Wakatsuki Takeshi (若槻 武士, Wakatsuki Takeshi; "Takeshi Wakatsuki"), also known as the "Wild Tiger", is the affiliated fighter of Furumi Pharmaceuticals who is participating in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. He is the longest-serving active affiliated Kengan fighter and has the highest win record of all affiliated fighters.[4]
Appearance
Wakatsuki is a powerfully imposing individual with dense well-defined musculature. He has short blonde hair, thick blonde facial hair on his chin, dark eyebrows, a chiselled cheek structure and discerning eyes. Wakatsuki tends to wear tight-fitting tops that accentuate his already muscular frame, as well as simple pants and footwear to finish off his outfits.
Personality
He is usually quiet and is easy to befriend. Outside of battle he is levelheaded, making observations some people wouldn't notice, but in battle this begins to slip; even then, he is not entirely without reason. This was shown during his battle with Julius, where he took all of Julius's blows, then defeated him with a vicious kick to the head, after he deduced he couldn't win through body strikes. He values strength above most other things, though he is also humble and modest, and honestly admits to being nervous when entering a fight.
History
Wakatsuki was different from the moment he was born, as his body's muscle density was abnormally high. However, he was unable to live a normal life because of his condition, and lived inside Furumi Pharmaceuticals' secret laboratory until the age of 7, when his future employer Furumi Heihachi helped him learn to regulate his strength by encouraging him to punch him as hard as he could. As a child, he sent five Judo club members to the hospital after they picked a fight with him, without taking a single scratch himself.[5]
Wakatsuki has had the longest career out of any Kengan Association fighter, winning a total of 306 matches and earning over three trillion yen for Furumi Pharmaceuticals prior to the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. However, he has lost twice: once to Hatsumi Sen and once to Kanoh Agito. His loss to Kanoh 8 years ago[6] resulted in an injured ankle which never completely healed, and remains quite literally his Achilles' heel to this day. Ever since then, Wakatsuki has been waiting for a chance to get his revenge against Kanoh.
Plot
During his first appearance, he watched as Tokita Ohma fought Rihito, and after being asked by Furumi Heihachi he remarked that he might be able to defeat him.
Later, during Ohma's fight with Sekibayashi Jun, Wakatsuki explained to Imai Cosmo about what effects Ohma's transformative technique had. With Ohma defeating Sekibayashi, Wakatsuki was then surprised by Chairman Katahara's appearance and declaration of an Annihilation Tournament.
On board the S.S. Kengan, both he and Imai were confronted by assassins sent to defeat them and take their places as company representatives. Showing no restraint, he defeated the one that challenged him in a single strike, cratering the wall behind the strike. He then told Imai that he didn't know how to hold back.
Before his fight with Murobuchi Gozo, Furumi Heihachi found him with headphones in and assuming he was listening to music. Telling his employer that there was no music playing, Wakatsuki revealed that it helped him focus his nerves. Representing Furumi Pharmaceuticals, Wakatsuki fought against Murobuchi Gozo and from the offset, he pulled no punches, opening the fight with a full-powered hit meant to defeat Murobuchi in a single strike. However, Murobuchi took it and struck back with a furious rush, though his attacks proved ineffective, as Wakatsuki easily blocked all of them. He then took Gozo's final strike, a full-force flying knee kick to the face and shrugged it off, countering with a straight right that threw Murobuchi across the entire arena, twisting his chest inwards from the force. After the fight, when Akiyama Kaede congratulated him for overwhelming his opponent, he replied that Murobuchi was strong enough to make his hairs stand on end, but that he was stronger, and that's all there was to it.
The following contains HEAVY SPOILERS! Read on at your own caution! |
He fought Julius Reinhold in the second round. Their first strike at each other shook the entire arena, despite being closely matched by Julius, he was at a disadvantage. His normal tactic, full powered body strikes, didn't work well against Julius as he could shrug them off and keep on hitting. As a result, Wakatsuki used his Blast Core, which caused Julius to be more cautious and keep his distance. However, Julius noticed that the Blast Core range was limited by his wounded ankle, and countered his next Blast Core with a bear hug. After enduring a particularly savage chain of attacks, including having his face dragged across the wall, which tore the skin off his face, he feinted with a Blast Core to distract Julius and knocked him out with a vicious kick to the head. After the fight, in spite of his severe injuries, he reflected that the biggest loss was that the other fighters, including Kanoh, had seen his Blast Core, making it ineffective as an ace in the hole.
He was briefly shown attacking Guardian soldiers during their attempted takeover of Ganryu Island, using Blast Core to punch a foot soldier.
He fought Muteba Gizenga in the third round. Once again, he was at a disadvantage as Muteba was faster than him. He opened the fight with a blow that cracked the arena floor, then used the moment Muteba was off balance to hit him with an underhand right. After that, he mainly attempted to use grappling moves, which was unorthodox for a karate fighter, and had limited effectiveness. He only tagged Muteba once, and then only to provoke him into attacking. He took a near fatal hit to the neck, with Muteba's fingers going into his neck up to the first joint. However, he took this on purpose; After Julius dragged his face across the wall in the second round, he had been left blinded in his right eye, which impeded his ability to aim his Blast Core properly. The jab to the neck, however, told him exactly where Muteba was, so he shrugged it off and threw a Blast Core that smashed Muteba into the wall, crushing his arm, and prompting him to forfeit the match for fear of even greater damage.
Wakatsuki has a match with Tokita Ohma in the semi-final of the tournament, before the match, he ask Tokita can he quits and beg him to let Wakatsuki in the final, but Tokita refuses and the fight begin. Right when match begin, Wakatsuki attacks Ohma nonstop with his Katate moves, combine with his inhuman strengths. Ohma was able to counter back with his Demon's Bane, but his Water Kata is incomplete, so he can only damage Wakatsuki and knock him back. But right after that, Wakatsuki attacks rapidly, with one eyes, Wakatsuki can still block attacks from Ohma. Even with Indestructible, Ohma cannot stop the damage, his arm and leck begin to swell up and losing sense. In the match, Wakatsuki thought he never think Ohma was weak and respect him most. To finish the match, Wakatsuki attacks him with a left punch, Ohma tries to use Demon's Bane again. But it is a fake left punch, Wakatsuki punches Ohma's face with a full-power right punch. But Ohma still uses Demon's Bane and kick Wakatsuki's face with the force of his punch and Ohma's power(since Demon's Bane is a formless move that use the user's body to absorb the force and redirect it back), make Wakatsuki flies mile away. Due to his indominate will, Wakatsuki still stand up, shocking everybody even Ohma. But he can barely stay still and shaking violently, his face is bloody but he still think he can win. Ohma claims that Wakatsuki is strong then attacks him, finishes the match.
End of spoilers! |
Power & Abilities
Wakatsuki has an abnormally high muscle density, 52 times higher than average,[citation needed] and weighs almost 200kg for his size, allowing him to deal extremely powerful blows. As a child, it allowed him to fight opponents much larger than himself. Wakatsuki Takeshi is one of the strongest fighters in the Kengan matches, having defeated countless opponents with big names such as: a karate master who is could defeat a bear with a single punch, a fighter who claimed to have surpassed martial art's 100 year history, a superhuman person who was quite similar to Wakatsuki, a master of jiu-jitsu that went undefeated for 500 rounds in an American underground match and many others.[citation needed] His right straight punch is his strongest weapon; an example of its power is when he struck Murobuchi with it, the man's body was highly damaged as a result.[5]
Wakatsuki's three strongest cards that he learned to take revenge on Kanoh: Rokushin Kaikan karate, his Blast Core and grappling. Since Wakatsuki is super-strong for human, Karate and Blast Core are enough to fight, but when he is in a situation that prevents him from using it at its maximum, he switches to grappling to fight more easily.[citation needed] Due to Wakatsuki's immense strength, once the opponent is in the position for grappling, there is no escape; the first person to escape his submission is Muteba Gizenga (who used his knowledge of human acupuncture points to break free).[citation needed]
Despite valuing his physical strength the most, he is not a normal brute force user, being a very tactical person who can create and implement strategies and counterattack right in the middle of a match.[citation needed]
Technique(s)
Blast Core (爆芯, Bakushin): Wakatsuki's single technique which he invented as his ace in the hole for Kanoh Agito. This is a powerful punch which involves compressing all of his muscles like a spring and releasing at once. While powerful, this technique places a lot of strain on his right ankle, which keeps him from throwing it in succession. In addition, its range is shorter than a normal right straight punch.
Notes & Trivia
- Wakatsuki is modelled after World War II-era bodybuilder Wakaki Takemaru.
- Despite being a student of Rokushin Kaikan karate, he was formally expelled for taking part in underground matches. However, Wakatsuki still maintains a mentorship relation with his sensei.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 63
- ↑ 306 wins prior to the Kengan Annihilation Tournament(Ch63)
3 wins during the tournament against Murobuchi Gozo,(Ch51) Julius Reinhold and Muteba Gizenga - ↑ 2 losses prior to the Kengan Annihilation Tournament(Ch63)
1 loss after defeat to Tokita Ohma during the tournament - ↑ Chapter 36
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 64
- ↑ Chapter 110