The wandering swordsman, Himura Kenshin, once an assassin, now fights to protect those in need.

One hundred and forty years ago in Kyoto, with he coming of the American "Black Ships," there arose a warrior who, felling men with his bloodstained blade, gained the name Hitokiri, manslayer! His killer blade helped close the turbulent Bakumatsu era and slashed open the progressive age known as Meiji. Then he vanished, and with the flow of years, became legend. -- VIZ Media

Change your perspective: get BIG Packed with action, romance and historical intrigue, Rurouni Kenshin is one of the most beloved and popular manga series worldwide. Set against the backdrop of the Meiji Restoration, it tells the saga of Himura Kenshin, once an assassin of ferocious power, now a humble rurouni, a wandering swordsman fighting to protect the honor of those in need. A Collection of Volumes 4 - 6! Shinomori Aoshi was once the leader of Edo Castle's elite guard, the Oniwanbanshū. When the shōgunate was overthrown, Aoshi and his men were deprived of both home and purpose. All that's left to them now are their fighting skills, which they've put to service as a mercenary guard for the industrialist Takeda Kanryū. However much sympathy Kenshin might feel for the Oniwanbanshū, he's sworn to stop Kanryū's corrupt plans. But in order to do so, he'll have to defeat Aoshi, a shinobi prodigy and master of a deadly twin-sword style. Later, Isurugi Raijūta, a swordsman of incredible strength and ferocity, requests Kenshin's aid in reforming Japan's swordsmanship schools, to save them from their decline in the modern age. Although Kenshin is intrigued by Raijūta's ideals, he's disturbed by his increasingly brutal methods. Sanosuke runs into some trouble of his own when he's reunited with a member of the Sekihō Army--the doomed civilian-run unit that they both served in during the revolution--who's determined to exact revenge from the Meiji government.

The battle to decide the fate of Meiji-era swordsmanship has begun! Action, romance, and historical intrigue help make Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin, the tale of a wandering swordsman set against the backdrop of the Meiji Restoration, one of the most popular Shonen Jump titles among fans to date. Himura Kenshin, once an assassin (or hitokiri ) of ferocious power, now fights to protect the honor of those in need. A glimpse of the new Japan if the mad ambitions of Shishio Makoto should succeed is revealed when Kenshin arrives in Kyoto and meets him at last...although the epic battle between them will have to wait. Pitted against Shishio's soldiers, Kenshin's reversed-edge sakabatô is broken--can it be reforged? Should it be reforged? For time has once again begun to flow, and violence once more washes over the land. Although Kenshin has abandoned the ways of the hitokiri and has sworn to take life no longer, a new assassin has now arisen--one whose taste for blood and thirst for power knows no bounds…

When the chief of the Police Sword Corps himself comes asking for favors, things must be bad. Hitokiri Udô Jin-e--a black-hatted, crazy-eyed slayer who fells both targets and innocent bystanders alike--is steadily working his way through a list of former Ishin Shishi patriots now ensconced within position of power in the Meiji government. Can Kenshin withstand the hypnotic, paralyzing effect of Jin-e...? -- VIZ Media

Rated T for Teen, for ages 13+ up.