Akamatsu Arundo (
Appearance[]
Akamatsu is a large man with long brown hair that is tied in a ponytail. Akamatsu has thick brown eyebrows, black marks around his eyes, and stitches on his forehead and cheeks.
Personality[]
Akamatsu is a prideful man that overestimates himself. Akamatsu felt insulted when Saitō was given the assignment to kill Kenshin and felt that is should have been given to him. When Akamatsu believes that has the advantage or has won, he will let his guard down and even reveal information that he is not suppose to say. Akamatsu is also a coward, as he would fake surrender just to catch his opponent off guard. Akamatsu was also willing to run and hide when he feel the he is in complete disadvantage.
Relationships[]
- Shibumi: Akamatsu works for Shibumi as an assassin eliminating his political opponents. Then Shibumi wanted Shibumi to work in team with Saitō to kill Himura Kenshin.
- Saitō Hajime: Akamatsu and Saitō both work as Assassins for Shibumi. Akamatsu thinks very little of Saitō, and felt insulted that Saitō was given the assignment to kill Kenshin. When Akamatsu finds out the Saitō was working for Ōkubo Toshimichi, Akamatsu became afraid of Saitō and decided to run for his life, but was ultimately killed by Saitō.
Abilities[]
Akamatsu is a skilled assassin that uses multiple chains that has scythes and wieghts attached to them.
History[]
Kyōto Arc[]
Arundo feels jealous that Shibumi orders Saitō Hajime to kill Kenshin, but Saitō tells Arundo that he can kill Kenshin. Arundo ambushes Kenshin, but after Kenshin defeats him, he begs for mercy and as Kenshin turns around, he uses his chain to immobilize him. Eventually Kenshin appears as though he is dead and so Akamatsu tells him why he was targeted, namely because Shibumi and other politicians like him didn't want Kenshin as well as those involved in the war to disclose what really happened in it. After hearing this Kenshin gets back to his feet (having faked being dead) and defeats Arundo. Despite being beaten, Arundo secretly followed Kenshin back to the Kamiya Dōjō and discovered, to his shock, that Saitō is actually allied with Ōkubo Toshimichi. He quickly rushed back to Shibumi's residence and revealed everything to him, and when Shibumi attempts to take advantage of this discovery by bribing Saitō to uncover some dirt on Okubo so he could take over Ōkubo's position, Arundo, fearing for his safety, decides to cut ties with Shibumi and go out of the country to hide in Shanghai, at which Saitō appears (having noticed Arundo and followed him) and decapitates him with a slash from his sword before going after Shibumi next.
Development and Reception[]
Watsuki stated "this character's only here to get beat up." As Arundo appears to aid story development, Watsuki made Arundo arrogant (Watsuki's favorite personality trait for villains) and added no other personality traits. Watsuki believes that he was unable to make Arundo's chain-scythe to appear like real chains. His design originates from a superhuman soldier in an American comic book who has a name similar to Arundo's, that being X-Men's Russian supervillain Omega Red (赤 aka relating to "red", and 末 matsu corresponding to "end", equivalent to "Omega", which is the last letter of the Greek alphabet - also related to the Christian concept of Alpha and Omega); Arundo's use of chains also parallels Omega Red's carbonadium tentacles.
Etymology[]
- Akamatsu means "red" (赤) (aka) and "end, close, tip, powder, posterity" (末) (matsu).
- Arundo means "manned, piloted, occupied" (有人).
Trivia[]
To be added
Gallery[]
