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, known as Hajime Saito in the English-language anime dubs, is a fictional character from the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' manga and anime series created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Being a fan of the Shinsengumi, Watsuki created Saitō as an anti-heroic foil to Himura Kenshin, the main character of the story, while basing him on the real life Shinsengumi member of the same name. Set during a fictional version of Japan in the Meiji period, Saitō, known as the , is the former third squad captain of the Shinsengumi, a pro-shogunate force. During the Bakumatsu, he had a long time rivalry with Himura Kenshin, an assassin of the Imperialist cause. In the series, he is initially introduced as an antagonist who encounters and once again duels with Kenshin. It is later revealed that Saitō, who had only been testing Kenshin's strength, is now a spy agent working for the Meiji Government. After the reveal, Saitō becomes one of the main protagonists of the series, forming an uneasy alliance with Kenshin. Saitō appears in the featured movies of the series, as well as the original video animation (OVA) series and other media relating to the franchise, including a wide range of electronic games. He has also been one of the most popular characters of the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' series, ranking near the top of the series' popularity polls. His character is featured in various types of merchandising developed for the series, such as figurines and key-chains. Several anime and manga publications have commented on Saitō's character. == Creation and conception == Nobuhiro Watsuki based Saitō Hajime on the actual historic figure of the same name who was the captain of the third squad of the Shinsengumi in the Meiji era. Watsuki altered the character to a higher degree than the other historic figures who appear in ''Rurouni Kenshin'' since the character Saitō has a greater role in the story than the other characters. In the development of ''Rurouni Kenshin'' Watsuki planned for Saitō to be a "dirty" hero who maintains his "Swift Death to Evil" policy and does not become friendly with Kenshin's group, being rather aloof to them. Hajime has no specific model for his design. Since Watsuki intended for the character Saitō to be a villain, he made the character's face "villain-ish."〔 Watsuki considers Saitō as the "curse" of the villains in the series since he defeats the enemies who consider themselves the strongest. Watsuki came up with the idea of the ''Gatotsu'' sword technique that Saitō uses in the series from the fact that the historical figure's favorite move was the "left single-handed thrust,"〔 or ''hirazuki'', a technique mainly for slashing downward, stabbing, and thrusts. Watsuki gave Saitō's left-handed technique the name "Gatotsu" to fit with the action comic theme.〔 In July 2006, the Japanese publishers of ''Rurouni Kenshin'' released the ''kanzenban'' edition. In the sixth ''kanzenban'' volume, Watsuki included a draft page featuring a redesigned appearance of Saitō's character. In the anime adaptation of ''Rurouni Kenshin'', Watsuki's designs of Saitō were combined with the talents of voice actor Hirotaka Suzuoki, who also voiced Saitō in the original video animations and ''Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture''. However, due to Suzuoki's death in 2006, he was replaced by Ken Narita as the new voice actor for Saitō in the two-part ''Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc'' movies. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saitō Hajime (Rurouni Kenshin)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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