Well Hiro's storyline is a fun romp into Japan's past. I did not see Kensei being a Gaijin. Happy to see another Brit on the show. I think this is a classic story of a the history not always being truthfull.

'Scuse me while I go wiki Gaijin...

It's foreigner. Sorry all that Rurouni Kenshin fanfiction I read is mixing my words up. Funny how that word didn't traslate. Any idea who that actor was?

Yep, Kensai turning out to be an ****** is a fun twist.

I do think it was kinda dumb of Hiro to immediately rush in and change history without thinking about it. He's like, a sci-fi expert - you'd think he would know better!

Well the scene was not unlike the thing the linderman had. Being upset that Kensie wasn't like in the stories and thinking that he changed history was hilarious. Great Scotto is anoyning silly Japanese adding vowels at the end of all non vowel ending words.

Maybe Hiro thought he was 'supposed' to save Kensei? Or it could be from the gut-instinct factor of not wanting to stand by and have someone be killed or injured, when something could have been done about it.

As to Kensei being a gaijin (read: foreigner/white guy/barbarian); I think I read somewhere about a non-Japanese man being stranded hundreds of years ago in Japan . . . I just don't remember much more about it. I could even be wrong about it being factual . . . .

I'm pretty sure that we are going to discover that Hiro is the reason for all those great stories about Kensei. I think he and this British guy together are going to be acting out all of the things Kensei is "supposed" to do. I also have a feeling that Hiro may end upo being his own ancestor. I could be totally off but that's how it seems to me.

This show's time-travel methods are confusing. In the beginning, it described time travel as a circle,and yet, it then goes to string theory. But I agree that Hiro could be the reason for Takezo Kensei's legendary success.

By the way, I just saw 3 Nissan Rogue commercials in a row.

Kensai was a hoot, that character is going to be alot of fun.

I was not expecting to really enjoy Hiro's feudal romp but I gotta say, I'm looking forward to it now.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy David Anders being Kensei, but it adds alot for mystery to the whole fuedal Japan plot.

And on a sidenote, Hiro's reaction to Takezo unmasking was absolutely priceless.

Thats the face of a man calculating a hundred different thoughts at once.

Haha, yea...he had to double take with his glasses!

My theory is, Hero will become Kensei, not help the british guy do it. I got the vibe when Hero echoed all the things that Kensei would do in the given situations, and it would make sense too.

Hiro and the billy goat should ship together,lol

Naw, but seriously, I think that this will be an intresting story arc. I just hope I can get a better understanding of time travel, cause I'm lost,lol

It's good old fashioned time travel.

Do we really need the hard fact schematics of it to enjoy it?

The whole idea of them trying to go into detail about what makes time travel tick...eh, when you get right down to it, theres no solid plausible explanation, whatever theories are out there, no one's ever done it, they can pretty much play with it however they want.

David Anders aka David Anders Holt

Hes actually American not British, he just likes to play british dudes.

He's a pretty good brit I'd say, he managed to get past Yami after all.

His japanese sounds pretty good too but I wouldn't know about that.

Well, my reaction to the Gaijin was just about the same as Hiro's, but I'm all for the idea that Hiro will be his own ancestor. Very cute. XD

unfortunately, i was clicking around on yahoo this summer and saw a picture of david anders (who played a brit on Alias, my all time favorite show) and i was like ooh! whats this? and it ruined the surprise for me *sniffs*

i like him a lot though, he is american but i really thought he was british because of his role on alias. definitely sexy with the accent, although no one can replace michael vartan as my number one celebrity crush

Were do I come of as being an expert on British accents? * looks at Doctor Who paraphernalia* Oh

Well it's nice to see some more characters from the UK. It's a good thing Kensei is a jerk he would have killed Hiro for saying he stole his sword.

I think I misinterpreted your first post up above as meaning you were British yourself, sorry about that, mate.

*starts to dream of a bad fan fiction crossover episode where the Daleks find Peter and raise him to fight the Doctor*

Although there have been suggestions that the Kensei legend posted on the Yamagato Foundation site is based on Miyamoto Musashi, the having the whole decoy thing kind of reminds me of one of a manga (japanese comic/graphic novel) that made some fun of the Yagyu Jubei eyepatch look? Basically everyone thought Jubei looked a certain way and so in "Samurai Legend" there's a scene when a swordsman, that matches that description, gets ambushed. However, he's merely a decoy and the real Jubei jumps out of hiding to attack the distracted ambushers.

Also, for those who play the Soul series of fighting games (Soul Edge/Blade and the Soul Calibur games) the idea of a blonde Brit coming over on a trading vessel and becoming a swordsman sounds a touch like Arthur (the Mitsurugi replacement in regions where samurai couldn't be used in games).

All I know is, that when the big reveal was made, I thought "that was a neat trick". And if the writers fooled all of us so easily, then I can't wait to see what the rest of the season has in store for us. Should be a great ride.

Yeah it'll be something like this.. I read on the spoilers that he falls for that Japanese girl we saw.. Lucky him because she's HOT! But I think he's going to wind up being Takedo Kensei himself and right all the wrongs that the brit did with the name. If Hiro doesn't fix it then you'll see a paradox.. Hiro could be his very own ancestor, but also if Kensei's stories aren't what Hiro remembers of them, he'll never be inspired to be a hero to begin with..

Reminds me of the episode of Futurama where Fry gets his granpa killed, and becomes his own grandfather.

I believe there is a clue under the set of videos at the Yamagato Foundation site. If you note Kensei's facial features, goatee, long hair, it maps to only one person.. Future Hiro. Anyone got screenshots?

I believe also that near the end of the 1st season, Hiro's pop used some kind of ability to teach Hiro how to use the sword. Now, he'll undertake the Kensei role and challenges to temper his skills to form... Future Hiro.

Lastly, for those of you who see the videos, the fate of Kensei will be interesting to say the least!

*sigh*
This is not the place to say anything that starts with "I read on the spoilers..." , if you do choose to ruin our fun, at least use the spoiler tags.

When the spoiler in question is so blatantly telegraphed, is it really a spoiler anymore? I saw that particular "spoiler" comming within moments of the set up.

Because we now know that the events of Five Years Gone will not come to pass, its safe to say that time travel on this show can ultimately mean that alternate dimensions can be created at any moment, though because the present seems like it will always remain constant, circular patterns can appear such as Future Hiro giving Peter the message to "save the cheerleader, save the world" or even with the current storyline it has been stated that Hiro will be able to communicate through time in some fashion suggesting that someone will find Hiro in the history books as if he were always there.

Of course we "could" see it comming, or she "could" go after the gaitin, or some other twist... this show is very good at throwing curve-balls to the obvious. my point is really quite simple... if the sentence starts with "I found in spoiler section" use spoiler tags... Obviously it was not so obvious since the writer of the post felt it was worth sharing.

Great theory. Hiro did say "My sword" at the same time as Kensei, which at the moment seemed like nothing more than a humorous aside - but maybe there's more to it than that. They both think of the sword as their own. They may be interconnected, after all. Very interesting.

My interpretation if this entire past sotryline (or atleast, as it was presented in this episode), is that it isn't as much about Takezo and what he did or didn't do. It's about Hiro and his ideas of being a hero.

He remembers Takezo as a legendary swordsman, one who saved a village. The same village we see burned later in the episode. What would have happened hadn't Hiro intervened as he did? The hired help got slaughtered by the hail of arrows, and Takezo would have had his shot at the leader of the enemy troops, killing him, winning the challenge and saving the town.

The thing is, after 300+ years, who cares about his motives? All that matters is what one achieves. By fighting dirty and NOT playing by the rules, one can become a hero. As soon as Hiro learns that, the character will evolve from being a fanboy to being a person WORTHY of legends.

Only thing is, do we, as fans, want to loose the biggest fan on the show?

Kensei turning out not to be such a good guy was just great. But it begs the ever present question of whether or not Hiro is actually Kensei.

The village burning and the swordsmith being taken are part of the legend though. That is why Hiro and Takezo Kensei will be working together to defeat the warlord not those samurai dudes at the beginning. He will rescue the swordsmith, save the village and probably fall for the swordsmith's daughter. This is all just guessing on my part. The village being put to the torch and the swordsmith being taken seemed to be part of the stories Hiro read.