Bang Shishigami

Bang Shishigami (シシガミ＝バング) is a ninja from Ikaruga, and one of the original 12 playable characters in the BlazBlue series. He is the wielder of the Phoenix: Rettenjō.

Appearance
Bang is a young adult man with spiky swift back, slightly long brown hair, and amber eyes. He has a long, X-shaped scar across his face, inflicted upon him by Jin Kisaragi. He wears a dark green modified ninja outfit with a big red scarf, silver gauntlets, black fingerless gloves, dark green hakama pants that expose his thighs. He carries the Phoenix: Rettenjō on his back.

When he was younger, his hair was in a messy ponytail, and had no scar. He wore a skin-tight, sleeveless top, dark green hakama, and he was barefoot.

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.

Bang, however, possesses a lot of standards that display quite a bit of wisdom. He is capable of eventually forgiving Jin despite his murder of Tenjō Amanohokosaka, admitting himself to be an idiot. Likewise, he is not that overly blinded with his infatuation with Litchi that even if she asked nicely, he would not hand over his nail, recognizing her allegiance with NOL. Even so, he also did not blame Litchi for her allegiance and quickly deduced that Relius is behind it.

A trait that he shared with Litchi is his genuine love for children; he would do everything to protect them, and the sight of them being hurt badly and for no reason are one of the things that would tempt him to consider breaking his 'no-kill' policy, as shown in his rage towards Hazama in his Story Mode when he saw him beat down Carl and Tao for no reason. However, he also has a bad habit of instantly calling some of the children he saw as 'his apprentice'. Carl has begun to take that consideration well and nicely, but Platinum is highly annoyed at this treatment.

In the anime, BlazBlue: Alter Memory, Bang's personality is almost reversed. He is calm, quiet, reserved and respectful. All negative connotations associated with him seemingly disappear, and in scenes involving Litchi, he is shown to treat her with dignity and respect.

History
After losing his home in the Second War of Ars Magus and his master Tenjō Amanohokosaka at the hands of Jin Kisaragi, Bang and his followers began living in 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi waiting for the right moment to strike back at Jin and the Novus Orbis Librarium. There, he declares himself a hero of love and justice, and dedicates himself to exterminating evil and overturning injustice wherever he goes. Over time, Tenjō'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.

Fortune favors the bold
A fortnight following the fall of Ikaruga, the survivors of the incident ran away to the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, in the lower areas, they built houses, grew crops, and had all the raw materials necessary to flourish; this location would later become known as Rōnin-Gai. Bang, writing a history textbook detailing what happened during the civil war, was approached by his subordinates; Bang explained how he was writing the details of how the NOL had wronged him and the people of the world. He later went to help them with the construction of a house as he picked up some timber.

Trigger Shift
Somehow, Bang ended up with semi-serious injuries. Thankfully, he was found by Iron Tager, who took him to Litchi's clinic. After being slapped by the doctor, Bang awoke, believing he was in Heaven because of the immediate sight of Litchi, and that the ordeal was not a dream. His frantic actions earned him another smack, however, which launched him into the unconscious.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, he goes on a mission to find his Master's child, although as his story revealed, his true ending in BlazBlue: 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 Nox Nyctores within his possession, Phoenix: Rettenjō, the weapon with the power to sever connections with the Boundary. 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! < Reloaded>" that it has the power to destroy other Nox Nyctores.

Trinity also revealed to him that his true enemy was not 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.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma
Bang runs throughout Ikaruga searching for answers about his Nox Nyctores and his master, Tenjō Amanohokosaka. Along the way, however, he noticed that a lot of people had been looking for his Nox Nyctores. He eventually encountered Litchi, who asked to borrow his nail, but even Bang refused, knowing that Litchi had sided with the Novus Orbis Librarium. After exchanging blows, Litchi told him that Relius Clover may know more about his nail, but warns Bang not to confront Relius. Bang did so anyway. Relius quickly reveals that his Nox Nyctores, the Phoenix: Rettenjō, is in fact the Kushinada's Lynchpin, a device used to activate the Kushinada Device and bring about a complete mass destruction throughout the world. He also reveals that Tenjō Amanohokosaka knew of this function, but did not use it, resulting in his defeat in the Ikaruga Civil War, although if he used it, the resulting timeline would not have been any better. Bang was shocked at this revelation.

He is last seen driving the Phoenix: Rettenjō into Kushinada's Lynchpin to shut the gate and cease the function of seithr, and to a larger extent, the Gigant: Takemikazuchi, controlled by Hades: Izanami. This also allowed Ragna the Bloodedge to activate his Azure Grimoire and defeat the Takemikazuchi.

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 unwieldy 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. In Chronophantasma, his new distortion drive also involves his nail, in a similar way to his astral heat when used in overdrive.

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: Fū-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. And unlike certain 'super modes' this is solely due to his training as opposed to a Nox Nyctores (something that could apply to all of Bang's abilities).

Trivia

 * Bang's name could probably mean "myriad drives" (萬駆) which may also mean – to perish thousands of evils. His last name, Shishigami (獅子神) means Lion God/Lion Child God in Japanese.
 * If Bang fights against Taokaka in Arcade or Versus modes in BlazBlue: 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.
 * In Bang's electrocution sprite, one of his hands has five fingers and one thumb. This was fixed in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, where the extra finger was removed. Also, his loincloth can be seen.
 * Bang considers that his Fū-Rin-Kan-Zan transforms him into his "Super Mode", only stated in Tager's Alternate ending. He also reveals the Fū-Rin-Kan-Zan ability against Hazama in his BlazBlue: 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.
 * After winning a fight against Hakumen, Bang states he hates lies, evil and bell peppers, the last of which Rachel Alucard also dislikes.
 * 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.
 * Bang once had a dog called Kagemaru that he thought of like a little brother, with reciprocated feelings.
 * In BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Rachel states that Bang defeating Ragna the Bloodedge, is as likely as Bang cleansing the world of Seithr. Interesting enough, in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Bang not only battles Ragna (without his Azure Grimoire) on equal ground, but also ends ups purifying the world of all of its seithr.
 * During Calamity Trigger Reconstruction, Bang references the well-known "ice car" spamming technique following his defeat against Jin, whose Musō Senshōzan is the source of the technique.
 * Despite Bang's Material Collection stating that his birthplace is Hi no Kuni, Bang outright states in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma that his birthplace is the 8th Hierarchical City of Wadatsumi.
 * In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Bang, alongside Taokaka, will guide the player through the Tutorial Mode's Intermediate- Combos section.
 * In some instances like the vocal cover of his theme/leitmotif, Bang uses the Kunrei-Shinki style of romanization to spell his surname ("Sisigami" as opposed to "Shishigami", the latter being the Hepburn romanization).
 * In one instance when Platinum via Luna's personality encounters him in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, she plays on this style of spelling by insulting Bang via twisting his surname to be pronounced as "Sissy-gami".