Amane Nishiki

Amane Nishiki is a playable character in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma. As revealed in BlazBlue: Centralfiction, like Rachel Alucard, he is also an Observer.

Appearance
Amane Nishiki is an androgynous male character with violet hair tied in a bun and blue eyes with dark pink eye shadow and red lipstick. He wears a flowing pink and red kimono that exposes his shoulders underneath is sleeveless black skintight turtleneck, black shorts and legwarmers, and red platform sandals. He also sports a translucent pink scarf which appears to levitate through unknown means. In Story mode, Bullet states that he looks identical to his appearance 10 years prior.

Pre-battle, Amane wears a royal white geisha outfit, underneath, he has a pink and red-colored checker pattern kimono.

Personality
Amane is a friendly, respectful, and eccentric individual. He refers to battles as "dancing" and his gameplay style even resembles such. He is always on the lookout for possible fellow performers, asking both Ragna the Bloodedge and Carl Clover to join, being very persistent to have the latter do so. His subordinates greatly revere him and he in turn is shown to be very generous towards them, going so far as to treat them to a surprise vacation in the 7th Hierarchical City of Kazamotsu. He often addresses any individual he meets as "my dear". Despite his heavily female appearance, Amane's personality is fairly masculine.

However, he can make rather careless mistakes at times and is rather slow at realizing his error, such as when he trained Bullet's squad dancing techniques for 3 days before realizing he made a mistake, having mixed up the words "troop" with "troupe". This is shown again during Noel Vermillion's arcade when he mistakes her for a cross-dressing boy.

History
Amane is a young man who travels around, gathering a troupe of young and handsome men and beautiful women as he goes. Upon stumbling across the news that a cute vigilante boy was heading for Ikaruga, he immediately sets out to look for him. As he finally meets the boy, Carl Clover, Amane asks him to join his troupe, but Carl declines and runs away; Amane chases after him, however, and encounters Rachel, who is suspicious of his mysterious nature. As they engage in combat, they gain the respect of each other and Amane reveals his purposes: he claims that to dance on the greatest stage, also the greatest battlefield where greatest warriors gather is his wish. The majority of his troupe are orphans of war from around the world, which he has adopted.

Powers and abilities
Amane has an unusual ability that allows him to form his clothing into various shapes, although whether this is the effect of an Armagus, magic or otherwise is unknown. His Drive, Spiral, utilizes his clothing into drills that increase in power with repeated use, going from Level 1 to a maximum of Level 3, at which point his Drive begins chipping away at the opponent's defenses at an alarming rate. However, using it too much can result in it becoming overheated and will become unusable until it cools down and restarts at Level 1. Amane's Overdrive, Cyclone, maximizes his Drive's Level for its duration.

Amane could very well be an extremely powerful individual, casually brushing off the results of any fight he is in as if he was merely testing his opponent. In Bang's gag reel, Amane was able to withstand blistering heat, freezing cold, and electrocution without any lasting effects. It is highly implied that he is immortal due to his mysterious relationship with Rachel Alucard, his appearance having not changed for at least 10 years, and his ability to effortlessly shrug off a majority of damage inflicted upon him. Rachel also says that Amane is 'the Uzume', something that he is apparently unaware of, as well as this, Amane is the sole individual who is seen to be immune to Slave Red.

Etymology
Amane is a male Japanese name with many different meanings; given Amane's traits and history, the most likely meaning for his name is Heavenly Sound (天音). The kanji listed for his theme, 舞神 (Bushin), literally translates to "dance god". This could be a further reference to Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, which is described in more detail below.

Nishiki translates as brocade in English. A brocade is a class of decorative fabrics woven with many elaborate designs, usually having a raised overall pattern.

Trivia

 * In an interview with BlazBlue producer Toshimichi Mori, he mentioned that the ideas for Amane's Drive and fighting style were originally proposed by Tomokazu Sugita, the voice actor of Ragna.
 * His birthday, November 15, is Shichi-Go-San in Japan, a festival for five-year-old boys, seven-year-old girls, and three-year-old children of both sexes.
 * Most of Amane's special moves are named after various Super Sentai series' titles, with the kanji involved having alternate readings that describe the move itself in the form of a pun. For example, Tensō Rakugeki: Gosei at first appears to be an homage to Tensou Sentai Goseiger, but the kanji used (天葬落撃: 篭勢) translates to "Heaven Burial Falling Attack: Basket Force". All the puns of the titles are as listed including Gosei:
 * Ninpu Sengeki: Hariken (Ninpū Sentai Hurricaneger; Hariken is an alternate reading of the "Har" sound in "hurricane" instead of "hur", due to that sound being used in the Japanese pronunciation. Ninpu is also a coincidental pun on the kanji for/as well as NOT TO BE confused for "laborer" or "pregnant woman".)
 * Jūken Dageki: Gekiren (Jūken Sentai Gekiranger; the "ren" is taken from the Japanese pronunciation of "ranger", which is "renjā".)
 * Chōjū Rengeki: Raibu (Chōjū Sentai Liveman; Raibu is a pun on the way "Liveman" is pronounced in Japanese, which is either "Raibuman" or "Raivuman".)
 * Tensō Rakugeki: Gosei (Gosei Sentai Dairanger and Tensō Sentai Goseiger; the latter is the closest pun out of the rest.)
 * Chōjin Kaihi: Zettō (Chōjin Sentai Jetman; Zettō is a pun on the Japanese pronunciation of "Jetman", which is "Jettoman".)
 * Kyōryū Tokkō: Seijū Rensōkyaku (Kyōryū Sentai Zyūranger, Zyūden Sentai Kyōryūger and Seijū Sentai Gingaman)
 * Kaizoku Senkō: Gōkai Rasen Renpa (Kaizoku Sentai Gōkaiger; Kaizoku here oddly happens to be an altered kanji pun on the kanji for "pirate".)
 * Jakutoku Meika: Gōhahōyō (J.A.K.Q./Jakka Dengekitai and Tokumei Sentai Gō-Busters)
 * In Arcade Mode, Rachel refers to Amane as "Uzume." This could be a reference to Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, the goddess of dawn, revelry, and mirth in Shinto mythology. It was said that Uzume was able to coax Amaterasu out of a cave by dancing at the entrance. Said dance is said to have been the foundation of the Kagura, a type of theatrical dance.
 * His Astral Heat seems to either morph characters into younger or earlier versions of themselves; however, most of the time, it is done in parody:
 * Ragna: Teen-aged Ragna as seen in his BlazBlue: Continuum Shift story.
 * Jin: Younger Jin from Tsubaki's BlazBlue: Continuum Shift story; Yukianesa is wrapped up.
 * Noel: Her appearance when she was adopted into the Vermillion family: hair cut short and wearing a white shirt with long sleeves; a black tie; a long, black skirt; and white stockings with dark brown shoes. However, in this case, she has a red tie and a blue skirt.
 * Rachel: Her appearance in the Phase Shift novels.
 * Taokaka: Reverts to a Kaka kitten, shown in Ragna's flashback in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift.
 * Tager: A wind-up toy version of Tager.
 * Litchi: She has back-length hair tied into a dark green ribbon bow with Lao Jiu, small circular glasses and is carrying a plate of meat buns. She also wears a red Chinese shirt with long sleeves, white tights, and red slippers. Oddly enough, her bosom is still quite large, implying that her body began maturing at an early age.
 * Arakune: A Tartar, like the one seen in Lambda -No.11-'s gag reel in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift.
 * Bang: His hair is worn into a messy ponytail, and he has no scar. He wears a skintight sleeveless exposed top, a dark green hakama, and is barefoot.
 * Carl: He has a purple-collared, long-sleeved shirt with an orange tie; black shorts; and brown shoes. Ada is presented as a plush toy.
 * Hakumen: "Pakumen".
 * Tsubaki: Reverts to a child, identical to her BlazBlue: Continuum Shift story-line when she first met Jin, but with her eyes still red.
 * Hazama: Kazuma Kval.
 * Makoto: Wears a short orange top that bares her midriff and short black tights, and is barefoot.
 * Valkenhayn: Appears in his younger form, when he fought the Black Beast alongside the rest of the Six Heroes.
 * Platinum: Trinity Glassfille.
 * Relius: He looks slightly younger with shoulder length hair, and wore white chemise collar shirt with maroon cuffs, a white scarf with a purple gem, purple vest, and black trousers. Presumably when he worked alongside the Sin Architects.
 * Bullet: Appears as a child with an identical outfit to her adult form, but with slightly longer shorts.
 * Azrael: Simply appears more childlike. Outfit seems to be unchanged, only lacking his goatee.
 * Mirror-Amane: Appears virtually unchanged, although his hair is in a different style.
 * Nu -No.13-: Turned into the younger form that Noel had seen in the mirror in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, happily hugging a Ragna plushie, ahoge heart-shaped. She keeps her eyepatch on this occasion.
 * Mu -No.12-: Turned younger, wearing a blue experimental robe. Her hair retains the distinct fray.
 * Izayoi: Similar to Tsubaki's result, except with a purple dress.
 * Kagura: Appears as a teenager wearing the Military Academy's school outfit, holding a wooden sword.
 * Terumi: A chibi-like version of his ghost form kicking his legs frantically while holding a Rod of Asclepius.
 * Kokonoe: Her appearance at the end of BlazBlue: Phase Shift 4 novel.
 * Celica: A younger Celica wearing a pink school dress with white long sleeves, black wrist cuffs, and black and blue shoes. Minerva becomes a small wind-up toy. She bares a strong resemblance to Little sister.
 * Lambda -No.11-: Turned younger, wearing a white experimental robe and hugging a Tartar plushie.
 * Hibiki: Appears as a child wearing a sleeveless top with a sash tied around his waist, pants, and shoes, and with a small black bird accompanying him.
 * Naoto: His appearance in BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience — Part 1 and Part 2, with  Raquel on top of him.
 * Konoe: Her appearance bares a strong resemblance to Me from XBlaze – Lost: Memories.
 * Izanami: Her appearance bares a strong resemblance to Saya Terumi from BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience — Part 2.
 * Akin to how Bang Shishigami spells his name in kana with the Kunrei-Shinki romanization, Amane's theme/leitmotif Busin is spelled without the "h" (the Hepburn romanization would be "Bushin").

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Амане Нишики