The following article contains HEAVY SPOILERS! Read on at your own caution! |
- "Pretty awesome, huh? This is Martial Arts."
— Tokita to a young Ohma[1]
Tokita Niko (
Contents
Appearance
Niko was a well-defined, muscular man with long black hair, which he tied into a ponytail that hung over his right shoulder (similar to Gaolang Wongsawat). He had confident eyes with pronounced tear troughs and thin facial hair on his chin. Like the rest of the Nikos, he wore a cloak that covered most of his body, with hood that can further obscure his identity.
Personality
Niko was a confident man who followed the beat of his own drum, doing whatever he thought was best. He developed a soft spot for Ohma after their first encounter, which caused them to have a master-student relationship from that point thereafter.
History
Niko was one of many orphans raised and trained by Gaoh Mukaku and was also one of many to receive the name "Tokita Niko", and the mission to unite The Inside. When the resistance against him and the other Niko's grew stronger, Mukaku took him and the rest of his cohort to Gakigahara Forest to train them in the "secret technique". While he managed to survive and acquire the secret technique, he bore witness the other Niko's dying in the process and his master vanishing. He later went on a journey to trace his master's footsteps and, ten years after the tragedy, his journey would take him to meet Kuroki Gensai.[2]
At one point, Niko took a job as a yakuza hitman and was sent to the Inside to deal with a nameless boy who had stolen from them. After being impressed by the boy's sheer will to survive, he saved the nameless boy from the yakuza that were chasing him and offered to teach him his Niko Style before naming the boy Tokita Ohma.[1]
Ten years prior to the events of Kengan Ashura, Niko informed Ohma that he was ready to learn the style's secret technique, which Niko noted would be a dangerous task. Agreeing, the two traveled to Gakigahara Forest where Niko explained that Ohma had to land a single hit on him while wearing weights on his wrists and ankles. Stating that he wouldn't be holding back, the first session ended with Ohma getting badly beat up. Niko continued this pattern for ten days, until Ohma managed to land a hit on him.[3] When the true training began, Niko fought Ohma until the latter grasped the essence of the Niko Style's secret technique, Demonsbane, countering Niko's next attack and successfully inheriting the Niko Style as a whole.[4]
Not long after teaching Ohma the secret technique, after discovering Ohma was under the influence of the Possessing Spirit, Niko was forced to stop a rampaging Ohma.[5] Immediately after subduing Ohma, he realized it was The Other Tokita Niko who was behind everything, and he defeated him in a fatal battle.[6] Afterwards, extremely tired and wounded, Niko fought against Taira Genzan and lost, dying from to his accumulated injuries and fatigue.[7]
Plot
While Niko has been long dead by the time the story begins, Ohma's mental image of him appears first during his image training, then as a hallucination. He advises Ohma to believe in the Niko Style and recover his memories, but also warns him that his death is near.
Power & Abilities
Niko was a notably powerful individual, as one of the remaining Tokita Nikos. Kuroki Gensai, an extremely powerful martial artist in his own right, noted that he could tell how powerful Niko was at first glance.[2] His abilities were superhuman, being capable of feats such as reacting quickly enough to deflect gunfire.[1] As well as being one of the few Niko's to survive and successfully learn Demonsbane, Niko was able to stop a rampaging Ohma as well as defeat a fellow Niko, all in a short period of time.[6] He also taught Ohma how to perform image training within an out-of-body experience while asleep, a skill which he presumably was able to do himself.[8][9]
Niko Style
As one of the practitioners of the Niko Style, Niko was one of the best users of the martial art. As a master of the style, Niko also knows the Secret Technique, Demonsbane, though has never demonstrated using it himself, amongst other techniques. Notably, the only technique that no other practitioner of the Niko Style had used besides him was Change of Scenery.
Niko also knew about the Possessing Spirit, a technique that is also a part of the Niko Style.
Trivia
- In Kengan Ultimate Battle, Niko is referred to as, in effect, Tokita Niko of the Niko Style (
二 虎 流 十 鬼 蛇 二 虎 Niko-ryū: Tokita Niko) since he doesn't have an epithet.
