Rurouni Kenshin: Complete Edition, Volume 6

Rurouni Kenshin: Complete Edition is Nobuhiro Watsuki's re-edited and expanded edition of the original Rurouni Kenshin serialization, in 22 volumes; this is Volume 6, subtitled "Saito Hajime." The story remains set in Tokyo in the eleventh year of Meiji (1878): Himura Kenshin, once known at the end of the shogunate as the "Hitokiri Battosai," now lives quietly with Kamiya Kaoru and others wielding a reversed-blade sword. Saito Hajime, former captain of the Shinsengumi's third unit, appears as a Meiji police officer and challenges Kenshin at the Kamiya dojo, the two fighting to the death with Gatotsu against Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu. Just as victory nears, a Meiji government dignitary intervenes, turning everyone's eyes toward the "Bakumatsu nightmare" brewing in Kyoto—the movements of Shishio Makoto's band gradually surface. This volume is the turning point where the Tokyo arc closes and the Kyoto arc opens: old grudges, the shadow of government power, and the contradiction of Kenshin's vow not to kill all erupt at once, foreshadowing his later journey west alone. The Complete Edition includes newly drawn covers, added pages, and author commentary, with a larger trim size and finer printing than the original volumes—suited to collecting and rereading.