An event for the new TV anime " Rurouni Kenshin : Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, " based on the popular manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki , was held at AnimeJapan 2025, one of the world's largest anime events, at Tokyo Big Sight (Koto-ku, Tokyo) on March 22. At the end of the event, Soma Saito , who plays Himura Kenshin , and Makoto Furukawa , who plays Kenshin's Shishio Makoto , livened up the event with a call-and-response with the audience.
At the event, titled "Kenshin Group VS Shishio Group Rurouni Kenshin Strongest Decisive Battle," the participants were divided into teams of Saito, Taku Yashiro who plays Satoshi Hino Hino who plays Saito Hajime, and Furukawa, Shinomori Aoshi Yuma Uchida who plays Soji Shinomori, and presented the strengths of Kenshin Group and Shishio Group. Rie Takahashi who plays Kamiya Kaoru acted as the MC.
Each person was given 45 seconds to present, with Hino saying, "We can become strong for the sake of others, for the sake of our comrades. That is the strength of the Kenshin Group." While it seemed that Uchida would present about the strength of Shishio's faction, he replied, "Shishio is irrelevant! The Oniwabanshu are the strongest!", just like Soji, and emphasized the strength of the Oniwabanshu, rather than the Kenshin Group or Shishio's faction.
Yashiro ran out of time while expressing his feelings as Sanosuke. Furukawa mentioned that Fuji, one of the Ten Swords, is too big to enter the hideout, so there is no scene in which all 10 of them are together, explaining that "because Fuji is not there, there are only nine of us," and that Shishio's faction still has hidden strength. Finally, Saito spoke about the appeal of the Kenshin group, and then passionately expressed his love for the series, saying, "It doesn't matter if it's the Kenshin group or the Shishio faction! The Rurouni Kenshin faction. We are one team, so I love that we can all grow together." Each person gave a unique presentation.
At the event, it was also announced that a third season of the TV anime will be produced, and the voice actors spoke of their enthusiasm for it. The event concluded with a call-and-response with the audience. In reference to Shishio's famous line, "In the end, this world is about the survival of the fittest," Furukawa called out "The weak!" to which the audience responded with "Survival!". Just like Shishio, Furukawa said, "Bring it on, Himura Kenshin!" to which Saito replied, "I need your help. Let's travel together in the third season," and called out to the audience, "Rurouni!", which was met with a response of "Kenshin!", bringing the venue into unity.
"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 he becomes a wanderer who has sworn not to kill after the Meiji Restoration and searches 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." (Shueisha) since 2017.
The script for the new anime was supervised by the original author, Watsuki. The first season aired from July to December 2023. The second season will begin airing in October 2024 on "Noitamina" and other channels, with the final episode airing on March 20.
