(no subject)
OOC
Name: Andy
Contact: AIM: DomoniAK47 Email: 2icsection9 (at) gmail (dot) com
Age: 29
Current characters: Katsura Kotaro
IC
Name: Uryuu Toshiki
Fandom: Getbackers (manga)
History: Toshiki was born into a staunchly traditional martial arts family which focused on the Murasame fighting style, a style that is said to have been a predecessor to modern akido. Toshiki was the family's eldest son, and as such, felt that his rightful place was as heir to the family and possessor of the school's special techniques. However, Toshiki was illegitimate (there is fan speculation that, given his rather Western appearance, his mother may not even have been Japanese), and as such, he was passed over by his father in favor of his younger, legitimate half-brother. This was an affront that Toshiki could not stand, and challenging his brother, Toshiki defeated him, gravely injuring and possibly killing the younger boy (the canon is unclear as to whether or not he survived). Following this act, Toshiki was disowned and forced to fend for himself while still only a teenager.
He eventually found his way to Mugenjou, the strange cyber-slum in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Even the relatively safe environment of Mugenjou's Lower Town was a harsh and he had to fight to protect himself. This activity eventually drew the attention of the leader of Fuuga, one of the gangs in lower town. Fuuchouin Kazuki was charmed by Toshiki's fighting style, and invited him to join the gang. Toshiki accepted the offer, serving beside Tofuuin Saizou and the Kakei siblings.
Toshiki looked up to Kazuki, although he never received the attention from the younger man that he thought he deserved, always passed over by Kakei Juubei, who had served at Kazuki's side since childhood, long before the two boys and Juubei's elder sister Sakura entered Mugenjou.
Together, Fuuga began carving out a place for itself in the violent landscape of Mugejou's lower town, which was forever subject to the whims of the street gangs which ruled there. Toshiki's ferocity in battle earned him the nickname 'Hell's Knight,' his violence often held in check only by Kazuki's command.
Then, just when Fuuga seemed poised to take over all of Mugenjou's lower town, a man appeared on the scene and blocked their way to success. Amano Ginji, known and feared as Raitei--the Lightning Emperor--had power that dwarfed even that of Fuuga's combined members, and as a result of this and a certain admiration for Ginji, Kazuki decided to disband Fuuga and join Ginji to serve in the newly formed Volts. This met with varying approval from the groups members. Of all of them, Toshiki proved the most embittered, choosing to leave Mugenjou entirely rather than watch Kazuki willingly serve under another. The hostility Toshiki took with him in his heart would prove to have devastating consequences later on.
Toshiki's movements after leaving the fortress are not entirely accounted for. At some point, he encountered a man calling himself Lucifer, head of a company call Tower Arts. Toshiki became one of the top executives of the company, which manufactured a card game called 'Divine Design.' Created to look like tarot cards, the game was actually a combat card game that promised its users a paradise of their own making if they won. The game held a secret, however. It operated on a mix of virtual reality and psychological control, and those who tried to quit the game would literally lose their hearts to Lucifer.
The Getbackers Mido Ban and Amano Ginji were hired to investigate the game by the parents of some of the children who had been lured into it. The two retrievers in turn enlisted the help of some of their allies, including Kazuki. Lured to the Tower Arts headquarters, Toshiki managed to draw Kazuki into a fight, using his knowledge of the game to easily capture and brainwash his former leader, turning him against his friends. Unfettered by his own morals, Kazuki proves a powerful foe, nearly defeating Ginji.
It is only the timely intervention of Juubei which ends the fight and manages to break the control over Kazuki that Toshiki has. At this point, Toshiki steps into the fight personally, attacking Juubei, explaining his motivations by revealing both his past and the anger he has for always being ignored by Kazuki in favor of Juubei. The two fight nearly to a standstill, reaching the point where they are both ready to unleash their ultimate attacks upon each other, when Kazuki literally steps between them, ending the conflict.
When Toshiki angrily asks why Kazuki turned his back on him, and faced Juubei, Kazuki explains its because he has always watched Toshiki fight and knows that Toshiki never attacks an enemy from behind. By turning his back to Toshiki, he knew that the other man would not harm him.
This revelation--that he has not been ignored by the man he so admires--brings Toshiki to tears, and it seems that at long last, the former friends are to be reunited. However, even from afar, Lucifer can tell that Toshiki has now turned his back on him and Divine Design, and thus claimed Toshiki's heart, ripping it directly from his chest.
At the end of the storyline, it's revealed that Lucifer was actually one of the Witch Queen's disciples, and the game was based on a real set of cards belonging to her. Because Ban is himself a direct descendant of the Witch Queen, it would be possible to resurrect Toshiki. With the help of Lucifer and another of the Witch Queen's disciples, Maria Noches, Ban performs a ritual which brings Toshiki back to life. Free of the anger and resentment that had controlled him for so long, Toshiki returns to Mugenjou to work under the young computer genius MakubeX on Kazuki's recommendation.
Age: 21
Canon point: After the Divine Design arc, when he's gone to work for MakubeX
Personality: Toshiki is an angry, arrogant young man, prone to violence. He can also be moody and sullen when things do not go his way. He sees nothing wrong with resorting to lethal force in a conflict, often seeing it as fitting punishment for perceived slights against both himself and those he has chosen to devote himself to.
Many of Toshiki's behavioral problems stem from his childhood. Seen as illegitimate, he was always passed over by his father in favor of his younger brother and treated as an inferior by his family, regardless of his achievements. This left him starved for attention, and fueled a deep seated inferiority complex, along with the constant need to both prove himself and receive praise for his actions. This need drove him to challenge his younger brother, defeating (and possibly killing) him. Despite this show of physical superiority, his actions lead him to be disowned from his family. This act caused him to grow even more embittered, and he entered Mugenjou as a young man with a serious chip on his shoulder and the desire to prove to everyone just how strong he truly is.
All Toshiki has ever really wanted is recognition and approval. This has made him very driven, but it has also left him prone to crippling jealousy and violent outbursts when things do not go his way. His mood is tempered only when he receives the acknowledgment he craves. When he finds someone worthy of his attentions, he has a tendency to become possessive of them. This has manifested itself in canon, as seen in the Divine Design arc when he abducts and brainwashes Kazuki. This is both a means of punishing Kazuki for turning his attentions away from him and on to Ginji (in Toshiki's view of things) and as a way of 'proving' his superiority over Kazuki (much as he did in challenging his brother), thus nullifying the need for the other's approval in his own mind.
Toshiki was raised in a strict martial arts family whose pedigree dates back hundreds of years. Thus, despite his arrogance and anger, there is a certain level of refinement to the young man. He is not crude, and for all that it is twisted, he had his own ideas of loyalty and honor. When he gives someone his word, he will follow it until the person he has vowed himself to does something which he feels violates that vow. He also conducts all of his fights face-to-face--that is, he never strikes an opponent from behind, no matter how advantageous it may be. This is one of the tenets of the Murasame fighting style, one he has chosen to uphold, despite having long been cast out of his family, and thus the Murasame fighting school itself.
He is, then, a deeply flawed and insecure young man who has chosen to compensate for these flaws with his physical strength. By the end of the Divine Design arc, he has come to realize it is not enough to simply be strong, but he has not really attempted to apply this knowledge to his life.
Powers/Abilities: Toshiki fights using the Murasame fighting school, rumored to use techniques that are now lost to modern Akido. It's a weaponless fighting style that utilizes remote qi attacks. Toshiki is able to use either his body's own qi or pull it from the environment around him in order to augment his attacks. As such, he is capable of shattering walls (or human beings) either remotely or simply by touch. One of the signatures of the Murasame school is that its attacks are designed so that the practitioner always attacks *facing* his opponent. No attacks are ever made from behind, and this element makes the style surprisingly elegant, lending it an almost dance-like quality. Toshiki, despite having been disowned from his family, has a great mastery of these techniques, his devastating ability earning him the nickname 'Hell's Knight' in his Fuuga days.