Personality: Shishio is the leader the Juppon Gatana. He is extremely evil and also insane, which even Shishio himself admits. Shishio hates all weaknesses and lives by the motto, ‘The strong will live, the weak will die’. His philosophy is therefore similar to Darwinism only much more extreme, in that he is actively trying to eliminate all that he considers weak. Shishio is very confident in his abilities and believes that he is the strongest fighter that has ever lived. He is hellbent on taking over Japan so that he can reform the government system so that only the strongest will survive and the weak will become his ‘prey’. Shishio is malicious in that he is basically using all of his followers to simply make himself stronger and to weaken his enemies. In fact the only person that Shishio cares about other than himself is his devoted lover, Yumi Komagata. The two share a romantic relationship that only they understand. Fighting and winning is everything to Shishio so he is more than willing to take on Kenshin, whom he knows is the only obstacle in the way of his plans. Shishio, like quite a few people in the RK story hates the Meiji Government since he believes it supports the weak too much and also because of what happened to him after the Restoration was over.
Techniques: Shishio’s sword, like Kenshin’s, is a work by master swordsmith Arai Shakku: a blade called Mugenjin (lit. “Unlimited Blade”); its self-sharpening serrated edge flaked away in a regular pattern as it was used and it had become soaked in the flesh and body fat of the victims he had killed over the years. As a result he is able to execute fire-oriented techniques using the oils as fuel. Shishio’s monstrous strength, stamina, resistance to injury, and ability to read his opponent place him in at least the same league as Kenshin. (Shishio demonstrates the ability to stop Kenshin’s Ryushosen using his fingers, dodge and counter Saito’s Gatotsu Zeroshiki, see through Aoshi’s Jisen-Kenbu technique, and take Sanosuke’s Futae no Kiwami without injuries.) In addition, he has the unique ability of being able to neutralize any technique he has seen before. (This explains how he was able to stop Kenshin’s Ryushosen in their battle; he saw the technique when Kenshin used it against Senkaku in the Shingetsu village.) Shishio uses Mugenjin to execute techniques referred to by Hōji as “The Three Secret Swords”: