Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin
Original Title	るろうに剣心 (Rurouni Kenshin)
Original Language	Japanese
Dubbing Studio 1	¿Media Concepts?
Dubbing Studio 2	Bang Zoom! Entertainment
Voice Director 1	Michael Sorich
Voice Director 2	Richard Epcar
Voice Director 3	Ellyn Stern
Voice Director 4	Eric P. Sherman
Voice Director 5	Kaeko Sakamoto
Translation & Adaptation	Ellyn Stern Richard Epcar (Samurai X Dub) Rika Takahashi Clark Cheng Eric P. Sherman Kirk Thornton Rebecca Forstadt (Media Blasters Dub)
Recorded	1998 2000
Dub Country	United States
Original Country	Japan
Episodes	95
Year	1996-1998

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-), also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is an anime based on the manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Studio Gallop, Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime series which aired in Japan on Fuji Television from January 10, 1996 to September 8, 1998.

Synopsis A man slayer, Kenshin Himura, who played a major role in defeating Tokugawa Shogunate of feudal Japan carries his reverse blade sword (with a promise not to slay anymore). He embarks on a quest to repent for his sins by helping the innocent. He lodges in Kamia Kashin dojo where he becomes an acquaintance of Kaorou, the assistant instructor of the dojo. After being saved by Kenshin from mafia, a stubborn young boy, Yahiko Myojin joins the dojo as a student. Sanousuke, a victim of war becomes an acquaintance of Kenshin after losing to him in a duel. Together with his new friends, Kenshin carries out his ideal of helping the innocent. A series of events unfold that questions his ideal of living for the innocent and not slaying men. Kenshin faces every opponent with his reverse blade to uphold justice.

Dubbing History

Rurouni Kenshin was originally dubbed by Sony Pictures Television International in 1999, who tried and failed to market the series in the United States under the title Samurai X via an existing company. Sony distributes this version to other English-speaking countries outside of the United States, where it airs on Animax. Little is known about the dub other than that it was done in Los Angeles. This dub is also, weirdly enough, available for streaming on Hulu in the United States. ADV Films would later dub the Movie and OVA's under the Samurai X title using their Austin, Texas based Monster Island Dubbing Studios and voice cast instead.

The TV Series would later be licensed by Media Blasters, who released the series, splitting it up into "seasons", and releasing them on DVD. Media Blasters would do their own dub of the series, provided by Bang Zoom! Entertainment utilizing much of the same voice actors from Sony's dub, but with extensive recasting. In producing their dub of the series, Media Blasters considered following the Japanese version, and giving Kenshin a female voice actress, with Mona Marshall considered a finalist to voice him. Richard Cansino, who previously voiced Kenshin in Sony's dub, was eventually chosen to reprise the role for Media Blasters' dub. Marshall was also selected to voice the younger Kenshin during flashback scenes.

Clark Cheng, Media Blasters dub script writer, said that localizing Kenshin's unusual speech was a difficult process. His use of de gozaru and oro were not only character trademarks that indicated his state of mind, but important elements to the story. However, neither is directly translatable into English, and in the end the company chose to replace de gozaru with "that I did," "that I am," or "that I do." Kenshin's signature oro was replaced with "huah" to simulate a "funny sound" that had no real meaning.

The Media Blasters dub aired in the US on Cartoon Network as a part of their Toonami Block on March 17, 2003, but after episode 48 aired on July 4, 2003 the series moved to Cartoon Network's Saturday Video Entertainment System block until the completion of the second season (episode 62), leaving the third season unaired in North America. The series returned to Toonami for a second run beginning on October 23, 2004 and ending on March 12, 2005. Some of the show's depictions of obscene language, intense violence, and tobacco and drug usage were subject to heavy editing on Toonami. Episodes 63-95 did not air, but were included in the DVD release. As of May 2017, all three seasons with both the original Japanese audio and the Media Blasters dub are available to stream on Netflix and HBO Max.

Cast

Image	Character	Seiyū	Samurai X Dub	Media Blasters Dub
Protagonists
	Kenshin Himura	Mayo Suzukase	Richard Cansino
	Kaoru Kamiya	Miki Fujitani	Rebecca Forstadt	Dorothy Elias-Fahn
	Sanosuke Sagara	Yūji Ueda	Derek Stephen Prince	Lex Lang
	Yahiko Myōjin	Miina Tominaga	Brianne Siddall	Wendee Lee
Juppongatana
	Makoto Shishio	Masanori Ikeda	Stephen Apostolina	Steve Blum
	Yumi Komagata	Kanako Irie	Ellyn Stern	Wendee Lee
	Hōji Sadojima	Hiroshi Takahashi	Richard Epcar	Dave Mallow
	Sōjiro Seta	Noriko Hidaka	Stephen Apostolina (ep. 31)	Tara Sands
			Mona Marshall	Lynn Fischer (eps. 50-51)
				Melissa Fahn (eps. 54-61)
	Anji Yukuyama	Yasuyoshi Hara	Bob Papenbrook	Michael McConnohie
	Kamatari Honjo	Junko Takeuchi	Joan-Carol O'Connell	Melodee Spevack
	Usui Uonuma	Sho Ryuzanji	Tom Wyner	Jamieson Price
	Iwanbō	Norito Yashima	¿?	Lex Lang
	Chō Sawagejō	Shinichi Fukumoto	Kirk Thornton	Derek Stephen Prince
	Henya Kariwa	Eiji Takemoto	Michael Sorich	Dan Lorge
	Saizuchi	Ikuo Nishikawa	¿?	Paul St. Peter
Oniwabanshu
	Aoshi Shinomori	Yoshito Yasuhara	Michael Sorich	Terrence Stone
	Hannya	Akio Nojima	Richard Epcar	Tom Wyner
				Paul St. Peter (ep. 42)
				Dan Lorge (ep. 52)
	Beshimi	Taiki Matsuno	Stephen Apostolina	Derek Stephen Prince
	Hyottoko	Shōzō Iizuka	Bob Papenbrook
	Shikijo	Kazuhiro Nakata	Michael Sorich	Dean Wein
				Dan Lorge (ep. 42)
	Okina / Kashiwazaki Nenji	Kōichi Kitamura	Mike Reynolds	Michael McConnohie
	Misao Makimachi	Tomo Sakurai	Melodee Spevack	Philece Sampler
	Ōmime / Ochika	Shizuka Okohira	¿?	Bridget Hoffman
				Melodee Spevack (ep. 45)
				Mona Marshall (ep. 89)
	Masukame / Omasu	Yuki Nakao		Tara Sands
				Dina Sherman (ep. 89)
Doctors
	Megumi Takani	Mika Doi	Mari Devon
	Oguni Gensai	Yoku Shioya	Michael Sorich	Steve Kramer
Police
	Hajime Saitō	Hirotaka Suzuoki	Daniel Woren	Kirk Thornton
	Kawaji Toshiyoshi	Katsuya Shiga	Michael Sorich	Joe Ochman (eps. 30-31)
				Doug Stone (eps. 76-94)
	Chief Muraki (Uramura)	Sukekiyo Kameyama	Steve Kramer	Bob Papenbrook
Ishin Shishi
	General Aritomo Yamagata	Seiji Mizutani (eps. 3-64)	Tom Wyner (eps. 3-16)	Simon Prescott (eps. 3-16)
		Holly Kaneko (eps. 90-93)	Michael Forest (eps. 64-93)	Crispin Freeman (eps. 64-93)
	Toshimichi Ōkubo	Yoshisada Sakiguchi	Michael Forest	Doug Stone
Kamiya Dojo
	Ayame	Kaori Yuasa	Wendee Lee	Dina Sherman
	Suzume	Noriko Namiki	Julie Maddalena	Mona Marshall
	Yutaro Tsukayama	Mayumi Tanaka	Mona Marshall	Michael Lindsay (eps. 19-21)
				Dave Wittenberg (eps. 83-88)
Shimabara
	Shōgo Amakusa	Junichi Inoue	Richard Epcar	Crispin Freeman
	Sayo Migdalia	Hiroko Kasahara	Ellyn Stern	Lia Sargent
Other Characters
	Seijuro Hiko	Shūichi Ikeda	Lex Lang	Richard Epcar
	Tae Sekihara	Sumi Shimamoto	Joan-Carol O'Connell	Michelle Ruff
	Tsubame Sanjō	Yuri Shiratori	¿?
	Misanagi	Chisa Yokoyama		Julie Ann Taylor
	Schneider	Junichi Takeoka		Matthew Kermit Miller
	Daigoro Okuma	Nobuyuki Hiyama		Tony Oliver
	Consul Elster	Ryūji Nakagi	Michael McConnohie	Tom Wyner
	Itsuko Katsu	Junko Iwao	¿?	Karen Strassman
	Tsunan Tsukioka	Hiroshi Yanaka	Daran Norris	Kim Strauss
	Kanryu Takeda	Nobuo Tobita	Kirk Thornton	John Snyder
	Gohei Hiruma	Tetsuo Komura	Richard Epcar	Beau Billingslea
	Raijūta Isurugi	Ryūsuke Ōbayashi		Richard Epcar
	Arundo Akamatsu	Kazuhiro Nakata		Tom Wyner
	Jinei Udō	Akio Ōtsuka	Steve Kramer	Dave Mallow
	Jinpu	Takehito Koyasu	Kirk Thornton	Michael McConnohie (ep. 90)
				Jamieson Price
	Saeki Yunoshin	Kazuhiro Ōguro	Daniel Woren	Tony Oliver
	Sōzō Sagara	Hidehiro Kikuchi	Stephen Apostolina	Steve Staley

Additional Voices

Sony Dub Stephen Apostolina Kirk Baily Richard Epcar Barbara Goodson Steve Kramer Wendee Lee Joycelyne Lew Melanie MacQueen Julie Maddalena Kerrigan Mahan Mona Marshall Michael McConnohie Daran Norris Bob Papenbrook Mike Reynolds Brianne Siddall Michael Sorich Melodee Spevack Terrence Stone Kirk Thornton Jeff Winkless Tom Wyner

Media Blasters Dub Robert Axelrod Beau Billingslea David Neil Black Steve Blum Bob Bobson Joey Camen Francis Cherry Lara Cody Mari Devon Peter Doyle Dorothy Elias-Fahn Richard Epcar Jonathan Fahn Lynn Fischer Rebecca Forstadt Crispin Freeman Barbara Goodson Bridget Hoffman Milton James William Frederick Knight Steve Kramer Lex Lang Wendee Lee Monique Lindsley Dan Lorge Peter Lurie Dave Mallow Mona Marshall Michael McConnohie Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Matthew Kermit Miller Tony Oliver Bob Papenbrook

Tony Pope Jeremy Potter Simon Prescott Jamieson Price Derek Stephen Prince Mike Reynolds Joe Romersa Michelle Ruff Philece Sampler Tara Sands Lia Sargent Joshua Seth Dina Sherman Eric P. Sherman Brianne Siddall Michael Smitters John Snyder Peter Spellos Paul St. Peter Jeffrey Stackhouse Steve Staley Barry Stigler Doug Stone Terrence Stone Kim Strauss Julie Ann Taylor Kirk Thornton Dean Wein Ezra Weisz Dave Wittenberg Daniel Woren Tom Wyner

Notes

• For reasons unknown, in the Media Blasters dub; various voice changes occur between seasons ranging from minor to major.
  • Sojiro's voice changes twice; originally he is voiced by Tara Sands. After Tara returned to New York, Lynn Fischer replaced her as Sojiro for a couple episodes before being replaced by Melissa Fahn.
  • Yutaro was originally voiced by Michael Lindsay. When the character returned later, Dave Wittenberg took over his voice.
  • Aritomo Yamagata was originally voiced by Simon Prescott during his brief appearances in Season 1. However, in Season 3, he is voiced by the noticeably younger-sounding Crispin Freeman. This similarly happened in the Japanese version.
  • Kawaji is initially voiced by Joe Ochman during his brief appearance in Season 2, but in Season 3, he is voiced by Doug Stone (who ironically played Okubo opposite Kawaji in Season 2).
  • Hannya is voiced by Tom Wyner for the majority of the dub, however during Aoshi's flashback in Episode 42, he is voiced by Paul St. Peter. Later still when his ghost appeared before Misao during the Aoiya battle in Episode 52, he's voiced by Dan Lorge. Why is unknown as Wyner still provided various incidental roles during that season.
  • For the Flashback mentioned above, Dan Lorge provides Shikijo's one line instead of Dean Wein. Wein also was still voice acting roles during the season.
  • Melodee Spevack fills in for Bridget Hoffman as Ōmime in Episode 45. Mona Marshall later voices her during her brief appearance in Episode 89.
  • Dina Sherman later replaces Tara Sands as Omasu in Episode 89.
  • Jinpu's one line of dialogue in Episode 90 is provided by Michael McConnohie before being recast with Jamieson Price in the following episode. This line appears in the prologue of Episode 91 redubbed by Price.

Transmission

Date(s)	Channel	Country
2003-2005	Cartoon Network (Toonami)	United States

Video Releases

Distributor	Year	Format	Contents	Region	Country
Media Blasters	2000-2002		The Complete Series	1 NTSC	United States
			22 Volumes
	2003-2004		The Complete Series
			3 Volumes
	2010		The Complete Series
			22 Discs

See Also

• Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture
• List of Rurouni Kenshin OVA's
• Rurouni Kenshin (live action adaptation)

External Links

• Rurouni Kenshin (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Rurouni Kenshin: Wandering Swordsman at the Internet Movie Database