Kiyomaro Takamine

Kiyomaro (top) with Gash (bottom)

**Kiyomaro Takamine** (高嶺清麿 *Takamine Kiyomaro*), also known as **Kiyo Takamine** in the VIZ translation, is one of the main two protagonists of *Konjiki no Gash!!*. He is the owner of the red spell book and is partnered with Gash Bell. Kiyomaro was aloof, but after meeting and befriending Gash, his life changes for the better. Together, they work towards their goal of making Gash into a kind king.

## Appearance

Kiyomaro is a 14-year old Japanese child. He is 172cm tall, making him above-average height. His hair is dark brown to black, short, spiky, messy, and has a part on the left. His eyes are sharp and a lighter shade of brown. When his Answer Talker ability is activated, his eyes transform, gaining a ringed pattern.

He is most often seen wearing a variant of his Mochinoki Middle School uniform, which consists of a white collared buttoned shirt that can be long sleeved or short sleeved and a short blue necktie with an emblem of the school's logo on it. He is almost always seen wearing dark blue or black long pants and almost never wears shorts.

The rest of his wardrobe is fairly simple. He likes to keep dressed semi-formally, and is frequently seen wearing collared buttoned shirts, even when he is not wearing his school uniform. He also owns a variety of sweaters, jackets, and vests with simple designs. When he wears a t-shirt, it is always plain with only minimal basic shapes as a design on it.

## Personality

Kiyomaro's defining character trait is that he has an incredible intellect that far exceeds an average middle school student. He is shown to be well-versed in a variety of subjects and he especially excels in topics related to mathematics. At the beginning of the series, his classmates got jealous of him due to interpreting his genius as him thinking he's better than them, which caused Kiyomaro to act reclusive and isolate himself. However, after meeting Gash, he sees past that and starts to learn to befriend others.

In battle, he uses his intelligence to come up with strategies on the fly. He can quickly deduce information such as how to use the battle terrain to their advantage, figuring where enemy attacks are coming from, how to counter them, and won't easily fall for any tricks his opponents try to pull. He is very fast at picking up new skills and is able to effectively implement a new spell they just learned into a battle in the heat of the moment. Through his strong bond and friendship with Gash, he trusts that he will be able to react and follow his instructions immediately in order to carve their way to victory.

He has an incredibly strong sense of justice. If someone is being hurt or manipulated, he will make it his personal resolve to end the situation. He will not stop under any circumstances if there is a person in need. Even if someone is a complete stranger to him, he will always be willing to lend his full attention to help someone in distress. He absolutely refuses to let anyone die if there is something he can do about the situation.

After befriending Gash, he becomes heroically brave. He is not impulsive and will strategize about his options before rushing in, but once he has made up his mind, he will not hesitate and second guess himself. He will frequently throw himself into situations he knows are dangerous without flinching. If a situation gets tense enough, he will discard caring about his own personal safety in order to protect everyone else. No matter what happens and how bleak a situation may seem, he will absolutely never give up a fight. His eyes are always looking for a light that leads to victory. This has caused him to have great charisma and led to all of his allies lending their faith in him as their leader. When Kiyomaro leads, he always gives it his all to keep the morale of the whole team up.

Kiyomaro is generally very modest. When someone compliments him or comments on how much he has grown, he will easily blush, divert his eyes, and ignore the comment. While he is fully aware of how much he has changed since meeting Gash, he does occasionally become embarrassed when talking about his own sudden maturity. However, he does not have a negative opinion of himself. If an enemy tries to trash talk him or bring him down, he will act incredibly cocky to level the field between them.

He gets angry extremely easily, regardless of how close he considers someone to him, and he does not hide it. Despite how Gash is incredibly important to him, he will still frequently snap at him if he gets tired of Gash's childish behavior when he asks to be left alone. He has a very firm policy on tolerating zero nonsense, and if provoked by someone (usually Folgore or Professor Riddle), he will cast Zakeru as a punishment for getting on his bad side. In extreme cases, his appearance can turn into an *oni* when his aggravation is pushed past the edge of his patience. While in this state, Kiyomaro shows no mercy to anyone and can lash out severe damage.

## Trivia

* Kiyomaro placed 2nd in the first official character poll with 1227 votes. In the second poll, his ranking fell to 3rd place with 1059 votes. In the third and final poll, he retained his ranking of 3rd place with 758 votes.
* According to the official data books under fighting parameters, Kiyomaro's greatest strength is in intelligence. His weakest parameter is in luck and his second weakest parameter is in strength. His parameters in physical fitness and instantaneous power are neutral.