Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story

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The Manga overall was great.

I love Watsukis art and his paneling/page layout is uniquely exceptional. The flow of the manga is really smooth and there are never moments where I feel a fight drags on too long. Some of the action pannels are sometimes hard to follow, but nothing is completely incomprehensible. He also uses a lot of Ink Splatters when Kenshin hits people but kenshin never actually cuts anyone so why would there be blood splatters? It's something I had to just accept as a stylistic choice, but it did break the immersion for me at first.

Although the story is fairly historically realistic, ... there are some fantastical things thrown in like a functioning robot puppet. The more fictional elements still feel realistic. Watsuki finds way to explain them being there in a way that is plausible for the time period.

Speaking of which, the time period is set in the historical Meiji period of Japan, where Samurai are no longer around and it is illegal to carry a sword, unless you are working for the government.I often times would, stop reading to open up a wikipedia page to look up things that were discussed in the story and he included a lot of references to the actual Japanese history. I very much enjoyed being able to learn more about japanese history through this manga.

If you like historically inspired stories and sword battles/ martial arts, you will very much like Rouroni Kenshin.
Just don't look up "Watsuki Arrested" until after you've finished the story, depending on what kind of person you are, it might lower your experience of the work.

A classic for a reason.

Openly carrying swords is illegal. The world is leaving behind the samurai. But those samurai still stand, trying to find peace a decade after living through war. Himura Kenshin the Rurouni is attempting to distance himself from Himura Battosai, the man he once was who made blood rain. But the past cannot be outrun so easily. Not from those he's affected nor the clashing in his mind. Simple but compelling.

Touting a pretty well-rounded ensemble cast, Rurouni Kenshin manages to pack itself full of dynamic action scenes that kept me engaged in not only the life-or-death stakes but also the conflicting morals ... between the two opponents. Since Kenshin himself avoids combat and has a strict no killing policy, this means most fights are started out of necessity; the need to protect. This makes Kenshin an easy to root for protagonist. Usually defeated in a domination of their incorrect path in life or morals. What I found myself loving the most about the combat would be in the explanations of weapons during this era. Shown through easy-to-follow explanations of weapon types, stances, and their pros and weaknesses, we get to see the clashing of the previous era with the modern one.

The politics were much more profound than I remembered on this reading. Heavy emphasis on corruption in both the yakuza and government. Many revolutionaries whose stories are rewritten into those of terrorists to fit the politics of the time. There's an overall conversation of justice and the means in which it can or should be achieved.

This is a male focused story first and foremost, so if you're hoping for the women to have their time to shine in fights, you'll be sorely disappointed. For the most part the female cast is well-written but are intended to be sidelined for their paired male character to shine instead. The ten-year-old gets three fights to himself (at minimum) while the dojo instructor doesn't get one. Again, this is not to say these characters are poorly written, but instead heavily underutilized.

Most of my other complaints are personal preferences like thinking Enishi's powers are stupid or wishing for more character death to hammer in how meaningful life is.

Good manga. Great art. I do recommend it.

I mean sure i kinda like kenshin at first but as the story progresses he becomes increasingly annoying and unrealistic as he continues his wow not to kill people. I mean you could massacre all of his friendly honoured opponents with a machine gun, laugh in his face about smuggling opium, kidnap his loved one to help him make opium and he still wouldnt kill your ass for it. I hate him for that because it makes him seem weak, there is always a line that you dont cross and if you do cross it you are supposed to get killed for it. When someone ... kills his honoured opponents without skill, tact or honour using a machine gun and
he doesnt kill them back it kinda makes ya think that hes a douchebag.

Well im going to continue reading about that ***** because i really want to know if hes going to continue placing his stupid oath above his friends.