Okita Souji
Age: Mid-20s
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 140 lbs
Eyes: Violet-blue
Hair: Purplish-black
Affiliation: Shinsengumi
Status: 1st Unit Captain
Okita's one of the best swordsmen of pre-Meiji Japan, which is pretty wild considering he mastered the Tennen-rishin-ryuu style as a teenager and was teaching it by his early twenties. He's probably the Shinsengumi's most talented fighter—just not the most practical sparring partner. He genuinely can't dial back his strength, so he injures people even when using a bamboo sword and protective gear. As a result, no one really wants to train with him, which is its own kind of lonely.
Despite being a legendary fighter, he's got this soft side. He loves kids, adores Kyoto candies, and constantly annoys Hijikata by acting deliberately feminine and girly. Kids in the series still call him by his childhood name, Soujirou, and he's fine with it—he claims it's because using his full name keeps people from wanting to hang out with him. He's shorter than most guys and apparently enjoys letting his hair flow freely when he's off-duty.
Hijikata, his mentor, put him on this path by making him pick up a katana at nine years old. Looking back, Okita holds some resentment about that choice, feeling Hijikata made a mistake by giving him the sword before he was ready to handle the responsibility.
There's also the matter of tuberculosis, which flares up periodically and complicates his life in ways his swordsmanship can't fix.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
