The students leave when many people are killed by someone claiming to be the Hitokiri Battōsai (人斬り抜刀斎) from the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū", damaging the school's reputation.

[7] She inherited her fighting style and a small dojo from her father, who was drafted by a police swordsmen unit and died defending a comrade during the Seinan War.

[11][12] When the Meiji government requests Kenshin's aid to kill the former Hitokiri Shishio Makoto, he bids Kaoru an emotional farewell and leaves for Kyoto.

[14][15] In Tokyo, after Kaoru learns about Yukishiro Enishi's plans to kill everyone connected to Kenshin she teaches Yahiko the ougi of the Kamiya Kasshin.

[18] Five years later, after taking in Hasegawa Ashitaro, Inoue Aran, and Kubota Asahi into the Kamiya dojo, Kaoru receives information from them that her father is presumably alive and living in Hokkaido, prompting her and her family to travel there in the hopes of reuniting with him.

[25] He wanted to include the "commanding" qualities of Sasaki Mifuyu (佐々木 三冬) from Shōtarō Ikenami's Kenkaku Shōbai (剣客商売).

[27] When female readers asked Watsuki if Kaoru was a strong fighter, he called the character "quite independent for her age" who could "hold her own" against the local dojo masters and compete at the national level (although she is weaker than Kenshin and Sagara Sanosuke).

[29] Miki Fujitani (who voices the character) said in an interview that in the OVA series Kaoru is brave and very different from her original version whose characterization has been felt closer to the calm Yukishiro Tomoe.

[38] Kaoru and Kenshin's relationship ranked eighth in About.com's "Top 8 Anime Love Stories", with Katherine Luther calling it a "classic romance.

"[39] Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network was disappointed by Kaoru's lack of development in the series Rurouni Kenshin Restoration.

Citing the manga version's "distinctive girlish charm", Crandol said that the staff members tried too hard to make her look like Yukishiro Tomoe.

[31] Don Houston from DVD Talk noted the controversy between the fandom as they refrained from treating Reflection as canon due to how tragic the life of Kaoru and Kenshin's family became.

[46] Ridwan Khan from Animefringe praised the romance between Kaoru and Kenshin, feeling it was well developed in the OVAs and served as a fitting finale to the series.

[48] According to Ashley D. Lake from UC Riverside, Kaoru represents the Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu values defied in the Meiji era that Kenshin chooses to protect due to the values it offers to people, something rare in anime series due to prominent violence during the time Rurouni Kenshin premiered in Japan.

[50] The lack of the love triangle between Kaoru, Kenshin and Takani Megumi was criticized by Ko Ransom from Anime News Network, as the writer noted the first film covered too many subplots.