SERIES: "Ruroni Kenshin", a popular seinen manga and anime series currently in it's third season. Unfortunately, no American company has picked up this wonderful title yet.
SERIES DESCRIPTION: I love Kenshin. Anyway, a very gifted swordsman of the Bakumatsu era indiscriminately kills several innocent people to achieve what he feels is the right thing, the dawning of the Meiji empire. After awaile, this swordsman (Kenshin!) realizes that killing is wrong; even if it is for a good cause. He then vows never to kill again, trading his sword in for one featuring a reverse blade incapable of murder, takes on a new identity, and moves in with a group of people. Hilarity ensues.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: Hiko is also a very talented swordsman, although a bit of a hermit. Not that there is anything wrong with that. He was never a part of the whole Bakaretsu massacres, mainly because he didn't believe in the mindless killing right from the start. Want to know just how good of a swordsman Hiko is? He trained Kenshin, and taught him everything he knew. Hiko found Kenshin as a 7 year old boy, without parents and close to being killed by a gang of bandits.
Hiko is especially skilled in the difficult fighting technique of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, much to the amazement and dissapointment of any unfortunate ninja that crosses his path. He is the 13 successor and inheritor of the aforementioned fighting technique. This is the reason he changed his name from "Kakunoshin Niitsu" to what it is now, as well as the reason he always wears that red mantle.
INSIGHTS: To paraphrase this whole character shrine into one sentence, Hiko is probably the gothest feature of "Melancholia". Even though he may not dress all in black/have the goth style of Sailor Saturn or Gally, and even though he may not be a dark and brooding poet-type like Mephisto. Hiko is in actuality a gentle hermit, residing in a small shack on the top of a mountain.
He has such an overwhelming confidence in his skill and fighting techniques that it stems into a supreme arrogance, much to the annoyance and infuriation of those around him. Especially good-natured Kenshin. He also has an air of pretention (telling a young and anguish-stricken Kenshin that "Shira" would never be the name of a great swordsman and that he must change it, for one!). How goth is that?
Hiko, as stated before, is a hermit. He is dark and brooding and prefers to be by himself in his shack rather than out and about, so to speak. Not just an excellent fighter, Hiko also enjoys the arts and loves to create pottery. Oh, and he has a weakness (can you call it a weakness?) for sake....
IMAGES: A cool pic of Hiko in the background, my beloved Kenshin in the foreground.
Hiko wearing all black, looking quite sinister and wicked.
LINKS:Project Oro: This is a really nice site, with good design and pretty altered pictures. It pretty much just started as a web page though, so there are still a few character shrines that need to go up. I still LOVE what's there, though! Visit this site!
The Ruroni Kenshin Archive: Another wonderful and complete Kenshin site, this has everything you could ever want in a page! Both manga and anime images, translations, "silly stuff", summaries, reviews, sites for each character, even the SONGS for Christ's sake! It has everything! Go here!
