Hakumen

Hakumen is one of the Six Heroes, and a playable character in the BlazBlue series.

Information
Hakumen is a samurai-esque warrior wielding a sword as tall as he is and wearing a mask that completely hides his face. He is an incredibly powerful individual in the BlazBlue universe, so much so that the player is often told to proceed with caution when confronting him, and at times even advised not to do so entirely. His armor (which is the Susano'o Unit) seems to grant him limitless energy and incredible power, and his sword (a Nox Nyctores named "Ōkami") appears to bear the capability to kill characters that otherwise would be immortal, or have rapid healing properties that would make them difficult or impossible to kill. This makes him an equally dangerous foe to both mortal men as well as more powerful beings.

It is revealed that Hakumen is, in fact, Jin Kisaragi through hints given to the player during both their respective stories in Calamity Trigger. In the original timeline, Nu-13 killed Tsubaki Yayoi and afterwards, jumped into the Cauldron with Jin's brother, Ragna the Bloodedge at the Gate of Sheol. In a fit of rage, Jin went after her, and was thrown into the past, not long before the birth of the Black Beast. As he was lying on the ground, injured and helpless due to the previous battles and the trip through the Boundary tearing him, physically and mentally, he met Rachel Alucard, who offered him a chance to become a true hero. Jin took on her offer and was given the Susano'o Unit to accomplish what he was meant to do.

Phase Shift
Discarding his former identity, Jin became Hakumen and took on the mission of eradicating evil, which was the Black Beast at the time. He traveled alone, chasing after the Beast's trails. As he arrived at the lab where the Black Beast had first appeared, he detects a faint presence and searches for the source, though to no avail. In exchange, he meets Nine, Trinity Glassfille and Celica A. Mercury for the first time. He recognizes them as his comrades to-be, but notes that the time for them to encounter each other had yet to come, and goes away.

Some time passed ever since the incident at the lab, the one-sided massacre between mankind and the Black Beast rages on. Hakumen is summoned to a meeting held by Nine to form a team of extraordinary people, which has the necessary abilities to defeat the Black Beast. Their cooperation has a shaky start, but eventually, their efforts pay off, and the Black Beast is repelled for the first time. The Six Heroes is then recognized by the whole world, Hakumen in the lead. With Nine passing on the knowledge of creating Armagus to mankind, the tides turns, and the Six Heroes defeats the Black Beast. Hakumen personally slays the Beast in the finale of the long war.

After the war, Hakumen and Jubei wander off to search for and close the Cauldrons, which are spreading toxic seithr around the world. Little did they know that while they were away Yūki Terumi escaped mind control, thanks to the help of his host body, Kazuma Kuvaru, and killed both Nine and Trinity. They meet Terumi again, free from his bindings, when a closed Cauldron suddenly opens. Due to the disadvantage of being near the Cauldron, both Hakumen and Jubei are overwhelmed by Terumi. As a last resort, Hakumen urges Jubei to use his Sekigan, to which the latter grudgingly obeys, and somehow forces Terumi to reveal his true form. While Terumi is in shock, Hakumen grabs him and jumps straight into the Cauldron, telling Jubei to close it to trap both of them inside the Boundary forever.

Calamity Trigger
After over 90 years, Hakumen was 'rescued', by Kokonoe, a scientist who often subjects him to her whims, though only at 20% of his full capabilities. Hakumen recognizes her as the child of Jubei and Nine, which irritates her. Kokonoe tells Hakumen that as much as she would love to dump him back into the Boundary again, she still has to study his body, the Susano'o Unit; the rest is the least of her concerns. Hakumen tells her to do whatever she wants and leaves to find and destroy the current threat to the world, Ragna the Bloodedge.

As Hakumen reaches the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, he meets Ragna again for the first time and engages him in combat. While his immense strength allows him to easily overpower Ragna, he finds himself repeatedly aggravated by Kokonoe's meddling, as she repeatedly interferes with his duels by having him teleported elsewhere until a miraculous change happens, in which Hakumen uses sheer force of will to dispel Kokonoe's forced phenomenal interruption. There being nothing left in his way, he resumes his battle with Ragna, to which the latter responds by activating his Azure Grimoire and defeats Hakumen.

Continuum Shift
After the decisive battle with Ragna, Hakumen is revealed to have been locked up in one of Sector Seven's lab by Kokonoe, meant to be imprisoned until Kokonoe has no further use for him. Rachel, claiming to need his power to deal with Terumi, breaks him free and tells him to rendezvous with her outside. Hakumen takes up his sword and destroys every single door in his way. However, as the exit is too easy, he becomes suspicious and turns his attention towards a particular direction Kokonoe wanted him to ignore. As he slices through another door, he is disgusted to learn that Kokonoe is storing nuclear warheads, something he deems even more dangerous than the Black Beast.

After escaping the lab, Hakumen arrives at the Hanging Gardens and meets Rachel again, who is displeased for his late arrival. Rachel tells him to stop Terumi, which might involves killing Noel Vermillion if worst comes to worst. Their conversation is disrupted midway as Tager arrives to retrieve Hakumen. Hakumen easily defeats him, as Rachel's observation allows him to make better use of his current power than he did previously.

Hakumen continues to wander, and by chance, meets Tsubaki. They introduce themselves to each other, and Hakumen is surprised to find that Tsubaki is a devoted fan of him. He tells her to take off her mask, so he can see her face, and tells her an old tale about himself, though leaves out the name of those in the story. In his story, he inadvertently led the girl he loved to her demise through his arrogance and conceitedness. The pain strengthened his resolve and allowed him to slay the Black Beast; he even named one of his technique after her. Hakumen expresses his regret, and wish to ask for her forgiveness, to which Tsubaki replies that the girl must have already forgiven him. As he hears the answers he has always longed for, he bids her farewell and silently says "Thank you, Tsubaki" in his old voice.

After the his moments with Tsubaki, Hakumen encounters Jin inside the Cathedral, and they exchange a short fight. He criticizes Jin's weakness of being conceited. However, he realizes what Terumi wanted and asks Jin to go save Tsubaki, to which Jin agrees. Hakumen then goes to the Cauldron to defend the entrance leading to the Boundary. After some waiting, Noel, who has transformed into Mu-12 arrives at the Cauldron to destroy Amaterasu. Hakumen fends her off, as requested by Rachel, but is unable to kill her. Before they could continue, Jin arrives and take on Mu, though to no avail. As Jin is defeated, Ragna arrives and successfully defeats Mu while keeping her alive, at the cost of his left arm. Hakumen decides to spare Ragna for the impossible deed he has done for once.

Suddenly, Hazama appears before them, announcing that Takamagahara is under his control. He attempts to kill everyone present, as he has no further use for them, but the Imperator appears, telling him to back off. Hakumen and Jin attack the Imperator on sight, but Tsubaki and Litchi Faye-Ling block them. Both Hakumen and Jin are shocked to see Tsubaki on her side. The Imperator, indifferent to everyone but Rachel, reflects the current situation, where Amaterasu is at her mercy before leaving.

Sometime after the incident at the Sheol Gates, believing Rachel to be too soft as an observer, Hakumen decides to walk his own path.

Chronophantasma
During BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Hakumen, Jubei, Valkenayn, Trinity, and Rachel all gather to make a plan to stop Terumi once and for all. Hakumen is later confronted by Jin who seeks answers that he feels only Hakumen can answer, such as if Noel or Hazama existed in his timeline. Hakumen and Trinity later head to the Monolith and split up, with Hakumen heading to the Monolith's base to destroy it and Trinity awaiting the moment when Hazama is the most vulnerable. Hakumen later encounters Terumi and, by using his Time Killer technique, kills all the "time" that Terumi possessed, destroying him once and for all. He then attempts to destroy the Monolith's foundation, but his weakened state leaves him unable to do so until Jin Kisaragi shows up and the two combine their Kokujin: Yukikaze techniques to slice through the foundation. After Take-Mikazuchi is stopped, Hakumen warns Ragna and Celica that Nu will only cause more evil as long as she remains alive and attempts to kill her, only to be stopped by them. Izanami then appears alongside Phantom and Hakumen attempts Time Killer on her as well, only for it to be completely ineffective. Izanami then has Phantom teleport Hakumen away to an unknown location.

Appearance
Hakumen follows a rather unique blend of cyborg and samurai. He wears semi-heavy white armor and a muscular body suit with a large collar and the traditional hakama present, ballooning pants common in samurai. His long silver hair is tied at the mane. All armored sections feature fully-functional crimson eyes with slit pupils. These eyes are not as much of an intimidation as much as the mask he wears; a completely white, two horned helmet with no features or visor, appearing to have no face at all, a feature that paralyzes even Ragna in fear.

When he is in Amane Nishiki's Astral Heat, he appears as a cat-like figure with one strand of sliver hair, symbols on his stomach, and a smaller version of Ōkami. This is shown here.

Personality
Hakumen devotes his entire life to destroying the evils that corrupt the world, and wants to erase those he believes should not exist. He is a serious, no-nonsense sort who maintains a calm and collected presence, rarely letting things get to his head. However, he is also quite prideful and even arrogant sometimes, to the point of occasionally getting him into issues. He prefers to do things on his own, and hates to rely on others' assistance with anything. Despite being a powerful warrior, he is not without mercy, and even spared Ragna when he was injured.

While Hakumen is generally a grumpy sort who often attacks characters without provocation, there are a few characters he will tolerate, including Jubei, one of his former comrades among the Six Heroes, and Rachel Alucard, to whom he feels indebted. He also seems to show an intense respect towards Bang Shishigami because of his sense of justice.

Being the future version of Jin Kisaragi, it is no surprise that the two share similar personality traits. Both are cold at times, but Hakumen is more focused rather than distant. He is essentially what Jin would be without the influence of Yukianesa or anyone else manipulating him. He knows that it is his destiny to destroy Ragna, being the bearer of the Power of Order, yet hates every bit of this fact, showing that he still cares about his brother.

The only time he has ever dropped his calm and focused persona is during his Bad Ending, where Hazama cruelly tortures Tsubaki. Having lost Tsubaki previously and still loving her to the day, he displays extreme rage when anyone hurts her.

Hakumen also seems to show much indifference toward his comrades, as he does not seem to enjoy encounters with Jubei, Valkenhayn and Trinity, albeit still holds some degree of respect towards them for being past comrades. However, he was greatly shaken and shocked when he encounters Phantom, before Rachel teleported him and Valkenhayn away from her; he also shares a soft spot for Celica A. Mercury and is willing to do favours to help her.

Due to his ego, Hakumen often clashed with other members of the cast. Over time, however, he has become much more focused on the more important matters, letting fate run its course with the rest of the cast and not interfering with their affairs. Even though he considers Ragna his greatest opponent, since Continuum Shift he has put aside their rivalry for the sake of the greater good. By Chronophantasma, their rivalry is noticeably less hostile and he is more cooperative with his comrades.

Powers and Abilities
Being one of the Six Heroes, Hakumen possesses exceptional strength incomprehensible to the norm. The source of this immense power partly comes from the Power of Order, which was mastered sometime during the Dark War. The armor, Sankishin Susano'o, bestows upon him incredible fighting prowess, allowing him to tap into infinite reserves of power, enabling him to fight for prolonged periods of time without rest and to increase his own strength. The various eyes adorned all over the armor suggest that they are for sight enhancement as the helmet features no visor.

It should be noted, however, that Hakumen is only at roughly 20% of his full power due to not being fully salvaged from the Edge by Kokonoe. His state was, from Bloodedge's perspective, nothing but a remnant of his full prowess in his early days. During the earlier time loops, Hakumen finds himself greatly hindered by this incomplete materialization. However, he is fortunate enough to have Rachel Alucard temporarily 'sticking up' his existence in exchange for the proof of his unyielding will. In Continuum Shift, Rachel's observation allows him to make better use of the power he currently has.

Hakumen's true strength, however, lies within the will of iron; Rachel even commended him for keeping his body in good shape through sheer force of will alone. In some loops when he is strong enough to be materialized by Kokonoe, his strong ego causes him to be trapped within his own mind and has to kill the illusion of Ragna within him. As the fake Ragna dies, he removes his mask to bid him farewell, calling the illusion 'brother' for the last time. Hakumen then claims he must denounce his old name, and ends up fighting a shadow of his former self, Jin Kisaragi. He also states that he must do this to repent for killing his brother, implying that Jin, even as Hakumen still cares about Ragna to a certain extent.

His weapon of choice is Nox Nyctores, Ookami, a nodachi with an odd blunt tip in place of a sharp point. The sword is attached to a sheath on his back with a slot to allow him to draw the sword without straining his arm due to its long length. Hakumen repeatedly claims that despite its cursed nature, it is a weapon meant to destroy evil, hinting that it may have holy properties. It apparently possesses the ability to negate ars magus as well. Hakumen's Drive, Zanshin, allows him to project energy barriers that repel enemy attacks and allow him to effectively counter advances towards him. Unlike the other characters who have a Heat Gauge, Hakumen uses a special 8-point gauge named Magatama, that allows him to pull off all of his special attacks, which automatically fills up or can be filled up by countering attacks. While using unlimited form his gauge will regenerate faster. In addition, whenever Hakumen's sword attacks clash with a projectile, he leaves behind a large vacuum crest known as Fumajin (Earthbind) at the point where the clash took place. Not only can it absorb all projectiles but it can also damage his opponent if they touch it though this will cancel it out.

His "Time Killer" technique is used to erase all the time of his opponents who have been immortals, such as Observers. However, it didn't work on Izanami due to the fact that she is the Goddess of Death and time has no effect on her. However, Time Killer does put a toll on Hakumen physically, and he can't use it instantly, as he needs to charge it beforehand.

Etymology
Hakumen (白面) in Japanese literally translates into English as White Face, White Mask and/or Blank Face. All three are obvious references to his pure white, blank mask. As well as this, the men in Hakumen also means '‘mirror’' (in reference to the Japanese numerical counting system); it’s also a ‘counter-attack’ term in Shogi (Japanese equivalent of Chess) as well. Both are possible references to his Drive.

Trivia

 * Along with Rachel, Hazama and Arakune, Hakumen is one of the few who do not appear to have a skeleton. This is due to the fact he is just a suit of armor (apparently), but can still get shocked. His insides appears as his armor outline, wires, and orb-shaped items.
 * In Continuum Shift, dialogue reveals that the multiple orbs on his body are his eyes.
 * In Japanese, the "Just Sword" part of his speech its written "Jin" in rōmaji, so the speech that says "Ware wa Jin" can also be translated "I am Jin" which is actually a Stealth Pun, in which he reveals himself as Jin Kisaragi.
 * The Japanese god Susano'o and Hakumen, whose Susano'o Unit is named after this god, have a few things in common. Both have slayed an eight-headed monster (Yamata no Orochi/The Black Beast) and both were banished from their home (Susano'o to the earth/Hakumen to the Edge beyond the Boundary).
 * Storywise, it is unclear what exactly Hakumen's Drive does. Possible explanations are that either Zanshin stops time for a very brief moment or the shield Hakumen creates nullifies the opponent's attacking power to help him make a counterattack. Both explanations being true is also entirely possible (especially given Hakumen's ability to cut through space and time, as demonstrated in his Story Mode in Continuum Shift). In the Chimelical Complex manga however, Zanshin seems to absorb incoming force and redirect it into the attacker.
 * Intriguingly, in both Chimelical Complex, where Hakumen fights Ragna, and The Wheel of Fortune, where Hakumen fights Hazama, Zanshin is used to avoid an attack from behind. Ragna only gets pushed away however, while Hazama is countered by a heavy slash.
 * Hakumen's crest depicts a kitsune, a fox in Japanese mythology that can grow as many as nine tails, in its center.
 * For an unknown reason, in Hakumen's Continuum Shift audio gallery, right after "Kokūjin Ōgi: Akumetsu", "Kokūjin: Rehhyō" can be heard.
 * Along with Ragna, Rachel, Hazama, Jin and Platinum, Hakumen is a playable guest character in Lost Saga.
 * It seems that Hakumen finds nuclear weapons to be a greater evil than the Black Beast was. This might be because while the Black Beast did spread destruction, it left seithr which became the power source for the future, while nuclear weapons just completely obliterate any life within its radius and leaves the area irradiated and useless.