Character Intro. - Anzushiro

As you may know by now, this blog primarily exists for sharing information about my Book of the Shadows. Of course no story is going to work if you don't have good characters. So I'm going to share a little about some of the characters in an ongoing segment I'm calling Character Intro.

The first character I'm introducing is Anzushiro (pronounced An-zu-shi-ro, alt. An-zoo-shear-oh). I'm introducing her first, but in some ways her introduction is out of order. She does not start out as an intended main character, but developed to be the driving force for the continuing Book of the Shadows series.

Anzushiro is a meta-character. She is one of a group of beings titled the Two-Six. They exist as extremely powerful beings not unlike the three goddesses of the Tenchi Muyo series. The Book of the Shadow series revolves around the fact that these individuals, the Two-Six, have existed a very, very long time, dying and being reborn time and time again into different lives within one or more separate universes, with varying levels of recollection of those past lives.

The First Moon Saga, the first book series, Book of the Shadows, in essence covers the life of Anzushiro as Anzu Rosencraft.

Her full name is Anzu Crawford Gainsborough Asakura Rosencraft. Born June 15, she is the twin sister to Rini Kuina Gainsborough Rosencraft, daughter of Jun Crawford Rosencraft Gainsborough and Alucard Rosencraft Gainsborough.

Born effectively immortal (immune to disease and sickness, and can only be killed by a being of substantial magical ability), Anzu Rosencraft is well versed in many forms of magic, including black magic, white magic, and alchemy. Her means of execution includes energy displacement, charms, chants and incantations, spell circles, magical items, and more.

Alongside her sister Rini, and her cousin Yami, she once ruled the Earth kingdom of Sancrien. With them she witnessed the murder of their parents when they were only about twelve years old. Years later they were sealed for several millennium before being released in "modern" times.

Anzu is nearly killed by the same assassin those many, many years later. In the incident her soul is split into more than a dozen pieces and she must go on a journey to find them all again if she is to regain her former powers. This journey begins the process of Anzu awakening to her past life as Anzushiro of the Two-Six, and begins to unravel the greater mystery of the universe she and her family and friends live in.

Anzu Rosencraft is based on Mana/Dark Magician Girl from the Yu-Gi-Oh series. Her Soul Fragments are based on a variety of characters, including Seiren of Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, Beatrice of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, Aya of Tenjho Tenge, and Elda from Karin (Chibi Vampire).



Anzushiro is based in part on Kurohime of Mahou Tsukai Kurohime (the young and older version), conceptually as far as background and story anyway, and at least one transformation.

Next week I will do another character intro for Anzu's sister, Rini.