Hibiki Takane

Hibiki Takane is a character from The Last Blade series. She first appeared in The Last Blade 2 as a shy but dangerous swordswoman. She later appeared as a DLC crossover character for Samurai Shodown (2019).

Her official nickname is "Innocent Slash": (, lit. Chaste Bladesmanship).

Personality
Hibiki has a very calm and shy personality, probably because of the suffering caused by her father's death. Although she wants vengeance for her father's death, she is afraid of fighting and only wants to protect her father's legacy, and muses about the path she must take.

Her personality at her story ending depends greatly on how the player played: Should she become familiarized with her own swordsmanship, her personality becomes somewhat more determined, a little confrontational. In more recent appearances, she gains some haughtiness and becomes somewhat callous and prideful. Yet, her shyness and hesitation are still somewhat present, and in times of peace, she is cheerful and values companions like Amano.

In Samurai Shodown, her descent to madness as a result of slaying her enemies is amplified to the extremes, and sports a psychotic, and bloodthirsty mannerism, as seen in her quotes, facial expressions and tone. If in The Last Blade 2, she would at least warn Amano, with Jubei, Hibiki openly threatens him. She also develops an obsession in chasing Setsuna, for being the one responsible for her father's death. Despite near-evil mannerisms, she is not amoral and will still call out things that are clearly evil.

As shocking as her spiraling to madness is, there are no confirmations however about Hibiki's ultimate fate in canon, whether her normal self prevails or otherwise, and are apparently left to the player to decide.

Powers

 * Fast Draw - Hibiki can draw her sword from her sheath with uncanny speed.
 * Gather Energy - Using the memory of her father as catalyst, she can absorb Chi energy from Gaia and use it to fill her skill gauge.
 * Teleportation - Hibiki can translocate herself to another place.

Skills

 * Sewing - Hibiki knows how to tend to clothes and presumably how to make or repair clothes.
 * Weaponry - As a skill likely acquired from her father, Hibiki is knowledgeable in weapons like swords, and can appraise weapons according to shapes, conditions and usage. This trait is most visible in her Samurai Shodown winquotes.

Fighting Style
Musō Shinden-ryū is a real style and an anachronism for the game; the style was not founded until 1932. It is a branch of Iaido. Some of her basic attacks bear some resemblance to Ukyo Tachibana's, where it involves frequent quick-draws, dashing-based slashes, as well as some solid counterattacks that require some precision but can prove to be fatal if landed correctly.

In Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, her Speed Mode 'Custom Combos' AKA the Ranbu Ōgi from Last Blade 2 is given to her as a normal super move. In addition she has slightly different animations for her supers in Capcom vs. SNK 2, with the blood being replaced by sparks.

In her appearance in Samurai Shodown, Hibiki plays true to her source game, but with adjustments to fit the cast, with new basic attacks. Also, she can't throw enemies anymore, but instead, break defense as with the rest of the cast. Her SDM has been simplified and only one attack needs to connect for the entire move to output maximum damage.

Voice Actors

 * Kyōko Hikami - The Last Blade 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2
 * Sumire Uesaka - Samurai Shodown (2019)

Music

 * Silver Phantom - The Last Blade 2 (Arranged soundtrack)
 * Determation of the Dawn -SAMURAI SHODOWN ver.- - Samurai Shodown (2019) (Sad Version)
 * [Passion] Fate -SAMURAI SHODOWN ver.- - Samurai Shodown (2019) (Evil Version)

Games

 * The Last Blade 2
 * The Last Blade - Beyond the Destiny - unlockable
 * Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
 * Samurai Shodown (2019) - DLC Crossover character

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (ninth title) - unplayable
 * Kimi wa Hero

Etymology

 * The name Hibiki means "sound, echo" (響).
 * Hibiki's surname Takane means "tall, high" (高) (taka) and "peak, summit" (嶺) (ne).