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That Man - Raijuta is the 15th episode of the Rurouni Kenshin 2023 anime adaptation.

Synopsis[]

Kenshin goes with Kaoru to the Maekawa Dōjō where she sometimes helps as an assistant master. While they are there, a man called Isurugi Raijūta appears to challenge the Dōjō and seriously hurts Mr. Maekawa. When Kaoru accepts Raijūta's challenge Kenshin steps up and faces Raijūta in a duel. Can Kenshin win against Raijūta in a Dōjō duel? What does Raijūta want from challenging Dōjōs?

Summary[]

Early on the morning Kaoru gets ready to leave the Dōjō and after Yahiko accidentaly watches Kaoru while changing clothes, she gets angry and hits him. Kenshin appears later and asks where Kaoru is going. She says she is going to the Maekawa Dōjō to train Kendo with the master, and old friend from the family. She also mentions that said master has expressed interest in meeting Kenshin, so she asks Kenshin to go with her. Kenshin initially refuses, but Kaoru gives him more household chores, so he accepts. Kaoru leaves with Kenshin while carrying Yahiko tied aroud her bokutō on their way to the Maekawa Dōjō as punishment.

Somewhere else in town, a young kid gives information to a large menacing man about the state of the Kendo Dōjōs in Tokyo. The boy says that there are a couple of mediocre Dōjōs, except for the Maekawa Dōjō that has a really strong instructor who used to be an important warrior back in Kyōto in the Bakumatsu days. He also mentions that there are gossips about a legendary swordsman staying at the Kamiya Dōjō. But the young boy's boss does not care about it and decides to go to the Maekawa Dōjō as well to face that strong instructor.

The Kenshingumi arrive to the Maekawa Dōjō where they meet Maekawa Miyauchi, an aging swordsman who is in charge of the Dōjō. All the students in the Dōjō are excited because of a duel between Maekawa Miyauchi and Kenshin. Miyauchi challenges Kenshin, but he refuses. After a quite long exchange of sights, Miyauchi desists and asks Kaoru to forgive him. He just wanted to face this strong warrior to duel, but says he has been defeated by Kenshin's refusal. So Kaoru is training with the students at the Dōjō while Kenshin talks to Maekawa Miyauchi who complains about how the Kenjutsu is getting weak nowadays.

Suddenly the big menacing man appears at the Maekawa Dōjō and even enters the main hall without taking his shoes off. He presents himself as Isurugi Raijūta and clains to be very worried about the state of swordsmanship in Japan in the current era. He challenges the master of the Dōjō. The young boy who gave Raijūta intel also appears and asks Raijūta if they are going to fight using a real katana or a wooden one. He answers he will use a shinais, and the boy laughs.

Maekawa Miyauchi accepts the duel, and Kaoru offers to be a referee. They set in a 3-point match using shinaisand the duel begins. Raijūta quickly hits Maekawa in the shoulder with tremendous strenght. Maekawa is hurt and the duel pauses, and even though Kaoru wants to stop the duel, Maekawa insists on continuing the duel. As soon as it resumes, Raijūta charges to Maekawa and hits him in the head with all his strenght. The shinai breaks and Maekawa goes unconscious. Even thought the duel has finished and Kaoru rushes to stop it, Raijūta grabs Maekawa and wants to wound his neck with the broken shinai to kill him. Before he can finish Maekawa off, Kenshin enters the scene to stop him.

Raijūta challenges Kenshin to a duel, but Kenshin refuses. So Raijūta tells his young assitant to grab the Dōjō wooden sign. He gives Raijūta the idea to burn it down on the street. Kaoru wants to stop Raijūta and challenges him to retake the Dōjō wooden sign. So Kenshin steps up to face Raijūta instead of Kaoru. They agree to use bokutōs and to a 1-point duel with Kaoru once again as referee. Once the duel begins Kenshin just focuses on evading Raijūta's attacks and does not attack him at all. Kaoru realizes Kenshin just wants to end the duel on a statemate, so Raijūta can't grab the Dōjō wooden sign.

Once Raijūta also realises Kenshin's plan, he loses all his patiente and performs a special movement. The air around Raijūta's bokutō distorts while he is attacking Kenshin. He realizes something special is about to happen and steps back. After the attack the Dōjō's floor is cut like if a sharp object had cut it, and Kenshin's bokutō is also cut. Raijūta is surprised Kenshin evaded the attack and decides to leave for good before asking Kenshin for his name. After the danger is gone, everyone focuses on taking care of the badly injured Maekawa. Once he is alone, Raijūta says it's the first time ever someone evades this techinque, Izuna.

Back in the Kamiya Dōjō Kaoru tells Sanosuke of what happened at the Maekawa Dōjō. Sanosuke is pissed of the idea that someone interesting appeared while he was not present. Kaoru gets angry and hits him, but Kenshin says that was a fair duel and Raijūta was indded strong. Suddenly a carriage apprears at the Dōjō and a servant gives Kenshin a written invitation. It's an invitation from Raijūta who wants to talk to him at the Tsukayama state. So the Kenshingumi decide to travel to that place, and as they arrive, they are shocked to see such a rich a big and elegant place.

The owner of the grounds appears, Tsukayama Yuzaemon, alongside his son Yutarō. He was the young boy who was assisting Isurugi Raijūta on the duel. Yuzaemon reprimands Yutarō and tells Kenshin Raijūta wants to talk to him. He goes alone, and Yutarō stays with kaoru, Sanosuke and Yahiko. Sanosuke ties Yutarō to a tree so he does not bother them while Kenshin meets Raijūta. He asks Kenshin about what is his opinion about the current state of swordsmanship in the modern era. Kenshin doesn not have issues with the idea of the kenjutsu dissapearing eventually. Kenshin asks him why he is attacking Dōjōs.

Raijūta says he wants to eliminate all the weak Dōjōs and instaurate his own style, Izuna, as the one true tehcnique and his school, the Shinko-ryu as the most powerful in the country . He laments how the soul of the samurai is dying day by day since the modern kenjutsu is weak by using wooden swords instead of a katana. Raijūta asks Kenshin to join him in his quest to revitalize the true soul of the swordsmanship, but Kenshin refuses. In response, Raijūta declares Kenshin is now an enemy of the Shinko-ryu. And he attacks an off-guard Kenshin.

Characters in Order of Appearance[]

Anime Notes[]

  • There are several differences between the original manga and this anime episode:
    • At the beginning of the manga chapter there is only one panel of Kaoru changing clothes in her room. This is in contrast with the anime where Yahiko opens the door and watches her.
    • In the manga Kaoru carries Yahiko tied aroud her bokutō on their way to the Maekawa Dōjō as punishment for him watching her changing clothes. This is in contrast with the anime where Kaoru carries Yahiko dragging on their way to Maekawa.
    • In the original manga when Maekawa Miyauchi meets Kenshin at the Dōjō, Maekawa throws several challenging looks at Kenshin trying to force him into battling Maekawa until he desists. In the anime, Maekawa just gives one (rather long) challenging look at Kenshin before desisting.
    • In the original manga when Raijūta is about to kill Maekawa, Kenshin unseathes all his sword to stop Raijūta, so he notices Kenshin is using a Sakabatō . This is in comparison with the anime where Kenshin does not unseathe the sword while stopping Raijūta.
    • In the original manga Raijūta and Kenshin fight using shinais. This is in contrast with the anime where they fight using bokutōs.
    • In the original manga when Raijūta uses the Izuna against Kenshin on the Dōjō duel, he cuts Kenshin's shinai in two. This is in contrast with the anime where Raijūta cuts Kenshin's bokutō in two (longitudinally).
    • As it is usual with this anime adaptation, several funny moments from the manga were omitted.

Trivia[]

  • The episode was titled after the original of Act 35 even though this episode covers mostly the events of Act 34.
  • This is the first time these events have ever gotten an adaptation since the original manga. Neither the 1996 anime or any subsequent adaptation has ever covered the events of this episode.

Gallery[]

To be added

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