Character Analysis: Genji Shimada

 

• Full Name: Genji Shimada

• Age: 35 years

• Height: 5’7” | 1.7 meters

• Overwatch Agent ID: 3945_49

• Former scion of the Shimada Clan

• Member of Overwatch & Blackwatch

• Disciple of Asa Yamagami & Zenyatta

• Occasionally quotes Obi-Wan Kenobi

As a child, Genji lived a life of privilege due to being the youngest son of the master of the Shimada ninja clan. Though he was trained as a ninja from a young age, enjoying it and excelling at it, he had little interest in the clan’s illegal business, instead pursuing a playboy lifestyle. Many in the clan resented this, believing that Genji’s father coddled and enabled him too much.

When Genji’s father died, his elder brother Hanzo decided that Genji ought to play a larger role in the clan. Genji refused, and the two fought, culminating in Genji being seriously injured and left on the brink of death. Though Hanzo believed that Genji had died, he was rescued by the international task force Overwatch, a group dedicated to saving the world from a war, the Omnic Crisis. Genji was saved by Dr. Angela Ziegler (more commonly known as Mercy), and in exchange for his help, Overwatch rebuilt his body. They turned him into an augmented cybernetic ninja, bolstering his already-impressive ninja skills with the intention of molding him into a weapon for their cause. Genji became a member of Overwatch, as well as their special ops team, Blackwatch. While he did plenty of other work for Overwatch, his primary mission was to combat and bring down the Shimada Clan. 

Though he was ultimately successful in his task, Genji hated his new cyborg body. Eventually, despite the good they had done, Overwatch was shut down, and Genji was left to wander the world in search of meaning. In time, he crossed paths with the Omnic monk Zenyatta, who soon became his mentor, and taught him to reconcile his existence as both man and machine. Accepting that his human soul was intact, Genji came to see his new body as a gift. At peace with himself, Genji confronted Hanzo, defeating him and revealing the fact that he had survived. Forgiving his brother for what had happened between them, Genji departed, and when Overwatch eventually reformed, he returned to his work a new man, with a new goal: to use his gifts for good.

Experience

Genji was trained as a ninja of the Shimada Clan since he was a young child, under the instruction of blacksmith and swordmaster Asa Yamagami. Despite his carefree attitude, Genji excelled in his training, achieving superlative skill as a ninja. When his body was modified by Overwatch, his already-remarkable physicality and skill were augmented to new heights, and he gained years of experience and additional training as an agent of both Overwatch and Blackwatch. All of this allowed him to overcome his brother Hanzo, whom he had previously lost to. As a ninja, he’s skilled at stealth, capable of infiltrating Shimada Castle, and disappearing in a puff of smoke when he wants to make a quick getaway. He can also scale walls and leap large distances with ease.

In gameplay, Genji is considered a damage hero, specializing in flanking, and using Cyber-Agility and Swift Strike to navigate the battlefield easily. Fast and sneaky, he’s an expert at catching his opponents off-guard, and he’s also decently dangerous at range thanks to his shuriken and Deflect.

Arsenal

Cyborg Body

Through Overwatch’s modifications, Genji’s body is mostly cybernetic, augmenting his physicality and bolstering his ninja abilities. This makes him stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human. His mechanical hands are also capable of producing new shuriken for him to throw.

Katana

Named Ryū Ichimonji, Genji carries a katana on his back. Sharp and durable, katanas are curved, single-edged blades, and Genji’s in particular is described to be technologically advanced. He primarily uses his katana when his ultimate (see: Abilities -> Dragonblade) is active, delivering fatal strikes to the opponent.

Wakizashi

A shorter blade that Genji carries on his hip, the wakizashi is a traditional Japanese sword that was commonly used by samurai in feudal Japan. When Dragonblade is not active, this is the sword used for Swift Strike and Deflect.

Shuriken

Genji has a seemingly unlimited number of technologically-advanced shuriken which he can throw as a projectile attack. In gameplay, he uses three at any given time, and these can be thrown either in quick succession, or all at once in a wider spread. He has a max total ammunition of 30 shuriken, but can reload an unlimited number of times by ejecting more from his hand.

Abilities

Cyber Agility

Thanks to his cyborg body, Genji has superhuman agility and maneuverability. This allows him to climb on walls and double jump.

Swift Strike

Attack in which Genji darts forward, slashing with his wakizashi and passing through foes in his path. If Genji eliminates a target, he can instantly use this ability again. If Dragonblade is active, Genji uses his katana instead of the wakizashi.

Deflect

Ability in which Genji uses his wakizashi to rapidly block incoming projectiles, deflecting them back toward the opponent. If Dragonblade is active, Genji uses his katana instead of the wakizashi.

See here for a list of attacks that Genji can and can’t deflect:

https://overwatch-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Deflect#Ability_interactions

Dragonblade

“Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!”

Genji’s ultimate, in which he brandishes his katana for a brief period of time, during which he can deliver killing strikes to any targets within his reach. In doing so, he conjures a dragon made out of energy which is directed by his katana. Sometimes, this energy dragon is actually used to attack, while other times, Genji attacks with just the katana.

Note: In gameplay, Dragonblade only lasts for six seconds, delivering a maximum of nine strikes, and Genji cannot use shuriken while it is active. These are most likely gameplay mechanics.

Dragon’s Breath

When using Dragonblade, Genji can create large, piercing projectiles with his katana slashes.

Feats

Overall

• Survived being nearly killed and then turned into a cyborg

• Spent years as an agent of Overwatch and Blackwatch

• Took down the Shimada Clan

• Defeated his brother, Hanzo

• Aided in the battle against Doomfist

• Aided in the Venice Incident, King’s Row Uprising, and Null Sector Attack

• Learned to accept his existence as both man and machine

Strength

• Sliced a car in half

• Blocked and deflected Hanzo’s arrows (1, 2, 3, 4)

• Matched and overcame Hanzo in close quarters combat

• Redirected Hanzo’s ultimate with his own

• Deflected shots from a Titan Omnic, severely damaging its arm in the process

• Sliced through a Titan Omnic’s hand

Speed

• Implies that he is faster than a bullet (listed under McCree)

• Repeatedly dodged and deflected Hanzo’s arrows (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

• Blitzed Hanzo & Maximilian before they could react

• Regularly spars with (1, 2) and keeps up with Tracer

• Capable of deflecting a variety of projectiles in gameplay, including Pharah’s rockets and Bastion’s automatic gunfire.

• Can outspeed Sombra’s electromagnetic pulse in gameplay

• Footage of the EMP

Durability

• Comparable to his AP

• Survived hits from Doomfist, including one which knocked him out of the air and smashed him into a car

• Withstood getting smashed through wood by Hanzo’s arrow

• Should reasonably be capable of withstanding his own ultimate, since Hanzo was able to withstand his

Scaling

• Tracer: Genji has been shown sparring with Tracer, and his in-game quotes suggest that the two are regular sparring partners.

• Dodged missiles.

• Her pulse bomb created a large explosion on top of a building.

• Dodged Widowmaker’s sniper shot, only getting out of the way when the bullet was only a few centimeters away from her.

• Blitzed past a group of Omnics faster than they can perceive her (1, 2). Ordinary Omnics can perceive time differences down to a “microfraction of a microsecond” (“Micro-” denotes 1/1,000,000th), so Tracer must have outpaced that.

• Doomfist: Genji is capable of keeping up with Doomfist and withstanding his attacks.

• Created a crater in a wall.

• Smashed a large crater into the ground.

• It was mentioned that he could destroy skyscrapers.

• Mei: As fellow Overwatch agents, Genji and Mei should generally be comparable. Additionally, outside of her using up her entire ice tank in conjunction with Tracer’s pulse bomb, Genji did better against the Titan Omnic than she did.

• Can create large ice walls in gameplay.

• Created a large ice construct.

• A tiny drop of her freezing liquid created a small ice formation. She has an entire tank full of this liquid.

• Her ice tank combined with Tracer’s pulse bomb flash froze the Titan Omnic and caused its body to shatter.

• Her ice explosives can flash freeze people in their vicinity.

• Can freeze people within a large volume.

• Titan Omnics: Genji was able to deflect blasts from a Titan Omnic, and cut through its hand.

• Blasted a huge hole through a skyscraper.

• Used a laser to carve a trench through a couple city blocks. Bisected an aircraft in the process.

• Other

• Soldier: 76 outpaced an explosion to save a girl

• The space pod which eventually became Hammond’s wrecking ball survived atmospheric reentry.

• Hammond’s ultimate in-game involves his wrecking ball moving fast enough to ablate.

• Fodder Omnics survive impacting the ground at ablation speed.

• Echo dodges missiles.

• An Omnic intercepts Cassidy’s bullets.

• A large mech blocks a shot from Reaper’s shotgun.

Weaknesses

Genji does not have very many weaknesses, but the most notable one is that his cyborg body is not indestructible. Enough damage can prevent it from functioning properly, as demonstrated during the fight with Doomfist. He can also occasionally be a bit overly cocky, though this trait has diminished significantly since he was younger.