The hits just keep on coming at this point. The Kyoto Arc is a massively elaborate but exquisitely elegant and balanced construction, and each major character is a pillar. Sometimes it seems as if there’s no end to the new faces, but they never blend together. They’re all doing what they’re doing for a reason, and Watsuki always makes sure we understand what that reason is. It’s often imitated and never equalled for a reason.
It’s also called the Kyoto Arc for a reason. And it’s a rather momentous moment when Kenshin – and the series – arrive in the old capitol for the first time. Kenshin himself muses that this was the one place in Japan he thought he’d never return to. Kyoto is a land of beauty and scholarship and spiritualism. But it’s also hip-deep in blood, rage, and tragedy – to say it has a checkered history doesn’t begin to do it justice. And at this point in that history, the smell of blood was still thick in the air from the most recent occasion when the city tore itself apart, and with it the country.
But Ken’s first order of business is seeing Miaso safely back to her people. She leads him – surprisingly – to a restaurant, the Aoiya. They’re met by an old man named Kashiwazaki Nenji (Chiba Shigeru, one of the better casting choices of the reboot). It’s immediately clear that he and Misao share a familial bond, And Kashiwazaki – known to those around him as Okina – plays the amusing old eccentric card convincingly. But he’s a man very much a part of that dark Kyoto history, and immediately recognizes Kenshin despite the bandage he’s applied to his cheek.
It’s not only these two who’ve arrived in Kyoto. Yahiko and Kaoru have as well. The former is rather awestruck at being in a strange city with its strange customs, but Kaoru is concerned with the practical obstacles they face in finding Kenshin. Tae has offered the use of her family’s home, which is attached to a beef hot pot restaurant called Shirobeko. It – and her sister Sae – are dead ringers for their Edo counterparts. But yet another player has arrived in town – Aoshi. Kaoru has no idea who he is, but of course Yahiko knows very well. And that gives the task of finding Ken an elevated sense of urgency.
One absolute certainty of this arc is that the old loyalties no longer matter. The Boshin War is over – the Imperialists won. Kenshin’s new enemy fought for their cause. Most of the people he now counts as allies fought (fiercely) for the opposing side. And that includes Okina and the Oniwabanshu. But Okina doesn’t seem to be a man who holds a grudge. As thanks to Ken for escorting Misao safely home, he formally (and jocularly) offers his services to Kenshin. And he almost immediately takes the old man up on that, asking Okina to use his spy network to locate two people – Hiko Seijuurou and Arai Skakuu.
We hear no more for now about the first. But almost immediately, Okina’s men bring him info on Arai. This prompts him to cancel a proposed lunch at Shirobeko (and potential surprise reunion with Yahiko and Kaoru) to take Kenshin to meet Arai Shakuu’s son. A master swordsmith, Shakku has been dead for eight years, but his skills reportedly passed on to his son Seiku (Hirose Yuuya). Seiku, however, has rejected his father’s idea of ushering in a new era with killing blades, turning his talents to making kitchen knives and farm implements. With his wife and young son, Seiku expresses a wish for the seeming peace of the Meiji Era to take hold – and refuses Kenshin’s request to forge him a new sakabatou.
Okina has urged Kenshin to walk the paths of Kyoto with his head lifted, as he’s trying to do the work of the good there. But in doing so he gives Shishio’s men no challenge in finding him, which seemingly spells trouble for Arai-san and his family. This was the cruel reality of the early Meiji – the peace the end of the Boshin War heralded was fragile and subject to frequent loud and violent reversions to bloodshed. Shishio can afford to play the long game (even if Yumi is disgruntled at living in a cave, even a well-appointed one), which puts the onus on Kenshin and his compatriots to make the first move.
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