Matilda

[WARNING:  This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Hello Friend, I’m back with another smashing post [if I do say so myself…]. Today I’m writing about Matilda, one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. Matilda is a children’s book by famous British author Roald Dahl, published in 1988. It features a genius child called Matilda Wormwood, her teacher Jennifer Honey [the name suits her, she’s literally as sweet as honey], and the headmistress, a mountain of a woman called Miss Agatha Trunchbull. Miss Trunchbull is one of Dahl’s most memorable antagonists—she’s completely, blatantly, purely evil and has absolutely no redeeming features. She rules by fear, and comes up with painful physical punishments for children who defy her. She’s the reason a lot of the kids at her school are traumatised. Matilda is an extremely [and I mean extremely] precocious child. Her idiotic parents do not appreciate her formidable intelligence and perceptiveness, so she’s had to take care of herself since she was three. She’s five-and-a-half years old now. She does something completely incredible at the end of the book [read on to find out what it is!].

Matilda lives in a small Buckinghamshire village along with her parents and unappreciative older brother Michael. She’s aware of her talents and precocity, and craves some form of recognition as she is so different from other children; but her parents and brother either ignore her or ill-treat her [ they believe little girls should be seen, not heard. Those parents of hers don’t know how lucky they are. Other parents would be over the moon if they had a child like her]. In retaliation, she resorts to very well-thought-out yet childish pranks, such as gluing her father’s hat to his head, secretly bleaching his hair [yes, you heard it right] and hiding a friend’s parrot in the chimney to simulate a burglar or ghost. [Did I mention she can be rather creepy and is a greatly interesting character full of paradoxes?]. She indulges her love of reading at a public library [she doesn’t read picture books like other children do; she reads a vast variety of classics. Her favourite author is Charles Dickens].

Matilda’s journey of formal education begins soon. She befriends her teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey, a kind, intelligent, pretty and soft-spoken young woman. Miss Honey is awed by Matilda’s intellectual abilities, forthrightness and creativity. She tries to get her moved up into the topmost form at once, but the headmistress [enter Trunchbull the Tyrant], who is known for her athleticism and stupidity, refuses to allow the child into the top form. Not one to be deterred easily, Miss Honey tries to talk to Mr and Mrs Wormwood about their daughter’s immense potential, but they ignore her.

Matilda and Miss Honey share a mutual spiritual bond; theirs is a strange friendship, but it’s also a very strong friendship. When Matilda witnesses Miss Trunchbull terrorizing the students with horrible punishments, she is sickened and appalled. Her friend, a feisty dark-eyed little beauty called Lavender, plays a practical joke on Miss Trunchbull by placing a newt in her jug of water; when Miss Trunchbull causes a huge fuss and falsely accuses Matilda of putting a “baby crocodile” in her jug [lol it’s just a newt], Matilda’s temper rises until she cannot control it. She uses an unexpected power of telekinesis to tip the glass of water [containing the newt] onto the headmistress.  Shortly after, an excited Matilda confides in Miss Honey, revealing her powers to her. Reminding herself that Matilda is still just a child, Miss Honey warns her to not get too excited, as she must not reveal her powers to anyone else. However, Miss Honey knows that she can trust Matilda with secrets; she reveals that her mother died when she was only a little girl, and she was raised by her father’s sister, who abused her physically and emotionally. She suspects her aunt of having killed her father, though his death was made to look like an accident. And guess what? Her aunt is Miss Trunchbull. [I kind of saw this coming though].

Miss Trunchbull appears to be withholding her niece’s inheritance, forcing Miss Honey to live in poverty. Matilda is determined to avenge Miss Honey after listening to her heart-wrenching story; she develops her telekinetic gift through rigorous practice at home. The next day, during a class taken by Miss Trunchbull, Matilda levitates a piece of chalk and writes on the blackboard, pretending to be the spirit of Miss Honey’s late father and ordering “Agatha” to hand over “Jennie’s” house and wages and leave the region forever. Miss Trunchbull, who believes in the supernatural, is scared witless. She promptly hands over Miss Honey’s wages and vacates the house, resigning from her post as headmistress [well. Good riddance to very, very bad rubbish.] The deputy headmaster, Mr. Trilby, becomes the new head of the school; he soon proves himself to be capable and good-natured, with the result that Matilda advances to the highest level of schooling. To her relief, she soon loses the power of telekinesis [she was beginning to view herself as a freak]; Miss Honey explains that Matilda’s brain has too much to do now, coping up with a very challenging curriculum, hence the loss of her powers.  Matilda visits Miss Honey daily, but finds her parents hastily throwing clothes and other necessities in their suitcases one day; the police are on her father’s trail for selling stolen cars. They plan on fleeing to Spain [without consulting your children? What kind of parents are you? You shouldn’t have sold stolen cars in the first place! …This is what I’d like to say to ‘em].  Matilda does not want to go to Spain; she asks for permission to stay with Miss Honey, to which her parent agree at once ‘cause they don’t really care what happens to her as long as she’s out of their way. So, she and an overjoyed Miss Honey find their happy ending; Miss Honey is free from the tyrannical repression of her aunt, and Matilda now has a guardian who loves, appreciates and respects her, and whom she can love, respect and appreciate in return.

Told you she did something really incredible!

That’s all for now. See you next time!

Thank you! I hope you liked my article!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

[WARNING: This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an extremely famous children’s novel by British author Roald Dahl, published in 1964. The story features a vast cast of characters, particularly the young and poor Charlie Bucket, and the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka [I know, it’s a queer name; but Wonka is awfully queer. And frighteningly intelligent. And, well, quite creepy—though children may not realise that immediately]. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a great book—there’s a reason it’s so famous—but it’s rather dark; it’s effectively been disguised as a harmless children’s book.  I do hope that bratty children stopped being brats after reading it! I’m a fan of dark humour, and though the dark humour in this isn’t really explicit, it still leaves a lasting impression on anyone who reads it. I really, really love this book—it’ll remain one of my favourites. Forever. Charlie and Wonka are both very grey characters and Wonka is, in my opinion, Dahl’s greatest creation [come fight me if you don’t agree]. Charlie may be just a kid, but his circumstances have made him a quiet, insightful, mature person; his calmness is unnerving at times. Wonka is not a bad person, but he shows little to no regard for people’s safety [nope, no one dies, but you get my point, right?]. I’d say he’s leaning toward the darker shades of grey. And I’m sure Charlie will grow up to be a lot like him. Uh, let’s just plunge into the story, shall we?

11-year-old Charlie Bucket lives in dire poverty in a tiny house with his parents and four grandparents. His grandparents, who are so old and weak that they can barely move, share the only bed in the house, located in the bedroom. Charlie and his parents sleep on mattresses on the floor. One day, Grandpa Joe, who knows several interesting stories and is extremely close to Charlie, tells him about the wonderful and… “weird” is the only word that can be used here… chocolatier Willy Wonka, one of the world’s greatest geniuses. He made the loveliest and most creative candies, until other candy-makers, who were bristling with jealousy, sent spies into his factory to steal his secret recipes. This led Wonka—who was already reclusive—to close the factory to outsiders. Charlie wonders how Wonka runs that massive factory without any workers, but Grandpa Joe doesn’t know either. The next day, the newspaper announces that Willy Wonka is reopening his factory to outsiders, and five extremely lucky children can tour the factory—provided they find a Golden Ticket in a Wonka chocolate bar. Of course, this news shakes the world; each ticket find is a media sensation, and each finder becomes a celebrity. The first four tickets are found by the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, the spoiled and vain Veruca Salt, the gum-addicted Violet Beauregard, and the TV-obsessed Mike Teavee. [ What a bunch of insufferable brats…].

Charlie and his family, meanwhile, have other things to worry about. It’s a particularly harsh winter this year, and the Buckets are starving. One day, Charlie sees a fifty-pence coin buried in the snow. He buys a Wonka bar [he loves chocolate, but his parents can’t afford to buy more than a bar a year] and finds the fifth and final Golden Ticket. Hurray! The ticket says he can bring one or two family members with him, and Charlie’s parents decide to allow Grandpa Joe to accompany him; the old man is so excited about the Golden Ticket that he does something he hasn’t done for twenty years—he jumps straight out of bed and does a little celebratory dance [lol…]. The next day, Wonka effusively greets the five children and their parents [and Grandpa Joe]. The little crowd mills inside. There, they meet Oompa-Loompas, a curious and tiny race of people who help Wonka run his factory since he rescued them from fear and deprivation in their home country, Loompaland. Here is when the story gets dark while retaining its humorous touch; the children, except Charlie, are ejected from the tour in painful and mysterious ways—justly befitting their greedy and imprudent characters. Augustus gets sucked up a rather narrow pipe after falling into the Chocolate River in the Chocolate Room; Violet [gum was her downfall] inflates into a giant blueberry after sampling an experimental chewing gum; Veruca is flung down the rubbish chute in the Nut Room after she tries to grab a nut-testing squirrel [his comrades grab the girl and throw her down the chute]; and Mike gets shrunk [oh god that’s probably the understatement of the century] after he tries to be the first person to be transported by television in the Television Room’s Television Chocolate Technology. All through these events, Wonka maintains a cheerful demeanour, and even Charlie is unfazed and calm.

As child after child gets eliminated, the Oompa-Loompas sing a humorous [but chilling] song about morality. All this seemed quite normal and funny to me when I read it the first time [I was a half-baked nine-year-old then] but it sends chills down my spine now. I’ve re-read this book loads of times—that’s just how much I love it.  Now that only Charlie is remaining, Wonka congratulates him on “winning” the factory [what is this—a survival contest? Exactly], and explains his true age and the reason behind his Golden Tickets. Then, he declares Charlie his worthy successor. They ride the Great Glass Elevator [another magnificent but eccentric invention of Wonka’s] to Charlie’s house [imagine that…] while the other four children, who have been extricated from the mess they found themselves in, go home, quite “cured” and subdued [Augustus is squashed flat, Violet is all blue in the face, Veruca is covered in trash, and Mike is stretched ten feet tall]. Afterwards, Wonka, who has taken a fancy to Charlie [of course, since the boy is to be his successor] invites the Buckets to come live with him in the factory. The book ends here.

Isn’t is a lovely book? It can be enjoyed by people of all ages! [It’s appalling too though…].           

On a side-note: I love Matilda, Witches, and The BFG too; perhaps you, dear reader, might like to give them a read [if you haven’t read them already, that is].  See you next time!

Thank you! I hope you liked my article!

A Tale of Two Cities

[WARNING: This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Hello Friend, I’m back with another post! This time it’s gonna be an amazing blend of history and one of the greatest books to have been penned by human hands—A Tale of Two Cities! A Tale of Two Cities is one of my absolute, undisputed favourites, and with good reason—I love anything and everything to do with History. I know I began this post really cheerfully, but this book is actually extremely gritty, dark, and bloody—like really bloody. No one has captured the essence and spirit of the French Revolution as accurately as Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens is one of my favourite authors, although his books are always extremely sad [and they end up making me cry more often than not]. They’re still incredibly well-written, and I love how he always writes about the down-trodden masses, their hopes, their aspirations, their dreams.  A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris before and during the Revolution, and narrates the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he’d never met [yes, the poor, blameless man was imprisoned before he had a chance to set eyes on his daughter. Give me the tissues]. It’s an intense book—psychologically as well as emotionally—and my favourite character is Sydney Carton, a quick-minded but depressed and unambitious English barrister. When I was little, I didn’t like Sydney much—don’t ask me to explain—but I absolutely love him now. As a character, mind you. Of course, he’s a great person as well, but he has a propensity for self-harm and, in spite of being the most intelligent and resourceful character by far, has absolutely no ambition. He’s got a lot of shades to him, which is really interesting! … Anyway, why don’t I just get on with the story.

Book the First: Recalled to Life

Dickens sums up the entire book in his famous opening: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received , for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” So, basically, an age of extreme contradictions. Can totally relate.  In 1775, a man flags down the nightly mail-coach on its route from London to Dover. The man is Jerry Cruncher, an employee of Tellson’s Bank in London; he has a message for Mr Jarvis Lorry, a passenger and one of the bank’s managers. Lorry peruses the letter awhile, then sends Cruncher back to the bank with this cryptic message: “Recalled to Life.” [Hence the title]. The message refers to Alexander Manette, a French physician who has been released from the Bastille after nearly two decades’ confinement. Lorry is visibly worried for the rest of the journey. Once he reaches Dover, he hastens to meet with Dr. Manette’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Lucie, and her governess and caretaker, Miss Pross. Lucie, who has never met her father and believed him to have died eighteen years ago, trembles at the news that he is alive; she swoons. When she is revived, Lorry takes her to France to reunite with her father. [I took to Lucie immediately. Such an unassuming, sweet creature; she’s also strong in a quiet way, though Dickens never developed her as much as he should have.]

In the dingy Paris neighbourhood of Saint Antoine [the seat of the French Revolution], Dr.Manette has been given lodgings by his former servant Ernest Defarge and his wife Therese [they now own a wine shop]. Lorry and Lucie find him in a tiny garret, where he spends most of his time making shoes in an effort to cope with the debilitating effects of the Bastille on his mental health. He learned this skill in prison. He does not recognise Lucie at first, but eventually it dawns on him that she must be his daughter; she has her mother’s large, candid blue eyes and long, smooth golden hair. He had a strand of her mother’s hair when he was imprisoned. After a bittersweet re-union between father and child, Lorry and Lucie take him back to England; it’s not safe for him to stay in France any longer. He’s already pretty much gone to pieces [of course he has. Wouldn’t everyone?]. The First Book ends here.

Book the Second: The Golden Thread

In 1780, French immigrant Charles Darnay is on trial for treason against the British Crown. The key witnesses against him are two English officers, John Barsad [I really dislike him] and Roger Cly [nope, don’t have an opinion on this one]. Both these idiots claim that they could swear that Darnay has been passing on information about the British troops in North America to the French. Mr Stryver, an ambitious, unintelligent, pompous and self-satisfied upstart has been grilling those two witnesses relentlessly; meanwhile, Darnay’s other barrister, Sydney Carton, has remained silent, almost aloof, from the proceedings. Carton scrawls something on a piece of paper and wordlessly hands it to Stryver, whereupon Stryver draws Barsad and Cly’s attention to the uncanny physical resemblance between Carton and Darnay. The two witnesses have to admit that the two men look almost identical; therefore, their accounts cannot be relied on. With no other witnesses to prove that the allegations are true, Darnay is acquitted.

In Paris, the cruel and abusive Marquis St.Evrémondé  charges through the streets in his ridiculously fast carriage, hitting and killing the child of a poor man called Gaspard in Saint Antoine. Rather than apologising or displaying any remorse, the irritated Marquis throws a coin at the vengeful Gaspard. Defarge, having witnessed the entire incident, comes forward to comfort Gaspard, stating that the child would probably have died of starvation anyway. This “piece of wisdom” pleases that monstrous Marquis greatly, and he throws a coin to Defarge, too. As the carriage rattles on, a coin hurtles through the window and hits the Marquis’ forehead. Arriving at his country mansion, the Marquis greets his nephew and heir, Darnay [yeah, you’re probably thinking “Darnay?!?!”]. The young man is completely disgusted with his aristocratic family, which is why he has dropped the surname of “Evrémondé” and adopted an anglicised version of his mother’s maiden name, D’Aulnais. The Marquis voices his philosophy of aristocratic superiority: “Repression is the only lasing superiority. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend, will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof [he glances at his roof] shuts out the sky.”

That night, Gaspard, who followed the Marquis home by clinging to the underside of the carriage, stabs and kills him in his sleep. [I’m not saying it’s good riddance to bad rubbish… but that’s exactly what I’m saying]. Gaspard leaves a note on the knife saying, “Drive him to his tomb fast. JACQUES.” He manages to run from the authorities for about a year, but is eventually caught and hanged.

I think it’s really interesting how the book switches back and forth between Paris and London.  In London, Darnay, who has fallen in love with Lucie, asks Dr.Manette’s permission to marry her; however, Carton confesses his love to Lucie as well. She finds herself unable to return the intensity of his love, as her heart already belongs to Charles [cheesy, I know!]. Carton knows that she cannot love him in return, so he vows to “embrace any sacrifice to you and those dear to you” [ give me the tissues again…]. Stryver considers proposing marriage to Lucy, but Lorry, appalled at the idea, immediately talks him out of it [Hah!].  On the morning of the wedding, Darnay reveals his name and true identity to Dr.Manette, a detail he’d been asked to withhold until that day. Dr.Mannete, who has been considerably shaken by the revelation, tries to deal with it by returning to his obsessive shoe-making once the couple leave for their honeymoon. After some [both gentle and forceful] persuasion from Lorry and Miss Pross, he returns to sanity before their return.  The shoe-making tools are destroyed, and the entire incident is kept hidden from Lucie.

With the passage of time, Charles and Lucy begin to raise a family—a son who dies in childhood, and a playful, pretty little daughter, little Lucie. Carton grows exceptionally close to little Lucie, though he seldom visits. The scene then switches to July 1789, Paris. The Defarges help to lead the storming of the Bastille, a symbol of royal tyranny.  Defarge enters Dr. Manette’s former cell, “One Hundred and Five, North Tower”, and ransacks it. Throughout the country, the Revolution spreads as local officials are dragged from their homes and killed, and the St. Evrémondé mansion is razed to the ground. In 1792, Lorry decides to travel to Paris to collect important documents from Tellson’s branch in that city and bring them to London for safekeeping against the madness of the French Revolution. Darnay [so I called him Darnay, then Charles, then Darnay again… please bear with me] intercepts a letter written by Gabelle, one of his uncle’s servants who has been imprisoned by the revolutionaries, pleading for the Marquis to help secure his release. Horrified, Darnay immediately sets out for Paris—without telling Dr. Manette and Lucie.

Book the Third: The Track of a Storm

Darnay was being extremely reckless and impetuous, y’ know? Shortly after he arrives in Paris, he is arrested for being an emigrated aristocrat from France, and jailed in La Force Prison. Shocked, Dr.Manette, Lucie, her daughter, Cruncher, and Miss Pross travel to Paris to meet Lorry and devise a means of freeing Charles—in vain. A year and three months pass, and Darnay is finally tried. Dr.Manette, who is greatly revered by the masses for his imprisonment in the Bastille, vouches for Charles, who is grudgingly acquitted; however, he is arrested again the same day, and put on trial again the next day, under new charges brought by the Defarges and a third individual who is later revealed to be Dr. Manette.  The good doctor had been confined by the late Marquis St. Evrémondé and his twin brother; in a long letter addressed to no one in particular, Manette revealed the unjust circumstances of his imprisonment, and condemned the Evrémondés and their descendants for eternity. Dr.Manette is understandably horrified, but he is not allowed to retract his statement. Darnay is sentenced to be guillotined the next day. [I know, I know. It’s perfectly horrible].  Meanwhile, Carton overhears that fanatical Madame Defarge stating that she will have Lucie and little Lucie guillotined as well; he hastens to Lucie’s residence and urges her to flee back to London as quickly as possible [with her family, of course.]

Shortly before the executions are to begin, a prison guard sneaks Carton into Darnay’s cell. The two men trade clothes, and Carton drugs Darnay and orders the guard to sneak him out. My brave, selfless Sydney has decided to be executed in Charles’ place—they look similar, so that’s completely possible; he has given his own identification papers to Lorry to present on Darnay’s behalf. Following his instructions, the family, Lorry, and an unconscious Darnay flee to England. Meanwhile, Madame Defarge, armed with a pistol and two knives, goes to the Manette residence, hoping to apprehend Lucie and her daughter for execution. However, she ends up confronting Miss Pross, who easily overpowers her; Madame’s pistol goes off in the struggle, killing her and causing the good, worthy Miss Pross to go permanently deaf from noise and shock. 

The novel concludes with the guillotining of Carton […..WAAAAH!!]. No one suspects any kind of foul play—they think they’re executing Darnay. In spite of the awful fate that awaits him, Sydney is calm and resolute, even happy—happier than he has ever been. He saved the life of an innocent man and, by extension, so many more lives, especially the life of the girl he loves. He does not fear Death—he embraces it. In his own words, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” These pure thoughts run through his mind as the blade flashes, waiting for his head.

…So, this book is awfully gritty, but it’s about the French Revolution, so that’s how it’s going to be. Sydney doesn’t need my sympathy, so instead of feeling sorry and moping, I just felt extremely proud of him, though the world lost a jewel when he died. [Ok, that’s enough drama].

On a side-note: Dickens always, always treats my favourites badly!!!

See you next time!

Thank you! Bye-bye!

The Creation and Development of Himura Kenshin

Hello Friend, I’m back with another interesting post [I just can’t stop, hehe]. This is a little different from my previous posts; those were centred around characters from books, right? This time, I’m gonna talk about the conception of a character from a popular manga, Rurouni Kenshin [I’ve written a post on this manga a few months ago, please go check it out if you’re not familiar with it.] Himura Kenshin, the protagonist, is legendary in the world of manga and anime; it’s surprising I didn’t write this post before, considering how much I love analysing him and other characters from Rurouni Kenshin [which is, incidentally, my favourite manga. According to me, it’s also the best manga in the whole wide world-- but that depends on one’s perspective!]. The creator, Nobuhiro Watsuki, is not a very organised person, and it’s not like he knew exactly how he wanted Kenshin to turn out, but oh god, the character turned out way better than expected. I love every single character from RuroKen, but Kenshin is undoubtedly my favourite; he’s so complex, so multi-faceted, so ambiguous in the beginning [the readers know almost nothing about him, and it’s only in the second half of the manga that the creator undertakes to reveal his life’s story]; he’s also [in my opinion] a perfect balance between masculine and feminine. And the best thing is that he’s a completely “grey” character. He is, of course, on the side of good, and beats the crap out of every evil person who comes his way, but he has blood –a lot of blood –on his hands and soul [I’ll explain soon.] “Rurouni” means vagabond or wandering swordsman; “Ken” means sword, and “shin” means heart. So, basically, he’s a wandering swordsman who’s vowed to never kill a single person again; to suppress his instincts, he carries a sakabatou, a sword with the blade and dull edge reversed. The story is set in the eleventh year of the Meiji Era, 1878. Let’s plunge right into the birth of this amazing character!

The manga starts in this chilling fashion: “140 years ago, with the coming of the “black ships… there arose a warrior called Hitokiri Battousai. Felling men with his blood-stained blade, he closed the turbulent age known as Bakumatsu… and slashed open the age of Meiji. Then he vanished and, with the flow of years, became a legend.” Yes, that’s right. This crazed warrior is now a Rurouni. “Hitokiri” is assassin, and “Battousai” is one who has mastered the art of Battoujutsu, a form of sword-fighting. He was active for five years, from the age of 14 to 19; he was so appalled by all the blood he’d shed that he swore to never take another life. He’d realised just how important and irreplaceable every single life is. Are you, dear reader, familiar with the Bakumatsu? That was the darkest period in Japan’s history, an age of intense civil unrest; with the end of the Bakumatsu, the Shogun Era drew to a close, marking the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. Kenshin, a patriot, was aligned with the Ishin Shishi, the pioneers of the Meiji Restoration. He was their trump card. Now, ten years after the age of modernisation began, he wanders the countryside of Japan, offering aid and protection to those who need it as compensation for his deeds during the Bakumatsu; he’s being too naïve and idealistic, though, thinking he can really repress his finely-honed killer instincts so easily—throughout the series, he is forced to fight old enemies, while also making new ones [tough luck!]. However, he begins establishing lifelong relationships with several brave, good-hearted and honourable people who’ve always got his back, come what may. Kenshin uses an extremely unique sword-style, the Hiten Mitsurugi [Flying Heaven Honourable Sword Style]; a fictional sword art style that enables him to exercise superhuman speed and reflexes [besides, he has an uncanny ability to predict and counter his opponents’ moves. His techniques are very precise and powerful.] However, were it to come down to raw power alone, there are several characters who actually stand a pretty good chance of beating him; it’s not his strength that stands out—it’s his speed, technical precision and reflexes that save him.

Mr Watsuki, who is a huge fan of Japanese history, particularly the Shinsengumi [an elite police force employed by the Tokugawa Shogunate], discovered and used Kawakami Gensai, an elite assassin, as a model for Kenshin. Watsuki states that he found out about Kawakami’s fierce loyalty to his comrades, which is when he decided to create the protagonist; as I stated before, Watsuki didn’t have an extremely clear picture in mind—his initial design consisted of a tall, black-haired, swash-buckling man in “showy” armour. He wasn’t too pleased with this though—he scrapped the project, chewed on the edge of his pen for more ideas [just kidding], and decided to create a character who completely juxtaposed the previous one. Therefore, the new character ended up “coming out like a girl”—tiny, thin, with long and bushy red [or rather, orange] hair, large bluish-purple eyes, and a large cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. Deceptively fragile looking. Watsuki has stated that he enjoys drawing Kenshin due to his selfless nature and saviour complex [a massive saviour complex, in fact]; besides, Kenshin frequently struggles against himself and his dark past. He’s his own worst enemy. He hates himself for doing what he did during the Bakumatsu, though he knows it was for the greater good; he’s trying to run from himself. [Really, his mental health is…]. While writing the series, Watsuki thought Kenshin should pay more attention to his future, since he is still, in a way, living in the past. Initially, the series was not very dark or heavy in nature—when it did get kinda intense, Watsuki would throw in a bit of slapstick humour to lighten the atmosphere. Watsuki has often spoken about the difference in Kenshin’s speech patterns—as “Himura Kenshin”, his speeh is unfailingly polite, and he uses a very humble form of “I”. When facing his opponent, his speech is rather rough, and he uses a very masculine form of “I”—"ore”. His trademark verbal tick, “Oro”, is usually inserted by Watsuki whenever he is surprised or mildly annoyed; it’s kinda like the English “Huh?” [that “Oro” is one of Kenshin’s defining traits, haha].

Watsuki actually planned to make Kenshin more than 30 years old [since he fought in the Bakumatsu], but his editor commented that it would be a little off-putting for the protagonist of a manga aimed at teenagers to be of such an age, so he made him 28 years old [he looks a lot younger than that though.] Watsuki isn’t excellent at coming up with plots, but he’s a genius when it comes to characters, and Kenshin is his greatest creation. He came up with a vast cast of characters who could keep up with the protagonist; Kamiya Kaoru, a feisty seventeen-year-old sword-fighting instructor, was created to become a close friend and comrade, someone who could keep him in check; eventually, though, Watsuki had the two become lovers. Sagara Sanosuke, a rebellious nineteen-year-old street fighter, was created to completely contrast Kenshin as a character—someone who would “punch him in order to make him retain his composure”. Gradually, the manga got grittier with the creation of the series’ most memorable antagonist, Shishio Makoto [his name is deliciously ironic--“Makoto” means Truth.] Kenshin’s sword breaks during the fight against Shishio’s warriors; he is given a new sakabatou with a sheath made of wood. During the final fight against Shishio, Watsuki admitted that he had more fun drawing Shishio than Kenshin [and I must say, I kinda agree, because Shishio’s expressions are fun to draw.]

In the next and final arc of the manga, the story became extremely gruesome, as most characters—Kenshin included—believed that Kaoru had been killed by Yukishiro Enishi, an extremely memorable antagonist in his own right [she’s actually alive, don’t worry. Killing that fiery girl is no mean task]. Watsuki was not pleased with Kenshin’s indecisiveness and angst at this point [though he was the one who wrote it… really], so he had Kenshin’s friend, Myoujin Yahiko, take over as the protagonist until Kenshin recovered. In this arc, as I stated before, Kenshin’s life story is revealed; he’s an unreliable narrator, though, as all his accounts can’t be completely trusted—when it comes to his past and his comrades, our normally level-headed friend finds it difficult to think straight [not all the time, though.] Watsuki introduced Kenshin’s deceased wife, Yukishiro Tomoe [yes, she’s Enishi’s older sister] in order to justify Enishi’s vendetta against Kenshin—the latter accidentally killed Tomoe eight years ago; therefore, she plays a crucial role in this arc. She is seen and interpreted through Kenshin and Enishi’s memories. In this sense, though Kenshin and Enishi are enemies [the animosity is solely on Enishi’s side though], they are also connected by Tomoe; the author has confessed that he would’ve liked to have given their past a greater contrast.

Unlike Shishio, Enishi doesn’t die. He kind of [kind of, mind you] repents of his hasty and outright cruel and evil actions [after Kenshin convinces him that this isn’t what Tomoe would have wanted]. So… I guess I’m kinda relieved that he’s alive? Don’t get me wrong—I absolutely do not agree with Enishi’s obsessive behaviour and twisted views, but he loves his sister more than the world itself. I can relate to that, as I love my sister very much, too.  The last chapter of the manga, “Toward A New Age”, is one of my favourite chapters!! It finally shows that Kenshin has learned to let go of the demons of his past; he’s much happier and more cheerful now. Besides, the thing that I was rooting for since the first chapter has happened—Kenshin and Kaoru have been happily married for five years now, and they have cute, bratty little son, Himura Kenji. Watsuki admits that Kenji was “cliché”, but felt that the character had to appear [yeah, I agree. But don’t ask me to explain it!] Happily ever after! [At least, I hope so…]

Look, I don’t mean to be pushy, but if you haven’t read Rurouni Kenshin, I strongly recommend you to do so. It’s a great read, even though you will get annoyed at times, cause some parts just don’t make sense [typical shōnen manga, lol].  OK, I’m done, bye! See you next time!

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