Handsome Swordsman of Legend

Someone claiming to be the legendary Battousai the Manslayer is trying to tarnish the Kamiya reputation, and Miss Kaoru is not going to let that happen. When she faces a large, sinister looking man in the streets, she receives assistance from a small man who insists he is simply a wanderer (that he is). He introduces himself as Kenshin Himura.

Kenshin helps Miss Kaoru unveil the imposter's true motive. Seems the man is actually Gohei , a former student of Kaoru's father. Gohei was kicked out of the school for his brutality, but not willingly....the result of the confrontation between himself and Mr. Kamiya was a crushed right thumb. He is now seeking revenge after mastering the left-handed sword technique.

Gohei eventually faces Kenshin which results in a crushed right hand making it impossible for him to ever wield a sword again. Kaoru is grateful to Kenshin, and even though he revealed his true identity, she asks if he would like to stay on at the Dojo. Kenshin accepts for he is tired of wandering, and it would be nice to settle down..........for now.

Kid Samurai

Miss Kaoru and Kenshin rescue a young boy from his so-called adoptive family. That family is a notorious syndicate forcing the boy to steal to repay fictitious debts accrued when his mother passed away. The boy, Yahiko, becomes Kaoru's first NEW student (her other students had left as a result of Gohei in the first episode) as it is important for his sense of pride to be strong and fight for himself.

Swordsman of Sorrow

It's coming!

Bad!

Act I

The opening scene for this episode is a dark alleyway at night. In the alleyway is a group of about five men all beat up and bloody. A tall man with brown hair and white shirt and pants is fully intact. The other men who are bloody begin begging the tall man not to hurt them, and he comments on their weakness. The tall man is carrying a huge triangular shape with a cloth draped over it, as if to cover something important. The tall man complains that there is no one around tough enough to fight him.

The next morning, Kaoru, Yahiko, Dr. Gensai. Ayamae, Sezume, and Kenshin are at the Kamiya dojo. Kaoru is playing with Ayamae and Sezume, but of course this quickly ends when she gets into a fight with Yahiko. During their fight, Kenshin announces that he will go make breakfast, and Kaoru stops fighting to ask what they will be having. When Kenshin says that he will be making some vegetables, Yahiko complains that he is tired of having vegetables and tasteless food. Kaoru agrees, but knows that they she (the sole provider of money at the dojo) does not have enough money for everyone to go out and have a good, hot meal. While she is thinking about this, she remembers a way that she can get money. She quickly rushes over to the shed next to the dojo and finds an ink painting that her grandfather made. She tells the others that her grandfather was a famous ink painter. Ink paintings were treasured among Westerners in the late 1800s, and Kaoru announces that she can sell the ink painting for a lot of money, which is exactly what she does.

Because of all the money she got for the ink painting, Kaoru takes everyone at the dojo out to eat at the Akabeko for some beef hot plates. While enjoying their delicious meal, the group overhears three drunken men who are upset with Japan’s current government. They begin arguing over how they can change it. This escalates to one of the men throwing a bowl aimlessly in rage. The bowl hits Kenshin, who (because in he is in his rurouni “form”) is knocked unconscious. Yahiko immediately gets up and starts yelling at the drunks, and the argument escalates to loud screaming. This alerts the waitress, Ms. Tai. Tai walks over to the drunks and asks them to please stop yelling. With a heated temper, the fattest drunk yells, “shut up woman!” and slaps Tai so hard that she is flung backwards. Just when she is about to hit the wall, a man stops her fall. It is the tall man from the first scene. He states that he does not like men who involve defenseless women or children in fights. The drunks are insulted by the tall man’s comments and challenge him to a fight outside of the Akabeko.

In the street right in front of the Akabeko, the fat drunk who slapped Tai states announces that he will fight the tall man first. The tall man laughs and tells the fat drunk to begin by hitting him square between his eyes, with all of his power. The drunk takes up the offer and swings his fist at the tall man’s face. But right before his hand hits the tall man, the drunk pulls out a small hidden knife from his hand. Yahiko and Kaoru complain that the drunk would pull such a dirty trick but before they can even finish their remarks, the drunk is on the ground screaming in pain. Right before the knife hit him, the tall man was able to dodge the knife and break all of the drunk’s right-handed fingers within a split-second. The other two drunks fear for their lives and go to help their drunken crippled friend and surrender to the tall man. The three drunks then hobble away together. At this point the fight ends and the crowd watching it disperses. The tall man walks over to Kenshin and asks if he is still in pain from where the bowl hit him on the head. Kenshin says that he is fine, and the tall man chuckles. The tall man then tells Kenshin that it would have been pretty funny if he had gotten a bad injury from getting hit by something on purpose. When Yahiko and Kaoru ask what he meant by that, he replies by telling them that Kenshin could have easily dodged the bowl, but if he did Kaoru, who was sitting directly opposite Kenshin, would have had cuts all over her face from the sharp bits of the shattered bowl. Kenshin does not admit that he did any of that on purpose, but the tall man can tell that Kenshin is very skilled and probably a very good fighter. The tall man, who from the first scene has been looking for someone “tough” to fight challenges Kenshin to a duel. Kenshin, the peace-loving rurouni, of course declines from the offer. The tall man is disappointed, and says goodbye to Kenshin and leaves the Akabeko. This is the start of the series-long joke about the tall man being cheap, as he “forgot” to pay his tab at the Akabeko. Although all traces from the fight are gone, the tall man’s skill has not gone unnoticed.

Act II

In the next scene we see the tall man sitting down in his house with Gohei, (the Battousai imposter from episode one) sitting opposite him. Gohei saw the fight and was extremely impressed by the tall man’s incredible skill. As they are talking, it is obvious what Gohei is doing. He is asking the tall man to kill his rival, Kenshin, who he is still mad at for rendering his left hand useless for swordsmanship. Gohei tells the tall man that Kenshin is the legendary Battousai of the revolution, and says that he will pay the tall man good money to kill Kenshin. The tall man accepts the offer, but for a different reason then Gohei expected. It was known that the tall man, known in the slums as “Zanza- fighter for hire” would accept fights for money to prove that he was tough. But the fight against Kenshin seemed to be for a different reason. Zanza, the tall man, leaves Gohei and says he is going to fight Kenshin Himoura right at that moment. Zanza picks up his huge triangular board that is covered by a cloth, and walks away toward the Kamiya dojo.

Meanwhile back at the dojo, it is late, and Dr. Gensai, Ayamae, and Sezume are preparing to go home. While they are getting ready to leave, Kenshin feels a “presence” of someone who is entering the dojo with a strong will to fight. Kenshin walks toward the main entrance of the dojo with Yahiko and Kaoru and sees Zanza at the entrance. Zanza announces that he is going to fight Kenshin, not for fun, but because he was ordered to. Zanza tells Kenshin that he knows that Kenshin is the Battousai, and demands the fight even more. Kenshin accepts the fight, reluctantly. They walk over to the dojo’s “backyard” for an appropriate place to battle. Zanza then lowers the huge triangular board he has been holding and removes the cloth covering it. Kenshin, Yahiko, and Kaoru are shocked to find out that the triangular board is actually a huge, massive sword. Kaoru states that the sword, a zanbato, is the largest sword ever made, designed to wipe out a man and a horse in one swing. The zanbato is about eight feet by three feet with a point at the end. Before fighting, Kenshin and Zanza have a short conversation. From the conversation, Kenshin realizes that this man, who introduces himself as Sanosuke Zagara or Zanza fighter for hire as he is known as in the slums, has a strong hatred for Imperialists. Kenshin cannot figure out why.

After the brief talk, Zanza begins by swinging his zanbato with incredible speed and skill. Kenshin dodges the zanbato’s swings and jumps up in a tree, and then back on the ground. Kenshin, the peace-lover, has not drawn his sword yet, despite being swung at by Zanza. Zanza demands that Kenshin draw his sword when suddenly, Ayamae, Sezume, and Dr. Gensai appear at the door of the dojo that faces the backyard where Kenshin and Zanza are fighting. Zanza sees Ayamae and Sezume and states that he will not fight any fight that involves women or children. He then walks away, but first the branch that Kenshin stood on while he was on the tree falls down and hits Gohei, who was standing right below it. Zanza laughs and says “You really are the Battousai” and then vanishes into the night.

Reverse Blade Sword vs. The Zanbatou

Act I

This Episode begins with Kaoru and Yahiko in the dojo wondering what will happen next between Zanza, the fighter for hire, and Kenshin (see episode four). Although Kaoru and Yahiko are worried, Kenshin is at ease. When Kaoru and Yahiko go outside to find Kenshin, he is hanging out the laundry, acting as if Zanza doesn’t exist. Suddenly a wailing noise is heard, and Ayame and Suzume come running up to play with “Uncle Ken.” Of course, Doctor Gensai is with them.

Meanwhile, we see Zanza in his “apartment” throwing dice. His mind is elsewhere, as he is thinking about his past during the revolution. We now go back in time ten years to when Zanza was a young boy. It is snowing and he is standing on top of a hill looking down on marching troops with Captain Sagara, the leader of the Seki-Houtai branch of the Imperial Army. Zanza is also apparently a member of the Seki-Houtai. As they are talking about how Japan will be a better place once the revolution is over, an officer of the Imperial Army named Shindo rides up and informs them of some sort of fraud…

Zanza is distracted from his thoughts when he hears Gohei, the man who hired him, creep up to his door. Zanza throws one of his dice through the door directly at Gohei. It hits him between the eyes, and Gohei screams in pain. Gohei enters Zanza’s apartment tries to flare up Zanza’s emotions by telling him this is his chance to prove to the world that the Seki-Houtai are stronger than the Imperialists. Zanza says he doesn’t need Gohei’s “help” to win the fight, and that he is going to fight with his own will and strength. Zanza picks up his huge Zanbato, and heads out to the Kamiya dojo.

When he arrives, he meets Kenshin and says he is ready to fight. Ayame and Suzume, who were playing with Kenshin, run away when they see the “spiky-haired guy” to Dr. Gensai, Kaoru, and Yahiko. Dr. Gensai is in the middle of a rumor that has been going around about Zanza to Kaoru and Yahiko. According to the rumors, Zanza was once a member of the Seki-Houtai, a group allied to the Imperial Army which offered to cut taxes in half to gain supporters. The Imperialists saw that the Seki-Houtai could in no way cut taxes in half, and killed them all for lying. The rumors say Zanza is the last remaining Seki-Houtai member, who wants to fight Kenshin to prove he can defeat the strongest Imperialist. When Ayame and Suzume come up to Dr. Gensai, they tell him how the “spiky-haired guy” came to the dojo and left with Kenshin. Immediately Kaoru and Yahiko realize they mean Zanza and run into the streets of Tokyo to find Kenshin.

We now see Kenshin and Zanza in a flat rocky area next to a shipwrecked boat near what appears to be a swamp. Zanza and Kenshin exchange a few words (or rather Zanza just says a few slurs to Kenshin), and then begin to fight. Kaoru and Yahiko find Kenshin just as Zanza charges with the Zanbato towards Kenshin. Kenshin easily dodges it and slams Zanza in the back with his reverse-blade sword. Zanza gets knocked out for a second, but seems overall unaffected by the blow. He then charges again, swinging the Zanbato. Kenshin jumps up to avoid the swing and lands on the Zanbato itself, and runs down the hamon to the Zanbato’s tsuka, and then smacks Zanza in the back of the neck. Kenshin then jumps up into the air and does his classic Hiten Mitsurugi technique where he hits the enemy from above. Zanza is knocked out.

Act II

Act two begins with another scene of Zanza’s childhood, although this one is not as pleasant. Shindo is informing the Seki-Houtai that they must all be killed because of their lies to cut taxes. Captain Sagara and the rest of the Seki-Houtai are shocked; they did not make up the idea of the tax cuts to begin with. The Imperialists told the Seki-Houtai to tell farmers that they had a plan that would cut taxes in half. The Seki-Houtai were nothing more than messengers led by the Imperialists. However, the Imperialists fell on hard times. They soon realized that the tax cuts the farmers expected were impossible to afford. Therefore, they dumped all the blame on the messengers, the Seki-Houtai. Since the Seki-Houtai were the only forces who ever told the public about the tax cuts, the public did not know it was actually an Imperialist policy and would not know that the Seki-Houtai were only following direct orders. Because of this, the Imperialists were able to gun down and kill every last Seki-Houtai member without any opposition from the general Japanese public. However, in a desperate flee to survive, Captain Sagara pushes Zanza off a cliff into a river, which rushes him downstream and away from Imperialist harm. Zanza can never forget his past, and he cannot allow Kenshin, an Imperialist, to beat him in this fight.

At this point, Gohei emerges from the bushes fires a bullet straight a Kenshin. With lightning speed, Kenshin is able to block the bullet with his tsuba. Gohei cannot believe that Kenshin was able to block the bullet, and so grabs Kaoru and Yahiko, who have been watching the fight. He threatens to rip them apart if Kenshin tries to attack him, as Gohei is wearing metal claws on his left hand. Kenshin does not know what to do when suddenly Zanza grabs the Zanbato and swings it at Gohei’s legs. Gohei screams in pain and Kaoru and Yahiko are let free. Zanza yells to Gohei to let the fight be between Kenshin and himself, the Imperialist and the Seki-Houtai. Zanza gets up and demands to continue fighting with Kenshin despite his severe wounds. Kenshin flips the blade on his sword to the front side and jumps up on the shipwrecked boat. He tells Zanza why the Zanbato is useless against him. The Zanbato was the largest sword ever made, designed to kill a swordsman and a horse in one swing. However, the weight and length of the sword limit its potential; the sword can only be swung across or down. Because of this fact, the motions of the Zanbato are extremely easy to predict. After saying this, Zanza whirls the Zanbato above his head at incredible speeds. The speed is no match for Kenshin though, who slashes the Zanbato in half, and it crashes to the ground. Kenshin then does an aerial Hiten Mitsurugi attack on Zanza, but even through this hits him perfectly, he is not knocked out.  Gathering strength, Gohei gets up with his gun and at point black range gets ready to fire at Kenshin. However, Kenshin sees Gohei attacking and uses his Hiten Mitsurugi Dorusen, which shatters the ground underneath Gohei and sends him flying. Zanza calls Kenshin a dirty Imperialist pig and tells Kenshin that he is a former member of the Seki-Houtai. Kaoru and Yahiko start yelling at Zanza, telling him that the Imperialists never did anything wrong, and that the Seki-Houtai were the ones that lied to all the innocent farmers. Of course Kenshin knows the dirty truth of the Imperialist history, and explains to Kaoru and Yahiko what really happened. He explains to Zanza that he was once Battousai the manslayer, and now he has taken an oath. In order to repent for all the lives lost from his blade and that of so many others during the revolution he will never kill again. He explains to Zanza that he should move on with his life, and enjoy the Meiji Empire that Captain Sagara fought for and wanted so much. In order to repent for his unlawful deeds as a fighter for hire, Zanza should stop picking fights and slandering the Imperialists. After listening to Kenshin say all this, Zanza falls over and apologizes to Captain Sagara for not beating the Imperialist. This ends a truly spectacular scene in the Rurouni Kenshin series.

The next scene is after the fight. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko are walking to the Akabeko when they see the “delinquent politicians” running for their lives. Zanza is back at it, keeping things in order with his toughness. He sees Kenshin while leaving, and explains how he has been inspired by the wanderer to give up his fighter for hire business and follow Kenshin on his journeys to see what a pure Imperialist is really like. He says that his name is no longer Zanza, but Sanosuke Sagara. The episode finishes with Sanosuke telling Kenshin not to wander off without him, which is an important quote later when Kenshin in fact does wander away without informing Sanosuke. As he disappears into the distance, Tai comes rushing out of the Akabeko yelling that Sanosuke “forgot” to pay his bill.