Big Man

Big Man, alias Ian BGM, is a character in Splatoon 3 and one of the three members of the band Deep Cut, alongside Shiver and Frye, with whom he co-hosts both Anarchy Splatcast, the news show of Splatsville, and Splatfests. Full name: Manda Tarō Kizaemon Munekiyo Age: Early to mid 20s Big Man is a large gray manta ray, with white dotted markings along his belly and on both sides of his pectoral fins, as well as a perpetual sheen on his body. He has a tail which is white on front and gray on back, seeming to extend from the white patch along his torso. He stands upright on his pelvic fins as if they were feet, and his eyes are closer to his mouth along the bottom of his body, giving him an anthropomorphic appearance. Big Man actually has more resemblance to an eagle ray than a manta ray, as his mouth is located on the underside of his body, like the former. In addition, eagle rays have prominent pelvic fins at the back of their bodies, used by Big Man as feet, whereas manta rays' pelvic fins are smaller in comparison. He also seems to resemble several other oceanic rays. Due to his large size, Big Man's amiibo does not fit the amiibo box, and he appears to stay curled inside and mentions bumping his head on the top of the box.

Big Man wears a white and red headpiece on his head, where a regular manta ray's eyes and cephalic fins would be. With a similar to shape to a hammerhead shark's head, it appears to be carved out of bleached driftwood, with red swirls and a stylized "M" painted on the front. On either end of the headpiece are two gold circles, and a red rope is looped around both sides before draping around Big Man's head, both front and back. On the front the rope passes between his eyes and nose as if to hold it in place. This particular fashion of hat-securing bears a strong resemblance to classical Japanese bandit characters, such as Kabuki character Nezumi Kozō, a famous thief that wears a hokkamuri headscarf tied under his nose. The hokkamuri is also commonly worn by performers during certain Japanese festivals, such as the Awa Dance Festival. Big Man is the most laid-back member of Deep Cut. While Shiver and Frye can get excited when it comes to things they care about, Big Man avoids getting worked up, often mediating the other two and bringing them back down to earth. In this way, he often acts as the voice of reason for Deep Cut, reminding Frye that it is a good idea to paint turf during Turf Wars instead of just splatting enemies, and pointing out that it is ridiculous that Shiver is still so hung up on a past Turf War loss. He is the most easily influenced out of the trio and does not like to resort to violence, although he is not above making his own threats. Big Man also loves fun and having a good time. He often speaks in puns and is the first to suggest all the good attributes of something.

His speech is unique, consisting of the sound "Ay!" with a translation in parentheses.

This laid-back disposition does not mean he is lazy, however. Big Man is the primary lyricist and producer of Deep Cut and is a noted hard worker, having put Anarchy Rainbow through seven separate iterations over six weeks before finalizing it, with the process exhausting him to the point where he became "dried up like an uncooked lasagna noodle", in part because he refused to let Shiver and Frye provide vocals for it, doing them himself instead. He mainly contributes to Deep Cut by creating the backing tracks Shiver and Frye sing to, described as being EDM based; he occasionally also provides vocals in some songs. He also looks up to and actively tries to learn from other musicians like Front Roe, C-Side, and "a DJ from Inkopolis". Big Man's musical style appears to have some Brazilian and Latin-American inspiration.

Big Man's favourite weapon class is sloshers.

He has a hidden alias called "Ian BGM" Big Man was born into the Manta Clan, well-known for representing the Splatlands. He met Shiver and Frye through their familial ties, but remained acquaintances with them. By middle school, he had taken an interest in music, becoming skilled at the piano. This skill brought Shiver and Frye knocking on his classroom door when they decided they wanted accompaniment for their singing. This led to the formation of Deep Cut as it is known today. Big Man used to find Shiver and Frye intimidating, and feared that they wanted to fight him when they first approached him to ask about forming a band.

After this, an older classmate asked the trio to make a cheering song for a school competition. Big Man and Frye agreed, but Shiver demanded 30,000G payment, which led to the creation of Hide and Sleek, Deep Cut's very first song. A local bowling alley commissioned a song for a commercial, to which Shiver hiked their price up to 300,000G, and what resulted was their second song, Smeared Canvas, with Big Man's lyrics being inspired by losing in the last round of bowling. The success of the commercial, and the song along with it, made Deep Cut relatively well known in the Splatlands.

A few years later, Deep Cut were made the hosts of the Anarchy Splatcast.

Big Man is also the head of the Manda Ryuu, one of the oldest dance schools in the Splatlands, and is currently the head of the Manta Clan. This is shown in Sunken Scroll 12, where a family tree can be seen on the left side of the scroll, indicating Big Man's lineage.

By the time of Splatoon 3, Deep Cut had become relatively well known within the Splatlands for both their music and the Anarchy Splatcast.