Rurouni Kenshin, Complete Edition, Volume 10

Rurouni Kenshin, Complete Edition is Nobuhiro Watsuki's re-edited version of the original Rurouni Kenshin (28 volumes in all). The complete edition runs to 22 volumes in a large B6 format and restores some of the color pages and details cut from the serialized version when it was reprinted. The story begins in Tokyo around the tenth year of the Meiji era (1877): Himura Kenshin, once involved in the overthrow of the shogunate and known as the "Hitokiri Battosai," lays down his killing sword after the Restoration and wanders with a reversed-blade sword. He later meets Kamiya Kaoru at the Kamiya dojo and settles there, and is drawn into one incident after another, with the story gradually delving into the consequences of his past. This is Volume 10 of the series, and the main plot has reached the middle of the Kyoto arc: Shishio Makoto's true "plot to seize the nation" comes to the surface, and Kenshin, drawing on his old knowledge of the man, senses his movements; together with Saito Hajime, Sagara Sanosuke, and others, he heads for Osaka Bay to try to prevent the event known as the "Great Fire of Kyoto," with developments unfolding around the Ten Swords and the confrontations involving Myojin and Sanosuke. Through a gallery of samurai and patriots, the creator unfolds the situation and bewilderment of the old samurai class facing a new era after the Meiji Restoration; the fight scenes are sharp, and the characters are also handled with a good deal of gentle humor. It is one of the representative works of 1990s shonen manga that combines commercial appeal with a sense of history.