Ginkai

Ginkai (ギンカイ) is a character in Medarot Damashii. An user of Death Medarots, he is Kokuryuu's #1 associate and the first person he turns to when it comes to testing new hardware and enacting his schemes. He quickly becomes one of Ikki and Metabee's most persistent adversary, antagonizing the pair with an ever-changing array of Death Medarots. On the surface, Ginkai appears to be the platonic ideal of the Death Medarotter being a bully unconcerned with fair play and eager to brutalize his opponents far beyond what is expected in the course of Robattles.

However, it wasn't always this way. As a young child, Ginkai loved Medarots and used his talents to protect less skilled Medarotters from bullies, but a dispute with his partner Bayonet lead him down a dark path. Beneath his cruel exterior are flashes of uncertainty in the Death Medarot cause, and it comes to a head when his participation at a Medarot tournament leads to Ginkai renewing with his long-lost sense of honor and making amends with his old friend. Following his redemption, he becomes an unlikely ally for Ikki and friends, and develop feelings for Kikuhime.

As a Death Medarotter, Ginkai uses a number of models before eventually settling on Unitris. After Unitris' destruction, he switches to Arcbeetle-Dash.

History

-->Voice Actors: Eiji Takemoto, Phil McCordic (EN)

When very young, Ginkai wanted his own Medarot and was told by his parents that he'd get one by filling a book with pictures of them. One day, while doing so, a gust of wind blew away his drawings and some were run over by a passing car. As an apology, the driver gifted him a Rare Kabuto Medal. ("Burning Arc-Dash")

The Medal was eventually inserted into a Bayonet. Ginkai and his Medarot provided to be a formidable duo, so much that other children ostracized Ginkai due to being tired of losing against him. Despite this, Ginkai took action when he saw other kids being bullied by a stronger Medarotter and had Bayonet defeat the bully's Medarot. Now admired by his fellow kids, Ginkai gave robattle tips, and credited his victory to the teamwork between him and Bayonet ("Stand Up! Ginkai"). However, their relationship wasn't always a smooth one and Ginkai grew irritated with his Medarot's 'tude. This reached a critical point when, on the night prior to a Robattle tournament, the two had a dispute over a video game and Ginkai had enough, deactivating Bayonet, burying his medal in the forest and giving away his parts to his coussin. However, as he had no other Medarot, Ginkai was forced to forfeit the tournament.

While sulking, he was approached by Kokuryuu, who presented to him Gun Desperado and pitched his Death Medarots by explaining that not only are they far stronger than regular Medarot, but are also completely obedient. He was intrigued by Kokuryuu's offer, who told him he could keep Gun Desperado on one condition: be his friend. ("Kokuryuu's Counterattack")

After getting his Death Medal delivered, Ginkai made himself known. While Kikuhime and The Screws were toying with the new Medarotch advance, Ginkai had Gun-Desperado attack Peppercat out of nowhere and took her medal hostage in exchange for having Kikuhime find the strongest Medarotter in town. Kikuhime went to Ikki for help and despite being unimpressed with his new opponent, Ginkai threw Peppercat's medal aside. In the ensuing battle with Ikki, Gun Desperado easily defeated Metabee.

Ginkai reported his victory to Kokuryuu, who was satisfied with the outcome and revealed to him that Death Medarots lack emotion. Later, Ginkai and Gun Desperado threatened Arika and Brass, but Ikki arrived to the rescue, having upgraded Metabee with new Saikachis parts. This time, Metabee defeated the Death Medarot using his Medachange ability and an embarassed Ginkai promised this wouldn't be the last Ikki and Metabee would see of him ("Explosion! New Metabee")

At Kokuryu's residence, Ginkai was present when Kikuhime offered to leak information about Ikki and Metabee, and was incensed when she asked to be rewarded with a battery for Peppercat in exchange for the information. After The Screws left, he asked Kokuryu if a Death Medarot battery wasn't too much for a Medarot. When Kokuryu only answered with a sly smile, Ginkai thought to himself Kokuryu did a terrible thing. Later, he and Kokuryu ambushed Ikki and Metabee while they were walking home and challenged them to a battle with a new Death Medarot, Tankdunk. However, Ikki and Metabee, who had promised Nae they would avoid fighting with Death Medarots until she had made necessary adjustments on the Sakaichis parts, refused. Not satisfied with the answer, Ginkai and Kokuryu had Tankdunk terrorize innocent Medarotters at the playgrounds until Ikki and Metabee revealed themselves, even destroying several Medals. They eventually spotted their targets, but Ginkai did not join Kokuryu when he chased the duo to Nae's workshop ("Forbidden Battle").

While enjoying ice cream, Ginkai had his treat splaterred on his face when a distracted Ikki accidentally bumped into him. Thinking Ikki had deliberately provoked him, he chased him across town with his Death Medarot, Robin-Arch. The battle eventually transferred to the front of the Ginjyo Corporation office, where Ginkai was shocked when Metabee destroyed Robin-Arch. ("Delivery Commotion")

When Ikki won the chance to appear on the popular Charge!! Kids Show, Ginkai discussed the matter with Kokuryu and expressed his displeasure Ikki got the opportunity to hang out with the show's host and not him. Kokuryu hatched a plan to demonstrate the power of Death Medarot by having Ginkai interrupt the program and issue a challenge to Ikki with his new model Nessage. Nessage won the battle, but Ikki demanded a rematch for the next airing. Later, at the playgrounds, Kikuhime tried to curtail favors with Ginkai by massaging his back and praising his Robattling skills, but he refused her "assistance". Kikuhime then saw Ikki and Metabee discussing their strategy for the upcoming battle and tried to leak it to Ginkai, but this only irritated him. The next day, Ginkai showed up to the rematch and was perplexed when Ikki and Metabee employed a technicque that allowed them to defeat Nessage ("Robottle At The Pool")

Running late to home after a meeting, Ginkai and his Kiri Kinzam were ambushed by the Mystery Medarotter and Dorcus, who easily destroyed the Death Medarot. Later, Ginkai tested the new model Unitris at the bowling alley and approved of his performance. After Kokuryu told him he could keep it, Kikuhime entered the place and told them Ikki was bringing Metabee to the beach without having recharged his battery. Finding this the perfect opportunity to ambush Metabee, Ginkai had Kikuhime lead him to his location.

At the beach, Ginkai had Kikuhime lure Ikki to him and engaged him in battle, easily overpowering Metabee due to him running out of energy. However, as Ikki carried Metabee out of attack range, Ginkai had Excise disengage. The Mystery Medarotter appeared again and challenged him to battle. While he put up a fight, Ginkai was able to use Excise's thermography feature to predict Dorcus's ambush and defeat him. The event lead to The Mysterious Medarotter abandoning Dorcus for Excise. Ikki wanted to rematch Ginkai and, after being told his location by Iwanoi, met him at the bowling alley. Ginkai accepted the offer but was surprised by the arrival of the The Mystery Medarotter, who was told to defeat Ikki as part of the condition to acquire Excise. ("Warrior's Bond, Part 1")

Excise and Unitris double-teamed Metabee, defeating him. Later, Ginkai discussed The Mystery Medarotter's destruction of several Death Medarots with Kokuryu, mentioning that he was suprised he let Excise trash Momokawa's Gairot even though Momokawa is their friend. Kokuryu replied he doesn't need friends but powerful Medarotters who will display the strength of the Death Medarots and that any Death Medarot defeated in battle is only worthy of being scrapped, something that visibly disconcerted Ginkai.

Eventually, Ginkai challenged The Mystery Medarotter to a Robattle out of his personal volition. However, their battle was interrupted when Ikki walked in and challenged The Mystery Medarotter to show him it was wrong to abandon Dorcus. After Dorcus proved his devotion, The Mystery Medarotter accepted Dorcus back, changing the battle to a 2v2 between Metabee & Dorcus and Unitris & Excise, with Kokuryu taking over Excise's command. Ginkai had Unitris focus his attack on Metabee, chasing him inside a building under construction. Ikki noticed Excise was right in front of an exposed circuit wire and warned Ginkai of it, but Ginkai arrogantly dismissed the advice and had Excise step forward, which short-circuited him immediately and embarassed Ginkai. ("Warrior's Bond, Part 2")

Notes

• Like most of the new characters in Medarot Damashii, Ginkai is named after an alcoholic beverage, continuing the theme naming from Medarot 2.