The bloody Revolution ended years ago with the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Himura Kenshin, the Hitokiri Battosai of the Choshu clan helped the Reformists restored the Emperor to power. However during those unsettling times, there were other clans plotting and killing to gain power over the Shogunate government and to return Japan back to more peaceful times. Three of these clans were the Aizu, Shogi-Tai and Satsuma. The members of the Aizu and the Shogi-Tai clans were slaughtered by the alliance of the Satsuma clan with the Choshu clan. It is this alliance that emerged victorious at the end of the Revolution.
This movie takes place a little over ten years after the Revolution; Kenshin is still trying to walk the path towards redemption carrying his infamous reverse blade sword. Of course he has his friends with him: Kaoru, Yahiko, Sanosuke and perhaps even Saito Hajime. It also introduces one of Kenshin's main antagonists: Shigure Takimi, leader of the forgotten Aizu clan.
This movie begins with Kenshin and his friends taking a tranquil train ride into Yokohama. It is in Yokohama that Kenshin first encounters Shigure Takimi during a fight between the Western foreigners and Takimi. Saito warned Kenshin that Takimi is not what he appears to be and cannot be trusted. Kenshin also befriended Toki, a mysterious young woman who Takimi takes care of at his residence.
What Kenshin did not know was that Takimi was leading a rebellion against the Meiji government, with a group of rebels comprised mainly from the descendents of the Aizu and the Shogi-Tai clans. Takimi never forgot about that night near the end of the Revolution, when he had discovered that the Choshu clan and the Satsuma clan were planning an alliance at a secret meeting place. He ordered most of his troops to stake out Minoda where he thought the meeting was held, but his young pupil Hitokiri Gentatsu left for Suzu-Ya where his instincts told him the meeting was held there. Takimi realized his mistake but it was too late. By the time he arrived in Suzu-Ya, Gentatsu was killed. Takimi cannot forgive himself for the death of his student.
It is this memory that is driving the rebellion to take place. When Takimi finally remembers everything about his friend's death, he sought to confront Kenshin to lay his friend's tragedy to rest. However, Kenshin has his own friends to worry about and he will not allow anyone to hurt them.
Original images and information courtesy of ADV films.
