Kuroudou Akabane

Kurodou Akabane (赤屍蔵人 Akabane Kurodō) is a fictional character in the manga / anime series Get Backers. In the original Japanese version, he's voiced by Nobuo Tobita.

Person

Akabane works as a "Transporter" ("hakobiya" in Japanese), a job where he is paid to escort things to a certain location. Entertainment is his main goal, not money, and the jobs he takes are chosen exclusively for amusement purposes. He likes to decapitate his enemies while engaging them in battle, a practice that many of the other characters see as going too far. His first encounter with the GetBackers was when he was on duty in the "Platinum Melon" arc. He fought with Amano Ginji and lost to him (Discovering that Akabane hides his scapels within his body, Ginji used his electromagnetic powers to pull all of them out of his body in one shot.). Since then, he has shown a lot of interest in fighting again with Ginji Amano and Ban Mido.

Subsequently, he has often fought against the duo, even if they are supposed to be on the same side (In the IL arc, he fought against Ginji in the hope that he would revert back to Raitei.). Also, Ginji became extremely fearful of him, when Akabane told him that he could change the material which his scalpels are made up of into anything, more importantly, into non-magnetic ones, thus rendering his winning strategy in the first fight useless. Often, he will turn chibi in the presence of Akabane. But against Ban he suffered ultimate defeat even after calling for his "Bloody Sword".

With his attire (black hat and coat, complete with shirt and black tie) and polite manners, he could be mistaken for a harmless person. But for those who even remotely heard of his name, they know that the Jackal is possibly the most evil hakobiya to ply his trade ever.

Abilities

He uses lots of scalpels as his primary weapon, and while it was first thought that he simply hid them under his long coat, it was later revealed that he actually hides them inside his body. Also, if he feels that the opponent is worth it, he will wield a sword created from his own blood. His healing capability is one of the most powerful in the series (After his first fight with Ginji, it took him just a short while to fully recover).

One of his most spectacular attacks is "Bloody Rain", where he empties all 108 scalpels in his body out into the open, and directs them to a single target.

His Bloody Cross is also a unique part of his powers: By laying his palm outwards, a cross like pattern will appear, and cause his opponent to be cleaved into 4 quarters as though they were sliced by a cross-shaped knife. So far, he's only used it twice: against Kagami (who survived by letting his mirror double take the hit) and Kanade Semimaru (who was later nailed to a tree with Akabane's scaples and stuck there until Haruki Kaoru healed him).

All this, combined with a surgical mind and great speed, make him one of the most feared men in Ura Shinjuku.

Trivia

Kagami refers to Jackal as "Babylon City's Kurodou Akabane" so it is safe to assume he was, at one point, a resident of the upper towers. His reason for leaving is currently unknown but it may be that he was bored. Akabane states that his motives are to find someone who can test the limits of his power - something he himself has never seen.

It has been revealed that he used to be a real doctor. While on a stint in a foreign battlefield, he failed to save a young boy's life despite his efforts. The change to his current personality could have been influenced by this event. He battled the young boy's father (Senimaru) in the Kiryuudo arc.

He's been seen with the Professor several times, a hint that he might be one of those responsible for the series of events concerning the GB duo, though he denies this when the Professor questions him