| Shisho | |
|---|---|
 Shisho in Episode 4. | |
| Status | Deceased |
| Affiliations | Orchestra |
| Occupation | Assassin |
| Weapons | Various |
| Manga debut | Chapter 6 |
| Anime debut | Episode 3 |
| Japanese voice | Tsuyoshi Koyama (anime) Hisao Egawa (drama CD) |
| English voice | Christopher Sabat |
"Shisho" (師匠 Shishō?), meaning "Master", "Maestro" or "Teacher" in Japanese, was an unnamed man who was the last original member of Orchestra, an international team of assassins. He and Chinatsu were the antagonists of the Musica Ex Machina Arc.
Appearance[]
Shisho was a fair skinned man with short, medium coloured hair and a goatee with light coloured eyes. In the anime he has medium brown hair and brown eyes. One of his most notable physical characteristics was his teeth, with were all sharp, suggestive of his predatory nature. He always wore a gold crucifix and typically wore a shirt and pants, adding sunglasses when in Dubai. His appearance is most likely a reference to the infamous video game franchise Postal
Personality[]
A close-up of Shisho in Episode 3.
As suggested by his sharp teeth, Shisho was a predator and enjoyed engaging in firefights with his targets. He is suggested to have been psychopathic in the anime, as demonstrated by his massacre of the attendees at an opera because he did not enjoy the prima donna's singing. Incongruously however, he also wore a crucifix which he kissed following this event. One of his biggest weaknesses was his tendency to be brash as well as to mock and underestimate his opponents. Shisho believed in the Orchestra ethos that various weapons functioned as "instruments" to be played depending on the circumstances and tended to use musical metaphors when talking about a mission.
Relationships[]
Chinatsu protecting Shisho with a ballistic shield as he fires.
The relationship between Chinatsu and Shisho was hinted at in the manga following his death which completely unnerved her. She berated him for ruining up her life and leaving her while in tears and vowed revenge on Koko's Squad. The relationship was given more complexity in the anime, in which Shisho was shown as having killed Chinatsu's parents, but was impressed after she had shot him and decided to spare her although he could easily have killed her. He took Chinatsu under his wing and trained her to become a first rate assassin, growing to implicitly trust her judgment, and the two made a formidable combination.
Abilities[]
Shisho was proficient with a variety of firearms, especially light machine guns and assault rifles. His combat style, characteristic of Orchestra, emphasised overwhelming the opposition with firepower. However he had a tendency to get caught up in a firefight and lacked the same degree of situational awareness that Chinatsu had, making him reliant on her to protect him and act as a cooler head. He could also speak fluent Italian, suggesting that he was Italian himself.
History[]
One of the eight original members of Orchestra, Shisho was the last one left after his fellow assassins were killed. How he and Chinatsu began working together was not explained in the manga and the only hint was when upon Shisho's death, Chinatsu cried out that he messed up her life.
Shisho kisses Chinatsu in Episode 4.
The anime provides a backstory on the pair's meeting. Chinatsu attended an opera performance with her parents that Shisho was also present at. During the performance, he shot the prima donna dead because he disliked her singing before pulling out an IMI Negev he had concealed under his trench coat, firing into the audience. Chinatsu's parents were killed while shielding her. When Shisho stopped firing, Chinatsu picked up his his pistol and shot in in the shoulder Stunned to see someone still alive who had not fled, Shisho boldly approached Chinatsu while she still had the pistol leveled at him. However she could not fire again out of fear, and when he got next to her, Shisho took her face in his free hand and kissed her cheek, telling her that the gunshot was a nice sound.[1]
Shisho and Chinatsu's first mission together in a flashback in Episode 4.
The first job that Shisho and Chinatsu did together was to target a mafia boss who lived across a river, which they had to ford. Chinatsu did not like the feeling of her wet clothes below the waist, so she secretly took her underwear off and on that day was spot on with her shooting. Shisho praised her for killing more people than him and she began to believe that going commando made her more accurate, disdaining to wear underwear when on a mission since, although he did not learn about this habit of hers until later.
Plot[]
Musica Ex Machina Arc[]
Orchestra sets up their target for a tortuous death.
Shisho and Chinatsu tracked down one of their mafioso targets to the desert of the United Arab Emirates outside Dubai and wiped out his guards but kept him alive to prepare him for a tortuous death. Shisho was openly disappointed that het had fled to such a remote place and let them down by being so easy to take down, claiming that a fish on a hook put up more of a fight. After Chinatsu finished rigging a pistol with a timer to fire into the mafioso's leg, he used some straps to secure the man to a chair so that he could not escape. As they walked back to Dubai, he told Chinatsu that they would pick up their next contract while they were in the area. She refused to tell him where her panties were and offered to seduce him, but he flatly rejected the idea as she was too young for him.
In Dubai Shisho pointed out to Chinatsu in Italian that a killer needed to walk while looking at the sky and give himself a broad view unless he was searching for land mines. He then told Chinatsu to get rid of her hat as it impeded her vision, but she refused. When she saw Jonah Chinatsu tried to point him out to Shisho but the former had vanished. Shisho reminded her that they needed to focus as their target was in the city. This turned out to be none other than Koko Hekmatyar, who Chinatsu confronted when she and Valmet were admiring a high end designer watch in a store window. Koko's unexpected angry reaction forced Chinatsu to back off, allowing Shisho to take a shot at her from a nearby cafe table. However this was foiled by Jonah leaping off the roof and landing on the umbrella of the table that Shisho was at, spoiling his aim. Shisho continued firing to keep the two pinned down while he had Chinatsu cover Valmet.
Chinatsu deflects Shisho's aim.
The arrival of the Dubai Police Force momentarily distracted Orchestra but they were handled when Chinatsu used her Chinatsu Cannon Special against them. Valmet was able to grab a ballistic shield and hit Shisho in the shoulder, prompting him to turn an AKS-47 on her. One of the shots punched through the shield and hit her in the leg but she was able to make it to where Koko and Jonah were. After seeing Valmet apologise to Koko for not being able to help, Jonah tried to take on Orchestra by himself and charged them head on while firing his MP5K. Shisho eagerly took him on and Jonah was nearly on top of them before he was snagged by a hook and rope thrown by Lehm while Chinatsu deflected Shisho's aim, claiming that Jonah was too cute to kill. A police sniper team then tried to deploy on a nearby building but they were too close and were spotted and quickly wiped out by Shisho, who boasted that they would need a long range sniper rifle to be taken out.
Lehm then fired at Orchestra to cover Jonah and Koko's escape but Chinatsu blocked his shots with the shield that she had picked up. Shisho helped brace the shield due to the stopping power of Lehm's Heckler & Koch Mark 23 and returned fire, yelling at Lehm to stop ruining his magnum opus by mixing in the wrong sounds. Lehm was amused with the musical analogy and countered that a gunfight was a farting contest: messy, loud, and shameful. Shisho ran out of ammunition and Chinatsu convinces him to pull back or they would lose Koko. As they fell back he wondered why she did not use her Chinatsu Cannon Special but she had run out of grenades. Chinatsu reminded Shisho that they still had a machine gun, which cheered him up and he responded by praising Chinatsu. They then decided to also kill Jonah.
Shisho shoots it out with Koko's Squad.
With Chinatsu driving their GMC Sierra, Shisho took up position in the bed armed with an IMI Negev. They caught up to where Koko and Jonah were running along the waterfront shielded by the CR-V carrying four of the bodyguards and Shisho traded fire with R, Mao, and Valmet but neither party hit anyone. Chinatsu circled around and approached to deploy the M2 Browning mounted in the crew cab. However Jonah pushed Koko into the harbour and they were not hit, although the CR-V was hammered and Ugo was forced to crash it. The Sierra had been heavily damaged by R and Mao and Orchestra had to abandon it.
Lutz fires a head shot to insure that Shisho is dead.
They positioned themselves adjacent to a shipping crate and Shisho fired at Jonah when he took a peek over the harbour wall. After Jonah fired his pistol at them Chinatsu's hat was shot off and she sensed that something was wrong, causing her to beg Shisho to fall back. However, he brushed off her warning and stepped out, getting shot through the heart by Lutz. To make sure that Shisho was dead after he had fallen to his knees, Wiley had Lutz follow up with a head shot.
Chinatsu was devastated by Shisho's death, screaming that he had ruined her life and now left her alone. She was so distraught that she wandered into the open but Lutz could not bring himself to shoot her and instead he disabled the dropped Negev when Wiley noticed his hesitation. The shot drove Chinatsu to the ground and she retrieved Shisho's crucifix and Beretta 8000 and was able to escape despite being fired at by Lehm and Tojo, bidding Shisho farewell while fleeing in the back of a passing pickup truck.
Three days later Chinatsu made another attempt to go after Koko but was met by her on the roof of her hotel at night, with Lehm covering her, although Chinatsu did not know Koko's backup was. After agreeing to trade information, she revealed why she had stopped wearing underwear on her missions going back to what had happened on the first hit she and Shisho did together. Koko tried to recruit her, but Chinatsu replied that she would never forgive her and would target her again. She made an attempt to shoot Koko but was shot by Lehm. After her death Koko placed Shisho's crucifix in her left hand and placed it over her chest before closing her eyes.
Anime and manga differences[]
- Valmet runs out with her gun drawn while Koko confronts Chinatsu, causing Shisho to fire as soon as she levels it.
- Shisho's response to getting hit by Valmet and returning fire is faster.
Trivia[]
- Shisho placed 28th in a character poll conducted by Sunday GX which ran from June through September 2012.[2]