Before we got the awesomeness that was Samurai Champloo, we were graced with another show based around samurai in the form of Rurouni Kenshin. Set during the Meji Era, the show traced a wandering samurai named Kenshin as he had various adventures and fights while also keeping his past as a killer behind him. Its a pretty solid show with the Kyoto arc being the pinnacle of the series.