Rurouni Kenshin is a wonderful story of change, love, atonement, revenge, and responsibility with a great cast of characters with wonderful chemistry, but two things that always stood out to me were the villains, and the battles, especially in their thematic value in the story. Most notably Enishi Yukishiro and his battle with our lead character Kenshin Himura, today I won’t focus on Enishi himself but rather his final duel with Kenshin, which remains my favorite fight in shonen, and in manga period for what it does for the characters and the themes of the story.
In their first duel, Enishi had the upper hand, due to his conviction being so strong, with Enishi truly believing in his Jinchuu; his act of revenge on Kenshin for the death of his beloved sister. Kenshin’s conviction however, was weakened, with Enishi’s appearance, the attack on the town, and Kenshin’s inability to let go of the past damaging his conviction of atonement, and when the fight started, Kenshin was already at a disadvantage. Kenshin in the Kyoto arc had learned to accept the Battousai inside of him, but also to move on from it, but in Jinchuu it deals with him learning to move on from the people he killed, which includes the accidental killing of Tomoe Yukishiro, Enishi’s older sister and Kenshin’s former lover. Kenshin, now remembering the guilt he felt when he took her life, is now felt with having to take responsibility for his actions, blaming himself for Tomoe’s death, and Enishi’s downward spiral into madness, all of this weakening Kenshin’s conviction, and all but strengthening Enishi’s.
Enishi having the upper hand in the duel, counters all of Kenshin’s attacks, even his final attack: The Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Enishi’s conviction being so strong all thanks to his sisters smile, Tomoe’s. In imagining the most important person to him smiling, Enishi’s Jinchuu gave him the victory over Kenshin. Kenshin was for a second able to overpower Enishi before the fight ended, with Enishi threatening to take Karou’s life Kenshin’s conviction rose, with him refusing to let another loved one die, but it was all but futile as Enishi took the person most important to him, Kenshin now losing another woman he deeply cared about was sent into a deep depression destroying all of his conviction.
As we find out however, Enishi did not kill Kaoru, rather the body Kenshin saw was that of a puppet made from flesh, put together by Enishi’s partner, Gein. Enishi wanted to drive Kenshin into a deep depression, destroying his conviction without having to kill Kaoru due to Enishi's inability to kill any women who remotely look like his sister, he couldn’t take her life due to the trauma he suffered in seeing Tomoe die in front of him at such a young age. But as he sits down, finally victorious, he imagines Tomoe, his beloved sister no longer smiling for him, instead she gave him a face of disappointment, Enishi angered at why his sister won’t smile for him breaks down. Unable to imagine his sister smiling for him, Enishi’s conviction for his Jinchuu begins to weaken.
Kenshin, is now stuck in limbo, being unable to change and move on from the past, despite living in the present, it's almost like he’s not a part of it. But with Kujiranami’s battle with Yahiko, Tsubame wants to do everything possible to save Yahiko and so she tries to reach Kenshin, she calls to him in desperation to save Yahiko, finally getting him to move. Tomoe’s father, is able to talk to Kenshin, reminding him to keep moving forward, and to let go of the past, to change with the times and to continue his goal of atonement, to help out others around him. With this small push from Tomoe’s father Kenshin was able to get back up, and the rest he did himself. Kenshin’s conviction was now reformed, and with his dream of Tomoe smiling for him, his conviction strengthened, Tomoe was happy that Kenshin finally did what she wanted him to do, to simply move on from the past and to live his life to the fullest, and him finally realizing this, she smiled for him. Now she wants Kenshin to help Enishi do the same.
Enishi, still unable to change, decides that this time he’s going to kill Kenshin himself. Kenshin and his friends arrive on Enishi’s island to rescue Kaoru, and for Kenshin to finally settle the grudge between him and Enishi. Enishi’s anger and still powerful (but weakening ) conviction overpower Kenshin, but Kenshin continues to get back up as his conviction continues to strengthen and Enishi’s weaken, as with every attack Kenshin slowly starts to catch up to Enishi, matching his speed and power with every blow, Kenshin continues to get up, his conviction strengthening, Enishi’s however is weakening, as he becomes a mindless monster of rage unable to understand why Kenshin won’t go down, Enishi is no longer the cold, and calculated man he was in their first fight, now the roles have swapped with Kenshin being the one in control. Kenshin finally is starting to close the gap between him and Enishi, he decides to finally put it all down to the final attack. With Kenshin’s conviction stronger than ever, he connects the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki with Enishi’s Kofuku Zettosei, but something is different, something Enishi himself notes is different about this attack than the one in their previous duel, Enishi noting how much stronger Kenshin’s attack is in this final blow. Enishi’s weakening conviction gave Kenshin’s strengthening conviction the advantage to surpass Enishi, Kenshin was willing to move on and change, Enishi was not he was still stuck in the past and unable to change, he could not surpass Kenshin. All it came down to now, was a smile. The smile of the person who matters so much to both men, the smile of the person whose death brought so much pain to both, one feeling guilt and atonement, the other feeling anger and revenge. They both needed her support to win, Kenshin already had the smile he needed, he didn’t need another one, Enishi however begged for his sister to smile, just once for him again. But she didn’t, Enishi in this important moment, could not imagine the most important person in his life so much as crack a smile. Kenshin having the smile he needed, a strengthening conviction, and his willingness to change surpassed Enishi, and defeated him.
