a slight effect on him, becoming the motivation for his actions in the first chapter.

The fact that the original manga ended with Kenshin as a family man bothered Watsuki as he was not sure if Kenshin should fight again now that he happily married. Upon watching the Rurouni Kenshin musical, Watsuki was convinced to write Hokkaido as soon as he finished writing his recent work Embalming. In order to keep the cheerful feeling of the original series, Watsuki wrote the new characters who are nicely treated by Kenshin and Kaoru. Upon helping the staff from the live-action films, The Final and The Beginning, Watsuki came up with new ideas to give Kenshin's story a happy ending despite his hitokiri actions. Watsuki believes that Takeru Satoh's portrayal of the main character stands out as stronger than the manga one, most notably in The Final. He 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 explored more the concept of death. Nevertheless, the Kenshin Watsuki was still written for the Hokkaido Arc with the idea of sparing his enemies.

Actors

Watsuki received letters from fans describing Megumi Ogata's audiobook voice as a "good fit" for Kenshin. Watsuki said that he imagined Kenshin's voice to be "more neutral". The fact that the audiobook voice actors, especially Ogata and Tomokazu Seki, who portrayed Sanosuke, did not voice their corresponding roles in the anime disappointed Watsuki.

In the anime adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki's designs were combined with the voice talents of voice actress Mayo Suzukaze. She said that she started feeling like Kenshin after years of work as his voice, but says that providing the voice for his character was one of her best experiences. In producing the English dub version of the series, Media Blasters considered following suit, with Mona Marshall considered a finalist to voice Kenshin. Richard Hayworth was eventually selected for the role, giving Kenshin's character a more masculine voice in the English adaptation. Marshall was also selected to voice the younger Kenshin during flashback scenes. Clark Cheng, Media Blasters dub script writer, said that localizing Kenshin's unusual speech was a difficult process. His use of de gozaru and oro were not only character trademarks that indicated his state of mind, but important elements to the story. However, neither is directly translatable into English, and in the end the company chose to replace de gozaru with "that I did," "that I am," or "that I do." Kenshin's signature oro was replaced with "huah" to simulate a "funny sound" that had no real meaning. Daryl Surat of Otaku USA said that the grammar in Kenshin's dialogue in the Media Blasters dub and subtitles resemble the grammar in the dialogue of Yoda, a character in Star Wars. Saito is replacing Suzukaze with the 2023 series which appealed to him since he was a fan of the series ever since he was a child and looks forward to creating his own take.

In the live-actions films of the series, Kenshin was played by Takeru Satoh. In casting Satoh, director Keishi Ōtomo said the actor was a good fit for the character, citing their physical similarities. Producer Shinzō Matsuhashi shared similar feelings as Ōtomo. During the making of this film, both Watsuki and his wife found Satoh as an ideal actor him. Watsuki was surprised by Satoh's work as well as the special effects in the first film which made Kenshin's character realistic. For the Kyoto duology films, Ōtomo said he did not have to put much advice to Satoh as his acting in the first film attracted multiple positive reactions by the staff and the audience. He then stated "Even without saying this or that from the side, he created an image of Kenshin, including his behavior, swordplay, and speech, through the necessary preparation and hard work. So I didn’t worry at all".

Appearances

In Rurouni Kenshin

Himura Kenshin, born Shinta (心太) is a legendary former assassin. He is a peerless swordsman who practices the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū (飛天御剣流; literally "Flying Honorable Sword Style"), a fictional ancient sword art based on Battōjutsu, that enables him to exercise superhuman speed and reflexes, foresee his opponent's movements in battle, as well as perform many powerful sword techniques. Most of his techniques were originally intended to be lethal, but Kenshin has since modified the use of these techniques in accordance with his vow never to kill. To this end, he fights using his sakabatō (a reverse-edge sword). After finishing his job as an assassin in the Ishin Shishi, Kenshin assumes the life of a wanderer. Ten years after the Revolution, he arrives in Tokyo, where he meets Kamiya Kaoru. She invites him to stay in her dojo even after she discovers that Kenshin is the "Battōsai". Kenshin wants to protect every individual from danger without harming others. Formerly known as "the strongest hitokiri," Kenshin is the main target of many old enemies and people who want to gain his title. Thus, he avoids letting others get too close to him for their own protection. However, he eventually begins to rely on his friends, allowing them to fight alongside him.

During his stay in Tokyo, Kenshin establishes lifelong relationships with many people, including ex-enemies, such as the former Shinsengumi member Saitō Hajime. Saitō's arrival is a test ex-Ishin Shishi Ōkubo Toshimichi made in order see Kenshin's power to see if he can defeat Shishio Makoto. Shishio is the brutal, once-successor to Kenshin's position as Chōshū's hitokiri, masterminds a movement seeking to overthrow the Meiji Government, Kenshin leaves Tokyo to stop him. To defeat such a foe, Kenshin is forced to resume his training and mend his relationship with his teacher Hiko Seijūrō, who taught and took care of him as a child. He learns the Kuzu-ryūsen (九頭龍閃; lit. "Nine-headed Dragon Strike"), which deals nine simultaneous strikes to the fundamental targets of swordsmanship. The Kuzu-ryūsen, however, is a part of the test used for the initiation in learning his strongest technique: Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki (天翔龍閃; literally "Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash"; Viz translation – "Dragon Flight of Heaven"), a battōjutsu that surpasses the speed of the Kuzu-ryūsen. Even if the technique is defeated, it can generate a vacuum in its wake and sucking the opponent in; as this happens, the body is spun around for a second stronger strike. Throughout the training, Kenshin increasingly wants to survive to any combat so that Kaoru will not be shocked by his death. After finishing his training, Kenshin's friends reunite with him and help him defeat Shishio and his army.

In other media

Kenshin first appeared in two chapters of Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, the pilot chapters of the manga, in which he arrives in Tokyo and defeats several groups of villains attacking families. In these stories, Kenshin is given a similar personality to the one he has in the series, but his name is not mentioned. Following the original series' ending, Watsuki wrote two shorts where Kenshin makes brief appearances; in Yahiko no Sabato Kenshin and Kaoru entrust Yahiko with taking care of a dojo whereas in Haru ni Sakura he reunites with all his friends and learn about the place where Saito left and learn of his friend Sagara Sanosuke through a letter after he left Japan.

The manga's reboot, Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, follows Kenshin's stay in Tokyo as in the original series. After attacking a drug dealer known as Takeda Kanryu, Kenshin becomes the target of many of his warriors. This leads to a fight against his old enemy Jin-e from the Shinsengumi who tries to encourage his hitokiri be reborn by using Kaoru as a hostage and nearly killing her. However, as Kenshin is about kill Jin-e, Kaoru stops him; following Jin-e's suicide, Kenshin stays in Kaoru's dojo. Before the reboot, Watsuki also wrote a prequel chapter where Kenshin meets a western doctor during his years of wandering.

In 2016, Watsuki wrote a sidestory named The Ex-Con Ashitaro in which Kenshin appears to save the young title character from a group of enemies. Shueisha later revealed Ashitaro is the prequel to an upcoming from Rurouni Kenshin: the Hokkaido Arc. In the Hokkaido arc, Kenshin's group learns that Kaoru's father is alive and decide to go to Hokkaido to find him. Yahiko returns Kenshin his sakabato to aid him in possible fights but Kenshin's stamina keeps reaching its limit when fighting. Although Kenshin is primarily interested in finding Kaoru's father, he learns from Saito's adopted son Mishima Eiji of a new threat in Hokkaido who aim to conquer Japan rather than westernize the country. For this purpose, Saito calls Shishio's surviving allies and one Shinsengumi, Nagakura Shinpachi, to aid them in the battle. Sanosuke also returns to aid Kenshin in the battle. During the multiple fights with Kenkaku Heiki, Kenshin's body continues weakening until he falls into a coma and is rescued by Shinomori Aoshi.

In 2021, Watsuki created the manga "Sakabatō Shogeki" (逆刃刀 初撃; "Reverse-Blade Katana: First Bout") that shows the first time Kenshin used his sakabatō.

Reception

Popularity

Kenshin has been highly popular with the Rurouni Kenshin reader base, having ranked first in every Weekly Shōnen Jump popularity poll of the series, always with more than double the votes of the second place character. Two polls by the official Rurouni Kenshin anime featured Kenshin as one of the series' most popular characters. In the first, Kenshin was at the top, while in the second, he placed second. His Battōsai incarnation was also fifth in the latter poll. Kenshin has also been featured various times in the Animage's Anime Grand Prix polls, ranking as one of the most popular male anime characters. In a Newtype poll in March 2010, Kenshin was voted the eighth most popular male anime character from the 1990s. An abundance of merchandise have been released in Kenshin's likeness including keychains, action figures, and plush dolls. Since the manga was published, non-functional and functional sakabatō have been produced for purchase by collectors and fans. In a poll by Anime News Network, Kenshin was voted as the second best male anime character with long hair, being surpassed by Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. In 2014, IGN ranked him as the fifth greatest anime character of all time, saying that: "Although Kenshin's momentary lapses make him a complete badass and set the stage for some of the most epic sword battles ever animated, Kenshin always goes back to his sweet persona once the danger is gone." Kenshin was also fifth in IGN's Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time with writer Chris Mackenzie describing him as: "A classic example of a classic anime type, the peace-loving killing machine." Kenshin's Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki technique has ranked third in a Japanese survey that featured the most popular moves in manga and anime. In a poll by Anime News Network, he was voted as the top "guy". In a Japanese TV special from August 2017, Kenshin was voted as the 16th "strongest hero" from the Showa Era as well as the 15th one from the Heisei Era.

Serdar Yegulalp from ThoughtCo. also listed the series as one of the "Best anime romances" with a bigger focus on Kenshin and Kaoru. For the 9th Asian Film Awards, Satoh was nominated in the "Best Actor" category for his portrayal of Kenshin. In the Japan Action Awards 2012, Satoh also won an award in the category "Best Action Actor".

In an early chapter of the manga, Kenshin teaches Yahiko how to face multiple enemies at the same time; Rather than facing them, Kenshin instead escapes so to defeat the fastest one and then runs away again to repeat the same method. This method became viral in the gaming community in July 2023 as players dealing with challenging enemies in Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, among others, started using this tactic to complete the games.

Critical reception

Several publications covering manga, anime, video games, and other media have praised and criticized the character. Tasha Robinson from SciFi.com remarked "Kenshin's schizoid personal conflict between his ruthless-killer side and his country-bumpkin" side was a perfect way to develop good stories which was one of the factors that made the series popular. Marco Oliveier from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University said that the sakabatō symbolises Kenshin's oath not to kill again which has been found challenging by other warriors. According to Ashley D. Lake from UC Riverside, Kaoru represents the Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu values defied in the Meiji era that Kenshin chooses to protect due to the values it offers to people, something rare in anime series due to prominent violence during the time Rurouni Kenshin premiered in Japan. Megan Lavey from Mania Entertainment highly praised Kenshin's characterization in the manga due to his seriousness as well how he intends to tell his friends his feelings contrasting some episodes from the anime where Kenshin is more comical. Lavey also highly praised the fight between Kenshin and Saito Hajime in the manga's seventh volume and Kenshin's killing intent displayed against his rival. Similarly, his first fight against Saito in the anime adaptation earned high praise by Anime News Network writer Mark A. Grey considering one of the best ones from the series. Entertainment Weekly found comical how whenever Kenshin is not fighting he is doing the laundry or cleans the dojo which brings a light tone that appealed the writer. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews website criticized Kenshin's super deformed appearance in comedy scenes claiming it does not suit the context of the character or the series. Mania.com remarks that Kenshin has a "smartass" attitude in a review of volume 8; while they noted that is a common attitude in the anime that makes him look out-of-character. Anime News Network's Mike Crandol praised Kenshin for being a character that all people enjoy watching due to his comedy scenes. Facultad de Lenguas (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba compared Kenshin to Musashi Miyamoto from Vagabond due to their relationship with historical figures rarely explored in manga. In About.com's Top 8 Anime Love Stories, Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship ranked 8th with Katherine Luther noting it is a "classic romance." Bamboo Dong from Anime News Network highly criticized Kenshin in the OVA's retelling of the Kyoto arc for lacking all the development he faced in both the manga and anime of this arc.

For Sony's OVAs of the franchise, there have also been multiple response. Matthew Anderson from DVD Vision Japan found the series' title "Samurai X" unfitting for Kenshin as the reviewer regarded the character as a hired killer rather than as a samurai as seen across the prequel OVAs. Rio Yañez from Animerica said one of the major themes of Trust is understanding the repercussions and after-effects murder can have, something that Kenshin has yet to comprehend though others have tried to point it out to him. Mike Crando from Anime News Network highly enjoyed Kenshin's characterization in the prequel as he refers it as "it is a fascinating and emotional character study in its own right" due to Kenshin's character development across these four episodes from "an idealistic youth to a cold-hearted killer, only to be redeemed through love lost and the realization that swinging his sword is destroying his own life as well as the lives of the people on the receiving end". Additionally, the reviewer enjoyed the OVA's director's cut for showing more fights between Kenshin and Shinsenguimi, the special forces where Saito originated from. Earl Cressey from DVD Talk found Kenshin as a "complex" character and said his relationship with Yukishiro Tomoe might appeal the viewers. Carlos Ross from T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews shared similar feelings and enjoyed the romance between Kenshin Tomoe despite its tragic outcome. Yegulalp from ThoughtCo. also listed the series as one of the "Best anime romances" with a bigger focus on Kenshin and Tomoe.