Tokiya Mikagami

Tokiya Mikagami (水鏡凍季也, Mikagami Tokiya) is a fictional character from the anime/manga series Flame of Recca. His Japanese voice was provided by Hikaru Midorikawa. His English voice actor is Paul Hunter, while his Filipino voice was provided by Vincent Gutierrez. Tokiya is also referred to as "Dylan Mikagami" in the Tagalog-dubbed version of the series. He is known for his coldness, intellect, and his thirst for revenge. Throughout most of the Flame of Recca series, he is driven to fight and to become stronger by his determination to avenge his murdered sister. He wields the madōgu Ensui, which utilizes the element of water. He is often referred to by his last name, though his companions have made up nicknames for him, such as Mi-chan or Mii-bō.

Biography

(Note that most of the information displayed on this page is based on the manga series, NOT the anime series. This is because the anime series ended after the Ura Butō Satsujin arc, while the manga went on for three more story arcs, wherein Tokiya's story - as well as those of the other characters - unfolds.)

Background

Tokiya's parents died when he was young, leaving him in the care of his older sister, Mifuyu. They were moved from different homes and shelters to another, but eventually Mifuyu managed to find themselves a place of their own. Eventually, two thugs intending to steal the Mikagami family heirloom: the madōgu Ensui. In an attempt to shield Tokiya from one of the thugs, Mifuyu got stabbed in the back. The thugs eventually run off and the paramedics arrive, but Mifuyu died on the stretcher as she handed Ensui over to Tokiya.

At that point, Tokiya's mind was consumed with thoughts of avenging his sister. These vengeful thoughts led him to a renowned swordsman named Meguri Kyōza, and asked him to teach him how to kill people. Meguri revealed the true nature of Ensui to Tokiya, and showed that it was could form a blade out of water and could control all the forms of water (solid, liquid, and gas). He then agrees to teach Tokiya how to utilize Ensui using Hyōmon Ken; a fighting style attributed to Ensui's power.

It took Tokiya roughly seven years to master Hyōmon Ken. Afterward, he left Meguri's hermitage in the mountains and traveled to the city. He enrolled in Nashikiri High School, which is the same school that Recca Hanabishi, Fūko Kirisawa, and Domon Ishijima were enrolled in. Tokiya excelled at academics, and a teacher went as far as to say that it would be no problem for him to get into a prestigious college such as Tokyo University.

First Appearance

Tokiya finds out about Recca through the intervention of Kage Hōshi. He had been observing Recca for some time, but it wasn't until Recca nearly ran into him at school that they met face to face. Tokiya regards Recca with disdain, but is immediately distracted by the arrival of Yanagi Sakoshita, who closely resembles his late sister. Tokiya confronts Recca later on and defeats him in a quick battle, saying that Recca should stay away from Yanagi because his presence endangers her. Due to his defeat and the fact that Yanagi had previously been injured because of him, he gives in to what Tokiya said and distances himself from Yanagi. Yanagi is heartbroken when Recca refuses her offer to go with him to an amusement park, but Tokiya offers to go with her instead. Upon realizing that Recca is looking for them in the amusement park, Tokiya takes Yanagi the Mirror House. Tokiya tells her about his past, and that she looks so much like his sister. He cuts Yanagi's hair using Ensui, saying that it made her look more like Mifuyu (because Mifuyu's hair is much shorter than Yanagi's). Recca eventually finds them there, and after an intense battle, Tokiya is defeated. Recca swears that he will protect his "princess" Yanagi as her loyal "ninja," and if he fails to do so, he will kill himself. Tokiya laughs at Recca's mentality, but says that there would be no need for Recca to kill himself if he failed, because Tokiya would do it for him.

Mori Mansion Arc

Yanagi is eventually kidnapped by Kurei's henchmen (Kaoru Koganei and Nagai Mokuren, and is brought to Mori Kōran's mansion. Initially it was just Fūko, Recca, and Domon that infiltrated the mansion to rescue her, but Tokiya arrives to and saves them from a trap. Tokiya points out that he is there to rescue Yanagi and not the trio, and he insults each of them in the process by calling Fūko a monkey, Domon a gorilla, and Recca a sea monkey. He defeats Koganei, and eventually catches up with the others as they were battling Kurei. Kurei, however, proves to be a very difficult opponent to deal with, and the four of them would have been defeated if Kage Hoshi had not arrived to tell Recca to remove his tekku to unleash his true power. They manage to rescue Yanagi and escape just as the building collapsed.

Ura Butō Satsujin Arc

After the whole Mori Mansion affair, Kage Hoshi invites Recca and the others (including Tokiya) to her home so that they could learn more about the Hokage ninja and Kurei. Tokiya sleeps through almost the entire story Kage Hoshi (now known as Kagerō) was telling them, and only wakes up when he senses three opponents approaching the house. They manages to defeat the opponents rather easily, as the three were not as skilled and as attuned with their madōgu compared to Tokiya and his comrades.

Because of their defeat against Kurei, Tokiya and his comrades decide to go off to train. When they met up again, two of Kurei's henchmen arrive and inform them that they are invited to participate in the Ura Butō Satsujin; a tournament wherein teams would battle against one another, and the losers had to give up their madōgu to the winners.

Battles

The first round of the Ura Butō Satsujin pits Tokiya against Daikoku of Team Kū. Tokiya destroys his madōgu and defeats him.

In the second round wherein Team Hokage is up against Uruha Maboroshii, Koganei joins their team. Koganei wins his initial match against Shiju, but his next opponent, Mokuren, tricks him and consumes him as Mokuren transforms into a giant tree. Recca is angered by this and rushes in to save Koganei, but Tokiya stops him, knowing that if Recca were to use his flame against Mokuren, he would burn both Mokuren and Koganei. Despite the fact that Mokuren appeared to have the upper hand, Tokiya defeats him and manages to save Koganei.

The night before the third round, Tokiya and Recca get into an argument which resulted in them having a fist fight. The following day, Neon (Uruha Oto's captain) senses the tension between the two boys. Knowing that Recca and Tokiya would have a difficult time working together as a team, she proposes that they have a double bout wherein two players from each team would participate in the battle. Recca and Tokiya agree to participate in the double bout and were at a great disadvantage, but in the middle of the match, Domon and Fūko intervene in an attempt to convince the two work together. Once Recca and Tokiya cooperated and gained the upper hand in the battle, Neon invokes Requiem; her ultimate technique capable of destroying the whole arena. Tokiya prevents this by destroying Neon's madōgu.

In the semifinals, Team Hokage was up against Uruha Ma, led by Magensha. Tokiya, concerned about his injuries worsening, decides not to participate and acts as a guest announcer. Koganei battles against Tsukishiro and is severely injured, so Tokiya brings him to the infirmary. After this round, as Tokiya was signing some autographs for one of the tournament's announcers, he suddenly senses that his sister's murderer is nearby.

During the final match against Uruha Kurenai (led by Kurei), Tokiya battles Kai, a Hyōmon Ken master who had also studied under Meguri Kyōza. Kai wields a weapon called Hyōma En, which also controls water but focuses more on its the solid form than the others. This weapon was created by the evil madougu-maker, Kaima, and it feeds on human blood. Kai claims that he was Mifuyu's murderer, and this provokes Tokiya. After an intense battle, both fighters collapse. Kai manages to stand up before the end of the countdown, thus defeating Tokiya. Tokiya then states that he knows that Kai isn't his sister's killer, because he couldn't sense any evil within him. Kai tells Tokiya how he craved for revenge because their master looked down on him and kept on comparing him to Tokiya. Kai advises him not to become someone who prioritizes revenge over everything, as it would lead him to his doom. He also tells Tokiya that it was Meguri Kyōza who killed Mifuyu. Kai then allows himself to fall into the bottomless pit below the arena.

In the end, after Kurei and Recca's intense battle that destroyed the entire stadium, Team Hokage emerged as the champions of the Ura Butō Satsujin.

Sealed Lands Arc

After the tournament, Tokiya pays a visit to Meguri Kyōza's old hermitage. However, he finds that the hut had been abandoned, and he fails to find anything that would lead him to his master's whereabouts. Later on, he saves Koganei from an attacker calling himself Kamui. Team Hokage regroups at Kagerō's hideout, and learn about Tendō Jigoku, a madōgu said to give its owner eternal life. Team Hokage now has to try to get to the Tendō Jigoku before Mori Kōran does. Joker arrives to help them head to the Sealed Lands, where the Tendō Jigoku is hidden.

Within the Sealed Lands (which is composed of a lot of caves and tunnels), they encounter zombies that were cursed by the Tendō Jigoku. Their physical pain and longing for death drives them to beg Recca to kill them, but he hesitates to do so. Tokiya steps forward and freezes the zombies so that their bodies would be numb to the pain until the Hokage manage to destroy Tendō Jigoku. Further into the cave, the team decides to split up into two groups: Recca, Domon, and Yanagi in one; Fūko, Tokiya, and Koganei in the other.

While Tokiya's group attempts to cross an underground river, someone throws a kunai at Koganei's foot, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the river. Tokiya jumps into the water to rescue him, but ends up somewhere else. Upon emerging from the water, he hears someone crying, and upon investigating, he meets a frail girl who claims to have been abused by the perverted Mokuren. She begs him to let her tag along, and he lets her do so. Eventually, the girl stabs her from behind and reveals that she is actually Mikoto, Fūko's opponent in the finals of Ura Butō Satsujin. However, Tokiya already figured out it was her even before she stabbed him, and reveals that all Mikoto had stabbed was a double he created with the technique Mizu Kugutsu. Mokuren eventually arrives to aid Mikoto. Mikoto tries to attack Tokiya using the puppet madōgu Ōtobide, but Tokiya defeats her with just one stab to the puppet's abdomen. Mikoto crawls out of the puppet absolutely terrified and shaken, because Tokiya's blade missed her by only a few centimeters. Mokuren tries to defeat Tokiya by disguising himself as one of his wooden plant puppets and having all of them attack him at the same time, but Tokiya manages to figure out which one Mokuren is. He throws Ensui right at Mokuren's chest, saying that it was very easy to spot him because he was just hiding behind his puppets without really attacking. The two lovers beg Tokiya to spare them, and he does. Just after that, a member of Ura Uruha named Aoi appears, and defeats Tokiya.

Captured, Tokiya was later bound to a crucifix and used by the Ura Uruha member Kirin as a hostage to stop Recca, Yanagi, and Koganei from getting into the inner chamber containing the Tendō Jigoku. She tells them that Domon was probably already dead and that Fūko was probably worse off, but Domon appears and brings morale back to the group. Koganei successfully rescues Tokiya and Yanagi heals him as Recca and Domon fight against Kirin. Domon eventually defeats her.

The team proceeds, and is later joined by Fūko, who had been rescued by Raiha. Upon reaching the Tendō Jigoku, Tendō Jigoku offers its power to Recca, but he turns it down. The Tendō Jigoku offers its strength to Mori Kōran instead. After Tendou Jigoku merges with Mori Kōran, it turns him into an indestructible monster. Kurei arrives and joined in the fight against Tendō Jigoku, but reminds Recca that he that does not mean that they are friends. Recca urges the other Hokage members to leave as he, Fūko, and Kurei remained to try to beat Tendō Jigoku. Tokiya, Domon, Koganei, and Yanagi (Yanagi had fainted previously and had to be carried) make their way through the cave, and get lost. The zombies Tokiya had frozen earlier on point the way out to them, and they manage to make it outside. Recca and Fūko eventually came out of the cavern alive, and say that Kurei had probably managed to get out alive too.

SODOM Saga

Team Hokage had no idea as to what Mori Kōran's plans were after their encounter in the Sealed Lands. Kagerō tells them that she could locate him with her madōgu, but she couldn't say how long it would take to do so. She says that the group should just continue with their normal lives for the time being. Tokiya's personality is beginning to change at this point; he acts less cold toward his classmates and actually argues with Fūko in public. There is a new transfer student named Aoi Kagura, whom Tokiya thinks he has seen before, but he is unable to pinpoint when and where. Having a bad feeling about Aoi, he conducts research about her origins. The school she attended before has no data about her, and the apartment that Aoi had claimed to be her residence has no telephone connection at all, and is empty when Tokiya actually visits it. Tokiya asked Yanagi's friends and housekeeper where she was, but they all said that "she's out with a friend, but we don't know who." Based on all of this information, Tokiya suspects that Aoi was a spy sent by Mori Kōran, and that it was possible that she had used a madōgu that had something to do with erasing memories to make them forget who she was. Tokiya sets off with Recca and Koganei to look for Yanagi, but when they arrive at the area where Aoi and Yanagi were, Hiruko arrives and stalls them long enough for Aoi to successfully kidnap Yanagi.

Back in Kagerō's hideout, the team learns that the upcoming battle might be the final one. Recca tells his teammates that they could go do what they wanted to do for 3 days, and decide for themselves if they wanted to join him or not. Tokiya visits Mifuyu's grave during this time, where he gets a chance to communicate with her. She makes fun of his long hair, saying that it makes him look like a girl. Tokiya then says that he keeps it long as part of a vow he made, and that he'd probably cut it short someday. She reminds him that he is strong, and that his friends respect him. He eventually decides to join Recca in the final battle.

Upon arriving at SODOM, the team splits up to find discs that would unlock the way to where Yanagi is. Tokiya fights against Hiruko one on one. During the bout, Hiruko keeps on testing Tokiya if he is still obsessed with avenging his sister. Tokiya shows his resolve and makes it clear that he isn't fighting solely for revenge. Hiruko eventually loses interest in the battle and forfeits, urging Tokiya to keep on searching for the truth behind his sister's murder.

Tokiya proceeds to his next destination; a house owned by a woman named Marie. When she offers him some tea, Tokiya acts suspicious, so she drinks the tea to prove that she was not trying to poison or drug him. Sensing no evil emanating from her, Tokiya concludes that she was just a normal woman and that it probably wouldn't hurt to drink the tea. After drinking the tea, Tokiya collapses and later finds himself tied to a strange statue. It turns out that the tea wasn't poisoned, but the rim of the cup was (except for a small portion that only Marie knew about so that she could sip from it without getting drugged herself). Marie begins calling Tokiya 'John', and considers him to be her new 'pet'. Domon comes along and is also offered the tea, but after drinking it, the drug has no effect on him. Tokiya then figures out that Domon had probably drunk from the exact same spot where Marie had sipped the tea with the intentions of getting an "indirect kiss" from her. Marie then calls for her husband/slave, Pochi, to fight Domon with her. Recca arrives to aid Domon, and they manage to defeat Marie and Pochi and save Tokiya.

As the team meets up again and manages to get through to the next area, they had to split up once more. Tokiya then encounters Meguri Kyōza, who was bound by chains on the ground. Tokiya insists that Meguri answer his questions about his sister's death, but Meguri orders Tokiya to release his bonds and have a swordfight with him. For every blow Tokiya could land on him, Meguri would tell him one truth. The battle proves to be difficult for Tokiya because apart from the fact that they were evenly matched, he considers Meguri to be his "second father", and didn't want to have to hurt him. Eventually, Tokiya unleashes the Hyōaru Hebi, which wraps itself around Meguri to keep him at bay as Tokiya destroys Meguri's weapon (Hyōma En). Meguri admits defeat, and tells Tokiya the entire truth regarding him and Mifuyu's death. Meguri Kyōza was merely a title that was passed on from one Hyōmon Ken master to another. In truth, this Meguri Kyōza was Tokiya's grandfather. Hyōmon Ken is a technique that had to be passed on from one master to one student, but since his son (Tokiya's father) died, he had no choice but to pass it on to Tokiya. Mifuyu refused to allow him to do so, because Tokiya was still too young and she did not wish for him to be exposed to violence. She then offered to learn Hyōmon Ken in his stead, and thus Ensui was passed on to her. Both the Ensui and Hyōma En belonged to the Mikagami clan, and knowing the potential of these two weapons, Kurei sent two of the weaker members of Uruha to try to steal the madōgu from Mifuyu. Mifuyu was killed in the process, and Meguri arrived too late to save her. He killed the two thugs, but blamed himself entirely for Mifuyu's death. Had he not forced them to uphold the tradition of passing Hyōmon Ken on, Mifuyu would not have been killed. He urges Tokiya to kill him and avenge Mifuyu, but Tokiya refuses to do so, saying that Mifuyu would have understood, and that she would have forgiven him for everything that had happened. Meguri notes that Tokiya's "ice had melted", and Tokiya admits that this is because of the support and influence of his friends. Meguri is finally able to free himself from the guilt that had burdened him for such a long time, and he dies in peace. Tokiya vows that he would never take up the name "Meguri Kyōza", and that the passing on of Hyōmon Ken would end with him.

Tendō Jigoku (the combined forms of Kaima, Mori Kōran, and the madōgu itself) had already awakened and was doing battle with the rest of the team when Tokiya arrived. Aoi had erased Yanagi's memories previously, so Yanagi is not fully conscious of what is going on. Aoi tries to restore Yanagi's memories, but the madōgu Aoi was using broke. The team is no match for Tendō Jigoku's power, and all of them are knocked down. Tendō Jigoku gets a hold of Yanagi, intending to devour her to absorb her powers of healing and gain true immortality. Yanagi's friends all stand up and call out to her, and this is enough to bring her out of her trance. Recca manages to get her away from Tendō Jigoku, but Tendō Jigoku had successfully managed to kill her by drawing her soul away from her body. Recca is forced to use the power of the dragon Resshin to take Yanagi's soul and merge it with his flame. Yanagi's healing powers (which also nullifies the powers of and destroys madōgu) combined with Recca's flame, and they managed to destroy Tendo Jigoku, but also destroyed all the other madōgu in the process. Yanagi's spirit returned to her body after this, and everything was finally over and done with.

In the days to follow, Tokiya's personality had changed, and he no longer acted as cold as he used to. As the story ends, Tokiya found himself resuming life without thinking of revenge.

Ensui

Tokiya's madōgu (elemental weapon) is called Ensui (Dark Water). It's basically a sword handle that can use water to form its blade, and has the power to use this water in its many forms. Its power is limited by the fact that it can and will run out of water. Tokiya often uses a relatively small amount of water for Ensui's blade, but when the Hokage gang rescued Yanagi from Mori's mansion, he made sure to use a lot of water (i.e. all the water in the mansion's swimming pool) to ensure that he wouldn't run out.

Ensui is also one of the "good" madōgu created by Kokū. Its "evil" counterpart is called Hyōma En, and was created by Kaima. This weapon was used utilized by Meguri Kyōza and Kai. Unlike Ensui, Hyōma En can actually speak, and it always demands that it be allowed to drink the blood of its opponent. The sphere on Hyōma En has the kanji symbol for "Ice" written on it, and as such, it focuses more on the techniques that involve water in its solid form. That does not, however, mean that it cannot be used to perform techniques involving water in its liquid and gas forms, since Meguri Kyōza actually uses some of Ensui's liquid techniques in the Playstation 2 game.

The particular fighting style used with Ensui is called "Hyōmon Ken", which is a technique that has to be passed on from master to student. Traditionally, there should only be one heir to the technique, but Meguri Kyōza trained both Mikagami Tokiya and Kai. This is partially why Kai wanted to kill Tokiya, so that he would be the official heir to the Hyōmon Ken technique.

Zettai Reido (Absolute Zero)

This technique involves the Ensui's water blade turning into ice, and anything it cuts will be frozen. In the Playstation 2 game "Flame of Recca: Final Burning", this is Tokiya's most devastating attack which freezes his opponent (which would explain why the opponent's entire screen becomes covered with ice).

Tsurara Mai (Dancing Icicles or Icicle Dance)

This technique freezes water from below the ground and causes them to spring up to form icicles. In the anime, the icicles rise into the air and use the humidity above to form more icicles, which rain down, freezing the underground water and launching it skyward. The cycle continues until the enemy is destroyed.

Hyappon Geki

This technique consists of hundreds of quick straight-froward stabbing blows, used to stop bo-staff strikes. This technique returns in the GBA game under the name 'Ensui Ranbu'.

Mizu Kugutsu (Water Puppet)

This technique involves using Ensui's water to create a 'clone' of its wielder, thus giving him the opportunity to strike the opponent from an unknown direction.

Red Ensui

Tokiya is the only Hyōmon Ken master known to use his blood as Ensui's blade. In his battle against Kai in the Ura Butō Satsujin, he tricked Kai into thinking that he could no longer fight because he used up all of Ensui's water, but in reality, he had used blood to create Ensui's blade and deliver his last attack.

Mizunaru Hebi (Water-formed Snake)

This technique draws four spheres of water (representing the four directions: North, South, East, and West) into a larger sphere, and a large snake made out of water emerges upon striking this sphere with Ensui's blade.

Hyōnaru Hebi (Ice-formed Snake)

This technique was used by Kai during the Ura Butō Satsujin, but was also used by Tokiya near the end of the manga series. This is much like the Mizunaru Hebi, only the snake is formed out of ice. Tokiya is the only Hyōmon Ken master who actually manipulated the snake's every movement (the snake just usually bursts out and heads straight to the opponent, but during the battle against Meguri Kyōza, Tokiya made the snake hold Meguri at bay).

Tsuranaru Hebi (Icicle-formed Snake)

This is another technique that Tokiya developed on his own. It involves using the icicles formed by Tsurara Mai to form a snake. Apart from being made of solid ice, this snake has icicles sticking out of its body.

Trivia

• In truth, Kurei respected Tokiya and stated that he can't hate him, and that Tokiya has what it takes to join Uruha. Kurei pitied the fact that Recca was able to get to Tokiya first.
• In the anime series, Tokiya's hair is grayish-brown, while in the manga and video games his hair is light blue.
• In the manga, it was stated that Tokiya is not very good at Playstation fighting games and is actually a bit near-sighted. Tokiya was actually shown wearing glasses while playing a fighting game against one of the Hokage team members in their hotel room during the Ura Butō Satsujin.

Fansite Links

• Mizu no Kenshi (Swordsman of Water)
• Mizu Senshi: The Mikagami Tokiya Fanlisting