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Failures are an inevitable part of great inventions. The trick is to transform those failures into success! After all genius is 1% inspiration and 99% luck!

Gen

Gen is proclaimed to be the best mechanic in all of Nippon.[1] He can be found at the top of the tower near the palace of Queen Himiko which can only be reached by using Catwalk to scale the side of the building in Ōkami, or using Vine to reach the tower's top in Ōkamiden.

History[]

Background[]

In the past, Gen had travelled the land of Nippon. In his travels he collected many items, many of which seemed useless on their own but by combining these items, Gen found he could construct a wide range of devices. Many of the strange items Gen found were not like anything he had seen before, leading him to the conclusion that Nippon was once home to a forgotten civilization.[2]

He designed the mechanisms for the Gojo Bridge that links Sei'an City's Commoner and Aristocratic Quarters together along with other important things.[3]

Ōkami[]

Lightningbringer

Gen activates his latest invention.

When Amaterasu and Issun first met him, he was working on an invention he called the Lightningbringer. However he was missing one part, the Gimmick Gear, and he requested Amaterasu's help in locating it. Amaterasu won it after defeating Ida in three races. When she brought it back to Gen, she drew a lightning bolt shape on the invention as some copper wire was missing. This summoned Gekigami who taught Amaterasu Thunderbolt. From inside the tower it appeared as though nothing had happened. At Gen's urging, Amaterasu and Issun went outside the tower and saw the large clock that sat atop the tower was now moving. Gen called his device the money clock, a device made for keeping track of time.[4]

Ōkamiden[]

GenLever

Gen about to activate Daidarabotchi.

Gen travelled to the newly unearthed ruins of the Moon Tribe on a scientific expedition to study the advanced technologies left behind. His intelligence and curiosity of machinery was the cause of a near-catastrophe when he was held captive by King Fury in order to repair Daidarabotchi. Wishing to at least know what would happen for all his forced labor and not realizing the severity of the action; he attempted to pull the switch that activates the weapon. He was stopped just in time by Kurow but this proves to be a futile effort as King Fury himself arrived and activated it.

Shortly after King Fury's defeat he once again meets Kurow and Chibiterasu who had heard he had a means of following the demon Akuro into the past. It was revealed he found a blueprint in the ruins, and following it, put together a machine that would allow the user to travel through time, though he admits he built it simply to do so without realizing what it could do. Luckily, the contraption was successful in sending the heroes into the past. Shortly afterwards, he built a Moon Tribe spacecraft for Issun, and with this, he and Chibiterasu returned to the Celestial Plain.

Characteristics[]

Appearance[]

Gen2

Gen as he appears in Ōkamiden.

Gen is a short, elderly man who barely comes up to Amaterasu's head. One of Gen's most defining physical features is the large lightbulb that sits atop his head. His entire head, with the exception of his small, round nose, is covered by his messy white hair. He has large, teardrop shaped eyebrows that serve as the only indication as to where his eyes are. He wears a purple shirt with red and blue markings. His shirt is open, revealing his chest and the green necklace he wears. The sleeves on his shirt are long enough to cover his hands completely. In Ōkami he wears his shirt like a robe that drags along the ground as he walks, it appears as though he wears nothing beneath the robe. In Ōkamiden, his shirt is significantly shorter, ending at the waist. He now wears black pants, a yellow helmet and carries what looks like the Gimmick Gear on his back, to fit with the excavation of the Underground Ruins he has been conducting.

Personality[]

He is a very eccentric person and fits the mad scientist persona very well. He shows this in his inventions which are often too far-fetched to create. Issun points out that his current invention isn't even made properly. Although his inventions are not always even near working it is shown that when they do work, they work even better than expected. Gen is very much a person who never ceases to believe in learning more things in life and has gained a fascination with the technologies of the Moon Tribe[2] which have greatly influenced and helped him in his work. He also is somewhat obsessive when it comes to finding a new type of machine or technological wonder as he will immediately attempt to build said object even when he doesn't know what it does and more often than not fails in the attempt. However despite his numerous failures he is never discouraged and makes up for these constant setbacks and problems with a bright and cheery attitude until he succeeds or finds yet another mechanical device to work on, often returning later and finding success.

Trivia[]

  • Gen is based on Hiraga Gennai, a Japanese inventor who lived in the 1800's. He is famous for creating the Elekiter, an electrostatic generator. Gen's relation with electricity in Ōkami was derived from this.
  • Gen refers to Amaterasu as snowflake.[5]

References[]

  1. Yami's Bestiary Entry for its fourth form.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "I am quite the traveler and have seen much of Nippon, you know. And I have collected many strange odds and ends during my travels. Sculptures never seen before. Strange stones unlike any others. Such things have led me to believe that many ages ago Nippon was home to a completely different civilization from ours."—Gen (Ōkami)
  3. "Many a contraption have I built. City Checkpoint's Big Drawbridge, and Gojo Bridge here in Sei'an City... And now my masterpiece is but one tiny step away from completion."—Gen (Ōkami)
  4. "Did you see my masterpiece? It is a contraption for keeping time. I call it the money clock! After all, time is money! Never allow yourself to waste it!"—Gen (Ōkami)
  5. "I know not how you made it all the way up here, snowflake. It is unusual for me to have visitors. But your timing could not be better. I needed a break. Would you like to hear the new scientific theory I'm advocating?"—Gen (Ōkami)
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