| Kureha Shinogi | |
 | |
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Kanji Name | 鎬 紅葉 |
| Kana Name | しのぎ くれは |
| First Appearance | |
| Anime | Killer Instinct |
| Manga | The Tiger!! |
| Information | |
| Origin | Japan |
| Age | About 30 |
| Hair Color | Red |
| Height | 184 cm (6'0") |
| Weight | 131 kg (289 lbs) |
| Fighting Style | Athlete Style |
| Original Dub | Mitsuru Miyamoto (2001) Yukie Maeda (2001, Young) Ken Narita (2018) |
| English Dub | Mark Lancaster (2001) Matthew Yang King (2018) |
| Relations | Koushou Shinogi (Brother) |
| “ | I'm not aiming to just avenge you. That's boring. I simply wish to test my research results in the fighting world. | ” |
– Kureha to Koushou Shinogi. | ||
Kureha Shinogi (鎬 紅葉, Shinogi Kureha) is a fictional character from anime and manga series of Baki the Grappler. He is a surgical genius able to do surgical wonders, such as restarting a heart barehanded without piercing the skin, and a fighter with a powerful body. Kureha is the older brother of Koushou Shinogi.
He is known as the "Super Doctor" (スーパー・ドクター, Sūpā Dokutā).
Personality[]
He's very narcissistic and overly self-confident. Kureha is also an eloquent person with a calm and gentle way of being. At first, he considered all martial artists to be amateurs in the world of human anatomy. He is proud and builds the strength of his body on his own through rigorous weight training. He claims to have the perfect body with all the traits of several Olympic level athletes, the speed of a sprinter, the endurance of a marathon runner, the flexibility of an amateur wrestler and the reaction time and hitting strength of a heavyweight boxer. He claimed that his knowledge of the human body was enough to show his superiority over martial arts. He also believed himself strong enough to hold his own against Yuujirou Hanma before being defeated by Baki Hanma. He seemed to be quite nice at times and even saved Doppo Orochi's life of his own free will, but in fact his concern was only because he wanted to arrogantly present himself as a genius among amateurs. It turned out that he even hated all fighters, which is why he wanted to destroy Baki in the blink of an eye during their fight and show everyone his superiority. He was extremely upset that martial arts can be considered as something better than medical knowledge.
At first, he had no criticism of himself. He did not see his own mistake when he was accused of cruelty to his patients, whom he treated as ordinary guinea pigs during his medical experiments. Moreover, he was angry at his patients for not being grateful for the surgeries he'd performed. When he lost the match with Baki, he began to be more humble and changed his attitude towards other people, reducing his arrogance's level. He's still narcissistic, but it is shown he does care for the health of others. Like when he warned Jack Hanma to stop using his drugs or he will die. Although at first Jack bravely and brazenly ignored him, Kureha later started to help him "improve" Jack's physical abilities and they even became some kind of friends.
Kureha loves his brother, Koushou, but in the beginning he always treated him as someone worse and weaker. He was constantly looking at him patronizingly, which led to a huge amount of frustration in Koushou. Kureha's attitude was sometimes even a combination of care and cold severity towards his brother. He cruelly said he is the only person who had the right to hurt Koushou. An important situation in this relationship was their fight in the Underground Arena, when Kureha seemed to finally begin to see his brother's suffering and was moved by his incredible determination in this clash. Then Kureha surrendered and gave Koushou the victory in the fight, symbolically showing that Koushou finally came out of the shadow of his older brother.
Appearance[]
Kureha is a tall and extremely muscular man. Like many other characters in the series he has a thick neck and very wide shoulders, though he has a smaller waist compared to some and a more feminine face. He has pale skin. His hair is a darker orange-red shade, worn long and goes to a little below his shoulders with two bangs framing his face on either side. In third season he has a few loose strands in the middle as well. In the Underground Arena Saga, he sometimes wore a headband on his forehead. He has slightly narrow brown eyes with longer lashes, and quite feminine lips.
His combat outfit consists only of short tight blue shorts. In the manga he also wears sports shoes during his matches, and in the fight against Baki he also wore fingerless gloves. In the third season he is mostly seen wearing a grey button up shirt and dark trousers. In previous appearances he has worn a wider range of outfits including but not limited to vests, shorts, trousers, cropped shirts and high collared shirts. He has also been seen wearing glasses in the past.
History[]
Baki the Grappler[]
Underground Arena Saga[]
Once upon a time, a tiger is murdered in some Tokyo circus at night. On the second day, the dead body of the tiger is viewed by Doppo Orochi who finds that the animal was killed with some human's bare hands. Soon it turns out that Kureha Shinogi did it. He is shown for the first time in a scene where he appears in the hospital with a smile on his face, telling one of the nurses that he was on a "hunt". A moment later, Mitsunari Tokugawa organizes Baki's duel with Kureha in the Underground Arena. The match will take place on the day of the big Doppo and Yuujirou Hanma battle in Tokyo Dome. The day before the two matches, Kureha meets Koushou at the gym. The younger brother is concerned about Kureha's struggle, knowing an abilities of Baki, who has already defeated Kosho in the arena. Kureha claims he don't want to fight Baki to avenge his brother, saying it would be boring. He tells him that he does it only to test his theory, which tells that his powerful body and anatomical knowledge are enough to prove that martial arts are weaker than medicine. At the gym, Kureha meets Vale, a professional wrestler who provokes him and calls Kureha an effeminate. Koushou's angry. They start a short fight in which Kureha knocks out the wrestler with a powerful suplex. The younger brother is delighted how powerful Kureha is.
Kureha punching Baki Hanma.
On the day of the match, Kureha is warming up extremely intensively in the locker-room where his brother accompanies him. When Doppo Orochi almost dies in battle with Yuujirou, the doctor of the Underground Arena turns out to be unable to improve the health condition of the karateka, whose heart has been stopped, but unexpectedly Shinogi Kureha enters the medical room and saves Doppo's life by restoring his heart action. Kureha tells terrified Baki that it was the "lecture on revival", and in the ring he will present him the "lecture on destruction". When the fight begins, Kureha is the first one that enters the arena and does a show of his power, causing a thermoform to burst through the strength of his lungs and tearing a tire in front of everyone. Baki enters the ring without a drop of sweat on his body, showing that he did not warm up before the fight. Despite this, he deals the first blow and bombards Kureha with a brutal rush. It turns out that just before the start of the fight, Shinogi's former patients came to Baki's locker-room and told him that Kureha had damaged their bodies instead of helping them by performing his medical experiments on them. It made Baki terribly angry. The fighters stops the fight in the arena for a while and Kureha starts talking to Yasuko and other patients who are in the audience. He's mad at them for not being grateful for the work he's done for them. When the fighters continue, Kureha attacks Baki with the power of his muscles, but it doesn't work, so he starts his "lecture on destruction", focusing on the different vital points of the opponent. Then he performs his special technique called Dashin, and Baki falls to the ground. Suddenly, Kureha unexpectedly provokes Yuujirou Hanma, who watches the fight in the audience. The Ogre jumps in the middle of the arena and Kureha wants to challenge him, but then Baki gets up and tells his father not to interfere. The young champion uses a powerful technique called Goutaijutsu and defeats Kureha, who ends up with a seriously damaged stomach. After the fight, the arena doctor says that in order to save Kureha, they need someone who has the same blood type and agrees to give him. It turns out that Yasuko is able to help and decides to give some blood for Kureha.
Maximum Tournament Saga[]
Kureha fighting Koushou Shinogi.
Kureha is participating in the Maximum Tournament. His opponent in the first round is his brother, Koushou. Everybody thinks it's an act of fate, but it turns out that Kureha planned it with Tokugawa. Koushou gets mad when he finds out about it. The older brother tells him he's doing it out of fear for him, saying he's the only one who has the right to hurt his younger brother. At the beginning of the fight, Koushou attacks him with normal karate strikes, but soon he uses his Cord-Cut technique and takes his brother eyesight in both eyes. However, Kureha performs surgery on himself in the ring and restores his eyesight. The younger brother starts to feel fear and loses confidence, going back for a while with his mind to the childhood, crying and begging for forgiveness. Kureha calms down, smiles and, with condescending pity, tells him that he is no longer angry. But then some fierce determination suddenly wakes up in the younger brother who gives him a powerful kick. Kureha gets mad and uses Dashin. Koushou doesn't fall, so Kureha attacks Dashin straight in the face. Unfortunately, even this turns out to be not enough to break the younger brother's implacability. Kureha sees her brother's frustration and he is moved. He decides to show him his good heart and appreciate his efforts. He hugs him and gives him the victory in battle, so Koushou goes to the second round.
At some point Yuujirou Hanma enters the middle of the ring and starts to make a fuss, disturbing the tournament. Suddenly Kureha and other fighters who lost in the first round enter the arena. The doctor tells him that if he wants a fight, then he should face the first round's losers. When Yuujirou is about to start fighting Kureha, Koushou unexpectedly appears, wanting to defend his brother and tries to attack the Ogre from behind. Yuujirou decides to ignore Kureha, telling him that he no longer stands a chance in the fight the Ogre, and turns to Koushou (although ultimately there is no fight anyway).
Kureha vs Jack Hanma.
Before the start of the tournament's final fight, Kureha meets with Jack Hanma and tells him that he knows his secret. He's trying to warn Jack about continuing to take drugs that could soon completely destroy his body and even kill him. But Jack ignores his suggestion with a mocking smile. The conversation turns into a short power test in which Kureha is quickly defeated. The fighters arm wrestles, but Jack easily wins, even though Kureha is trying to use both hands. Jack leaves, and Kureha screams that if Jack takes another dose of the drug, he will die in the next match. When Jack experiences an overdose in the final battle and his body starts to deform, worried Kureha enters the ring and tries to stop him from continuing the fight, but Jack suddenly performs one powerful blow, throwing Kureha off the arena fence. The defeated doctor lies unconscious in the audience and can't do anything anymore.
Baki[]
Most Evil Death Row Convicts Saga[]
Kureha treats his brother after Koushou's fight with Hector Doyle. He then talks to Jack about Koushou's battle with Doyle.
Hanma Baki[]
He discovers Baki's demon shaped brain and talks to Mitsunari Tokugawa about it.
Abilities[]
Shinogi Kureha is a physical and mental genius and, as such, has sculpted his body into the perfect physical specimen. He trains to develop the perfect body with the reactions and strengths of a champion boxer, the speed of a world-class sprinter, the plasticity of an amateur wrestler, and the stamina of a marathon runner, yet he does not have any known formal training in a martial art like his younger brother. To acquire all of these traits at once is to go beyond the modern athlete. He can even haul a ton in powerlifting. His speed allowing him to run circles around his opponents. One moment he's on the other side of the ring, the next, he's punching you in the face. Kureha is very strong and has very high stamina, he can hold himself in midair for a long period of time; he can tear a tire with his muscles just by stretching it; he can make a water pillow explode by blowing it and finally, he managed to kill a tiger with his own bare hands; a feat that has also been done by Doppo Orochi, a powerful Shinshinkai Karate master. In the Maximum Tournament, his fighting style is listed as "Athlete".
He is also a surgical genius able to do surgeries that normally take several hours in only 30 minutes, though he does not have a license, but his supernatural surgical skill is remarkable enough to make hospitals and authorities to ignore this fact. He can use his medical skills on his opponents to break their bones, damage their organs and make concussion to their brain very easy. Kureha can control his muscles to concentrate it to his upper body, make him look like a moving fortress of muscles. He also managed to save Doppo from dying who got punched in the heart so hard by Yuujirou Hanma he nearly flatlined. In the Maximum Tournament, he fights his younger brother Koushou, and despite losing his eyesight when Shinogi severed two of his cords, he surgically fixed his nerves during his fight.
Techniques[]
- Suplex – used once against Vale.
- Dashin – Kureha's signature technique; used against Baki Hanma, for example.
- Slap – used once against Koushou Shinogi.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the English dub of the TV series, he is known as "Kureha Kosho", due to a translation mixup with his brother's first name and family name.
- This character is similar to Amiba from "Fist of the North Star". Both of these characters are doctors/medical professionals and use their medical knowledge in battle. They also have quite similar appearance and similar character traits, such as arrogance and excessive pride.