Grazie "The Sand Fortress"

Grazie "The Sand Fortress" is a member of the ATEMS Knights in ATEMS appearing as a major antagonist in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, the boss of the mission Sand Storm, and one of the protagonists of its Epilogue ATEMS scenario. She is an Adept possessing the Septima Sandstorm, which allows her to manipulate sand and soil as both a defense and an offense.
== Website Description ==
== Appearance ==
Grazie is a fair skinned young girl with a chubby frame and long blond hair tied into two rings through two blue accessories. She has orange eyes which are covered behind a pair of glasses. Grazie wears a white blouse with a belt tied across her underchest with a feather accessory in the middle. Grazie wears what appears to be an open green jersey on top of her blouse. She dons a pair of orange sneakers and white socks with an orange stripe right below her knees. Grazie also has a wristband with what appear to be silver bells.
When using Armed Phenomenon, Grazie gains black sclera with yellow pupils. She also wears a large helmet-esque headpiece with two pointed spikes on the sides and her hair flowing through the back opening, leg-length armor with white ankle pads, and simple boots. Beneath her chin are white spikes resembling a gnome's beard. Grazie also carries a large shovel with a yellow blade and a spiked handle grip.
While using Sandstorm Emperor, Grazie encases herself in a black mechanical armor so large she towers over most characters. Her limbs are inside mechanical contraptions, with her arms now equipped with a pincer claw with three digits each, while her feet are equipped with what appear to be large drills, which Grazie utilizes to stomp the ground to manipulate the sand around her. She has what resembles a scorpion tail protruding from the back of her armor, which is actually her shovel from her normal Armed appearance.
===Gallery===
Main article: Grazie "The Sand Fortress"/Gallery''
gv3booklet13.jpg
== Personality ==
Grazie can best be described as bipolar. At first glance she is a friendly, timid girl and a nervous wreck, easily scared even by engaging in talk with her enemies, and lacking in confidence and even trying to resolve things peacefully. Whenever engaging in combat these traits slowly fade away as she reluctantly steels herself for combat for Zed's sake. 
Once she uses her Sandstorm Emperor, her personality drastically changes to that of a violent zealot, with a sharp tongued disposition, a flared temper and a willingness to employ brute force mixed with taunts and insults. Talking any sense to her while in this state, is a futile exercise for all that motivates her is her crazed devotion towards Zed's goals.
Grazie has taken an interest regarding minerals and construction materials. Being able to create things out of sand has made her curious about architectural structures, taking notice of their design and composition, being fairly knowledgeable about many materials and the ways they can be utilized like. In Japanese, she speaks with an Akita dialect, while in English, she speaks with a Southern accent.
== History ==
=== Background ===
Prior to meeting ZedΩ, Grazie was an ordinary farm girl who lived in a rural village, and used her Septima to manipulate soil to be fit for growing crops. ZedΩ happened to stop by this village, and after Grazie demonstrates her powers, is impressed. Seeing ZedΩ ignites a desire to see the world outside of her village, and she accepts his invitation to join him.
=== Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 ===
Grazie first appears when Kirin and Gunvolt attempt to intercept the theft of a Binding Brand kept in the desert. She apologizes for attacking, and asks if she can just borrow the Brand and return it later. When Kirin refuses, Grazie harnesses the Brand's energy to enter her armored form, and engages the two in combat. When she engages her Sandstorm Emperor mode, her personality flips into an aggressive trash-talker. While Kirin and GV manage to defeat Grazie, she still manages to abscond with the Binding Brand.
Later, when Kirin and GV make it deep into Sunrise Palace, Grazie confronts them once more. She continues to justify herself and Zed to the two, claiming the Golden King was the only one to tell her she was needed. When she dons her Sandstorm Emperor armor once more, she gets even more worked up, ranting that ATEMS is only doing this because people like Kirin and GV refuse to listen to them. GV denounces her extremism and zealotry, likely getting some uncomfortable flashbacks to Eden and their fanaticism. The Sandstorm Adept is eventually bested again, and she retreats as Kirin and GV proceed.
In the True Ending, Grazie is seen with Zed and the other members of ATEMS. Having reached an agreement with Sumeragi, they peacefully leave the country to handle Primal Dragon outbreaks in their homeland.
==Other Appearances==
===Card-en-Ciel===
"Get down to business!"
Grazie is one of the characters from Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 featured in the crossover roguelite card-battling RPG Card-en-Ciel, appearing as both a card and enemy paired with ZedΩ (who also appears as a solo enemy). Although it is her Sandstorm Emperor form that appears as an enemy, unlike every other such Gunvolt and iX1 character featured, it is only her normal form that has a card.
Card 	Character 	Effect 	Cost	Movement
The Sand Fortress	Grazie (Normal)	Search for 1 card in your deck. If a Convert card is drawn, Convert it.(Special: Search for 3 cards in your deck. If Convert cards are drawn, Convert them.)	1 	Right
== Powers and Abilities ==
Grazie is attuned to the Sandstorm Septima which allows her to manipulate sand at will, which she utilizes both for offense and defense. Grazie's primary means of using her powers is by making constructs out of sand and utilizing those to attack her foes or protect herself with. In her base form, Grazie carries a shovel shaped staff which she can manipulate telekinetically by covering it with sand, using her as a boomerang-esque projectile she can throw at her foes, which then returns to her. Grazie is also shown to be deceptively acrobatic as she can perform huge leaps in combination with her throws.
Grazie's more advanced form of her Septima is shown through her Sandstorm Emperor technique, in which she gathers massive amounts of sand to build herself a mechanical armor which she uses to not only improve her defense, but utilize her newly increased size and weight for brute force tactics and crush foes. Her armor allows Grazie to take better advantage of her sand manipulating abilities as she can use her increased strength to create pillars of sand by stomping the ground, or make large rocks of sand to fall down after jumping to the ground. She can also create giant boulders which she can toss with the help of her large arms, which she can do with ease.
Grazie is capable of creating tornadoes of sands and create giant cylindrical drills with which she can slam her opponents with extreme violence. While empowered with the Djinn, Grazie can use tons of sand material which she can use to build the Sunrise Palace on top of the UTU Media Tower, effectively taking over the building and fundamentally reshape it in its entirety into a colossal fortress, filled with traps, despite the fact the tower was the tallest structure known and being arguably hundreds of feet tall.
According to Zed, Grazie's style centers on power, utilizing enormous offensive output for punishing strikes. He goes onto admit that her Septima at full strength, could even match the Golden Trillion in might, and might also be a fitting match for Cayman's Duelist Septima which also bestows him with such brute strength to create explosions out of stomping the ground.
Her power can also be used for more mundane things such as building smaller sand castles on a beach. The nature of her construction styled powers has made her curious about minerals and architectural structures, having quite a bit of knowledge of different materials and ways to use them.
===Boss Battle Skills===
Note: Any small spiked balls of sand that Grazie makes with her attacks can be destroyed by Kirin's slashes or GV's Flashfield.
Skill 	Description
Shovel Crawler(ショベルクロウラー) 	Grazie throws her shovel, which sticks to the ceiling and crawls across walls and eventually travels back to her.
On Hard Mode and above, the shovel will toss up spiked sand balls as it travels along the walls and ground.
Round Surge(ラウンドサージ) 	Grazie leaps towards the player and throws her shovel straight down. It crawls across the floor and up the wall, returning to her a second later from offscreen.
On Hard Mode and above, the shovel will toss up spiked sand balls as it travels along the walls and ground.
Sandstorm Emperor() 	Grazie's first special skill, used when her first health gauge is down. She twirls her shovel, generating a massive whirlwind of sand which pulls the player in. After it dissipates, she gains a new set of armor and completely changes her moveset using the new armor. Grazie follows this move up with Sistrum Impact.
Sistrum Impact(シストラムインパクト) 	Grazie jumps up, then slams onto the floor, erecting pillars of sand on the whole floor. The pillars cannot be jumped over from the floor and must be avoided using wall jumps.
Grand Shaker(グランドシェイカー) 	In between attacks, Grazie jumps around the room. When she lands, spiked balls fall from the ceiling.
Simoon Veil(シムーンヴェール) 	Grazie conjures a tornado at the player's position, which sucks them in and knocks them back if they touch it. She may also use the attack on herself, lifting herself into the air before transitioning to Sistrum Impact or Big Rock Strike.
In Hard Mode, spiked balls fall from the ceiling while the tornado is active. Grazie may, once she uses the attack on herself, lift herself offscreen before coming back down on the player's position with a Sistrum Impact. (Her position during this variation of the move is marked by sand falling from the ceiling.)
Big Rock Strike(ビッグロックストライク) 	Grazie jumps in the air and throws a massive boulder at the player. The boulder breaks into fragments upon impacting the walls or ground, which can still deal damage. The fragments can be destroyed by Kirin's sword slashes or GV's Flashfield.
In Hard Mode, she may instead remain on the ground and punch a boulder that falls from above, breaking it into fragments that scatter around her.
Dune Demon Disaster() 	Grazie's second special skill. She makes spiked balls fall from the ceiling, then tries to ram the player with two massive pillars of sand which knock back the player upon impact. For the finale, she creates two tornadoes at the sides of the room, forcing the player to run towards her to evade the attack.
In Hard Mode, just like with Simoon Veil, the tornadoes also make spiked balls fall from the ceiling.
== Boss Battle Voices ==
=== Japanese ===
Event 	Translation 	Romaji 	Japanese
Pre-Transformation 	I'm gonna do this! 	Yattarube! 	やったやるべ！
Start 	For the sake of Lord Zedd! 	Zuedo sama no tame ni! 	ずえどさまのために！
Start (Rematch) 	For the sake of Lord Zedd! 	Ziedo sama no tame ni! 	ずぃえど様のために！
Shovel Crawler / Round Surge	Hit! 	Atare! 	当たれ！
Sandstorm Emperor 	Sandstorm Emperor! 	Fubaafu Koodineetaa! 	フバーフコーディネーター
Sistrum Impact 	What? 	Nandaa? 	たんだッ！
Sistrum Impact 	What, they dodged? 	Nanii, sakearekka? 	なにい、避けられっか?
Simoon Veil 	How's this one like?! 	Konna no de dou! 	こんなのでどう！
Big Rock Strike 	Gonna crush ya! 	Koutsi de buttsubusu! 	こいつでぶっ潰す！
Dune Demon Disaster 	Sheesh! Gonna beat ya to a pulp! Dune Demon Disaster! Hit 'em! Once more! I'll use this!	Mouu! Zenbu buttagete yanneee! Shibira Shinisutaa! 
Atero! Mou ichou! Konna mochi de!	もうッ！全部ぶったげてやんねーッ！シビラシニスター! 当てろ！もう一丁！こんなもちで!
1st Phase Down: 	Gonna get serious! 	Kookara ga honban dabe!	こっからが本番だべ！
Defeated 	This can't be! 	Konnna gogotte! 	こんなごとって！
Defeated (Rematch) 	Impossible! 	Sonya bakana! 	そんにゃばかな！
Post Defeat 	I'll remember this! 	O, oboeteroo! 	お、覚えてろー！
===English===
Event 	Voice
Transform 	Get down to business!
Start 	This is for Mr. Zeddy!
Start (Rematch) 	This 'un's for Mr. Zeddy!
Shovel Crawler / Round Surge 	Hrah! Hrrrah!
Shovel Crawler / Round Surge 	Hrah! Hah!
Shovel Crawler / Round Surge 	Ha! How's this?
Shovel Crawler / Round Surge 	Ha! Please hit!
Sandstorm Emperor 	Time fer the real deal! Sandstorm Emperor! Loser!
Sistrum Impact 	You think you can dodge this!?
Simoon Veil 	How ya like this?!
Big Rock Strike 	Gonna bury you alive!
Big Rock Strike 	Haaah!
Big Rock Strike (punching the rock)	Go to pieces!
Dune Demon Disaster 	I'm blowing everythin' away! Dune Demon Disaster!
Get outta here! Let's go again! This here's the end of y'all!
1st Phase Down 	Uwah..!
2nd Phase Down 	Woah...!
Defeated 	Is this fer real?!
Defeated (Rematch) 	I jus' can't believe this!
Post-defeat 	Yer gonna regret this!
==SP Skill Chants==
O grand earth, cornerstone of life
Adorn me in your unshakeable armor
Bestow me with your crushing might
SANDSTORM EMPEROR
O grand earth, well of infinite life
Shroud me in your raging tempest
Ferocity to blow away all creation
DUNE DEMON DISASTER
==Designer Comments==
Source: Dengeki Online interview about Gunvolt 3 character design and illustration
==Musical Themes==
(C) = Composer
(A) = Arranger
Title 	Context 	Composers 	Audio
Far-Flung Dunes(辺境の赤砂, Remote Red Sands) 	Desert Base stage theme	Yusuke Sakai (C) 	
Far-Flung Dunes -Roar-(辺境の赤砂 ーー, Remote Red Sands -Roar-) 	Gunvolt version 	Yusuke Sakai (C)Hiroaki Sano (A)	
== Trivia ==
*Grazie's design motifs are the Major Arcana VIII (or XI), Strength, and the earth elemental spirits known as gnomesConcept art labels her Strength/Gnome in both English and Japanese. This matches the Arcana motif of most Gunvolt 3 characters, and the elemental spirits theme of the ATEMS Knights.
*Like most Gunvolt 3 characters, Grazie's name may be based on something related to cars, although it's uncertain if that's actually the case.Former localization director Matt Papa confirms Serpentine, Prado, and likely Sistina have car-based names in his Azure Striker Gunvolt 10th anniversary stream It's speculated the name basis may be the Fiat Grazie Mille.
*The name Sibylla Sinister may be a reference to Ovid's Metaphorphosis, in which the Sibyl of the Olympian sun god Apollo is offered to be granted any wish by him in exchange for her virginity. She took a handful of sand and asked to live as many years as there were grains, but as the Sibyl later refused Apollo's love, he allowed her to wither away as she lived a thousand years, and her body grew smaller and smaller with age.
*In two different early concepts, Grazie was a boy instead of a girl. A yellow design had diamond weapons and his powered up state was named "Extraordinary Brilliant Armor Form", while a green design used the earth's energy to power up punches, materialize fists, and fire a beam.
**It is written in the green design's notes that since the motif is gnomes, and the seven dwarves from Snow White can be considered gnomes, there was the concept of Grazie meeting Tenjian back when she was 5 years old. How this would have worked with the implied several decade timeskip in GV3 is not specified.
*Grazie's SP Skill, Dune Demon Disaster, is very similar to Zonda's Club Pillars attack. The difference is that Grazie uses one large pillar to attack the player, while Zonda uses two smaller pillars that cover most of the screen.
*Grazie is the second boss to have more than one special skill in the same fight; the first is Tenjian.
**Gibril and Isola can also change their form, but their form change is only considered a normal move and not a special skill like Grazie.
*When Grazie is defeated in Secret Mission 13, she uses the same voice clip as when she is defeated in Sunrise Palace 3, even though she is fought in her arena from Desert Base. The other ATEMS Knights in Secret Mission 13 are also fought in their original-stage arenas, but they use the corresponding defeat voice clips.
==References==
*4gamer.net article with information about Grazie.
*Gunvolt News Channel Episode 48, which debuted Grazie and featured her Japanese voice actor Haruka Terui as a guest.
== Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 Navigation ==
Category:Azure Striker Gunvolt 3
Category:Adept
Category:Female Characters
Category:ASG3 Characters
Category:ATEMS
Category:ASG3 Bosses
Category:Antagonists
Category:Protagonists
Category:Characters
Category:Image Pulse