List of Rurouni Kenshin characters

The story begins in 1878 and follows a pacifist wanderer named Himura Kenshin, who was previously an assassin known as "Hitokiri Battōsai" working for the Ishin Shishi during the Bakumatsu period.

During his stay in Tokyo, Kenshin befriends new people including Myōjin Yahiko, a young child descendant from a samurai family who starts training under Kaoru, Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army cadet who enjoys fighting, and Takani Megumi, a doctor involved with the illegal drug trade.

[11] Since the young character Myojin Yahiko already matured in the original Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki created Ashitaro in order to have him act more like him during early years.

He used a manager and director from Takeshi Obata's Chikarabito Densetsu [ja] sumo manga as a model for Kihei and a character he found in a magazine that made him think "Ooh, impact!"

15–17] Takeda is the head of an opium dealing business where he forces Takani Megumi to create a stronger and fast-working recipe called "Spider's Web" in a scheme to gain a foothold in the arms industry by purchasing modern Western weapons.[ch.

[24] Isurugi Raijūta (石動 雷十太) is a swordsman dissatisfied with the current state of swordsmanship who travels around Japan shutting down modern shinai dojos by force.[ch.

Because he had difficulty with "the complicated details" in the Oniwabanshū story arc, Watsuki gave Raijūta a relatively simple outfit with only one design flourish, the black feathers, which turned out to be difficult to draw.

But halfway through, Watsuki became a fan of Morrigan Aensland from Vampire Hunter and, as a result, began to expose more and more of Yumi's cleavage and shoulders, "eventually increasing the sexiness by about 120%."

146] However, he is never given a trial and, although he was offered a government job should he pledge loyalty to it, Hōji commits suicide in his cell; using his blood to write a final message detailing his disgust with the regime: "The world is dead to me.

103] He fights alongside Shishio to destroy the Meiji government who did nothing to stop the anti-Buddhist purge which resulted in the destruction of his home and the deaths of the five orphaned children he cared for in his temple, who came from families who were killed during the Boshin War.[ch.

The original design had black, "messy" hair swept back, but he gave Chō a "punk rock" quality to give the character more impact as the first Juppongatana member shown.

As for the "eyeball-covered costume," Watsuki originally planned to give Usui a plain "tribal" outfit, but scratched that idea after seeing the "spider-like angel" in Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Watsuki planned for Kamatari to have a "light-hearted and cheerful" personality, but found complications when a "more serious side" began to emerge, leading him to feel some regret with the outcome; he admitted that one of his bad habits is to cross the fine line between "serious" and "depressing".

Then he was going to have army style hand-to-hand combat, but when it was questioned whether or not such a thing existed in this time period, he changed to being a combined martial-arts user, with gauntlets added for uniqueness.

197] Fifteen years earlier, Yatsume took up fighting and joined the Yaminobu in order to support his clan, who had fallen on hard times due to depleted gold mines, by hoping to prove to the Tokugawa shogunate that their bodies had battle potential.[ch.

94, 95] He intended for the boy to one day succeed him as master of his deadly art, but the two severed ties when Kenshin abandoned his training in order to serve the Ishin Shishi.[ch.

The design model for the Hiko in Rurouni Kenshin is the character of the same name from his one-shot manga "Crescent Moon of the Warring States," but Watsuki also added some influences from Hiken Majin Hajerun in Takeshi Obata's Arabian Lamp-Lamp.

164] The daughter of an Edo retainer to the Shōgun, Tomoe was engaged to Kiyosato Akira (voiced by Tetsuya Iwanaga; portrayed by Masataka Kubota in the live-action films), the second son of another similarly ranked family.[ch.

173, 174] The following morning, Tomoe leaves Kenshin to meet with the Yaminobu in the hopes of misleading them and saving his life, only to find that she was nothing but a pawn in their plans, and ended up being used as bait to draw him in for the kill.[ch.

As the story progressed Watsuki found himself adding additional details such as her family name, her status as the daughter of the owner of Akabeko, and her collecting of nishiki-e paintings.

A mid-ranked omnitsu, Hyottoko breathes fire at his opponents by means of a large oil bag he keeps stored in his stomach with a nozzle coming out of his mouth, that he ignites by using his false teeth of flint.[ch.

According to Watsuki Hyottoko's fire breathing and Kenshin's sword spinning method to defeat it received criticism from fans, authors of dōjinshi fanzines, and personal friends.

The author described Hyottoko as the guy who makes a big entrance and "then gets just as spectacularly beaten," who is "ridiculously confident" and "a bit of an idiot", but said that this is just the "natural evolution of the character, I guess.

He is often assisted by fellow ex-Oniwabanshū Kurojō (黒尉), Shirojō (白尉), Masukami (増髪) and Ōmime (近江女) who help run the Aoi-Ya, and look after Misao.[ch.

He gave Yutarō the traits of admiring Kaoru, an older woman, and Kenshin's strength but made him unable to "be honest" about it because they were Raijūta's enemies, as aspects of his youth.

[22] Ōkubo Toshimichi (大久保 利通), based on the historical figure of the same name, is the chief of the department of internal affairs, making him the most powerful man in Japan.[ch.

Ōkubo appears, accompanied by superintendent general Kawaji Toshiyoshi (川路 利良), to inform Kenshin that Shishio Makoto has amassed an army and plots to overthrow the government.

[85] Mishima Eiji (三島 栄次) is a young boy from Shingetsu village who wants to take revenge against Shishio's forces for killing his brother and parents.[ch.

In the Sony English dub the "g" in Gensai is pronounced as a "soft" g.[92] Tani Jūsanrō (谷 十三郎) is a politician in the Army Ministry and a former member of the Ishin Shishi.

As a result, the rest of them chose Ginjo, one member who allied with an opium dealer (Senbonya Yohei) they once robbed, as their new leader, and attempted to kill Shura in mutiny after adding firearms in their dealings.