Weakest Rurouni Kenshin character?

[Rod G]

What it says above.


There are those who would say Kaoru due to the Jin E incidient.

Any opinions?

[Hikari Tsukishiro]

What, by the end of the manga or that time point you described?

Kaoru is considered to be in the national championship level in kendo by the author, it's just that she is overshadowed by the superhuman fighters.

[Wesley Dodds]

Manga Raijuta?

[OverMaster]

Megumi. I win.

[Sanagi]

Megumi. I win.
Ayame and Suzume.

[Azangel]

*ding ding ding*

We have a winner!

[MKTerra]

Tsubame.

But lemme think, were there any babies in the cast?

[Rod G]

What, by the end of the manga or that time point you described?

At any point in the series.

Kaoru is considered to be in the national championship level in kendo by the author, it's just that she is overshadowed by the superhuman fighters.

Never saw the championship.

[MKTerra]

Never saw the championship.Reread his sentence ;) He says her skill level is like a real-world national champion's.

Btw, are we considering only combatants? 'Cause there must be a ton of bit-player noncoms in the series...

[Deskad]

I say a random bavterial cell in a pile of feces Kenshin passed by on his many travels.

What, doesen't count?

[MKTerra]

I say a random bavterial cell in a pile of feces Kenshin passed by on his many travels.

What, doesen't count?I'll have you know that "weak" bacterial cell went on to wipe out an entire clan of mountain voles :p

[Rod G]

Reread his sentence ;) He says her skill level is like a real-world national champion's.

Btw, are we considering only combatants? 'Cause there must be a ton of bit-player noncoms in the series...


For the sake of simplicity,let's say combatants . . .

[Crinos]

Probably Gohe Hiyuma then. That guy was a joke.

[MKTerra]

Probably Gohe Hiyuma then. That guy was a joke.He was stronger than Kaoru though, who's presumably stronger than Yahiko.

[Crinos]

He was stronger than Kaoru though, who's presumably stronger than Yahiko.

yeah, at the start of the series.

By the Kyoto arc both Kaoru and Yahiko were able to hold their own against Juppongatana members.

[MKTerra]

yeah, at the start of the series.

By the Kyoto arc both Kaoru and Yahiko were able to hold their own against Juppongatana members.Well, the Juppongatana includes noncom members like Yumi, the businessman, and the midget, but I take your point :p

[The Real Nemo]

If we're talking combatants it might be Misao, as much as I like her she just doesn't have the combat feats Kaoru and Yahiko have...

[Burning Knuckles]

Whatever happened to Kaoru other student Yutaro? I know he comes back to train, but I havent seen him?

[Rod G]

yeah, at the start of the series.

By the Kyoto arc both Kaoru and Yahiko were able to hold their own against Juppongatana members.


Yahiko maybe.

[Deskad]

Yahiko maybe.


Kaoru beat the crossdressing gay guy.

[Rod G]

Kaoru beat the crossdressing gay guy.

The C.G.G. must be a real wimp then.

[Melchior]

The C.G.G. must be a real wimp then.

He was probably tougher in a straight fight than either of the other two he was with. The flyer was only dangerous since he fought at range with explosives, and Iwanbu had defense but not much chance at offense.

Kaoru had Weasel-Girl helping her in the fight, though. Yahiko soloed his.

[The Real Nemo]

He was probably tougher in a straight fight than either of the other two he was with. The flyer was only dangerous since he fought at range with explosives, and Iwanbu had defense but not much chance at offense.

Kaoru had Weasel-Girl helping her in the fight, though. Yahiko soloed his.
True but when Misao was taken out of the fight Karou defeated him on her own, and although both their weapons were broken it was Kamatari who had the advantage (he basically had a staff with a chain at the end while Kaoru only had the handle of her boken).

[J'onn J'onzz]

Kaoru beat the crossdressing gay guy.

I know what you're talking about but that sentence is very strange. Maybe the flying guy that Yahiko beat. Definately not Lord Shishio. I REALLY want this show back on tv.

[Accacia]

welll...kaoru of course..but thats just in comparison to kenshin and sanosuke.

another weak one would be yahiko...but hes a kid..hes got a reason..=P :D

[Accacia]

Whatever happened to Kaoru other student Yutaro? I know he comes back to train, but I havent seen him?
yeah..WTH happened to Yutaro? i wonder that myself.. :confused:

[Melchior]

yeah..WTH happened to Yutaro? i wonder that myself.. :confused:

I believe he went overseas to heal. In the 3rd season of the anime, with no connection to the manga, he came back with the ability to use his hand due to some new surgery procedures in Germany, though I think Yahiko had outclassed him pretty well at that point. It's been years since I had seen that episode.

[The Real Nemo]

I'm really kind of surprised that I'm the only one to have mentioned Misao here... :confused:

[MKTerra]

I've been putting Yahiko on bottom in my head since he's still learning from Kaoru, but when I think about it, he does seem to have a pretty good track record.

[Chocolove]

Well, if all manga counts, Yahiko does have "Yahiko's Sakabatou". By that point he's definitely surpassed Kaoru, though I'd say he had done so before the Jinchuu arc had ended. Sure, Kaoru played the damsel in distress, but even before that point Yahiko appeared about on par minus the ougi, which he got around to before the end anyway.

Either way, I'd agree with Misao for reoccuring fighters.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Well, if all manga counts, Yahiko does have "Yahiko's Sakabatou". By that point he's definitely surpassed Kaoru, though I'd say he had done so before the Jinchuu arc had ended. Sure, Kaoru played the damsel in distress, but even before that point Yahiko appeared about on par minus the ougi, which he got around to before the end anyway.

Either way, I'd agree with Misao for reoccuring fighters.Actually, I dunno if he ever surpassed Kaoru even in Yahiko's Sakabatou... She's still his master and seems to have the upper hand when she wants to smack him around.

The worst part of RK, especially the manga, IMO, is that Kaoru was relegated to either the "screaming victim" or "stay at home trainer" levels. Am I the only one who stared blankly at the manga for a few minutes when Kaoru lets Yahiko go to assault a Yakuza headquarters while she stays home and prepares the baths, or even worse, did the same thing against that assassin that was training to take on friggin' Kenshin? Not to mention that her school should be downright vicious, considering what we've seen in her fights with Kamatari and Yahiko's subsequent usage in Yahiko's Sakabatou... A style based on leaving your opponent alive and destroying their weapons, but with no apparent taboo against crippling them for life? Yeee-ouch.

Also, Yutarou's returned in Yahiko's Sakabatou (or the one before that, where he gets the Sakabatou in the first place), still with only one arm, but apparently a good swordsman who seems flirts with Tsubame to piss off Yahiko, IIRC... And the only reason that Yahiko beat his Juppongatana member was because he was light enough to use the guy's explosions and a door to float up to him and smack the emaciated lightweight from above. And while Kaoru needed Misao's kunai to help her break Kamatari's scythe, she was still fast enough to hit it despite the fact that Kamatari was whirling the thing around fast enough to deflect dozens of kunai from Misao and tear up the cobbles all around him. Not to mention that the final half of the fight had Kaoru dodge Kamatari's final attack and break his knee all by herself, with a broken bokken handle.

[Rod G]

Kaoru' skills weren't any good against Jin E,to say the least.



Jin E is defintely a tougher opponent than Kamatari.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Kaoru' skills weren't any good against Jin E,to say the least.



Jin E is defintely a tougher opponent than Kamatari.Crap, Jin E was the first guy to make Kenshin go Battousai again, and she *did* eventually manage to overwhelm his hypnosis trick, which seemed to be a lot higher than the ones Sano managed to struggle through (though she had more motivation). Losing to him, like you said, is nothing to be ashamed of.

[Chocolove]

I'm going ot read over my post, which I should do before I make this one. But that's just the kind of guy I am. :cool:

I will agree it is difficult to gauge Yahiko based on the short; however I do feel that he impressed me more in that short time than Kaoru did in the entire series. Yahiko simply did a lot more fighting against multiple difficult opponents versus Kaoru who only really has one good showing. That might not be 'her' fault per say, but them's the breaks. The only time Kaoru's looked like a member of Kenshin's team was against Kamatari; Watsuki really seemed to be pushing Yahiko into the forefront during Jinchuu while Kaoru's role as a combatant appeared to decline.

Furthermore, in the fight against the hidden weapon user during Jinchuu, Kaoru figured out the trick behind the technique while Yahiko figured out a counter and goes on to defeat the opponent. In addition, Yahiko states that when he first attempted Hawatari that he does so faster than Kaoru, which, once again, seems to imply a certain level of equality, or at least a fairly small level of difference. Sure, Kaoru may have been performing it more slowly, one could argue, but shouldn't there have been some form or revelation for this ? And, of course, there's his use of Hawatari against an opponent with a weapon more difficult than a sword, as well. To make a long story short, Yahiko just has better feats than Kaoru does and he only gets better afterwards and seems to be more interested in using his strength to protect others than Kaoru since he basically takes Kenshin's place in the epilogue.

The worst part of RK, especially the manga, IMO, is that Kaoru was relegated to either the "screaming victim" or "stay at home trainer" levels. Am I the only one who stared blankly at the manga for a few minutes when Kaoru lets Yahiko go to assault a Yakuza headquarters while she stays home and prepares the baths, or even worse, did the same thing against that assassin that was training to take on friggin' Kenshin? Not to mention that her school should be downright vicious, considering what we've seen in her fights with Kamatari and Yahiko's subsequent usage in Yahiko's Sakabatou... A style based on leaving your opponent alive and destroying their weapons, but with no apparent taboo against crippling them for life? Yeee-ouch.

Basically my point. Whether it was writer intent or not, Kaoru just didn't look very impressive. I think there might have been a conflict of interest in Kaoru's portrayal by giving two roles to her that didn't work too well in conjunction with one another. The author noted at one point his dissatisfaction with how he drew females and maybe that applied to character portrayals, as well. Of course, another work of his, Buso Renkin, has a very strong female lead and it isn't as if Kaoru couldn't have been portrayed as somewhere on Sano's level with an equivalent growth, but maybe that would have been redundant ? Either way, I won't bothering guessing intent, since a lot of that likely took place before the manga was originally published.

I'm pretty sure Yutarou doesn't appear again, though he is mentioned by Tsubame as having visited her everyday while Yahiko was gone and he didn't seem to approve.

[MKTerra]

Shiina Yuya from Samurai Deeper Kyo is alot like Kaoru in that regard; One demonstration of badassedness in her own league, but basically useless the other 98% of the time since she's hanging around with sword gods.

Hmm, have we put Kaoru up against Yuya in a rumble yet? Oh, but Yuya has a gun...

[Guts/Batman]

I'm pretty sure Yutarou doesn't appear again, though he is mentioned by Tsubame as having visited her everyday while Yahiko was gone and he didn't seem to approve.

In the manga of RK, he doesn't but in Yahiko's manga he does, or so I have been told.

Personally, I'm glad he didn't come back. Not because I didn't like him but it wasn't right for the story.

Gohei was pretty pathetic but still smacked Kaoru around as others have mentioned. The sumo Yakuza member that Sano one shots in volume 26 was pretty bad, too. But that's because we have virtually no feats for him but a lot of bluster after Sano takes his attack that "could shatter rock" IIRC.

Misao is about the only one who can fit the bill here. 1) Her skills are not in sword fighting so it is hard to gauge her in series full of a sword fighters and 2) she doesn't have a lot of feats.

[epicduelgirl]

doctor genzai (was that his name?)... oh and Yumi, yeah all she can do is throw herself in front of blades...

um yeah or if we are talking fighters I will go with uh Yutaro... but I think it's unfair to beat on a gimpy kid...

[Guts/Batman]

um yeah or if we are talking fighters I will go with uh Yutaro... but I think it's unfair to beat on a gimpy kid...

Yutaro is a combatant in name only. The kid never had training before he went to Kaoru's dojo that one day. I don't think Yutaro qualifies as a "combatant."