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Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚 Rurō ni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan?)[1] is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the "Hitokiri Battōsai" (人斬り抜刀斎?, or "Battosai the Manslayer" in the English dub) who becomes a wanderer to protect the people of Japan.[2] Being a fan of the Shinsengumi, Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of the real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan.[3][4]
The manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 2, 1994, to November 4, 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes. The United States release of the manga has been completed by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English releases, as a rough translation of "Rurō ni" (流浪に lit. "Wandering"?). The English-language versions of the OVAs as well the film is released as Samurai X, although the original title was included in the DVD releases. Writer Kaoru Shizuka has written an official Rurouni Kenshin novel titled Voyage to the Moon World. The novel has been translated by Viz and distributed in the United States and Canada. Several video games have also been released for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles, with Rurouni Kenshin: Enjō! Kyoto Rinne selling over 130,000 copies [5]
The series has been highly popular in Japan, America, and Europe. The manga has sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007[6] while the anime has ranked between the 100 most watched series in Japan multiple times.
