Let’s Read Kagurabachi: Katanas, Gays, and Generational Trauma

[Kermie]

I dunno, what are they doing? Eh, who cares, we're still looking at Chihiro and Char.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - SILENCE​

And Chihiro's got Char on his shoulders. He's truly not beating the big brother allegations.



Chihiro doesn't let Char carry him, for obvious reasons. Instead, he internally ruminates on what he just did, with that fight earlier. You see, normally when he uses Nishiki, it's like in Chapter 9, it's like a rocket engine, helping one blow and propelling that blow forward. However, when he used it now, it was more like a full-body aura… more of a proper mode. Consumed less spirit energy as well.



Thanks to using Kuro: Shred, Chihiro's usage of Enten's other abilities were also enhanced and more efficient. With that done, he and Char keep walking.

As they make their way out of Genichi Sojo's Child Murder Mansion (not its real name), Char notices Chihiro's injured hand. He tries to play it off as no big deal, but Char sees right through that. That's when she remembers her family's regen powers. And… how they really work.



The Kyonagi regeneration isn't just tied to their cells. Rather, it's tied to their intent. Calling back to her happiest memories (all of which involve food, there's a motif) Char takes Chihiro's hand…

And it's done.



The long night's almost done, but the clouds are closing in. Hm.

Chihiro turns to Shiba, and asks him to take Char away from the Murder Mansion. Shiba's worried about Chihiro, but Chihiro shrugs him off. He's better now.



Man, that's the first time in a while we've seen Chihiro smile. Well, except for the cliffhanger of last chapter. And when he was carrying Char… wait a minute.

Well, guess he's no longer part of the "edgy anime emo" group anymore. To quote a meme I saw:

"Fake ass emo! I saw you give a sandwich to a kid!"

Click to shrink...

And honestly, I'm glad about that. If someone else compares Chihiro to Sasuke from Naruto I'm gonna scream. To start with, Chihiro hasn't even been around for 100+ chapters!

Shiba and Char teleport away, leaving Chihiro alone in the courtyard. He turns to the empty court, his formerly-injured hand on his blade.

"Enten."

(Meanwhile, above Tokyo, a while ago…)

Sojo's getting jumped. And he hasn't felt this pissed in a while.



Sojo can't use any more Mei's during this time— but the rest of his arsenal is still half available to him during his 20-second penalty. Using the water already available on the battlefield…



The Elite Squad dodges the icicles easily thanks to Glasses' warning, and dive into Sojo. One of them comes from behind, with the sorcery of BIG HANDS. Yes really.



The blonde dude from earlier asks to go forward and keep fighting, but the one girl in the elite squad tells him to stand back. He's their secret weapon, after all.

Meanwhile, the sticks that the Mask Guy planted into the ground begin to subdue Sojo, but he's not done yet. Already, even though only ten seconds out of the twenty have passed, he's already re-electrifying. Cloud Gouger is reaching its evolution.

As such, up above, Glasses and his partner begin their final attack. Since Sojo's already electrified the whole area, why not take advantage of that?



Glasses gets Tengu Mask electrified, which then allows Tengu Mask to harden… there's no heterosexual explanation for this, guys. With blinding speed, he rockets towards Sojo, hitting him right in the chest!

(BOOM!)



Sojo loses his grip on Cloud Gouger, and begins to fly towards the ground. For a second, there's silence on the battlefield. Without being able to touch Cloud Gouger, Sojo can't do anything— he's a swordsman without a blade.

Right?



Right?



With blinding speed, Cloud Gouger moves on its own. Tengu Mask immediately gets a hole punched in him, while that black splotch on Big Hands? That was his arm. From above, Glasses barely manages to spot him. He's a dot at first, but he's getting closer.

The elite squad thought that they all knew everything about Cloud Gouger. But really, they and Chihiro didn't know anything, since the swords are always changing. That's what lead to his victory.

Genichi Sojo…



…the walking storm. A perfect weapon of slaughter, all thanks to Rokuhira's Enchanted Blade.

Blonde attempts to use the secret weapon he hinted at, but it's no use. Sojo's too fast. So fast, in fact, that he looks just like Chihiro's Nishiki.



Yup. We're back to Chihiro now. The Anti-Cloud Gouger squad all died a few minutes ago. Now it's just him and Sojo. Sojo explains that he copied what Chihiro did, when Chihiro used Aka to absorb Mei— instead of manipulating the electrical energy around him in preparation for another Mei, he instead had it cloak around him. As such, Sojo became a lightning rod, which Cloud Gouger was attracted to.

Chihiro knows, not verbally but subconsciously, that that entire elite squad he believed in is dead. Their bodies are washing up in the shore right now. It's all up to him.



Both Sojo and Chihiro are, for once, equally matched. They're as different as always, but combat wise? For once, it's an even fight.


A shared time limit, almost instantaneous in the grand scheme of things. A true samurai duel to the death.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - END​

Merry Christmas everybody.

 

[StellarSeeker]

Oh no. Who could ever have foreseen this turn of events.

 

[The Zog]

The Anti-Cloud Gouger squad did better than I thought. Given how in his last appearance the narration said Sojo was about to awaken to his true power I thought we'd just cut to the squad dying in a pool of their own blood to heighten the mystery. But surprisingly the red shirts were valiant enough to be shown their final stand.

 

[Kermie]

But surprisingly the red shirts were valiant enough to be shown their final stand.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, the Anti Cloud Gouger squad should have stood a fair chance. Like, to use an analogy I saw somewhere else:

Imagine you're getting in a knife fight with someone. Both he and his knife are bigger than you, but it's ok! You've got six different people with you, you can Julius Caesar him.

Anyways one minute in he pulls out a machine gun.

That's what the Mei boomerang trick was like.

 

[no.]

The Anti-Cloud Gouger Squad are not bums, they're genuinely quite strong and competent, but the six Enchanted Blades turned the tide of a massive war. There's levels to this.

And yet, despite not using one, Shiba does not say "You're the only one who can do this." He says "You're one who should do this." Hmmmmmm… #noticing

 

[ThaTrueRealmWalk]

TRUE REALM​

Click to shrink...

heh

Glad to catch up! Seems we stopped right when the chips are getting placed!

I don't doubt for a second that Sojo is going to die here... maybe- actually I have no idea

 

[Kermie]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - TEA​

(Recommended music here.)

The food motif continues. But I'll elaborate on that later. For now, we begin the battle. And immediately, it becomes obvious that this battle will be measured in milliseconds.



12 seconds left.

Sojo and Chihiro fly up into the air, ready to clash, blades at the ready.



And then—

We cut to a different scene, from before this final clash. There was one more thing that we didn't see. Before going out to the courtyard, right after Sojo had gotten back from killing the Anti-Cloud Gouger squad.

It's Chihiro and Sojo, sitting down for tea and dango.



Chihiro says that he doesn't want the sweet dango. He doesn't like sweets that much in general, honestly. He's more of a bitter person. (Heh.) Sojo just says that's a shame, since he wanted to get to an agreement with Chihiro. He says that since their first fight:



Note the running gag of the beat/pause panel with just Chihiro's face. You can see his eye twitching.

Sojo says that while he understands why Chihiro wields his Enchanted Blade (those principles, Justice, blahblahblah), he's not going to be like that. He still wants to use Cloud Gouger as a weapon of mass destruction. Chihiro still disagrees on that. He saw his father working on blades every day, and each blade can't possibly have been made for that purpose—



But Sojo's ignoring that still. He's still stuck in his own delusions, that each EB is a weapon of war. And just as he's the only one believing in his ideals, he's the only one eating the food in this meeting.

When food was eaten before in Kagurabachi, with Char and Chihiro, or Char and her mom, it was shared, or given from one party to another. But just like Chihiro cannot accept Sojo's ideas, he doesn't want the food either.

In Sojo's words, "Cloud Gouger harmonized with me… only when I used it for slaughter." Chihiro can't just let someone like that live.

On a beach, faraway, the bodies of the anti-Cloud Gouger squad are slowly sinking into the ocean. Only one of them remains distantly watching the horizon. As the blonde boy from before helplessly watches the bodies sink, we cut back to the battle.



Chihiro launches himself like a rocket towards Sojo, but it's no use. With a quick strike, Sojo aims at Chihiro's heart— but misses!

9 seconds left.



Chihiro's pushing Nishiki to its absolute limit, and he knows it. When it comes to this battle, whoever exits their hyper speed state (Nishiki, altered Mei) with more injuries first is going to lose.

We cut back to the tea, one more time. Sojo begins to mock Chihiro, saying that it's foolish of Chihiro to think that he'll be the only one representing Rokuhira's convictions. Chihiro can speak for the dead. So can Sojo. Whoever wins will be the most famous Enchanted Blade bearer known to the half-hidden world of sorcerers— and as such, whoever wins decides how Rokuhira's going to be seen in the future.

7.5 seconds left.



Two things to note.

One, Sojo deadass looks like the LowTierGod meme. You know the one.

Second of all, Sojo's knows that if he uses another technique aside from Mei: Cloaking, his hyperspeed's versatility will go down, and he'll be at risk for getting hit. Unfortunately for Chihiro, Sojo doesn't give a damn about what he has to do to win.



Sojo: 3 seconds left.
Chihiro: 6 seconds left.

Sojo puts everything he has into one slice, all his eggs into one basket—



And he misses. And this is like, some Greek tragedy level bullshit. Sojo's whole character was defined by a single-minded obsession— but when he actually put that type of strike into practice against another Enchanted Blade wielder, he missed for all his trouble. Just look at his face. He knows he's cooked.

We cut back to the tea ceremony one last time. Chihiro is eating part of the food, and internalizing part of Sojo's ideas. He's maturing through seeing Sojo's viewpoint. Kinda.



Chihiro accepts that yes, people will see the Enchanted Blades as weapons, first and foremost. As such, Sojo is able to speak for Rokuhira just as he can, since Sojo wields an Enchanted Blade in his own way.

But is he just going to let Sojo keep doing that, and keep speaking for his dad? Wreaking havoc just like the Hishaku?

Hell no!

Sojo: 0 seconds left of hyperspeed.
Chihiro: 1.5 seconds left.



Sojo realizes the trick. Just as he was using his Mei, Chihiro switched to Nishiki's original mode— the one rocket burst of energy, which allowed him to dodge Sojo's one big attack.

Sojo may have understood the destructive potential of the Enchanted Blades, but Chihiro understands how they can change. Run those principles back, one more time!



Sojo can't move. All he can do is watch, as Chihiro closes in…



…and as Cloud Gouger cracks.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - END​

 

[Kermie]

yes, I changed my pfp to first person Chihiro. It's awesome. I'll change it every time we get to arc end or close enough.

"Live" Reddit Reactions:

 

[NinetyNineLies]

The first arc's primary villain of Kagurabachi, and Sojo is already making a huge splash and good first impression of the manga.

He's got the themes spoken clearly and on point, his personality is notably charming in its parasocial obsession with Chihiro's dad, and his ideal is a catalyst for Chihiro's character to develop further.

 

[ThaTrueRealmWalk]

Really interesting chapter-

I can see the Motif of Food being about the idea of Consuming, which by it's very nature, is about taking something that is not You (In this case a Belief or World View) and making it part of you're self.

Like Char shared food with her Mother, a sharing of love and that Ideal of Happiness "As Long As I'm With You, I'm the Happiest Person In The World"

Which then flows into Char and Chihiro sharing food, that same Ideal being passed between them, but also about letting in another person into their life, someone they can trust. Consuming the fact that can care about each other.

Chihiro eating with Sojo, taking a bit of his food, not all of it, is also an extension of that, right? That he took in that in the end, like his own Father had told him, the Enchanted Blades are weapons of destruction, that they can become like what Sojo views them as.

But Chihiro isn't gonna let that stand, showing that like the powers of the Enchanted Blades themselves, what they Represent can change as well.

 

[ScorpioSting]

Chihiro broke a sword????

And here I thought once Sojo was dead, Cloud Goujer was going to be reclaimed and... I unno, sealed away? Kept for later to be given to a new ally like samurai Mega Man?

 

[Kermie]

And here I thought once Sojo was dead, Cloud Goujer was going to be reclaimed and... I unno, sealed away?

Click to shrink...

Cloud Gouger will return in the future. Not Sojo tho, he's not making it out of that last slash.

 

[no.]

And now we arrive: chapter 17, the twelve second battle(or technically eight and a half seconds). This week this chapter dropped was the week I binged through Kagurabachi, after hearing on twitter about how insane the fight was.

And it really is insane. It's a genuine 10/10, a truly perfect chapter. From the choreography, to the panel layout, to the storytelling, this is shonen action at its peak. To achieve that in less than 20 chapters was the goal of the Sojo arc, and it's the thing that saved Kagurabachi. I fully believe that without this fight, the manga would have been cancelled. Word of mouth about this chapter dragged the series out of the bottom five and propelled it into the big leagues.

Anyway, the story: Chihiro finishes his dango despite hating it, while Sojo does not finish his. Sojo convinces Chihiro of the theorem of Death of the Author, that the intentions of the creator should not limit how one interprets a piece of art. Chihiro accepts Sojo's argument, casting aside his pride as Kunishige's son. Kunishige's intentions are not the whole picture: Chihiro must take responsibility for the outcome of his father's actions, and he reaffirms his decision to reclaim the Enchanted Blades in order to do so. Meanwhile, Sojo refuses to accept that he could be wrong about what Kunishige wanted. He preaches Death of the Author but cannot truly live up to it - if he did, he wouldn't care what Kunishige wanted in the first place. This difference in conviction makes the difference and allows Chihiro to just barely win.

Edit: fun fact, based on the twelve second battle, anyone who can keep up with Chihiro in Nishiki blitzes any JJK character

 

[Kermie]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - ROAR​

We start with a close up shot of what happened at the end of the last chapter. Namely, Chihiro's final strike.




The clouds are finally clearing, and Sojo's Enchanted Blade has been broken. As he lies on the floor, Sojo looks at the hilt of Cloud Gouger. One of the Enchanted Blades he craved so much being broken hurts him more than any wound. He looks toward Chihiro, and says that the Enchanted Blades chose him. Chihiro disagrees.



Just as Chihiro's about to collapse, Shiba and Char reappear to catch him. Char offers to heal his injured right arm. Or, erm, the stump of it. While Chihiro doesn't want Char touching something like that, he folds after she asks him one more time.

Meanwhile, Sojo is crawling away, guts spilling out. I mean that literally— his abdomen is slashed, he's barely able to crawl up the stairs and through his own lab. As he crawls through the lab, he's able to look up. With his last bit of strength, he reaches for it…



The Datenseki. His last, desperate hope. With it, he can increase his own spirit energy— maybe even kill Chihiro. He understands the blades, after all, he has to know their material as well!

Right?



Remember, when a body gains too much spirit energy, it begins to explode. All Sojo did here was essentially irradiate himself. Because he forgot the last thing Chihiro said.

Outside of the castle, Char's finished healing Chihiro. While his arm hasn't grown back, the bleeding's fully stopped. Char feels sad that she wasn't able to fully heal him, but Chihiro just says that it's ok.



And just as Chihiro says that, Sojo finally has one last moment of lucidity. Yes, Chihiro said that he understands the blades as well. But that never meant that he saw Sojo as anything remotely close to an equal. After all…



And that's how Sojo dies. Trying to manipulate something only one man can forge with, and cursing out the family name of the one he admired so much. All while the kid he was trying to kill teleports far away (see that "Fwoo" sound effect?) Good riddance.

When we turn the page, we're next met with a meeting of people we haven't seen. It's the Kamunabi— Azami's crew and the sorcerer government.



According to the informant speaking, the Shinuchi Enchanted Blade is still going up for sale at the next Rakuzaichi, that underground auction Azami was talking about like ten chapters ago. Sojo wasn't the true mastermind behind the whole operation.

However, now that Sojo's dead, Cloud Gouger is back up for grabs. As for why they didn't steal it from his hands earlier? Well, it's simple.

Azami mentally recounts that all of the Enchanted Blades have what's called a Lifelong Contract. As long as the bearer of the blade lives, no other sorcerer can use that blade except for them. Take away the Sword Bearer and the Enchanted Blade is essentially just a hunk of metal.



But while all that's fine and dandy, it's only a smokescreen on the real problem. Cloud Gouger is missing. Apparently, according to Kazanemachi (that's the Blonde guy from the Anti Cloud Gouger squad btw, he's was one of the two that lived), somebody else took it.

Apparently, he's Kunishige Rokuhira's son.



Kazane tells Azami that he won't reveal that Azami's been harboring the secret of Chihiro's existence from the other Kamunabi heads. But as long as any destructive Enchanted Blades like the one that killed his friends exists, he can't let that slide. So he has to tell the heads about the seventh blade.

Back in the present, one of the other guys begins to badger Azami for keeping this secret from them. What would Azami have done with this info? Ask for new Enchanted Blades to be made? Something else?

But then, the head of the Kamunabi shuts him up. While yes, it may have been weird that Chihiro's existence was concealed, what matters right now is that Chihiro's on the run and he has Cloud Gouger. With two Enchanted Blades (technically one, but they don't know about Cloud Gouger), he is a walking national security threat.




Welp. Chihiro may have just killed Sojo, but things aren't over yet. The Kamunabi officially knows of him and Enten, and they're sending an Enchanted Blade-level fighter after him. And above everybody lays the threat of the Rakuzaichi. The well-known underground auction, with another one of the Enchanted Blades up for sale.

The pace isn't remotely slowing down any time soon. I'll see you all this Saturday, for the Rakuzaichi Arc.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - END
V.S SOJO/CLOUD GOUGER ARC - END​

 

[WayWard_Animal]

Yay my favorite character appears soon! He's traumatized but literally everyone in this setting probably is one way or another so-

I'm just excited for the reaction/narration post.

 

[Kermie]

Welp. That was a rad first arc. Not even twenty chapters in and it's peak. Now if you want to, watch this video that somebody made recapping the whole Sojo fight.

View: https://youtu.be/DqP6wCIDdMo?feature=shared

And then if you want some hype, check out this as the opening for the next two arcs! If you like Project Moon, you may recognize the song.

View: https://youtu.be/dqQfj52NXSQ?feature=shared

 

[ThaTrueRealmWalk]

Oh golly! Things are heating up!

And I assume one person can't wield two Enchanted Blades so... hmm.
I wonder if Char is given it. We'll see I suppose!

 

[no.]

Sojo reaching for the datenseki is contrasted with Chihiro reaching out to pat Char. Nice little detail there. Sojo is also often seen alongside bonsai, stunted and "incomplete" trees, with one being slashed by the same attack that defeated him. This battle was essentially one between two newborn/incomplete beings, both of whom have massive unrealized potential, just as said potential began to bloom a bit. In other words, this arc was Chihiro's entrance exam, as well as the opening gambit in a much larger plot by unseen forces.

The Sojo arc has its issues; ultra-fast pacing that leaves very little room for worldbuilding or development of the side cast, Sojo being kind of an aura merchant whose characterization is only fleshed out right before his death(and to some degree after it), and the art in the first five chapters being rough in places. But the premise is rock-solid, Chihiro is a fantastic lead, and Hokazono's art improves at an absolutely shocking pace. The thesis statement of the series has been delivered, and thanks to that amazing last stretch of chapters, the axe has been dodged.

Hello there Hiyuki. I'm excited to talk about you in a bit.

 

[Kermie]

CHAPTER NINETEEN - KNIGHT OF DARKNESS​

You get three different guesses as to what that title refers to and the first two don't count. Actually, you don't need to! Here we go.



Damn. Cold. Notice the water droplets in the air— classic signs of Enten.

As for the chapter proper, we start with a monologue. An unidentified speaker starts talking about his pet that he had. About five years ago, he lost his pet mantis called Samurai. And also around five years ago, he also lost his family… but that's not too important.

HAKURI - DUMBASS (AFFECTIONATE)​

As Hakuri's drink/food spills out of his mouth, he looks out the window. And that's when we the reader realize that this is a flashback.



This is back during the first Sojo fight, back when he was aiming for all the civilians in the area. As Sojo begins to charge up, Hakuri covers his eyes from the light, but doesn't seem to run away. In his words, he's "still got a job to do".

Of course, we all know what happened in this first fight. Chihiro drops in, and blocks it with Aka. But as he takes the hit, he drops down for a second. In that second, Hakuri clearly doubts that Chihiro can win against Sojo. Bad wins out over good. According to him, that's just how it works.

But then Chihiro gets up, and activates Nishiki. Which inspires Hakuri.



Dawg, what is that expression you're making? Weird ass expression. He's tweaking out, and clearly he likes that one mantis he got once.

With that, we get back to the present. It's been a while.



We cut back to a pagoda, once more listening to Hakuri's inner monologue. Thanks to seeing Chihiro, he's got a fire lit under his add. He's gotta be a real samurai now!



We cut back to earlier via the gray panels. Earlier, these yakuza thugs were trying to kidnap that girl at the bottom. But Hakuri shoved the girl out of their way, and then did this;



He's such a dumbass. I love him. Unfortunately, this aura farming did not save him from his current predicament. The generic yakuza boss No. 2 is currently monologuing about how his subordinates were being idiots for not grabbing that girl, while beating up Hakuri. Hakuri bemoans his whole situation, lamenting how he's not on Chihiro's league. But Hakuri still can't take that, so he stands up…

And activates his sorcery…



…to no effect.



That's right. Nothing. Hakuri's sorcery isn't nearly as potent as Shiba's. Lame. Anyways then the other guys start closing in on Hakuri to jump him. Hokazono has introduced us to this man for five pages and he's already the wet puppy to Chihiro's rabid guard dog.

Speaking of, who's that outside in the hallway?



That's right. He's here. Hakuri's head slowly rises from the floor, as we see this cinematic, movie like continuous shot of Enten and Chihiro. Instead of seeing Chihiro's perspective, we see the fish's.



As Chihiro cuts through the guys, the boss from before gets knocked to the floor. He asks why Chihiro has been on a rampage for so long. Chihiro doesn't bother to answer the human trafficker, but he thinks back to beforehand. Right after they killed Sojo.



According to Shiba, Sojo was just the guy they chose to test out an Enchanted Blade, that being Cloud Gouger. Meanwhile, the actual good Enchanted Blade (the Shinuchi) is still at the annual underground auction Rakuzaichi.

As for the Shinuchi, Shiba and Sojo's best bet to grab the Shinuchi is to actually get into the Rakuzaichi. And the only way to do that is to gain connections and find info on the family bloodline of sorcerers that have ran it for years now: the Sazanamis. And that's why Chihiro's still been murdering his way through the underworld since he killed Sojo. Got it? Good.

Anyways, back to the present, Chihiro kills the generic yakuza boss when that guy doesn't give out any info. And when he gets out of the room, there's Hakuri, who still remembers him.



Chihiro wonders if the guy lost some blood, which, fair. Also Chihiro "?" panel my beloved. Hakuri keeps on following Chihiro out of the building, telling him some unimportant stuff about how he was trying to grab that girl, his name, yadda yadda. Chihiro is just considering moving to get Hakuri to a hospital.

But then Hakuri says something Chihiro cares about.

CHAPTER NINETEEN - END​

 

[SolarGemX]

Well now... things just got interesting.
Also Chihiro has gone on a Underworld criminal killing spree? Well thst one way to make a name for yourself.

 

[Kermie]

Also Chihiro has gone on a Underworld criminal killing spree? Well thst one way to make a name for yourself.

Click to shrink...

Chihiro's basically regenerated his arm (thanks Char) and then immediately went on a 2-week spree of becoming a machine that turns yakuza into dead yakuza. He's still 18 btw. Crazy thing to be doing at that age.

 

[WayWard_Animal]

Well now... things just got interesting.

Click to shrink...

For me I'm just on cloud nine. Hakuri's here! And I get to see him get narrated! You don't understand how much of a lovable dumbass Hakuri is. He's like an excitable pomeranian in personality compared to Chihiro's German shepard (popular police dog breed)

The family comment gets more...uh context soon!

This boy got some issues and I wanna cradle him away because he's my newest blorbo courtesy of Kermie

 

[ThaTrueRealmWalk]

The found family grows!!!

 

[King_Rule]

The BOY has arrived. Favorite character in the series yet (Chihiro and The Bird man are a close second).

 

[no.]

Hakuri is great. You can really tell that Hokazono was excited to get to this guy. I like the visual pun of "I just have to grit my teeth and get through it", followed by his drink spilling out of his mouth because he literally doesn't have the willpower to grit his teeth at that point.

Also, something I wish was included in the post is that Chihiro hears Hakuri's name while trying to leave him behind, then an entire page later, he turns around and asks him to repeat his name. Chihiro being absentminded in conversations is a consistent trait of his: earlier, he was surprised when Sojo knew him as Kunishige's son; he then realizes that he let that fact slip to Sojo in their first fight and completely forgot.