Nice series.
Well... The series is a nice thing to watch. Kinda like an animated version of one of those
samurai T.V. series.
Personally, one of my favourite scenes in the series is when they do the usual day to day routines and not one of those battle scenes. And yes, Kenshin doing the laundry is one of the nicest things in the series. I think that they included scenes like that to attract more people to the series, I doubt that these same people would be interested in the O.V.A. of Rurouni Kenshin.
Though the series is kinda a historical revisionist propaganda with its potraying of the Tokugawa government and the Meiji government, along with the politics associated with them. One thing that I acknowledge is correct about the series message is that, it is BAD to change the government and that it's better to live as an ordinary person than a skilled warrior, Kenshin already got a painful lesson on that.
Kenshin's oath on not to kill again is a little bit misguided though because of he was too affraid to turn into a killing machine again, he should have just aim on incapacitating the enemy instead of focusing of not to kill the enemy.
As for "a very ordinary life after all these adventures".
Wasn't that Kenshin's goal? All he want is a nice place to live an ordinary life, especially after all of those mistakes he did in the oast.
As for Kenshin and Kaoru.
Well... Their relationship is going nowhere. Not necessary a bad thing, nor a good thing too.
The only thing certain is that they're now a family, along with Yahiko, Sanasuke, Megumi and so on.
By the way, how old is Kaoru anyway? Was she in her early 20s's? Or was it in her late teens?
I know that Kenshin was in his late 20's (29 years old?), since he was around 14 years old or so when he joined the fight against the Tokugawa government, fight for around 5 years, and then spent around 10 years in seclusion.
As for Kenshin's voice.
Well... He has a... well.. satoshi voice.
http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/sjis/dosearch?sDict=on&H=PS&L=J&T=satoshi&WC=none
Quite polite and comforting.
And yes, it probably as mirror image to his violent past and a representation his attempt to live a quiet and nice life in the present.
Or maybe it's also to represent that Shinta... er, I mean Kenshin is actually just a nice guy, who got involved in a nasty business in the past because of his foolishness (he after all, want to change the government).
Then again, with sometimes the colour of his outfit kinda miscoloured as pink, one might wonder if there's another reason on why his relationship with Kaoru is going nowhere.
As for women voicing for men.
Well... Some bishounen animated characters are voiced by women. It just depends on what kind of voice you want.