modeled Takeda Kanryū after Takeda Kanryūsai, the Shinsengumi's Fifth Unit captain. He said that there was no actual model in terms of design. He described Takeda Kanryū as a "carryover" of Nishiwaki, a character in the first Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story one-shot. Kanryū wears white since Watsuki felt that "between Kenshin and Aoshi, there was too much black already." Watsuki felt that since he emphasized Megumi and the Oniwabanshū, Kanryū never became the character he intended, which "was a bit of a letdown." The historical Takeda Kanryūsai is well known for being homosexual. Watsuki considered making Kanryū homosexual, but dropped the idea as he felt it would "unnecessarily complicate things." He is portrayed by Teruyuki Kagawa in the first live-action film. For Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, Watsuki did not plan on making any drastic changes to Kanryū but was inspired to after seeing Kagawa's "fanatical" performance in the film. Isurugi Raijūta is a swordsman dissatisfied with the current state of swordsmanship who travels around Japan shutting down modern shinai dojos by force. He plans to revive the old style of swordsmanship (satsujin-ken, "swords that bring death") with the , a league composed only of the strongest swordsman in order to create a pure kenjutsu stronger than any martial art or European firepower. He is accompanied by his "apprentice" Tsukayama Yutarō, whose rich family funds his campaign. His signature technique is the vacuum-wave Izuna. Kenshin realizes that despite all his talk of the killing sword, Raijūta has never actually killed anyone himself and is a fraud. Kenshin defeats him, but Raijūta picks up Yahiko and threatens to kill him. When Raijūta is confronted with the choice of actually killing someone, Kenshin explains what satsujin-ken truly entails; the weight of the lives you have taken "dragging you to hell." Raijūta's confidence breaks down and he can no longer wield a sword again. In the anime, Raijūta was depicted as an actual murderer, as he ruthlessly killed the thugs he hired for conning his way into Yutarō's fortune, and after his defeat, he was simply arrested. Watsuki intended for Raijūta to be the opposite of Kenshin, "intelligently macho and a believer of satsujin-ken." But somehow, he became "a total fake" who became "a smaller and smaller man" as the story progressed, until he was "defeated by a single blow—ending almost as a villain." The author concluded that designing and developing Raijūta taught him