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Hehehe... well, er, it's a 'Kenshin' reference. What I call his 'happy penguin noise' - when he's in goofy mode, he makes this 'oro' sound a lot. Sometimes even 'ororororo'.

In some ways it's an amazingly subtle anime. The tone of voice or shape of eyes means a whole lot. Other times it's just over-the-top Japanese animation. There is a scene I really, really like in the very first episode that intercuts past and present... they did a really good job setting Kenshin's character up right away.

Almost all that subtlety and nuance is lost in the dubbing. For one thing the guy who does Kenshin is too masculine.

Oh, yeah, the Japanese cartoons do a lot with the eyes and nose. I think I know what you mean with the "happy penguin nose" :) One thing I always wonder is how come the eyes are drawn so big; and also, how come so many of the characters don't have typical Japanese-looking racial features? There are some Japanese who look more Caucasian than others, I sometimes wonder if that's the explanation.