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Volume 1 episodes 1-4 Rating= 8.1

Well, here we are being introduced to the first four episodes of Rurouni Kenshin. Now right off the bat, the first episode isn't what made me completely crazy about the series. The first episode was good, but I didn't think that I would like it as much as I like Slayers or Ranma. Boy, was I an idiot. As we move on to meeting the other characters, Sano and Yahiko, I start liking the series more, and if you have any taste at all, you will too. By the fourth episode, we meet Sano who's a real blockhead gangster-type person. He thinks he's got a chance of beating Kenshin... guess he must be one of the brainless chickenheads who visit Anime Inverse

Volume 2 episodes 5-8 Rating= 9.2

Well well well, now THESE episodes are what caused me to like Rurouni Kenshin as much as Slayers or Ranma (sometimes even more so). First off, we've got this really awesome battle with Kenshin's first major enemy, Jine. This is the first guy who can actually HIT Kenshin. And we finally get a glimpse of Kenshin's "dark side" (no, not Star Wars). Kenshin's dark side is when he has to deal with reverting back to his "killing self" or "hitokiri battou-sai". Personally, I like Kenshin when he wants to kill any living object, but that's my personal opinion. The other characters, especially Kaoru, would rather have the nice, sweet, in-control Kenshin. At any rate, these episodes are definately episodes you SHOULD NOT miss.

Volume 3 episodes 9-12 Rating= 8.5

This is the first time we meet Aoshi and his group of Oniwabanshuus. Actually, pardon the upcoming spoiler, its also the LAST time you meet any of the Oniwabanshuus, excluding Aoshi. We also meet Magumi, the sexy doctor who makes the deadly drug, Opium, which killed one of Sano's friends. And Sano was plenty pissed off with that one. Anyway, Kenshin is in for one heck of a fight when he has to fight each and every one of the Oniwabanshuus (Aoshi is the leader of this group who are some of the greatest fighters in the world). And he has to fight them, along with rescuing the Opium-making doctor, Megumi. And be prepared for the wonderful fight scene witch takes place later on with Aoshi and Kenshin. After that whole Oniwabanshuu story line, the 11th episode isn't all that exciting. Yahiko finds this new girl who he likes so he tries to show her what a great figher he is, but ends up getting the crap kicked out of him, a decent story, but not a whole lot of action.

Volume 4 episodes 13-16 Rating= 7.9

Aside from episode 13, the other episodes are pretty good. Episode 13 was dumb and boring. Who wants to see some fat ugly sumo wrestler and his efforts to become the greatest sumo wrestler on the team? Not me, I wanna see Kenshin slashing some guys up! And thankfully, we get that in episodes 14-16. Turns out that there's this school teacher who used to be a samurai (why can't we ever get teachers this cool?) but like Kenshin, he's given up his killing ways. In fact, this teacher doesn't even want to pick up a sword anymore. Well, when this group tries to get this teacher guy to join so he can help them kill government officials, he kindly declines the offer. Anyway, they try to force him to join, and Kenshin comes to the rescue and they live happily ever after, yadda yadda yadda.

Volume 5 episodes 17-20 Rating= 7.8

We start off with the first two episodes, nothing that exciting happens with the first two. Some circus needs help from Kenshin, Yahiko, Kaoru, and Sano so they do an act and stuff, I thought that episode was a little too corny. Episode 18 is a little better, more fighting and stuff. But episodes 19 and 20 were much better. In fact, they continue into episode 21 which is on the next volume. Well in episodes 19 and 20, the "Kenshin gang" go off to meet Dr. Genzai's sister. It turns out she works for this spoiled brat rich kid who's been looking for a teacher to teach him Budo. So this kid decides to choose as his teacher some evil guy named, Isirugi Raijuuta. Raijuuta wants to create a whole new government filled with powerful warriors and fighters. Meanwhile, Kenshin and everyone try to convince this kid (damn, I forget his name) that Raijuuta's ways are evil. Eventually, the kid starts to believe them a little when Raijuuta cuts half his arm off. Anyway, Kenshin comes to the rescue, we see them fight with different techniques and stuff, and after Kenshin beats Raijuuta and they all say goodbye to the "kid", we never hear from the kid again. Happy ending.

Volume 6 episodes 21-24 Rating= 8.1

Okay, episode 21 continues the while Raijuuta story from the previous volume, so there's not much more to say on that one. Episode 22 is a self-contained story about the Kenshin gang stopping a train robbery, which is just an okay episode, not much to talk about. However, episodes 23 and 24 is what makes this volume rock. We find out more about Sanosuke's past, how he once belonged to this group called the Seki hou tai. They were almost all killed off by the Ishin shi shi, a group responsible for the Meiji era, the same group that Kenshin once belonged to. Well, members of the Ishin shi shi had killed off all the members of Sano's group, the Seki hou tai. The only two survivors were Sano and Souzou, and we meet Souzou in this episode for the first time. Souzou and Sanosuke were just children when their group was killed off, but the two meet again after all these years. And Souzou's been plotting to get revenge for those who killed off the Seki hou tai. In fact, he's been spending the last ten years making bombs so he could blow up all the government buildings... and he's been storing the bombs in his closet (probably so no one can see the Playboy magazines he hides in there too). Well, Souzou gets Sano to go along with him in his little adventure in blowing up government buildings. Sano agrees to go because he DOES want revenge for what the Ishen shi shi did to his group and his boss, who the both of them admired greatly. Episode 24 is round 2 of Kenshin V.S. Sanosuke, where the two of them duke it out, but of course, Sano gets his @$$ kicked.

Volume 7 episodes 25-28 Rating= 8.3

Okay, prepare yourself, episodes 25-27 are the LAST three episodes of Rurouni Kenshin's first season to have no major impact on the main ongoing plot. Kenshin, Yahiko, and Sano decide to go on a boat ride in order to make more money by protecting the cargo being shipped. The boat gets attacked by pirates, the leader of the pirates is a woman named, Shu-ra (and she's pretty cute too). They kidnap Kenshin and take him to their island. Shu-ra, we discover, isn't really evil. She's got morals, and only steals from wealthy evil people. However, her group wants more money, they want to steal from everyone, and they agree to ship out the deadly drug, Opium, in order to make more money. The other pirates do this without her knowledge, and eventually overthrow her as their leader. That's where Kenshin comes in and fixes everything (as usual). But there's always surprises, such as Shu-ra falling in love with Kenshin. All in all, these episodes were pretty good... but now that's over. Episode 28 starts the ongoing plot that continues into the second season of Kenshin, and changes his life and everyone else's life forever. We meet Hajime Saitou for the first time, and his fighting skills are just as good as the legendary Hitokiri Batthow-Sai. This episode (and every episode from now on) continues into the next.

Volume 8 episodes 29-32 Rating= 9.6

Here we go! This volume was amazing!! This sets us up for the plot of the second season of Rurouni Kenshin. Episode 30 has the most awesome fighting scene in the series thus far! Its Hajime VS Kenshin, and prepare for the worst, Kenshin's fighting style reverts BACK to his murderous Hitokiri Batthow-Sai ways! The longer he fights with Hajime, the more Kenshin uses his full potential, and the more he becomes a deadly killer. If you thought you'd seen all of Kenshin's skills throughout the first season, then you're DEAD wrong! The speed in which they move, the atmosphere in which they fight, the killer soundrack playing in the backround... EVERYTHING makes this fight amazing! Sorry for spoiling the ending, but the fight ends as a draw as the police chief comes in to stop the fight. It turns out that Hajime was only supposed to test the Batthow-Sai's skills, see if they are as good as they were during the end of the Edy dynasty... but Hajime got a little carried away. The chief then asks Kenshin to join them to stop some evil dude named Shi-shi-o, he's the successor to the title of Hitokiri Batthow-sai, and to get that name, you've got to be a DAMNED good fighter. That's why they need Hajime and Kenshin, their skills are what is neccessary to stop Shi-Shi-O from completely destroying the government in Japan. So now Hajime and Kenshin, who 10 years ago were the deadliest of enemies, are forced to team up to stop him. Kenshin agrees to go leave the capital of Tokyo and leave all his friends in order to go to Kyoto to stop Shi-Shi-O. Kenshin says bye bye to Kaoru and then leaves on his journey. Kaouro cries and then goes into a depression. Luckily with the help of Yahiko and Megumi, she snaps out of it and decides to go after Kenshin, to follow him to Kyoto. Sanosuke decides to follow Kenshin too, but he only goes by himself, he wants to get stronger first. And here we have it, the end of the first season of Rurouni Kenshin, and the begining of the second...

Volume 9 episodes 33-36 Rating= 8.8

Guess what? Aoshi's back. Yep, the leader of the Oniwabanshuus is back and looking for Kenshin, but Kenshin's gone! Kenshin's gone to Kyoto. So Aoshi decides to go there and try to find him. We also meet Misao for the first time in episode 34, which was a very good episode. She's my favorite character (next to Kenshin). She's follows Kenshin around trying to get him to tell her about the Oniwabanshuu's and Aoshi since she's kind of a member too. Episodes 35 and 36 are a tad bit more EVIL than 33 and 34. We meet this kid, Eiji, and it turns out that his whole family was killed just recently. When Kenshin, Misao, and Eiji go to his hometown and find Eiji's family's killers, Kenshin beats the crap out of them. Episode 36 we meet Shishio for the first time. Shishio is one ugly looking dude, by the way. I don't know why he's got this hot woman crawling all over him when he looks like a mummy-wrapped turd. Lots of action in these episodes, too, so you shouldn't miss 'em.

Volume 10 episodes 37-40 Rating= 9.0

This is definately a great volume. Kenshin's sakaba sword gets broken in half by Shishio's assistant, Soijiro. Now Kenshin doesn't have a weapon anymore... poor Kenshin. Episode 38 is mainly about Sanosuke. You know how he's been training to get stronger before he goes to Kyoto to meet Kenshin? Well, Sano meets this guy in the woods, this ex-priest named Anji. Sano gets Anji to train him and teach him this technique called Futae no Kiwame. By using this technique, you can break rocks into dust, and if you can do that to rocks, imagine how it would effect someone's skull. In episode 39, Misao and Kenshin finally reach Kyoto. Misao introduces Kenshin to the ex-leader of the Oniwabanshuu, Jiya. Now that he's in Kyoto, Kenshin looks for a way to get a new sakaba sword since his old one's broken. Kenshin decides to see if his old sword maker, Shat Ku Arai is still around to make him a new sakaba. Well, turns out that he's dead, but don't worry, his son is still alive! Too bad his son doesn't make swords anymore. And he refuses to give Kenshin his father's last sword. But after a little persuasion by having his baby son kidnapped by one of Shishio's men, Sawagejou Chou, he kind of has a change of heart. When Kenshin fights Chou, he al so reverts back to the Hitokiri style for a few seconds after Chou threatens to kill the baby boy. I liked that scene a lot because Kenshin kicked lots of @$$.

Volume 11 episodes 41-44 Rating= 9.3

Another awesome tape in the Rurouni Kenshin series. Well, Kaoru and Yahiko finally make it to Kyoto, but where the hell is Kenshin? Well, when they run into Misao (coincidence you think?) she eventually leads them to Kenshin. Kenshin, meanwhile, is off searching for his old master, Hiko, the guy who trained him all those years ago. You see, Kenshin never completed his training. He left before Hiko could teach him the succession techinique, his most powerful technique. Well, Hiko's kind of a jack@$$ so he declined to teach Kenshin to train him. It wasn't until Kaoru, Yahiko, and Misao meet up with Kenshin at Hiko's dojo and talk to Hiko that Hiko decides to finish Kenshin's training. In episode 42, Misao finally discovers that her other Oniwabanshu members died. Oh, what a sad day it was! That big oaf Kaoru blurted it out and hurt poor Misao's feelings! Also in this episode, Jiya decides to fight and beat Aoshi since he turned over to the side of evil. Well, Jiya did half of what he wanted to, he fought Aoshi. As for beating him, well, Aoshi kind of ripped Jiya apart. And poor Misao saw Jiya fall down to the ground by Aoshi's hand! Her love Aoshi has kicked the crap out of Jiya, more bad news for Misao. The next episode, we have a lot of flashbacks to Kenshin's past, and I mean childhood past. Did you know that Kenshin's original name was Shinta?? Hiko decided that that name was too wimpy, so he changed his name to Kenshin (kenshin sounds cooler anyway). You see, Kenshin watched his adopted parents get killed when he was but a wee little lad. Talk about childhood trauma. After some flashbacks, Kenshin is able to learn the succession technique, but guess what, it isn't the succession technique. It's the transition to the succession technique. The REAL succession technique, Ana Kakaru Ryuu no Hilameko, can only be mastered if you value your own life, so kenshin decides, hey, I can do that!

Volume 12 episodes RK special+ 45-47 Rating= 7.9

The first episode in this volume is nothing but a review of all the Rurouni Kenshin episodes up until now, it's pointless to watch. The other episodes aren't as exciting as some previous episodes, but don't worry, they don't suck. Basically, Kenshin has finished his new training, learning two new techniques. Saitoh and Kenshin team up to stop Shishio once more. This time, they discovered that he's got an old navy battle ship that he wants to use to bomb the hell out of Tokyo, Japan's capital. Well, Sanosuke comes with them and surprises everyone when HE blows up Shishio's ship and spoils all of his rotten plans. However, Saitoh wasn't impressed by Sano's victory, he thought it was just "luck". It's funny how stupid Sano is sometimes. in episode 46, Yahiko, Misao, Kaoru, and some of the other Oniwabanshu stay behind to protect Kyoto from some of the Ju Pon Gatana, the group that Shishio brought together to help him with his evil plans. Kenshin asks them all to stay to protect Kyoto while he's off to fight Shishio. A really sad part is when Jiya asks Kenshin to kill Aoshi, since Aoshi had become so evil. But Kenshin says that Aoshi is not completely evil and he won't kill him. Instead he'll bring him back to Jiya and Misao. This made Misao cry, and it was SOOOOO sad! Make sure you have a box of tissues with you for this episode!

Volume 13 episodes 48-51 Rating= 9.3

This volume is excellent, a lot of GREAT fighting scenes! Definately a volume to keep you on the edge of your seat. In episode 48 we continue with our fight between Sanosuke and Anji, and we learn a lot about Anji's past and how he got to be on the Ju Pon Gatana. When Sano did the Futae no Kiwame technique on Anji, he was kind of protected by a memorial tablet that he wore, so Anji wasn't defeated completely. Then we go to this lame flashback ten years ago to Anji's past and how he used to be a priest at the Tou Raku temple. That's where Anji took care of these kids and stuff as they prayed to their god, Hotoki. Well, Anji's church was burned down by bad bad men and all the children that he took care of went along with it. That was a pretty sad scene. But don't worry, five years later Anji took revenge on the people who burned down his church and killed those kids. So I guess he taught them a lesson! Well, cause Anji's god, Hotoki, let his children die, Anji became kind of a rebel agaist his religion. After that little flashback, Anji and Sano resumed their fight and began beating the living crap out of each other using the Futae no Kiwame technique like crazy. In episode 49, we have the fight between Saitoh and Usuie. Usuie's the blind guy who can read people's mental states. Well, we have another boring flashback to when Usuie was a young lad... yada yada yada. Usuie was blinded by Shishio, had a near death experience, and then came out of it with extraordinary senses and a mind reading ability. After that flashback, they fight, Saitoh looks like he's gonna lose, but then he kicks Usuie's @$$ at the end. Episode 50 has the fight between Kenshin and Aoshi, round 2!! This time Aoshi's even more powerful, but remember, Kenshin has his new succession technique and his new training. I'm sure you already guess that Kenshin wins at the end using his succession technique, however, he's pretty beat up after the fight. Episode 51 is pretty much goes back to the fight with Yahiko, Kaoru, and Misao in Kyoto. They have a tough time, but each one of them impresses you as they beat more of Shishio's Ju Pon Gatana.

Volume 14 episodes 52-55 Rating= 9.0

Lots more cool fight scenes in volume 14, yep this is a wonderful volume (come on, they're ALL wonderful!). Well, lets get things started. In episdoe 52, we have Yahiko's first REAL fight against a REAL opponent. Yahiko fights Henya, some skinny, ugly, flying bat-man... another one of Shishio's Ju Pon Gatana. Well, surprise surprise, Yahiko's training payed off! He was able to beat this bat-freak by using one of Kenshin's techniques, Ryuu Tsui Sen. Misao and Kaoru also fight against this guy/girl named Kamatari. It's really a guy but he dresses like a girl and looks like one too, scary huh? Well, he's got this big freaking weapon which he seems quite skilled at. He wants to take Misao and Kaoru on both at the same time, and they don't seem to have any complaints, at least that makes the odds a little better, right? Wrong. Kamatari is one serious fighter! After breaking one of Misao's ribs (which later, by the way, seem to have healed itself with no problem) and dodging Kaoru's first attack, Misao and Kaoru finally get serious. Misao and Kaoru team up, break Kamatari's weapon, and then Kaoru breaks him! Episode 53 has more of Shishio's Ju Pon Gatana taking on the gang that Kenshin left behind to defend Aoiya. Well, after defeating Kamatari and Henya, Ha-Gun and Fuji show up. Ha-Gun is this ugly little man with a big head, and Fugi is about the size of Godzilla. We clearly see that Ha-Gun is the guy with the brains while Fuji is so large, everyone considers him a monster. It's then that Hiko, Kenshin's master, shows up. He talks to Fuji, and he's the first person EVER to treat that big monster Fuji like a real fighter and not a monster. Well, Hiko beats the big balooga eventually, and without breaking much of a sweat. It was a sweet victory. Episode 54 goes back to Kenshin and his next fight with Tenken no Soujiro. Wow, this is Kenshin's most difficult fight yet. First of all, one of the basic principles in Kenshin's fighting style, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu is reading your opponent and his/her emotions before making your first attack. Well, with Soujiro we've got a problem. HE HAS NO EMOTIONS!! And if things weren't bad enough, Soujiro is FASTER than Kenshin! You see, Soujiro's got this technique called Shuku Chi and it allows him to move faster than the human eye can see. Good for Soujiro, bad for Kenshin. But wait a second, Soujiro seems to be puzzled by Kenshin's "defend the weak" motto. You see he was taught by Shishio that to survive you must be strong, not weak... and then we go into our next episode, episode 55. A flashback to Soujiro's past, when he was a little kid. He was picked on by his family as a child. He was the son of a prostitute so they didn't consider him a "real" blood relative. They would always beat him and stuff (poor Soujiro). Well, eventually Soujiro meets Shishio, and hides him in the rice factory that his family owns. When they find out about Soujiro hiding Shishio, a killer wanted by the police, in THEIR rice factory, they go to kill Soujiro. Too bad that Shishio lent Soujiro his sword. Soujiro killed his whole family. Then he went on his merry way to be trained by Shishio and lost all emotions. What a happy ending.

Volume 15 episodes 56, 1 hour special, 57 Rating= 9.2

Aside from the annoying one hour special that takes place right before Kenshin's fight with Shishio (plus knocking an hour off of actual episodes, giving us only two), this is an exciting volume of Rurouni Kenshin. The story keeps bringing us more surprises and suspense. In episode 56, Kenshin and Soujiro's fight continues, and it looks at first like Soujiro is the more skilled of the two. However, don't forget that Kenshin's got that little succession technique up his sleeve. But Soujiro has his own technique called Shun Ten Satsu. This technique is SUPER fast, faster than Kenshin, and is supposed to kill your opponent without having him or her feel a thing; instantaneous death. During the fight, Soujiro freaks out some more, all the emotions that he's been burying for all these years are finally beginning to surface. Bad for Soujiro, good for Kenshin. You see, with Kenshin's fighting style, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, you read your opponent's emotions and expressions before deciding what your first attack will be. So basically, you use your opponents emotions to anticipate how they are going to attack. So no matter how fast Soujiro is, if Kenshin can read his emotions, he can counter attack. Well, Kenshin uses his succession technique to beat the pants off of Soujiro, and Soujiro loses the battle. Soujiro's a new man now because of this fight, he's got a lot to think about. Shishio's philosophy of "the strong live and the weak die" that Soujiro has believed all these years is nothing but a bunch of B.S.(so that kind of sucks for Soujiro). Soujiro leaves Shishio with one last gift, he tells Yumi the secret behind the succession technique, that Kenshin leads with his left foot in order to do the attack. Then Soujiro wanders off to rediscover himself. After episode 56, we have a stupid one hour special that recaps the Rurouni Kenshin story thus far. Then in episode 57, Shishio and Kenshin's fight finally begins. After a little talk about the past and stuff, they start fighting. Shishio uses this COOL technique called Homura Doma, a cut and burn technique. You see, Shishio has killed SOOOO many people over the years, and he never bothered to clean his sword. So the oil and stuff from people's bodies is all over his sword, so when he strikes the ground with it, it lights up in flames. So when he slashes at Kenshin he burns him and cuts him at the same time. Pretty cool, huh? Then they fight some more, and Shishio bites kenshin in the side of the neck (he missed breakfast) and the episode ends.