Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 11
- ISBN
- 9781591167099
- Publisher
- VIZ
- English release
- Pages
- 192
Rurouni Kenshin 11 contains Acts 85–93 and opens with Kaoru and Yahiko arriving at Hiko Seijuro’s home. Kenshin is seeking further instruction from his former master, while the friends who followed him to Kyoto have finally found him. Their arrival changes who can speak about the years since he left his teacher. This follows the search and reunion of the preceding volume; it is not the beginning of Kenshin’s apprenticeship. The opening gives the visitors a purpose beyond watching him train.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Hiko sends Kenshin out for water before asking the visitors why they came. Kaoru can say that she wanted to see Kenshin again, but cannot yet supply a plan for what happens afterward. Yahiko is less hesitant when the teacher calls his former pupil a mule: Hiko has not known him for years. That objection is useful to the teacher. He wants to hear what Kenshin has done with his training from people who watched him, rather than from the man himself. Technical authority has a gap in its evidence. The friends can fill it because they knew the wandering helper whom Hiko did not accompany. Their account does not replace the teacher’s judgment; it prevents that judgment from resting entirely on the pupil who walked away.
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