Characters / BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger 2

aka: Blaz Blue Hakumen

Playable Characters: Calamity Trigger (Part 1 | Part 2) | Continuum Shift | ChronoPhantasma | Central Fiction
Others: Non-Player Characters | Remix Heart | Light Novel Characters | XBlaze (Code: Embryo | Lost: Memories) | Alternative: Dark War
Spin-offs: Cross Tag Battle (BlazBlue | Persona 4: Arena | Under Night In-Birth | RWBY)
Individual Characters: Ragna the Bloodedge | Jin Kisaragi | Noel Vermillion | Hazama | Yuuki Terumi

Bang Shishigami

Bang Shishigami

So awesome, he comes with his own theme song.

Profile

• Height: 192cm (6'3".6)
• Weight: 105kg (231.5 lbs)
• Blood type: B
• Date of Birth: January 1
• Birthplace: Wadatsumi
• Hobbies: Training, thinking of names for his special moves
• Values: Justice, his 55-inch nail
• Likes: Hot springs
• Dislikes: Evil

"Hailed by the heavens, earth, and people, the one and only Bang Shishigami is now here!"

Voiced by: Tsuyoshi Koyama (Japanese) / Tony Oliver (Calamity Trigger-Continuum Shift), Steve Kramer (Continuum Shift II-Chronophantasma) (English)

A Ninja. Bang is more or less a Shōnen action hero...and this makes him even more of an aberration in the world of BlazBlue. He has dedicated himself to the pursuit of love and justice after his lord was killed by Jin Kisaragi during the Ikaruga Civil War. He also wants Ragna's bounty, believing him to be a criminal and nothing more. But his first and foremost objective is to revive Ikaruga. Quite the Large Ham as well. He's pretty much the story's comic relief, but over time he gains more prominence and importance, and even helps to save the day.

He has a crush on Litchi (though she doesn't reciprocate) and will go charging hammily headlong if he ever sees someone making her upset, much to Tager's misfortune or if he sees anyone that he misconstrues to be involved with her to the misfortune of Ragna. As the story goes on, however, his loyalty to her will be put to test...

His arcade mode playthroughs are named, in order of the game: Gong!, Desperado and KUSHINADA. His story mode playthroughs are named, in the first two games: BELIEF and Lost ARCH ENEMY.

His Drive ability, Burning Heart, allows him to use special counter-attacks that open up four seals situated on the top of his super meter. If all four seals are opened, he can activate a special super called "Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan" that raises his Power Levels to OVER 9000, giving him increased speed and power, as well as allowing him to teleport in any direction. When performed in the console version and in Continuum Shift onward, it overrides the current BGM with a new song performed by none other than Hironobu Kageyama himself, called "Omae no Tettsui ni Kugi wo Ute!" (translates as "Beat a Nail With Your Hammer!").

In the fourth game, his Exceed Accel Shishigami-style Extreme Technique: Yorozuka Ryoran Zehhana/Bang's Dancing Petal Storm has him stunning the opponent, then spams shurikens and kunai onto them, and finishing with throwing a large explosive at them. His Astral Finish, Shishigami-style Forbidden Technique: "Kyuukoku Bang/The Ultimate Bang", involves him stabbing the enemy with his Big Freaking Nail, then performing a gigantic Megaton Punch through several paper doors, and then ramming his opponent in the face with the aforementioned Big Freaking Nail.

In Chronophantasma, Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan is now his Overdrive, and the 4 seals requirement was dropped, now used instead as a requirement for a new super. His highly-acclaimed Bang Install theme has also been replaced, and stops when he runs out of Overdrive meter. Fortunately it's status as distortion is returned in his unlimited state, replaced by overdrive Erupting Soul.

If you prefer to read his story told by Bang himself, go here.

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• All Webbed Up: One version of his Shuriken-jutsu special has him throw a special nail that entraps is enemy in webs.
• Apologetic Attacker: In Litchi's CP arcade run, he apologizes before he fights her; he's going to bring Litchi back to Kagutsuchi because everyone there needs her.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Bang's Nox Nyctores, Phoenix Rettenjou is revealed in Continuum Shift as the only weapon capable of breaking the Boundary. Making matters worse in Chronophantasma, it can also be used as an anti-seithr nuke.
• Arch-Enemy: Bang may be a goodhearted person, but his grudge against Jin for his actions in Ikaruga lasted 2 whole games before he moved on.
  • In Centralfiction, he holds the same grudge he had with Jin, but against Kagura. That is, until he starts remembering that his supposed grudge is with Jin.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: One of Bang's victory lines.
  "There are two things in this world I cannot stand: lies and evil, and lies, and bell peppers!!"
  • And before fighting Hazama in his Arcade mode, he mentions that he hates "twisted justice, rotten hearts, and pineapple in sweet and sour pork."
• Ascended Extra: Would you believe he started off as nothing but the Plucky Comic Relief? And now he possesses one of the key components in the villains' plan, and he's integral in Chronophantasma's True Ending.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Encouraged to do so in gameplay. Despite having one of the better mobility in the game, he has the shortest timer before negative penalty for not being aggressive occurs.
• Background Music Override: Conect all his Burning Heart attacks, activate Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan and "Beat a nail with your hammer!" overrides any current theme playing, cue to: BANG BANG BANG BAAAAANG!!! BAANING-UU TAMASHII!!! TATAKAU KOKORO KOUGETSUKU HODO NIIIII!!!
• Badass Armfold: Does this after his Astral Heat ends.
• Badass Boast: His image song "Tempest," is arguably this.
• Badass Creed: Gets one for a normal Distortion Drive:
  "To rid this world of evil, I will become a hammer of justice!"
  ''"Where there is light, there will be darkness. I will bring justice to the evil who lurk in the dark! People call me the Divine Lightning of Justice!"
• Badass Normal: Really. Remember, every other character has: a) some kind of magical artifact (usually one of the Nox Nyctores), b) an inherent supernatural background that gives them powers, or c) exposure to some mystical force which has left them supernatural abilities. Technically, Bang has a Nox, but it's stated in-game that he doesn't even know it IS a Nox, let alone how to use it. That means that all of his abilities (including Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan) have been achieved through training and hard work. He can go toe-to-toe with some ludicrously powerful people, and even though he often gets tossed around anyway, the fact that he can even survive some of those battles is amazing in and of itself. In Chronophantasma, he holds his own against the likes of Ragna, Azrael (in his Arcade Mode, including gaining his respect), and Relius.
• Big Brother Mentor: Thinks of himself as this towards Carl. He does have a pretty sweet Pet the Dog moment with him, too.
  • Solidified in Continuum Shift, Carl's good ending has him taking his leave to prepare himself against any move his father might pull, in one of his usual inner monologues Carl wishes that if he ever reaches adulthood, both Litchi and Bang are the figures he would take his mature character from. Does not last long come CF, as he's disregarded the memories and experiences Bang has shown him and instead takes a darker path akin to his father.
• Big "NO!": Let’s one in the middle of an all-out fight against Relius, Carl and Litchi, Bang is at pain and disbelief for Carl and Litchi to be siding with Relius.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Is Always passionate and upbeat when entering a fight.
• Bouncing Battler: His new DD in CP has him bouncing around wall-to-wall, hitting the midair opponent multiple times before finishing it with jamming his nail into the midair opponent. Unlimited Bang also has one - Chipp's very own Zanseiroga.
• Bruiser with a Soft Centre: Especially around kids.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: While explaining Litchi’s qualities to Bullet, Bang makes sure to boast about Litchi’s voluptuous breasts, as one of the traits for why she is a goddess to him.
• Calling Your Attacks: Biggest offender. He calls out everything he does. And often, what he calls out isn't even the name of the attack. He'll also call out "Air tech!" or "This is an ukemi!" and even "I wasn't doing anything!"
• The Cape: Initially subverted, he tries to be one, but it doesn't exactly work out well given the series` setting. Though by later games he actually is capable of inspiring those around him, namely Carl, Bullet, and even Ragna.
• Character Development: Starting out, Bang was prone to misunderstanding every situation he found himself in. He would openly provoke fights if he thought he could bring some evil doer to justice, only to be ridiculed and defeated. No one but his subordinates seemed to rely on him for anything, and he seemed to be generally oblivious about his surroundings. However, the series progressed in depth and so did Bang. (Though his ever increasing popularity helped of course.) As of Chronophantasma, he now seems to grasp his surroundings, even if sometimes initially still oblivious. He grew out of pursuing petty revenge (Jin), and no longer believes that someone is evil' till he trades blows with them. (Ragna.) He's also a much more capable fighter, and many are relying on Bang to the point of world changing events lingering on him. Overall, his level of maturity now matches his age, and the moments where he is ridiculed have been drastically decreased.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: In a world full of space-aged science, magic-like weapons, and full on magic, Bang's one of the few characters who has none of that. He's able to punch fire, Flash Step, and enter a Super Mode where he can Flash Step indefinitely because he trained that hard, with all of that being stuff he learned from his training.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Up till Continuum Shift Bang was just a funny background guy who just didn't seem to fit in the major scope of things, ridiculed by many, ignored by others, respected by just a few; to the more perceptive however, Bang was being built up with strong connections to grand events since Calamity Trigger, starting with Rachel noticing he had an inactive Nox Nyctores, just an easy to miss mention of what would be brought up in story with much greater importance at the climax of Bang's story in CS, as of CS's end Bang is now directly and indirectly connected to many plot threads leading to Chronophantasma and even to what may happen in the future. The gun is finally fired at the climax of CP where he uses his special nail to activate Kushinada's Lynchpin, stopping the seithr overload of the world.
• The Chew Toy
  • One especially memorable example can be found during Litchi's joke ending in Continuum Shift, which has her beat the living daylights out of him with a metal bat in accordance with the rules of a living board game. Talk about being the epitome of Chew Toy.
  • Throughout Continuum Shift's Tutorial and Challenge modes, you will always be beating the crap out of Bang while you practice your combos.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Bang feels the need to help anyone he sees (or thinks it is) in need, when it’s a child that usually translates to Bang wanting to take the person as his disciple and raise them into a good individual, older people are met with an offer for Bang to assist them in their quest or task, regardless of how taxing it may be, for Bang it just must not be something shady or evil.
• Close-Range Combatant: His only ranged attack, Bang-style Shuriken, has limited ammo, and is often used only sparingly; the rest of the time he barrages his opponent with his close-range attacks, and he's good as pressuring, mix-ups and cross-ups, especially with Fu-rin-ka-zan.
• Clothing Damage: The end of his Astral Finish in Continuum Shift incinerates everything but his fundoshi.
• Cool Key: His Rettenjou is apparently an activation key for the Kushinada Lynchpin.
• Counter-Attack: In the fourth game, if he's attacked during his drive moves, he can release a powerful explosion in response.
• Covert Pervert: Has an Erotic Dream of Litchi and gets a nosebleed just thinking of her breast size.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Bang is treated like an idiot by everyone. Word of God says even Carl is stronger than him. But despite that, he holds out on his own, has a Nox Nyctores that is inactive (which could make him more powerful than he is currently), and as long as the subject isn't about Litchi, he COULD be competent; and lastly... Hakumen praised his undying spirit. That speaks a lot for Bang's potential. Chronophantasma also adds Azrael, by now considered a psychopathic fight-monger, to even admit that Bang got spirit and doesn't mind a rematch next time they cross paths^note While he dismissed Jin as boring. Great going, Bang.
• Cue the Flying Pigs: In his story mode in the first game, Rachel claims that Bang beating Ragna is about as likely as Bang erasing all the seithr in the world. Come Chronophantasma, not only can Bang hold his own against Ragna, he also ends up being the one erasing all the seithr in the world.
• Damage Over Time: One version of his Shuriken-jutsu special has him throw a special nail that poisons his enemy.
• Deadpan Snarker: He does have his moments sometimes where even he is questioning things.
  Bullet: What are you doing?! Why did you let him go?! That man was just about to tell me everything!
  Bang: D-Don't! That's no different from being a hoodlum!
  Bullet: What, I can't do that? That's how I always get information!
  Bang: .....how are you not already in prison?
  Bullet:...Shut up.
• Defector from Decadence: Central Fiction sheds more info on Bang’s days before the Ikaruga War, he wasn’t just Tenjo’s disciple and bodyguard, Bang was part of the Imperial Guard which made him officially part of the NOL; when the war broke out Bang didn’t want to take sides, he put priority in the safety of his master and the innocent people caught in crossfire, the aftermath was Bang being torn with his master’s death and disgusted with the actions of the Lybrary, which led him to lead the refuges to Ronin-gai thus parting ways with the NOL, becoming a vigilante ever since.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Spent the whole 4 games also pursuing the love of Litchi. But in the end, he ended up not going through it, and contents himself with rebuilding Ikaruga.
• Does Not Like Spam: Hates bell peppers.
• Dogged Nice Guy: He's a nice guy to be around (provided you can stand his shouting) who holds a one-sided crush on Litchi.
• Doppelgänger Attack: One of his Distortion Drives starting in CS ends with 2 Bangs crashing to the opponent. Also one of his Unlimited-only DD.
• Dork Knight: Through training alone, Bang Shishigami has enough speed and stamina to keep up with characters who have special powers and deadly artifacts, and in some cases, immortality. He also protects the innocent, risks his life for others, considers no good deed to be beneath him no matter how mundane, and dedicates much of his life to helping out his community. While this makes him a beloved hero in his community, his tendency to talk and act like a hero from a Sentai series with no volume control makes it impossible for any of the other characters to take him seriously.
• Double Entendre: During his story mode in CS, after Taokaka eats up a storm in a restaurant in Orient Town and the manager learns she nor Bang are able to pay him, Bang then decides the only way to solve this is to offer his services in a bold and hammy declaration only a man as noble as Bang Shishigami can provide. From the manager's perspective, however...
  Bang: "I, Bang Shishigami, will neither run, nor hide! A man takes responsibility! Since I have lost my wallet, then I must pay you with my body. Very well, manager! You may do what you like with my body, but I beg of you...be gentle!"
  Manager: "Wh-What?!"
  Bang: "Here! I am yours! TAKE ME!!!"
  Manager: "Stay away from me!"
  Bang: "TAKE MEEEE!"
• Dramatic Irony: He has a Boundary rending Nox Nyctores. While he hasn't mastered it, if only he knew Litchi's Boundary problems, he could've persuaded her and prevented her going over to NOL.
• Dramatic Wind: Bang's scarf blows heroically behind him in the breeze no matter which way he's facing or even if he's indoors.
• Dumb Is Good: Subverted. Bang is actually pretty perceptive and resourceful, he just gives off the "dumb" vibe due to his Large Ham tendencies.
• Dulcinea Effect: Pledges himself as Litchi's protector despite barely knowing her. He also extends this to his "disciples:" Tao, Carl, and Platinum.
• Elemental Punch: His Drive is him doing a flaming punch/kick to the foe that activates his Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan seals. 2 of his specials also work like this.
• Eyedscreen: When he activates Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan, we got a shot focusing on his eyes, bursting into flames.
• Failure Knight: He still couldn't hang over his guilt of letting Lord Tenjo die by the hands of Jin.
• A Father to His Men: Bang treats his subordinates with caring passion, he never belittles them, and seems to enjoy participating in any trivial tasks and manual labor alongside them as an equal. His subordinates reciprocate by praising Bang all the time, to the point it looks like this is their only purpose as minor characters in the game.
• The Fool: Dumb as a brick, and remarkably hard to kill.
• Fantastic Nuke: His nail, Phoenix: Rettenjou can be used to activate one, Kushinada Lynchpin, a device that can nullify all seithr in the world. He finally uses it near Chronophantasma's ending, as seen here.
• Flash Step: Unlimited Bang has this move.
• Foil: Gains a rather humorous dynamic with Kagura in Chronophantasma. They're both disciples of Tenjo and total perverts; but Bang stays loyal to his master even after his death, more of a Covert Pervert and has eyes only for Litchi. Kagura joins the NOL, the same organization responsible for Tenjo's death, and has no compunctions on hitting on anything remotely attractive to him.
• For Happiness: When Ragna asks him what does he fight for in their bout in CP's true ending, he answers that it's to ensure the future of his fallen country and for the smiles that were lost to be restored.
• Friend to All Children: In the same vein as Litchi, Bang seems to be very fond of children. Notably, all orphans from Ikaruga deeply respect and adore him; the Kaka kittens also have come to like him as well. No wonder the Ikaruga orphans Litchi met before were Shipper on Deck for her and Bang. He also likes to take younglings such as Carl or Taokaka under his wing.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: He's the lowest tier character, in-story, because he hasn't really learned how to use his Nox Nyctores yet. For this reason, he could never beat Rachel Alucard in a fight, and the game will remind you of this anytime you use a "weak" character to beat a "strong" character in Story Mode. Usually by mocking you. For your victory. Yet, in CS, he's top-tier.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars / "X" Marks the Hero: He got his scar from being attacked by Jin.

  "To remind myself of those tragic days, I only need to look in a mirror and see the scars on my face."

• Grapple Move: 2 of his specials are this, that ends with him comboing his foe while teleporting around. Also one of his DDs in CP starts with one.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Even when using his English voice set in Continuum Shift, he'll occasionally say "nani?" It only helps make him look manly.
• Heartbroken Badass: Although they were remorseful, Bang didn't take the betrayals of Litchi and Carl well. But that doesn't stop him from fulfilling his goddamn mission!
• Heroic BSoD: Bang temporarily loses all meaning in life when Litchi rejects his dramatic love confession.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In one of his endings, at least. Turns out to be canon. And turns out he survived it.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Downplayed. While he is heroic and a good guy all around, many other characters only see him as an out-there loud-mouthed guy due to him being a massive ham. At least a few of the cast respects him one way or another, like Litchi and Carl, and then Hakumen, Azrael and eventually Ragna.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: It'd probably help if he didn't shout so much.
• Honor Before Reason: In Continuum Shift, he finds Makoto and an injured Jin. Despite having more than enough justifications to fight them where they stand, he takes both of them back to his quarters, treats Jin's wounds, and let's the two of them do as they wish. Jin points points out how incredibly stupid this is, and surprisingly, Bang agrees but nonetheless follows his code of Thou Shall Not Kill and protecting the weak, even if they are his enemies.
• Hopeless Suitor: The likelihood of Litchi returning his feelings are extremely slim considering she has her own problems with another man. She does appreciate him as a friend though. He eventually got over this in CF, where he acknowledges that Lotte is the one Litchi loves and the reason he fights him is not to win her heart, but to prevent Litchi to get the guilt of killing a beloved one, and in the ending sequence, fully commits himself in rebuilding Ikaruga instead of pestering her again.
• Hot-Blooded: He has so much vigor that it keeps him going after his homeland is destroyed. Pointed out in his FRKZ activation quote.
  "QUICKER THAN THE WIND AND AS STILL AS THE FOREST! HOTTER THAN FLAMES AND MORE MAGNIFICENT THAN A MOUNTAIN!"
• Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Makes him look like the former Trope Namer at that.
• How Do I Shot Web?: As stated he has the Phoenix: Rettenjou in dormant state, with zero knowledge on how to use it. Furthermore, Relius also kept referring him as having something left behind by Shuuichirou Ayatsuki, in probability the Kushinada Device/Lynchpin. Once again, Bang has no idea what the heck is that.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: So far, the only instances where Bang used his Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan in story heavily implies that he is much stronger than other characters take him for, even with an unactivated Nox. Bang activated first against Tager in CT, with the Red Devil instantly being overthrown by him; the other time was against Hazama in CS, Bang used it to flee with Tao and Carl in tow, Hazama immediately complimented Bang and stated that he is more than meets the eye.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: His general attitude appears to Tsubaki to be playing the role of a period adventure hero. Her response is... interesting.
• I Regret Nothing: This is one of his quotes when he loses by time out.
• Ideal Hero: He always follows the ideals of justice that his master taught him, even if he gets mocked for it at times. Such that he believes in making Ikaruga great again in his own way, rather than trying to kill Noel as Izanami and Nine suggested in CF, or completely not mentioning his pain of Litchi attacking and betraying him in CP, instead helping out on her quest.
• Idiot Hair: Depends on who's doing the character art for the game, but he tends to have something of an ahoge in the in-game illustrations (like in his character art for Continuum Shift, shown above).
• Idiot Hero: Topped only by Taokaka in this regard.
• Idiots Cannot Catch Colds: During episode 7 of Teach me, Miss Litchi, his subordinates suggest posing as a patient in order to get into the clinic. He says it's a great idea. ... He's just never been sick and doesn't know how to even get sick. This exchange is currently the trope's page quote.
• The Immune: It’s not made entirely clear if he was immune all the way but it seems Bang’s Nox kept him from dissipating into seithr in the climax events of Central Fiction where many characters suffered this fate due the Doomsday effects; it could be that Bang just resisted longer than the others did since he was nowhere to be seen in the final battle, Bang was only seen again in the end where everyone was brought back.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His new Distortion Drive in CP ends with him nailing his foe to the ground with his nail. As well as his Unlimited-only one. This is also what starts his Astral Heat. Though this is not explicitly shown, in Act 3 of Central Fiction arcade, Bang gets stabbed in the back by Nu-13, who then took his Rettenjou away.
• Improbable Weapon User: Yea, that 55'' nail he always carries around isn't just for show.
• Invisibility: He can turn invisible as an Unlimited-only special.
• Incoming Ham: Many of his intro quotes are hammy declarations about either justice or how the opponent's gonna have their ass smitten.
• Invulnerable Attack: Enabled by his Drive moves.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A variation. Near the end of Central Fiction, he had to knock Litchi, who was crying all the way, out and take her place to fight Arakune since he will not let Litchi bear the burden of killing someone she loved.
• Jack of All Stats: While ninjas normally specialize in speed, Bang is more of an all-around character than anything, though his speed is still emphasized.
• Justice Will Prevail: Really likes talking about justice. This and his determination are what Hakumen can see from him.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: He gets along very well with the Kaka clan, saving their village in one Calamity Trigger ending and serving as a doting adoptive parent to Tao in another.
• Large Ham: To truly absurd levels.
• Lethal Joke Character: Buffed in the sequel Continuum Shift so that he's now one of the best characters in the game.
• Limited Wardrobe: While Bang certainly is not the only one in the series subject to this, he is unique in that artbooks and side-materials, Bang is shown to be perfectly capable of wearing casual clothes, particularly when he is working at construction sites in Ronin-Gai, Bang wears jeans and a white shirt.
• Leitmotif: Tempest/Reppuu, an extremely bombastic piece that describes his ''BURNING SOUL'' And of course, both of his Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan themes, Bang The Nail With A Hammer and Bang! Bang! Big Bang!
• Lost in Translation: His story playthrough in CS, Lost ARCH ENEMY, isn't actually about an actual arch-enemy of sorts. "Arch Enemy" is what Nox Nyctores is called in Japan. It refers to his nail, which is secretly a Nox.
• Love at First Sight: For Litchi.
• Love Freak: The second thing he won't shut up about after justice is love. Especially for his beloved "LITCHI-DONOOOOOOO!!"
• Made of Iron: Bang is the closest thing the series has to a Badass Normal, but despite that, he's capable to enduring a lot of abuse.
• Manly Tears: Sheds those when he reunites with his Tenjo's son, Homura, after trying to secure any info on his location to no avail before this meeting.
• McNinja: He, technically, was born near Poland.
• Meaningful Name: He sure likes doing everything with a "bang". The kanji for his first name (萬驱) also means "to purge myriad/ten thousand evil", which fits his devotion to justice. 'Shishigami' literally means 'lion god'.
• Memento Macguffin: The nail he carries around? It was given as a memento by his lord Tenjo, and it's more important than it looks. It turns out to be Phoenix Rettenjou, a Nox Nyctores. Not only that, it houses Tenjo's soul.
• Mr. Fanservice: The only way to explain why he's baring his abs like that. It gets better with his Astral Heat in ''Continuum Shift' onwards, which ends in his clothes burning off.
• Named Weapons: His nail is a Nox Nyctores named Phoenix: Rettenjo.
• Nice Guy: Outside of his Crazy Jealous Guy antics in the first game, Bang is one of the nicest characters in the stories. Even moreso in CF, where he helps Ragna without question or knowing his identity, and when he regained his memories, he didn't even call Litchi out for betraying him back in CP, happily helps her, and even took her place in fighting Arakune just so she doesn't have to carry the burden of killing a loved one, let that be his.
• Ninja: Is an Ikaruga Ninja and uses all of the stereotypical ninja weapons and techniques.
• No Indoor Voice: For real, there's almost nothing but shouting coming from his mouth at times. Ragna even lampshades this in his win quote against Bang in Chronophantasma
  Ragna: GAH, my ears...seriously man.
• Nosebleed: Gets one nearly everytime he thinks about his beloved Miss Litchi.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Apparently, he's not so Highly Visible all the time. Bang is also well aware of how his idealism sounds to Jin, at least, and explains his seemingly illogical mercy to Jin thus:
  "As you have said... many... times, I am an idiot."
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In his CS bad ending, he actually gets to kill Jin, while he's down. His HMPK segment has Kokonoe pointing this out, saying that it's not like him.
• Parasol of Pain: No, he doesn't carry it around like Rachel, but one of his supers involves him throwing a parasol... which then rains hundreds of metal nails all over the opponent.
• Patriotic Fervor: Bang is very reverent of his homeland of Ikaruga. However, his Slight Hope counterpart has a more neutral outlook of the Ikaruga Civil War, calling it "a foolish quarrel in which neither side was innocent" and how they have "paid for their pigheadedness".
• Pink Is for Sissies: During a Gag Reel of CP that's holding a contest for the ultimate pinnacle of manliness, he displays this trope towards Amane judging to his appearance and mannerisms. He also shows this to him in his arcade run, stating that his attire screams "frail" and "weak," subsequently declaring to beat some masculinity into him as payment deceiving him earlier before. However, once defeated, Bang will faintly praise him before passing out.
• Plucky Comic Relief: What he started out as, but it's being subverted the more prominent in the plot he gets. Notably, his portrayal in the anime is played completely seriously with almost none of his Large Ham tendencies in sight, he's even sensible around Litchi.
• Popularity Power: In Calamity Trigger, Bang was a complete Joke Character, and a total Jobber that was Killed Off for Real. After he became the Ensemble Dark Horse, said death was retconned away as an embellishment of Tao's oral history, he's been gaining a lot of respect from some of the biggest powerhouses (such as Hakumen, Terumi, Ragna, and Azrael), he's become quite important to the plot for a relative supporting character in the grand scheme, and he's, overall, shown that his title as "The Pride of Ikaruga" wasn't just for show.
• Power Glows: Golden. Sometimes Red for some reason, as seen in Continuum Shift story segments.
• The Power of Love: Firm believer of this power, Bang justified his reason to keep Litchi from killing Arakune with her own hands in Central Fiction by claiming the power of love he is filled with wouldn’t allow Litchi to be the one the bear that pain, Bang knocked Litchi out and tried to bear that responsibility in her place; although in the end Bang and Arakune’s battle was interrupted by unforeseen events.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He and Carl tend to have this vibe, with him as the Red Oni.
  • Also has this going on with Kagura, and once again plays Red Oni.
• Retcon: Somewhat; in the story of Calamity Trigger it is mentioned that he died fighting Hakumen. But in the next game it's revealed that he actually survived, although with heavy injuries (and with Litchi patching him up), and the story of him dying was just made up by Taokaka.
• Ruritania: Born in Wadatsumi, which is located in eastern Europe.
• Sadistic Choice: Forced unto him by Kokonoe in Tager's joke ending.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: "Glare!" and "Thud..."
• Saying Too Much: In the fourth game, when Litchi is holding Noel back from investigating Kaka Village, Bang barges in, saying that the Grim Reaper has fled the village. Upon seeing Noel, he instantly recognizes his mistake and tries to do a Verbal Backspace ("It was... 'Dim Creeper'! Yeah, that not-so-bright man who's always creeping on Miss Litchi!") And again where he also blurted out that Ragna might be fleeing through the sewers, again right in front of Noel (though to be fair Litchi does ask him where Ragna went).
• Scarf of Asskicking: He wears a long red scarf. Along with his belt it completes his Kamen Rider motif.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Between him and Carl, he is the manly man.
• Shipper on Deck: Two Ikaruga orphans Litchi have met in Calamity Trigger were happy to push her into marrying Bang, mostly because both Bang and Litchi are good and respectable in the eyes of the children.
  • Tsubaki also ships Bang/Litchi, since she Thinks Like a Romance Novel and this happens in one of his joke endings, Hilarity Ensues.
• Signature Move: His Drive moves, which opens the way for his real Signature Move: the Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He may comment on some of the more..."provocative" aspects of the female cast, but nonetheless is only attracted to Litchi.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: The only set of clothes Bang is shown to have besides his Highly-Visible Ninja outfit, jeans and a white shirt, as seen in artbooks and gallery entry in Calamity Trigger. Inverted with his usual clothes, which has the sleeves but bares his body.
• Soul Jar: Not him. The nail he carries around houses Lord Tenjo's soul.
  • This is parodied HARD with Platinum the Trinity, since she insults him by calling him Bang Sissy-gami.
• Spread Shot: One version of his Shuriken-jutsu special has him throwing 3 nails in a spread fashion. As Ultimate Bang, all versions of said move are now spread-shots.
• Stalker with a Crush: Towards Litchi. Subverted in Continuum Shift. He no longer stalks her and seems to be on good normal terms.
• Strength Equals Worthiness: In the climax of CP, in a variant, when Ragna comes to him for the Rettenjou, Bang first asks him for a fight to see his strength and motives. After that, Bang deems him worthy enough for Bang to use the Rettenjou for Ragna's cause, so he agrees to throw it to the Kushinada Lynchpin.
• Stripperiffic: You'll be hard pressed to find a ninja who shows as much skin as Bang. Even his hips are exposed—not that anyone's complaining...
• Super Mode: Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan, which actually makes him a legitimate threat to some of the series' more powerful characters. Sadly he doesn't use it that often.
  "Shishigami Ninpo Forbidden Art: FU-RIN-KA-ZAN!!!"
  • In Tager's joke ending he activates his Furinkazan, complete with a golden aura, and kicks Tager's ass. Then things get weird...
  • In the true ending of CS he also uses it on Hazama... to get the hell away from him with Taokaka and Carl.
    • Used again in Chronophantasma to fly sky high, and activate the Lynchpin, throwing Phoenix Rettenjou into it.
• Team Dad: Thinks of himself as this to Carl and Taokaka, and pretty much any other youngster he feels the need to take under his wing, a notable example is what Bang wanted to do as soon as Platinum said she had no parents, taking her to Ronin-Gai's orphanage and raise her along with the other Ikaruga orphans. In his True Ending in Continuum Shift Bang also encourages two Ikaruga children to be strong and take care of Ronin-Gai, for him to have a place to return someday, as he leaves on a journey to Ikaruga.
  Bang: "A child matures by learning from a man. Yes, child. Take a good look. Learn from this man!"
• Teleporters and Transporters: Unlimited Bang gains this as a special.
  • Teleport Spam: The Overdrive version of his Great Eruption DD has him teleporting all over the place to beat the foe from all directions before the finishing strike.
• Testosterone Poisoning: That's the exact basic concept of what Toshimichi Mori thought while creating him, still Bang's over-the-top character is not seen as comically exaggerated within his fandom, which is pretty damn huge, instead they will always treat him as the ideal of manhood. Their devotion to Bang seems to have caught Mori's eyes as Bang has been achieving great importance to the storyline as the series goes on, including him being less over-the-top and more straight-sided on the manliness aspect.
• Thanks for the Mammary: In a near unconscious state Bang mistakes Bullet for Litchi, immediately after accidentally leaning on her breasts, being that dozed off Bang couldn’t know any better since Bullet and Litchi are about the same size.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Originally only in the console version of the first game, but later became standard in the sequel.
• Theme Naming: Many of his specials have "-jutsu" in their names and they're all sounding exaggeratedly awesome; pretty much a shonen staple.
• This Cannot Be!: "HOW CAN THIS BE?!" is one of his quotes whenever he’s hit.
• Three-Strike Combo: Unlimited Bang has one, in a nod to Chipp Zanuff's own.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: He hates Jin all right, but thanks to his Master's teachings, he always refuses to kill him, if he beats him, he only departs with the note for Jin: "Reflect on your sins!"
  • He makes an exception in his CS true ending, but it's freaking Hazama, fresh from beating two children near to death for no real reason. Of course, since it's Hazama, he fails, but he escapes not only with his life but manages to tow Taokaka and Carl out with him.
• Took a Level in Badass: Outside the story, he's god tier in CS. But the story also has started treating him with more respect, too. By the end of CS, he's arguably less of a Butt-Monkey than Ragna is, and he now seems legitimately capable of beating his opponents (if they're weakened), as opposed to the first game where some of them would simply feign defeat in order to make him go away. In his own story, Carl seems to think he's the superior fighter, Hakumen respects his warrior's spirit, and even Hazama, who spends the entire game trolling anyone and everyone who fights him, is all compliments when fighting Bang. And in CP he's treated more seriously despite his biostrous attitude, and even manages to hold his own against Ragna, Relius, and Azrael in individual fights. Keep in mind, unlike in CS, where his main victories were against weakened opponents, none of these characters were weakened in the slightest and in Ragna's case, was actually stronger than he was previously, being shown to stalemate the aformentioned Azrael in the next game.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: When Arakune beats him, Arakune declares that he "looks nasty" and leaves.
• Troperiffic: Bang is pretty much every Shonen hero trope packaged into one character. It just serves to make him even more awesome.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Tager's joke ending, much to Tager's puzzlement
• Undying Loyalty: Extremely so, Bang Shishigami has proved throughout the series he is not just a man who speaks loudly about ideals, showing how much truth there is in his words when put to the test:
  • To Ikaruga. Bang doesn’t see his homeland as a just piece of land, to him the people are Ikaruga hence his choice of action during the Ikaruga War. Bang did not fight to repel battalions, he fought to protect the people and his dear master; in the aftermath he led the remaining citizens and warriors of his homeland to Ronin-gai to one day rebuild their home, which they start to do at the end of Central Fiction.
  • To his companions. He will put his life and dreams in second place when it comes to aiding others; Bang gets side-tracked several times throughout the series in order to guide someone to place they want to go or any other small task, helping them with joy. In Central Fiction when Bang hears the voice by becoming one of the Qualified, he refuses the prospect of harming Noel to get what he dreams of, Bang proceeded to fight to get others away from getting to her and possibly hurting Noel instead.
  • To Litchi, as he would do anything for her. In Central Fiction when Bang is fully aware of what she wants, that is saving Roy, Bang does not turn his back nor hopes the man Litchi seems to care so much dies so the path to her heart can be free for him; nor did he hold a grudge that Litchi temporarily turned her back from the path of righteousness and justice that he believed in or thought she was following all along, and helped Relius to damage the world for the sake of her own selfish request; Bang offers his hand to help Litchi with a smile on his face, only expressing great concern for the plan which places Litchi in considerable risk in the Boundary; Bang only goes against Arakune when Litchi had decided to finish him off with her own hands, but Bang saw how pained she was so he decided to bear that responsibility instead.
• Unknown Rival: At first his goal was fighting Jin in combat to avenge his fallen land of Ikaruga. Meanwhile Jin can barely remember who Bang is. It's due to having his memories devoured by Terumi however, instead of his usual jackass behavior...mostly
• Verbal Tic: He ends most of his sentences with "de gozaru" like many stereotypical ninja.
• Videogame Dashing: He's better at this than most other characters, with him being able to do 2 air dashes instead of just one. He also has a special that lets him do an air dash to 8 directions, although it consumes his limited amount of nails. Finally there's his Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan, where even moving normally causes him to dash all over the place.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Now, jump... into my MANLY CHEST!!!
• Weak, but Skilled: He's considerably weaker than most of the cast, partly because he can't use his Nox Nyctores for the most part. Through sheer training, and mastery of ninjutsu, however, he's kept up with the rest of the pack easily. Heck, even his Super Mode is from pure skill and training, no magic, technology, or magic-like technology used in the slightest.
• Weapon of Mass Destruction: His Phoenix: Rettenjou can be used to activate one, namely Kushinada Lynchpin. As Relius noted, it has enough power to initiate something called "Day of Destruction." And it is implied that Relius managed to steal it from Bang, at least going by his Arcade ending in CP.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Leave it to a ninja to figure out a way to incorporate a dropkick into the classic Smoke Out maneuver.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Seemed to fully believe that he is the action hero of a Shonen anime series fighting against The Empire. He's technically not wrong about the genre, but he's definitely not The Hero. This trait was mostly prominent in Calamity Trigger however, and doesn't show up much as his character fleshes out in later sequels. Even in his victory quotes from that game, he actually tells the player to "tune in next week!"
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • One of his ending paths finally gets Litchi to see him in a positive light rather than being a creepy stalker; and Bang even gets her to make The Promise to wait for him in Orient Town's bar. Unfortunately for Bang, what happens next is that he's dragged into the Boundary fighting Hakumen, presumably dies, and the one who remembered him is not Litchi (she probably forgot), but the Kaka clan. Thank God it's technically not canon as Continuum Shift shows.
  • It turns out this happens in the canon path (though he also learns about the presence of Tenjo's son). Bang's Continuum Shift story begins with him saving Litchi from an unknown assailant (not Hakumen), and then sort of came Back from the Dead (Tao was making up stories for that one). Which means, Bang pretty much gained Litchi's respect. However, this gets yanked again as unknown to Bang, Litchi ends up joining NOL out of desperation.

Carl Clover & Ada Clover/Nirvana

Carl Clover

Just a boy and his automaton sister.

Profile

• Height: 144cm (4'8.7")
• Weight: 35kg (77.2 lbs)
• Blood type: AB
• Date of Birth: May 5
• Birthplace: Iwatsuchi
• Hobbies: Violin, chess
• Values: Sister
• Likes: Sister
• Dislikes: Lies

"Allow me to show you... what they call a virtuoso."

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese) / Michelle Ruff (Calamity Trigger-ChronoPhantasma) (English)

Don't let the Cute Shotaro Boy looks fool you. Carl is a vigilante seeking Ragna's bounty, which pretty much everyone in the world wants. He controls an autonomous puppet called Deus Machina: Nirvana.

He claims Nirvana is actually his sister, Ada Clover. Obviously, no one believes him, especially the people who knew Nirvana from the Dark War when it was first created, but he's actually telling the horrible truth. Her current state stems from the fact that their father, Relius, was a gifted alchemist who used her in one of his experiments, surgically combining Ada and Nirvana together to make it into an improved "Organic" Nox Nyctores. Carl watched it happen; worse, when his father gave up and left half-way through, Carl had to finish the job himself to save what was left of her. Because of all this, Carl is now pursuing his father to find out why he did what he did, but apparently, Relius seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. He was formerly a student along with Noel and Jin at the academy, but he dropped out while Jin and Noel graduated. His glasses allow him to talk with machines, which explains why he can talk to Nirvana.

It has been confirmed by Mori that Carl is the strongest of the three vigilantes (the other two being Taokaka and Bang, of course).

His arcade mode playthroughs are named, in order of the game: Cross Road, Kalmah and Present Danger. His story mode playthroughs are named, in the first two games: Promise and Relatives.

His Drive ability, Automaton, lets him control Nirvana. His Astral Finish makes Nirvana produce a time bomb with a large radius, but the opponent has to be lured into it. In ChronoPhantasma, his Overdrive is Synchro High Speed, which overclocks Nirvana and improves her speed and power.

In the fourth game, his Exceed Accel Symphonia of Lament has his small robots stun the foe. If it hits, the robots then knock them down, then the small robot stomps on the opponent multiple times, ending with the big rook robot (the one Carl uses to block) falling onto the foe. His Astral Finish Deus Ex Machina in the first game has Nirvana form an exploding ball of energy after seconds passed, while in the third game it's changed: she uses a different ball of energy that sucks the opponent in like a vacuum. If the opponent hits the ball, Carl drapes his cape over them and it is shown that the ball sucks them into another dimension where they are crushed by giant cogs.

---

• Above Good and Evil: Scarily in Central Fiction, he clearly stated to Bang in the latter's Act 3 that normal Good vs Evil means absolutely nothing to him, and his term of justice is 'Can help him restore Ada or not.'
• Adorably Precocious Child: He was this while attending the Military Academy. Then Relius happened.
• Adults Are Useless: Carl's general view on grown-ups is basically this, except replace "useless" with "evil". He learns from Litchi and Bang that this isn't entirely true...up until Act 3 of Central Fiction. Except replace "adults" with "people in general".
• Affably Evil: A genuinely polite, and kind boy. Unlike Hazama, Carl never stops being polite, and simply wants to be with his sister. Though, in the end of his path in CS, he started flipping off due to drugs, calmed down by Litchi and at ChronoPhantasma, he's no longer of this trope, now a good boy that rediscovered his humanity. Except he goes right back into it in Act 3 of CF.
• Alliterative Name: Carl Clover.
• Antagonistic Off Spring: To say he hates his father would be putting it mildly.
• Ambiguous Ending: Carl loses his eye and gains all the knowledge in the universe, while gaining a silver-half mask similar to Relius. Fans speculate whether he'll turn out an evil successor to Relius, a neutral enigma, or even a good counterpart to Relius.
• Anti-Hero: He just wants to restore his sister and take revenge on his father. He's also a bit of a sociopath.
• Ax-Crazy: If what Hakumen says during Carl's arcade story is to be believed, then Nirvana is not affecting Carl's mind, and it is Carl's own bloodthirst that is moving Nirvana. Everyone else seems to think Nirvana is the reason for his craziness, but they're probably thinking of the original Nirvana. Carl seems to have mellowed out some, if some of his CS arcade win quotes are any indication. In CP, he definitely has. And then he goes insane again in CF.
• Badass Adorable: Pretty capable for a little boy. Come CF, he gets even more badass (if his gameplay buffs is anything to go by), but also less adorable in the end.
• Badass Bookworm: His main hobbies, according to his profile, are reading, chess, and playing the violin. On the side, he just happens to be a near-fearless vigilante.
• Badass Cape: Somehow, it can hold a knight-and-horse puppet that is just as big, if not bigger, than Carl himself.
• Badass Tyke: He might be an ordinary human, but her battle puppet "sister" Nirvana/Ada helps him becoming a competent vigilante. He's even stronger than Bang Shishigami and Taokaka, fellow bounty hunters.
• Berserk Button: Saying that Ada is Nox Nyctores or a puppet, not his sister or even calling her Nirvana is a quick way to anger out of him. Interestingly, however, it's reversed in CF (but the trope's still played straight): His sister apparently is still alive according to him, and is sick and needing a cure. Nirvana is now just a tool he uses for combat. When Celica calls Nirvana his sister, he gets pissed off. Unfortunately for Carl, Celica was telling the truth.
• Big Sister Worship: He absolutely idolized and looked up to his sister and would ramble on about how nice she was. This makes his all-consuming desire to save her all the stronger.
• Break the Cutie: His father turned his sister into Nirvana and then abandoned it half-done, forcing Carl to finish Nirvana up all by himself. This scarred poor Carl for life.
• Brother–Sister Team: The brother half.
• Calling the Old Man Out:
  • He tries to do so in CS's story for turning his mom and sister into puppets. However, Relius is a lot stronger, and Carl had to escape with Nirvana and Litchi with their lives, so the conclusion to this trope will have to wait
  • In CP he's going to do this again. This time, he managed to beat his father, but after that Relius says that he's gonna try to restore Ada.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He'd love to kill his Dad, but Relius is likely the only person who knows how to restore Ada and Carl needs him alive for that information.
• Cassandra Truth: No one seems to believe Carl when he says that Nirvana is his sister.
• Charged Attack: One of his normal moves can be charged for more damage and an additional effect.
• Cheerful Child: In the initial stages of CT. Gets averted by the end of CF.
• Chess Motifs: Carl's dolls are likely base on chess pieces. The small doll is a pawn, the doll with a flag is the bishop, the lance-wielding doll on a horse is the knight, the large doll with a shield (when he blocks attacks) is the rook, Ada is the queen and Carl himself is the king.
• Child Prodigy: Carl is a gifted vigilante, despite being seemingly much younger than the rest of the cast.
• Companion Cube: Nirvana
• Consulting Mister Puppet: He does this with Nirvana. Justified in the sense that she really is his sister, and that he can apparently speak to machines with his glasses.
• Cooldown Hug: He receives one from Litchi in CS story mode after their story mode fight. Too bad the cooldown period is cut short by none other than Relius, who shoves her away casually and then summons Ignis (Carl's mom) to fight him.
• Creepy Child: Once the player sees past the next few examples. Carl is disturbingly erratic and prone to acts of seemingly random murderous violence, usually when "sis" tells him to do something. His Help Me, Professor Kokonoe segment has Kokonoe telling him to be a bit more cheerful. Fully becomes this as of his CF Act 3 story, where he starts acting exactly like his father.
• Cry into Chest: His ending of CS with Litchi.
• Dissonant Serenity: Ever courteous, Carl always has a smile on his face, even when he's staring down a target. Or threatening to kill them.
• Cultured Badass: As well as some of the hobbies mentioned above, he enjoys drinking tea, as proven in his Material Collection art.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Carl probably has the steepest learning curve in the game, but once you learn how to properly use him, you can look forward to pummeling opponents in tandem with your sister for some nice big damage, especially through some disjointed sandwich combos. This nets him the highest damage output in the game through very very long combos.
• Downer Ending: By the end of CF, Carl has become almost exactly like Relius, Relius gets away scot-free, and Carl isn't any closer to finding a cure for Ada. Subverted in that this may not be the end of his story overall.
• Dramatic Irony: Carl either realizes or did not realize that Litchi is in NOL, siding with Relius despite chastising his parenting skills (if the former, then it's the reason he snapped at her in the first place). However, thanks to Character Development, he has a better chance to finally not take things in face value and probably find that she's actually Forced into Evil and perhaps try to help in the future. As a result in Relius' story in ChronoPhantasma, Carl demanded to know what Relius planned to do on Litchi, which shows that he didn't feel betrayed, but instead concerned. In his story, he tried his best to protect Litchi from Relius, and to some extent also Bang.
• Eye Scream: During CF, when he tries to look into the Cauldron to figure out the structure of the world, he gets his left eye shot out. In the end of the game, Carl is forced to wear a monocle for his good eye and a partial mask for his bad eye.
• Face–Heel Turn: Initially opposed his father for his actions, but ultimately ends up joining him because he holds information that's valuable to Carl.
• Find the Cure!: In CF he's going around, trying to find the Azure Grimoire to cure his (apparently still alive) sick sister.
• Flash Step: His Vivace move is used like this.
• Freudian Excuse: In her past, he found out that his dad has inserted her sister into Nirvana. Worse, it was still unfinished and Carl had to finish it himself, else his sister would meet with worse complications. He then ran away to his uncle and aunt's house and became bitter, dropped out of the NOL Academy and later grow up to become a Creepy Child vigilante.
• Glass Cannon: Carl has limited mobility options, most notably lacking a run-type dash, has a measly 9,500 health (10000 in CF), and his biggest source of damage is done via Ada. Also, he's reduced to a walking stance when he's directing Ada to attack.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: His glasses let him talk to machines.
• Hates Their Parent: Considering his main character focus is revenge on his father, Relius? Yeah, this is a given.
• Heroic BSoD: After Carl learns that his mom was turned into a robot much like his sister, he has a "blank, empty expression on his face, befitting someone who has lost everything."
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Carl can pull off flags and several puppets from his cloak, some of them as big as he is. And apparently all of them are based on chess figures, which is one of his biggest hobbies. Most probably an ability learned from his father.
• Idiot Hair: Underneath his hat he is shown to have this. He is by no means a total fool, though, it's more representative of his naivete.
• I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: In the first arc of CF, after fighting with Celica for calling Nirvana "Ada", he starts angrily telling her that Nirvana is just a weapon and in no way his sister. Unknowlingly, this causes A Glitch in the Matrix and suddenly starts crying, but he can't put his finger on why.
• Irony: For most of the series, his biggest Berserk Button was when people call his doll "Nirvana" instead of Ada. In CF, he gets pissed when Celica treats Nirvana like it was Ada.
• Kid Detective: In his CS gag reel, he works to solve "The 7 Mysteries of the Academy".
• Kid Hero: If his true ending in Continuum Shift's story is to be believed, this is what he wishes to become.
• Kid With The Remote Control
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Inverted somewhat, as he's the younger brother. His main goal in the series is restoring his sister back to human form. He's very protective of her, and sometimes threatens those who try to take her away.
• Lack of Empathy: The one major trait he shares with his father, as shown in Central Fiction Act 3. There were actually signs of this before CF, such as innocently brushing off his friends at the Academy, and not deciding to work with them throughout the stories of the first three games despite their interests clearly intertwining. Act 3 finally shows this in full.
• Leitmotif: Marionette Purple, kinda self explanatory really.
• Like Father, Like Son: Both he and Relius are genius puppeteers. Despite spending the entire series trying to kill Relius and angrily spouting that he's nothing like his father and never will be, Carl ultimately succumbs to this in Act 3 of Central Fiction. And the root cause of this? When Carl actually decides to use his wits to put the two and two of what exactly is going on together, his deductive reasoning skills and aptitude are exactly the same as those of Relius, to the point where he eventually stops seeing people as people, and merely things to be used and discarded when no longer necessary. It's just as scary as one could possibly imagine.
• Marionette Master: He fights primarily with puppets. Not just Nirvana, but also the minor ones stuffed in his suit and hat.
• Marshmallow Hell: A borderline example. When Litchi gives Carl a Cooldown Hug in CS's story mode, the side of his head is pressed right up against her chest.
• Mechanical Horse: Hides a small one of these in his cape along with a knight puppet, which he uses as his primary weapons.
• Mind-Control Eyes: His eyes get shifty when he is being influenced by Nirvana.
• The Mole: He was really working with Rachel and Valkenhayn in Taokaka's gag reel.
• Most Writers Are Adults: With the exception of Litchi, no one seems concerned or worried at the fact Carl's just a vagrant child roaming around Kagutsuchi with access to an extremely deadly ancient weapon. On top of that, his manner of speaking, vocabulary and deteriorating personality down the line is very far-fetched, even for a child prodigy like him.
• Named Weapons: Since Nirvana/Ada IS his weapon, this does apply.
• One-Hit Kill: Unlimited Carl in CP has the pre-CP Deus Ex Machina as an Overdrive-only DD. Its damage exceeds 10500 HP, meaning that it can take out quite a number of characters from full health in one go.
• Only Sane Man: In Noel's joke end.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his dramatic character changes in Central Fiction, Carl has shown in story mode that he's unwilling to kill Noel to restore Ada, even considering her a friend once more.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: As an inversion of his Character Development in Continuum Shift, by the end of Central Fiction, he's become a lot more like his very Neutral Evil father, at least on the surface. Only time will tell where his character will lead to next.
• Puppet Fighter: Both literally and in the sense of the trope. Activating Carl's Drive allows Nirvana to move, and pressing the Drive button with various inputs causes her to attack on her own while Carl does his own moves. Nirvana can only be used as long as her gauge lasts, though. From there, a skill Carl player or any solid user of any avatar-based fighter can easily land some nasty and long combos, and sandwich their opponent in between.
• Shorter Means Smarter: The shortest guy in the cast and one of the smartest, even inheriting Relius’s genius and his twisted research habits.
• The Short Guy with Glasses: Is only 4’7” and wears large, round glasses.
• Smart People Play Chess: According to his profile, chess is one of his main hobbies, and he was at the top of his class before he disappeared.
• Sociopathic Hero: He certainly shows shades of this throughout both his Arcade and Story modes, especially when dealing with Relius (duh), Noel (for her connection to the Azure) and Tsubaki (For her connection to the NOL, and subsequently his father). It should be noted that the last two were once his closest friends. The "hero" part slowly decays over the course of Central Fiction, but it's unclear by the end if it's fully destroyed.
• Spam Attack: His Alegretto special has his robot does this with its flag.
• Stage Magician: He very much looks the part.
• Tell Me About My Father: Tries this on Tsubaki in CS arcade mode.
• Theme Naming: His specials are all related to music. Vivace, Cantabile, Laetabilis Cantata, etc.
• This Cannot Be!: In Noel's Continuum Shift Gag Reel, he receives a big shock when he sees Hazama enjoying the Kagutsuchi puffer fish which took out the rest of the BlazBlue cast and left them twitching on the ground, covered in their own vomit.
  Carl: Im...possible! How can you possibly eat THAT?!
• Token Mini-Moe: Male example, sharing the spot with Platinum.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Cookies, according to both his profile and comments from the producer.
• Tragic Hero: Despite his initial motivation of wanting to take revenge on his father for his crimes and looking up to the likes of Bang and Litchi, Carl ultimately walks down a path similar to Relius himself, becoming concerned with research and his own goals at the expense of others.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: There is something seriously unnerving about a little boy going on a revenge quest against his father, and his completely sociopathic ways in doing so. What makes it creepier is how he still maintains his polite attitude, even as he threatens someone's life.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Indeed; a few years ago, Carl (as seen in flashbacks) is adorable. You can thank Relius for his eventual descent.
  Noel: Carl...you were such a kind and gentle kid...there must be some kind of mistake...please, think about what you're doing!
• Weak, but Skilled: Compared to Ada, he needs to rely on speed and combo ability to do decent damage.
• What the Hell, Hero?: As mentioned above, others sometimes try to tell Carl that some things he does are wrong. However, he usually doesn't listen, most likely due to his mistrust of adults.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Carl does this in Taokaka's joke ending, as he sets a trap for the heroes while working with Valkenhayn.
• You Remind Me of X: In the Remix Heart manga, he claims that Mai's attitude reminded himself of his sister.

Nirvana (Ada Clover)

Beneath her metallic breastplate beats a heart of gold.

"Don't say stuff like that, Carl..." ^note Her only spoken line in the whole game.

Voiced by: Chiaki Takahashi / Lauren Landa ^note Only for about one line, in a slight flashback in Carl's story.

Carl's older sister. As a human, she was very kind and nurturing towards her little brother, causing Carl to idolize her. She baked him cookies, offered him games to play, had an amazing sense of humor, and was overall a genuinely kind person, according to Carl. However, two years before the events of Calamity Trigger, her body parts, and most likely her soul, were incorporated into the Nox Nyctores Nirvana by their father Relius.

Currently, she serves as Carl's weapon, partner, and drive ability, acting on his commands and protecting him. Despite her being a mechanical puppet, she has an unusual amount of sentience, acting on her own to protect Carl or attacking a dangerous enemy, such as Hazama. She also can speak to Carl, despite her dialogue consisting of nothing more than ellipses. This causes others to doubt Carl's sanity, even though it has been stated that his glasses allow him to talk to machines, including her.

It is revealed later that during the Dark War, Nirvana (note: not Ada) was assigned as Celica's guardian.

---

• Actually Pretty Funny: Carl says that she has an amazing sense of humor in his Gag Reel, but it's such a shame we'll never hear the answer to "How many dead hamsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" Also in Noel's Gag Reel, when Noel, Bang, and Carl hear about how the chef slipped on the Peking Duck and got messed up in the process, Nirvana/Ada supposedly said something 'pwn-worthy' at the chef's expense.
  Carl: Now that's just going too far! It's bad enough you're making jokes at the poor man's expense, but must you do so with that arrogant smirk on your face as well?
  Bang: Master Carl... What... Did your sister say?
  Carl: Eh? Oh yes. She just asked, "What does a chef who slips on a duck and Kagutsuchi's seithr have in common?"
• Anti-Air: She does a big clap upwards as one of her drive moves. Also, the Con Brio special where she extends her claws diagonally upward.
• Back from the Dead: Subverted. While Carl's arcade ending in Act 2 makes it look like she comes back, it is revealed to be nothing but a vision of what happens. And the fact that she gets turned into Nirvana anyway in that one.
• Big Sister Instinct: If Carl is in danger, she will protect him. Subverted in CF, however, as it shows that she's also capable of refusing to listen to Carl's commands, such as when he calls her a tool in Act 1, or when he tries to torture Noel in Act 3.
• Brother–Sister Team: The sister half.
• Cool Big Sis: Is described like this by Carl.
• Creepily Long Arms: Which, combined with her Limp and Livid state, makes for a Creepy Doll indeed.
• Deadpan Snarker: Considering her joke involved comparing the chef's accident to what is essentially a poisonous gas, one can infer a rather snarky and cynical punchline.
• Death or Glory Attack: Their pre-CP Astral Heat is this; if the explosion fails to hit the enemy, Carl will be unable to use her for the rest of the round.
• The Faceless: In her human form, her face isn't shown. Even in Carl's Act 2 ending, where we see her again in human form, her face is obscured by her hair.
• Glass Cannon: Ada has become this in CF, where her gauge runs out noticeably quicker than before, but she also recovers much faster to compensate.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: A number of attacks, most notably Rhapsody of Memories.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Carl's bad ending in CT, she protects him from Nu. Thankfully, this isn't canon in the current timeline.
• Kamehamehadoken: Her Volante special.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: She may be even more protective of Carl than he is of her, which says a lot about her devotion.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Downplayed. Act 1 of Central Fiction has Celica call Nirvana Carl's sister, causing him to get pissed off and describes her as just a tool. Ada is not amused and refuses to listen to him after fighting Celica. She gets better the next round.
• Marionette Motion: Moves this way when activated.
• Megaton Punch: The Fermata DD sends the opponent flying off the top of the screen if it connects.
• Mighty Glacier: She moves and attacks rather slowly, but they do quite some damage whenever they hit. She becomes faster if Carl activates his Overdrive. Very much averted when playing as Unlimited Carl.
• Purple Is Powerful: Nirvana, one of the incredibly powerful Nox Nyctores, is primarily purple.
• Promotion to Parent: She looks after Carl more than her parents do, and provides a maternal figure for him.
• The Quiet One: For obvious reasons. Most certainly NOT The Stoic, however.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Appears to be completely immune to the effect of the embryo in Central Fiction, based on her actions.
• Robot Girl: An Automaton version.
• Robot Maid: Nirvana sort of looks the part.
• Shotoclone: She has a projectile special, an anti-air special and a straight rush special. Thing is, she's rarely (if at all) played like a regular "shoto".
• Signature Move: Her 8D (up + Drive) move where she claps upwards. Used in Carl's infamous "Clap Loop".
• Significant Double Casting: The reason why Nirvana shares the same voice as Litchi can be traced in Calamity Trigger in Carl's story, when he was being tended by Litchi, he flashed back on how Ada said the same kind thing as Litchi. Subsequently, as the story progressed, Carl became fond to Litchi and sees a very similar soul within her like Ada. ^note She only has one line, though
• Soul Jar: Nirvana holds the soul of Carl's sister, Ada.
• Sphere of Destruction: In CP she gains a new DD where she traps her opponent in a sphere and then the sphere bursts, dealing high damage. Also her pre-CP Astral Heat.
• Spin Attack: One of her Drive moves is a slow version of this with her long arms.
• Teleporters and Transporters: She can teleport to Carl's side with a special move.
• This Is a Drill: Her Con Fuoco special morphs her hand into a drill as she punches an opponent with it.
• Time Bomb: She pulls a 10-second one out for Carl's Astral. It apparently gets juiced up in ChronoPhantasma, especially as Unlimited Carl's Distortion Drive; although it loses the 10-second delay.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Carl.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Compared to Carl's relative combo ability, her options (outside of her Kamehamehadoken) are "punch, or slash, as hard as possible," with almost no combo ability unless working in tandem with Carl. Hakumen once mentioned that Nirvana "wasn't supposed to dirty her hands". Indeed, her purpose when she was made was being Celica's guardian, who is a pacifist, and Nirvana didn't have much combat capabilities on her own, beyond her raw strength.

Hakumen

Hakumen (ハクメン)

One of the legendary Six Heroes. Also kind of an asshole.

Profile

• Height: 208cm (6'9.9")
• Weight: 155kg (341.7 lbs)
• Blood type: Unknown
• Date of Birth: April 6
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Hobbies: Unknown
• Values: Order
• Likes: None
• Dislikes: The Black Beast

"I am the White Void. I am the Cold Steel. I am the Just Sword. With blade in hand shall I reap the sins of this world, and cleanse it in the fires of destruction! I am Hakumen! The end has come!"

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (Japanese) / David Vincent (Calamity Trigger-Chronophantasma) (English)

The sub-boss of the first game. Hakumen was the de facto leader of the Six Heroes who defeated the Black Beast. He was trapped inside the Gate for decades until he was finally released around the same time Ragna's first attacks on the NOL happened; Kokonoe intended to use him as her slave but then he ran away, going after Ragna as Hakumen thinks he's endangering the world. He is armed with the Nox Nyctores Interfectum Malus: Ookami, a nodachi which can completely nullify the effects of magic. Also, his armor is one of the three Sankishin (Three Shining Gods) Units, the Susano'o, which (through his sword) has the ability to cut through time.

Later in the story he meets (again with) the "true evil", Yuuki Terumi (aka Hazama), another of the Six Heroes who rebelled, and sets his sight on defeating him, teaming with other people (namely Rachel, other Six Heroes, and ironically, Ragna) in the process.

His arcade mode playthroughs are named, in order of the game: Lies and Truth, Heaven and Hell and Magic Master. His story mode playthroughs are named, in the first two games: Atonement hero and possibility.

Unlike the other characters, he does not have a regular Heat gauge, instead using his own Magatama meter that gradually stores up to 8 orbs, used for special moves and Distortion Drives. The meter fills up automatically over time in addition to being filled by attacking and defending. His Drive ability, Zanshin/God Slash (Slaying God), is a multi-purpose countering maneuver that helps to fill his meter. In Chronophantasma, his Overdrive is Kishin/Demon God, which greatly accelerates his meter gauge, and allows him to cancel his counters in his special moves.

In the fourth game, his Exceed Accel Kokuujin Kingi: Tengai/Empty Sky Forbidden Form: Heavenfall (Empty Air Blade Forbidden Right: Heaven Hull) has him stun his foe with a low kick. If it hits, he knocks down the foe with another kick and then leaps up and finishes with a powerful chop from above with his blade. His Astral Finish, Kokuujin Ougi: Akumetsu/Empty Sky True Form: Judgment of the Sword (Empty Air Array Secret Skill: Evil Perish), involves him performing a counter. If the opponent falls for it, the background suddenly switches to the style of an ancient Japanese scroll painting and he unleashes a fatal strike upon his opponent which fills the screen with blood.

---

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Ookami can cut through, amongst other things, Ars Magus, Phantom's Sorcery, temporal borders (with the help of the Susano'o Unit) and can permanently injure and kill the otherwise immortal Murakumo Units. It can also cut through the very fabric of the Embryo itself.
• Achilles' Heel: The Susano'o Unit may be indestructible, but as CF shows, not the soul that resides in it. Hihiirokane is a weapon that can directly attack souls, and Terumi used that to shatter Jin's soul inside it so he can reclaim the Susano'o Unit.
• Animal Motifs: Much like Jin before him, a "Fox". But even more badass because it's the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox in Japanese Mythologies. Which strongly reflects his status as the Alternate Timeline of his past self.
  • When activating his Mugen/Infinity Distortion Drive, Hakumen's long silver hair stands up and separates into nine pointy lineups, depicting the nine tails of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Heck! Even Hakumen's official Crest artwork has nine pointy leaf-like swords attached to the runic circle in the center, with the imagery of a fox as well, which becomes his Animal Battle Aura.
• Animated Armor: It's Jin's soul within, so the armor is completely hollow. Notice when he is hit by electrical attacks, there is no skeleton within the armor.
• Anti-Hero: Of the Pragmatic Hero variety. Hakumen has a completely noble goal of wanting to prevent the world from falling back into the destruction it almost faced 100 years prior. Unfortunately, he's a bit of an asshole who'd rather do things his way than talk things out, which puts him at odds with the cast most of the time. True to form, though, he does mellow out a bit through the series.
• Anti-Magic: His Ookami sword negates seithr and Ars Armagus (since it's powered by seithr).
• Antiquated Linguistics: Uses archaic Japanese in the Japanese version. Not as much in the English version, though.
• Atomic Hate: When he discovered that Kokonoe has a silo full of nukes in her base, he gets horrified by it, and apparently considers them worse than the Black Beast.
• The Atoner: Part of his motivation to make up for his actions that led to his Tsubaki's death and truly fight for a righteous and noble cause. Trinity lampshades this in CF.
• Badass Back: His Astral Finish reeks of this, with him arrogantly sheathing his sword facing away from the camera as his opponent lies splattered all over the ground.
• Badass Boast: Really, Badass Boasts make up about 90% of his dialogue. (When you've been trapped on the edge of the universe for most of a century, you have a lot of time to come up with this stuff.)
• Badass Creed: It's what he's best known for and his Catchphrase. His quote above tells the story.
• Barrier Warrior: Hakumen's Drive in games creates a barrier that absorbs hits which allows Hakumen to counterattack. And from Continuum Shift onwards, his ability to cut projectiles is change to creating a black hole-like barrier when hitting a projectile with his sword, which blocks any further projectiles.
• Baritone of Strength: He speaks with a very deep and booming voice, emphasized by the filter provided to his voice. And he's one of the strongest characters in the verse.
• Belated Love Epiphany: While he as Jin already saw Tsubaki as a loyal friend and subordinate, it's not before her (gruesome) death where she Took The Bullet for him (after he acts mean to her, to boot) that he realized how much he loves her. As Hakumen, it's more pronounced in that he calls her "my lover" and makes her his motivation to live and fight.
• Berserk Button: Literally anything having to do with Nu (including Lambda), due to her role in Tsubaki's death in Wheel of Fortune, his original timeline.
  • On the subject of Tsubaki, hurt her before him if you feel like dying. This button was pressed twice: once in his CS bad ending where Terumi beats her senseless in front of him, and once in his CF arcade where Terumi taunts him about how many times Tsubaki had died because of him.
  • The Berserker: When it looks like history is about to repeat itself at the climax of Central Fiction story mode, and Nu is about to Legacy Edge Tsubaki, Hakumen takes the blow for her, loses any semblance of self control, and turns into A COMPLETE RAVING LUNATIC! If it weren't for Terumi's interference, Nu would have ended up as road kill.
• BFS: A little bit of Truth in Television comes into play with Hakumen's sword. It is so massive that instead of trying to draw it out of the sheath (With his sheath on the back, this is literally impossible), he has a sliding mechanism built into the sheath that allows him to open the entire left side of it at will, making it possible to draw it quickly. The anime chose to go with Rule of Cool and has the sword go right through it.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Continuum Shift, he saves Tager from Hazama, Valkenhayn from Relius, and along with Bang, saves Platinum from Relius. He also saves Tsubaki from Ragna in Chronophantasma.
• Big Good: During the Dark War as the unofficial leader of the Six Heroes.
• Big Little Brother: He's a future version of Jin in a very large armor and thus he's taller than his big brother Ragna.
• Bittersweet Ending: By the end of Central Fiction, Hakumen's soul has been sealed along with the Susano'o Unit in the depths of the Boundary, but the one who did it is dead, and some version of Tsubaki takes up his sword.
• Black Knight: Not that he's actually clad in black armor, but he plays the character archetype right down to a T.
• Blood Knight: It's not that obvious given his taciturn nature, but he never exactly turns down a fight no matter who challenges him and admonishes those who hold back when they do fight him.
• Boring, but Practical: In a setting where most characters have sorcery and are beast-hybrids, Hakumen is simply a man in a suit of armor with an Anti-Magic sword. He is one of the strongest beings in the series on nothing but skill and strength alone. Yea, he can cut through time, but he very rarely uses it.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: In the ending of Chronophantasma, he attempts to use Time Killer, a technique that can erase all of the victim's time across timelines and is taxing on him...on Izanami. This naturally fails because death is a timeless concept, and Izanami is literally death incarnate. Nine then proceeds to teleport him away.
• Brought Down to Badass: His "normal" isn't exactly everyone else's "normal" and he's still implied to be one of the strongest characters in the game.
• Brought Down to Normal: In the first game he can only use, at best, 20% of his total strength due to the remaining 80% of his existence being left on the Edge.
  • He's also seemingly regaining strength over time; in Continuum Shift it's implied he can now use around 30-40% of his full power.
• But Not Too Foreign: Being that he's Jin Kisaragi, who was born from the 5th Prime Field Device, implied to be based off of Saya Terumi, who is Japanese.
• But Now I Must Go: During the ending of Central Fiction Hakumen is revealed to still be, at least to some degree, alive in the Susano'o unit. With Trinity entrusted with the unit by Ragna not moments before, she tells him that she believes it's best that the unit be returned to the boundary, as humans were never truly meant to have it. Not only does he have no problem with this, he's thankful. He says his good-byes to Trinity, hopes that circumstances never force him to leave the boundary again, and falls into the Cauldron.
• Call-Forward: In Phase Shift 2, the Susanoo Unit gave him (i.e Jin, before he donned the armor) this Dare to Be Badass speech that he would later use in the present.
  "Be the white void. Be the cold steel. Be the just sword. Wield the blade in your hand to reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction."
• Calling Your Attacks: While Hakumen doesn't shout them out loud like other characters, he does have a deep-growling version of this trope.
• The Cape: A rather extreme example. Hakumen is hailed as one of the Six Heroes who defeated the Black Beast, and even tried to have humanity change its ways. He makes a large, grandiose speech announcing his presence and is primarily motivated to vanquish all evil in the world. Unlike Bang however, Hakumen is very much taken seriously.
• Cessation of Existence: Terumi destroys his soul when taking back the Susano'o Unit. He just BARELY manages to get better.
• Character Development: In his first appearance, he's an antagonist who's primary concern is eliminating "evil", and by evil he means Ragna's unstable Azure Grimoire. Even ignoring this, he always picked a fight with the cast for some reason and absolutely detested Jin. By Chronophantasma, he's toned down on this a bit and his rivalry with Ragna is far less hostile since he's decided to focus on killing Terumi instead and is willing to work with Rachel, albeit reluctantly, to do so. In regards to Jin's own Character Development, he's far less spiteful towards him as well and commends him for achieving the Power of Order and even gives him advice in undoing the Mind Eater curse on Tsubaki.
• Charged Attack: A few of his normal moves can be charged to do more damage and have different effects. As well as his Kokuujin: Shippuu DD.
• Climax Boss: Hakumen is always the penultimate boss in Calamity Trigger's Arcade Mode, as well as most of the cast's story routes, but he's always transported away by Kokonoe before he can finish his fight. In the True Ending when he fights Ragna, Hakumen overcomes Kokonoe's intervention and continues their fight, which forces Ragna to use his Azure Grimoire for the first time, which is what leads to the Time Loops being broken and the plot to kick in.
• Close-Range Combatant: He's more effective to be played at close range. In a variant, he's not supposed to be rushing in recklessly like most fighters; instead, he's the defensive kind, waiting for the foe to come close first.
• Close to Home: In CF, when Valkenhayn says that he doubts if his master's decision of giving Hakumen the Susanoo Unit was a right thing to do, the latter gets ticked off by how he would deny the resolve of someone already dead. Considering Hakumen is moved by the resolve of someone already dead (Tsubaki), it really makes sense.
• Combination Attack: In the climax of CP, he and Jin combine their Yukikaze together to destroy the Monolith.
• The Comically Serious: The only time he gets to be the butt-end for comedy is in his Help Me, Professor Kokonoe segment. He can't admit that he made mistakes and that getting an advice from someone like her humiliates him, all while being completely serious. He also reacts with confusion when Kokonoe tells him (sarcastically of course) "you need calcium, eat some fish".
  Kokonoe: Man, guys like him are a real pain for these gag routines.
• Counter-Attack: His standard Drive, Kokuujin: Yukikaze/Empty Sky Form: Winter's Riposte (Empty Air Array: Snowy Wind), and Akumetsu; all three work on this principle. Also gains a new move called Yanagai (Nue Willow) in Central Fiction as one of the only special move that uses his Drive button.
• Crazy-Prepared: To an extent; when Jin is asking Jubei about info on Izayoi, the latter says that Hakumen had organized research on it. This is made clearer in Phase Shift novels; there, he witnessed Tsubaki's ancestor died after using Izayoi's powers too much. He suspected that Tsubaki herself (who technically would be born decades later) would one day wield the weapon and so he went to find out more about it by organizing that research.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: A lot after the first game.
  • Akumetsu is 720+D in Calamity Trigger, charge down -> up + D in Continuum Shift. If you like using it...
  • Also, Guren is 236A in Calamity Trigger and is 214A in Continuum Shift.
  • j.C is no longer that nice jump-in friendly move it used to be either, being changed to j.2C, much like Jin's.
  • Renka (214B) has their input reversed; it is now 236B. While a good change overall, damn if it doesn't get you killed when you're used to doing the old input.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Using Time Killer without his full power at his disposal causes him to start to disappear even when anchored by Rachel being his Observer. As of the end of Chronophantasma he's slowly fading away because of it and will most likely not survive the next game unless the rest of his power is dragged out of the Boundary.
• Death or Glory Attack: His counters have quite a small active window, so pain usually ensues if you mistime. It does not help that some of his Distortion Drives and Astral Heats have unusual timing so you cannot just wildly use the super flash buffer technique.
• Decomposite Character: Although he's not the actual Susano'o of Japanese myth, that being Yuuki Terumi, his story of fighting the orochi-like Black Beast and becoming more moral does harken to the post-Heel–Face Turn depiction of the storm god.
• Determinator: Spent ninety years of utter isolation in the Boundary — the same one that drove Arakune mad — and retained his sanity through sheer force of will.
• Difficult, but Awesome: He becomes this in Continuum Shift. He's very reliant on meter gain, he moves rather slowly and his Counter-Attack can be hard to pull off. A skilled Hakumen can play poke with his sword's long reach while waiting for a chance of Counter-Attack, and once properly powered-up Hakumen can begin his assault that can shave off loads of enemy's HP.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: The only reason there even is a plot is because Hakumen is severely handicapped due to being pulled out of the Boundary forcefully. The fact that he can completely shit on the two villains at 15% of his full power should give you an idea of just how weakened he is at the moment.
• The Dreaded: Absolutely no one without a death wish wants to fight this guy. He's the only person Relius and Hazama don´t feel confident fighting at the same time, and for good reason: in Wheel of Fortune he curbstomps both of them at the same time with 15% of his full power.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In CF Hakumen gets killed, rather unceremoniously, by Terumi sneaking behind him and striking him with Hihiirokane-enhanced Ouroboros, which pierces through Jin's soul and tears it out of the armor, while he was busy dealing with Nu. Subverted in that he barely survives but is still left in the Boundary, possibly forever.
• Emergency Transformation: While he was still Jin, he was essentially crippled after having fought both Ragna and Nu, and then taking a trip through the Boundary. Clavis even said that he would never be able to fight again in his condition. Only by donning the Susanooh unit, and therefore giving up his humanity in the process, was he able to become the legendary hero Hakumen.
• Enigmatic Minion: To Kokonoe at first, and then to Rachel.
• Evil Laugh: Japanese dialogue only, and tends to indulge in this a lot during moments of sarcasm. Obviously taken from Lelouch.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: He doesn't have any eyes on his mask. His armor instead sports them everywhere else, like his shoulders, chest and shins.
• The Faceless: Hakumen's never seen without his mask. And the one time he does remove it, his back is turned. Of course, it's entirely possible there's no human body in there at all, just Jin's disembodied soul.
• Face Palm: He does this when he loses due to Time Up.
• Failure Knight: What failure? See the Wheel of Fortune Drama CD. (Hint: I Let Gwen Stacy Die.)
• Fantastic Racism/Fantastic Slur: Jubei makes it clear that "Grimalkin" is not a polite term.
  • The Japanese version is a little more obvious about this, as it has him referring to Jubei and Kokonoe as "Bakeneko" or "monster/goblin cats".
  • "Grimalkin" itself is actually just an archaic word that means "old cat." (Or, more colloquially, a witch's cat) It's usually applied to female cats, though, which might be why Jubei takes offense to it but Kokonoe doesn't seem to care. Hakumen's just being sesquipedalian.
  • It should also be noted that Hakumen's use of the term for Jubei would appear to be mostly good-natured ribbing on his part (the two are old war buddies, after all), whereas (given his tone of voice) he has nothing but pure disdain and loathing for Kokonoe.
• Field of Blades: Possibly as a Shout-Out to Fate/stay night, one bonus art of the game depicts him standing on one.
• Fights Like a Normal: He may have the ability to cut time, along with the Power of Order, but in gameplay he does little more than swinging that long sword of his. Oh, and countering people's attacks.
• Flower Motifs: His attack names.
• For Great Justice: While he's more complex than just this, a strong sense of justice and the need to right wrongs for its own sake is still a large chunk of his motivation, especially considering how much he talks about justice. Hell, his Astral Finish literally means "to destroy evil".
  • He also commends fellow justice warrior Bang on his undying will, chastises Tsubaki for her flawed view on justice, and teaches a thing or two about it for Izayoi.
  • In CF, he gets called out on this by his fellow comrades; on what his "justice" had cost. Turns out they're just illusions made by Nine - but even then she also calls him out on it.
• Future Badass: He's one for Jin Kisaragi.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Its possible to play Hakumen as the unstoppable force that he is in the story, but not without difficulty.
  • Case and Point.
• Gate Guardian: Subverted, he serves as the first game's penultimate boss, challenging anyone who happens to find their way to the gate of the Cauldron. He doesn't actually guard the gate, he's just waiting for the gate to open, so he can enter it himself. Anyone else he meets is just unlucky to cross paths with him.
• Gone to the Future: He was sealed in the Boundary around 90 years ago and then gets (partially) pulled to the present timeline.
• Good is Not Nice: Pretty much.
• Good Old Ways: He uses archaic words and phrases ("How dare you interrupt me, Grimalkin!"), at least in the English dub. He's also polite enough to formally declare doom on most of his opponents before cutting them in half, and generally holds himself as a Knight in Shining Armor, going so far as to warn all of humanity that they'll need to reform or die. His status as a practitioner of the Good Old Ways is heavily subversive, though: not only is his Pride so intense it violates physical laws, but he dips into Knight Templar territory often. Oh, and he's actually from the future, not the past. Kind of.
• Good Wears White: Hakumen is the de facto leader of the Six Heroes who defeated the Black Beast. He wears white armour and is nicknamed the White Void. He appears as the Hero Antagonist of the game and is an Anti-Hero with Good is Not Nice tendencies, though he mellows out later on.
• Gory Discretion Shot: His Astral Heat.
• Green Aesop: Most of his motifs tend to revolve around nature, as well as Shinto religion. All of his attacks are named after flowers and seasons, his crest has the nine-taled fox in the center, he tries to discourage Kokonoe from relying on technology so much, and he strongly dislikes nukes, even moreso than the Black Beast.
• Guest Fighter: In Lost Saga.
• Guide Dang It!: Judgement: Squall (or Summer's Advance in CS) is unblockable if you delay it for the maximum period of time. The in-game description doesn't even remotely hint at.
• Heartbroken Badass: Losing Tsubaki when he was still Jin and then losing his brother were not exactly the happiest moments of his life. He also mentioned that his lost love (and his memories of her) drove his sword and will towards defeating the Black Beast.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Calamity Trigger, he temporarily calls off his feud with Ragna to deal with Terumi resurfacing, which inadvertently puts them on the same side.
• Hero Antagonist: In Calamity Triggger, on top of being one of the Six Heroes, Hakumen is the penultimate boss for most of the cast's story routes, good or not. He also has a grudge against the series' protagonist, Ragna, which makes him this.
• Heroic Sacrifice: CS reveals that he pulled off one of these in the past by having Jubei seal him along with Terumi.
• Heroic Willpower: To an absurd extent. Years inside the Edge failed to break his will, and it makes him Immune to Fate. In Calamity Trigger, he uses it to counter an attempt to teleport him by affirming his own existence. It's attributed to his Power of Order, much like Jin's.
• I Did What I Had to Do: It is implied that he doesn't actually like having to kill Ragna, being his brother and all, but stopping the potential Black Beast that he fears Ragna would be is his priority.
• I Hate Past Me: He and Jin are not known to get along often. Which is mostly due to the understanding that Hakumen hates the man that he was.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: His actions when he was still Jin cost Tsubaki her life and it's something he was never quite able to get over. His refusal to kill Izayoi!Tsubaki in CF, combined with the story he told her in CS, lead her to realize that Hakumen is an alternate Jin.
• Immune to Slapstick: He plays this, being a character entirely defined by his seriousness. For example, the first game only had him in a single scene in Tager's humorous route, but even then is not involved with any of the comedy. He's the only guy in the game (at least prior to CP) who lacks any kind of gag reel. He also never appears in others' gag reels (the one in Tager's is a robot copy made by Kokonoe). Ironically, he's an alternate version of Jin from another timeline, and he is used fairly often in several gag routes.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: While he's distracted by fighting Nu, Terumi stabs him in the back with a Hihirokane-powered Ouroboros and pulls out his soul to take back the Susano'o unit.
• Implacable Man: There really is nothing that can stop him once he sets his sights on a goal.
• "Instant Death" Radius: He can attack largely with impunity in the distance between his opponent's maximum melee reach and the end of his own BFS. This especially is true in Chronophantasma, where if the opponent isn't careful they'll be on the receiving end of an Overdrive combo, which have become notorious for giving him rather clutch victories.
• Invulnerable Attack: Made low-tier, at least in Calamity Trigger, by the conspicuous absence thereof.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hakumen is extremely arrogant and independent and refuses to be tied down by anyone, even if they're on the same side. But he does seemingly respect his comrades from the Six Heroes, particularly Jubei, and treats Tsubaki with the most kindness we've seen thus far.
• Katanas Are Just Better: His Nox Nyctores, Interfectum Malus: Ookami. Technically it's a Nodachi, not a Katana.
• Kiai: Is well known for shouting "ZEA!".
• Knight in Shining Armor: It's what he looks like, but he's more of a...
• Knight in Sour Armor: Because he's not exactly the nicest of characters despite being one the characters who helped saved the world in the backstory.
• Knight Templar: Hakumen is convinced the only way to save the world is to eliminate all sources of it's evil, namely Ragna and Terumi. No he is not open to alternative methods and will cut down anyone who opposes him towards this goal.
• Lag Cancel: Unlike most others, he can cancel all of his specials into another without using the Rapid Cancel. Then again, his specials do cost meter... unless you're in Mugen.
• Large and in Charge: He was the tallest of the Six Heroes and their de facto leader.
• Large Ham: Hell, 'Ham Nuke' is an anagram of his name, and kind of apt.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:As of Chronophantasma, his true identity is already known to several members of the cast. He's an alternate timeline version of Jin Kisaragi, brought forth into the future by falling into the Cauldron after Nu kills Tsubaki and merges with Ragna to become the Black Beast. Even the current Jin himself figures it out during the story. The only people who don't know and are relevant to the main plot are Ragna, Noel, and Tsubaki. However, Tsubaki finally realizes it in her Central Fiction Act 3 ending.
• The Leader: The first one to take the fight to Black Beast before the other five heroes, and is considered the de facto leader of the group. Which makes him the headstrong type.
• Leitmotif: SUSANOOH, yes it's spelled with all capital letters in the OST.
• Magikarp Power: Hakumen without magatama is just like anybody else. Hakumen with enough magatama becomes a terrifying power to behold.
• Man in the Machine: What remained of a mortally-wounded Jin following a time-jump into the past was placed into the Susanoo Unit by Rachel, and became Hakumen.
• McNinja: Of the Samurai variety. Despite his samurai-inspired look, he wasn't apparently born in Japan. He's the Brit Jin Kisaragi after all.
• Meaningful Name: Hakumen means "white mask" or "white face". It may also be a reference to the Hakumen Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune, which fits with his kitsune emblem and with his mask, which resembles a fox's face and ears. Further, when his long hair flares up in response to his power, it divides itself into nine tails.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Hakumen does not have a Heat gauge like the rest of the cast. Instead, he has a Magatama gauge which allows him to seamlessly cancel his specials and Distortion Drives into one another. Each special move and Distortion Drive requires a certain amount of orbs in order to use.
• Mighty Glacier: Rather slow in the leg, with his dash being a simple hop as opposed to a run, but as he gets enough magatama, he can start bombarding his opponents with a long string of strong attacks.
• Morality Pet: Tsubaki is this for him as she's the one he shows the most kindness towards. With a good reason: he already lost his own Tsubaki due to his conceitedness, and he has learnt from his mistakes.
  • CP gives him another one: Celica. He helps her when she gets lost and she tells him that some of what he's doing isn't entirely right.
• My God, What Have I Done?/My Greatest Failure: Hakumen has two instances of this, due to his former life as Jin Kisaragi.
  • In the Drama CD The Wheel of Fortune, after Jin got injured badly by Ragna, Tsubaki comes to his aid and literally pleads for him to stop fighting. Unfortunately, Jin's obsession with killing Ragna and stubbornness got the better of him, with Jin telling Tsubaki to "Get lost" and that "He doesn't need her", causing Tsubaki to lament those words in pure depression. This, in turn, drove Tsubaki to pull a Heroic Sacrifice, shielding Jin from Nu's stabs. For Hakumen, the death of Tsubaki in The Wheel of Fortune holds a lot... which explains his actions in one of Tsubaki endings in CS and the hatred he holds for both Jin Kisaragi (seeing himself as responsible for her death) and Nu/Lambda.
  • It's the (many) death(s) of Ragna... See This Is Unforgivable! below for the other.
• Multi-Slot Character: Hakumen is Jin Kisaragi thrown back in time and merged into the Susano'o unit. In this case, both are introduced as separate characters before the link is revealed.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: He does this a lot. Most notably, it shows up in both his Badass Creed (seen above) and in one of his win quotes:
  "I. Am. Hakumen! Do not forget that!"
• Mystical White Hair: Considering the Susano'o Unit is one of the ancient and unimaginably powerful Sankishin, Hakumen is pretty damn mystical.
• Named Weapons: His Nox Nyctores: Ookami. Which literally means "Howling God".
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Hakumen has yet to suffer more than a slight daze, even against people like Relius or Hazama. Which sort of makes sense because the Susano'o Unit is supposed to be completely indestructible.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He’s an Animated Armor Samurai Hero Of Justice.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: More of a no-nonsense Hero Antagonist, but still, he's portrayed as completely straight and serious and he'll stop at nothing to stop all evil in the world.
• Not Quite Dead: Despite Terumi attacking his soul with Hihi'irokane and taking the Susano'o Unit from him, it's shown that a fragment of his soul still survived and remains in the Susano'o Unit when Trinity seals it in the depths of the Boundary.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Inverted; he has the chance to kill Arakune but decides against it because Litchi is the only one who should.
  • Played straight with Ragna, seeing as how Hakumen's Jin and all.
• Order Versus Chaos: If you read Jin's folder on the last page, you should know why.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Like Terumi, he's a ghost inside that armor and the only thing tying him to the world is being observed by Rachel.
• Parrying Bullets: Hakumen can stop most projectile attacks with a well-timed slash from his BFS. It gets even better in the sequel; any time he hits a projectile, a void is created, which will stop all projectiles that hit it. Most of this has to do with Ookami's anti-magic abilities though.
• Pet the Dog: The only character he treats as an equal in the first game is ironically the resident Butt-Monkey, Bang. It helps that he, as Jin, in the Wheel of Fortune, never encountered Tenjo in the Ikaruga War, let alone Bang.
  • Shows vulnerability and kindness to Tsubaki, and apparently named one of his specials after her. Fitting considering who he was.
  • In spite of his hate for Jin, he does give him some encouragement if Jin does something right.
  • In the climax of CS, he decides to spare Ragna after he manages to save Mu without killing her.
  • In Mu's CS arcade story, rather than being hostile like he is to the Murakumo units, he questions her goals and is even disappointed to see how Noel ended up, seeing his slaying of her more as a Mercy Kill. Fridge Brilliance (and Tear Jerker) kicks in when you remember that in his timeline, Jin was a Cool Big Bro to Saya. He, unlike the current Jin, has no reason to hate Noel who out of the Murakumo units, looks like Saya the most.
  • In Platinum's CP arcade mode, Hakumen sincerely asks Trinity to go and rest while he takes care of Terumi. According to Trinity, people have been saying that Hakumen is actually a nice guy.
• Power Glows: Mugen/Infinity gives him a white glow.
• Power Limiter: Stated to be only at 20% of his full power due to the rest of it being left in the boundary, but is still one of the most powerful characters in the game, powerful enough to trash most characters. Which makes you wonder how powerful he really is once he reached his full potential. And we are not even counting his "Power of Order", yet. Damn.
  • In the novels, Ragna gets to meet the Dark War-era Hakumen-in-his-prime, and he's completely terrified of him.
• Power Nullifier: Ookami's power is apparently this, represented in-game by its ability to destroy projectiles and in-story by the fact that otherwise-immortal characters such as Nu, Arakune and Hazama are legitimately afraid of it. For good reason as it turns out, as he used it to permanently wipe Terumi from existence.
• Reality Warper: Small scale; as he's Jin, he possesses the Power of Order, which allows him to reject certain events through sheer force of will. Heroic Willpower above gives one such example.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives out one to Jin after defeating him in his CS story, which is extra poignant since its essentially Jin tearing himself down.
• Redemption Equals Death: Played With. He himself was never really evil, but he was a bit of a Knight Templar in his pursuit of justice and ridding evil of the world due to the guilt he felt at letting the Tsubaki from his timeline die. He finally makes up for that failure by Taking the Bullet for the present Tsubaki before she's skewered by a Brainwashed and Crazy Nu. Then Terumi stabs him while he's distracted and destroys his soul to take back the Susano'o Unit.
• Regenerating Mana: His magatama charge fills up automatically, and normal attacks and Drive moves speed up the process. His Overdrive makes it fill faster.
• The Rival: Among Ragna's most prominent antagonists behind Jin and Terumi.
• Samurai Ponytail: He has one although it’s unclear why a suit of armor would have hair.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Imprisoned in the Edge of the Boundary until rescued by Kokonoe.
  • Happens again at the end of Central Fiction where he is again sent to the Boundary so humanity can never abuse the power of the Susano'o Unit.
• Secret Identity Vocal Shift: Hakumen wears a full-body armor and a deep, echoing voice courtesy of the armor. His voice is actually much softer, courtesy of him being an alternate timeline Jin Kisaragi.
• Shadow Archetype: Towards Jin, pre-Character Development. Like Jin, Hakumen is also a hero revered by the world for his efforts in slaying the Black Beast and both are rather indifferent about it. They're also pretty big cases of Good is Not Nice. However, Hakumen fights out of a sense of righteousness and atonement while Jin mostly fought for himself and his own desires, something the former calls him out on in their confrontation in the second game.
• Sheath Strike: His Crush Trigger in CP uses his sheath to break the opponent's guard.
• Shoryuken: A kick version with his Hotaru (Firefly) move. It can beat almost everything in midair. His Unlimited version has a more powerful version of it, akin to Hazama's Serpent's Infernal Rapture.
• Shoulders of Doom: Another trait he shares with Justice. Interestingly, they look almost identical to Mu's.
• Signature Move: His Drive moves, as well as all of his Distortion Drives. He's also often depicted doing his j.214C special (midair quarter-circle backward + C button). It has Tsubaki's name on it.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Yukikaze works like this. Subverted in Overdrive as he adds a bit more slashes.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Tsubaki.
• Skewed Priorities: During Doomsday, he challenged Ragna to a fight while they were in the middle of stopping the end of the world. His justification being that Ragna became too strong and that he needed to end him before it was too late. After Ragna beats the sense into him and explains that everyone else became weaker, he tones this down.
• Smug Super: He reeks of this. And for good reason. He is the leader of the Six Heroes, who saved the world from the Black Beast. This seems to have gone to his head a bit (or it could be that he's monstrously powerful, and is fully aware of it). He uses a derisive tone of voice when speaking to most other characters, and many of his in-battle lines seem dedicated to mocking his opponent's inadequacy.
  Hakumen: A fight? No. This will be a massacre!
  Hakumen: Give everything, and you might live a little longer!
  Hakumen: What was that?! Don't tell me you call that fighting...!
• Soul Jar: Hakumen's armor contains Jin's soul, not his body.
• Starting a New Life: Before Jin started using the armor, Rachel stated that he'll become different from what he was. And then Jin used it, starting his new life as the would-be legendary hero, Hakumen.
• Stealth Pun: Japanese-only. His Badass Creed has the "I'm the just sword" part be written as "Ware wa jin" ("I am sword"). So that part can also be rendered "I am Jin."
• Stone Wall: His Counter Attacks allow him to be played this way.
• Story-Breaker Power: He doesn´t have access to even half of his full power right now ^*He's at about 30-40% at the moment., yet Hazama and Relius are still terrified of him. There wouldn´t even be a plot if he was at full power.
  • His Time Killer is all but referred to as such; It instantly kills anyone it hits by destroying the time between the moment they are struck and their future death, forcing the concept of death upon their very soul based on that one moment in time where the person can die. It even works on immortals. Though it's absurdly taxing on Hakumen and Izanami is immune to it because by all technicality, she's already dead.
• Straight Man: To the point where he's the only character in Continuum Shift without a gag reel.
  Kokonoe: "Man, he really needs to pull that stick out of his ass. Guys like him are a real pain for these gag routines."
• Super Mode: His "Kokujin Ougi: Mugen!/Empty True Sky Form: Light of Judgment" Distortion Drive. It requires all 8 magatama, and his meter will drain down slowly, but now he can use all his specials and other Distortion Drives without using any magatama. Combined with his Overdrive, it can give him an infinite magatama for the duration.
• Sword Beam: He has one for a Distortion Drive, Kokuujin: Shippu/Empty Sky Form: Summer's Advance (Empty Air Array: Hurricane) not unlike Jin's Touga Hyojin/Ice Wave Distortion
  • His Unlimited form has a more powerful version of the move, where he throws out 4 Sword Beams one after another.
• Sword Pointing: He does this to Nine in his CF arcade play after cutting through the Embryo to get to her.
• Take Up My Sword: Tsubaki inherits Ōkami in the epilogue to Central Fiction.
• Taking the Bullet: Near the climax of Central Fiction during a particularly vicious battle with Nu involving he, Ragna, Jin, Noel, and Tsubaki, Nu catches Tsubaki with her guard down and fires all of her swords at her. Just as it looks like history is about to repeat and The Wheel of Fortune is happening all over again, Tsubaki opens her eyes to see that Hakumen desperately threw himself in front of the attack and took it for her. While this wasn't fatal, it did succeed in royally pissing Hakumen off that he almost had to relive his greatest failure all over again. Then, in a bit of karma/payback, he soundly beats Nu.
• That Man Is Dead: In Continuum Shift, he has completely renounced the name "Jin Kisaragi", stating that it no longer has any meaning to him. Both Terumi and Nine use the name to mock him on at least one occasion each.
• Theme Naming: Japanese mythology, as well as flowers and nature. His Distortion Drives and Astral Heats also starts with "Kokuujin/Empty Sky Form" (Empty Air Array).
• The Tell: In his Act 3 Arcade play of Central Fiction, he looks for Izayoi and tries to convince her to kill Noel with her weapon, but she disagrees, unwilling to harm a friend. When Hakumen wins, Izayoi tells him that he can at least kill her and take the Zero-type Izayoi with him. Hakumen, normally tending to go through with shooting the dog, relents, saying that doing that would "repeat his original sin". This is what clues her to his true identity.
  Izayoi: Could it be... Are you... Jin-niisama?
• This Cannot Be!: He reacts with this trope when Jubei informs him that Terumi has returned, much to his own shock and disbelief.
  Jubei: I reckon it's Kokonoe who's trying to pull you out here... An' if she does, I'd be much obliged if you don't tell about me. I got my reasons.
  Hakumen: ... Then you have my word. But what has brought you here? What news do you bring of the outside world?
  Jubei: ... Terumi's back.
  Hakumen: What!? That can't be! It's impossible!
  • He also reacts like this in his Help Me, Professor Kokonoe session when he realizes where he is (i.e back at Koko's lab).
• This Is Unforgivable!: In The Wheel of Fortune, which tells the story of the timeline he's from, he (as Jin) screams this at Nu after she fatally injures Tsubaki using Legacy Edge after the latter had just let herself be stabbed in an attempt to protect him. The resulting hatred for Nu still exists even now, as evident by his reaction to Lambda in her Arcade Mode.
  • He also possesses similar feelings towards himself, particularly notable in his reactions with Jin, who is his past self. He believes that he brought nothing but pain and misery to those around him, and he especially can't forgive himself for killing his brother Ragna. At the same time, he knows that the Black Beast's revival presents a very real threat to all life in the world, and believes the best way to eliminate that threat is through Ragna's death. It's obvious from one of his endings in Calamity Trigger that the act of killing Ragna still fills him with immense grief, no matter how many times he's done it.
• Three-Strike Combo: His Exceed Accel goes like this.
• Tin Tyrant: Hakumen combines this with being a Samurai Robot. Unlike Justice however, Hakumen's armor houses his soul rather than his body. His original body was too broken to be of any further use, hence the upgrade.
• Tragic Hero: As Jin, his arrogance and obsession with Ragna led to the death of Tsubaki in his timeline and his humanity itself. He's very aware of it too, and it's the cause of much angst for him before his encounter with the present Tsubaki helped him make peace with himself.
• Übermensch: He lives according to his own idea of "justice" and rejects anything that doesn't fit in how he thinks the world should be. This is the cause of most of his clashes against the other "good" characters.
  I will define the world how I see fit. That will not change.
• Unstoppable Rage: In his bad ending in Continuum Shift has Terumi kick Tsubaki while she's down immediately after he just got done brutalizing her for Hakumen to see. Then he mocks Hakumen about Tsubaki's death in Wheel of Fortune with a great amount of detail. When this happens Hakumen's reaction goes from horror to completely losing it. No reciting his badass creed. No truth. No justice. Just pure, unadulterated hatred. Exactly what Terumi wanted.
  • This ending is a bit chilling in hindsight when Terumi tells Hakumen that hatred is all the Susano'o Unit needs. And he's absolutely right, having displayed that magnificently in Central Fiction.
    Terumi: Haha! Ehehehe... That's what the Susano'o is, isn't it?! All it needs is your hate! Justice? Love? Courage? Ha! Those don't mean shit! Just keep on hating, and keep pumping juice into that sucker!
• Wake-Up Call Boss: His Unlimited self in Calamity Trigger. If you are an inexperienced player, he will destroy you.
  • SNK Boss: If you thought he was bad in Calamity Trigger, Score Attack Hakumen in Continuum Shift is a nightmare, and Unlimited Mars Hakumen in Extend is a night terror.
• Warrior Therapist: Towards Jin, although he intersperses it with flat-out insults.
  • He'll occasionally be this with other characters in his Arcade Mode win quotes. Also, as Mu's Final Boss in CSII'a Arcade, he tries this at first, before concluding that she's too far gone. In CP he also acts like this for the brainwashed Tsubaki and later Izayoi.
• Western Samurai: Hakumen at first would look and sound like a traditional Japanese samurai, with not just the armor and sword but also the appropriate fighting style (only with a strange-looking helmet). Beneath that helmet, however, he's the Western (likely English) Jin Kisaragi - who is still this by himself, with his Iaijutsu Practitioner style. His decidedly Japanese name is because he's adopted to the family.
• What the Hell, Hero?: First to Rachel regarding her inaction, and then when he learns that Kokonoe has something like a hundred nuclear warheads restored to working order, he... doesn't take it well, since he thinks they're the only thing worse than the Black Beast.
• White Mask of Doom: This should be pretty obvious.
• The Worf Barrage: Much like the Immortal Breaker, the supposedly guaranteed One-Hit Kill Time Killer fails every time it is used. Terumi survives it, although barely, by Observing himself and Izanami flat out no sells it since she is technically dead and thus has no time for Hakumen to sever.
• World's Strongest Man: He is by far, the most powerful character in the cast (well until the introduction of Susano'o, which uses the exact same body). Even at ''a quarter'' of his full power he can defeat most of the cast. The only other beings considered in the same league as him at full power are other prime Six Heroes like Jubei (at Dark War), the "strongest living creature in existence", Terumi, Relius, Izanami, Onlookers, Ragna with the Idea Engine's limiter on the Azure Grimoire removed, and Azrael (likely at full power).
• Worthy Opponent: He seems to regard Ragna and, of all people, Terumi as this - if he defeats either of them, he gets mad at them for holding back. He also has some respect for Valkenhayn, Kagura Mutsuki and most interestingly Bang this way.
• You Remind Me of X: In Phase Shift 2, he tells Celica that she reminds him of Tsubaki due to them both having the same boldness in pursuing their goals.
• Your Days Are Numbered: In Chronophantasma, it's revealed that he's slowly fading away and states that he's at his limit that not even Rachel observing him would be enough to keep him around. It's a result of using Time Killer when not at his full power and of existing alongside Jin. This is also the reason that Trinity had to help him restrain Terumi when he and Hakumen were evenly matched.

Nu- 13

Nu -No.13-

If you know what's good for you, stay away from Ragna when she's around.

Profile

• Height: 155cm (5'1")
• Weight: 45kg (99.2 lbs)
• Blood type: Unknown
• Date of Birth: December 31, 2199
• Birthplace: Kagutsuchi
• Hobbies: Thinking about Ragna
• Values: Ragna
• Likes: Ragna
• Dislikes: Everything else

"From beyond the realm of souls and birth, I call upon the ur-sword to bring ruin upon my enemies. Perish."

Voiced by:
JP: Kanako Kondo
EN: Cristina Valenzuela

The Final Boss of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. Nu is a battle cyborg, called a "Murakumo Unit", sealed within the Sheol Gate. She's programmed to eliminate all who come near the Gate if they are unrecognizable. She disappeared in the second game and is replaced by her predecessor, λ-No.11-, but then resurfaced in the third game.

She is actually sentient and recognizes Ragna and switches her personality from Emotionless Girl to Yandere when conversing with him. She reveals that she's in love with Ragna and wants him to join her in destroying the world. When he refuses and breaks her heart, she suddenly becomes a mega-bitch and decides to take him by force. She wants to join with Ragna and become the Black Beast together and destroy the world. Her giant sword/armor device, Lux Sanctus: Murakumo, is also a Nox Nyctores. Her true purpose is actually to observe the Boundary and guard the Gate from all who try to enter it.

Her arcade mode playthroughs are named, the first and third games: the Calamity Trigger and CHILD PLAY. Her story mode playthrough in the first game is named Wish.

In the third game, her playstyle underwent a drastic change - Nu in CP becomes a style-switch character with two stances: Dia Forme, which uses Nu's moveset, and Luna Forme, which uses the moveset of her predecessor Lambda -11-. With the announcement that Lambda will be returning as a selectable character in a Fall update to ChronoPhantasma, it has also been revealed that Nu will lose her stance system, now being permanently in Dia Form.

Her Drive ability, Sword Summoner, lets her manipulate magical swords. Her Overdrive is called Unlimited Drive, which temporarily turns her into her Unlimited form and allows her to summon two of each sword at once.

In the fourth game, her Exceed Accel True Impreza has her launch a sword forward that stuns the foe in place. Then she summons a Storm of Blades above the opponent that hits multiple times. Her Astral Finish, Sword of Destruction, has her holding the opponent in place as she conjures a large magical sword that fatally impales them in midair, as an animated cutscene.

---

• All Just a Dream: Her arcade and story modes in ChronoPhantasma are exposition-heavy dreams.
• Apocalypse Maiden: She's the titular "Calamity Trigger" who, along with Ragna, is the true cause of the Black Beast in the past. Hakumen and Jin separately tried to stop them, though to no avail, at least until Noel saves Ragna in CT's True Ending.
• Artificial Human: She’s a Boundary Interface Prime Field designed to explore the Boundary. She was created using Saya as a base.
• Ax-Crazy: She doesn't have much sanity left after the agonizing circumstances surrounding her creation, which also isn't helped by her only memories being the time loops that always end with her death along with Ragna that caused them to fall into the cauldron and merge into the Black Beast.
• The Baroness: The Sexpot type appearance and age-wise but has the fear factor of the Rosa Klebb type.
• Become a Real Boy: Central Fiction shows that her emotionless Robo Speak tendencies are slowly fading away, and her Yandere side is becoming more dominant. She even shows a lot more emotion even when she's engaged in Robo Speak. Many characters, such as Nine, have noticed that she's beginning to act differently than how she used to. It's eventually revealed that because she has become more self-actualized now, with desires of her own, Noel can no longer recover the soul fragment of the Origin within her to fully reincarnate as Saya since Nu's personality has effectively overwritten and erased anything remotely resembling Saya. By the time she appears in Alternative: Dark War, she has fully grown into a new person, who barely resembles her former self having casted away her insanity and Yandere side.
• Become Your Weapon: She's normally separated from her weapon. In order to access her battle form, she merges with it. It's shown in a special sequence in her Battle Intro.
• Berserk Button: If you A.) hurt Ragna, B.) get in the way of her and Ragna, C.) are protected by Ragna, or D.) are a female in the same room as her and Ragna, she will KILL YOU. That's Yandere logic for you. Central Fiction adds E.) have the same existential bio-signature as Ragna without actually being Ragna, as Naoto can attest.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Like all Murakumo Units, Nu's existence was nothing but torturous experiments by callous, uncaring scientists who only viewed her as Just a Machine. Unlike her sister Lambda, she endured and survived the experiments... at the cost of her sanity.
• BFS: Her weapon's idle form is that of a giant sword, although she uses it more as armor. She does summon one in one of her Distortion Drives, and an even bigger one in her Astral Heat.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: You thought Nu's Yandere-ness for Ragna was the "limit" of her insanity? ChronoPhantasma kicks it up a notch: it turns out that doing The Masochism Tango with Ragna is the only thing she understands. She says that it literally saddens her to hear that Ragna is trying to save people rather than kill them, including herself.
• Bridal Carry: Ragna comes back out of the defeated Takemikazuchi with Nu this way.
• Brother–Sister Incest: With Ragna, due to the fact that she's a clone of his little sister Saya.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: By Hazama in ChronoPhantasma to the point she's acting just like she did in Calamity Trigger. In her ChronoPhantasma arcade mode she's trying to fight Hazama's control.
  • Happens again in Central Fiction when Terumi uses Mind Eater to make her go berserk after Ragna erases her memories of him.
• But Not Too Foreign: Being that she's a clone of Saya/Noel, who was born from the 5th Prime Field Device, implied to be based off of Saya Terumi, who is Japanese.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • In the drama CD The Wheel of Fortune. When she thinks Ragna is cheating on her with Tsubaki, she doesn't take it well. The reason she thinks Ragna is cheating? It's merely because Tsubaki is in the same room with Ragna, never mind that Tsubaki is holding Jin.
  • Her Win Quote against certain opponents in CF raises a few eyebrows:
    Nu (Against Noel): Disappear, go away go away go away go away! Ragna belongs to Nu... I won't let you have him!
    Nu (Against herself): Who are you? Ragna belongs to me... Now Get Out! of here.
• Clones Are People, Too: Double subverted. Yes, she has a personality, and yes, most of the heroes consider her human. But her personality is utterly insane and she's always under the control of villains who treat her like dirt. However at the end of Central Fiction she is still alive albeit near catatonic under the care of her "sisters", Noel and Lambda unlike most other villains, who are either dead or locked up. Also Alternative: Dark War shows that she eventually managed to both recover from her catatonic state and insanity along with truly growing into her own person.
• Corrupted Character Copy
  • She is this for Rei Ayanami, who she clearly takes cues from. Both are clones of a relative from the protagonist (Saya for Nu, Yui Ikari for Rei), were designed to be part of the creation of an Eldritch Abomination, have a blue and white Color Motif, were created by a Mad Scientist Archnemesis Dad to the Kid Hero (Gendo for Rei, Relius for Nu), and were made as tyke bombs for their respective big bads. However, once Rei Ayanami defrosts she's shown to be ultimately kind-hearted (if not necessarily the nicest at times) whilst Nu-13 is shown to be a batshit insane yandere and off the rocker underneath her emotionless exterior. Additionally, Nu's relationship with Ragna comes across as being toxic compared to Rei's relationship with Shinji. In short, she’s realistically what someone who’s lived Rei’s life would be in a more cynical world.
  • She's also a darker take on Yubel from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Both were driven into insanity by torture and came to believe that love is pain, thus gaining the desire to inflict pain upon their series' respective protagonists to show their love. However, while Yubel's reasons for doing so were motivated by a promise made in a past life and Undying Loyalty, Nu does it because that's her twisted perception of how relationships are supposed to work. Their goals for said relationships also start off similarly but have different outcomes. Yubel is willing to cause The End of the World as We Know It just to have Jaden/Judai all to themself. Nu wants the same thing, but she legitimately hates the world she lives in and wants Ragna to join her in destroying it by fusing with him to become the Black Beast.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Underneath her mask, her eyes are shadowed showcasing her insanity.
• Cute and Psycho: She looks like an adorable young girl (especially in gag reels) yet at the same time she is an insane yandere desiring the destruction of the world.
• Cyber Cyclops: In her armored form, her visor only has a single glowing red eye in the center.
• Dark Action Girl: The first and most prominent example in the series with her being the final boss of Calamity Trigger, who desires to kill Ragna to fuse with him into the Black Beast.
• Dash Attack: Her Act Parser Zwei moves in the third game, taken from Lambda-11.
• Deadly Hug: Done in the first game where most arcade endings involve her stabbing Ragna while hugging him and then bringing both of them down the Cauldron. Also done in her Astral Heat.
• Death Equals Redemption: Or not. Yeah, turns out her touching death scene with Ragna in Continuum Shift's True Ending didn't have much of an effect on her Yandere tendencies, judging by the third game.
• Death from Above: Her Calamity Sword DD summons a big sword from above to stab the opponent's head. Her Astral Heat is similar and uses a much bigger sword.
• Death Is Cheap: She has been killed twice now in the True Endings of the first two games, only to get brought back to life in time for the sequels.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Many of her attacks come in a bundle of weak hits and her combo can be fairly lengthy, thus you can expect this a lot.
• Double Entendre: When speaking to Ragna, her dialogue is filled to the brim with these.
  "Let's kill each other again, Ragna! [Celica] can watch, if you want... or we can make it a threesome! She'll have to go first, though."
• Downer Ending: At the end of Central Fiction she is left lying in bed in a near-catatonic state, not responsive to anything, due to a combination of Hakumen's savage beatdown and losing her memories of Ragna, the only thing that gave her life meaning. The chance of her making a real recovery looks very slim. Eventually subverted with Alternative: Dark War showing she managed to make a complete recovery although having denounced her identity as Nu.
• The Dreaded: Definitely the most feared thing aside of the Black Beast, Hazama or Relius. Even the characters who don't know her or see her Yandere side know that she's bad news when she appears. Well, except Taokaka and Rachel. Even Hakumen is wary of the danger she poses, due to his past.
• Driven to Madness: As highlighted in Villainous Breakdown, by the end of Central Ficiton, with Ragna having taken away her memories of him, all that's left is the trauma she has suffered for the past several time loops, which reducess her to that of a berserk, shrieking madwoman who just wants everyone and everything around her to die horribly. By the end, after Hakumen has beaten her to within an inch of her life and the world has been reset, Nu is left bedridden on the outside and dead on the inside, reduced to a catatonic, blank slate.
• Empty Eyes: Singular in this case; it occurs prominently in her default story sprite. Also has these in the epilogue of Central Fiction as she lays in bed near-catatonic.
• Empty Shell: As a result of the injuries Hakumen inflicted on her and losing the one thing that gave her life meaning, her memories of Ragna, Nu is reduced to this state in the end of Central Fiction. She is seen lying in bed, not responding to anything, in a near-catatonic state.
• Ethereal Choir: Her theme has one for an ominous feel. The remix adds children's choir to the mix.
• Evil Laugh: Almost every time Ragna is around, she bursts into maniacal laughter every chance she gets.
• Eyepatch of Power: Due to all the seithr pumped directly into her right eye when she was created, she wears an eyepatch that doubles as a Seithr Regulator over it. By the time of Alternative Dark War, she discarded it and wears bandages in its place.
• Fanservice Pack: This◊ is Nu in Calamity Trigger. This◊ is Nu in ChronoPhantasma. Her breasts are the most notable thing, but she looks far less childish in ChronoPhantasma than she did back in Calamity Trigger. In Central Fiction her bust gets slimmed down to around Noel's size in her character select art. Ironically, it's Lambda who gets the bust-up this time.
• Fetal Position Rebirth: Her CT arcade mode ending has her "waking up from her dream" like this. Later in CS, when Kokonoe's going to take Nu's soul from the Boundary, the soul is symbolized by her body glowing blue in this position.
• Final Boss: Of Calamity Trigger, in both the True Ending and everyone's Arcade modes (save her own, of course; curiously, Rachel serves as "final boss" to Nu).
• Flash Step: Her "Act Parser" special lets her cancel her Drive moves into a "phasing dash" that moves her forward quickly.
• Flying Firepower: Downplayed: She only floats, but "spam her Drive" (where she shoots swords everywhere) is pretty much her main way of attacking.
• Flying Weapon: Her trademark 8 swords, which forms wings on her back when not in use. She can command them to attack the foe in various ways.
• Fragile Speedster: She's fast, but has only 10,000 health.
• Fusion Dance:
  • It is explained in Chrono Phantasma that (completed) Azure Grimoire + Murakumo Unit = Black Beast. That also is what was implied when she tries to bring down Ragna into the Cauldron into the past, in both the first game and in Wheel of Fortune; meaning that the Black Beast that has done so much destruction in the past was actually those two fused together.
  • In the climax of Chrono Phantasma she fuses with Take-Mikazuchi to control it from the inside.
  • In Central Fiction, her desire is to have a "true merge" with Ragna by first collecting all the Nox Noctures.
• Gemini Destruction Law: Nu mentions that Ragna and her has a "life-link", which prevents either from dying unless both die at the same time. In Calamity Trigger's True Ending, Ragna was saved by Noel and Nu was left to die in the cauldron. Kokonoe was able to grab her soul from the Boundary and transfer it to Lambda's restored corpse. Even after Lambda was killed, Nu started regenerating her old body back at NOL headquarters.
• Glass Cannon: Damage potential is amazing, but has only 10,000 health.
• Gotta Catch Them All: In CF, Nu seeks to collect all of the Nox Nyctores to achieve a true fusion with Ragna. In the end, she only managed to obtain Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi's core, which she absorbed greatly increasing her power.
• Grapple Move: Her Astral Heat starts with this.
• Gravity Master: Her Gravity Seed special can confine her opponent to a specific point on the floor.
• Healing Factor: She can quickly recover from lethal blows. This is also what allows her to come Back from the Dead for the third game.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: If you consider Nu and Lambda to be the same, then in Calamity Trigger she's a villain, in Continuum Shift she's not and pulls a Redemption Equals Death Heroic Sacrifice, and in ChronoPhantasma she's back as a villain again. Justified because Murakumo units have their emotions sealed so can be controlled and thus reprogrammed. As of the Story Mode of CP she doesn't really have problems with Izanami ordering her around. In the end of Central Fiction, she's squarely on Face, now adopted by Noel and Lambda and recovering from her psychosis with her appearance in Alternative: Dark War showing that she hates her actions as a villain.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In CS, as her soul & memories are hitching a ride in Lambda's body, she gives up her life to protect Ragna from Terumi's attack, and uses her death to upgrade his fake Azure Grimoire with the Idea Engine Kokonoe installed in Lambda's body. This gives Ragna the power-up he needs to defeat Terumi and Mu.
• Hihi Irokane: Her armor is made of the substance. Unfortunately, it does little in way of defense.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Once a veritable threat, by the end of Central Fiction, she's been reduced to borderline catatonic Empty Shell under the care of her "sisters" Noel and Lambda.
• Human Weapon: She's often called a "weapon" or "doll" and is often used as such.
• Idiot Hair: Has a very noticeable one.
• Implacable Man: Nothing seems to faze her when she's trying to kill her target, which is helped by her life-link with Ragna essentially making her immortal.
• "Instant Death" Radius: Approaching an experienced Nu player (or even the AI) can be rather daunting considering she can attack anywhere from full to midscreen. In other words, the entire screen is her radius.
• Invocation: She does this whenever she uses her Astral Heat with it sounding like a Badass Creed:
  • "From beyond the realm of souls and birth, I call upon the ur-sword to bring ruin upon my enemies. Perish."
  • And "O' silver blade forged in the depths of the beyond, heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay waste."
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: This is Nu's default mindset in regards to Ragna. The years of enduring torturous experiments and countless time loops of being killed over and over again by Ragna have given her the warped perception that "pain, violence, and destruction = love". Thus, her love for Ragna only extends to how much he's willing to hurt her. Ragna insinuating he wants to save her literally saddens and angers Nu, as she equates that to him saying he hates her.
• Ironic Echo: Her words against Naoto on how he is not Ragna despite their similar existance mirrors Ragna's words on how Nu isn't Saya despite being her clone.
• I Will Find You: In CF she goes around looking for Ragna to become one with him. When she comes to the cauldron, she meets Naoto instead, who she senses like Ragna. This naturally sets her off badly.
• Laughing Mad: In the True Ending of CT she finally snaps and starts mocking Ragna's attempts to alter the timeline, saying that he "can't change anything". Granted, it's a very childish-sounding laugh, but it sounds like something out of Higurashi: When They Cry.
• Leitmotif: Awakening the Chaos, shared with Lambda. Although the remix version becomes more or less exclusive to Nu in Chrono Phantasma Extend.
• Long-Range Fighter: She is a zoner that can attack the opponent from a distance thanks to her Drive, Sword Summoner.
• Machine Monotone: Unless speaking to Ragna. As of CPEX this is beginning to fade in favor of more consistent pure anger, and as in Central Fiction everyone who knows her is taking note of it.
• The Masochism Tango: She thinks she's in this with Ragna, but that's only from her own warped perspective. This is reinforced by their "life-link" which means she can have herself and Ragna kill each other over and over again. The end of Chrono Phantasma has Ragna explicitly state that he wanted nothing more of their relationship.
• Monochromatic Eyes: In the true ending when she stabs Ragna the eyepatch comes off showing us that her eye underneath that is just a single color red with various hues. All of the eye, pupil, iris and sclera◊.
• Motor Mouth: At least when she speaks monotone showcasing her robotic nature.
• Moveset Clone: Chrono Phantasma Extend is the first time her and Lambda appear on the same roster, and thus this trope is in effect. Nu resembles her original self from Calamity Trigger, minus the mode changing function she had in the original Chrono Phantasma (i.e. the option to have Lambda's moves), and Lambda is based based on her Continuum Shift self and trades out one Nu's new CP move (the "Supra Rage" flip kick) for an entirely new move ("Exiga Nail", a combination sword-throw and angled jump away). In CF Nu also loses her Spike Chaser (changed to a new move, Luminous Slave^note A move where she creates a hole in space that fires multiple swords) while Lambda still has it.
• Ms. Exposition: After Ragna's fight with Take-Mikazuchi and him and Celica going inside it, they meet Nu. After some small talk she then gets to explain the circumstances of what happened in Ibukido's destruction, and in particular, its connection to Noel and her true purpose.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: In The Wheel of Fortune, when she thinks Ragna is cheating on her with Tsubaki because both are present at the Cauldron when she wakes up, she tries to kill her. She completely loses it when Ragna protects Tsubaki from her, badly injuring him in the resulting fight, then later stabs Tsubaki while she protects Jin... and following it by using Legacy Edge against her, saying that she "hates that girl."
• Mystical White Hair: She's got white hair and she's one of the Prime Field Devices capable of traversing the Boundary.
• Not Quite Dead: Her body was regenerating at the end of CS, and as of ChronoPhantasma, she's fully healed.
• Omnicidal Maniac: After perceiving Ragna's desire to save her as rejection, and discovering that another one of her sisters has cheated death like she did and is fully intent on stopping her, she now she just wants to destroy everything.
  Kill...kill kill KILLKILLKILL! EVERYTHING MUST DIE! I'LL WIPE YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH! YOU'LL ALL DIE!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Given that her Yandere personality constantly blares on all frequencies, it's really telling that she is reduced to ranting, cursing at and attacking Ragna out of actual anger near the end of ChronoPhantasma, rejecting the notion of being saved (or even saying that she wanted to be saved). Then again, it might be a part of her warped perception on what a "good" relationship feels like. Similarly, Naoto and Izanami sending her into a blind screaming rage, as detailed in Villainous Breakdown below, are signs of just how much more unstable Nu has become.
• Pick Your Human Half: Of the "looks human, acts robotic" type. Subverted when around Ragna. In CF, however, several characters note that she's grown more and more human. By the time of Alternative: Dark War, she has fully shed her robotic behavior.
• Post-Final Boss: She's technically the last fight of ChronoPhantasma, but she's fought after the plot has more or less been resolved. Notably, neither her nor Ragna are in their Unlimited forms unlike previous final bosses in the series.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Does this when facing a target or enemy:
  "Activate termination protocol."
• Psychopathic Womanchild: When near Ragna, her mental state regresses into this. It could also be thought of a literal example as she was born on December 31, 2199, making her two months old at most.
• Really Was Born Yesterday: She was outright born or rather completed and released on the day the events of Calamity Trigger transpired with her age by the time of Central Fiction being a few months at most.
• Red Baron: At least to Hakumen, who tends to make up names for people he doesn't like or are a legitimate threat in his eyes. He usually refers to Nu as things such as an "Abomination", "A Sword Meant To Slay God", etc. But it's also personal with him. And although nobody really refers to her with it aside from the title and her story, "The Calamity Trigger".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Both her normal eyes and her Cyber Cyclops eye are red and god help you if you’re standing in the way of her being with Ragna.
• Regenerating Mana: Her Unlimited self in CP has her Heat Gauge filling up automatically.
• Robo Speak: For most of the series, at least when talking to anyone besides Ragna. Subverted in Central Fiction, where she will switch between her normal Robo Speak, a threatening Creepy Monotone, Laughing Mad and screaming rage depending on what she’s saying^note She starts with her normal Robo Speak when preparing for combat, interjects with Creepy Monotone for more natural sounding demands or insults, starts Laughing Mad whenever she mentions Ragna even when not talking to him and goes crazy when fighting Naoto and Izanami.
• Robot Girl: A given for a Prime Field Device and a Murakumo Unit.
• Shoryuken: She has a new special move like this in CP which is a jumping somersault followed by her blades spinning around her.
• Shotoclone: In CP she becomes one with her new somersault special in addition to her Drive moves and projectile specials.
• Significant Birth Date: She was born on New Year's Eve representing her status as an Apocalypse Maiden, who will end the world upon fusing with Ragna into the Black Beast. It's also a week after the birthday of her predecessor and 'sister', Noel Vermillion, who was born on December 24th.
• Signature Move: Her Drive moves and her Legacy Edge DD.
• Sleep Cute: After Ragna defeated her at the end of CP and she goes unconscious, Celica mentions that Nu looks cute when she sleeps.
• Soul Fragment: Like all Murakumos, she carries a piece of Saya's soul inside of her.
• Space Master: Can manipulate the fabric of space to summon swords from anywhere she wants.
• Stance System: In the third game she can switch between Dia Forma (her original fighting style, emphasis on zoning) or Luna Forma (Lambda's fighting style, emphasis on rushdown). Averted in CPEX where Lambda is playable and thus she loses her Luna Forma.
• The Starscream: Terumi reprograms her to use as the "Sword of Izanami", only for her to break free of Hazama's servitude when she eventually learns that the world is having its way with HER Ragna.
• Starter Villain: The arch antagonist of Calamity Trigger, which is essentially just the prologue to the rest of the series with her defeat allowing the many villains to start their real plans.
• Storm of Blades: With her Drive and Murakumo Unit, she summons flying swords all over the playing field.
• Straw Nihilist: Her taunts include many allusions to the pointlessness or emptiness of all existence, leading up to "Everything...disappear."
• Speak in Unison: In CF, she and Noel say "commencing extermination of target" in unison. She and Lambda also share a "exterminating target" during Lambda's Arcade mode in CPEX.
• Synchronization:
  • Nu had a life-link with Ragna in CT, which is why she wouldn't die. She can only die if both her and Ragna die at the same time.
  • She also goes through a different kind of synchronization with Noel in CP, making her a proxy "Successor of the Azure" as well as making her talk like Noel as well, as part of Hazama's plan on using her ability as the "successor" to summon Master Unit Amaterasu.
• Theme Naming: Swords and blades. And brand names of cars.
• They Call Him "Sword": By being one of the Murakumo units (named after the Japanese legendary sword), natch. She's also called "Sword of Izanami" as of the third game.
• Third-Person Person: Always refers to herself as “Nu” when not engaged in Robo Speak.
• 13 Is Unlucky: But of course, she is model 13 and acts as the final boss and main villain of Calamity Trigger.
• This Cannot Be!: In ChronoPhantasma's final act, Nu is completely and utterly baffled when Ragna delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to her not only without any intent to kill her, but also without using the Azure Grimoire.
• Took a Level in Badass: While she was powerful to begin with, after absorbing Take-Mikazuchi's core, she becomes powerful enough to fight and defeat Hakumen and Jubei.
• Tragic Monster: All Nu really wants is to be with Ragna and does seem to actually care about him. Unfortunately, she's too insane to understand that her actions are wrong.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The catalyst for the Cruel Twist Ending in ChronoPhantasma is Nu literally backstabbing Ragna after he saved her. Then again, it is an Unwanted Rescue for her.
• Unwanted Rescue: Near the end of CP she expects to play "killing each other" with Ragna again, only to be disappointed when he says that he's going to save her. He reasons that what Nu told him and Celica just moments ago (about Ibukido's destruction and Noel's origins) implies that she wants to be saved deep down.
• Unwitting Pawn: She's this for Hazama in the third game, who makes use of her unstable and insane personality to control her.
• Valley Girl: She becomes this in Ragna's CS gag reel. Along with Talk Like a Pirate.
  Ragna: Nu, for the love of God! Either the valley or the sea! Just PICK ONE!
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • In Calamity Trigger's True Ending. Snaps immediately after Ragna steps in to protect Noel, and you can tell because she starts acting less cute and bubbly and more crazy and psychotic.
  • Happens again in ChronoPhantasma, when Ragna states he's going to save her rather than kill her, saying that Nu herself told him to do it. She completely flips her shit and attacks him not for the sake of The Masochism Tango, but out of pure rage.
    "Ragna, if you keep talking like that, I'm really going to kill you."
  • Has several of them in Central Fiction:
    • The first one is her becoming absolutely furious over how Naoto feels like Ragna.
      "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!! You're different! YOU'RE NOT RAGNA!!"
    • In her Act 2 arcade ending, when Izanami tells her that Noel is standing in her way to becoming one with Ragna. Nu is unsurprisingly pissed off and starts screaming that she's going to kill Noel.
    • And finally, she undergoes the mother of all breakdowns in the story mode, Having been beaten one last time by Ragna and having her one and only desire denied by him, all she can do in her last moments of being able to remember him is wonder if Ragna really hates her, and if the two will ever truly become one. Once Ragna takes away her memories, Terumi uses Mind Eater on her. Now left with no desires, no memories or emotional attachment to Ragna, and the only real memories she has left being all the trauma she has suffered for the past several time loops, Nu reverts to her base instincts, a berserk shrieking madwoman who just wants everyone and everything around her to die horribly. By the end, after Hakumen has beaten her to within an inch of her life and the world has been reset, Nu is left bedridden on the outside and dead on the inside, reduced to a catatonic, blank slate.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Don’t let her appearance (or her loving Yandere side or her more hilariously cute portrayal in the Gag Reels) fool you, her ultimate desire is to destroy the world and will do whatever it takes to accomplish this.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her agonizing experience surrounding her creation leads her to hate the world and desire its destruction.
• Worf Had the Flu: In act 1 of Central Fiction's arcade mode, Nu loses all the fights despite her strength with Relius even noting she is weaker than she normally is, and theorizes this comes from her soul growing more human-like.
• Yandere: In her profile data - Hobbies? Thinking about Ragna. Values? Ragna. Likes? Ragna. Dislikes? Everything else.
• You Are Number 6: Is designated Boundary Interface Prime Field Device –No.13-.

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