Battōsai
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Battōsai (抜刀斎) is a term used in the fictional universe of the manga and anime series Rurouni Kenshin. The name is romanized as Battōsai in the English manga and Battousai in the English anime.
The story of Rurouni Kenshin stars Himura Kenshin (Kenshin Himura in the English anime), formely a hitokiri (assassin) who fought at the Bakumatsu for the Meiji restoration. In spite of being only 15 at the time, his 'Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu' was unbeatable, making him the most fearsome warrior of the era, thus being called 'Himura Battousai', the master of sword-drawing killing arts.
With the Bakumatsu over and a conscience aching with regret for so many deaths piled on it, the legendary Battousai exchanged his samurai sword for a single Sakabatou, a katana with the cutting edge on the back of the blade ergo some calling it the "reverse-blade katana", and vowed to never kill again. Thus, he became 'Himura Kenshin', a rurouni (wanderer), a samurai that doesn't kill, and fights to protect the weak and opressed.
[edit] Hitokiri Battousai vs. Rurouni Kenshin
In both the anime and manga, Kenshin is considered to have second personality within him, which is considered to be the Hitokiri Battousai or Himura Battousai. Whereas Kenshin is calm and speaks politely, Battousai is revealed to have a rude speech pattern (replacing the polite "sessha" with the rude "ore" for I) and is serious about killing his opponent. Both Saitoh and Kaoru can see the difference between the two and Saitoh even comments on the strength of both Kenshin and Battousai, saying: "Himura Kenshin is useless, but Himura Battousai has some potential." In both the manga and the anime, Himura Battousai's eyes are much narrower than Kenshin, but the anime reveals that Kenshin's eye color changes to amber when he becomes Battousai. In some episodes, his skin color will also become pale and his gi glows with a green color. In order for Battousai to revert back to the Rurouni, someone like Kaoru must bring him back to his senses or extreme cases, Kenshin must forcibly return to normal by inflicting pain on himself.
Battousai: Man Slayer
