Mikitaka Hazekura
Mikitaka Hazekura (支倉 未起隆, Hazekura Mikitaka) is a minor ally appearing in Part IV: Diamond is Unbreakable; featuring primarily in the arcs I Am An Alien! and The Man On the Tower.
With Stand-like powers, Mikitaka professes to be of extraterrestrial origin; a claim of which the validity is never fully examined.
Appearance
Mikitaka appears as a teenage boy of average to above-average height and slim to average build. He has pointed ears, and long, straight light hair flowing back over his head. He is introduced wearing a nose chain, missing in later chapters.
He decorates a dark, modified school uniform with various astronomical and alien-themed symbols, including ringed planets either side of his collar, and in a column on his torso two flying saucers, two stars, and an infinity symbol (∞) with a crescent moon and sun in either loop.
Personality
In either an elaborate prolonged charade or a stark extended close encounter, Mikitaka claims to be a 216 year old extraterrestrial. He exhibits great curiosity in human culture. Unafraid when offered a handkerchief, he eats it.
Mikitaka is otherwise a calm and pleasant person, not hesitating to risk his life to save his friends, and more than willing to return favors. His kindness is seen first when he thanks Okuyasu and Josuke for their handkerchiefs by giving them two ice-creams (fabricated with the flesh of his own hands).
Abilities
Designated as the effect of a Stand-like power named Earth, Wind and Fire; Mikitaka may transform any part of or his entire body into almost any object at almost any scale.
Synopsis
Diamond is Unbreakable
Yoshikage Kira's New Face (2)
While looking for more people to transform into Stand users in order to protect his son, Yoshihiro Kira was guided by the Arrow into piercing Mikitaka. However, the Arrow didn't pierce him perfectly, bouncing off of his neck instead and leaving the boy with just a scratch.
I Am An Alien!
The following morning, Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura discover a series of mystery circles in the middle of a crop field: half buried in the crop of the larger central circle lies Mikitaka. He is waken up by Josuke and Okuyasu's arrival and his strange personality is immediately revealed: instead of introducing himself, he asks if he is currently on planet Earth and claims to be an alien. The protagonists think he's just kidding, but when he eats Josuke's handkerchiefs and puts two frozen ice-creams out of his bag, they realize there's something strange about him.
He finally reveals his name to be Nu Mikitakazo Nshi, a 216 year-old space pilot. He says his planet lies within the Magellanic clouds and is slowly dying, and that he came to earth to see if it was a nice planet and if its inhabitants were friendly. As a fire truck passes by, its noise causes Mikitaka to experience a violent skin reaction. He begs Josuke to take him away, revealing his transformation power for the first time.
Josuke, now believing Mikitaka to be an alien, asks him to return the favor, by exploiting the alien's ability and making him assume the shape of three dice. The two new friends then play dice with Rohan Kishibe in order to cheat some free cash out of him. Despite the mangaka's suspicions and Mikitaka's discomfort, Rohan remains unable to figure out Josuke's trickery as the game is slowly ending. Only then sirens start ringing nearby, which immediately stands both Josuke and Mikitaka into a panic as the latter begins to disorientate. It was found out that sirens are triggered by the fire at Rohan's house, as it is started by the magnifying glass he had carelessly tossed away earlier after examining the dices. This creates a distraction which Josuke uses to withdraw from the match and run away, bringing Mikitaka along with him, thus leaving the game unfinished.
Later on when they are running (away from Rohan), Mikitaka asks Josuke about whether or not he was able to be help of him during the dice game, which Josuke out of frustration, tells him to shut up.
Highway Star! (1)
The following day, Josuke meets Mikitaka's mother, who reveals that they had to move from Tokyo because of her son's obsession with aliens. Mikitaka, on the other hand, explains Josuke that his "mother" is just a human woman he hypnotized to make her believe he is her son. He then depart with his mother to do the paperwork for his school transfer, leaving Josuke and Yoshihiro Kira, who is observing nearby, extremely confused about Mikitaka's real identity.
The Man on the Tower
Later in the story, Josuke and Okuyasu meet Mikitaka again, staring at an abandoned telephone tower while assuming the form of a pair of binoculars. After short exchange of words, Mikitaka expresses that he found the the tower unnatural and thus was waiting there to show them, which upon closer inspection it turns out to be true as there is smoke coming out from it. Mikitaka then returns into this binoculars form to help Josuke and Okuyasu investigate the tower, only to found out there is actually a person living up there in a seemingly self-sustainable fashion complete with various furniture, a set of essential installments and a farm field for herbs and vegetables.
In this place, the mysterious person introduces himself as the tower's legal owner and he has been living up there the past 3 years as his home. Although initially approaching the tower with suspicion, Josuke drops his guard down upon seeing Yoshihiro Kira there and recklessly enters the tower despite Okuyasu and even the tower's owner, Toyohiro Kanedaichi's warning. It is then quickly revealed that the tower man and Yoshihiro are in fact, allied in a scheme of bringing Josuke into the tower's prison and Toyohiro's previous attitude are in fact an act. The tower's owner immediately makes his escape through climbing the unused electrical cable, but thanks to Mikitaka, who transformed into the cable, secretly replaces the one which Toyohiro is climbing and thus, he is able to stop the tower owner's "Old Maid" plan and bring him back into the tower, freeing Josuke.
However, Toyohiro exploits his Stand's force reflection property to trap and pinning Mikitaka onto the tower, and thus resuming his escape. Josuke's attempt to help is stopped by Mikitaka, saying that he is fine with being left there as he wishes repay for accidentally drawing the duo with him into this situation by asking them to investigate the tower in the first place. Nevertheless, Josuke enters and challenges Toyohiro in a duel.
After a fierce battle, Toyoshiro is defeated, which he confesses that he really meant no ill will and just really wants to escape the prison his stand locks him in but has since made up his mind about not leaving the tower ever again, releasing the three as well as offers them wound treatments and food..
Goodbye, Morioh Cho
After Toyohiro's defeat, Mikitaka only reappears at the end of Part IV with the other protagonists to say goodbye to Reimi.
Stand User or Alien?
Mikitaka's powers seem more likely to be the result of a Stand ability bound to his body (like Yellow Temperance or Khnum) than an alien nature, but behaving as if he has always possessed them, doubt is cast on the otherwise reliable touch of the Arrow. An enigmatic character, Mikitaka's true nature is never revealed by Araki, and evidence exists for both an alien and human nature.
Alien
- He is chosen by the Arrow to become a Stand user, but for some reason it fails to pierce him perfectly, scratching his neck before bouncing away.
- When Josuke and Okuyasu find him, he is sleeping in the middle of a crop circle.
- He insists, impenetrably, to be an alien.
- When he hears the sound of a siren he suffers a violently adverse reaction, screaming and sweating, with blisters emerging all over his skin.
- As tested once by Josuke, he seems unable to see other people's Stands.
- He claims that he can't mimic a human appearance when morphing because all humans look the same to him, although he successfully mimics, albeit not fully identical, the appearance of a man on a Yen banknote.
Stand User
- Named as Earth, Wind, and Fire, Mikitaka might in fact have acquired his ability when the Arrow scratches him. Describing events after this, Mikitaka claims to have felt sick and fallen asleep for thirteen hours, suggesting that the Arrow had some effect.
- He may already have been a Stand User and the arrow bounced off for that reason, giving him no new abilities, yet knocking him unconscious.
- If neither lying or deluded, he may have created the crop circles intentionally or unintentionally while asleep, with or without his Stand.
- His reaction to the siren might be the result of a combination of its Stand ability and a nocebo effect.
- On the premise that he cannot see Stands, it may be that his Stand presents a purposeful exception.
- If he did acquire his Stand through the Arrow, the fact that he was not completely pierced may allow for several anomalies.
Alien Stand User
- Humans, animals and plants can all have Stands; therefore aliens probably can too.
Neither identity will be proved, however, as it is possible that Araki intended for Mikitaka to be of unknown origins and open to speculation.
Mikitaka takes stand abilities to be a human trait, or at least leads the questioner of his origin with more bizarre evidence to contradict his earth residence.
Trivia
- If he actually was an alien Stand user and he didn't lie about his age, he would be born in 1783, thus making him the oldest living Stand user in the series.
- Mikitaka's character may be inspired by science fiction novel and film K-PAX.
- Mikitaka exhibits traits similar to that of an Indigo Child / Star Seed, a New Age concept.
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 379: I Am An Alien! (2)