Kaoru vs. Tomoe

So what does this fan girl have to say about this debate?

Well both women have their good points, but I'm definitely siding with a majority on this one and saying Kaoru is the best. Though some people keep saying "What if Tomoe never died.. blah blah.." but that fact of the matter is that she did die. No "what ifs”, that's just all there is to it. There's just no way for them to work out. So let's just imagine for a moment if Tomoe hadn't been killed just for kicks. Would her and Kenshin have lived happily ever after? My guess is probably, yes, provided Kenshin wasn't killed somewhere along the line. But that doesn't matter! Because Tomoe IS dead, I can't stress this enough. Her and Kenshin were good together when she was alive, but now she's not, and she's definitely not coming back.

Well now that I'm done ranting about that point, lets move on to Kaoru. I really like her. So don't hate me for pointing this out, but I think that part of the reason why she is so popular is because we meet her first before we ever know that Tomoe existed. In my experiences in life, people will tend to stick with what they originally thought when it comes to trivial things like this. Okay, that made no sense. What I'm trying to say is that since we meet Kaoru first, we've already sort of got this romantic idea of Kenshin and Kaoru together, so by the time that Tomoe shows up in the story we've got KxK so implanted in the brain that the idea of Kenshin EVER loving someone else is somewhat unsettling.

But even with that said, I still prefer Kaoru over Tomoe. She's much more interesting and humorous. Though she is somewhat on the immature side compared to Tomoe, she's still got strong ideals and beliefs. She's not some weak, really frail chick either. She's a strong fighter. Her relationship with Kenshin is unique, since there is somewhat of a role reversal. Kaoru is the one that makes the money, while Kenshin does the housework and whatnot. Kenshin sees something special in Kaoru. I mean, there are times when you see two people together and you think, "So, what do they see in each other?". ( Well at least I've wondered that, generally when a guy I like goes out with someone else and I'm thinking, 'She's such a "-----" what does she have that I don't.' ) The general point that I'm trying to make is that Kaoru might not be as elegant, or refined, or well educated as Tomoe, but she's got that something that makes her appealing to Kenshin and vise versa. I mean, Kaoru was willing to take Kenshin into her dojo and not care about his ‘less than wonderful’ past and just see for who he is in the present. You’ve got to be quite the little lady to do such a thing so that alone just puts Kaoru in a category of her own.

Another thing that's interesting about KxK is that they have a relationship that against all odds, works. There's that little thing of the age difference. Kenshin has 10 years on Kaoru. The idea of two people like that going out in real life would be like me going out with my English teacher, which is a very scary thought. But Kenshin and Kaoru make it work, and they do it without grossing everyone out. It's probably got a lot to do with the time period, and, well it's Kenshin and Kaoru we're talking about. Kenshin looking a lot younger than he actually is plays into the equation as well.

So basically what I've been trying to say is that Kenshin and Tomoe were a good couple but she's dead so now Kaoru reigns supreme. The thing is though, that I do like Tomoe too. So I'm not like some people who like KxK so much that they hate Tomoe. It's not a good idea to get worked up over this whole thing so that you start to hate Tomoe. It's best to just be able to acknowledge the time that she and Kenshin had, and just leave it at that. That way you don't end up hating anybody.