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Thoughts of a RK Fan

I love Watsuki’s character development. Especially Kaoru. During the Tokyo arc, her emotions are much more volatile. She’s very much a 17 year-old. Shishio comes along, and Kaoru begins to grow up. She’s a very different person in the Jinchuu arc. 

When Sano and Kenshin decide to keep things from her, she knows they’re hiding it from her, but she doesnt’ react like she would in the beginning of the story. She looks suspicious, but is wise enough now to realize they are doing it for own good, even if she doesn’t like it. 

She also doesn’t make Kenshin explain everything he’s thinking. Which was her character from the beginning but she tries to eavesdrop and find out on her own. In Jinchuu, she knows to leave things alone and if she needs to know she trusts her friends and Kenshin to tell if necessary when feel like it. 

I’m excited to see more of this “grown-up” Kaoru in this new arc. She’s always been there, but her life experiences pulled it out of her. Watsuki’s writing is amazing. 

And this is why Kenshin loves her. She said right off the bat she didn’t care about his past, and that made him stop and stay. He saw who she really was from the very beginning. 

Kenshin’s character has changed a little bit too, and it flows so naturally. HE’S GENUINELY HAPPY!! 

He’s had five years to live happily with Kaoru, have Kenji, and his face shows it. He doesn’t have that fake smile which doesn’t reach his eyes. He is very happy. And I’m so happy about this fact, I want to cry!!! Our Kenshin got his happy ending, and I can’t take the feels!!!

I love Kaoru and I love Kenshin. And seeing them in this new arc has my feelings bursting with happiness!! Watsuki thank you so much!! 

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RuroKen Hokkaido Arc 1 Spoilers

Warning: As usual, please note that my level of Japanese is basic at most, and this is just a rough translation - in this case, of the few pages available in the official Jump SQ site as a preview. As such, note that while the content is accurate, my translation might not be so. Feel free to share the link, but please DO NOT REPOST, and don’t forget to support the official releases!! If you want to buy the magazine (in Japanese), CDJapan has it available here.

In which an old story continues… what year is it. 

UPDATE #1: Full summary done!

Keep reading

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Himura Family

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Saito Hajime and Souji Okita in Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal Act I - The Man of the Slashing Sword

#ThatsHimTold

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Kaoru: Remember when you said you weren’t going to interfere with my love life? Tae: No. That doesn’t sound like me at all.

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studiesss :D

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FYI I’m not on hiatus again or simply running off to elope with Twitter in Paris (I think I’d go with Florence for the sake of familiarity) or, surprisingly the siren song of having ¾ Cu Chulainns + Heracles (WOOT!  🙌🙌🙌) to play with now that Fate/Grand Order English has been released.  

Serious, real life adult obligations expanded exponentially out of nowhere a little over a week ago, and they won’t be letting up anytime soon. My Tumblr availability kinda did a one year fast-forward thing to what I was expecting once I return to grad school. Uh, suffice it to say I had a very different plan in mind for keeping my tumblr blogs going as a hobby when that time came. 😶

I’ll probably need at least another week to get weekly features like Miura Monday back up to snuff (especially since they were limping along with minimal content before life got so busy in a hurry.) 

But I am dead serious about the 30 Days of Nothing Challenge being properly completed by July 20th.  Bear in mind there are no lightning round catch-up posts allowed (for me) this time around, and I already have at least one that i said I was going to revise becuase I had to write it in a hurry. I hope @miyamanga​ followers like seeing several Kara no Kyoukai posts a day on your dash, because that’s what you’re gonna get! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

In any case, I wanted to check in but not in a “sorry for the inactivity” kinda way. I’m sorry there aren’t 30 hours in a day and magic teleportation devices that would really help me out.

In sum, none of my blogging priorities have changed. I’ll open up the ask boxes once I have some level of confidence that I have enough spare time to respond in a timely manner. 

Along those lines, if you do have a quick question or want to chat, Tumblr chat is a terrible way to do it right now. Sorry not sorry, but Twitter’s the most convenient way for me to stay in touch with people right now, so unless you send a DM to miya_manga, your message is probably going to go unnoticed for many days if not weeks. 

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Sagara Sanosuke         rough by shinki

※Permission to reprint this was given by the artist. Please do not repost without the artist’s permission. If you liked this fanwork, do take the time to rate and bookmark the original work. 

[Please do not repost, edit or remove credits]

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Megumi: How many drinks of alcohol do you consume a week? Hiko: One. Megumi: That’s it, one drink? Hiko: One shelf.

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that’s why she must keep herself strong

[ ruroken girls + quotes from a book i’ll never write ]

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Partial translation of an interview on Watsuki Nobuhiro, author of Rurouni Kenshin. 

Disclaimer: The following translation is by someone who learned little Japanese from a few books and watching anime. Please proceed cautiously. Corrections are gladly welcome :)

On 2 Dec 2016, it was announced that Rurouni Kenshin – Meiji Kenkaku Romantan manga, which first serialized 17 years ago, would have a come back. It would contain Hokkaido Arc – which involves not only Kenshin and Yahiko, but also Shishio Makoto’s trusted subordinate Seta Sojiro, and the remnants of Shinsengumi. This would be a RurouKen sequel, authored by Watsuki Nobuhiro.

(tr notes: Nagakuraaaaaaaa!!! It should be safe to assume Nagakura will make an appearance right? :3)

The January issue that comes out on December includes Watsuki Nobuhiro’s Rurouni Kenshin: Ex-Con Ashitaro. After this, around April of next year Jump Square will have RurouKen Hokkaido Arc.

(tr notes: the Hokkaido arc was pushed summer 2017)

Q: So that means, by the time this interview is published, the talk about Hokkaido arc has already spread out. Then again, after all this time, why RurouKen?

WN: The truth is I had chances to look over RurouKen again and again. Specifically, the movie was a big opportunity. Honestly, I never thought it would go until three parts, because when the talk about making movie came out, I was thinking “ah, it would be nice if this won’t be a losing movie”. But old fans and new people ended up liking the movies, I was surprised.

Q: I actually have an acquaintance whose grade school daughter was a big fan of RurouKen. It’s a work that is still actively popular.

WN: I have a manga-ka friend also whose child likes RurouKen (laugh). Thanks to the movie, generations of grandpas and grandmas watched it, fathers would take their children (to watch). It has spread out in a way that was not possible before.

Q: From our RurouKen interview with you today, it seems for Watsuki-sensei, this work is that one big work that influences in a manga-ka’s career. Afterall, you haven’t written any historical manga after RurouKen.

WN: Well, I thought if I would write another historical manga, people would tell me “why not write more RurouKen instead?” (laughs)

Q: Which leads me to the question, why RurouKen again, after all this time? I was under the impression that you do not want write sequels to it…

WN: It’s not that I don’t want to write sequels. It’s just, for me, RurouKen has always been a wall.

Q: A wall?

WN: Because of RurouKen, I was able to continue being a manga-ka, and I was able to build a wall of stability from there. Whatever happens, this security wall would help me keep my career as manga-ka.  However, looking at it the other way, it has been difficult to get out of that security zone. As a manga-ka there has always been the expectation of “can I write something other than RurouKen”. Of course, it’s nice that people are kind of looking forward to my next work, but it was still difficult.

But after seeing how the people has enjoyed the movie and the Takarazuka production, I thought, “why not give it another shot?”

Q: Then again, at the end of RurouKen, the doctor has advised that Kenshin cannot use Hitenmitsurugi-ryu anymore, and Kaoru gave him a shoulder tap and said “rest”. I thought it meant that Kenshin has done everything that he could already… (*Kaoru said “otsukaresama”, translated as “rest” in English scanlations of the manga)

WN: No, not really. At that time, I already have the draft of the Hokkaido arc, that I’ll be doing now, in my head. But that time I cannot see the conclusion of RurouKen as a shounen manga.

RurouKen is a story of atonement. If I continued the story at that time, Kenshin is bound to die because of the sin of killing so many people. Even if he does not die, he will not lead a happy life. With those thoughts somewhere in my mind, I thought I had to end RurouKen as a shounen manga at just the right timing.

Q: So that was how it was… It brings a passionate image…

WN: That was the general feel, but I avoided putting it into actual drawing. Actually, if I continued writing it as a battle manga at that time, Kenshin would become like “Ashita no Joe”. I mean, he can’t use Hitenmitsurugi-ryu anymore but he would still have to protect his vow of not killing. Because of that, he would end up being killed in battle. That was why I had Kaoru say, “for the time being, rest”

Q: So Kaoru’s “for the time being” has that kind of meaning too…

WN: Also, because it was Kaoru who said those words, she perfectly understood that that is what would happen to Kenshin. It was precisely because she understood that she said “for the time being”.

At that time, the end of Kenshin that I was thinking was, in a way, as a man, idealistic, and cool, kind of. I mean, I like “Ashita no Joe” too. But at the very least, for Kenshin, it was not the case, I thought.

Q: What could have brought about the change in thought?

WN: When you’re in your 20s, you usually think very serious, straight forward, and intense. But as you grow older, you’d think you could chill out a bit. From there, the field of vision widens (laugh).

Now that I’m over 40, when I looked over again at Kenshin with a third person point of view, I thought “is this really the last of it?” I kept thinking, would that “for the time being” on “rest”, really be a “rest” or not…

But for me to be able to write the future, I need the image of something that goes beyond the finale of Kenshin. In a way, a finale where Kenshin becomes happy is necessary. That was something I could not see for a while.

But after being involved in the movie and the Takarazuka productions, for about a year and a half, I had been thinking about it in the corner of my head, and now I see a path opening.

Q: I see…

WN: Now I’m in my 40s. I can see myself doing manga for roughly around 10 more years. After that I don’t know what will happen. I might be at my strength limits. I still have a lot of ideas. But I know I might not get to write all of them. So when I think in all the ideas among my manga works, while I can still write as a manga-ka which is that that I want to write about – that is Kenshin’s Hokkaido Arc.

Q: What kind of story would it be…

WN: As a hint, it was something that happened in the Takarazuka production, that much, I can tell you.

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Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014)

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a child of the new meiji era… (bg)

colored this manga cap while enjoying the takarazuka stream last night as always, thanks @animaniacal!

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Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014)

“Cherry blossoms in Spring. Stars cover the sky in Summer. Full moon shines in Autumn and in Winter, the snow covers the ground… All these things make sake taste good. If it tastes bad, it’s because there is something wrong with you.”

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Megumi: See? Unisex. Sanosuke: Maybe you need sex. I just had it a few days ago. Megumi: No, Sanosuke, U-N-I-sex. Sanosuke: I wouldn’t say no to that.