Kamiya Kaoru

Kamiya Kaoru (神谷 薫), known as Kaoru Kamiya in the Media Blasters English-language dub and Kori Kamiya in the English Sony Samurai X dub, is a fictional character from the Rurouni Kenshin universe created by Nobuhiro Watsuki as a main protagonist of the media franchise, which consists of a series of manga, anime, OVAs, movies, soundtracks, video games, and other collectibles.

In the story, Kaoru is the teacher from a kendo school from Tokyo called Kamiya Kasshin-ryū. The school starts to lose all its students when an imposter starts killing a large number of people and claims to be the "Hitokiri Battōsai (斬り抜刀斎) from the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū". Kaoru encounters him but before being killed by him she is saved by the real Hitokiri Battōsai, now a wanderer, Himura Kenshin, to whom she offers to stay in her dojo as she notes Kenshin is a gentle person instead of a hitokiri. As the series continue, Kaoru develops strong romantic feelings for Kenshin, who is constantly haunted by the wrongs committed in his past, and believes he does not deserve happiness. Kaoru has also appeared in the featured movie of the series, as well as other media relating to the franchise, including a plethora of electronic games and a series of OVAs. Her name means Frangrance.

Creation and conception
Watsuki said that he used "no specific model" and "no specific motif" when designing Kaoru. He said that if he had to name one model, he would point to Chiba Sanako of Ryōma no Koibito. He wished to include the "commanding" quality from Sasaki Mifuyu (佐々木 三冬) of Shōtarō Ikenami's Kenkaku Shōbai (JA). According to Watsuki Kaoru became a "plain, regular girl" despite the "commanding" quality. By the compilation of Volume 1 in Japan he believed that the character model worked and stated that many female readers of Rurouni Kenshin identified with Kaoru. He had not decided at the time on whether Kaoru should be Kenshin's love interest. Watsuki wished that he could design Kaoru to be "more cutely" and "more fashionable" but decided to tone the qualities down as he felt that she needed to express "down-to-earth" and financially "poor" characteristics as well. Watsuki described the ponytail as "de rigueur" for a girl who practices kendo. Watsuki says that he enjoys drawing Kaoru and that filling in her hair is "sometimes a pain." At the end of Rurouni Kenshin Kaoru gets a new hairstyle. Watsuki felt that Kaoru would not look like herself without her ponytail, but that her original hair style did not appear like what a mother would wear, so he created a variation for the ending.

When some female readers told Watsuki that they could not decide on whether Kaoru exhibited strength or weakness as a fighter, Watsuki responded by saying that Kaoru is "quite independent for her age" can easily "hold her own" against many dojo masters in town, making her a national-level champion at least; however she appears weak compared to Kenshin and Sagara Sanosuke.

Personality
The primary instructor of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū fighting style developed by her late father, Kamiya Koshijirō (神谷 越路郎), Kaoru inherited a small dojo from her father, who was drafted into and killed during the Seinan War, and operates it by herself. At the beginning of the story, she has no students and she is likely to lose the dojo until Kenshin appears and helps her. Naturally, she is independent, possessive, compassionate, courageous, feisty, strong-willed, and a great fighter to boot- with only the occasional mood swing. Kaoru is also known for her bad cooking which is disliked by her friends and family and her ability to see the good in others.

Though she is short tempered and possessive, Kaoru is incredibly selfless. Although most times she is seen fighting against Myōjin Yahiko, they care about each other and Kaoru sees him as the succesor of the dojo. She is considered naïve to be so trusting, but she has the maturity to handle the consequences. Kaoru's beliefs are held strongly and proudly, almost stubbornly, particularly her beliefs in the sword.

She falls in love with Himura Kenshin right from the beginning of the series, and continued to do so even after learning of his past crimes. One of Kaoru's biggest fears is that Kenshin might someday return to wandering, leaving her to be alone again. She gets jealous whenever another girl is also interested in Kenshin, such as Takani Megumi to whom she often argues but in the end of the manga ends admiring her. In the story Kaoru is often compared to a tanuki (raccoon dog).

Kamiya Kaoru adheres to her father's ideal of katsujin-ken ("swords that give life" ), which teaches that swordsmanship should be used not to kill, but to protect. This belief is a slap in the face to many swordsmen, who advocate that a sword is for "mastery and death," and nothing more. Himura Kenshin, however, feels that her beliefs should, in fact, become reality.

Techniques
Kaoru is a practitioner of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū (神谷活心流). The primary weapon of a practitioner is a wooden bokken. A bokken is generally considered to be a more advanced weapon in kendo practices and can deal more severe damage, hence the bokken is likely reserved only for masters of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū style or for those who are considered advanced in their studies.

As a teacher of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū, Kaoru mastered the successions technique. In the first one, Hadome, Kaoru crosses her arms over her head and catches the blade of the opponent with the back of their hands. This allows her to maintain their grip on her sword while catching the opponents blade at the same time. However, if properly used, it can be chained into Hawatari Kamiya Kasshin-ryū's offensive succession technique. It is a counter-attack and can only be performed after a successful use of the Hadome technique. From the Hadome position, Kaoru twists her wrists, thus stripping the weapon of their attacker away from their wrists.

Techniques of this style also are meant to be performed with the weapon broken. With Tsuka no Gedan: Hiza Hishigi (Handle Attack, Knee Crush) Kaoru dive-lunges at her opponent's knees, bringing the hilt against their knee. She uses this attack to defeat Honjō Kamatari.

Plot overview
The series starts with a confrontation between Kaoru and Himura Kenshin. After some initial scuffles, Kaoru allows Kenshin to stay in her dojo as a guest. Her obvious feelings toward Kenshin are noticed even by his enemies, who often use Kaoru as a chink in his armor. In the Kyoto Arc, Kenshin gives an emotional farewell to Kaoru before leaving for Kyoto. After Kenshin says goodbye to her and leaves, Kaoru falls into a deep depression, but is soon given the courage to go to Kyoto in order to see Kenshin after a more than irritated Megumi gives her a pep talk.

In the Jinchū Arc, Yukishiro Enishi, the revenge-obsessed younger brother of Yukishiro Tomoe sets off to avenge his sister's death upon Kenshin. Enishi's initial goal is not to kill Kenshin, but to make him suffer; therefore Enishi plans to kill the person most important to him: Kaoru. Because Enishi is unable to kill any young woman who is close to the age of Tomoe's at the time of her death, he instead orders his ally Gein to make a perfect, replicated doll of a murdered Kaoru, fooling everyone including Kenshin, and succeeds in kidnapping her. Thinking that he again failed to save the one who was most important to him, Kenshin falls into a catatonic state of depression, and flees to the Fallen Village to mourn. Upon finding out that Kaoru is not dead, the group goes to the island where Enishi kept her captive and rescues her. She and Kenshin eventually marry and have a son named Himura Kenji.

Appearances in other media
In Samurai X: Reflection, Kenshin and Kaoru are married, but he decides to wander again, returning to her every couple of years because he still feels the need to help others, so Kaoru allows him to go, promising to welcome him home with a smile and their child. Kenshin eventually becomes ravaged by an unknown disease that is much and to share his pain, Kaoru convinces Kenshin to share his disease with her through sexual intercourse. Kenshin then leaves to go assist in the First Sino-Japanese War as he had promised the Meiji Government, not fighting and killing, but instead helping people. The two finally meet, and Kenshin collapses into her arms as he clutches her to him. Kaoru then notices Kenshin's scar has faded away, signifying his death.

In the original, "pilot" issue of Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, first published in 1992, Kaoru is the sister of Megumi and Yahiko. As the unrefined brainchild of artist Nobuhiro Watsuki, many of the story's details changed during the transition to serialized, mainstream manga.

Kaoru also appears in all Rurouni Kenshin video games but in most as a supporting character including also Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars.

Reception
Kaoru has been highly popular with the Rurouni Kenshin reader base, placing between fourth and fifth in every popularity poll. Watsuki describes Tomo Sakurai's CD drama voice as "not too airhead-y," "not too high," and "not too low." Merchandise based on Kaoru has also been released, including plushes,, keychains, and sweat bands. In an interview with Miki Fujitani, who is the seiyū for Kaoru, comments that in the OVAs series Kaoru is a brave woman totally different from her original version.

Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other media have good response on Kaoru's character. When T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews writer Carlos Ross gave nicknames to the characters of Rurouni Kenshin he called Kaoru "a spirited girl". Megan Lavey from Mania Entertainment says that the manga version of Kaoru is "a lot wiser" than the anime version. In About.com "Top 8 Anime Love Stories", Kaoru and Kenshin's relationship ranked 8th with Katherine Luther noting it a "classic romance." Kaoru's character in the OVAs series from Rurouni Kenshin received negative responses. Efrain Diaz, Jr. from IGN comments that some of Kenshin and Kaoru's private moments in Reflection are touching, and some are depressing. Additionally, Anime News Network's Mike Crandol comments that Kaoru is the least successful visual character redesign in the Reflection OVA in contrast to her character in the manga version which he noted it had "a distinctive girlish charm." Crandol added that "it would seem the creators tried too hard to make her look like Tomoe."