Rurouni Kenshin: Sub or Dub?
The 1996 series has two English dubs and a Cartoon Network broadcast that was cut. The checked casts for both series, what ANN's critics graded, and which version to choose.
For the 1996 series, choose Japanese unless the English performances are the ones you grew up with. Two ANN critics who graded both tracks during the DVD release put the dub at C+ and the Japanese at A or above. There is also more than one English Kenshin to know about: the series has two separate English dubs, and its American television run was cut for broadcast. The 2023 remake is a different production with new casts in both languages.
Who plays whom in the 1996 series?
ANN credits Mayo Suzukaze as Kenshin Himura, Miki Fujitani as Kaoru Kamiya, Yūji Ueda as Sanosuke Sagara, Miina Tominaga as Yahiko Myōjin and Hirotaka Suzuoki as Hajime Saitō in Japanese. Its English credits list Richard Hayworth as Kenshin, Dorothy Melendrez as Kaoru, Lex Lang as Sanosuke, Elyse Floyd as Yahiko and Sparky Thornton as Saitō. The series entry lists 95 episodes, a Japanese run from January 1996 to September 1998, and animation by Gallop for episodes 1 to 66 and Studio Deen from episode 67.
Two English dubs
In 2009, ANN reported that Crackle had posted almost the entire series "as it was dubbed in English under the name Samurai X by Animax Asia," the first time that dub had been officially available in the United States. The same report noted that "a separate dub by Media Blasters ran on the Cartoon Network in 2003."
ANN's Answerman column explained the split in 2013. Sony Music Entertainment produced its own dub and retitled the show Samurai X in the hope of selling it to US broadcasters; Media Blasters later licensed the series for North America and recorded its own dub under the original title. Brian Hanson's answer also notes that Media Blasters no longer held the license, and ANN's encyclopedia now marks it expired.
ANN's credits show what the Samurai X version changed: they list Richard Hayworth as "Kenshi Himura," Reba West as "Kori Kamiya" and Ian Hawk as "Yoshi Myojin" in that dub. Mike Toole, writing for ANN in 2012, noted that Hayworth voiced Kenshin in both English versions and called the Sony dub the one that "does weird stuff with character and attack names." His column is the plainest account of why viewers in different countries remember different English Kenshins.
Samurai X is not a cast label
ANN’s 2009 report explicitly separates the Samurai X television dub from the unrelated dubs on ADV’s later film and video-series releases, despite their shared name. The branding therefore cannot identify an English cast by itself. A comparison needs the production as well as the title: the television series, a film or an OVA. This also limits nostalgia as evidence. Remembering the Samurai X name does not establish which English performance someone heard.
The Cartoon Network broadcast was edited
The Media Blasters dub was scheduled to start on Cartoon Network on March 17, 2003, in the Toonami block. Before it aired, ANN's Edit List column reported that Media Blasters' John Sirabella had confirmed the broadcast would be edited, with blood removed and some dialogue redubbed. The column's log for episode 49, the first after the show moved to a weekly night slot, records eighteen cuts and alterations to that one episode, all from Saitō's fight with Usui and Usui's flashback, most of them shots cut or blood digitally removed.
Those notes describe the 2003 television broadcast. They are not evidence about any DVD or current streaming version, and this page does not claim the edits carried over.
What ANN's critics said about the 1996 tracks
Reviewing the seventh Media Blasters DVD in 2002, Mark A. Grey wrote that "while this DVD's dub is quite good, the original dialog is still better," and graded the dub C+ and the Japanese A. His review also credits the disc's liner notes with clearing up dialogue in both tracks.
Mike Crandol's review of Fire Requiem, the last Kyoto-arc volume, went further: "the English dub has never seemed quite adequate," he wrote, while "the original Japanese cast, conversely, is excellent." He graded the Japanese A+ and the dub C+. That review is the strongest case on record here for the subtitled version. Chris Shepard's review of the second DVD adds a translation note: he praised the liner notes but disagreed with "changing hitokiri to "manslayer" in the subtitles."
The 2023 remake
Liden Films' remake has its own casts. ANN's entry for its first season credits Sōma Saitō as Kenshin, Rie Takahashi as Kaoru, Taku Yashiro as Sanosuke and Makoto Koichi as Yahiko in Japanese, and Howard Wang, Risa Mei, Darius Johnson and Erica Mendez in English, with Steve Staley as ADR director. It lists Aniplex of America as licensor and Crunchyroll, Hulu and Netflix among streaming outlets. We found no named review that compares its two tracks, so this page gives no verdict on them.
Which to choose
For the 1996 series, the critical record favors Japanese. If you want English, know which dub you are hearing: the Media Blasters dub uses the original names, and the Samurai X dub does not. Neither dub decides how the story is told, so use the Rurouni Kenshin watch order for where to stop and where the OVAs fit, our checked Kenshin quotes for the lines, and the manga for the complete story.