Few media have the longevity of manga. Works from the 80s and 90s are still tremendously popular today. The classics of the medium are often read even outside of fan circles. And animation studios are not afraid to take on manga with a certain age to give them a new life, adapting them into anime for the first time. Or once again. Something that undoubtedly helps with that amazing longevity.
Rurouni Kenshin continues to be, even today, a tremendously popular manga. Published between 1994 and 1999 in Weekly Shonen Jump, its author, Nobuhiro Watsuki, has dedicated practically his entire life to Kenshin. With the exception of a couple of other mangas, he has always ended up returning to the red-haired samurai, given its overwhelming popularity. And it’s not for nothing. Voted in 2021 as the 31st best manga of all time and having sold over 72 million volumes in Japan alone, Kenshin is a publishing phenomenon.
In addition, it is also an audiovisual phenomenon. If in 2023 a new adaptation of the manga was released, now it is announced that the series will have a second season. With 24 more episodes, there will be changes: Yuki Komada will replace Hideyo Yamamoto as director, although Liden Films will continue to be in charge of the animation. All the other people involved remain in the series. In addition, we even have a release date. Although only the month. The second season of Rurouni Kenshin will premiere next October.
In any case, this anime has been released not without controversy. In 2017, the author of Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki, was arrested for possession of child pornography. In a subsequent investigation, it was ensured that he possessed so much material that he could even be charged with a distribution case, as he had hundreds of DVDs of child pornography. Although we do not know the content of these videos, Watsuki was fined 200,000 yen, around $1,245. This has led many people to not want to continue supporting the work of this author.
Regardless of Watsuki’s actions, the anime is there for anyone who wants to watch it. And its second season is just around the corner. With a good public reception, it is expected that this second season will maintain the level, demonstrating the reasons why Kenshin has become a cultural icon both inside and outside his home country. Even if, at this point, it is even somewhat at the expense of its own author.
