| Tsukune Aono | |
|---|---|
| Rosario + Vampire character | |
Tsukune Aono, from the anime and manga series, Rosario + Vampire. |
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| First appearance | Manga Chapter #1 Anime Episode #1 |
| Created by | Akihisa Ikeda |
| Voiced by | Japanese Daisuke Kishio English Todd Haberkorn[1] |
| Profile | |
| Age | 15–16 17 (Season II) |
| Species | Human, later Vampiric Ghoul |
| Notable relatives | Koji Aono (Father) Kasumi Aono (Mother) Kyoko Aono (Cousin) |
Tsukune Aono (青野 月音 Aono Tsukune) is a fictional character in the Japanese anime and manga series, Rosario + Vampire. The male protagonist, he is an average, ordinary human boy who is somehow accepted into a school of monsters, and despite the danger it entails for him, he remains on campus, with one of his motivations for staying being Moka Akashiya, the vampiric, female protagonist of the series. His Japanese voice actor is Daisuke Kishio, and his English voice actor is Todd Haberkorn.[1]
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Tsukune Aono is a young man who has failed all of his high school entrance exams. With no options left for him, his parents sends him to Yokai Academy. Upon arriving there however, he soon discovers that it is a special school for monsters and demons alike, and any human who discovers its existience will be killed. Fearing for his life, he later meets Moka Akashiya, a beautiful girl who turns out to be a vampire. Soon after he becomes friends with her, he soon learns from her that she hates humans. After revealing his secret to Moka to the latter's shock, he then decides to return to the human world, but relents at the last minute when he comes to rescue her from a bullying student, stating that he really likes her and wants to become her friend. Soon after the misunderstanding was cleared, he decides to stay at Yokai Academy regardless of the impending danger that awaits him.
Though considerate and polite, Tsukune is a gentle person even though there have been many instances where he has been put into dangerous, life-threatening situations (many of which are due to enemies whom he later befriends), he has never held a grudge against anyone. Tsukune's selflessness and courage comes to the foreground, whenever he or someone from his group of friends is faced with the possibility of injury, or even death. Though powerless, he has the tendency of throwing himself into danger to ensure the safety of his friends. As the series progresses, this habit becomes extremely dangerous—the enemies he encounters are so powerful that he frequently comes close to dying. Ironically, this leads to a situation where he calls upon "his own" supernatural abilities (originally from Inner Moka) as well as the concealment of his human identity from much of the student body.
However, as the series goes on, he gains popularity through his kind and quiet personality and his victories over strong enemies (although at first Inner Moka is the one who defeats them). Eventually he becomes stronger and more recognized, as seen when he is elected class president (against his violent protests).[2]
Tsukune's infatuation with the kind-hearted Moka often results in him letting his guard down, long enough for her to bite him on the neck and imbibe his blood. While it saps him of energy for nearly the rest of the school day during the first few times, after subsequent instances, it feels more of a playful, affectionate gesture from her (in the anime, this is personified to the viewer as a kiss). In reality, Tsukune will do anything for Moka, even if it means putting his life in danger. Occasionally, his relationship with her, the most beautiful girl in the school, results in other girls on campus falling madly in love with him, while most of the male student body can barely restrain their anger and outrage against him.
As a human, Tsukune has no significant traits. Instead, he relies on his ability to take off Moka's rosario, releasing her true vampire state, and have her fend off opponents. Thus far, he is the only one who can successfully do so (although Moka can also achieve this, albeit with life-threatening consequences and the destruction of the Outer Moka's personality).
This all changes when Tsukune, having been mortally wounded during his battle with Kuyo of the Protection Committee, is injected with (Inner) Moka's vampiric blood. Aside from the natural, regenerative properties given to him by the injection, Tsukune is also granted temporary superhuman strength, superhuman speed and agile reflexes. At the same time, he undergoes similar physical changes: brighter hair and red eyes containing slitted pupils—a super-vampire's signature trait.[3] Unlike Moka, Tsukune does not develop another personality, keeping his consciousness intact, though he initially develops memory loss.[4] Physically, he is as powerful as, if not more than, Moka, and since he is human, holy water and other vampiric-related weaknesses do not affect him. Another, albeit unintended, advantage to this transformation is it keeps Tsukune's human nature from becoming public, as humans are significantly much weaker than Tsukune is in this form.
Naturally, this transfer is not without its drawbacks. When Moka injects her blood into him, her own strength is diminished due to lack of blood circulation in her body, but more importantly, Tsukune's body cannot handle the influx of vampiric blood without suffering any after-effects. After multiple injections, his body reaches a breaking point. Moka's bite marks on his neck do not disappear and he begins to suffer from continuous pain and disorientation. He is warned by Inner Moka that further injections will most likely cause his body to break down and die, and that his best option is to leave the monster world altogether.[5]
When Inner Moka was facing off against Kusabi Mido of the Anti-Schoolers, Tsukune is fatally injured trying to protect her, causing her to inject him with her blood in an attempt to save his life. However, his already-weakened body was overwhelmed by the blood's power, resulting in his transformation into a Ghoul. In this form, Tsukune resembles a vampire with silver/black (it varies) hair and red eyes, as well as black flame-like marks that spread across his body from the bite marks to his face. As a Ghoul, he possesses strength equal to a super-vampire and extreme regenerative powers, yet water, a vampire's greatest weakness, does not affect or weaken him. However, this transformation came with a heavy price: Tsukune lost all rational thought, becoming a mindless, killing machine driven by a pure, uncontrollable desire to shed blood, and unable to distinguish friend from foe. Being super-vampiric berserkers, Ghouls are nearly impossible to kill or control, and only an opponent of equal or greater strength has a chance to restrain them. As a result, the creation of a Ghoul is considered one of the gravest crimes in the monster world, and they are to be eliminated quickly and on sight.[6] Also, Inner Moka has stated that his transformation into a Ghoul has also marked him as dead.[7]
Fortunately, Tsukune's life is spared and he is given a second chance. Tenmei Mikogami, the Academy's Chairman and an exorcist, provides a way to suppress his ghoul nature, allowing Tsukune's personality to return. With the help of a "Holy Lock" worn around his wrist, it acts in a similar fashion to Moka's rosario, sealing away his Ghoul powers and personality. Wearing it prevents him from using his powers, and keeps his human consciousness, if not his humanity, intact.[6] However, the lock is not meant to fully seal away the ghoul personality, but to suppress it; Tsukune still carries its innate thirst for blood—more specifically, for Moka's—and is seen downing multiple bottles of water to control it.[8] Even the sight of blood makes him momentarily lose control and attempt to bite her. However, Tsukune manages to control his thirst and has not consumed any blood or harmed Moka.
Eventually, Tsukune learns to access his powers at will, though temporarily. Doing so causes one of the many links on the lock to fracture. Additionally, whenever he finds himself near death, the vampiric blood in his body automatically activates, causing all the links to break at the same time and reverting him back into a ghoul. Tsukune is able, if provoked, to turn into a vampire with a similar transformation to Moka's,[9] but if he stays too long in this state, he will succumb and revert back to his ghoul state.[10] Fortunately, Tsukune's ghoulish nature can still be stopped with the support of a monster seal barrier spell.[10] Later on, per instruction from Mikogami, Ruby trains Tsukune to control his abilities using Belmont, a magical whip that unlocks a yōkai's full potential.[11] Moka also teaches him to detect other yōkai that are close by, a sense that is only possessed by other vampires.[12]
In the second serialization, after failing to protect Moka from the organization Fairy Tale and her stepsister Akua Shuzen, Tsukune requests Tohofuhai to train him to become stronger, which he suggests the "Human Modification Technique of Death". The technique allows Tohofuhai to inject 109 needles containing his energy around Tsukune's body and allow his body to reconstruct into a yōkai form. Tohofuhai explains the needles sew up and reconstruct Tsukune's human cells and forms a channel that amplifies the energy. After the 108th needle was inserted, the Holy Lock keeping Tsukune's personality intact was broken, causing him to turn into a black and bulkier demonic form with wings sprouting from his back, bearing white hair and fangs, and spikes protruding from his arms.[13] This is undone when Kurumu distracts him with a kiss long enough for Tohofuhai to complete the technique with the 109th needle, thus modifying his body properly.[14] Following the operation, Tsukune can now use some of Tohofuhai's techniques, shown when he defeats oncoming Fairy Tale members with a single punch to the ground. He has also shown amazing feats of superhuman strength and endurance, being able to withstand the force of a thrown pillar several times his size by Fairy Tale's leader Gyokuro.[15] Tsukune also gains some physical changes as well, such as having black hair and heterochromia (his left eye is light purple, while his right eye is blue), as well as having strange markings on his arms which glow whenever he is using his techniques.
In the first anime adaptation, Tsukune is given Moka's blood and is able to access vampire powers on one occasion, moving much faster than Inner Moka.[16] While it is unknown if he has further abilities, if any, the same display of superhuman speed is shown in the final episode of Rosario + Vampire Capu2 when he faces off against Issa, though not as potent as he is in the manga.[17]
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