Toichiro Suzuki (鈴木 統一郎, Suzuki Tōichirō) is an extremely powerful esper and the founder and leader of Claw. He is the antagonist of the World Domination arc and a supporting character in the ???% arc.
Appearance
Toichiro Suzuki has short dark red hair and light blue eyes with a sense of seriousness and boredom. He wears a dark-colored suit and black shoes. His most distinctive trait is his three-pronged eyebrows.
During his fight with Mob, Suzuki increases his Power Output percentage, causing the veins in his face to bulge and smoke-like energy to leak out of his eyes and mouth. His 100% form tears his shirt and suit open, increases his musculature, and engulfs his whole head in the fire. His actions become exaggerated and beast-like. In the original manga, his muscles grow less, and he is much less beast-like. The effects of power overload affected his body afterward, slightly hollowing his cheeks. Later he appears to have recovered, with his cheeks a bit fuller.
Personality
Being one of the most powerful individuals in the series, Toichiro is naturally a very arrogant, pretentious, egotistic, and unfeeling individual. Throughout his life, as he learned of his psychic powers and how exceptional he was compared to even other espers, he began to see himself as the absolute being of Earth who deserved to rule it. This is also because, throughout his 20 years of exploring the world, he never encountered an esper more powerful than himself. Suzuki considers himself more positive than anyone else because he only cares about himself[2] and he believes that his extremely egotistic nature granted him his incredible powers.[3]
He often has a very neutral and expressionless demeanor, rarely showing any emotions. However, when he fought Shigeo, he was shown to enjoy the thrill of the battle and was smiling throughout most of their psychic battle.
He does not care for the lives of others and is perfectly fine with all the destruction and possible deaths he causes, even to his hometown, although he never directly kills anyone. He is even fine with beating his own son without batting an eye, as he once did when he was younger and again when his son challenged him during Toichiro's invasion.
Despite the lack of morals and his egotistical nature, he is capable of persuading others to his side and managed to convince one of his Ultimate 5, Serizawa, to join his side. He does this by acting as a supporting figure who cares about him and empathizes with him since he has psychic powers and knows what he's feeling.
The only person that Toichiro feels genuine affection for during his time as Claw's leader is his wife, who left him after he began his quest for world domination. He had hoped that once he took over the world, he would find his wife, showing that even after all their time apart, he still missed her.
In many ways, he is the exact opposite of Shigeo Kageyama. Unlike Shigeo, Toichiro believes he does not need to rely on anyone because he is already complete and has amazing powers to defend himself. Where Shigeo suppresses his emotions in an attempt to protect those he loves, Toichiro has an emotionless and passionless demeanor due to having no true strong bonds or relationships and misinterpreting this emptiness as a form of freedom. He believes that his egotistical nature granted him unbelievable psychic powers. Because he does not value relationships with other individuals, he shows very little, if not any, affection towards his subordinates. Even when his five elite soldiers betrayed him, he thought little of it, believing that his power would be more than enough to compensate for their betrayal and considering them as pawns, failing to understand that his power alone would never have garnered firm loyalty.
However, after his battle with Shigeo, he is moved by the young esper's actions and the affection he shows Toichiro, his enemy. Because of this, he turned himself in instead of choosing to retreat and scheme future plans of world domination. Before being locked up, he spoke to Serizawa, showing him genuine affection for the first time by telling him to be careful not to be manipulated since he lacks self-confidence. He then speaks to his son, apologizing for separating him from his mother due to his pride. He also reminisces when Shigeo attempted to make peace with him by shaking his hand; Toichiro reaches his hand out, showing that he feels regret for his actions and has come to realize that Shigeo was correct and that people need other people.
History
Suzuki was born and lived his childhood in Seasoning City;[4] however, he admitted he does not remember much about his past and does not mind reducing the town to rubble.[5] When he was in middle school, he realized that his psychic powers elevated him above all those around him. By his own accord, everything in his life had gone smoothly, and he had never failed or regretted a decision.[3]
Twenty years before the start of the plot, he began preparing for world domination and filling his psychic energy reserves.[6] At some point, Suzuki founded the psychic organization known as Claw. He recruited various powerful espers, one of them being Serizawa, a former shut-in whom Suzuki "saved." Espers that challenged him but were deemed too weak were given scars and put into the echelon known as Scar, where they would lead the even weaker espers. Espers earned his respect and were promoted to the Ultimate 5 to be his personal assistant.
Suzuki married a woman, and they had a child, Sho Suzuki. When his wife realized how selfish and power-driven he was, she left him.
Plot
7th Division Arc
Suzuki briefly appeared early on, calling his son Sho on the phone, requesting the latter's report. Sho mocked him for the incompetence of the members of Claw, referring to the 7th Division. His son taunted him to come to Japan sooner and hung up; Suzuki then stated, "It won't be long".[7]
World Domination Arc
In his first full appearance, Suzuki is conducting a mass Claw meeting where they begin their plan to take over the world, having Hatori broadcast a threatening message across all the TV stations in the area. He is later seen scolding the division leader, Scars, for talking about people behind their backs after mocking the different cults manipulated by Claw. He ordered them to leave, as government-affiliated espers had already gathered to attack.[8] Suzuki later encounters one such esper, Joseph, and finds that the division leaders were defeated by his colleagues. However, the Ultimate 5 arrived and made short work of the government espers for Suzuki.
The next morning Suzuki has Shimazaki abduct the Prime Minister of Japan from Tokyo to kick Claw's ultimate plan into motion. He and all of Claw then occupy the Culture Tower in Seasoning City (he explains this is because he prefers Seasoning City, his hometown, over Tokyo). From there, Claw's artificial esper soldiers fight off the local police force using psychic power lent to them by Suzuki, and he sends Minegishi and Shibata to expand Claw's territory throughout the city.
Eventually, Sho arrives at the Culture Tower, having made his way past Shimazaki and Hatori, and attacks Suzuki. He toys with his son, criticizing his sloppy betrayal. Sho unleashes his trump card, a blast of three months of energy, but Serizawa blocks it. Suzuki then proceeds to attack his own son violently.
As Sho lays beaten on the ground Suzuki explains his ability to store and transfer psychic energy between beings and demonstrates this by taking back the energy he gave to the now-defeated Claw soldiers strewn about the area. Mob suddenly enters the room, having befriended Serizawa, and attempts to talk things out with Suzuki as well, though this goes poorly. Serizawa also appears, apologizing to Suzuki, but he dismisses his apology and calls him trash. However, when Mob lends some energy to Sho to help him stand, Suzuki is shocked to see another esper that can transfer energy as he can. Seeing the potential danger to his victory in Mob he attacks the middle schooler, who continues to try to reason with him. He critically injures Dimple and thrashes Mob, but is interrupted when Reigen arrives with Sakurai's Jugan gun. Reigen attempts a surprise attack but attacks an ethereal clone of Suzuki instead, and Suzuki moves to incinerate him - however, Serizawa saves him at the last second. Mob, disgusted by Suzuki's actions, enters a 100% Rage state and decides that he must fight to stop him. Suzuki then attempts to punish the traitorous members of the Ultimate 5 but is stopped by Mob, who levitates the Culture Tower into the sky to begin their battle.
As the battle rages on, Suzuki slowly elevates his Power Output to match Mob's 100% mode. Mob begins to go through various 100% emotions during the battle, such as Ecstasy, Shame, and Compassion, and continues to try to reach Suzuki through words. Suzuki continued to increase his Power Output, reaching 80%, an output level he had never accessed before.
When Mob feels 100% Resignation after realizing he cannot reach Toichiro like he could with other espers, he begins to mangle Suzuki's body in an attempt to finally stop him, forcing him to go into 100% Power Output. In this state, his body vastly increases in size, and his head is engulfed in flames. He and Mob resume their battle, and while Mob puts up a good fight, Toichiro eventually overpowers Mob, causing him to fear for his life. Surprisingly though, due to the insane amount of psychic energy he released at once, Suzuki's body can't handle all the psychic energy, and he begins to self-destruct. Mob tells the bystanders to flee before attempting to take some of Suzuki's energy to balance it out, despite the latter's protests, and the two are engulfed in a massive explosion that creates a mushroom cloud. From within the explosion emerges the Divine Tree.
Sho, Serizawa, and Joseph arrive on the scene to find Suzuki badly damaged. He lets Joseph handcuff him with little resistance. When Sho asks what will happen to him, Joseph says that instead of killing Toichiro, his superiors will likely use him as a research subject. He then admits to Serizawa he never saw him as his equal, apologizes to Sho for his arrogance, and states that he plans to apologize to his mother someday. While being taken away, he remembers Mob's words about people needing other people and the hand he gave to Toichiro. He reaches his hand out in an attempt to reconcile and accept Shigeo's friendship, demonstrating that he has seen the error of his ways. He is then taken into custody.
???% Arc
When Mob's ???% side begins its rampage, Suzuki and several other esper criminals are released by the government to attempt to fight it. He states that he will go alone and leaps from the aircraft without a parachute. When he arrives, he encounters Koyama and Sakurai, complimenting them that they've been doing fine work and that he'll take it from here. Suzuki rushes Shigeo and throws a series of punches, but the teenage esper effortlessly defends himself and gives Suzuki bloody fingers. Mob unleashes another strong blast of energy, knocking out Koyama and Sakurai while sending Suzuki flying back. The adult esper realizes that Shigeo has stopped holding back and liberated himself, adding that he personally doesn't view it as a bad thing, but that Mob isn't the same person. Mob pushes Toichiro back with a telekinetic push, and pins him to the ground. Suzuki is baffled by how big the gap between them is, but before Suzuki can be dealt any more damage, he is rescued by Sho.
Mob attacks Toichiro again, and Sho wonders if he'll have to fight the teenage esper alone. Shigeo attacks Suzuki again, but this time, the adult esper absorbs the energy, revealing to his son that he intentionally took the brunt of the blows to recover a considerable amount of energy. Toichiro explains his plan to push Shigeo back and wait until he runs out of energy, and Show follows his plan. The two attack together, firing a unified Charge Bomb, although Mob can fully absorb the energy. Mob attacks Show, although his father shields the teenage esper. Seeing how outmatched they are, Sho, tells his father they should run away, but Toichiro says he is too weak to run, explaining that he will absorb Mob's energy to stop him just as Mob absorbed Toichiro's energy in their fight before. The father and son notice that Mob is struggling to control his own rampaging power, and when Toichiro prepares to absorb the energy, Show calls out his father's name. Toichiro sees the look of concern on his son's face, and with the unbelievable power, Shigeo possesses, realizes that he has yet to reach that level of power. Toichiro asks his son to take his shoulder and help him escape. As they're escaping, Toichiro remarks how psychic power is a fearsome thing and a taboo, something that Shigeo must have realized, to which Sho agrees, remarking that he won't use his powers anymore. Furthermore, Toichiro says the most important part is to live a normal life, no matter how challenging it may be for him. Show asks his father what'll happen to Shigeo, and Toichiro replies that no one can stop him. Whether Toichiro was recaptured or he managed to live a normal life remains unclear.
Powers & Abilities
Suzuki possesses immense psychic powers and can easily perform a wide range of psychokinetic abilities. Because of this, he is one of the most powerful espers in the series, rivaled only by Mob and Kenji. Having traveled the world, before Mob, he had not encountered an esper as powerful as himself.[9][10] Even Mob at 100% admitted that he couldn't beat him in a one-on-one fight, and it was his own power overload that was his downfall in the end. His psychic aura takes on a red color with a pattern similar to a circuit board within.
Suzuki's Abilities | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Suzuki possesses the ability to accumulate tremendous amounts of psychic energy in his body, and had been continuously doing so for 20 years before executing his plan of world domination.[6] Most of this energy was expended in the explosion that gave birth to the Divine Tree.[11] | ||||||
Suzuki can precisely control the amount of power he uses. Due to the absurd amount of energy he had accumulated, higher power outputs resulted in negative side effects: at 40% power output, he started suffering from dizziness and headaches.[12] At 55% power output, the strain became noticeable, with his blood vessels becoming visible on his face.[13] At 80% power output, Suzuki's power "changed" with the blood vessels on his face and neck becoming more pronounced, his pupils turning reptilian and he even briefly started bleeding from one eye.[14][15] At 100% power output, his body underwent a drastic change with it radiating raw psychic energy. In this state, Suzuki was capable of overwhelming Mob to the point that Mob feared for his life;[16] however, Suzuki was soon overwhelmed by his energy and began to self-destruct.[17] Before his battle with Mob, Suzuki's power output never reached 40%.[18] | ||||||
Suzuki can give his energy to others, even non-espers.[19][20] This allowed the 600 artificial espers of the Claw HQ to achieve fearsome feats such as toppling buildings.[19] Unlike Mob's energy transfer, the energy given to non-espers by Suzuki does not seem to run out over time. He can also recall the energy he lent to others, even from a distance.[21] | ||||||
Suzuki is able to drain psychic energy from other espers and make it his own;[19] he kept the Ultimate 5 close to him as spare batteries in times of emergency.[22] Suzuki can also absorb energy from energy attacks aimed at him, which Suzuki used against ???% to regain some of his former strength.[23] Similar to Mob, energy that originated from other espers can influence Suzuki's emotions and personality.[24] | ||||||
Suzuki could manifest his psychic energy into concentrated blasts of energy, similar to Super Qigong, which could be projected as powerful lasers, whip-like beams, or large spheres of explosive energy. | ||||||
Using telekinesis, Suzuki can levitate, throw buildings, and enhance his physical attacks and moves to the point where they can shatter Mob's psychic barrier.[25] He can also shape his energy into weapons.[26] | ||||||
Suzuki can generate powerful explosions of telekinetic energy at will, having used the power to attack with and attempt to eliminate others. While at an 80% power output, he was able to generate a continuous barrage of immense explosions that completely enveloped the area he and Mob were fighting in.[27] | ||||||
Suzuki can knock people unconscious by grabbing them and sending a psychic shockwave to their head. He used it in an attempt to finish off Mob, but Dimple came to Mob's rescue by possessing his unconscious body. In the anime, this attack only knocked Mob down. | ||||||
Like Ishiguro, Suzuki can exert power over gravity. With this power, he could increase the weight behind his strikes and press Dimple-possessed Mob toward the ground.[28] | ||||||
Suzuki has shown the ability to effortlessly perform aerokinesis, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, and electrokinesis, calling the abilities child's play.[29] At 40% power output, he could generate lightning storms that he could control using nearby clouds.[30] | ||||||
Suzuki can create ethereal clones of himself. This ability was utilized when Reigen attempted to catch him off guard by punching him square in the face.[31] Thanks to this power, Reigen's punch failed to land. | ||||||
Suzuki utilizes a barrier that activates automatically.[32] | ||||||
Suzuki combines his energy with his son in order to create a powerful blast of energy.[33] However, ???% was still able to fully absorb it.[34] |
Quotes
- "He who can live his life the way he wants is a strong person."[8]
- "I don't feel bad about it one bit. We've taken the homes of countless people. Who knows how many have died."[2]
- "There is no esper in this world that is stronger than me. I possess the greatest power of them all."[35]
Etymology
- The name Toichiro means "united" (統) (to), "one" (一) (ichi) and "son" (郎) (ro).
- Toichiro's surname Suzuki means "bell" (鈴) (suzu) and "tree, wood" (木) (ki).
Notes & Trivia
- Suzuki is one of the only two espers who has shown the ability to absorb and transfer psychic energy, the other being Mob. Because of this, Suzuki viewed Mob as his greatest enemy.[36]
- Suzuki is the only singular opponent that managed to overpower Mob at 100% and was only prevented from finishing him due to the excessive psychic energy released at once, causing his body to self-destruct. The other time Mob was overwhelmed at 100% was against the outrageous amounts of evil spirits that appeared after Mob defeated Keiji Mogami.
- In an omake, Suzuki halted his world domination plan after hearing the anime adaptation of ONE's other work, One-Punch-Man, started airing.
- Toichiro Suzuki's name may be based on Ichiro Suzuki, a real-life Japanese baseball star who broke records in both the NPB and MLB. Their names are spelled with the same characters.
References
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 10 Chapter 79 (page 6).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol.
11 Chapter 84 (page 2).
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Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol.
11 Chapter 84 (page 3).
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tag; name "Ch84p3" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 10 Chapter 82 (page 7).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 10 Chapter 82 (page 10).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1
Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol.
11 Chapter 88 (page 16).
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tag; name "20yrs" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 6 Chapter 49 (page 18-19).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1
Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol.
10 Chapter 79 (page 6).
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tag; name "Ch79" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 11 Chapter 88 (page 14).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 26).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 13 Chapter 91.
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 30). Chapter 90.07
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 33). Chapter 90.07
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 45). Chapter 90.08
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 51). Chapter 90.09
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 66-67). Chapter 90.11
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 71). Chapter 90.11
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 29). Chapter 90.07
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2
Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol.
12 Chapter 89 (page 42).
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tag; name "Energy Sharing" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 2).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 89 (page 43).
- ↑
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 16 Chapter 100 (page 95 - 96).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 60). Chapter 90.10
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 123).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 55). Chapter 90.09
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 52-54). Chapter 90.09
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 10).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 11 Chapter 88 (page 6-7).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 28). Chapter 90.07
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 34-35).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Anime — Episode 23.
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 16 Chapter 100 (page 104).
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 16 Chapter 100 (page 105).
- ↑
- ↑ Mob Psycho 100 Manga — Vol. 12 Chapter 90 (page 7).