Kenji Hiroshi

"My guild's name is «Brightscale». I'll let you think about its abbreviation -- but I suppose I can give you one small hint! You're talkin' an awful lot of it right now."

- Kenji to a fellow player.

Kenji Hiroshi (健児博), known by the username Kishi (輝士) in various online games, was one of the original for «», and he subsequently became one of the 10,000 players. He led a  called «Brightscale» (BS). During the beta test Kenji gained the title of Reaper (刈り手) amongst the community, both in recognition of his and, which became a title he vehemently attempted to distance himself from in the official release. Prior to his imprisonment in the game Kenji was a in real-life with an avid fan-base.

Appearance
Kenji was a fair-featured man in his mid-twenties during the SAO Incident, but was generally taken at face-value to be in his teens. His initial avatar was slightly taller and more muscular than his real-life appearance, with shoulder-length black hair. In real-life -- and the official release of SAO -- Kenji stood at 6ft tall and sported a muscled physique. The only constant between his avatars where hair colour and length: Kenji preferred his natural style, which was several messy-looking spikes atop his head, whilst the back reached roughly to shoulder-length.

Personality
Kenji is generally laid-back and non-confrontational. He tends to leave the more difficult decisions up to his friend and Second-in-Command Kusaka, but is noted to be incredibly stubborn when he does set his mind on something -- and in such cases even Kusaka cannot budge him. In social settings he is generally seen as an older-brother type by other players, and has been described as "the soul of the party".

When dueling Kenji becomes quiet and distant with his guild-mates describing him as "cold" and "calculating".

Synopsis

 * Main article -- Sword Art Online (Kenji).

Skills
Kenji uses an attack-focused build and prefers the use of the «One-handed Curved Sword». Upon reaching the 2nd Floor he acquired the Extra Skill «Martial Arts» and immediately slotted it to his third skill slot.

During the beta he was renowned amongst the community for his dueling skills and whilst he has attempted to distance himself from the title he earned due to the PKing he performed in the beta, it is no exaggeration that his duelling skills remained formidable even in the official release. Despite the act of dueling being incredibly dangerous in the official release Kenji frequently engaged in both Half Loss Mode and First Strike Mode.

Despite his status as a Guild leader Kenji does, on occasion, operate as a for heightened EXP gains and undivided loot.

Martial Arts

 * Crescent Moon
 * Crescent Moon

Outside System Skills

 * Hypersense -- The act of sensing the "killing intent" of another player. According to Kenji he learned this particular skill during the beta around the time the testers arrived on the 5th Floor, where a great deal of PKing was done.

Brightscale
«Brightscale» was formed by Kenji and Kusaka on the 3rd Floor of Aincrad. Despite a slower start than some of the other «Brightscale» eventually joined the frontline group.

Quotes

 * My guild's name is «Brightscale». I'll let you think about its abbreviation -- but I suppose I can give you one small hint! You're talkin' an awful lot of it right now.

Behind the scenes

 * Kenji's in-game name is created from letters found in his own name: Kenji Hiroshi, creating Kishi. The kanji chosen for Kishi translates to bright samurai. This likewise plays into the name of the guild: Brightscale.


 * Kenji's height and weight measurements, including physical appearance, is modelled on Kaien Shiba from Bleach.

Trivia

 * Due to his achievements in the beta -- namely committing the most PK's -- Kenji was the eventual owner of the «Darkness Blade».