He decided that the story involving the two coming together was taking "too many" pages, so he made the duo as brothers instead of being "circumstantially-related." For Enishi's Jinchū he creates a corpse doll of Kaoru to fool Kenshin into thinking she had been killed by Enishi, he considers this his masterpiece.

He mastered "God Speed" by the age of 14, and according to Kenshin, had surpassed even God Speed. All four, as the "Four Gods," provide counterparts for Kenshin's friends in the assault on Enishi's Island, and all four are defeated; Saitō defeats Seiryū, Aoshi defeats Suzaku, Sanosuke defeats Byakko, and Yahiko defeats Genbu. Tae literally turns to stone at that comment.

His fighting style is determined by the sword he uses, but he mainly uses the style Garyuorochi. ), Omasu (お増?

He used to be an official in the Meiji government but lost faith in it when he saw no one in the government worthy of controlling the country.

After the Bakumatsu, of all of the Oniwabanshū members, only Aoshi received job offers from government agencies, such as the intelligence services of the Army of Japan and protection services of political leaders; Aoshi instead chose to be a hired guard as his comrades would be able to work with him. Kenshin defeats Senkaku, who killed Ei'ichirō and Eiji's parents, and Shishio and his forces leave. Raijūta was originally based on a character in an American comic book.

After Shishio's death he began wandering the earth on his own, trying to find a purpose. He abandoned his position in the government and eventually met Shishio. Because of that, she is beautiful, intelligent, dignified, well-cultured, and was brought up in a comfortable life. [30] He practices Honjō-ryū, his own style of martial arts with his scythe, and three of his special techniques are seen in the series, two of which are named after Benten, the only female of the Buddhist Seven Lucky Gods: Midare Benten (Disheveled Benten) is when the scythe is whipped over his head, and the chain forms a sphere, therefore creating both an offensive and defensive attack. Sigh." Watsuki responded by saying "that's a wrong way to look at it. Tsukayama Yutarō (塚山 由太郎?)

the drag queen assassin member of the six comrades. Arundo ambushes Kenshin and tries to use a chain to immobilize Kenshin. Watsuki debated whether to include the Sekihō Army Incident due to its obscurity. It is also noted that Iwanbō's skin was thick enough to withstand attacks. [26], Voiced by: Shinichi Fukumoto (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English). A fat oaf who uses his immense size, his strength, and his ability to entrap weapons in his flab. Voiced by: Hirotaka Suzuoki (JP -Anime), Ken Narita (JP - 2011 OVA), Kirk Thornton (EN). He is arrested by the police afterwards.

Watsuki intended for the motif of Jin-e to be Okada Izō, the top hitokiri of the Bakumatsu. Otowa is a sadistic individual as he loves to kill people and is not above killing women and children.

He possesses the Shingan, which actually is superhuman hearing that lets him hear another's heartbeat thus enabling him to sense people around him and detect the emotions of others. He fights Sagara Sanosuke at Takeda Kanryū's mansion and is (barely) defeated. To solve this, Watsuki modified the Tokyo Oniwabanshū to make them onmitsu (ninja; Watsuki does not like using the word "ninja" as he feels that using it "like that" is "cheesy" [45]), and added details as publication progressed. [11], Isurugi Raijūta (left) and Tsukayama Yutarō (right), Voiced by: Ryūnosuke Ōbayashi (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English). Voiced by: Yoshito Yasuhara (JP), Terrence Stone (EN).

The Yaminobu (闇乃武?) The concept for Kamatari originated from a play on words from Eiichiro Oda, who was one of Watsuki's assistants at the time.

Enishi was Kenshin's ultimate opponent. Watsuki gave Shikijō many muscles as the character is a "power fighter." Originally Watsuki had Senkaku as an experimental character who could only say "Gaaaah" or "Guaaah" and not form any words. She was always interested in social issues and occurrences in Japan, and became revolted at the Japanese government's stance regarding prostitutes.

Watsuki originally planned to introduce Henya as a tengu during the Megumi arc; Watsuki said the arc was "not as well-planned as it otherwise might have been," so Watsuki could not introduce Henya at that point and instead made Henya into one of the Ten Swords. Misao is the playful Oniwabanshu member that fell in love with the Okashira, Aoshi. This page was last edited on 11 April 2017, at 11:33.

Her most prized possession is her mother's holy medallion which is lost and eventually returned to her by Sanosuke. Gein just wants to test out his creations and needs to be around men of battle to do it since according to him, the forefront of technology is always in battle. Kenshin's fighting style is Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, now an ancient study. The younger children kept asking Anji when he was going to marry their "sister", Tsubaki. Kurogasa marks him as an assassination target, but Kenshin and Sanosuke successfully defend Tani. Magdalia is a devout Christian and believes in everything that her brother says and does, which leads to her and Sanosuke Sagara having clashing personalities. Hōji, too, envisions Japan as a mighty power led by Shishio, ruling with the principles of basic animal survival. is a minion of Shishio Makoto who oppresses Shingetsu Village.

He is a wanderer formerly known as the Hitokiri Battosai, a deadly man-slayer who slaughtered many men in the war before the Meiji era. Therefore Watsuki made Chō appear at later points, though he would be in "a bit more of a neutral position" since he felt it would be strange for Chō to "become friendly with Kenshin and the others."

), at Jūgaku Temple in Ezo, now Hokkaidō.

[42][43], The Tokyo Oniwabanshū on the cover of the fourth Japanese kanzenban volume.

is a giant, considered a freak by everyone around him; his real name is not stated in the series. Kaoru is a teacher of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu style, a swords style used to protect people, and not harm others. She appears in the story after Himura Kenshin leaves Kamiya Kaoru and his friends and goes to Kyoto alone. Han'nya burned his lips, cut off his ears and nose, and crushed his cheekbones so he could disguise himself as any individual. In the second year of Keiō (1866) Shikijō infiltrated Edo Castle so he could get information about an upcoming battle.

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-, Rurōni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Rōmantan), also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki.

In retrospect Watsuki felt that he may have been influenced by the Coneheads, characters in a Sega Saturn commercial, and the Giant Soldier in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Born Katsuhiro (克浩? His battle technique is called Hiku Happa, in which he uses dynamite to lift himself into flight and attack with from above. His style of combat evolves primarily from his discipline from Aoshi. "The Secret Life of Characters (11) Oniwabanshū ● Shikijō,", Watsuki, Nobuhiro. Kurogasa kidnaps Kamiya Kaoru the next day, in an effort to force Kenshin to once again become a hitokiri. When it comes down to it, she is loyal and concerned over friends and is always there to patch them up (especially Sanosuke).

"The Secret Life of Characters (16) Isurugi Raijūta,", Watsuki, Nobuhiro. Actually The Mole. Using his rudimentary kanji knowledge (Hyottoko is formed by "Fire" (火) and "Man" (男)), he created a "fire-breather." The idea originated from the God-Soldier in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind; Watsuki saw the film and decided that he wanted to create a giant character. The brothers later ask Sanosuke to fight Kenshin and promise to pay him.

Sanosuke enjoys fighting, gambling, and mooching off of other people. Watsuki created Heishin after the editor told Watsuki that he needed to put more depth into the "Black Market Weapons Organization." Watsuki says that he designed Jin-e, a satsujin-ki ("murderous ogre"), to be the "polar opposite of Kenshin."

Since drawing the destruction of buildings and people fleeing would be tiring, Watsuki and his assistants decided to remove the Terminator-like aspects. According to Watsuki the fire breathing and Kenshin's sword spinning method to defeat Hyottoko received criticism from fans, authors of dōjinshi fanzines, and personal friends. One then-assistant of Rurouni Kenshin, Hiroyuki Takei, suggested a 'skull-like riff on "Eva#1."' Watsuki said that at first the concept "just wasn't coming together."

He is very stupid, and, apart from taking part in the battle of Aoi-Ya as well as grinning like an utter idiot, he does not say anything, and he does not do anything.

Watsuki said that Anji is his second attempt at "manly intelligence," as the first, Isurugi Raijūta, "failed." Originally the character design had swept back black, "messy" hair.

The four travel around Heishin as the "Four Stars," while their most powerful form is the "Four Gods." [51] Hyottoko dies while charging for Kanryū. But in the first year of Genji (1864), after a night of drinking with Shigekura and fellow bodyguard Ishiji, Akira came face-to-face with the infamous Ishin Shishi hitokiri Himura Battōsai and met his demise. After watching the "planet-themed" series he decided to use a bowl cut. He said that he joined Yukishiro Enishi's Jinchū campaign because of Nakajō's death fighting Hitokiri Battōsai; in reality Otowa joined the fight just for pleasure. Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (JP - Anime), Michiko Neya (JP - Drama CD), Michelle Ruff (EN - Anime). Voiced by: Unsho Ishizuka (JP), Beau Billingslea (EN).

In retrospect he believed that the character resembles President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, another historical figure that Watsuki had respect for. The love of Shishio Makoto's life, she is willing to help him achieve his goals by any means necessary.