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Kaede (
He is voiced by Kōji Suidzu.
Personality[]
Kaede is humble and polite for his age, modest about his accomplishments and careful about how he perceives himself to others. At first, he is reluctant to release Seiryū's power, afraid of the possibility of letting his other half becoming dominate and subsequently berserk with power. He has mixed impressions for Moriya as he respects his brother but is also a little envious of his freedom from the Four Sacred Beasts.
As Awakened Kaede, he is transformed into a cocky and brash warrior with a more rough way of speaking compared to his prior soft voice, a trait that slowly but subtly mellows as the series progresses. By Last Blade 2, Kaede establishes complete control over his awakening and uses Seiryū's power more effectively.
In his normal form, Kaede uses the Japanese pronoun "boku" to refer to himself; when awakened, he refers to himself with "ore" instead.
Powers[]
- Power Awakening - The state when Kaede gives in to Seiryū's influence is called "Awakening", and can transform into “Awakened Kaede” (
覚醒 楓 , Kakusei Kaede). When Awakened, Kaede's hair turns blonde, and his eyes turn red. He becomes less gentle and more impulsive, but still retains his sense of good and justice. In this form, Kaede has greater control over his electric powers, which were granted by Seiryū. By the time of The Last Blade 2, Kaede has established refined control over his awakening. - Energy Projectile - Kaede can fire a projectile of energy while not in awakened form, either along the ground (in the first game) or through the air at a low altitude (subsequent games onward).
- Electrokinesis - Kaede can control electricity, a power granted by Seiryu and his own awakened state.
- Electric Projectile - Kaede can fire a projectile of electric energy through the ground.
- Lightning - Kaede can summon lightning from the sky and from the ground up.
- Lightning Dragon - Kaede can summon powerful lightning bolts that take the form of serpentine dragons. These dragon-like lightning bolts can only be summoned with effort, and may cause severe damage to his opponents.
- Electric Attacks - As awakened Kaede, he can infuse his attacks with electric energy. This may be done on his sword or on his hand.
Fighting Style[]
His "Kasshin Ittō" style is based on the "Kamiya Kasshin" style found in the Rurouni Kenshin manga, which serves as a basis for much of the The Last Blade series. As the name suggests, the style is meant to tame Kaede's temptations to depend on Seiryū. Throughout the series, he attempts to carefully control Seiryū enough to simply increase his natural skill and power slightly.
Much like traditional sword styles and like the Kasshin style itself, normal Kaede's sword strikes are frequently two-handed (as well as holding his sword in both hands in his idle stance), and his special moves all have the "Ittō" (One Blade) naming before them. His moves mostly have a wind motif about them due to his katana's name, which was previously wielded and cared for by the late Gaisei.
While when awakened, his skill increases by quite a bit as he swings his blade on the same line and manner as his normal form, only one-handed (even in his idle stance). All his special moves instead have the "Shinmei" (
Appearances[]
Games
Mobile
Cameos
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Etymology[]
The name Kaede comes from the Japanese meaning "maple tree".
Trivia[]
- Kaede is symbolized by falling autumn leaves. He also has a golden stylized maple leaf on the back of his vest.
- His transformation ability is a reference to the Super Saiyan state in the Dragon Ball series, and has been likened to Rock Howard since the latter's first appearance; Terry's win quote against him in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum has him mistaking him for Rock.
- Even in the Maximum Impact games, Kaede's primary outfit used as an extra color for Rock Howard.
- His awakened version also is similar to Ryo Sakazaki. Coincidentally, Kaede is a striker for Ryo in The King of Fighters 2000.
- Even in the Maximum Impact games, Kaede's primary outfit used as an extra color for Rock Howard.
- Kaede and Gaisei's katana, Hayatemaru, tying into Kaede's autumn leaf motif, even has its hand guard/tsuba's internal shape stylized as a maple leaf in higher detailed artworks.
- In the character popularity poll on Neo Geo Freak's website, his awakened state was voted as the ninth favorite character with a total of 1,028 votes. In the same poll, his normal form occupied the fourteenth spot with 896 votes.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Official character profile from The Last Blade 2.
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