Although RuroKen is, for all intents and purposes, old, the English manga is still in the process of being released.

So, who else here is a fan, former fan, or the rare person out there who actually hasn't gotten into it? It was the anime that startled many people into awareness of Japanese history, though Watsuki-san did alter a bit of it. Okay, a lot of it. But it's nice, ne? (I like the manga better than the anime.)





(Source: MangaFox)

Years of Released: 1994
Status: Completed
Author: Watsuki Nobuhiro
Artist: Watsuki Nobuhiro
Genre: Action, Adventure, Historical, Martial Arts, Romance, Shounen

Summary
140 years ago in Kyoto, with the coming of the American "Black Ships," there arose a warrior who, felling men with his bloodstained blade, gained the name Hitokiri, man slayer! His killer blade helped close the turbulent Bakumatsu era and slashed open the progressive age known as Meiji. Then he vanished, and with the flow of years, became legend.

Now, ten years into the Meiji Era, a man named Kenshin Himura appears and is revealed to be the Batousai.

Join Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko and Sanosuke as they battle it out with their enemies while Kenshin is trying to stop his 'other self' getting out of control.....


(Source: wiki, Rurouni Kenshin)
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-), also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to protect the people of Japan. Watsuki wrote this series upon his desire of making a shōnen manga different from the other ones that were published in that time, with Kenshin being a former assassin and the story taking a more serious tone as it continued. Although the tragic tone was highly expanded as the manga advanced, Watsuki became determined to give it a happy ending as it was aimed at teenagers.

The manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 2, 1994, to November 4, 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes, while years later it was reprinted into twenty-two kanzenban volumes. Studio Gallop, Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime series which aired in Japan from January 10, 1996 to September 8, 1998. Seasons 1 and 2 cover the first 151 chapters of the manga, however Season 3 is an original storyline. Besides an animated film, two series of original video animations (OVAs) were also produced. The first adapted stories from the manga that were not featured in the anime, while the second was also a sequel of the manga. Writer Kaoru Shizuka has authored three official Rurouni Kenshin light novels which were published by Shueisha. Several video games have also been released for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles.

The United States release of the manga has been completed by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English releases, as a rough translation of "Rurō ni" (流浪に, lit. "Wandering"?).

The series has been highly popular in Japan, the United States, Brazil and Europe. The manga has sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007 while the anime has ranked between the 100 most watched series in Japan multiple times.


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I only saw some epsiodes of the anime, but I read most of the manga, and I saw the OVAs I like it very much.

The manga is not finished in english? In french it has been for a long time...

Yes, it's not out yet. Stupid Americans. The OVAs are nice, though Reflection basically just lumps the last volumes of the manga together vaguely and adds some randomness. They didn't release season 3 of the anime in the US, I don't think.

Season three... the one with the religious lady? Sayo, I think?

Hmm... RK is released monthly by VIZ, isn't it?
I've read the first two volumes, and I'm already liking it more than the anime(which I've seen all)...maybe I'll read more, who knows.
Um Reflection was the last OVA wasn't it? I kind of hated it, mostly revising things and not really explaining anything, plus it was kind of apathic too...
Lucky you, to have read the manga or most of it

I liked the second OVA... I love sentimental things.

You mean the one I was talking about?
I love anything full of emotion too, but that OVA was just.. pointless in my opinion. Plus the characters hadn't really aged at all, and my favourite Sanosuke, wasn't explained enough but that's just fangirl me talking.

I understand how you feel if you haven't read the manga, because the second (and last) OVA are a continuation of the manga more than the anime.

And Sano = my favorite, too

The manga and the anime aren't really too different up until the zombie guy saga. Then the anime sucks the life out of me.

I've always liked Misao and Sano.

i read the first two volumes in japanese, cause that's all i have XP i don't like how kenshin and kaoru are drawn that much, their faces are really heart-shaped. i used to be really into the anime, but things got boring after the shishio arc.

Aww. My imouto starts threads. XD

Eh, the anime was dubbed...oddly...so I'm just being apathetic like that. I haven't watched any fansubs, but I just didn't like the anime. As for the manga- my sister'd know more about that than me, because I've only read the English releases. Lovely, though.

(Where'd she get scanlations? And how'd she get them before the manga was licenced, and without me knowing? >.>....)

Hey, Celira, I agree with you, the manga is better but I think so because I love Watsuki-sama's funny chibi faces. They're hilarious. But unfortunately I've only gotten about half-way through the whole series T_T. Ah well, maybe I can catch up by watching it on Cartoon Network or something...but that's gonna be a while before I can get back where I left off.

Yeah, they're currently at a point on Cartoon Network where I know everything that happens and there's tons of filler. ^^;

The chibi-faces are priceless. XD

Really? I never especially noticed the chibi faces of RK. (Meaning I don't really think they're that cute. ) I don't like the too-angular faces and the really small eyes either (and Saitou has both) but other than that the artwork is actually pretty good.

Well, I didn't think the chibi faces were priceless for any measure of cute, they're just amusing.

RuroKen-Saitou is just...blah. Tooooo angular. I don't mind the eyes that much, as it's a bit of a change from the general over-largeness of anime eyes, but...he's pointy. I like the character, but they could've de-pointed him. XD

Yeah, I agree on Saito's face. But, I still like him.

Absolutely. Saitou rocks to pieces. I just like other renditions of him better. ^^

One thing that gets me quite annoyed is that in fanfictions, uneducated authors often mistake Saitou for his first name and Hajime for his last...I mean, yeah, no one calls him Hajime, but still! O_o

My favorite character from Rurouni Kenshin is Yahiko because he is funny.

I've read all the volumes already and I must say the plot is incredibly horribly fantastic. I got addicted to it just like Full Metal Alchemist.

I like Sano and Misao too...they are funny. But as for pairing...I choose Sano and Megumi, they are just funny.

When it comes to marriage it's Kenshin and Kaoru.

does any1 know where u coulf get kenshin online for free, like what they do here for FMA?

Well, you can't, because not only is it licenced, it's been (partially) released, so it's doubly illegal. Neither manga nor DVD for FMA have been released here and in most other places yet, so that's why they're still out-and-about now, but once they start cracking down... ^^;

I've read 3 volumes of the manga. I love it. I just haven't gotten off my butt to buy more of it. XD That,and due to the fact I'm getting into other anime/manga,I've almost forgotten about it! XD

Kenshin fan here!!! Kenshin's my second/third fav anime/manga. First is FMA then Hunter X Hunter...

Well, I've seen the anime up to the end of the Kyoto Arc. I stopped because I heard the rest is terrible and doesn't follow the manga. I've read the Eng manga up to Volume 8. I could find the rest but I don't want to finish RK right away. Well I really like Kenshin as a character. To me, he's one of the most complex characters in all of fiction that I've been exposed to so far. I just love Kenshin, the character. Maybe a little more than Ed. *Gets bashed by a short chibi* I could explain why I like Kenshin but maybe later... I'm hungry.

The Eng dub played on CN is pretty bad. Well the voice acting for Kenshin, Shishio, Soujiro, Yume are good but they don't know how to cut the anime. First of all, I'm opposed to the whole editing of anime so kiddies can watch it without the violence... It's really sad that in America, animation is automatically dubbed as kid's stuff so any animation must be edited to suite a younger audience. Well in Kenshin, they edit way too much, and pretty badly too. When they take out the blood, the place where the blood was originally is gray and blurry. There's this part where (I forgot his name) the turtle shell guy is pinned to the wall by Saito's sword. Well in the dub, the sword is taken away and the blood too so it looks like he's just magically sticking to the wall and there's a huge gray circle where the sword was... I'm rambling now... I'm going to eat...

ARGH! They did that??!?

The the guy's name is Houji, if I remember correctly. Or something like that.

It's not Houji. That's Shishio's assistent/slave. I'm talking about the blind guy with a turtle shield that fought Saito when Kenshin and Sano went to fight Soujiro.

oh yeah....usui, right? something like that?

Something like that. I skipped these episodes...


I wish, that Polsh TV would be more... modern, or something. We don't have ANY new anime right now, except Wolf's Rain on Canal +.
Leaves DC++ only...

Oh Usui!!! Thanks Ninja.

a lot of badss villains in this show, some of the smartest foes ever to grace anime villainess as the role models >W< and the battle music! WOOOOOO

I know who you were talking about, I just mix up their names >.<''''

Oh, sorry. We all make mistakes like that.

Yes, we do! And it's alright!

Spoilers...O_o

i wish they had a site wit the kenshin manga

They can't put it on a site, it's liscenced.

the anime was good up to the shishio arc, it sucked after that, ive read some of the manga, i have the entire manga(scanlations) but i dont much like readin manga on the computer, so i havnt finished it.

trust and betrayel was great, the movie was ok, and reflections was...iffy




its not very difficult to find un-edited dual audio video...if your a pirate anyway

I really don't find the OVA of Rurouni Kenshin pleasant at all. It's just too sad. Anyway, the anime is really horrible but quite a lot of people enjoyed it. But I don't find it as 'enjoyable' as they call it ...

Anyway, Mr.Watsuki did a very great job in plotting and drawing out characters. I admire him...*squeals*. Still he really done some (or maybe alot) of changes on historical events happened in Japan during the past.

Here's a site with translations... but it's just text with no pictures, so you need to use your imagination. This is the best you'll be able to find. Go buy the japanese manga or something ()Ruroken
Rurouni Kenshin is a favorite series of mine. After the Shishio arc the anime pretty much sucked, though... I can't remember much of what happened and I stopped watching it. I wasn't that satisfyed with the way the OVAs left out things I couldn't wait to see animated.

So you'll just have to settle for waiting for VIZ to translate everything.

I agree with you on the names getting absolutely mangled in the english anime ver. And it WAS censored for the little kiddies.

Oh come on, who really cares if the guys bleed that much or not? Be greatful its not like the edited Gundam Seed where the edited a knife out of a character's hand when she was trying to stab someone so it looked like she was trying to hit him instead and they made all the handguns into lazers...

But yeah, while I prefer the manga greatly, even not really having read the Jinchu arc, the anime's good, especially in the Kyoto Arc which is almost completely identical to the manga version except for being animated.

And what names got mangled in the English version? Frankly, I dislike that manga replaced Futai no Kiwami (sp?) with "Mastery of two layers," Sekihotai with "Sekiho army," and calling the Jupongatana the "Ten Swords (though that's what it means I suppose, doesn't sound as cool though). Some words just are better off remaining in Japanese.

I suppose somethings have been overly edited...

!? What? Usui gets pinned by Saito? I though he was much stronger... *is dissapointed*

The American release is now in the middle of the Kyoto arc, I think. It's very nice.

Top three best. (in my opinion)
Hiko Seijuo
Saito Hajime
Himura Kenshin
(Sano gets honorable 4th)

True it's sad...but it makes it more realistic! Besides, age 45 (Kenshin's age in Reflection...or around somewhere like that) was considered REALLY old in the olden days...

Well, there's that I suppose, but Hiko hadn't aged a day from when he was like 30 and he's about 60 in Reflections...

Also, Reflections kinda goes against the idea of Redemption, I mean, sorta there at the end, but doesn't it seem a bit out of character for Kenshin to countinue to go out and help people without the slightest concern for himself, in fact deliberately taking personal harm. It seems like they kinda said, "uh... yeah... we're just gonna totally disregard the Kyoto Arc and the whole 'will to live' thing."

Personally I like the little 15 page ending that Watsuki did (I think its 15 anyway...) that takes place just a few years latter and basically has everyone living hapily instead of everyone being horribly depressed and dying...

I guess I just didn't like the idea of Reflections so much, I mean, one of the main ideas of the manga in the first place was that Kenshin (I believe this was a major focus in the Jinchu arc, not really having seen it...) comes to terms with his past and is finally able to put it behind him, and it just seems to sort of conflict with that idea.

Just wondering when the sites going to be updated next cant wait it is such a good site.

well, I laughed when Kenshin dislocated his groin while saving the woman

Uh... what site are you refering to?

It's my favorite classic manga series.

I've read all of the manga, and I've seen all of the anime, except for some Season 3 Episodes.

It's probably in my all-time favorite anime Top Ten Listing.

Okay, I do have one question for anyone out there who can answer it. Now, in volume 11, Kenshin and Hiko are talking, and just when Hiko agrees to teach Kenshin the remaining Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu moes he says:



Now, I'm pretty positive that this is a major translation screw up, but does anyone know what Hiko was supposed to say there? Or maybe what he meant by it if that is, by some twist of fate, more or less what he said?

Great question! Unfortunitly, I don't know the answer to it, however, now that my curiosity has been sparked, I'll see if I can find out the answer. I'll post any of my findings. Glad 2 see there are still a few Ruro-Ken fans out there ( even though this poll is pretty lifeless at the moment). I personnaly am quite found of the manga... and Sano. lol Does any one have a fav Rurouni Kenshin moment in the anime or manga? just wondering.

Heck, yeah... RuroKen's one of the top 10 mangas EVER... I have all 38 volumes... *smug*