Saito Hajime

Saitō Hajime is the former captain of the third unit of the Shinsengumi, a hitokiri, and currently a special agent for the Meiji Government's Department of Internal Affairs. Having a long-standing rivalry with Himura Kenshin since their days on opposite sides of the Bakumatsu, Saitō nevertheless holds a begrudging respect for the rurouni and has come to his aid on assignment more than once, acting as a ruthless ally and the voice of cynical reason in the Kenshin-gumi's major battles.

Appearance
Saitō is a rather tall man with a lean but fit frame. He has a long face with pronounced cheekbones and tear-troughs. His eyes are piercing and narrow while yellow in color and his short black hair is neatly slicked back with the exception of four bangs over his forehead. In the anime, Shishio Makoto described him as "a man who looks like a wolf." During the Bakumatsu he had a long sweeping ponytail reaching his mid back, but cut it off after he became an agent of the police.

Though he frequently wore the traditional Shinsengumi uniform during the revolution, Saitō is almost always seen in his blue policeman's uniform during the Meiji era.

Personality
A former captain in the loyalist Shinsengumi, Saitō has had a long time rivalry with Himura Kenshin, a former manslayer of the Imperialist cause. As a result of his involvement in the Ikedaya Affair, he and his Shinsengumi comrades successfully prevented the burning of Kyoto by an extremist faction of the Ishin Shishi. Nevertheless, the pro-shogunate forces were ultimately defeated and he was forced to go into hiding.

He adherently lives by the Shinsengumi code "Aku Soku Zan" (悪即斬, literally: "Slay Evil Immediately", but more poetically rendered as "Swift Death to Evil"), though he never shows much regard for human life, at some points even letting on that he likes to kill. He is rather morbid and arrogant. Nevertheless, none of these character flaws prevent him from being a superb investigator and fighter. He expects those involved in the military, whether Shinsengumi swordsmen or Meiji era policemen, to carry out their duties without letting their personal feelings interfere.

He believes in peace and order, even in the society created by his former enemies. Throughout the series, to uphold this new peace, Saitō has often been shown as the foil of Kenshin who walks and carries out his duties in the shadows of society in his own way; following his lifelong code of purpose with devotion, Saitō is the man who does the necessary dirty work, killing off the despicable and those beyond saving. Anyone he considers to be corrupt or despotic, he targets for elimination, in the honor of his country and his fallen men.