Character · Rurouni Kenshin
Makoto Shishio
The government burned him alive to bury a secret. It did not check whether he had died of it.
In Otakana the clue reads: Bandaged assassin who replaced the protagonist
- Type
- Character
- Series
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Letters
- 7 · Hard
Shishio took over as the state's assassin when Kenshin walked away from the job. He was too good at it and knew too much, so his own side shot him, doused him in oil and set him on fire. He survived with burns over his entire body, which is why he is wrapped head to foot in bandages, and the scarring destroyed his sweat glands. He can fight for about fifteen minutes before his body temperature becomes the thing that beats him.
His plan is straightforward social Darwinism: the Meiji government is weak, the strong should rule, and he intends to burn Japan down and rebuild it under himself. He has a fortress at Mount Hiei, a fleet, ten hand-picked lieutenants and a sword called Mugenjin whose blade is caked with the fat of everyone it has killed, so that a hard swing sets it alight.
The Kyoto arc that he anchors runs through the middle of Rurouni Kenshin and is the stretch most readers name as the best of it. Watsuki gave him an argument rather than a grudge, which forces the story to answer him rather than simply beat him.
Spelling SHISHIO
SHISHIO is seven letters built from a repeat: SHI, SHI, O. Once you have found either SH pair the other one follows, which makes it one of the friendlier long answers in the game. The Japanese 志々雄 uses a repetition mark for that second syllable, doing the same job the eye does here. No long vowel on the end, so nothing to trim. Family name.