[Profile]
NAME: Ban Midou (in English name-order)
AGE: 21
GENDER: Male
HEIGHT: 5'9" (175cm)
WEIGHT: 128lbs (58kg)
HAIR: Dark brown
EYES: Blue
BLOOD TYPE: B
ROLE IN CANON: Protagonist
FANDOM/MEDIUM: Get Backers, Animanga
TIMELINE PERIOD: End of the anime.
ABILITIES: Evil Eye-Ban can cause people to have vivid hallucinations lasting exactly one minute, though often the person who is under the influence of the Evil Eye will imagine the hallucination has gone on for much longer. There are a few restrictions on this power: Ban can only use it three times in a day (if he uses it a fourth, he will fade from existence), he can only use it on the same person once in a twenty-four hour period, and he must have eye contact with the victim.
Superhuman strength. Ban is capable of a grip force of 200kg (1.96kN), and this grip is specifically referred to as his Snakebite. Otherwise his exact strength isn’t really referenced, but he is shown tearing iron doors off hinges, smashing through solid stone, etc.
Asclepius-when Ban summons Asclepius, the image of a snake appears around him and his strength increases dramatically. After the summoning, his Snakebite briefly turns his right hand into a snake’s jaw.
Other than that, Ban is a highly skilled fighter, has incredibly fast reflexes, and is good at thinking on his feet.
CHARACTER HISTORY:
Ban is the last direct descendant of the Witch Queen, from whom he inherited the Evil Eye. He was born under the sign of Asclepius, and with his heritage he is able to access that power in the form of his Snakebite. Ban was born in Japan, but was sent to live with his grandmother and her apprentice Maria Noches in Germany when he was a young child. They lived a nomadic, gypsy lifestyle because of the shamans who hunted down witches. Somehow Ban managed to teach himself a great deal about science and the arts despite never going to a formal school.
When he was a young teen, Ban ran away from Maria Noches and made it back to Japan. There he met up with Yamato and Himiko Kudo. The two were very skilled at making magical potions or “perfumes,” which they could use in a fight. With their perfumes and Ban’s Evil Eye, they made a formidable team of thieves. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to last. Yamato and Himiko are Voodoo Children, meaning that upon Yamato’s 28th birthday a mirror-self appeared. The mirror-self of Yamato hated everything that Yamato loved. Ban and Yamato had been expecting this, so they sent Himiko away when the mirror-self was to appear. But Ban didn’t realize that the mirror-Yamato was tied to the real Yamato’s life. He tried to defend them against the mirror image, but ended up killing it. The mirror-Yamato disappeared, leaving Yamato’s corpse and Ban covered in his blood. Himiko showed up right after Yamato died. Still in shock, and trying to hide the Voodoo Curse from Himiko, Ban didn’t explain to Himiko what had happened.
After that, Ban basically tried to self-destruct for a while. He made his way to Shinjuku, Tokyo. In the center of Shinjuku was a massive ghetto surrounding a skyscraper-Infinity Fortress. The Infinity Fortress was such a den of lawlessness that the Japanese government refused to acknowledge its existence. It wasn’t on any maps, despite the central Babylon Tower being tall enough to see from almost any place in Shinjuku.
Ban picked a fight with Ginji Amano, the “Lightning Emperor” of the lower levels of Infinity Fortress. Ginji has the ability to control electricity, and this power was intensified inside the Infinity Fortress. He used it to protect the people in the lower levels from those in the Beltline. He was nearly invincible, but Ban managed to defeat him. After the fight they became allies. Ginji’s power was so great that he was worried about becoming a danger to the people he was trying to protect. Ban suggested that he simply leave Infinity Fortress, so he wouldn’t be a danger to anyone. Ginji suggested they use their power to help people for once.
The two formed a Retrieval Agency called the Get Backers. For a fee, they could return (almost) anything that had been lost or stolen. They often worked with the negotiator Hevn to get jobs, but most of the time they were left on their own. Due to both men’s horrible luck with money, they’re almost always out of funds and desperate to find work. If not for Paul, the owner of the Honky Tonk café, they might well have starved on the street.
Over the course of the anime, the two fought Himiko, who had taken jobs as a Transporter. Ban refused to fight her seriously, and actually saved her life a couple times, so Himiko no longer completely hates him. They also went back to the Infinity Fortress twice: the first, to stop Ginji’s old friend MakubeX from setting off an atomic bomb to ‘reset’ Infinity Fortress and bring back his friends; the second, to save MakubeX from another of Ginji’s friends. There they learned that the Infinity Fortress was under the control of a group called the Brain Trust, who used it as a site for their human experiments. Much of the Infinity Fortress was simply an incredibly realistic computer program-including many of the people.
CHARACTER PERSONALITY:
Ban typically comes off as being brash and self-absorbed. He doesn’t care what people think about him unless he’s come to respect them, and he rarely gives people the chance to earn his respect. He’s incredibly sarcastic, and comes up with insulting nicknames for anyone who actually manages to make an impression. The nicknames might be dropped if Ban decides he likes the person enough to actually learn their name (and doesn’t feel like messing with them). Ban is very impatient, especially with people he doesn’t care for. Ban also tends to be a perv. Hevn bears the brunt of his abuse, but he’s not above hitting on random girls.
Ban’s worst trait is his pride. He’s smart, strong, and dangerous, and he knows it. He adamantly refuses to take part-time jobs even when Retrieval jobs are slow. He also usually refuses to take cheap jobs or charity cases, but Ginji is almost always able to convince him to help. Ban has a great deal of faith in his own abilities, both as a fighter and a Retrieval agent. His intelligence can get the best of him, as he’s been shown to over-think situations on occasion. He's also terrible at planning ahead. Ban is a quick learner and has a naturally incredible fighting instinct, but when it comes to planning for something outside of a fight--especially when it comes to finances--he tends to fail miserably at it.
Even though he takes a long time to warm up to people, Ban is very protective of his friends. He still yells at them and gets violent when they do something he doesn’t like, but he will take their opinions seriously. Ban never abandons his friends, even if they hate or give up on him. He has a very strong--if somewhat skewed--sense of justice. (In one case, a man stole a violin from a little blind girl. After the case was over Ban used his Evil Eye on the man while he was in the middle of a performance, causing the man to go into a massive panic attack on stage.)
Though he is outwardly cocky and outgoing, Ban is very secretive and almost never talks about himself. Even his best friend doesn’t know much about his past. He feels very guilty about abandoning Himiko and killing her brother as well as many other things in his past. He is the more serious half of the Get Backers, and is more likely to lapse into introspective silences without Ginji there to snap him out of it.
AGE: 21
GENDER: Male
HEIGHT: 5'9" (175cm)
WEIGHT: 128lbs (58kg)
HAIR: Dark brown
EYES: Blue
BLOOD TYPE: B
ROLE IN CANON: Protagonist
FANDOM/MEDIUM: Get Backers, Animanga
TIMELINE PERIOD: End of the anime.
ABILITIES: Evil Eye-Ban can cause people to have vivid hallucinations lasting exactly one minute, though often the person who is under the influence of the Evil Eye will imagine the hallucination has gone on for much longer. There are a few restrictions on this power: Ban can only use it three times in a day (if he uses it a fourth, he will fade from existence), he can only use it on the same person once in a twenty-four hour period, and he must have eye contact with the victim.
Superhuman strength. Ban is capable of a grip force of 200kg (1.96kN), and this grip is specifically referred to as his Snakebite. Otherwise his exact strength isn’t really referenced, but he is shown tearing iron doors off hinges, smashing through solid stone, etc.
Asclepius-when Ban summons Asclepius, the image of a snake appears around him and his strength increases dramatically. After the summoning, his Snakebite briefly turns his right hand into a snake’s jaw.
Other than that, Ban is a highly skilled fighter, has incredibly fast reflexes, and is good at thinking on his feet.
CHARACTER HISTORY:
Ban is the last direct descendant of the Witch Queen, from whom he inherited the Evil Eye. He was born under the sign of Asclepius, and with his heritage he is able to access that power in the form of his Snakebite. Ban was born in Japan, but was sent to live with his grandmother and her apprentice Maria Noches in Germany when he was a young child. They lived a nomadic, gypsy lifestyle because of the shamans who hunted down witches. Somehow Ban managed to teach himself a great deal about science and the arts despite never going to a formal school.
When he was a young teen, Ban ran away from Maria Noches and made it back to Japan. There he met up with Yamato and Himiko Kudo. The two were very skilled at making magical potions or “perfumes,” which they could use in a fight. With their perfumes and Ban’s Evil Eye, they made a formidable team of thieves. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to last. Yamato and Himiko are Voodoo Children, meaning that upon Yamato’s 28th birthday a mirror-self appeared. The mirror-self of Yamato hated everything that Yamato loved. Ban and Yamato had been expecting this, so they sent Himiko away when the mirror-self was to appear. But Ban didn’t realize that the mirror-Yamato was tied to the real Yamato’s life. He tried to defend them against the mirror image, but ended up killing it. The mirror-Yamato disappeared, leaving Yamato’s corpse and Ban covered in his blood. Himiko showed up right after Yamato died. Still in shock, and trying to hide the Voodoo Curse from Himiko, Ban didn’t explain to Himiko what had happened.
After that, Ban basically tried to self-destruct for a while. He made his way to Shinjuku, Tokyo. In the center of Shinjuku was a massive ghetto surrounding a skyscraper-Infinity Fortress. The Infinity Fortress was such a den of lawlessness that the Japanese government refused to acknowledge its existence. It wasn’t on any maps, despite the central Babylon Tower being tall enough to see from almost any place in Shinjuku.
Ban picked a fight with Ginji Amano, the “Lightning Emperor” of the lower levels of Infinity Fortress. Ginji has the ability to control electricity, and this power was intensified inside the Infinity Fortress. He used it to protect the people in the lower levels from those in the Beltline. He was nearly invincible, but Ban managed to defeat him. After the fight they became allies. Ginji’s power was so great that he was worried about becoming a danger to the people he was trying to protect. Ban suggested that he simply leave Infinity Fortress, so he wouldn’t be a danger to anyone. Ginji suggested they use their power to help people for once.
The two formed a Retrieval Agency called the Get Backers. For a fee, they could return (almost) anything that had been lost or stolen. They often worked with the negotiator Hevn to get jobs, but most of the time they were left on their own. Due to both men’s horrible luck with money, they’re almost always out of funds and desperate to find work. If not for Paul, the owner of the Honky Tonk café, they might well have starved on the street.
Over the course of the anime, the two fought Himiko, who had taken jobs as a Transporter. Ban refused to fight her seriously, and actually saved her life a couple times, so Himiko no longer completely hates him. They also went back to the Infinity Fortress twice: the first, to stop Ginji’s old friend MakubeX from setting off an atomic bomb to ‘reset’ Infinity Fortress and bring back his friends; the second, to save MakubeX from another of Ginji’s friends. There they learned that the Infinity Fortress was under the control of a group called the Brain Trust, who used it as a site for their human experiments. Much of the Infinity Fortress was simply an incredibly realistic computer program-including many of the people.
CHARACTER PERSONALITY:
Ban typically comes off as being brash and self-absorbed. He doesn’t care what people think about him unless he’s come to respect them, and he rarely gives people the chance to earn his respect. He’s incredibly sarcastic, and comes up with insulting nicknames for anyone who actually manages to make an impression. The nicknames might be dropped if Ban decides he likes the person enough to actually learn their name (and doesn’t feel like messing with them). Ban is very impatient, especially with people he doesn’t care for. Ban also tends to be a perv. Hevn bears the brunt of his abuse, but he’s not above hitting on random girls.
Ban’s worst trait is his pride. He’s smart, strong, and dangerous, and he knows it. He adamantly refuses to take part-time jobs even when Retrieval jobs are slow. He also usually refuses to take cheap jobs or charity cases, but Ginji is almost always able to convince him to help. Ban has a great deal of faith in his own abilities, both as a fighter and a Retrieval agent. His intelligence can get the best of him, as he’s been shown to over-think situations on occasion. He's also terrible at planning ahead. Ban is a quick learner and has a naturally incredible fighting instinct, but when it comes to planning for something outside of a fight--especially when it comes to finances--he tends to fail miserably at it.
Even though he takes a long time to warm up to people, Ban is very protective of his friends. He still yells at them and gets violent when they do something he doesn’t like, but he will take their opinions seriously. Ban never abandons his friends, even if they hate or give up on him. He has a very strong--if somewhat skewed--sense of justice. (In one case, a man stole a violin from a little blind girl. After the case was over Ban used his Evil Eye on the man while he was in the middle of a performance, causing the man to go into a massive panic attack on stage.)
Though he is outwardly cocky and outgoing, Ban is very secretive and almost never talks about himself. Even his best friend doesn’t know much about his past. He feels very guilty about abandoning Himiko and killing her brother as well as many other things in his past. He is the more serious half of the Get Backers, and is more likely to lapse into introspective silences without Ginji there to snap him out of it.