The Rurouni Kenshin OAVs are perhaps the best ones in all of anime. They are of a more sombre tone and done in a different style from the anime/manga series. The quality of the story and the animation is very high and just what you would expect from the series. It is also very Japanese in its tone and is full of a lot of symbolism. Please feel free to follow the links below to learn more about the characters in the RK OVAs. Arigatou!
"I have never know peace until now. It is only recently I have understood what that word means...You are the one who showed me this new way to live."
Leaving his master at the age of fourteen, Himura Kenshin chose willingly to become a warrior for chaos as the Hitokiri Battousai. His sword slew hundreds during the early days of the Bakumatsu no Doran as the Ishinshishi's prime shadow assassin. He was an idealistic boy who believed that his sword could create a new era and he nearly destroyed his very soul for that belief. This created in him two distinct personas, which are still in constant struggle with one another. His true self is gentle and caring and regrets his actions even early on, but the other is a ruthless killer with no remorse whatsoever. Katsura, who had created the Hitokiri, believed that the constant war between the two would one day come to destroy Kenshin's soul.
With Tomoe's arrival into his life things begin to change. She becomes the catalyst in a change within his heart. Her constant questioning of his beliefs and duties cause him to focus on the things he has been repressing during his life as the Hitokiri Battousai. Through her, he discovers happiness for the first time and begins to understand not only what the Ishinshishi are fighting to create but also what the Shogunate forces are fighting to maintain. Through her, he finally comes to understand the true use for the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu that his master had tried to teach him years before, that it was meant to be used to defend others by being under the influence no other power then the power of the person wielding it. He then makes a vow to Tomoe to find a way to protect others without killing, saying he will never kill another soul again. After her accidental death by his hands, he returns to Kyoto to finish creating the new era, afterwards leaving behind his killing sword forever and taking up the non-lethal sakabatou to protect others just as he promised her.
"This man destroyed my happiness. Then he gave me a new happiness. Farewell to you, my second love."
From the moment Hitokiri Battousai met Yukishiro Tomoe his life changed. Though his first instinct was to kill her because she was a witness to his activities, he instead takes her home after she faints into his arms. For the first time we begin to see that there might be something gentle within the heart of the hitokiri. Something that might be longing for release. Tomoe was the only one able to draw that other self out in the normally cold and calculating assassin. Through her efforts he began to seriously question his role as hitokiri, more so then he had before. Though her, he learned that there was more to life then bloodshed and killing. She showed him the true meaning of happiness and was able to draw his true self from darkness and death surrounding him.
Yet she was also one who sought his death, in revenge for the death of her betrothed Kyosato Akira. In the end she fell in love with the man she was supposed to lead to his death and instead of wanting to take his life, she gave her own so that he would live. Her love for him was such that she was willing to die in his place. In the end she saved his life and soul by her actions. She was the catalyst that created Himura Kenshin, the rurouni from the Hitokiri Battousai. She was his sheath, even long after her death, keeping him protected from himself.
"His fate has been sealed...Finally, the time has come to punish Battousai."
Tomoe's younger brother. He looks to Tomoe as a mother since she is one who raised him. He joins forces with Iizuka and the Shogunate in order to bring the justice to the hitokiri who stole his sister's happiness from her. He comes to Tomoe while they are in Otsu and tells her that the plan is ready to begin. This visit starts a chain reaction that leads, eventually, to his sister's accidental death by Kenshin's hand. Enishi witnesses his sister's 'murder' and, not realising what happened he spends the next ten year planning his revenge on Kenshin.
"I worried that your life as a hitokiri would destroy your inherent humanity. I asked Tomoe to be a saya for your ungovernable rage...I believe that she can still serve that purpose for you."
Leader of the Choshu Ishinshishi and the one who choses Kenshin for the cruel task of a hitokiri. He is warned early on that using Kenshin as a hitokiri would destroy the boy's soul but he didn't listen at the time. He creates the Hitokiri Battousai from the boy Himura Kenshin and shapes him as the ideal Warrior of Chaos but soon he begins to realize that his warrior is unstable s the two personalities within him began to battle. He rightly recognises that there are two personalities within Kenshin, his 'true self' and the 'ruthless murderer' he became. He attempts to correct his oversight by making Tomoe Kenshin's sheath, to protect him from his rage and to help control that part of himself that was a killer.
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu is the most powerful of sword techniques. It is the 'black ship' of absolute power that sails the land."
Hiko Seijuro is Kenshin's master and the one who rescues the young boy from certain death at the hands of bandits. He takes Kenshin in as one of his pupils and passes on his knowledge of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu to Kenshin for four years until their fight and Kenshin's departure from his mountain and the life of a hitokiri in Kyoto. Hiko is a very powerful swordsman whose favorite move is the Kuzo Ryu Sen and his understanding of human nature is flawless. He is also a bit arrogant and self assured because of his mastery of the sword and he has very little use for the things of the world, prefering to remain in seclusion rather than to deal with normal people. The departure of Kenshin for the wars upset him greatly and he correctly predicted that Kenshin would be just a tool to whatever side he chose to fight with and that the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu would turn him into a mass murderer.
"Kasumi-san, Akane-san and Sakura-san. I only meet them yesterday but I wanted to protect them. I was the only boy in the group but they tried to protect me. They said 'Please spare this child."
Shinta is the orphaned son of a farmer who was rescued by Hiko, who changes his name to Kenshin after he decides to take the boy as his pupil. Even at a young age he displays bravery in the face of death and has only one wish...to protect the three women who looked after him so briefly. He was willing to trade is life for theirs'. He has, even at a young age, a strong sense of honor and a understanding of the world that surpasses some adults. Hiko refers to him as having a 'pure soul'and it is this 'pure soul' that will not allow him to stand silent when people are in need. All of these traits are ones that we can see in the rurouni he later becomes and are his true nature.
"The man who does the dirty work is seldom invited to secret meetings."
Leader of the Shinsengumi's Third Squad. He is the stongest opponent Kenshin has during the OVA. He and the Battousai fight against each other in the closing act of the final OVA to a draw. Their final battle occurs at Tobu Fushimni, although we do not see that battle in the OVA, it is mentioned in the manga and also in the anime series. Saito and Kenshin become the bitterest of enemies and Saito carries the grudge with him long after the events covered in the OVA end.
"I hope I do come face to face with that demon."
Leader of the First Shinsengumi Squad. He and Saito appear to have a friendship of sorts and are seen often together in the OVA. He is fights Battousai near the end of the last OVA to a draw and withdraws from the fight after Saito's arrival on the scene. Okita is rumored to be the strongest swordsman among the Shinsengumi, despite the fact that he is deathly ill with Tuberculosis.
"I refuse to die!"
Kiyosato was Tomoe's beloved. He went to Kyoto as a bodyguard wanting to make Tomoe happy and to do his part for the support of the Shogunate. He thought doing so would earn Tomoe's love, love which he mistakenly believed she lacked for him. Instead of her love for him growing, he causes her much grief when he is killed in the streets of Kyoto by the Hitokiri Battousai one night not too long before he was to marry her. His is the sword that creates the first slash in Kenshin's cross-shaped scar, symbolizing hatred. (Tomoe's dagger creates the second slash, completing the scar and it symbolizes love.)
"Well, life is a gamble, so I'm willing to make one final bet."
Iizuka is Katsura's inspector of assassinations who befriends Kenshin early in his career as the Ishinshishi's primary hitokiri. On the surface he appears to be as loyal to the cause of toppling the Bakufu as the other men but he is actually a traitor within their ranks. He works as a spy for the Shogunate and spends a great deal of time trying to help them eliminate the Hitokiri Battousai. He is the one who sets several ambushes and who is the first to 'contact' Tomoe, whose husband-to-be was killed by Kenshin. Using her, he tries one final time to have Kenshin eliminated but this plan fails, though he is unaware of it himself. Iizuka is slain by Shishio Makoto because of his traitorous actions.
Shishio Makoto was just a boy who was trained to replace the famed Hitokiri Battousai during the later part of the Bakumatsu. Unlike his predecessor, he enjoyed the killing he did and the power it gave him over others. He also remained so completely in the shadows that few people even knew he existed. He was the one who killed Iizuka for being a traitor to the Ishinshishi. In an attempt to bury forever their most hidious secrets, the Ishinshishi had Shishio shot and then burned alive.
"The boy's soul will be ruined by this work, you know."
Responsible for drawning Kenshin to the attention of Katsura and was the leader of the Kaihatai, a group of men he was molding into an army to face the Bakufu in battle. Suffers from Tuberculosis and dies as a result of it before the Battle of Tobu Fushimi.
"Father became a legend during the Bakumatsu...What I want to inherit isn't the Kassin Ryu nor a nonkilling style. I want Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, the stongest of all. With that, I want to become a legend even bigger than my father."
He is the son and only Himura child and is training under Hiko Seijuro, in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, since he does not desire to claim the Kamiya Kassin Ryu of his mother's as his sword style. He desires strength above all else and that is why he sought out his father's old master. He hopes the by using the Hiten Mitsurugi he will learn what true strength is. He appears to have a temper that is a combination of Battousai and Kaoru's own but he looks very much like his father did at his age, which appears to be 14. His hair is even red like his father's. He hates his father because Kenshin was often gone on missions to help people and thus Kaoru was left alone to raise him. He wants to become a legend even greater than his father was as Hitokiri Battousai. He fights Yahiko in a duel as a test of his strength and recieves the sakabatou from him at the battles end, having at last learned what true strength is. He returns to Tokyo to be at his mother's side and to wait for his father to return.
"Just like that time...take this...feel this...the strength that Kenshin has put into this sword."
He is now the one who hold the sakabatou Kenshin carried for so long, which was passed to him on his 15th birthday, and is Kenshin's successor. He has grown since the end of the manga and, at 27, is an accomplished swordsman of the Kamiya Kassin Ryuu. He now lives above the Akabeko, presumably with Tsubame. He remains fiercly loyal to Kenshin and, as he did during the Kyoto Arc, he firmly believes that Kenshin will return from the war in China as he has after the end of every battle. He believes this even when nearly everyone else had returned from 'the continent' but of Kenshin there appears to be no sign. He is the one who returns to Kyoto to bring Kenji back to his ill mother and the one who teaches Kenji the true meaning of strength. He passes the sakabatou on to Kenji after they duel and returns to be at Kaoru's side until Kenshin returns.
"I am home, Kaoru."
He never seems to show his true age, but Kenshin is now 45 and has surely lost his ability to use the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu. This does not, however stop him from helping the Meiji govenment or from trying to protect the lives of others no matter who they are. He returns to 'the continent' at the request of Yamagata Aritomo, even though he has no wish to be a part of the war that is brewing between Japan and China and despite the fact he wishes never to return to China. He is suffering from a death illness, which makes him appear more frail then he was before, contracted during the time he spent helping the ill. But still, he goes to war anyway. Except for flashbacks, Kenshin is seen only once in 'real time' and that is when his ship is caught in a storm at the beginning of the Seisou Hen. He rescues a sailor that had been thrown overboard and is thrown overboard himself while saving the man. As always, Kenshin thinks of others before himself. Later we see him severely weakened and with only one thought in his mind and that is to return to Kaoru as he promised her he would.
"Don't worry. I'm sure he will come back. But, so far, something is delaying him."
Kaoru is now a mature woman many years married, with a grown son and her hairstyle and mannerisms indicate this. She is now 35 years old and acts less rashly then she did in the past. She calmly accepts that Kenshin will go off to war one final time and, when he doesn't return with the others who have left, she calmly waits for his return instead of demanding that they all go in search for him as she would have in the past. She has great faith that he will always return to her, no matter what happens or how far he must go. She allows him to continue on his path of helping people, even though this takes him away from his family. She endures the pain of seperation from the man she loves even to the point of willingly contracting the same deadly disease he has because she knows she can never change the way of his heart and that he will always return to her.
"If you have too much strength you tend to get into things you're not suposed to that will cause suffering for your entire life. I did...So did he."
At 60, Hiko still has the same presence he always had and still seems to have that arrogance about him as well. He still wears the mantle of the Hiten Mitsurugi Master, indicating that Kenshin never accepted it to become the Fourteenth Master. Hiko is training Kenji in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, persumable at the boy's request, so that he can become strong enough to face an unnamed man in Tokyo that he wishes to defeat in battle. That unnamed man is none other than Yahiko. Kenji believes he will learn the meaning of true strength by learning his father's sword technique. Hiko himself desires not to pass it on because it only caused trouble and grief for both himself and Kenshin. He will be the final master of the school and it will die with him, though its teachings will remain.
"But you stepped all over people's lives and washed her life away. I don't have anyone to protect anymore."
The brother of Kenshin's first wife, Tomoe who seeks revenge on Kenshin for the death of his sister in the Revenge Arc. He appears near the end of the first part of the Seisou Hen during the snippet we get of the heretofore unanimated Jinchuu Arc. The opening of the second part features the final battle between Kenshin and Enishi. We see Enishi struggling with his hatred for the man who killed his sister and his anger and grief at not being able to protect her happiness. But despite the fact that Tomoe has forgiven Kenshin, Enishi will not. He fights Kenshin who in the end accepts Enishi's judgement and prepares himself for death, until Tomoe steps in once more to save her beloved's life.
"I'm the one who should be thanking you. You changed me and everyone. I will also carry my whole life until the very end. Just like you. Good Bye, Kenshin."
He is seen only in flashbacks in the first part but he makes an entrance in the second part. He has been wandering the world and ends up in China sometime during the War. Someone likely contacted him to find Kenshin when Kaoru become seriously ill. He is the one who manages to find Kenshin, who has become to weak to travel. He swears to return Kenshin home to Kaoru and the others and he nurses Kenshin, helping him to get enough strength to make the journey home. He credits Kenshin with changing his life for the better and does everything he can to make sure that Kenshin returns to Japan before heading off himself to parts unknown.
"I'm worried that Kaoru-san will always be alone."
Tsubame still works at the Akabeko and is married to Yahiko. She sees Kaoru returning daily to the docks to wait for Kenshin. She worries that Kaoru will always be alone because Kenshin has still not returned from the war on the continent and Kenji has been gone for some time. She watches over Kaoru when the later falls ill and she is also the one to discover Kaoru crying a few moments before she disappears from her room, seeking Kenshin who is making his way slowly home again. She finds it sad that Kaoru has allowed herself to contract the same disease as Kenshin.
"She continues to wait for the return of the one she loves."
Megumi has now lived in Aizu for the past 15 years but at Kenshin's request she agrees to keep an eye on Kaoru for him while he is away during the war. Yahiko contacts her when Kaoru becomes ill and she returns to Tokyo to be at her friends side. She is the one who first mentions that the disease that both Kenshin and Kaoru have is one with no cure and that there is nothing medicine can do to help either of them, except to slow down the disease's spread. It seems she still feels strongly about Sanosuke, even though he has left years before.