The animation finally matches what you're actually watching, Kenshin's swordsmanship stops being a blur and becomes something you can trace frame by frame. The fights in Kyoto aren't just pretty; they're constructed so you see exactly why Kenshin is terrified of what Shishio actually is. Season 1 proved the remake could work. Season 2 proves it can matter.

Kenshin's quiet days at the Kamiya dojo come to an end when his former commander is murdered. A phantom of the Bakumatsu, the assassin Makoto Shishio, claims to be the heir of the feared Battousai and has spent ten years building an armed force to topple the Meiji government and rule from Kyoto. Shishio now hopes to bring Aoshi Shinomori, the ruthless former head of the Oniwaban Group, to his side. Kenshin sets out to stop him and keep Japan from falling back into civil war, and his oath never to kill faces its hardest trial. Along the way he passes through a village the government has abandoned to Shishio's men, and he forms an uneasy alliance with his old rival Hajime Saitou. This second season of the 2023 series blends action, adventure, drama and romance.