Tatsuki Otsuki

***Tatsuki Otsuki*** (大槻達樹, *Ōtsuki Tatsuki*) is the main protagonist of Spriggan: Lunar Verse. He is a high school student who is also, unknown to many around him, ARCAM Corporation's talented agent who aspires to become a Spriggan. He was selected as a Spriggan candidate due to his outstanding growth potential among A-class agents and his compatibility with Orichalcum metal. Eventually, he reached the time where he is tested by his instructor, Graham Bruton, in a promotion exam that has him conducting real operations in order to officially earn the title of Spriggan. The operations mostly consist of him securing the legacy of the ancient civilization from adversary forces who seeks to use them for their malicious intents.

## Biography

### Early Life

Tatsuki is born in Japan on February 15th. Not much is known for Tatsuki's childhood, other than that he had a younger sister who died at some point from an unknown cause. He attended school, and up until his promotion test within the ARCAM Corporation, he is currently in his third year in high school. At one point, he is captivated by the concept of becoming a Spriggan field agent and joined ARCAM as a means of applying for one. He would then receive recognition for his phenomenal growth potential and for having well compatibility with Orichalcum. He managed to reach to the point where he is assigned to his instructor, Graham Bruton, who would assigns him dangerous operations as a test to determine if he is a proven fit as a S-class Spriggan agent.

### *Lunar Verse*

For his first mission towards the promotion exam, Tatsuki was inserted into the warehouse to infiltrate the enemy laboratory, presumably to investigate their activity. However, he was eventually discovered by the security guards, causing the mission's main objective to change into escaping from the lab. He managed to escape from the warehouse, but was later chastised by Graham for acting reckless in the supposed covert operation. He told Tatsuki that the flashy outcome of the mission is unnecessary, and warned him that repeating the same methods in future missions would only hinder his progress of becoming a Spriggan.

Later, Tatsuki would assist Jean Jacquemonde in providing escorts towards the ARCAM excavation team that are extracting the philosopher's stone from the ruins. Unfortunately, they were unexpectedly attacked by the U.S. forces who appears to seek for the stone. Tatsuki was supposed to join the excavation team for extraction, but part of the tunnel leading to the rendezvous point was blocked by a large rock. Jean advised him to search for anything that could break the rock. The latter eventually finds several C-4s and used them to cause the rock to implode. He heads to the rendezvous point and witnesses a helicopter with U.S. soldiers onboard attempting to retreat from their botched operation. Jean, determined to not let them escape, armed himself with a rocket launcher and blew up the chopper, ensuring the U.S. forces no longer interfering with their escort operation.

At one point, ARCAM received information that an OOPArt (out-of-place artifact) is discovered to be alongside the goods during an ongoing grave robbery at the port. The mercenaries appeared to be attempting to extract them to the black market. Tatsuki is then deployed to the port to find the artifact before it is stolen by the mercenaries. After searching through the warehouses, he founded it and attempted to extract himself. However, he is confronted by David Khan, a robber who appears to be a leader behind this robbery operation. He tried to kill Tatsuki, but the latter dealt with him and exited the port.

ARCAM would later receive another information that an intruder has infiltrated the same ruins that was previously partially excavated by the same corporation on the seabed. Tatsuki is inserted in it to find the intruder and their purpose. He explores the ruins and eventually finds Yu Ominae and Jean in the same ruins. It was revealed that they were independently investigating insiders within ARCAM. Yu gave Tatsuki a crescent-shaped lithograph before leaving. He used it to teleport to different areas of the ruins. Eventually, he came across an unidentified woman, who appeared to be an intruder, was knocking furiously against the gate. She noticed him and attempted to kill him, but he defended himself and knocked her out. He then unlocked the gate and behind it is the guardian who protects the soul stone. It attacked Tatsuki as an intruder, though he managed to destroy it. He obtained the soul stone and exfiltrated the ruins.

Back at ARCAM, Graham is pleased to announced to Tatsuki that the development of a new prototype A.M. suit made from the philosopher's stone collected from the ARCAM excavation team is finally completed. There are three types of A.M. suits that he could select: speed, power, and defense. Graham encouraged him to wear any of them and use it during an operation to collect data of their performances. Afterwards, he informed him of his next mission, which is to act as an escort of transporting the OOPArt into the underground vault at the ARCAM headquarters building. Later, Tatsuki rode on the back of the truck while providing escort to the driver. However, during their trip in the tunnel, they were ambushed by a group of ninjas. Tatsuki defended the truck from them until they were out of reinforcements. Eventually, the artifact was safely sealed in the vault.

At some point, the ARCAM investigation team has discovered a ruins that is filled with innumerable traps. Tatsuki is called in to release the traps for them to safely explore the ruins. He investigates the place, overcoming any traps along against spiders and scorpions who stood in his way. He would eventually find two Ashura-like statues that would be activated to destroy him, in which he eventually caused them to be shattered into pieces. Then, in an area where lava was spreading, he discovered another philosopher's stone in the back and extracted with it.

Later, Graham got word that there was a riot occurring within the ruins that was being excavated. A riot squad was sent in to investigate, but their contact was lost eventually. He sent Tatsuki in to find the team and suppress the rebellion. Inside the ruins, he encountered werejaguars with human clothes on them, implying that they were the former excavation team. In its deepest part, he founded the ARCAM researcher who appeared to be so fascinated by the mask that he transformed his fellow researchers into werejaguars and rebelled against ARCAM. He then placed the mask on his face and summoned the ancient beasts alongside him to battle against Tatsuki. Tatsuki won and jumped down to the area where it was opened after the researcher's death. He discovered the computer belonging to the ancient civilization on the wall and destroyed it.

Trident "Thunder Spear" special forces had launched a raid against the ARCAM excavation team at the ruins in Antarctica. The team had yet to discover what lies within the ruins. Concerned of Trident possibly obtaining something vital from the ruins, he ordered Tatsuki to hold them off until ARCAM's reinforcements arrived. There, he fought against Trident troops attempting to secure the ruins. Eventually, he came across Maria Leskov, the captain of the "Thunder Spear" forces and the same woman he fought back at the seabed ruins, and Hayato who is the deputy captain of the same forces. They attempted to held him off from the ruins, but they failed as Tatsuki defeated them in a battle. By then, a mysterious girl came out from the gate of the entrance of the ruins and ran up to him. She stated several cryptic statements to him, in which it caused him to appeared confused. Graham then contacted him to investigate the ruins to see if the legacy of the ancient civilization was already stolen. Afterwards, the girl ran back to the gate and requested him to assist her in the future, before disappearing from his sight.

Tatsuki was unable to locate the particular legacy of the ancient civilization within the ruins, but Graham assumed Trident already stole it by the time Tatsuki arrives to the ruins. He discovered that the legacy turned out to be a robotic superweapon. Fortunately, Graham managed to access the satellite images to locate where the weapon was taken towards. He instructed Tatsuki to infiltrate Trident's laboratory and recover it. He arrived to the lab via elevator and explored the place. Eventually, he founded the weapon in one of the rooms, but it was already active by the time he reached it. With no other options, Tatsuki was forced to destroyed it.

Eventually, ARCAM got word that the U.S. mechanized platoon is searching for something significant within the ruins that ARCAM has yet to identify, most likely an object involving the ancient civilization. Tatsuki was deployed to find it before the U.S. platoon does. During his investigation in the ruins, he encountered the captain of the mechanized platoon slamming the same girl from the Antarctic ruins against the wall, causing the crystal ball to fell from her pockets. Tatsuki quickly dashed to the scene and dealt with against the captain. Once the captain is dead, Tatsuki retrieved the ball, and the girl walked up to him to offer an advice in securing the crystal ball in a place where no one is able to easily steal it. By then, the ruins started to collapse, and he wasted no time attempted to escape. As he was nearing the same entrance point where he entered the ruins, he was alerted by the sudden words of a vampire-like man who demanded Tatsuki to hand over the ball to him. Tatsuki refused and duelled against the man. The former won and exfiltrated the ruins.

Tatsuki would then received word from Graham that the ARCAM headquarters building was under invasion from Trident's "Thunder Spear" special forces. It appeared that someone was attempting to steal the contents from the underground vault. Tatsuki is then inserted to the building's rooftop from a helicopter and made his way to the underground vault, all while neutralizing any Trident enemies who served as obstacles to him. As he entered inside, Graham notified him of the intruder's identity, which is revealed to be Leticia Dale, head of Trident's Weapons Development division. She and Trident appeared to be aiming for the vault, so Graham told him to hurry up. As Tatsuki neared the elevator leading to the underground, a dying ARCAM researcher informed him that they are already at the vault. He told him to pick up the pace before dying from his wounds. Tatsuki eventually arrived to the underground and ran to the vault. Unfortunately, he was already too late as Rock Vampire, the same man he fought back at the same ruins involving the U.S. mechanized platoon, was guarding for Dr. Dale who came out from the vault with the contents in her hands shortly afterwards. She ordered Rock to eliminate Tatsuki before leaving the room. Tatsuki was about to intercept her, but is stopped by the attention of Rock who challenged him to a duel again, but this time in his true form. Both battled against each other, with Tatsuki eventually hailed as a winner. Graham contacted him about bombs being placed by Trident troops and ordered him to disarmed them before they exploded. He headed back to the same elevator and searched around the upper floor on the bombs' location until he managed to disarmed the last bomb, preventing the building from being destroyed.

Dr. Dale is later spotted to be at the same Antarctic ruins where Trident "Thunder Spear" troops attempted to raid against ARCAM excavation team. Tatsuki is inserted there to pursue against her. As he approached the entrance to the ruins, the mysterious girl appeared behind him who stated a question to him, in which he seemed to ignored her as he calmly continued to head inside the ruins. As he explored there, he came across two guardians who guards the Moon Gate. He killed two of them and continued to pursue against Dr. Dale. Once he found her, she appeared to be examining the Moon Gate. she eventually noticed his presence and states to him that she is willing to put up a fight to prevent him from accessing the Moon Gate, Out of nowhere, however, the mysterious girl appeared and pulled Dr. Dale into the Moon Gate.

Tatsuki was about to continue in pursuing against her, but is stopped by Yu who just arrived to check in on him. Yu threw him a plate that is inscribed with a message from the ancients. Yu tells him to hold on that plate, and notes that Tatsuki will become a Spriggan if he were to succeed in his mission. Yu then began to depart from the room, although he briefly stopped himself to ask Tatsuki a question, but then eventually refrained himself from revealing the full sentence and left the room. Tatsuki used the Moon Gate to continue chasing against Dr. Dale into the palace of the moon. Eventually, he arrived in a tomb-like room and attempted to interact with the grave, but is stopped by the guardian of the grave who ordered him to leave the tomb since he did not want him to disturb the sleep of its lord. Tatsuki does not complied to its orders and battled against it. He earned his victory and finally interacted with the grave. Voices began to emerged from the spirits of the ancients, who warned Tatsuki about the misusage of their technology such as the moon. They urged him to not make the same mistakes as they did before that caused them to be perished. Tatsuki is then transported to the moon.

There, he attempted to stop Dr. Dale from activating the lunar device, but is too late as she already activated it by the time he approached her. She noticed his presence and expressed annoyance because of his persistent behavior. She then whipped out her Trident-issued A.M. suit and attempted to neutralize Tatsuki, but he fought back at her until she was greatly exhausted by his blows. Dr. Dale slowly picked herself up from the floor and limped her way to the device, only for Graham to activated it on his own. Tatsuki was shocked and confused by his presence on the moon, and he later revealed that Tatsuki and Dr. Dale managed to assisted him in achieving his ambition to dominate the world. He then coldly executed her with his rifle and planned to do the same with Tatsuki. However, Tatsuki bought him to his knees, and the moon began to shake violently. Graham noticed the mysterious girl's presence before dying from his injuries sustained during his battle against Tatsuki. The girl appeared to be afraid of this inevitable event occurring and mysterious force fields began to surround the girl. She begged Tatsuki for help, in which he quickly responded by dashing to her aid. However, Tatsuki ended up in a room where in front of him is the guardian of the moon. The guardian expressed her disappointment of humans being abusers of the ancients' devices and attempted to eliminate Tatsuki. He then found himself to fight for the survival of himself and mankind. Despite being exhausted by two prior battles, he still stood his ground against the guardian and eventually won. The guardian appeared to sense something from Tatsuki and disappeared herself from him, feeling there is an actual hope for the future of humankind.

Tatsuki is then transported back to the area of the moon where the lunar device, now destroyed, was located at. Yu approached him from behind to apologized for not being there for help when he needed, though he still praised him for diverting the crisis. However, Yu noticed Tatsuki's saddened face and realized Graham's betrayal had deeply hurt him. Yu comforted him, then stated the Earth did not appeared to be massively damaged from the lunar device. Although the moon appeared to be somewhat broken, he still believed things will get better. Yu felt that humans don't have to rely on technologies from the ancients to change the world and they could instead change it with their own hands. Yu then responded to Tatsuki's wonder of the girl's status, to which he confirmed he did not see her anywhere. Then, he walked past Yu to return to Earth, to which the latter desperately questioned him if he is going somewhere. With the threats destroyed, Tatsuki managed to win the tomorrow for humanity alone.

In the game's credit scene, the panels in a manga style began to showcase Tatsuki's return to high school after a long time. For starters, he is often stared at by other students due to his appearance of having bandages on his head. The female student next to him seemed to said something that made him appeared suspicious. The scene then changed to a principal's room where Yamamoto, Yu, and Jean were happy to greeted him. Yamamoto appeared to read out the materials from the paper. The last panel is then shown to showcase Tatsuki's complex expression before the credits ended.

## Personality

Because of Tatsuki's apparent mutism, it is difficult to pinpoint his exact personality as he does not say a single word throughout the entire game. However, his actions provided implications, and his descriptions from several guide books paved a new light of information for his character. The *Spriggan: Lunar Verse - Official Guide Book* mentioned that he moved his body before his head that caused him to stumbled in covert operations, implying that he is occasionally impulsive. This is evident several times in-game, in which at first during his first mission, he blew his cover when infiltrating the enemy laboratory, and another time where he ended up knocking Maria Leskov into unconsciousness in the seabed ruins, despite his orders being that he must identify the intruder's identity and purpose prior to engaging them.

Tatsuki is also an aspiring and dedicated man, thriving to become a Spriggan for the ARCAM Private Army, even willing to partake in dangerous missions during his promotion exam without a single hint of fear or dispute. However, his directness also caused him to be easily deceived and not being aware of a large conspiracy occurring behind him when he is completing his exam, most notably is when he is shocked upon discovering Graham's betrayal to him and ARCAM at the moon.

He is also popular to those around him due to his open-minded nature, and is the type who have a strong interest on fashion.

## Relationships

### Graham Bruton

Graham is Tatsuki's instructor who taught him on how to survive in hostile environments, in addition to providing intel on his missions. Throughout Tatsuki's promotion exam, Graham was occasionally annoyed by Tatsuki's inability to follow orders formed by him, jeopardizing the outcome of his missions. Regardless, he still realized the growth potential that is exclusive to Tatsuki among other A-class agents in ARCAM, and allows him to make up for his errors by succeeding in later missions. For Tatsuki, he seems to look up to Graham as his mentor, as indicated when he is shown to be visibly hurt when Yu asked him about his upset look during the aftermath of the battle on the moon, concluding that Graham's betrayal is the reason he was nearly mentally broken. Graham's blind lust for power has greatly tainted his supposed professional and trusted image, and therefore caused Tatsuki to no longer see his boss the way he is prior to his betrayal.

### Yu Ominae

A current No. 1 Spriggan, Yu appears as a senior for Tatsuki. He met him at the seabed ruins where Yu is examining the diving suit that was left in one of the areas. While both never shared much exchanges with each other, Yu still seems to care about Tatsuki as a person and his progress as a Spriggan. Several times in-game, he would offer Tatsuki items to assist him with his missions, and offer warnings to him to remain aware about a potential insider within ARCAM. He also tries to comfort Tatsuki when the latter is still greatly disheartened by the betrayal of his trusted superior.

### Jean Jacquemonde

Tatsuki first met Jean during an operation of providing escorts to the ARCAM excavation team that are discovering the philosopher's stone. Despite the two not interacting with each other much afterwards, they still appeared to be on good terms.

### A Mysterious Girl

The girl bears a resemblance to Tatsuki's younger sister who died at an early age, resulting in his conflicting mindset with her, presumably determining if she is really her deceased sister. Regardless, he still seemed to accept her advices and warnings for the misusage of the technologies from the ancients by eventually attempting to secure them with no qualms (although he may also performed the same tasks due to orders from Graham as noted from his directness personality, and it is likely that he does not seemed to be aware that the will of the ancients has materialized in the form of the girl), and at one point attempted to rescue her when she expressed the need for help at the moon where he appeared to temporarily believed it was his younger sister calling for help. Since they only interacted with each other several times in-game, however, their working relationship remains relatively unknown.

## Abilities

One of Tatsuki's talent that earned his spot as a Spriggan candidate is his exceptional growth potential. During his time in the ARCAM military training, he is able to quickly develop essential skills related to firearms, knives, hand-to-hand combat, athletic and acrobatic capabilities. In addition, he can further evolve his physical capabilities as he gains experience from completing missions during his promotion exam.

His affinity with the Orichalcum metal made him greatly proficient when utilizing the new prototype A.M. suits. As he defeats enemies, he develops experience with the A.M. suits that allowed them to be evolved from their previous stages, making them more powerful in the process. He is also able to temporary activate "Zero Burst", which maximize the performances and unlock special functions of each suit. While Zero Burst is active, it allows him to use "Psycho-Attacks" where he is able to form mental wave attacks after charging them up.

## Items & Equipment

Tatsuki uses various equipment and items throughout the game. At the start of the game, he is only equipped with the Beretta M8000 Couger pistol and an Army Knife. As the game progresses, he is able to acquire more powerful weaponry, and items that he has yet to obtain such as Rations. In addition, after completing a certain mission, he can wear any of the three types of A.M. suits and take them to his next operations.

## Concept & Creation

Tatsuki was originally created and designed by Ryoji Minagawa. When the two original authors and From Software team were discussing in creating the main character for the game, both authors rejected the idea of using Yu as a main character since he was already too powerful by the end of the original manga, and it would be very difficult to make a game based around him.  They also felt that making him intentionally weak at the beginning of the game would alienate his image from fans of the original.  To deviate from making a game focusing on an already established character, the idea of creating an original protagonist, who would be approached as an "Apprentice" for Spriggan, was formed.  Therefore, it allowed the team to experiment gameplay mechanisms and story as they envisioned on the main character without much restrictions.

## Trivia

* His Astrological sign is Aquarius, and his blood type is type-O.
* The only several times where he spoke actual dialogues are when either moving the selection cursor away from him or selecting him in the character selection screen in-game.

## Gallery

Concept artConcept art with A.M. suitAdditional concept art with A.M. suitTatsuki in the character select screen in *Lunar Verse*.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Spriggan: Lunar Verse (From Software) - Official Guide Book (Shogakukan) - Background, page 154 - ISBN 4-09-102687-7 (Japanese)
2. ↑ Spriggan: Lunar Verse (From Software) - Official Guide Book (Shogakukan) - Background, page 155 - ISBN 4-09-102687-7 (Japanese)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spriggan: Lunar Verse (From Software) - Official Guide Book (Shogakukan) - Special Talk, page 160 - ISBN 4-09-102687-7 (Japanese)
4. ↑ Spriggan: Lunar Verse (From Software) - Guide Tankōbon (Keibunsha) - Interview, page 118 - ISBN 4-7669-3239-0 (Japanese)
5. ↑ Spriggan: Lunar Verse (From Software) - Official Guide Book (Shogakukan) - Special Talk, page 154 - ISBN 4-09-102687-7 (Japanese)