Shigure Rangetsu

Shigure Rangetsu
Information
Appearance	Tales of Berseria
Age	31
Height	185 cm
Race	Human
Occupation	Legate Exorcist
Weapon	Stormhowl
Japanese Voice Actor	Kazuya Nakai
English Voice Actor	Max Mittelman
Character Designer	Daigo Okumura

"Shigure" redirects here. For the base arte used mainly by Raven from Tales of Vesperia, see Rain.

Shigure Rangetsu (シグレ・ランゲツ^?), birth name Ichirou Rangetsu (イチロウ・ランゲツ^?), is a major antagonist in Tales of Berseria. He is a legate-rank exorcist from the Abbey and Rokurou Rangetsu's older brother, serving as the head of their family. They use a unique fighting style in their aims to become the strongest warriors.

History

Ichirou was born to the previous Shigure of the Rangetsu family, as was his younger brother, Rokurou. For ten years, Ichirou and Rokurou sparred together, and Ichirou always came out on top. Soon enough, his ambitions rose as he grew older. Ichirou killed his mother not to become the current family head but because she was strong, then inherited the family sword Stormhowl, and became known as Shigure Rangetsu. Rokurou went on to spread rumors about him in order to be justified in slaying him, which enticed Lancelot du Capalus to send Rokurou to kill him, only for the younger brother to fail. Shigure laughed it off and told Rokurou to "train harder" before leaving. He eventually joined the Abbey and formed a pact with the cat malak Morgrim. Wanting to cut down the Shepherd Artorius Collbrande, Shigure had Morgrim restrain his physical strength so he can keep building power. At one point, he was sent to kill a dragon swordsman, but quickly found out that the dragon was, in fact, his own mother, previously reincarnated as a malak. Knowing he had already killed her once, he decided to leave her alone.

He is first seen in a cave in Islegand, having defeated Kurogane and snapped his Stormquell in two. When he sees Rokurou and Eleanor Hume with them, he initially questions the latter's involvement with the party, before eventually letting it go, deciding he does not get to tell her how to live. When Rokurou reveals that he is now a daemon, which excites Shigure, the two fight with Shigure coming out on top once again. He then tells the party to meet him at the docks before leaving.

When a group of exorcists go to kill Eleanor, Shigure tells them not to bother, knowing that his brother is with her. When the party arrive, Rokurou shows Shigure his new twin blades. While the others take on the exorcists with Shigure, the two brothers clash again. At the end of the fight, Shigure cuts Rokurou's blades with a Rangetsu Eagle. As soon as Rokurou gets back up, he drops one of his swords and goes for him. Suddenly, Rokurou plunges his open hand right through Stormhowl, down to the hilt. Once he was close enough, Rokurou goes for Shigure's neck, only for the older brother to react fast enough to grab Rokurou's counterfeit from his back to block the attack before knocking him away.

The last time that they fight, Rokurou shows that Kurogane has forged himself into a sword, now known as Kurogane Stormquell. He asks Morgrim to undo his bindings so he can go all out, encouraging the rest of the group to join in the fight to make it more interesting. After a long fight, Rokurou and Shigure go one-on-one, and clash each of their blades against each other. Rokurou then performs a technique he had been practicing to disarm Shigure of Stormhowl with his daggers, leaving him wide open, and in a perfect opportunity to strike, Rokurou unsheathes Stormquell and slashes Shigure through his chest. Dying, Shigure was happy that he had such a good fight, and is proud of his brother's efforts. Rokurou reveals that he was the one who spread the rumors but he already knew. He asks the group to spare Morgrim which he jokingly refers to as "that fat cat", to which they agree, and Velvet Crowe devours his body to claim his soul afterwards. He is then reborn as the Empyrean Musiphe.

Appearance and Personality

Concept artwork.

Shigure is a tall, muscular man with golden eyes and long black hair. He dons a unique shirt that simply covers his shoulders and the top portion of his back, leaving his torso mostly exposed, the shirt being connected in the front by a black and orange material that yields an ornamental fang. He wears a full arm gauntlet on his right arm, with which he wields a large sword, and a partial arm gauntlet on his left. His pants mirror the same color motif as his top, being mostly beige and trailing into a combat-oriented pair of black and orange sandals.

Though a legate, Shigure has a free-spirited attitude unappreciated by the serious-minded exorcists. He justifies his carefree behavior with his battle prowess. His sole joy is to fight tough opponents and seems to enjoy it when his opponent is stronger. He will never turn down a new challenge whenever it arises. Shigure actually seems to relish in Rokurou's malicious intent towards him, as well as his tenacity, never giving up on the chance to kill him. Rokurou has counted that they have fought one thousand and twelve times before he finally breaks Shigure's winning streak.

Fighting Style

Cut-in image for Tales of Berseria.

As a practitioner of Rangetsu Style, and the inheritor of Stormhowl, Shigure's skill with a greatsword is unmatched, so much so that he is rumored to be more skilled than even Artorius himself. Unlike most exorcists, Shigure uses his personal strength, refusing to rely on malak artes, making his arteset completely composed of strike artes. Most of his artes are each part of a larger reference to Tremorous Celestial Sundering Shredding Light of Cyclonic Butchery while the other two are completely original, focusing on counter-attacks and projectiles. His brute strength is demonstrated greatly in his mystic arte Rangetsu Eagle.

Gallery

Artwork for Tales of the Rays.

Artwork for Tales of Asteria.

Trivia

• Ichirou (一郎^?) is a Japanese name meaning "first son", befitting his status as the firstborn of the Rangetsu family.