I’m not surprised by much with the “Kyoto” arc, having experienced it as many times as I have. But it has been a while. And if anything, things are more action-packed than I remember them being. It’s not as if this adaptation is rushing events  – if anything it’s moving slightly slower than the 1996 version. Especially when you consider the insertion of the sakabatou origin story (written decades later). But there’s not much downtime. Stuff is happening every chapter, and it’s important to the plot and characters.

Here, though, we do get a bit of a breather. An almost literal calm before the storm chapter, because things are as calm as they can be with Sano around and there’s certainly a storm coming. Sano has once again rather naturally fallen into the sidekick role (think Barney Fife and Andy Taylor) to Saitou. Shishi0 has sent his zaku out to seed the clouds for the big event – the great Kyoto fire – and one of them has been captured. Saitou is a natural at interrogation (the Shinsengumi were infamous for it), and we even get Sanosuke as a good cop in an anime-original scene. From the small fry Saitou learns that the event is set to come off that evening, though something doesn’t seem quite right.

The dynamic with the zaku back at the bat cave is an interesting one. Houji is prepared to spare the men that screwed up – he needs them for the operation, if nothing else. Usui is inclined to make an example of them to keep the rest of the men cowed. You definitely get the sense that Houji has a genuine altruism about him – he’s a true believer if ever there was one. And he sees these outcasts and misfits as being criminally wronged by society, which Shishio is intent on setting right. But yeah – he also needs as many warm bodies as possible.

Sano gets an introduction to bubuzuke (a Kyoto specialty of green tea poured over rice and pickles) at a restaurant so eerily familiar it confuses him. He tries to skip out on the bill as ever, but this proprietress is having nothing to do with it (though she gets a lot more – and less – than she bargained for). Her sister and Tsubame are looking after the Kamiya Dojo back home. And the Oniwabanshu have brought back a report that someone resembling Kenshin has been taken to a local police station, which is enough to set Kaoru’s heart a-racing.

As for our hero, he was indeed only too be happy to be nicked by the rozzers. Saitou’s liaison in the Kyoto police, Arato Ryuusaku (Yasumoto Hiroki) has been searching for him, and summons him as soon as word of his appearance comes in. Saitou may not get the answer he was looking for when he asks a pointed question, but whatever Kenshin he can get is still absolutely vital to his chances for success. He brings Ken up to speed on the latest developments, including the info from the recently captured foot soldier. But like Saitou, Kenshin strongly senses that something is amiss.

It’s worth noting that in addition to being a genius with the blade, Kenshin is also a brilliant strategist – something he’s displayed on the rare occasions the story has required it of him. He recalls the Boshin War, when at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi the shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, fled via a ship in Osaka Bay and escaped to Edo (where in fact he surrendered Edo Castle to Imperial forces to avoid a massive bloodbath). What if the entire fire scenario is a diversion – what if Shishio’s big guns are really pointed at a different target? Both Kenshin and Saitou are aware that information has leaked to them far too easily, considering the enemy – Kenshin’s explanation is one that makes sense of that.

Of course knowing all that – or at least suspecting it – is different than actually being able to do anything about it. And there are no bullet trains to Osaka at the dawn of the Meiji Era. We do finally have a reunion – but Sano has missed crossing paths with Kaoru and Yahiko. His first crosses paths with Kenshin however – a pointed message communicating his feelings about being left behind. You get the idea he would be perfectly happy to run to Osaka – though Saitou is only too happy to inform him what a dumb idea that is…