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The Shichi'nintai (Seven-Man Band), referred to in Viz's English dub as the Band of Seven or the Band of Seven Men but in Animax's English dub in its original Japanese form, the Shichi'nintai, are 7 assassins in the manga and anime series InuYasha. Naraku brought them back to life as borei (zombie) with shards of the Shikon no Tama, in an effort to delay his powerful enemies seeking his destruction, while becoming a yokai. All of them (with the exception of Ginkotsu), bear marks on their faces which represent something.
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Kyokotsu
Kyokotsu is the first of the seven to face a major character in the series. He terrorized the yokai-wolf tribes, who were defenseless before his size and utter undeath reeking from his very own body. Koga, upon hearing that the northern clan was under siege, hurried back just in time to save some survivors. He engages in a battle with Kyokotsu before taking the Shikon Shard out of his forehead, thus ending his unlife. Kyokotsu is the weakest of the seven, despite his massive size and fearsome looks. Before Koga can get a firm grip on the jewel shard, it falls out and is taken up by a Saimyosho and given to Bankotsu. Kyokotsu is, in fact, a human. He's grown to an enormous size as a side-effect from eating the flesh of many yokai. For some reason, Kyokotsu was the only Shichinintai to have his jewel shard in his head rather than his throat. This was done probably to make it easier for Kouga to kill him, as his neck is literally as thick as a trunk.
Kyokotsu is voiced by Daisuke Gouri (Japanese) and Mark Gibbon (English).
Kyo means "dark" or "evil" and kotsu means "bone". The marks on his face mean POWER
Jakotsu
Wielder of a sneaky retractable sword, named the "Jakotsuto", Jakotsu is one of the more skilled fighters of the Shichi'nintai, though with a sadistic twist. He is a somewhat stereotypical okama character (i.e., effeminately dressed homosexual). He seems to be the first of the Shichi'nintai to have come into contact with Bankotsu and was with him before the Shichi'nintai were assembled as a group. Upon meeting with InuYasha, he immediately develops a girlish crush, frequently mooning and petulantly protesting when he is denied confrontation with him. Bankotsu and Jakotsu are very close and according to Bankotsu, Jakotsu is the only one he really trusts in the world. Jakotsu always looks for an opportunity to fight against Inuyasha. He finally gets a chance inside Mount Hakurei when Inuyasha is reverted to his human form by the holy barrier. After a lengthy fight, Jakotsu loses to Inuyasha (who has turned back in to a han'yo, due to Miroku destroying the barrier), who spares his life. Jakotsu happily accepted his fate that he died fighting the battle he wanted and his Shikon Shard is taken by the scheming Renkotsu. Jakotsu is voiced by Ai Orikasa.
Ja means "Snake" and kotsu means "bone". The marks on his face mean DEATH.
Mukotsu
Mukotsu is a fat poison master, and the third Shichi'nintai that InuYasha and his companions meet. He abducts Kagome and (in the anime version)tries to have a bizarre wedding ceremony with her but becomes angry at her and tries to kill her when she tries to remove his Shikon Shard. However, in the manga, Mukotsu attempts to rape Kagome before being interrupted by Sesshoumaru. Mukotsu poisons Kagome, Miroku, and Sango, nearly killing them, but was soon killed by Sesshomaru, on whom his poisons have no effect.
Mukotsu is voiced by Tetsu Inada (Japanese) and Trevor Devall (English).
Mu means "Fog" and kotsu means "bone". The marks on his face mean POISON
Ginkotsu
A mechanical-man, Ginkotsu is a tough opponent even for the Kaze no Kizu to defeat. Not much for talking, he commonly is heard merely saying "Gersh" but when angered or speaking to Renkotsu- he does use actual words. He barely survives his first encounter with InuYasha and is reconstructed into a siege tank with spider-like legs thanks to Renkotsu. Koga later in the series fought both Ginkotsu and Renkotsu, and after Renkotsu received a heavy wound to his left shoulder, Ginkotsu quite simply went berserk and began to unleash every weapon he had on Koga, even to the point of self-destruction. Ginkotsu's strong loyalty for Renkotsu caused him to sacrifice his life, shielding Renkotsu from the deadly explosion with his own shard of the Shikon no Tama. It is unknown to this point on how he is kept alive (as obviously he has machine where his vital organs are) or why he is made this way. The only clear fact is that he only needs his head to keep alive as his entire body, save the head, was refitted and rebuilt with mechanical parts.
Ginkotsu is voiced by Hisao Egawa (Japanese) and Mark Gibbon (English).
Gin means "silver" and kotsu means "bone"
Renkotsu
Agile fire and explosive user, Renkotsu is the second in command and the intelligent one. He respects his leader just as much as any other member of the Shichi'nintai. However, with the corrupt power of the shard of the Shikon no Tama embedded in his neck, he starts to feel hatred and jealousy towards his leader and vows never to die again because of him by any means necessary. To do this, he requires possession of all the Shikon Shards Naraku gave them. He is first of the Shichi'nintai to find out some truth about Naraku and reasons that Naraku is not to be trusted. He finally comes to the point where he believes he is better than the others and eventually becomes a little over confident. After taking Jakotsu's shard, who was defeated by Inuyasha, Renkotsu tries to kill Bankotsu. Of course he fails, leaving Bankotsu the last of the Shichi'nintai.
Renkotsu is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese) and Brian Drummond (English).
Ren relates to "metalworks" and kotsu means "bone". The marks on his face mean DECEPTION. The "metalworks" part of his name may reference that it is he who forges Ginkotsu's mechanical body.
Suikotsu
A kind doctor respected by villagers, Suikotsu also has a dark second personality, being one of the Shichi'nintai. His evil counterpart will dominate his mind whenever there is a strong presence of blood or violence, becoming predominant when in the middle of a battle, a warrior kills an injured child that Suikotsu was trying to rescue from the battlefield.
Kikyo meets Suikotsu after returning from a holy-barriered Mount Hakurei, and senses absolutely no evil within him. In time, Kikyo and the others would face the evil man with an ominous face painting, the dual-claw wielding Suikotsu of the Shichi'nintai. Suikotsu's evil personality is subdued when he is struck by a purifying arrow in the neck, where his Shikon Shard was placed. As he lay dying, he reveals his past to Kikyo, while everyone else present on the scene listens intently. He requests that Kikyo remove his Shikon Shard to end his life, as he is able to recall all the terrible deeds he has committed while his evil half was in control, and truly regrets what he has done. Kikyo wishes him to find peace after death, but she is hesitant - then, Jakotsu uses his retactable sword from a distance and cuts out the Shard (which ended Suikotsu and Dr. Suikotsu's life), not wanting it to fall into Kikyo's hands.
Suikotsu is voiced by Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese) and Michael Donovan (English).
Sui means "sleeping" and kotsu means "bone".
Bankotsu
As the leader of the Shichi'nintai, Bankotsu is referred to as "big brother" (o-aniki) by the other six assassins because he is the strongest member and the founder of the group, despite also being the youngest. He retrieves his giant halberd Banryu from a castle whose previous lord participated in a plot to put an end to the Shichi'nintai because they were too strong and stirred great fear among the rogue military leaders. Although it takes the strength of three of the lord's strong soldiers to merely lift Banry��, Bankotsu wields it single-handedly, and Inuyasha is no match for him in one on one melee combat without his Tessaiga.
Bankotsu is also childlike at certain times. In his first real appearance he is writing a death threat to a village, but could never get the right wording and became increasingly frustrated. When Renkotsu and the others show up he tells Renkotsu to write the threat, and starts telling him what to write. He seems fond of the threat "wash your neck and wait [for the axe]," which may have something to do with the fact that he was originally killed by decapitation.
Bankotsu also has a close relationship with his comrade, Jakotsu. It is often theorized by fans that the two are lovers, but this is unconfirmed. Prior to Jakotsu's death, they share a sweet moment in which Bankotsu is brought to tears due to Jakotsu's trust and loyalty to him when Jakotsu gave up Suikotsu's shard of the Shikon jewel. The young leader then hugs his comrade saying, "You're the only one I can really rely on." This relationship is also part of the cause in his anger towards Renkotsu when he discovers it was Renkotsu who killed Jakotsu in order to obtain his shard.
Bankotsu is both the most powerful and final member of the Shichinin-tai to make his presence felt. Naraku revived him, and ordered him to kill Inuyasha, but his first order of business is retrieving Banryu, his halberd, that had been taken by the lords that beheaded him and his Shichinin-tai 10 years prior.
The scent of bloodshed from that battle draws Inuyasha and company to Bankotsu, who has the Jewel fragments of his fallen comrades Kyokotsu and Mukotsu. Bankotsu was able to fight InuYasha without backing down, but soon realized that he was not powerful enough when his halberd was nicked by Inuyasha's Wind Scar. He took the jewel shards Renkotsu stole from Kagome to repair his damaged blade, giving it the power to deflect the Wind Scar easily.
Bankotsu soon realizes just how deceptive Renkotsu has become, killing him when he learned Renkotsu murdered Jakotsu. Now with 7 fragments in his body and two in his halberd, Bankotsu headed off to destroy Inuyasha once and for all deep inside Mount Hakurei. But Inuyasha slowly cuts the Shikon shards out of his body as the battle progresses until Bankotsu was cut in two, with Naraku stripping the remaining half of its shikon jewel shards.
By defeating Renkotsu who challenged him, Bankotsu obtains all of the 7 Shikon Shards given to the Shichi'nintai by Naraku, in addition to the 2 shards he took from Kagome and embedded in his weapon. A total of 9 shards was in his possession and his strength increased immensely. Altogether, Bankotsu slew 1,000 yokai including 9 inside Mount Hakurei, and killed 1,000 warlords with his blade Banry��. Banry��, in turn, transforms into a demonic weapon ability to release physical manifestations of its users' hatred in the form of powerful demonic energy. However, this proves to be his downfall as Inuyasha takes the opportunity and unleashes the Bakury��ha, crushing Bankotsu and shattering Banry��. (This attack and the more power-obsessed Bankotsu is only in the anime)
Bankotsu is voiced by Takeshi Kusao (Japanese) and Matt Hill (English).
Ban means "barbarian" and kotsu means "bone." It also translates as "thousands of lives." The marks on his face mean YOUTH
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