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In the closing days of the Tokugawa Shogunate,
there walked a man feared by all, the Hitokiri Battousai.
He disappeared without a trace, and became legend. . . .

An anime with a definite Akira Kurosawa edge to its historical drama, Rurouni Kenshin (or Samurai X for the English-dubbed OVAs, although I prefer the original name) follows the legendary figure Himura Kenshin, once an assassin known as the Hitokiri Battousai (Battousai the Manslayer), many years after his solemn oath to stop killing.

Kenshin is a roaming samurai from Japan's Meiji restoration era (1860s), based on a mix of a few different historical figures of the time (such as young, effeminate heroes, and master swordsmen who dissapeared after the revolution). Other historical figures (political and military leaders) appear as well, and creative license is used to portray what happened to people when they disappeared from documented history and other fictionalized story elements. Most characters, however, are created for the story; while it's not a documentary, it portrays a lot of Japanese culture of the period.

"A sword is a weapon.
Swordsmanship is learning how to kill.
That is the truth."
-- Kenshin Himura

The two series (OVA and TV) portray different periods in Kenshin's life, and we see two quite-different characters in each, apart from the different character design and animation styles as well. The OVA series is the darker and bloodier of the two, showing Kenshin in his assassin role after seeing his village slaughtered and vowing to protect those in need, as well as showing us how he received his infamous cross-shaped scar on his cheek. The TV series takes place about a decade later, after vowing never to kill again. A theatrical movie is set somewhere in the TV storyline, as the companions involved are those from the TV series.

When the longer-running TV show begins, Kenshin meets Miss Kaoru, an apprentice master of her late father's kendo school, teaching the use of swordsmanship as a way to protect others and bring out the potential of her students. Quite a lot of battles take place, however, as not everyone is so keen on how the revolution was resolved, nor pleased that Kenshin is still around. The TV version mixes old-style samuai epics with an almost Highlander-style rock-n-roll soundtrack and flashbacks to past action.

"However, I prefer Miss Kaoru's play-talk more than the truth.
In times to come, I hope her play-talk will become the truth."
-- Kenshin Himura

• Distributed by AnimeWorks:
• Rurouni Kenshin (90+-episode TV)
• Dsitributed by A.D. Vision Inc. as Samurai X:
• Rurouni Kenshin (4-episode OVA)
• Rurouni Kenshin (Movie)
• Rurouni Kenshin: Remembrance (2-episode OVA)

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