- "My deception...rules all...of creation!"
- —Bankotsubo in Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate
Gohyakumine Bankotsubo (Japanese: 五百峯 万骨坊 Gohyakumine Bankotsubō), also known as Tengu (天狗), is the final boss character of Dead or Alive 2. Since his appearance, Bankotsubo has been appearing as a secret character in other Dead or Alive games, such as Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate and Dead or Alive 4.
Bankotsubo is the oldest playable character in the series, at the age of 1500.
History
The tengu is a mythological creature from Japanese folklore. In Dead or Alive 2, he wanted chaos to reign over the world, but was stopped by Hayabusa. His name was stated as "Gohyakumine Bankotsubo", but he is more commonly known as simply "Tengu".
Dead or Alive 2
Bankotsubo is a tengu who is a criminal in his own dimension, as he murdered Kuramasan Maouson - the leader of their race. Fearing punishment for his crimes and breaking tengu rules, he escaped into the human world. Considering the hopes and struggles of humanity to be insignificant, he decided to bring about ultimate disaster and calamity, covering the world in chaos. Ryu Hayabusa found out about his doings, and in the final match of the second Dead or Alive tournament, kills Bankotsubo and becomes the tournament winner.
Character
Appearance
- See also: Bankotsubo's costumes
Personality
Bankotsubo is extremely arrogant, almost grievously so. He looks down on humans, as well as his own kind with contempt and thinks them fragile and trivial. Bankotsubo is also fond of chaos and destruction, and is manipulative to a fault. He tricked his fellow tengu into allowing him close enough to murder their leader, as well as having a hold of sorts in connection with Ein's missing memories. Ironically, because of his superiority complex, Bankotsubo's defeat was quick and unceremonious.
Etymology
Bankotsubo is Japanese, where 万骨 (banko) means as "thousands of lives" and 坊 (bō) as "place" or "square". His surname, Gohyakumine, translates as "five hundred peaks".
The word "tengu" translates to "heavenly dog" in English. In Japanese folklore, tengu started out as destructive demons and harbingers of war. However over time their image gradually softened into beings that are protective, though still dangerous, spirits of the mountains and forests.
It's likely that Bankotsubo is meant to represent the early aspects of tengu in Japanese folklore and legend.
Relationships
Ein
Bankotsubo was able to prolong Ein's amnesia (perhaps willfully) during the tournament, as Ein could not regain his memories until Bankotsubo was slain.
Genra
In Dimensions, Genra was revealed to be the one who allowed Bankotsubo to enter the world from the tengu realm by orchestrating an elaborate trap involving Kasumi α and Ayane, the latter of which was unknowingly used as "bait".
Nyotengu
Nyotengu is a female tengu who heard about Bankotsubo's defeat and death by the hands of Ryu Hayabusa. Because of this, Nyotengu desired to meet Hayabusa in order to see and test his powers and skills, and succeeded in doing this during the events of Dead Or Alive 6. Even though she lost to him, she was satisfied fighting Hayabusa and was impressed with his skills. Although Bankotsubo and Nyotengu are both tengus, the two hail from different tribes (Nyotengu hailing from the "Black Tengu" tribe). They have very opposite thoughts and views on humanity; Bankotsubo shows no care towards the human world, only hatred and disgust, wanting to cause chaos and destruction. Nyotengu on the other hand is seen in Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 and Xtreme Venus Vacation to love the human world, showing some care, respect, and appreciation, even saying that the human world is a wonderful and fascinating place to live. She also has a soft spot for humans and is quite capable of being peaceful and friendly, albeit also mischievous towards them.
Gameplay
- See also: Bankotsubo's command lists
Bankotsubo fights with tengu-do, a very powerful and unconventional style that can be very unwieldy for beginners, as his movements are generally slow overall, but very damaging and prone to knocking enemies back. His combos can be easily predicted and vulnerable to holds, but if you time your combo to an opponent's advance properly, you can trap them in the attack as they will be stunned and can only respond with timed holds (unless they are knocked off the ground). These combos however are easy enough to time that they are effective for juggling your opponent after launching them off the ground. It therefore stands to reason that Bankotsubo is best suited for timed power blows and punishing counter attacks.
That said, Bankotsubo also employs a combination of hovering attacks, where he suddenly flaps his wings, allowing unique aerial combos and throws to be executed. These attacks are quite damaging and it can be difficult to anticipate what will happen after hovering, as there are multiple follow-up attacks. Bankotsubo also possesses supernatural powers, such as transforming the stage into one of several ethereal landscapes on command, or unleashing a charged wind blast that envelops the entire stage. This blast can be blocked or held (it counts as a mid-punch), however, and takes a small grace period to execute, but it can damage an enemy lying on the ground or rising from a fall, at which point the blast cannot be blocked.
In Dead or Alive 2, Bankotsubo was considered overpowered because some of his moves are considered "broken" (a notable move would be Mizu-Uchi, being a 12 frame high kick that crushes highs, launches on normal hit, and gives +3 advantage on block) as well as having more moves than anyone else in the cast that give frame advantage on block. His heavy down attack also deals the most damage among everyone, he has access to a ranged attack and is also the heaviest character in the cast. Because of these reasons, he was banned from competitive play.
In Dead or Alive 4 however, Bankotsubo was considered to be one of the worst characters as he was nerfed heavily from his Dead or Alive 2 iteration. His overall damage output is reduced significantly, almost all his moves are very unsafe on block, while still retaining his slow speed. He was still banned from competitive play however.
Unlocking Bankotsubo
Bankotsubo is an unlockable character in Dead or Alive 2, Dead or Alive 4, and Dead or Alive Dimensions. In Dead or Alive 2 and Dead or Alive 4, he can be used in every gameplay mode except Story Mode. To unlock him:
- Dead or Alive 2 (JPN Dreamcast or DOA2: Hardcore): Either collect 10 stars in Survival Mode or play any of the characters 200 times.
- Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate: Complete Story Mode with every character.
- Dead or Alive 4: Complete Time Attack Mode with all the characters, including the unlockable characters.
- Dead or Alive Dimensions: Complete Tag Challenge Mission 17.
Appearances
Dead or Alive series
- Dead or Alive 2 games (non-playable, 1999-2000)
- Dead or Alive 2 (Japanese Dreamcast) (unlockable, 2000)
- DOA2: Hardcore games (unlockable, 2000)
- Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate (unlockable, 2004-05)
- Dead or Alive 4 (unlockable, 2005-06)
- Dead or Alive Dimensions (playable, 2011)
- Dead or Alive 6 (mentioned)
Fighter quotes
Music themes
The following are the music themes used for Bankotsubo throughout the series.
| Theme | Game appearances |
|---|---|
| "Jintsuriki" | Dead or Alive 2 and DOA2: Hardcore games Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate Dead or Alive 4 Dead or Alive Dimensions |
| "Tengu (or Jintsuriki) Remix" | Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate (Ray House; as "Tengu Remix") Dead or Alive 4 (Crash Club; as "Jintsuriki Remix") |
Gallery
| Promotional renders |
|---|
 Dead or Alive Dimensions  Dead or Alive Dimensions |
| Promotional images |
|---|
 Website background - Dead or Alive Dimensions |
| Pixel icons |
|---|
 Dead or Alive 2 |
Trivia
- Bankotsubo is the only final boss that is not affiliated with the Mugen Tenshin clan. Raidou was a nukenin ("missing shinobi"), Genra was a master shinobi, and Alpha-152 is a clone of Kasumi. Also, he was the only boss with no connection to Victor Donovan.
- Bankotsubo, Nyotengu and Alpha-152 are the only characters capable of flight.
- Bankotsubo along with Alpha-152 and Raidou are the only boss to appear in more than one main series game.
- Bankotsubo's birthday (January 1) is on New Year's Day. He also shares the same birthday as Mai Shiranui, a character from the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series who appear as a guest character in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.
- Coincidentally, both characters had fighting styles that revolved around fans of some sort (ha-uchiwa's in Bankotsubo's case, and paper fans in Mai's case).