One thing I'll never understand is why the anime changed the Raijuta Arc so drastically from its manga origin. First, I'll list the differences:
Manga:
- Kaoru, Yahiko, and Kenshin go to the Maekawa Dojo, where we meet Maekawa Miauchi, who was an old friend of Kaoru's father. Raijuta shows up at the dojo, challenges them, and beats the shit out of Maekawa in a match.
- Yutaro's father, Yuzaemon is very much alive. He is also not a Thunder God or even decent swordsman. Instead, he's a former samurai who became a merchant and exports katana overseas.
- Raijuta's goal is to bring back old school swordsmanship under the standard of Shinko Ryu.
- Yutaro willingly comes to the Kamiya Dojo to challenge Yahiko, then comes over every day to train under Kaoru when he decides that shinai kenjutsu is actually fun.
Anime:
- The whole Kenshingumi go on a vacation to Izu, where they meet up with Genzai-sensei's little sister, who is a servant of Tsukayama Yutaro.
- Yutaro is an orphan who idolizes his dead father, the Thunder God, a swordsman who might have been equal to Hitokiri Battousai.
- Raijuta wants to create a kingdom of swordsmen based from Yutaro's palace in Izu, then spread outward. The government knows about this and sends in the police and army to fight him.
- Yutaro ends up with Kenshingumi because Kenshin saves him from drowning.
While the Raijuta Arc isn't the most exciting one in the manga, I never thought all the unnecessary drama the anime added did the story any service. I liked seeing Kaoru and Yahiko training at another dojo. I also enjoyed Kenshin's conversations with Maekawa and Raijuta about the state of swordsmanship in Meiji Japan.
Perhaps these things were considered too deep or involved for anime viewers, thus demanding the stripping away of this complexity and the adding of all the needless drama.
To me, it's simply an unneeded butchery of what. to me, was a very enjoyable manga arc.
