MICHIKO WATANABEMICHIKO WATANABE
Real Name: Michiko Watanabe
Identity/Class: Human warrior;
magic-user (wielded a Sword of Sorcerous Might);
Asian (presumably Japanese)
Occupation: Vampire hunter
Group Membership: A group of vampire hunters (Benjamin Alomii, Blade/Eric Brooks, Divinity Drake/Aamshed, Enzo Ferrara, Lucas Telling-Stone, Noah van Helsing)
Affiliations: Mortuus Invitus;
indirectly Mr. Gheorgiu, Ion;
Enemies: Dracula, vampires (notably the Adze, Charniputra and Yiki Onna)
Known Relatives: Unidentified mother (deceased)
Aliases: "Little Ronin" (from the Yiki Onna)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Noah van Helsing's base, location unrevealed;
formerly mobile;
presumably at least originally in Japan
First Appearance: Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (December, 2004)
Powers/Abilities: Trained as a samurai, Michiko was highly skilled in armed and unarmed combat. She had exceptional reflexes and balance, and was a master swordsman, able to wield a sword in each hand simultaneously against multiple combatants. She was also highly skilled with blow darts.
Experienced in battling the Yiki Onna (snow vampires), she was adept at taking to the air and riding the winds they generated in their ice-mist form. She was also knowledgeable and experienced in battling other types of vampires.
She was more than willing to sacrifice herself to destroy vampires.
She wielded the Silver Scythe, one (or both?) of a pair of silver swords to which vampires were vulnerable (unlike conventional steel).
She also used blow darts dipped in silver nitrate, also fatal to vampires.
Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'4")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 110 to 120 lbs.)
Eyes: Dark (presumably brown)
Hair: Black
History:
(Tomb
of
Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS) - A generational samurai, Michiko Watanabe was
the daughter of a Shinto priestess slain by the Yiki Onna, the Asian
snow vampires.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS / Tomb of Dracula IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - Alongside Benjamin Alomii, Enzo Ferrara, and Lucas Telling-Stone, Michiko Watanabe was recruited by fellow vampire-hunter Noah van Helsing (who kept secret that he was adopted), to destroy Dracula before he could complete the Ritual of Ascendance, which would grant Dracula god-like power.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS /Tomb of Dracula IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Noah van Helsing's band of vampire hunters was joined by "Divinity Drake" -- allegedly a direct descendant of Dracula, but secretly the Sumerian sorceress Aamshed, who had been forced to create the ritual by ancient vampire lord Varnae but had twisted the ritual to prevent Varnae from utilizing it -- who secretly wished the others to bring her to Dracula so she could follow through on her plan to destroy him.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#1) - At an undisclosed location, Michiko Watanabe attended Noah meeting alongside Benjamin Alomii, Enzo Ferrara, and Lucas Telling-Stone. After reviewing each member's history and qualifications, Noah discussed the Ritual of Ascendance. As Dracula would be vulnerable in a chrysalis while undergoing the ritual, Noah announced that as they knew exactly where Dracula would be, they would have him at their mercy.
Interrupting after having tracked Divinity there (and arriving at the meeting shortly before her), Blade advised the other vampire-hunters that they were seriously underestimating Dracula's abilities as a strategist and assured them that Dracula would have gathered a massive vampire army to stop them.
Nonetheless, Blade advised Noah and his allies that they were deluded
and that Dracula was a much more dangerous threat than they could ever
imagine.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#2) - During a training exercise, Michiko sparred against Benjamin Alomii, taunting him as she ducked his kick and asking if that was the fiercest kick he had; he advised her to watch her pretty face.
Later, Noah detailed the Ritual of Ascendance to the others and discussed his interpretation of "the smallest part of the greatest fire" as the uranium atom. Noah then clarified that the plan was to carry a nuclear weapon into Dracula's crypt a mile below Castle Dracula, which would protect the surrounding environment and people from the nuclear explosion.
Blade subsequently met with Michiko, Ben and Lucas, warning them that Noah's plan was a suicide mission. After Ben told him they all knew that and that they may not even get that far, Michiko added that the alternative -- Dracula gaining the power to take over the planet -- was worth the sacrifice. Pleased that they were on the same page, Blade advised them to back him up when he needed backing, as he may be able to finish off Dracula without the nuke and get them out alive; Michiko told him they would seriously consider his request. Blade concluded by warning them not to trust Divinity, as she could turn at any moment, and to watch him, as he could not trust himself around Divinity Drake.
As Noah detailed the "suitcase" bomb they would use, he and the group departed by car to a private jet, they were ambushed by a group of vampires, as Dracula at this phase could sense their plans. One of the vampires punched through the glass and grabbed Michiko by the throat, but she then wrapped her legs around its neck and pulled it into the vehicle, where Ben staked it. As the vehicle stopped, Michiko followed Blade's leading in exiting and confronting the vampires, decapitating a number with her silver swords. The vampire hunters were on the verge of being overwhelmed when they were rescued by the Mortuus Invitus.
Michiko and the rest of the Noah's group subsequently flew by plane toward Bucharest. However, as they crossed the Carpathian mountains and into darkness, the Dracula-sent Charniputra approached their plane.
(Tomb
of Dracula IV#3) - As the Charniputra tore through the plane's hull,
Blade dove out of the plane and engaged the Charniputra.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - Michiko and the rest of Noah's vampire
hunters made it safely to the ground in Romania, though they had to abandon
their ship, which crashed.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#3) - Blade
led the group across the Carpathian mountains towards Castle Dracula.
As they stopped in a town where Noah secured a truck for them, it began
to snow, and Michiko instructed the others to prepare themselves as she
sensed <the Yiki Onna>, although she was interrupted as Noah's
associate Ion was slaughtered by the Yiki Onna's in the form of
razor-sharp ice shards.
Michiko explained what was going on, and she further noted that the scent of blood compelled the Yiki Onna to feed, and when they materialized, they were as vulnerable as any vampire, which she demonstrated by hurling her silver sword into one of the creatures that was feeding on or preparing to feed on Ion. Explaining that when they de-materialized again, they could not be fought, only evaded, she leapt into the winds.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#3) - Noah was struck down by the Yiki Onna's ice shards.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#3) - The Yiki Onna warned Michiko that this was the end of her time on that plane, and when she countered, "We'll see about that," they advised her that her colleagues were dispersed, confused, and wounded, and that she was all alone. Michiko countered that she was not alone, presumably referring to her silver swords, and the Yiki Onna mocked her sentiment as endearing before telling her that he was eager to learn whether her blood would taste as sweet as her mother's. Assuring the monster that this was a meeting she had long anticipated and for which she was well prepared.
Michiko instructed Blade and the others to go on ahead to use the weapon against Dracula, instructing them that the Yiki Onna were her destiny and that she was theirs. As Michiko's sword slash caused the snow vampire to cry out, Blade appreciated that she had hurt it, and he convinced Divinity to depart with him. Michiko then told the Yiki Onna of the origins of her scythe, and she acknowledged that vengeance was not obtained without a price, one to which she had most willingly agreed.
When the snow vampire taunted her that she would soon die, she agreed but noted that her death would also silence the Yiki Onna, as that was the bargain the scythe demanded of her: Drinking her blood before taking the vampire's blood from the very mist itself. Having skewered he sword through her sternum, Michiko then swung the blade and destroyed the snow vampire in its mist form. Considering her mother avenged with the destruction of the beast that had slain her mother, Michiko collapsed in the snow, presumably deceased.
(Tomb of Dracula IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - As Michiko fought the Yiki Onna, Noah was captured and later brought before Dracula and slain.
Comments: Created by Robert Rodi, Bruce Jones, Jamie Tolagson, Tom Palmer, and Jay Leisten.
I am ASSuming that "generational samurai" means that she is descended from a line of samurai. If her mother was a Shinto priestess, that would presumably imply that her father was a samurai.
According to Tomb of Dracula IV#1 and 2, the Ritual of Ascendance can take place every thousand years, and that Varnae attempted to use it around 0 AD and then again in 1000 AD. However, in Tomb of Dracula IV#4, Aamshed states that by foiling Varnae she kept humanity safe from the coming of the vampire lord for two thousand years. References from #1 and #2 were coming from copies of old texts, while the info from #4 comes straight from Aamshed directly.
#1 says silver scythe but shows her with swords. She is never shown with a scythe that I saw. Perhaps it was meant to refer to an analogy where she was cutting down vampires like wheat before a scythe.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Michiko Watanabe should be distinguished from:
 (Tomb of
Dracula IV#1 (fb) - BTS) - A Shinto priestess slain by the Yiki Onna, the Asian
snow vampires, she was the mother of Michiko--Tomb of Dracula IV#1 |
 
The Silver Scythe is one (or both?) of a pair of silver swords
-- to which vampires were vulnerable (unlike conventional steel) used
by Michiko Watanabe.Additionally, the Silver Scythe possesses magical properties, such that if the wielder first coats the blade in his or her blood (presumably via a fatal wound) the sword can then take the blood and fatally wound one of the Yiki Onna even in his or her ice-mist form. (Tomb of Dracula IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - Michiko received the Silver Scythe, a sword forged by a master mage for the purpose of revenge. (Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (fb)) - After becoming a vampire hunter, she was renowned as a virtuoso with the Silver Scythe. (Tomb of Dracula IV#2) - Michiko wielded her silver swords against vampires. (Tomb of Dracula IV#3) - Confronted by a pair of Yiki Onna, Michiko slew the first with a silver sword when it took corporal form to feed on the blood of Ion. Facing off against the vampire that slew her mother, Michiko impaled herself with the Silver Scythe and then used it to fatally wound the Yiki Onna in its ice mist form. As it perished, so did she.  --Tomb of Dracula IV#1 Note: Michiko is typically seen wielding a pair of silver swords, and I don't think it is made clear which was the Silver Scythe. Perhaps both of them were, although that seems less likely? Regardless, after she threw the one away, she was clearly wielding the Silver Scythe against the Yiki Onna who had slain her mother. The mostly full sword image is the one she threw to slay the first Yiki Onna, not the one with which she impaled herself, but the two blades are otherwise identical as far as I can tell. It is possible that the enchantment was specific only to Michiko and the vampire that slew her mother, but that was not specified. The Silver Scythe(s) can also be seen in the main profile, notably the main image as well as the bottom two. I almost decided to give the Silver Scythe(s) its own profile, but between an uncertainty of whether the Scythe is one sword or two (and if it is only one, which seems more likely, which one is it when she is wielding both?) and expediency so I can move on to another profile, I decided to leave it as a sub-profile...for now... |
Appearances:
Tomb of Dracula IV#1 (December, 2004) - by Robert Rodi & Bruce Jones (story),
Robert Rodi (script), Jamie Tolagson (pencils), Tom Palmer and Jay Leisten
(inks), Warren Simons and John Miesegaes (editors)
Tomb of Dracula IV#2-4 (January-March, 2005) - by Robert Rodi & Bruce Jones
(story), Robert Rodi (script), Jamie Tolagson (pencils), Tom Palmer and Scott
Koblish (inks), Warren Simons and John Miesegaes (editors)
Mystic
Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic (2007) - David Sexton & Jeff
Christiansen (head writers/coordinators), Madison Carter, Michael
Hoskin, Eric J. Moreels, Ronald Byrd, Chad Anderson, Al Sjoerdsma, Mark
O'English, Chris Biggs & Stuart Vandal (writers), Michael Short
& Cory Levine (assistant editors), Mark D. Beazley (associate
editor), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
First posted: 10/15/2022
Last updated: 02/26/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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