Eiji Kashii - Ox Zodiac

Eiji Kashii (樫井 栄児, Kashī Eiji), also known by his Zodiac name Ushii (失井, Ushī), is one of the 12 Zodiacs from the novel Juuni Taisen. He is the Zodiac of the Ox.

Appearance

Ushii is a tall and lean man, having long dark brown hair with red inner layers that reach down to his calves, having one long strand of hair across his face. He appears to be middle aged and has dark grey eyes with dark circles, giving him a perpetual look of exhaustion. Ushii also has lightly tanned complexion and has been noted to have a large nose that curves down. He wears a black Traje de luces with gold wheel-like patterns embroidered onto the side of the taleguilla. He wears a short black jacket or chaquetilla with various golden accents. Underneath, he wears a black and gold waistcoat and also wears a white button down shirt with a red tie. Ushii has long, black horns that extend from the sides of his head and point upwards. It is unknown if his horns are real[2].

In the anime's ending theme visuals, he's seen wearing a long, white winter coat with fur trimming around the neck with dark blue pants.

Personality

Ushii is presented as a stoic and levelheaded man, considered to be smart and quick witted by other warriors. He has a cold and analytical personality and looks at things with a logical outlook. He is devoted to doing the right thing and follows a simple philosophy of "deciding to do right and then doing right." Although not explicitly mentioned in the anime, he had decided to try and kill all the other fighters as a form of mercy upon discovering that there was a necromantist within the group.[3] Despite his feared reputation, Ox shows great respect towards his opponents and is capable of being compassionate as shown with his past interaction with Tora, helping her out after assuming she was a lost child and trying to save her after being attacked by Usagi.[4] Throughout the novel, he is described as morose and gloomy by the narration.

Outside of battle, Ox goes out to restaurants alone due to his lack of knowledge on how to cook and also abstains from alcohol. He's also described as having a large appetite despite his thin build.[5]

Background

Ushii has been a warrior since the age of 5 and was considered a natural from the very beginning, his claim over the title becoming absolute and is regarded as the most powerful warrior to ever set foot in a battlefield. Most background other than the age he started as a warrior is unknown. The inscription on his saber reads Gobouken. The sword itself is nothing unusual in particular. In fact, it is a mass-produced item. However, he takes good care of it when he uses it. He feels no particular allegiance towards any country or ideology and acquits himself as a common soldier and values how to end war more than winning as a whole. He is remarked to bring certain victory to any camp that draws him in to their side. As a fighter, he tends to go for the vital spot of his opponents while using the smallest amount of movement that is necessary.

Skills & Abilities

He is known as the Genius of Slaughter and a Natural Born Slayer, where he is known to stomp every enemy line on a battlefield without exception. Many accomplished fighters like Inou, Uuma, Dotsuku, and Hitsujii view him as the main threat, and most of the wager was put on him as they believed he was the most formidable fighter participating in the Juni Taisen. However, he admits to not having any sort of special ability of the likes of dragon or rabbit.[6] This is best demonstrated during his fight with Uuma who despite Ushii landing numerous blows with his sword was unable to do any kind of serious damage, something he himself admitted to.

Weaponry

Saber - Ushii, the warrior of the ox's primary weapon with an inscription Gobouken. It was shown to be strong enough to damage Uuma and cut through steel, despite the saber itself having no special make orability.

Plot

Juni Taisen

Ushii was one of the warriors who agreed to Monkey's peace proposal in the beginning. After the warriors spread throughout the city, Horse stumbles into him in a subway tunnel. Ushii relentlessly attacks Horse to no avail, due to Horse's arm guards, and leaves him so that they may fight again after the numbers have thinned out. Exiting the subway, Ushii encounters and immediately kills Chicken. Later on, as Sheep is deciding who he should attack, he senses Ushii coming toward the building he's hiding in. Using a bomb as a distraction, Sheep escapes and leaves a fake trail for Ushii to follow, eventually leading him to a bridge where he finds the Tiger and the reanimated corpse of Snake. Ushii cuts Snakes left arm off, his right being cut off previously by Tiger. As Ushii and Tiger prepare to fight, Snakes dismembered arms wrap around their necks and choke them, making Tiger foam alcohol at the mouth. Ushii throws his saber at the puddle of alcohol-foam, catching it - and Tiger - on fire. Tiger throws off her flaming jacket, which Ushii uses to burn the dismembered arm off his neck. In the endgame, he forced to admit defeat after Rabbit managed to restrain him by using unusual tactics, however, unexpectedly, Nezumi suddenly appeared while carrying an explosive belonging to the deceased Hitsuji. Seeing this, Ushii finally felt relieved because no matter how bad the other participants were, it could not be worse than Rabbit. Then he sincerely accepted Rat as the winner while vaguely remembering the mysterious warrior's alternative routes he had experienced before.

樫井 栄児

Juni Taisen vs Juuni Taisen Novel

Ox was doubtful in regards to this Zodiac War due to it having a sudden change of rules on the day, and the reward (granting the wishes of every one of the winning team) was inconsequential. Because of that, he was not very aggressive but still cooperated with the team. When he introduced himself and waited for Rat (Which was under possession by Aries) to do the same, he was taken by surprise when Aries attacked him slicing his head off. Later on, Aries used his corpse to kill Usagi.

Etymology

Ushii's name (失井) is made up of the word ushinau (失う) which means "to lose something (tangible or intangible) or someone; to fail." and I (井) which means "well or waterhole". The "I" character is derived from his last name, Kashii.

Real Name

The name Eiji means "To flourish, glory, honor" (栄) (Ei) and "child, son" (児) (ji).

Eiji's last name, Kashii, means "Evergreen oak tree" (樫) (ka) and "water well" (井) (i).

Trivia

Ushii doesn't know how to cook.

He has a speech pattern within the Japanese version of the novel/manga/anime, usually ending his sentences with 'dagane' (だがね)[8], which is the Nagoya dialect version of 'dayone' (だよね) and translates to "Isn't it? / but". However, Ushii's speech pattern doesn't really translate into english and is only ever noticeable in Japanese.