Okita "Murder Princess" Souji | 沖田 総司

CANON HISTORY: Please Note that some elements of his canon history are rather vague depending upon the route. While I typically play him from Hijikata's route of the game, I will be using elements from the Hakuouki films as in the game itself Souji just literally disappears due to leaving the Shinsengumi to quietly die off screen from his illness. Both are considered canon, generally speaking, but the movie itself is obviously more in line with Anime canon than the game itself (as the game came out first) and is more fitting a portrayal of the character that the series wanted to bring across, as far as Souji is concerned. The reason I am choosing to go this route versus Souji's own game route, is also the difference in relationships is important to his character re: the female protagonist. (Basically it would be a bit hard to AU away such an important part of his route)

Souji Okita was born to a samurai class family and raised his sister, Mitsu until she was unable to continue caring for him. With his parents dead and his sister in finacial straits, he was left to stay with Kondou and his fellow instructor at the Shieikan dojo where he trained. Souji becomes a live in student who is treated more like a servant by his elder peers. When it is discovered by Kondou that they are beating him, he tries to intervene only for Souji to ask him to stop. This culminates into a stand off between Souji and an older boy whom he beats soundly, after learning to read his movements over a period of time of abuse.

Years later Toshizo Hijikata and other future shinsengumi members join the dojo over time. They all function as a neat family unit until the formation of the Roshigumi alongside Kamo Serizawa, another samurai class man like Souji, and his men. When it becomes apparent after a fashion that Serizawa is more interested in his status and using force to get things their rag tag group needs to move up in the world, this behavior slowly causes a rift in the group. With the creation of the Rasetsu by Kondo Yukimura and the help of one of Serizawa's associates, they must now also deal with the rogue monsters that threaten to plague humans at night to be fed upon. During this time, Okita befriends Serizawa's servant - affectionately called a stray dog by Serizawa - Ryuunosuke Ibuki. Most of his importance to the plot of the game revolves around his growing psychotic tendencies and his committing his first kill.

When Serizawa is assassinated along with any associates surrounding him, including a falsified assassination of Ryuunosuke Ibuki at Souji's hand, Keisuke Yamanami - called San'nan in the series - takes over the Rasetsu Corps research and continues experiments on captured Ronin. It is soon later come to pass that their group is renamed the Shinsengumi. Months pass and Chizuru Yukimura joins their group and they are swept up into the real possibility that demons exist within the world. Even longer time passes as Chizuru seeks to find her father and post the Ikedaya incident where Souji and Heisuke are both injured, Itou joins their group for a time before he too is assassinated. Over time, Souji strikes up a friendship with her after a time and it culminates into romance (In his route at least. In everyone else's routes he goes to Osaka because of how badly his tuberculosis has gotten.). Early on in their meeting, it is found by the Shinsengumi's doctor that he has contracted Tuberculosis, to which Souji asks that it be kept secret for a time. He plans to live and die by the Shinsengumi much to the doctor's concern.

Around the time of the roster changes within the shinsengumi - Harada and Nagakura's defection and Heisuke's temporary defection with Itou before that - the Shinsengumi adopt more western attire and change their name yet again to reflect their shifting stance on things. It is because the changes in Kondou that the previously mentioned two defect and Okita still stays despite this. His tuberculosis does not change despite having been tricked into becoming a rasetsu by Chizuru's brother and so not only has he become seriously ill but he also now can only function as one of the monsters the group tries to keep at bay. Everything culminates into a show down with Kaoru in the end and Okita either dies in this fight or goes on to live with Chizuru until his Tuberculosis takes him (depending on which ending obviously).

I will highlight that the links address game specific information to give an idea of some of the choices Souji is capable of making, but note that I will be taking him from Anime/Movie Specific Canon which is more or less in line with Hijikata Toshizo's route of the game.

Differences include:

Chizuru does not become a Rasetsu like Souji and does not accompany him to confront Hijikata bout Kondou's death nor does she go with him to reverse their current states as it does not exist for her

Souji does die unlike in his own route where you get an option for a good ending where he does not

CANON PERSONALITY: Souji is very much a blunt and straightforward person with bits of strange humor mixed in. He is also an enigma in that it can be difficult to determine what his true feelings are as often times he keeps his thoughts close to his chest or withholds valuable information until he deems it prudent to share it (such as when it was confirmed that Chizuru was a girl despite wearing men's clothing). He easily makes death threats to various people ranging from high ranking officers at the time such as Serizawa (only present in the prequel, Reimeiroku) and Itou to small fry like Chizuru. Often times it is a mystery whether or not he is joking. Even when he is in a romantic relationship with Chizuru, often calling her by "Chizuru-chan", he tells her easily that he will kill her if she sides with Kaoru, her brother, and his ambitions to eliminate humans and create a demonic army. Though, he does care deeply for her despite this. In a sense, his way of showing care for her is vowing to kill her if she ever strays from caring for humans. He is on occasion gentle and often times very protective of her, moving in her way to avoid her injury despite telling her she should learn to look after herself and to not get in his way on patrols. Souji has a stringent sense of right and wrong that does not always match up with a normal person's belief system.

One of the major plot points of his character arc is how he deals with contracting Tuburculosis and his choice to remain with the Shinsengumi despite this. When he first becomes aware that he has contracted such a deadly illness, he has already once broken out in coughing fits to the point of spitting up blood. He does this once in an altercation with Kazama and, when the demon decides he is done with him, Souji immediately tries to get to his feet again and insist he can still fight. That is the type of person Souji is. He pushes himself as far as he can go until he physically cannot move anymore. He is dedicated to his craft as a swordsman, training rigorously and sparring with the others when he is not by himself. Growing up in the dojo Kondou raised him in, Souji was surrounded by older students who would bully him and instead of telling Kondou he kept the bruises covered and would keep things to himself until one day Kondou found out and helped him eventually fight back against the bullies. It was at this dojo where everything began for the Shinsengumi and where they all first assembled.

Everything he does is for Kondou's sake. This stems from his deep admiration of the man for trying to bring him up after his older sister abandoned him to stay at the dojo Kondou presided over. He does not make any mention of his sister himself (the only mention of her being through Kondou). It can be safe to assume this relationship was never repaired as Souji is the type that, once you wrong him, it can be hard to earn that trust back. It is obvious in several cases that he suffers from severe abandonment issues, this being most apparent in his interactions with Kondou and in his jealousy of Hijikata. His admiration for the Shinsengumi leader goes beyond a normal relationship and Souji's greatest ambition is known to be to kill for Kondou, born from his need to feel useful to the man who gave him so much. Souji's self worth is dependent upon how useful he is to Kondou. Otherwise, he considers himself to be a burden and fails to see how anyone could genuinely care for a person such as him. He feels that his usefulness is what defines his value to others, such as his ability to kill.

His feelings are somewhere within the realm of over the top and obsessive to possessive and clingy. Souji sees himself as a tool for death and destruction while Kondou has much more pure ideals of the type of person Souji should be. Souji even admits to lying to Kondou on several occasions about his true feelings, going along with the facade of who Kondou wants him to be in order to never see the man sad because of him. Upon Kondou's death, Souji becomes furious and berates Hijikata and blames him when, in reality, it is Souji himself that feels he is the one at fault and not Hijikata. This sense of failure is a recurring theme Souji holds when it comes to his mentor. He made sure the man died believing the lie Souji told so many times, that he truly was capable of being a pure and kind person. He holds Kondou in such respect that he often will only refer to him as "Kondou-san" and nothing remotely informal beyond that.

Souji is the classic definition of a psychopath - easily manipulating people to do and say things he wants them to do or say, such as weaseling the truth out of a comrade who was plotting to have Kondou killed, only to wind up dead himself at Souji's hands. He does so in a simple way - getting the man drunk and convincing him that he is on his side of the issue, only to trick him into spilling his secret feelings about Kondou and killing the man as a result. Souji kills without mercy often times, feeling that he is only a blade that is only meant to kill others for the sake of the Shinsengumi. This is especially true of his relationship with the demons - Chikage Kazama and Kaoru Nagumo to be specific - whom he holds great disdain for as they routinely antagonize the Shinsengumi and work with their enemies, the Choushu and Satsuma clans. More than once, Souji has attacked the both of them without remorse and has seriously injured Kaoru on at least one occasion. It should be noted that Souji also does not differentiate between gender, threatening Kaoru even when it was thought that he was a woman, at the time wearing female clothing as a disguise. The bottom line is this: if you are a threat to the Shinsengumi he will cut you down.

Souji and Hijikata's relationship is often like that of comrades and possibly brothers - the bickering sort. Souji often will mock Hijikata with his words (his favorite nickname for the vice commander being "The Demon"). He normally follows Hijikata's orders without question unless it involves leaving him out of a situation due to his declining health. He feels nothing but disdain for his body's weakness and it is this that drives him to drink the ochimizu when it is given to him by Kaoru. If there is one thing Souji cannot stand, it is to be coddled. Their relationship is also not helped by Kondou's obvious and open respect for Hijikata, often letting him make big decisions for the Shinsengumi. Okita displays a certain amount of jealousy and as a result feels a need to jump into things and prove himself worthy to Kondou. One such instance happens to be his first kill - the member of the Shinsengumi who had spoken out and was making threats on Kondou's life. When Souji got wind of it he immediately spoke casually of killing him, only for Hijikata to threaten to send him back to Edo. Souji ignored this warning and killed the man anyway. While their relationship is often strained, Souji still shows respect to him by referring to him by his last name and using honorifics - "Hijikata-san". This is a sign of respect and superiority, though most likely the latter more than the former.

He is just as ruthless with his friends as he is his enemies. His relationship with Saitou is a very complicated one. While they have a strong enough understanding of one another and work well as a team, they also share a strong competitive nature in regards to each other. Upon their first meeting it is made clear when they spar one another and ignore Sanosuke and the others to continue to duke it out despite one of them already winning the match. They had to be physically pulled apart from one another lest they get carried away. Respect between the two is shown in a myriad of ways. Traditionally, Samurai who walk together on the street always have one who stands to the right of the other. Not only does this signify respect but at the same time it is culturally known at the time that if sheathes clash then the men holding those blades might do battle. Souji stands to the right of Saitou not because of this fact but the fact that Saitou is left handed. When they patrol together, Saitou can take out the enemies on the left while Souji takes out any on the right, making for superior teamwork. On some level Souji does hold respect for Saitou, even if it is not normally verbalized. Though, on one occasion Souji remarks that it is a better challenge for Saitou to spar him left handed as it makes it harder for Souji to get a strike in. This and their ease with one another away from sparring and killing makes for an interesting dynamic between the two of them. Saitou is not treated with superiority like Hijikata and so Souji has that one person whom he can feel competitive with and be himself around. Saitou also functions as the person to reel him back if he gets too out of hand in a situation. Their relationship is somewhat informal in that Souji refers to him as "Hajime-kun" - Hajime being his first name, obviously - or "Saitou-kun", respectively.

As for the rest of the Shinsengumi - Souji has a good rapport with the likes of the Baka Trio: Heisuke Todou, Shinpachi Nagakura, and Sanosuke Harada. The three like to drink and goof around and often times Souji will sit out of the majority of that but still hang on the fringes, smiling and laughing along at their shenanigans. He is not a heavy drinker, barely able to hold much alcohol at all, but he does relish in a chance to make fun of Hijikata. When he does drink, he never passes up the chance to talk of Kondou and often will end his sentences with -deshu instead of desu (Basically the japanese form of a period. It is essentially a word to end a sentence.). While in battle he might primarily fight with Saitou but he does still work well with Heisuke, Sano and Shinpachi. He refers to them each as "Heisuke", "Sano-san", and "Shinpachi-san" in canon, signifying respect of them and also respecting Heisuke's wish to be informal with everyone.

San'nan and Souji also have a very interesting relationship. At one point, early in Souji's route, San'an actually asks him to cut him down once he's drunken his own vial of the ochimizu. Souji casually responds that he will help him die, showing no mercy even to a friend of several years. Theirs is a complicated relationship as, even as early as Reimeiroku, San'nan is noted to be rather black-hearted and more than willing to dirty his hands or that of anyone else he can use, to further the goals of the Shinsengumi. At the end of Souji's route in Reimeiroku, San'nan offers to dispose of Ibuki's body, thinking Souji has killed him after being ordered to do so when in reality he has not, and Souji effortlessly lies to him. This shows that while they are comrades, Souji has no problems lying to him or really anyone given how easily he does the same to Kondou. The situation with Ibuki also showcases a fact that Souji is not always so ruthless. He could have very easily killed him as he was inexperienced and unpracticed with a sword and yet he let him live by dumping him in a river and hoping he wouldn't die. At least by doing that he gave him the option of a life away from the Shinsengumi where he would have been killed for being "one of Serizawa's men" after they had assasinated him.

Shinsengumi aside, Souji will often play with the neighborhood children and seems to be very childish at heart. He is relatively fond of felines and his favorite confection seems to be Konpeito, a sugar candy that is hard to come by for him back home as it must be specially made. Alternatively, his least favorite food is spring onions, more commonly called scallions. He loathes the taste and will avoid eating them save for the one time Kondou put them in porridge for him when he was feeling sick due to his Tuberculosis. Souji can be playful and funny and ruthless and full of darkness all in one breath. He wears different masks for Kondou and for the Shinsengumi and it is rare anyone knows truly what lies in his heart. Chizuru is most noticeably the person who comes closest to finding that out, par for the course of the relationship between the heroine and the man who calls himself a blade.

SKILLS/ABILITIES: Souji becomes a Rasetsu - a reject Demon of sorts (more like a vampire if you want to look at it that way) - and with this comes not only physical changes but also the need for blood on occasion and to feed. Okita is incredibly skilled with a sword, outclassing the likes of Shinpachi Nagakura, who is rather large in stature and very deadly with a blade, but still not strong enough to beat Saitou, whom he has a bit of a rivalry with. Beyond that he is capable of various human tasks such as cooking and cleaning, something each Shinsengumi member takes turns doing in rotation so that each does their share. When he is turned into a rasetsu (think of the typical vampire in fiction save for the lack the longevity) his strength and speed multiply in power and he is capable of tearing men clean in half with his blade. The drawback to this strength is that it eats away at his natural life force as it is essentially his natural abilities being used to it's full potential. He also suffers from blood lust and is forced to feed upon Chizuru Yukimura when this side effect becomes too much for him to bear, to a point that it physically cripples him.