Shinomori Aoshi

Shinomori Aoshi
Rurouni Kenshin character
Shinomori Aoshi on the cover of Rurouni Kenshin kanzenban volume 8
First appearance	Rurouni Kenshin Act 16: Megumi, Kanryū, and...
Created by	Nobuhiro Watsuki
Voiced by	Japanese Yoshito Yasuhara (anime) English Terrence Stone (anime) John Gremillion (New Kyoto Arc films) Alex Organ (Live-action films)
Portrayed by	Yusuke Iseya
Profile
Title	Okashira (御頭)
Affiliations	Oniwabanshū

Shinomori Aoshi (四乃森 蒼紫^?), known in Western order as Aoshi Shinomori in the English version of the anime, is a fictional character in the Rurouni Kenshin manga series created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. He is the genius young Okashira (御頭, literally "the head", as in "leader" or "boss") of the Oniwabanshū for Edo Castle. After the Meiji Restoration Shinomori alone was offered rankings in the military, however, instead of abandoning his comrades, he decided to work with them for Takeda Kanryū. This decision leads to the death of his comrades and his defeat by Himura Kenshin, which results in driving him mad. For the remainder of the series, Shinomori swears to kill Kenshin at any cost in order to gain the title of "the strongest" and bestow this title upon the graves of his fallen comrades.

Nobuhiro Watsuki based Shinomori on Hijikata Toshizō, the deputy Leader of the Shinsengumi. There are most certainly versions of Hijikata portrayed in books and fiction; Aoshi grew out of the Hijikata who killed his gentler feelings and buried his human weakness. Watsuki describes himself as a fan of the other version of Hijikata. Watsuki describes that version of Hijikata, seen in Moeyo Ken (Burn, O Sword), as "a bundle of raw combat-instinct who keeps fighting until the very death." Since, according to Watsuki, the addition of the Oniwabanshū occurred during the "last minute," he found difficulty writing with him since he had not resolved a "concrete image" for Aoshi. Watsuki says that he used no specific design model for Aoshi. As the image of Hijikata grew stronger within Watsuki, the Rurouni Kenshin author added fringes (bangs) to Aoshi's design. Watsuki held a chance to change the hairstyle while compiling the edited manga, but chose not to edit the hairstyle, since he did not want readers to believe that "Aoshi was wearing a rug or anything."