Captain Bravo

The '' Buso Renkin'' anime and manga series features an extensive cast of characters created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The series takes place in the fictional Ginsei City, Japan, where a boy named Koshaku Chouno is creating alchemical monsters known as homunculi. During a night, Kazuki Muto, an ordinary boy, is killed by a homunculus, while trying to save Tokiko Tsumura. Feeling guilty, Tokiko, a member of the Alchemist Army, revives him by replacing his heart with an alchemical device called kakugane. The kakugane allows its wielder to form a buso renkin, a special weapon that is the only thing that can destroy a homunculus. With his own buso renkin, Kazuki decides to join Tokiko in the fight against the homunculi. Over the course of the series, they also must to defeat the L.X.E, a group consisting of human-type homunculi, as well as Victor, an entity most powerful than the homunculi.

While developing the series, Watsuki was influenced by his previous works, mostly by '' Rurouni Kenshin'' from which he drew references to the main characters; Kazuki and Tokiko were conceptualized after Makimachi Misao and Himura Kenshin, respectively. Films such as '' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' and '' Brotherhood of the Wolf'' also served as source of inspiration, as well as American comics. Reviewers called the characters generic and also criticized their designs. The main characters divided critics' opinion; Kazuki and Papillon have received both praise and criticism, while most of praise was towards Tokiko, who also was voted as the most popular character of the series by readers.

Creation and conception

Watsuki based ''Buso Renkin''s characters and fictional elements on his previous works. He conceptualized Kazuki while imagining Makimachi Misao, and Tokiko was designed as a feminized version of Himura Kenshin from '' Rurouni Kenshin''. From the same series, Yukishiro Enishi and Yukishiro Tomoe served as inspiration for the Hayasaka twins; Inui Banjin and Otowa Hyōko for the homunculi Kinjo and Jinnai. Shusui Hayasaka's buso renkin, "Sword Samurai X", refers to the English name of ''Rurouni Kenshin''. Watsuki declared that Buster Baron is a "reincarnation" of the Armor Baron from ''Gun Blaze West''. In addition, Victor's buso renkin is named after the '' X-Men'' storyline of the same name.

Watsuki has drawn many references from films. He choose the Kazuki's weapon as a lance because he watched '' A Knight's Tale'', and thought it was "cool". '' Brotherhood of the Wolf'' served as the inspiration for Silver Skin, which is based on the main characters' outfit, and for Victor, which is based on a Native American. Moonface's replication ability is based in '' Matrix''s Agent Smith. The name " League of Extraordinary Elects" was based on '' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen''. The submarine buso renkin was inspired by the ''Nautilus'' from Jules Verne's '' Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea''. The term for the human followers of the homunculi, "familiars", comes from the human disciples of the vampires in '' Blade''. Gekisen, the buso renkin of Genji Ikusabe was based on '' Hollow Man''.

Characters

Main characters

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:A 16-year-old boy who was killed by a homunculi when trying to save Tokiko Tsumura. When Tokiko replaces his heart with a buso renkin to revive him, he decides to help in the fight against the homunculi and is later asked to be an Alchemist Warrior by Captain Bravo, which he accepts due to his will to protect his sister Mahiro and his friends. His buso renkin is , a spear-lance; it has a cloth that turns into energy which allows to be used as propulsion or as a blinding light.

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:A 17-year-old alchemic warrior. Seven year prior the series events, all the people in her school except for her are killed by homunculi, and she is rescued by Mamoru Sakimori. As such, she is serious almost all the time. The incident also left her with a scar, which could've been removed using alchemy, but she decides to keep it as a reminder of her will to fight. Her buso renkin is , a set of executioner scythes attach to her thighs and controlled via her synapses.

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:A 19-year-old genius student. He is deathly ill with an unspecified disease, and learns about the process of making homunculi through research notes from his great-great-grandfather, experimenting with various animals first. Later, he turns himself into a human-type homunculus and renames himself . He murders his family but is subsequently killed by Kazuki. He is later revived by L.X.E., and wants to fight Kazuki once more; he is first prevented because he is still ill, and then because Kazuki is being chased by the Re-Extermination Squad. To prevent Kazuki's death, Papillon re-creates the white kakugane using Alexandra Powered's research. He and Kazuki finally have their showdown, but in the end he loses to Kazuki, who refuses to kill him again. His buso renkin is , a black gunpowder that can assume any form—usually that of butterfly wings as they're a reflection of his soul—and be detonated remotely.

The Alchemist Army

In the manga, with the exceptions of the three new members (Kazuki and the Hayasaka twins), all members of the Alchemist Army, including Tokiko, have their names annotated exclusively with katakana (e.g. ), while all other characters have theirs regularly with hiragana. Tokiko's family name, Tsumura, was annotated with hiragana (as ) for the first two volumes, however.
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:His real name is and is Tokiko's commanding officer. He abandons his name after not being able to save all people in the Tokiko's school. Ordered by the Alchemist Army, he tries to kill Kazuki twice, as he fails in the first attempt, but he later defends Kazuki from Sekima Hiwatari, using his buso renkin to protect both of them. His buso renkin is , a protective outfit that covers all of his body except for his eyes and hardens into a regenerating metal when struck.

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:A rookie among the alchemic warriors. Prior the series start, he trains with Tokiko, developing a devotion to her. At first, he is jealous of the relationship between Tokiko and Kazuki, but starts to admire Kazuki, declaring him and Kazuki only "rivals in love". He cooperates with Kazuki and Tokiko as they try to escape from the Re-Extermination Squad, despite being first designate for this team. He also help Tokiko in their last mission to defeat Papillon. His buso renkin is a pair of gear-shaped chakrams that has a variety of applications ranging from close-to-long range weaponry to increased mobility for Gota himself.

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:An alchemic warrior chief. He is a Captain Bravo's former teammate who worked in the failed mission to stop a homunculi group to kill an entire school along with Shosei Sakaguchi and Chitose Hateyama. Hiwatari is the leader of the Re-Extermination Squad, a team commissioned to kill Kazuki, and composed of him and six other subordinate alchemic warriors. Hiwatari's buso renkin is , a napalm bomb that allows him to manipulate flames.

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:The Great Warrior Chief in Alchemist Army's branch in Asia. He is a Captain Bravo's former teammate who worked in the failed mission to stop a homunculi group to kill an entire school. He interrupts Hiwatari attempts to kill Kazuki, proclaiming that kill Victor is a priority. Shosei's buso renkin is , a gigantic knight-like robot that can materialize a scale version of buso renkin used inside it.

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The Re-Extermination Squad is a team led by Sekima Hiwatari and commissioned to kill Kazuki. The group is composed of , another of Captain Bravo's former teammates, her buso renkin is called , a radar that also can teleport objects; , a shy girl whose buso renkin, , is a gas mask capable of mixing all gas-type elements into either poisonous or explosive mixtures; , a combative man whose buso renkin, , is a spear that heals any wound it's wielder suffers; , an androgynous boy whose buso renkin, , takes the form of a belt which fires out balloons that can shirnk and seal people within them (manga) or multiply themselves when destroyed (anime); , a quite yet stern man whose buso renkin, , is a ninjatō that creates pathways to another dimension when it cuts a solid object; and , a man whose buso renkin , is a pair of mechanical military dogs commanded by a flute.

L.X.E

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:His real name is and is Koshaku's great-great-grandfather. He is also the non-declared leader of League of Extraordinary Elects (L.X.E.), a group of humanoid homunculi; apart from Papillon, he is the only one who can create hommunculi, but he attributes the L.X.E leadership to Victor. His knowledge of alchemy is coming from Victor, who, in exchange of teaching Bakushaku, asks to be healed. He owns , a shapechanger platinum-white colored chaff buso renkin. In its scattered form it confuses the senses of direction and distance, in addition to jamming electronics. In its concentrated form it causes hallucinations.

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:Twins who are kidnapped as children and kept in an apartment's room by a woman whom they believe to be their mother. When the woman dies, they are found by police nearly dead from starvation and taken to a hospital. When their real parents refuse to accept them, they run away to live on the streets, and are eventually found by L.X.E. They join L.X.E. as "familiars" seeking to have themselves turned into homunculi to live together for etenerity. Armed with kakugane provided by the L.X.E., they fight Kazuki and Tokiko but are defeated, and nearly killed by Tokiko but for the intercession of Kazuki. After the L.X.E.'s ruin, Ouka works for Papillon to keep Kazuki alive and Shusui helps in the fight against Victor. Both joins the Alchemist Army in its last mission to defeat Papillon. Shusui is a kendo master, and his buso renkin is , a sword that absorbs energy and releases it through the cord. Ouka's buso renkin is , a set consisting of an eponymous autonomous robot, a bow, and a gauntlet; the latter can create a special arrow that can absorb a target's injury and transfer it to Angel Gozen's wielder.

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:His real name is and is the closest L.X.E. member to Dr. Butterfly. He finds the Hayasaka twins while walking along with Butterfly and is always talking to him. He is a moon-shaped-head man who possesses , a buso renkin that allows him to create up to 30 slightly different copies of himself (in imitation of the 30 different phases of the moon).

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:The former leader of the Alchemist Army and is the main antagonist of the series. A century prior to the series' events, he is severely injured by a homunculus, and his wife, Alexandria, creates the black kakugane to revive him. However, Victor loses his self-control and kills everyone in the lab, as well as injuring his wife, who becomes a brain in a vat. He escapes from both the Alchemist Army and the homunculi led by his daughter Victoria, who is forced to become a homunculus, and goes to Japan. There he is healed by Doctor Butterfly. Victor's buso renkin is , a gigantic battle axe that is capable of manipulating gravity.

Other characters

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:Kazuki's sister.

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:Victor's wife a century ago, who creates a black kakugane to revive her husband after he's severely injured by a homunculus. However, she ends up as a brain in a vat after being injured by Victor.

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:Victor's daughter a century ago, who was forced to become a homunculus and chases after him.

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:A character from the PlayStation 2 video game ''Buso Renkin: Yōkoso Papillon Park e''. He is Kazuki and Tokiko's son, who as a teenager travels back in time to stop a plot by Moonface. His buso renkin is , a trident-like buso renkin.

Reception

Leigh Dragoon of Sequential Tart qualified the characters as "completely forgettable" and said they lack of personality, citing Mahiro "could be portrayed as a piece of paper". Dragoon said Kazuki "seems like a direct lift from ''3x3 Eyes''s Yakumo ujii, and Tokiko and " Rei Ayanami without the interesting attached", respectively. Similarly, Michael Aronson from Manga Life stated "all he charactersfit familiar roles". Later, Aronson named the character's dialogue as the series "strongest suit", but criticized how Kazuki and Tokiko "only act as bland foils". Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network (ANN) qualified Kazuki "a non-entity", and the remaining characters "human-shaped gags". Writing for ANN, Luke Carroll said the character designs are "a rather uninspired affair". Kimlinger said the designs are "so generic that they'd shame a dating sim". A reviewer of ''The Star'' declared "the manga's antagonists are quite weak and one-dimensional" and that it is "difficult to take Papillon Mask seriously." In the same vein, Carlo Santos of ANN criticized the designs, mainly the villains who "slides right down into lame", saying "who would even want to cosplay Papillon?", and comparing Moonface to a scary McDonald's campaign. The "overblown" villains "soon start to become old hat" and "irritating", according to UK Anime Network's Andy Hanley. Although praised Papillon's backhistory, Mania's Chris Beveridge criticized his design and called him "a very quirky and weird character".

Conversely, Patti Martinson wrote for Sequential Tart that the characters "are distinctive and interesting", and ''The Star'' reviewer called the character ''Buso Renkin''s "saving grace". Kazuki was said to be a "very likeable hero" by Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood, who also stated Papillon is the "most memorable" villain of the series. Carroll said Tokiko "is the best of the bunch", while Kimlinger, who praised her "an oasis of feminine strength in a genre more remarkable for its monster-bait femmes", declared it is one of few characteristics that distinguish the series from other '' shōnen'' fighting series. Active Anime's Sandra Scholes praised the character's illustration as well as called Kazuki and Tokiko "wonderful couple". Hanley said he only "feel a little empathy" for Kazuki and Tokiko in later episodes, while Beveridge praised Papillon taking "an amusing role" in those episodes. The supporting cast was also praised; Aronson cited there are "interesting personalities", while Beveridge said they "help it out immensely", and Kimlinger stated that they "so clearly outclassed its main character." The addition of Re-Extermination Squad was praised by Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime who called they "interesting". At the end of the series, Ellingwood praised how Watsuki did "a fabulous job of covering ..the various characters, juggling them effectively".

In the ''Buso Renkin'' official popularity poll conducted by '' Weekly Shōnen Jump'', Tokiko was elected the most popular among the manga fanbase. Kazuki ranked second, Papillon ranked third, Bravo ranked fourth, Shusui ranked fifth, Mahiro ranked sixth, Gouta ranked seventh, Angel Gouzen ranked eight, Ouka ranked ninth, and Moonface ranked tenth. Two of the major villains, Victor and Dr. Butterfly, ranked 15th place and 19th place, respectively.

Notes

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References

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;Bibliography
;''Buso Renkin'' manga volumes by Watsuki, Nobuhiro. Original Japanese version published by Shueisha. English translation published by Viz Media.
Note: The information is taken from the history itself as well as from the author's note.

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#{{gnn, ref=''ピリオド''. April 4, 2006. {{ISBN, 4-08-874019-X. (in Japanese). and ''Period''. February 5, 2008. {{ISBN, 1-4215-1542-3. (in English)., vol=10, Period, Afterward

Buso Renkin