Tsubaki Nakatsukasa

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa is one of the main protagonists in the anime/manga series Soul Eater and is Black☆Star's weapon partner. Tsubaki is loyal to her partner despite his incompetence, and allows herself to be dragged into his antics, even encouraging him when she would know better and be more reasonable otherwise. Despite her willingness to participate in Black☆Star's foolhardy endeavors, Tsubaki is well aware of his foolishness, and will apologize on his behalf when he causes too much trouble. For these reasons, she can be seen as a foil for Black☆Star.
She is voiced by Kaori Nazuka in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Monica Rial in the English version.
==Appearance==
Tsubaki is a tall, attractive and rather well-endowed girl of Japanese descent of around sixteen or seventeen years old. She wears a pale yellow, sleeveless outfit with a skirt end that has a slit down the side with a bright yellow star emblazoned on the right side of the chest. She also wears a dark brown scarf and a tight dark brown stocking on her right leg starting just above the knee and white boots. She wears a sash that looks similar to Black☆Star's grey riveted straps that wraps around her waist twice and hangs down diagonally from right to left. She has long black hair tied up in a ponytail and large indigo eyes. Occasionally, like when she is bathing or playing basketball, her ponytail and the strands of hair at the side of her face are tied up into 'loops.' Upon using the Uncanny Sword, her hair is loose, with tattoos that are the same pattern as Black☆Star's. She wears grey and black bandages on her arms from the shoulder down, and wears a sweatband with a star symbol on it on each of her wrists.
Upon joining Spartoi, Tsubaki's attire has changed completely. Like Black☆Star, she now wears a sleeveless white top with stitches going down the middle and a black scarf around her neck. She now wears blue shorts tied with a black belt, with a small pouch attached marked with a star symbol. Like Black☆Star, she wears white bandages on her arms below her shoulders, although some black bandages can be seen near her shoulders too. On her right leg, she has a long plain back stocking, whilst on her left, she has several black bands wound around her leg. Her shoes are also black, unlike the rest of the Spartoi members, who wear white shoes.
When she is transformed into a male in the Lust Chapter of Book of Eibon, she has a very masculine build, tall and muscular, resembling her older brother Masamune. She is dressed in a black Japanese-like tunic and has bandages on her arms like Black☆Star. Her bangs are spikier although her ponytail still remains, but it is tied lower down her head unlike in her original female form, similar in the manner of her father and Masamune.
Tsubaki's soul is pale yellow in color and has her long ponytail as the 'tail' of her soul. At one time, the end of the tail resembles the blade of her Chain Scythe form. Tsubaki has a wide variety of Weapon forms. When she is transformed into a male, her Weapon forms change a little to match her new masculine appearance.
==Personality==
As one of the oldest of the main cast of characters, Tsubaki is one of the most mature characters, along with Maka. However, she is not as short-tempered as the Scythe Meister, and is very patient and forgiving. She, like Maka, demonstrates a much more practical and level headed personality than most of the other characters. She has a very magnanimous, polite and gentle personality and always tries to help or comfort her friends even when she has no idea how to help. She is caring and understanding and sometimes acts as the mediator when her friends fight, and her understanding and insight sometimes makes her the agony aunt figure for people who are troubled. She cares deeply for her friends, and does not seem fond of things that might make them upset, even going so far as to suggest to Soul and Black☆Star to nullify the dare Maka has to do after she loses the basketball game, due to not knowing the rules. She often worries about her friends if they are in danger, and is upset when the people she cares about are hurt.
Tsubaki's soul is 'very co-operative and has a lot of space to accept people' as said by Stein. Because of her accepting nature, she can see the good in people who, at first glance, do not seem to have anything likeable about them (such as with her partner, Black☆Star, and Mifune, even though he had joined Arachnophobia). She deeply cares for her friends and prefers to avoid unnecessary conflict, usually being the one who diffuses any arguments between people, making her a dependable and trustworthy friend. Her patience often makes her the only calm one (apart from perhaps, Soul) in situations when everyone else has lost their temper. Even in the Wrath Chapter of the Book of Eibon, Tsubaki only briefly loses her temper, whilst everyone else is shouting and screaming at each other.
She is also generous and kindhearted, up until the point that some people even take advantage of her (Liz does this twice, once in the anime when she asks her to do an essay for her and another time when Liz pretends she cooked Tsubaki's food in order to impress a boy she likes). Her tendency to trust people at all times also hinders her once on a written test at the Shibusen, when she fails to see a trick question. She also has a habit of apologizing, even when it isn't her own fault (something which she often does when Black☆Star does something wrong in front of people). One of the most mature and flexible characters, Tsubaki is very amicable and gets along well with her peers and can be very understanding of their feelings.
However, some people, like Masamune, accuse her generosity and capacity by calling her a pushover, saying that she does not have the ability to show her true feelings or deny something that she thinks is not true. As a child, Tsubaki had a habit of pretending that she liked certain things in order to please others, such as when she told Masamune that she wanted to play ball when she really wanted to play house. She does suffer from low self-esteem at the start of the series, comparing herself to the camellia flower, a 'flower without a fragrance, blooming silently and looking tragic when its petals scatter.' She can also be a little submissive and reluctant to be direct.
However, her confrontation with Masamune allows her to mature and be more confident with herself, and she denies that she is a flower without a fragrance, and proves it to her brother by defeating him. She learns to be more honest with herself as the series goes on. When the situation calls for it, she will put her foot down, and can be as determined and as stubborn as Black☆Star himself. She refuses to use the Uncanny Sword when she thinks Black Star is too injured to keep on fighting, and also shouts at Maka and Soul to stop them from fighting with each other during the battle against Free, showing that she has grown more assertive. She still can be easily embarrassed, and can sometimes be paranoid and takes things too literally, shown in the Salvage chapter, and her reaction when Maka sarcastically suggests that Black☆Star and Soul be partners since they seem to be such close friends.
Despite being on the calm and accepting side, she still knows when to draw a line, and can be as punishing as Maka when someone, especially her partner, does something inappropriate, such as spying on her while she is bathing (her usual retaliation is throwing a shuriken into Black☆Star's head, resulting in a gush of blood). Due to her overall serious nature, she still shows some dismay and shock alongside Maka when the other characters do something ridiculous.
She seems to have a talent for cooking, having been complimented on a few occasions by her friends. She doesn't seem to mind cooking even for big-eaters like Black☆Star and Ragnarok; mostly because she thinks it is worth cooking for someone with such a big appetite. She is also very domestic, saying that she likes cleaning as well. Black☆Star once leaves her to clean the entire library at Shibusen in his stead, something which she happily does.
During the Salvage mission, her personality does not change that much, even though she is male. She is still rather quiet and polite, but develops the masculine weakness for women, showing with her reaction when Black☆Star inadvertently rests his (well-endowed and feminine) chest against her shoulder. It is revealed that, despite her quiet personality, Tsubaki is the most lustful of Spartoi group present, just topping Liz and being just below Blair, something which embarrasses her to no end. Though this may be genuine affection for Black Star rather than lust.
==Abilities==
As a Demon Weapon, Tsubaki possesses the ability to transform at will and, in addition to this, has an special advantage over other Demon Weapons due to being a High Performance Multi-Form Weapon, as she can transform into more then one weapon type.
*Mode: Uncanny Sword (モード「妖刀」, Mōdo "Yōtō; FUNimation "Enchanted Sword"): Absorbed from her brother after consuming his soul, this is perhaps Tsubaki's most powerful transformation. Being exclusive to the members of the Nakatsukasa Clan, this lets her take the form of a Katana with a black blade and a bandage-wrapped hilt. It's power is renown throughout the world, with those including Death, Mifune, and Mosquito aware of it's capabilities.
*Mode: Chain Scythe (モード「鎖鎌」, Mōdo "Kusarigama"): A transformation of Tsubaki in which she takes the form of a long metal chain with each end of the chain tipped with a yellow handle that has a small double-edged and double-pointed scythe blade attached. Three dark grooves appear below each blade. This weapon can be used in both close-range combat and also long-range as the scythe blades can be thrown at an opponent as an attack, or as a means to trap them to make them wide open for a close-range attack. Tsubaki's Chain Scythe form is also used by Black☆Star to execute a number of other special moves. The chain on this Weapon form can alter, becoming long or shorter.
*Mode: Smoke Bomb (モードけむり玉, Mōdo Kemuri Dama): One of Tsubaki's various transformation is that of a smoke bomb. This transformation allows her to create thick cloud of smoke to conceal her Meister's movements.
**Mode: Ninja Sword (モード, 忍者刀): One of Tsubaki's forms takes the appearance of a Ninjatō. Due to it's small size, it is used most often for quick movements.
===Special Arts===
**Shadow☆Star: Third Form - Severed Shadow (影☆星・参ノ型［絶影］, Kage☆Boshi: San no Kata "Zetsuei"): A powerful transformation which transforms the weapon into a small, black kunai knife.
***Severed Shadow (絶影, Zetsuei): This allows her Meister to move at such high speeds that they break free from their own shadow and created after images called "Severed Shadows", with the severed shadows left behind having retain actual traces of real matter. These after images have been fast enough to catch Mifune off-guard despite his quick reflexes.
===Other Skills and Abilities===
*Athletic Conditioning: Unlike most Demon Weapons present in the series, she's one of the few who have very excellent athletic conditioning. Like even Black☆Star, she's seen to be very athletic. She's easily able to keep up with him. In addition, she can easily dodge gunfire bullets.
*Exceptional Intellect: Tsubaki is noted to be rather intelligent and competent. She understands the Meister/Weapon combination and how to stop the Uncanny Sword's ability. Her competence has been noted by Mifune to have saved Black☆Star
*Multi-Form (多変型, Ta henkei): Multi-Form allows Tsubaki the ability to transform into more then one weapon form, unlike the usual one weapon transformation. Although through an unknown cause and once speculated by Masamuneto be a mutation, she inherited this ability over her brother due to being from the Nakatsukasa Clan. This ability originates from the fact that Tsubaki is one of the direct descendants of the first Demon Weapons created by Arachne Gorgon herself.
*Exceptional Soul: Death himself noted that Tsubaki's strongest quality is not within her multi-form ability, but the strength of her soul. This is seen when she resists the Soul Possession capability of the Uncanny Sword.
*Throwing: Tsubaki is skilled at throwing shurikens, having hit Black☆Star in the head with one multiple times.
==Trivia==
*It's hinted that Tsubaki has feelings for Black☆Star.
** The times she attacks him for peeping when she bathes, Tsubaki is only angry that he can't keep quiet.
**Black☆Star states they sleep in the same room.
**When transformed into a man in the Lust chapter of the Book of Eibon, Tsubaki's takes a lean form dressed similar to him and only got aroused when the also genderbent Black☆Star pressed "her" breasts against "his" arm.
*Her English voice actress, Monica Rial, also voiced Tashigi and Kappa in One Piece, Bulma in Dragon Ball Z Kai, Sayaka Maizono in Danganronpa, Princess Tsubasa and Sakura Li in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, May Chang in FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mey-Rin in Black Butler series, Karuta Roromiya in Inu x Boku SS, Momoka Nishizawa in Sgt Frog, Chane Laforet in Baccano!, Kyoko Kirisaki in Black Cat, Sakura Kinomoto in Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Mine Kuramae in Fruits Basket (2019 Series), Yona in Akatsuki no Yona, Tsuyu Asui in My Hero Academia, Shiro in Deadman Wonderland, Index Librorum Prohibitorum in A Certain Magical Index, Mirajane Strauss in Fairy Tail, Houki Shinonono in Infinite Stratos, Tanya von Degurechaff in Youjo Senki: Saga of Tanya the Evil, Rumia Tingel in Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records, Miya Asama in Sekirei, Yukari Sendo in Rosario+Vampire, Secre Swallowtail and Mereoleona Vermillion in Black Clover, Yuzu Kichougasaki in Love Tyrant, Mei Misaki in Another, Tsugumi in Guilty Crown, Miria in Claymore, Homura in Senran Kagura, Yuu Kashima in Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Moa in Show By Rock!!, Junna Daitoku in Robotics;Notes, Megumi Kobayashi in Welcome to the NHK, Hello Kitty in Hello Kitty series, Kirika Yuumura in Noir, Treeya Nuwani in Mass Effect, Mariya Shidou in Maria✝Holic, Philuffy Aingram in Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle, Misuzu Kamio in Air, Tia in Farming Life in Another World, Vermeil in Vermeil in Gold, Hana Uzaki in Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out!, Stocking in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Anna in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Kaede Kayano in Assassination Classroom, Leen in In Another World with My Smartphone, Eruna Ichinomiya in Mikagura School Suite, Erica Blandelli in Campione!, Moyo Tento in Wizard Barristers, and Amy Yeager in Detective Conan.
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