Shirou Ogami

Shirou Ogami (大神 士郎) is a main character in the BNA: Brand New Animal series by Studio Trigger. He is a Wolf Beastman and works as a social worker. He despises humans and fights for the rights of Beastmen. During the course of the series, he acts as the primary caretaker for Michiru Kagemori.

Appearance
In his human form, he has pale skin and white hair that is slightly disheveled with bangs covering parts of his forehead. He has ice blue eyes that are droopy and stern. He wears a light tan trench coat with the collar up, a black sweater, dark gray gloves, a pair of slim dark gray chinos, and dark brown shoes. Shirou wears a dark brown dog collar with a silver buckle around his neck and a matching belt around his waist. In "Anima City" he no longer wears his collar, showing the scar on his neck.

In his wolf form, he has white fur accented by teal fur covering his back and the top of his head. He has gray fur on the bridge of his black nose, and a white diamond-shaped pattern on his forehead. He has a small, disheveled mane of fur around his neck that spills out all over. His eyes are still ice blue, and he still wears the same clothes.

Personality
Shirou is very proud of being born as a beastman and passionate towards his brethren, enjoying living alongside them and even moved by the sight of them celebrating 10-year anniversary of Anima City. Conversely, because of a tragedy that had befallen his home Nirvasyl where human armies slaughtered his loved ones along with everyone else in the city (little did he realized most of the city's inhabitants killed each other due to Nirvasyl Syndrome and that attacking humans resorted to violence in order to prevent them from causing more damage), he despises humans and will go out of his way to eliminate or disable any humans that disrupt Anima City's daily life. In addition, any beastman who he discovers to be collaborating with human associates to damage or impair Anima City society is viewed as equal to a human-beastman discriminate. Shirou's encounter with Michiru, a young girl who is abruptly turned into tanuki beastman, slowly alters his perspective of humanity, albeit from a mutual standpoint of an isolated incident in Michiru's case. Although he can be fierce and once killed his enemies with vengeance, he has since understood that vengeance only brings him emptiness and will show mercy, only killing when the situation becomes uncontrollable.

Background
Shirou is a wolf beastman of Eastern European descent from approximately a thousand years ago in a beastmen city called Nirvasyl. At one point, the humans attacked Nivasyl due to fears of the Nirvasyl Syndrome. After the complete slaughter of the citizens, the beastmens' bodies, including Shirou's, were thrown into a corpse pile. Sometime after the dead souls of Shirou's fallen brethren and blood merged with his, reviving him and transcended him into the first Ginrou.

After being resurrected, Shirou sought out a mission to eliminate the human general responsible for murdering him and his fellow beastmen, this led to his further resentment towards humans and resulted in countless human lives being taken by his hands. Despite this, his search was fruitless for many centuries.

During the final years of World War II, Shirou discovered a research facility that was performing experiments on captured beastmen, among these prisoners, was Barbara Rose, whom at the time was still at a young age, and Kuro. Witnessing the horrors and atrocities of the beastmen torture and experiments, Shirou decided to slaughter all the humans in the facility. It was at this point, that his mission for revenge dissolved and instead vowed to protect all beastmen from the discrimination and aggression from humankind, deciding to never again resort to using his God form.

In BNA - Zero: Beasts That Can't Become Even Better, prior to the establishment of Anima City, he and Barbara (Natalia) traveled around the world to aid other beastmen.

Shirou is now a social worker for Gem Horner and Melissa Horner of the Animal-human Consumer's Coop by profession. He occasionally works with the Anima City Police as a Special Advisor and as a Special Task Agent for Mayor Rose.

Episode 1/Runaway Raccoon
The festival is underway and Shirou cries tears of joy reflecting how he waited a long time for such a joyous celebration to occur for beastmen. Michiru bumps into him and looks with confusion. Before Michiru notices, he disappears into the crowd of the festival. Shirou appears once more to save Michiru and other civilians from the falling scaffolding.

Shirou accuses Michiru of knocking the scaffolding over, to which she denies and informs him that she witnessed a fox sneaking away earlier. He relaxes and smells the air, identifying the path of the fleeing culprit. He apologizes for the misunderstanding and follows the trail while Michiru continues to pursue the pickpocket. They are both interrupted by a large explosion in the city. Shirou arrives at the scene of the explosion and confronts the culprit. A lion and a buck beastman carrying guns suddenly explode out the back of a van, raining a sea of bullets on the wolf. The wolf narrowly escapes the enemy's fire and notes that the culprits are professionals. He smells the air once again and discovers the scent of humans on the culprits.

Shirou furiously exclaims that the terrorists were hired by humans and the terrorists' reply contract work is still contract work regardless of who hires them. Disgusted, he proceeds to criticize and overpower the terrorists. Backed into a corner, the terrorists use the last of their energy to grow massively in size and strength. Shirou is still able to subdue the two. Right when Michiru appears at the scene, the fox terrorist from earlier grabs hold of her as hostage. Unfazed, Shirou jumps behind the terrorist and repeatedly beats him down.

Michiru calls out to Shirou to stop as the threat is averted and further violence is not necessary. He refuses and says that the terrorists ruined the festival and were hired by humans. He kicks the terrorist once more, but Michiru cries out for him to stop and her tail begins to glow and expand. The tail knocks Shirou back. Although both are shocked, they begin to argue once more; this time Michiru defends the humans and exclaims that she is human too. Unconvinced, Shirou sarcastically remarks her beastman appearance.

Episode 2/Rabbit Town
Michiru insists that she's human but Shirou doesn't believe her, using her appearance as irrefutable evidence she's a tanuki. The cops arrive and find the three festival terrorists bound with a note. The police detective Yuji Tachiki sighs realizing Shirou arrived at the scene before them. Further away, Shirou transforms back into his human form. Michiru is shocked and flustered believing he would be a lot older. She tries but is still unable to transform back to a human again. The festival ends, and all the citizens turn back to their human form as well. Michiru is frustrated that she can't.

Shirou takes Michiru to Gem Horner's house. Gem uses a beastmen marker on Michiru to test if she is a beastman. The marker turns blue confirming that she in fact is. She's frustrated again and insists that she was a normal human a year ago. Michiru asks if there exists a disease that turns human into beastmen, but they both say it's improbable, to her disappointment.

As they settle in for the night, Kuro, Shirou's crow, swoops in through the door crack, collides then lands on an unsuspecting Michiru. Shirou quickly calls the crow back and flatly tells Michiru to sleep soon for an early schedule tomorrow. Melissa apologizes for Shirou's blunt behavior and introduces him to Michiru who's only just learned his name. Hearing his surname Ogami reminded her of the shiny wolf she saw earlier in the night.

Morning of the next day, Shirou and Michiru arrive in the city council where a long line has formed. Shirou announces that he will be leaving and was only informed to guide her to the location, not wait with her. A fight breaks out in the line to Michiru's surprise. Shirou unwavered, tells her that the strong win in the beastman society. The city isn't living up to Michiru's prior expectations. Shirou leaves and meets with Mayor Rose in her office to debrief on the terrorism incident yesterday. Both are disappointed beastmen would resort to such heinous acts for money. Rose ends the discussion by giving one last request to Shirou.

In Rabbit Town, Shirou is outside Gram Grandma's building and scoping the area, and notices a suspicious car pull up to the building. A young man in a blue suit steps out the car and comments that the place reeks of women. Kusakabe, the man in the blue suit, meets with the Grandma for business. In reality, he came to get money from Grandma. She tells him it's not ready yet to his dismay. Kusakabe begins insulting the women and nearly breaks into a brawl with Grandma's lackey before Giuliano Flip, the boss, steps in. Flip asks for the money and Grandma reiterates she doesn't have it. Flip brings up the fact that Grandma is in possession of new animals she can turn over for money. Such information had already become widespread and known even among mayors, to Grandma's shock and frustration. Shirou eavesdrops on the conversation outside the window and leaves.

Shirou tails the gang and Michiru to a shipping port, unable to make an apprehension due to insufficient evidence. Michiru ends up saving the children, but is stopped by one of Grandma's lackeys. The lackey chokes Michiru out, but just as she's about to pass out, Shirou jumps in to intervene. Right before she passes out, Michiru sees a silhouette of a wolf and suspects it's Ginrou. Shirou easily subdues the lackeys while Grandma nonchalantly surrenders. The police arrive a short while later and thank Shirou for intervening before it was too late. Shirou tells the officer it was a request from the Mayor herself.

Michiru confronts Shirou for not saving the children earlier in the day, and he replies he didn't have enough evidence to warrant an arrest. She refuses his answer and begins to cry, anguished at the possibility they would've been shipped away. Shirou reaffirms his promise to save all beastwomen and children. The episode ends with Michiru flashing her ID as proof of her humanity then denouncing beastmen and their culture, promising to find a cure and leave the city.

Episode 3/Rhino Melancholy
Next morning, Shirou sits at his study and smells Michiru's ID card. He observes flashbacks into her past, stretching all the way back to her accident and injury as well as a game winning shot during a basketball game. Shirou finds her outside and drags her back in the storage room and traps her in the room. He's finally accepted Michiru is a human. He doesn't want to start a panic if more people find out her true identity.

Suddenly, Mayor Rose steps foot into the residence and interrupts the two. The Mayor has come to deliver the news of a threat letter sent to Sylvasta. It is revealed that the vehicle explosion was a truck loaded with Sylvasta medicine. Michiru tries to eavesdrop the conversation when her ear elongates into a bunny ear. Apparently, the message in the letter argued that money spent building state-of-the-art Beastman medical facilities should go towards saving humans. The police couldn't find any trace of smell to identify the explosives, so Rose personally visited Shirou for his help. Shirou agrees to aid in the search for explosives. Michiru realizes that she won't be able to find the cure if the hospital is bombed, so she yells for help to the mayor to free her. Rose doesn't hear her, so Michiru transforms into a rooster and bellows for help. She is freed and accuses Shirou of holding her hostage.

Michiru pleads to Rose for permission to aid in the search effort and Rose allows her. The three promise to keep the secret of Michiru's origin in exchange that Michiru drop the hostage allegations. Michiru begrudgingly accepts the terms and is handed a smartphone while Shirou is handed the bomb fragments.

While gazing at the Silvasta building outside, Shirou begins to tell Michiru the background of the company. Shirou sniffs the bomb fragments and is able to locate all the bombs hidden in the buildings downtown. He notifies the bomb squad that there are 6 bombs and directs Michiru to head towards the medical facility. He reasons that the true target of the bombers is the Medical Center. The task force is underway. Kusakabe and his lackeys corner Michiru, but Shirou saves the day yet again. Kuro ended up notifying and briefing Shirou on the situation. Apparently the gang and medical staff were sneaking in supplies.

An explosion goes off in the Medical Center tower. Shirou forbids Michiru to head towards the tower. Feeling clever, Michiru claims that she's a beastman now, and Shirou is obligated to protect her since he vowed to protect all beastmen in the past. Shirou laughs and lets her tag along. They arrive at the explosion site and meet Mr. Yaba, the Medical Center Chief, and Yuji. Yaba allows them to investigate, but Shirou smells no traces of the explosive.

Shirou, Michiru, and Yuji reach the office of the chief. Shirou says the only way to remove all the scent of the explosive is to use a chemical to do so, likely produced at the medical facility. Michiru also points out that the gang was cooperating with medical staff earlier. Shirou concludes that the chief exploded the lab to destroy all evidence. Because all beastmen leave a residual scent and the chief has no scent coming from his hands, he is the prime suspect for the bombing. Yuji holds out a document stating Shirou's smelling skills are admissible evidence under the provisions of the Special Beastman Territory. They move in to arrest Yaba who transforms into a rhinoceros beastman to fight. Mimura, a chameleon beastman materializes behind Michiru and restrains her. Yaba and Mimura escape with Michiru a hostage. Shirou reaches Yaba and the two brawl. The altercation ends with Shirou crushing Yaba's horn.

Outside on the rooftop, there is a standstill between Mimura and the cops. Mimura is threatening to drop Michiru off the building if he doesn't receive the helicopter he requested. Kuro tries to intervene but fails. Michiru frees herself from the beastman but falls off the building in the process. Shirou jumps and catches Michiru, protecting her from the fall. Michiru thanks Shirou who responds he will protect all beastmen.

Later at the residence, Rose reveals that Yaba and Mimura confessed to blowing up the Medical Center's data system after finding out the higher-ups were aware of their embezzlement schemes. Shirou promises he won't lock Michiru up anymore and Rose stated she will search for a treatment for her. It is revealed that Rose has the first Ph.D. on researching beastmen genetics. Rose continues that while she's a politician, her partnership with Silvasta may help too. Shirou warns that Silvasta Pharm feels suspicious because his nose is telling him so.

Episode 4/Dolphin Daydream
Investigating further for the recent explosion incident on Medical Center, Shirou searches for Kusakabe. He goes to the docks and finds Kusakabe being punished by Flip and The Family. Shirou keeps his distance from the gang and warns Flip that he has a business with Kusakabe. However, Flip isn't fazed and as a part of the punishment for being spotted by Shirou during the Medical Center and Gram Granma affairs, Flip ultimately throws the rope which is connected with the tied-down Kusakabe toward a moving ship. Shirou, knowing Flip's intention, shouts to stop him but to no avail as Kusakabe is dragged toward the sea. Flip and The Family then leave the docks after their filthy business, with Flip remarking to Shirou that his business here is also over.

Later that day when Shirou is taking a short break on the couch, Melissa knocks on his door saying there's a call for him. Turns out it's Mayor Rose who asks him Michiru's whereabouts while also telling him that the said girl is hanging out with Flip's daughter, Nina, at the mainland. Both of them know that if The Family finds out it'll be a big problem, so Shirou assumes that he'll need to fetch both of them before anything happens which gets a "thank you" from the Mayor, much to his annoyance.

He waits at the wharf and intercepts The Family's convoy before they can travel to mainland. He demands to talk to Flip, but Flip dismisses him saying that he's busy. Shirou then offers to bring her daughter back for him, to which Flip responds with why will he do such a thing. Shirou only replies that Flip can make a choice between two; leaves her daughter to him or argue pointlessly there. With a grunt, Flip gives his consent, but he'll only wait until midnight, otherwise, Shirou will have to face the consequence.

During the time crossing the sea with Marie's ship, Shirou calls Michiru. He bluntly says that he doesn't care if Michiru leaves Animacity, but he'll need to bring Nina back while also mentioning Flip's plan to start a war with humans because of it. He tells her to figure her way out while he's on the way there and ends the call. Marie, who listens to their conversation, can't help but remark that it's once in a blue moon to see Shirou's entrusting his work to someone else as she quotes that "the sky might as well fall".

As they return to Animacity, Shirou watches Michiru looking at the city and questions her if she wants to return there. Michiru does say she wants to return, but she wants to know more about beastmen. While still on the topic, Shirou mentions her buying something on his tab and says that she'll have to work and pay it back. Michiru retorts while telling him that it's her birthday, and he should've made it a present but Shirou pays no heed as they start a little argument calling each other with petty insults.

Episode 5/Greedy Bears
Early in the morning, Michiru practices basketball with Shirou watching her. He reminds her that she's already able to change into human form, but Michiru answers that it's more comfortable in beastman form. Unable to understand Michiru's way of thinking, Shirou sighs and leaves the place. He heads to City Hall and meets Mayor Rose there. She asks him if he knows a thing or two about baseball and Shirou replies with a negative. However, once Mayor Rose mentions baseball gambling, Shirou is aware that the gamble is held by The Family, and they can't simply interfere with it. Mayor Rose points out that dodo beastmen have gone extinct because of baseball gambling. If the gambles keep going, who knows which species is going to extinct next. She asks Shirou to investigate about it.

As the night falls, Shirou scouts Pizzanimals and witnesses Dante being kicked out from the shop. He asks what he's doing there and Dante flatly responds that he's just eating pizza. Shirou then proceeds to tell him that he's looking for evidence of baseball gambling and asks if Dante can testify. However, Dante only answers that whoever defying The Family won't live, and he'll make his living out of baseball gamble even it means that he'll have to deal with The Family.

As the day passes, baseball games keep going. During one of The Bears match against The Tigers, Shirou takes his time to watch the game and spots Michiru using her power to change part of her body for her advantage in the game; not only partially change her body but even to the point where she extends her arm in public. After the game, Shirou calls her "gorilla tanuki" and reminds her that she has made a promise not to use her power in front of everyone else. He also reminds her that if beastmen find out the truth about her, Animacity will likely disappear before they can find her cure. Michiru chuckles and admits that she finds it fun to help The Bear even though they're mostly "dumb" and she's having fun while playing baseball, to the degree where she also mentions that she can momentarily forget about her beastmen disease.

Continuing his investigation, Shirou scouts Dante's place and finds his desk stuffed with a lot of baseball-related things. With his ability, Shirou tracks down the scent, and he sees Dante's past; being a beastman who loves baseball but teams up with humans ultimately causes him to be unable to withstand the endless insults and results in him throwing murderous violence. Finally understanding Dante's situation, Shirou intercepts him, who appears to have stolen the money from baseball gambling and hands him a radio where it live-broadcasts the commentator on The Bears final game against Killer Animal. This alone sparks the love of baseball back in Dante as he kneels down and realizes his mistake. Shirou proceeds to take the stolen money and return it to Saotome, the gang boss after easily knocking down his bodyguards. Saotomoe questions why he returns it to him and Shirou only says because he loves baseball, and he also gambles for it.

In the end, Shirou reports to Mayor Rose that he can't find the evidence of baseball gambling.

Michiru Kagemori
After taking Michiru in to aid with integrating into Anima City, Gem and his wife Melissa decide to allow her to sleep in the same housing as Shirou. Michiru also assists Shirou with his investigations, whether it is by his request or her own volition. After Shirou discovers that Michuru was originally a human, he barracades her within her living quarters out of distrust and fear of the uproar it would cause Anima City if her origins were exposed. Shirou initially berates and loathes Michiru because of her young age and seemingly immature behavior, but over time he begins to lower his sterness towards her and realizes that she only has good intentions towards beastmen. During the Nirvasyl Syndrome incident in Anima City, Shirou experiences a memory trigger after witnessing countless beastmen turn into large, mindless beasts and is reminded of the same atrocities he witnessed his fellow beastmen slaughtered in front of him centuries ago in Nirvasyl. This, in turn, causes Shirou to become an enraged feral beast himself, Michiru attempts to recover Shirou, however, out of sheer feral instinct, Shirou grabs her and proceeds to bite deep into her shoulder, seemingly inflicting fatal wounds. This causes him to awaken from his stupor and after realizing his actions, falls in distraught and howls in despair over the death of Michiru. He is interrupted by a chuckle, looking to see that Michiru is still alive and has been video recording his howl on her phone in jest.

Barbara Rose
Years before the establishment of Anima City, Shirou rescued Barbara from a research facility and for a period of time she was his student. He is on good terms with her, often doing many tasks she asks him to do.

Kuro
Kuro is his sidekick whom he rescued from the research facility.

Melissa Horner
N/A

Gem Horner
N/A

Nazuna Hiwatashi
Not favored by Shirou, and he is suspicious towards her. When his suspicions are confirmed to be right, he warns Michuru and is displeased about Michuru hanging out with Nazuna. But after Nazuna helps him and Michiru to save Anima City, Shirou begins to have some faith in her and wonders how she and Michiru can help humans and Beastmen for the better.

Alan Sylvasta
Shirou is quick enough to realize that Alan is suspicious and up to no good from the moment Alan meets him. He demonstrates strong hostility towards Alan, such as growling and refusing a handshake from Alan. They even face off each other after Alan reveals his true agenda, and Shirou is shocked to realize that Alan is also a wolf beastman. But even after triumphing in his battle with Alan, he decides to show mercy and not kill Alan.

Abilities
Transcended Beastman Physiology: Once an ordinary beastman, Shirou transcended into a god-like beastman referred as Ginrou, and thus endowed with immense powers beyond ordinary beastman.
 * Keen Smell: Shirou has a very keen sense of smell to the point that it outclasses the Anima City Police and thus, is brought in as an "Advisor" to provide better insight to tracking crime. However, he finds it difficult to track any smell from creatures that wander in the sky since their scents have dissipated by the time he tries to sense them.
 * Psychometry: At full strength, Shirou can obtain historical memories or sensations concerning beings and objects through their smell. It was through this ability he learned about Michiru's past.
 * Enhanced Resilience: Shirou's transcendence into Ginrou endowed him to survive situations that will kill ordinary beastman even in his basic wolf form such as falling several hundred feet from the top of the Sylvasta Medical Center and impacting twice on the way down, sustaining only minor injuries.
 * Enhanced Speed: In a head-on battle both as ordinary wolf beastman or as Ginrou, Shirou has proven to be able to dodge bullets and counteract physical blows from other beastmen. He is also able to run at tremendous speed to the point of being able to rescue Michiru from a falling electronic Billboard.
 * Enhanced Strength: In head-on battle, Shirou has shown to be able to fight on-par or better than other beastmen using his fists and martial-arts style fighting. He has demonstrated the ability to simply break a Rhino's horn and rip off a Deer's antlers with his bare hands. As Ginrou, his strength increased to greater levels.
 * Immortality: Following his transcendence into Ginrou, he gains immortality which allowed him to live for centuries while still looking like his age when the attack on Nirvasyl began.

Quotes

 * "Celebrate. It's the festival that beastmen have waited for for a thousand years."
 * (To the Three Anti-Beastmen) "You were brought out by humans, huh?"
 * (To the three anti-beastmen) "Is that...why you ruined...the festival...?"
 * (To the Three Anti-Beastmen) "You bastards aren't even worth using my claws on. My fists are more than enough!"
 * (To the Anti-Beastmen Deer) "You, who lost pride of a beastman...you don't need the pride of a deer!"
 * (To Anti-Beastmen Wolf) "Whose life is done you said?"
 * (To Michiru) "Don't try to stop me. These guys ruined the festival."
 * (To Michiru) "Humans are enemies to this city."
 * (To Michiru) "How long do you plan on staying that way? Hurry up and change back into a human. You can't?"
 * (to Michiru) "Don't say something so human like."
 * (To Michiru) "Younglings like to show off their power.... The stronger one wins. It's a simple rule."
 * (To Barbara) "Those guys are a disgrace to beastmen."
 * (To the women and Gram Grandma) "There is no forgiveness for those who sell beastmen to humans, even if it's a woman."
 * (To Michiru) "There was no evidence yet, the only way to arrest them was to catch them in the act."
 * (To Michiru) "I never miss, I will protect every beastwoman and child."
 * (To Michiru) "I finally understand that you were a human, your existence is dangerous. People would panic if they found out that a human can turn into a beastman. Don't go until we find out the details. I'll be bringing you food."
 * (To Michiru) "There are rumors that SYLVASTA Pharmaceutics is collecting beastmen data and making a profit off of it. Not all beastmen are welcomed there."
 * (To Gang Members attacking Michiru) "Go, I won't kill you. Not today, that is."
 * (To Mr. Yaba) "We investigated the place of the incident, we couldn't confirm any traces of the culprit, It's not just the culprit, there wasn't a single smell at the scene. That's impossible. It's impossible go have all smell disappear under normal circumstances. You have the chemical to do such thing, after all. Mr. Yaba, in this laboratory you're go create such a thing, isn't that right?.... You can always reach the culprit if you follow the residual smell left on the scene. Because there are no smell-less beastmen. But at the crime scene, there was a period where there were absolutely no traces of any smell. And your hands are lacking smell right now. Ever since the lab was blown up."
 * (To Mr. Yaba in beast form) "To you who abandoned the pride of a beastman, this horn is useless!"
 * (To Michiru) "I won't die."

Trivia

 * Shirou's mobile phone number is (040) 5128-8814.
 * 040 numbers in Japan are decommissioned.
 * If you read the numbers in Japanese, it will be read as [5こ 1い 2つ 8は 8や 8ば 1い 4よ] ([こいつはやばいよ]), which means [This is dangerous].
 * Shirou has another name revealed on BNA - Zero: Beasts That Can't Become Even Better, which is Abiyad[アビヤッド]. It means white in Arabic.
 * Shirou's office number was obscured but if it does start with the 029X- prefix, it's the same as Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan, next to Tokyo.
 * Shirou's VA, Yoshimasa Hosoya, is known for voicing Robin from Fire Emblem, Gaius Worzel from Trails of Cold Steel, Yashiro Tsurugi from Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Reiner from Attack on Titans, Fumikage Tokoyami from My Hero Academia, Sousuke Yamazaki from Free!, and Lance from Pokémon Generations.
 * Yoshimasa Hosoya is also a famous singer, meaning Shirou is the second character that can sing in real life (first being Michiru).

Etymology

 * Ogami (大神) means god or deity. It may also be a reference to the word 狼 (okami, wolf).
 * Shirou (士郎) is a masculine name and sounds like the word for white (白, shiro). It's also a homophone to 白狼 (shirou, white wolf).