ENGLISH VOICE ACTOR: David Lucas
AGE: 31
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Mugenjin (serrated fire blade)

Shishio is basically the main villain in RK.  After Kenshin gave up the way of the Battousia, Shishio took over.  So you could actually call him a Battousia Jr. Shishio was hired to work for the Meiji government to assassinate men who held secrets that could destroy the new government.

After the Meiji government had its way with him, they started to fear that he would get out of control (which he did) and turn on them.  In an attempt to kill Shishio off, they shot him in the head then set his entire body on fire.  Maybe he was lucky, but somehow he survived and managed to kill those responsible for his attempted murder.  After being burned alive, Shishio lost the ability to regulate his body temperature through sweating (All of his sweat glands were completely destroyed). Because of this, he can only function at full strength for 15 minutes.

Shishio then went into hiding and gathered swordsmen that would follow him to the death.  Living in constant vengefulness of the new government, he emerges 10 years later and starts reeking havoc on town after town.  It’s just about this time that he discovers Kenshin is alive and trying to stop him.  His original plan was to first set fire to the city of Kyoto from a stolen warship. Those plans are thwarted by Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Saito as well as Kaoru, Yahiko and the remaining members of the Oniwaban group. Afterwards, Shishio sets up a place for the “final battle of the Battousia’s”, meaning he and Kenshin, to battle.

After several battles with different members of the Juppongatana, Shishio and Kenshin come face to face.  In my opinion it's one of the best anime battle scenes ever and lasts for many episodes.  Using his Mugenjin, Shishio performs a number of fire attacks. He uses his Mugenjin coated in oil from his victims and scraps a substance so the friction will cause his blade to burst into flames.  When that doesn't finish the job, he uses the Kaguzuchi on Kenshin.  (The sword technique Kaguzuchi (Shishio's most secret & dangerous) is only used in serious fights. In using this technique, Shishio scrapes the flat side of his sword against the top of his sheath, which in turn causes large rings of fire to form around his sword.) To sum things up...the battle with Kenshin lasts much longer than 15 minutes resulting in Shishio's demise when his body ignites. We last see Shishio in hell with Yumi plotting to overthrow the devil himself.