The new Rurouni Kenshin anime received a trailer during the Aniplex Online Fest 2022. It was also confirmed that the anime will be a reboot as the original 1996 didn’t adapt the manga in full. The series, which is also known as Samurai X, will premiere in 2023 on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block.
Hideo Yamamoto is directing the new Rurouni Kenshin anime that was announced during the Jump Festa 2022. Studio LIDENFILMS is in charge of the animation. Terumi Niishi is working on the character designs, while Hideyuki Karuta is in charge of the series composition. Yu Takami is also working on the music.
Soma Saito and Rie Takahashi are voicing the protagonists, Kenshin Himura, and Kaoru Kamiya. A character visual has also been released:
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Shueisha serialized Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin manga series in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1994 to 1999, and it had a total of 28 volumes in circulation. A sequel manga titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc is currently being published by the same publisher, and as of now, it has 7 volumes available. Watsuki’s wife, Kaworu Kurosaki is writing it, while he does the art. The sequel was put on hiatus from December 2017 to June 2018, following Watsuki’s arrest. Viz Media licensed the series in English and describes the plot as:
One hundred and forty years ago in Kyoto, with the coming of the American “Black Ships,” there arose a warrior who, felling men with his bloodstained blade, gained the name Hitokiri, manslayer! His killer blade helped close the turbulent Bakumatsu era and slashed open the progressive age known as Meiji. Then he vanished, and with the flow of years, became legend.
Kazuhiro Furuhashi directed an anime adaptation of the manga series at studios Gallop and Deen from 1996 until 1998. An OVA titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture was also released in 1997. In 1999, a prequel OVA titled Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal aired and it had a total of 4 episodes. A two-episode OVA was released in 2001-2002, titled Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection, which revolves around the final days of Kenshin and Karou on Earth. From 2011 to 2012, Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc OVA was released. The story follows Misao’s point of view; she is one of Kenshin’s allies during the Kyoto Inferno arc of the anime.
Rurouni Kenshin also received a live-action film series The first movie premiered in 2012. The second film titled Kyoto Inferno was released in 2014, and it was followed by the third movie titled The Legend Ends. The first 3 live-action films of Rurouni Kenshin adapted the anime series. The fourth live-action film titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Final was released in 2021, and it adapted the Jinchu arc, which is also the third and final arc of the manga series. The fifth movie also premiered in the same year with the title Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, which adapted the Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal prequel OVA, and revolves around Kenshin’s life when he was still the manslayer, Hitokiri Battousai.
Source: Aniplex Online Fest 2022, Official Twitter
© Nobuhiro Watsuki/Shueisha, “Rurouni Kenshin -Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story-” Production Committee