Neo-Tokyo is about to E X P L O D E....
ANIME AND MANGA CHARACTER ADAPTATIONS
TETSUO SHIMA
Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 10 STR 0 11- Lift 100 kg; 2d6 HTH Damage [1] 15 DEX 15 12- OCV: 5/DCV: 5 25 CON 30 14- 13 BODY 6 12- 10 INT 0 11- PER Roll 11- 24 EGO 28 14- ECV: 8 15 PRE 5 12- PRE Attack: 3d6 10 COM 0 11- 8 PD 6 Total: 8 PD (3 rPD) 8 ED 3 Total: 8 ED (3 rED) 4 SPD 15 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 10 REC 6 100 END 25 35 STUN 4 Total Characteristic Cost: 143 Movement: Running: 6"/12" Leaping: 2"/4" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers & Skills 10 Unimpressed By Mere Mortals: +20 PRE; Only To Defend Against Presence Attacks (-1) 371 Unlimited Telekinetic Potential: Variable Power Pool, 200 base + 171 control cost, Cosmic (+2); Limited Class Of Powers Available Telekinetic/Telepathic Powers Only (-1/4); all slots Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect only affects the environment near the character; All nonliving objects within 12" affected by either 30 STR TK or 2D6 RKA. Objects may be bent, twisted, overturned, pushed about, or outright shattered. Effects depend on Active Points in power; -1/2) 6 Mechanical Right Arm: Armor (6 PD/6 ED); Activation Roll 8- (or Location 6-9; -2) 3 Telekinetic Resistance: Damage Resistance (3 PD/3 ED) 25 Telekinetic Resistance: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 25% plus Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 25%; STUN Only (-1/2) 7 Telepathic Shields: Mental Defense (12 points total) 16 Accelerated Recuperative Powers: Healing 3 BODY, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Hour (-2 1/4), Self Only (-1/2) 40 Telekinetic Body Control: LS (Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Longevity: 200 Years; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing) 28 Psychokinetic Awareness: Mental Awareness, +4 to PER Roll, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Targeting, Telescopic: +8 Talents 22 Psychokinetic Awareness: Danger Sense (self only, out of combat, Function as a Sense) 11- Skills 20 +4 with Unlimited Telekinetic Potential Variable Power Pool 2 CK: Neo-Tokyo 11- 3 Combat Driving 12- 0 Language: Japanese (idiomatic; literate) 3 Mechanics 11- 3 Streetwise 12- 2 Survival (Urban) 11- 0 TF: Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles 561 Total Powers & Skills Cost 704 Total Character Cost 200+ Disadvantages 20 DNPC: Kaori 11- (Incompetent) 10 Distinctive Features: Mechanical/Cybernetic Right Arm (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 5 Distinctive Features: Powerful Esper (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses) 15 Hunted: Assorted World Governments 11- (As Pow, Capture) 10 Hunted: The Colonel 14- (Less Pow, Limited Geographical Area, Harshly Punish) 15 Physical Limitation: Powers are Occasionally Out Of Control (Infrequently, Fully Impairing) 20 Psychological Limitation: Addicted To Uppers (Common, Total) 15 Psychological Limitation: Power-hungry (Common, Strong) 10 Psychological Limitation: Loves Kaori (Common, Moderate) 20 Psychological Limitation: Overconfidence (Very Common, Strong) 364 Number 41 Bonus 704 Total Disadvantage Points
Background/History: Presenting Tetsuo, one of the central protagonists of Katshiro Otomo's manga epic AKIRA. Warning - this character is powerful... way powerful. Handle with care.
It is the year 2030, and a group of teenaged bikers are out racing around on an abandoned highway system. One of them, a boy named Tetsuo, sees a short, white-skinned, white-haired, wizened-looking child standing in the highway directly in the path of his bike. Moments later, he slams into an invisible wall, his bike exploding into a mass of flames. The small boy fades away into nothingness. Within moments the military arrives and Tetsuo is whisked away in a helicopter, to a top secret hospital, where certain experiments in esper and psychokinetic powers are being conducted. After a few tests, Tetsuo is shown to be receptive to an attempt to "awaken" his latent psychokinetic talents. Encouraged, the scientists decide to go ahead with their operations. Unfortunately for Neo-Tokyo, they succeed....
Personality/Motivation: Kaori is Tetsuo's girlfriend, either from school (anime), or found among the refugees after Akira blasts Tokyo (manga). Either way, Tetsuo cares for her quite a bit, and she for him. This doesn't stop her from dying a horrible death in either story.
Naturally, Tetsuo's powers are considered a threat to world peace by a number of people. In the manga several different counties attempt to infiltrate the ruined remains of Neo-Tokyo to investigate what happened and destroy him, with the focus is on the American attempt. The Colonel is the leader of what used to be the Japanese military. All through the manga (and the anime) he does his best to bring Tetsuo down (even linking into the laser satellite and firing on his own position!).
Tetsuo's power is constantly growing and developing. There are times where he suffers from bouts of fierce headaches, where his powers lash out beyond his ability to control them, where his power begins to control him and not the other way around. Eventually he reaches a point where his body begins to mutate in order to accommodate his power's desire for increased energy, these mutations manifest as nightmarish masses of tubes sprouting from Tetsuo's body
Tetsuo is a prime example of what happens when someone who has been pushed around all his life is given access to virtually unlimited power. He strikes out at everyone who has every persecuted him, destroying those who cross his path without a second thought. He is more than willing to take on anyone, even the full might of a US Navy carrier group, alone, confident in his psychokinetic power to see him through. He is also power hungry. He wants to increase his telekinetic powers, as well as learn how to control them to a greater degree. For example, he releases Akira in order to test his own abilities, and to see who is more powerful (big mistake). Finally, Tetsuo is highly addicted to cheap stimulants, popping them in handfuls as if they were candy for a good portion of the manga.
Powers/Tactics: Tetsuo is the second most powerful psychokinetic on the face of the planet (the most powerful is a young boy named Akira). As a psychokinetic (and an anime/manga psychokinetic at that) Tetsuo possess a number of powers that are pretty typical for the genre. He can create Force Fields and Force Walls (the latter usually centered around his person) to deflect and stop attacks; he can generate powerful force bolts (i.e. physical EB and RKAs) that can destroy vehicles, shatter buildings and toss people about; he can fly; Teleport immense distances; manipulate great weights with Telekinesis... In short, his powers are virtually unlimited—he even demonstrates Telepathy at one point.
As an anime/manga psychokinetic, Tetsuo also has a number of certain effects associated with his powers that are common to the anime genre. All of his powers are invisible visually. His force fields and walls don't give of any colored effects, even when hit; his force bolts don't appear as beams of light from his hands, he doesn't leave an energy trail when he flies, and so on. Also, his Telekinesis is virtually indistinguishable from a Mental Power. He can use it indirectly, affecting stuff that is behind walls, or windows, and he doesn't seem to suffer range modifiers with it either. If Tetsuo can see something, he can affect it. Finally, Tetsuo's powers (and the esper/PK powers of seemingly all anime characters like this) are highly destructive to his environment. The Telekinesis Side Effects represent minor such TK/PK effects as swirling debris, small objects lifting up and dancing about, light posts and telephone poles vibrating; all the weird and freaky stuff that should spook most people but doesn't leave a permanent mark on the surroundings. The RKA Side Effects, on the other hand, is for when Tetsuo really gets his powers cranked. This power represents the shattering windows, cracking walls, and fracturing of asphalt that seems to accompany any serious use of PK powers. For some good visuals of this sort of effect, rent the subtitled version of AKIRA or find Dark Horse's "Domu" collection (also by Katshiro Otomo).
How powerful is Tetsuo? He stops tank shells with his Force Walls, he can crush tanks with his TK, in the anime he teleports to orbit and destroys a laser satellite, in the manga he teleports to the moon and creates a crater big enough to be seen from Earth. He destroys an entire bridge, blocks laser beams, pushes back tear gas with his telekinetic shields, regenerates from a gunshot in a matter of hours, can fly fast enough to catch an F-14, can withstand having a 10' diameter pipe dropped on him (as well as getting embedded in a wall of conduits by said pipe), can withstand subzero (actually, close to absolute zero) temperatures dressed in a t-shirt, deflects laser blasts from the aforementioned laser satellite, swats down helicopters... I gave him a 200 point power pool, but sometimes I wonder if that's enough...
To fully represent this sort of power, I'd recommend adding advantages such as Armor Piercing and Penetrating to any of Tetsuo's offensive attacks, while his defensive powers should get the advantage of Hardened.
Appearance: Tetsuo is a short, slightly scrawny 15 year-old juvenile delinquent. He has an unkempt mop of black hair that falls down to his shoulders in the back (actually, his hair length is kinda variable, but always messy). Tetsuo normally dresses in jeans, boots a white t-shirt, and what looks like welder's gloves. Later, after achieving his full power, he wears white trousers, a white shirt, and a long, ragged, red cloak.
Designer's Notes: This is a "simplified" version of Tetsuo written before I had the full run of AKIRA in manga form. Since I now own the Dark Horse rerelease of AKIRA I will probably rework the character to match the manga version.
As such a powerful Esper/PK, Tetsuo is pretty easy to detect by anyone with Mental Awareness. He certainly can't sneak up on anyone with this power, as soon as he gets within a reasonable distance (such as a few hundred feet), any Egoist will easily will sense his presence. At one point, the military attempts to dispose of Tetsuo by bombarding him with an orbital laser satellite barrage. Tetsuo survives, but looses his right arm in the process. He creates himself a new by telekinetically 'knitting' together a new one out of scrap mechanical parts.
Tetsuo Shima's Hero Designer File
(Tetsuo Shima created by Katshiro Otomo, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)Return to Anime and Manga Character Adaptations