#I still haven't read the new arc and the way I access it wouldnlt give him money but still it's kinda ehhh

[doberbutts]

I believe that was indeed the point. Shishio openly admitted to using them to further his goals, not because he genuinely felt bad for them. And they also all knew it- when Kenshin and team reached out with pity and tried to explain that Shishio was likely just using them, pretty much all of them went "yeah I know, he's definitely just using me, but he's also my best option".

Something I found interesting about the story is that unlike a lot of samurai media regarding the Meiji era and the lead-up to it, it condemned most of the actions of the Japanese government while still acknowledging that change was necessary as the old system was also incredibly oppressive.

While some of Shishio's team were just power-hungry or in it for their own goals (Chou, Hoji, Saizuchi) and one is a deliberate over-arching revenge-plot plant (Iwanbo), the rest are all outcasts who were horribly hurt by the Meiji government and the reformation and the social structures of the time.

Even Kamatari, whose inclusion does leave a lot to be desired re: transmisogynist sterotypes in 90s shonen anime, is still probably the nicest portrayal of a trans woman in that era's manga considering most of their arcs began and ended with a crotch-grab. Which I do believe also happens to Kamatari, but she at least voices some level of actual frustration at the system and dysphoria that's led her to take his path. [disclaimer: I haven't read Hokkaido arc since everything happened with the mangaka, so I don't know if she got better or worse after the Kyoto arc]

But again I think it's the point- Aoshi's band of Oniwaban also were social outcasts that could not fit in at the Aoiya, Enishi's Six Comrades were again a mixture of social outcasts and power-hungry individuals, and even Kenshin's group are a mix of orphans, ptsd-ridden war survivors, and trafficked people. Kaoru's probably the least outcast person and even she's an orphan [again, barring any developments in Hokkaido, which I havent read] who was struggling to get by until her business took off.

Something I always found really interesting was how human each of these character stories were. This really was a manga about finding the humanity even in someone who was trying to kill you, even in someone you considered your enemy, because most likely they had a really good reason for acting the way they did. Kenshin does not blame Shishio for being angry at the government that betrayed him, even acknowledges that if he hadn't disappeared at the end of the fighting that he may also have suffered a similar fate when trying to talk him down. He doesn't blame Enishi for being angry that he [Kenshin] killed his [Enishi's] sister. He doesn't blame Aoishi for his rage in his grief over his fallen friends, or Sanosuke and Katsuhiro for the same with Captain Sagara, or even Saitou for the same with the fallen Shinsengumi. He just doesn't think people should be killing each other over it.

Anyway. I'm sure OP knows all this, but I just really liked this about the series when I read it and watched the old anime.

There's a African proverb that goes:

"The child who is not embraced by his village will burn it down to feel its warmth."

Since all these people have been outcast by society they want to destroy society (the Meiji government) as revenge for treating them like crap.

If society/Meiji govt had took care of them and given them unconditional love and support maybe they wouldn't have turned out to be bad guys.