Keiichiro Washizuka

Keiichiro Washizuka (鷲塚 慶一郎, Washizuka Kei'ichirō) is a character from The Last Blade series. He is symbolized by the Shinsengumi banner, embroidered with a kanji roughly meaning duty. His official slogan is "Sword Wolf": 誠忠の剣 (Seichū no Ken, lit. Sword of Loyalty).

He is voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi.

Personality
Keiichiro is a very serious man, probably due to some trauma, and thus takes his duties quite seriously. He is one of the few people that knows the current Kojiroh is actually Kaori, his sister, and seems to be very close to both him and her.

Powers

 * Energy Projectile - Washizuka can fire a projectile of energy from his sword.
 * Energy Attacks - Washizuka can fuel his sword with ki energy, likely creating a vacuum for higher cutting potency.
 * Fast Slashing - Washizuka can deliver several slashes almost at the same time, mainly in the form of rapid stabs.

Fighting Style
Tennen Rishin-Ryuu was a real fighting style used by the Shinsengumi. It uses various horizontal and vertical slashes along with rigid-and-focused stabbing attacks. Washizuka's variation of it involves a different type of grip-stance, with the pommel being gripped near-fully by one of his hands instead of having his palm pushed upon it. A majority of his attacks have either an "air/emptiness" motif (Shikkuu Satsu/Flurry Killer and Kokuu Satsu/Empty Air Killer) or a wolf motif (his Rouga/Wolf Fang series of attacks which involves running shoulder charges).

Game Appearances

 * The Last Blade
 * The Last Blade 2
 * The Last Blade - Beyond the Destiny
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum

Last Blade Drama CD
Washizuka makes an appearance while pursuing a demon under protection of an oblivious Yuki. He fights with both Hyo Amano and Yuki before they are interrupted.

Etymology

 * The name Kei'ichirou means "congratulate, celebrate" (慶) (kei), "one" (一) (ichi) and "son" (郎) (rou).
 * Keiichirou's surname Washizuka means "eagle" (鷲) (washi) and "mound, hill/hillock, heap, knoll, pile, drift, stack, bank" (塚) (tsuka/zuka).

Keiichiro Washizuka