Awesome / Rurouni Kenshin

aka: Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Original Manga and Anime

• Yahiko telling off the syndicate members mocking him for being the son of a prostitute, making it plain that he considers his mother a hero, just like his father.
  Yahiko: My father was an official samurai of the Shogunate and died an honorable death. My mother sacrificed her whole life to work so she could raise me. They were both full of pride and lived dignified lives. And don’t you dare ever say they didn't!
• The Gatling Gun Scene.
  • Kenshin: "WHERE'S YOUR MONEY NOW, KANRYU?!!"
  • English version: "If you're begging for your life, why don't you ask your money to save you?!"
  • VIZ Manga: "If you're going to beg for your life... PRAY TO YOUR BELOVED MONEY!!!"
• Chapter 4 in the manga, Kenshin cuts a cannonball in half.
• Kenshin's fight with Shishio:
• It coming in after two incredibly difficult fights in which he was heavily injured in which he is repeatedly burned against a man who can take blows from Sano, Saito, and Aoshi. He proceeds to get up and hit Shishio with a massive combination, culminating in the Kuzu Ryu Sen, then defeating him with the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki. Shishio then bursts into flames and dies.
  • Shishio's own moment comes after his death when Houji commits suicide and finds himself in Hell, Shishio and Yumi have been waiting there for him... and Shishio calmly announces his intent to overthrow the Devil.
    Shishio: "On Earth, there were the likes of Battousai to oppose me. Here, there are only demons."
• Sanosuke's fight with Anji where both go to their limit, and then just keep slugging away with each other. Sanosuke's hand is so beat up from the fight that later, when he punches Shishio, his hand shatters. Which also leads into a crowning moment for Shishio when he somehow takes the blow without flinching.
  • An even earlier CMOA comes when he faces Shishio's battleship with Kenshin and Saitou. Shishio recognizes the other two, but ignores Sano. The crew fire on him with a gatling gun, he responds by deflecting the bullets by hitting the water really hard with his Futae no Kiwami technique and throwing several experimental grenades at the ship, setting off a chain reaction in the engine room and completely disabling the ship.
    • This also prompts Shishio's first CMOA in the series. When his entourage is fretting about how the plan failed, he calmly says it was his own fault the ship went down for underestimating Sanosuke. To have a villain recognizing his weak spots and doing it without freaking out or having all of his gambits crumble like a card castle is awesome with an A, and cements Shishio as a brilliant Magnificent Bastard.
    • Sanosuke's first major fight after his Heel–Face Turn; against Shikijo, Aoshi's subordinate. Both are power fighters and are evenly matched. But Shikijo seems to only care about strength which is why he follows Aoshi. unlike Sanosuke and comes off as somewhat arrogant. Sanosuke delivers a lecture about how Kenshin is strong because he has people he cares about, while Aoshi just wants to be the strongest. The outcome? Sanosuke defeats Shikijo with a single punch to the forehead. Sanosuke's fights are all a reflection of his first fight with Kenshin; trying to influence his opponent for the better. It's ironic because he states to one opponent that "personal matters aren't his thing." Badass.
• Managing to be both this and Funny Moment is Sano's brief scuffle with Cho. Sanosuke not only manages to tank Cho's ball and chain with barely a scratch but effortlessly intimidates him. Cho mind you, while not a major villain, was still sadistic enough to give Kenshin some trouble. The brief encounter shows just how much Sano had grown.
• The entire side story, Yahiko No Sakabato, is a big one. Not only does Yahiko handle a hostage situation without taking a single life, but he handles the villain in a manner not dissimilar to Kenshin's; calling him out on the hypocrisy of his actions, and effectively "defeating" him, without laying a single scratch on him. It really does show you how much Yahiko has grown, as both a fighter, and as a man.
• While it was impressive how Saitou curb-stomped Sanosuke in their second fight, you have to give Sanosuke some credit for standing up to a guy who was Kenshin's level and relentlessly mocking him the whole time. Sano even acknowledges that he's weak now, but neither Saitou nor Kenshin started out strong either. He kind of gains Saitou's respect, and as a result, Saitou informs of him of his main weakness.
  Sanosuke: "Even a fledgling can break your arm."
• When Shishio's headquarters is blowing up, the way to the exit is blocked for Saitou, and it looks like certain doom. He then calmly starts smoking, walks back and says his goodbye. He completes it by showing up in the Jinchuu arc and stating that he is the only Shinsengumi considered immortal.
• Enishi's first fight with Kenshin has him defeating Kenshin's ultimate attack, Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki. That's not the Moment of Awesome. The crowning moment of awesome is later when he traumatizes Kenshin so badly that Kenshin chains his sword, and goes to a dump to slowly die, by making him believe that he had killed Kaoru—blood-spattered life-like Kaoru doll included.
  • Enishi's second fight deserves some credit as well. After all, he did block all 9 hits of the Kuzu Ryu Sen, countered Kenshin's Ryu Tsui Sen and Ryu Sho Sen (the former by essentially by double jumping!), ate up Kenshin's Ryu Kan Sen with his Senran Tosei, and finally freaking palmed Kenshin in the face before he could even say Kuzu Ryu Sen, much less use the attack, all of which was done one after the other. And this is BEFORE his Nerves of Insanity activate.
• Aoshi not only figures out Enishi's true plan, and reveals it to everyone else: he also sets it up so that he will duel Enishi's partner Gein. After Gein taunts Aoshi that he if Aoshi continues his ways he will only be an innkeeper, Aoshi says that isn't such a bad life while revealing the answer to his meditation. He then kills Gein with his own attack, after telling Gein that he will kill him with his own dark powers while being surrounded by flames.
  • Aoshi gets another one in the Jinchuu arc when he faces Suzaku of the Su-shin. Suzaku's talent allows him to use the same exact moves his opponent uses against him, and his versions of the attacks are somewhat faster and stronger. During his battle with Aoshi, he is able to use every attack in his arsenal, including Aoshi's ultimate attack, Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren and even disarms him. Just when he's about to kill him, Aoshi sends the guy reeling back with a single side kick to the face! Suzaku then charges again, thinking that in the end, his swords will prevail over Aoshi's kempo. However, Aoshi catches one of the swords and BREAKS it with just one hand! The line before he breaks it makes it even more badass.
    Aoshi: "Because they are my swords, they can never defeat me."
• Yahiko's got quite a few. He beats Henya of the Juppongatana by copying the man's technique and riding the shockwave from the dynamite thrown at him to deliver his imitation of Kenshin's Ryu Tsui Sen after being repeatedly stabbed and blown up. He then proceeds, despite being nearly dead, to face down the massive giant that comes next. However, what is quite possibly his coolest moment comes after the timeskip, where he indicates his mastery of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu by stopping a sword with two fingers. Bad. Ass.
  • No, while it's great, it's not his most coolest moment. His coolest moment came during Jinchuu arc, where he fight Kujiranami Hyogo, armed with GATLING GRENADE LAUNCHER, who ready to destroy the town just to find Kenshin. Those stopping him from entering the town by cornering him in a narrow street, along with several policeman, and almost manages to stop him... if his enemy is not such an unstoppable giant. Luckily, Kenshin arrives. And then while Hyogo threatens to destroy the town had Kenshin not killed him, Yahiko verbally slap him to his senses, making him surrender in tears]]. That, my friends, is his true CROWNING MOMENT. And to prove his point, he's willing to fight Hyogo with just one arm.
    • And that moment has a Crowning Moment of its own. After getting the aforementioned officers motivated to help him, a child wanders into the fight. Hyogo's rage leads him to start firing on the child. Yahiko leaps to protect him, Hyogo fires at them IN MID AIR AT ONE POINT and they end up in a pile of rubble. After a moment, a battered Yahiko gives us this:
      Yahiko: "NO INJURIES HERE!"
      Officer 1: "No injuries?"
      Officer 2: "The child, he has no injuries."
    • The officers also had their another moment: "DON'T YOU THINK WE'RE GONNA LET YOU SHOOT!"
  • Yahiko is generally just a complete badass, if you think about it. Not only does he regularly go toe-to-toe with older, more experienced opponents and win, but he does it armed with a bamboo shinai.
  • In the OVA, Yahiko defeats Kenji, Kenshin's son, with the Sakabato. He doesn't have the skill or speed of Kenji, but he's more experienced. That overcomes his opponent's natural talent. He reads Kenji's moves, doesn't waste a single movement blocking his strikes, and eventually defeats him by wearing Kenji's blade out and breaking it. All in the space of about 20 seconds. Awesomeness by Analysis indeed.
• Saitou's fight against Usui culminates in Saitou using an attack so powerful it not only splits Usui's shield in half but also rips his torso from his still-standing legs and pins him to the wall across the room. Usui then spends his last living moments listening to Saitou explain to him why he is so pathetic he barely even warrants pity.
  • I'm honestly surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet. During his fight with Kenshin shortly after his introduction, Saitou is disarmed by Kenshin (who is in full-blown Battousai mode, and looking for a kill for the first time in the series). When Kenshin dashes in for the kill, Saitou disarms him by whipping the sword out Kenshin's hands with his belt, and then, in one motion, taking off his coat, wrapping it around Kenshin's throat, and strangling him while trying to break his neck. Kenshin gets out of it, but it was still so mind-blowingly awesome that it pretty much cemented Saitou as my favorite character in the series right there.
  • Let's not forget what happens AFTER that battle, which contains not one but THREE of the most badass lines in Rurouni Kenshin. So after Akamaru overhears that Saitou is actually working for Okubo, he tells the politician Shibumi, whom he and Saitou work for, and Shibumi decides to attempt taking over Okubo's position. Akamaru believes that it would be suicide to attempt something like that and tries to leave for another country, not before running into Saitou himself who leaves Akamaru with this line before decapitating him:
    Saitou: "But there is a safer place you can run to. It's called Hell."
  • Saitou then turns to Shibumi, who is literally shitting himself. Prior to this, Shibumi essentially called Saitou and all possible remaining Shinsengumi dogs. Saitou now calls him on out on that, saying that his reason for joining the government despite being on the losing side is so that he can continue living by the Shinsengumi code of "Aku Soku Zan" (Swift death to evil/Kill evil instantly), by destroying anyone who would dare to corrupt the nation of Japan, even Okubo. Shibumi then begs for his life by offering Saitou money, but...
    Saitou: "You can tame a dog with food. You can tame a man with money. But nothing can ever tame the Wolf of Mibu."
    • And then finally, you get this line:
      Saitou: "Whether it's the past or the present, the Shinsengumi will always be the Shinsengumi. A wolf will always be a wolf. And a Hitokiri will always be a Hitokiri. Isn't that right, Battousai?"
• And not only the boys get to shine! The Medic and Team Mom of Kenshin's group, Megumi Takani, has three of them:
  • First one: After acting as a mix of Damsel in Distress and Clingy Jealous Girl, as soon as Yahiko takes a dart containing a lethal poison for her and falls in a coma, Megumi immediately takes charge and saves him.
  • Second one: The whole "Fake Faith Healer" filler episode in the anime.
  • Third one: In the Kyoto arc, forcing the wangsty and depressed Kaoru to get out of bed, pack her stuff and go after Kenshin, instead of complaining because he left her.
• Kaoru, who is usually stuck as a Faux Action Girl, gets one when she beats one of the Juppongatana with nothing more the hilt of her broken wooden sword (and a bit of assistance from Misao, who gets a mini-CMOA in this same battle by continuing to fight with a set of broken ribs).
  • Kaoru prior to that, gets one before fighting Kamatari. Kamatari tells her that he's impressed with Kaoru's calmness when compared to Misao. However, Kaoru actually admits that she is no different from Misao, but that's not the real crowning moment. The crowning moment is this line...
    Kaoru: "But, when I take the ribbon from my hair and put this uniform on my shoulders, I have the resolution of a swordsman and gender no longer matters. So in that aspect, I'm no different from you."
  • Misao's true CMOA comes after that, though. It's when she stops Kamatari from killing himself.
    Misao: "I detest him and I can't really understand the feelings of a gay guy... but I'm nevertheless touched by his devotion towards his loved one."
  • This one is often denied by her rabid bashers, but it's still nice: Kaoru freeing herself from Jin-E's hypnosis and her And I Must Scream state, via pure sheer willpower. No, haters, she didn't do it because Jin-E killed himself; actually, Jin-E committed suicide because he had been defeated by both Kenshin and Kaoru: he beat him as Battousai, she undid his "unbreakable" hypnosis.
  • While Kaoru tends to Overshadowed by Awesome, there is absolutely no denying her teaching abilities. Yahiko is the prime example, turning the former Street Urchin into Tokyo's most feared swordsman. During his first real battle (At least the manga's version of the Mikio battle), Yahiko realizes that Kaoru's training allowed him to remain calm and see his opponent's attacks clearly despite his opponent wielding a blade, noting to thank Kaoru later. Another example is Yutaro, turning a kid who couldn't even a hold sword properly to someone who rivals Yahiko in a matter of days.
• Yumi's death is both a Tear Jerker and her CMOA, specially for how calmly she accepts what has just happened and uses her last breath to explain how she's finally free of her frustrations and feelings of uselessness after being only a Neutral Female for so long.
• Shishio's main CMoA was defeating not one, not two, not three, but four of the most powerful fighters in Japan all at once. Admittedly, they've all come out of brutal fights but the ease with which he completely defeats their ultimate techniques (or, in Sano's case, taking it head on and not even flinching, then defeating the Made of Iron Sano in one punch) marks him as the most badass Rurouni Kenshin character right there.
  • The height of Shishio's awesome comes after he takes the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki. Keep in mind, this attack has floored and incapacitated both people who have felt it thus far. Well, Shishio takes it at double strength—and gets back up. Cue Oh, Crap! reaction.
    • Not only did Shishio take the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki, but before that he'd taken pretty much every OTHER attack in Kenshin's moveset in a row. After he got hit with the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki, his body temperature exceeded his limits and he started thrashing about and clawing at his chest to relieve the excess heat. A few seconds later, he's calm again and ready to fight.
• Everything you need to know about Shōnen in general is this: Going against two hundred mooks and wiping the ground with them as Sanosuke did in Jinchuu arc is nothing to write home about.
  • Let us note that Sano was on vacation from the problems of the main cast, and just trying to relieve some stress.
• If Shishio takes the gold for "Most Badass Villain", Soujirou definitely takes the silver. In his first appearance, he breaks Kenshin's sword by beating him at Battoujutsu, which is Kenshin's specialty. In their second fight, Kenshin is completely unable to land a single blow on him until he uses Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki. Soujirou's even able to figure out the secret to the technique!
  • Also, when Soujirou decides that evil is bad (weird, eh?) and goes insane.
    • He got better. And decided to emulate Kenshin by becoming a wanderer to find his own truth.
• The whole Shishio fight in general is a CMoA for everyone involved.
• Now here's an awesome moment from the early parts of the series: When Kenshin bashes a Yakuza's head through the ceiling and says "I wasn't finished speaking."
• The pure awesomeness when Kenshin, after Cho threatens to kill Iori, a little toddler he was holding hostage, goes apeshit, screams and charges at Cho at full speed. He then dodges Cho's Urumi, which was going to stab him from behind, and draws his new sword (his previous Sakabato being broken by Soujirou and he previously didn't want to use this one due to his "no kill" rule), while charging at him upside down, still screaming at the top of his lungs, eyes blank white and uses "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji", taking Cho, whom he had had trouble fighting due to his broken sword and had been fighting him with his sheath, out with one strike. Never threaten an innocent while Kenshin's around or that'll happen to you.
• The final moments of the first OVA definitely qualifies. The icing on the cake is in the Director's Cut where Kenshin is going through literally hundreds of soldiers without pause. Then after the war is over, Kenshin leaves his sword in the ground and a subtitle appears that quotes the very beginning of the series.
  "Bakumatsu... In Kyoto, there was once an Imperialist known as the Hitokiri Battousai. He was a man who killed like a demon and cleared the way for the new Meiji era with his bloody sword, but with the end of the upheaval, he disappeared without a trace."
• This quote from Kenshin's fight with Aoshi in the Viz manga:
  Aoshi: "It's still too early to gloat. One width of paper closer, and I'd have sliced your jugular."
  Kenshin: "But the width of that paper... is the gulf between us."
• An early quote by Sanosuke:
  "I don't know, I just came for the fight...but if you arrest this woman, I'll have some more fighting to do.."
  "One fist...against two tekkou and two arms..."
• A subtle CMOA for Magdaria from the filler Shimabara arc. She, her bodyguard Shouzo and Sanosuke have barely escaped a lethal trap, but poor Shouzo has been pinned under debris after a Diving Save to help her. Her reaction? "I... I won't let you be buried!", and calmly starts doing her best to push rocks off him. What makes it awesome is how she is a very delicate ill girl almost in the last stage of tuberculosis, so any big physical efforts will make either her collapse or downright kill her—but she refuses to let that stop her.
  • A more open one doubles with Dying Moment of Awesome, as Magdaria chooses to go Taking the Bullet rather than letting Elsten (the Dutch Ambassador and pretty much the only person who, alongside Kenshin, can save the Japanese Christian colony) die. She dies in Sano's arms in complete peace, finally free from her bitterness.
  • And aside of his Diving Save, Shouzo earns two massive CMOA's. First, via using a bomb that Sano had given him to kill the Smug Snake Kaioh via blowing up his boat, fully knowing that he would most likely not survive. And then, via actually surviving that and giving a Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! to Sanosuke, who is (rather understandably) in an Heroic BSoD after Magdaria's Dying Moment of Awesome.
• Kenshin in both fights with Kujiranami Hyougo In the first, he calmly cuts the giant cannon attached to the guy's arm, then proceeding to bash said guy's ribs with his sakabatou. The second, has Kenshin simply racing a grenade and cutting the gatling grenade luncher clean off Kujiranami's arm. Badass. Let's not forget his first fight with Enishi, right after the bad guy defeats Kenshin's ultimate technique and starts bolstering about how awesome he is, Kenshin bitch-slaps him and then says the next line:
  Kenshin: "I WON'T LET YOU LAY A FINGER ON KAORU DONO!!!"
  • Let's elaborate on Kenshin's first fight with Enishi. The whole fight Enishi pulls out all sorts of tricks and counters to Kenshin's moves, revealing that he'd trained for years to counter Kenshin's style, and ends with countering Kenshin's Ultimate Technique after seeing it once.He then stops to gloat. Kenshin doesn't take that too well. After everything, he just simply forgoes the fancy techniques and beats Enishi around like the arrogant man-child that he is simply by the virtue of being faster, hitting harder, and being that much a better swordsman. Enishi himself admits that had Kujiranami not woken up and gone on a rampage, he would have been utterly beaten by Kenshin.
• How has Hiko Seijuro not mentioned yet? Besides being introduced as the most badass sword master ever (a man who raised, trained, and can constantly beat and ridicule Kenshin with no effort), his only official fight that wasn't training counts. For those who don't know, during the Kyoto arc, all of Kenshin's allies are beating up the Juppongatana when Fuji, a freaking GIANT, shows up, ready to kill them all. And then Hiko appears, and not only treats the massive Fuji as an equal, but beats him in two moves while sparing his life. Watsuki said that this character was too powerful to be used in the story too much for a reason.
  • "The man you can fight with all of your strength and never defeat...is standing before your eyes."
• Kenshin vs. Raijuuta in the manga, probably one of the best uses of Talking the Monster to Death. Although Kenshin is able to defeat Raijuuta physically despite being able to use only one arm and Raijuuta having range advantage, what seals the deal is Kenshin's words to Raijuuta about what it means to be a killer swordsman. For Raijuuta, who believes wholeheartedly in the art of killing despite never having taken a life, being a swordsman meant the development of special techniques. Kenshin, a man who has taken lives, says that being a swordsman means being able to bear the weight of the lives one has taken and that if Raijuuta can't understand that, then even a child like Yahiko is a better swordsman than him. Sano offers to finish off Raijuuta, but Kenshin decides he has already suffered his punishment. Kenshin's words broke Raijuuta so much that he'll never touch a sword again.

Cinema-ban Manga

• The new Cinema-ban manga reboots the series by saying "Hey, remember all those awesome ultimate moves Kenshin and his friends developed but never used against each other? After 10 years, we'll give you those showdowns!"
  • Kenshin vs. Futae no Kiwami! ^note  Kenshin wins by using SouRyuSen's two strikes simultaneously on Sanosuke's fist to negate the power of the Futae no Kiwami.
  • Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki vs. Gatotsu Zero-Shiki!! ^note Ends with a draw.

Rurouni Kenshin ( 2012 Live-action Film)

• The Live Action movie is one whole Moment of Awesome for the whole of Rurouni Kenshin fandom. Aside from the perfect casting of Takeru Sato as Kenshin, the movie is faithful in numerous ways to the original manga while being a fun and exciting film to boot. But if we were to boil down the awesome moments to specific instances:
  • Kenshin. Just Kenshin. Every fight he gets into in the film is a sight to behold, thanks to the filmmaker's creative use of camera angles and some amazing fight choreography. The film does a great job in selling to audience why a scrawny young Bishounen would be the most feared assassin of the Meiji Revolution, as well as, without anime style visuals, between his running and how quickly he moves, you can seriously believe how insanely fast Kenshin really is.
    • There's the first real fight he has onscreen, when he effortlessly dispatches the hapless mooks Kanryu has sent to the Kamiya dojo to evict Kaoru. For the first few minutes, Kenshin lays the smackdown with nothing but his bare hands, only drawing out his famed sakabatou near the end.
    • The second instance is his fight with Sanosuke, where he deftly avoids getting skewered/smashed by Sano's BFS by virtue of his speed and agility, all the while talking the street fighter down.
    • Then there's raid on Kanryu's mansion. Kenshin and Sano first dispose Kanryuu's army of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY goons, which is followed by his one on one duel with Gein. The sequence is topped with him standing atop Kanryu's gatling gun and delivering these words:
      Kenshin: "Do you know what money can't buy?... What you're begging for right now (leaps off the gun to deliver a smack that shatters Kanryuu's glasses) ...your life."
    • Kenshin's battle with Gein. He's able to block bullets with his sakabatou and we have nearly a perfect rendition of his battle with Aoshi.
    • Finally there's his duel with Jin-e, after the latter kidnaps Kaoru just to piss him off. For most of the fight, Jin-e has the upper hand and manages to wound Kenshin numerous times. But then Jin-e uses his Evil Eye on Kaoru to make her suffocate, and at this point Kenshin loses it and becomes Battousai. The enraged rurouni then delivers an ass whooping to the Ax-Crazy swordsman, capping it off with one of his signature Battoujutsu techniques, Sou Ryu Sen.
    • And can we also give props to Takeru Sato's acting? Not only does make you believe he's a master swordsman, his transformation between Kenshin and the Battousai is subtle but terrifyingly obvious.
  • Let's give everyone else some slack too:
    • The portrayal of Saito Hajime pretty much nails the character down to a T, what with cutting down the Ishin Shishi footsoldiers as casually as smoking (doing both at the time). Best part, of course, goes to his execution of a Gatotsu Nishiki to lay the smackdown via a chandelier to Kanryuu.
    • Sanosuke's boisterousness, even when contrasted to Kenshin's cool-headedness, manages to hold its own as well. Whether wielding a zanbato or wasting opponents via hand-to-hand combat, he delivers it with wisecracks and pure awesome. Props also needs to be given for his fight against Inui Banjin, which starts off as a slightly technical fight to a hilarious hit-'em-with-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink brawl.
    • Jin-e's rampages against thugs and policemen, already a source of Nightmare Fuel and Nausea Fuel, also manage to be awesome in their own way. It also helps that Jin-e was more subdued compared to his manga/anime incarnation.

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno

• The first of the 2014 live action sequels ramps up the action in a number of ways. Notable examples being:
  • The opening scene. Saito leads an army of policemen, who are promptly slaughtered by the Juppongatana. Soujiro in particular gets a standout scene here, killing an entire police squad in seconds with speed and precision. Despite the loss of his men, Saitoh defiantly stands up to Shishio, who makes his first full appearance. The sequence ends with Saito attempting a Gatotsu on Shishio, but Shishio simply laughs it off by ordering the entire flaming lair to go down (with all his men and the monks inside), leaving Saito empty-handed and sealing what a credible threat Shishio really is.
  • Kenshin arriving at the Shingetsu village, which has been overrun by Shishio's forces, and dispatching a number of Shishio's men. Despite his apparent cool demeanor, you can tell he's furious by the ferocity and impact of his attacks. In retrospect though, those same men did hang the corpses of Eiji's parents in full view of the village. Had they not done so, they wouldn't have incurred the normally kindhearted rurouni's wrath.
    • Later on, the villagers now want to kill the helpless henchmen, with some of them encouraging Eiji to take revenge for his parents. Kenshin arrives and stops him from doing the dead, and gives him a comforting speech of not giving in to his hate. And to grow up into a man who doesn't forsake his courage or his family's memory for petty revenge.
  • Kenshin's duel with Soujiro. Throughout the fight Soujiro matches the rurouni in skill and quickness, with neither gaining the advantage. In the end they each decide to settle the duel with Battoujutsu, with Soujiro emerging the victor by breaking Kenshin's Sakabatou in two!
  • Kenshin's battle with Cho. Despite his superior skill, Kenshin finds himself hard pressed to defeat Cho without a real sword to wield. That is until Arai Seiku arrives with his father's last sword which he then gives to Kenshin. (What sells it really is how he goes straight from grabbing the sword to his battoujutsu stance.) Nevertheless, Kenshin is still hesitant to use the blade, thinking it a normal katana and that he might accidentally kill Cho with it. It's only when Cho threatens to kill Arai's infant son that Kenshin springs into action and takes out Cho with one strike. To his relief he finds out that the blade he was carrying is another Sakabatou.
  • The titular Kyoto Fire is one whole sequence of awesome for each of the characters.
    • Kenshin, who deftly takes out Shishio's henchmen with his trademark speed and quickness. He even jumps onto a roof to stop one of Shishio's men from burning a building.
    • For a brief moment, Kenshin sees Shishio amid the chaos and promptly pursues him. Only the discover it was just a decoy, accompanied by others all dressed like Shishio who then gang up on the rurouni. Naturally, Kenshin kicks their collective asses.
    • Saito, casually cutting his way through Shishio's men while not dropping the cigarette in his mouth. He eventually chooses to dispense with it and start hacking away, not unlike how he fought at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in the first film.
    • The Oniwabanshu, as the hidden protectors of Kyoto, finally get their chance to shine, with Misao leading the charge by taking out a number of Shishio's men with unarmed combat. While Misao has always been an Action Girl, this portrayal is significantly more badass than her manga/anime version. She even does an amazing split-legged double kick on some mooks!
    • Kaoru and Yahiko also get their chance to shine. Kaoru, wielding a wooden naginata, takes out a number of Shishio's men on her own, while Yahiko shows much he's improved as a swordsman by using some moves he learned from Kenshin!
    • The duel between Okina and Aoshi. Bonus points in that it's the older combatant who manages to kick the younger across a few rooms, smashing wooden doors along the way. The fight ends with another perfect rendition of the Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren.
    • Sanosuke finally arrives in Kyoto, and proceeds to beat the living hell out of Shishio's mooks, all the while looking for Kenshin and company. He may not have the Futae no Kiwami at the moment, but he's nonetheless surviving even with the zanbato.
  • We must not forget that the film basically ramps up the stakes from the original material since by the end of this film, Shishio actually manages to carry out his plan of attacking Tokyo with the ''Rengoku'' by waylaying the entire Kenshin-gumi, Oniwabanshu and the Meiji government! The Bad Guy Wins doesn't even begin to properly describe it!
  • The Stinger showcases Kenshin being washed up ashore after failing to recover Kaoru from the stormy sea. He is eventually picked up by a "mysterious man", who turns out to be no other than Hiko Seijuro XIII himself, who exhibits that it is apparently possible to carry an unconscious man and look awesome doing it.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends

The second of the 2014 live action sequels features some truly epic scenes which close out the Kyoto Arc. Examples being:

• Kenshin's training with Seijuro Hiko. Like in the manga/anime, Kenshin begs his master to teach him the succession technique of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu in order to defeat Shishio. Hiko then agrees to train Kenshin once more, and proceeds to kick the rurouni's ass repeatedly, including using the Kuzu Ryu Sen on him at one point, bemoaning at how his stupid student's level of skill has deteriorated in the 14 years since he left his care. Unlike the manga/anime however, Hiko doesn't beat Kenshin with a sword, but with a simple wooden branch.
  • Later, Hiko asks Kenshin if he's found out what it was he was missing in order to finally complete his training. When Kenshin answers in the negative, Hiko bemoans that his student has not learned anything, and that he will continue to suffer and succumb to the killer within him until he will die all alone and in pain. As his master, Hiko says it is now his duty to end Kenshin's life and put him out of his misery. Kenshin, at first hesitant, cannot comprehend why he suddenly feels fear at his own impending death, thinking that he was ready to die after the Bakumatsu for all the lives he took as a hitokiri. But when Hiko attacks, Kenshin realizes that he cannot die now, not while Shishio threatens everyone he cares for. In a last act of desperation, Kenshin manages to land a blow on Hiko, something he could not do previously in their training. At that, Hiko ceases to attack and congratulates him, noting that Kenshin has finally found what was missing within him in order to learn the succession technique, which was the will to live. With that, Hiko finally agrees to teach Kenshin the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu's final attack.
• Newly appointed Japan Home Minister Ito Hirobumi and his cabinet arrive at the beach of Tokyo to discuss terms with Shishio over lunch. During which, Junior Secretary Abe becomes angry at Shishio's insolence and is promptly killed. Ito then orders his men to stand down, and to report that Abe suddenly succumbed due to a fatal illness. Shishio sneers at Ito's willingness to bury the truth, to which the latter coldly replies, "it's politics". At that, Shishio becomes angry, telling Ito that it was those same politics that burned him. He then threatens Ito to find and execute the Hitokiri Battousai, and to expose all their crimes in the process. Evil Bastard Shishio may be, it's still a treat to watch him hold the lives of the men who wronged him at his mercy.
• Okina, still recovering from the injuries he suffered in the last film at the hands of Aoshi, limps down the Oniwabanshu's secret path to Tokyo. Correctly deducing that Aoshi will lay in wait for Kenshin, he finds the former indeed waiting on the road. Despite his weakened state, Okina once again tries to fight Aoshi, but is casually swatted aside. While the effort seemed futile, one can't help but admire the elder Oniwaban leader's determination to stop Aoshi, in spite of being near death's door.
  • Later, Misao hits Aoshi in the back with a kunai during his duel with Kenshin. Angry at Aoshi grievously injuring Okina and abandoning all that the Oniwabanshuu stood for, she loudly declares him no longer their captain and attacks him head on. But like Okina, Aoshi simply swats her aside and kicks her for good measure, admonishing her for being in the way. Again, while the effort seemed wasted like Okina's, you have to hand it to Misao for not being afraid to stand up to Aoshi.
• Kenshin and Aoshi finally duel, much to the latter's delight. While the young Oniwaban seems more than a match for Kenshin with his twin kodachi, the rurouni, having improved his skills while training under Hiko, eventually gains the upper hand. Kenshin then finishes him off with a live action version of the Kuzu Ryu Sen, but not before telling Aoshi that he had no chance of winning while abandoning everything in his insane quest to defeat Kenshin.

  Kenshin: "Aoshi, if you ever recover the things that truly matter to you. I will be happy to oblige you again."

• In a moment that doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny, Kenshin is accosted by the police at the Kamiya dojo. Though he calmly fends them off without seriously hurting them, at one point he adopts a iaido stance and unsheathes his sword slightly, much to the policemen's horror, who comically back away from him. Though with someone of Kenshin's reputation, you really can't blame them.

The film's final 30 minutes are chockful of awesome moments. To start:

• Kenshin's "execution". The rurouni is paraded through Tokyo as a scapegoat for the Meiji government's crimes, before being brought to the beach where he'll be beheaded in front of the Meiji officials and the Juppongatana. Hoji gleefully gloats to his face at how the government he helped build is now going to execute him, to which Kenshin replies that he'll see Shishio in Hell. After Hoji reads off a list of Kenshin's crimes, the executioner readies himself to behead the rurouni, despite the tearful cries of Kaoru and the others for them to stop. The sword comes down, and to the Juppongatana's great surprise, Kenshin's bonds have been cut. The executioner reveals himself to be Saitou, who hands Kenshin his sakabatou. At that all Hell breaks loose, with Saitou and his fellow policemen assisting Kenshin in taking out Shishio's forces. Sano also joins in the fray, and accompanies Kenshin on the boat that will take them to the Rengoku.
  • Saitou gets two awesome moments on the beach. First off, he kills Fuji after the latter mortally wounds one of his officers. Then he takes out a charging Usui with a Gatotsu.
  • Kenshin, Sano and the Meiji policemen board the Rengoku, kicking ass left and right.
  • Sano vs Anji. Much like his fight with Inui Banjin in the first film, Sano spends much of the time getting knocked around by a more skilled opponent. But with a combination of toughness and sheer determination, he manages to defeat the fearsome monk. Though there's a hilarious moment where Anji has him in a headlock, and Sano escapes by pouring grease over himself followed by tickling Anji and a low blow from behind. He then finishes the job with his patented suplex.
  • Kenshin vs Soujiro round 2. As before, Soujiro is pleasant in his greetings to Kenshin, while at the same time giddy at the thought of fighting him once more. As the fight goes on however, the smile soon fades on his face as Kenshin slowly whittles away at him, to the point where he can't even walk properly. Soujiro then suffers a breakdown, unable to reconcile the fact that someone as weak as Kenshin can overcome him, who believed in the mantra "The Strong Live, The Weak Die.". And when Kenshin finishes him off with a variant of the Ama Kakeru Ryuu no Hirameki, combined with the rurouni's parting words, the poor Tenken really loses it, unlike in the manga/anime.
    Soujiro: "Was I wrong?"
    Kenshin: "You have the rest of your life to find the truth."
    Soujiro: (screams in agony while clutching his head)
• Shishio vs EVERYONE!
  • Unlike in the comics when he faces off Kenshin, Sanosuke, Saito, and Aoshi one after another, the movie gives us an unbridled melee as the four heroes charge in together, and Shishio manages to take all of them down.
  • Shishio deflecting the Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren and the Gatotsu simultaneously.
    • Really, this is a crowning moment for everyone involved. Yeah, Shishio took on all four at once. But unlike in the manga/anime, the four of them weren't as weakened from their prior battles. Aoshi basically came in at full health, while Saito had no real injuries to his legs and Sano hadn't been subjected to dozens of punches that would liquefy anyone else's insides. And they showed that fact, as all three of them lasted for most of the fight and got their own hits in. Extra credit to Sanosuke here, as his interference repeatedly saved lives during the fight as he did his best to tie Shishio up long enough for anyone with a blade to get a good hit in. And double extra credit to Shishio for taking on four opponents in good shape at the same time as opposed to four weakened opponents one at a time. He even tanked Sanosuke's punches repeatedly.
• For any fan of the series, seeing Kenshin finally making that infamous step with his left foot, perfectly executed.
  Kenshin:Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Ougi: AMAKAKERU RYU NO HIRAMEKI.

Ashitarō zenka ari and Hokkaido arc

• Ashitaro going up against the leader of the remnants of Shishio's forces. Not only does he end up tanking mallet hits (from a trick mallet that has an effect similar to the Futae no Kiwami), but he ends up smashing part of it, while holding his own against said leader. And that's before he finally gets enraged enough to draw the Mugenjin. Had Kenshin not intervened, Ashitaro may have killed the leader and maybe gone down the path of Shishio.
• Chapter 3 brings us the long-awaited rematch between Kenshin and Yahiko and it doesn't disappoint. The opening blow mirrors their first duel (though with their targets reversed), but this time Yahiko catches Kenshin's strike with his hand and proceeds to take the initiative in the fight. Even so, Kenshin's skill has not diminished with both of them are unable to land a meaningful blow. This leads to them pitting the Hiten Mitsurugi Style's Kuzu Ryu Sen against the Kamiya Kasshin Style's Hadome/Hawatari. The result? Kenshin is victorious and Yahiko's hands are injured, but not before Yahiko's manages to block five of the nine instantaneous strikes of the Kuzu Ryu Sen.
• In Chapter 20, Kenshin's battle with Itekura Byakuya reaches its end when Kenshin unleashes three consecutive Kuzu Ryu Sen. What's more is that Byakuya is finally able to visualize Kenshin's spirit and what he gets is not an animal or creature, but a tornado. Kenshin's spirit is a force of nature.