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Rurouni Kenshin : The Wandering Samurai

Aoshi Shinomori

Aoshi is one of the coldest and most calculating of all of the characters in the Kenshin series. As he is introduced in the part of the series where Megumi attempts to escape from the opium dealer Kanryu, we see the seemingly over confident and arrogant leader of the secret ninja group, the Oniwa Banshu.

Once he realizes that his opponent is Kenshin, he immediately becomes obsessed with claiming the title of strongest fighter so that the Oniwa Banshu will finally get the respect and honor that they deserve.

Unfortunately for him, even with his amazing waterflow technique (an illusionary tactic in which he uses his lightning fast kodachi to confuse an enemy into not knowing which direction he will attack from) Kenshin proves to be too much. The fight is not easy for him however, and Aoshi scores many damaging hits.

Kanryu comes out with a gattling gun and attempts to kill Aoshi, as well as Kenshin but is stopped by Hyottoko, Beshimi, Shikijou, and Hannya - at the cost of their lives. Hannya's last attack gives Kenshin the time he needed to destroy the gattling gun and smash Kanryu's face into pieces... but the 4 Oniwa Banshu were all dead.

After their death Aoshi was driven mad with his lust for the title of strongest and vowed that he would not stop until he defeated Kenshin. He took their bodies and buried them. He leaves the story for a while to sharpen his fighting skills and develop new techniques.

When the whole kyoto arc of the anime begins Aoshi reappears with what seems to be a tremendously long sword. He arrives at the Kamiya Dojo but is too late - Kenshin had already left.

Not one to let an opportunity go, Shishio sends out Seta Soujiro to try and recruit Aoshi into the Juppon Gatana but Aoshi refuses - he fights alone and for his own goals.

After returning to Kyoto and finding out that the Kyoto Oniwa Banshu had befriended Kenshin he cuts all ties with them and now considers them enemies. A Fight with Okina ends any doubt of his true intentions, but he still had no idea where Kenshin was.

Finally he gave in to Shishio's henchmen and agreed to help them so long as he got to kill Kenshin and claim the title of strongest fighter for his fallen comrades. Shishio had no problems with that as all he wanted was to extract revenge on the Government that had betrayed him so many years before.

After the Kyoto incident Aoshi is a very comtemplative and troubled man, but well on his path to finding peace with himself as he had already done all he could for his lost friends.