Keigo Oonishi

Keigo Oonishi
Information
Kanji Name	大西 京呉
Kana Name	おおにし けいご
Age	32
Affiliation	Organo, Lux
First Appearance	ROGUE: 01 Stranger
Final Appearance	ROGUE: 22 Myth
Voiced by	Hiroshi Tsuchida (Japanese) Patrick Seitz (English)

“

But it’s my choice whether one has to live needlessly or not...

”

Keigo Oonishi is the head of the Oonishi Office of the Organo, a yakuza-like group that controls a significant part of Lux's economy. He also serves as the Organo's executive director/deputy chairman. While young and mistrusted, Oonishi is likely the most moral character in the show. He is often referred to as "the man who hears the voice of the city".

Appearance

Keigo Oonishi is a well-built man with a cool and strong eyesight. He has brown eyes and hair, which is always slicked back. Oonishi always wears his light grey suit, under which he wears a red shirt and a black tie.

Personality

He is a strong, righteous and capable man. He unified organizations and formed Organo with the help of "the voice of the city". He commits his life to bring order and liberty to the city. Oonishi sold his legs to the Class in exchange for what amounted to starter money to work his way in to the Organo (hence why he has texhnolyze legs). His cool and collected personality and his competence have quickly accelerated his rise to the top within the Organo. He has a deep, authoritative voice. Onishii can be unscrupulous, being implicitly or explicitly shown to perform, allow, tolerate or even manipulate some fairly nasty events and people in their effort to try to safeguard Lux from self-destruction.

As a part of a Yakuza-style group, his first encounter with Ichise has him dismissing him as a 'stray dog' (this is while Ichise is bleeding out after being de-limbed). It takes approximately half the series for him to start warming up to Ichise, and comes across as fairly cold, frigid, and towards Shinji, downright patronising. But as the the story progresses, his "hidden" emotions and more heroic traits start showing, and he begins to act in a more brotherly/fatherly fashion towards Ichise. As leader of the Organo, he's probably the most powerful force for good in the series, and serves as a benefactor for Ichise after Doc rescues him, and by the end, it becomes clear that, second to Ran, Onishi is the closest the series has to a "hero", even if he's rather deficient in qualities in the latter category.

One key thing we can infer about Oonishi’s character from the first episodes is his emphasis on order. Oonishi’s dialogue expresses a sense of control. On the phone to the Gabe Elder he tells him: "Don’t retaliate for the Alliance’s assassination attempt without our permission." When questioning the Promoteur about the commotion regarding Ichise, he tells him that incidents such as these must be reported to the Organo headquarters. While speaking to Doc, he tells her "I wish you would never change, just like these legs," only to be told that his texhnolyzed legs won’t last forever. This is clearly a man obsessed with control and order, over his own life, the people around him and the city of Lux itself. Oonishi’s emphasis on order is most exemplified by his attitude to the idea of ‘spectacles’. Ultimately, Oonishi authorises the spectacle against the Salvation Alliance. Firstly, he is aware of the wishes of the other members of the Organo (“the younger members”), recognising that it has been a long time since the last spectacle. More importantly is perhaps what is another important trait of Oonishi’s character, his sense of justice. It is arguable that order and justice go hand in hand, justice being the means to maintain an end of order.

He also seems to be a man of duty and respect. While young and mistrusted, Oonishi is likely the most moral character in the show. But at the sime time he is willing to tolerate and commit morally questionable actions to ensure that the Organo remains. However, he's also acting in the best interests on Lux and is always willing to pursue a non-violent option. He's despised as being "soft" by many of his own underlings, who are more concerned with enriching themselves than maintaining the city. Subverted when one of his underlings tries to take advantage of this to supplant him in a coup; he discovers that the same behaviors he considered soft - going around without bodyguards, avoiding overt shows of strength - earned Oonishi the respect of the people in the city who actually matter, and that without that respect it's impossible to rule Organo, let alone Lux. Despite his busy schedule, Oonishi makes it a point to regularly visit Hirohisa Gotoh, the head of Organo, in the hospital. At the end, as in spite of losing his wife, his secretary, his city, and knowing in the next few minutes, his life at the hands of the people he tried to protect, opts to remain true to himself and his goal, and die with pride.

His relationship with his wife was very cold and emotionless. One scene shows that Keigo and Mana sleep in separate beds. Also, it was shown that Mana is very cold and almost catatonic person. This is demonstrated when his wife completely ignores Oonishi’s request to answer the phone, staring absently into space with an expressionless smile on her face. It's not known why it was so, but it would somehow explain why Oonishi sleeps with his secretary, Michiko Hirota, instead. Despite this, it's also shown that he really does love Mana, as one of his few "not so stoic" moments is when Yoshii holds her hostage and kills her.

Biography

He appears for the first time as a man lying on a sofa, his head resting on a woman who appears to be his assistant, while he takes a phone call. Later it turns out that he is the leader of Organo, and this woman is Michiko Hirota, the woman he is having a love affair with.

When an unidentified pair of gunmen make an assassination attempt on the Gabe Elder, it is reported by the Elder to Oonishi. The assassins were Salvation Alliance members. The Organo leader, cautious of the possibility of a spectacle, warns the Elder not to retaliate, planning to visit the Alliance headquarters himself. In that scene, Oonishi seems to be having repair work done on his Texhnolyzed legs. It is clear he has been acquainted with the doctor for a long time, as he tells her: “I wish you would never change, just like these legs.” Doc bluntly replies by telling him that his legs will not last forever.

Shortly afterwards, Oonishi is seen driving through Lux returning to his office, when he sees a commotion in the distance. In that scene, a prize fighter named Ichise is brutally punished for hitting the lover of the promoter from Organo. Oonishi stops to see what is going on, telling the fighter’s promoter that incidents are supposed to be reported to the Organo. Walking over to address the fighter, he describes him as “cattle”, telling him that he will never receive the benefits of Texhnolyzation. Instead of putting the fighter out of his misery, he shoots the ground besides his body three times. Oonishi, identifying a will to live in the fighter’s eyes, gives him the freedom to keep on living.

Back in his office, Oonishi discusses the shooting in Gabe with Yasuaki Iwata, another member of the Organo. It is known the attempted assassination was coordinated by the militant Salvation Alliance, though their motivations are unknown. Oonishi questions the necessity of creating a ‘spectacle’ in retaliation to the attack. However, giving in to the wishes of the younger members of the Organo, who “have been itching because they haven’t had a spectacle in a long time”, Oonishi somehow sanctions the retaliation against the Alliance. Oonishi afterwards phones Doc to inform her of the spectacle. Later, Organo gunmen ambush a group of stationed Salvation Alliance members and open fire.

Later, it is shown a bit of Oonishi’s home life. After showering, he gets ready to depart and hears the ringing of his phone. He asks his wife, Mana Oonishi, to answer it, to which he gets no response; on her face is an expressionless and lifeless smile. He picks up the phone only for it to be instantly hanged up by the caller.

However, shortly after, Oonishi himself becomes the victim of an attempted assassination attempt by the Alliance. Heading outside to meet his secretary in the car, he is met by two gunmen. With an intimidatingly calm aura, he is able to disarm the first gunman, accusing him of being “a spoiled child”. He questions the legitimacy of the Alliance’s leader, Genji Kimata, alleging that he is secretly Texhnolyzed and desires the resource of Raffia rather than the liberation of his members. Before the gunman has a chance to shoot, Oonishi disarms him, holding him by the throat with one hand and aiming his gun at his head with the other. Oonishi reacts just in time to realise the presence of another gunman, using the first as a human shield to protect himself from gunfire. From across the street, Oonishi is able to shoot and kill the gunman. While he was unharmed by the incident, he realises that his Texhnolyzed leg has taken damage, to which he is mildly annoyed.

Later, he visits the Alliance headquarters alone. After being searched and disarmed, he is led into a large hall, with a stage overlooking a huge crowd of members. A senior member of the Alliance, Ken Inui, is riling up the members: “Are we beings born with the fate to serve those who stand over others?! Are we beings who shall live only for our own happiness?!” Kimata, noticing Oonishi, rises and commends Oonishi for his bravery in coming alone. At the request of a private discussion, Kimata declines, stating that the Alliance “are of one heart and one flesh”. However, Kimata realises the extremity of the situation and concedes to a private audience. The two leaders have made their negotiation, but there is still unrest amongst the low-level members of both organisations. Kazuho Yoshii, a mysterious stranger with murderous tendencies, manipulating this unrest, disguises himself as an Alliance member. He murders a group of Organo members, while shouting the motto of the Alliance. He leaves one alive and disfigured to spread word back to Oonishi and the rest of the Organo.

Despite Oonishi’s protests, the Organo council sees this as an opportunity to destroy the Alliance once and for all. Oonishi attempts to call the Alliance. Upon no answer, he sends one of the Organo’s senior members, Takuya Nakahara, to their headquarters to speak on his behalf. Yoshii, aware of the Alliance’s past assassination attempts using sniper rifles (as informed by Sakimura), snipes Nakahara and his escorts as they are driving to the Alliance. Word quickly reaches the Organo council, who see this as an act of war instigated by the Alliance. Despite all this, Oonishi is still reluctant to cause a spectacle.

Continuing to orchestrate the war from behind the scenes, Yoshii calls both sides and leaves a message: “There is no room for negotiation”. Only Oonishi is able to see through Yoshii’s scheme (though Kimata too has his suspicions), but by then it’s too late. The situation is out of Oonishi’s hands. Organo underlings have retaliated out of vengeance without orders, setting fire to the Union headquarters and the war has begun.

This leads to the great standoff, where Oonishi (representing the Organo), the Alliance and the Racan all meet (the Racan being dragged into this after the explosion in their headquarters). Anything remaining which even resembles order is lost after Ichise deliriously stumbles into the square, catalysing the inevitable battle and ensuing bloodshed. The leaders are able to survive, but each faction suffers many casualties.

In his last scene, Oonishi is shot by a crowd of deranged Luxites until he is literally a stain on the wall. All that's left of him are his Texhnolyzed legs, still standing upright.

Abilities

Having both his legs texhnolyzed, Oonishi has the unique ability to hear the "voice of the city", and gain information that no ordinary person can access. Later it is said that all the time Ran was the "voice of the city", which was in contact with him telepathically.

He is very skilled with his katana. Oonishi is almost unbeatable with his sword wielding technique.

Gallery