Miroku Barsburg

Miroku ミロク=バルスブルグ Miroku Barusuburugu
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Aliases	None
Characteristics
Species	Human
Nationality	{{{nationality}}}
Gender	Male
Age	Not yet reached 70 (Drama CD 2)
Birthday	Unknown
Height	177cm
Weight	75kg
Personal status
Status	Alive
Relatives	Barsburg Family
Professional status
Occupation	Chairman
Affiliation	The Barsburg Empire, Barsburg Imperial Army, possibly The Black Hawks
Appearances
Manga	Kapitel 2
Anime	Episode 1
Voices
Japanese	Mitsuo Senda

Miroku is a minor character in the 07-Ghost series but one of the major antagonists. Miroku is the Chairman of the Barsburg Army and may also be in control of the Black Hawks, as they appear to follow his orders. Miroku is seen little during the series, seeming as unknowing as the other officers about Teito's hidden royalty or role as host of the Eye of Mikhail. However later in the series his conversations with Ayanami hint that he has political or/and personal motives.

History

Miroku during the Raggs War.

It's revealed in the anime that he used to the army's field-marshal. He appeared to have played an important part in the Raggs War, possibly being one of the higher-ups who led the attack. Sometime after the events of the Raggs War, he took Teito into his care and raised him as his personal battle sklave.

He also employed Kurena as a maid who took care of Teito, but whether she was employed before of after he took Teito in is unknown.

Appearance

Miroku is an elderly man who has not reached 70 (Second Drama CD). Miroku stands at 5 foot 10 inches and weighs 75 kg, his build being very bulky with large, broad shoulders. He has square-like facial shape with strong features, a long and rather large pointed nose, large ears and heavy jaw. His face is aged with marionette lines round his mouth and wrinkles round his eyes and forehead, and his skin is a very pale tone. Miroku has red eyes under a pair of large, white eyebrows and the small moustache above his lip is the same colour. His hair is cropped short, a pale grey colour and slicked back over his head with only a few loose strands falling over his forehead at either side.

Miroku wears a black cloak with a large, open neck-guard and a red scarf wrapped round his neck. His cloak is fastened with a large, rectangular shaped golden brooch.

Personality

Miroku appears to be a rather mild-mannared person, as he is always quiet, calm and does not loose his temper even when those around him have. He is polite when addressing others, even those of a lower rank than him, and does not raise his voice when irritated. In meetings Miroku always acted as the voice of reason towards the other generals, and sought to calm the more exitable generals. It appears that he carefully considers everything before he acts or speaks, as when some other officers suggested executing Ayanami for crashing a ship, Miroku reminded them that Ayanami found the Eye of God. Unlike many of the other officers, Miroku does not openly mock those around him, and keeps his opinions of people to himself, shown when the other officers laugh at Shuri for his behaviour and Miroku calmly says that family background means nothing on the battlefield.

However Miroku's despositon is distinctly suspicious and he appears to know much more than he tells anyone, such as when he did not tell Ayanami that he knew Teito was the host of the Eye of Mikhail. He has also been shown to act in his own interests, and puts his personal gain before the rules and regulations of the Military, as Ayanami says Miroku will be court-martialed if the Military finds out he was withholding information.

Relationships

With his subordinates

Ayanami:

Miroku with Ayanami.

Chaiman Miroku appears to like Ayanami, or at least thinks him a capable officer and that it will be a waste if he is removed from the army, as he is often shown siding with Ayanami in meetings when other officers blame Ayanami for troubles, such as Teito's escape. It is unknown if he defended Ayanami when he was the army's Field-Marshal, but Miroku was shown with Ayanami during the Raggs War suggesting that he has been Ayanami's boss for at least 10 years. Miroku also puts a certain level of trust in Ayanami, giving him the job of herding Teito, and revealing some of the confidential information, such as Teito's royal blood to Ayanami only ("this is a secret between you and I, Ayanami-kun").

Miroku has also tried to protect Ayanami's position in the army in other ways, like giving Ayanami Fea Kreuz's Clergy Pass when he infiltrates the church as according to the sanctuary laws, no soldiers can enter the church for missions. So, if the fact that Ayanami had entered the church went out, other generals would likely make use of that to demand that he be demoted (or even executed as they once proposed after one of his fleet ships was taken down by the Eye of Mikhail), but, if Ayanami had Fea Kreuz's pass with him, Miroku could say that Ayanami didn't go there as a soldier for a military mission, but just as a messenger to pass a note to his former student, Teito.

Karu: He has been Miroku's Begleiter for more than ten years and it seems that he trusts Karu enough, for he orders Karu to accompany Teito (the important host of the Eye of Mikhail) everywhere he goes.

Teito: Miroku has taken in Teito at a young age making him his personal battle Sklave. He had Teito trained in arts from weaponry to melee combat with Zaiphon but his real motives are unknown. Miroku may have wanted to observe the power of the Eye of Mikhail in combat, wanted to prepare him as Ayanami's Begleiter, or just though Teito had the potential to become a good soldier and would be a waste not to train him. Miroku said Teito was his best student, but deems Teito's lack of killing intent his main weakness. His conversations with Ayanami in manga chapter 28 suggests his plan is to awaken the Eye of Mikhail within Teito, saying he has tried all methods to awaken Teito but none had succeeded, so he can't help thinking that Teito won't awake unless he is herded body and soul by someone like Ayanami.

Anime Synopsis

Miroku is first seen in a main hall of the Barsburg Military Academy listening to a speech made by Shuri Oak. He is shown watching silently as the other officers discuss how the candidates this years are exceptional but usually only 20 of the 500 candidates will pass the exam and become Begleiters. His next appearance is when the candidates are participating in the exam. Shuri pounds on the glass in fear and the examiners mock him, when Miroku appears and explains that family background counts for nothing during actual combat, and that the majority of the students drop-out during this exam.

After Teito's escape he is seen in a meeting with the other officers of the Imperial Army. As the admirals attack Ayanami after Teito's escape, Miroku defends him and assures the admirals that there are many more candidates - saying to Ayanami that he needs to discuss something important with him later. He later appears in a hallway where he finds Ayanami and asks him how the plans are going, and Ayanami promises he will retrieve Teito.

Trivia

• Some fans suspect that Miroku is a noble, as he is seen holding little Princess Ouka in a flashback of Tiashe. (manga) This is confirmed in Kapitel.79, where his full name, Miroku Barsburg, is given.
• Miroku seems to know that Ayanami wants the beacon that guides him to the Pandora Box (an episode in the anime), it is unknown whether it is because he knows Ayanami is Verloren's reincarnation; and if yes, how and when did he know.
• In manga chapter 75, he and Karu were looking at a video tape which shows Wakaba walking towards a fountain, fall into it, and doesn't go up again. Miroku thinks Wakaba was too drunk and falls into the fountain and drown himself accidentally (the truth is Ayanami was using Fest's strings to control Wakaba's body and drown him).