Has anyone seen this anime? Some people say it's a rip-off of Rurouni Kenshin, but I strongly disagree. I keep hearing Benitora yelling "Kage bunshin!" though, which originally from Naruto, or maybe "kage bunshin" is a common anime term?

I've never seen Samurai Deeper Kyo.

But I can tell you that Kage Bunshin isn't unique to Naruto. It's just a ninja technique- there's one similar to it in FFXI- it's called Utesmemi though.

I've seen a little bit of Samurai Deeper Kyo, but I wasn't really impressed. As for similarities between it and Rurouni Kenshin, that's hogwash spouted by people who don't understand that comedic/action samurai anime has been around for a long time, well before Rurouni Kenshin. It's as much a ripoff as RK itself.

From what I understand, the anime is different from the manga, but I never watched it, so I wouldn't know.
I didn't feel like it after the first three volumes of the manga.

It's not really a Kenshin rip-off, but it is really starting out as one.
Both series can be summed up with:

A few years after a civil war in Japan, a young girl meets up with a wanderer, and "mistakes" him for a legendary, fearsome warrior who fought in the past civil war. But soon she understands that this gentle, peace-loving guy who refuses to kill people, can impossibly be the legendary killer...
But he is.

The similarities don't go much further, though. But the first page is almost identical to that one of Kenshin.

And in the second volume, there is one chapter which is really, really, really very similar to one chapter in Kenshin (when they meet Yahiko).

I have scans for you to see. :) (http://www.aoiya.de/ao-sdkpics.htm)

What turned me off was the extensive grabbing of female breasts and the overall focus on sex. As a cheap gag that is repeated over and over again.

Sad, because the artwork is really pretty. No series for me. :)