In my opinion this is Hiko Seijuro hands down, There is NOOOO WAYY anybody in kenshin can even touch this man. He is so badass he doesnt ever even waste his time fighting anyone cause they wouldnt even be able to scrath him. He is the master of the greatest and most powerful swordstyle ever Hiten Mitsurgi Ryu.

I truly wonder if anyone has ever hit him in his life when he was trying, i think we all know he let kenshin hit him with amakakeru ryu no hirameki.

I had to vote for Kenshin. @_@ oro!?
I love it when his whole facial expression changes while fighting.
I have like tons of pictures with Kenshin and his sword.
It was when Kenshin fought in that Doujo with Kaoru the first time
that I actually started to like Rurouni Kenshin.
The manga is so much better than the anime,
especially the fights when Kenshin draws his sword.

I thought the highpoint of the series what made me really get into it was when saito came looking for kenshin and they fought at the dojo, that was an awesome scene.

Anytime Kenshin fights as the Hitokiri the show is a hell of a lot more interesing in my opinion.

I would say I like the fight at the doujo a lot,
but my favorite scene is when they meet Sanosuke.
They can't really tell if he's a bad guy or not,
since the kanji for bad stands on his back.
I can't explane why I love it so much,
but maybe I'm just a Sanosuke fangirl... what do i know?

Another master of the sword would be...
Ichigo in Bleach! Ozy must agree on this too!
It's a shame that I couldn't vote for Kurosaki Ichigo!
A human/Shinigami with a badass sword...
what more do you need in this life?

Ive never heard of that anime, and as for Sano hes a pretty cool guy.
Although he thinks hes a bit tougher than he is,
I do love it when Saito whoops his ass those are pretty sweet scenes.You gotta love how he always calls sano Aho. hahaha
Well anything with Saito in it is sweet since Gatotsu is one of the badest moves ive ever scene and he uses it a whole lot, and the Zero Gatotsu is super nice.

Too bad the creative juices really stopped flowing after episode 60 in kenshin, ive never seen any anime take a nosedive worse than kenshin.

They should have come up with some enemy greater than shishio and had like a 50+ episode saga on him. I dont think there was any saga over 6or7 episodes after shishio.

Too bad cause i really thought it was the best cartoon ever until i watched past episode 60.

You've never heard of the Bleach anime, eh?
Of course not! It's only a manga so far!
But I'll bet you'd like it if you read it,
it can be downloaded on Toriyama World.
Toriyama World - The best Scanlation Site ever!

Bleach has the biggest bitch of all time - Rukia!
A cool Shinigami from Soul Society... with a cellphone.
Rukia: "It's near..."
Ichigo: "My butt, it's near!!" *kick*


Do you know what I went through to get these pics?
There isn't a lot of people who knows about Bleach... yet!
Anyway: Mad Ichigo. And a cool Rukia...

Maybe I should change my avatar to a Rukia avatar?

Isn't Bankotsu's weapon a Halberd not a sword?



hal·berd ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hlbrd, hôl-) also hal·bert (-brt)
n.
A weapon of the 15th and 16th centuries having an axlike blade and a steel spike mounted on the end of a long shaft.


It's not a Sword, DUMBASS.


This is a Halberd


His weapon is more of a Duan Pudao

a Halberd is a sword dumbass.....

I voted for Hiko, just because he is badassed. Don't get me wrong, I love Kenshin himself, but Hiko can own him anyday.

Well, I don't think he LET Kenshin hit him with the Amakekeruyadda move... but Hiko knew that if Kenshin was able to pull it off, it would overwhelm Hiko's Kuzu Ryu Sen since Amakekeruyadda was inherently a superior attack.

I guess a true way to compare their strengths would be if they both performed AMakekeruyadda at the same time (ie like Kenshin did with that religious girly guy from Europe)...

ahem....a Halberd is a sword......Secret of Mana weapon listings....

http://members.tripod.com/~Ally_13/Weapons

Whoops you was right nit picker...stupid BAKA translators fuxed it up

None of these!

You should have had on that poll:

Gourry - (from The Slayers)

He is a great swordsman, and was always acclaimed to be a great swordsman in that series.

I would have voted for him =)

Defenetely NOT InuYasha lol. And I dont think you can call Sesshoumaru's skill skill, It's more like sheer power......... and moving fast hehe

~LA~

Guys, there's more than one type of halberd.

I voted for Bankotsu, just because he's human and he can still swing his sword, or halberd, or whatever you prefer to call it, around like it was nothing. He's fast, and he knows how to use that thing. Also, I figured the Kenshin folks would get plenty votes as it is.

While I'm posting, I might as well give an honorary nod to Van and Allen from Escaflowne, since they weren't up there. A "none of the above" option would have been nice...

I’ve never been particularly interested in Japanese arms and fighting techniques, but I can tell you that Bankotsu’s weapon is not a halberd in the European sense. I don’t have any of the current episodes of Inu-yasha on my computer to check this, but I believe that in the series it is referred to as a naginata—albeit in a grossly exaggerated form. The term naginata is often erroneously translated as “halberd”, but a naginata is generally a short spear with a long, curved blade resembling that of a sword.

The Halberd, conversely, was a long pole arm with a pike and axe head mounted at the end. The Halberd was primarily used during the transitional renaissance period of Europe when firearms were being slowly perfected and phased into European armies. Its main purpose on the battlefield was to protect riflemen from the dangers of charging cavalry. Halberds were cumbersome defensive weapons that were best utilized against mounted troops. The naginata was a far more agile weapon that was a favorite among warrior in melee combat and among Japanese noble-women long before firearms reached Japan.

The naginata was also, incidentally, considered to be a “woman’s weapon". This is certainly not something that could be said of the Halberd, which an average-sized woman would have great difficulty wielding effectively. I’m still not sure of the term naginata was is used in the series, but regardless it is quite clear that Bankotsu’s weapon does not have an axe head at the end; thus it cannot be considered to be a halberd.

I personally would argue that Bankotsu’s weapon fits more in the sword category, however, as it’s blade is far longer than it’s handle--unlike a normal naginata or a spear of any sort.

Hehehe... I also wanted Gourry on the poll!
Two were forgotten: Kurosaki Ichigo and Gourry!
I remember I heard a line "Gourry is really stupid",
then I took a test and became: "Gourry, Swordsman of Light!"
I also became Freakazoid once, but hey...

Kurosaki Ichigo is the coolest guy with a sword I've ever seen!
In that black Shinigami outfit he looks like a total bad ass...

i voted for hiko cause he just owns up everyone in the OVAs even tho i like kenshin more than hiko sorry to say hiko is the beastmaster ^^

Its nice to see that saito got some votes considering hes incredibly skilled, i cant believe anybody was dumb enough to vote for IY.

I just wanted to see if anyone was that truly lame to vote for him, not in 113 episodes have i seen IY display an ounce of skill with the great sword that he has.

Everytime he has fought his one armed brother when they both have swords he has gotten whooped, by a 1 armed man no less.
All he has ever done is swing that giant sword around aimlessly and hope for good results.

He has also been getting punked by bankotsu the last few episodes, shit even jakotsu was better than IY with a sword at least he cut IY.

I am deeply saddened by the fact that anyone voted for him.

And as for those other good swordsman that arent on this list sorry but i aint seen those animes or read the mangas so i didnt know of them.

I voted Kenshin because he's just so amazingly quick and wicked-- especially in the OAVs!! I agree tho-- Inu Yasha doesn't have a whole lot of sword skills, though I honestly don't think he needs them (with that huge bad-@$$ sword!)

Inuyasha havn't had that sword in his hands for very long,
that may just be the reason that he's not that good at it.
When did he getn it? Episode 6 or 7? I don't remember...

And here I am going on and on about Kurosaki Ichigo!
He just became a bad ass when touching that Zanpakutou!
Banko, if you ever saw him with that sword you'd like it.

Edited: Woohoo! i found a pic of Ichigo and the Zanpakutou!


*LOL* Kono Patrioil took a test about her name,
then tested Inuyasha... and a little on Miroku...

Patrioil
Magic Number: 22
Job: Sporting Great
Personality: Procastinator (if the apathy doesn't kill me)
Temperament: Angry - at everything
Sexual: Just say no
Likely to win: The lottery
Me - in a word: Devious
Colour: Orange

Inuyasha
Magic Number: 20
Job: Sporting Great
Personality: Vicarious
Temperament: All bark, no bite
Sexual: Whatever, whenever, whoever
Likely to win: The respect of my colleagues
Me - in a word: Effervescent

Miroku had something like "Computor nerd". *lol*
The Inuyasha "all bark, no bite" is so right!

I know people like to vote for their favorites, but I'm still shocked that people voted for Saito over Shishio. Saito is a great swordsman and awesome character (my 2nd fave in the Kenshin series), but he's obviously not at the level that Shishio was. Even though Saito was injured, in the battle of Shishio vs Saito, Shishio was able to catch Saito's slashes WITH HIS HAND. If Shishio had been fighting for real, Saito would have lost really really badly instead of just really badly...

I'll go ahead and vote for Shishio, because he seemed to have the best defensive skills of any char in the series. He could block ANYTHING (after seeing it done once, of course)... and if he had known beforehand about the 2nd part of the Amakekeru No Hirameki, he might have been able to avoid even that vacuum somehow, who knows. And it was too bad he never got to pull off his ultimate attack, it would have been interesting to see.

I dont see how you can say stuff like Houshi.

First off Shishio wouldnt even be able to touch Hiko Seijuro.
His Kuzu Ryu Sen would cut him into almost nothing.

Second all Shishos moves are just cheap, he uses fire, and gunpowder.
He already knew most of Kenshins moves going into the fight, and Kenshin just fought his way threw total badass Aoshi Shinomori and Super fast Soujiro, and kenshin still beat him. So i dont see how hes better than these guys.

Saito was also injured and he would have killed Shishio if he wasnt wearing that cheap ass metal helmet. Gatotsu Zero seems a helluva lot more skilled to me than anything Shishio did.

If you ask me Soujiro had better moves than Shishio.

Okay everyone! Konnichiwa!! ^^ I'm here to defend my bish- errr.... choice ^^;;

Sesshoumaru. Fluffy, Sess-chan, whatever you call him. I don't care how fast he is - Kenshin beat Soujiro, he could beat Sesshoumaru. Those claws have nothing on Kenshin's sword.

Inuyasha. As much as I love the hotheaded hanyou... he wouldn't have a chance against Kenshin. Think Kenshin vs. Sanosuke fight. Yup.

~puts on her little 'smart glasses' and points to a complicated phrase on a chalkboard~ Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Taught to Himura Kenshin by Seijuro Hiko. aka... KENSHIN WHOOPED HIS ASS. ^^ As for Hiko letting himself be hit... no. If you've read the manga (yes yes, I know it's Japanese), you will have noticed the look of shock on Hiko's face upon being hit. It wasn't a "Holy hell that hurt!" kind of shock... it was a "Holy Hell I can't believe the little idiot actually hit me" kind of shock. 'Nuff said.

Trunks has a sword? News to me. He'd get whooped.

Saito. Alright then, they fought and tied. Both of them got the royal hell beat out of them. BUT - I recall Saito saying that Kenshin's skill had declined over the years, whereas Saito hadn't lost his touch at all. So now that Kenshin has the Amakakeru(etc etc etc...) thingy, what does that say? COME AND GET IT, SAITO!!

Aoshi. We already saw him get owned. Why is he even on here?

Bankotsu. He's got Shikon Shards, but he still pales in comparison to Kenshin. Again, I'm thinking Kenshin vs. Sanosuke - the big swords just can't compare to the sakabatou. Size isn't everything ^^

Kenshin owned Shishio. Next.

Soujiro. See above.

Alright, this concludes my argument! Kenshin's got the greatest swordmanship skills in all of anime, there's no denying it. Hiko was better than Kenshin AT ONE TIME, yes. But that was when Kenshin's training was incomplete. Now that Kenshin's training has been fulfilled, not even his former master can compare ^_~ He cooks, he cleans, he does laundry, he takes care of the kids, and he STILL kicks ass ^^

*Nuriko no Miko, lover of all things Kenshin*

One more thing...

*I totally agree, Bankotsu sama. Shishio was a cheap bastard ^^ (I'm a sweet innocent little girl, I swear)
*And for a display of Kenshin's skills and an incredibly cool (and also very creepy) music video, check this one out on AnimeMusicVideos.org:
*"The Rhythm of the Heat" It's creepy when you watch it in the dark... and very high quality. No subtitles either ^_~

I voted for Saito. He is a badass character, I love his sword-style. His Zero Stance is awsome . Inuyasha, hmm all he does his wave his big sword and thats it . Kenshin is cool too but his "i swear not to kill anyone" kinda makes me mad sometimes through out the series. Aoshi, hmmm Saito would kick his rear . Soujiio, I like his god-like speed he is so coolllllll, more pratice and he can become good as kenshin or saito. Anyways I like Saito because I think his techinques are much cooler then kenshins and he has that tough guy act, u never see him cry or get emotional NOW THATS A MAN!!!

First off, I just wanna make it clear that I stated that Shishio is the better swordsman than Saito. I didn't say that Shishio was the best one in the Kenshin series (although it could certainly be argued)...



As for Shishio vs Hiko Sejiro. I disagree, Shishio would certainly be able to touch Hiko Sejiro. Remember, Shishio has incredible stamina and parrying ability; he absorbed or blocked every attack from Kenshin, and he came back with even more determination. The only reason why he lost to Kenshin was because his body couldn't handle all the exertions, and in the end, he spontaneously combusted. If his body did not have that handicap, he and Kenshin may still be fighting to this very day...

And if he could absorb Kenshin's ultimate attack, which Aoshi said was much stronger than the one he got hit by, he would probably absorb an inferior attack like a Kuzu Ryu Sen, even if it's a bladed sword from Hiko Sejiro.



And yeah, Shishio's moves are aided by fire and gunpowder. But honestly, that's just flash, especially for the first attack (Homuradama?). Kenshin himself said that the fire didn't hurt, it was mostly the blade. As for the 2nd attack? The writer has Shishio use gunpowder because if Shishio actually used his blade to slice his opponents into pieces instead of knocking them unconscious with forceful explosions, there's no way Kenshin or Saitoh would have gotten back up to make the miraculous comeback. Shishio is kinda stuck with crappy non-lethal offensive attacks because the hero has to win in the end, after all. So Shishio's strength is written so that it revolves around his defense, not his offense.

Also, just because Kenshin beat Aoshi and Soujiro, I don't see why that means Aoshi and Soujiro are better than Shishio. I seriously doubt Aoshi, as cool as he is, would be able to beat Shishio. None of his attacks are fast enough to go through Kenshin's defenses, let alone Shishio's. Soujiro has incredible talent, but he still relies mostly on speed, and Shishio can parry pretty much any attack...


Saito is a better swordsman than Shishio because he almost hit Shishio with the swordsman's equivalent of a sucker punch??? Give me a break, that would never have happened in a straight-up fight. I think Saitoh is hella badass, but he has his limitations. There's no way any of the Gatotsu forms could have touched Shishio. In a straight up battle, Shishio would have landed a decisive hit long before Saito could land a Gatotsu on Shishio.



And Sojiro may have had better offensive moves than Shishio, but I think Shishio's overall offense, defense, and stamina is better than Sojiro's, hence I think Shishio is stronger.

For the record, I think Kenshin is the strongest in the Kenshin series. Then either Hiko Sejiro or Shishio come in 2nd and 3rd (probably Hiko Sejiro is 2nd). Then Sojiro. Then Aoshi. Then Saitoh. Then everyone else.

Also, keep in mind that although Shishio's opponents were already injured, Shishio pretty much goofed off against inferior opponents like Saitoh, Aoshi, and Aoshi. He had to get serious against KEnshin, though, because Kenshin is, well, the best.

Well personally I think its unfair to have to vote between human swordusers and demon swordusers. I don't think any human could be quicker than a demon. Sesshoumaru is wicked fast, I don't see how any human could challenge him in straight sword fight. However Kenshin is my number one human sword fighter. While Sesshoumaru would be my number one demon swordsman.

I chose Sesshomaru over Kenshin because of his willingness to kill. If Kenshin wasn't a wanderer then he would be the best swordsman. But because Sesshomaru is a demon and has many apparent sword skills he is quick and difficult to kill. Plus has a sword that prevents him from dying.

I agree with Superrob about the demons and humans.

Let me state this real fast,

Anyone that thinks that Hiko Seijuro would lose to anybody in the kenshin series is absoulutely insane.

He doesnt involve himseld in the battles because they are not worth his time.
Kenshin is the only person on the show that may be able to mark hiko if he tried and i doubt it.

Its too dam bad Ozymen isnt posting much right now cause he would have my back on this one.

Hiko is on another level than anyone in the series. Just like when that jesus guy that used hiten mitsurgi showed up, Hiko said that he was gonna go himself but he figured his stupid apprentice could try and prove himself usefull.

Even in his 60's the man looks like hes 20 years old for gods sake.
As far as IY characters Sesshoumaru may be able to beat him cause of his demon speed and power maybe. IY is dumb and would get owned.
Trunks doesnt count cause Super Saiyans are totally unfair toooooo strong.

Nobody on Rurouni Kenshin can funk with Hiko he would crank them all period....

And Nuriko he did let kenshin hit him, Gurantee Hiko could dogde Kenshins amakakeru and even if he couldnt his would be stronger cause hes about 5 times the size of puny kenshin. His Kuzu Ryu Sen was far superior to kenshins so would be his amakakeru. END OF STORY

Ok lets be as realistic as possible with this topic. DBZ should not even be allowed in any polls because they are just plain rediculas. Its so much power it makes no sense. NO contest Trunks would kill them all and lets try and ban DBZ from pollings.

This poll is based on sword skills not SS crap. If you considered trunks going SS then fighting with the sword, no one would have a chance, DBZ is full of beings that can kick any one's ass. Anyone check out that wizard a while ago where they had anime versus american comic book characters. Where Goku kicked Superman's ass into the moon. That was great.

Hell, Trunks doesn't even have to turn SS. If I recall correctly, normal Saiyans are still insanely overpowered in their own right...

The Kenshin guys seem to make everyone else pale in comparison, probably because the Kenshin fight sequences were awesome.

yeah sess takes it in this list... but what about cloud or sephiroth? i mean sephiroth is great! he used his sword to kill aeris... the most annoying person on the face of the earth!

Ture DBZ should be picked off this poll. Most DBZ characters can blow up the world @_@.

this has nothing to do with how strong trunks is. it has only to do with there ability to use a sword,

If Goku was on this list and anyone voted for him they would be retarded cause hes never even used one.

So stop worrying about the strength.

yeah dbz characters dont even need swords... there hideously overpowerd to begin with

I think bankotsu sucks as much as inuyasha as i say again all he does his swing that thing u call a sword

well there is some things that have to be taken into consideration... kenshin has to be the best sword handler simply because his sword doesnt have any powers on its own... most of these swords have like special attacks and junk... sesshomaru wins if we take those into consideration... tough question...

sesshomaru is not a good sword handler all he does is shoot stuff out of his sword i dont think he can pull off moves like Saito or kenshin.

guys guys guys Hiko is the same as kenshin except stronger faster and more precise with all his moves so kenshin cant be better than him.

Hiten Mitsurgi has more moves than all these other guys on the list combined so you cant say sesshoumaru has more moves.

And as for bankotsu hes pretty dam good a twirling around that heavy ass halberd between his 3 fingers thats fancier than anything ive ever seen IY do.

yeah IY just kinda whacks stuff with tessaiga.... sword handling isnt a precise art to him

didn't kenshin defeat hiko and inherit the final attack? wouldn't that put him above hiko?

No orangekid, first of all Hiko let Kenshin hit him with the attack so he would be able to use it against Shishio. He could dodge it if he wanted to but the object is to see if kenshin can cut threw his kuzu ryu sen.

And Hiko can also use amakakeru ryu no hirameki and his is more refined he is faster and hes a helluva lot stronger. He can block 50 foot tall giants huge swords, something that kenshin would have no chance of doing.
Hiko is also considerably more educated in Hiten Mitsurgi and becoming a true master of it. As anyone can see while he slaps kenshin around in episodes 41-43.

The reason he never fights anyone is because nobody is up to his strength level. If kenshin had ever failed in any of his battles against shishio or that jesus guy hiko would have ended them afterwards.