Line #64 Anime/Shinzo


1	[[quoteright:239:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shinzo_7447.jpg]]
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3	''Mushrambo'', also known as ''Shinzo'', is a 32-episode {{Shonen}} series produced by Creator/ToeiAnimation and was broadcast on Creator/TVAsahi in 2000.
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5	Creator/SabanEntertainment licensed the series and aired it on Creator/FoxKids in 2002 [[note]] Though they only aired the first 17 episodes [[/note]] and in 2005 later aired in reruns on [[Creator/ToonDisney Jetix]] where the series finished its run internationally.
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7	In the 22nd century, humankind was wiped from the face of the Earth by their own genetically engineered creatures called Enterrans (Matrixer in the original Japanese) . As man's defeat approached, one scientist, Dr. Tatsuro (Dr. Shindo in the original Japanese), placed his daughter, [[MysteriousWaif Yakumo]], into suspended animation with hopes that when she awoke, she could reach Shinzo/Center, where the last humans are supposed to be.
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9	She awakens 500 years in the future (300 in Japanese) and begins her journey in search for Shinzo/Center to save the humans and bring peace between them and the enterrans. Along the way, she befriends three enterrans who vow to protect her, Mushra, Saago, and Kutall. With a price on her head and a group of villains after her, they do [[DamselInDistress quite a lot of protecting]].
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11	The show tends to be more about the battles with the three enterrans each having their own SuperMode (later with [[PowerGivesYouWings wings]]) and are even able to [[FusionDance combine]] into the legendary [[MasterSwordsman Mushrambo]].
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13	The adaptations differ per country, but all tend to follow the general travel-and-battle Shonen plot.
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15	----
16	!!The series provides the following tropes:
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18	* AbortedArc: The first season sets up an arc where the heroes have to confront the so-called Seven Enterran Generals who started the war that wiped out humanity and ending with their leader, [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil who is of course the most powerful one]]. This quest is cut short when the third General on the list reveals that she had already killed the remaining ones to absorb their power, then herself is killed by a time-displaced version of the BigBad. Killing ''him'' then causes a TemporalParadox that changes the entire history of the show.
19	* ActualPacifist: Yakumo refuses to fight anyone, even if they are attacking her personally. Given that she's the BigBad's most wanted, [[DamselInDistress this gets her into trouble at least once an episode.]]
20	* AfterTheEnd: The 22nd century, 300/500 years (depending on which version you watch) after a huge war that destroyed the humans.
21	* AliensSpeakingEnglish: In the original Japanese version Yakumo and Mushra meet Saago around the New York area. Saago speaks short phrases in English from time to time.
22	* AllYourPowersCombined: Rusephine, the last "king" the heroes face, absorbs the remains of the others, but is then in turn absorbed by [[spoiler:Mushrambo, the Dark King]].
23	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The enterrans or kadrians that don't look human or huggable. If an enemy does look human, they will undergo a transformation that makes sure you know they're evil. Unless they're female, in which case they'll only die in a degrading way.
24	* AmusementParkOfDoom: In season 2, the main characters stumble onto a silver amusement park in the middle of nowhere and don't find anything fishy about that. The entire thing is actually the [[BlobMonster liquid-metal body]] of Eilis, one of the CoDragons of Lanancuras.
25	* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: The Reptile King Ryuma (one of the seven Enterran generals) decides to do this to Yakumo, the last living human, to prove his superiority over her. He says something to the effect of "Anyone can kill their enemy. Only the truly powerful can ''marry'' them", and further compares it to a snake wrapping a rabbit inside its coils and keeping it there instead of eating it.
26	* AppliedPhlebotinum: The cards grant enterrans new powers.
27	* ArcVillain: Both seasons had a different Big Bad, but season 1 also had the so-called Enterran Generals who were essentially mini-bosses working for the first Big Bad.
28	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Just how does the ecosystem function if all death results in the body vaporizing, leaving no biomass at all, just a card?
29	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: 300 (500 in the English dub) years into the future, the statue of liberty is partially buried and surrounded by forest, with miles and miles of land around. At the same time, Egypt has become an ocean. Global warming apparently is only regional.
30	* BadBoss: Most villains who have servants will be seen harming/killing said servants for no apparent reason; often, they didn't even fail them.
31	%%* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Dub only.
32	* BarrierMaiden: Yakumo becomes this in season 2 where her role is keeping Lanancuras in his can until her friends arrive to kill him.
33	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Evil Mushrambo]] is the major antagonist of the first season because he is the one who is ultimately behind the season' conflict. Lanancuras is the head villain in the second.
34	* BirdPeople: The Bird Enterrans, although they vary in their degree of anthropomorphism. Most of the mooks are very birdlike, but Lord Caris is halfway to human with feathers covering only part of his body, talons for feet and a human face with a beak, and Queen Rusephine is a WingedHumanoid.
35	* BlobMonster: Eilis is a liquid metal variation of this. He specifically traps the heroes by disguising himself as an ''entire amusement park'' in the second season.
36	* CardCarryingVillain: The original evil Mushrambo, who used the title "Dark King". Not very convincing when you're trying to portray your own side as [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters victims of humanity]].
37	* ChainedByFashion: Lanancuras has rock armor. Turns out that's the last bit of the asteroid that restrained his power, and once it's all knocked off of him in battle, he goes from powerful to god-like.
38	* CrossdressingVoices: Mushra, Hyper Mushra, Mushrambo, Black Mushrambo, Gold Mushrambo, Satan Mushrambo, and Ryuma in the Japanese version
39	* CuteKitten: Este/Sanju, Rei, and Sen are tiny little cat enterans.
40	* DamselInDistress: Yakumo, A LOT. Justified as she's an ActualPacifist on every enteran's hit list.
41	* DeaderThanDead: With difficulty and the right tech, an Enterran reduced to End Card form can be revived. Cut the card, however, and that's that.
42	* DiabolusExMachina: After the heroes have just spent several episodes trying to save Robot City from the Bird Enterrans led by Lord Caris, after he is finally defeated his angry boss Queen Rusephine immediately destroys the city from afar to render all their efforts null and void. This drives Mushrambo to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against her and the rest of her forces.
43	* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:The card that turned Mushra back into a god and as is the random power-up of pink light in the final episode.]] It's a justified example as [[spoiler: it was a battle involving the gods/Guardians.]]
44	%%**Yakumo in the second season more or less counts, as does Hakuba.
45	* DevourTheDragon: An oddly literal version of this comes when [[spoiler: Ryuma transforms into Hyper Serpent Warrior Ryuma and severs Grandora's (a three headed dragon) head for the express purpose of obtaining and swallowing Grandora's card to become Grand Ryuma.]]
46	* DistantFinale: Manga only [[spoiler:Five years into the future, Saago and Kutaru return to a small village where Matrixer live peacefully with humans and are greeted by a girl who is the daughter of Mushra and Yakumo.]]
47	* DubNameChange: Saban surprisngly left most of the characters names intact. However, Yakumo has her last name changed from "Shindo" to "Tatsuro" and Sanju's name was changed to "Este" in the dub. In regards to the terminology, "Matrixer" was changed to Enterran and "Center" is changed to "Shinzo".
48	* DubPronunciationChange: In the original Japanese, Mushra's name is pronounced "Mush-ra" as in "mushroom", however the dub has his name pronounced "Moosh-ra" instead and of course this applies to the titular Mushrambo as well.
49	* EarthShatteringKaboom: Mercury, Venus, and almost Earth during the FinalBattle.
50	* ElementalPowers: Fire, water, earth, time, darkness, light, web, ice and ghost.
51	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Prior to the series' first timeline, there was global genocide on the human race, leaving the world to the Enterrans. In the second timeline, Lanancuras threatens it as well.
52	* EvilerThanThou: [[ArcVillain Queen Rusephine]] uses her time travel powers to summon a past version of the [[BigBad Dark King Mushrambo]] so that he'll take care of Mushra, Sago, and Kutal. He immediately kills her instead to absorb her power.
53	* EyeBeams: Mushrambo was able to instantly incinerate a mook with black fire just by glancing in his direction. He was of course evil and brainwashed at the time but that didn't change how powerful he was so chances are he could still do it.
54	* TheFarmerAndTheViper: This happens quite a lot; when [[ActualPacifist Yakumo]] shows kindness towards a villain, you can bet they'll try to kill her anyway. Even regular Enterrans will betray her kindness in a second; Yakumo saves an Enterran child, but once the villagers find out she's human, they try to burn her.
55	* {{Foil}}: Yakumo is an ActualPacifist and perennial DamselInDistress due to never getting the message that bad guys you forgive might still come after you later. So naturally, [[spoiler: after time is altered,]] Binka, who finds Mushra in the same way as Yakumo, is a BrattyHalfPint who ''loves'' a good fight and carries a bazooka with her everywhere.
56	* FourGods: The five heroes symbolize this trope.
57	** Mushra represents the Vermillion Bird of the South, with his Hyper Mode being red and bird based.
58	** Sago represents the Azure Dragon of the East. He is predominantly blue and his Hyper Mode has several draconic features, such as horns and wings. He is also able to summon dragons made out of water.
59	** Kutal represents the White Tiger of the West, as his Hyper form is based on a large cat.
60	** Hakuba represents the Black Tortoise of the North, since he is a vehicle based on a turtle.
61	** Yakumo can be seen as an analogy to the Yellow Dragon of the Center, as she is the core of the group and the reason why the group stays together.
62	* FrillyUpgrade: GenderInvertedTrope with Mushra - his most powerful form as [[spoiler:a Galaxial god]] is, in fact, his regular orange armour with pink frills added.
63	* FrothyMugsOfWater: In the Creator/ToonDisney version, Kutaal somehow gets drunk on apple juice.
64	* FusionDance: Enterrans have the ability to transform to become stronger and they turn into "En Cards" when they die. When an Enterran eats an En Card, or absorbs one through the chest, they transform into a composite of themselves and the Enterran whose card they ate/absorbed. The protagonist Mushra does this with the other two male heroes, Saago and Kutall, to become Mushrambo. [[spoiler:Subverted later on when it's revealed that they're actually the three split components of the ''original'' Enterran General Mushrambo, who originally orchestrated the genocide of the human race.]]
65	* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Somehow, mixing the DNA of humans with those of animals granted the some of the resulting creatures magical powers of the elements, the spirit world, and the time-space continuum.
66	* GoldenSuperMode: Mushrambo has a golden armored form that's only second to [[spoiler:God Mushra]]. Earlier in the series, a HumongousMecha turns gold when at full power.
67	* GottaKillEmAll: While the overall MythArc is about Yakumo trying to find the fabled city of Shinzo, season 1 also set up a plot where the heroes had to confront the Seven Generals who started the Human-Enterran War and kill them to collect their cards. This plot is [[AbortedArc abandoned halfway through]] by the time they get to the third major villain on the list.
68	* HeroicBystander: [[spoiler:When Mushra returns to godhood]] Saago and Kutal can only watch.
69	* HiddenVillain: The identities of the Enterran Generals were kept hidden at first, as well as who the BigBad was.
70	* {{Homage}}:
71	** ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': Like Xuanzang, Yakumo is constantly advocating sparing the lives of their enemies, and Mushra like Sun Wukong, loves to fight, wields a staff, and wears a golden headband. Kutal counterparts to Zhu Bajie, and Saago to Sha Wujing. Also, the way Hakuba transforms into a car to transport Yakumo is similar to the [[{{Manga/Saiyuki}} other show]].
72	** Grandora is based on King Ghidorah, arch-enemy of Franchise/{{Godzilla}}. It even has Godzilla's roar. Unlike King Ghidorah, Grandora has arms and only one tail where King Ghidorah has two tails.
73	* HotBlooded: Mushra in hise base form is quick to anger and aggression but though his power increases by transforming into Hyper Mushra and then even further into Mushrambo, his hot blood ''cools down'' a fair bit. The transformations appear to increase his maturity alongside his power level. [[spoiler: When he becomes Celestial Mushra at the very end of the series, which is more powerful than Mushrambo his personality is the same as his regular form. It becomes FridgeBrilliance when you realize that only this transformation is natural to him; the other involved other people/power sources.]]
74	* HumanPopsicle: Yakumo is placed in Cold Sleep for 300 years (500 in the dub). The dub also expands/alters this a bit by presenting it as a suspended animation that makes her age 1 year for every 50.
75	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Ryuma gets distressingly affectionate with a captured Yakumo.
76	* {{Kaiju}}: Enterrans are basically {{mons}} that populate the earth AfterTheEnd. They don't get ginormous... usually. One BigBad has as TheDragon an ''actual'' three-headed dragon named Grendora. Grendora is positively enormous, shoots ice blasts, and uses canned Godzilla roars.
77	* KickTheDog: Specifically, try to kill the kittens.
78	* KilledOffForReal: Whenever an Enterran dies, they drop an [=EnCard=]. Destroying this card results in this trope, as it is shown an Enterran can be resurrected from their card.
79	* KilledOffscreen: Three of the Enterran Generals are killed off by Queen Rusephine without the heroes ever meeting them.
80	* LargeHam: Ryuma. Instead of killing Yakumo as every other enterran wants to do, he chooses to marry Yakumo, complete with ice castle wedding ceremony, frilly dress, and a castle-full of subjects as onlookers.
81	* LastOfHisKind: Yakumo is the only human left because all the others were killed by enterrans. [[spoiler: When the timeline is altered, the genocide never happened]].
82	* LeakingCanOfEvil: Lanancuras is an evil celestial god who was sealed inside a meteorite by his brethren to stop him from destroying the universe. He still had enough reach to engineer a genocidal war on Earth from his prison, since retcon establishes that he brainwashed the leader of one of the factions.
83	%%%* LightIsGood: Mostly played straight, especially with Yakumo and Mushra.
84	* LightIsNotGood: Queen Rusephine has a very angelic look about her, being a winged humanoid, conventionally attractive, and wearing a light-colored uniform. She's one of the {{Evil Overlord}}s who wiped out humanity and is introduced destroying the city that the heroes had just saved out of spite for losing her [[TheDragon Dragon]].
85	* LiteralSplitPersonality: [[spoiler:The three male heroes]] are revealed to actually be different components of the Enterran overlord Mushrambo, whose soul was split into several parts by Yakumo when he tried to kill her.
86	* LetsGetDangerous: Yakumo gives up her pacifism shtick at the end of the first season and displays PsychicPowers.
87	* MacGuffinLocation: Yakumo is trying to reach the eponymous Shinzo, the last human city several centuries in the future. In the original Japanese version, it's called "Mushrambo", after the main character's [[FusionDance fusion form]]. However, it's more about what happens along the way than actually reaching it, as when they do we find out that [[spoiler: in season one, the original Mushrambo destroyed it. After he is defeated prior to this and time is altered, in the new world where humans and Enterrans live in peace there is no need for a human refuge, and the city is empty ruins. In both timelines, the ''journey'' to Shinzo is important, but what they expect to find there and use to solve all their problems doesn't exist.]]
88	* MacGuffintitle: Only the dub is referred to as "Shinzo", the place Yakumo is trying to go.
89	* TheManBehindTheMan: Lanancuras is the cause of the wars on Entera. Mushrambo, the leader of the Enterrans who wiped out mankind, was brainwashed by him.
90	* ManChild: Very much a JustifiedTrope. Yakumo was in suspended animation from the time she was 4 till she was 17 so while she matured physically... mentally is a different story, as such many of her mannerisms are that of a little girl.
91	* {{Medusa}}: One of the first major villains faced by the heroes is Gyasa, a reptile Enterran with snake hair and the complexion and demeanor of the Joker. He turned Yakumo to stone before dropping her off in an acid lake (it's later reversed) and could shed his skin to avoid getting killed, growing stronger each time.
92	* MegaNeko: Kutal is a cat that is bigger and broader than anyone else in the main cast.
93	* MentalFusion: The [[{{mons}} Enterrans]] turn to cards when killed and can be absorbed for power, or can do it voluntarily to give another Enterran SuperEmpowering, returning to normal afterward. Sago and Kutal would later on do this to give Mushra enough power to enter his [[OneWingedAngel (near)]] [[SuperMode final form.]]
94	* MerchandiseDriven: A defeated monster will turn into a card.
95	* MergerOfSouls: All Enterrans, the new inhabitants of Earth, are reduced to an Encard when defeated. The victor can then decide to keep the card, destroy it (effectively destroying that Enterran's soul) or eat or absorb it. The soul and power of the eaten Enterran are then merged with the eater's, who usually remains in control but does take over some of the physical characteristics of the other Enterran.
96	* MonumentalBattle: A fight in the second episode finally shatters the already-wrecked Statue of Liberty. Nobody but the viewer knows the significance of it.
97	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Gyasa beat the shit out of the guardian trio. Saago and Kutal turned into cards and Mushra would have followed if he didn't turn into Mushrambo.
98	* OlderThanTheyLook: Mushra looks like 12 or 13, is probably 15, and can grow to look 20. [[spoiler:Then there's the little fact that Mushra's actually a reincarnated god (Guardian in English), and is about as old as the galaxy. He still looks like a 13-year-old.]]
99	* OneWingedAngel: Every major villain will transform into some sort of grotesque monster during their battle sequence.
100	* OminousLatinChanting: Not ominous, but definitely Latin when the gang meets Yakumo again in the second timeline.
101	* OrcusOnHisThrone: Lanancuras, who technically has a good reason to sit on his throne: it's his prison. Except he never tried breaking out until AFTER the barrier maiden had discovered the power to keep him there, which is three hundred years (five hundred in the dub). And he does absolutely nothing during that time. This is the result of a second-season {{Retcon}} that revealed him as TheManBehindTheMan of the original BigBad.
102	* OutdoorBathPeeping: In the 7th episode, Yakumo is looked at while bathing in a lake by monster warriors who try to attack her. But [[KidHero Mushra]] shows up and fights them -- [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn and gives Yakumo a towel.]]
103	* PluckyGirl: Both Binka and Yakumo are determinedly optimistic; the former is more rambuncious and the latter is more patient.
104	* ThePowerOfLove: Yakumo breaks Ryumma's mindcontrol on Mushrambo with her love for him. The dub added some extra sugar too.
105	* ThePrettyGuysAreStronger:
106	** Gyasa is a scary, physically imposing {{Medusa}}, but the actual King of the Reptiles, Ryuma, is a short, boyish {{Bishonen}}.
107	** Lord Caris is a very muscular WingedHumanoid, but his much stronger master Queen Rusephine is a delicately-build, angelic-looking woman.
108	** Dark King Mushrambo is easily the strongest of the Seven Generals, despite several of them being much larger and buffer than he is. King Daku, for instance is a towering giant in insect-themed armor, but is the ''first'' (and thus weakest) of his minions faced by the heroes.
109	* ThePromisedLand: The eponymous Shinzo is a Promised Land for the human lead Yukumo to find the rest of the human race, in a world populated by animal-human hybrids called Enterrans. [[spoiler: It turns out that Shinzo doesn't exist anymore, as Mushra, Katul, and Sago go 500 years back in time to the end of the Human-Enterran War, and find out Mushrambo had destroyed it.]]
110	* PromotionToParent: Yakumo pretty much adopts little Binka, whose parents died. Binka refers to her as her mother figure.
111	* ProtagonistTitle: The original name for the series, ''Mushrambo''.
112	* QuestToTheWest: Shinzo, the goal of the series, is located in the west.
113	* RuleOfSeven: As the king of Mechano City tells Yakumo and the heroes, the Seven Enterran Generals led the Enterran forces against the humans. Later, [[spoiler: after Queen Rusephine summons Dark King Mushrambo from the past, he kills her and absorbs the cards of the six generals.]]
114	* RuleOfSymbolism: Mushra, angel wings and crosses.
115	* SafeZoneHopeSpot: The whole plot is about Yakumo, after waking up from hibernation centuries AfterTheEnd, trying to reach the last human stronghold somewhere out west. Only at the end of the season does she learn that [[spoiler:Shinzo was already destroyed by the Dark King of the Enterrans at the end of the war.]]
116	* SatanicArchetype: Lanancuras, the ultimate villain of the show, was a member of the cosmic race of Celestial Guardians and given the duty to protect the Milky Way Galaxy. He was eventually corrupted by his power and turned into a Satanic figure. The other Guardians responded by [[SealedEvilInACan sealing him inside a meteorite]] to protect the mortal beings from him. The lingering influence of his evil on the world caused the Human-Enterran War and he isn't released until the second season. [[spoiler:Mushra eventually transforms back into his angelic celestial form to defeat him.]]
117	* SidekickGlassCeiling: Aside from Mushra being stronger, when [[spoiler: the three lose their powers to Lanancuras, Mushra finds out he actually still has another power and can keep going, while Saago and Kutal become useless.]]
118	* SmallGirlBigGun: Binka carries a grenade launcher.
119	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Even more grating since the first half of the series takes place in areas dominated by mutants based on animals were normally the females are stronger and bigger, yet they encounter only 2 females. Unless you count the female member of the kittens that is.
120	* StorybreakerPower: The Mushrambo upgrade makes the trio (Mushra, Saago, and Kutall) unstoppable when they [[FusionDance fuse together]]. His first appearance is bad enough and further alterations make him even more overpowered. The villains recognize they can't beat him and so their plans involve exploiting the transformation somehow. At the end of the first season, all they can do is summon an ''evil'' Mushrambo because nothing else is up to the task.
121	* TimeMaster: Queen Rusephine, one of the last villains of the first season, has power over the spacetime continuum. She uses this to reveal several unpleasant truths from the past to the three main heroes, as well as summon a past version of the BigBad to the present. The first was an effective way to rub salt in the wound, but the latter backfires when he just kills her and absorbs her powers.
122	* TimeParadox: [[spoiler:Rusephine for inexplicable reasons sends Mushra, Saago and Kutal back to the past, getting rid of Yakumo's guards. In the past, they destroy Mushrambo and save Yakumo's life, leading to Yakumo in the future gathering them together to the point of being sent back in time. In order for this time loop to occur, Yakumo should've been able to survive Mushrambo's visit without anyone's help.]]
123	* TimeyWimeyBall: What do you expect from a series where time is a power alongside spider-web and phantom energy? It's going to be weird and inconsistent.
124	* TinTyrant: King Daku of the Insect Enterrans and Lanancuras are tall, hulking overlords covered entirely in armor.
125	* WakeUpCallBoss: Gyasa was the first major villain whose plan spanned 3 episodes. He turned Yakumo to stone and chucked her in an acid lake. Fighting him required the first transformation into Mushrambo to win, and even then after he went OneWingedAngel, Mushrambo was barely able to win. The guy had a touch of ImplacableMan since he could shed his skin right before death and return with no damage damage even stronger than before. And he was just so creepy.
126	* WeHaveReserves : Makes one wonder how the Enterrans/Matrixer won the war when several generals don't even get the idea to order their troops to stand aside before attacking the enemy.
127	* WingedHumanoid: A number of characters, including the Bird Enterrans and Celestial Mushra.
128	* WomenAreDelicate: Yakumo can't save a life without being shown collapsing afterward/losing consciousness/needing help herself/[[spoiler:dying from exhaustion]], the male heroes save lives looking all heroic. Similarly, female antagonists will either be absorbed by someone with only their face sticking out and get Mushra's spear shoved in said face, another died by having Mushra fall on her from high altitude, the last was killed by Yakumo (who collapsed afterward). Whereas all main male enemies died in combat with the heroes in full battle mode and got epic deaths. [[spoiler:Also, the very same powers that make Mushra a god and boosted Saago and Kutal are apparently too much for Yakumo to handle and they end up killing her.]]
129	* YoungerThanTheyLook: Yakumo was placed in suspended animation at the age of 6 or 7, which for some reason made her wake up as a 16 year old; even her clothes grew along. (This was partially explained during a flashback sequence -- the suspended animation was NOT intended to halt her aging completely, just slow it down drastically.)
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Context Anime / Shinzo