The adventures of the rurouni swordsman continued, but really this volume is the story of his friends more so than him. The issue at the end of the previous volume, that of Kenshin trying to convince his swordmaster to teach him the rest of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, including the secret final techniques, has been resolved quickly. Kenshin's friends, having arrived, convince Hiko Seijūrō, Kenshin's swordsmaster, to train him.
While the two go out to train, the other characters have some more development. Well, two of them do while the others just hang in the background and wait their turn presumably to do something important. The point is that this volume is not about Kenshin but his allies and even enemies. Basically it is to allow them to have some plot details and characterization to prepare for the actual fights in the culmination of this arc.
I have to say that I was surprised that a volume with so little of the wandering swordsmand, and so much of other characters could be engaging, but it was. So compelling and even likable (or easy to hate) were the characters that I found myself pulled along with the story.
I am so excited too, though. I know this will be a promising ending to this arc. The bad guys have a plan and all of the former capital of Kyoto, and the country as a whole, will suffer and many will die if they don't succeed.
This arc proves what a masterful storyteller the mangaka, Nobuhiro Watsuki, truly is. The art is also very vivid and helps to depict the characters quite well. Even the fight scenes, which never are that clear to me, have gotten better. Certainly highly recommended.