Characters
Bankotsu
Bankotsu is the final member of the Band of Seven to appear, but is the first to be revived. As their leader, he is the only member of the Band of Seven who has directly dealt with Naraku, choosing to leave his teammates in the dark about their involvement with the demon. Although he is the youngest member of his group, he is well-respected for his skills in battle.
After reuniting with the Band of Seven, Bankotsu's first order is to retrieve his halberd, Banryu. When the band was killed ten years prior, the feudal lord responsible took Banryu as a reward. Bankotsu brutally murders an entire army to retrieve his blade, and then he proceeds to hunt down Inuyasha. The scent of bloodshed from that battle draws Inuyasha and the others to Bankotsu, where they soon discover that the youngest of the Band of Seven is also the most powerful. With Kyokotsu and Mukotsu already dead, their Shikon fragments have been given to Bankotsu, augmenting his strength even more. He is an extremely powerful fighter and is able to go toe-to-toe with Inuyasha without backing down. Bankotsu soon realizes that he is not powerful enough when his halberd is cracked by Inuyasha's Wind Scar. After the battle, Bankotsu discovers that Renkotsu has been keeping the Shikon shards that he took from Kagome for himself, and with a little coercion uses the shards to power-up his damaged blade. With this he is able to deflect the Wind Scar as if it were nothing.
Although he is powerful, Bankotsu's simple demeanor costs him greatly. Bankotsu realizes too late just how deceptive Renkotsu has become. Bankotsu felt a deep empathy with Jakotsu and respected his loyalty, but Renkotsu killed Jakotsu for his shard, in hopes of gaining enough power to overthrow Bankotsu. Because of this act of betrayal Bankotsu mercilessly avenges his fallen comrade and takes all of the shards Renkotsu had so greedily kept for himself. Now with seven fragments in his body and two in his halberd Bankotsu heads off to destroy Inuyasha once and for all. The two battle deep inside Mount Hakurei and Inuyasha slowly cuts the Shikon shards out of Bankotsu's body as the battle progresses. Inuyasha manages to slice Bankotsu in two, and as one half turns to bones and dust his other half is taken by Naraku, its shards removed, and the last remnants of the final member of the Band of Seven becomes extinct.
The Meaning Behind the Name - 蛮骨
"Bankotsu" means "brute courage" and "recklessness". When broken down into individual kanji "ban" (蛮) means "barbarian" while "kotsu" (骨) means "skeleton" or "remains". Each of the Band of Seven have the latter character in their names, which relates to the fact that they are actually undead.
Voices:
Takeshi Kusao
Matt Hill