Bang Shishigami

**Bang Shishigami** (シシガミ＝バング*Shishigami Bangu*) is a ninja from Ikaruga, and the one who carries Phoenix Wing: Rettenjō. He is a playable character in the *BlazBlue* series.

## Appearance

Bang is a young adult man with spiky swift back, slightly long brown hair, and amber eyes. He has a long, X-shaped scar across his face, inflicted upon him by Jin Kisaragi.[1] He wears a dark green modified ninja outfit with a big red scarf, silver gauntlets, black fingerless gloves, dark green hakama pants that expose his thighs. He carries the Phoenix Wing: Rettenjō on his back.

When he was younger, his hair was in a messy ponytail, and had no scar. He wore a skin-tight, sleeveless top, dark green hakama, and he was barefoot.[2]

## Personality

Bang can be quite over-exuberant, and he is prone to speeches and tangents as well as making dramatic entrances. He has a romantic fascination with Litchi, always willing to go charging in headlong if he sees someone making her upset. He is a man with great pride in his home and tolerates no ill words towards it or his master. Though many members of the cast ridicule him and think of him as annoying, he protects those he cares about (such as Carl and Tao) with his life, and has a heart of gold. He thinks of himself as the “Hero of Justice”, and the one to punish all evil doers.

Bang, however, possesses a lot of standards that display quite a bit of wisdom. He is capable of eventually forgiving Jin despite his murder of Tenjō Amanohokosaka, admitting himself to be an idiot. Likewise, he is not that overly blinded with his infatuation with Litchi that even if she asked nicely, he would not hand over his nail, recognizing her allegiance with the Control Organization. Even so, he also did not blame Litchi for her allegiance and quickly deduced that Relius is behind it.

A trait that he shared with Litchi is his genuine love for children; he would do everything to protect them, and the sight of them being hurt badly and for no reason are one of the things that would tempt him to consider breaking his 'no-kill' policy, as shown in his rage towards Hazama in his Story Mode when he saw him beat down Carl and Tao for no reason. However, he also has a bad habit of instantly calling some of the children he saw as 'his apprentice'. Carl has begun to take that consideration well and nicely, but Platinum is highly annoyed at this treatment.

In the anime, *BlazBlue: Alter Memory*, Bang’s personality is almost reversed. He is calm, quiet, reserved and respectful. All negative connotations associated with him seemingly disappear, and in scenes involving Litchi, he is shown to treat her with dignity and respect.

## Powers and Abilities

Being a ninja, Bang seems to share many similar traits in his powers and fighting style. First of all, Bang is a speedy and agile character, and demonstrates an uncanny ability to maneuver through the air as if utilizing invisible platforms. He also bears a decent command of hand-to-hand combat (Taijutsu), and can seriously harm foes with punishing grab-combos and a fiery defensive “guardpoint or autoguard” Drive (Bang automatically blocks attacks while performing his Drive attacks, similar to a counter, although unlike a counter they are not dependent on being hit).

Unique to Bang is his assortment of nails, referred to as **Bang-Style Shuriken Technique** (バング流手裏剣術 *Bangu-Ryū Shuriken-Jutsu*), and he has a variety of nails for different effects. Some nails will explode, some afflict a poisoned status, some unleash a spray of webs to trap the foe, and still others can rebound off of surfaces, making them more difficult to avoid. The larger, seemingly unwieldy nail on his back is used in his Astral Heat, where he jabs it into a foe, and then uses his special gauntlet to “hammer” it in. In *Chronophantasma*, his new Distortion Drive also involves his nail, in a similar way to his Astral Heat when used in Overdrive.

Bang’s Drive is **Burning Heart** (バーニングハート *Bāningu Hāto*), an advancing physical attack that doubles as a counter. If it collides with another attack, Bang can immediately follow up with another attack called **Secret Art: Bang’s Instant Movement Technique** (秘術・バング瞬間移動の術 *Hijutsu: Bangu Shunkan Idō no Jutsu*, localized as **Secret Art: Bang’s Shadowstep Jutsu**).

Finally, Bang is capable of an ability that boosts his speed to even greater heights and allows for even more of his attacks to be linked for longer, more punishing combos. Called **Shishigami Ninja Art – Ultimate Secret: “Bang’s Fū-Rin-Ka-Zan”** (獅子神忍法・究極奥義・「萬駆風林火山」 *Shishigami Ninpō Kyūkyoku Ōgi: Bangu Fū-Rin-Ka-Zan*) it is such a decidedly incredible, and “epic” move that the *BlazBlue* staff orchestrated its own background music. This was later converted into his Overdrive revised form.

## TMNT X Pokemon

He tries to help people but he constantly mess up. When meeting the Turtles, he was surprised that there were other ninjas. He decided to join them much to Raph's dismay.

## Trivia

Naming
* Bang’s name could probably mean “myriad drives” (萬駆) which may also mean – *to perish thousands of evils*. His last name, *Shishigami* (獅子神) means “Lion God/Lion Child God” in Japanese.

Other
* His birthday falls onto New Year’s Day.
* In Bang’s electrocution sprite, one of his hands has five fingers and one thumb. This was fixed in *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, where the extra finger was removed. Also, his loincloth can be seen.
* Bang considers that his Fū-Rin-Kan-Zan transforms him into his “Super Mode”, only stated in Tager’s Alternate ending. He also reveals the Fū-Rin-Kan-Zan ability against Hazama in his *BlazBlue: Continuum Shift* story, in which he uses it to run away while carrying the wounded Taokaka and Carl.
* After winning a fight against Hakumen, Bang states he hates lies, evil and bell peppers, the last of which Rachel Alucard also dislikes.
* During Japanese in-battle dialogue, Bang often ends his sentences with “de gozaru”. This is an archaic version of the verb “desu”, or “to be”, stereotypically associated with samurai; in modern context, it is often used to show a level of almost pretentious old-fashioned mannerism, especially with samurai and ninja-like characters.
* Bang once had a dog called Kagemaru that he thought of like a little brother, with reciprocated feelings.
* In *BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger*, Rachel states that Bang defeating Ragna the Bloodedge, is as likely as Bang cleansing the world of magic element.[1]
* Despite Bang’s *Material Collection* stating that his birthplace is *Hi no Kuni*, Bang outright states in *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma* that his birthplace is the 8th Hierarchical City of Wadatsumi.
* In *BlazBlue: Chronophantasma*, Bang, alongside Taokaka, will guide the player through the Tutorial Mode’s *Intermediate- Combos* section.
* In some instances like the vocal cover of his theme, Bang uses the Kunrei-Shinki style of romanization to spell his surname (“Sisigami” as opposed to “Shishigami”, the latter being the Hepburn romanization).