created, including figurines, key chains, plushies, and replicas of his sakabatō sword. Creation and conception Manga author Nobuhiro Watsuki discovered and used the story of Kawakami Gensai, a executed by the Meiji Government. Watsuki enjoys drawing Kenshin due to how he tends to sacrifice himself for others. While writing the series, once he thought Kenshin should think more about his future since he is more connected to his past. He also stated he would like to be as Kenshin but he does not believe their lives' style match. Kenshin's morals in regards to having the strength to protect others were influenced by Miyamoto Musashi's questions about the meaning of strength. During the development of the series' pilot chapter, Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, Watsuki and his editor argued over Kenshin's speech patterns, settling for a "slangy" one. For the final version of the first Romantic Story, Watsuki adjusted the dialogue; in his view, he made Kenshin sound "more as I prefer him now". Nevertheless, Kenshin was concerned about how Kenshin's manner abruptly changed when facing his opponent. Watsuki added Kenshin's trademark as a placeholder to be an expression of the English speech disfluency "huh". Watsuki notes that he was surprised at how well it caught on, and how much he ended up having Kenshin use the sound during the series. Watsuki also planned to make Kenshin more 30 years old; his editor commented that it was strange that the main character of a manga for teenagers to be of such an age, so he instead made him 28 years old. Watsuki based most of Kenshin's abilities on a real swordsman of the Tokugawa period named , who was skilled in acrobatic techniques. However, one of Kenshin's moves where he stops an enemy's flamethrower by rotating his sword received multiple complaints with Watsuki admitting the move as somewhat out of place and "not really organic" to his world. By early publication of Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki was unsure whether or not Kenshin and Kamiya Kaoru would become lovers in future chapters. Sagara Sanosuke was created to be Kenshin's best friend who would punch him order to make him retain his composure. However, Watsuki did not think the idea worked as much as possibly. For the final fight between Kenshin and Shishio, Watsuki admitted he expressed more joy in drawing Shishio than Kenshin. During this arc and mostly the final fight between Kenshin