Rurouni Kenshin: Untortured

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Accompaniment for this page is “It’s Gonna Rain,” by Bonnie Pink; my second favorite.

For our next page, we have The Youth (who mostly have boring name meanings so I didn’t do them) most of them rather bland in comparison. Not that they’re uninteresting, or without painful pasts, but none of them are presented as tantalizingly dark, tortured souls like the foregoing lot. Mind, the fact that Soujirou and Enishi are tortured prevents us from reading this as some kind of statement that all is sweetness and light for the future. But the younger characters provide much less angst for the plot, which occasionally tempts Watsuki into bad habits. Clearly, he’s read way to much Stan Lee and picked up an unfortunate tendency to provide a character purely to do the play-by-play. (“Oh, look! Kenshin has just done Move X–insert detailed description–which has had Effect Z! How amazing!”) This leads to:

Sagara Sanosuke

Who, in the manga, is mostly a sports-caster with a few muscle-flexing cameos. He gets to be much more interesting in the anime; among other things, he actually acquires some character complexity and conflicting motivations. With a few little twists, the anime storyline made that whole interlude with Katsu (for example) much richer and more loaded with hints of character development.

In the manga version, Sano’s submission to Kenshin is settled once and for all in their first fight and from then on Sano’s the faithful sidekick/sportscaster; which is sweet, but not very interesting. The anime version actually allows Sano to break away from his new friends and, in particular, get into a serious fight with Kenshin again. He loses, of course, but that’s not the point. Sano feels called on, by his ethical convictions, to join Katsu’s attempted arson etc. And when Kenshin comes to stop them and Katsu is unable to do anything useful about this, Sano steps up, faithful to his convictions however conflicted he may feel about them just then.

It’s the ambiguities of this confrontation that make it interesting to me. OK, so Kenshin pounds Sano into the ground again; that’s the easy part. Kenshin’s apology looks simple (sorry for kicking your ass into next week, Sano, you all right now?), but added to Sano’s very ambiguous “Thank you, Kenshin,” even that slips a little. What is Sano thanking Kenshin for? Stopping him from doing something wrong? (I suspect that’s what the anime team intended; the more kinky possibilities aren’t well supported in the rest of the show. All the same, I would like to think they recognized that possibility in what they produced.) Wrong for what reason, though? Because it was destructive or because it would have been ineffective? The latter would seem to ally Sano with Saitou, attitudinally. Because it meant Sano didn’t have to stop himself? Now, there’s an interesting one; it suggests that one of the reasons Sano hangs out around Kenshin is so that he can rely on Kenshin’s maturity (hmm) and indulge himself in immaturity without worrying. (And in any case, I gotta say, thanking the person who just finished beating you to the edge of unconsciousness is kinky no matter how you read it.) This is to say, in the anime, Sano’s submission to Kenshin is a far more problematized issue. Much more fun that way.

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Kamiya Kaoru

I think the best treatment of Kaoru so far is Homecoming (see link at the bottom of the main page). Rather than simply reiterate that page, let me point out a few sidebars and you can go look at Homecoming next.

Why do so many anime heroines so utterly lack cooking skills? Usagi, Akane, Kaoru; a significant percent of plot time in all three cases is taken up with their friends attempting to prevent these ladies from poiso… er, feeding them, some tactfully some less so. My own training, conditioned by the food-politics of 19th C British and US literature, is screaming for me to read this as an indication that aggressive women are dead ends–not able to offer sustenance. On the other hand, Usagi and Kaoru both have kids by the end of the series which seems to indicate that the ends aren’t that dead. And there’s always someone else to pick up the slack (Makoto, Kasumi, Kenshin… one of these things is not like the others…). So perhaps the point is actually that strong community bonds are the precondition for successful rebels; as long as there’s someone available to do what needs to be done, everyone can also do their own thing. Of course, these stories also make it easy by presenting the substitute as happy and willing to take over…

A correspondent reminds me that, in the manga, Hirume Gohei’s borther, Kihei, infiltrates the dojo as her housekeeper, on her father’s death, which would allow Kaoru to go along without learning housekeeping details for herself.

I have to admit, both Ranma and RK give me serious McCaffrey flashbacks. As a girl I was so delighted with Lessa, the strong and independent woman…until I unraveled the most basic point made in the Dragon books: it’s fine and dandy to have a woman character who’s stronger than both the men and women around her. Just as long as she’s hooked up with one man who’s stronger than she is. I think RK is actually less guilty of that than Ranma; at least in RK we get the idea that there’s more than one kind of strength, and that Kaoru’s strength of heart is at least as necessary for the continuation of lives and worlds as Kenshin’s strength of arm.

In addition, Hakucho notes that, “it seems to be that Kaoru’s maturation throughout the series is reliant on the influence and advice of Takani Megumi. I don’t know about the anime, but in the manga it’s due to Megumi’s confrontation of her when she’s sulking and depressed that Kaoru finally decides to go to Kyoto to see Kenshin again (as she was the only one he said “goodbye” to), and in the beginning of the Jinchuu arc with Enishi Megumi tells Kaoru that although Kenshin DID eventually survive all of his battles in Kyoto he is still only human and capable of dying, meaning that Kaoru would have to be much more stronger for his sake if she doesn’t want to lose him.” (personal email, quoted by permission)

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Takani Megumi

Ah, the fox-lady. Interesting that she doesn’t get a happy romantic ending. On one hand, we could read that as a sign that “proper” women who participate wholeheartedly in the makeup-marriage-hunting economy are passé. On another hand, we could read it as a sign that an independent, intellectual, collected woman who knows her own mind and keeps her own counsel is going to scare off all the men. I tend a little toward the latter, though the two certainly aren’t mutually exclusive, if only because Megumi is so overtly identified with a trickster breed (foxes, kitsune). No kitsune would ever fit the definition of a proper woman (if I recall correctly, possession by foxes was one of the historical diagnoses that tended to get made of schizophrenia). And kitsune, like any tricksters, aren’t necessarily very nice.

So another possibility is that Watsuki has simply followed the folkoric tradition that kitsune (and similar creatures) cannot stay happily married to humans. (For examples check out The Japanese Psyche by Kawai Hayao, translated by Gary Snyder.)

Another interesting dichotomy that Megumi vs. Kaoru points up, though, is that sexually aggressive women are generally presented as alarming/disturbing. Consider Shampoo (or, worse, Kodachi!) in Ranma. It’s the physically aggressive but emotionally innocent and…well, unawakened Akane and Kaoru who are most attractive to the men. *disgusted look at the men* Wimps.

Appropriately enough, though, we’re never entirely sure what Megumi’s truth is. She’s the actress, the shape-changer. Does she really like Kenshin, or is she just trying to get a rise out of Kaoru? (gee, how… unchallenging) Is her relationship with Sano more sibling-like or more romantic? And if it’s romantic, why does Sano take off for parts unknown (at least to the fuzz) instead of hitching a ride to Aizu with her?

Then again, maybe she acts like such a vixen around her friends because she needs to blow off steam after being the good-healer/doctor all day and knows they won’t hold it against her…too much.

Addendum 9/05: One of my correspondents, asking about some of the above thoughts, got me to clarify one of the things that annoys me about the shape of the romance in RK. Sailor Jupiter mentioned how much more human characters like Kaoru appear in contrast to their rivals-in-love. That made me verbalize the following: I expect that’s one of the reasons figures like Megumi and Kodachi show up at all– for contrast with the rather more realistically innocent heroines. What initially spurred my contempt for the men this equation seems designed to appeal to is two-fold. On the one hand, Megumi, at least, has sufficient sympathetic moments to show that she’s a real person under that front of hers and the idea that none of the men in the story have enough guts to try and see behind the front irritated me. On the other hand, there’s also something about the category of Innocent Unawakened Maiden that makes me twitch when that category is the default for our female romantic leads. That aspect of it doesn’t bother me quite as much in Ranma, because Ranma is equally presented as romantically innocent… or possibly just romantically dunderheaded. RK, however, is a show explicitly aimed at boys and men, and the male romantic lead is almost thirty. The age difference itself doesn’t bother me, but it does mean that the relationship automatically gains a sexual, as well as romantic edge. The implicit prescription that all the viewers find a young girl an ideal sexual object disturbs me, however representative of a Japanese national kink it may be.

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Makimachi Misao

To finish out the round of girls. The youngest, the bounciest, the one who may even have a quicker temper than Kaoru which takes some doing. Interesting that Misao’s voice actress actually has a fairly low, mature voice. Also interesting that Misao’s animal-associate is much more a) vicious and b) well, svelte than Kaoru’s. Raccoons, while you don’t want to tangle with them, do tend to waddle comically (I’m going on the assumption that tanuki and racoons really do have significant appearences in common–I’ve also seen it translated as badger; interesting note, though, that Kaoru gets a trickster icon, too). While I’m not sure about the svelte part (I don’t think Misao’s quite old enough to be svelte yet), the vicious seems appropriate enough to someone who favors throwing knives. Really, given the Stan Lee streak in this story and the way Misao looks with a fist full of those kunai, I’m almost surprised she didn’t get a wolverine. It’s possible that Watsuki gave Misao the weasel in order to point up the fact that she’s part of a fighting clan; otherwise, we might have forgotten that bit in all the genki-ness.

The way that age is matched to romance is pointed up very clearly with Misao. Yahiko, who seems to be just emerging from cooties-phase, doesn’t have a consistent romantic interest in the story; instead, he goes gaga over whatever cute girl he happens to see that day. Misao, just a bit more to the far side of that stage, most definitely does have a consistent interest. What she does not have is subtlety. While Kaoru, only a few years older, is mooning over Kenshin silently and second guessing all her approaches to him, and while Megumi, only a few more years older, has gotten to the stage of toying with the men, Misao lights out after Aoshi in a very… straightforward manner. Maybe she should have gotten a bloodhound for an icon, instead.

Like Yahiko, though, Misao has a strong sense of responsibility. When Aoshi goes around the bend, it’s Misao who picks up the pieces. A favorite topic for speculation seems to be whether Misao is still okashira when the dust settles; I think the fact that Watsuki doesn’t tell us is significant. Whether she stays the Oniwabanshuu leader or not is immaterial. The point is that she took the position on at all. Another possible reason Misao got a rather more serious animal associate than Kaoru. Kaoru has great strength of heart, but I tend to think Misao has a little more steel in her spine.

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Myojin Yahiko

Gad, what a brat. I have this recurring nightmare of a fic: crossover romance between Chibi-usa and Yahiko. Run awaaaaay! Though he does mature nicely as the story goes along, especially in the Revenge arc. In fact, I think he matures more than Sano or Kaoru. Probably because he’s the logical focal point of identification for the target audience of a shounen manga.

But what a little role model he is! Yeah, he teases Kaoru unmercifully (little demons of chaos, am I glad I’m an only child), but we also see very clearly that she successfully pounds him into the ground when he does. Message: go ahead and tease the girls, but be prepared to get justly walloped for it. Next item, he picks an appropriate role model for himself. He’s imitating Kenshin, after all, not any of the various other possibilities (Sano, Aoshi, Saitou). Message: OK, boys, go find a girly-looking man who washes and cooks which cheer, and has to be in psychoticly-protective-mode to do fatal harm, and be like him. Last item, Yahiko knows when to grow up. During the Revenge arc, when everyone else is falling to little bits (except, of course, Aoshi), it’s Yahiko who is calm enough, dispassionate enough, rational enough, to agree to have “Kaoru’s” body exhumed and eviscerated. Whooo-ee. Message: it doesn’t matter how young you are, you can make a difference; when the time comes, recognize it and do so.

And, as we’re getting to the political/philosophical end of this discussion, note who our audience-identiy character idolizes and tries to emulate? Kenshin. That’s what gives so much weight to Kenshin’s agenda, when his priorities are so very different from the other strong characters’. If you’ve missed Yumi and Tomoe, don’t worry, we’re getting to them too.