The pacifist nature of the main character, Himura Kenshin also leads to another weak point about the series. Kenshin doesn't kill people, but he does kill valuable time in unending monologues trying to convince his opponents to give up fighting. This is mostly done to fill episodes so one fight fills up an episode at time, sometimes even two. Very annoying when one loves the plot and would like to see it continue. Kenshin seems to think that talking your enemies to death, making them suffer his monologues until blood comes pours from their ears does not count as killing them.
But Kenshin is not alone in this: Aoshi, leader of the Oniwabanshu constantly remembers his fallen comrades, on whose behalf he continues fighting. If you don't know the names Hanya, Beshimi, Hyottoko and Shikijou by heart up to the middle of the series, you have not been watching very closely.
This might be a reason fans like Saitou Hajime so much, as he does less talking and more fighting.
Still, I enjoyed the series very much, but sometimes wished to fast-forward the plot a bit. Some episodes were just _that_ annoying.