Maxi (Soul Calibur)

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Maxi (真喜志　Makishi) is a fictional character designed for the Soul series of fighting games. Maxi made his first appearance in Soul Calibur and has returned for Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III.

Contents

1 Biography
2 Weapons
3 Stages
4 Character analysis
5 Trivia
6 Series' appearances
7 External links

Biography

Maxi was a wandering pirate from Shuri in the Ryukyu Kingdom (present-day Okinawa). Maxi's father was a confident merchant of the Ryukyu Kingdom, but he wasn't allowed to comerce to the foreign countries, forced to commerce with his country only. Maxi spent most of his first years travelling from harbor to harbor with his father. He also learned to use the nunchaku as a way to defend himself, eventually turning into a strong young.

During one of his father's travels, he met a man from Ming known as Zhang Wu. The man carried a bladed nunchaku, which Maxi noticed. He, full of pride, challenged the stranger to a fight. Not hearing Kyam (his sworm brother)'s pleas, Maxi faced the man and was defeated. Recognizing the world was wider than he thought, he asked the man to be his teacher for the remainer of the travel. The man agreed and for the time Maxi studied his style, and despite being different from his, he was able to improve further his abilities. Zhang Wu left after reaching port, but Maxi kept studying his work.

After his father's death, Maxi took his vessel and decided to turn into a freelance pirate, to see the world his father couldn't because of his ties to the country. He embarked with the crew, his "new family", and Kyam and sailed towards the west. They docked on an Indian port town and, while Maxi was out, Kilik approached the ship searching a way to go west. He argued with a pirate of the ship, who wanted Dvapara-Yuga as fee for the trip, until Kyam stepped in. Kyam sympaticed with Kilik and let him stay until Maxi, the captain, would return.

But when Maxi returned, he found his ship under attack by a hoard of golems and lizard-like creatures led by Astaroth. With Kilik, both joined forces in the battle against the monsters. Eventually, they had repelled the golems, but not before Astaroth had temporarily snatched the holy mirror Dvapara-Yuga from Kilik, causing him to lose his sanity and savagely attack Maxi. Maxi was able to suppress Kilik and return the Dvapara-Yuga to him, but only after Maxi's sworn brother, Kyam, had been murdered and most of the other members of the crew were dead or missing. With his dying words, Kyam told Maxi of Kilik's quest and, having lost everything, Maxi decided to travel with him, swearing an oath of revenge against Astaroth. Eventually, the two met Chai Xianghua, a member of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Guard, who also aided them in their travels.

With Kilik and Xianghua's help, Maxi stormed Ostrheinsburg Castle, where the creatures that had killed Maxi's crew were waiting for them. After defeating the creatures, Astaroth presented himself and blocked the entrance to the castle. As Kilik and Xianghua ran past Astaroth, Maxi stayed behind to fight him to the death. He succeeded in killing Astaroth, but the god Ares, in bitter rage, commanded the ground to open up and swallow Maxi. When Maxi woke up, he was on a riverbed near an unfamiliar village, where an old man rescued him. Due to the severity of his wounds, Maxi's traveling days were over, and he stayed behind in the village, quickly becoming popular with the local residents. Four peaceful years passed, until a rumour of a horrendous man wielding a large bearded axe reached the village. Maxi had a horrible feeling that that man was Astaroth. He wanted to chase after him, but his body was too weak. Maxi went to see the village medicine man, who performed a secret ritual using a strange metal fragment, which was actually a fragment of Soul Edge, and several days later, Maxi left the village, promising to return some day. He did not realize, however, that all memory of his traveling companions had been lost as a result of the ritual.

Maxi's search for Astaroth led him to the ruins of the shrine where the golem had been created. While inspecting the ruins, he found a man in tattered clothing at the ruins, clutching something and muttering incoherently. This man was Kunpaetku--Astaroth's creator, who had managed to escape the shrine's destruction at the last minute. Kunpaetku mostly ignored Maxi until he asked him about Astaroth. Kunpaetku cursed Astaroth, calling him a failure. It was then that Maxi realized that Kunpaetku created him.

A strange urge to kill Kunpaetku began rising within Maxi. As he drew his weapon, the object in Kunpaetku's hand, a fragment of Soul Edge, began to glow with a faint red light. Kunpaetku then looked at Maxi madly, noticing that he had Soul Edge inside his body. Upon hearing this, Maxi killed Kunpaetku and kicked the fragment of Soul Edge into the ruins below. He felt an uneasy throbbing in his heart, born from his desire to kill Kunpaetku. Maxi then suddenly remembered a man who became lost to evil after having lost everything, and how he suffered after returning to his senses. But Maxi couldn't remember who this person was, no matter how hard he tried. Despite this, he decided to continue his search for Astaroth.

Weapons

-- Fatibal

Fatibal is a wooden nunchaku made by Yagazzi, one of Maxi's pirate crewmen. Yagazzi made and improved many nunchakus for Maxi, since he kept breaking them in battle. Through trial and error, Yagazzi found out that the Balisanda wood enabled him to make a strong and durable nunchaku. This discovered ended in Fatibal's creation. Fatibal fitted Maxi perfectly, since it could handle Maxi's strength and the special characteristics of his Shissen-Karihadi style. Each handle of the nunchaku is given a name: Kochi (East Wind) and Hae (South Wind).
(Note: In Soul Calibur 2, the Balisanda wood is called Polisander wood)

-- Soryuju

A nunchaku made by Maxi himself. Its name means "Gathering of Revived Dragons", and supposedly indicates Maxi's determination to avenge his crew. Its well-balanced and easy to handle.

Stages

-- Harbour of Souls (SC)

This was the Indian harbor Maxi and his crew visited to trade goods. In India the shore is a sacred place, so a stair terrace allows for travel to the water. The terrace, which is called a 'ghat', leads to the town with it's maze of house, temples and narrow pathways. Visitors unfamiliar with the town are notorious for getting lost. For Maxi this gray sea became a place of destiny where his sworn brother Kyam and shipmates were massacred. Maxi swore revenge on Astaroth as he stared at his ship in the distance sunken by the monster.
(Note: Known as Indian Port on the Arcade)

-- Pirate's Alcove (SC2)

Few know of the hidden dock inside a naturally formed cave lying in the westerly seas, for nary a soul dare to venture close to the wave-beaten precipice that houses it. This place was once the stronghold of a renowned pirate and his hardy crew. But there is no one here anymore, for the captain murdered all of his subordinates. Ten years have passed since anyone has stepped foot in this cavern, but the place is still lit, and a pirate ship can also be seen. Is this the projection of the memories of the slain pirates? Or, is this the memories of the captain, who has since disappeared?
(Note: Maxi shares this stage with Cervantes)

-- Indian Port (SC3)

A port town is a place where the pathways of land and sea meet. It is a crossroad where people both meet and part ways. It was here that Maxi and Kilik met four years ago. Maxi, together with Kilik, headed west to avenge his crew, who had been wiped out in a sudden attack by a strange horde monsters. Thus, this place could also be called the starting point on his pathway to revenge. On a cliff overlooking the east sea, a little way out from the city, stands a grave marker made from what appears to be the fragments of a Ryukyu ship. In front of it, one can find a container of Ryukyu wine. Will Maxi one day be able to tell his crew, sleeping beneath this unknown grave, that he has successfully avenged them?

Character analysis

While he gives the impression of being a dominating fighter with his flashy moves and mix-ups, Maxi is considered to be a low-tier character in Soul Calibur II. This low ranking is a direct reflection of the difficulty required to learn Maxi, who is largely considered to be the most complex character in the game due to his heavily stance-based game; an equal amount of time spent learning another character would yield more effective results. Inadequate control of Maxi results in long strings of attacks that can be easily avoided and punished.

At high level play, Maxi does not have the offensive or defensive tools of his counterparts. His strategy is reduced to poking, a technique that is better suited for faster characters like Xianghua or Talim. Most of his moves have negative block stun, meaning he is very vulnerable once blocked.

Beginners often use Maxi because, at low levels, his fighting style seems to reward button mashing, but at higher levels of play, this style is not effective.

In Soul Calibur III, many of Maxi's gameplay issues that plagued him in the previous installment were resolved, such as issues with block stun (advantage/disadvantage after a blocked attack) and having no effective Natural Combos (attacks that combo into each other while the opponent is in a standing state). This makes his stance game more effective and he is no longer reduced to a strictly poke-based nature. His improvements have led people to believe he has risen to a mid-tier character's level.

Maxi's greatest strength is his unpredictable stance game, which can provide many variations and confuse opponents if used properly. His weakness though, is that if you miss an attack in front of your opponent, the forced stance-moves gives the opponent a fairly amount of time to punish. This includes when having a "time-hole" in the middle of a combo, which a player familiar with Maxi can utilise.

Trivia

Maxi is based on the martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who uses similarly-styled nunchakus and has a similar fighting stance.
Maxi's look is very similar to the late Elvis Presley, and this similitude has been brought up in various fanfictions, like him being an ancestor of Elvis Presley.
In Soul Calibur Maxi has a special Weapon Exhibition where he uses two nunchakus.
Before Soul Calibur II was released, many fans believed he was dead, since in his ending after defeating Inferno he stumbles and falls, (similar to what Li Long does in his own ending in Soul Edge), and Kilik throws his nunchaku into the water. His bad ending in Soul Calibur III is of a similar fashion.
The bladed-nunchaku wielder Zhang Wu is the alias of Li Long. He was traveling to Japan ordered by the Ming empire to take down the Wakou pirates attacking their shores and retrieve the Soul Edge.
When Xianghua first met Maxi, she mistook him for Li Long, the older brother of her close friend Meimei.
Maxi's hairstyle is available as a male part for Characters Creation.
In Tales of Souls, Maxi has a notable encounter with Talim, but it's unknown if it is canon to the storyline.
Maxi, with a total of 5 stances, is the character with most stance in the game.
In Soul Calibur II, one of Maxi's extra weapon is Li Long's nunchaku, Falcon.
Maxi's nickname in Soul Calibur is "Dandy of the South Seas".
Maxi's Destined Battle in Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III is Astaroth.

Series' appearances

Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur II
Soul Calibur III
[[Soul Calibur III: Arcade Edition]]

External links

[Official Project Soul website]
[Soryuju] A Maxi-based fan site.

Soul series by Namco

Minor Characters
Other Characters | Bonus Characters

Boss Characters
Abyss | Inferno | Night Terror

Soundtracks
Soul Edge Original OST - Soul Edge KSS OST - Soul Calibur Original Soundtrack

Miscellaneous
Soul Weapons

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