Reito Kanzaki

Reito Kanzaki (神崎黎人) is a character in the anime and manga series My-HiME. In the alternate universe My-Otome, he has become a cyborg called Rad (ラド Rado). He is voiced by veteran seiyū Toshihiko Seki in Japanese and Ethan Cole in English.

My-HiME anime
Reito Kanzaki is the Vice President of Fuuka Academy's Student Council alongside President Shizuru Fujino. A calm person, he is popular with the female students of the school, but shows romantic interest in Mai Tokiha. Reito's calm and reserved personality often clashes with that of Executive Committee head Haruka Suzushiro, whose annoyance with him is made evident several times. Reito shows kindness by taking Mai's brother Takumi and his roommate Akira with him on official business to a fancy restaurant free of charge.

He witnesses Mai use her powers against an Orphan, and forms something of an alliance with her as the events of the HiME festival progress.

The first sign that he is more than he seems appears when he somehow saves Mikoto Minagi from a pile of debris despite having been nowhere in the vicinity mere seconds ago. Another is that he has a pendant suspiciously similar to the one Mikoto wears, but denies being her brother and initially claims not to have a sister despite his extreme resemblance to the boy in Mikoto's memory.

After Mai goes through a period of extreme psychological stress, in which she sees her brother vanish because of Mikoto's attack and then seemingly the death of Mikoto herself, Reito finds her wandering the streets aimlessly and brings her to his home to give her shelter.

It is eventually revealed that he is the host of the Obsidian Lord, the main villain of the series. Nagi also divulges that he is actually Reito Minagi, the missing elder brother of Mikoto. Using this fact as leverage, the Obsidian Lord controls Reito into making Mikoto fight the other HiMEs, but he is eventually defeated and Reito is freed of the possession.

In the Mai-HiME short which is set after the end of the series, "Black Dance/The Last Supper", Reito is shown to hold more malevolent tendencies than would have been previously noted, though he keeps them hidden from others. He is also much less reserved when provoked, becoming angered when Mai tricks him into coming to the beach so the cast can force him to consume spicy foods, which like Mikoto, he seems to hold a vulnerability and distaste for.

It is completely possible that his actions beforehand weren't entirely at the hands of the Obsidian Lord, or that his actions afterwards might be due to the long-term influence being the Obsidian Lord's host had.

My-HiME manga
Reito does not appear in the original My-HiME manga. Instead, the Obsidan Lord possesses Takumi Tokiha.

He appears in the My-HiME EXA manga due to the similarities between it and the anime. It is unknown at this time if he still plays host to the Obsidian Lord.

My-Otome anime
Reito actually appears in My-Otome as a cyborg named Rad. Rad is a cyborg and member of the Aswad. While originally human, the mysterious disease that plagues the Aswad progressed to a point where he had to have his nervous system and brain implanted in a metal body to continue living. 14 years prior to the main events of My-Otome, he was one of the attackers on the Windbloom Kingdom, coming into conflict with the former Otome Lena Sayers and killing her. He can summon a dog-like slave similar to a Cerebrus and fights with a double-bladed spear. His body is now expiring, as all cyborgs in the Aswad eventually do, which will result in his eventual death.

In one episode, Yohko Helene looks at a photograph of herself and Midori that was taken when they were younger. Reito can be seen in it. She proceeds to call Rad Reito when they meet, confirming that Rad is indeed Reito, although the cyborg disowns his past identity.

The second episode of My-Otome 0~S.ifr~ Reito is shown as a young boy and the brother of Shiro, a biologist working in the desert. After Lena punches Shiro away for seeing her naked Reito chastises her, but he is distracted by the arrival of Miyu. Shiro later tells Reito to go back to the village, and that he will look to find a cure for their people on his own. If, as it is implied, Shiro is Lena's future husband and Arika's father, then Reito/Rad is Arika Yumemiya's future uncle.

My-Otome manga
Rad in the My-Otome manga is a "Perfect Cyborg", one of the products of Schwarz's forbidden "Black Science", who retains only the nervous system and some internal organs after cybernetic enhancement. The manga does not explain why he underwent the conversion, as the Black Valley plague found in the anime does not exist in the manga. He does not know Yohko and in fact has absolutely no contact with her.

He first appears before the attack on the Artai embassy in Windbloom and is one of the attackers. A formidable warrior with his staff, he manages to cut an artillery piece in half with one strike and draw in battle against Shizuru even with the latter using her Robe.

Interrupting a battle between Miyu and the Otome in an attempt to assassinate Mashiro, Rad springs the Star Wars-esque revelation that he was Arika Yumemiya's father.

When Mashiro and entourage arrive at the Black Valley, Rad is shown to be well-loved by its inhabitants and a role model of sorts that the children desire to emulate when they reach maturity.

Despite his earlier attempts on Mashiro's life, Rad eventually has a change of heart and protects the boy from the attacks of Akira while the boy is formally making his contract with Arika.

Rena identifies him as truly being Reito after reminiscing about his old persona and flashback panels are shown depicting Rena and Reito in earlier times, before she became an Otome and he a cyborg. Given that Rena should be over 40 years old by now, this Reito is the oldest of all the incarnations of him.

Reito does not survive to the end of the manga. In order to protect Mashiro from the attack of Cardair's Scale Sisters Otome trio, he lets himself get stabbed by them and self-destructs, presumably killing them at the same time. Before he dies, he beseeches Mashiro to be a good monarch and calls on Arika to be a star of hope. It is here that Arika gives in and finally acknowledges him to be her father.

Name Origins

 * The kanji of Reito's given name literally are read as "black" and "person". Likewise, Kanzaki can be broken down into "God or Deity" (Kami) and "rough or jagged" (zaki).