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basics

Enishi is the principal antagonist, the chief bad guy, in the Rurouni Kenshin Jinchuu arc.

If you haven't heard or have just barely heard of it, the Jinchuu arc is volumes 18-28 of the manga, after the Kyoto arc. Because of problems both with Nobuhiro Watsuki-sensei and Sony, it didn't get animated. A few important portions were included in the Tsuioku Hen (first OAVs, Samurai X Trust and Betrayal) and Seisou Hen (second OAVs, Samurai X Reflections).

Similar to Shishio's organizational structure, Enishi has five fighters under him, and one man who like Houji handles the organization paperwork. The fighters and Enishi are (what HE calls) the Six Comrades. Similar to Shishio, the six are united under one goal. But UNLIKE Shishio, whose motives were strictly political,Enishi has very personal motives.

Enishi wants Kenshin dead.

Kenshin, back when he was Hitokiri Battousai, married him a wife, Yukishiro Tomoe. Tomoe is Enishi's sister and mother figure. Because of a series of unfortunate events (discussed in here), Tomoe was accidentally killed by Kenshin. Poor Enishi, still a boy of 12 then, saw the murder and was convinced that Kenshin had killed his sister in cold blood. From then on, he dreamed of the time when he would finally get revenge (jinchuu) for his sister's death.

The snow-white hair resulted from his trauma with her death (analogous to Kenshin's cross-scar). This also results in the claims to see his sister before him, smiling at whatever he does against Kenshin. This is rather different from the more realistic Tomoe that Kenshin sees once in a while.

He gained enough power in Shanghai, China, to establish a business, trading specialized weapons for anyone who had money for them. He supported with his weapons any efforts to eliminate the Meiji government, including Shishio's attempt, by selling the Rengoku battleship. Reasoning that he would help get rid of the government Battousai helped create, a world without his sister.

Compared to Shishio, Enishi is actually the better villain. He is Kenshin's nemesis. He parallels Kenshin's speed and strength, his techniques counter all of his brother-in-law's. He targeted everything that Kenshin held dear. Shishio battled Kenshin strategically; Enishi gave Kenshin a terrible psychological battle.

Enishi is notorious in the RK character-bashing and fanfiction community as a psycho who sees dead people, a crazy young man who had the nerve to bring hell on earth on their favorite redhead. This is an extreme overgeneralization of Enishi. The same way that Kenshin cannot be simplified into a harmless meek person or a killing machine, Enishi cannot be explained until you really get to know the man.

At this point, some of you might probably be wondering why we are spending time gushing about an RK villain.

The fascination is a little like the fascination many have with Seta Soujirou. Something deep inside tells us that Enishi is not as bad, is definitely not crazy, as he seems. He is partly a victim of his circumstances, and his personality was shaped by unfavorable people. He only needs someone to really understand him, and to really explain things.

And, you have to admit, he's smart, tough, and downright handsome. ^_^


Basic stats can be found at Let it Burn . Just go to the information section and look for the Jinchuu arc characters.