Yuichi Nakamura:"Rurouni Kenshin" - Weakness, anger, and sadness that hint at the humanity of the "strongest" Hiko Seijuro

The second season of the new TV anime " Rurouni Kenshin : Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story " based on the popular manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki , " Kyoto Disturbance". The "Kyoto Arc", which depicts the fierce battle between the main character Himura Kenshin and Shishio's group, is a popular episode in the original work, and from episode 35, "Hiko Seijuro", Hiko Seijuro, the 13th successor of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu and Kenshin's master, appears. We spoke to Yuichi Nakamura, who plays Hiko Seijuro, one of the strongest characters in "Rurouni Kenshin", about what went on behind the scenes during the recording.

◇ A delicate depiction of the human touch that is the polar opposite of the strongest

"Rurouni Kenshin" is a popular manga that was serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha) from 1994 to 1999. It depicts Himura Kenshin, who was feared as a Battousai assassin during the late Edo period, as a wanderer who vowed not to kill after the Meiji Restoration, searching for a way to live in a new era. A new chapter, "Rurouni Kenshin - Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story Hokkaido Arc -", has been serialized in the monthly manga magazine "Jump SQ." (Shōkyōsha) since 2017. With a completely new staff and cast, the first season of the 24-episode series will be broadcast from July 2023 as a new TV anime series, and the second season will be broadcast from October 2024 on Fuji TV's late-night anime slot "Noitamina" and other channels.

Hiko Seijuro is the strongest character, and the original author, Watsuki, has previously said that he is "stronger than Kenshin." When I asked Nakamura, "What did you pay attention to in order to create the feeling of being the strongest?" he replied, "I don't think there was anything like that."

"It's not just the voice. Of course, there are parts that the images show, so I don't think it's necessary for me to express everything. There are many parts that I leave up to the images, and what I have to be careful about is that Hiko Seijuro is a living person, of course, he is strong and no ordinary person, but more than that, he has his own weaknesses, what he is thinking, what he is feeling, things like that. Even if it's hard to see, I think anger and sadness are always there, so I think it's important to hint at these in some way. The strength is portrayed that way, and I think it's something you can see, so I'm expressing the exact opposite. I have to look at where the human parts are, the points where you can feel them, and create it. The task is to make a character who appears in only a few scenes memorable and appealing, so I thought I had to take care in that."

He says that because he is the strongest, it is important to show some hint of humanity, saying, "If that was too obvious, the character wouldn't seem very strong."

"I have been offered roles in what are known as strong characters, but Hiko is the most consistent of all the characters I have played. Also, he only appears in a limited number of scenes. So, the question is how much I can vary within that. However, since he is not the main character, I don't think it's enough to simply make his statements stronger. So I have to pull back when I need to. But if it becomes apparent that I've pulled back, then the character setting changes, so that's also difficult. I had to think about the fine adjustments and the balance, and try to find the points where I could make him seem more human; that's something I haven't done much with the other characters I've played up until now."

◇The appeal of Kenshin played by Soma Saito

Nakamura said that Hiko Seijuro was "brave" and that he felt that Kenshin was "the complete opposite of his master." We asked Soma Saito about the appeal of Kenshin.

"His acting makes you feel that he is very sensitive, and I think that is the image of Kenshin that Saito-kun created. Kenshin himself has always been portrayed as a strong person, but in fact he has been broken down many times, and yet he has managed to recover. He is a character who needs to be made to feel the precariousness of 'he could really break down at any moment,' so I felt that this kind of delicate side was something only Saito-kun could capture, during the scenes that we worked on together."

He feels that this character of Kenshin is also what makes the film "Rurouni Kenshin" so appealing.

"As the title suggests, Rurouni Kenshin is the story of Kenshin, but rather than a story of a super-strong guy who just keeps being strong, the main character has a lot of human weaknesses. When you break through that skin, you see that he has a lot of similarities to ordinary people. I think that's something that anyone can empathize with, regardless of era. Kenshin is a very attractive main character that you can root for. I feel that Kenshin's human side is what makes him so appealing throughout this work."