The story is set in 19th century Japan at the start of the Meiji era, a time of modernization and reform in Japan, where the samurai and the way of the sword has started to become obsolete. Although Kenshin's story is fictional, it is modeled after similar individuals and brings a lot of other elements from that point in time that help to set up the story. In my opinion, this anime has one of the best story arcs, the Kyoto Arc, of all the shounen anime I have seen. And its probably the single reason why I continue to rewatch this show. Most of the 94 episodes of the anime are fillers that contribute very little to the story development. Not this arc. It gives out so much in terms of character development and "the feels." We learn more about Kenshin's past, his motivations, and just when we (or at least I) thought he was a nearly perfect being, we get to see him grow throughout this arc. We get to view the most epic fight scenes, as well as the buildup to them, in the anime in this arc. We get to see twisted villains act their worst, but who we can't help but sympathize with. Too bad the rest of the anime doesn't come up to speed.
You can try watching the entire thing, but after watching this three times, I think that the best way to watch it is to watch Episodes 1 - 11 (to get the character intros and to go through the Jinei/Oniwaban arc, 25-27 (there's some good relationship development between Kenshin and Kaoru here), and lastly 28-62 (Kyoto Arc). Everything after those episodes is basically filler. You should watch the darker 4 episodes in Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal OVA to get more out of Kenshin's story. I've seen the Reflections OVA, but since its not manga cannon and I'm not too big of a fan of how it decides to end Kenshin's story, I won't recommend it, but you could watch at your own risk.
For an anime that came out in 1996, the animation is decent (although compared to today's standards, is a bit dull). The character designs are pleasant to look at, at least, and the fighting scenes, although are a little choppy, are quite enjoyable. I'm not much of a fan of the music for the opening and ending scenes, I think they're a little too peppy, except for the "Heart of Sword" track which nostalgically gets me pumped to continue on to the next episode. The background music track, "Departure," that is played throughout the Kyoto Arc is probably the most memorable tune throughout the series and so has a special place in my heart.
The characters, especially the main ones, are delved into in the series. And although some are annoyingly yappy, you learn to love. Since the story takes place in a post-war scenario, many of the characters -- the protagonists, antagonists, and anti-protagonists, have some hidden scars that a revealed through the story and through their personalities and actions. This show is definitely character-driven.
Overall, although this series has its flaws, it is still a classic and is enjoyable to watch. There are not that many samurai anime out there, so you should definitely watch this if you're in the mood for some sword fighting, a little history, and a little chivalry and romance.
