SHISHIO MAKOTO
SM
The man who replaced Kenshin as the government's assassin when the Battosai became a liability. When Shishio in turn became a liability, the government burned him alive and left him in a ditch. He did not die. He came back wrapped in bandages soaked in his own blood and fat, carrying a blade whose edge is saturated with the flesh of his victims and ignites on contact, commanding a private army, and operating on a philosophy about the strong consuming the weak that the government's own actions proved correct. Shishio is one of the great anime villains because his grievance is legitimate. The Meiji government did exactly what he says they did. His response to that truth is monstrous. The truth itself is not wrong. The show does not flinch from that distinction and it is what elevates him above most antagonists the genre produces.
SHISHIO THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
KENSHIN COMBAT LEDGER //
Open page →Kyoto Mount Hiei Compound · Decisive Kenshin Victory (Shishio Thermal Combustion)
An epic showdown against the former Bakumatsu assassin Makoto Shishio. Having survived being burned alive, Shishio's internal body temperature was dangerously unstable, capping his total combat limit to 15 minutes.
The Breakdown
After absorbing strikes from Saitō, Sanosuke, and Aoshi, Shishio faced Kenshin's ultimate Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki. Kenshin's reverse-blade strike shattered Shishio's sword blade, and Shishio's body overheated past its thermal threshold, catching fire from his own blood and oils.
