Shido Itsuka

Shido Itsuka, originally born as Shinji Takamiya, is the main protagonist of the Date A Live franchise. He is a Human/Spirit hybrid [Become full Spirit after Volume 18] and high school student who works for the Ratatoskr organization to seal Spirits' powers and combat DEM Industries, who seek to use the powers of Spirits for malicious purposes.
When he was killed by Isaac Ray Peram Westcott 30 years ago, Mio Takamiya (the First Spirit) kissed his body turning him into a light to absorb him inside of her for his childbirth to bring him back to life and allow him to absorb and seal Spirits' powers within him by kissing them on the lips. He was adopted into the Itsuka family at a young age, and he has a younger foster sister named Kotori Itsuka, as well as a biological younger sister named Mana Takamiya.
He is voiced by Nobunaga Shimizaki in the Japanese version of the anime and Jessie James Grelle in the English version, the former of whom also voices Shinichi Izumi, and Eugeo. In Season 4 episodes 5-6, he is voiced by Austin Tindle while Jessie James Grelle recovers from getting sick.
==Appearance==
Shido has all the looks of an average young man in high school. With blue hair down to his neck, amber-brown eyes, and straight hair and bangs. He is usually seen wearing his school uniform. His height is stated to be 170  cm in the anime. During the events of Miku Lily Arch, Shido crossdresses as a girl to interact with Miku Izayoi, and he disguises himself as his alternate identity, Shiori Itsuka. During the time he crossdressed, he was seen with long blue hair, and he wore the standard female Raizen High School uniform. He also had a hair clip, which seemed to be a flower of some sort.
==Psychological Description==
An average young man who originally had no interest in the opposite gender until he got forced to be by his little sister. He has to deal with females constantly, which he is not used to. Another interesting personality Shido has as described by Kotori: "Onii-chan had become strangely sensitive to the despair inside people.—Mm. Something like everyone rejecting oneself—thinking that one will never be loved by anyone else. Well, basically what he had been like back then. If there was someone with such a melancholic expression, even if it was a stranger, he would probably go help them without a second thought."
Shido is also a very kind-hearted person who can easily sympathize with others; these traits are what cause most of the Spirits to fall in love with him, as the thing they seem to lack most of all has always been a person who can do exactly this: i.e. accept and understand them. Even Miku, who treated everyone like puppets, ended up changing her worldview because of him.
He also possesses a strong will and a friendly willingness to forgive others. He will press on to save the Spirits despite great personal risk to himself. When responding to Natsumi's comment about the trouble she caused him, he compares her actions to what he went through during all of his past attempts to help spirits and can only call her actions childish pranks, even though she nearly ruined his reputation and erased all his friends and would've then erased him had she succeeded. He acts the same way towards Kurumi, telling her that he will save her and that there's nothing she can do that will convince him otherwise.
Despite his immense kindness, Shido does have a definite limit to his patience; before he sealed Miku's powers, he found her to be extremely annoying and even went so far as to say that he hated her. On the other hand, there are also times when he can be too nice for his good; when Natsumi revealed that she has taken the form of one of his friends and he has to figure out which one, Shido doesn't want to believe that any of his friends are her in disguise, forcing Kotori to remind him what's at stake and that he can't let personal feelings cloud his judgment.
==History==
The past of Shido is wrapped in mystery and steeped in questions. It is not known who was his parents, why he was abandoned, why Shido is only human in the world able to seal the Spirits, what is his relationship with the Phantom, what is the involvement of his past with Sir Isaac Ray Peram Westcott and most importantly; "what is Shido Itsuka?".
Abandoned by his birth mother, Shido was adopted into the Itsuka household at a young age. Five years ago, an incident caused Kotori to become a Spirit due to a misunderstanding on her part, and was tricked into becoming one, but neither of them can remember anything about that incident until Kotori personally used her powers again five years later, which awakened those memories in both of them again. It was discovered that Shido possessed the ability to seal the powers of Spirits around the time Kotori became a Spirit, but it is not known how he got it in the first place.
Before the incident, Shido seems to have met Origami Tobiichi, who lived in the same district, since she claimed to know him when they first met at the school Shido couldn't recall anything about their meeting.
During the events of Tobiichi Devil, it is revealed that this is because Origami met the future Shido, who traveled back 5 years to the past using Kurumi's Yud Bet and eventually shrunk his body with Natsumi's power to find out the reason for Origami's Inversion. After saving the 11-year-old Origami from being crushed by a part of a burning building, Shido comforts Origami, who, at the moment, is on the verge of despair. He said that she could give anything to him and not feel despair to which Origami replied that she would give him her tears, smile, happiness, enjoyment, and everything except her anger towards the spirit who killed her parents.
==Powers & Abilities==
Shido has the mysterious, and unique ability to seal the powers of the Spirits into his own body, which was first discovered sometime in the past when Kotori was turned into a Spirit. To use his ability to seal a Spirit’s power, the Spirit in question must meet a certain condition or requirement. Those conditions or requirements are that the Spirit in question must show affection, trust, closeness, and/or intimacy towards Shido. Once these conditions of affection are high enough between Shido and the Spirit in question, he can seal their power by kissing them on the lips.
Depending on the Spirit itself and how much power they originally had, Shido can either seal a majority of their power or all of it. Shido can also “borrow” the power of a Spirit he sealed, but it depends on how close or intimate he is with that Spirit. This explains the nature of his regenerative abilities. However, it seems that using a Spirit's power (other than regeneration) taxes his body with great pain.
Thus far, he has automatically used Kotori's healing powers and has learned to use Tohka's Sandalphon, and later even summon Yoshino's ice. He was, however, unable to call these powers out of his own free will until the case with Natsumi, where he finally pulled out Sandalphon intentionally. Also, due to the sheer amount of Spirit energy sealed inside of his body, Shido has been shown to possess a level of protection or immunity towards the abilities of other Spirits, being able to withstand Kurumi Tokisaki's City of Devouring Time with little effort, as well as being unaffected by Miku's Solo.
Should the Spirits' emotions become unstable enough, their powers will begin to return to them and leave Shido. This means he'll have to seal them again should their powers fully return to them, but usually this only results in the Spirits temporarily regaining portions of their original power. However, as shown in the cases of Kotori, and much later on Tohka, it is possible for the Spirits to take back their full powers without the need to become emotionally unstable.
Additionally, in terms of other abilities, Shido also possesses good cooking skills and, much to his dismay, due to having to crossdress to interact with Miku, Shido learned how to utilize makeup on a level comparable to most girls, enough that he was the one asked to use said skills on Natsumi. His acting skills proved effective enough to deceive his schoolmates and Miku herself, who was, at the time, a serious man-hater.
==Trivia==
*Shido has two little sisters. Kotori Itsuka is his foster sister and Mana Takamiya is his real sister. Both Shido and Mana have amnesia about their pasts, while both Shido and Kotori had their memories of 5 years ago erased by Phantom.
*Isaac Westcott seems to know Shido's true identity, calling him by his real surname, "Takamiya", before retreating near the end of Volume 7. (Season 2: Episode 10 in the anime)
*Shido is the one who gave the black ribbons to Kotori due to the day being her birthday after he sealed her powers in the past.
*His family name "Itsuka" means "Five Streams/Rivers".
*His first name means "Samurai's Code", a reference to his loyal personality and dedicated nature.
*The powers of the spirits Shido has sealed have been used in the order he sealed them.
**He sealed Kotori first and can use her regeneration ability, while he can use Tohka's Sandalphon and Yoshino's ice powers who he sealed 2nd and 3rd respectively.
**This is eventually contradicted with Natsumi, who at the time was the last one he sealed, but he used her powers before Miku's or Yamai's.
*Due to a promise to Tohka that he wouldn't kiss any other girl besides her, Shido always tries to seal a Spirit's powers when Tohka isn't looking. Unfortunately for Shido, Tohka always ends up walking onto the scene as it happens.
**Tohka ended up walking in on the Yamai twins' powers being sealed.
**This happened again when Miku's power was being sealed in the anime.
**It happened a third time with Natsumi after stopping the artificial satellite <DSA-IV> from crashing onto Tenguu city.
***In all three cases, they kissed him when he wasn't expecting it.
*Shido couldn't recall the meeting with Origami even though she claimed to know him when they first met. In Volume 11 it is revealed that this is because she first met him when he traveled back 5 years into the past.
**Shido was also indirectly responsible for creating her new personality after her parents were killed.
==External links==
*
==Navigation==
pl:Shido Itsuka
Category:Male
Category:Anime Heroes
Category:Teenagers
Category:Siblings
Category:Indie/Doujin Heroes
Category:Determinators
Category:Selfless
Category:Strong-Willed
Category:Charismatic
Category:Book Heroes
Category:Manga Heroes
Category:Protectors
Category:Fighters
Category:Friend of a Villain
Category:Protectors of Innocence
Category:Pacifists
Category:Nurturers
Category:Neutral Good
Category:Pawn of the Villain
Category:Martyr
Category:Science Fantasy Heroes
Category:Bond Creators
Category:Nemesis
Category:Orphans
Category:Wrathful
Category:Brutes
Category:Bond Protectors
Category:Animal Kindness
Category:Tragic
Category:Rebellion Heroes
Category:Archenemy
Category:Amnesiac
Category:Related to Villain
Category:Narrators
Category:Rescuers
Category:The Hero
Category:Saved Souls
Category:Casanova
Category:Date A Live Heroes
Category:The Messiah
Category:Hybrids
Category:Martial Artists
Category:Anti-Nihilists
Category:Stalkers
Category:Summoners
Category:The Chosen One
Category:Loyal
Category:Provokers
Category:Tricksters
Category:Falsely Accused
Category:Villain's Lover
Category:Paranormal
Category:Elementals
Category:Counter-Terrorists
Category:Strategists
Category:Disciplinarians
Category:Optimists
Category:Chaste
Category:Force of Nature
Category:Master of a Villain
Category:Sympathetic
Category:Vengeful
Category:Crossover Heroes
Category:Successful
Category:Rivals
Category:Superheroes
Category:Voice of Reason
Category:Merciful
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Passionate Learners
Category:Revived
Category:Paranoid
Category:Hope Bringers
Category:Insecure
Category:Immortals
Category:Inconclusive