Sorimachi ichizo

For as long as Sorimachi's known, he's made his path at the expense of others, stealing/murdering for a few coins here, a night's sleep there. To that alone he's devoted his wit and skill. Things like loyalty, justice, and honor never made any sense to him. Even harming those who've helped him to achieve a goal of his doesn't bear much weight on him, though he doesn't go out his way to be malicious and sadistic.

Sorimachi overall is pretty polite to those he comes into contact with, and usually has a casual and chummy way of speaking. However, especially when engaged in the heat of a battle he has the tendency to cackle a lot like a weird eagle, like "kekekekekakaka!", like a madman.

Overall Sorimachi is a laid-back yakuza who gets a kick out of the struggles in life, and seeing people so desperately struggle for their ideals.

But even he has something he deems as evil: people who bring harm to others but don't even want to. There is no type of death he hates more than one brought by some asshole who didn't even want it. He believes if you're going to do something, especially if it's something that harms others, you better fully believe in what you're doing. And the thing is if you are the type of person he deems evil, he will stop at nothing to try to kill you.

Sormachi's a disloyal dick, but also a resourceful, cunning, and sly man, who's been in the business of criminals for a long time.

"Sorimachi loves people. The farmers struggling to make it day to day, the shogunate officers growing fat off their blood, the corporate big shots with the government in their pockets, the brave rebels who defy them all... Sorimachi loves each one. And because he loves them, he knows no greater joy than to live in their midst, exchanging banter, crossing blades, using and being used in turn. It doesn't matter who ends up face down in the mud or neck deep in a river. He loves every second. Sorimachi Ichizo hates no one. Not even Major Gargett, so sure of his own righteousness. He might think the major foolish, even mad, but Sorimachi does not hate him."

But if there was one person he'd have disdain for... it'd be someone who's living their life doing the exact opposite of what they want to do in life.

This is the idea that Sorimachi embodies. If you are gonna do something, do it with absolute conviction. His definition of evil is one who isn't doing what they want to and still takes away the lives of others whether good or evil, like Minato Kageaki.

To give some background about the setting, Sorimachi lives in a dystopian Japan (known here as Yamato), where the nation is ruled by the tyrannical Rokuhara Shogunate, lead by a shogun and his 4 generals (Yusa Dosshin, Chachamaru Ashikage, Shishuku Ohtori, and Raicho Imagawa), where acts of tyranny by Rokuhara are common. At the same time however, a group known as GHQ (an extension of the Britannia Empire, where the two big empires in the world currently are the Britannian Empire and the Russian Empire) is also vying for power to control Yamato through indirectly influencing the civilian population to believe that GHQ's control over Yamato would be better than Rokuhara's, such that the people would view it justified when GHQ declares war on Rokuhara.

Sorimachi is a yakuza who usually works for the GHQ, under Clive Canon and the late George Garrett, though of course he isn't exactly loyal to them. He gets along well (on the surface) with Clive, and while George acts rude to Sorimachi, Sorimachi responds to him politely.

Also, battles take place in machines called "tsurugi" which are basically robot mecha that are piloted from the inside cockpit by people calledv "musha". They are much smaller than your average mecha though and a bit more humanoid, being like 3 times the size of an average person. Basically like a really huge suit of armor. Sentient tsurugis refer to their pilots as "Mido".

There are two main types of tsurugis: those that are the standard ones that are mass produced, and the special ones that are made with the sacrifice of a person whose soul then inhabits the tsurugi, thus making it essentially "sentient". Unfortunately Sorimachi uses the former, having an unremarkable type 90.

This would normally mean that Sorimachi would be at a disadvantage against the special tsurugi, but Sorimachi bridges this game by being an absolutely goated swordsman, and an Iaido practicioner. His special move is the "Immelman Turn". Here, he continues to climb up in altitude when flying, and as the enemy gives chase, without getting stalled in the air and falling without control, he does a quick spinaround to face the attacker, and gets pulled to them with gravity to attack. Meanwhile his opponent who's chasing him is now stalling and should be diving down to gain acceleration, but since Sorimachi starts the descent by turning while the opponent is still flying up to reach him, he has the advantage. This move is so legendary that few are able to do it, but of course Sorimachi does cause he's that awesome.

As for Sorimachi's relationships with other people, of course as mentioned he hates Kageaki for being a hypocrite who kills even though he doesn't want to. He says Kageaki can't be a hero, because if he was, he would hold his head up high believing he was right, and look people right in the eye when he killed them. He says Kageaki can't be a demon, because if he was, he'd smile as he killed people. So that just leaves Kageaki as an ordinary person who knew right from wrong, who was destined to live a normal life. And that's what pisses Sorimachi off. Why'd he have to go and through it all away? "Could've just stayed on your side of the fence, but oh no. Couldn't have that", he says about Kageaki. Sorimachi also knows about Kageaki's law of balance, where when Kageaki kill someone he deems evil he's also forced to kill someone he deems good.

He also has an interesting relationship with Ayane Ichijo. Ichijo acts very heroically and righteously, and although this means she is directly against the "small time villain" that Sorimachi claims he is, he holds respect for her because unlike Kageaki, she actually follows the path of justice because she believes in it. This literally leads to him gifting her the powerful tsurugi Masamune said to rival Muramasa.

Here is how musha combat works in the air: at first both tsurugis aim for an altitude advantage over the other. Once it's decided who's on top, the once below will fly up to meet the one above, and the one above flies down to meet the one below. Obviously the one at a higher altitude has the advantage, as their strike has a greater force thanks to gravity while the one at a lower altitude has to meet the upward tsurugi while working against gravity. After the brief clash, the tsurugi initially higher continues their flight down to gain speed, so that by increasing their speed again they can rise to the greater altitude. Meanwhile, the tsurugi that was initially lower will climb altitude for a brief bit before "stalling" by running out of speed. They will then be forced to dive to increase their speed so that they can rise to a greater altitude, but they're still at a disadvantage as they started their dive much later than the other tsurugi.