Jigokucho App

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Ski
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: Alas, yes
CONTACT: Ski#0479 on Discord
CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Sasaki Kojirou
CANON: Fate/
CANON REFERENCE: Against my better judgement: The Type-Moon Wiki
CANON POINT: After Arctic Summer World (Summer Event 2022)
CRAU HISTORY: N/A
AGE: He's an adult, it's fine.
APPEARANCE: A handsome guy. Why is everything purple?
CONTRACT PAYMENT: Kojirou doesn't want for anything really, but if seriously pressed he would ask for a sword worthy of being called a Noble Phantasm. Let him bring the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi or an equivalent blade back to the Throne of Heroes and he might put in some real effort.

QUESTIONNAIRE:
It is going to be very difficult to get Kojirou to be up front about any of these things. After all, he didn't get those skills that make him difficult to read by being free with his personal information. He is going to be evasive at the best of times.

What does family mean to you and who do you consider a part of your family? A shrug. Kojirou, as a nameless spirit stuffed into the legend of Sasaki Kojirou, does not really have anyone he could consider a family. He might have had people he cared about back in life, but if he still remembers their names and faces he's not telling anyone. As far as anyone asking is concerned, he has no family to speak of, and he's unlikely to stick around long enough to form another one.

How important is loyalty to you? What does it take to earn your loyalty? What extents are you willing to go through to maintain loyalty, and respect the loyalty others might have invested in you? In actuality, Kojirou values loyalty incredibly highly. He might not swear a lifelong oath freely, but to those who show him kindness he will, at the very least, pay them back in kind. A night's rest and a day's food are enough to buy his services as a swordsman. However, to those that do not show him that kindness, even if he is technically in their service, he is very likely to watch them get killed on some kind of technicality. Maintaining that loyalty is then a question of maintaining that kindness, and allowing Kojirou enough leeway to act with his own brand of honour. But what Kojirou is likely to say is something about how difficult it is to prove themselves worthy.

How do you define "success"? What is something you're ambitious about? This is something he might actually talk about. Success is, ultimately, being satisfied with your own efforts. Knowing that what you did was the best you could manage. The actual win or loss is often secondary to that. For example, one might view his Tsubame Gaeshi as overkill, but in the process of practicing his swing, Kojirou saw something and he pulled on that thread of inspiration to the end. As for ambition, Kojirou is a dead man, he doesn't have anything like that left.

What is your favorite diversion? Hobbies, indulgences, vices? Would you put off important things for that diversion, or would you be more strict about how you spend your time and/or money? Swordsmanship is his job now, but it wasn't always like that. He pursued swordsmanship because he saw that it could be beautiful. If he does have a weakness, it would be for other beautiful things. The beauty of nature, beautiful women, a beautiful piece of art. But ultimately his swordsmanship comes first. Nothing gets in the way of that. But also, depending on who's asking the question, Kojirou might just flirt with them until they give up.


POWERS & ABILITIES:
Kojirou is, to put it simply, arguably the greatest swordsman in all of human history. That is not to say he's invincible; there are heroes that are stronger than him, faster than him, and in possession of abilities and weapons that mere swordsmanship cannot match, but in terms of martial technique he has yet to be matched. Nowhere is this clearer than his greatest and only true technique:

Tsubame Gaeshi or Swallow Reversal. An unavoidable series of slashes with his sword, Kojirou says he is simply slashing three times as quickly as he can, forming a cage of blades to trap and cut down a swallow in flight. In truth, he has transcended mere "quickness", and is slashing three times at the same time, defying the laws of physics and approaching True Magic with nothing but sheer skill and determination. There is, of course, no need to do all that just to kill a bird, but once he got the idea Kojirou trained until one day he could do it, a testament to his talent and determination.

Furthermore, as an Assassin class Servant he has three Personal Skills and a Class Skill, manifestations of the skills he had gained through his training as a swordsman.
Mind's Eye (False) is about what it sounds like, granting him the ability to read the flow of battle almost to level of precognition, and be much less reliant on his actual eyes.
Fade Out represents the inner peace he's gained through his training and enlightenment, making him immune to mental interference such as fear and illusions, and allowing him to hide his presence as a martial artist and Servant, so that most people would not be able to recognise him as a master fighter and magical being.
Knowledge of Foremost Harmony represents his training, where he learnt only the attitude of a master from his teacher but no techniques. His sword style is deeply unorthodox, but his skill is at the level where an opponent cannot "get used to it". He does not use any attacks where mere familiarity would be enough to counter them.
Presence Concealment is what makes him an Assassin. He cannot become invisible like other Assassins, but he can hide his presence. For all practical purposes this skill is superseded by Fade Out.

These are ultimately skills he's trained in, not really powers that can be taken away. His physical ability will be brought down from Servant level to the normal level for Jigokucho, and he won't be able to defy the laws of physics with Tsubame Gaeshi, but he will still be an incredible swordsman capable of knocking around almost everyone he meets. The more supernatural aspects of his skills, such as his precognition from Mind's Eye, his ability to hide his stats and resist illusions, and his Servant abilities such as the ability to turn invisible will not be available.

SUITABILITY: Kojirou's debut is in the original Fate/Stay Night, which is actually just an adult game. I'm not sure what else there is to add here. Man fights, man is open to the idea of fucks, his canon is... what it is.

FACTION SUITABILITY:

Kojirou fundamentally rankles at the idea of authority. He doesn't like being bossed around, especially not over something as base as the political squabbles of a bunch of old demons. That said he acknowledges the state of the world he lives in, and that if there is a hell he certainly earned his place in it. Wherever he ends up he will learn to tolerate, but there will be no shortage of sass on his part towards their ever so respected leaders. They can't be worse than Caster. (Although he did let Archer in that one time, and in his Unlimited Codes route he just kills her when he finally gets the opportunity...)

Shuten: Kojirou is, first and foremost, a peerless fighter. He finds joy in testing his skills, and the Shuten would be the best place for him to do that. In terms of being a culture fit, Kojirou is a huge stickler for honour. He holds himself to the highest standard possible, even when it is to his own detriment. However, when it comes to the other half of the equation, Kojirou has zero patience for Might Makes Right rhetoric. The act of taking a life is undeniably evil, and to use one's capacity for violence to dominate others is an undeniable sin. As a man who has killed others before, and as someone who would do so again simply for the personal satisfaction of testing himself as a swordsman he doesn't consider himself worthy of passing judgement on this matter, but his own deep admiration for genuine goodness is something that will always shine through.

Tamamo: In terms of cunning and insight, Kojirou very much has both. He has achieved a form of enlightenment through his martial arts, and if you need someone to see the truth of things, he's the man for the job. He also values beauty highly, both in nature and in women. However, he is ultimately an ascetic, so if there is a faction he's not suitable for, it's the Tamamo. Constant debauchery would bore him. To him, "libertarian bliss" means fucking off to a mountain somewhere, which he is totally okay with. To live within society is to fulfil your obligation to others, and Tenkohime's philosophy sounds a lot like abdication of said duty. He was born to farmers, and he understands very well the complexity of turning the harvest into something that can be turned into sustenance. (He also read the records of the Sixth Lostbelt.) He also just doesn't like "witches" much and Tenkohime would definitely qualify.

Sutoku: As previously mentioned, he's an ascetic. A man who has no need for worldly possessions beyond what he can carry on his person. He is also, despite his preferences, an Assassin and has all the skills that would entail. However, in terms of philosophy Kojirou would argue they do not go far enough. To take power away from a central authority and distribute it to the various smaller clans and tribes reminds him a lot of the turbulent times he lived in, where if anything social stratification was stricter than if there was simply one united nation. To someone who had lived in the tail end of the Warring States, where clan approved violence was normal and predictable, where the samurai class ravaged the countryside, the Sutoku seem to be preaching a change without a difference. If Kojirou was the type to seriously value earthly politics, he would argue that the goal is a world where a farmer like he was in life could become a samurai, not to reorder the hierarchy but to dismantle it.

Enma: The Enma would likely value Kojirou's discipline. The level of training needed to reach his level of skill is not something that can be completed in a day or two, and when dedicated to a cause Kojirou is dedicated. He also has a weird habit of finding himself standing in front of gates, being told to guard it with his life. Being a peacekeeper isn't in his blood, but it does seem to be in his destiny. But if the question is whether or not he believes in the cause of the Enma, the answer would be a no. Kojirou's moral compass is internal, and he does not value the rule of law as much as he does the natural order born of the web of obligations people have towards each other. While he would not call himself a good person, he does value goodness, and his opinion of the much vaunted "system" is exemplified by his willingness to life to go hang out in a mountain somewhere instead of interacting with it.

SAMPLES

TDM 1 TDM 2