In an introduction to Kaoru, a comparison of the anime and manga are in order. RK is one of the anime series that's worst about varying from the original manga story (at least, it's one of the worst *I've* watched...) As far as I'm concerned, this is both good (the cooking thing -- see below for details) and bad (the "sumo episode," lack of the Revenge Arc.) So here you'll find a brief character history, enough to bring you up to date with the first episode of the anime or chapter of the manga, and my personal opinions on these differences.

Kaoru's past is essentially the same in both anime and manga. In both, she seems to have been raised primarily by her father, which would go far towards explaining her tomboyishness. He probably encouraged it, wanting an heir to his budo, and certainly didn't discourage her from learning it. He seems to have died when she was fifteen, and here things diverge. In the anime, she lives alone, but is watched over by Genzai-sensei, her neighbor. In the manga, she took in a seeming beggar, Kihei, as her servant. A brief outline of the first episodes of both gives some idea of the differences. In both introductory episodes, Kaoru takes Kenshin for the Hitokiri Battousai. He is, of course, but he's not the fake one that she wants. She attacks him, he evades the attack but crashes into something (a fence? I really couldn't tell). She interrogates him, checks out the sakabatou, and then takes off after the sounds of a fight. Once there, she jumps in the middle, gets injured, and is then rescued by Kenshin. In the anime he holds her until she passes out (blood loss? Fainting seems so very out of character for her) while in the anime he collapses, claiming to have dislocated his pelvis, they bicker, and he holds her back by the ponytail when she tries to chase Gohei. In both versions he takes her home, gets her patched up, and eventually leaves; she figures out who the killer is; and the killer turns up on her doorstep, threatens her, and Kenshin comes to save the day. Again, though, there are differences. In the anime, once Kenshin brings her home he sticks around to help out until he walks in on her bath and she locks him in the shed. However, he does suggest the killer's identity to her, though she at first rejects the idea. In the manga, he leaves once he sees she's taken care of, and she works out who might be the killer on her own. In the anime, the threat is Gohei, working alone, seeking revenge on the dojo for a humiliation and injury her father inflicted on him. In the manga, it's Kihei, wanting the land the dojo is built on. Gohei, the dumb younger brother, is just a pawn. I recall thinking, before I ever checked out the manga, that the first episode seemed odd -- from what I've seen, it's the only time in the entire series that rape is even suggested. (I don't count the "Ohh... Kenshin... stop..." fantasy sequence from the filler episode.) And that's why. In the manga, the same pose was used... to allow Kihei to put Kaoru's thumbprint on a document.

What does this mean with regard to her as a character? Well, in the manga, she's both sharper (she partially figures out the situation on her own) and more naive (she's just been betrayed by someone she took in and trusted... so she decides to take in and trust another stranger.) In the anime, she does faint (Booo! booo! I hate fainting.) but I also think she's a bit more carefully characterized. One of the anime-only scenes occurs when she's just realized "Hey, the rurouni was right about this serial killer. He was one of Dad's students. I'd better go apologize for snapping at him about that." So she does. Silence. "I said I'm sorry!" she snaps again -- how dare he ignore her apology? Still no answer, so she opens the door. She's damn well going to MAKE him accept the apology. But the shed's empty. (And spotless. ^_^x Kenshin cleaned before escaping.) Regretfully, she tells herself she should have asked his name. I love this scene. It just seems very real, and very fitting.

Of course, not all the anime/manga differences are in the first installment. Later, the anime just takes off in an entirely different direction, with a SERIOUS drop in quality according to some fans. (I still haven't seen past the first few episodes of the "Japanese Christians" storyline, so I can't exactly comment.) But there are marked differences in the treatment of Kaoru. Take, for instance, Yahiko's introduction. In the anime, Kaoru goes to rescue him from his gangster owners. She fights several of them, and kicks butt until one of them produces a metallic sword. At which point Kenshin comes to rescue her. In the manga there's no need for that... because he's the only one that goes to fight. Or try the Megumi/Kanryuu/Oniwabanshu storyline. In the manga, Kenshin and Sano announce "Okay, Kaoru, we're heading out to rescue Megumi. We're taking your eleven-year-old student, who isn't really terribly good yet. You stay home and get breakfast and baths ready, okay? After all, despite the fact that you've been training all your life, you couldn't be more help than an untrained kid." Okay, I'm paraphrasing, but that just annoyed me to no end. In the anime, Kaoru does go along, although she and Yahiko stay back fighting flunkies while the big strong men go fight the freaks of the week. The manga does show Kaoru practicing and teaching quite a bit more, but her budo seems to be a matter of theory, not useful in brawls. Or at least, SHE seldom if ever takes part in the brawls; Yahiko gets to show off more than she does. In the anime, her practicing and teaching are glossed over. However, she can fight, and is shown to be able to hold her own against your average thug. Against swordsmen, however, she's almost helpless; bamboo and wood don't stand up well to metal.

There's one other difference between the anime and manga that I find significant. She can't cook, in either version. No problems there. But in the anime, Kenshin doesn't mind. (Well, he doesn't LIKE it, but he makes the best of it.) In the manga, he periodically makes polite little jabs at her cooking. ("Once Kaoru-dono made some and they tasted like mud pies.") I much prefer the anime approach; it's so different from the norm. The unimportance of Kaoru's cooking skills or lack thereof was actually one of the reasons I started worshipping the series. FINALLY it didn't matter, and better yet, it reversed the gender roles. Either way, though, it makes sense that she can't cook. She's probably never done much cooking for herself; she's too impatient to just sit, watching something simmer until it's perfect, so she doesn't worry about it too much.