Watsuki Nobuhiro, illustrator-creator of Rurouni Kenshin (1994-1999), was for 90’s manga unusually open about where he took references from, including Samurai Spirits (1993) which he praised often in author notes. There’s many RK characters inspired by SS counterparts; for example, Watsuki admitted outright to copying Genjuro’s design (left) 1:1 for flashback Shishio (right):
Then as if giving their nod of approval, SNK added Shizumaru— a red-haired ponytailed bishounen samurai— to SS3 (1995) around the time RK was peaking in popularity:
Next came The Last Blade 1 (1997) and 2 (1998), set in the Bakumatsu as RK is— and this time maybe half the characters are unofficial references. Too many to link all here, but many very direct in both design and fighting style. Most relevant to my point is LB2’s Hibiki:
Meanwhile Baiken debuts in 1998’s original Guilty Gear as an unlockable boss character. I can no longer find the first interview to confirm it but GG illustrator-creator Ishiwatari Daisuke has always openly said Baiken was inspired by his seeing Kenshin and mistakenly thinking the character was a girl.
While her design was changed to be more distinct by the sequel (2000) in this first appearance it’s obvious to see, with the darker hair color, androgynous look, and even her tattered kimono references how Kenshin is shown with frayed and stained clothes in flashbacks to his days as an assassin.
By 2003 Rurouni Kenshin had ceased publication for several years and for Samurai Spirits Zero, SNK finally brought Watsuki on to do character designs, including the ‘new main hero’ Yoshitora (left) who is a take on dark-horse RuroKen character “Sword Hunter” Cho:
Samurai Spirits slowly dwindled off in the years afterward, the series’ longest gap between Sen (2008) and the eponymous revival, Samurai Spirits (2019) which will maybe now be remembered as SNK’s last game before Mohammed bin Salman.
Until at last, we arrive at today: Baiken is added as DLC to Samurai Spirits.
This represents the closure of a bizarre circle nearly three decades in the making, because in the same game we have . . .
And . . .
The only place to go from here would be adding Kenshin himself.
Watsuki Nobuhiro is a convicted pedophile: [1], [2]. Though it goes without saying, I abhor his crimes. Nonetheless, as pop culture Rurouni Kenshin is much bigger than one man and I think the art history I’ve described here is worth noting.