Tsukune Aono | |
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Kana | 青野 月音 |
Romaji | Aono Tsukune |
Debut | |
Manga | Rosario + Vampire Chapter 001 |
Anime | Rosario + Vampire Episode 01 |
Game | Rosario + Vampire: Tanabata's Miss Yokai Academy |
Profile | |
Birthday | June 22 |
Gender | Male |
Height | 170 cm (5'7") |
Weight | 58 kg (128 lb) |
Blood type | O |
Age | 15 (Season 1) 16 (Season 1; Chapter 6) 17 (Season 2; Chapter 10) 18 (Epilogue; Chapter 66.6) |
Status | Alive |
Race | Human (formerly) Modified Human (formerly, manga only; currently, anime only) Ghoul (formerly, manga only) Shinso Vampire (finale, manga only) |
Hair Color | Brown (formerly) Silver (transformed) Black (finale) |
Eye Color | Brown Red (transformed) |
Technique | Yōjutsu |
Equipment | Holy Lock (formerly) Belmont (formerly) |
Personal Status | |
Relatives | Kōji Aono (Father) Kasumi Aono (Mother) Kyōko Aono (Cousin) |
Affiliations | Newspaper Club Huang Family Miao Family Shuzen Family |
Class | 3rd year/future Headmaster of Yōkai Academy S-Class (S-Class when becoming a Shinso Vampire) 1st year (Rosario + Vampire first season) 2nd year (Season II) 3rd year (Ending Epilogue of the series) Future Headmaster of Yōkai Academy (Ending Epilogue of the series, final end) |
Voice Actor | Japanese: Daisuke Kishio English: Todd Haberkorn |
Tsukune Aono (青野月音, Aono Tsukune), nicknamed Tsuki {月} by Kyōko Aono) is the main male protagonist of the series and a former human. He is mistakenly enrolled in Yōkai Academy, a high school dedicated to teaching monsters to peacefully live alongside humans in disguise, where he meets Moka Akashiya, a Vampire who takes a mutual interest in him and the sweet flavor of his blood.
Tsukune becomes a member of the school’s Newspaper Club and eventually befriends several monster girls, including Kurumu Kurono, Yukari Sendo, Ruby Tōjō and Mizore Shirayuki—all of whom become infatuated with him and form an unwanted harem—as well Kokoa Shuzen, Moka’s younger half-sister. He also makes friends with several male monsters such as Ginei Morioka, Hokuto Kaneshiro, Fang Fang Huang and Haiji Miyamoto. They support Tsukune’s belief that monsters and humans can coexist and be more than just enemies, their friendship with him being a prime example of that sentiment.
As time goes by, Tsukune’s body undergoes several transformations: he first faces the danger of turning into a mindless ghoul after receiving multiple blood transfusions from Moka when gravely injured by several powerful monsters as the series progresses. He maintains his humanity by wearing a Holy Lock that keeps him from changing while allowing him access to some of his newfound vampiric powers gained as a result of Moka’s transfusions.
Later on, he subjects himself the human modification ritual emerging as a modified human in order to become stronger and learn the magical arts of Youjutsu. Not long after, Tsukune finally gains full control over his vampiric powers by removing his Holy Lock and becoming a Shinso Vampire.
Appearance[]
Tsukune’s typical appearance is a very handsome human male teenager with black hair (brown hair in the anime), brown eyes and a relatively athletic and slender physique, and light skin in the manga. Whenever he is injected with some of Moka Akashiya's blood, his eyes develop slit pupils, much like those a true vampire when they exert their power. After becoming a modified human, blue patterns that resemble the conductive tracks of a printed circuit board appear on Tsukune’s skin when using his newly-learned spells and powers. His eyes also appear to change from brown to blue when using certain Yōjutsu techniques. The wounds he often sustains from altercations with monsters leave several scars on his body, the most prominent being an X-shaped mark on his torso he received from a monstrel that possessed blades for arms. In his anime look, he has dark brown hair and light-tan skin instead. In the anime, he has brown eyes same as the manga. During his initial transformation into a ghoul, he develops the aforementioned vampiric eyes in addition to a black, web-shaped mark on his neck and face, originating from the puncture marks made by Moka’s fangs. When he experiences a complete—albeit temporary—transformation into a ghoul during his human modification ritual, he gains silver hair, empty white eyes, fangs and bat-like wings. His skin also turns mostly black with red patches over some of his muscles and crack-like patterns on his face, arms and torso, this transformation was later given the name a Jet Black Monster by Kurumu. After undoing the first and second seal of his Holy Lock while aboard the Hanging Garden, Tsukune’s third transformation into a ghoul is slow but obvious: a black layer of skin gradually spreads over his body, wings begin to sprout from his back and parts of his body, such as his right arm, sporadically mutate due to being in close proximity to an awakening Alucard, the Shinso blood of whom having been directly passed onto him by Moka and her mother interacting with the supernatural energy of its original owner through his body. After tearing off his Holy Lock to become a Shinso vampire to and learning how to control his new abilities with his friends’ aid, Tsukune can use his now immense Wealth of Power to change his physical appearance. He can now make his black hair silver, his round pupils slit and create a black layer of skin that covers most of his body save for his face. This greater access to his aura allows him to sprout large bat-like wings from his back and likely make a full transformation into a bat. He can also use his Creation ability to form a suit of flexible steel armor around his upper body, protecting him from injury to a certain extent. For most of the series, Tsukune has worn the traditional Yokai Academy uniform for males, like Moka with the uniform, albeit the traditional white shirt having the high collar and red bow-tie; with little personal modification: a white buttoned-up shirt, a red necktie, a light-to-medium green uniform jacket, a black belt, tan khaki-looking trouser pants and dark brown loafers or school shoes. In the anime, he has occasionally worn uwabaki slippers with green soles. After the battle with Alucard at the end of the manga, he abandons the jacket of his uniform entirely. His casual attire consists of a green button-up shirt, a white T-shirt, a black belt, brown cargo pants and white sneakers. At the beach, he is shown to wear dark blue swimming trunks and sandals.
Personality[]
In the show Tsukune is known to be a sweet, nice, kind, caring, selfless, naive, brave, determined, timid and a wimp character who is shown to care about the people to protect the people he loves in the entire series. During his time at Yōkai Academy, he comes to see monsters as equals and share the hope that they can live peacefully alongside humans. Despite that in on there being many instances where he has been put into dangerous, even life-threatening situations. He can get pretty shy and flustered sometimes when girls get too close to him. But he is now more stronger since he is a vampire and help people to fight off evil
faced with the possibility of injury or even death. He is also willing to sacrifice anything in order to protect the people he holds dear, even his own humanity. This is what has ultimately gained him friends at the academy as well as the affections of Moka Akashiya, Kurumu Kurono, Mizore Shirayuki, Ruby Tōjō and Yukari Sendo. As an idealist who strives for peace, he favors diplomacy over violence. He has expressed his desire to simply reason with some monsters such as Lady Oyakata and Gyokuro Shuzen rather than fight them. While he has certainly regarded many of his encountered enemies with anger, he does not appear to truly wish them ill will or death. This is not without exceptions, though: he butchered some the ghouls of the Black Parade before confronting Gyokuro, an act that, when one considers the fact that they were once vampires who had been turned into creatures, can be viewed a kind of mercy-killing. Before that, he verbally threatened Kuyō’s life during their rematch, though this was likely a side-effect of Tsukune’s own ghoulish nature surfacing after removing the first seal of his Holy Lock. The use of his Creation ability to nearly obliterate Alucard’s body conveys lethal intent as well, which is not at all unjustified given that Alucard was too large and resilient to be damaged by much else. Tsukune is well aware of the fact that most of his female friends fawn over him. While he cares for all of them very much, he does not feel the same way towards for the girls as they do for him. This, however, does not stop him from becoming flustered or sexually excited by their many attempts at seducing him or garnering his affection. The knowledge of their feelings for him would also explain his rather chivalrous, passive approach towards these propositions, as a blunt refusal and rejection would probably break their hearts. Nevertheless, he has succeeded in subtly turning down every single pass made on him by Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari and Ruby, even when some of them have done so while partly undressed or completely naked. Even after becoming a vampire, Tsukune has not changed as a person. He considers himself as much a human on the inside as he once was outside. To him, what he is does not matter so long as his personality remains intact and he can protect and be with the people he cares about, especially Moka.
Equipment[]
- Holy Lock (formerly): After turning into a ghoul for the first time, the academy’s headmaster, Tenmei Mikogami, presented Tsukune with a Holy Lock, a magical trinket that he wore around his wrist to remain human and suppress the unstable vampire blood in his veins. While the Lock allowed him to safely use some of the powers given to him by Moka’s blood, it would sometimes suffer a broken link in the event that he overexerted himself. By his second year, Tsukune made it his goal to become stronger by learning how to control his vampiric powers. After his training with Inner Moka and Ruby, he gained some level of refined control over his aura, being able to utilize his powers on command without damaging the Holy Lock. As a modified human, Tsukune learned to release the Lock's seals through magic to gain greater access to his powers. When he chose to become a true vampire in order to revive a mortally wounded Moka through blood transfusion, he ripped the entire Lock off of his wrist and has forsaken it ever since. Not long after that, Alucard reveals that the Holy Lock’s true purpose is to adapt the body of its wearer to the power that is sealed off whilst simultaneously suppressing the side effects essentially making it a tool used to safely turn a human into a monster.
- Unlock First Seal: After training with Touhou Fuhai, Tsukune learns how to undo the first seal of his Holy Lock. Doing so allows him to use his vampiric powers to a greater extent than when the Lock is fully sealed. However, this leaves him vulnerable to a slow yet gradual mutation into a ghoul.
- Unlock Second Seal: After undoing the first seal of the Holy Lock, Tsukune is able to do the same with the second seal, in order to use more of his powers should the need arise. Unfortunately, this accelerates his transformation into a ghoul to the point where his body begins to visibly mutate.
- Belmont (formerly): When Tsukune first started training to use his vampire powers, due to him not having any experience in manipulating his Yoki he was loaned Belmont by Tenmei Mikogami. This legendary whip once belonged to a monster hunter in the past can cancel out magic such his holy lock and Moka's Rosary. By having his holy lock connected to something such as Ruby the excess energy can be transferred to her when he releases it by using Belmont's magic cancellation property thus allowing him to utilize his powers without having it consume him. Though after his training in Yoki Detection by Moka he never used this whip again.
Quotes[]
- "Moka-san"
- "Kyō"
- (To Outer Moka) "S... surely... I'm a... weak... worthless guy... Moka-san, but I realized, it wasn't right running back home and parting with you like that... because I, want to be your friend Moka-san, even if you are a vampiress, I like you Moka-san."
- (To Inner Moka) That's why one day... regardless of Inner or Outer, I hope that the two of you become one. For me, both of you are just as important."
- (To Touhou Fuhai) "Even so... I need to become stronger. Even if I can just learn to block the Jigentou that gets through everything, even if I can just become a shield for everyone... I beg of you! Please give me the strength to protect Moka...!"
- (To Kurumu Kurono) "It-It'll be fine Kurumu-chan! I mean... my body is tough right!? And I also have vampire blood flowing through me that I got from Moka-san! And since we share the same blood... I can somehow feel it even though we're separated... Moka-san is feeling insecure right now. She's alone, surrounded by enemies. She's scared and worried. I bet she's shaking like a small child... I need to hurry up and go to her side, and be there to comfort her."
- (To Kuyō) Out of my way, Kuyō. Or I'll kill you...
- (To Inner Moka) Don't say that protecting is the only thing you have left. Don't take it upon yourself to do everything. All this time, I've been chasing and chasing... and finally, I've come this far. This time, it's my turn to protect you.
- (To Inner Moka) Come on, Moka-san. Please don't make me out to be some pitiful soul... well, I admit I'm scared... but... I know I won't regret what happens from now on.
- (To Inner Moka) Hey... Moka-san, if I'm able to hear your voice in my final moment, do you think you can tell me...? Was I able to treasure you? Was I able to protect you with my two hands? Hey... even if it's just a smile and a nod, there's... nothing more I could ask for.
- (To Alucard) Our differences are what let us understand each other. We've worked together to come this far, there are no doubts or regrets anymore. I'll over come this fight, and prove that even we can come to an understanding.
- (To Tenmei Mikogami) Resent..? Of course not. I chose this path myself. *"I was the one who was thankful... but I didn't get the chance to say it..."
- "Let's go back, to our Yōkai Academy."
- (To Issa Shuzen) I was just hoping vampires and humans could get along better!
Etymology[]
- The name Tsukune means "moon" (月) (tsuku) and "sound" (音) (ne). Tsukune is also a word for teriyaki chicken meatballs, a common bento dish.
- Tsukune's surname Aono means "blue" (青) (Ao) and "field, wilderness" (野) (no).
Trivia[]
- Tsukune almost always ends up with a bloody nose whenever he sees breasts (mostly Kurumu Kurono's breasts).
- From the start of Season 2 of the manga, Tsukune's hair begins losing its spikiness and becomes more smooth, similar to Kasumi Aono's own hair.
- This goes along with his own looks becoming more beautiful and less average as well. Likely due to the Vampire blood in him; since vampires naturally look appealing to others.
- In the anime, Tsukune does not become a ghoul or a vampire, but he has been given Moka Akashiya's blood, causing his eyes to turn red. He was also able to move at much faster speeds than even Moka was able to, though he was a bit confused as to what had happened. In addition to the natural, regenerative properties given to him by the injection, he undergoes similar physical changes, such as brighter hair and red eyes containing slit pupils, all of which are a super-vampire's signature traits. Unlike Moka, Tsukune does not develop another personality, keeping his consciousness intact, although he did initially have memory issues.
- In the anime, Tsukune is voiced open disgust at seeing Yukari Sendo fondle Moka, although he did get a nosebleed initially as it was Moka being fondled and seeing the odd attention Kurumu and Yukari's fangirls gave them.
- In the manga only, Tsukune's removal of his Holy Lock to save Moka is a good example of how far Tsukune will go for love and his friends.
- According to Alucard, Tsukune is the "trump card" in defeating him. Later on, Mikogami reveals that he had used Tsukune as Alucard pointed out and that they needed him for the final battle, meaning that from the beginning Tenmei Mikogami was preparing him for that battle and that he was purposely having Tsukune evolve into a Shinso vampire by having him wear the Holy Lock.
- It could be hinted that after the battle against Fairy Tale and Alucard, Tsukune may have gone to go see his parents and cousin explaining them about Yōkai Academy and his transformation becoming a shinso vampire before returning back to the monster realm.
- In the manga, Tsukune was chosen by Mikogami to replace him as the Headmaster of Yokai Academy; however, until he gets stronger through his training with Issa Shuzen, the job belongs to Nurari the Bus Driver.
- In the manga, Tsukune gave up both his life and his humanity twice to save Moka. The first time he did it was to save her from Midou, the second was to give her his blood, (Which incidentally, is her blood to begin with. When he said, "My life, and many memories, you were the one that gave me these things originally. So I'm returning them now." he was referring to that fact.)
- By Gyokuro’s own account, Tsukune and Moka’s power should be even more dangerous since their blood came from two Shinso rather than just one (Akasha and Alucard). When fighting Tsukune, Gyokuro noticed that Tsukune was keep getting closer to Alucard level, Touhou fouhai also mentioned something similar when fighting Tsukune in his jet black monster form.
- In the manga epilogue, Tsukune was so conflicted due to the change of Inner Moka, however, Issa told him that Outer Moka still lives inside Inner Moka too, which made Tsukune see that she still lives and both souls of the two Mokas are becoming one as Tsukune notices the tips of Inner Moka's hair are turning pale pink. Just as he always hoped.
- Being a newly born Shinso vampire, Tsukune is the first ancestor to the family name "Aono".
- Now a vampire, Tsukune can now be considered a member of the Shuzen Family since Nurari hired Issa to become his mentor and bodyguard.
- Despite acquiring the vampiric thirst for blood after Chapter 27, Tsukune suppressed it with sheer willpower. Even after becoming a true vampire at the end of the story, Tsukune has never drunk blood.
[]
Rosario Vampire | ||
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Yokai Academy | ||
Newspaper Club | Tsukune Aono • Moka Akashiya • Kurumu Kurono • Yukari Sendo • Mizore Shirayuki • Kokoa Shuzen• Ginei Morioka | |
Staff | Tenmei Mikogami • Ruby Tōjō • Shizuka Nekonome • Ririko Kagome • Okuto Kotsubo • Aspara • Hitomi Ishigami • Excellent Maki • Bus Driver | |
Students | Ling Ling Huang • Fang Fang Huang • Kokko Nakamoto • Ran Otonashi • Ren Otonashi • Rin Otonashi • Tamao Ichinose • Mizuki Ueshiba • Junya Inui • Deshiko Deshi • Haiji Miyamoto • Keito • Saizou Komiya • Chopper Rikiishi | |
Fairy Tale | ||
Members | Gyokuro Shuzen • Akua Shuzen • Kalua Shuzen • Miyabi Fujisaki • Xia-Long Miao • Kuyou • Raika • Gairen Yuki • Kanade Kamiya • Kiria Yoshii • Routier • Tsubaki Rokurou • Masked King |