Buso Renkin

Buso Renkin
	File:Viz1421506157.jpg
Genre	Shōnen, Adventure, Comedy, Action, Supernatural
Manga
Written by	Nobuhiro Watsuki
Published by	Shueisha; Glénat; Viz Media; Tokyopop
Anime
Directed by	Takao Kato
Studio	XEBEC

Buso Renkin (武装錬金, Busō Renkin, literally "Arms Alchemy") is a manga series written and drawn by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator of Rurouni Kenshin.

Buso Renkin was serialized in the weekly Japanese manga anthology Shonen Jump, with ten tankōbon volumes in total published in Japan. The series has been licensed by VIZ Media for US release and has been adapted into an anime by XEBEC, which is currently airing in Japan with a planned 26 episodes to be made in total. There are also two drama CDs as well as a novel based on the series.

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Story

The story begins when high school student Kazuki Muto (武藤カズキ, Mutō Kazuki) is killed one night saving a mysterious girl from a monster, only to wake up and find it was only a dream. However, he soon finds out how real that dream was when a giant serpentine monster attacks him and his sister. Tokiko Tsumura (津村斗貴子, Tsumura Tokiko), the girl from his dream, explains that the monster is a homunculus. Kazuki had been attacked and killed by it when rescuing Tokiko, however the girl revived him by placing a kakugane medal in his chest.

The kakugane, Tokiko explains, is an alchemical device that when activated can give him the power to fight the homunculus monster. Using this, Kazuki creates his own buso renkin, an alchemical weapon in the form of a huge lance. Along with Tokiko and her own buso renkin, Kazuki joins the fight against the homunculus and their master.

Alchemy

In the world of Buso Renkin, there are two types of alchemy besides the historical one: buso renkin (weapon alchemy) and homunculus.

Buso renkin are weapons formed by the alchemically-created kakugane, based on the user's will to fight. The shape the buso renkin takes reflects the user's personality. Buso Renkin are the only weapons known to be able to kill a homunculus. Kakuganes are developed in the process of creating the Philosopher's stone, the ultimate goal of the Alchemy Warriors around the planet. Kakuganes will generate a weapon that reflects the user's battle style, a user will always have the same type of buso renkin regardless of the kakugane number.

Black Kakugane I-III are the first results of the Alchemy Warriors. However, they were unstable, upon insertion of kakugane I (1), Warrior Victor went berserk. While the same happened to Kazuki 100 years later when his kakugane III (disguised as LXX) awakens. Black kakuganes give its user a green hair and tanned skin, with the ability to use 'Energy Absorb'. which absorbs people's powers. Black kakugane users also has the ability to evolve. While in stage 1, an user can transform from normal human to his/her 'Victor' form, after 6 weeks, a user evolves into stage 2, when he/she is permanantly transformed into a 'Victor' form, while in stage 3, the tanned skin turns into a dark red, and the power of energy abosrbing greatly increases.

A homunculus is created when an embryo-like creation is placed inside an animal, plant, or human. Animal-type homunculi possess strength relative to their animal base as well as retaining their sentience and the ability to assume their original human form. Human-type homunculi do not change form, but merely gain the strength and regenerative powers of a homunculus while retaining their human form and mind. Homunculi frequently eat humans. Human type homunculus also has the ability to use buso renkins, certain buso renkins, like Moon Face's Satellite 30, can only be used by Homunculus as it requires a large amount of energy.

Characters

Kazuki Muto

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama

Kazuki Muto (武藤カズキ, Mutō Kazuki) is a 16 year old boy who attends a private academy with his sister. After becoming involved in Tokiko's fight and subsequently being killed and revived, he is told to simply return to his ordinary life, but instead insists upon assisting Tokiko in her battles. Kazuki is very enthusiastic and friendly, and cares deeply for his friends and sister, tending to put himself in danger or difficulty in order to assist or protect others. However, the kakugane Tokiko used turned out to be Black Kakugane III, which transformed Kazuki into a being just like Victor. He is then pursued by the Muto-assassination team, as well as his former commander, Captain Bravo. In the end, he sacrifices himself and sends himself and Victor to the moon with Sunlight Heart +. In Buso Renkin Period, however, he returns to Earth successfully with help from Victor's Buso Renkin, Fatal Attraction. As soon as he returned to Earth, he and Papillon settled their scores, with Kazuki claiming victory. During his assassination, he was dubbed 'Victor III' by the Alchemy Warriors.

Buso Renkin - Sunlight Heart, Sunlight Heart + (Plus)

His Buso Renkin is now part of his body, acting the part of his heart. Kazuki's Busou renkin takes the form of a spear or lance with a large decorative cloth attached. Its special ability is to transfer Kazuki's emotions into energy with the help of his crimson cloth attached to the Sunlight Heart. When doing so, it glows a bright yellow like the light of the sun, hence the name of the Sunlight Heart. When the Sunlight Heart turns into Sunlight Heart +, the lance is lighter, smaller, and shorter, but it'll spread its part out releasing an energy aura in between the parts, increasing its power and range. Kazuki holds Kakugane LXX (70), which is actually Black Kakugane III (3). The real LXX (70) is used by Dr. Butterfly.

Tokiko Tsumura

Voiced by: Ryōka Yuzuki

Tokiko Tsumura (津村斗貴子, Tsumura Tokiko) is a 17 year old alchemy warrior that was assigned to take care of a homunculus problem in Kazuki's town. When Kazuki saved her from a homunculus (in actuality, she had the situation under control) she felt a sense of attachment to him and revived him with a kakugane, intending to make sure that he never gets killed again. Tokiko is very dedicated to her job, claiming that she hates all homunculi, and quit going to school in order to be more efficient. She is serious almost all the time, which leads to some awkward situations when with Kazuki and his friends. She is later assigned to be a student at Kazuki's school by Captain Bravo. Her quote when battling is "I'll rip your guts out." True to her words, the Valkyrie skirt has torn many enemies apart.

Buso Renkin - Valkyrie Skirt

Tokiko's buso renkin, the Valkyrie Skirt, takes the form of four scythe-like blades that attach to her legs. She is capable of using them a number of ways, from attacking numerous enemies at once to using them to boost her jumps and cushion her landings. The name comes from how, in stand-by mode, the blades fold up and, in her school outfit, her skirt resembles that of a Valkyrie. Tokiko holds Kakugane XLIV (44).

Koshaku Chono (Papillon)

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono

Koshaku Chono (蝶野攻爵, Chōno Kōshaku) is a genius student from Kazuki's school and was meant to be heir to the Chono family fortune. However, he is also deathly ill and has had to repeat a year of school due to the amount of time he has needed to spend in the hospital. Upon discovering a 100 year old research diary from his great-great-grandfather he learned of alchemy and the process of making homunculi, experimenting with various animals first before turning himself into a human-type homunculus, renaming himself "Papillon". However, he's imperfect, as he used his own, sick cells to recreate himself, he now suffers from the same sickness, but won't die. He began his move by eating every member of his family who couldn't recognize him as Koshaku, but as his brother Jirou, to the point of even killing his own father and brother. To prevent Papillon from eating more people, Kazuki had no choice but to kill him.

As Papillon, he is flamboyant and reckless. He appears in public wearing his mask and in revealing or outlandish outfits, apparently oblivious to or possibly enjoying the stares of bystanders. He also slowly loses a thirst to eat human and his wish to burn the world to the ground, slowly becoming something more than a homunculus as Victoria states. After his initial defeat at the hands of Kazuki, he teams up with the homunculus Dr. Butterfly, his still-living great-great-grandfather. After the LXE fell. He became a team with Ōka to turn Kazuki back to normal again, in order to duel and kill Kazuki. In the end, he does restore Kazuki to normal human with the white kakugane he created himself, and loses the duel, he then becomes one of the many urban legends in Japan, nicknamed 'Butterfly Man Papillon'.

Busou Renkin - Neardeath Happiness

Papillon's buso renkin, when activated, is a black gunpowder that typically takes the form of a pair of butterfly wings on his back. He also can create a number of small butterflies from it which explode on impact and that he can use offensively. When all of the butterflies are used up, it takes three days to regenerate. Papillon holds Kakugane LXI (61).

Alchemy warriors

Captain Bravo (Mamoru Sakimori)

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara

Mamoru Sakimori (防人衛, Sakimori Mamoru) AKA Captain Bravo is Tokiko's commander and dresses in an outfit that covers every inch of his body except for his eyes. Though the main characters assumed this was to protect his identity, Bravo actually has no qualms with showing his real appearance when he acts as Kazuki's dorm supervisor. He claims that he doesn't use his real name because its cooler that way, the truth being he abandoned the name after his first and last mission in the "Showusei Team", who only managed to save Tokiko. He acts as a father figure for Kazuki. During the Muto assassination arc, he tried to kill Kazuki up to a point where he threw him off a cliff, but he later defends Kazuki. True to his name, the captain has a tendency to say "Bravo" when applauding someone. He claims that he has 13 different attacks regardless of identity, such as 'Meteor-Bravo Kick'. (流星・ブラボー脚)

Buso Renkin - Silver Skin

Double - Silver Skin: Another Type

His outfit is actually his buso renkin, called Silver Skin. Upon impact from an attack, his outfit hardens into a regenerating metal, and in addition to all this, Bravo has immense physical strength. Later it is revealed that the Silver Skin has another ability, which is named Silver Skin Reverse (银皮反穿). This ability is used on the opponent to restrict his/her moves, rendering the victim defenseless against Bravo's powerful physical attacks. However, Reversed Wearing can be easily stopped if someone runs into it, as Bravo cannot control who it can capture. Bravo owns Kakugane C (100), in his final battle with Kazuki he also uses LII (52). His second Silver Skin resembles a pirate, while having an oppisite pallete as the original silver skin. In reversed wearing the Silver Skin will reverse its colors. Also, the Silver Skin is the only Buso Renkin invulnerble to Victor and Kazuki's energy abosorbing.

Gōta Nakamura

中村剛太 (Nakamura　Gōta)The junior of Tokiko, who has a big crush on her and dislikes Kazuki a lot. Despite this, he, Kazuki, and Tokiko join forces together to find out the truth of Black Kakugane. Gōta is a strategic planner and fights with variations of his Buso Renkin. As shown in his fight against Negoro, he was able to figure out Secret Trail's secret and use it against Negoro. In Buso Renkin After, he joins Ginsei High with Busuzima.

Buso Renkin - Motor Gear

Motor gear is a pair of chakrams. It can be used for both short and long range attacks. Gota holds Kakugane LV (55). It can also be equipped on legs to increase mobility while walking or swimming.

Showusei Sakaguti

坂口照星 (Sakaguti Showusei) Showusei is the leader of all Alchemy Warriors in Asia, before he became the leader, he was the captain of 'Showusei Team'. Composed of Bravo, Hiwatari and Chitose. Showusei is the only person able to stop anything Hiwatari does, and holds the special ability to beat up anyone while laughing.

Buso Renkin - Baster Baron

The Baster Baron is a gigantic knight-like robot that attacks primarily with its fists (visually based on Armor Baron, a character from Watsuki's earlier manga Gun Blaze West). Its left and right shoulders, however, can be inserted with up to five alchemy warriors and their kakuganes. It can also be summoned with just one of its body part. However, it proves to be no match against Victor even with 5 other Buso Renkins, the Baron was beaten by Victor in his normal size (Victor fought the Baron with an fake body formed of dead sea animals). Showusei holds the number XVII (17).

Sekima Hiwatari

火渡赤馬 (Hiwatari Sekima) Captain Bravo's former teammate and one of the Alchemy Commanders. He is the leader of in charge of Muto-assassination team. Has a bad temper and threatens to kill people, he almost never plans things out first, and is willing to use the same tactic the enemy uses to beat the enemy. During the Muto-Assassination arc he said, "Unreasonable things must be beaten with the same unreasonable tactics." After Maruyama, Negoro and Bravo were beaten, Hiwatari appears in front of Kazuki and co. to kill them. While Bravo tried to stop him, he released a flame storm that engulfed the entire construction yard. leaving only the two silver skins intact. He went in shock after seeing Bravo sacrificing himself to cover his silver skin around Kazuki and Tokiko, and is angered by how Kazuki wants revenge, the two of them engaged in a fierce battle, only to have each of their attacks shielded from the other person by silver skin fragments. They were then stopped by Sakaguti Showusei, the Asia leader of the Alchemy Warriors. Hiwatari's special ability is to talk while smoking.

Buso Renkin - Blaze of Glory

Blaze of Glory is a Buso Renkin like a napalm bomb with hexagons all over the bomb itself. The Buso Renkin gives Hiwatari the ability to become one with flames, the further the flames burn, the more powerful he is. As such, physical attacks will not work on him, as shown in his battle with Gōta. He was unaffected even when Motor Gear slit through his throat, instead of dying, he released flames from his wound to attack Gōta. Blaze of Glory is able to release a flame storm with a temperature as high as 5100˚c and a radius of 250m. Hiwatari holds Kakugane XX (20).

Chitose Tateyama

楯山千歳 (Tateyama Chitose)No.1 of the Muto-assassination team. Like Bravo and Hiwatari, Chitose was part of the Showusei team. She's a serious women that specializes in scouting, chores, and seems to like to cosplay (denied by herself). She used to have a long braid behind her head and liked to cry, but turned into a more mature person after the first and last mission of the 'Showusei Team'.

Buso Renkin - Hermes Drive

The Hermes Drive is a Hexagon Radar-type Buso Renkin that can detect enemies and allies known to Chitose. It can also be used as a teleport device, the max weight of teleporting is 100KG. The Hermes Drive itself can also be used as a hitting weapon and even as a mini-shield. Chitose holds the kakugane number XCV (95)

Hanaka Busuzima

毒島華花 (Busuzima Hanaka)No.2 of the Muto-assassination team. Always seen masked till Buso Renkin After, the epilogue chapter. She cares deeply about Hiwatari and worries about him. In Buso Renkin After, she is revealed as an extremely shy girl. She keeps her Buso Renkin, Aerial Operator, on her at all times because of her shyness.

Buso Renkin - Aerial Operator

Aerial Operator is a Buso Renkin in the form of a gas mask capable of mixing all gas type elements into poisonous or explosive mixtures. The Buso Renkin itself is also capable of flying, viewing far objects (like binoculars), night vision, magnification, and filtering. Busuzima uses Kakugane XXXIX (39).

Genji Ikusabe

戦部厳至 (Ikusabe Genji)No.3 of the Muto assassination team, he has a extreme thirst to fight Homunculus, and is the record-keeper of 'Most Homunculus killed' (332 Homuculus) even more than the amount of homunculus killed by Hiwatari and Bravo. Ikusabe's powers comes from his Buso Renkin, the Jumonji spear Geki-sen's recovery ability, and his habit to eat remains of Homunculus he's killed to increase his power and stamina, and the times he can use the recovery ability. Unlike Negoro, Ikusabe cares more about the process of battling then claiming victory, and quitted the mission to kill Kazuki when he was defeated by Papillon.

Buso Renkin - Geki-Sen(激戦)

A Jumonji spear (Cross-like spear) that has the special ability to recover any wound to its holder, in this case Ikusabe himself, the spear is even capable of reviving Ikusabe even if Ikusabe's body is blown to pieces. However the flaw of Geki-sen is that since it recovers automatically and at a high speed, if something gets caught into where Ikusabe's body part should be, the recovery will fail. Ikusabe uses kakugane XII (12)

Madoka Maruyama

円山円 (Maruyama Madoka)No.4 of the Muto-assassination team. Maruyama is a girly man that is usually under the disguise of a fat, chubby ball, until Tokiko cut open the disguise with her valkyrie skirt. He was able to shrink Tokiko to 34CM in their first battle, then shrink her to nothing in their second battle, only to find Tokiko still has 4CM remaining, and went into his stomach. He was defeated as his guts were ripped out by Valkyrie skirt.

Buso Renkin - Bubble Cage

Bubble Cage is a large number of wind-navigated fire balloons that will shrink the person it hits by 15CM per hit, a person will vanish if he/she gets hit by too many bubble cages. By detonating one Bubble Cage, he can create wind force that'll drive other Bubble Cages towards the enemy. Although these balloons make laughing sounds when moving, they have no intelligence. Maruyama owns the Kakugane XXXII (32).

Shinobu Negoro

根来忍 (Negoro Shinobu)No.5 of the Muto-assassination team. Almost always hidden inside his own 'space' created by his Buso Renkin, the Secret Trail. His clothes and his hair are sewn into it as well. The oppisite of Ikusabe, he cares about claiming victory more than the process of beating his enemies. He was later defeated by Gōta when he hid in his own space after being ambushed by Gōta's motor gear, only to have the two chakrams hit him again as both chakrams have Negoro's own blood.

Buso Renkin - Secret Trail

A katana-shaped Buso Renkin that can cut open paths to another space that only Negoro, who has the DNA that Secret Trail will recognize, can enter. The katana itself can also be thrown in and out of the real world and the special space freely. Negoro owns the Kakugane XIV (14).

Rintarō Inukai

犬飼倫太郎 (Inukai Rintarō)Inukai is no.6 of the Muto-assassination team. He uses the Buso Renkin "Killer Rabies," two mechanical dogs that are commanded by a dog flute. However, at one point, Gōta used this to his advantage and took Inukai's flute, resulting in Inukai nearly getting killed by his own dogs.

Buso Renkin - Killer Rabies

Killer Rabies is a pair of mechanical dogs that are commanded by a dog flute held by Inukai; these dogs have twice the smelling power and ten times the strength and stamina of normal dogs. When in Berzerk mode, the dogs will kill anyone not holding the flute. Cutting both dogs in half during this mode will not affect them, since with lighter weight they move even faster. The only way to defeat the Buso Renkin is to cut the heads off. Inukai uses Kakugane XCII (92).

L.X.E. (League of eXtraordinary Elects)

Dr. Butterfly

Dr.Butterfly (Dr．バタフライ, Dr.Batafurai) is Chono Koshaku/Papillon's still-living great-great grandfather, and is also the leader of LXE (League of eXtraordinary Elects). His original name was Chono Bakushaku (蝶野爆爵). He has a butterfly-shaped mustache.

He was killed by Papillon just before Victor was awakened.

Buso Renkin - Alice In Wonderland

Dr. Butterfly's Buso Renkin has the same wing-like structure as Papillon's Neardeath Happiness, but it confuses the nervous system. Alice In Wonderland is also capable of disrupting radio and electric waves. Dr. Butterfly holds Kakugane LXX (70), the real version of the Kakugane that Kazuki owns.

Moon Face

Originally known as Lunar Nicholai, he is a homunculus with a moon-shaped head and a higher-up of the LXE. He has a tendency to say "Moon~" whenever possible.

Buso Renkin - Satellite 30

Moon Face's Buso Renkin allows him to create up to 30 copies of himself, each copy having a different head representing the different phases of the moon(the New Moon copy has no head). Since this uses a large amount of energy, only a homunculus like Moon Face can use it. Also, the more copies Moon Face makes, the harder it is for him to coordinate complicated moves. Moon Face holds Kakugane XXX (30).

Ōka Hayasaka

早坂桜花 (Hayasaka Ōka) Ōka is the twin sister of Shusui. She is the student president of Ginsei High. She and Shusui originally worked for the LXE, after the LXE fell to pieces. Ōka worked for Papillon in order to save Kazuki from getting killed. She specializes in hacking and computer engineering as well as having a sharp mind.

Buso Renkin - Angel Gozen

Angel Gozen is a set consisting of a bow, an autonomous robot, and a glove. Attacks consist of having the robot fire streams of arrows at a target, and by pulling back on the bowstring with the glove, an arrow that transfers damage from the target to the user. The robot was unable to speak until Bravo turned on the sound mechanism. Ōka has Kakugane XXII (22), and later Dr. Butterfly's LXX (70) While using LXX, Gozen's wings turn into butterfly wings.

Gozen

御前 (Gozen) Gozen is the automatic doll Buso Renkin that is Ōka's 'other' personality. Gozen is also the main messenger between Papillon and Ōka, since Gozen's heart-shaped ornament on its head can receive and send messages and be used as a camera. Gozen has a tendency to have its own parts (wings, head ornament) fall off whenever Papillon does something strange.

Shusui Hayasaka

早坂秋水 (Hayasaka Shusui)Shusui is Ōka's twin brother. He is the younger of the twins. He and his sister are not actually homunuculus. He becomes an Alchemy Warrior as well after LXE falls. He's smart, the best at Kendo at Ginsei High, along with being the vice president of the Student Council, and as Kazuki and the others state, No. 1 even down there.

Buso Renkin - Sword Samurai X

Shusui's Buso Renkin is a sword that has a small charm on the end attached with a rope. The sword absorbs energy into the charm, and at the users command can make the sword discharge energy coming from the charm. 'Samurai X' is a sort of easter egg that refers to the English name of Rurouni Kenshin. Shusui owns Kakugane XXIII (23)

Kinjou

金城 (Kinjou) A lower ranked member of the LXE, Kinjou was assigned to spy on Papillon, and finish off the Alchemy Warriors of Ginsei High when possible. He has a tendency to say 'Hyahou' and is loud and arrogant. He also has the ability to talk without his tongue. Kinjou was defeated by Bravo. but finished off by his teammate, Jinnai.

Buso Renkin - Peaky Gulliver

Kinjou's Buso Renkin, Peaky Gulliver is a gauntlet attached to his right arm, which is able to change its size at will. Even able to make it larger then Kinjou himself, however. this proves no use against Captain Bravo's Silver Skin. Kinjou uses the Kakugane LII (52), which originally belonged to a spy sent by Bravo to spy on the LXE, but was found and killed by Moon Face. The name of the Buso Renkin is based off Gulliver's Travels.

Jinnai

陣内 (Jinnai) Jinnai is another lower ranked homunculus in the LXE. like Kinjou, he was sent to spy on Papillon. As soon as Kinjou failed to kill the Alchemy Warriors. Jinnai finished Kinjou off with his Buso Renkin, the Noisy Hamelin. Later in night. He uses the Noisy Hamelin to control Ginsei High students to take back Kakugane LII (52) from Tokiko. He began to retreat as soon as he heard Tokiko coming. but not before he saw Chisato coming out from her dorm, not affected by the Noisy Hamelin. He attempts to consume her, but Tokiko managed to force both of them out into the forest. Where he was ripped into pieces by the Valkyrie Skirt. He managed to re-attach himself, but his legs and hands were attached to the wrong places, resulting in him getting ripped apart once more. This time. to his own death.

Buso Renkin - Noisy Hamelin

Based off The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Noisy Hamelin is a Steel Whip type Buso Renkin, capable of vibrating itself and emitting powerful sound waves that can hypnotise anyone within its range. Jinnai uses Kakugane LXI (61), after his death, this kakugane was claimed by Papillon.

Tai

太 (Tai) Based from China, Tai is a giant Homunculus that has little intelligence. Usually commanded by his comrade, Tsi. He wanted to steal Shusui and Ōka's kakuganes, and infiltrated Ginsei High. But was slain by Shusui.

Tsi

細 (Tsi) Based from China, Tsi is the thinner, smarter of the two. He wears the People's Clothes worn by Chinese people, and disguised as a female student while infiltrating Ginsei High. He was killed by Ōka's Angel Gozen.

Jinyou Suzuki

鈴木震洋 (Suzuki Jinyou) After Ōka went into the Hospital, Suzuki took the position as the Student President. During LXE's attack on Ginsei High, Suzuki used his powers to isolate Kazuki, however, he was outsmarted by Rokumasu and his plans were thwarted.

Victor and his Family

Victor

Victor was once the leader of the Alchemy Warriors 100 years ago. Originally, Victor used a regular kakugane until he sacrificed himself to kill the leader of the homunculus of that era. In order to save him, his wife Alexandria transferred Black kakugane 'I' into his heart. However, the power went berzerk and Victor killed everyone in the lab, and critically injuring Alexandria. Victor was then forced to fled his home, pursued by Alchemy Warriors and the Homunculus group lead by his own daughter, Victoria, who was also turned into a Homunculus against her own will. Victor managed to destroy a large portion of both forces before he fled to Japan, where he met Chōno Bakushaku, or Dr.Butterfly, they made a deal, if Victor gave Dr.Butterfly his knowledge on Alchemy, in return, dr.Butterfly will heal him.

After 100 years. the plan was accomplished, Victor was healed and re-appeared in LXE's Ginsei Highschool attack. He managed to kill Kazuki, and make black kakugane 'III' awaken. Afterwards, he traveled around the world, abosrbing large amounts of energy. Eventually he was forced into the Pacific ocean, where he evolved from stage 2 to stage 3, and battled Sakaguti Showusei's Buso Renkin, the Baster Baron, however, he only used the corpses of ocean creatures whose energy he has absorbed from, and single-handed destroyed the Baster Baron with his own Buso Renkin, the war-axe, Fatal Attraction. He confronted Kazuki then, with Kazuki forcing White kakugane 'II' into his body, however, 'II' was only able to revert him from stage 3 to stage 2. As a last resort, Kazuki used the Sunlight Heart + and sent both of them onto Moon.

In Buso renkin Period, Victor's heart was shaken by Kazuki's determination to protect Earth, and used the Sunlight Heart + as a light source, and used Fatal Attraction to send Kazuki back to earth, however, Kazuki dragged Victor along, sending both of them back to Earth. Victor was reverted back to human afterwards, and requested to be turned into a Homunculus, he then lead all the homunculus and headed towards moon, seeking to make it the new home of homunculus.

During the 100 year interval, to cover the Black Kakugane incident up, the Alchemy Warriors used fake information in their database. Instead of going berzerk, the fake information reads that Victor bettrayed the warriors and turned himself into a homunculus, then headed for Japan to join the LXE.

Buso Renkin - Fatal Attraction

Victor holds Black Kakugane I (1), the Buso Renkin, Fatal Attraction is a gigantic war-axe that is capable of manipulating gravity. It can manipulate the gravity direction and to larger or smaller scales. By using is it wisely it could create a smaller scale of black hole. It is also able to reverse the gravity of an object. The axe can be separated into two to use it as a double tomahawks.

Alexandria

Victor's wife, her body was paralyzed after Victor went berserk, and she moved her own brain into a container in the Newton's Apple All Girls Academy. She lives inside her daughter Victoria's Buso Renkin, UNDER GROUND SEARCHLIGHT. Inside there she kept cloning her own brain to increase her mental abilities, and to complete Kakugane II (2). However, after 100 years her cells begin to die, and she fades away before the confrontation between Victor and Kazuki. Even after 100 years of what Victor did to her and their family, she still loves him.

Buso Renkin - Rurio Head

Rurio Head is Alexandria's only means of communication to the outside world, usually worn by Victoria. It is capable of controlling its wearer and capable of finding memories of its wearer. Rurio Head usually attacks with its cape knives. It has been able to control Victoria, Chitose, and Gōta.

Victoria

Victor and Alexandria's daughter. After her father went berzerk, and her mom is paralyzed, she was forced to become a homunculus and lead a squadron of Homunculi to kill Victor. Afterwards she hated Alchemy just like her father. She usually disguises herself as a student of the Newton's Apple All-girl academy. She likes to eat "Mama's special", which is a mosiaced piece of food; which in in fact a part of a human corpse. In Buso Renkin Period, we see that she follows her father to the Moon.

Buso Renkin - UNDER GROUND SEARCHLIGHT

UNDER GROUND SEARCHLIGHT is a trench type Buso Renkin, which allows Victoria to generate a hidden cave that can only be entered when Victoria opens it. In an emergency it can provide a month's worth of water and electricity by itself, while when in its normal state it uses electricity and water from the Academy. Victoria uses Kakugane LI (51).

Others

Schoolmates

Mahiro Muto

Voiced by: Aya Hirano.

武藤まひろ (Mutou Mahiro) Kazuki's younger sister. Like Kazuki, she is very optomistic. She appears as a ditzy girl due to the fact that she came to Ginsei Private School for the school unfirom. Eventually, she does remember the night where she got eaten by Cobra homonculus Mita and she finds out about Kazuki becoming an alchemy warrior (along with their friends). She is always supporting Kazuki morally.

Hideyuki Okakura

岡倉英之 (Okakura Hideyuki)Okakura is the resident pervert and is one of Kazuki's friends. He is also easily jealous, and wants to be in love like Kazuki. In Buso Renkin After, he tries to get into a relationship with Busuzima Hanaka when she joined Ginsei High.

Masashi Daihama

大浜真史 (Daihama Masashi)Daihama is one of Kazuki's friends. He has a very mild tempered personality.

Kouji Rokumasu

六舛孝二 (Rokumasu Kouji)Rokumasu is a strange boy who is inexplicably skilled in many areas, often leading people to wonder exactly who he is, and is one of Kazuki's friends. Some of these skills include voice imitation, Lip reading and intricate knowledge of kendo techniques.

Chisato Nekamiya

若宮千里 (Nekamiya Chisato)Otherwise Chi-chan, the most mature out of the three Ginsei girls.

Saori Kawai

河井沙織 (Kawai Saori)Otherwise Sa-chan, Mahiro's other friend in Ginsei. Like Mahiro she's a bit ditzy at times.

Homunculus Created by Butterfly Mask (Koshaku Chono/Papillon)

Mita

巳田 (Mita) The English teacher of Ginsei High, who is really a cobra-type homunculus. Killed by Tokiko with her Valkyrie Skirt. He was the one that swallowed Mahiro, but failed to kill her. Later defeated again by Shusui in Buso Renkin Period.

Saruwatari

猿渡 (Saruwatari) Leader of a group of ape-shaped homunculus, a bulky man that's a gorilla type Homunculus, killed by Kazuki with his Sunlight Heart. Later defeated by Gōta in Buso Renkin Period.

Kawazui

蛙井 (Kawazui) A frog type homunculus who is not loyal to Papillon completely, and surrenders to whoever can defeat him, he's able to let out smaller frogs. Defeated by Kazuki, but killed by fellow Homunculus Hanabusa. Defeated again by Tokiko in Buso Renkin Period.

Hanabusa

花房 (Hanabusa) A rose type Homunculus that's acts as Papillon's tutor. Very loyal to Papillon, and killed Kawazui for surrendering, killed by Tokiko with Valkyrie skirt, and later defeated by Ōka and Gozen in Buso Renkin Period.

Washio

鷲尾 (Washio) The most loyal out of the 5 homunculus, an injured eagle bought back by Papillon during an insect hunt and recreated as an eagle type homunculus. He's the only animal type homunculus capable of only transforming parts of his body, in his case, transforming his hands into his claws with wings on his shoulder. Killed by a combined tactic of Tokiko and Kazuki. Later fought Gōta as Tokiko and Papillon dueled in Buso Renkin Period.

Other Buso Renkins

Deep Blessing

Deep Blessing is a submarine type Buso Renkin used by the 'Captain' of it to track down Victor on the Pacific. However, as soon as Victor found out he destroyed the ship and its entire crew. The Captain uses kakugane LXXVII (77)

Genocide Circus

Genocide Circus is a missile launcher type Buso Renkin that's capable of firing a large amount of missiles, the special point about it is that it has infinite ammo. The Genocide Circus was used in a failed attempt to destroy Victor. Its user is unknown, but the kakugane it was used to summon is LXVI (66).

Alchemy Power Laboratory

The Alchemy Power Laboratory is a secret base type buso renkin that takes the form of a building. Its kakugane number is XI (11).

Publishing history

Buso Renkin ended in the Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump 2005 No. 21/22. The 10th and final tankōbon volume was released on 4 April 2006, possibly due to relatively poor fan response, especially when contrasting to the late Rurouni Kenshin, the author's most famous work.

VIZ Media has released the first official volume in English on August 1, 2006.

In Japan on October 4, 2006, the Buso Renkin manga was adapted into an anime series. It runs on TV Tokyo.

The July 2006 issue of Shonen Jump U.S. featured a 53 page preview of the manga, ie. the first chapter, with the first 5 pages in color. The US version of Rurouni Kenshin Volume 28 (the final volume) contained a sneak preview of Buso Renkin

Voice cast

Japanese

Jun Fukuyama as ... Kazuki Muto (武藤カズキ, Mutō Kazuki)
Ryōka Yuzuki as ... Tokiko Tsumura (津村斗貴子, Tsumura Tokiko)
Aya Hirano as ... Mahiro Muto
Hitomi Nabatame as ... Ouka Hayasaka
Kishō Taniyama as ... Syusui Hayasaka
Masashi Ebara as ... Captain Bravo
Mitsuaki Madono as ... Koshaku "Papillon" Chono (蝶野攻爵, Chono Koshaku)
Tomokazu Seki as ... Moon Face

Episodes

No.	Episode Title^[1]	Airdate

Openings and Endings

Openings:

Makka na Chikai "Crimson Oath" (真っ赤な誓い) by Fukuyama Yoshiki

Ending:

Hoshi Akari "Starlight" (ホシアカリ) by Jyukai
Itoshiki Sekai "Lovely World" (愛しき世界) by Aya Kagami

Trivia

Kazuki is playable in the Nintendo DS game Jump Superstars. Tokiko, Papillon, and Captain Bravo also appear in the game as help characters. They all appear again in the sequel, Jump Ultimate Stars.
When Kazuki draws a picture of what Papillon Mask is supposed to look like, the resulting artwork resembles that of Hirohiko Araki, the creator of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure another Shonen Jump title.
In volume two, while bedridden from a homunculus infecting her, Tokiko is wrapped in bandages by Kazuki's sister in a way that makes her resemble Shishio Makoto, a major villain from the author's earlier work Rurouni Kenshin.
Some of LXE's Buso Renkins were based upon fairy tales and folk tales. Kinjou's Peaky Gulliver is based on Gulliver's Travels, Jinnai's Noisy Hamelin is based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, while Dr.Butterfly's Alice in Wonderland is based upon Alice in Wonderland.
An odd snail makes at least four appearances in each volume. In Vol. 1, it appears on a t-shirt and as a computer decoration. In Vol. 3, it appears on the TV "technical difficulties" screen and at "Freak Burger" as a toy.
The name of Shusui Hayasaka's Buso Renkin is Sword Samurai X, after the name of the English OVA title for Rurouni Kenshin. Watsuki had previously stated that he loved the title, and had originally planned to use it in his previous series, Gun Blaze West.
When Mahiro turns on the TV in episode 10, the screen shows John Doe, the main character from Watsuki's one-shot Embalming. This cameo only exists in the anime because Embalming had not been created during the time of the manga.
The form of a Buso Renkin is based on the user regardless of the specific kakugane used to form it. For example, when Kazuki used Tokiko's kakugane, he created a slightly different-looking Sunlight Heart.
When Jinnai attacked Ginsei High's Dorm. he used a device similar to a Game Boy Advance SP to track Kakugane LII (52).
A game based on the anime has been set for PS2.
When Kazuki receives his poor grades in episode 15, he says "Oro, oro". This phrase was often used by Kenshin.

Links

Japanese editions

volume 1

volume 1
volume 2

volume 2
volume 3

volume 3
volume 4

volume 4
volume 5

volume 5
volume 6

volume 6
volume 7

volume 7
volume 8

volume 8
volume 9

volume 9
volume 10

volume 10

VIZ manga

volume 1

volume 1
volume 2
volume 3

volume 3
volume 4

volume 4
volume 5

volume 5
volume 6

volume 6
volume 7

volume 7

^ Episodes Index of Buso Renkin.

[episodes-1] Episodes Index of Buso Renkin.

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