Last week’s special episode was a wonderful diversion. It felt harmonious with the main story to a remarkable degree and represented a really positive addition to the Rurouni Kenshin mythology. But it’s back to the original narrative this week. And we’re in rarified air at this point, that’s for sure. From here on out the Kyoto Arc pinballs from iconic chapter to iconic chapter. So much of this is imprinted deeply on my anime psyche, to the point where even though I haven’t read or watched this material in many years I instantly find myself in the moment.
There are so many moving parts here, some of which we haven’t even been introduced to yet. But among the group we have, there’s a discernible sense of forces on a collision course. Kenshin decides to break with the Aoiya, for exactly the reason you’d expect. Misao is exactly as pleased with this as you’d expect. Kenshin isn’t wrong – associating with him has always been inherently dangerous, but never more so than now. Yet the more he roams, the more people become attached to him for his strength and kindness. In much the same way it is for Senya in Sengoku Youko, being the strong one who must always step up when no one else can is a crushing karmic burden.
Kenshin has impacted the lives of Kaoru and Yahiko so much, of course, that they’ve come all the way to Kyoto to defy his wishes and return to his side. They’ve decided to help out at Shirobeko, which means a rather alarming makeover for Yahiko (Tae’s sister is quite the sadist). And Kaoru has put up “have you seen this cat?” posters of Kenshin, which strikes me as a bad idea for any number of obvious reasons. Nevertheless it does work – for Misao (at Nenji’s suggestion) has come to Shirobeko for lunch.
Though it’s only the undercard to the main event, this is rather a momentous first meeting for the Kenshin-gumi old and new. Yahiko and Misao hit it off famously but things with Kaoru are a lot more tense. Especially after Misao says Kenshin has been living with her, which Sae latches onto like a dog with a bone and just won’t let go. Her explanation that they were traveling companions doesn’t help either. But eventually Misao gets the truth out, and while she doesn’t know where Ken is at that moment, she’s certainly the best lead Yahiko and Kaoru have had.
The timing here is fortuitous in more ways than one. Nenji’s spies have just discovered the whereabouts of the other man Kenshin asked him to find, Hiko Seijuurou (Nakamura Yuuichi). He passes this along old-school – a signal flare – and gives Kenshin the information. Hiko is working as a potter under the name Ni’itsu Kakunoshin, and soon Kenshin has located his potter’s hut in the hills somewhere. It’s immediately clear that a great deal of tension exists between these two, but Kenshin quickly humbles himself to ask a boon from Hiko – teach him the ultimate move of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, which he never learned as Hiko’s apprentice.
After initially refusing to listen to Kenshin out at all, the sharp-tongued (and rather huge) Hiko agrees to hear out his former student. But there’s not much progress based on Kenshin’s story. Some part of the truth comes out – Kenshin left Hiko’s training (at 14) before Hiko considered him ready to face the world. And the reason compounds the issue – Kenshin left because he wanted to put the Hiten Mitsurugi to use in defending victims of the brewing civil war – ostensibly its purpose. But Hiko (the name is that of the style’s founder, and passed down to each successor) is insistent – Hiten Mitsurugi is never to be used in service to authority. This is absolute, and by betraying this rule Kenshin is betraying him.
There’s clearly much more to that story – we get only a glimpse of the 14 year-old Kenshin in his act of rebellion. But the arrival of Misao and her two charges puts an end to that discussion for the moment. Seeing those three faces will surely provoke mixed feelings in Kenshin, so eager is he not to drag others (much less loved ones) into the danger zone surrounding him. This is truly the start of one of the best passages from the entire manga, and the relationship between student and master one of its most fascinating and complicated.
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