Kiyomasa Senji

Senji Kiyomasa a.k.a Crow is one of the major supporting characters in the series and a Deadman previously imprisoned in Deadman Wonderland. He is the first Deadman Ganta encountered. He has trained Ganta and helped him on multiple occasions.

Appearance
Senji is a tall, muscular man with a medium-dark tan. He has short black hair in spikes to the back. He has the letters DSMK tattooed above his right eye, in memory of his former team-mates.

When he was still a police officer, he wore the standard police uniform. In Deadman Wonderland, he wore the regular prisoner uniform. When he was put in G-Ward, he changed his clothes into dark blue pants with a black belt and a black, long coat. After his Carnival Corpse with Ganta, he lost his right eye and now wears a black eyepatch. He also has two rings with serrated blades in them to slice open his forearms; he wears these on his thumbs. Recently, Senji has lost most of his right arm in his battle with Hagire, the only remains being from his bicep to his shoulder.

Personality
He seems to thoroughly enjoy violence, and his favorite phrase is "Dead Center" ("On target" in the Tokyopop translation; "Bang" in the manga scanlations or "Ssslice" in the anime fansubs; ズッパシ, zuppashi in the Japanese original). Despite his wild and battle-hungry attitude, he does have a sense of honor and respects strength and determination. He also appears to be against the idea of needless killing, having opted to leave Ganta alone on their first encounter when he made no effort to defend himself against Senji.

In an ironic twist, Senji becomes flustered and embarrassed when a woman acts immodest. When he first notices Shiro's form fitting body tights, his face becomes red and he gives her his coat telling her to quickly cover up.

History
Eight years before the start of the series, Senji worked as a police officer. After the Great Tokyo Earthquake, he and his colleagues Shindō, Momoi, Kan and his senpai Domon were assigned to Tokyo, in order to restore the peace. At that time, Senji already had his Branch of Sin and used it to defeat the thugs. Because of the efficiency Senji and his team operated, a lot of criminals wanted to kill them. They teamed up with Ikaduchi Akatsiki as their leader and challenged Senji. Senji's team protected him and went to the challenge alone, leaving Senji behind. When Senji finally arrived, the entire team was murdered, with the exception of Domon. He called Senji over and gave him a lecture about depending on others. "If depending on others is a speciality of kids, then acting all cool is a speciality of adults." He died soon after that.

Some time after that, Senji was taken to Deadman Wonderland and addressed a tattooist to tattoo the first letters of his team-mates' names above his right eye (DSMK).

Deadman arc
Senji`s first seen in a dark room messing around with his Branch of sin. While in the G-ward, Senji overhears a few people talking about a new Deadman called Woodpecker with an interesting power. This excites Senji as to find him and challange him to battle. After Ganta made his way to G Ward, Senji appears, destroying the giant steel door and the Necro Macro security robot which had been chasing Ganta, Shiro and Yō. He surprises everyone with his inhuman ability to slice through steel door with ease. Senji welcomes Ganta saying that hes been waiting for him to fight. Due to his power, Ganta mistakes him for the "Red Man" and tries to kill him with a pipe, where Senji counteracts with his Branch of Sin Crow Claw and shreds the pipe, leaving Ganta in a shock. After seeing Ganta`s fear, he decides to leave him be for not knowing that he needs to use blood for his Branch of Sin. As Senji leaves, angered Ganta uses his Branch of Sin and attacks Senji head on. Senji tries to block it with his Crow Claws, but it pierces through and strikes Senji in his chest, internaly wounding him, unknowingly. Senji introduces himself and commends Ganta on his performance, but declines that his the Red Man, saying that both of them can use the same ability. He explains to Ganta that Deadman are people who can control their blood outside their own body. He also adds that hes a stupid chield thinking that his the only one "Special". After a small skirmish and an interruption by Shiro, Senji was subdued by the Deadman security. In the infirmary, Crow finds out that the next match line up is him vs Ganta. Before getting too excited, Rei warns him that he cannot battle because Ganta broke his sternum bone and two of his ribs, where Crow assaults Rei telling her to stay out of his fight.

The next day. before the Carnival Corpse, while Crow is warming up, hes chest starts hurting again, noting that hes pumped for the battle. When the battle starts, Ganta tries running away to a higher place where Crows blades can`t reach him. Ganta climbs a tree and starts shooting his blood bullets, but Crow manages to deflect all of them, with Ganta ending up getting amenia. While Ganta hallucinates, Crow extends his Crow Claws and slices up the tree. With Ganta unable to fight, Crow toys with him, by cutting him up little by little. When he decides to leave, Ganta grabs him by the leg and gets up saying that he will not loose by getting punched around. As Crow prepares to deliver the final blow, Ganta shoots the giant speaker, which hurls down onto Crow. Crow slices up the speaker not realising that Ganta already came into point blank range, where he shoots Crow, breaking his chest and defeating him, leaving the crowd shocked. Despite Senji's experience and skill with his Branch of Sin, Ganta managed to win by fooling Senji.

As a consequence for losing, Senji's right eye was removed for research. He returns for a short time later during Ganta's next match, sporting an eyepatch and gives Ganta assistance with figuring out his opponent's techniques. He also helps Ganta understand his own capabilities. His change in personality toward Ganta is due to his respect for Ganta's strength. Senji comments that because Ganta beat him, he is not allowed to lose until they have a rematch. He later meets Ganta in the hallway, after his match with Minatsuki, telling Ganta to treat him to some ramen for winning. Crow complements him about his win against Hummingbird. Ganta feels sorry for his eye, to which Senji replies that it's "just another day at the office". He tells Ganta that he needs more variety in his attacks and mentions his Ganta Gun, a name he thought of himself. Ganta says that the name isn't cool enough. He wants something more like Aceman's attacks. Senji is surprised that Ganta knows Aceman, because that was an anime back in his childhood. Ganta tells him about how he and Shiro used to play Aceman. He tells Ganta that even tho his victories were dumb, they were still victories and that winning Carnival Corpse matches can be both good and bad.

Scar Chain Arc
While Senji`s boxing, Ganta approaches Senji, asking him about undertakers. Senji confirms that he knows about undertakers, but is shocked when Ganta mentions that they can neutralize their Branch of Sin, as well as furious at Ganta calling him stingy, because didnt call him for a battle. As Ganta continues with his story, he mentions that Nagi was there, which Ganta replies that Nagi has a score to settle with the undertakers. He tells Ganta about Nagi`s past, how Tamaki tricked him and his wife to fight each other, but Nagi lost on purpose to protect his wife and in the penalty game lost his vocal cords. But Tamaki had broken his promise, saying that he doesnt allow rigged matches and killed Nagi`s wife and his unborn child.

As Ganta and the remaining members of Scar Chain were attacked by Rokuro Bundō and several Undertakers and Ganta was about to be killed by Mōzuri Gazuchi and Shinagawa Dōkoku, Senji appears just in time to kill the two. Not realizing that he had already killed the stronger Undertakers there, Senji decides that the regular soldiers will do. He tries to slash an Undertaker and Rokuro Bundō, but soon finds out that it won't work. After listening to Rokuro boast about the Worm Eater's ability to negate Branches of Sin, Senji demonstrates his Invisible Black by chopping a soldier into bits, reasoning that the Worm Eater is ineffective against Branches of Sin with attacks that move at the speed of sound.

Afterwards, Karako Koshio and the rest of Scar Chain plead Senji to join their cause. Senji declines, stating that the outside is no different and that only the strong survive.

After the first Scar chain attempt to break out of Deadman Wonderland failed, Ganta comes to Senji, while he's training, and begs him to teach him how to use the supersonic Branch of Sin. Senji accepts, with letting Ganta know that if he wants to get stronger, he needs to kill his old self and start training. After a while, with Ganta exhausted and barely standing, Senji tells Ganta that if these were real fights he would have been dead 12 times already. To boosts he's self confidence and determination, Senji crushes Ganta`s candy and leaves one hanging on the rope telling Ganta that if he shoots it down he will get it back, but Senji will block his attacks with his Invisible Black. After a small break, Ganta returns to train with Senji. He also finds Yo and Minatsuki, who help Ganta to better understand the supersonic speed. Senji insults Minatsuki that Ganta doesn't need any help from her. In response, Minatsuki flashes Senji where he faints. Back to training, Ganta's coming close to anemia again but still manages to shoot his small blood bullet causing it to go supersonic surprising Senji. He thanks Senji and leaves.

Return to DW arc
On the mission in DW, Senji was paired up with Ganta and Mitsuzaki Yosuga. When they are attacked by Hagire Rinichirō, Senji is badly injured and is almost killed before Ganta agrees to go with Hagire to save Senji's life. Senji comments to Yosuga that he is "a little bit dying", but still persists in going after Ganta to save him.

He successfully broke the link between Hagire and Ganta, and orders Ganta to run, staying behind to hold off Chan and En. Senji at first manages to supposedly kill them, and runs after Hagire before he can continue the link with Ganta. Hagire quickly overpowers Senji, and questions why Senji bothers to risk his own life for Ganta so much. After remembering how much concern Ganta has shown for him all during their time at Deadman Wonderland, despite his weaknesses, Senji replies that it's because Ganta's "such an incredibly honest kid". Senji manages to get up and use his newly improved Crow Claws to nearly attack Hagire, only the have Chan and En block the attack, destroying both them and his right arm.

Hagire prepares to finally kill Senji, only to have his arm shot at with Ganta's new attack, "Fire-Blast-Limit-End-Zuppashi-Future-Ganta-Gun", preventing him from fatally injuring Senji any further. Ganta and Senji then proceed to use a joint attack to defeat Hagire, Ganta using the same kind of distraction on Hagire as the one he used against Senji in their first Carnival Corpse fight, while Senji sliced off two of Hagire limbs. Afterwards, Senji is taken to the infirmary and his injuries are tended to by Karako Koshio. Minatsuki mentions that Senji's will to live is abnormally high, and he is later seen to have survived.

Equipment
Rings: In order to draw blood, Senji is equipped with special rings that have rotating blades on them. He wears them on both of this thumbs to cut his forearms.

Abilities
Enhanced Speed: Senji has displayed inhuman speed in more then one occasion. Despite being striked down when he attacks directly, he's able to surprise any enemy with his inhuman speed and cut them down without them even realising it. Thanks to his speed, Senji`s able to function perfectly in sync with his Branch of Sin, being able to slice through steel with ease. This also helped Senji develope his Invisible Black.

Branch of Sin: As a Deadman, Senji has the ability to freely control his blood out of his body. He has specially-made rings with serrated blades in it to slice open his forearms to force the blood out.

Branch of Sin: Crow Claw (クロウ・クロウ, Kurō Kurō): Crow Claw manifests as two large scythe-like blades, made of blood, extending from long cuts on his forearms. While the blades are typically two to three feet long, Senji can shape the blades in a netting-pattern, in order to greatly lengthen them allowing him to attack people at range, without using more blood.

Senji has also show the ability to use more blood to create one giant blade strong enough to cut Ikaduchi Akatsiki when empowered by his Branch of Sin, which was impossible with his normal attacks.

He can also create a barrier with his Crow Claw. He does this by creating multiple blades in a formation that somewhat covers an entrance or exit.

He has developed the ability to evolve his crow claw. The blades appear on the front and back of his palms instead of his forearms. With the crow claw in its evolved state, black markings appear on his body, just like with Ganta's Ganbare Gun. The two markings are different from each other.

Another skill that he has recently displayed, is positioning multiple small Crow Claws at the soles of his feet. This way, he can climb up buildings by using his Branch of Sin as climbing hooks.


 * Invisible Black (空虚閃, Inbijiburu Burakku, Japanese for "Empty Hollow Flash): This is a cutting technique that Senji uses to create a large scythe-like blade at the top of his right hand, instead of his usual forearms, and slices the target to pieces at the speed of sound, or just as the name suggests, "in a flash".

Anime and Manga Differences

 * After Ganta`s battle with Minatsuki, in Anime, Senji appears in the hallway and the conversation takes place there without Senji warning him about his winnings, but in the Manga Ganta meets Senji in the hallway and treats him to ramen for his victory. The rest of the conversation takes place in the restaurant.
 * In Manga, Ganta left after the conversation ended. In Anime the conversation, where it took place in a hallway, was disrupted by Minatsuki screaming when Yo accidentally saw her naked. Enraged, Minatsuki throws a flower pot at him but accidentally hits Senji, who was curiously passing with Ganta, where he gets a nosebleed for seeing her naked.
 * In Manga, while Senji was training Ganta to use the Supersonic Branch of Sin, Yo and Minatsuki appear and give Ganta advice on how Supersonic speed works, when Senji steps in refusing to accept any help from Minatsuki after trying to kill Ganta in Carnival Corpse. Minatsuki replies by flashing her underwear, giving Senji a nosebleed and leaving him unconscious. In Anime, this never happens, meaning Ganta never tried to compress his bullets to achieve Supersonic speed, learning it by accident. At the end, in both versions, Ganta achieves Supersonic speed by shooting a small bullet because of the lack of blood.
 * While Senji was training Ganta on how to convert his bullets into supersonic, in the Anime he met up with Toto Sakigami. Senji, shocked, asks Toto where did he suddenly disappear, to which he replied that he was dead for a while and that his powers were reset. Toto then tastes Senji's blood, acquiring his Branch of Sin. He tries the same with Ganta, but is stopped by Senji. Toto then leaves. In the Manga, Senji saw Toto at the arena, where they fought the forgeries. The conversation was slightly different but similar with Toto already having Senji's Branch of Sin.

Trivia

 * Senji had the honor of naming Ganta's Branch of Sin the Ganta Gun. He also took it upon himself to name Ganta's more improved Branch of Sin the Ganbaru Gun; it is spelled similar to Ganta's name and it could translate to "Do Your Best Gun".
 * Along with Ganta's Ganta Gun, Senji's Crow Claw is one of the only two Branches of Sin known to be evolved over time.
 * In the English dub, Senji's Branch of Sin can literally be translated to "Black Black". It is also the Japanese pronunciation of the English word, "crow".
 * Senji carries a strong ressemblance to Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach. They both have spikey hair and an eye patch on their right eye. Their body size is larger than most characters. They also have a similar personality that makes them rebel among their own group for their belief. They both are put against opponents that are seemingly impossible to beat, but they end up defeating them. Also, they share the same English Dub voice actor.
 * Senji's the only character in the series to have a catchphrase, Zuppashi (ズッパシ). Though his catchphrase changes throughout the different translations.
 * Zuppashi (ズッパシ) is a made up word that has no meaning.
 * Senji`s the fastest Deadman in the series.
 * Senji, along with Makina, makes corny names for different stufff, like Ganta's Ganta Gun and operation Mother-Gizmo Reinforcement, for not knowing how it works and Makina with her Operation Ende Fist, for finishing the operation with punching Tamaki.
 * It is unknown if Senji killed anyone before the start of the series, but it's highly unlikely because of his Sensei Domon and that he had different character back then.
 * Shinagawa Dōkoku and Mōzuri Gazuchi were Senji's first kill in the series and the first major villains to be killed.
 * Keigo Ugachi is the only antagonist who lost to Senji that wasn't killed.