Kuroudou Akabane
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| Kuroudou Akabane | |
 Volume 33 manga cover |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher |  Kodansha |
| First appearance | Manga Act 3 Part 2; Anime Episode 3 |
| Created by | Yuya Aoki |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Kuroudou Akabane |
| Team affiliations | Transporters, Babylon City |
| Notable aliases | Dr. Jackal |
| Abilities | Vast intelligence and superhuman speed, 108 surgical scalpels, Bloody Cross, Bloody Hurricane, Bloody Lance, Bloody Rain, Bloody Shield, Bloody Stream, Bloody Sword |
Kuroudou Akabane (赤屍蔵人 Akabane Kuro'udō, sometimes romanised as Kurodo, Kuroudo or Kurodou) is a fictional character in the manga / anime series GetBackers. In the original Japanese version, he is voiced by Nobuo Tobita, with Shannon McCormick voicing him in the English dub.
Akabane came 2nd in the results of a popularity poll that appeared in volume 14 of the manga with 3369 votes.
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[edit] Characterization
Kuroudou "Dr. Jackal" Akabane works as a "Transporter" ("hakobiya" in Japanese), a person paid to escort things to a certain location. 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.
But 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."
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 Kuroudou 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.
[edit] Appearances
His first encounter with the GetBackers was when he was on duty in the "Platinum" arc. He fought with Ginji 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 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 Kudo 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 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, Semimaru & 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 wins in the final hit and defeats Ban, 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 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.
The version of Akabane in Babylon City reveals to Ginji that he is a surgeon and his last name is actually written as "赤羽". The first part "赤" means "red", and "羽" means feather or bird. So the new name may possibly be translated as "red bird".
[edit] Abilities
Akabane's primary weapons are 108 razor-sharp surgical scalpels which he can hurl with deadly accuracy. Although the GetBackers initially believed that he simply concealed the weapons beneath his flowing clothes, when Ginji incinerated them in their first battle it became apparent that Akabane actually conceals the scalpels within his own body. The scalpels appear to be an extension of Akabane - although he rarely chooses to manipulate their movement once thrown normally, he has displayed the ability to summon them back into his body from a distance. His most spectacular use of his scalpels is in his "Bloody Rain" attack, where he will launch all of the weapons into the air and direct them to rain down on a single target. Another of the many uses is that he can hurl his scalpels to form a hurricane around his victim before impaling them into the victim's body, a move he calls the "Bloody Hurricane". He has used it once in episode 32 on Ban. He can also throw his scalpels directly at the opponent, which is known as the "Bloody Stream".
Other unique powers include the "Bloody Cross" - by laying his palm outwards which has a cross scar, a cross-like pattern will appear, and cause his opponent to be cleaved into 4 quarters as though they were sliced by a cross-shaped knife. So far, he's only used it twice: against Kagami (who survived by letting his mirror double take the hit) and Kanade (who was later nailed to a tree with Akabane's scapels and stuck there until Kaoru Haruki healed him).
The precise nature of Akabane's power is not defined. When he battled Kagami and inhaled some of Kagami's Mirror Dust (Diamond Dust in the anime), he promptly coughed up the deadly mixture and shaped it into a pair of diamond scalpels. This would suggest that anything which mixes with his blood becomes part of his weapon. Consequently, it would be safe to assume that Akabane actually generates his weapons out of his own blood - that certainly appears to be the case with his massive "Bloody Sword," a weapon he will summon only if he feels an opponent is worth it. If nothing else, he would not be able to literally conceal the sword within his flesh, the way his scalpels were originally suggested to be hidden.
All this, combined with a surgical mind and great speed, make him one of the most feared men in Ura Shinjuku.
While the manga presents Akabane's sword and scalpels as being ordinary-looking, physical weapons, the anime opts instead to illustrate them as glowing constructs that seem to be made of energy. His scalpels commonly glow white, but turn red when he uses his Bloody Rain, Cross, Hurricane, or Stream. Also, his Bloody Sword is always red, manifesting in his hand as a sword of energy.
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.
Every time Akabane reappears in the manga, his hair and coat increase in length, and his hat brim grows outward. Also, his abilities seem to grow exponentially.
[edit] Relations with other characters
His decapitating of opponents is a practice that many other characters see as going too far. Indeed, other characters, notably Ban and Ginji, do not like him because of his tendency to eliminate all obstacles. He tends to flirt with Ginji a lot even though he said he really liked Ban, saying that he felt he had "cheated on him".
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. He takes great pleasure in teasing Ginji with suggestive comments and veiled threats, as well as appearing behind Ginji if the latter flees.
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. The slit in Akabane's hat was inflicted by Kagami during their first fight. 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. In their rematch, both men managed to find ways to duplicate themselves - Kagami by using mirrors and Akabane by using his blood.
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.
Interestingly, despite his reputation, he has helped the GetBackers and the rest of the crew out a lot. He even saved Hevn's life twice.
[edit] Production
Akabane's English voice actor, Shannon McCormick, has revealed in the commentary of episode 5, the fight between Akabane and Ginji was jokingly referred to as the "Battle of the Shannons", since both voice actors have that name.
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