Rurouni Kenshin

Himura Kenshin is a vagabond with a dark past and sunny disposition. Not a ronin but a rurouni, he was never a samurai, but an assassin of utmost skill in the Meiji restoration, who in the turning point of the war simply walked away. His travels lead him to Tokyo in the 11th year of the Meiji era, where he befriends a female Kendo master, a former thief, a brawler and a doctor all with their own secrets. Together they fight off the enemies surfacing from the dark past that Kenshin cannot escape. (Source: Anime News Network)

Excel Saga

Excel Saga is a one-of-a kind work of art that can only be described as the ultimate parody of anime. From the opening credits - a rather odd spoof of Japanese pop videos - to the ending song featuring Menchi the dog singing/barking a plaintive ballad while a human interpreter translates for viewers, nothing is sacred in the world of Excel Saga. (Source: ADV Films)

Samurai Deeper Kyo

In the year 1600, during the battle of Sekigahara, warriors Kyoshiro Mibu and "Demon Eyes" Kyo - the legendary slayer of a thousand men - engaged in fierce combat. Both men disappeared when a meteor crashed in the battlegrounds. Four years later, Kyoshiro is spotted on a rural highway, acting as a traveling medicine salesman. He is captured by the female bounty hunter Yuya Shiina when she discovers that deep inside him is the dormant personality of "Demon Eyes" Kyo himself. (Source: Anime News Network)

Gintama

Life isn't easy in feudal Japan... especially since the aliens landed and conquered everything! Oh sure, the new health care is great, but the public ban on the use of swords has left a lot of defeated samurai with a difficult decision to make concerning their future career paths! This is especially true if, as in the case of Gintoki Sakata, they're not particularly inclined towards holding a day job, which is why Gintoki's opted for the freelance route, taking any job that's offered to him as long as the financial remuneration sounds right. Unfortunately, in a brave new world filled with stray bug-eyed monsters, upwardly mobile Yakuza and overly ambitious E.T. entrepreneurs, those jobs usually don't pay as well as they should for the pain, suffering and indignities endured! (Source: Sentai Filmworks)