| Kuroudo Akabane | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical Information | |
| Kanji |
赤屍蔵人 |
| Rōmaji |
Akabane Kurōdo |
| Also known as |
Dr. Jackal |
| Basic Information | |
| Gender |
Male |
| Physical Information | |
| Hair Color |
Black |
| Eye Color |
Violet |
| Height |
6'4" (193 cm) |
| Professional Information | |
| Occupation |
Transporter |
| Debut | |
| Voice Actors | |
| Japanese Voice |
Nobuo Tobita |
| English Voice |
Shannon McCormick |
| Image Gallery | |
Kuroudo Akabane (赤屍蔵人 Akabane Kurōdo) is a major reoccurring character in GetBackers. His is also known as Dr. Jackal. He works as a "Transporter" ("hakobiya" in Japanese), a person paid to escort things to a certain location.
Character[]
This page contains spoiler
With his formal attire, consisting of a dress shirt, black tie, fedora hat and suit coat, polite manners and ever-present smile, he could be mistaken for a harmless person.
For those who have even remotely heard of his name, it is known that Dr. Jackal is possibly the most "evil" Transporter ever to play his trade. Entertainment, not money, is his main goal; he is mainly a hedonist and the jobs he takes are chosen exclusively for his own amusement. He likes to decapitate his enemies while engaging them in battle. His other habit is to cut up anything between him and his goal, whether man or beast. Early in the anime, Ginji Amano notices that several of Akabane's victims have the letter J carved into them, a clear reference to Akabane's alias. In his own words, he is a "consummate professional."
History[]
It has been revealed that he used to be a real doctor/surgeon. He actually used to save lives when he served as the doctor on a battlefield. While on a stint in a foreign battlefield, he failed to save a young boy's life despite his efforts. His current personality could have been influenced by this event. He would battle the young boy's father, Semimaru Kanade, in the Kiryuudo arc.
Kyoji Kagami refers to Akabane as "Babylon City's Kuroudo Akabane", so it is safe to assume he was, at one point, a resident of the upper towers. His reason for leaving is never revealed but it may be that he was bored. Akabane states that his motives are to find someone who can test the limits of his power - something he himself has never seen.
Akabane's first encounter with the GetBackers was when he was on duty in the "Platinum" arc who fought with Ginji Amano and lost when Ginji discovered that Akabane hid his scalpels within himself and used electromagnetic powers to pull them out of Akabane. Afterwards, Akabane simply left, telling Himiko Kudou that he was no longer interested in the job since he had lost blood and felt compensated for his time. Since then, he has shown a lot of interest in fighting again with Ginji and Ban Mido, even if they are supposed to be on the same side, for the sake of seeing their true power.
Later, he assigns the GetBackers to do an unlikely job: to retrieve Himiko for him. The significance of this occurs only to Ban, who understands that Akabane is actually sent by the Professor, to begin a string of events that will ultimately led to challenging the curse that Ban has to face: the Voodoo Child.
In the "Get Back the Lost Time" arc, he was hired by Hevn to transport her to Babylon City. Along the way, he picked up an injured Paul Wan and held off attacks from Kyoji Kagami. Later, he was to challenge Ban to a seemingly final battle and tells Ban himself during this fight that he admits that with all of his opponents in the past Kagami, Masaki Kurusu, Semimaru Kanade & even Raitei himself, he could never show his true strength as a whole and asks Ban as he attacks to teach him what the true Akabane really is at his peak.
Both men fight until their last and Akabane eventually loses, Ban collapses shortly after in pain and Akabane comments how "Midou-kun" has finally seen his limit but luckily for him, he too has seen his own limit and thus his lowest point. Blood sprays outwardly from Akabane and he disappears as his trademark hat covers the view point's perspective. In the anime, Ban is the one who prevails in their final duel, although that fight takes place under different circumstances as compared to the manga.
Although it was first assumed in the manga that Akabane had perished with his final battle with Ban, it was soon revealed that Akabane had in fact survived, having implanted a surgery scalpel into Ban's chest as a "final favor", given to Ban for allowing Akabane to see his own limits. Akabane later explained to the Specialist that, as having Ban disappear would be a pity, he attempted to fool the Archive by faking Ban's death just long enough with the scalpel, delaying Ban's disappearance from using his fourth Jagan, for Ginji to reach Babylon City and resolve anything, thus saving Ban from disappearing.
Soon after the encounter with Ban a different version of Akabane (赤羽蔵人) awaits Ginji, Teshimine & Makubex atop of the Infinity Castle inside the gates of Babylon at the entrance, although this version is dressed like a real doctor. Akabane promptly tells Ginji he has been "chosen" as he welcomes him to the town of the "creators" Babylon City.
In his first encounter with Ginji Amano, Akabane was defeated because Ginji drew all his 108 scalpels out of his body via magnetism[1]. Upon their second meeting, Akabane reveals that he has changed his weapons into non-magnetic ceramic scalpels, rendering Ginji’s winning strategy completely useless. This also shows that Akabane is a quick learner and manages to grow stronger to keep up with his opponents.
Akabane’s fighting style is difficult to describe but it mainly relies on his usage of the scalpels which he hides in his entire body and actually forms them from his blood. He furthermore relies on his terrifying speed which usually leaves the readers just staring at people being cut to tiny pieces while it appears as if Jackal hasn’t moved at all.
Another considerable feat of Kuroudo Akabane is that he once was cut up so badly by an opponent that he died. Ginji was lamenting about how out of all people he had to find such a death when Akabane suddenly opened his eyes again, facing a stunned Ginji. When asked why he wasn’t dead, Akabane replied that he “has never thought about his death, therefore he can’t die.” Thus said, he stood up and left[2]. So he can seemingly come back from the dead simply because he can't imagine himself being dead. On another note, part of his power is being able to negate enemy powers by simply stating that he can't imagine those powers being true.
Also, during the 'Lost Time' arc, he was shown to be able to use his bloody sword to cut a path through dimensions in order to get Paul Wan and Hevn to safety.
When he fought Masaki Kurusu, who controls light, his blood dripped on Masaki’s shadow which was created by the light waves Masaki controls, essentially allowing Akabane to assimilate and adapt the light control ability. He could now control “shadow” and extend it at will, use it to bypass defense and attack inner organs or engulf the opponent to rob him of his senses.
Akabane, during his final battle with Ban in the manga, also conjured a "Bloody Lance" to deliver a deathblow to Ban. However, at the last second, Ban cracked the lance, and Akabane chose to revert back to his Blood Sword to finish the battle. Prior to this, Akabane also defended himself from Ban's attacks with a "Bloody Shield", consisting of sixteen of his scalpels seemingly held in place by a psychic barrier.
Power and Abilities[]
Kuroudo Akabane is one of the most powerful characters in the series. He is also arguably the most dangerous character, as he often does not hesitate to kill his opponents in an instant, and his kill count far surpasses any other character in the series. Because of this, most people would prefer to avoid a fight with him. While Akabane has three records of getting defeated and being dealt mortal wounds, he is immortal and he can return from the edge of death.
Superhuman Speed[]
Akabane is one of the fastest characters in the series, and speed is one of his signature traits, often said to be equal alongside with only Ban Mido and Kagami Kyoji, . When it comes to speed comparison in the series especially by Himiko Kudo, Akabane's name is always mentioned. When the GetBackers Ban Mido and Amano Ginji first met Akabane, Akabane could close up a distance of about 10 meters and move behind them in less than a second. When fodder enemies foolishly face Akabane, they don't realize that they had been sliced and killed until a few seconds later. In one instance, someone as strong as Kazuki Fuuchouin admitted that he could not see Akabane's killing moves. When Ban was mellowing one second against the I.L. clients and the ambush of the Manji brothers, Akabane killed them almost instaneously before Ban could even react. When the GetBackers was spying on the ship carrying the Lost Arms of Venus de Milo, Ban had a short clash against Akabane, everything happened so quickly that Ginji did not manage to see Akabane's signature letter "J" slicing behind Ban's back. When Lucifer and a weakened Kagami received a stab from the back, they did not notice Akabane was around beforehand.
Power[]
Akabane possesses enough power to cleanly and easily slice up his enemies and even guns and steel beams. He can match Ban's snakebite's power when they clashed hand to hand in grip. He is also shown to be able to casually carry a huge bear that is much bigger than him. His accuracy is also very high, as he is able to match every single sharp end of his scalpels to every single sharpest end of the broken mirror shards against Kagami, as they fought while moving swiftly.
Weapon and Blood Ability[]
Akabane mainly uses surgical scalpels to slice up his opponents, or deliver stab wounds by throwing them at the enemy. After his defeat against Ginji, he changed the material from steel to a non-magnetic ceramic-titanium alloy. His usual fighting stance is clutching and holding four scalpels in one hand. When he gets serious, he uses the Bloody Sword instead of his scalpels.
His special ability is the usage of his own blood, and there are several unreal feats he can do with his blood. He claims that anything that mixes with his blood becomes his weapon. For example, he is able to seemingly dissolve and hide 108 scalpels within his blood, and quickly return the scalpels back at will from his hands. When he inhaled and got sliced up by Kagami's Diamond Dust particles, he was able to gather all the particles from his blood to prevent further damage, and even created diamond scalpels out of them.
Techniques[]
- Signature "J" Slice: this technique is unnamed, but Akabane often uses this scalpel technique to slice up his opponent's body in a big letter "J" fashion, signifying his alias "Dr. Jackal". Even the blood splattered can form the letter "J" on the wall.
- Bloody Sword: Akabane creates a long reliable sword made from his own blood, switching up from using his usual scalpels to enhance his reach and offensive capability.
- Bloody Shield: Akabane can seemingly create strong force barriers by summoning scalpels held in a circular fashion. He can also hang the scalpel circular shields in mid-air. They are shown to be strong enough to block Masaki's regular light attacks, and even the Raitei's huge plasma attacks.
- Bloody Lance: Akabane can also create a very long lance from his own blood. He did so in the final arc in the fight against Ban, which is meant for super long range and specialized for a high offensive purpose in one hit.
- Bloody Rain: It is a technique where Akabane launches a lot of his scalpels into the air, aiming for them to fall pointing at an area where he predicts or forces his opponent to be at several seconds later.
- Bloody Cross: By laying his palm outwards which has a cross-like scar, delivering a huge force that causes his opponent to be cleaved into 4 quarters like the cross.
- Bloody Sagittarius: Akabane shoots out several scalpels into his enemy, like powerful arrows.
- Bloody Stream: Akabane can release a lot of scalpels from his blood in midair, heading towards his opponent in one directional stream-like fashion.
- Bloody Hurricane: In the anime only, Akabane can hurl his scalpels to form a hurricane around his victim leaving no chance of escape before impaling them into the victim's body.
- Bloody Avatar: After Akabane gets damaged by Kagami's mirror clones, he is able to use his spilled blood to see to Kagami's mirror clone effect and create the same number of Akabane clones.
- Bloody Darkness: After Akabane gets hurt by Kurusu Masaki's huge devastating light attack, he is again able to use to his spilled blood to deliver a similarly large devastating attack across the hall to Masaki, but it is made of darkness instead of light.
Transcendence and Immortality[]
As a transcendent in the GetBackers world, Akabane is given special powers and incredible fighting powers by the Infinity Fortress' Archiver. By not be able to imagine that he can die, Akabane is practically not capable of dying in the GetBackers world. He is also not able to imagine that is an object that can cut through anything, which renders Masaki Kurusu's light daggers unable to cut through his scalpels even though they are suppose to be able to cut through anything. Akabane also exists in a different flow of time, which means that he may have existed for a long time without aging. Understanding the nature of the world and the Infinity Fortress, he is unfazed by the chaotic crumbling virtual reality in the Infinity Fortress and he can even create a safe path of road from the Lower Town directly to the Beltline. While Beltline would normally sap strength, stamina and health from a person, Akabane is immune from that effect.
Intellect[]
Akabane's intellect is high. He is able to analyze his opponents' abilities and level of skills quickly, and see through simple bluffs made by Mido Ban. His fighting instuition is high, as he was also able to see through MakubeX's virtual reality and determine the real Amano Ginji amongst the virtual reality versions. Despite not knowing about Ban's Evil Eye firsthand, he quickly realized that something was off when Muguruma was under the Evil Eye, and Akabane was able to snap Muguruma out of the illusion. As a former skilled surgeon, Akabane also knows very well about the human anatomy. He was smart enough to figure out about Ginji's heightened powers within the Infinity Fortress, and also the nature of the Infinity Fortress all by himself.
Relationships[]
Akabane's decapitating, dismemberment and general murder of opponents is a practice that many other characters see as going too far[3]. Indeed, other characters, notably Ban and Ginji, do not like him because of his tendency to eliminate all obstacles.
Ginji[]
Ginji became extremely fearful of him when Akabane told Ginji that he could change the material of his scalpels into non-magnetic substances and thus render Ginji's winning strategy in the first fight useless. Often, Ginji will turn chibi in Akabane's presence, which Akabane seems to find amusing[4]. He takes great pleasure in teasing Ginji with suggestive comments and veiled threats, as well as appearing behind Ginji if the latter flees[5].
During one chapter in the Kiryuudo arc, after he is severely wounded and thought to have been killed, Ginji became quite empathetic towards Akabane's supposed corpse, asking why he (of all people) had to die like this after everything they had been through, until Akabane literally rose from the dead and left everyone in astonishment. Ginji asks why he is not dead, to which Akabane replies "I have never thought about my death, therefore I can't die." Ginji proclaims that the good thing is that he is alive after all, to which Akabane questions if it truly was a good thing while smiling truthfully for the first time shown in the series.
Kyoji Kagami[]
The slit in Akabane's hat was inflicted by Kagami during their first fight[6]. Before this, the hat was whole. He has been compared with Kagami for a few reasons. His black clothing contrasts Kagami's white outfit. Both men came from Babylon City, are polite to others, boast incredible speed and are purple-eyed. In their first fight, the sight of his scalpels clashing against Kagami's glass shards, together with the smiles both men flashed at each other, made for some eerie similarities[7]. In their rematch, both men managed to find ways to duplicate themselves - Kagami by using mirrors and Akabane by using his blood.
The Professor[]
He had been seen with the Professor several times, a hint that he might be one of those responsible for the series of events concerning the GB duo, though he denies this when the Professor questions him.
Battles[]
Quotes[]
"Well, as I told you before- to me, a job's only value lies in the amount of enjoyment I get out of it. Don't spoil my fun, all right?"[8]
Trivia[]
- Akabane's first name Kuroudo is written with the characters for "warehouse" (蔵) (kurou) and "person" (人) (to/do). Combined they create the a vocabulary word that directly translates to "keeper of imperial archives," though more commonly translated as "chamberlain." It has a secondary meaning of "brewer" (of beer or sake).
- Akabane is written "red" (赤) (aka) and "corpse" (屍) (kabane).
- The alternate version of Akabane in Babylon City reveals to Ginji Amano that he is a surgeon and his surname is written as "赤羽". These Kanji are "red" (赤) (aka) and "feather" (羽) (hane/bane), in which the new name may possibly be translated as "red wings".
- Hazama from BlazBlue possesses a similar appearance to Akabane
- Akabane came 2nd in the results of a popularity poll that appeared in volume 14 of the manga with 3369 votes.