Benkei Musashibou (武蔵坊 弁慶)is a new character introducedinMaji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! S and one of the main heroines or love interests forYamato NaoeMaji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai! A-1. She is one of the new transfer students in Kawakami Academy. Benkei is one of the 4 clones of the Bushido Plan. True to her name she is the clone of the original Benkei. She transferred directly to class 2-S along with Yoshitsune Minamoto and Yoichi Nasuno thanks to their incredible skills in both fighting and studies (to be a member of class 2-S, one is not only required to have strength, but also intellect).
Benkei has two friends that also transferred along with her to Kawakami Academy, Yoshitsune and Yoichi. Although she tends to tease Yoshitsune a lot she is very loyal to her. The three of them are living in the Kuki Mansion.
She and her two friends were cloned from three actual historical figures by the Kuki Corporation for their skills in combat, and transferred to Kawakami Academy where they are assembling all the prominent young fighters they can find.
Appearance[]
Benkei is a pale-skinned girl with wavy black or dark ash hair that goes past her waist, purple eyes and it has been said by some of the Kazama Family members that Benkei looks a lot like Momoyo Kawakami (they even have the same way of sometimes greeting a beautiful girl by grabbing her bust and measuring the size; a trait that Momoyo is proven to be a centimeter bigger than Benkei, granting her a win when they first met). Benkei carries a staff that she uses to fight and a gourd bottle in her left hand containing Kawakami Water (taken that her historical origin was a strong man who loved to drink sake).
She wears a messy-looking uniform with pantyhose and black shoes.
Personality[]
Benkei is fond of Kawakami Water, however, it was mentioned by one of their teachers that the drink appears to be non-alcoholic, although people could be drunk at the city's atmosphere when drinking it, allowing students like Benkei to drink it even when in school. She also likes food that goes well with her favorite drink (often only admiring the dish due to it being a good pairing for her Kawakami Water), and is also very good at playing shogi (Japanese chess).
In her own route, it is revealed that, even though Benkei is an older sister to Yoshitsune, Benkei depended a lot on Yoshitsune. This made her unable to go against her master. Also when she is separated from her for more than 3 days, Benkei gets nervous thinking that is she worried about Yoshitsune. In reality, Benkei herself missed her a lot, making her unable to think straight and showing some behavior like a lost child. However, things would change as long as Yamato was Benkei's boyfriend.
Background[]
Benkei, Yoshitsune Minamoto and Yoichi Nasuno were born in the same day and have been friends since a young age since they were cloned, but they still share the master-vassal relationship and commitment to each other, calling Yoshitsune master. Since Yoshitsune is really shy and often pressured, due to the fact that they are clones of figures from the past, often causing her to be embarrassed, Benkei usually helps her correct herself albeit that Benkei often takes delight at seeing many expressions of Yoshitsune's cute face. Yoichi sometimes calls Benkei "older sister" and is afraid of her whenever she's angry at him for getting Yoshitsune into an embarrassing situation for a lord.
Story[]
Majikoi A-1[]
Benkei's Route[]
After the party Yamato Naoe and Monshiro Kuki held for the clones, Yamato has been coming to the “Laze About Club” more often, to the point of sleeping there as well. During one of the day Yamato and Benkei started working in a bar where the Kuki servants and the teachers usually go in night. Benkei became fond of the place.
Later in the story there was a beach tournament. Near the end there's a swimming race to a rock, Yamato found Benkei floating in the water, to his surprise Benkei began using Yamato as a floatie to go back to the land, Benkei is petted by Yamato while she rides on his back while he's swimming, as they reach the shore Yamato asked Benkei to let go of him, or else people might get the wrong idea of them, Benkei instead reject his offer, stating that she’s fine with what people think about her and Yamato, which became the start of their relationship advancing.
After the watersports festival, Benkei and Yamato participated in a fight which, Usami, Kazama and Cookie try to stop Bunta Musashi, Kosugi Musashi's uncle, from winning, since the Manager of the bookshop Kazama frequently goes to will be closed if they lose. During the fight, it was Yamato turn against Tatsuko Itagaki, instead of fighting him, Tatsuko hugged him for the entire match, while Yamato had to pretend, he was getting hurt, when the battle ended, Yamato returned and asked for a cup of Kawakami Water from Benkei, she rejects his request. As the battle continues, Benkei demonstrated a technique that makes her as strong as a Master class martial artist for a small amount of time, defeating Tadashi Nabeshima. After the battle was settled, Benkei decided that it was dangerous not going forward with their relationship since there are already some girls interested on Yamato. When Yamato came to the clubroom for the day, Benkei
Benkei decided to passively confess to him, by getting herself drunk on purpose and commenting to him things like if he would like other boys to pet her or if they looked like a couple to others. Yamato instantly gets the message and decides to confess to her, and they start going out.
Abilities and Skills[]
In both Majikoi! S and in her own route in Majikoi! A, she has shown to be a very strong fighter who possesses physical strength that rivals Momoyo Kawakami and Tatsuko Itagaki. She is also shown to be very smart, easily reaching the top 3 in her exam scores, rivaling Touma Aoi and Hideo Kuki and also very good at playing shogi (Japanese chess).
Immense Speed: In Majikoi! S, people first thought Benkei was a power-class type like the original Musashibou Benkei. But during her own route in Majikoi A, it has been shown that she is more a speed/technique-type fighter than a power type, being able to keep up with Margit Eberbach with her eye-patch removed. Homura stated after their short duel, that although she may look like a power-type only, all her techniques have sharpness and speed which are unexpected.
Monstrous Strength: In Majikoi! S and Majikoi! A, it has been shown that she possesses great physical strength. She easily threw Yoichi from the school roof to the school swimming pool. She can also easily overpower martial artist like Chris, Miyako and Kazuko with brute strength alone. In her route, in a beach wrestling match, she easily sends every single combatant flying out of the ring and onto the water, some of the girls being ten times her size and mass. One notable feat is during Majikoi S where she pushed back Margit Eberbach with her guard up (which, as she claims herself, is like a castle wall) several meters back with a light hit. Even taking a hit on the shoulder like it was nothing and proceeds to lift her up whole-bodily.
Expert Staff User: She is a very proficient staff wielder, which she can use with power and speed against single or multiple opponents. She can also use weapons that are similar to her staff in the same way, such as using a mop in her route.
Techniques[]
Adamantine Charge: Only shown during her own route and in Seiso Hazakura/Xiang Yu's .She utilizes a special technique as her last resort which will make her able to fight at least matched with master-class people like Momoyo for 3 minutes and even gaining upper hand. The technique is a reenactment of the last stand from the history of Benkei and Yoshitsune. According to Seiso, the stronger foe and the more desperate the situation is, Benkei's abilities will get stronger. Kyouguku noticed that the technique is similar to an adrenaline rush but in it's ultimate form. During her route she became so strong that she was able to defeat Nabeshima Tadashi (who is also a strong master-class fighter) easily in 10 seconds and her overpowering ki could be felt anywhere within Kawakami City.
Although this technique is very powerful, it has a few drawbacks:
- To utilize this technique she needs to be in a desperate situation, which means in most cases she needs to take blows and getting low on strength without getting herself taken out. This can be quite a risk to take.
- Before she can use the technique she needs to concentrate for a few seconds while chanting the technique. In a duel this can be dangerous, since she leaves herself open for a few seconds.
- Normally this technique lasts 3 minutes, but if the difference in strength gain and what her body can take is too big, then the duration of the technique will shorten. Prime example is her fight with Nabeshima where she gained so much strength, that she could defeat Nabeshima easily in 10 sec, but afterwards she stated that her strength worn off after a minute.
- After the technique Benkei herself won't be able to fight for a few hours, so she needs to finish her opponent while the technique lasts or else she is finished.
Etymology[]
Like her friends, Benkei is based on a historical monk and one of the most renowned in Japanese culture, Musashibou no Benkei who fought in the Genpei War, and was a loyal retainer of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Benkei is known for having died while standing (rigor mortis or stiffening of the body after death happens faster when a person dies just after a great deal of physical movement, leaving him standing when he died during battle).
- The name Benkei means "valve" (弁) (ben) and "congratulate" (慶) (kei).
- Benkei's surname Musashibou means "military, martial" (武) (mu), "to hide" (蔵) (sashi) and "priest's lodge" (坊) (bou).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the final popularity poll on Minatosoft's website for Majikoi! A, of the current female characters in the series, Benkei is ranked #3.
- In the first Majikoi! A poll, she was ranked #4.
- In the Majikoi! S poll, she was ranked #2.
- Benkei stated in Majikoi! S that she has a certain disease when not drinking Kawakami Water.
- In her own route in Majikoi! A-1, it is proven that when not drinking Kawakami Water for a longer period she will show symptoms of a person in need of rehabilitation.
- Benkei own room in the Kuki Mansion is unlike Yoshitsune, showing more of a western style and she also has a sake bottle collection in her room.
- It is hinted that maybe Benkei has a crush on Yamato Naoe in other routes and that she can be jealous about this.
- In her own route during the battle for the land of the Kawakami bookstore, when Tatsuko Itagaki was bearhugging Yamato, to people from afar it looked painful although up close she was just hugging him, seeing this she got jealous and refused to share her Kawakami Water.
- During Tsubame Matsunaga's route, when Yamato takes the lead, Benkei is informed of their relationship, Benkei seems very disappointed.
- During Azumi Oshitari's marriage scene, her congratulations sounded monotonous. During Stacy's route when Yamato reveals he has feelings for a girl, Benkei's attitude becomes cold.
- During Jinchu Lee's route while eavesdropping on a conversation between Benkei and Yoshitsune during a school trip, Benkei says she interested in Yamato.
- During Lin Chong's route she even tries to sexually seduce Yamato, although unsuccessfully due to intrusion .She seems to realize early on that she's stuck in the Yoshitsune's route. When her boss inevitably ends up dating the guy she likes, she says she's going to go get drunk.
- In Yoshitsune Minamoto route she expressed jealousy towards Yamato when Yoshitsune spent more time with Yamato while also being crushed from inside due to the fact her master is dating the guy she's in love with. Depending on your very last choice in her route, though, you can be in a relationship with both of them.
- In Seiso Hazakura/Xiang Yu's route, when the Xiang Yu sits behind Yamato in a class and glares at him, Benkei seems to be annoyed.
- After Yamato marries Monshiro Kuki, while Benkei is playing at a festival she gets depressed when once she realizes he's Yamato Kuki now, not Yamato Naoe. She leaves immediately.
- In the alternate ending of Lin Chong's route in Majikoi Plus, Benkei joins Liangshan Yi to be with Yamato Naoe.
- Some fans call Benkei's hair "sex hair"because her hair is disheveled to the point that it resembles a woman after sleeping with a man.
- It is also mentioned that her hair is sometimes easily mistaken for a handful of seaweeds as Yamato easily mistakes her hair for a bunch of seaweeds during a swimming exercise in her own route.