Episode 1:
"Densetsu no Bikenshi .... Aiyue ni Tatakau Otoko"
(The Legendary Swordsman .... the Man that Fights for Love)
Kamiya Kaoru stops Himura Kenshin in the street thinking he is the Hitokiri Battousai who is going around killing people in downtown Tokyo. However, she realizes that this redheaded person with a strange x-shaped scar on his cheek is not the one going around killing people. He possibly couldn't kill people with his sakabatou (reverse-bladed sword) and the clumsy way he moves doesn't indicate he is the killer.
When Kaoru faces the real killer, she gets wounded, but Kenshin rescues her. He carries her back to her dojo to treat her wound and finds out that the killer calls himself Hitokiri Battousai, and that he says he uses Kamiyakasshinryu as his sword technique, which is Kaoru's sword technique. It turns out that the killer was a former student of Kaoru's father named Hiruma Gohei. He wants revenge on Kamiya dojo because Kaoru's father rendered his swordarm useless after being caught bullying others with his sword.
Gohei is beaten into the ground (literally) by Kenshin, who is revealed to be the real Hitokiri Battousai. Kaoru realizes she has fallen for Kenshin, and asks him to stay. Kenshin accepts, telling her that since he is a rurouni (a wanderer) he may at any time wander-off again. Kaoru just smiles.
Episode 2:
"Gaki Samurai . Sutta! Monda! De Monkasei"
(Child Samurai . Stole! Beat! And then Pupil)
A young thief named Myoujin Yahiko, working for the Shueidan (a gang), tries to steal Kenshin's wallet, but Kaoru catches him and takes it back. However, Kenshin just smiles and gives the wallet to the boy, telling him not to get caught next time. Yahiko answers by throwing the wallet at Kenshin and telling him that he had stolen the wallet to tease him because Kenshin wore a sword. Kenshin, again with a smile, tells him not to lose his great pride.
Kenshin's words cause Yahiko to attempt to get out of the Shueidan, but he is only beaten and told to keep stealing. Kaoru sees Yahiko being carried off by the gang, and sends Kenshin to Yahiko's rescue. Kenshin storms into the Shueidan's hideout and takes Yahiko back to Kamiya dojo.
After seeing how strong Kenshin is, Yahiko asks Kenshin to teach him Hitenmitsurugiryu (Kenshin's sword technique), but Kenshin refuses, and tells Yahiko that he will become strong with Kamiyakasshinryu (Kaoru's sword technique). And so Kaoru becomes Yahiko's master.
Epidsode 3:
"Kanashimi no Kenshi . Kako wo Kiru Otoko"
(Sorrowful Swordsman . The Man that Cuts the Past)
After the incident with the fake Hitokiri Battousai, the government creates a special police squad with members wielding swords and having the right to kill people. However, the policemen abuse their power, and Kenshin steps in to teach them a lesson.
While beating up the policemen, an old friend of Kenshin, Yamagata Aritomo, arrives and asks Kenshin to take a high ranking government position. Kenshin refuses, saying that he has no interest in taking a government position because the only thing he did during the Douran (the period during the downfall of the Edo) was kill people. Yamagata replies that Kenshin cannot protect anyone with his sword alone, but Kenshin gives him the look (you'll find out about the look if you watch the anime or read the manga) and says that he can at least protect the ones close to him, meaning Kaoru and Yahiko.
Episode 4:
"Aku no Ichi Monji . Kenkaya Sanosuke Toujou!"
(Evil One Word . Fighter Sanosuke Appears!)
Sagara Saosuke, or Zanza, is a fighter who goes around "buying" fights. While eating at Akabeko (a restaurant), he beats up a bunch of drunks who were causing trouble and meets Kenshin in the process. He asks Kenshin for a fight, but Kenshin refuses. Zanza only shrugs and says he'll be around if Kenshin wants to take him up on the offer.
Hiruma Gohei, after finding out that Zanza is in town, hires Zanza to kill Kenshin. Zanza goes to Kamiya dojo and challenges Kenshin, but stops when Ayame and Suzume (the two little girls who belong to doctor Genzai) show-up because he doesn't like fighting in front of children and women. He promises Kenshin that they will finish their fight, and leaves, reveling in the fact that not only does he get to fight the legendary Hitokiri Battousai, but he gets revenge for past wrongs done to him by the Ishinshishi (which Kenshin was a member of).
Episode 5:
"Sakabatou tai Zanbatou . Tatakai no Hateni!"
(Reverse Bladed Sword vs Horse Cutting Sword . At the Battles End!)
Zanza returns to to fight Kenshin, and his reason for hating the Ishinshishi is revealed. He belonged to a peasant army called the Sekihoutai who were used by the Ishinshishi to further their own goals. Zanza was witness to the murder of all the Sekihoutai members, and the murder of his mentor Sagara Souzou, whose name he took after his death.
Kenshin does not deny that the Sekihoutai were treated badly, and Yahiko and Kaoru tell Zanza how Kenshin is trying to help other people to repay his debt for killing so many people during the Douran. Zanza finally realizes that Kenshin is not like the Ishinshishi who killed his mentor, and realizes that Kenshin was doing far more than he was in trying to help people.
After recovering from the injuries received when he fought Kenshin, he tells Kenshin that he is Zanza no longer, only Sagara Sanosuke, much like how Hitokiri Battousai is now just Himura Kenshin. Sanosuke tells Kenshin not to wander off without him, for he finds a true friend in Kenshin.
Episode 6:
When government officials start getting murdered by an assassin called Kurogasa, Kenshin is asked to protect a certain government official. Sano, never one to miss a fight, goes with Kenshin.
After seeing the assassin, Kenshin realizes that the assassin is Udou Jine, an outcast of the Shinsengumi. Jine was outcast from the Shinsengumi because he killed people for pleasure, not for the Shinsengumi cause. When Jine finds Kenshin, he realizes he has found someone who he can enjoy fighting against. He tells Kenshin to go back to being a Hitokiri (assassin) because if Kenshin doesn't, he will never be able to beat Jine, and Jine will keep killing people.
Jine kidnaps Kaoru, hoping this will speed up the process of Kenshin becoming a Hitokiri once more.
Episode 7:
"Gekka no Shitou . Aisuru Hito wo Mamore!"
(Fight to the Death Under the Moon . Protect the Ones You Love!)
When Kenshin and Jine start their battle, Jine quickly realizes that Kenshin still has not truly become the Hitokiri Battousai that became legend. Jine uses his "ki" to stop Kaoru's breathing to force Kenshin to revert to the cold blooded killer Kenshin once was.
With only a few minutes to live, Kaoru desperately tries to free herself from Jine's spell, and stop Kenshin from reverting, but to no avail. Out of anger, Kenshin reverts to the Hitokiri Battousai and quickly defeats Jine. As he prepares to finish Jine off, Kaoru breaks free of Jine's spell out of love for Kenshin and shouts for him to stop. Kenshin stops his killing stroke and returns to the normal Kenshin. Jine, realizing he has been defeated, commits suicide. His last words, which will come to haunt Kenshin, were "Once a Hitokiri, always a Hitokiri...."
Episode 8:
"Aratanaru Tatakai! Tobikondekita Nazo no Bijo"
(A New Battle! The Mysterious and Beautiful Woman Who Jumped In Suddenly)
While gambling with friends, Sano and Kenshin learn that one of Sano's friends died when tricked into using opium. As Sano takes in the news, a young woman named Takani Megumi rushes in on Sano and Kenshin begging for their help. Kenshin and Sano learn that Megumi is being hunted by a cruel businessman named Takeda Kanryu and a group called the Oniwabanshu.
When Kenshin and Sano take Megumi to Kamiya Dojo, they are attacked by a couple of the Oniwabanshu, resulting in Yahiko being poisoned by a poison dart. Megumi takes over the treatment of Yahiko, and reveals that she is a skilled doctor, especially in creating medicine. This revelation makes Sano even more suspicous after finding Megumi with some opium....
Episode 9:
"Saikyou no Shinobigundan . Kyoufu no Oniwabanshu!"
(The Ultimate Stealth Army . The Dreaded Oniwabanshu!)
Sano confronts Megumi as to why she has opium on her. Kenshin, after careful thought, recognizes Megumi as the daughter of the Takani family, a family with a great history in medicine.
Megumi tells her sad story about how she was seperated from her family during a war that occured during the Douran, and how she apprenticed herself to a doctor without knowing that the doctor was secretly making opium with Takeda Kanryu. After killing the doctor who wouldn't tell Kanryu the formula to make a new type of opium, Kanryu forced Megumi to create the opium he needed to generate money. Megumi relates how she wanted to die, but she couldn't kill herself because of the hope that she would once again be reunited with her family.
After hearing her story, Kenshin and Kaoru both agree that Megumi should stay at Kamiya Dojo where she would be safe. While there, Megumi is given a warning that if she did not return to Kanryu, Kamiya Dojo and all the people associated with it would be killed and burned. Forced to return, Megumi writes a note to Kenshin and Kaoru and leaves for Kanryu's mansion.
However, Sano finds out she is returning to Kanryu and stops her. While talking in front of Kanryu's mansion with Megumi, Sano is attacked by the Oniwabanshu named Shikijou, and though hard pressed, Sano defeats him. Megumi is unfortunately snatched away from Sano, and taken inside Kanryu's mansion. Kenshn, Kaoru, and Yahiko arrive after realizing that Megumi had been forced to return to Kanryu.
Episode 10:
"Aoshi . Utsukushi sugiru hodo Kowai Yatsu"
(Aoshi . The Man so Scary as to seem almost Beautiful)
Kenshin and gang, or the Kenshin-gumi, (at least that's what Yahiko calls them) raid Kanryu's mansion. Kanryu, fearing the wrath of Kenshin, promises to return Megumi in one hour, an hour in which Kanryu will torture Megumi to find out the formula for the new opium.
The leader of the Oniwabanshu, Shinomori Aoshi (kewlest character in RK *:) ) has other plans, and tells Kanryu to "sit there and count your money" while Shinomori and the rest of the Oniwabanshu fight Kenshin. Shinomori wants to fight Kenshin so that he can get the title of being the "ultimate fighters" for the Oniwabanshu during the the Douran.
Kenshin fights Hanya, the "right hand" of Shinomori and defeats him, but Hanya warns Kenshin that he will never be able to beat Shinomori with the way Kenshin fights.
When matched up against Shinomori, Kenshin quickly realizes that Shinomori is a great fighter; Shinomori uses his short sword to create a perfect defence and uses his kenpo (martial arts) to attack with precision and speed.
Episode 11:
"Saraba Saikyou no Otokotachi! Hikari to Yami no Gekitotsu"
(Farewell the Ultimate Men! The Clash of Light and Darkness)
Shinomori uses his special move "Kaitenkenbu-rokuren" and wounds Kenshin, but Kenshin in the end grabs Shinomori's sword with his bare hands and jabs Shinomori with the butt of his short sword in the neck.
Kanryu appears, ready to kill Kenshin and Shinomori with his gattling gun, but the four Oniwabanshu sacrifice their lives to try to stop Kanryu from killing their master, Shinomori Aoshi. Beshimi fires one of his darts into the ammunition chain for the gatling gun which enables Kenshin to nail Kanryu in the face when the gattling gun jams.
Aoshi buries the four loyal Oniwabanshu personally, and promises to kill Kenshin so that "he can give the flower of being the best to the four Oniwabanshu's graves.
Meanwhile, Megumi tires to kill herself, but Sano stops her, and Kenshin tells her that she should become a doctor to help those in need, so that she could make-up for the people she harmed when she was producing opium. Megumi agrees, becoming an apprentice to Genzai sensei.
Episode 12:
"Shounen Kenshi Tanjou! Ichiban Deshi Yahiko no Tatakai"
(The Birth of a Child Swordsman! Number One Student Yahiko's Battle)
Yahiko gets involved with a young girl named Sanjou Tsubame who is being used by a group of thugs to steal keys to households. Yahiko tries to stop them from using Tsubame, but he is beaten badly because he was out-numbered.
After his defeat, he asks Kenshin if there were any techniques to fight multiple enemies, and Kenshin replies by giving him a strategy. He warns Yahiko that using Kamiyakanshinryu means that the swordsman cannot lose, for if he loses, not only does he get hurt, but the one he is trying to protect gets hurt as well.
Yahiko keeps this in hear as he faces off with the thugs who are trying to rob a house using keys Tsubame copied. Yahiko beats the thugs, and chases them away, with a little help from the presence of Kenshin and Sano.
Episode 13:
A kind, caring sumo wrestler runs away from the place where he trains because of the abuse he was taking from the other sumo wrestlers there. He ends up at Kamiya dojo where he trains under Kaoru, realizing the potential he has for becoming a great suomo wrestler.
Episode 14:
Megumi must prove that she is a killed doctor in the face of bad rumours spread by the Yakuza. She also must face and break sexist stereotypes that hold her back from being accepted as a skilled doctor.
Episode 15:
An assassin group wants to enlist a kind-hearted teacher named Sasaki Heihachirou, who used to be a swordsman, to their group. Sasaki refuses because he has given up fighting and killing. He wants to be left alone so he can teach children to read and write so that they will be prepared for the future to come. One of the assassin group members won't accept his rejection, and threatens to harm the children Sasaki teaches if he doesn't join them.
Episode 16:
Sasaki decides to become a swordsman once again to protect the children, but Sano doesn't allow him to. Sano enlists the help of Kenshin to stop Toma, the former student of Sasaki, and the assassin member trying to force Sasaki to join the assassin group. Toma is trying to assassinate Yamagata Aritomo, a high ranking official in the government, who is also Kenshin's friend.
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