Ginkotsu

was a member of the Shichinintai and was Renkotsu's assumed best friend, since the two were hardly ever apart. Renkotsu built Ginkotsu's mechanical body and kept it running throughout the time that Ginkotsu had it before it was blown up by Inuyasha. Renkotsu then rebuilt Ginkotsu's tank body in a cave with a whole new variety of weapons, making Ginkotsu a walking arsenal.

Appearance
Ginkotsu appears as a tall, powerfully-built, middle-aged man with red hair. His physicality has both organic and biomechatronic elements, making him the only cyborg-look-alike character of the series. A metal-plate is covering his right eye, indicating a previous injury. In place of his ears are two small, yellow cornucopias. There are three metallic spikes on each of his shoulders. He also possesses a metal jaw and samurai armor, with several metal and machined weapons attached to it, as well as a large metal drill, which is stored inside his chest. His entirely robotic left arm consists of a sharp grappling claw and both of his feet are also appear to be robotic. He also carries a short Uchigatana sword, which is fastened to his left flank.

Personality
Like all members of the Shichinintai, Ginkotsu too enjoys killing. His favorite way of killing people involves blowing them to bits. He is shown to be merciless going after Inuyasha and his friends, who had recently been exposed to Mukotsu's poison. Ginkotsu seldom talks, although he usually just grunts. Ginkotsu is shown to be very loyal to Bankotsu. Out of all the members of the Shichinintai, Ginkotsu seems to be most fond of Renkotsu, and will attack anyone who dares hurt him. It is probably due to the fact that Renkotsu single-handedly has taken care of Ginkotsu from the beginning, treating his injuries and building his mechanized body-parts, so that he may live and fight on. Ginkotsu cares for Renkotsu to the point that when he was injured by Koga during their confrontation on Mount Hakurei, he sacrificed his shard of Shikon no Tama without a second thought, which was sustaining his own life, to protect Renkotsu from his final attack.

During the story
After a few adjustments and changes by Renkotsu, Ginkotsu targets Inuyasha, who protected his poisoned friends with Shippō and Kirara. A monk & his apprentice walked through the forest, when they are in the forest with a light ‘attacking’ them, Ginkotsu appears in front of them and they run away.

Inuyasha took his friends to safety when they are attacked by flying saws & would rather flee than risk his friends, and enters the forest, but Ginkotsu shoots into the sky & a barrage of bombs burned much of the forest. Inuyasha is in a cave, leaving Kagome, Miroku and Sango, with Shippō and Kirara to care for them while he faces Ginkotsu. guided by the glow of metal, but the glow was a trick to gain time for Ginkotsu to attack the rest of Inuyasha’s group. Ginkotsu faces Kirara, but is trapped by his arm-chain and very injured. Inuyasha returns & fights Ginkotsu, who reveals that his friends have only until the sunset until they die of Mukotsu’s poison. Inuyasha asks Shippō and Kirara to take the others to safety.

Inuyasha starts fighting Ginkotsu again and Tessaiga is caught by the wires of Ginkotsu, Inuyasha changes Tessaiga back to its katana form, Inuyasha then proceeds to attack Ginkotsu at close range and without interference from the wires. Ginkotsu fires his gun, but Inuyasha dodges and attacks him with the Wind Scar.

Ginkotsu survives this battle and is roused by Myōga who, on his raven, traces Inuyasha’s group. Ginkotsu attacks the temple that Renkotsu took over after killing the monks. Ginkotsu goes to temple and attacks Inuyasha with arrows with metallic threads, however Inuyasha cuts a metal arm and is released from the bondage of them.

Renkotsu reveals his plan to Inuyasha and acknowledges that he burned the temple and stole Kagome’s jewel shards. Inuyasha tries to defeat Renkotsu with his sword, but is stopped by Ginkotsu’s ax-chain, being attacked by the two at the same time. Ginkotsu prepares to drill Inuyasha as he is burned by the threads of Renkotsu, Inuyasha throws his sword Ginkotsu, holding the drill with the chain, both were confident that Inuyasha was helpless & let down their guard and Inuyasha with Iron Reaver Soul Stealer manages to escape and regain his sword, and uses the Wind Scar and heavily damages Ginkotsu, ignoring Renkotsu to go rescue his group. Some Saimyōshō come to seek the head of taking what remains of Ginkotsu away from the temple.

Jakotsu & Renkotsu are seen in a cave that Renkotsu used as a forge for making his weapons, where Renkotsu builds a new body for Ginkotsu.

Ginkotsu, Jakotsu and Renkotsu attacked the village where the Suikotsu was, to recover the warlike character of Dr. Suikotsu, who was investigated by Kikyō because of their pure fragment. Kikyō attacks Ginkotsu, after which fires at Kikyō with double-barrel cannon and after the awakened evil Suikotsu tries to kill Yuuta and Chiyo, attacked Kikyō who was lying on the ground, but with the help of Miroku & Kirara rescue succeeds, but the warriors take advantage this and fleeing to avoid the intervention of purifying barrier of Mount Hakurei in the behavior of their comrade.

They then meet with Bankotsu and attack the North Castle to recover Banryū, killing the landlord, guards and the captain of the castle, who had killed them. Then in the ruins of the castle is a battle between Inuyasha’s group, Kōga against the Band of Seven, fighting against Kirara, Ginkotsu in a battle that the group had a clear advantage, Inuyasha uses the Wind Scar against Bankotsu, but is stopped by Ginkotsu with metallic threads, preventing Inuyasha from killing the leader of the seven, Saimyōshō appear in battle and the Band of Seven withdraw.

He later returned to Mount Hakurei with Renkotsu, where Kōga, who's looking for an opening in the barrier, taking advantage of the barrier in order to attack, Ginkotsu & Renkotsu fight Kōga and his group. Kōga begins to fight Ginkotsu & Renkotsu, but his legs are injured by a cannon shot of Ginkotsu. Ginkotsu and Renkotsu are protected by the mountain barrier, but Kōga comes and tries to remove the fragments and stuck Renkotsu’s armor into one of Ginkotsu’s cannons, destroying his cannon when he tries to fire again after this, Ginkotsu then activates & fires all of his weapons at Kōga that he has to shoot, but all his shots are dodged by the wolf demon that attacks him, Ginkotsu escapes by launching his upper body like a Jet that leaves the rest of his body and attacks Kōga by binding him with wires & with a shot of fire, but the Kōga catches and throws him to the ground, the hurt Ginkotsu, in order to protect Renkotsu self-destructs, destroying himself and severely damaging Kōga. Renkotsu keeps Ginkotsu's fragment to heal his wounds and escape.

Powers & Abilities
Ginkotsu has a host of weapons he is able to use, most of which are projectile. After his body was reconstructed into more of a tank-like vehicle, he was the primary mode of transport for the Band of Seven.

Weapons
Original Body:


 * Ginkotsu's new reinforced tank-type body has an armored platform and controls on the top-back, which is used to hold other Shichinintai members and to have Renkotsu help aim at targets.


 * Spider Legs & Saw Wheels: He has five of these on the front-half of his body that dig into the ground to crush immobile/slow targets beneath a large set of saw-like tank wheels. Both are used to help him climb steeper slopes. He also has two in the back to help keep him still.


 * Top Cannons: In his new body, he has two large cannons behind/above him. They can fire either basic explosive cannonballs, or mortar-shells that release a large number of shrapnel-projectiles to destroy a large area. Unlike the original projectiles, these exploded instantly when they hit the ground.


 * Rotating Body: The lower-half of his body is able to rotate 360º for sharp turns & keeping the enemy at a distance.


 * Bottom Cannons: Four telescopic cannons above his 'legs', which are usually hidden in his lower body.


 * Side Cannons: Twelve cannons, six on each side, which are usually hidden in his lower-body horizontally. When they are released, they become vertical.


 * Middle Cannons: Fifteen cannons that are hidden between his upper/back & lower/middle body that are behind his head.


 * Bomb Launchers: Twelve bomb launchers that are located in the back of his platform.


 * Rocket: The upper half of his body is able to separate from the rest and fly around like a rocket.


 * Wire-Rings: His upper body can shoot two wires with steel rings an the ends from his shoulders to bind his target.


 * Flamethrower: He has a flame thrower on the left side of his upper body.


 * Self-destruction: His final resort is a suicide bomb, rigged in the top half of his body, which is activated by 'releasing' his mouth-guard. When activated, it results in a massive explosion with a huge area-of-effect radius, severely damaging everything within it. He eventually uses it, thus sacrificing his own life, in order to protect Renkotsu from being killed by Kōga.

Manga vs. Anime
The manner in which Ginkotsu dies is slightly different in the manga than in the anime. In the manga, Ginkotsu is destroyed when Kōga stuffs armor in his cannons, which causes them to backfire and blow his mechanical body to pieces. However, in the anime, the same thing happens but fails. He later then self-destructs to protect Renkotsu after Kōga hurts him and after all of his other attacks fail to work. Also, he gives Renkotsu his jewel shard to defend him with a barrier.

Additionally, Ginkotsu's appearance in the anime & manga have a number of differences. An example is that his original anime body had three long spikes per shoulder, while in the manga, he had more & shorter spikes. His robotic arm is also much sturdier looking in the manga.

Trivia

 * Ginkotsu's Theme-Music from the InuYasha Official Soundtrack, Vol. 3 is entitled "The Tank Ginkotsu".
 * He was one of the few characters in the anime to possess cannons and gunpowder, which were western and modern kind of weapon for the feudal era.

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