Ikuro Hashizawa

"Dress! This means war! I'm coming for you guys! And you'll see just how frightening a visitor I can be!"

- Ikuro Hashizawa

Ikuro Hashizawa (橋沢 育朗), also known as Baoh (バオー), is the main protagonist of Baoh the Visitor.

A teenager, Ikuro is kidnapped and transformed into the bioweapon "Baoh" by the Dress Organization.

Ikuro is notable for being the only non-JoJo character featured in the 2013 fighting game All-Star Battle and its 2022 remaster All-Star Battle R.

Appearance
Ikuro is a teenage male of average height and medium build. He has full-bodied hair of medium tone.

As Baoh, the bio-weapon, Ikuro's skin takes on a bluish hue. The region surrounding his eyes is cracked, as though a shell, revealing a dark or shadowy interior, while his eyes shine out. His hair is swapped for a flowing mass of long strands of what appears to be flesh; while the height of his forehead is embedded a vertical oval emanating light, surrounded by black - a unique sensory organ known as the "Tactile Sensor".

Personality
Due to his amnesia, Ikuro knows very little about his past.

He is a rather friendly individual, but he is willing to do illegal things to keep himself alive, such as stealing a person's bike. He has a strong bond with Sumire and was willing to risk his life to save her.

As a Baoh, he is extremely violent and amoral, willing to kill whoever or whatever threatens him.

Baoh Armed Phenomenon
When Ikuro's body is attacked (such as during his near death at the hands of Number 22), it transforms by means of the Baoh Armed Phenomenon (バオー), covering his body in a protective armor that grants him superhuman strength and healing, which he can also use to heal others. As a Baoh, Ikuro displays other abilities in the form of "Phenomenon" (フェノメノン) - unique applications of the Baoh parasite's biological enhancements; and the "Tactile Sensor" (触覚, lit. 'sense of touch') on his forehead.

Background
Ikuro Hashizawa lived an ordinary kid's life until his involvement with Dress. At the age of seven, Ikuro nearly drowned in a frozen pond. Ikuro and his parents were heavily injured during a car accident and taken to the hospital six months before the events of Baoh. Unfortunately, the doctor was linked to Dress, an evil organization of weapons developers looking for guinea pigs at the time. Dr. Kasuminome callously killed Ikuro's parents under his eyes and took him away to inject the Baoh parasite inside of him.

Baoh
After being injected with the Baoh parasite, Ikuro is contained in a tank and transported on a train. However, a young psychic named Sumire escapes her room and in trying to escape, opens Ikuro's tank. A guard tries to capture him but Ikuro crushes his arm and leaps out of the train. He grabs the power lines but also survives the shock. Later, Ikuro and Sumire try to bond with each other, but a knife wielding assassin named 22nd Man stabs the former, forcing the duo to steal a motorbike and flee. They attempt to refuel at a gas station but 22nd Man appears again, slicing Ikuro's throat. But, it only awakens Baoh, who dissolves 22nd Man with his touch before turning back into a human. Later, a death squad is already searching for Ikuro and Sumire, who are busy betting on horse races to acquire money. The two settle inside an abandoned building, but Ikuro senses that something inside of him is changing. The death squad attacks the duo, but Ikuro transforms again into Baoh, decimating the squad. Unbeknownst to him, he is observed by another assassin. Baoh senses the assassin, who reveals himself as a beastmaster commanding a heavily modfied giant mandrill named Martin. Due to its strength and many weapons hidden inside his body, Martin is more than a match for Baoh. Sumire, having sensed that Ikuro's humanity is still intact inside of Baoh, tries to stop the assassin from controlling Martin, only to be hurt. Enraged, Baoh finally overpowers Martin and kills both the beast and his master, healing and turning back into Ikuro.

Walking through the mountains, Ikuro and Sumire meet an old couple living in the area. They give him shelter and food. But during a moment the old man is isolated, another cyborg assassin emerges, hypnotizing the old man into waiting for midnight and shoot Ikuro in the head with his hunting rifle. At midnight, the old man wakes up and tries to shoot Ikuro, who transforms into Baoh but senses that the old man is not his true enemy. Jumping through the roof, Baoh confronts the cyborg named Dordo who disables all of his sensory organs through chemicals released by a swarm of bats. Thankfully, the old man, who has come to his senses and guided by Sumire, shoots down the bats while taking a bullet. Baoh confronts Dordo, who is heavily wounded, but reveals his heavily modified body. He kidnaps Sumire to use her as bait and escapes with a hang glider to one of the Dress headquarters near Sanriku. Ikuro is determined to free Sumire, but risks unleashing the beast inside of him for good.

Going away on a motorcycle given by the couple, Ikuro deems it necessary to learn to control his power first to have a chance to save Sumire. Meanwhile, Kasuminome chastises Dordo for his perceived failure and the danger of letting Baoh time to grow stronger. Meanwhile, Ikuro is forced to save a trapped girl from a speeding train and is pushed into managing to activate his acid touch without fully transforming. Humiliated by his hierarchy, Dordo goes out to snipe Ikuro, but his attempt is foiled thanks to Ikuro activating his super senses and strength to evade the bullets. To lure Baoh, Kasuminome purposefully tortures Sumire whose distress is detected by the weapon. Ikuro is already scaling the seaside cliff leading to a vulnerable side of the facility and, turning into Baoh, rampages through the security staff as well as survives death traps to reach Sumire's room. He is stopped by Walken, whose ability to destroy anything with a thought makes him invincible and his every attacks deadly. Nonetheless, Baoh manages to stab inside Walken's brain by launching one of his arm blades and he finally reaches Sumire.

He is welcomed by a flurry of laser beams, and the attack does not faze Baoh but wounds Sumire. Seeing that Baoh is cornered, Kasuminome prepares to blow up the facility. Meanwhile, Baoh heals the girl with his blood. Walken has woken up, still alive despite his injury, and seeks Baoh for revenge. As the headgear restricting his psychic powers was destroyed by Baoh's attack, the full strength of Walken's abilities causes an earthquake inside the facility. As Sumire awakens, Walken finds them and destroys the floor. All of them, as well as Kasuminome who tried to escape in a pod, find themselves in a cavern. Telling Sumire to flee, Baoh uses one of the lasers to kill Walken for good, unintentionally fatally wounding Kasuminome in the process. The facility then self-destructs, causing the cavern to collapse.

Some time later, Sumire walks by the sea. She has been taken in by the old couple and lives a happy life while the incident at the research facility is covered up by the press. Looking at the water, she senses that Ikuro is dormant but alive at the bottom of the sea and predicts that he will return when she is seventeen and reunite with her.

All-Star Battle (PS3)
Ikuro Hashizawa appears as Baoh and as the final DLC character released for this game, accompanied by a Campaign set centered around him. He also appears in an extra battle in the JoJolion Story Mode chapter.

In the overseas release of the game, he was released in the first public DLC pack on May 14, 2014 along with Lisa Lisa and Part 3 Joseph Joestar, earlier than his Japanese release date.

As Ikuro is unable to speak in his Baoh form (only capable of repeated battle cries of "BARU!" as well as general grunts and roars), he is accompanied by the game's narrator calling out the names of his attacks along with descriptive phrases. However, Ikuro will call out the game's name on the title screen in his human voice, and briefly speaks lines, also in his human voice, during his special mirror match intro and during match victories.

As a guest fighter, Ikuro is the only playable All-Star Battle character to not return in the next game, Eyes of Heaven, although he does return in the remastered version of All-Star Battle,.

Command List
Ikuro's moveset revolves around Baoh's special abilities. While he has lower-than-average health, the lowest in the game in-fact, exclusive to Ikuro is the "Baoh Armed Phenomenon" Style. Ikuro has 850 HP.

Gameplay Overview
Ikuro represents the "Glass Cannon" sub-archetype of combatant, and firmly 'rushdown'. Despite his low health, he also sports the highest dash speed of any character in the game, making it easier for him to close the distance on his opponent or maneuver into favorable positions more frequently. Several projectiles, a super jump, and a forward-moving attack also serve in covering his approach. His skills all execute with great speed, as well as offer methods to repeatedly switch sides and force his foe into guessing what direction to guard in. When combined with his great damage output and Style action that allows him to shrug off incoming attacks, Ikuro is an oppressive offensive fighter. At the same time, his innate health regeneration forces the opponent to continuously engage him during battle so as to not allow him to recover any significant amount of lost health. In this manner, Ikuro also holds the advantage in prolonged rounds.

True to his role, however, Ikuro is fragile and his defense is poor. Ignoring his low health, he also suffers from a longer "blockstun" than others, meaning when he is made to successfully guard incoming attacks, he recovers slower and is only able to act out of his guard later. This allows opponents to more safely pressure him when he's the defender, and also makes him very vulnerable to characters that can utilize throws and unblockable attacks. Another weakness is that Ikuro's fast skills act as a double-edged sword, and it is more difficult to properly execute strong combos with him despite the damage potential he possesses.

As a whole, Ikuro is a fickle and difficult combatant to wield. He rapidly overwhelms and defeats anyone who is unfamiliar with his powers, but may easily become the one being overwhelmed in turn. Nonetheless, with good execution and strong momentum in his favor, Ikuro can very quickly capture victory before his opponent has a chance to regain control over the battle and retaliate.

Trivia

 * During Baoh's hair taunt against Josuke Higashikata, the narrator explains that Baoh does not trust Josuke from the way his hair smells, referencing Baoh's ability to distinguish friend from foe via their scent.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The characters Dio and Neo Dio from the video game series  bear a striking resemblance to Baoh, also having similar attacks which they use in their various appearances in the World Heroes series and NeoGeo Battle Coliseum.