Shinji

Face

*Shinji*

**Shinji** is the second most famous Nintuber in the world of the Ninjala manga. He’s a raging fanboy of Emma, the number one Nintuber, and is willing to do anything to protect her smile. This puts him at odds with Kappei during the events of N1 Grand Prix, as he sees him as a threat to Emma.

## Appearance

Shinji is a fair-skinned teen with sharp features and a slim but visibly muscular body. Based on a small drawing on the back of Volume 6, his eyes seem to be gray. He has a mole beneath his left eye. His hair is white with a pink streak in his bangs, and is styled longer on the top, short sides, and accented with a black headband. It messily waves back with some tufts that hang in front of his face. Shinji wears a green cropped tracksuit with white stripes going down the sides of each arm and front of his legs, and beneath that he wears a cropped black tank top. His shoes are the same shade of green as his pants.

Shinji decorates himself lots of jewelry. Off the left of the headband dances a small string of beads and tuft on the end. His ears are pierced and sport two stud earrings. From his neck dangles a gold chain with a tag on it, and his hands are decorated with various gold rings and a bracelet. He occasionally wears small stud earrings, but they are not drawn consistently.

## Personality

Shinji initially comes off as a suave and charismatic Nintuber at the top of any situation. In reality, he’s far from this suave persona he’s built up—he’s petty, egotistical, loses his temper easily, and is obsessed with Emma. No other smile in the world means as much to Shinji as hers does, and so he swore to protect it long ago. He doesn’t like when other people catch Emma’s interest. He can often get frustrated by others to the point of crying and physical outlash.

## Story

### History

In his past, Shinji appears to have been a shut-in who wore plain clothes with glasses and spent most of his time on the computer. Shinji was surrounded by people who constantly offered him gifts and laughter without him having to do anything. It can be assumed this was due to his being the son of a rich family. He found this distressing and saw every smile as terrifying and deceitful. However, there was one person who was different: Emma. Shinji found her smile warm and genuine, and he believed it could save the whole world. He changed his whole look to become a Nintuber so he could get closer to her.

### Volume 5

Shinji is introduced alongside Emma, and the two are the second and first most popular Nintubers, respectively. While browsing Nintube, Emma finds and is amused by Kappei’s videos. Shinji thinks the videos suck, but she insists they’re funny.

Later, Emma and Shinji both feature in an video advertisement for the N1 Grand Prix—a tournament which will be broadcast live on Nintube that promises money and fame as the the prize. Kappei attempts to enter, but is a day late to registration. Emma shoots an arrow with a written invitation on it to him, and so he is allowed in. Shinji doesn’t understand why she’s going this far.
The N1 Grand Prix begins, and the preliminary round is a race across the ocean to the island on which the Grand Prix will be held. As the race sets off, Shinji sneaks up behind Kappei and greets him. He lies to Kappei and says that those who received a written invitation don’t have to partake in the preliminaries. He says there is a ship waiting for Kappei and leads him onto it. In reality, this ship is a tuna fishing boat that will set off to sea for a year. Just as Kappei realizes he’s been tricked, the fishermen on board drag him off.

Shinji walks away and partakes in the round normally, smugly believing Kappei is taken care of and has no chance of getting close to Emma. On the island, Emma is disappointed that Kappei is late. Shinji tries to convince her Kappei probably gave up. He then goes to the announcer to try and wrap the round up quickly. Right as the round is about to finish, the fishing boat from earlier rides onto the beach. Kappei dismounts onto the shore and qualifies for the Grand Prix.

### Volume 6

The true first round of the Grand Prix begins—a race across the island where contestants must first gather 10 mini kunai before crossing the finish line. Shinji crosses the goal first. Emma also arrives quickly, but waits behind to camp out those trying to cross the finish line. As Shinji watches the live stream, Kappei’s actions continue to infuriate him. Shinji attempts to order a lackey to get rid of him, but Kappei teams up with Van to take them out.

The two move on together to the finish line, but are confronted by Emma. Van amuses Emma enough for her to let him right through, but she holds Kappei back and toys with him. Shinji praises Emma’s methods, and explains that she does this to entertain her Nintube audience. In the midst of Kappei and Emma’s back and forth, the footage goes out. Soon after, Emma teleports through the finish line gate quickly followed by Kappei. He happily tells her he hopes they can have a real match next time. Emma is noticeably sullen, and doesn’t respond when Shinji asks what Kappei did to her. Shinji tries to suggest her do her usual cheery smile, but she responds by casting a ferocious grin to Kappei as accepts his challenge to entertain her. This new look from Emma terrifies Shinji.

Shinji has a nightmare related to Kappei the night before the second round. When he awakes he clings to his butler, Sebas, and orders Sebas to erase Kappei. His butler happily obliges and promises to take care of it.

The second round begins, and the remaining 8 contestants are put into pairs for a three-legged race. Kappei and Emma are put on the same team—to their and Shinji’s dismay. Shinji is placed alongside a strange person wearing a large, expressionless, bird costume and calling themself “F-kun.” Shinji sneaks up behind Kappei with palpable violent intent, but F-kun grabs Shinji and flies away with him just as Kappei turns around.

During the time they are afloat, Shinji hears an announcement that Sebas has been defeated by Kappei. Shinji and F-kun land after they are shot down by Berecca and Lucy. Shinji finally begins breaking down over nothing going his way, and punches F-kun's while sobbing. Amidst his venting his frustrations, F-kun slaps Shinji, and begins speaking. He announces that he is Shinji’s ally. He then says Shinji can’t beat Kappei anyway because he’s afraid of him. Shinji tries to deny this, but falls to his knees as the realization dawns on him. It is then when Shinji realizes F-kun has a strong aura about him as well. He begs F-kun to beat Kappei for him, but he refuses. Rather, he says he'll make Shinji able to beat Kappei himself. F-kun does this by punching Shinji repeatedly in a way that unlocks new powers in his DNA.

This awakening resounds with all other bearers of ninja DNA on the island. Lucy especially is excited by this, so she charges after Shinji to fight him. The battle is not shown, but it seems he easily defeated both Berecca and Lucy. Kappei arrives on the scene to find them both defeated on the ground, while Shinji stands before them with a new look. He no longer wears his headband, and the beads attached to it are now worn as an earring. Most notably, his hair is slicked back with the end leading off into a flame.

The semifinals begin, and it consists of two 1v1s on large suspended platforms above an active volcano. The matchups are Shinji vs Kappei and Emma vs F-kun. Shinji enters the arena with yet another outfit change. He now wears a white colored blouse with a deep v-neck and popped collar with simple black pants. On his hands he wears massive gauntlets ending in sharp ended, claw-like fingertips. His entire atmosphere has changed as well, as he is completely confident and radiating with light.

When Kappei moves to attack Shinji, Shinji shifts perfectly out of the way. Kappei attempts a large attack again with a massive tornado, but Shinji easily sees through it and flicks Kappei in the face with enough force to break a fourth of the stadium. Kappei barely holds onto the edge, but climbs up to continue the fight. But matter how Kappei tries to trick Shinji, he is unable to land a blow.

Shinji boastfully explains that this is because has the powers of “foresight,” and can now read any action that Kappei does before he does it. Kappei falls to his knees—his expression unseeable. Shinji boasts of how terrified Kappei must be of him. He grabs Kappei’s head and raises him up by it, but is left appalled when all that he reveals Kappei’s smile. In truth, Kappei is thrilled to be fighting a difficult opponent.

Shinji only becomes further enraged. He forms a massive horse beneath himself and locks onto Kappei. Right as Shinji launches at his target with all his might, Kappei sneezes. Shinji flies completely over him and falls headfirst into the magma.

### Volume 7

Thanks to his new powers, Shinji rises from the magma unharmed. Flames envelop his body, but are under his control. He declares these are the flames of hatred that he will use to reduce Kappei to ashes. He uses them to destroy the remainder of the platform they were fighting on. This forces Kappei to escape onto the next platform where Emma and F-kun are fighting.

With all 4 challengers on the same platform, F-kun finally reveals what he did to Shinji to the others. He reveals the powers he awoke in Shinji come with a great physical toll. In short, Shinji will burn away his life if he continues to fight. Emma begs Shinji to stop, but he is unfazed. He states his life is nothing compared to Emma’s ideals, and traps her in a bird cage away from the fight.

Shinji rains down fire upon the field, but Kappei uses F-kun as a shield. The flames force the person inside the costume—Fuma—to exit it and immediately disappear. Kappei is briefly distracted by this, and Shinji uses the opportunity to snatch Kappei by the neck and begin roasting him alive. This exertion of power causes Shinji to begin coughing up blood. As he burns, Kappei finally asks why Shinji has such a grudge against him. Shinji impassionedly announces his reasons in front of everyone—that it is because Kappei broke Emma’s smile. Emma calls Shinji an idiot from her cage. She retorts she hasn’t actually been happy for ages, and Shinji simply didn’t notice. Inspiring the smiles of people around the world had only ever been a burden to her.

These words break Shinji. He concludes that his goal of protecting Emma’s smile was pointless, and thus existence has no meaning. In his despair, he forms a massive ball of power and declares that everyone is going to die with him. Kappei forms a large sword and attacks the ball. Upon landing the blow, he and Emma get a brief glance into Shinji’s past and his reasons for adoring Emma.

When the two return, Emma’s cage disappears. Kappei asks Shinji if he really wants to die. Shinji restates his life has no meaning and resigns to burning to death in the unstoppable flames. But Emma reaches through the flames and socks him in the face, and tearfully shouts at him a reminder that he’s the same as her—that they both have fans they inspire. Shinji begins crying as he realizes he doesn’t want to die. Kappei uses his sword to sweep the flames off Shinji, and Shinji passes out.

    Shinji awakens after CPR from Gumchi and proceeds to throw up. Emma laughs at him, and the two exchange a moment of lighthearted joking. Right as it seems Emma and Kappei are going to move into the next round, Fuma emerges into the field. He announces that he only used Shinji to give Kappei a stronger opponent to fight. Shinji is shocked he was used just for that, but Fuma is quickly dismissed by the announcers as he didn’t enter the tournament as himself. Shinji inevitably moves into the stands to witness Kappei and Emma’s match. There, he takes a role on the sidelines where he cheers for Emma until the end.

## Trivia

* Shinji owns a helicopter and made a YouTube video about buying it.
* In the Japanese text, Shinji has a habit of occasionally switching characters (especially those at the end of a sentence) with their romaji spelling equivalent. An example of a phrase by him looking like “いいNE！” Combined with his occasional use of English words such as “What” and “Come on,” it’s very possible he has some kind of English-language based accent.

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