With its season coming to an end next week, it’s finally obvious (in the nick of time) where Rurouni Kenshin 2023 is going to leave things in the finale. There have been some interesting tweaks to the narrative – some material from other elements of the franchise included, and even some original material. The truth is there’s no obvious stopping point built-in. The manga ran weekly, obviously, and the 1996 anime powered straight through this in 35 episodes. Where this one is stopping makes sense narratively to a degree, but in slowing the pace to do so Lidenfilms has given themselves a bit of an awkward length to adapt next season (whenever that comes). Ideally about 18 eps – which is a tricky number, unless they choose to end “Kyoto” and start “Jinchuu” (just typing that makes me swoon) mid-cour.

The flipside of that is that on the whole, I think this reworked version flows better than the original. And that’s coming from someone who ranks that original as one of the greatest arcs in shounen. The sakabatou flashback (Watsuki-original, though written decades later) was excellent, and the added material improved both the Kyoto Fire and Rengoku narratives. As things stand, the story finds itself in a bit of a breather stage – one minute between rounds of a fifteen-round bout, as it were. Kenshingumi II arrives back in Kyoto to have their first meetup with Kenshingumi I, and the process of damage assessment is well underway.

2o houses lost is almost a miraculously low number, thanks largely to Captain Arato’s obsessive over-preparation. No civilian deaths even more so, no doubt largely attributable to Megumi-san’s presence. Forty-one police dead, on the other hand, is grim. Saitou is not quite so cold as to be unmoved, but curtly scolds Kenshin that the dead should be celebrated for what they accomplished rather than simply mourned.  Omi-san survives, and so does Arato – though the vice-captain says he’ll likely have to walk with a cane from now on. Chou – who clearly could have escaped whenever the mood struck him – is sticking around for now. His dilemma is clear – he knows damn well what will happen if he ever goes back to Shishio at this point.

The unification of Team Kenshin is a bit tense for Kaoru, as she’s keenly aware she defied his wishes by following him. But whatever irritation he held over that has passed (or been suppressed for the sake of morale). One interesting change here is that in the original (and 1996 anime), this was the first time Sanosuke became aware than Anji was part of the Ten Swords. Here he knew of course – though was still stunned to hear that Anji saved Misao’s life the night before. Misao is having her own crisis of confidence because of that encounter, knowing full well that if the monk hadn’t shown up, Usui would surely have killed her. That’s a hard truth to accept – she’s just not at that level. But hey, even Anji isn’t truly at Usui’s level.

With everyone gathered at the Aoiya, the subject of Aoshi is naturally front and center. All the more so when Okina finally awakens, and truly it’s wonderful to have him – and Chiba Shigeru – back in the mix. Misao has already declared that Aoshi is a target of vengeance – a betrayer of the Oniwabanshu and everything it stands for. Hearing that Aoshi has allied himself with Shishio (and crossed swords with Kenshin again) changes nothing. But Okina, with all the weight and gravitas he brings, ups the ante to another level by asking Kenshin to break his vow and end Aoshi’s life. Doing so, Okina says, is the only path of redemption for one who’s lost his humanity and become a slaughterer.

Ken is never going to agree to this of course, whatever the rationale. His rebuttal is problematical – the fact that Okina is still alive is evidence that Aoshi has not totally lost his humanity, otherwise the old man would surely be dead. One can disagree very strongly that Aoshi deserves another chance at redemption (as indeed I did, and still would). But it would make no sense for Kenshin to believe anything else. Redemption is the path he’s chosen and more, the only reason he’s chosen to keep living. For him, it would be hypocritical to deny Aoshi the same chance.

With that, the stage is set for the next stage of the larger battle for the future of Japan. But just what that stage is remains unclear, except that it seems to be a plan engineered by Houji. He’s issued at least two duel challenges – Saitou and Sano have received them. And it’s clear that Houji issued them without getting the approval of Shishio first. Plans are Houji’s raison d’être within the Juppongatana – he holds no special skill in physical combat – so whatever this one is, there’s surely more to it than meets the eye.