Misplaced Pages

#407592

223-582: Himura Kenshin ( 緋村 剣心 ) , known as Kenshin Himura in the English-language anime dubs , is a fictional character and the protagonist of the manga Rurouni Kenshin created by Nobuhiro Watsuki . Kenshin's story is set in a fictional version of Japan during the Meiji period . Kenshin is a former legendary assassin known as " Hitokiri Battōsai " ( 人斬り抜刀斎 ) , more properly named Himura Battōsai ( 緋村抜刀斎 ) . At

446-533: A Studio Ghibli feature film directed by Hayao Miyazaki , won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards . It later became the highest-grossing anime film , earning more than $ 355 million. Since the 2000s, an increased number of anime works have been adaptations of light novels and visual novels ; successful examples include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Fate/stay night (both 2006). Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

669-536: A battōjutsu that surpasses the speed of the Kuzu-ryūsen . Even if the technique is defeated, it can generate a vacuum in its wake and sucking the opponent in; as this happens, the body is spun around for a second stronger strike. Throughout the training, Kenshin increasingly wants to survive to any combat so that Kaoru will not be shocked by his death. After finishing his training, Kenshin's friends reunite with him and help him defeat Shishio and his army. Months later,

892-494: A similar style to Japanese animation are also produced outside Japan. Video games sometimes also feature themes and art styles that are sometimes labelled as anime. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917. A characteristic art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and spread in following decades, developing a large domestic audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, through television broadcasts, directly to home media , and over

1115-403: A "centralized feudal " form of the shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu , the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . Already a powerful daimyo (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million koku , or thirty-six hectares of land, a new headquarters at Edo ,

1338-514: A "good fit" for Kenshin. Watsuki said that he imagined Kenshin's voice to be "more neutral". The fact that the audiobook voice actors, especially Ogata and Tomokazu Seki , who portrayed Sanosuke, did not voice their corresponding roles in the anime disappointed Watsuki. In the anime adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin , Watsuki's designs were combined with the voice talents of voice actress Mayo Suzukaze . She said that she started feeling like Kenshin after years of work as his voice, but says that providing

1561-468: A "slangy" one. For the final version of the first Romantic Story , Watsuki adjusted the dialogue; in his view, he made Kenshin sound "more as I prefer him now". Nevertheless, Kenshin was concerned about how Kenshin's manner abruptly changed when facing his opponent. Watsuki added Kenshin's trademark "oro" ( おろ ) as a placeholder to be an expression of the English speech disfluency "huh". Watsuki notes that he

1784-505: A Buddhist or Shinto temple. The Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki . Besides small trade of some outer daimyo with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands , to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of sakoku to Nagasaki. The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644. By

2007-550: A bigger contrast. A reader also asked Watsuki whether Kenshin could defeat his rival Saitō Hajime since they never got a final duel. Watsuki responded, saying the two are equally matched but the result might depend whether or not Kenshin had something to protect. Like several characters, Kenshin was influenced the Shinsengumi with Kenshin being affected by Okita Sōji and Saitō Hajime in order to give him an air of mystery. According to Watsuki, when he found that Kawakami maintained

2230-464: A character that appears in his first one-shot manga, "Crescent Moon in the Warring States". As a result, he was given a virile appearance with long red hair as well as cross-shaped scar in his face. He was also based on the hitokiri Kawakami Gensai . In Japanese, Kenshin has been voiced by Megumi Ogata for the drama CDs and Mayo Suzukaze for the animated adaptations. In the live-action films he

2453-406: A common characteristic of American streaming television shows during the " Peak TV " era. The animation industry consists of more than 430 production companies with some of the major studios including Toei Animation , Gainax , Madhouse , Gonzo , Sunrise , Bones , TMS Entertainment , Nippon Animation , P.A.Works , Studio Pierrot , Production I.G , Ufotable and Studio Ghibli . Many of

SECTION 10

#1732951927408

2676-686: A dark shade is used. However, not all anime characters have large eyes. For example, the works of Hayao Miyazaki are known for having realistically proportioned eyes, as well as realistic hair colors on their characters. Hair in anime is often unnaturally lively and colorful or uniquely styled. The movement of hair in anime is exaggerated and "hair actions" is used to emphasize the action and emotions of characters for added visual effect. Poitras traces hairstyle color to cover illustrations on manga, where eye-catching artwork and colorful tones are attractive for children's manga. Some anime will depict non-Japanese characters with specific ethnic features, such as

2899-561: A diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time. Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo

3122-414: A distinct set of conventions. Unlike Disney animation, where the emphasis is on the movement, anime emphasizes the art quality and let limited animation techniques make up for the lack of time spent on movement. Such techniques are often used not only to meet deadlines but also as artistic devices. Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views, and backgrounds are instrumental in creating

3345-720: A diverse range of genres targeting an adult audience. Shōjo and shōnen anime sometimes contain elements popular with children of all genders in an attempt to gain crossover appeal. Adult anime may feature a slower pace or greater plot complexity that younger audiences may typically find unappealing, as well as adult themes and situations. A subset of adult anime works featuring pornographic elements are labeled "R18" in Japan, and are internationally known as hentai (originating from pervert ( 変態 , hentai ) ). By contrast, some anime subgenres incorporate ecchi , sexual themes or undertones without depictions of sexual intercourse , as typified in

3568-517: A dojo whereas in Haru ni Sakura he reunites with all his friends and learn about the place where Saito left and learn of his friend Sagara Sanosuke through a letter after he left Japan. The manga's reboot, Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration , follows Kenshin's stay in Tokyo as in the original series. After attacking a drug dealer known as Takeda Kanryu, Kenshin becomes the target of many of his warriors. This leads to

3791-479: A duty to his dead comrades, he decided to create the title character . Since Watsuki's debut work contained a tall, black-haired man in "showy" armor, he wanted to make a character "completely opposite" to the debut character; the new character ended up "coming out like a girl". According to Watsuki, he used "no real motif" when creating Kenshin and placed a cross-shaped scar on his face "not knowing what else to do." During his fight against Shishio Makoto's army, Kenshin

4014-469: A fight against his old enemy Jin-e from the Shinsengumi who tries to encourage his hitokiri be reborn by using Kaoru as a hostage and nearly killing her. However, as Kenshin is about kill Jin-e, Kaoru stops him; following Jin-e's suicide, Kenshin stays in Kaoru's dojo. Before the reboot, Watsuki also wrote a prequel chapter where Kenshin meets a western doctor during his years of wandering. In 2016, Watsuki wrote

4237-633: A fixed iconography that is used as shorthand for certain emotions and moods. For example, a male character may develop a nosebleed when aroused. A variety of visual symbols are employed, including sweat drops to depict nervousness, visible blushing for embarrassment, or glowing eyes for an intense glare. Another recurring sight gag is the use of chibi (deformed, simplified character designs) figures to comedically punctuate emotions like confusion or embarrassment. The opening and credits sequences of most anime television series are accompanied by J-pop or J-rock songs, often by reputed bands—as written with

4460-700: A fresh paradigm of humanity based on tenderness and mutual acceptance as a counter-movement to the individualism, competition and efficiency that characterize the project of modernity". Anime Anime ( Japanese : アニメ , IPA: [aꜜɲime] ) (a term derived from a shortening of the English word animation ) is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan . Outside Japan and in English, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Many works of animation with

4683-632: A happy ending despite his hitokiri actions. Watsuki believes that Takeru Satoh's portrayal of the main character stands out as stronger than the manga one, most notably in The Final . He felt that Kenshin was a "King Type" character similar to Monkey D. Luffy from Eiichiro Oda 's One Piece as a result of how heroic they are. Watsuki also reflected on Kenshin's pacifism which became a common trend in other heroes in Weekly Shonen Jump protagonists like Luffy and Naruto Uzumaki who fight but are against

SECTION 20

#1732951927408

4906-492: A major cel production company, announced it would stop cel production, producing an industry panic to procure cel imports and hastening the switch to digital processes. Prior to the digital era, anime was produced with traditional animation methods using a pose to pose approach. The majority of mainstream anime uses fewer expressive key frames and more in-between animation. Japanese animation studios were pioneers of many limited animation techniques, and have given anime

5129-540: A major role in this, through over time many legal alternatives appeared which significantly reduced illegal practices. Since the 2010s streaming services have become increasingly involved in the production, licensing and distribution of anime for the international markets. This is especially the case with net services such as Netflix and Crunchyroll which have large catalogs in Western countries, although until 2020 anime fans in multiple developing countries, such as India and

5352-474: A man known as Yukishiro Enishi starts attacking all the people Kenshin meets as an act of revenge for the death of his sister Yukishiro Tomoe. At this point, it is revealed that Kenshin was married to Tomoe in the Bakumatsu, but accidentally killed her while trying to rescue her from a group of assassins. When Enishi learns of Kenshin's feelings towards Kaoru, he sets out to kidnap her. He succeeds and leaves behind

5575-509: A myth derived from the popularity of anime in France in the late 1970s and 1980s. In English, anime —when used as a common noun —normally functions as a mass noun . (For example: "Do you watch anime?" or "How much anime have you watched?") As with a few other Japanese words, such as saké and Pokémon , English texts sometimes spell anime as animé (as in French), with an acute accent over

5798-531: A peaceful resolution as Shigure's own men betray him and several of his soldiers die alongside him. In the OVAs of the series, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal from 1999, Kenshin's life in the Bakumatsu is explored. In Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection released in 2001, as time passes, Kenshin becomes tortured with guilt for leading a happy life after such a destructive past. He decides to wander again, and Kaoru strongly supports him, promising to welcome him home with

6021-443: A poll by Anime News Network, Kenshin was voted as the second best male anime character with long hair, being surpassed by Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist . In 2014, IGN ranked him as the fifth greatest anime character of all time, saying that: "Although Kenshin's momentary lapses make him a complete badass and set the stage for some of the most epic sword battles ever animated, Kenshin always goes back to his sweet persona once

6244-555: A positive worldwide image and improve its relations with other countries such as its East Asian neighbours China and South Korea . In 2015, during remarks welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House, President Barack Obama thanked Japan for its cultural contributions to the United States by saying: This visit is a celebration of the ties of friendship and family that bind our peoples. I first felt it when I

6467-565: A professionally made decoy of Kaoru with a sword in her heart, making everyone believe that she has been murdered. Kenshin falls into a severe depression and runs off to a village of outcasts to mourn. After a while, he is forced to stand up and fight upon learning one his friend is in danger, returning to his former self in the process. Meanwhile, his friends discover Kaoru is alive. The group goes to rescue her on Enishi's island. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows. When Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Afterwards, Kenshin learns that since

6690-532: A pronounced nose and jutting jaw for European characters. In other cases, anime feature characters whose race or nationality is not always defined, and this is often a deliberate decision, such as in the Pokémon animated series. Anime and manga artists often draw from a common canon of iconic facial expression illustrations to denote particular moods and thoughts. These techniques are often different in form than their counterparts in Western animation, and they include

6913-512: A requisite for a work to be considered "anime". The etymology of the term anime is disputed. The English word "animation" is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション ( animēshon ) and as アニメ ( anime , pronounced [a.ɲi.me] ) in its shortened form. Some sources claim that the term is derived from the French term for animation dessin animé ("cartoon", literally 'animated drawing'), but others believe this to be

Himura Kenshin - Misplaced Pages Continue

7136-486: A result, Satoh briefly showed Kenshin's hitokiri side for a brief moment. The actor said he discussed this scene with the director who pleased with the result. Kenshin's strongest technique, the Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki , was Satoh's favorite move as he likes its meaning. While Kenshin shouts his attacks' names in both manga and anime, Satoh instead decided to say the names after performing those moves. During shooting of

7359-403: A rise in sales of shows to television stations in Japan, caused by late night anime with adults as the target demographic . This type of anime is less popular outside Japan, being considered "more of a niche product ". Spirited Away (2001) was the all-time highest-grossing film in Japan until overtaken by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in 2020. It was also

7582-599: A sidestory named The Ex-Con Ashitaro in which Kenshin appears to save the young title character from a group of enemies. Shueisha later revealed Ashitaro is the prequel to an upcoming from Rurouni Kenshin : the Hokkaido Arc. In the Hokkaido arc , Kenshin's group learns that Kaoru's father is alive and decide to go to Hokkaido to find him. Yahiko returns Kenshin his sakabato to aid him in possible fights but Kenshin's stamina keeps reaching its limit when fighting. Although Kenshin

7805-507: A significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka . The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan , a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In

8028-512: A slight increase in production costs and animator pays during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021 the American streaming service Netflix announced that it will greatly invest and fund the anime industry as well as support training programs for new animators. On April 27, 2023, Nippon Anime Film Culture Association (NAFCA) was officially founded. The association aims to solve problems in

8251-666: A smile and their child. Kenshin eventually becomes ravaged by an unknown disease. However, he decides to assist in the First Sino-Japanese War as he had promised the Meiji Government. After the war's end, Sanosuke discovers a gravely injured Kenshin on the shore, who has lost his memory and cannot return to Japan. Sanosuke arranges for Kenshin's return to Tokyo and Kaoru. The two finally meet, and Kenshin collapses into her arms as he clutches her. Kaoru then notices Kenshin's scar has faded away, signifying his death. After watching

8474-550: A sponsorship from the Imperial Japanese Navy . The 1950s saw a proliferation of short, animated advertisements created for television. In the 1960s, manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified Disney animation techniques to reduce costs and limit frame counts in his productions. Originally intended as temporary measures to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with inexperienced staff, many of his limited animation practices came to define

8697-511: A strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo ), and also had an additional two million koku of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control of the Toyotomi clan . Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the old Japanese calendar , on the 15th day of the ninth month of

8920-493: A television series produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno , began another era of experimental anime titles, such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). In the 1990s, anime also began attracting greater interest in Western countries; major international successes include Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z , both of which were dubbed into more than a dozen languages worldwide. In 2003, Spirited Away ,

9143-556: A village of wanderers. Watsuki did not enjoy angst in Kenshin so his friend Myōjin Yahiko took the place as the series' protagonist until Kenshin recovered. In order to make Kenshin recover, Watsuki introduced Tomoe's father, who is simply referred as "Geezer", who assists him in finding an answer to atone for his sins. Once Kenshin recovered, he runs back to the city in order to save Yahiko from Enishi's former comrade, Kujiranami Hyōgo . The fight

Himura Kenshin - Misplaced Pages Continue

9366-461: A vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization , increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and

9589-495: A wanderer once the Bakumatsu ends, abandoning his bushido and becoming more benevolent in the process. In The Renegotiation of Modernity , Kenshin's heroic nature as a wanderer was compared to both Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter due to how he wishes to protect the weak people, seeing nothing wrong with such trait as heavily explored in the series when confronting the young Seta Sojiro who had opposite values in terms how should

9812-455: A whole, they do share some similar attributes in terms of animation technique and character design. Anime is fundamentally characterized by the use of limited animation, flat expression, the suspension of time, its thematic range, the presence of historical figures, its complex narrative line and, above all, a peculiar drawing style, with characters characterized by large and oval eyes, with very defined lines, bright colors and reduced movement of

10035-413: A young woman named Kamiya Kaoru , who invites him to live in her dojo, despite learning about Kenshin's past. Throughout the series, Kenshin begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people, including ex-enemies, while dealing with his fair share of enemies, new and old. When creating Kenshin, Watsuki designed the androgynous and small Kenshin to be physical opposite of the bulky Hiko Seijūrō ,

10258-591: Is mecha , with the Gundam metaseries being iconic. The diverse fantasy genre includes works based on Asian and Western traditions and folklore; examples include the Japanese feudal fairytale InuYasha , and the depiction of Scandinavian goddesses who move to Japan to maintain a computer called Yggdrasil in Ah! My Goddess . Genre crossing in anime is also prevalent, such as the blend of fantasy and comedy in Dragon Half , and

10481-499: Is a "classic romance." Bamboo Dong from Anime News Network highly criticized Kenshin in the OVA's retelling of the Kyoto arc for lacking all the development he faced in both the manga and anime of this arc. For Sony's OVAs of the franchise, there have also been multiple response. Matthew Anderson from DVD Vision Japan found the series' title "Samurai X" unfitting for Kenshin as the reviewer regarded

10704-467: Is an art form that comprises many genres found in other mediums; it is sometimes mistakenly classified as a genre itself. In Japanese, the term anime is used to refer to all animated works, regardless of style or origin. English-language dictionaries typically define anime ( / ˈ æ n ɪ m eɪ / ) as "a style of Japanese animation" or as "a style of animation originating in Japan". Other definitions are based on origin, making production in Japan

10927-530: Is forced to resume his training and mend his relationship with his teacher Hiko Seijūrō , who taught and took care of him as a child. He learns the Kuzu-ryūsen ( 九頭龍閃 , lit. "Nine-headed Dragon Strike") , which deals nine simultaneous strikes to the fundamental targets of swordsmanship. The Kuzu-ryūsen , however, is a part of the test used for the initiation in learning his strongest technique: Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki ( 天翔龍閃 , literally "Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash"; Viz translation – "Dragon Flight of Heaven") ,

11150-473: Is given a new sword with a sheath made of wood. Though it is more difficult to draw, Watsuki decided to redesign the sword to make it look like the first one Kenshin had in the series. At the end of the series, Kenshin appears with short hair. Initially, Watsuki had planned to make his hair shorter before the end; however, he found this to be similar to the character Multi in To Heart . Additionally, Himura Kenji

11373-489: Is largely credited with popularizing anime in the Western world during the early 1990s, before anime was further popularized by television shows such as Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z in the late 1990s. By 1997, Japanese anime was the fastest-growing genre in the American video industry. The growth of the Internet later provided international audiences with an easy way to access Japanese content. Early on, online piracy played

SECTION 50

#1732951927408

11596-449: Is now its largest industry sector). By 2025 the anime industry is expected to reach a value of $ 30 billion with over 60% of that revenue coming from overseas. Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) valued the domestic anime market in Japan at ¥2.4 trillion ( $ 24 billion ), including ¥2 trillion from licensed products, in 2005. JETRO reported sales of overseas anime exports in 2004 to be ¥2 trillion ( $ 18 billion ). JETRO valued

11819-531: Is primarily interested in finding Kaoru's father, he learns from Saito's adopted son Mishima Eiji of a new threat in Hokkaido who aim to conquer Japan rather than westernize the country. For this purpose, Saito calls Shishio's surviving allies and one Shinsengumi, Nagakura Shinpachi, to aid them in the battle. Sanosuke also returns to aid Kenshin in the battle. In 2021, Watsuki created the manga "Sakabatō Shogeki" ( 逆刃刀 初撃 , "Reverse-Blade Katana: First Bout") that shows

12042-519: Is the " Battōsai ". Kenshin wants to protect every individual from danger without harming others. Formerly known as "the strongest hitokiri ," Kenshin is the main target of many old enemies and people who want to gain his title. Thus, he avoids letting others get too close to him for their own protection. However, he eventually begins to rely on his friends, allowing them to fight alongside him. During his stay in Tokyo, Kenshin establishes lifelong relationships with many people, including ex-enemies, such as

12265-403: Is tied in two tails, which are flowing to make him look younger, and shorter, and less androgynous . Watsuki also added a Habaki to Kenshin's sword to make it easier to draw by simplifying its structure, while also emphasizing strength. Kenshin's hitokiri look was also redesigned slightly, by making his clothes more worn and giving him Yukishiro Tomoe 's neck scarf. When the live-action of

12488-477: Is used to distinguish and identify Japanese animation. Emakimono and shadow plays ( kage-e ) are considered precursors of Japanese animation. Emakimono was common in the eleventh century. Traveling storytellers narrated legends and anecdotes while the emakimono was unrolled from the right to left in chronological order, as a moving panorama. Kage-e was popular during the Edo period and originated from

12711-550: The Weekly Shōnen Jump cross-over video game , Jump Force , developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment . Teppei Koike also portrays Kenshin in the Kyoto arc musical and has expressed joy of doing it, having read the manga when he was younger. Kenshin has been highly popular with the Rurouni Kenshin reader base, having ranked first in every Weekly Shōnen Jump popularity poll of the series, always with more than double

12934-1062: The chōnin (craftsmen and merchants) class and nōmin (peasants) class were literate. Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration. As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of bunraku (puppet theatre), kibyōshi (satirical novels), sharebon (books on urban culture), kokkeibon (comical books), ninjōbon (romance novel), yomihon and kusazōshi were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko ( Life of an Amorous Man ) by Ihara Saikaku , Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Takizawa Bakin and Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times. The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism

13157-524: The Guinness World Record for the "Most in-demand animated TV show" with a global demand rating 71.2 times than that of the average TV show, previously held by Attack on Titan . Anime differs from other forms of animation by its art styles, methods of animation, its production, and its process. Visually, anime works exhibit a wide variety of art styles, differing between creators, artists, and studios. While no single art style predominates anime as

13380-537: The Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū is only suitable for a wide-framed muscular build like that of Seijūrō's, his body will eventually begin to deteriorate and he will soon be unable to use it again. Five years later, Kenshin is married to Kaoru and has a son named Kenji. After an encounter with Kaoru's student Myōjin Yahiko , Kenshin gives his sakabatō to him as a gift for his coming-of-age . Kenshin first appeared in two chapters of Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story ,

13603-524: The Philippines , had fewer options for obtaining access to legal content, and therefore would still turn to online piracy. However beginning with the 2020s anime has been experiencing yet another boom in global popularity and demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video , HBO Max , Disney+ , Hulu and anime-only services like Crunchyroll and Hidive , increasing

SECTION 60

#1732951927408

13826-413: The Rurouni Kenshin musical, Watsuki was convinced to write Hokkaido as soon as he finished writing his recent work Embalming . In order to keep the cheerful feeling of the original series, Watsuki wrote the new characters who are nicely treated by Kenshin and Kaoru. Upon helping the staff from the live-action films, The Final and The Beginning , Watsuki came up with new ideas to give Kenshin's story

14049-616: The United Kingdom wanting to get a degree in the Japanese language . The word anime alongside other Japanese pop cultural terms like shonen , shojo and isekai have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary . Various anime and manga series have influenced Hollywood in the making of numerous famous movies and characters. Hollywood itself has produced live-action adaptations of various anime series such as Ghost in

14272-658: The bakufu and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets. As the shogunate only allowed daimyos to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there. Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In

14495-411: The bakuhan , the shōgun had national authority, and the daimyo had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million koku , control of

14718-419: The emperor , the court, all daimyo, and the religious orders. The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the shōgun , who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter

14941-450: The highest-grossing anime film worldwide until it was overtaken by Makoto Shinkai 's 2016 film Your Name . Anime films represent a large part of the highest-grossing Japanese films yearly in Japan, with 6 out of the top 10 in 2014 , 2015 and also in 2016 . Anime has to be licensed by companies in other countries in order to be legally released. While anime has been licensed by its Japanese owners for use outside Japan since at least

15164-581: The real robot genre. Robot anime series such as Gundam and Super Dimension Fortress Macross became instant classics in the 1980s, and the genre remained one of the most popular in the following decades. The bubble economy of the 1980s spurred a new era of high-budget and experimental anime films, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987), and Akira (1988). Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995),

15387-634: The shōgun ' s retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity. More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians). Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from travelling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636,

15610-699: The shōgun and daimyo could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry . The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his shinpan domains and other daimyos followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as han schools (藩校, hankō ). Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts. These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and

15833-482: The terakoya curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy. High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms. In urban areas, children were often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education. In Edo,

16056-675: The "fathers of anime") produced numerous films, the oldest surviving of which is Kōuchi's Namakura Gatana . Many early works were lost with the destruction of Shimokawa's warehouse in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake . By the mid-1930s, animation was well-established in Japan as an alternative format to the live-action industry. It suffered competition from foreign producers, such as Disney , and many animators, including Noburō Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata , continued to work with cheaper cutout animation rather than cel animation . Other creators, including Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo , nevertheless made great strides in technique, benefiting from

16279-399: The "pool of blood" theme. The author said this version of the character seems slightly more immature than the original because he is more reserved and excitable; "perhaps he isn't too hero-like." Watsuki changed the way Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū and its techniques are written purely for fun. The editorial office even got a phone call pointing this out. The most noticeable change in his appearance is

16502-700: The 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated. Its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company , and for a short period, the Portuguese, Spanish and English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki. Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial. During

16725-412: The 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost zero population growth , often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine ( Great Tenmei famine 1782–1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population. At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around

16948-529: The 1960s, the practice became well-established in the United States in the late 1970s to early 1980s, when such TV series as Gatchaman and Captain Harlock were licensed from their Japanese parent companies for distribution in the US market. The trend towards American distribution of anime continued into the 1980s with the licensing of titles such as Voltron and the 'creation' of new series such as Robotech through

17171-522: The 1980s and 1990s. These mass imports influenced anime popularity in Latin American , Arabic and German markets. The beginning of 1980 saw the introduction of Japanese anime series into the American culture. In the 1990s, Japanese animation slowly gained popularity in America. Media companies such as Viz and Mixx began publishing and releasing animation into the American market. The 1988 film Akira

17394-405: The 1980s, the medium has also seen widespread international success with the rise of foreign dubbed , subtitled programming, and since the 2010s due to the rise of streaming services and a widening demographic embrace of anime culture, both within Japan and worldwide. As of 2016, Japanese animation accounted for 60% of the world's animated television shows . As a type of animation , anime

17617-438: The 1990s. Since this practice raises concerns for copyright and piracy issues, fansubbers tend to adhere to an unwritten moral code to destroy or no longer distribute an anime once an official translated or subtitled version becomes licensed. They also try to encourage viewers to buy an official copy of the release once it comes out in English, although fansubs typically continue to circulate through file-sharing networks. Even so,

17840-463: The 2020s anime songs have experienced a rapid growth in global online popularity due to their widened availability on music streaming services like Spotify and promotion by fans and artists on social media. In 2023, the opening theme " Idol " by Yoasobi of the anime series Oshi no Ko topped the Billboard Global 200 Excl. U.S. charts with 45.7 million streams and 24,000 copies sold outside

18063-399: The 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification. Only

18286-610: The Americas and then to Europe. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships , three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa , used those ships throughout Asia. The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans . By 1612,

18509-510: The DVD format which offered the unique advantages; including multiple subtitling and dubbing tracks on the same disc. The DVD format also has its drawbacks in its usage of region coding ; adopted by the industry to solve licensing, piracy and export problems and restricted region indicated on the DVD player. The Video CD (VCD) format was popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but became only a minor format in

18732-467: The Dutch were restricted to Dejima , a small artificial island —and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor. The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked

18955-514: The Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships , such as the San Juan Bautista , a 500- ton galleon -type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to

19178-587: The Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of "World's Most In-Demand TV Show", previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones . In 2024, the anime series Jujutsu Kaisen won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2023" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Rising interest in anime as well as Japanese video games has led to an increase of university students in

19401-560: The Internet . In addition to original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics ( manga ), light novels , or video games . It is classified into numerous genres targeting various broad and niche audiences. Anime is a diverse medium with distinctive production methods that have adapted in response to emergent technologies. It combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. Compared to Western animation, anime production generally focuses less on movement, and more on

19624-462: The Internet has led some animators to distribute works online in a format called " original net animation " (ONA). The home distribution of anime releases was popularized in the 1980s with the VHS and LaserDisc formats. The VHS NTSC video format used in both Japan and the United States is credited with aiding the rising popularity of anime in the 1990s. The LaserDisc and VHS formats were transcended by

19847-471: The Japan Action Awards 2012, Satoh also won an award in the category "Best Action Actor". Several publications covering manga, anime, video games, and other media have praised and criticized the character. Tasha Robinson from SciFi.com remarked "Kenshin's schizoid personal conflict between his ruthless-killer side and his country-bumpkin" side was a perfect way to develop good stories which was one of

20070-454: The Japanese film market, above the 4.6% market share for live-action works. The popularity and success of anime is seen through the profitability of the DVD market, contributing nearly 70% of total sales. According to a 2016 article on Nikkei Asian Review , Japanese television stations have bought over ¥60 billion worth of anime from production companies "over the past few years", compared with under ¥20 billion from overseas. There has been

20293-399: The Kyoto films showing a darker characterization of Kenshin as he struggles against different strong rivals, Satoh also said his work became more challenging. Still, he found it interesting. A scene that Satoh enjoyed was Kenshin's fight against Sawagejō Chō due to the fact Kenshin is forced to attack his enemy even though he does not know his weapon is deadly which goes against his morals; as

20516-660: The Meiji Restoration around 150 years later. From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data. The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

20739-506: The Movie: Mugen Train became the highest-grossing Japanese film and one of the world's highest-grossing films of 2020. It also became the fastest grossing film in Japanese cinema, because in 10 days it made 10 billion yen ($ 95.3m; £72m). It beat the previous record of Spirited Away which took 25 days. In 2021, the anime adaptations of Jujutsu Kaisen , Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Tokyo Revengers were among

20962-500: The OVA's director's cut for showing more fights between Kenshin and Shinsenguimi, the special forces where Saito originated from. Earl Cressey from DVD Talk found Kenshin as a "complex" character and said his relationship with Yukishiro Tomoe might appeal the viewers. Carlos Ross from T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews shared similar feelings and enjoyed the romance between Kenshin Tomoe despite its tragic outcome. Yegulalp from ThoughtCo. also listed

21185-486: The Shell , Death Note , Dragon Ball Evolution and Cowboy Bebop . However most of these adaptations have been reviewed negatively by both the critics and the audience and have become box-office flops . The main reasons for the unsuccessfulness of Hollywood's adaptions of anime being the often change of plot and characters from the original source material and the limited capabilities a live-action movie or series can do in comparison to an animated counterpart. One of

21408-432: The Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ), together with the shōgun and daimyo . Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 , four classes ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under

21631-528: The U.S. "Idol" has become the first Japanese song and anime song to top the Billboard Global chart as well as taking the first spot on the Apple Music 's Top 100: Global chart. Anime are often classified by target demographic, including children's ( 子供 , kodomo ) , girls' ( 少女 , shōjo ) , boys' ( 少年 , shōnen ) , young men ( 青年 , Seinen ) , young women ( 女性 , josei ) and

21854-596: The United States that was closely associated with bootleg copies. A key characteristic of many anime television shows is serialization, where a continuous story arc stretches over multiple episodes or seasons. Traditional American television had an episodic format, with each episode typically consisting of a self-contained story. In contrast, anime shows such as Dragon Ball Z had a serialization format, where continuous story arcs stretch over multiple episodes or seasons, which distinguished them from traditional American television shows; serialization has since also become

22077-408: The United States was worth approximately $ 2.74 billion in 2009. Dubbed animation began airing in the United States in 2000 on networks like The WB and Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim . In 2005, this resulted in five of the top ten anime titles having previously aired on Cartoon Network. As a part of localization, some editing of cultural references may occur to better follow the references of

22300-451: The Viking and Barbapapa , which aired in various countries. Italy , Spain , and France grew a particular interest in Japan's output, due to its cheap selling price and productive output. As of 2014, Italy imported the most anime outside Japan. Anime and manga were introduced to France in the late 1970s and became massively popular in spite of a moral panic led by French politicians in

22523-659: The Year . In the United States, anime films compete in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards . There were also the American Anime Awards , which were designed to recognize excellence in anime titles nominated by the industry, and were held only once in 2006. Anime productions have also been nominated and won awards not exclusively for anime, like the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature or the Golden Bear . In recent years,

22746-465: The actor was a good fit for the character, citing their physical similarities. Producer Shinzō Matsuhashi shared similar feelings as Ōtomo. During the making of this film, both Watsuki and his wife found Satoh as an ideal actor him. Watsuki was surprised by Satoh's work as well as the special effects in the first film which made Kenshin's character realistic. For the Kyoto duology films, Ōtomo said he did not have to put much advice to Satoh as his acting in

22969-479: The addition of a white scarf, "scarf = hero." Watsuki also changed his cross-shaped scar; leaving it white for Kenshin, but shading it black when his Battōsai persona takes over. The author said because of the way he draws now, he struggled with Kenshin's hair, unable to get the original bushy feeling it had until the end. Alongside Restoration , Watsuki decided to write a prequel to the original series set before Kenshin's first meeting with Kaoru. Watsuki elaborated on

23192-496: The all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The daimyo operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and

23415-480: The all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. The system of sankin kōtai meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country. Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, were accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles. To keep up with growing expenditures,

23638-406: The anime merchandising market was valued at about $ 950 million with the figurine segment accounting for most of the share and is expected to reach a value of over $ 2 billion by 2030. The global anime market size was valued at $ 26.055 billion in 2021 with 29% of the revenue coming from merchandise . It is expected that the global anime market will reach a value of $ 47.14 billion by 2028. By 2030

23861-427: The anime adaptation earned high praise by Anime News Network writer Mark A. Grey considering one of the best ones from the series. Entertainment Weekly found comical how whenever Kenshin is not fighting he is doing the laundry or cleans the dojo which brings a light tone that appealed the writer. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews website criticized Kenshin's super deformed appearance in comedy scenes claiming it does not suit

24084-495: The anime industry has been accused by both Japanese and foreign media of underpaying and overworking its animators. In response the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to improve the working conditions and salary of all animators and creators working in the industry. A few anime studios such as MAPPA have taken actions to improve the working conditions of their employees. There has also been

24307-494: The anime market in the United States at ¥520 billion ( $ 5.2 billion ), including $ 500 million in home video sales and over $ 4 billion from licensed products, in 2005. JETRO projected in 2005 that the worldwide anime market, including sales of licensed products, would grow to ¥10 trillion ( $ 100 billion ). The anime market in China was valued at $ 21 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach $ 31 billion by 2020. In Europe

24530-455: The atmosphere of the work. The backgrounds are not always invented and are occasionally based on real locations, as exemplified in Howl's Moving Castle and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya . Oppliger stated that anime is one of the rare mediums where putting together an all-star cast usually comes out looking "tremendously impressive". The cinematic effects of anime differentiates itself from

24753-400: The beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word eta literally translates to "filthy" and hinin to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the eta and hinin were not even people. Hinin were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and

24976-403: The character as a hired killer rather than as a samurai as seen across the prequel OVAs. Rio Yañez from Animerica said one of the major themes of Trust is understanding the repercussions and after-effects murder can have, something that Kenshin has yet to comprehend though others have tried to point it out to him. Mike Crando from Anime News Network highly enjoyed Kenshin's characterization in

25199-523: The character as well as his fight choreography. A variety of collectibles based on Kenshin have been created, including figurines , key chains , plushies , and replicas of his sakabatō sword. Manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki discovered and used the story of Kawakami Gensai , a hitokiri ( 人斬り , literally "manslayer") executed by the Meiji Government . Watsuki enjoys drawing Kenshin due to how he tends to sacrifice himself for others. While writing

25422-409: The character well. Schley once again praised Satoh's role in the finale alongside other actors. For the last movie, Creamer expressed that Satoh kept doing a fine work as acting as Kenshin, praising his battles like Young. While enjoying the final duel between Kenshin and Shishio Makoto , Hayley Scanlon from UK Anime Network felt it took too much screentime. Lito B. Zulueta from The Enquirer also enjoyed

25645-435: The characters' sad decisions, Serdar Yegulalp from About.com wondered whether the OVAs had to make viewers accept Kenshin's death wish after so much time of wandering and feeling a mortal disease. However, some reviewers noted Kenshin's personality in the OVAs was one of the most complex ever to be animated remarking on the fact that he can not forget his bloody past, despite having a peaceful life. Don Houston from DVD Talk noted

25868-515: The chief counselor Mizuno Tadakuni. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy. Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

26091-923: The cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants. A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge. The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans. The bakufu and daimyos raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos. Yet it

26314-414: The city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the shōgun , the 5,000 so-called hatamoto . The daimyo were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the daimyo themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province ( han ) for the next. This system

26537-426: The comedic or harem genres; due to its popularity among adolescent and adult anime enthusiasts, the inclusion of such elements is considered a form of fan service . Some genres explore homosexual romances, such as yaoi (male homosexuality) and yuri (female homosexuality). While often used in a pornographic context, the terms yaoi and yuri can also be used broadly in a wider context to describe or focus on

26760-475: The commercialization of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned). They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into

26983-509: The common question of "Why would Kenshin, who wandered for ten years, suddenly stop in the First Act?" In Act Zero an elder notices Kenshin's unhealed emotional scar and her kind advice has a slight effect on him, becoming the motivation for his actions in the first chapter. The fact that the original manga ended with Kenshin as a family man bothered Watsuki as he was not sure if Kenshin should fight again now that he happily married. Upon watching

27206-677: The context of the character or the series. Mania.com remarks that Kenshin has a "smartass" attitude in a review of volume 8; while they noted that is a common attitude in the anime that makes him look out-of-character. Anime News Network's Mike Crandol praised Kenshin for being a character that all people enjoy watching due to his comedy scenes. Facultad de Lenguas (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba  [ es ] compared Kenshin to Musashi Miyamoto from Vagabond due to their relationship with historical figures rarely explored in manga. In About.com 's Top 8 Anime Love Stories, Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship ranked 8th with Katherine Luther noting it

27429-411: The controversy between the fandom as they refrained from treating Reflection as canon due to how tragic the life of Kenshin's family became. Ridwan Khan from Animefringe shared similar feelings, but noted Kenshin had no new enemies to fight after Enishi, leaving him with his disease story arc. Besides the printed series and its animated adaptations, there have been comments regarding Kenshin's role in

27652-453: The danger is gone." Kenshin was also fifth in IGN 's Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time with writer Chris Mackenzie describing him as: "A classic example of a classic anime type, the peace-loving killing machine." Kenshin's Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki technique has ranked third in a Japanese survey that featured the most popular moves in manga and anime. In a poll by Anime News Network, he was voted as

27875-576: The detail of settings and use of "camera effects", such as panning, zooming, and angle shots. Diverse art styles are used, and character proportions and features can be quite varied, with a common characteristic feature being large and emotive eyes. The anime industry consists of over 430 production companies , including major studios such as Studio Ghibli , Kyoto Animation , Sunrise , Bones , Ufotable , MAPPA , Wit Studio , CoMix Wave Films , Madhouse, Inc. , TMS Entertainment , Pierrot , Production I.G , Nippon Animation and Toei Animation . Since

28098-439: The early 20th century, when filmmakers started to experiment with techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. A claim for the earliest Japanese animation is Katsudō Shashin ( c.  1907 ), a private work by an unknown creator. In 1917, the first professional and publicly displayed works began to appear; animators such as Ōten Shimokawa , Seitarō Kitayama , and Jun'ichi Kōuchi (considered

28321-451: The early-2010s due to the advent of legal streaming services which simulcast new anime series often within a few hours of their domestic release. Since the 2010s, anime has become a global multibillion industry setting a sales record in 2017 of ¥2.15 trillion ($ 19.8 billion), driven largely by demand from overseas audiences. In 2019, Japan's anime industry was valued at $ 24 billion a year with 48% of that revenue coming from overseas (which

28544-421: The end of the Bakumatsu , he becomes a wandering swordsman, now wielding a sakabatō ( 逆刃刀 , literally "reverse-blade sword") —a katana that has the cutting edge on the inwardly curved side of the sword, thus being nearly incapable of killing. Kenshin wanders the Japanese countryside offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin. In Tokyo , he meets

28767-590: The end of the Christian movement. During the Shimabara Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred. In 50 years, the Tokugawa shoguns reduced the amount of Christians to near zero in Japan. Some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan . Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled. Members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed. All Japanese subjects were ordered to register at

28990-630: The factors that made the series popular. Marco Oliveier from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University said that the sakabatō symbolises Kenshin's oath not to kill again which has been found challenging by other warriors. According to Ashley D. Lake from UC Riverside, Kaoru represents the Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu values defied in the Meiji era that Kenshin chooses to protect due to the values it offers to people, something rare in anime series due to prominent violence during

29213-461: The few particular exceptions to this includes Alita: Battle Angel , which has become a moderate commercial success, receiving generally positive reviews from both the critics and the audience for its visual effects and following the source material. The movie grossed $ 404 million worldwide, making it director Robert Rodriguez 's highest-grossing film. Anime and manga alongside many other imports of Japanese pop culture have helped Japan to gain

29436-602: The fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyo houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyo , but his assumption of the title of shōgun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada (1579–1632) as shōgun and himself as retired shōgun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still

29659-428: The fight between Kenshin and Shishio, the actors, as well as how the character of Kenshin has helped popularized the term of samurai in western culture. David West from Neo criticized Kenshin's long training with his teacher but still found that in the film, Kenshin's vow of not killing anybody remains true. Satoh's action sequences from The Final and his rivalry with Enishi were also the subject of praise. Meanwhile,

29882-426: The film Rurouni Kenshin: The Final , the battle between Kenshin and Enishi had to be remade several times because Satoh got exhausted of moving four times in total. Satoh praised Arata's work as Enishi as he made the antagonist terrifying to the point the comical Kenshin acts with more tension in response to his threats which made him drop the signature sound effect "Oro". Arata also praised Satoh's works as he carried

30105-409: The final e , to cue the reader to pronounce the letter, not to leave it silent as English orthography may suggest. Prior to the widespread use of anime , the term Japanimation , a portmanteau of Japan and animation, was prevalent throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the term anime began to supplant Japanimation ; in general, the latter term now only appears in period works where it

30328-469: The first film attracted multiple positive reactions by the staff and the audience. He then stated "Even without saying this or that from the side, he created an image of Kenshin, including his behavior, swordplay, and speech, through the necessary preparation and hard work. So I didn’t worry at all". During an interview, Satoh said Rurouni Kenshin was one of the first manga he read to the point he would play sword-fights with his friends. Additionally, once he

30551-403: The first televised and first color anime to debut. It was not until the 1960s when the first televised series were broadcast and it has remained a popular medium since. Works released in a direct-to-video format are called " original video animation " (OVA) or "original animation video" (OAV); and are typically not released theatrically or televised prior to home media release. The emergence of

30774-428: The first time Kenshin used his sakabatō. In the 1997 movie Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture , Kenshin meets a samurai named Takimi Shigure, who tries to overthrow the Meiji Government and avenge the deaths of his family during the Bakumatsu. Kenshin encounters Shigure and defeats him to avoid the start of a war while avenging one of his friends killed by Kenshin in the past. However, he fails to bring his fight give

30997-773: The first time in history. The anime industry has several annual awards that honor the year's best works. Major annual awards in Japan include the Ōfuji Noburō Award , the Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film , the Animation Kobe Awards, the Japan Media Arts Festival animation awards, the Seiyu Awards for voice actors, the Tokyo Anime Award and the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of

31220-449: The former Shinsengumi member Saitō Hajime . Saitō's arrival is a test ex-Ishin Shishi Ōkubo Toshimichi made in order see Kenshin's power to see if he can defeat Shishio Makoto . Shishio is the brutal, once-successor to Kenshin's position as Chōshū 's hitokiri , masterminds a movement seeking to overthrow the Meiji Government, Kenshin leaves Tokyo to stop him. To defeat such a foe, Kenshin

31443-695: The franchise across several years in the live-action films. Watsuki believes that Takeru Satoh's portrayal of the main character stands out as stronger than the manga one, most notably in The Final . Himura Kenshin, born Shinta ( 心太 ) is a legendary former assassin. He is a peerless swordsman who practices the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū ( 飛天御剣流 , literally "Flying Honorable Sword Style") , a fictional ancient sword art based on Battōjutsu , that enables him to exercise superhuman speed and reflexes, foresee his opponent's movements in battle, as well as perform many powerful sword techniques. Most of his techniques were originally intended to be lethal, but Kenshin has since modified

31666-422: The global anime market is expected to reach a value of $ 48.3 Billion with the largest contributors to this growth being North America , Europe, Asia–Pacific and The Middle East . The global anime market size was valued at $ 25.8 Billion in 2022 and is expected to have a market size of $ 62.7 Billion by 2032 with a CAGR of 9.4%. In 2019, the annual overseas exports of Japanese animation exceeded $ 10 billion for

31889-557: The grammar in Kenshin's dialogue in the Media Blasters dub and subtitles resemble the grammar in the dialogue of Yoda , a character in Star Wars . Saito is replacing Suzukaze with the 2023 series which appealed to him since he was a fan of the series ever since he was a child and looks forward to creating his own take. In the live-actions films of the series, Kenshin was played Takeru Satoh . In casting Satoh, director Keishi Ōtomo said

32112-450: The head; many chibi characters are two to four heads tall. Some anime works like Crayon Shin-chan completely disregard these proportions, in such a way that they resemble caricatured Western cartoons . A common anime character design convention is exaggerated eye size. The animation of characters with large eyes in anime can be traced back to Osamu Tezuka, who was deeply influenced by such early animation characters as Betty Boop , who

32335-455: The hierarchy was the fudai , or "house daimyo ", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 fudai controlled much smaller han , the greatest assessed at 250,000 koku . Members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the third group, the tozama (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on

32558-561: The idea of killing their enemies while in the case of Dragon Ball dead characters are often revived. He believes newer series like Attack on Titan , Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen explored more the concept of death. Nevertheless, the Kenshin Watsuki was still written for the Hokkaido Arc with the idea of sparing his enemies. Watsuki received letters from fans describing Megumi Ogata 's audiobook voice as

32781-462: The incorporation of slapstick humor in the crime anime film Castle of Cagliostro . Other subgenres found in anime include magical girl , harem, sports, martial arts, literary adaptations, medievalism , and war. Early anime works were made for theatrical viewing, and required played musical components before sound and vocal components were added to the production. In 1958, Nippon Television aired Mogura no Abanchūru (" Mole's Adventure "), both

33004-496: The industry, including the improvement of conditions of the workers. Anime has become commercially profitable in Western countries , as demonstrated by early commercially successful Western adaptations of anime, such as Astro Boy and Speed Racer . Early American adaptions in the 1960s made Japan expand into the continental European market, first with productions aimed at European and Japanese children, such as Heidi , Vicky

33227-432: The international availability of the amount of new licensed anime shows as well as the size of their catalogs. Netflix reported that, between October 2019 and September 2020, more than 100 million member households worldwide had watched at least one anime title on the platform. Anime titles appeared on the streaming platform's top-ten lists in almost 100 countries within the one-year period. As of 2021, anime series are

33450-404: The laid back regulations of the Japanese animation industry tend to overlook these issues, allowing it to grow underground and thus increasing its popularity until there is a demand for official high-quality releases for animation companies. This has led to an increase in global popularity of Japanese animation, reaching $ 40 million in sales in 2004. Fansub practices have rapidly declined since

33673-431: The last OVA, Nobuhiro Watsuki was quite unhappy with how the story ended, saying that "Kenshin went through so much crap and deserved a happy ending." Kenshin also appears in other animated retelling of the series titled New Kyoto Arc from 2011 and 2012. In the live-action movie trilogy, Kenshin is portrayed by Takeru Satoh . The first film retells Kenshin's arrival to Tokyo while making new allies and enemies whereas

33896-497: The lips. Modern anime follows a typical animation production process, involving storyboarding , voice acting , character design , and cel production . Since the 1990s, animators have increasingly used computer animation to improve the efficiency of the production process. Early anime works were experimental, and consisted of images drawn on blackboards, stop motion animation of paper cutouts, and silhouette animation . Cel animation grew in popularity until it came to dominate

34119-429: The live-action films where he is played by Takeru Satoh] Deborah Young from The Hollywood Reporter comically compared the character to Michael Jackson but praised his portrayal of swordsmanship. Matt Schley from Otaku USA commented that Satoh did a good performance making Kenshin into likeable protagonist. Both Nick Creamer and Ko Ransom from Anime News Network shared similar opinions, noting Satoh managed to adapt

34342-523: The manga was made, Watsuki had several ideas about Kenshin's mind about his early appearances in the series. This resulted in the manga reboot Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration where Kenshin's characterization was expanded by the author who thought in retrospective about what he could add to him. He also wrote a prequel chapter to the original series which helped the readers to understand why Kenshin would stay in Kaoru's dojo. He challenged himself to express Kenshin's inner feelings. Watsuki compared Kenshin's role in

34565-464: The medium's style. Three Tales (1960) was the first anime film broadcast on television; the first anime television series was Instant History (1961–64). An early and influential success was Astro Boy (1963–66), a television series directed by Tezuka based on his manga of the same name . Many animators at Tezuka's Mushi Production later established major anime studios (including Madhouse , Sunrise , and Pierrot ). The 1970s saw growth in

34788-447: The medium. In the 21st century, the use of other animation techniques is mostly limited to independent short films , including the stop motion puppet animation work produced by Tadahito Mochinaga , Kihachirō Kawamoto and Tomoyasu Murata. Computers were integrated into the animation process in the 1990s, with works such as Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke mixing cel animation with computer-generated images. Fuji Film ,

35011-413: The most demanded foreign-language television shows in the United States accounting for 30.5% of the market share. (In comparison, Spanish-language and Korean-language shows account for 21% and 11% of the market share, respectively.) In 2021 more than half of Netflix's global members watched anime. In 2022, the anime series Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in

35234-421: The most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the various classes of daimyo . Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan , or "related houses". There were twenty-three daimyo on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of

35457-459: The most popular male anime characters. In a Newtype poll in March 2010, Kenshin was voted the eighth most popular male anime character from the 1990s. An abundance of merchandise have been released in Kenshin's likeness including keychains , action figures, and plush dolls. Since the manga was published, non-functional and functional sakabatō have been produced for purchase by collectors and fans. In

35680-567: The move of many characters of the anime and manga series Naruto . In April 2021, Peruvian politicians Jorge Hugo Romero of the PPC and Milagros Juárez of the UPP cosplayed as anime characters to get the otaku vote. On October 28, 2024, The Vatican unveiled its own anime-styled mascot, " Luce ", in order to connect with Catholic youth through pop culture. Edo period The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo ), where on March 24, 1603,

35903-629: The national law. Although the daimyo were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to military and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the daimyo , thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The han , once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyo had full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats , and commoners. Loyalty

36126-407: The non-Japanese culture. The cost of English localization averages US$ 10,000 per episode. The industry has been subject to both praise and condemnation for fansubs , the addition of unlicensed and unauthorized subtitled translations of anime series or films. Fansubs, which were originally distributed on VHS bootlegged cassettes in the 1980s, have been freely available and disseminated online since

36349-409: The official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku (national learning) school of thought. Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of

36572-558: The original manga to that of Kōmon in Mito Kōmon or Yoshimune's in Abarenbō Shōgun , where the supporting characters built the drama and he was the hero who would defeat the villains. This made it easy to express the thoughts of the surrounding characters but not Kenshin's, so he wanted to "dig deeper" into Kenshin this time. It turned out harder than he imagined. Although drawing it was not difficult, when he tried to make it entertaining

36795-490: The patronage of the government, which employed animators to produce educational shorts and propaganda . In 1940, the government dissolved several artists' organizations to form the Shin Nippon Mangaka Kyōkai . The first talkie anime was Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (1933), a short film produced by Masaoka. The first feature-length anime film was Momotaro: Sacred Sailors (1945), produced by Seo with

37018-493: The peasants lived in rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around daimyo castles , each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, daimyo and layers of feudal lords whose rank

37241-420: The peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million koku of productive land. Because the tozama were the least trusted of the daimyo , they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over

37464-467: The pilot chapters of the manga, in which he arrives in Tokyo and defeats several groups of villains attacking families. In these stories, Kenshin is given a similar personality to the one he has in the series, but his name is not mentioned. Following the original series' ending, Watsuki wrote two shorts where Kenshin makes brief appearances; in Yahiko no Sabato Kenshin and Kaoru entrust Yahiko with taking care of

37687-439: The popularity of manga, many of which were later animated. Tezuka's work—and that of other pioneers in the field—inspired characteristics and genres that remain fundamental elements of anime today. The giant robot genre (also known as " mecha "), for instance, took shape under Tezuka, developed into the super robot genre under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino , who developed

37910-419: The prequel as he refers it as "it is a fascinating and emotional character study in its own right" due to Kenshin's character development across these four episodes from "an idealistic youth to a cold-hearted killer, only to be redeemed through love lost and the realization that swinging his sword is destroying his own life as well as the lives of the people on the receiving end". Additionally, the reviewer enjoyed

38133-408: The proportions of the human body in reality. The height of the head is considered by the artist as the base unit of proportion. Head to height ratios vary drastically by art style, with most anime characters falling between 5 and 8 heads tall. Anime artists occasionally make deliberate modifications to body proportions to produce chibi characters that feature a disproportionately small body compared to

38356-480: The rise of kokugaku , and the Igakukan ( 医学間 , "Institute of medicine") , focusing on Chinese medicine. One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a fifth of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate. According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of

38579-439: The samurai class. There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid class division between samurai and merchants began to break down. A few domains, notably Chōshū and Satsuma, used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830–1843) promulgated by

38802-459: The samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries. Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity. The eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by

39025-456: The second and the third ones from 2014 show his fight against Shishio's forces. The Final focuses on his fight against Enishi's forces while The Beginning focuses on his past as a hitokiri and meeting with Tomoe. Kenshin is a playable character in all of the Rurouni Kenshin video games , as well as the crossovers Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars . In June 2013, Kenshin

39248-591: The series as one of the "Best anime romances" with a bigger focus on Kenshin and Tomoe. Kenshin's development in the Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection OVA series has received negative reviews by many publications. Anime News Network also adds that in Reflection he "continues to be his old mopey self" and criticizes the fact that he never says "oro", while IGN felt that some moments of the relationship between Kenshin and Kaoru were depressing. While criticizing

39471-540: The series in mind—but are also aimed at the general music market, therefore they often allude only vaguely or not at all, to the thematic settings or plot of the series. Also, they are often used as incidental music ("insert songs") in an episode, in order to highlight particularly important scenes. Future funk , a musical microgenre that evolved in the early 2010s from Vaporwave with a French house Euro disco influence, heavily uses anime visuals and samples along with Japanese City pop to build an aesthetic. Since

39694-529: The series, once he thought Kenshin should think more about his future since he is more connected to his past. He also stated he would like to be as Kenshin but he does not believe their lives' style match. Kenshin's morals in regards to having the strength to protect others were influenced by Miyamoto Musashi 's questions about the meaning of strength. During the development of the series' pilot chapter, Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story , Watsuki and his editor argued over Kenshin's speech patterns, settling for

39917-438: The series. Critics of the series praised his strong personality and backstory which most critics found appealing. However, though some complained about his development during the OVA series; while his role in the prequel OVAs were praised, his role in the anime-only sequel OVA series resulted in criticism by various critics including Watsuki himself. Satoh's acting in the live-action film received positive comments due to how he fits

40140-634: The shadow plays of China. Magic lanterns from the Netherlands were also popular in the eighteenth century. The paper play called kamishibai surged in the twelfth century and remained popular in the street theater until the 1930s. Puppets of the Bunraku theater and ukiyo-e prints are considered ancestors of characters of most Japanese animation. Finally, manga were a heavy inspiration for anime. Cartoonists Kitzawa Rakuten and Okamoto Ippei used film elements in their strips. Animation in Japan began in

40363-447: The shogun's chief councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation. Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country. By 1800,

40586-544: The shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian Shōheikō ( 昌平黌 ) acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country. Besides Shoheikō, other important directly run schools at the end of the shogunate included the Wagakukōdansho ( 和学講談所 , "Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics") , specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing

40809-666: The shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu . The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War , which restored imperial rule to Japan . A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate , which existed with the Tennō 's court, to the Tokugawa , when the samurai became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called

41032-426: The stage plays found in American animation. Anime is cinematically shot as if by camera, including panning, zooming, distance and angle shots to more complex dynamic shots that would be difficult to produce in reality. In anime, the animation is produced before the voice acting, contrary to American animation which does the voice acting first. The body proportions of human anime characters tend to accurately reflect

41255-531: The story got gloomier due to Kenshin's regrets. By chapter four he got worried it would be a repeat of the Jinchū Arc of the original manga. This is when he gave up digging deeper into Kenshin's thoughts. Watsuki tried expressing more of Kenshin's inner feelings in Restoration ; a man who brought about a peaceful new era can not find his place because of the acts he committed in the past. He tried expressing this with

41478-408: The strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship. The daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyo used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading . It

41701-416: The strong men act. This soft masculinity exemplified. also in the balance between Kenshin's supernatural strength and small design, led a major impact in the audience due to how likable the protagonist is. His introduction marks his values with the sword which also affected Kaoru, Yahiko's and Sanosuke's values upon their meetings. In doing so, Rurouni Kenshin laid" more than twenty years ago the foundation of

41924-519: The studios are organized into a trade association , The Association of Japanese Animations . There is also a labor union for workers in the industry, the Japanese Animation Creators Association . Studios will often work together to produce more complex and costly projects, as done with Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away . An anime episode can cost between US$ 100,000 and US$ 300,000 to produce. In 2001, animation accounted for 7% of

42147-540: The themes or the development of the relationships themselves. Anime's genre classification differs from other types of animation and does not lend itself to simple classification. Gilles Poitras compared the labeling of Gundam 0080 and its complex depiction of war as a "giant robot" anime akin to simply labeling War and Peace a "war novel". Science fiction is a major anime genre and includes important historical works like Tezuka's Astro Boy and Yokoyama 's Tetsujin 28-go . A major subgenre of science fiction

42370-490: The time Rurouni Kenshin premiered in Japan. Megan Lavey from Mania Entertainment highly praised Kenshin's characterization in the manga due to his seriousness as well how he intends to tell his friends his feelings contrasting some episodes from the anime where Kenshin is more comical. Lavey also highly praised the fight between Kenshin and Saito Hajime in the manga's seventh volume and Kenshin's killing intent displayed against his rival. Similarly, his first fight against Saito in

42593-575: The title of Danzaemon ( ja:弾左衛門 ) and had the authority to issue orders to eta and hinin throughout the country, as well as jurisdiction within the eta and hinin . In the 19th century the umbrella term burakumin was coined to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The eta , hinin and burakumin classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times. The Edo period passed on

42816-525: The top "guy". In a Japanese TV special from August 2017, Kenshin was voted as the 16th "strongest hero" from the Showa Era as well as the 15th one from the Heisei Era . Serdar Yegulalp from ThoughtCo. also listed the series as one of the "Best anime romances" with a bigger focus on Kenshin and Kaoru. For the 9th Asian Film Awards , Satoh was nominated in the "Best Actor" category for his portrayal of Kenshin. In

43039-405: The top 10 most discussed TV shows worldwide on Twitter. In 2022, Attack on Titan won the award of "Most In-Demand TV Series in the World 2021" in the Global TV Demand Awards. Attack on Titan became the first ever non-English language series to earn the title of World's Most In-Demand TV Show, previously held by only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones . In 2024, Jujutsu Kaisen broke

43262-457: The total population. After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained (fairly) stable for the next 250 years, influenced by Confucian principles of social order . Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the daimyo took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to

43485-1054: The use of source material from several original series. In the early 1990s, several companies began to experiment with the licensing of less child-oriented material. Some, such as A.D. Vision , and Central Park Media and its imprints, achieved fairly substantial commercial success and went on to become major players in the now very lucrative American anime market. Others, such as AnimEigo , achieved limited success. Many companies created directly by Japanese parent companies did not do as well, most releasing only one or two titles before completing their American operations. Licenses are expensive, often hundreds of thousands of dollars for one series and tens of thousands for one movie. The prices vary widely; for example, Jinki: Extend cost only $ 91,000 to license while Kurau Phantom Memory cost $ 960,000. Simulcast Internet streaming rights can be cheaper, with prices around $ 1,000–2,000 an episode, but can also be more expensive, with some series costing more than US$ 200,000 per episode. The anime market for

43708-506: The use of these techniques in accordance with his vow never to kill. To this end, he fights using his sakabatō (a reverse-edge sword). After finishing his job as an assassin in the Ishin Shishi , Kenshin assumes the life of a wanderer. Ten years after the Revolution, he arrives in Tokyo, where he meets Kamiya Kaoru . She invites him to stay in her dojo even after she discovers that Kenshin

43931-485: The video game Virtual On ; the song's title was used in the final chapter of the Kyoto arc. Additionally, the final shot of Kenshin returning to Kaoru's dojo was inspired by the final shot of the Rurouni Kenshin anime's first opening theme:"Sobakasu" by Judy and Mary . In the next and final arc of the manga, the story took a darker tone as most of the characters believed Kaoru was killed by Yukishiro Enishi which made Kenshin question his own way of living and escape to

44154-525: The voice for his character was one of her best experiences. In producing the English dub version of the series, Media Blasters considered following suit, with Mona Marshall considered a finalist to voice Kenshin. Richard Hayworth was eventually selected for the role, giving Kenshin's character a more masculine voice in the English adaptation. Marshall was also selected to voice the younger Kenshin during flashback scenes. Clark Cheng, Media Blasters dub script writer, said that localizing Kenshin's unusual speech

44377-455: The votes of the second place character. Two polls by the official Rurouni Kenshin anime featured Kenshin as one of the series' most popular characters. In the first, Kenshin was at the top, while in the second, he placed second. His Battōsai incarnation was also fifth in the latter poll. Kenshin has also been featured various times in the Animage ' s Anime Grand Prix polls, ranking as one of

44600-491: The wearing of hats. Sometimes eta villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society. On the other hand, in practice, both eta and hinin were recognized as owners of fields, some with very large incomes ( koku ) and some economic power. Their chief held

44823-511: The works of Zhu Xi .When the clergy of Shinto religion were alive, samurai, Buddhist monks were also there. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools. The chōnin (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called terakoya (寺子屋, "temple schools"). Despite being located in temples,

45046-459: The younger Kenshin from The Beginning shocked critics for how coldhearted he is in his assassin works during the Bakumatsu but changes into a more peaceful person when meeting Tomoe. In retrospect, F. Liu from International Journal of Education and Humanities noticed that the accidental murder of Tomoe caused the awakening of the protagonist's wiser personality as he realized the horrible actions he has been causing leading to his transformation into

45269-698: Was 6 years old when my mother took me to Japan. I felt it growing up in Hawaii, like communities across our country, home to so many proud Japanese Americans... Today is also a chance for Americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from Japan. Like karate and karaoke . Manga and anime. And, of course, emojis . In July 2020, after the approval of a Chilean government project in which citizens of Chile would be allowed to withdraw up to 10% of their privately held retirement savings, journalist Pamela Jiles celebrated by running through Congress with her arms spread out behind her, imitating

45492-467: Was a difficult process. His use of de gozaru and oro were not only character trademarks that indicated his state of mind, but important elements to the story. However, neither is directly translatable into English, and in the end the company chose to replace de gozaru with "that I did," "that I am," or "that I do." Kenshin's signature oro was replaced with "huah" to simulate a "funny sound" that had no real meaning. Daryl Surat of Otaku USA said that

45715-413: Was called sankin-kōtai . Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes. The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges

45938-409: Was cast as Kenshin, Satoh started intense swordsmanship training. Satoh said he liked Kenshin's character to the point of enjoying role in the three films. However, the actor expressed pressure in doing the role as a result of having to take part in multiple fighting scenes. Nevertheless, Satoh said he enjoyed Kenshin's lines due to the impact they have on most characters, most notably his enemies. Due to

46161-606: Was confirmed to be a playable character alongside Bleach ' s protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki in J-Stars Victory Vs for the PlayStation 3 . In celebrating the 50th anniversary of the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump , a cardgame was developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment with Kenshin appearing as a character card. It was announced in November 2018 that Kenshin Himura along with Shishio Makoto would be playable characters in

46384-425: Was created to be Kenshin's best friend who would punch him order to make him retain his composure. However, Watsuki did not think the idea worked as much as possibly. For the final fight between Kenshin and Shishio, Watsuki admitted he expressed more joy in drawing Shishio than Kenshin. During this arc and mostly the final fight between Kenshin and Shishio's fight Watsuki kept listening to the song "In The Blue Sky" from

46607-403: Was drawn with disproportionately large eyes. Tezuka is a central figure in anime and manga history, whose iconic art style and character designs allowed for the entire range of human emotions to be depicted solely through the eyes. The artist adds variable color shading to the eyes and particularly to the cornea to give them greater depth. Generally, a mixture of a light shade, the tone color, and

46830-411: Was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion. In response the shōgun , beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only

47053-607: Was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms. Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favoured ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities. The beginning of

47276-571: Was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government. As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business. The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos. By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of

47499-529: Was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The daimyo comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony. Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there

47722-446: Was introduced in the finale as the son of Kenshin and Kaoru; even though the character was " cliché " Watsuki felt that Kenji had to appear. In the first Rurouni Kenshin kanzenban , published in Japan in July 2006, Watsuki included a draft page featuring a redesign of Kenshin's character. To make his X-shaped scar more notable, Watsuki made it long enough to cross his nose. Kenshin's hair

47945-434: Was made an imperial consort in 1619. A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyo houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the sankin-kōtai system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain ( han ) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were

48168-452: Was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 Gotōke reijō was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696. Outside the four classes were the so-called eta and hinin , those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism . Eta were butchers, tanners and undertakers. Hinin served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included

48391-491: Was originally planned to last longer than the one-chapter shot but due to difficulties in drawing explosions Kujinarami made with his weapons, the fight ended with Kenshin cutting Kujinarami's weapon. In this arc's climax, Watsuki kept listening to the song " Hurry Go Round " by late musician hide which felt it suited the relationship between Enishi as well as Kenshin but in his darker persona. The author also commented he would like to have given both Kenshin and Enishi's characters

48614-399: Was portrayed by Takeru Satoh . For the English dubs of the series, Richard Cansino voiced him in the first anime, J. Shanon Weaver replaced him for original video animation (OVA), and the duology film New Kyoto Arc . Micah Solusod did the dub for the live-action film trilogy. Kenshin's character was well received by fans, with his holding the top spot in all reader popularity polls for

48837-415: Was skilled in acrobatic techniques. However, one of Kenshin's moves where he stops an enemy's flamethrower by rotating his sword received multiple complaints with Watsuki admitting the move as somewhat out of place and "not really organic" to his world. By early publication of Rurouni Kenshin , Watsuki was unsure whether or not Kenshin and Kamiya Kaoru would become lovers in future chapters. Sagara Sanosuke

49060-463: Was surprised at how well it caught on, and how much he ended up having Kenshin use the sound during the series. Watsuki also planned to make Kenshin more 30 years old; his editor commented that it was strange that the main character of a manga for teenagers to be of such an age, so he instead made him 28 years old. Watsuki based most of Kenshin's abilities on a real swordsman of the Tokugawa period named Matsubayashi Henyasai  [ ja ] , who

49283-444: Was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%. Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as chōnin . In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million. Between

49506-410: Was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical humanism , rationalism , and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to

49729-443: Was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of

#407592