Genji Shimada

The cyborg Genji Shimada has made peace with the augmented body he once rejected, and in doing so, he has discovered a higher humanity. While wary of his past, he has acknowledged, and made peace with it. He (almost) constantly wears a mask, as, in his words, "I do not want people to fear me...or pity me."

Genji's sword is a katana named Ryū ichimonji; he maintains it personally and has never allowed anyone else to examine or repair it. It is paired with a traditional wakizashi sheathed horizontally on his lower back. He is proficient in Meikyo Shisui, Kenjutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Omnitsujutsu, and Intonjutsu.

As the youngest son of Sojiro Shimada, the master of the Shimada ninja clan, Genji lived a life of luxury and privilege. He had little interest in the family's illegal businesses, and although he excelled at and enjoyed his ninja training, he spent most of his time pursuing a playboy lifestyle. As Sojori's eldest son, Hanzo had the weight of expectations in a way that Genji did not. However, Genji felt that he was living in Hanzo's shadow.

Genji was trained in the ways of the sword by Asa Yamagami, who also taught them how to wall climb. The brothers learnt alongside Asa's daughter, Kiriko, who became a "cute, little niece" figure to the brothers. Genji was closer to Kiriko than Hanzo, as they were both mischief makers. While training, Genji tripped on his own sword, and while it only happened once, the incident remained stuck in Kiriko's memory.

As Genji came of age, he rejected his father's empire, pursuing a more easygoing lifestyle built on his family's wealth and status. Many within the clan considered the carefree Genji to be a dangerous liability. He showed no interest in clan affairs, and they resented his father for coddling and protecting him. He spent a lot of his time in an arcade in Hanamura, where he racked up numerous high scores on the arcade machines. He and Kiriko spent a lot of time in the arcade, and they got into trouble there on at least one occasion.

At some point, Sojiro called Genji "sparrow" as an insult. He would later come to adopt it as a nickname.

Following Sojiro's untimely death, the clan elders instructed Genji's older brother, Hanzo, to demand that Genji take a more active role in their late father's empire. Genji refused, enraging Hanzo. The tension between the brothers built to a violent confrontation that left Genji on the verge of death. Hanzo believed that he had killed his brother, but he survived, and ended up in a hospital in/around Kanezaka. While alive, it was expected that Genji would succumb to his injuries. As luck would have it, an Overwatch strike team was already in the area, investigating the Shimada clan's activities. Gabriel Reyes approached Genji's bedside, and Genji regained conciousness long enough to confirm that he was indeed Genji Shimada, son of Sojiro Shimada, and brother of the man who now ran the clan.

When he next awoke, Genji again saw Reyes beside him, who made him an offer. If he agreed to help take down the remnants of the Shimada Clan, Overwatch would rebuild him into something greater than he had ever been. Angela Ziegler, who was beside Reyes, objected to the coercion, but Genji agreed, as he felt he had no other choice. Ziegler was in charge of the rebuilding of Genji's body. She replaced his failing organs with cybernetics (some modeled after those used by Vivian Chase), and once he was stable, began to rebuild and enhance what remained of his body. Genji was put through an extensive process of cyberization, which enhanced his natural speed and agility and augmented his superlative ninja skills. This was followed by months of treatment and physical therapy for his cybernetics, during which Genji and Ziegler formed a close bond. Their bond remained during their time in Overwatch.

While Genji was recovering, Reyes used his sources and knowledge to accumulate information on the Shimada clan. While Reyes was eager to move the investigation into field ops, he was forced to wait for Ziegler to clear Genji for service.

Eventually, Genji was given the green light. With the cyberization process complete, Genji was made a member of Blackwatch; a black-ops unit within Overwatch. As a member of Blackwatch, he had mixed views on fellow members Jesse McCree and Moira O'Deorain. While he knew Blackwatch wasn't on the level, clouded by anger, Genji didn't act on his knowledge.

Now a living weapon, Genji single-mindedly set about the task of dismantling his criminal empire. Alongside Reyes, Gerard Lacroix, and McCree, Blackwatch conducted well-strategized strikes to arrest major players and disrupting protection rackets, until eventually, the Shimada clan collapsed from within. In truth, the Shimada were already crumbling, given that Hanzo had left the organization by this point. While Blackwatch returned to HQ, a job well done, Genji pursued other rival gangs in the area the Shimada had once controlled.

After the Uprising, Genji was transferred from Blackwatch to Overwatch proper. Ziegler was instrumental in the process. Genji began to wear a mask in order to consider his true identity, and his family name and criminal connections were kept hidden from his teammates and the broader public.

Genji became a full-fledged member of the Overwatch strike team. He graduated alongside Oxton and Winston. Within a year after the King's Row Uprising. Genji would cut contact with his old Blackwatch team members. At some point after joining the strike team, he received representation in the Overwatch cartoon, and was apparently one of the more beloved characters. None of its viewers however, had any idea that Genji had been a former member of Blackwatch or before that, a criminal syndicate. As a member of the Overwatch strike team, Genji, Winston, and Tracer would work together on several high profile missions.

With Overwatch having fallen from grace, Genji felt increasingly at war with himself. For the second time, he abandoned his former life, and wandered the world in search of meaning. Genji sought healing from many wounds he'd suffered, beginning with the horrific duel he’d fought with his brother, through his questionable missions in Blackwatch, to the fall of Overwatch. He drifted for many years before crossing paths with the omnic monk Zenyatta in Suravasa. Though Genji initially rejected Zenyatta's wisdom, the benevolent omnic would not be deterred. In time, Zenyatta became his mentor, and under the monk's tutelage, Genji reconciled his dual existence as both man and machine.

Genji spent a great deal of time at Shambali Monastery among its titular order. While under Zenyatta's tutelage, Zenyatta spoke to Genji of someone who had left the Shambali Monastery, with doubt clouding his soul. This exchange would become relevant years later.

Under Zenyatta, Genji learned to accept that although he had a cyborg body, his human soul was intact, and, through Zenyatta, Genji came to see his trials and cybernetic form as both a gift and unique strength. Now, for the first time in his life, Genji was free. Even he could not say where his path would ultimately lead.

He does still have his reproductive organs and can have sex, but it's unclear if he's fertile or not. Not that he's particularly worried about having kids at the present moment.