So, turns out the other day was a birthday of a
particular fan favorite character of mine.
Kenshin Himura has been one of my main and personal Anime heroes ever
since I first caught Rurouni Kenshin on Toonami back in high school. Not long after that, the manga made it’s
stateside debut and, to this day, it remains one of the few manga I’ve
collected every single volume of (including the 2 part Restoration series that
came out around the time of the live action movie). Kenshin’s way of life, his tragic backstory
and his penchant for amazing swordsman ship has awed me for a long time and I
still think of him first when it comes to Anime Samurai. While I haven’t seen all of the Anime, I’ve
read the manga all the way through a couple of times. So for this weeks T5W, im Manga-fying things
this week and looking at my Top 5 Favorite Kenshin centered moments from the
Manga. There are a lot of moments not
involving the legendary swordsman but this is his birthday week, so it’s all
about him.
#5: The Wall
So…this has nothing to do with any wall. I just love this moment when Kenshin finally
corners Kanryu, who tries to beg his way out of what’s coming to him by
throwing money at Kenshin. The
punishment Kenshin lays on him just reminds me of something out of Pink Floyd’s
The Wall…that’s all nothing else...oh and Kenshin giving Kanryu the death glare
later on to shut him up, priceless Kenshin justice.
#4: Kenshin vs
Aoshi -Round 2(Volume 14)
The Kyoto Arc had some of the best action of the entire
Rurouni Kenshin saga. There were far too
many to settle on one involving Kenshin.
But I really liked this one a lot.
The first showdown between these two was intense. But the second round wasn’t about finding a
victor, at least for Kenshin anyway. It
was about keeping a promise to Misao, to bring Aoshi back home. Kenshin took a beating, and this was just the
first of three battles leading him to the Arc Boss Shishio. But he called Aoshi out on his BS and got him
to see the error of his judgement. We
also got our first glimpse of Kenshin’s ultimate technique, the Amakeru Ryu no
Hiromeki, and man does it just leave your mouth hanging open every time I see
it.
#3: Battosai the
Manslayer (Volume 19)
This was something we all had been waiting for: a
detailed look into the past Kenshin had been trying to atone for. The tragic love story between Kenshin and
Tomoe, the historic Raid of Ikedya, the first encounter between Kenshin and
Saito. All of these were moments shown
in this three volume arc. But the best
moment for me, was seeing Kenshin appear for the first time in full Battosai
mode. In a span of a few pages, the normally light hearted tone was gone. We were in the past, a different time and
place, where blood flowed freely and Kenshin was, arguably, in his prime. For the first time, we got to see a Kenshin
not held back by ideals or a reverse blade sword…and it was scary.
#2: Kenshin vs
Saito (Volume 7)
I talked about this fight a couple months back in another
T5W. But this is an example of the manga
overtaking the Anime. Don’t get me
wrong, Kenshin and Saito’s long overdue reunion duel is pretty intense in the
Anime. In the Manga though, it’s
downright brutal. Grimy, bloody, full of
anger, this was a good setup for the direction the Kyoto Arc was going to
take. And it still remains today, for me
anyway, the best duel in all of Rurouni Kenshin. No one, not even Shishio or Enishi, could
bring out the Battosai like Saito could.
It’s just like Kaoru notes at one point…a battle from the Bakumatsu
brought to modern times.
#1: This Little
Scratch (Volume 6)
When anyone does something to piss Kenshin off, like say
hurt his friends or innocent civilians, especially when theyre forcing BS
philosophy as an excuse…you’d better run for the hills. No further proof is needed than this
moment. Raijuta thinks he can take
Kenshin while he’s recovering from a prior battle. And he manages to get one little scratch on
Kenshin’s arm. Raijuta is estatic, he
thinks he can take Kenshin and become the best swordsman of all. But Kenshin…he’s not even amused. “If a single scratch like this thrills you so
much,” he lifts his arm to his lips and licks his wound, “You’re going to love
the real blood.” Chills…we all wish we
could be this bad ass in our lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment