The Blue Knight (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Yume no Kishi (talk | contribs) at 18:29, 16 June 2007 (→‎Weapons and abilites: I mean - come on, that'). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Tokyo Mew Mew character

The Blue Knight (蒼の騎士, Ao no Kishi) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Tokyo Mew Mew. His Japanese name is translated into English in both Mew Mew Power and Tokyopop's manga.

The Blue Knight is the mysterious ally of the Tokyo Mew Mew team, who claims that he was born to protect Mew Ichigo, the main hero of the story.[1] He comes to her rescue numerous times during the series. Despite bearing resemblance to an alien due to pointy ears, he does not appear to be a part of the aliens' team, and for a long time neither the Mew Mews nor their antagonists know his true identity.

History

In both versions of the story, the Blue Knight unexpectedly arrives to help Ichigo Momomiya fight Kish, saying that he promises to protect her no matter what. This surprises Ichigo, leaving her to wonder who the Blue Knight really is. She comes to the conclusion that it has to be Ryou Shirogane, because he said "You're heavier than you look", and Ryou said the same thing when she first met him.

Manga

Tokyo Mew Mew

File:The Blue Knight.jpg
The Blue Knight seen on the last page of volume four.

The Blue Knight is introduced at the end of volume four, saving Ichigo from aquatic Chimera Animas. Continuing into volume five Kish interrupts saying Ichigo is his, and attacks the Blue Knight. Kish thinks he has hurt him badly, but without noticing, the Blue Knight leaves two cuts on his face. Angered, Kish leaves saying he will get Ichigo back. Ichigo appreciates what the Blue Knight did, but questions why he helped her. He replies that he is all hers, and was born to protect her.

Later, the Blue Knight protects Ichigo from the Chimera Anima called "Zenomoglin". Ichigo sees that he was injured from Zenomoglin, and says he can fight too, as opposed to him just protecting her. Fighting together, they manage to defeat Zenomoglin, and the Blue Knight disappears again.

After Ichigo reveals to Masaya Aoyama that she is a Mew Mew, the Blue Knight shows up to help her fight the numerous Chimera Anima. Kish looks rather pleased to see him, saying this will be a chance to get revenge on him. Kish then splits into many illusions, confusing Ichigo and the Blue Knight. The Blue Knight attacks one of the illusions, thinking it is Kish, but it disappears. Kish then holds Ichigo, which angers the Blue Knight. It is not clearly shown what happened, but Kish states that he destroyed all the illusions and injured him badly as well. Possibly because he realizes the Blue Knight is stronger than him, Kish says he wants the Blue Knight to kill him. Looking rather surprised that he was going to kill him, Ichigo stops him from doing so, saying it is enough. He then disappears and is not seen until the next volume.

Anime

Tokyo Mew Mew

The Blue Knight is introduced at the end of episode 17, titled "Ao no Kishi, Omae wa Ore ga Mamoru!!" (The Blue Knight - I Will Protect You!!), when he comes to save Mew Ichigo from Kish as Ichigo was ill and was too weak to fight.

In the next episode, when asked by Kish who he is, the Blue Knight replies by saying, "Who knows?.. Obviously not your ally!". Kish provoked, attacks him, but the Blue Knight is able to hold against his attacks. Ichigo wonders why the Blue Knight saved her. He then gets injured in the arm when trying to protect Ichigo from Kish. The other Mews arrive, and Kish leaves, outnumbered. The Blue Knight then tells Mew Ichigo that he was born to protect her, and walks away. Just then, Ryou appears out of nowhere and catches Mew Ichigo, who faints, leading the girls (especially Pudding) to believe that it was he who saved her as the Blue Knight.

Later, the Blue Knight appears from time to time to help the Mew Mews fight Chimera Animas. Though he is usually only around Ichigo, ready to protect her, he often tells the Mew Mews what the monster's weak point is, making it easier for them to defeat it.[2]

Mew Mew Power

The episode where the Blue Knight was introduced was titled "A Knight to Remember" in the English dub (probably a pun on the title of 1955 book by Walter Lord and its 1958 film adaptation, A Night to Remember). The Blue Knight's personality was kept the same; the only significant alteration was his voice (see "Identity" section below).

Personality

The Blue Knight seems to be devoted solely to protecting Ichigo, even saying that he was born only to protect her. At one point in the anime, when Ichigo is about to tell him that she already has a boyfriend, he simply replies that he doesn't mind, and that loving someone is noble.[3] He usually tends not to have Ichigo fight, but to fight alone, to the point where it can be argued that he would even sacrifice himself to protect her.

Identity

At first, the Mew Mews (including Ichigo) were convinced that the Blue Knight is actually Ryou Shirogane, due to them saying the same things and never appearing in the same place at the same time. (The anime version especially makes the two characters look alike, with the same eye color and hair color.) Also, in volume five of the manga, Ichigo begins to think that the Blue Knight is Keiichiro Akasaka, because they both have a wound in the same place, and they both treat her like a special lady.[page needed]

However, it is revealed later in the story that the Blue Knight is, in fact, Ichigo's boyfriend, Masaya Aoyama.[4][5] When and how did he get the ability to transform is never said explicitly, though it is implied that his powers are somehow connected to Ichigo's.[6] For a short time, Masaya becomes a part of the team, continuing to help the Mew Mews.

In the manga, shortly before the Blue Knight's identity is revealed, Ichigo actually starts to notice a connection between him and Masaya, because they both said that they don't want her to fight.[7] In the anime, this doesn't happen: Ichigo was sure that the Blue Knight was Ryou up until episode 44, and looked quite shocked when Masaya transformed in front of her.

Near the end of the series the Blue Knight turns into the Mew Mews' main enemy, Deep Blue,[8] when the alien spirit awakes inside Masaya's body. Whether or not Masaya lost his ability to become the Blue Knight after Deep Blue was defeated is unclear, although it is mentioned in Tokyo Mew Mew à la Mode that he no longer has the powers he had when he was Deep Blue.[9]

4Kids' English adaptation, Mew Mew Power, had Sean Schemmel, the voice actor for Ryou Shirogane (Elliott Grant), voice the Blue Knight, instead of Masaya's (Mark's) voice actor, Scottie Ray, further implying that the Blue Knight is Ryou. (Note: interestingly, Deep Blue was still voiced by Scottie Ray.[10]) As the English dub never reached episode 45, it is not known how 4Kids would handle the episodes where the Blue Knight's identity was revealed; it is possible that they could change his voice actor so that his voice would match Masaya's voice, as was done in the Italian adaptation, Mew Mew: Amiche Vincenti.

Profile

  • Japanese Name: Ao no Kishi[Japanese spelling]
  • Name Translation: "蒼 ao" = blue [11] "騎 ki" = riding on horses [12] "士 shi" = gentleman, samurai [13]
  • Japanese Name pronunciation: Ah-oh-noh-kee-shee
  • Height: Unknown, possibly the same as Masaya.
  • Weight: Unknown, possibly the same as Masaya.
  • Hair Color: blond
  • Eye Color: sky blue

Special powers

The Blue Knight shares some abilities with Kish, Pie and Tart, like teleportation[14] (though it is unclear whether or not he has the ability to fly). His weapon is a sword that isn't given any specific name in the manga or anime.

  • Attack (manga only): Indigo Comet Blade[7] (彗星藍玉斬 Sui-Sei-Ran-Gyoku-Zan)[Attack name]
In the anime, Ichigo powers up his sword using her "Reborn Strawberry Surprise" attack, allowing him to defeat the Chimera Anima. He doesn't say anything when performing this attack.[15]

Voice actors[10] and alternative names

  • In Tokyo Mew Mew, his seiyū is Megumi Ogata, who voices Masaya Aoyama and Deep Blue.[16]
  • In Mew Mew Power, his voice actor is Sean Schemmel, who voices Ryou.
  • In Miau Miau Power, the Blue Knight is known as Caballero Azul.
  • In Mew Mew: Amiche Vincenti, the Blue Knight is known as Cavaliere Blu; his voice actors are Davide Garbolino (Ep. 17-36), who voices Ryou, and Patrizio Prata, who voices Masaya.
  • In As Super Gatinhas, the Blue Knight is known as Cavaleiro Azul.

Source notes

  1. ^ His motto, "I was born only to protect you" ("(Watashi wa) omae wo mamoru tame ni umaretekita"), first said in volume five of the manga and episode 18 of the anime, and is repeated several times later in the story.
  2. ^ E.g. episodes 24, 30 and 32.
  3. ^ Episode 26
  4. ^ Ikumi, Mia; Yoshida, Reiko. Tokyo Mew Mew volume 6, pages 59-60 (English translation). Tokyopop. ISBN 1591825490.
  5. ^ Episode 45.
  6. ^ In the anime, it is revealed in episode 48 that Masaya can't transform if he is not protecting Ichigo, and Masaya says that he can become the Blue Knight whenever Ichigo wishes for it.
  7. ^ a b Ikumi, Mia; Yoshida, Reiko. Tokyo Mew Mew volume 6, page 124 (English translation). Tokyopop. ISBN 1591825490.
  8. ^ Episode 49
  9. ^ Ikumi, Mia. Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode volume 1, page 183 (English translation). Tokyopop. ISBN 1595327894.
  10. ^ a b Tokyo Mew Mew (TV), by Anime News Network, retrieved May 21, 2007
  11. ^ Full Kanji Summary Index page: Number 1776
  12. ^ Full Kanji Summary Index page: Number 3310
  13. ^ Full Kanji Summary Index page: Number 1140
  14. ^ It isn't shown explicitly, like with Kish, Pie and Tart, yet in episode 44 after saving Ichigo he just disappears. Also, this would explain how he managed to save her in episode 26, when Masaya is shown to be in another place few seconds before the Blue Knight appears.
  15. ^ Episode 46.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference VA1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Content notes

Difference between kanji

^ a The kanji for "blue" in Masaya's and the Blue Knight's name are different. The purpose of this could possibly be to have the Blue Knight's identity more shrouded in mystery, especially in the manga, when their names are written. This would be harder in the anime, as the Blue Knight's name is rarely seen written - in the titles of episode 17 and episode 45, and sometimes in the ending credits;[1] besides, the two names still sound similar.

Since non-Japanese are more familiar with 青 ao meaning "blue", this could have lead some fans (fans who know Japanese) to suspect that Masaya would most likely be the Blue Knight. Since most of the Tokyo Mew Mew sites show only romanization of his name, not the kanji, fans who haven't seen the Japanese version of the anime and manga assume "ao" would be 青, not the other kanji. Because of this, the Blue Knight's name is sometimes incorrectly written as 青の騎士, making his identity far more obvious.

Interestingly, the Blue Knight's kanji for blue, 蒼 ao, originally meant "green". So, in the old sense of the word, his name would be translated to the "Green Knight". But in today's sense, this kanji no longer means green, so a fairly new kanji now means green, which is now 緑 midori.

Attack name translation

^ a The English translation of the Blue Knight's manga attack is slightly off, possibly because of the last kanji; his attack is broken into separate kanji and compounds to show a closer translation.

  • 彗星藍玉斬 hiragana: すいせいらんぎょくざん romaji: Sui-Sei-Ran-Gyoku-Zan
彗 sui = comet [2]
星 sei = star [3]
彗星 suisei = comet [4]
藍 ran, ai = indigo [5]
玉 gyoku = jewel, ball [6]
斬 zan = beheading, kill, murder [7]

The Blue Knight's attack more closely translates to "An indigo comet that is a ball can kill."

External links

Template:Contains Japanese text

Template:Tokyo Mew Mew

  1. ^ The Blue Knight's name appears in the ending credits if Masaya does not appear in the episode in his normal form, an example being episode 19 and exceptions being episodes 18 and 45. In episodes 46-48 both names are listed. Before his identity is revealed, a question mark is shown in place of Megumi Ogata's name. In episode 32, she is credited for the Blue Knight's role as "em:ou".
  2. ^ Full Kanji summary index: Number 563
  3. ^ Full Kanji summary index: Number 3385
  4. ^ Compounds of 星: Number 6
  5. ^ Full Kanji summary index: Number 1665
  6. ^ Full Kanji summary index: Number 2703
  7. ^ Full Kanji summary index: Number 31
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Blue_Knight_(Tokyo_Mew_Mew)&oldid=138600337"