| カーマイン Carmine | |
|---|---|
| Profile | |
| Name | Carmine カーマイン |
| Gender | Male |
| Birthday | May 8th |
| Height | 175 cm (5'9") |
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lbs) |
| Blood Type | B |
| Affiliations | |
| Alias | The Crimson Origins, "Carmine-Prime" Crayfish (By Hyde and later Seth) Red Person (By Azel) 赤の人 |
| Fighting Style | |
| Ability | The EXS of Lifeblood: Blood Spike |
| Weapon | Rein Blood |
| Character Voice | |
| Japanese | Takashi Kondō |
| English | Greg Chun[1][2] |
| Appearances | |
| Games | UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH (Playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late (Playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Latest (Playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late cl-r (Playable) UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes (Playable) |
| Other Appearances | BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Playable) |
"Heh heh heh... Yeah, I love that look.
It's beautiful, how it gets all twisted!"
Carmine (カーマイン) is an unallied In-Birth who sees himself as the "trash of society" and only fights for the sake of personal satisfaction. In the Hollow Night, his ability to manipulate blood as well as his violent tendencies, quickly earned him a reputation under the alias of the Crimson Origins (
He is one of the twelve characters introduced in the original version of UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH.
Background[]
On the border of madness and pleasure, "Crimson Origins"
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH
In exchange for his own life force, this warrior has mastered a forbidden and dangerous technique. Making a show of his power, his only objective is to seek fights. He attacks other In-Births because they rub him the wrong way. Another Night... But tonight, the man he defeated belonged to Amnesia. With his final breath, he utters the name, Hilda -- the strongest In-Birth of them all. Carmine is ecstatic with the news, and makes his way to where she is.[3]
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II [Sys:Celes]
Carmine is a brash young man who uses his EXS for his own amusement.
Thus far, no one has been able to defeat him; in Carmine's eyes, they're all hideous failures--including the so-called strongest In-Birth of all. That changed one Night, however, when Carmine was utterly defeated by a Re-Birth who suddenly appeared before him. For the first time ever, Carmine experienced fear... but it didn't last for long. "Someone out there's pissin' me off... I'll feel better once I crush 'im. That's for sure."
Carmine heads out into the final Night with nothing on his mind but the person he hates most.
Appearance[]
Carmine is a lean young man with long white hair and black eyes. His most recognizable attire consists of a black, sleeveless jacket that goes down to just above his waist, giving him somewhat of a midriff. The jacket is zipped up halfway, revealing some of his chest. Carmine's legwear consists of a pair of baggy, blood red pants, which are held up by a black and silver belt. Carmine also wears some similarly colored shoes.
Carmine also likes to turn the skin of his arms, his hair and the whites of his eyes red with his own blood before a battle, a fear tactic used to intimidate his enemies.
Carmine's school uniform is the same as Hyde's but worn arguably even more loosely. Underneath the uniform, Carmine wears a grey shirt and two necklaces featuring a dog tag and a crucifix.
As a Re-Birth, Carmine retains his usual slim physique, but instead develops several unique changes to his body. His hair becomes even longer and more wild and unkempt, while the right half of his body changes dramatically. Instead of the usual Curse Commandments that are often seen on Re-Births and Voids, Carmine's right arm is turned completely black and becomes enveloped in red crystals, possibly as a sign of him mastering his control over Blood Spike, and the right side of his face undergoes a similar coloration. In addition, the right side of his face gains several spider-esque eyes, and his right ear becomes elongated and elflike.
Personality[]
Carmine's most prominent trait is his thirst for violence. Cruel, sadistic, foul-mouthed, short-tempered, and prone to maniacal laughter, Carmine is very proud of his ability and doesn't hesitate to use it to inflict as much pain as possible to anyone who "pisses [him] off". He will, however, not administer the killing blow if his anger is sated shown with both Hyde and Hilda in his Arcade Story, showing that Carmine tends to be quite moody at times.
He is aware of the presence and activities of Licht Kreis and Amnesia, possibly showing some hidden insight; yet doesn't care for either of them due to his seething hatred of people who group together, seeing it as a sign of weakness and actively goes out of his way to hunt down small gangs while maintaining a loner's disposition. To Carmine, all he seeks is defeating those that irritate him; survival of the fittest is all that matters even though he has never bothered to develop his social standing with any effort.
Even though Carmine has gained a nickname thanks to his unique ability, he himself doesn't see any meaning in that name. It is just something others use to refer him. Carmine doesn't use the alias to introduce himself in a similar fashion like other In-Births such as Chaos do.
Carmine is also very prone to getting bored and can easily lose interest in whatever it is he's doing. He also has a very low opinion of himself despite his Japanese pronoun usage ("ore"), referring to himself as trash and states that he wouldn't care if he died on top of a pile of garbage, nor does he care about being referred to as "a mere animal" showing how he's self-aware he is of being only interested in battle. Given certain implications, he also lives by himself and overall has a lonely existence in general. As a result via his pride for battle, mocking his EXS is one of the few ways to get him legitimately angry.
Despite his sour personality and easy penchant for getting bored, Carmine is able to hold a somewhat civil conversation with certain people, as seen with Roger and Azel. Carmine also refuses to harm Azel at first due to him being a child, but he isn't afraid to threaten him should he annoy him. Likewise, he also tends to use video game terminology to refer to how his life works.
Story[]
Carmine's past is widely unknown. It is unknown as to whether a certain trigger has made him such a violent person or he has simply been like it throughout his whole life. Carmine himself doesn't see any particular meaning in his past.
Before the main story, Carmine had a habit of going around at night and getting into fights with random gangs. One day, he came across a member of a gang who had the strange ability to fire blasts of energy from his hands, however, his lack of skill with this power quickly got him defeated. Intrigued by this power, Carmine interrogated the man, who told him about the Voids and the Hollow Night. After this, Carmine sought out a Void in order to gain powers for himself, and soon got his wish.
Episode: The Sage Cometh In The Night (賢者は深き夜に)[]
While Carmine isn't explicitly mentioned, Chaos does think back to one of the Night's he has visited and recalls a memory of having to run away from a particularly violent In-Birth, which is most likely referring to him.
Episode: "You're really pissing me off!" (血が騒ぎやがるんだよ！)[]
Late winter, about eight months before the start of Hyde's story, Carmine decides to seek out and fight fellow amateur In-Births in the city out of boredom. After dispatching of one of the last few left in the area, Carmine decides to seek out more opponents to fight in another area. At a riverside overlook, Carmine reflects on how he's lost track of how long it's been since he first discovered his EXS powers and once again gets into a fight with another In-Birth, threatening him that he'll be back soon.
On the walk back, Carmine complains about the same daily activities he goes through in his school life and how he much rather enjoys violent back alley fights, and once again tries and fails to reflect on his violent past, only remembering how he discovered EXS.
Even after getting bitten by a Void, Carmine believes that he hasn't gained any powers aside from being able to dye his eyes, hair, and arms red and expresses his frustration on the fact and how he may potentially need to train in order to get anything worthwhile. However, he notes that he can feel some sort of strength gathering within him if he concentrates enough. He ends up spotting a lone person heading in his direction and goes to confront him. The stranger is intimidated by Carmine's appearance, which annoys him, believing the stranger to be weak. Carmine threatens the stranger and decides not to attack him after his startled reaction. After a few more back-and-forth remarks, the man introduces himself as Roger, who starts referring to Carmine as the "red one" after he refuses to give out his name. Roger asks if Carmine could tell him a bit more about the Night and the rules behind it, to which Carmine tells him that it's mostly about survival of the fittest.
A few minutes pass of Carmine and Roger conversing about random topics, much to the annoyance of the former. Carmine tries to leave but is brought back. Roger talks about wanting to seek out the Abyss, the center of the Night and asks Carmine about his goal in the Night, to which he has trouble explaining. After talking about it for a bit longer, Roger heads off, wishing Carmine the best of luck. Carmine does the same, despite finding him annoying.
Moments later, a small child comes into view and expresses his worry for Roger. Carmine considers attacking the child, but decides against it because due to him being young. The child asks if Carmine is going to help him, but before he can give a full answer, the child disappears, saying that he will go and ask someone else. Surprised by this, Carmine goes to look for him tomorrow but states that he may just forget all about it.
The next day, Carmine goes through a few small Nights and getting into fights with more people, one of which was a lower ranking member of Amnesia, which has been slowly growing in notoriety. Once again feeling bored, Carmine decides to head home but is put off focus by some strange humming. Realizing that it's the child from yesterday, Carmine thinks about ignoring him and heading off, but his curiosity involving his strange vanishing gets the better of him. Carmine goes over to greet the child, only for child to ask who he is. Confused by this, Carmine berates him and accuses him that he believes that he isn't "worth remembering". The child explains that he loses certain memories whenever he falls asleep. The child soon ends up remembering Carmine, calling him by the nickname given to him by Roger. This angers Carmine enough to briefly lash out at the child. He manages to calm down enough to ask for the child's history, but when the child gets confused, Carmine threatens him. After laughing his threat off, the child introduces himself as Azel. Carmine then goes on to ask him about how he vanished yesterday, to which Azel says that he cannot give out any details. Carmine goes to brush off Azel, who wishes to continue their conversation, much to his chagrin.
Azel proceeds to ask Carmine about a jewel known as Void Red and if he has seen it, he explains that a friend of his is looking for this jewel, which is said to be hidden in the depths of the Abyss. During their conversation about this jewel, Carmine is cut off by a strange presence. When he tries to leave, Azel tries to forcibly keep Carmine with him, their scuffle attracts the attention of Gordeau, who is curious about a supposed aura in the area. After pushing Azel out of the way, Carmine prepares for a fight, but doubts himself on whether he can actually take down someone like Gordeau, however, his opponent stands down. Gordeau asks if Carmine would care to join Amnesia, to which he swiftly refuses due to his hatred of working in a group. When Gordeau goes to make his leave, Carmine asks him to tell his boss that he will not hesitate to take down her and the organization she leads and also questions Gordeau on why he obeys his boss' orders, despite her lack of intelligence. Carmine makes his leave, with Azel staying behind to talk to Gordeau for a moment.
Azel quickly rejoins Carmine, much to his already increasing frustration. Azel asks if he thought of fighting Gordeau, but Carmine says that he'll simply be annoyed fighting him. The two walk through the city, with Carmine hoping to further distance himself from Gordeau. Carmine reflects on his encounter with him and begrudgingly admits in his head that he would most likely have no chance against him in a fight. When he goes to say goodbye to Azel, he finds out that he's already gone.
Finally alone, Carmine decides to head home and thinks about Amnesia. He promises that he will take all of them down in the next Night, starting with Paradox.
Arcade Story (アーケードモード)[]
Carmine senses several In-Births gathering in the Hollow Night. He explains that he is after the leader of Amnesia, Hilda, on this night and views her as an annoyance. On his way to the Altar of Light And Darkness, he encounters Hyde and mockingly refers to him as a clownfish, however, the insult is thrown back at him when Hyde calls him a crayfish and insults his EXS powers, angering him. Hyde notes that Carmine doesn't seem to be affiliated with any faction within the Night, to which Carmine brushes off the factions and the two find some mutual ground on his basic motives. The two fight and Carmine is victorious, beating Hyde within an inch of his life.
Next, he runs into Seth and immediately starts teasing him, referring to him as a catfish. Once again, the insult is thrown back in his face and Seth coincidentally compares him to a crayfish. Angered by his remark and confused as to if the crayfish comparisons are some sort of trend, Carmine and Seth begin their fight.
The final opponent standing between Carmine and Hilda is Gordeau, who engages conversation with Carmine. Carmine at first has some issues as to remembering exactly who Gordeau is but soon comes around.
Arriving at the Altar, Carmine encounters Hilda and the two exchange insults before fighting, with Carmine winning the fight. After she is defeated, Hilda swears revenge on Carmine who casually brushes off her threats. He then feels that there is someone much stronger than Hilda behind the Altar's gate and opens it despite her pleas not to.
Upon opening the doors, he sees that there is no one inside and that the equipment Hilda possessed behind them has vanished. Carmine then leaves, telling Hilda to give the person who ran away a message: that he would be after him next.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II: Sys:Celes
Abilities[]
Carmine possesses a rare and powerful ability known as the EXS of Lifeblood: Blood Spike (命血のEXS 「ブラッドスパイク」), which makes it possible for him to manipulate a strange, blood-like liquid[4] that manifests from his very body.
Blood Spike is an incredibly powerful ability, the EXS gained from it being similar in nature to that of a Void, hence its red coloration. It is, however, too powerful of an ability for Carmine to wield properly; his arms, eyes and hair turning red from over-excitement or anger is, in actuality, a sign of him partially losing control of his power[4].
Carmine himself doesn't know the exact details of his power, believing that the strange liquid he forms is in fact his own blood[4]. This ends up forming a sort of Placebo Effect; Carmine knows that losing too much blood can be fatal, and since he believes he's genuinely using up his own blood, he's bringing himself closer to fatigue the more he uses up.
He can use this liquid in many different forms. Carmine can control the movements of the liquid and use it as a remote-controlled weapon, or he can solidify the liquid to use as sharp tools. His weapon is, of course, his own "blood", but the actual weaponized form of it is referred to as Rein Blood (レインブラッド).
Outside of his EXS abilities, Carmine has shown himself to be incredibly athletic and strong in close quarters, fighting via agility and powerful kicks and is even able to take down an In-Birth in combat without his powers. Despite this, much of his overall fighting style relies on brute strength needed to stamp out his foes into submission in order to display his own power above them, yet he is aware of his own limitations in power and when faced with a possibility that he will lose (such as his first meeting with Gordeau), he knows when to fold and come back stronger with less risk involved given his penchant for constant physical conflict.
Musical Theme[]
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Bad Surface | Carmine's theme (UNI1) |
| Bad Surface [UNI2 Mix] | Carmine's theme (UNI2) |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| On the Surface | Carmine's theme |
Composer Commentary[]
Bad Surface
Carmine who uses his own blood as a weapon. He doesn't seem to care about rushing to his own death. Instead, he even finds pleasure in it. I expressed this madness of his with the guitar focus. This is kind of a rare song for me since it doesn't use the tension chord, but instead the power chord riffs keep the song going. [5]
Bad Surface
血を代償に戦うカーマイン。
死に急ぐことを厭わない、むしろそれを快楽とさえ思う狂気をギター中心に表現しました。
Introduction Text[]
He hungers. His body drenched in blood thirsts for more, but nothing can satiate his desire
for violence. He must show that none are more powerful than he. His fangs and claws
pierce his enemies in their entirety. Still, he cannot let his blood go
dry and he hunts for more prey to satisfy his lust.
He hungers. His body, drenched in blood thirsts for more, but nothing can satisfy his desire
for violence. He must show that none are more powerful that he. The fangs and claws that
flow through his veins pierces his enemies in their entirety. Still, he cannot let his blood go
dry, and he hunts for more prey to satisfy his lust.
He is hungry. The body which dyes red craves for blood continuously.
There is no pleasure which excel violence. Display of the power of its reason.
The fang and nail which live in the body. An enemy is pierced into by the all.
Dryness of the blood which is not stopped. The partner who fills it is looked for tonight.
He craves. His crimson body is endlessly bloodthirsty.
No pleasure overcomes violence. So he shows off.
The fangs and claws reside in his body. Penetrates his enemies with everything he has.
Unstoppable thirst for the blood. Tonight, he seeks a sacrifice.
Something by which his ability shows his own wandering and distraction.
Something to use the life and blood and attack an enemy.
The blood by which the character does and a warped movement of piercing
a partner cruelly.
Gallery[]
| Official Art | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Character Select
Victory Portrait
Character Select (UNI2)
SD Character
Character Select (Cross Tag Battle)
Arcade Mode Ending (UNI)
Arcade Mode Ending (UNI2)
Normal (通常)
Happy (喜)
Angry (怒)
Sad (哀)
Comfort (楽)
|
| Official Illustrations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Happy Birthday by Seiichi Yoshihara (2012)
Happy Birthday by Seiichi Yoshihara (2013)
Uniform Design by Seiichi Yoshihara (2013)
Happy Birthday by Takehiko Wagatsuma (2014)
Happy Birthday by 6sec (2015)
Happy Birthday by Yuusuke Nakahara (2016)
Happy Birthday by Shiratori (2017)
Happy Birthday by Makoto Satou (2018)
Happy Birthday by Seiichi Yoshihara (2019)
Happy Birthday by Seiichi Yoshihara (2020)
Happy Birthday by Seiichi Yoshihara (2021)
Happy White Day by Seiichi Yoshihara (2022)
Happy White Day by Seiichi Yoshihara (2022, Carmine only)
Happy Birthday by Seiichi Yoshihara (2022) |
| Guest Illustrations | ||
|---|---|---|
By Suzunashi (UNIclr)
|
| Concept Art |
|---|
| Store Icons | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Additional colors (Playstation Store)
Additional colors 2 (Playstation Store)
System Voice (Playstation Store)
|
| Videos |
|---|
Creation & Development[]
Carmine is one of the four character that Yoshihara had created during his school days for a "Fighter Maker" project[6]. Visually he is the very definition of a juvenile delinquent. Yoshihara was worried that the design could be found offensive for being a bit too stereotypical. Carmine's personality was originally a bit more narcissistic, but eventually settled to his current self.
His ability to wield blood was decided from the start, but French-Bread tell they struggled a lot to make it visually acceptable. There were several debates whether the blood was too disgusting, but eventually the graphic team landed on the current "blood-like liquid" design[6].
Trivia[]
- Carmine's abilities are strongly reminiscent of a hemomancer; a sorcerer who utilizes blood for various purposes.
- While rarely touched upon and confirmed outside of Q&A's, Carmine often lives off of reheat-able convenience store food given his lonely existence.
- Carmine's shoes are normally colored black, but are incorrectly colored white in his official artwork in Sys:Celes.
References[]
- ↑ (@greg_chun) I’m happy to announce I am the English voice for Carmine.
- ↑ (@greg_chun) Psyched to reprise my role as blood-boy Carmine in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle 2.0
- ↑ Introduction on the official site
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Details about his ability were confirmed during French-Bread Information Station on May 10th 2019
- ↑ Raito's Youtube Channel
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dengeki interview
[]
| Playable Characters | Hyde · Linne · Waldstein · Carmine · Orie · Gordeau · Merkava · Vatista · Seth · Yuzuriha · Hilda · Chaos · Nanase · Byakuya · Phonon · Mika · Wagner · Enkidu · Londrekia · Tsurugi · Kaguya · Kuon · Uzuki · Ogre · Izumi |
|---|---|
| Guest Characters | Eltnum · Akatsuki |
| Non-Playable Characters | Adelheid · Azel · Azhi Dahaka · Chiharu · Chitose · Elefee · Higan · Hiroha · Hollow God · J.J. · Joker · Komatsu · Kuu · Lex Bartholomeus · Muniel · Murayama · Radiata · Reflecta · Roger · Sakaki · Sakurai · Silvaria · Strix · Tempest · Tomomi · Tsukuyomi · Zohar |