Issei Tsubaki

"I can't die peacefully until I defeat you, Sagara!"

Issei Tsubaki is the head of the karate club at Jindai High School, and is extremely well-trained in the art despite his poor eyesight. Though almost superhumanly strong, his pride and easily distracted nature make it difficult for him to accomplish much. At some point in the past, Tsubaki and his three followers were challenged by Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori, their dojo being the prize. Though Tsubaki came very close to winning the duel, last second hesitation caused his downfall and the aging building was destroyed as a safety risk. From that day forward, the former head of the Jindai High karate club has been frequently challenging Sagara in the hope of restoring his pride and winning Miss Chidori’s heart. He has not had a single victory.

Background Information
Tsubaki spent his free time after school each day training vigorously with his three followers in the art of karate, over time becoming one of the strongest students at Jindai. One day, two other students came to the karate club’s dojo with an eviction notice, and ended up challenging them for it. One after another, the subordinates fell to their opponent’s skill, until Tsubaki showed himself as the final defender of the dojo. After a brief exchange, he struck a blow that seemed to have won the match. However, the challenger was still able to stand, and Tsubaki deduced that he had missed his target because of his poor eyesight. He put on his glasses, and in doing so realized that he had been challenged by one Kaname Chidori, whom he had saved from a gang of thugs the previous day and subsequently developed a crush on, and her creepily obsessive ‘bodyguard’ Sousuke Sagara.

Later that day the dojo was torn down, and Tsubaki swore that he would one day defeat Sagara and win Kaname’s heart. After many failed attempts, Sousuke went mysteriously absent for a long period of time, and Tsubaki decided to go on a journey across Japan to find him. After weeks of searching, he came across the Photon Power Labs, where he met a school acquaintance by the name of Koji Kabuto. Having deduced through insane troll logic that Sousuke Sagara was in fact a robot pilot, Tsubaki asked Koji how to join the Alpha Numbers, and soon was on his way to boot camp.

Having obtained a Gallop walker machine with the help of another old friend from school, Macua Huitl, Tsubaki's training eventually took him to Siberia, where he met Shirou Manora. The two then left for the Guyana Highlands to train for the Gundam Fight coming up in a year, met up with Shirou's master, and now they spend much of their time either training there or beating up Divine Crusaders in Europe.

Personality Traits
Issei Tsubaki is a man who takes his karate very seriously. He never misses a single day of training, and he makes sure that his followers don’t, either. He is very proud of his abilities, but takes failure surprisingly well, and is generally a good sport. Tsubaki acts cool in public, and refuses to wear his glasses because of their embarrassingly large size (and they’re not even a cool shape, either!). However, the instant he crosses paths with Sousuke Sagara, his aloof attitude is thrown aside in favor of pure fighting spirit and he attacks with the ferocity of an angry badger. This, of course, leads to Tsubaki’s inevitable defeat every time, but he just keeps on repeating the same mistake.

Then of course there’s his softer side. However tough he may be around men, pretty girls can turn his brain into mush in seconds. This is especially true of Kaname Chidori, whose heart he has sought to win by defeating Sousuke since the day they met at the old dojo. Of course, this is only when he can actually see the aforementioned girls. Most of the time he isn’t wearing his glasses, and is immune to their beauty unless they get within a few inches of him. It is during these times that he shows a slight penchant for sexist remarks, the most common of which is declaring the battlefield as “no place for a woman”. Depending on who he’s speaking to at the time, this can result in personal injury.

He still hasn’t learned.

Talents & Abilities
Tsubaki seems to know many martial arts techniques, regardless of whether they are actually karate or not, and even appears to have a relatively high level of mastery over his chi. While not as strong as the likes of Domon Kasshu or Rom Stoll, his power certainly exceeds that of a normal human. He still can’t beat Sousuke.

Love
Kaname Chidori - Tsubaki fell in love with Kaname at first sight, after saving her from some street thugs. Ever since the day at the dojo, he has constantly been challenging Sousuke to fights over her. Unfortunately, he hasn't won even once.

Sousuke Sagara - No. I know you're writing fanfics, now stop it.

Friendship
Shirou Manora - Well, more like Training Partner, but it's close enough. They've saved each other's lives, anyway (even if it was just in training).

Disciples - Tsubaki's three disciples, Ichigo, Nigo, and Sango, are all undyingly loyal to him and he to them.

Macua Huitl - Tsubaki also considers Macua a disciple, and she hasn't yet corrected him. They are still on good terms, though, and she even helped him find his mech. He still doesn't know she's a pilot for Katharon.

Affinity
Koji Kabuto - Tsubaki knows him from school, but they never really talked much. Still, he's a pretty cool guy, and he got Tsubaki into the Alpha Numbers.

Ambivalence
Everyone else.

Caution
Roruda Nell - A really tall guy who thinks he's a sentai hero or something. Tsubaki's fought him a couple times, and they've had all sorts of arguments over what it means to be a hero. When you're fighting for the Divine Crusaders, though, it's kind of hard to back up your claims of being a hero of justice, at least in Tsubaki's mind.

Distrust
Sousuke Sagara - Sousuke is the man who destroyed Tsubaki's dojo and stole Kaname Chidori from him, at least in his skewed memory of events. Though Macua helped him see reason, Tsubaki still doesn't like Sousuke and sees him as an arch-rival at best.