Episode #1 The Legendary Swordsman... The Man who Fights for Love. Overall rating: A
The first episode of the series. You meet Kenshin and Kaoru. Kaoru is the owner of a rundown dojo, and master of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. She's searching for a man that claims to be the Hitokiri Battousai, who is mudering people with her style of fighting. The FAKE is named Hiruma Gohei, and he's mad because Kaoru's dad tossed his butt out of the dojo (this occured when Kaoru was little and her dad was still alive) for dishonoring the fighting style. Instead of getting the killer, she catches Kenshin (the REAL Hitokiri Battousai) instead. She takes a look at Kenshin's sword, which is a katana with the edges switched so that it can't kill (when wielded like a normal katana). After Kenshin beats the fake Battousai, asks him to stay at the dojo.
Episode #2 The Bratty Samurai... Why Don't You Become My student? Overall Rating: B
Meet Yahiko, a total brat. Kenshin and Kaoru go into town (Kaoru informed Kenshin that he's asking to buy lunch for her.) to eat. Kenshin notices a little kid with quasi-Lisa Simpson hair (sorry, Yahiko fans!) stealing an old man's money. The old man has a little kid with him, and after the thief hears the kid cheering (cause grandpa said he'd buy him a toy!) the thief gives the money back! Kenshin lets the boy know that he saw him, but he has respect for the boy having SOME pride and honor. Yahiko (the thief) gets pissy and tells Kenshin that he's a Tokyo Samurai. Later, Yahiko catches Kenshin and Kaoru on a bridge, and tries to steal Kenshin's money. Testing him, I suppose. Kaoru catches him, Kenshin and Kaoru go on their way, and Yahiko gets beaten by some Yakuza for not having any money to give them. At the restaurant, Kenshin and Kaoru learn that Yahiko is "owned" by the local Yakuza. Kaoru to the rescue! She beats up a crowd of thugs, but fails in the end, and her and Yahiko get bailed out by Kenshin. Kenshin tells Yahiko that he's going to be Kaoru's student, and a beautiful (*snort*) relationship starts.
Episode #3 The Swordsman in Sorrow. The Man That Cuts the Past. Overall Rating: C
Kenshin gets sent into town to buy tofu, along with Ayume and Suzame. While he's away, some police officers visit, looking for the Hitokiri Battousai. Meanwhile, in town, there's a government sword squad roughing people up and just generally being power crazy. Kaoru tells Yahiko to run and warn Kenshin that if the police catch him, he'll be arrested. This comes as a shock to Yahiko, since he didn't know Kenshin was the Hitokiri Battousai. Yahiko runs into town, and into the government sword squad, who are basically arresting anyone that challenges them. Yahiko, of course, tries to defend the poor people, and he AND the people he was trying to defend get tied up, and the leader of the sword squad orders that they be executed. At this point, Kenshin shows up. He beats up the sword squad, saves the day, and is generally heroic. At the end, the police catch up with him. Before they arrest him, however, a man called Yamagata Aritomo orders them to release Kenshin. He then askes Kenshin if he will help the government. This impresses the heck out of Kaoru, since Yamagata is a high mucky-muck in the Meiji government. Kenshin refuses, saying that he can do a better job helping people by protecting them with his sakabatou. Exit all into the sunset. Yamagata informs thin air that Kenshin has not heard the last of him.
Episode #4 One Word: Bad. The Gangster Sanosuke Appears Overall Rating: A
The episode opens and the angels sing! A tall (HOT) man [Sanosuke] is beating the snot out of a bunch of nameless people in the night. Fade to the next day. Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, and Genzai-sensei head down into town to eat at the Akabeko. A fight breaks out when some drunk guys hit Kenshin in the back of the head with a bowl, and Yahiko mouths off to them. Tae asks them to calm down, and one of the drunk men backhands her. She goes stumbling back...and then a man reaches out an arm and catches her (God, he's so SMOOTH) and asks her if she's ok. He rips the drunk guys a new one, and they take it outside. One of the drunk men hits Sanosuke with a hidden weapon, which doesn't even phaze him. The shock breaks the drunk guy's arm, and then Sano informs them that they aren't worth his time...and knocks his attacker over by flicking him in the forehead with his finger. Hiruma Gohei (yep, he's back) is watching in the shadows. Sano asks Kenshin if he wants to fight, and Kenshin says no, so he leaves. Gohei catches him later, and hires him to take Kenshin out, after first telling Sanosuke that Kenshin is the Hitokiri Battousai. Sanosuke shows up at the dojo with his Zanbatou (big honking horse-killing sword) and challenges Kenshin. Just then, Ayume and Suzame come out, and he leaves, saying that he doesn't want to fight in front of the woman and children.
Episode #5 Sakabatou Sword vs Zanba Sword. At the Battle's End! Overall Rating: A
Sanosuke catches Kenshin outside the next day, and they take it to the river so that they can have their fight uninterrupted. Unfortunately (for him) Sanosuke's Zanbatou is so big and unwieldy that Kenshin can see it from a mile away, and dodges easily. Kaoru and Yahiko show up and watch the fight. Kenshin beats about half the crap out of Sanosuke, and knocks him to the ground. During this time, Sano has a flashback to when he was a kid (and what a cute kid he was!). He belonged to the Sekihou Tai, a group that was working for the Meiji government. The government betrayed them, and killed everyone, including the leader of the group, Sagara Souzo, who Sano seemed to have loved as almost a father figure. Sanosuke survived because Sagara threw him off a cliff, right before he was gunned down. Sanosuke took Sagara's name (became Sagara Sanosuke) and let his anger at the betrayal of the government and his grief for Sagara's death eat away at him. He started fighting, trying to become the strongest. Kenshin knows the real story of what happened, like Sanosuke, though everyone else believes that the Sekihou Tai were badguys (the reason Sano is so eager to get Kenshin is because Kenshin was prominent in putting the betraying government in place). Anyway, Gohei leaps out of the bushes, grabs Kaoru and Yahiko, and threatens to rip their throats out. He then tries to shoot Kenshin, who deflects the bullet using the hilt guard of his sword. Sano smacks Gohei down with his huge sword, because NO ONE interferes with his fights. Kenshin finishes him off with a Do Ryu Sen. So, Kenshin and Sano fight again. Kenshin beats the rest of the crap out of him, and slices his Zanbatou in half, but Sano refuses to go down. In the end, Kaoru, Kenshin, and Yahiko convince him to be good. The next day, Sano shows up again, wrapped in bandages. He tells Kenshin not to ever wander off without him, and it's the start of a wonderful friendship.
Episode #7 Fight to the Death Under the Moon... Protect the Ones You Love!
Basically, this boils down to one thing: Kenshin fights Jinei. First Kenshin fights Jinei and gets wounded. Then Jinei does that weird thing on Kaoru, and tells Kenshin that unless he kills him, Kaoru will die in 5 minutes, since she won't be able to get it off herself. Kenshin gets really pissed, and he and Jinei fight some more. Kenshin's battle aura scares Jinei, so then the reject hypnotizes himself, and gets huge muscles. Kenshin says he doesn't have time to deal with this crap (which he doesn't) and he goes into Battou-jutsu. Jinei attacks, and Kenshin blocks, then breaks the other man's arm with the double Battou Jutsu, which Jinei was not expecting. Kenshin flips his sword over in preparation to kill Jinei, and starts to strike...and Kaoru comes out of the hypnosis thing, because she's so desperate to stop Kenshin from becoming the Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin stops, and catches her...and then Jinei feeds himself his own sword, because he says that's how a Hitokiri should die. Kenshin and Kaoru leave the body for the cops to clean up and head back to the dojo.
Episode #8 A New Battle! The Mysterious and Beautiful Woman Who Jumped in Suddenly.
Sanosuke is gambling with a bunch of his slightly scummy friends, having drug Kenshin along for the ride. He is, as usual, losing badly, and this time he has a scapegoat along :D. In the course of gambling, he finds out that one of his friends has fallen victim to some bad opium and died, which angers him a bit. At this time, a woman, who is being chased, runs into the building and glomps onto Kenshin (since he has a sword) begging him to protect her. Her tails come in and get thrown out by Sano. Then, a scary little guy appears in the corner. His name is Beshimi (one of the Oniwa Banshu). He tries to hit Megumi with some darts, but Kenshin stops him, and Kenshin and Sanosuke toss him out. The woman's name is Takani Megumi, and she REALLY like Kenshin. When they get back to the dojo, she addresses Kenshin familiarily (or however you spell it), which pisses Kaoru off majorly. Megumi is running from an evil business man, Kanryu. He has hired the Oniwa Banshu to do his dirty work for him. The head of the Oniwa Banshu is called Shinomori Aoshi. Kenshin says he'll protect Megumi. Later, another member of the Oniwa Banshu, Hyotoko, attacks the dojo. Hyotoko basically breathes fire. Sano beats him (with Kenshin's help). Beshimi (who was hiding in a tree the whole time) shoots another dart at Megumi, but Yahiko takes it in the arm to protect her. Yahiko loses consciousness, and Beshimi brags that the dart was poisoned, and Yahiko will be dead soon. Kenshin almost gets Beshimi, but someone in a mask (it's Hannya! YAY!) grabs him and Hyotoko...and disappears...
Episode #9 The Ultimate Stealth Army... The Dreaded Oniwa Banshu!
Megumi says she knows the antidote. She picks up Yahiko after telling everyone what to do, and carried him into the dojo. Several packets drop out of her sleeve (it's opium) and Sanosuke picks on up. Megumi saves Yahiko, and Sanosuke confronts her about the opium. It turns out that she is the daughter of a famous doctor. She was separated from her family, and became a doctor on her own...but the doctor she assisted was making drugs for Kanryu. After Kanryu had him killed, she was forced to take over making a new and cheaper form of opium. As soon as she realized how terrible it was, she took all the opium and escaped. Since she's the only one that knows how to make the new opium, she's a very wanted woman. Kenshin and Kaoru are very sympathetic toward her, and say they will protect her. Sanosuke storms off. Later, Megumi is outside, (doing laundry?) and a knife with a note attached gets stuck into the ground by her. She reads the note and takes off, followed (unbeknownst to her) by Sanosuke. A delivery man shows up and talks to her...then whips off his disguise. It's Hannya! He takes her for a little talk with Kanryu, who threatens to burn down the dojo if she doesn't come back. So she goes back...but Sanosuki stops her at the gates of Kanryu's house, brings her to her senses...and they're about to go back when another Oniwa Banshu attacks them: Shikijo. Sano wins...but then Beshimi shows up and grabs Megumi. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko show up almost immediately afterward, and they prepare to storm Kanryu's house.
Episode #10 Aoshi... The Man So Scary as to Seem Almost Beautiful.
Kenshin slices open the gates (I LOVE IT!) and the Kenshin Gumi storms the grounds, leaving a trail of bodies. Sano even picks up Yahiko and throws him at some people. ;) Some weapon. Meanwhile, Megumi tells Kanryu that she'll never make opium for him, then tries to kill him. (Slow motion stab. Way to go Megumi :P). Hannya stops her, Kanry backhands her, and she's knocked out. They get to the mansion. Kanryu is in the window. He tries to bribe Kenshin (Knaryu, you eeeeee-diot!), which pisses Kenshin off. Kanryu tries to order Hannya to do something, to which Hannya basically says "You aren't Oniwa Banshu, so stuff it." which angers Kanryu. Aoshi comes stalking in and tells Kanryu that he'll beat the Hitokiri Battousai, not because he's ordered to, but because he wants the title of strongest man. Aoshi picks up Megumi and takes her to the tower, telling Kanryu to go count his money or something. In the tower, Aoshi gives Megumi her knife back, and tells her that he can't help her, and she should probably just kill herself, since it's better than being tortured. The Kenshin Gumi goes inside, and Kenshin fights Hannya (I love Hannya!). Kenshin wins after a good fight, and they continue on to the ballroom, where Aoshi waits. Sano charges Aoshi, and gets clobbered. Now it's Kenshin's turn...
Episode #11 Farewell the Ultimate Men! The Clash of Light and Darkness.
Kenshin and Aoshi fight. Aoshi uses a kodachi, which is pretty unorthodox...eventually Kenshin knocks Aoshi out (after choking up on his own sword...OW!). The rest of the Oniwa Banshu come in, and Aoshi gets up. He tells Kenshin to kill him (I still haven't figured this out) and says that if Kenshin won't, he'll hunt him down. Kenshin says that that's fine, because he has no intention of killing Aoshi. Then Kanryu, who has gone foaming dog bonkers, breaks through the door with his gatling gun and opens fire. Aoshi gets hit in the legs, shoving one of the Oniwa Banshu out of the way. The Oniwa Banshu then sacrifice their lives one by one to protect Aoshi. Kenshin gets very angry and attacks, slicing the handle off of the gun...and when Kanryu asks for mercy, Kenshin says (oooh...gives me chills) "Ask money for mercy!" and smacks him across the jaw HARD with his sakabatou. The Kenshin Gumi go to get Megumi, leaving Aoshi in the ballroom with his dead men. Sano breaks open the door and grabs Megumi's knife (she was about to kill herself). They all go home, and Megumi goes off to work with Genzai-sensei. The bodies of the Oniwa Banshu were never found, because...Aoshi is off in the forest. He's buried his men and given them each a rough headstone. There, he vows to kill Kenshin and bestow the title of strongest upon the Oniwa Banshu...
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