Hajime Saitou
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Rurouni Kenshin : The Wandering Samurai
Hajime Saitou is about 35 years old, has black hair and brown eyes.
He was captain of the third unit of the Shinsengumi, the Wolves of
Mibu (Miburo), the Tokugawa SWAT team, the special unit of swordsmen
put together by the Shogunate for the express purpose of crushing the
less open acts of rebellion of the period. Which, you'll know if you've
been paying attention, means that he and Kenshin the Battousai were not
on the same side in Kyoto during the Revolution. In fact, they fought
more than once. Each time ending in a draw. Which, again, tells you
that he is not a man to be trifled with.
When the new age dawned, he fought with honors in the Seinin war as a
member of the sword-bearing police, under the assumed name of Goro Fujita.
He then returned to Tokyo to act in his capacity as a policeman, in addition
to being the one of the new Goverment's most skillful spies. It is in this
capacity that he first meets Sanosuke and Kenshin the Wanderer.
He fights with a style particular to the Shinsengumi, the Hiratsuki. It
is characterized by thrusts with the blade held vertically. If any thrust
misses, the swordsman turns the blade parallel to the ground and slashes
the opponents unprotected side. The Shinsengumi had developed a style that
focused on making the first blow of any duel fatal, knowing through the
benefit of experience that anyone who can do that one almost perfectly
won't need to know anything else about swordsmanship. Of course, Saitou
has, since leaving the Shinsengumi, perfected this concept even further,
with his left-handed style, the Gatotsu.
Saitou is a man of perfectly uncompromising morals. His standards are
summed up in his personal philosophy of: "Aku, Zoku, San." This is often
poetically translated as "Sin, Swift, Slay." I'd just say
"Extinguish. Evil. Immediately." In the Shinsengumi, he was in charge of
executing those swordsmen whe became corrupt.