Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal

Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, released in Japan as Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen, is a four part OVA that serves as a prequel to the Rurouni Kenshin television series. It was released in Japan in 1999.

The OVA tells the story of how protagonist Himura Kenshin becomes the Hitokiri Battōsai and how he obtains his infamous cross-shaped scar. Himura is six years old at the outset of the OVA and eighteen by its conclusion. The OVA is set during the final years of the Bakumatsu up through the start of the Boshin War.

In 2003, Trust and Betrayal was collected into a two hour feature-length motion picture with new animated sequences and released in North America as a Director's Cut DVD.