History Characters / ToukenRanbuTachiPartOne

* LightningBruiser: While this is true for all tachi in the browser game, it is often exaggerated in spin-offs for him specifically, as he is shown to move so quickly when fighting that he leaves an [[SpeedEchoes afterimage of himself]] or speed lines behind. ''Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu x Granblue Fantasy'' depicts him moving so fast during his Charge Attack that it almost looks like he's teleporting.

* MythologyGag: The close-up shot of him opening his eye in the "BE IN SIGHT" music video shows a golden crescent shape under his pupil, a nod to Mikazuki Munechika's original character design.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mikazuki is kind-hearted and a bit silly, but he's no slouch on the battlefield, as he is a formidable fighter who dispatches the Historical Retrograding Force and even Kebiishi with ease and grace. He's also shown to be quite relentless during "friendly" sparring matches, as he attacked Iwatooshi without provocation to help him discover his true feelings, with no guarantee that Iwatooshi would react in time to avoid being sliced and diced into pieces, and almost beheaded Akashi Kuniyuki.

As of current, he is ''Touken Ranbu's'' SeriesMascot, sharing this role with Konnosuke and the five starter swords, and as such has appeared in every major adaptation of the game, playing a big role in them as either a main character or major supporting character.

* SeriesMascot: The primary mascot of the ''Touken Ranbu'' franchise, sharing this role with Konnosuke and the five starter swords to a lesser degree. He's even the game's icon and has had major focus in all of the game's opening movies.

* CosmicMotifs: As a sword known for its crescent-shaped patterns on the blade, he's strongly associated with the moon and is implied to derive his spiritual power from the moon itself, especially after Kiwame training.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: He's jealous of Ookanehira, but there are moments in both the anime and the stageplays that show he clearly cares for him as a person. Notably in the stageplays he spends most of his first appearance teasing Ookanehira, but the moment [[spoiler: the citadel is attacked]] the teasing stops and he and Ookanehira turn into BashBrothers, fighting by his side and joyfully declaring him a brother-in-arms.
* BirdsOfAFeather: He develops a friendship with Mikazuki Munechika in ''Hanamaru'' due to them both being gentle, Heian era Touken Danshi with a love for tea.

* GreenEyedMonster: The true reason of his fixation towards Ookanehira.

* SatelliteCharacter: While he has a personality, much of his character prior to Kiwame training revolved around talking about Ookanehira, wanting the Saniwa to know things about Ookanehira, what Ookanehira would do, and other things to the point where it became a meme in the fandom until Ookanehira actually appeared in the game. However, his Kiwame training explains this, as he was fixated on Ookanehira due to his own insecurities about being unnoticed in comparison to him despite being from the same school. When he comes back from training, now having grown as a person, he talks about Ookanehira much less and focuses on himself.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: Towards Ookanehira. Flanderized in ''Hanamaru'', where he has a habit of following Ookanehira around and write down in his observation journal about his daily routine without him noticing. [[StalkerWithACrush Although that might not be the only way to see their relationship.]]

* CloneAngst: Downplayed when compared to Yamanbagiri, as he believes it doesn't matter whether one starts out as a copy or not. He does tend to blame his shortcomings on the fact, however.

** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/95c838fe_c765_4f38_a8e6_9ca4cc712bc7.jpeg Mikazuki's design changes dramatically in Kabuki to better suit the medium in which he is portrayed]], but he remains more or less recognizable as himself.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler: After spending several segments protecting him, he basically asks his former master why he doesn't just let the enemy kill him and be done with it if all he intends to do is flee like a coward. However, this is exactly what [[CowardlyLion Hidetada]] needed to hear in order to man up and fight back, as Mikazuki intended]].

* BloodKnight: ZigZagged. When he wins a duel, he claims to be having fun, laughs merrily in combat, and rushes the player along if they leave him idle on the battlefield for too long. He also mentions that he'll enjoy fighting with him in his special Partner dialogue for Omokage, implying that he is looking forward to combat. However, in Chapter 5, he complains about how frequently his team has had to fight through their mission and would find it preferable to get through it without having to battle anyone, implying that he only enjoys fighting on his own terms.
* BrilliantButLazy: He's wise and a skilled warrior, but he's also notoriously lazy, preferring to lounge and eat snacks rather than perform his job. Regardless, the other Touken Danshi respect him and defer to him when making major choices for Honmaru.
* CharacterShilling: In Chapters 5 and 6, regardless of their individual feelings toward him, all of the team leaders gush about Mikazuki's dependability and essentially hand over the game's central mystery to him because they believe in his ability to solve it in their place. Even Omokage praises Mikazuki immediately after taking a moment to declare that everyone in the citadel is wonderful. [[spoiler: Nonetheless, their admiration for Mikazuki was justified because he ended up being the one to figure everything out and was implied to have been mentally working things out since at least Chapter 2. It's also hinted that Mikazuki has been looking after everyone in the citadel since before the story began, which explains why they trust him so much]].

* FullNameBasis: In contrast to the Touken Danshi, who always refer to him as just "Mikazuki," Konnosuke tends to refer to him as "Mikazuki Munechika" when addressing him.
* TheHeart: Of the Honmaru as a whole. Everyone appears to rely on him, and he is shown rallying everyone together as well as calming the others and keeping them focused when they become agitated. In his unique Partner voice line for Mikazuki, Sengo Muramasa even refers to him as Honmaru's vital point.

** Mikazuki is a slacker who enjoys being looked after by others, but not at their expense. This is addressed in his Bond Conversation with Tonbokiri, where he gently reminds him not to push himself too hard after noticing him spending a considerable amount of time attempting to lighten his burdens in honmaru.
** He will also do work without being forced to, such as in his Bond Conversation with Omokage. In that same Bond Conversation, he also teaches Omokage the fundamentals of fieldwork, even though it increases the amount of work he has to do.

* ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: Mikazuki wears his iconic and impractical-looking [[BlingOfWar blinged-out]] dark blue kimono, but unlike in most spin-off works, the impracticality of his outfit is briefly addressed in a Bond Conversation with Yagen and Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, where Yagen says Mikazuki's kimono became disheveled, and he, Ichigo, and Tonbokiri had to rush in to help him fix it. Yamanbagiri claims that Mikazuki is the only one who wears everyone out with what he wears, implying that this is a common problem.
* LaserGuidedKarma: In his Bond Conversation with Yamanbagiri Chougi, it's revealed that he stole some of the snacks Shokudaikiri prepared for everyone. In Tsurumaru's Bond Conversation with Omokage, Tsurumaru stole some of ''his'' snacks [[ItMakesSenseInContext while pretending to be Omokage pretending to be him]].

** He appears to be this to the entire citadel, as the other Touken Danshi appear to trust his opinions and defer to him when it comes to making big decisions. In their Bond Conversation, Tonbokiri also points out that he looks after them and rallies them all together, with Sengo referring to him as TheHeart of their Citadel.

** Compared to [[CloudcuckoolandersMinder Tonbokiri]], he seems unfazed by Sengo's constant urge to strip down, and even laughs about it in his Selected as Partner (Same Team) voice line. He also joins in it and jokingly says they should bear everything for the enemy, much to Omokage's disapproval.
* MyGodYouAreSerious: Believed Muramasa was joking about asking him to strip down with him, [[{{Determinator}} despite Muramasa apparently asking him over 30 times by his own estimate]].

* ObliviousToHatred: Well, not ''hatred'', per se, but he appears to take harsh words from the other more asocial swords, notably Ookurikara and Yamanbagiri Chougi, in stride and persists in trying to befriend them.
* OddFriendship: Being a part of the same unit, he ends up developing one with Sengo Muramasa, despite Sengo consistently requesting that he strip down with him.
* SeniorSleepCycle: He is the only Touken Danshi in the citadel whose advanced age is highlighted in his character, and he enjoys sleeping a lot, being able to fall asleep just about anywhere.
* TheSlacker: He serves as the citadel's center in the absence of the Saniwa, acting as a sort of leader to the other swords, who in turn are shown to respect and rely on him. However, his leadership position doesn't prevent him from trying to shirk his responsibilities in favor of napping and drinking tea, which a few of the other swords lightheartedly call him out on in their Bond conversations. Mikazuki's laziness is so well established in their citadel that Hasebe is ''taken aback'' when Mikazuki offers to help clean and asks him to repeat his question because he believes he misheard him.

* StickyFingers: PlayedForLaughs, as he appears to have no qualms about taking food without permission;

* AllLovingHero: [[spoiler: He has boundless compassion for those who have gotten the short end of the stick throughout history, and he tries to save as many of them as he can without changing history by recruiting them to the Mononobe. This is portrayed as being a flaw, however, because him constantly allowing himself to get close to the "losers" causes more mental harm for him than it does any good, especially when said "losers" refuse his help or cannot be saved]].

** [[spoiler: Despite their short human lives, Mikazuki considers all of the people he recruits to the Mononobe to be friends]].

* WeirdMoon: While it wasn't always a strange moon, after becoming a symbol of Mikazuki, the crescent moon from ''Tsuwamono Domo'' became this, [[spoiler: as it can appear in the sky anywhere as a symbol of Mikazuki's arrival and watching over the events of the story, and shines an unnaturally blue light on whoever stands beneath it]].

* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Tsurumaru Kuninaga. They manifested around the same time during the citadel's inception and spent a lot of time together as a result, becoming so close that their fighting styles are nearly identical. However, while Mikazuki's exact feelings for Tsurumaru are unknown, Tsurumaru is extremely resentful of him, with it implied throughout the story that they had a fundamental disagreement in the past that resulted in the breakdown of their friendship.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: He's probably the Touken Danshi who goes through this the most, because prior to The Great Invasion event in 2022, which solidified him as a canon StepfordSmiler years after the browser game was released, there was little to no indication that he was anything other than a probably lazy, probably perverted, and mellow old man figure who is secretly a badass. Despite this, most adaptations depict him as a stepford smiler by default, carrying many burdens beneath his whimsical demeanor, with the only notable exceptions outside of the anthologies being ''Hanamaru'', ''Katsugeki'' (although not much is known about him there in general), and ''Reimei'', [[spoiler: at least until the plot about Yamanbagiri Kunihiro going missing happens]].

* AlternateSelf: He is this to the Mikazuki Munechika from the first film, as he is from a different Honmaru and leads a different life. Notably, he has a stronger bond with his teammates than the Mikazuki from the first film, particularly being close with Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, which prompts him to look for him when the latter goes missing.
* BadassAndChildDuo: He ends up in this sort of dynamic with a high school student named Kotone when he travels back to 2012 to look for a missing Yamanbagiri Kunihiro. She has the power to become a Saniwa due to her ability to hear the voices of tsukumogami, and thusly becomes his temporary Saniwa for the duration of the film after making contact with him by chance.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Averted. He goes back in time to 2012 to search for Yamanbagiri, but even though he is an ancient sword, he finds it easy to adapt to and take advantage of the conveniences of modern life.

* TheProtagonist: While he was only one of the focus characters and a major central character in the first film, he is the clear protagonist here, as the film focuses primarily on him and his mission to find and retrieve his friend [[spoiler: Yamanbagiri Kunihiro]], who went missing during a mission and ended up in 2012.
* SummonToHand: {{Inverted|Trope}}. [[spoiler: In the second film, Mikazuki is able to teleport to his sword after throwing it at the enemy]].

** His third layer in ''Atsukashiyama Ibun 2018 Paris'' is cropped to expose his right shoulder, which is decorated with a fabric shoulder guard.
** His first layer in ''Michi no Oku, Hitotsu wa Chisu'' has a coat that is longer and fur-lined only on the right side.

* AloofAlly: {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Michi no Oku''; He keeps his distance from Tsurumaru's (and later, Yamanbagiri's) team because he has his own mission going on at the same time and only occasionally pops in to help them when they start struggling. [[spoiler: In the climax, when everyone is fighting the Kebiishi that he attracted, he seems conflicted about helping them and only does so when becomes clear that they'll die if he doesn't]].

* BackToBackBadasses: Most often with Kogitsunemaru, but also with Tsurumaru Kuninaga in Michi no Oku ''Michi no Oku''.

** Being the only character whose characterization shifted significantly between the two acts, Mikazuki was much goofier, energetic, and unhinged during the Live segments in the Trial Performance/''Atsukashiyama Ibun'', ''Shinken Ranbusai 2016'', ''Shinken Ranbusai 2017'' than he was in the main story, also often using an exaggerated, loud voice for comedic effect. However, since ''Tsuwamono Domo'', even though his idol counterpart is still more playful than his mellow main story counterpart, the unhinged aspect of his character has substantially diminished, and his characterization is much more in the realms for how Mikazuki would (probably) act if he was an idol. As well, the exaggerated voice has stopped being used entirely.

** Mikazuki becomes less unhinged and more mature and refined in ''Tsuwamono Domo'' and subsequent musicals, although he still has his occasional light-hearted and comedic moments. This was invoked by the director himself, who felt that the original portrayal of the character did not fit the vision of Mikazuki that the production desired.

* DanceBattler: In live-action continuities, his fighting styles are choreographed to resemble traditional dances.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: In a few stage plays, as well as the first stage play anime adaptation, he plays the deuteragonist to Yamanbagiri's protagonist.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: While his internal affairs lines already implied the horses have a fondness for him, spin-offs like ''Hanamaru'' portray him as being particularly close to Gokotai's tiger cubs and in ''Warriors'', it's also revealed that a kitten that began to wander around Honmaru took a liking to him as well.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: As a sword named "Mikazuki" ("crescent moon"), he is strongly linked to the moon and the night sky, and is implied to be empowered by the moon itself. However, due to the browser games mechanics, he is nerfed in the same way as the other tachi during night battles, making him less effective in these missions. The spin-offs ignore this.

* HeroicSacrifice: Subverted; During the "Great Invasion" event, he attempts to pull one off, fully intending to sacrifice himself to protect the Citadel and implying that his death will serve as a form of atonement for all of the swords (and humans) he'd killed up to that point. Fortunately, the starter swords intervene and bring him back home.
* HiddenDepths:

* IdiotHair: Has two large ahoge sticking out of the top of his head. In ''Hanamaru'', they move. That said, Mikazuki is anything but dumb despite his flippant attitude.
* InformedFlaw: PlayedForLaughs, as Mikazuki will occasionally claim that he can't do certain things because of his old age, when in reality, he's just as young and fit as any other sword in honmaru, and it's really just an excuse for him to slack off. Depending on the sword, they will either call him on it, accept it because they can't talk Mikazuki out of his laziness, or accept it because he really is elderly (at least in age and mind).

* NeverBareheaded: Even in his most casual attire, he is never seen without some sort of headwear:
** In his default outfit, he wears a vertically tied tasseled headband. In TheMusical, this accessory is a mainstay of all his of alternate costumes.
** He sports a yellow bandana with his crest painted on it as part of his Uchiban outfit. In ''Hanamaru'', the crest isn't initially depicted, suggesting that he painted it on sometime after manifesting.
** After Kiwame training, he trades his headband for a [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanmuri_(headwear) Kanmuri]], which is more in-line with what Heian nobles and samurai would wear.
** In his casual outfit, he trades his tasseled headband for a headband with a wisteria-shaped accessory attached to it.
** In ''Hanamaru'', when he finally goes to the beach, he wears a sunhat.

* ShirtlessScene: Times two in his Awakened sprites; In his original sprite, half of his kimono falls off, exposing his chest, though his sideways position mostly obscures it. After Kiwame training, his entire top comes off, playing this trope straight.

* TheConstant:
** [[spoiler: It is revealed in ''Tsuwamono Domo'' that he has been repeatedly traveling back in time to influence historical events and ensure that history unfolds as intended, making himself one of the few certain existences during the Genpei War. Because of this, he is also able to empathize with Yasuhira and Yoritomo, both of whose lives during this time are known to have occurred, which makes his role in ensuring their deaths all the more painful for him]].
** [[spoiler: ''Tokyo Kokoro Oboe'' implies that Mikazuki has become a constant in multiple periods of history, becoming the mechanism that ensures and protects the correct flow of the timeline]].

* DarkSecret: [[spoiler: In Tsuwamono Domo, the fact that he had been traveling throughout history independent of the Saniwa's power to ensure that the Genpei war happened as historically intended. It's not necessary to keep it a secret, as when the other swords found out, they were understanding, but he only took on this role to spare the Saniwa the unpleasantness. By ''Michi no Oku'', it's no longer a secret, however, as nearly everyone, including the Saniwa, seems to be aware of what he's been doing]].

** [[spoiler: In ''Michi no Oku,'' he's baited into a physical confrontation with his former friend Tsurumaru Kuninaga, who comes to him demanding answers as to why he's continuing to travel around influencing different time periods]].
* FiveStagesOfGrief:
** [[spoiler: He was also on the mission where the starter sword broke during the early days of the citadel, but unlike Yamanbagiri Kunihiro and Tsurumaru Kuninaga, who, while still mourning their friend's (apparent) death, appear to have accepted that it happened and are, at this point, trying to move on, he remains firmly in denial, apparently believing that he's still alive and alone somewhere]].
** [[spoiler: He also extends this denial to the humans he encounters, as his conversation with Aterui implies that he has repeated their encounter countlessly to persuade Aterui and his comrade to flee from their execution, despite being rejected every time as they always choose to die. After realizing this, Aterui scolds Mikazuki for his excessive concern about other people's lives, telling him that his own life is his own before allowing himself to be executed again]].

** Mikazuki Munechika has a dark color palette, mostly wearing blue, while Tsurumaru mostly wears white.

* FriendToAllChildren: [[spoiler: As he progresses on his journey, it becomes clearer and clearer that he is becoming less like the human-like Touken Danshi and more like a benevolent god in how he views humans and the distance he is taking from them. However, his humanity shines through when he accepts a hug from a young boy named Yahiko and befriends him, despite being aware that he was destined to die shortly after. In the end, he still valued their brief friendship and offered his corpse a lotus flower as a symbol of it, just as he did Yasuhira]].
* TheGhost: He becomes this in the main story after ''Tsuwamono Domo'', frequently being mentioned by characters and working behind the scenes, but not directly interacting with anyone [[spoiler: well, not physically, anyway, as he communicates with Suishinshi as a disembodied voice in ''Tokyo Kokoro Oboe.'' He wouldn't physically return to the stage until ''Michi no Oku Hitotsu wa Chisu'']].

* GoodOldFisticuffs: Mikazuki is equally adept at swordplay and hand-to-hand fighting, at times using his fists to fight off Historical Revisionists and, more rarely, other Touken Danshi. He also really likes to strike people using a combination of his fist and the hilt of his sword.
* GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler: It's strongly implied that he's inducing this for himself across various time periods to look for ''something'' that is heavily implied to be the missing or broken starter sword]].
* HeartbrokenBadass: [[spoiler: Like Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, he never moved on from the (supposed) death of one of the swords from the citadel's early days, and it's implied that part of the reason he's been looping time periods is to search for him out of the belief that he's still alive and alone somewhere]].

* IconicItem: He wears his signature tasseled headband with every costume.
* ImmortalImmaturity: A variant. He's well over a thousand years old, and unlike most characters associated with this trope, he acts about as close to his age as he can by acting like an old man and has moments of wisdom. That said, his long life doesn't mean he isn't emotionally immature in some regards, as he struggles with letting go of things, reaching out to others, and stubbornly never saying what needs to be said, even when keeping things to himself does more harm than good for everyone involved, with these flaws contributing to his lapses in judgement and impulsive decisions. His innocence and the fact that he likely "grew up" in his human form without having to address any of these flaws in his character are subtly highlighted when he is scolded by [[spoiler: Aterui]] for his excessive concern for other people's lives, and he looks visibly startled as it's happening, almost like a child who had never been called out on their bad behavior before.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's unclear how many of Mikazuki's abilities are real and whether some are merely metaphors for his influence. He's been shown to be capable of time travel beyond the Saniwa's own power, memory transfer, and some degree of telepathy, and obviously also possesses super strength and resilience beyond what humans are capable of, which is the standard for a Touken Danshi (although by ''Michi no Oku'' he seems to be far stronger everyone else), but his other abilities, such as shape shifting, teleportation, and changing into an incorporeal entity represented by a blue light, are still unexplained. There's also no explanation even for why a crescent moon appears in the sky and a harsh wind seems to blow whenever he makes an appearance, nor does anyone seem to acknowledge it beyond pointing out that it is, indeed, Mikazuki.

* MrFanservice: Not normally, but as an IdolSinger, he whole-heartedly embraces this role and takes full advantage of his SexyBacklessOutfit in the stripped down version of his costume.
* MysteriousProtector: [[spoiler: In ''Kishou Hongi'', it is revealed that Mikazuki Munechika has recruited people from different eras to help the Touken Danshi in completing their mission to protect history, with these people being dubbed the Mononobe, or "servants of spirits." They can be anyone, from a nameless recurring background character to a historical figure who has been removed from his historical role, such as Nobuyasu]].
* NecessarilyEvil:
** [[spoiler: It is revealed in ''Tsuwamono Domo'' that he has been repeatedly returning to the Genpei War era to threaten historical figures--whether they be brothers or friends--into killing each other in order to maintain the timeline's continuity]].
** [[spoiler: In ''Paraiso'', he sends one of the Mononobe to influence the events of the Shimabara Rebellion to ensure history corrects itself. This involves the Mononobe ratting out the Shimabara faction, the one Tsurumaru's team is pretending to be a part of, to the Shogunate whenever they make strategic moves, and ensuring that all 37,000 rebels and sympathizers die by the end of it, as they did historically. He does have his recruit rescue the sole survivor, however]].

* PetTheDog: Mikazuki is an odd example. He is not a bad person and is not viewed as such InUniverse; rather, [[spoiler: he is a NecessarilyEvil force that commits evil deeds in order to ensure that history unfolds as intended, with this role of his being deemed tragic]]. Nevertheless, he still has his tender moments despite playing this part:

* ThePromise: [[spoiler: While it's still unclear what exactly the promise was or to whom it was made, it's hinted that he promised either the Saniwa or the broken sword to ensure everyone's safe return. His determination to "find what cannot be found" by looping different time periods, and Tsurumaru confronting him about leaving the citadel and thus endangering himself, support this, as he seems to be looking for the missing sword so that they can go home together]].
* RedOniBlueOni: The mellow, graceful, and collected Blue Oni to Tsurumaru's wild, energetic, and occasionally aggressive Red Oni.

* RunningGag: In ''Tsuwamono Domo'', his wandering off while no one is looking and Hizamaru getting increasingly frustrated over it, which happens multiple times over the course of the musical.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: He used to be very close to Tsurumaru Kuninaga, to the point where they're described as mirrors in their main story duet, and they have very similar fighting styles due to how much time they spent together. However, in the present day, while Mikazuki's exact feelings toward Tsurumaru are unclear, Tsurumaru is extremely resentful of him, and their relationship has broken down for reasons that have yet to be revealed.