Ichiro Inuyashiki (犬屋敷 壱郎, Inuyashiki Ichiro) is the protagonist.
Appearance
Ichiro is an elderly man with brown eyes, short hair and thick eyebrows. He has short grey hair, mostly due to his age. He has wrinkles all over his body and has receding hair.
Personality
At first glance Inuyashiki is a timid man who rarely likes to speak out when push comes to shove, this is evident in the way that his family treats him. He retreats into his own cowardice and melancholy when emotions such as hate, selfishness, rudeness come his way. His timidity and cowardice are only strengthened by his need to help and support all those around him. In other words, he's too nice for his own good. When he receives his powers he becomes a bit braver than what we originally perceived at the beginning of the story.
Plot
Ichiro Inuyashiki freaking out (as expected) when he discovers his transformation
Ichiro is a middle-aged man who's been diagnosed with stomach cancer the day after moving to his new house. After finding out that he's not going to live for a long time, he runs away to a park to cry.
Unfortunately for him, a UFO hit the Earth on that park, killing him and a boy in the process. The aliens did not intend to kill any intelligence life and decided to rebuild his body. The Aliens only had weapons and offensive materials, in a hurry, they moved Ichiro's consciousness into a new body, which is a weapon-unit robot.
Powers and abilities
Robotic body: Somehow, the alien technology transferred his consciousness to a completely robotic body, without any organic parts. This makes him completely immune to any biological disease, biological weapon or organic degeneration. The full robotic body, however, does not hinder him from the physiological actions. He is capable of drink, eat, breath, etc., if he wants so, although he is unable to digest and, because this, his sense of taste is different. Any food is expelled by his weapon systems as in a cleaning routine, as they require water to function properly.
Robotic brain: His new robotic brain acts as a supercomputer. He is able to use in-built programs, such as alien simulators and alien battle/hacking systems, or use human tech, such as a smartphone's OS, browse internet, watch television, radio etc.
Superhuman strength: He has a mild degree of super strength, being able to defeat people in hand-to-hand combat. He, however, is inexperienced in fighting (and not willing to), so his brawling and punches are not at full strength. The maximum strength is not determined, but it can be assumed to be very high due the battle against Hiro. His robotic body could only be true damaged by each other robotic unit sheer force. As their shells are almost indestructible, it can be assumed that he has a very high degree of strength.
Superhuman durability: His robotic body is impervious to any kind of external damage done by piercing, slashing or explosions, even by his own alien weapons. He also shows to not be susceptible to radiation, as when Ichiro had an X-ray shot, the result was a blank image. He is capable to survive unfazed after falling from any heights, sustain a barrage of heavy gunfire unscratched, be smashed and buried after caught a falling airplane at high speed without any injuries. It is assumed that his body is absolutely indestructible by any earthling weapons or technology. The only way shown to damage these robotic bodies was fighting other unit (Shishigami Hiro) using sheer physical strength.
Mimetic surface: the surface of his robotic body perfectly emulates a human disguise, being indistinguishable from a human; it even has some human body fluids, (e.g. he is capable of crying). However, he is not able to bleed.
Enhanced senses: Especially his sight and hearing are at superhuman level. He is capable to see effortlessly at a distance of 10Km and hear cries for help at vast distances (see telepathy below).
Robotic interface: besides human senses, he also possesses robotic senses. He is able to interface wirelessly with any technology, communicate at any distance. He can hack any computer or electronic device/gadget.
Mild telepathy (unconfirmed): it is shown that he can hear his family from outer space (manga) as well hear the cries for help throughout the whole world in every language (anime). If this was true telepathy or an artistic choice of the author for the composition of the history's script is unknown. An argument favourable to sustain he has is that he can hear cries for help at distances too far to be physically possible their detection.
Mild telekinesis: it is assumed that he has mild telekinesis, although it is only shown indirectly.
Healing properties: one explanation for his healing properties is that it is based in some sort of telekinetic nature. He is able to cure any damage, no matter how hard damaged is the body of any living creature. Cancer, broken bones, paralysis, burning, intoxication, poisoning are just few examples. It must be stated that even with such power he is not able to resurrect the dead. It is was not shown how this power would affect amputees.
Full technokinesis: one explanation for his technokinesis properties is that it is based in some sort of telekinetic nature. He is able to wirelessly fully control any electronic device, no matter the distance. He is also able to use them as an extension of himself (such as Hiro) being able to locate and interact with targets at any distance, including outer space, without any need to an external medium. He is also able to fully control any machine (from smartphones to cars and airplanes), theoretically being able to shoot and modify the trajectory of missiles all around the world.
Technological adaptability: he is able to modify his own body accordingly to his needs. He can produce new cameras along his surface (such as Hiro) or create USB ports just by scanning them. It is assumed that his body is not an immutable weapon, but can evolve along the time.
Weapon system 1 - Telekinetic shot: He can fire telekinetic shots from himself of any electronic device. Theses shots require no ammunition, being infinite, and can reach any distance with absolute precision. The only requirement is that he must see or know where the target is. Another option (shown by Hiro) is use such power as a knife or cutting weapon at short distance.
Weapon system 2 - Arm cannon: his second most powerful weapon is his arm cannon. Each arm has a cannon capable of incredible damage. In his fist test, he was able to vaporize a huge pile of pressed metal, resulting in a hole in the ground.
Weapon system 3 - Multi-target laser: his most used weapon. He has many mini laser guns around his body, most at his back, some at his shoulders and arms. These lasers shot white beams with variable intensity, quantity and speed but with pinpoint precision. They are so powerful that can completely devastate a huge area, as well being so precise that can cut through the human nervous system in the spine without major external injuries, rendering the targets paralytic without affecting the other body functions.
Weapon system 4 - Self-destruction: his most powerful weapon. He can self detonate in a huge explosion visible from space to Earth surface.
Automode's alien symbol, as portrayed in the manga.
Weapon system - automode: whenever he is unconscious in battle, or in intense need, his weapon system starts automode. In this form, he has access to all features and alien protocols, strategies and combat manoeuvres. It must be stated that even unconscious this automode does not act randomly. It follows the moral code of the individual. In Inuyashiki case, the automode protects life, even the lives of his foes. For Hiro, however, it kills ruthlessly all targets around.
Flight: He has a pair of jetpacks in his back, which allows him to fly at speeds faster than a bullet train (he can accelerate to escape velocity in a matter of seconds). These jetpacks do not work with combustion, as he can fly unaided in the space and also they do not burn his clothes. They seem to negate gravity and expel a blue beam which causes a shockwave behind in order to accelerate. He can hover and move in any position, so it is assumed that they do not function as jets as humans know, only having their appearance.
Weaknesses
Regular human tolerance to pain: although super strong and durable, his surface works just as a human skin. His sensitivity to pain is not impaired and he feels pain just like any human being. He can even be put unconscious due excess of pain, such as being hit in the head, or after receiving a huge amount of damage. He seems to become more resilient over time, as consequence from his body's ability to evolve.
Water: his only true need. After using his powers for a long time of after a huge extent, he dehydrates. This renders him immovable and unable to use any of his powers. He needs little water to regain consciousness and get full power again. The water does not need to be clean. Rain, alcoholic drinks or juice are enough. He can expand his belly as a water reservoir and hold more water for long term use.
Sleep: as any human being, he gets tired and needs to sleep. He is able to dream normally, which proves his consciousness has been transferred (machines cannot dream).
Trivia
- Ichiro's surname "犬屋敷 Inuyashiki" means dog house.
- Because of his receding hair he looks much older than he actually is.
- Oku stated that Ichiro character creation was based in Astroboy: an original human dies and a robotic copy is created for his replacement.
- Ichiro sings Astroboy's theme song in his first flight.
- The alien symbol for automode is the only symbol created which means nothing. All other symbols are western alphabetical chars stylized to appear alien. All alien words are written in English.