Berserker

## Shōgo Kitsukawa

**Berserker**, who's real name is Shōgo Kitsukawa, was the Second Fist of Ragnarok before it was disbanded. He is currently one of Isshinsai Ogata's disciples in YOMI.

## **Appearance**

Berserker is a tall, muscular young man. He is fair-skinned with dark blonde hair spiked up and blue eyes. He is constantly seen in a white sleeveless shirt, blue jeans, white sneaker, and red jacket with its sleeves ripped off. During his days as the Second Fist of Ragnarok, he wore black gloves with golden mark insignias shaped like roman numerals for 2. He is often seen chewing bubble gum.

## **Personality**

Berserker has a calm disposition despite all the damage being done to Ragnarok and almost never loses his head, despite his seemingly ill-named position.Berserker is almost always seen chewing bubble gum and usually doesn't speak, even when something noteworthy happens. Berserker is said to be the most fearsome fighter in all of Ragnarok, and Loki even believes that he could be a better First Fist than Odin (though Loki may have simply said it in order to plant a seed of betrayal in Berserker). However, Berserker shows no interest in becoming a leader for any gang, and is actually afraid of fighting Odin, believing that the latter is much stronger than he is. Berserker claims to fear boredom more than losing during his match against Hermit. When in his Berserker mode, he's much more sadistic and brutal, going as far as to assault Hermit with everything he has without holding back and laughing maniacally.

Since having become Ogata's disciple, Berserker's personality is virtually the same, except he seems to take more interest in things around him, and has surprisingly developed a sense of moral fairness during his fights (despite his calm, battle-ready attitude and the aggressive way that he fights). The biggest example of this was in his fight with Kenichi. He stated he came to fight him to test how much stronger he had become since the last time and admitted his gladness in fighting him. He even waited for Kenichi to make his seikuken during the beginning of their fight just so he can test out his own seikuken. In battle 500, it was shown that Berserker has been carrying a very small grudge against Haruo Niijima, ever since their encounter during the Ragnarok Saga, and even stated that he "still owed him one" in a very serious way, which freaked Niijima out. Also, he seems to have gotten over his fear of Odin as Berserker saved the former from falling debris before stating that he now viewed Odin as a worthy opponent that he personally wants to defeat.

## **History**

Not much is known about Shougo's life before becoming a street fighter or before he became Berserker. Sometime before Kenichi entered Ryōzanpaku, Shougo was just a regular street fighter, fighting anyone and everyone who challenges him. As Shougo was fighting a group of gang members and defeating them easliy, Ryuto appeared after the fight causing him to rethink if he should fight again, which leads to the two of them fighting. After the fight Shougo gain his first loss against him, developing a hidden fear of Ryuto in the process. Due to the shock of actually losing and his newfound fear of Ryuto, Shougo practically blocked the memory of the whole fight to forget about his loss. This fight would lead to Shougo becoming one of the founding members of Ragnarok, with him taking the name Berserker (along with Ryuto as Odin and Kaname Kugatachi as Freya), and the overall creation of what eventually becomes the Eight Fists.

## **Skills**

* **Innate Talent:** Berserker is best known for his natural talent in any aspect of combat. At one point, he single-handedly defeats Loki and his band of New Ragnarok's with little effort. Even Odin had great confidence in Berserker's skill, believing that he could dispatch both Kenichi and Hermit and, even during the later part of the battle where Berserker clearly began to lose against Hermit, Odin still believed that Berserker could win. Later, his talent caught the eye of the of Isshinsai Ogata, a man obsessed with martial artists' development, decided to make Berserker his personal disciple. In addition, his unrefined fighting style is used to his advantage in confusing his opponents. Fighting solely on instinct, he has no set pattern of attacks, making it almost impossible for his opponents to anticipate his attacks. He is an immensely perceptive combatant, able to quickly see through his opponents' attack patterns and battle methods, which allows him to instinctively come up with various new and effective attack methods and perfectly copy the basics of any technique he sees. On his own, he was even able to develop and master Seikūken well enough to overwhelm a natural Sei-type and skilled user of it like Kenichi.
* **Great Physical Prowess:** While never trained formally or even routinely, Berserker's constant fighting has conditioned him to his peak of physical prowess, possessing agility, flexibility, and dexterity that can match, if not overwhelm most opponents. Combined with his talent, his fighting prowess naturally strengthens and develops with each fight and has allowed him to defeat many expert fighters, so many that he easily grows bored against most opponents.
* **Incredible Luck:** Even in areas of probability being against him, Berserker is still able to instinctually turn things to his advantage. When he played poker against Loki (a pro at cheating) he managed to get a royal straight flush against Loki's 4 of a kind.
* **Enhanced Instincts:** While his untrained fighting abilities leaves him unpolished and full of openings, Berserker more than makes up for it with his unorthodox style, sharp instincts, and immense reflexes. When faced against opponents that are able to draw him out, he is able to quickly change his attack patterns to leave his opponent guessing, forcing them to rely solely on reflexes. Against equally fast opponents, Berserker relies on his instincts to perceive the incoming danger or his heightened reflexes to easily perceive the rhythm of his opponent's attacks, as he did to the flashing speed of Takeda's illusionary left punch with minimal effort. His instincts and reflexes are so good that he's able to defend himself from the entire armed YOMI division all on his own while commenting minorly on the struggle.
* **Enhanced Strength:** Befitting his large and defined build, Berserker is shown to have a high level of strength. During his fight with Takeda and Ukita, he was able to easily overpower the larger Ukita and effortlessly catch Takeda's powerful punches without moving off of Ukita. His teeth and jaw strength are also immensely strong, able to chew through a shuriken. After his training under Ogata, Berserker's strength has increased greatly, being able to cause a shockwave when striking Kenichi with just his elbows and broke Kenichi's Seikūken with just strength alone, being now the second to break it after Tirawit Kokin.
* **Enhanced Speed:** Despite his large size, Berserker has equally impressive speed. Able to quickly change his attack patterns or direction of attack, he is able to leave his opponents unsure of his next attack, making it easier for Berserker to land a strike. After his training from Ogata, Berserker's speed has increased to the point of being able to appear in front of Kenichi with just a step in. Kenichi noted it would have been bad if Berserker had attacked at that moment.
* **Berserker Mode:** Berserker's most revered ability, an adrenaline rush that lets Berserker access his full Dou Ki to attack at a much stronger, faster, wilder and unpredictable pace, while at the same time losing the ability to feel pain. Odin stated that, while in this mode, Berserker has no pattern or thinking behind his attacks and that he was just relying on instincts and power.
* **Hybrid Martial Artist:** Berserker originally fought with just his instincts and utilizing whatever movements suit him against his opponents. Under Ogata's training, Berserker's immense potential growth has become far stronger and more refined through various ancient martial arts exercises, pushing well past his previous limits. Staying true to his nature, this is done by improving his physical prowess and battle instincts rather than learning any actual forms or techniques. According to Lugh, this was done intentionally by Ogata. Taking advantage of Berserker's lack of any formal training, this will allow Berserker to develop his own unique fighting style and arsenal of techniques. According to Miu, this process is much like how Hayato developed his Fūrinji Style.

## **Trivia**

* He is named after Berserkers, Norse warriors. His sleeveless jacket also has Norway's flag pattern. He displays traits similar to the Nordic Berserkers of ancient times, such as displaying a furious battle rage in his attacks when aroused, as well negating feelings of pain through an adrenaline rush that enables him to ignore his injuries and continue fighting.
* He also has a strong Resemblance to *Hajime No Ippo* character Bryan Hawk. Both have similar hair styles, have crazy red eyes, are talented and are known as amazing brawlers who are not known for any training, and are defeated by characters that known for combining talent and hard work (Tanimoto in Berserker's case, Takamura in Bryan's case).
* He was originally to be named Tyr after the Norse one handed god who bravely sacrificed his hand to Fenrir. It was later changed to Berserker to fit the theme and character design set for him. *[citation needed]*
* Berserker has some resemblance to Guile from street fighter series. In terms of hair as well as personality. Due to the fact that both are fair and just in their approach and both are known for their maturity and the ability to analyze situations in a level headed manner. However they are different in a sense that Guile is a military man who fights in a structured manner while Berserker is an unpredictable fighter who happens to be more free spirited and rebellious in nature.
* In *Tatakae! Ryōzanpaku Shijō Saikyō no Deshi*, instead of being called *Berserker*, he was called "Snake". His character design is almost the same in both versions except for a minor modification on his vest. In terms of personality, in the original version, he was more cheery and smiled more. Furthermore, Berserker was the antagonist gang's top leader and Kisara became his possible love interest after he saved her from a group of thugs, very similar to Rimi and Ryūto.