Episode 17:
"Yume ni Mukatte Tobe! Houdan Musume Marimo no Bouken"
(Fly Toward Your Dreams! The Canon Ball Girl Marimo's Adventure)
A young girl named Marimo and her father leave a circus group run by an evil man named Sumida to start a circus of their own. When Marimo and her father start their "Cannon-ball girl" act (Marimo gets shot out of a cannon), Sumida's circus loses business, angering Sumida. Sumida tries to sabotage Marimo's act, but Yahiko comes to the rescue, along with Sano "the living target", Kenshin "the umbrella master", and Kaoru "the ringleader".
Episode 18:
"Hashire! Yahiko . Sakabatou wo Torikaese!"
(Run! Yahiko . Take Back the Sakabatou!)
Himura Gohei returns once again to try to get even with Kenshin. This time he tricks Yahiko into stealing Kenhin's sakabatou, and then kidnaps Yahiko to force Kenshin to fight his hired swordsmen.
Kenshin, without his sword, tries to fight the hired swordsmen, but he realizes that without his sword he is in trouble. Yahiko breaks free from where he was being held and tries to take the sakabatou to Kenshin, but seeing Yahiko with the sakabatou, Gohei engages Yahiko in combat. Yahiko kicks him in the place where it hurts the most and gets the sakabatou to Kenshin who easily dispatches the hired swordsmen.
Episode 19:
"Raijuuta no Yabou . Kinjirareta Oukoku no Gensou"
(Raijuuta's Ambition . The Fantasy of a Kindgdom Denied)
Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, and Megumi are invited to visit Genzai sensei's sister in the country. While there, they are introduced to Tsukayama Yutarou, a young boy who has a vast inheritance, including a huge area of land. Yutarou wants to become a great swordsman like his father, and asks Kenshin if he is any good with his sword, and if Kenshin wants to teach him how to use a sword if he is any good. Yutarou's insolent manner gets Yahiko extremely mad, and tries to beat him up. After disengaging Yahiko from Yutarou, Kenshin refuses, and Yutarou orders Kenshin and the others off his property.
While horse back riding to cool his head, Yutarou is attacked by a bunch of thieves, but if rescued by a strange man named Isurugi Raijuuta. Yutarou, seeing that Raijuuta is extremely skilled with his sword like his father was, adopts him as his father and mentor.
But it turns out Raijuuta rescued Yutarou from thieves which Raijuuta had hired, and had staged the whole rescue to further his own plans. Raijuuta wants to use Yutarou's wealth to build a kingdom seperate from Japan, consisting all of swordsmen. After seeing Kenshin fight, he asks Kenshin if he wants to join his soon-to-be-kingdom, but Kenshin refuses.
Episode 20:
Raijuuta and a couple of his men attack Kenshin because they don't want him to interfere with their plans. Yutarou, who was watching Kenshin and Raijuuta's men fight, falls into the ocean. Kenshin dives in to rescue Yutarou and takes him to Genzai sensei's home to recover.
Yutarou had seen how strong Kenshin was, and had heard what Raijuuta intended to do, but he still believes in Raijuuta. Yutarou tries to go back to his mansion, but Yahiko stops him, telling Yutarou that he had to beat him in order for him to go back. Yutarou tries to fight Yahiko, but he loses badly.
He starts training under Kaoru, and things go smoothly until Yutarou learns about a military strike force trying to stop Raijuuta's schemes. Yutarou runs away in order to tell Raijuuta this news.
Episode 21:
When the military strike force arrives to stop Raijuuta's plans, a bloody battle is fought between the government army and the swordsmen Raijuuta gathered. Seeing the men butchering each other, Kenshin jumps into the fray and tells everyone to stop fighting. Kenshin decides to settle the battle with a one on one fight with Raijuuta.
Yutarou, still believing that Raijuuta is a good person, tries to stop him from fighting, but Raijuuta just laughs in his face and almost severes Yutarou's arm in two. Kenshin defeats Raijuuta fairly easily, receiving only a small wound to his hand. Because Yutarou's arm cannot be treated in Japan, he heads off to Germany. While trying to board his ship, Yahiko challenges Yutarou to train with his sword once more and try to beat Yahiko. Yutarou accepts, and promises to return to Japan when he believes he is capable.
Episode 22:
Kenshin, Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko board a steam train not knowing that it is going to be attacked by pirates who want the gold which is being transported in the train. Kenshin and the others fight off the pirates and receive some money as a reward for their bravery. Kaoru uses this money to get a group picture taken of them, dragging in Sano who believes cameras suck out your soul.
Episode 23:
"Sanosuke no Uragiri!? Unmei no Saikai"
(Sanosuke's Betrayal!? Fate's Reunion)
While running a little errand for the Akabeko owner, Sano sees a painting of his mentor Sagara Souzou. He finds out that the artist is his old friend Tsukioka Katsuhiro who had also been part of the Sekihoutai. Like Sano, Katsu hates the current government and is still trying to get even with the Ishin government for the massacre of the Sekihoutai. When Katsu asks Sano if he wanted to join him in dismantling the Ishin government, Sano must choose between his new friends, and his friend from the past.
Meanwhile, the Ishin member who had undertaken the massacre of the Sekihoutai is using his position as a high ranking police officer to rob people and frame the robberies on the Sekihoutai. Katsu and Sano learn of this and beat the heck out of the corrupt police man and his gang.
Episode 24:
"Mayonaka no Tatakai! Sanosuke tai Kenshin Futatabi"
(Midnight Battle! Sanosuke vs Kenshin Once Again)
Katsu notifies Sano that he is going to attack a government building at midnight. Sano, who had decided to go along with Katsu, holds a farewell party for Kenshin and his friends who do not know the true reason behind the party.
After getting everyone asleep, Sano and Katsu leave to bomb the government building, only to find Kenshin blocking their way. Sano once again fights Kenshin, trying to buy time for Katsu so that he could destroy the building. Kenshin defeats Sano again, and gives Katsu "the look". Katsu thinks about what he was doing, and realizes that his hatred for the government had gone too far. Katsu gives up trying to destory the Ishin government and becomes a newspaper reporter supporting the Ishin government.
Episode 25:
When Kaoru gets angry at Kenshin, Yahiko and Sano for not having jobs and not earning any money, the three decide to take a job as guards for a ship which needed to go through pirate territory. When they get on the ship, they find out that Kaoru had taken a job as a cook in the same ship.
When pirates attack the ship, Kenshin and the others try to fight them off. While Kenshin fights the pirate leader Shura, he is poisoned by a dart shot by one of her men. Kenshin defeats Shura, but Kaoru is taken aboard the pirate ship as a special prize. When Kenshin asks to be taken hostage instead of Kaoru, Shura agrees, planning to kill Kenshin for embarassing her in front of her men.
Episode 26:
Upon arriving at the island where the pirates live, a couple of Shura's men discover opium in the cargo from the ship that they raided. Most of the men under Shura's command don't understand why Shura insists on only stealing things that they need to survive, and only steal these things from wealthy people. Ginjo, one of Shura's men, and a couple of his followers decide to go into the opium trade without the permission of Shura. When they realize Shura is going to get in their way, they try to kill her, but Kenshin rescues her and plunges off a waterfall. Believing that no-one could survive a fall that high, Ginjo takes command of the pirates.
Episode 27:
After having her leg treated from a wound received when her men attacked her, Shura goes decides to go after Ginjo and the pirates that betrayed her. She makes a loyal cabin boy and an old retainer who cared for her all his life board a ship to escape in case she is killed. Shura leaves the boy and the old man with Kenshin and heads off to confront Ginjo.
Kenshin goes after her, and finds Shura beating Ginjo fairly easily, but with a dirty trick Ginjo stabs Shura in the leg. Kenshin, realizing Shura was in trouble, steps in and beats Ginjo up. One of the pirates lights a bomb that accidently set off gun powder and bombs that were stored nearby. Kenshin and Shura manage to flee the burning village, finding Kaoru, Sano and Yahiko who had come to rescue Kenshin. They leave the burning village and the island behind, while Shura looks forward to the future where the poor will not have to steal from the rich.
Episode 28:
Kenshin, who normally doesn't dream about the time he fought in the Douran, is now having vivid and distrubing dreams about that period of his life. A deadly opponent from the past who Kenshin fought to a draw a couple of times is once again after Kenshin. A medicine salesman calling himself Fugita Goro comes to Kamiya Dojo, finding only Sanosuke there. Seeing that this "salesman" is not what he seems, Sano challenges him to a fight. When Kenshin and the others come home to Kamiya Dojo, they find Sano gravely injured, a calling card from someone Kenshin knows very well....
Episode 29:
Fujita Goro, or Saitou Hajime which is his real name, has joined a corrupt Ishin member in assassinating Kenshin. The corrupt Ishin member sends one of his assassins, Akamatsu, to kill Kenshin. Meanwhile, Saitou goes to Kamiya Dojo in the disguise as a police man. There he waits for the return of Kenshin, who he has been watching ever since the war ended, wondering if Kenshin still pocesses the skill he once had.
Episode 30:
"Fukushuu no Akki . Shishio Makoto no Bouryaku"
(Evil Monster of Revenge . Shishio Makoto's Plot)
A grueling battle between Kenshin and Saitou begins. As Kenshin and Saitou fight, Kenshin becomes more and more like the Hitokiri Battousai that he once was.
As Kaoru watches Kenshin's transformation in anguish, she cries out for someone to stop the two. Sano appears, and comments that only a man who fought during the Douran would be able to stop the two.
As Kenshin and Saitou prepare for their final attack, the highest ranking government official in Japan, and one of the leaders of the Ishinshishi, Ookubo Toshimichi, arrives. He and his aid stop the battle and explain to Kenshin that the man who took over Kenshin's "Hitokiri" title, Shishio Makoto, is trying to dismantle the government and take control of Japan. He explains that he sent Saitou to test Kenshin, to see if Kenshin was still the swordsman Kenshin once was.
Ookubo asks Kenshin to go to Kyoto where Shishio has his fortress, and defeat him. Ookubo gives Kenshin a few days to give him an answer and leaves. He expects that answer on May 14.... a day that will be noted in Japan's history....
Episode 31:
"Todokanu Omoi.... Kenshin no Tabidachi!"
(Never Reaching Feelings.... Kenshin's Departure!)
Before Kenshin can give Ookubo his answer, Shishio's loyal follower Seta Soujirou murders Ookubo. With Ookubo's death and the threat of Shishio getting bigger, Kenshin decides to go to Kyoto and stop Shishio. A sad parting between Kenshin and Kaoru leaves Kaoru in a state of shock.
Episode 32:
"Namida wo Yuuki ni Kaete! Kamiya Kaoru ga Eranda Michi"
(Changing Tears to Courage! The Path that Kamiya Kaoru Chose)
Sano, fuming that Kenshin left for Kyoto without him, vows to go after Kenshin and knock him around a bit. However, Saitou Hajime appears and tells Sano that Kenshin left without him because Sano was a hindrance, a weakness to Kenshin. Saitou beats Sano up without really trying, proving to Sano that he is not the strong fighter he believes himself to be. Sano still refuses to stay put in Tokyo, and sets out for Kyoto, intending to prove that he was not a weakness to Kenshin.
Kaoru is still in a state of shock from parting with Kenshin. Megumi talks some sense into her, and Kaoru decides to go to Kyoto and meet Kenshin once again.
Episode 33:
Kaoru and Yahiko board a ship bound for Kyoto, saying their good-byes to Megumi and the others who will stay behind in Tokyo. To train himself, Sano takes the harsher inland road to Kyoto, and promptly gets himself lost.
Shinomori Aoshi appears at Kamiyo Dojo, only to find out that Kenshin is not there. Saitou tells Aoshi about what has been happening, and tells him that he can find Kenshin in Kyoto. Soujirou also notices Aoshi's sudden appearance, and thinks that aoshi can be of use to Shishio.
Meanwhile, while camping for the night, Kenshin stumbles upon a girl being mugged by a group of men. It turns out however, that the girl was the one mugging the men, and seeing Kenshin, the girl decides to steal from him as well.
Episode 34:
"Oihagi Shoujou . Makimachi Misao no Kakusareta Shoutai!"
(The Female Highwayman . Makimachi Misao's Hidden Identity!)
After failing to steal from Kenshin, Kenshin forces Misao to return the money she stole, which in turn had been stolen from a merchant in a near by town. The men Misao stole the money off of come after her with their friends, and Kenshin is forced to rescue Misao from the mob.
Kenshin earns Misao's respect, and Misao tells him why she is travelling alone. It turns out that Misao is part of the Oniwabanshuu, and that she is searching for Shinomori Aoshi. Seeing Kenshin's astonishment, Misao realizes that Kenshin knows something about Aoshi. Kenshin quickly tries to leave her, but Misao sticks to him like glue, hoping to get some news on where Aoshi is.
|
