In the dark of night thugs beset a group of orphans being shepherded through the forest by slave traders. The bandits massacre most of their victims immediately, slowing their killing only to toy with a young woman. Then a lone man with a sword enters the clearing. With a few precise but ferocious strokes of his sword the bandits become carcasses and the swordsman, Seijuro Hiko, is alone in the clearing with a trembling young orphan named Shinta. They bury the dead and Hiko renames young Shinta as Kenshin, meaning sword-heart, and leads his new charge away from the field of death.

After years under Hiko's tutelage Kenshin, now a nearly insuperable swordsman begins to chafe under the yoke of Hiko's philosophy of detachment from the world and people. A civil war wracks Japan as loyal samurai, soldiers, and citizens chose sides between the Emperor and the Shogun, and a young sword master like Kenshin has no intention of allowing other soldiers to determine Japan's future. Ignoring Hiko's admonishments that violence only begets more violence and that once a man becomes a killer he can never un-become one, Kenshin resolves to enlist.

Under Kogoro Katsura , an officer in charge of a cadre of samurai loyal to the Emperor, Kenshin serves as Hitokiri Battousai, assassin master-swordsman. Whomever Kenshin is told to kill, dies - including an unfortunate young samurai about to marry his true love. Kenshin seems to feel no pity, no remorse, no guilt, but also no pride, and no peace. Kenshin the killer seems to feel nothing until one rainy night when he meets Tomoe.

The melancholy and beautiful Tomoe works as a serving girl and maid at the inn where Kenshin lodges. They attempt to hide their feelings for each other. But a series of counterattacks and assassination attempts convince Katsura and the other samurai that they have an informer in their midst, spurring them to disperse and lie low for a while. Katsura orders Kenshin and Tomoe to flee to a small farm in the countryside where they can pose as a young farming couple until Katsura thinks it safe to call Kenshin back to fight.

The story, characters, and visuals of "Samurai X" are each alike, haunting and beautiful. Its narrative centers on Kenshin's internal journey. No matter how outwardly placid he appears, Hiko's warnings make it clear from the beginning that whatever external battle rages at the moment, ultimately Kenshin's own heart and soul are at stake. A multisided power struggle amongst the factions of the ongoing war, and the skirmishes, ambushes and murders that are the stuff of Kenshin's daily life serve only as the backdrop for his slow personal decay.

When Kenshin draws his sword he is without equal, and when he kills he kills almost beautifully. His grace elicits admiration and his ferocity a tinge of awe; and although none of his early battles are particularly competitive on a physical level, the audience's awareness of Hiko's warnings nonetheless imbue the battles with real tension. We know Kenshin will win the duel, and naturally root for him, but having been forewarned about the danger of becoming a killer, even a killer serving a cause, we worry about Kenshin anyway. The duality of his physical invincibility and spiritual vulnerability makes Kenshin a singularly compelling character.

When Tomoe first meets Kenshin she sees him much as the audience does, a lonely and very young man in a very dangerous position, and yet a man who kills with terrifying ease. He arouses both her fear and her protective instinct in equal measure. They come together when each is in their darkest hour, and just as they embark on a physical journey out to the countryside together, from that point on their development towards emotional reawakening is shared as well. Director Kazuhiro Furuhashi uses this strategy of mirroring Kenshin's internal development with external plot events effectively throughout the series.

Furuhashi also uses visual metaphors to imply characters' emotional movements. An expanding pool of blood consuming a fallen blossom illustrates the tragedy of one of Kenshin's killings; a small scar that reopens occasionally implies that Kenshin's killings are not as easily forgotten as he says; the shimmer of dewy blossoms on the night they meet signify the blooming romance that neither Kenshin nor Tomoe admits aloud. The plot events, visual imagery, and character developments act in such elegant concert that dialogue is almost unnecessary, and indeed the best scenes in "Samurai X" are virtually wordless.