Akiha Tohno

Infobox animanga character
name = Akiha Tohno
series = Tsukihime


first = "Tsukihime"
last =
creator = TYPE-MOON / TSUKIHIME PROJECT
oaux1 name = Design by
oaux1 = Takashi Takeuchi
voiced by = Shizuka Itō ("Tsukihime", Japanese) Julie Ann Taylor ("Tsukihime", English) Hitomi ("Melty Blood")
nickname =
alias =
species =
age =
gender = Female
born = September 22
death =
occupation =
title = Head of Tohno Family
relatives = Shiki Tohno (Adopted "older brother"), Makihisa Tohno (Father, "deceased"), Unknown Mother ("Deceased"), SHIKI Tohno (Older brother, "deceased")nihongo|Akiha Tohno|遠野 秋葉|Tōno Akiha is a character from the Japanese visual novel and anime series "Tsukihime" by TYPE-MOON.

16 years old at the beginning of the story, Akiha is the head of the prestigious Tohno family and a student of the elite Asagami Private Girls Academy. Her birthday is 22 September, while her blood type is A, height is 160cm, weight is 45kg, and measurements are B73/W57/H79.

In the anime series, Akiha is voiced by Shizuka Itō while in the spin-off game "Melty Blood", she is voiced by Hitomi.

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Past

Born into the prestigious Tohno family, Akiha lived a sheltered childhood under the strict supervision of her father Makihisa Tohno and was seldom allowed to go outside the mansion to play. One day while she quietly waiting for her tutor to arrive, her brother, Shiki, took her hand, inviting her to play with him and the other children at the mansion. Thanks to Shiki she was able to experience at least some semblance of the joys of childhood. Unfortunately not soon afterwards, Shiki was near-fatally wounded in an accident and was sent by Makihisa to live with the Arimas, relatives from another branch of the family. Akiha tried to visit Shiki at the Arima house several times early on, but pressure from her father and other relatives in addition to Shiki's constant visits to the hospital prevented their meeting. Contact was made impossible when Akiha was placed in a boarding school and she was forced to live on campus. Akiha also states that she sent Shiki many letters, but he never replied because he wanted to sever ties to the Tohno family.

Upon the death of their father eight years later (and the beginning of Tsukihime's story), Akiha became the head of the Tohno household and, ignoring protests from the remaining relatives, called Shiki back to live at the family mansion with her. Though she tries to conceal it, Akiha called her brother back because she truly loves him and wanted to be near him no matter how much it might alienate her from the rest of the family. She is incredibly shy about her feelings, even acting in complete contradiction to them on occasion, but to her Shiki is the most important person in the world.

In some story paths (especially the Akiha path), the cause behind Akiha's inversion to her not-quite-so-human form is revealed. Her father remarked in his journal that Akiha's Tohno blood was of the weaker sort and she could live as a normal human if she wished it. But that changed when Shiki's life was threatened in the "accident" from eight years earlier. She was out playing with Shiki, who it turns out was only adopted into the family, and her real brother, also named Shiki. But the Tohno blood was much stronger in her real brother and he inverted to his non-human form. In this uncontrollable state, he lashed out to strike at Akiha. Her adopted brother, main character Shiki, protected her with his life and was mortally wounded in the attack. Shiki would have died, but Akiha used the powers granted by her non-human blood to give him half of her life, allowing him to survive. After the incident, her true brother was locked away so that he could never again hurt anyone and Akiha severed all ties with him and has since said that Shiki, her adopted brother, is the only person she will ever call her brother. She needs twice the heat of an average person because she is supporting both her own life and Shiki's. Because of the strain on her body this causes, she often experiences attacks of intense pain that can last from a few minutes to several hours. But Akiha bears them bravely, knowing that it is all for the sake of her beloved brother.

Personality

Akiha is very protective of her brother, intent on knowing what he does with his day, and is extremely suspicious of what he does at night. She gets incredibly jealous when he is around other girls, as he is adopted under unique conditions. The constant supervision by his little sister sometimes bears hard on Shiki, but she only watches over him because she worries so much about him. Despite her general peevishness, she really is a sweet girl at heart.

Powers

Like most of the people with Tohno blood, Akiha has non-human blood. Due to giving half her life to Shiki, her body to uses twice the amount of heat that a normal person uses. To make up for her increased demand, she must absorb heat from others. She can take this heat in through various means, even simply absorbing their body heat through contact, but the most efficient method is by drinking fresh blood (as seen when she sucks Kohaku's blood in a scene from the game). Her demonic power is called "Plunder". When used, her hair returns to a vibrant red color (her hair's true shade). In some of the game's story paths, the true extent of the power she has in this form is revealed. She is able absorb heat directly from anything that comes into her view. For people with Mystic Eyes, this form of attack appears as long strands of hair, originating from Akiha. However, her hair does not actually move. This is proven by the fact that Akiha, who does not possess any Mystic Eyes, cannot see the attack herself. The drawing-out of the heat produces a powerful burning sensation on the surface of the object, causing some viewers to believe that she was simply setting things on fire. This form of attack is incredibly fast and can strike an object as quickly as Akiha can look at it. Several of the characters who experience combat with Akiha are surprised at how overwhelmingly powerful this method of attack makes her.