ENGLISH VOICE ACTOR: Michael McConnohie
Alternate Name (Anji the Destroyer)
AGE: Unknown
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Bare hands, short sword

Anji’s tale is a tragic one indeed. Originally, he had been a peaceful Buddhist monk. Then, after the revolution and the Boshin War, Anji took in a group of orphans who were all the children of one of the Shogunate’s supporters. The nearby village had yet to receive any money from the new Meiji government. The villagers primarily blamed the problem on the children Anji had taken in and claimed that the fact that they were still around was the reason the government hadn’t yet supplied them with any funding.

Then the Buddhist hunt began. In order to promote Shinto, the official religion of the government, the Meiji government ordered the abolishment of Buddhism. As a result, many temples were destroyed and many monks were forced to commit acts that ran counter to their faith. For the town near Anji’s temple, it was the perfect excuse to get rid of both the monk and his children. Having been warned beforehand by the village’s headman, Anji planned to take the children somewhere safer before the temple was torn down. But the opportunity never came. While he was meditating elsewhere, two of the headman’s thugs (it will never be known whether the headman ordered this or whether it was something they decided to do themselves) burned down the temple with the children still inside. Anji realized the temple was burning and came to rescue the children. However, one of the thugs knocked him out to prevent him from intervening.

After the flames had subsided and the arsonists had taken their leave, Anji knelt among the rubble of his temple. He lined his eyes with ash taken from the charred bodies of the children he looked after and vowed to destroy the Meiji government and bring salvation to the world. Anji went into a time of intense training and eventually returned to take the life of the village headman and the two men responsible for the deaths of his children.

Eventually, Anji joined the Juppongatana under Shishio under the condition that he held the power of life and death. Recognized as the third ranked soldier of the prestigious troop, Anji believed by working with Shishio to destroy the Meiji government, he could bring about his salvation for the world.

While training in the forest, Anji met a strange man named Sanosuke Sagara. Sanosuke, lost while traveling to Kyoto, had accidentally stumbled upon Anji during one of the monk’s training sessions. Sanosuke asked and eventually received the promise of Anji’s training. And after seven days of study, Sanosuke and Anji parted paths, Sanosuke having learned the powerful technique, Futae-no-Kiwami.

Shortly thereafter, Anji was informed by Soujiro that it was time for the Juppongatana to gather. When he arrived in Kyoto along with the rest of his comrades, Anji and the other Juppongatana members were to play a key role in the Kyoto Grand Fire Project. However, thanks to Kenshin and the Oniwaban Group, the fires were prevented. Anji did have to take action to stop one of his fellow members, Usui from taking the life of Misao Makimachi.

Following the failure of Shishio’s master plan, Anji was one of the three members of the Juppongatana who remained behind to face the Battousai and his allies. As the third ranked member, Anji was the first one to fight and faced off against Sanosuke Sagara in a fierce clash of fists and ideals. After a brutal battle Sanosuke finally managed to convince Anji that his chosen path was wrong and convinced the monk to change his ways.

After Shishio’s defeat, Anji turned himself over to the police and was sentenced to 25 years of prison in Hokkaido.

Futae-no-Kiwami: This unarmed technique is the product of Anji’s long years of training. It is quite fittingly referred to as the pinnacle of destruction because of its incredible force. This attack is a single punch with two impacts. The user punches with his knuckles raised. As the knuckles make contact, the fingers bend down to deliver the real blow. The target’s natural resistance is dispersed by the force of the first impact so that the target automatically receives the full force of the punch at the moment of the second impact. The Futae-no-Kiwami is capable of pulverizing wood or even stone to the point of grinding it into a fine powder. And in combat, this technique has the potential to instantly kill the opponent. Anji taught this technique to Sanosuke, who can only do it with his right fist. Anji, however, can perform the Futae-no-Kiwami with virtually any part of his body.

Kiwami Hazushi: This technique is a natural offshoot of the Futae-no-Kiwami. It was created to counter the original technique. If he is struck by an opponent’s Futae-no-Kiwami, Anji punches himself in the opposite direction to break the force of his enemy’s attack.

Tou-Ate: Anji engineered this technique to strike enemies from a distance. Anji performs the Futae-no-Kiwami with his sword, jamming the blade into the ground so that the shockwave is transferred through the earth to strike enemies outside of his reach.

Sanjuu-no-Kiwami: This technique was not used by Anji, but rather by Sanosuke, but it bears mentioning since it is also an offshoot of the Futae-no-Kiwami. Sanosuke used this technique against Anji in their final clash. Both combatants used the Futae-no-Kiwami, their fists meeting and delivering the attacks at the same time. To defeat Anji, Sanosuke snapped his fingers out, essentially adding a third impact to the original two so that the force of his blow was still forced against Anji.