Katahara Metsudo

* Anime
* Ashura
* Omega

*"I just want to see how far my "luck" can take me. Isn't that reason enough?"*
— Metsudo to Kure Erioh

**Katahara Metsudo** (片 (かた) 原 (はら)  滅 (めつ) 堂 (どう) , *Katahara Metsudō*; "*Metsudo Katahara*") is the director of Dainippon Bank and the former chairman of the Kengan Association who currently acts as the Association's advisor.

## Appearance

Metsudo is a distinguished old man with sharp defined facial features, noticeably defined wrinkles, long white hair that flows past his neck, piercing eyes, thick white eyebrows, a white thick moustache and a short thick beard that splits down the middle.

He is typically seen wearing traditional high-class Japanese robes.

## Personality

Metsudo is an extremely confident and wily individual who takes pride in the influential position he has maintained for scores of years. He is very enthusiastic and animated when announcing to others. His jovial person belies an incredible dominating and overwhelmingly presence that is said to feel like he is the supernatural compressed into human form; Metsudo was noted to feel like he was erupting with energy like a volcano with his outlandish pressure still growing despite his age.

He is shown to be incredibly whimsical and flexible, choosing to rarely enforce rules as long as breaking them makes things more interesting, and showing little regard for his own safety, much to the consternation of his Bodyguards. He relishes challenge, as evidenced by his changes to the tournament rules that put himself at a disadvantage. He enjoys spending time with Association members, fighters, and his relatives, and particularly enjoys the company of foreign visitors, introducing them to elements of Japanese culture, and trying out his heavily accented English.

While he is the oldest living member of the Kengan Association, he is still often regarded as a newcomer by many members whose ancestors have been in the Association for centuries.

## History

Metsudo was a kamikaze pilot in World War II, and one of the few who survived his attack. Having been lucky enough to survive, he resolved to see just how far his luck could take him.

After the end of the war, Metsudo went to a black market run by a yakuza don named Shirai Ryu, and demanded that he let him run the market. By the end of the year, at the age of 25, Metsudo had grown the black market to be the biggest in the Kanto region, and he even stood up to the occupying American soldiers to protect his interests. This gained him not only money, connections, and experience, but also impressed Shirai enough that the latter gave him his Kengan Association membership.
Furious that Shirai would hand over his membership to Metsudo, Shirai's deputy Kibayashi Taro hired Kure Erioh to assassinate Metsudo and claim the membership. Metsudo was subsequently attacked by Erioh, but he remained smiling even in the face of inevitable death, confident that he would not die. Sure enough, Shirai arrived to intervene, making Kibayashi call off the hit and letting Metsudo go free. Metsudo then invited Erioh to be his fighter in the Kengan matches.

Throughout the years that followed, Metsudo rose through the ranks of the Kengan Association with Erioh at his side, the latter gaining the epithet "The Fang of Metsudo", an epithet that would be passed along to all of his main fighters. He founded a company called Katahara Distribution, Inc., which was the company he represented when he eventually called for a tournament for the chairmanship of the Kengan Association. In order to issue this challenge and call for the tournament, he had to sign a contract stating that he would give up his assets, his membership, and even his life if he lost.

Before the final match of the tournament, he and Erioh reminisced about how far they had come. Metsudo told Erioh for the first time about his past as a kamikaze pilot, and when Erioh asked him to hire his son as a fighter if he died, Metsudo showed him the contract he signed. The two of them had a laugh, then headed to the arena for the final match.

While the details of the final match are unknown, Metsudo won, and became the new chairman of the Kengan Association. During his time as chairman, he founded or took over Dainippon Bank, the biggest bank in the country, built a personal army mainly consisting of orphans called the Bodyguards, hired four more fighters all dubbed "The Fang of Metsudo" and sired two children with two different women at the age of 70 and 71. His power within the Kengan Association grew day by day, and all those who tried to challenge him failed, deterring future attempts to dethrone him. At the age of 92, his luck has taken him to the point where he has become not only the undisputed ruler of the Kengan Association, but the most influential man in the Japanese political and financial establishment. And yet, this power and influence had grown dull to him, and he yearned for just one thing: for a challenger to appear and give him the same thrill he felt in his youth.

## Plot

### *Kengan Omega*

Appearing late at night due to Nikaido Ren encountering Gaoh Ryuki, Metsudo inquired as to why the intruder had come to his residence. The intruder revealed himself and shocked both Metsudo and Nikaido with his visual appearance, before mentioning that he wanted to enter the Kengan matches.

It is mentioned that after Hanafusa preformed a heart transplant on Ohma, he helped the doctor take Ohma to the Kure Village.

At a bar, he and Nogi Hideki were drinking and discussing about Ohma's heart trasplant secretly orchestrated by the Worm. Wandering what Ohma was to the Worm, Nogi supposed that the Worm was trying to clone Ohma, mentioning Ryuki. At this point, Metsudo said that Yamashita Kazuo informed him on the similarity between Hayami Katsumasa's new fighter Hayami Masaki and the deceased Meguro Masaki. They then recalled Hayami Katsumasa's coup aided by the Worm. Then Takayama Minoru gave a phone to Metsudo with his son informing him that the Worm members they had captured were all dying or already dead. After understanding that the Worm had also contacts within Purgatory, Nogi and Metsudo understood that the Worm was ready to attack the Kengan Association.

Along with Takayama Minoru, Omori Masamichi and the Heavenly Wolves he watched the competition at Mt. Godslayer.

## Etymology

* **Katahara** means "single, piece" (片) (**kata**) and "field, plain" (原) (**hara**).
* **Metsudo** means "annihilation, destroy, ruin, overthrow, perish" (滅) (**metsu**) and "hall" (堂) (**do**).

## Notes & Trivia

* Metsudo's womanizing habit started at an early age.
* Metsudo is regarded as the don of Japanese political and financial establishment.
* Metsudo's favorite foods are all meats and all sweets!
* In their youth, both Metsudo and Erioh were terrible cooks and they were disgusting eaters too.
* Metsudo is the 58th Chairman of the Kengan Association.
	+ He is the only person in the Kengan Association's long history to have a tenure of over 50 years.
* In Chapter 83, Metsudo said "Love and peace" while throwing out peace signs. This may be a reference to *TRIGUN* where the main character, Vash the Stampede, had it as a catchphrase and did the peace sign as well.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 0-6
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Katahara Metsudo's profile
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Chapter 0-7
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 17
5. ↑ Chapter 0-6
6. ↑ 4-koma: Saving
7. ↑ 4-koma: Ruined
8. ↑ Chapter 207