Shin Asakura (
As of the JCC Infiltration Arc, Shin has become a first-year student at the JCC.
Appearance[]
Shin is a slim, childish-looking young man of medium height. He has blond, medium length hair and large black eyes. His first appearance shows Shin in an open leather jacket along with a plain tee, baggy dark pants and bright tennis shoes. He later appears often in his work attire consisting of a collared dress shirt, a pair of slacks, and a green apron. His attire tends to vary as the chapters continue but keep the same basic green apron pattern.
Personality[]
Shin is an honest, straightforward, and collected young man. He typically remains calm and composed even in serious situations, though this occasionally can be broken by comical bouts of anger, irritation, or fear from mundane stimuli. Shin is confident but is not arrogant and remains analytical in fights. He takes pride in his clairvoyance, knowing its strengths, and limitations and how to apply them in battle.
Shin has immense determination and willpower. This, coupled with his loyalty, inherently caring nature, and value for life allows him to continue fighting against heavily stacked odds. Like many others, Shin respects and looks up to Sakamoto.
Relationships[]
Ando[]
It's unknown how Shin feels towards his biological father but he doesn't appear to have any resentment or harbor negative feelings for him. This may be because he was very young when he left with Asakura and the researchers of the lab.
Asakura[]
Asakura is like an uncle and father figure to Shin, having taken care of him in his childhood. During Asakura's research in developing superhuman powers, a young Shin took an interest in seeing his success.
Shin remained protective of Asakura's work, whether it was when other researchers showed doubt or, once it proved successful with Shin able to read thoughts, Asakura regretted it after his colleagues began avoiding Shin. In contrast, Shin wanted Asakura to be glad his work succeeded and even rejected his want to reverse the effects.[3]
Years later, Shin reunited with Asakura while on a mission to save Lu Shaotang and commended his research. This time, acknowledging how Shin has been able to take advantage of his clairvoyance, Asakura agreed.
Taro Sakamoto[]
Shin was formerly a partner of the legendary hitman Taro Sakamoto during Sakamoto's hitman days. He now works as an employee in Sakamoto's shop, with Sakamoto as his boss. The two have fought together with extreme efficiency.
Aoi Sakamoto[]
The wife of his boss, Shin greatly respects her as the woman who reformed Sakamoto.
Hana Sakamoto[]
Hana Sakamoto is the daughter of Taro Sakamoto and Aoi Sakamoto. Shin is like an older brother to her and treasures her too.
Lu Shaotang[]
Lu Shaotang is the daughter of a Triad Family. She currently works alongside Shin as a store clerk at Sakamoto's and can be considered a part of the Sakamoto Family. While the two often bicker, they value each other greatly and can work as an effective team.
Heisuke Mashimo[]
Shin considers Heisuke annoying and dislikes reading his thoughts. However, he still considers Heisuke a valuable companion.
Akira Akao[]
Shin met Akira during the JCC exams. When Shin went to JCC's assassin classes, he ended up bumping into Akira, and they became friends.
Natsuki Seba[]
Shin and Seba met while he and Sakamoto on a mission to save Lu. After their fight, the two met again at JCC, and due to certain circumstances, Seba ended up offering him help. They fought together and became partners.
Skills & Abilities[]
Overall Skill Level: Shin is a competent hand-to-hand combatant. Sakamoto's last assessment during the JCC infiltration[4] puts Shin at a little above the level of the average JAA teacher, except for outliers such as Satoda. As a part of the Sakamoto family, Shin must restrain himself from killing anyone.
Enhanced Strength: Shin has held his own handling dangerous serial killers such as Saw, as well as dealing blows powerful enough to Shinaya that Gaku (who was controlling Shinaya and capable of fighting Order members), decided to take him more seriously. Shin was also able to dive down, retrieve an unconscious Toramaru, and swim back to the surface.[5]
Enhanced Speed: In addition to his clairvoyance, Shin was able to avoid blows from Toramaru and Shinaya, both special-recommendation JAA applicants. During a fight on a rollercoaster track, Shin was able to dodge an incoming cart and evade throwing knives in midair [6], as well a airsoft bullet being fired by Kill Baby even when he is wearing a blindfold .[7]
Enhanced Durability: Shin was able to take blows from Shinaya, who was able to send fellow assassins flying with one hand. After being sent flying across a theme park and crashing onto a stage, Shin got up with no difficulty.[8] Shin was even able to take casual strikes from Sakamoto.
Clairvoyance: Shin can read the minds of people within a 20-meter radius by tuning into their minds like a radio. He can pick out specific people due to their emotional state, typically using this to predict enemy movements or deduce what they're thinking. However, Shin's clairvoyance is less beneficial if the person's thoughts are too overwhelming for him to read (e.g., Lu Wutang)[9], or if the opponent is too fast for him to react anyway. His ability is dependent on electromagnetic brainwaves; Natsuki Seba's hood, which blocks such waves, can prevent Shin from reading his mind.[10]
Precognition: By reading a person's motor-readiness potential (i.e., the spike in activity in the brain's motor areas before a muscle movement), Shin can see the future actions of someone. In the manga, this precognition is visualized by several juxtapositions of what will happen. However, overusing this ability causes great pain. Granny Miya comments that Shin should only use his precognition for 5 minutes a day.[11]
Mind Control: He can forcefully command someone to stop for a moment and can rewrite their thoughts.[12][13] The drawback of this command is that he cannot use this ability on the same person twice, as shown in his battle against Tenkyu where he could not stop him after stopping him once before.[14]
Miscellaneous Assassin Training: As an assassin, Shin also acquired several essential skills such as basic martial arts, gun handling, and a degree of poison tolerance.
Swimming skills: Even after falling into the JAA Prison´s lowest floor´s lake as a result of falling into a crater in the ground created by Tenkyu, Shin somehow manages to show some great swimming skills. [15]
Equipment[]
Power Glove: Created by Natsuki Seba, the glove gives Shin access to enhanced strength by turning off the limiter in his brain to utilize his latent potential. When attacking with the glove, there is a delayed reaction which requires Shin to look into the future to use it properly. The more of a delay there is, the more powerful the attack. Upon receiving the glove initially, the delay is set to 0.5 seconds.[16]
Battles & Events[]
- Amusement Park Arc
- Lab Arc
- Death Row Prisoners Arc
- JCC Transfer Exam Arc
- Shin Asakura vs Mafuyu Seba
- Shin Asakura vs Nao Toramaru
- Shin Asakura, Mafuyu Seba, Nao Toramaru & Joichiro Kaji vs Gaku
- JCC Infiltration Arc
- Shin Asakura, Akira Akao & Seba vs Satoda
- Shin Asakura, Seba & Amane vs Club Jam
- Taro Sakamoto's Past Arc
- Sakamoto vs Shin
- Bangkok Arc
- Shin Asakura, Amane vs Kashima
- Assassin Exhibition of the Century Arc
- Sakamoto, Shin and Amane vs Kamihate
- Shin vs Mafuyu
- Shin vs Mafuyu vs Osaragi
- Shishiba and Shin vs Kumanomi and Haruma
- Shishiba, Shin, and Amane vs Kumanomi, Haruma, and Carolina Reaper
- Shin vs Haruma
Etymology[]
- The name Shin is written in katakana (シン), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (真), it could possibly mean "real, genuine".
- Shin's surname Asakura means "morning" (朝) (asa) and "warehouse, storehouse, barn, treasury, granary, cellar, magazine, godown, depository, elevator, storage place, repository, supply shed, grain elevator, stockpile, arsenal" (倉) (kura).
Trivia[]
- Shin ranked 1st place in the manga's 1st Character Popularity Poll with 12,738.
- In his first appearance, Shin used to be a smoker, but he seems to have quit smoking since his employment at Sakamoto's.
- Shin likes cotton candy.
- Due to being unable to understand his thoughts, Shin is terrified of Wutang.
- Shin likes cute dogs.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Character Profile
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 58 (Page 10)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 23
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 81 — "With your current skills, I don't think a teacher should be a problem."
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 66 (Page 13)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 8
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 80 (Page 23)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 8 (Pages 11–13)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 36 (Page 4)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 76 (Page 4)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 44 (Page 5)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 158 (Page 15)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 170 (Page 12)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 192 (Pages 14-15)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 190 (Pages 8-19)
- ↑ Sakamoto Days Manga: Chapter 83 (Pages 11–14)
