Chiba Takayuki

* Anime
* Ashura
* Omega

*"I am a 'becomer'."*
— Chiba to Hatsumi Sen

**Chiba Takayuki** (千葉 貴之, *Chiba Takayuki*; "*Takayuki Chiba*"), also known as **The Faceless Man** (顔のない男, *Kao no Nai Otoko*), is an underworld "actor" and an affiliated fighter within the Kengan matches. He represented Yoshitake Real Estate during the Kengan Annihilation Tournament and fought in Pool H in the Berserker Bowl preliminaries.

## Appearance

Chiba is a muscular well-defined man with a hairless face, cunning facial features and dark hair that is set in a very subtle middle parting and swept back.

He has been seen wearing tight tops.

## Personality

As an experienced "actor", Chiba's true personality is hard to discern as he changes his persona to suit his needs, being able to fluidly and convincingly shift his tone and mood to fit. He is naturally a deceptive and conniving person, able to effortlessly make others believe his ploys.

## Plot

### *Kengan Ashura*

First seen on board the S.S. Kengan, Chiba Takayuki observed Kaneda Suekichi playing shogi with curiosity. Then, when Kaneda suddenly left, he took the man's place, challenging and playing Okubo Naoya at shogi instead.

In the Kengan Annihilation Tournament Chiba represented Yoshitake Real Estate, fighting Hatsumi Sen in the first round. Despite noticeably unsettling Hatsumi with his convincing claim of being able to perfectly replicate any technique he had seen before, Chiba ended up losing due to making the wrong decision of using Aikido against him.

During Hayami Katsumasa's "revolution", Chiba helped fight against and take down Hayami's Guardians. On the final day of the tournament, Chiba watched the rest of the tournament unfold with the rest of the fighters that had been knocked out.

### *Kengan Omega*

Pitted against Kiozan Takeru in a Kengan match, Chiba was quickly knocked out by the young sumo wrestler.

Later, during the Berserker Bowl competition, Chiba fought in Pool H of the preliminaries. He easily defeated his first opponent, Ushiroda Takero. He then fought Gaoh Ryuki. Demonstrating his Apex of Acting: Copy's Fusion technique of Kanoh Agito's Formless style and Rolón Donaire's Silat, he evaded a few blows and landed one of his own, before Koei Style Blink and Rakshasa's Palm ended the fight with Chiba rendered unconscious from the damage.

## Power & Abilities

Chiba Takayuki bills himself as an "actor" with the ability to perfectly mimic the fighting style of any fighter that he has seen once, such as Gaolang's boxing style or Okubo's tackle technique. This self-description is slightly deceptive however, as he actually requires about two hours of rehearsal for each move or combination he wishes to mimic; in addition, he can only mimic movements, not unique abilities or physical traits (such as Rihito's Razor's Edge or the Kure's Removal) and their power scales to his own physical strength.

Before fighting Hatsumi Sen, he cleverly performed Gaolang and Okubo's skills before everyone watching; this deliberate misrepresentation of his own abilities serves as a testament to his acting skills, as it made him appear to be more powerful in his opponents' eyes than he actually was. Add to this his already large repertoire of mimicked techniques from countless martial artists (including those of deceased martial artists like Andrews Filho and Bruce Lee), which he draws from flexibly and adeptly, and Chiba is as competent as a fighter as he is an actor.

### Apex of Acting: Copy

**Apex of Acting: Copy** (演の極「写し」, *En no Kyoku: Utsushi*) is the skill that Chiba uses when calling upon the large repertoire of techniques he has mimicked. Tokita Ohma commented on the skill's superiority to the Kure Clan's **Copy**.

#### Fusion

**Fusion** (融合 (フュージョン) , *Fyūjon*) is an evolution of Chiba Takayuki's Copy ability. It merges the fighting styles of two different fighters at once. This was first used at the Berserker Bowl Preliminiaries against Gaoh Ryuki, using Kanoh Agito's Formless style and Rolón Donaire's Silat. Its effectiveness was never fully demonstrated as Chiba was promptly beaten and nearly killed by Ryuki.

## Etymology

* **Chiba** means "thousand" (千) (**chi**) and "leaf, plane, lobe, needle, blade, spear, counter for flat things, fragment, piece" (葉) (**ha**/**ba**).
* **Takayuki** means "valuable" (貴) (**taka**) and "this" (之) (**yuki**).

## Notes & Trivia

* Actors of the underworld are people who are able to imitate entirely different people, thus making them masters of scams and other similar crimes. Experienced "actors" are able to gather and study their target's personal information from every angle and create a "performance" so great that it is difficult for even the target's closest acquaintances to tell the difference.
* Impression shows are Chiba's favorite thing to watch on TV.
* Chiba was based upon the actors Sonny Chiba and Sanada Hiroyuki.
* In the anime, Chiba's theme is *The Moment* by BRIDEAR.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Chiba Takayuki's profile
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 98
3. ↑ *Was on a 4-win streak prior to fighting Kiozan Takeru(ΩCh25)
2 wins in the Berserker Bowl against Ushiroda Takero(ΩCh164)and Tokeshi Kota(ΩCh167)*
4. ↑ *1 loss to Hatsumi Sen during the Kengan Annihilation Tournament*(Ch100)(Ep18)
1 loss to Kiozan Takeru in a Kengan match(ΩCh25)
1 loss to Gaoh Ryuki in the Berserker Bowl(ΩCh166)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Chapter 99
6. ↑ Chapter 180
7. ↑ Chapter 25 (Omega)