Bang Shishigami

Bang Shishigami is a Ninja, and a playable character in Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift.

Information
After losing his home in the Ikaruga Civil War and his master Tenjō at the hands of Jin Kisaragi, Bang and his followers began living in Kagutsuchi waiting for the right moment to strike back at Jin and the NOL. There, he declares himself a hero of love and justice, and dedicates himself to exterminating evil and overturning injustice wherever he goes. Over time, Tenjo's teaching prevailed over him, and Bang develops a strict 'no-kill' policy, which means he would never stoop so low as to kill his enemies, even Jin, despite how much he hates him. However, he states in his story line that upon meeting Hazama that he must be killed, perhaps meaning that his 'no-kill' policy does not extend to the truly evil.

He has a romantic fascination with Litchi, always willing to go charging in headlong if he sees someone making her upset. He is overzealous in every way, subtlety not usually at the forefront of his mind. However, his fiery spirit and will have earned him the respect of a few characters, most notably Hakumen. His first and foremost duty is to protect the citizens of Ikaruga, which was the reason why he also wants Ragna's bounty: to rebuild the glory of Ikaruga.

In Continuum Shift, he goes on a mission to find his Master's Son, although as his story revealed, his true ending in Calamity Trigger did occur and he survived the beating he got from Hakumen rather than dying (his death was a story made up by Taokaka). There is an inactive, unknown Nox Nyctores within his possession. This is earlier stated by Rachel in Calamity Trigger. This Nox Nyctores turns out to be Phoenix: Rettenjō, the Nox Nyctores with the power to sever connections with The Boundary. Platinum the Trinity informs Bang of this, but vanishes before he could gather further information about it. Although it takes place in non-canon, Ragna states in the last episode of "Teach Me, Miss Litchi! " that it has the power to destroy other Nox Nyctores.

Platinum the Trinity also revealed to him that his true enemy wasn't Jin, but the system within NOL. After an encounter with Hazama, Bang decided to travel to Ikaruga to uncover further mysteries about its destruction and NOL's involvement in it.

Material Collection Information

 * Hobbies: Training, thinking of names for his special moves
 * Values: His 55-inch nail (a memento of his master)
 * Likes: Justice and Litchi.
 * Dislikes: Evil

Appearance
Bang is a young adult man with spiky swift back, slightly long brown hair, and hazel eyes. He has a long, X-shaped scar across his face. He wears a dark green modified ninja outfit with a big red scarf, silver gauntlets, black fingerless gloves, dark green harama pants that expose his thights. He carries a giant nail on his back.

Personality
Bang can be quite over-exuberant, and he is prone to speeches and tangents as well as making dramatic entrances. He has a romantic fascination with Litchi, always willing to go charging in headlong if he sees someone making her upset. He is a man with great pride in his home and tolerates no ill words towards it or his master. Though many members of the cast ridicule him and think of him as annoying, he protects those he cares about (such as Carl and Tao) with his life, and has a heart of gold. He thinks of himself as the "Hero of Justice", and the one to punish all evil doers.

Powers and Abilities
Being a ninja, Bang seems to share many similar traits in his powers and fighting style. First of all, Bang is a speedy and agile character, and demonstrates an uncanny ability to maneuver through the air as if utilizing invisible platforms. He also bears a decent command of hand-to-hand combat (Taijutsu), and can seriously harm foes with punishing grab-combos and a fiery defensive "guardpoint or autoguard" drive (Bang automatically blocks attacks while performing his Drive attacks, similar to a counter, although unlike a counter they are not dependent on being hit).

Unique to Bang is his assortment of nails, referred to as "Bang-Style Shurikens", and he has a variety of nails for different effects. Some nails will explode, some afflict a poisoned status, some unleash a spray of webs to trap the foe, and still others can rebound off of surfaces, making them more difficult to avoid. The larger, seemingly unweildly nail on his back is used in his Astral Heat, where he jabs it into a foe, and then uses his special gauntlet to 'hammer' it in.

Finally, Bang is capable of an ability that boosts his speed to even greater heights and allows for even more of his attacks to be linked for longer, more punishing combos. Called "Bang Shishigami Forbidden Art: Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan"(which means Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain), it is such a decidedly incredible, and "Epic" move that the BlazBlue staff orchestrated its own background music.

In the story dialogue, it is unknown if Bang can display such powerful skills to his opponents, as he is easily disrespected. Though so far in Calamity Trigger, he managed to overpower Tager with his Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan, and in Continuum Shift he used the ability to escape from Hazama with his friends.

Movelist

 * Bang's movements.
 * Changes in Unlimited Mode.

Musical Themes

 * Reppū - Bang's Theme
 * Omae no Tettsui ni Kugi wo Ute - Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan Theme

Stages

 * RONIN-Gai - Fortune favors the bold.
 * RONINGAI -Night- - There is no pleasure without pain.

Arcade

 * AD2199/12/25, -Gong!-
 * AD2200/01/07, Desperado

Story

 * BELIEF
 * Lost ARCH ENEMY

Gallery

 * Click here to see all images for Bang Shishigami

Trivia

 * Bang is very popular among players for his over-the-top enthusiasm and mannerisms, which is ironically dissonant to his actual reputation in the BlazBlue universe, with nearly half the cast looking down on him as foolish and silly. To be fair, however, those characters that do look down on him tend to be those that are rather full of themselves (ex. Jin, Rachel, etc). Others regard him in passing and have no opinion either way (which includes Litchi, much to Bang's dismay, although in Continuum Shift, she has let up on him and treats him kindly), while a select few are impressed and, indeed, respect the ninja (Carl and Hakumen most notably, Taokaka and Tsubaki in some instances). He is also notable for being one of the few individuals whose skill and strategy were acknowledged by Hazama, notoriously known as a very stuck-up but also very powerful character.
 * It is also amusing to note that Bang is usually mocked by the BlazBlue cast (and even his owns subordinates) for being too loud, scruffy, and his most famous complaint him being sweaty due to his training and lack of bathing. (Hazama in particular, being a guy who claims to enjoy peace and quiet, absolutely cannot stand Bang's sheer "volume".)
 * Perhaps even more coincidentally, Bang's CSII/Extend English Voice Actor, Steve Kramer, also is the current voice of Zhang Fei from Dynasty Warriors as of Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires (because Bob Papenbrook, Zhang Fei's original English Voice Actor passed away). Zhang Fei is well known in the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel for his stand at Chang Ban bridge where he lets loose a shattering shout against Cao Cao's troops. This may be a coincidental joke played on Bang's loud outspoken speeches.
 * If Bang fights against Taokaka in Arcade or Versus modes in Continuum Shift II (and vice-versa as Taokaka vs Bang), the two will exchange a short series of blows (before the match begins) which are either blocked or dodged skillfully. This implies that every match is just another fun training session for the two, and that Taokaka really does acknowledge Bang as her scruffy mentor.
 * Bang also has some similarities to Might Guy from Naruto with both of them being Ninja with over the top mannerisms. His origin is said to be Hino-Kuni (Land of Fire), which may be a reference to Naruto.
 * In Bang's electrocution sprite, one of his hands has five fingers and one thumb. Also, his underwear can be seen.
 * Bang is the counterpart of Guilty Gear's Chipp Zanuff, being the respective ninja who was over the top in his mannerisms. However, while being a ninja, Bang's status is atypical to most ninjas, instead of being overly speedy with high or very low damage, he moves quickly but has fairly slow attacks that deal mediocre or strong damage. In addition, other Japanese Characters of Guilty Gear counterpart Bang, mostly May and Anji Mito.
 * Another similarity to Anji is that both of their themes have titles that are single Japanese words: Bang's is "Reppuu," meaning "gale," and Anji's is "Fuuga," meaning "Elegance."
 * Also, both possess guard point features, and both also represent their nationality in some way (Bang being a ninja, while Anji incorporates Japanese dancing in his fighting style).
 * Bang even has a DLC color palette with colors that are that of Anji Mito's in Continuum Shift
 * Bang and Anji also have the same birthday, January 1.
 * Some of Bang's palette swaps are references to the following characters:
 * Akuma (Street Fighter)
 * Ryu (Street Fighter)
 * Ken (Street Fighter)
 * Dan Hibiki (Street Fighter)
 * Super Saiyan Goku (Dragon Ball Z)
 * Strider Hiryu (Strider)
 * Galford (Samurai Showdown)
 * Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
 * Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)
 * Tei Sukone (Vipperloid)
 * Squalo (Death Cargo)
 * Bang's other counterpart is Johnny, where they both share a limit of items they can use per round in a match (Bang has 12 nails (20 in Unlimited Mode) he can throw and setup, while Johnny has 6 coins he can throw at his opponent to power up his Mist Finer attack).
 * During his Astral Finish, for a second, there is an image which is a direct parody of an image from the popular Ninja-based anime, Naruto. However, a lot of people have compared it to the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann as well, due to a similar scene. People even compared it to the infamous Falcon Punch move of Captain Falcon from the SSB series. Also in CS, Bang's power demolishes most of his clothing, remaining only his underwear, scarf, nail, gloves, and Houyoku: Rettenjou.
 * Bang is often compared to Raven of the Tekken series, due to both of them are ninjas and a X scar on their face.
 * Bang's theme song, Gale, is listed as Reppuu in the Character Select screen, Reppuu being Japanese for Gale.
 * Bang considers that his Fuu-Rin-Kan-Zan transforms him into his "Super Mode", only stated in Tager's Alternate ending. He also reveals the Fuu-Rin-Kan-Zan ability against Hazama in his Continuum Shift story, in which he uses it to run away while carrying the wounded Taokaka and Carl.
 * His birthday falls onto New Year's Day.
 * In his "gag" ending, Bang Shishigami was trying to sneak around Litchi's clinic until he was caught by Tsubaki, thinking him as a pervert. He was about to be arrested, until Bang lies that Litchi is his girlfriend. Tsubaki bought it, and assumed he was going to propose to her when she noticed him carrying "Proposal Flowers", which Bang just recently picked up. To make matters worse, Jubei came assuming this was true, since Bang would never lie after learning the news (which he actually did). Jubei then decides to make "Project Get Bang Married" and takes him and Tsubaki to the cliffs, where Bang's subordinates and Taokaka (Bang bribes her to keep quiet about it for 37 meatbuns) were there as staffs to help out in the project. The project is to use the cannon and place him in the cannon to shoot fireworks in order for him to shout out his feelings. Determined, Bang decides to proceed with the project, and asks Taokaka to tell this to Litchi. Sadly, Litchi didn't get to see Bang's fireworks at night, as Taokaka was too exausted and fell asleep.
 * Bang's Unlimited form allows him to throw three of his shurikens, except his D version, which remains unchanged. He also does a quick running charge for his command grab, increasing its effectiveness. He also has his "teleport" as an actual ability, allowing him to move around the stage much quicker, and doesn't need to use his drive on guard point to use it.
 * Bang's background music translates into "Beat a Nail with your Hammer".
 * A running gag in Continuum Shift for Bang is that some of the cast state that they are "talking to a wall" due to Bang's habit of ignoring everything they say (be aware this has only happened to Luna, Noel, and Carl) and come up with his own theories (ex: assuming Luna is a orphan girl due to her small stature, thinking Noel gravely wounded Carl) and constantly referring to Carl as his disciple, even though he never agreed to the position.
 * When winning a fight against Hakumen, Bang states he hates lies, evil and bell peppers, The last of which Rachel Alucard also dislikes.
 * Though Bang shares a lot of mannerisms with many anime heroes, he has said some sinster phrases in both Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift, these phrases being "Let the blood bath BEGIN" and his most recent phrase "Cut the flesh".
 * Bang's moves in actual translation (not official US translaton) are revealed to be very, very long, which is another note to his overzealousness and his hobby of naming his moves. He even shouts out his attacks in a random fashion, such as "GIGANTIC SUPER CRASH!" or "RISING DRAGON!"
 * Bang, in Teach Me, Miss Litchi [Reloaded], nose bleeds at one point while he thinks about Litchi's breasts. This is a common Japanese gag that implies intense sexual frustration.
 * Also in Teach Me, Miss Litchi [Reloaded], as Taokaka is to be quizzed on what she learned, Bang exclaims "Believe in me who believes in you!": an obvious reference to Gurren Lagan.
 * During Japanese in-battle dialogue, Bang often ends his sentences with 'de gozaru'. This is an archaic version of the verb "desu," or "to be," stereotypically associated with samurai; in modern context, it is often used to show a level of almost pretentious old-fashioned mannerism, especially with samurai and ninja-like characters. Thus, with all these in mind, Bang is said to be an comical abundance of multiple manga and anime references, intentional or not.
 * This could be a Reference to Yukimaru from Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Dark Hero Days, who often says "de gozaru" at the end of her sentences (dubbed as "zam" in the english version). However, Yukimaru says that young ninjas need to say "de gozaru" in order to focus their chi.
 * Natsu from Fairy Tail is shown to have the same tendence: once he heard the word "Ninja" from Lucy, he acted like that for a while, often to saying "de gozaru" at the end of each sentence. Coincidentally, Natsu's voice actor is Tetsuya Kakihara, the voice actor of both Jin and Hakumen.
 * Near the end of his "Help me Professor Kokonoe" section, Kokonoe threatens Bang saying "If you come here again, I'm going to send a whole bunch of ice cream and french fries to Ronin-gai" much to Bang's dismay as he begs her not to go through with it, indicating that he can't resist eating them and become fat.
 * Bang's upper attire could be inspired by Venom, an assassin from Guilty Gear: they both share long sleeves and a missing chest section.
 * In the console versions, when he uses his Fu Rin Ka Zan move, its own theme song, "Omae no Tettsui ni Kugi wo Ute", sung by Hironobu Kageyama, will start playing. This song, along with his choice of clothing, movement and mannerisms, is derived as a parody of the "Tokusatsu Tokusatsu" hero concept, more specifically Kamen Rider.
 * Another Guilty Gear character counterpart to him is Baiken: both have lost their homes to a person they are chasing (Jin and That Man respectively), and were scarred in an attack caused by their tormentor.
 * Due to the absurdity of Bang's Astral Heat, players claim that they just been 'nailed' by Bang.
 * Bang is the only character to have 4 Distortion Drives. However, Unlimited Taokaka has 5.
 * Bang's last name, Shishigami, means "Lion God" in Japanese. His first name however, based on the meaning of the Kanji, means "To perish thousands of evil", which perfectly match his personality.
 * Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan's original meaning is: Swift as Wind, Calm like Forest, Offensive as Fire, and Still as Mountain. These definitions are all applied to Bang's technique of the same name. However, Bang says..."Quicker than the Winds and as Still as the Forest! Hotter than Flames and more Magnificent than a Mountain!"
 * Phoenix Wright in Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 has a similar mechanic to Bang's Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan. In order to perform it, Wright must find 4 pieces of evidence (much like Bang's 4 FRKZ marks) and then perform an Objection. This powers up Wright's attacks, similarly to how the FRKZ speeds Bang up.
 * Beforehand in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Hurricane Polimar also uses a system similar to Bang's. Polimar's Arashi no Kamae (Stance of the Storm) gives him 1 of 3 icons used to cancel his special moves into each other. All three icons are needed to perform Polimar's Level 3 Hyper, Hissatsu: Gen'ei Hurricane (Absolute Finish: Phantom Hurricane). It is amusing to note that Polimar is a Tokusatsu, while Bang is a Tokusatsu parody himself.
 * In Challenge Mode (as well as the Tutorial Mode), Bang is always the opponent. This could be due to the fact he is a comic relief character and is generally picked on.
 * Similarly enough, in the Challenge Mode on Street Fighter 4, Dan Hibiki is the opponent, and is also a comic relief character.
 * In Persona 4: Arena, Akihiko Sanada has an Alternate color scheme that resembles Bang.
 * During stories from Continuum Shift Extend, he is voiced by Steve Kramer.
 * His English voice actor, Tony Oliver, also voices Ulquiorra Cifer in Bleach. Ironically, Ulquiorra's personality is the total oppositive of Bang's - cold and calm.
 * An "When they Cry" knockoff of Bang is Beatrice; whom have nails (Beatrice's 7 compared to Bang's 21), have a super mode (Unlimited Magic of the Limitless Witch to Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan), and are very loud.