Bob Makihara
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| Bob Makihara | |
|---|---|
| Tenjho Tenge character | |
 Bob Makihara, in the anime. |
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| First appearance | Volume 1, Page 18 |
| Created by | Oh! great |
| Voiced by | Japanese Shinichiro Miki English Jamieson Price |
| Profile | |
| Class | 1st year student of Todo Academy |
Bob Makihara (ボブ 牧原 Bobu Makihara?) is a character in the manga and anime series Tenjho Tenge. He is a member of the Juken Club, and the knuckle bombs.
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[edit] Character outline
Bob Makihara is a young man of African descent in Japan, hence most in the series refer to him as "the foreigner". Despite his heritage Bob is depicted as having blue eyes. He is known for his long dreads, and a muscular build (in fact he is one of the most physically strong characters in the series). Little is known about his past, except that his father was a first lieutenant of the U.S. Navy and he met up with Souichiro Nagi during his 2nd semester in his third year in elementary school and started calling themselves the knuckle bombs.[1] His girlfriend's name is Chiaki, and they seem to really love each other. Souichiro is his best friend, and he also appears to respect Masataka.
Bob seems to enjoy fighting, and is a very skilled fighter. He definitely has better powers of perception than Souichiro, as he almost immediately picks up on the fact that something is different about Todo Academy. He also recognizes that someone much stronger than Masataka Takayanagi and Maya Natsume is lurking around.
Bob frequently doubts his abilities and Maya's training, mainly due to the attention he gets from Mitsuomi Takayanagi. Despite Mitsuomi offering to train him and make him the "sharpest blade in the school", Chiaki convinces Bob to stay with the Juken Club. He later seems to regret the decision when he still has to be saved by Masataka despite all the training Maya put him through and all the things Mitsuomi said about his potential. Even though he doubts the value of his training he remains with the Juken Club.
[edit] Techniques & Abilities
Bob uses the Brazilian style of martial arts, Capoeira (pronounced ka-po-ei-rah). Capoeira is dance-based as the slaves in Brazil weren't allowed to practice martial arts and disguised it as a dance. Capoeira moves strongly resemble break-dancing. Bob has also displayed some sign of above average or even superhuman strength when he and Masataka Takayanagi both kicked over a car belonging to Mitsuomi's guards.
[edit] Rhythm
Mitsuomi repeatedly stated that Bob has great potential and wants to be the one to train him as opposed to Maya. Mitsuomi even refers to him as part of his "true wing" along with Emi Isuzu and Shirō Tagami. The reason for this is Bob's ability to dance, as demonstrated by his Capoeira. Mitsuomi points out dance and martial arts are historically similar, thus good dancers tend to be good fighters as well.
Bob's Rhythm plays a major role as his fighting skills develop. He starts to feel vibrations through the ground and can predict an opponents movement based on those vibrations. As he feels the "beat" in the ground, his body will react naturally and move him out of harms way and such. This allows him to dodge attacks he can't even see by normal means. According to Mitsuomi, God can take a form and through dance, he can be brought out as music connects to every person around the world. Also, people all across the world have a deeper connection to dance than martial arts and how dance and rhythm are the origins of most martial arts techniques. Because of this, those who master dance, is a master of martial arts. The problem is Bob has a tendency to think too much instead of just going with the flow of the "beat" he feels in the ground, thus it took him quite a while to awaken this skill. He was suffering blood loss when he first awakened this skill and thus was unable to truly demonstrate what he is fully capable of. He hasn't been in a fight since so his true ability and skill remains unseen.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Anime and OVAs
[edit] Story Setup Arc
After arriving at Todo Academy, Bob and Souichiro pick a fight with everyone they come across. Eventually they encounter Maya Natsume and Masataka Takayanagi. After Maya puts Souichiro through a window, Bob attacks Masataka and is easily tripped. Impressed with Masataka, Bob asks him who is stronger than him at Todo, because he can sense their power. Before Masataka can answer, he is attacked by Souichiro. The Executive Council takes notice of Bob and Souichiro and has Tsutomu Ryuuzaki deal with them. Ryuuzaki torches Bob's motorcycle, and goes after Bob's girl friend Chiaki (in the anime he merely assaults Chiaki, in the manga he actually rapes her). Bob and Souichiro show up and are both beaten, later Aya Natsume shows up and is defeated as well. The two decide to join the Juken Club, with Maya, Masataka, and Aya, in hopes they can get stronger and get revenge.
While Souichiro is getting special training, Bob is told to run, usually dragging something behind him. Not long afterward the Executive Council attacks the Juken Club at a bowling alley. Bob protects Chiaki, while Masataka does the majority of the fighting. In the end, Bob stuffs Chiaki in a locker, and fights in front of it. Bob has quite a bit of difficulty in this fight, but does come out on top. Shortly afterward, Masataka and Bob encounter Mitsuomi. Mitsuomi drops Masataka and allows Bob to wail on him. While primarily unaffected by his attacks Bob does draw blood from Mitsuomi's lip. Mitsuomi is impressed, bows to Bob and asks him to join him so he could sharpen him into the finest blade in the school.[2] Chiaki convinces Bob to reject this offer.
For the rest of the anime and OVAs Bob gets little to no fight time, even though he is usually right by Souichiro's side. He is usually just running around while dragging various things (usually a tire) for training.
[edit] Manga
The Tenjho Tenge manga is far more graphic than the anime, although this is edited out of the CMX version. The manga has a large quantity of nudity and sex related material, not present in the anime (particularly with Bob, who gets a couple sex scenes). It is also contains more blood, and shows more graphic techniques than the anime.
The manga continues far beyond the anime and OVAs; Bob gets far more attention later on in the series. Bob later spends his training time not just running marathons, but also sparring with Masataka. Then in the manga, 'F' is introduced. the Takayanagi family has 12 families that support it, each family has its own supernatural power or is associated with an established martial art. Despite Mitsuomi's order to wait for the schools tournament, F attacks the Juken Club anyway.
[edit] F Arc
One day when leaving for a run he notices a strange girl as she is about to attack Bob kicks her. He says she stands out, so he saw her coming. He begins his fight with Madoka Mawari, a sword specialist, and a member of 'F'. Completely out classed Bob is severely injured and on the verge of receiving a fatal blow from a whip-like sectional sword Mawari is wielding. Somehow he dodges the strike, yet doesn't know how. He realizes he is sensing the vibrations in the ground, and his body is using it to predict Mawari's movements. He decides he's been thinking to much and should just go with the rhythm he picks up from the ground. As Mitsuomi watches this fight, he comments that those who know how to dance are skilled fighters, as martial arts and dance are historically similar and how only a "True Warrior" can read the attacks of another as if it was music.
He also comments that the physical strength training Maya is putting him through is pointless, as he is plenty strong already. Mitsuomi believes Bob's talent is being wasted with Maya and he could bring it out far more effectively. Despite his new increase in skill, Bob still lost a lot of blood, and could not continue the fight. Masataka luckily shows up to save him, in the end Masataka defeats Mawari. After Aya destroys Mawari's amulet on her necklace, her attitude changes as she was released from influenced Sohaku.
Bob's hair was damaged in the fight messing up his "precious dreads" forcing him to cut them off entirely. He sports a buzzcut and appears he has dyed the remaining hair blonde. In the hospital, Bob overhears a conversation being held between Mitsuomi, Emi, and Tagami who are also being hospitalized. He overhears Mitsuomi talking about a hundred years war and how Emi and Tagami will still be able to fight and being a part of his "True Wings". Mitsuomi already knew that Bob was listening. However, he tells Bob to join him to become a "Thousand Year Legend". Bob's answer concerning this is not known at this point. After this point Bob has been heavily phased out, along with Masataka and others. Its quite likely they will get more attention later, as the manga is still incomplete.
[edit] Tournament Arc
Being released from the hospital, Bob and Masataka encounter Emi Isuzu and Shiro Tagami, who are also being released from the hospital. The two Enforcement Group members were accompanied by Mitsuomi. Crossing paths with each other, Bob and Mitsuomi begin to act weird, with Bob tightly clenching his fist. It it not known whether it was for a specific reason or because of the general differences between the two groups.
