Kenshin & Kaoru [insp]

Wakes up insanely early but also free day so. Honestly don’t know about you but I’m suffering from brain rot but and this blog’s beginning and continuation of having Tumblr completely ..... not make things work right. Will that stop me? Probably not but it’s a bit frustrating! It’s just one of those things that it inevitably when you think it never will, will probably sort itself out. 

Honestly my first meta will be about Kenshin’s red gi but I also just want to talk about one of my favorite fights / that one time Kenshin roasted someone so bad they were almost Shishio 2.0 aka the second battle with Shinomori Aoshi and just how Kenshin gives so much wisdom and inner, unshakable strength of will against empty physical strength and how he calls him out on it as using it to do awful things. 

It’s a great example that while Kenshin is the strongest warrior of the Bakumatsu / Revolution in this canon, that’s literally stated in the opening pages starting our story,  and just how I feel again, Kenshin hones in on what matters. Is it cool that you can single-handedly deal from 14-19 against adult men of the Shinsengumi on your own at once without breaking a sweat greats like Okita Souji and Saito Hajime and make them consider if it’s smart to touch you? Much less be the very person to make them break back or break their stance, again, at once? Yes, it’s very impressive and quite scary and very telling that at that young he’s so strong, in that way.

Is it perhaps even more compelling to me that such a legendary swordsman has a soul, even when it’s ultimately tested and broken, restores itself at the end of the story simply by listening to an innocent girl weeping for his protection to save an innocent life and finds even when he wants to give up, his own will won’t let him? In a way, yes. Both aren’t exclusive. But it gives Kenshin’s title of strongest in battle new meaning when you realize that out of every character in Ruroken, Kenshin’s willpower  / will to live is the highest and  “off the charts “ , canonly in one of the many info books that...I don’t have my hands on.

Me: And most of the series he didn’t even care if he lived or died! GROWTH.

Also me: That is chapters and volumes away / a season away. One thing at a time!

HONESTLY THIS IS SUCH A MAJOR SCENE? Maekawa speaks of the old form of kenjutsu  when warriors measure each other with just a glance. He does this with Kenshin and immediately the two of them begin to laugh, or from my translation of my own manga, Maekawa says this:

‘ Don’t worry, Kaoru-kun. I’ve no wish to fight anymore. I can already see that I’ve lost. I gave him my fiercest glare and his eyes just let it flow away.’

 Basically this man, older than Kenshin - has lost to him - and not in malicious intent. Kenshin once again was presented with a powerful will, and no matter the will, his eyes just gently, like water, let them flow away - almost like the wind, he acknowledges someone’s desire to fight him, if they have even an inkling of how powerful he is - and he lets it flow away. He doesn’t want to fight any unnecessary battles and that these two could have a stare-down is a testament to both of them but for this analysis, really, Kenshin, because it shows his depth of will and control . 

He was offered a fight and his air-tight control and heart easily let it roll off his back. He has no desire. He’s seen enough fighting than this man has his entire life - and adding another that has no merit save competing for ‘strength titles’ is useless to a man who is called and feared by all as the ‘strongest’ a title he even claims to Aoshi that he can have because he has no ‘need of it’ all he cares about are the people ‘waiting for his help.’ 

The combined imagery and how gently Kenshin states with merely his eyes how he has no desire to fight a pointless battle is testament to his character, in my opinion, and his strength of heart - enough strength that he can easily, and gently disarm someone’s fighting intent aimed towards him with merely a glance, never losing a warrior’s respect for another.

Ariel: ‘Elm’ by Sylvia Plath

- lost and found

verses / possible verses list.

Verses to work on / establish that aren’t canon. Please note if you read these they won’t by any means come immediately, as I am exploring new things to my canon and exploring even further the rich history of the Edo / Meiji Period while writing in two notebooks . 

Fire Em.blem

Fate. (5′2 freakishly powerful Saber)

KNY. (Dragon Pillar? Dragon Pillar.)

Fina.l Fantasy.

Harvest Mo.on.

Modern Verses ‘Happy’ and ‘Tragic Past’ versions.

Deity Verse. ( Kenshin as Hachiman / Yawata no Kami. )

Tentative Okami Verse.

Things I want to make verses for but I Need To Go Through Them First: - Hakuouki , I admit Kenshin’s title of ‘Demon of Kyoto’ by Saito loosely parsed being used literally would be fascinating and even more terrifying than his 14-19 year old self in the Bakumatsu.  I hope I have some kind of platform for this because it’d make a nice present sometime. - Sailor M.oon. Frankly I have no idea how I’d incorporate this save have Kenshin be a freakishly powerful bodyguard / entity / something that helps out the girls while also holding their proverbial flower. Bleach: Eventually! With all politeness, Bleach’s length is a bit too much for me sometimes despite me really really enjoying it! and while I remember admiring deeply the character’s personalities / nuances, I never finished it. I’d like to be able someday to find time and give it that justice. For me, I’d make two different verses based on Kenshin being a shinigami that does lose his memory and one that as a friend helped with on my OG blog, is akin to Ich.igo in that he is still alive. 

note: this will be edited as more ideas come to mind. if you think of a verse that this legend would fit into that i haven’t though of, please by all means, drop a comment or suggestion, i love immersion!

Mary Oliver, from “Blue Iris”, Devotions

Czeslaw Milosz, New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001

*sweats*

Oh you Himura-san, why are you so fun to draw~