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farmerofwrath) wrote2020-02-01 02:28 am
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In a nutshell, Zen is a realist with severe trust issues and a sharp tongue, which he often uses to poke fun at others. A snarky tsundere who tries to downplay or downright hide the fact that he has a good heart and cares about those he befriends.
Hair: Short, dusty brownish mauve hair cut in undercut/two-block style at the nape.(Exact hair color changes even across official media... sometimes it's a light, brownish mauve, sometimes it's a darker, rose brown. Sometimes it's between the two.
Eyes: Violet
Build: Small and lean, with some muscle
Features/Habits:
- Youthful and cute looking face
- X key (tiny X-shaped device attached to his bellybutton)
- Is a light smoker
- Looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you
Dress: He prefers plain clothes that are easy to move in. More often than not, neutral or dark colored ones that might have cutesy, small drawings or patterns as discreet details. As for underwear, he wears boxer briefs (like the one in this sketch sample).
In canon, prior to being kidnapped, he wore a black shirt (that has the drawing of a strawberry and the word "farm" on the left sleeve) underneath a pair of bluish-purple denim overalls (worn cross-back style and only properly strapped on his right shoulder) and black safety boots. Accessories included a pair of white work gloves, a sun hat, a belt pouch and a tenugui (towel) that he often hang around his shoulders.
Full body sample
NSFW sample
Voice:
Mitsuki Saiga (JP)
Alan Lee (ENG)
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Warning: Contains mentions of child-parent domestic violence. Also spoilers for stage 2.
"Zen's past indicates Wrath."When Zen was around the age of 11, he moved in with his parents and older brother to his paternal grandparents' farm. There, his parents started to work for Zen's grandfather at the open air resort Monkey Tree House Village as payment for the four of them living there.
Zen quickly grew to like his new life in the country, and enjoyed helping out in the farm as well. One day, roughly one year after they moved in, he was sent by his father to go get his mother, who was supposedly working overtime, at the tree house in the resort. However, the sight that greeted him upon arrival was of his grandfather having sex with his mother. That moment, the truth behind the Kubota family was accidentally revealed to him: he overheard their conversation, in which Zen's grandfather coerced his mother into having sex or else he would reveal to his son that Zen is actually a child born from an affair between himself and Zen's mother.
That revelation made the Kubota family, as Zen knew it, a big lie.
His young mind tried to deny the incomprehensible, repulsive truth before his eyes, recognizing the two as monkeys (*) that resembled his mother and grandfather instead. The truth sent him spiraling down into doubt, and he began to question himself who, or rather what, was his real father: a human or a monkey?
Some time later, Zen's grandmother, who had been sick for a while, passed away. While the family was gathered for the funeral, Zen's mind was racing with confused thoughts, unable to understand who these people around him really were to him. The person he thought was his grandmother wasn't related to him at all. The person Zen thought was his grandfather was actually his father. The person he regarded as his father was actually his older brother. The person he knew as his older brother was actually his nephew.
His family was nothing more than just a group of deceiving monkeys playing at being a family. And no one else besides him seemed to know — or care about — the real truth. The extreme disgust he felt towards that travesty made him feel so sick to the point he actually puked.
Growing increasingly shaken by the questions gnawing at him, Zen confronted his mother about the truth he had discovered, questioning whether he was the son of a human or the son of a monkey. Her shock to hear such a question quickly turned into fear of the consequences if the secret of her affair were to be leaked. She begged him not to tell his "father" of the relationship she had with his "grandfather", claiming they didn't have "that sort" of relationship anymore. Her words, however, only made Zen more confused, and he pressed with more questions about who was the "father" and the nature of "that relationship". But she couldn't bring herself to answer any of these questions at all. Instead, she only apologized desperately while her son repeatedly kicked her in blind rage, angry tears running down his face.
Two years after Zen saw the "monkeys" at the tree house, he still felt unable to appease the dark emotions swirling within him. With no other way to deal with the anger in his heart, it became daily occurrence for him to take out his anger on those weaker than him: namely, his own mother. One day, when he was extorting her for money, his father interfered, and reprimanded Zen for doing such an inhumane thing. Which, to Zen, would only be fitting, since he considered himself as the son of something less than human, the son of a monkey. Like his father, he was something less than human, as well.
Hearing the three of them from outside, Zen's grandfather also barged in, to stop them before the ruckus they were causing could escalate, and bring shame to the Kubota house. Revealing the truth behind that charade of a family to his "father" right there would be easy, although the truth would cause the family to fall apart just as easily. The thought crossed Zen's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to end it all.
Besides growing violent against his mother, he also began to hang out with bad company at school, becoming a juvenile delinquent himself, and even taking to the habit of smoking. The men in the Kubota family started to shun him for those behaviors. Zen could only retaliate by closing off his heart further. Until one day, his older brother moved in with his fiancee, Rumiko. Being an only child, Rumiko attempted to befriend Zen, hoping to become like a big sister figure to him.
However, he bluntly rejected her attempts, offering no solid reasons. But even so, she didn't give up on him. Days later, when Zen was considering staying the night at his buddy's due to his growing uncomfort with his own brother's and Rumiko's presence at home, it was his turn to be confronted. Rumiko tried to draw an explanation out of him as to why he refused to accept her as his big sister. Thinking it would be a good opportunity to mess with her resolve a little, he half-jokingly revealed his family's secret to her, explaining that since his brother was actually his nephew, that made her the wife of his nephew. She wasn't even his sister-in-law, so she couldn't possibly become his big sister.
Seeing as she didn't find it funny, he attempted to cover up the fact he had just spilled as a bad joke, in an attempt to push her away. But to his surprise, she saw right through it: she was convinced it was no joke at all, but rather the truth, because his expression said it all. He looked like he was about to cry.
Rumiko decided that no matter their relationship, she would become his big sister. Her resolve to befriend him eventually broke through his defenses, and they started to spend more time together. She encouraged him to attend college to study more about agriculture, on the grounds that leaving home to study could be a good experience for him. She even offered to talk to his grandfather to ask to help with his tuition. Considering himself the one that stuck out in his own family, Zen ultimately decided that following Rumiko's advice and leaving for a while could be a good idea. Thanks to her helping him with his studies, he got admitted into college.
His relationship with his family seemed to be improving when, during a conversation with his parents and brother at home, his mother got a call saying she forgot something at work, but Rumiko was the one who went to get it instead. This struck him as odd at first, but realizing that Rumiko and his grandfather were the only ones absent, he quickly pieced the facts together and rushed to the tree house at the resort.
Just as he feared, his grandfather was indeed making moves on Rumiko. Zen angrily demanded him to get away from her. But in response to being called disrespectful names like "geezer" by his own son, Zen's grandfather boastfully revealed that he was aware that Zen had learned the truth on that day at that same place, seven years ago. Zen attempted to attack his grandfather with a shovel, but Rumiko stood between them. Just as Zen's mother did the first time he confronted her, Rumiko could only apologize and beg Zen to keep what he had just seen as a secret from his brother.
Rumiko's words and actions mirrored those of Zen mother's from years ago, and that stirred not only more anger, but also confusion in Zen. Noticing this, his grandfather revealed the full truth: At some point in the past, both women's families collected a debt, which they were paying off by marrying into the Kubota family. Zen's grandfather had arranged them to marry to Zen's father and older brother so the two women could stay legally within his reach. Bragging that they had already had sex 10 times already, he then offered Rumiko to Zen as a college acceptance gift, wrongly assuming that his son wanted her.
Consumed by rage of having been compared to the likes of an animal — like his real father, Zen snapped and attempted to murder the man, but Rumiko shielded him, and the blow from the shovel broke her arm instead. As not to arouse suspicion in Zen's "father" and "brother", the story they were told was that Zen tried to force himself on Rumiko and ended up injuring her. This got Zen expelled from home by both men, but Zen still chose to keep quiet about the family's secret, under the reasoning that he had little reason to reveal it. Even if he did, it would only make the whole family more miserable. And he figured no one would believe the words of a former delinquent who used to beat his own mother regularly, anyway.
Before leaving his family for good, his grandfather mockingly compared Zen to himself, and promised to make him his successor if Zen kept his mouth shut. Not denying the comparison this time, Zen only responded by turning away and cursing the old man inwardly in his mind. He then dropped from college and decided to leave the mountains his family lived in to find work in another farm. Rumiko went to see him off, and thanked him for choosing to keep quiet about the Kubota family's secret. He apologized for breaking her arm, and for the first time, called her "big sister" like she had always wanted.
Only at the very end was that he managed to fully accept her, and finally noticed the way she always smiled: he described it as a smile that seemed drunk on a notion of self-sacrifice. And he couldn't help but find it horrifying. He wasn't shackled by family ties or debts and acted freely. Unlike her, who had to sacrifice her own happiness for somebody else's sake and still had the strength to smile despite it all.
(*) A bit of context: Monkeys are viewed as pests by farmers in Japan, as they steal food, dig up crops and sometimes even attack smaller pets and children. In Zanki Zero, it's also heavily implied they used to invade the resort owned by the Kubota family, including the treehouse, where a young Zen witnessed the truth of his own lineage. He probably made some noise the as he ran from the place, prompting his grandfather to ask out loud if a monkey had gotten into the tree house again.
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Past: "Real sin"
Warning: Contains general spoilers for endgame (stages 6 and 7)!
In his elementary school days, Zen was part of the Garage Kids, a group of (outcast) friends gathered by the original Sachika Hirasaka. The seven of them, along with Kaiyo Academy's infirmary teacher (also Sachika's half brother), Mamoru, got along well, and used to meet up in an old garage to play.
One fateful day, Yosuke Kurosaki, a serial killer, wandered in. Asking them to play a "game" that would test the true nature of their friendship, he ordered the kids to close their eyes and pick the one out of the group they hated the most, or wished death upon. Under the assumption that no one would pick Sachika, the six of them unanimously pointed at her (and Sachika ironically picked Kurosaki—an idea only the "genius girl" would think of).
Sachika was then gruesomely murdered right before their eyes, sustaining multiple stabbing wounds to her whole body, her right arm and left leg were also cut off.
After the incident, the Mashiro Group (more specifically Yuma's parents) used their economic and research prowess to erase the kids' memories about the incident, to prevent PTSD. Zen then moved in with his family to his grandparents' farm in the countryside, without any memory of what had happened or why they were moving.
Years later, when the remaining six of the Garage kids were in their early 20's, Mamoru, who didn't witness the incident in which his half-sister was brutally murdered, found out that the kids had "chosen" Sachika to be the one to die. Although the fact was true, this was part of Daichi Terashima's (Mamoru's father) plan to get guinea pigs for the next stage of his clone research.
The six of them were abducted by Mamoru and had X keys implanted onto their bodies. Afterwards, their original bodies were disposed of. They were kept inside their X keys until Mamoru's plan for revenge on them for killing his precious half-sister was ready to be put into action.
Mamoru was the one who assigned six of the Seven Deadly Sins to each one of the Garage Kids, as a way to avert attention from his identity as the mastermind behind their kidnapping. And to remind them they were all sinners, even though they didn't have memories of that day they lost an important friend.
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Upon first glance, Zen's carefree smile, soft mannerisms and cute features stand out, giving him the air of an approachable, easy-going man. But that's just a superficial layer, under which lies a bitter realist who is extremely distrustful of others. Further underneath that caustic layer that serves as a barrier to keep others away, lies a wary, but kind heart.
However, he wasn't always like this. Until the age of 11, he was a hardworking and kindhearted kid who loved to help his parents with work at the farm. The incident in which he found out he was a child born from his mother's secret affair with his paternal grandfather changed him. The truth shocked him, and unable to accept that humans — his own family — would do something as despicable as to deceive everyone else, he perceived the two as monkeys instead.
Confused as to what these people around him really meant to him, he began to reject his whole family; and from that point on, considered himself as less than human — the son of a monkey. Unable to find an outlet for the toxic anger growing within him, he took a habit of venting his anger on someone weaker than him, his mother, beating her on a regular basis. In response to that violent behavior, his family started to shun him. He grew distant, since no one even tried to understand his feelings or the basis for his actions.
Rumiko, his older brother's fiancee, was the first person who tried to understand him. Over time, he eventually opened up to her. However, it turned out she, like Zen's mother, was just another woman "bought" by his grandfather to marry into the Kubota family. And on top of it all, Zen's grandfather (his real father) frequently made sexual advances on both of them. Once again consumed by rage, Zen attempted to murder his grandfather, but ended up injuring Rumiko. He was then expelled from his family and home.
This trauma played a definite role in shaping his jaded outlook on reality and human relationships. No matter how repulsive his reality was, there wasn't any other to choose from. In the end, he was still the son of an opportunist monkey who preyed on the weak, and all he could do was accept it, no matter how much he hated that fact. He learned at a very young age, and from his very family, that people's real intentions can't be taken at face value. People will use others and let themselves be used for their own benefits, twisting values and betraying others' trust when they see fit. This experience made him bitter and cynical, and he closed off his heart to anyone who tried to approach him.
Because two important women in his life were pawns (and the perpetrators) in the scheme that traumatized him, he also became especially distrustful towards women. He often tries to avoid getting close to them, and he shows it clearly by calling every female he comes across in canon by some kind of title or nickname, to put some emotional distance between himself and them. Only if they gain his trust enough to make him open up is that he might call them by their names.
He bluntly admits he doesn't trust people. But at the same time, attempts to cover the reasons for this through every means possible, often resorting to push people away from him through his sardonic words and behavior. He tries to convince himself he doesn't need something as pointless as "love" to live, claiming that humans, like any other animal, only need food and water to keep living. But deep inside, he is terrified of opening up to others and showing his weaknesses.
He feels particularly threatened when his personal life is pried into or exposed. It makes him grow unnecessarily aggressive with his words, lose his cool exterior, or even resort to reckless actions. In canon, when his past was about to be exposed by the Extend TV, he disregarded everyone else's words of caution and headed off on his own, ignoring even the danger of getting killed and having no one around to gather his X Key to revive him.
Because he doesn't want people getting close to him, he often tries to keep his positive traits hidden. He always puts on an aloof front, but can be very kind in his own roundabout way. Experience with his family shunning him for years instead of trying to comprehend him — and then ultimately expelling him — shaped him into the firm belief that people should take care of themselves rather than always putting others' well being first. But he still does feels concern for others, although he expresses it in a nonchalant way, often through actions or well-intentioned, but insensitive words. There were several chances for him to reveal the truth about his family to his "father" and "brother", but he could never bring himself to end it all. He knew fully well that doing so would break the family apart, and make everyone more miserable. And he would gain nothing from that. He also repeatedly used harsh words to remind Minamo she would have to kill her creature-turned younger brother, so she wouldn't lose sight of their objective. Because no matter how much she hesitated, her brother wouldn't come back anyway.
His brutal honesty goes in hand with his realist mindset. He often says what is on his mind, without bothering to sugarcoat facts and opinions, and even encourages other people to openly express their true feelings and thougths. However, this doesn't mean he has no filter. There are times he holds back snarky comments, and several moments in which he carefully picks the best timing to speak up harsh words in an attempt to shake up other characters whose behavior he finds suspicious. And although he's awkward at heartfelt apologies, he's perfectly able to recognize and apologize when he says or does something that unjustly hurts someone else's feelings.
He is very driven to accomplish tasks, even if part of this drive is propelled the thrill seeking part of him. To get things done, he'll often plunge himself into difficult or dangerous situations when no one else seems to be willing to try. In the very first mission given by the Extend TV, which was to get one of the group killed so they could be extended (revived) afterwards, he ruined the group's barbecue by bringing up the subject when everyone else tried to forget it. Seeing that no one was willing to give dying a try, he attempted to kill himself on the spot, but was stopped. Upon realizing that the others weren't psychologically ready to risk their lives yet, he dismissed his attempted suicide as a joke.
He was called hardworking by his older brother when he was a kid, and it's a trait that didn't change even after his trauma. He acts aloof and goes about things in an uninterested way, but actually puts a lot of thought and effort even in the smallest tasks. Although it wasn't strictly necessary for the group's survival, he made a small garden using naturally growing fruits and vegetables he found, and, because he was the one most well versed in farming in the group, chose to take care of it by himself. Throughout his life of survival, he also displays a peculiar habit of holding onto several objects he finds during their hunts, in case they ever come in handy. An unknown object, later identified as a Clione egg — that he intended to use as fertilizer, but turned out to be an useful asset to the group — and a (replacement) prosthetic arm that he gives to Sachika being interesting examples.
On the one hand, he can be a bit temperamental, often taking the role of the realist in the group by bursting everyone's bubbles, dismissing tasteless jokes, and promptly pointing out the flaws in others' plans and ideas. But on the other hand, he is very level headed. Which, under his nonchalant surface, is different from when he's just acting aloof. While the latter is an attempt to convince and restrain himself from acting on emotion, the former is tied to his ability of looking at cold reality as it is. When he woke up on Garage Island, he was said to have showed little emotional reaction to having been kidnapped. Given the nature of the situation, it's more likely he tried to act calm as not to show any weakness. Comparatively, upon encountering his grandfather in the form of a creature, he is visibly shaken and filled with rage. However, to move forward with the mission, the creature had to be killed. The determination to put an end to his hatred towards his grandfather helped calm him down enough to make that decision in a logical way.
Despite his tendency to be rational, he does have a rather childish habit of poking fun at people. His jabs, too, are said without reservation, and meant to get a honest reaction out of others, but they aren't always mean spirited. Although they are often said with a nonchalant smile on his face, which makes it difficult to know if he's serious or not.
To sum him up in a few words: He's often hard to read, follows his own moral codes and can be a bit insensitive sometimes. But at the end of the day, his heart is in the right place. He is simply very selective about whom he opens it to.
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RELATIONSHIPS: I welcome any kind of CR, be it good, neutral, or negative. Don't expect Zen to readily open up to your character, though. Because of his past experiences, he developed a more jaded view of human relationships, which led him to regard everyone with distrust. He often goes so far as to try to push others away through his sardonic attitude. This, together with his tendency not to sugarcoat his words, makes him difficult to get to know if one doesn't try to push past this defensive barrier. However, with the right amount of determination, one might even get to see a hidden, sweet side of him...
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: Zen's trust issues have shielded him from more meaningful relationships and the physical affection that often comes with those. Your character is still welcome (and encouraged) to go for any kind of physical contact, but he'll mostly likely respond with skepticism or disgust. Worst case scenario he'll threaten to plow your character or smack them without warning. The latter might be more easily triggered if he's put in embarrassing situations or if your character touches him in ticklish areas, like his armpits or sides. This, obviously, is also highly encouraged!
FLIRTING: Same as above. With considerably lower chances of physical harm done to the character flirting with him if no one-sided physical contact is involved. For more intimate CR, he might initiate his own version of flirting if he's in the mood.
FIGHTING: He enjoys the thrill he gets out of dangerous fights and situations, to the point of declaring that fighting to the death was the sole entertainment he had in the destroyed world he came from... Granted, death was not permanent there, as his clone body could be revived so long as his X key (the X shaped device on his belly) was intact. As if to further prove the thrill-seeker part of his nature, he is also the sole character out of the main 8 to have a skill (named "Thrill") that increases attack power when there are two or less characters alive in the party. He isn't so reckless as to throw his life away at the cost of nothing, but a thrilling battle is one of the things that excite him the most.
Aside from having a (clone) body that can heal from minor injuries, he has no real supernatural powers to speak of. However, he has some experience with fistfights, mainly thanks to his days as a troublemaker in high school. Plus, his experience with a life of survival in a world left in ruins also taught him to make good use of anything that could become a weapon.
INJURING: Minor injuries like cuts and bruises are fine. The nanomachines that make up his clone body allow him to recover from minor injuries at an amazingly fast speed. However, he still feels pain like any normal human, and anything major like irreversible damage to his organs or dismembering can still get him killed.
SMUT: Open to both M/F and M/M. Like with romance, I'd rather have some CR before heading into consensual smut territory. Under normal circumstances, he would never force himself onto others, because it would remind him of his (real) father, whom he harbors intense hatred for.
Refer to the kink list page for details about kinks.
HACKING AND TELEPATHY: He wouldn't go out of his way to hack someone else's journal unless he had a good reason (and the knowledge) to do so. But I'm perfectly okay with having him on the receiving end for both. Telepathic characters might get to see the truth of his family if they try to read his memories. If interested, please contact me beforehand so we can hash things out.
NAME CALLING: Because Zen is particularly distrustful of women, when interacting with biologically female characters, he'll use titles or nicknames until they reach a certain level of trust. I'm always open to nickname suggestions for these!
TRIGGERS: Anything concerning his real father or the subject of his family. Includes having others somehow find out anything about his past with his family, particularly about his relationship with his father. He harbors intense hatred and some degree of inferiority complex for being that "monkey's" son, seeing himself as the same as that animal who preyed (sexually, in his father's case) on the weak, as he also displayed similar predatory behavior in the past (aggressive behavior, in his case).
Because of his relationship with his father, he also dislikes being called by his family name (Kubota), but it's not nearly as strong a trigger as the former is. Unless the speaker knows his background and uses it to intentionally rub him the wrong way.
And while not a trigger per se, he dislikes his own face when he's in senior form in canon, presumably because it resembles his own father. This is unlikely to happen outside aging events or memes since I often play him without the aging effect in games, but having another character ask or comment on his looks during ageing events could lead to fun shenanigans.
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TIMEZONE: UTC-3/GMT-3
PACE: Varies from medium to slow. Normally, I tackle tags once per day, usually at night. But sometimes responses might come once in two or three days when I have more tags than I can handle. I try to work on a "older tag priority" basis, except when I'm having trouble coming up with a good response.
I don't usually boomerang tags, but feel free to poke me for that. I'll gladly accept the offer if I'm available at the time.
WRITING STYLE: I usually write in present tense and bracket style, but past tense and prose style are also perfectly fine. I'll always match.
BACKTAGGING: I can literally backtag forever so long as there is the minimum amount of communication. As I can be rather slow sometimes, I try not to tag out excessively to avoid leaving anyone waiting for tags for too long. If a tag from someone who ghosts on me for weeks keeps me from doing new ones, I might end up dropping the thread. Because sometimes it's hard to tell if silence means lack of interest or lack of tagging time. So whenever things get super duper slow, a simple heads up is all I ask for, so I can know if the interest is still alive.
I'm also open to picking up old threads that are weeks or months old, so don't hesitate to poke me whenever there's a thread we should resurrect!
HONORIFICS: Since not everyone is familiar with Japanese honorifics and the like, I usually stick to the English localization pattern of how Zen addresses others: First name, English honorifics. But let me know if you prefer the Japanese pattern (last names/-kun, -san, etc). I can match whichever your character uses, too.
PLANNING: I absolutely love planning, give me all the details beforehand! Though I understand that planning isn't everyone's cup of tea, so going with the flow of the thread is definitely also a go.
FOURTHWALLING: Mun doesn't mind it if it's for the sake of some silly humor. Although ICly, it will most likely be taken with a grain of salt or not seriously at all. Anyhow, please poke me OOCly before going for it.
THREADHOPPING: Please contact first if it seems to be a serious thread, but anything else, feel free to hop in and bring the derp! I love me some derp.
RESTRICTIONS: I have absolutely zero restrictions for gen CR. As for smut, I'm okay with age, height or race difference between characters. Minimum (mental) age for smut in most games is 15 (fifteen), so I roll with that. I only have a couple of hard restrictions for mature content and smut, which are listed on his kinklist. For anything else, feel free to ask me directly.
DROPPING TAGS: I try not to drop anything unless I somehow end up with more tags than I can handle. I don't take dropped tags personally either, because I'm aware sometimes real life hits hard or other hobbies get in the way. I love discussing little details that could enrich handwaved tags, so feel free to contact me if you're into that, too.
TRIGGERS: None.
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A young man who ran a farm deep in the mountains. He is accustomed to various aspects of survival due to his life in the country. Despite his gentle appearance, he is quite ruthless in his choice of words.
Hates the fact that he shares a bloodline with his grandfather. Seems to dislike being called by his last name.
His past indicates Wrath.
When Zen was in elementary school, he began living with his parents, brother, and grandparents on his father's side. He enjoyed his life in the country for some time, until one day he witnessed an act of adultery between his mother and grandfather. At the same time, Zen learned he was not born from his parents, but his mother and grandfather. Zen rejected his distorted family and was filled with rage he had nowhere to direct. He eventually became violent with his mother, and spent his youth in delinquency.
Despite all this, one day Zen met someone who tried to befriend him: Rumiko, his brother's fiancee. Thanks to her, Zen was accepted into college and his relationship with his family began to improve. However, he then found out his grandfather had been making moves on Rumiko. Zen discovered that both she and Zen's mother joined the Kubota family and accepted his real father's sexual advances in exchange for paying off their debts.
Zen tried to attack his grandfather in a fit of rage, but ended up hurting Rumiko, who leapt in front of him at the last second. Zen left his family, hated by the rest who didn't know the truth.
- Managing a direct sale website for crops
- Having a smoke after working on his farm
Education High school (complete)
University: Agriculture school (incomplete) Favorite animals Pig, Horse Type of girl Big-sister types
(Although he isn't consciously aware of it!)
- Playing with his hat
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In-game trivia
- He claims not to know much about pesticides because he grows organic vegetables only.
- Zen's clinical records found at MANI's laboratory reveal that he has fought with the riot police, presumably during his juvenile delinquent days in high school. Also, in a conversation with Minamo (who's a female police officer), he doesn't deny when asked if he's been in juvie* for things like smoking behind the school, getting into fistfights and going for rides on stolen bikes. He later realizes the reason he's initially wary of Minamo as her being exactly like the earnest, young female detective who once tried to help him. Although he could only see said detective's actions as attempts at trying to dig up old wounds and pretending to be a good person.
(*) Small note: The Japanese counterpart of a juvie has specific activities which don't exactly involve detention: depending on the gravity of the case at hand, the police might play the role of some kind of counselor, offering advice to potential juvenile delinquents at the first sign of bad behavior. They also have routines of patrolling nearby areas around schools, and offer support to minors who engage in smoking, fights, and other dangerous behaviors. Canon doesn't specify whether Zen was ever sent to detention or just received a talking to, though it's implied it's the latter with the female detective's case, so mun goes with that.
Extra material trivia: Twitter and ArtbookThe following content was taken from the game's creative director's twitter or the official artbook. Mun only compiled information, did some research on it and
lousilytranslated a few tidbits.
- Sleeping habits:
usually sleeps curled up, in the fetal position
sometimes cries out in his sleep (when he's having nightmares about his past)
has a quirk of feigning sleep (usually uses this as a tactic to avoid interaction)- Cooking experience: Has been cooking for himself on a daily basis since leaving his family, so he's fairly experienced and good at it.
- Favorite alcoholic drink: Doesn't have a specific preference (isn't picky about it, as opposed to the rest of the main cast)
- BWH Measurements: B80 W68 H82
- Food allergy: His original body actually wasn't allergic to any kind of food. However, when the X Key was implanted on him, he grew allergic to fish thanks to the influence of the nanomachines' immunity function. This went unnoticed because no allergy tests were performed at the time. (It's most likely just a background reason for the "allergy" game mechanic, though!)
- Used to smoke brands like Lucky Strike during his delinquent days, and Natural American Spirit after he started working. It's interesting to note the former is slightly cheaper than the latter in Japan, and the latter is said to be made of organic tobacco.
- After leaving his family, he worked as a farmhand for a while (possibly for a distant relative) until obtaining his own farm in a certain village. Although he didn't formally own the land, he used to make a living by selling the crops grown there on a direct sale website.
- Before getting kidnapped, his annual income was of 2.500.000 yen (which would be around $1.9k/month; second lowest income out of the main cast). In game, he does mention that his family was rather well-off, but he himself never was wealthy, specially after leaving his family.
- His original setting (personality and the general air about him) was loosely based on Levi from Attack on Titan and Vegeta from the Dragon Ball series. Mun thinks it's also the reason he's so short (5'5.2" or 165cm). Actually, Vegeta is the same height as him and Levi is even shorter...
- His family name comes from a certain agricultural machinery manufacturer of the same name.
- His given name comes from the kanji 膳, which can mean small dining table, meal, and is used as counter for chopsticks or bowlfuls of rice, among other food-related meanings. Even his original family name was 真奈橋 (Manahashi), the reading probably being an allusion to manabashi, a specific type of iron hashi (chopsticks) used for cooking fish and chiken.
Both his given name and discarded family name came from the early development stages, as he was originally designed to be an unfriendly, cool-looking chef, under the ikemen trope.
But this occupation overlapped with that of a character from another of their games (probably Teruteru from DR2), and the directors felt the game didn't need two characters good at cooking (the other being Minamo during the time they considered making her a pâtissier), so his occupation was changed to farmer.
Ayako Nakao, the character designer, created several designs for a "farmer" character using the same personality setting, but none of them felt quite right. Later the team changed their approach and decided they'd shape his personality to fit the design she liked the most. Finally, they arrived at the "seems kind on the outside but does a personality 180 when angry" concept, which is how his final design came to be.
While his ikemen trope wasn't intentionally changed, his design grew towards having a gender neutral face to give him that kindhearted, harmless air. Humorously, even Nakao's mother mistook him for a girl when her daughter was working on the sketches.
And so did the mun's parents upon seeing pictures of him!
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