To be honest, I’m not sure how long it’s been since I read or watched the Kyoto Arc (though I’m pretty sure “watched” is more recent). It’s been a good many years, that’s for sure. At least a decade. But it’s one of those stories so elemental to my understanding of fiction that the details come flooding back with surprising clarity as events unfold. I’m not sure I can call any shounen arc better than Chimera Ant, per se. But I would say that “Kyoto” is more perfect. In structure, thematically – it’s an exquisite and elegant construction with no real flaws (which I can’t really say about Chimera Ant).

The dynamic between Kenshin and Shishio is of course at the heart of all that. And it’s an incredibly complicated one. On top of everything else, Shishio is Kenshin’s successor as the hitokiri. They both filled the same foul role for the Imperial side in the Boshin War, and it scarred them both in profound ways (more literally so with Shishio, obviously). They understand each other in a way no one else can, not even Saitou. Shishio mocks Kenshin for his rurouni aspirations, but the air of respect there is unmistakable. Shishio is an ungracious man and defers to no one, but he treats his sempai with kid gloves. He understands what it means to be a hitokiri.

That’s why Shishio declines to fight Ken now. It might be taken as disrespect to foist him off on Soijirou, but it’s really just the opposite. Shishio won’t take Kenshin on until he has the full measure of him – and until that measure includes a return to the manslayer he was. For now Kenshin is a man who shows empathy even to the likes of Senkaku, using one of the lesser moves in the Hiten Mitsurugi arsenal to end their mismatched fight. Not only that, he later stops Eiji before he has a chance to slay the helpless Senkaku (far more gently than Saitou does).

Soujirou is an odd duck in every sense. Perpetually smiling, he gives off no bloodlust or fear, making him immune to Kenshin’s attempts to read and influence him using his own training and sword aura. He therefore wordlessly challenges the young swordsman to battoujutsu, a simple test of their speed. Galloping off with Yumi Shishio declares that in his current state, Kenshin can’t win such a contest. But he underestimates his predecessor. Ken may not win, but he doesn’t lose either. His sakabatou is split in twain, but in the process he shatters the Nagasone Kotetsu (a real master swordsmith), one of the “31 great blades” and priceless. Technically this battle is a draw, but given that Kenshin did that with a sakabatou, I think it’s clear who the stronger swordsman is.

With that, Soujirou sprints off in pursuit of Shishio and Yumi and Kenshin turns his attention to Eiji. There are times when the purity of Kenshin’s pathos really gets to me, and this is one of them. No one could ever “walk the walk” more authentically than this man. He’s done unspeakable things, and he never once asks for forgiveness for them. All he seeks to do is atone, day after day after day, even as the world tries to pull him back into the darkness. Never more than now, with an opponent awaiting him who seems too strong to take on in Kenshin’s current state. Even as he walks what may be the path to his own existential destruction, Kenshin never steps helping those, like Eiji, who he meets along the way.

If Shishio is mad about the state of his priceless blade, he doesn’t betray it. At great cost he’s learned a priceless lesson about the measure of the man he knows he’ll eventually face. He gives Soujirou a new assignment, to gather the Juupongatana (Ten Swords) – just hearing the name sends shivers of anticipation down my spine – to Kyoto with haste. These are Shishio’s inner circle, the heart of the threat he represents – and yet another epic element of the Kyoto Arc that can rival anything in shounen.

As for Eiji, Saitou declares that he’ll give the boy to his wife Tokio to look after – and the fact that Saitou has a wife is quite the shock to Kenshin and Misao. He urges Ken to revert to his old self with haste, and to proceed to Kyoto the same way. Misao remains by Kenshin’s side, not having forgotten why she started following him in the first place. As for Sanosuke, he’s lost somewhere in the mountains with no clue which way is out (never mind Kyoto), waiting for fate to intervene (which in this arc always leads to epic results).