Azuma Genkaku

"These are your only options: live with the fear, embrace the insanity and all the darkness it brings, or shed the yoke of this world in death!"

- Azuma Genkaku

Azuma Genkaku (東 弦角, Genkaku Azuma) a.k.a Uber Monk was the leader of the Undertakers, and a self-proclaimed "Ultra Buddhist Priest" who dresses in the garb of a Japanese monk along with prayer beads which has a skull on it. He is eventually defeated by Ganta's Ganbare Gun with the help of Nagi. Genkaku, however, was not killed by this attack but was left incapacitated.

Background
In his childhood, Genkaku was part of a Buddhist Temple where he befriended and nursed an injured kitten. During his days at the temple, the other monks-in-training would harass him, beat him, and even rape and molest him.

When he returned to the Buddist temple, the Bhikku (ordained Buddhist monk) would ask why Genkaku had been in another fight saying, "It seems you can only sow and reap evil, Genkaku." To which Genkaku merely remarks, "I have no hate. They are probably suffering. They are weak, unfortunate, foolish people living in a fanatical world." Genkaku then prays to Buddha wondering if there is any way to give those people salvation. He asks, "Why did you decide death should be 'painful' without experiencing it yourself?"

After the Great Tokyo Earthquake, Genkaku finds the dead body of the kitten he was taking care of. He then finds one of the monks that bullied him, injured and lying under a pile of rubble, pleading for Genkaku to save him. Later on, the Bhikku returns to the temple to search for survivors; instead, he finds Genkaku sitting under a shrine composed of the mutilated corpses of the other monks. Genkaku turns to him and proclaims, "I have understood the 'salvation' of the living." Genkaku was finally convinced that the only way to be saved from the world, is to be taken away from it.

Genkaku was then taken to Deadman Wonderland where he was chosen by Tamaki to be trained as an Undertaker for at least three years. Two years before the start of the series, he was the one who killed Nagi Kengamine's wife. This caused Nagi to go on a rampage killing twenty-two of Genkaku's Undertaker soldiers. During this attack on the Undertakers, Genkaku was hiding in a locker, scared. From this day forward, he hoped to turn Nagi to the Undertakers' cause.

Personality
Genkaku appears to be a laid-back and irreverent individual at first glance, but this scruffy exterior hides a brutal, impulsive, excessively-violent personality and an unstable mind. Genkaku is blunt, sarcastic, and quite sadistic, revealing a psychotic grin when he is fighting or killing somebody. He believes that life is nothing but pain and misery and that the only way to find peace is through death. For this reason, he will slaughter his own men and think nothing of it, and he even smiles before his death at the hands of Ganta and Nagi.

Genkaku refers to himself as being a really patient guy and appeared to have a particular liking for rock music. Genkaku is also shown to be a smoker.

Scar Chain Arc
Genkaku makes his debut accompanying Tamaki, who encounters Yō in G Ward. Yō notices Genkaku and asks if he's a monk. Genkaku replies that he's an "uber monk". Tamaki informs Yō that in the G Ward, it is impossible to buy your way out of prison using Cast Points, implying he can't buy his sister out of prison. This angers Yō and he attempts to attack Tamaki for essentially knowing all of his hard work of collecting CP was in vain. Genkaku intervenes and attacks Yō several times with his guitar. Tamaki leaves asking Genkaku to take care of Scar Chain.

After Nagi saves Minatsuki from the penalty game. Genkaku enters the room and asks Owl if he's well. He throws an injured and bloody Yō inside, shocking Nagi, Karako and Ganta. Ganta asks who he is and Genkaku claims that it's "obvious" that he's a "super monk" and that he has come to pray for them, after they're dead. Angered, Ganta attacks Genkaku with his Ganta Gun, but Genkaku negates it with his Worm Eater, shocking Ganta as he is hit with his guitar. At that very time, Shiro dives down from the ceiling and destroys Genkaku's guitar, surprising Genkaku. He leaves, hysterically upset about his guitar. In the anime, he wasn't all that bothered by his guitar being destroyed.

Later, Genkaku is seen with Hibana annoying her with his poor impersonations of playing the air guitar as he waits for his real guitar to finish getting repaired. Bundō appears in front of him and he tells him that Scar Chain has recruited Ganta, but the plan is still in motion.

When Scar Chain initiates their escape plan and they arrive at the elevator, Genkaku greets them at the top and ambushes them. He quickly kills a couple of them and allows the other Undertakers to kill the rest. Genkaku finds Ganta who has run away from his hiding place and gets ready to kill him, but before he can, he is informed by Mozuri that they must retreat, upsetting him.

He is then seen injecting drugs into Nagi to force him to remember his past. Nagi remembers him slaughtering multiple Undertakers out of rage and Genkaku tells him that he was hiding in a locker, both turned on and terrified. Genkaku tortures Nagi and then succeeds in breaking him. Genkaku sends a message to the surviving Scar Chain members, revealing the captive Karako and Shiro being assaulted by the foot soldiers. When Ganta arrives to save them, Genkaku laughs at the weak reinforcements. He detests wasting his time on Ganta and decides to take the opportunity to release the now insane Nagi. He begins to play on his guitar as Karako attempts to plead with Nagi. Genkaku stumbles back when Nagi releases an explosion of Owl's Eyeballs. Genkaku allows him to attack and kill most of the foot soldiers and takes joy in the massacre before him. Once Nagi returns to normal, Genkaku stabs Karako, avoiding all of her vital organs in hopes of turning Nagi back into the monster he prefers. Nagi protects Karako as Ganta begins to shoot at Genkaku. The bullets shatter his Worm Eater and the shock wave pushes him back into the dark room. He returns with the intentions to kill Ganta and leaves Nagi to finish off Karako. Nagi refuses and reveals that he is sane again. Genkaku, detesting him, proceeds to blast a hole in his stomach. He then begins to shoot all of the grunts around him, believing he is saving all of them. He misses Hibana, allowing her to escape, but kills everyone else except Nagi, Karako, Shiro, and Ganta. As Ganta begs him to stop, Genkaku flashes back to his life back when he lived at the temple. He calls his insanity enlightenment and death salvation, as well as revealing that he had killed his own master. He then shows them his Buddhist shrine that is decorated with the heads of fallen Scar Chain members. Before Genkaku can kill them, Ganta further activates his Branch of Sin and shoots his Ganbare Gun at Genkaku. Genkaku attempts to flee, but Nagi grabs him and says he's his guide to hell. Genkaku then smiles and calls Nagi his savior. The bullet makes a direct hit, heavily injuring Genkaku, as well as destroying the dark room, along with his Buddha statue.

Revolt Arc
It is briefly mentioned in Ganta's retrial that Genkaku was not killed during their fight, but is still in a coma and critical condition several months after.

Equipment

 * Flying V Nirvana: Genkaku wields a V-shaped guitar that can be split into two machine guns which fire bullets in the manga and compressed air-like bullets in the anime. The guitar was first broken by Shiro and was later destroyed by Ganta's Ganbare Gun.
 * Worm Eater: Genkaku carries a skull pendant around his neck that has the Worm Eater inside of it. This pendant was destroyed when Genkaku attempted to block Ganta's Supersonic Ganta Gun.

Trivia

 * The first kanji that makes up Genkaku's surname refers to a stringed instrument, hinting at his love of playing guitar. Taken together, the kanji seem to refer to hunting, as they represent a bowstring and antlers or horns. His first name, Azuma, is a reference to the East, and in particular the area around Kamakura, where a lot of Buddhist temples are located.

Navigation
Azuma Genkaku