Himura Kenshin is a ronin of sorts in the world after the samurai. 10 years have passed since the Boshin War which toppled the Tokugawa Shogunate and restored the power of the Emperor. Since the end of the Shogunate all samurai were stripped of their power and public displays of weapons were outlawed. The easy going Kenshin carries a specially made katana that has a reversed blade, which is not designed for combat, allowing him to have it. He ends up in Tokyo and meets the young owner of a kendo dojo, Kaoru Kamiya. He ends up helping her fend off some unwanted trouble and decides to room at there for the time being. In time Himura draws to the dojo a good hearted thug, a street kid and a doctor with demons. Each person in the group has secrets and troubling pasts that they are trying to amend for. When Kenshin's participation in the Boshin War as a brutal and notorious assassin begins to catch up with him his new friends are faced with increasing danger. Can Kenshin keep his friends safe while reconciling his past and maintaining his vow of peace?
Having not gotten into Dragon Ball Z, this was my first major exposure to the shonen action genre. I enjoyed many aspects of this show, particularly the historical references, including many of the characters being based on real people from that time. What I didn't like was the shonen action pattern of fight, get beat, train, fight again, etc etc. It's tiring...but you also get sucked into it, like it’s a drug. Anyways, I did enjoy the series, at least the first half, leading up to and dealing with the Shishi-o arc. After that it started to flounder around a bit and when no central plot seemed to take shape I quickly lost interest. I did enjoy getting wrapped up in the increasingly dramatic fights, but man, when a battle lasts for 5 episodes...fatigue sets in pretty quick. Little did anyone know what was in store for shonen action series' until One Piece showed up and blew that kind of monotony out of the water
I digress. I enjoyed the series, up until it started to flounder after the Shishi-o saga. But the last two seasons did give me an eye into Japans historical love of Christianity. This, by know, is a classic and epically loved anime. What the series did though was pave the way for the masterful 4 part OAV that told Kenshin's time during the war and showed him being a cold hearted assassin. So for all the faults of the series, the OAV's more than made up for that. Also 2 or 3 less than stellar movies came out of it and there is a live action movie currently in the works in Japan (2014).
So get your shonen adventure game on and learn a little bit of Japanese history in the process.
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