Differences
Size Difference:
Americans like everything very BIG, and let's just face it, they enlarged the Kenshin Hiden to a more "appropriate" size for the Profiles. May it be for consumerism, or just to properly typeset it, I'm too lazy to um- measure my hiden, but here is a comparison picture.
Pages Flipped:
As in America you read from right to left, the whole book was flipped to the other side. Now when I mean FLIPPED, I don't mean mirror images or anything. I mean to say that the left page was on the right and the right page was on the left (thank god) which didn't technically destroy the artist's intentions, but it did end up looking a bnit weird.
Removed Images and Pages
I don't exactly know why, but I manually went through the entire Hiden and Kaden page by page to see any differences or missing images. And I did manage to find some:
Table of Content Image Change
- Hiden Image
- Profiles Image
Pattern Removal
- Hiden had pattern in the background of the what is now "profiles"s' page 28
Credit Removal?
- There's a bunch of credits (or something) removed on page 184 that was in Hiden but not in Kaden (it surrounded the plain box that is in the profiles)
Page Cut
- In the Hiden, after the general content there is, like in Profiles, Watsuki's interview and the "Special Supplement." However, in Hiden itself, those pages are cut about 1 inch shorter than the other general pages. In Profiles, it isn't. Here is an image showing you what I mean with the Hiden: click here.
Missing Images List
I took the time and effort to gather and scan all the images that were omitted from the profiles, and wrote which pages they correspondingly appear in profiles.
- Katsura's Image (p34- goes with history check)
- Ore Wa Shiranui (p54- goes with sidenote for Meiji Romantic Research 1)
- Yamagata Aritomo (p60- goes with history check)
- I don't know what these are (p74- Were included with captions at Meiji Romantic Research 2)
- Opium (p87- With History Check)
- Aizu's Palace? (p91- With History Check of Aizu War)
- Mortar and Gatling Gun (p98- With Meiji Romantic Research 3 Boxed Sidenotes)
- Gyunabe Drawing (p103- with history check)
- Book Cover? (p113- goes with famous book clearing the Sekihoutai name on the bottom corner)
- A Drawing of Saitou? (p123- does with Saitou's history check)
- Okubo's Image (p128- goes with Okubo's history check)
- Battle Drawing (p136- with Meiji Romantic Research 5, goes with caption in box)
- Nihon-tou? (p158- goes with Meiji Romantic Research 6)
- Reference Book Images (p183-184- goes with Meiji Romantic Research 7)
Some Common Questions
Is there a special supplement in the Hiden too as there is in Profiles?
Yes there is. It was just um special to the book? Not really to the American version special or anything.
Alot of the questions they ask we already know the answer to!? Why!
Hiden was originally published in 1996, so it only goes up and covers what Japan had covered until then: namely the ending of the Kyoto arc. However, there is a book that covers the rest: The Kenshin Kaden! There is a chance that Viz will translate this too.
