Heishiro Mitsurugi
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| Heishiro Mitsurugi | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Game series | Soul series |
| First game | Soul Edge |
| Voice actor(s) (English) | Scott Keck (Soul Calibur II) |
| Voice actor(s) (Japanese) | Toshiyuki Morikawa Wataru Takagi (Soul Edge: Version II) |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Age | 29 |
| Birthplace | Bizen, Japan |
| Birthdate | June 8, 1562 |
| Blood type | AB |
| Weapon | Katana |
| Weapon name | Korefuji (Soul Edge) Shishi-Oh (later games) |
| Fighting style | Tenpu-Kosai-Ryu Kai |
| Family | Inmediate Family (Parents and 3 brothers), taken by sickness |
Heishiro Mitsurugi (御剣 平四郎 Mitsurugi Heishirō?) is a fictional character designed for the Soul Series of fighting games. Mitsurugi made his first appearance in Soul Edge and has returned for all three sequels: Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III.
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[edit] Biography
Mitsurugi was born the 4th son of a farmer in Bizen, Japan; but after many years of seeing his home ravaged by war, he decided to become a samurai. Taking advantage of his parents' death at his 14th year, he took a sword and the name of Mitsurugi, which most loosely means "calm but deadly man wielding a divine sword". He went to train under the powerful warlord of the Murakami clan.
Mitsurugi was a powerful force on the battlefield, and rumors of him spread like wildfire, heralding him as the warrior that could mow down foes like fields of wheat. He received numerous military commendations and eventually reached the rank of officer in the Japanese armed forces. But all along, his only true desire was a worthy opponent.
After leaving the Murakami clan, Mitsurugi continued to fight in every war in Japan as a hired mercenary. It was during this time that he had learned of a new weapon that was said to be changing the way wars would be fought: the Rifle. He originally dismissed this weapon as a novelty, but he soon learned that it was capable of wiping out the Takeda cavalry. He sensed that the arrival of the rifle in common warfare would put him out of business. He decided that the only way to combat with this was to find a stronger weapon: the rumoured Soul Edge.
Unfortunately, Mitsurugi was unable to find any trace of the legendary "Hero's Sword" on his quest and began taking tasks that were largely meaningless to him in order to pass the time. One of these involved guarding a nearby Japanese castle for the night; and another of which involved aiding the Spanish Marquis Andre's force in laying siege on Sir Stefan's Ostrheinsburg Castle. In his frustration of finding no signs of Soul Edge, he returned home and challenged a man wielding the rifle Tanegashima to a duel, trying to prove that he didn't need the Soul Edge to beat the rifle. But he suffered an embarrassing defeat in front of his lord, forcing him to depart in shame on a second quest to perfect his swordsmanship so that he might eventually defeat the rifle. It was during this quest that he learned of the Azure Knight, Nightmare, who terrorized Europe with a sword deemed invincible. Nightmare's trail eventually disappeared, but Mitsurugi was unwilling to give up.
Four years later, Mitsurugi stumbled upon the trail of Soul Edge while vising a castle in Xiwei (present-day Xi'an), where a mysterious dying man, after being saved by him from a gang of assassins, handed him a shard of the cursed blade. Although skeptical at first, Mitsurugi accepted the gift. Soon afterwards, an incident occurred in which a servant of the Emperor of Ming marched to the castle, demanding the "Hero's Sword," and was slain when he refused to leave without it; Mitsurugi sensed that war was coming, but Soul Edge meant nothing to him. He had crossed countless battlefields, defeating every conceivable enemy, even those with rifles. What had once been his greatest enemy was none of his concern, as it no longer proved to be a threat. His only concern was with finding an opponent stronger than himself.
It was at this time that he was suddenly attacked by unknown forces, but he fought off all of his attackers quite easily. They were after the fragment the man from Xiwei had given to him; and judging by their outfits, they appeared to be ninja, with a sword technique he found strangely familiar. They reminded him of Taki, who had interfered every time he had drawn close to the Soul Edge. His thoughts drifted, wondering what was happening in Japan at that time, and whether or not he could receive a final showdown with Taki. He decided to return to his homeland.
By this time, the Sengoku period had ended, and the powerful feudal lord, Oda Nobunaga, was dead. The leaders of the states were now faced with the decision of whether or not to align with his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The Murakami clan in particular, with whom Mitsurugi stayed upon his return, refused to join with mainland Japan, choosing instead to protect their existence as fierce pirates and rulers of the sea. But their resistance caught the attention of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and a final stand was about to ensue.
Since Mitsurugi could find no trace of Taki, he decided to aid the Murakami in the battle. A nighttime raid commenced. The ships clustered together and rode the tide in to charge the enemy fleet - the traditional secret strategy of the Murakami. The battle began, and Mitsurugi stormed enemy ships like a hurricane. This combined with the Murakami's naval prowess allowed for swift victory, and Mitsurugi was decorated for his service, gaining an invitation to meet with the Murakami commander. The commander engaged him in long conversation, mentioning rumors of a warrior clad in azure armor appearing from the west and boasting the strength of a god. Mitsurugi looked up in surprise, realizing that this must be Nightmare, whom he had lost track of before.
Mitsurugi bade farewell to the Murakami and ran to a nearby port, giving all of his reward money to a boatman, demanding that he be taken west. He needed neither money nor fame, only the satisfaction of a fierce battle in which his very soul would clash against his opponent's; and that battle, he concluded, would be found in Nightmare.
[edit] Weapons
Korefuji
The first katana Mitsurugi used. It was a common katana (in the old Soul Archive, it's referred as a Tachi). After he lost against the Tanegashima in a duel in front of his lord, he becomes dissatisfied with it and cast it aside, changing it with Shishi-Oh.
(Note: Soul Calibur II's Weapon Gallery states that Korefuji was confiscated by the feudal lord after Mitsurugi's loss, and after his death it went missing).
Shishi-Oh
During the intense training that he followed after his defeat in front of his lord, Mitsurugi became dissatisfied with his old katana Korefuji and replaced it with Shishi-Oh, a katana with a wider blade. With this blade Mitsurugi perfected many new sword fighting moves to defeat the rifle. Shishi-Oh means "Lion King" in Japanese.
[edit] Stages
Pirate Fortress (SE)
The castle owned by Noto Murakami and the Settouchi Pirates (also called the Mori Sea Force). This castle is built on the whole island, and act as a port and a barrier in the seas. It also supplies pirate ships between raids. Mitsurugi comes here seeking a boat to the mainland.
Takamatsu Castle (SC)
Mitsurugi was a trusted mercenary in the base of Mori's Murakami Navy on Noshima Island. Mitsurugi had been assigned to defend Takamatsu Castle at the front line of the Mori Army. Takamatsu Castle was centered in a marshy area and, due to its geographical features, considered impossible to seize. However a clever and resourceful Hideyoshi Hashiba constructed a 3-kilometer bank surrounding the castle to stop the flow of water causing the Ashimori-gawa river to flood the region. Everything hung in the balance and thus, without fear or hesitation, Mitsurugi climbed aboard a raft and, facing an onslaught of arrows, rushed into battle.
Xiwei Siege Ruins (SC2)
Xiwei, positioned near the west border of the Ming Empire, was a vital stronghold for maintaining the empire's western territories. Tragically, when the Emperor believed the castle was hiding the Hero's Sword from him, he dispatched an army to seize the castle. Ultimately, the citadel was destroyed. Sadly, the army failed to find the sword in the rubble of the stronghold. Was Soul Edge, known in this region as the Hero's Sword, really at Xiwei? Or was this place destroyed due to a misunderstanding? No one can answer these questions now.
(Note: Mitsurugi shared this stage with Xianghua)
Battle in the Strait (SC3)
The Murakami Navy became famous during Japan's warring states period. But when the country was united under Hideyoshi Toyotomi and he issued his proclamation against piracy, they were slowly robbed of their power. The final resistance put forth by the Murakami forces of Noujima was met by the Kuki Navy, who had suffered in the past at the hands of the Murakami. Both sides fought fiercely in a series of sea battles. While originally holding the advantage, the Murakami forces of Noujima were eventually pressed back by the Kuki forces. The Kuki forces were backed by Hideyoshi, the effective leader of Japan, and in the end, the Murakami finally yielded. In the records of this conflict, one can find the name Heishiro Mitsurugi. At the beginning of the conflict, he had supported the Murakami forces.
[edit] Character Analysis
In Soul Edge/Blade, Mitsurugi ranks among the high-tier. He has an over-strong gameplay that works best when used close and aggressive. His short combinations can be ended either low or mid, forcing the enemy into a guessing game. Once Mitsurugi closes on the enemy, he can turn the battle at his favor with his strength, speed and variety of set-ups. Still, he has mid ranged attacks and runs short of combination attack, so he's best on quick and short combinations up-close and mind games with the different heights of his attacks.
In Soul Calibur, Mitsurugi's strengths are better used in an aggressive form of play. Mitsurugi is very strong and fast, and has a great poking game. Mixing his b,B and f,B,d and A+K attacks will not allow an enemy to close in; and his kick attacks are, mostly, quick and ranged. His stances are also excellent, especially his Relic stance because of his quick execution attack and unblockables. Mitsurugi can use the transition from his stances to avoid certain attacks, allowing for a quick retaliation. Mitsurugi has a somewhat lack of good juggles, though the sheer strength of his single hits sort of makes up for it.
In Soul Calibur II, Mitsurugi is considered to be a mid-upper tier character. His strengths include a strong wake-up game, quick attacks, and very high damage potential through combos. His weaknesses are that he does not possess a wide variety of mixups - although a player can create his or her own opportunities for mind games. He possesses a total of four stances, the most useful of which is his Mist stance.
One of his trademark moves is Obedience (kB). By pressing down right before Obedience (kB2) hits, the player can trade damage for frame advantage, meaning a faster recovery time than the opponent. This allows for a wide variety of mind games for the initiating player.
In Soul Calibur III, Mitsurugi is often seen as an upper tier or top tier character. He has very good damage potential, if not much better thanks to his safe launchers and stuns, in addition to retaining many of his best attributes from previous games in the series while gaining 88B [G]22, one of the best variable cancel exclusive moves in SC3, providing frame advantage and pushout on block, massive damage on hit, and next to no recovery. One of his new moves, 214AAA, provides a powerful and effective wake-up tool since its three hits are unblockable and works incredibly well to strike opponents who try to rise from the ground. This along with his 2K,B (one of the deadliest wake-up game tools in SC3) form the core of his deadly wake-up game. Mitsurugi lost a bit of flow and cancels in his attacks, in return for better aggressive play with rewarding mixups, damage and wakeups. Because of his mixup potential and the potential damage he gets, Mitsurugi can stand his ground against even the top tiers, as he falls short of their standards due to lacking cheap moves (without 88B VC factored in), safe and abusable mixups, and very high combo potential.
[edit] Trivia
- Mitsurugi is based off of the real-life samurai Miyamoto Musashi, famed for his amazing skill and lack of defeats.
- In some nations, where samurai and ninja characters are banned in video games, Mitsurugi is replaced by a character named Arthur. Other than being a British "knight," Arthur is essentially Mitsurugi with blonde hair and an eye patch; the samurai outfit and katana blade remains unaltered.
- In the early designs of Soul Edge, Mitsurugi is depicted having twin katanas, which might be an inference to Miyamoto Musashi's infamous style of swordplay: Niten-Ryu which teaches one to use two swords at once. He is seen dual-wielding katanas again during both his Soul Calibur III Endings.
- Mitsurugi's Ending in Soul Edge is special in that the player has to beat a rifleman in a one-hit first-person fight. Whether or not he is succesful determines the ending.
- Mitsurugi, along with Taki, makes an appearance in Namco x Capcom as a playable character.
- In Soul Calibur III, Mitsurugi's weapons and fighting style are available under the discipline Soul of Mitsurugi to characters created under the Samurai class.
- Mitsurugi's nickname in Soul Edge is "The Lone Swordsman" and in Soul Calibur "Mercenary in the Wartime Age". He also has several story-wise nicknames, like "Demon", "One-Man Army", "The Guardian in this Age of Civil Guard" and "The Great Swordsman".
- Mitsurugi's Destined Battle in Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur II is Taki, in Soul Calibur III his Destined Battle is Setsuka.
[edit] Series' Appearances
- Soul Edge
- Soul Edge: Version II / Soul Blade
- Soul Calibur
- Soul Calibur II
- Soul Calibur III
- Soul Calibur III: Arcade Edition
