Do we like them?

Do we like Kenshin Himura?

A character from Rurouni Kenshin (1994-1999)

Our score: 8 out of 10. Yes, we'd back him. He's gentle, humble and sorry for his past, and he protects people without taking lives. His guilt is heavy, but he turns it into doing good.

Kenshin is a wanderer in early Meiji-era Japan, just after a civil war. He looks like a soft-spoken, goofy drifter who says "oro?" when confused. He carries a sakabatō, a sword whose blade is on the dull side, so it can't easily kill.

The story begins when he meets Kaoru, who runs a struggling dojo. He stays to help her, and gradually gathers a found family of friends and former enemies. He is haunted by what he did in the war as the assassin Battousai, and he has vowed to protect people without killing.

He scores high because of how consistently he acts on that vow. He is kind, patient and self-sacrificing, and he treats even dangerous opponents as people who can be redeemed. What holds him back from a perfect score is his guilt and his tendency to carry burdens alone. His dark past also keeps coming back to threaten the people he loves.