"This is the ultimate technique that will free you from all suffering! So pay close attention!"

Alright, so who is this guy?

This is everyone's idol… Fusakin~~~~!!!!!! Or for the uninformed, Fusakin is one of the 17 playable characters available in MARIKINonline4, a free-to-play indie JRPG created by Team MO/Axez. He also just so happens to be my favorite character from the game.

The playable characters of MARIKINonline4 are called Numas, a race of simplistic-looking, all-white humanoid characters that are smaller than humans but a lot more powerful! They don't usually wear clothes, but Fusakin does. That's not the only thing that makes him different from the other Numas, though. Unlike his friends, Fusa was born as a balloon, no body, just strings for arms. I think that's really cute, but it's a bit of a problem for him.

When it comes to his personality, Fusakin is described as good-natured, free-spirited, and loud, which is the truth. He's one of the friendliest characters and the most affectionate, using the -chan suffix for every other character (except Eclair…). He talks in a very cutesy or childish way at times, and his dialogue often includes stars ☆. At the same time, he's one of the most capable Numas, being a trained blacksmith, alchemist, and samurai (yes, all of those things!), and providing some of the most important information and connections to the main party during the game's main campaign.

All of the playable Numas, with the exception of Syumitaro (and Arakawa and Taiyo who are more like rivals), have battle partners, who are essentially their best friends that they work and fight alongside the most. Fusakin's battle partner is Marikin, the namesake of the series——yeah, that Marikin. Syumitaro is closely associated and often seen with Fusakin and Marikin, and, beginning in MO3, the three of them refer to themselves as the "Art Club" in spite of never being seen working on any actual art.

A little bit of history…

Before we begin this section, I must point out that any events that occurred in MARIKINonline2 and MARIKINonline3 that aren't directly recounted in MARIKINonline4 are no longer considered canon, and both games have been unlisted and prohibited from being redistributed. Therefore, you should take some of this information with a grain of salt.

Fusakin first appears in MARIKINonline2 floating over Lake Maido, where he attacks Marikin and Jack and is more or less the first major encounter of the game. Like the other major enemies in the game, he is under the influence of Bachikin's brainwashing chocolate. If that doesn't make any sense to you, that's okay. Don't worry about it. On the way to the true ending, he is encountered again and joins the party.

The only other things worth mentioning about this game in regard to Fusakin are the fact that he attacks with knives in this game. His house, however, has a sword collection on the wall and a forge, meaning he was a blacksmith all the way back in this game too. Fusa's tendency to punctuate his sentences with stars was also established here ☆.

The prologue of MARIKINonline3 explains that Marikin has gone missing along with Fusakin and Syumitaro. When the game's main party makes it to Bachikin's chocolate factory——again, if that makes no sense, don't worry about it——they are confronted by "Marikin," who is supposedly the general of the evil organization, the Delicious Flour Empire. "Marikin" is immediately attacked by two cloaked figures who are revealed to be Fusakin and Syumitaro, and the real Marikin appears behind "Marikin," who is in actuality, Sigkin. Sigkin and Bachikin are defeated, and all of the Numas go back to being friends; it's a happy ending. You can then find Fusa in the post-game, and he is who you go to to upgrade your weapons in his forge.

What's important here is the events of MARIKINonline3 directly cause the events of MARIKINonline4, and that goes for Fusakin too. The confrontation in MO3 is referenced by Fusakin when he explains that, even then, he was frustrated by his original body.

Cool, so what happens in MARIKINonline4?

For reference, MARIKINonline4 has no official English translation. Any direct quotes I use are sourced from this fan-made translation by Friez on YouTube or my own efforts at translation.

Fusakin is first mentioned in MARIKINonline4 the moment Sigkin's party arrives in Ninjin Town when Sigkin asks if Syumitaro knows where he has been, having thought he would be with Marikin or Syumitaro himself. Syumitaro explains that the last time he saw Fusakin, Fusa had told him he was leaving to go train with someone, and it might be years before anyone sees him again. When Syumitaro asked why he needed to do that, Fusakin refused to elaborate further and left. Sigkin suggests that the party should look for him while they are looking for Jack and Adukin in Mustabe Town.

After rescuing Sigkin and his party from Kirimi, Marikin brings them to a seemingly abandoned house to recover. When Sigkin finally wakes up, Marikin tells him and the rest of the party that the owner of the house is waiting for them at the Forgotten Mausoleum. Upon arrival, the mysterious individual from atop the mausoleum's roof dramatically reveals himself to be Fusakin, except now with a new humanoid body like the rest of the Numas.

Sigkin and his party are left speechless by this development, so Fusakin invites the group to take a seat inside so that he can explain. He asks them to look at a monitor where he has prepared a slideshow presentation about what he's been up to for the past five years (titled: What on earth happened to Fusakin ☆ 3 years ago…!).

The presentation explains how Fusakin was frustrated by his original body's lack of power, specifically referencing the events of MO3, which pushed him to begin studying alchemy in order to create a stronger one. Fusa states that he discovered "something" old he had heard rumors about and took back a piece of it to power his transmutation in place of "a certain thing." He is purposefully vague about what he used to create his new body, but I'm sure that won't become important later. Don't worry about it. While his body transmutation was a success, the "something" used the last of its power to inflict a curse on Fusakin, which prevents him from leaving the mausoleum, where he has been trapped for the past three years.

After apologizing for disappearing, Fusakin informs the party that the reason he invited them to the mausoleum was because he has information on the reason why Numas have been being captured. Some of which he had discovered by coincidence during his research on alchemy, the rest from communicating with O'Saar. Fusakin shows the group that the robots that had captured their friends contained Maidonium crystals, magic stones that can store energy, concluding that the Numa's soul energy was being absorbed by the Maidonium crystals in order to power the gigantic robot, Catastrophe.

Fusakin gives Sigkin and his party a list of materials to collect and where to find them as "training," seeing as he can't leave the mausoleum to gather them himself. He assures them that he can use the items to craft an item that will prove useful in the future but doesn't tell them what it is.

Fusakin: Well, it's a secret until big brother is finished making it ☆
Sigkin: Gross…

Fusakin also doesn't tell them why a strawberry daifuku is on the list of materials… (Hint: strawberry daifuku is his favorite food.)

When Sigkin and the others return from their errands, Fusakin finally explains that the item he needed the materials for is called the "Liberation Pendant," a necklace that, when grasped with a strong desire, can summon a powerful helper when they need it most——but they can only use it once! Fusakin finishes making the pendant, but before the group can get ahead of themselves, he and Marikin remind them that the errands were supposed to be training. Marikin and Fusakin challenge Sigkin and his party to a friendly battle to prove they can control their newfound strength.

Before the party leaves the mausoleum, Fusakin mentions that he has also asked a specialist to assist the group in defeating Catastrophe, O'Saar. O'Saar explained to Fusakin and Syumitaro that Catastrophe can not only absorb souls but also transfer them. Meaning the souls in the Maidonium that powers Catastrophe could be transferred to an empty Maidonium, but the transfer itself would require a large amount of souls in and of itself. Syumitaro offers up his own soul as a sacrifice because it's much stronger than the others' in order to protect them.

After O'Saar rescues the party from the collapsing Mindy Corporation headquarters in his helicopter, he reveals that he was able to save them because Fusakin had instructed him to closely monitor the group. O'Saar takes the Numas back to Sohonzan, where he had a conference room built to communicate with Fusa. Over conference call, Fusakin and O'Saar explain a new plan to sabotage Catastrophe by destroying the supports of the launch site, which would cause the robot to damage itself when it fires its laser.

Having been told it would summon a powerful ally, Bachikin uses the Liberation Pendant, and it successfully summons the Liberator, an impressive-looking man in armor who knocks Vanitas aside with his sword. Jeraldy remarks that he had heard of the pendant before but not that it could summon anything. Bachikin becomes curious about what the Liberator looks like without his helmet. In spite of the Liberator's protests and Syumitaro discreetly trying to change the subject, she forces it off, revealing Fusakin underneath, who admits that he accidentally made his armor way too big for him in the heat of the moment.

Fusakin explains that the true function of the Liberation Pendant was to temporarily suppress the curse confining him to the mausoleum, but he modified it so that it would also teleport him to the rest of the group so that he could help them. He also finally elaborates on the "something" he used to alchemize his body. Because Fusa couldn't bring himself to sacrifice someone else's body to pay the price of equivalent exchange, he used Maidonium crystals he found in the Mindy Corporation's underground base in the ruins of Mustabe Town. Unlike normal Maidonium, these crystals were a part of Vanitas and housed the vengeful souls of the citizens of the Gapanese Empire, which Sigkin had massacred. This caused Fusakin to come to the conclusion that the only way to break his curse is to fight Vanitas himself, so it's fortunate for him that the others chose to use the pendant while fighting Vanitas because…

Sigkin: ...So what would you have done if we hadn't used the pendant in front of Vanitas?
Fusakin: I wonder what I would have done, HA HA HA ☆
Sigkin：HA HA HA ☆? Yeah, right…

Trivia

• Fusakin shares the skill Dear Elise with Zakuro. This skill revives all allies, but inflicts instant death on the user.
• Fusakin shares the skill Homobi Caliber with Sigkin, Kashikin, and Taiyo.
• Fusakin's best stat is his agility which is the 2nd highest of all playable characters, behind Arakawa.
• Strawberry Daifuku is Fusakin’s favorite food, which is pointed out in the item’s description. A now deprecated series of introduction screens also depicted Fusakin holding one.
• Interacting with Fusakin when he is not in the party, with Syumitaro in the lead, triggers unique dialogue of Fusa asking for Strawberry Daifuku.

Fusakin: Syumi-chan! Strawberry Daifuku! I’d like to ask you again today! As soon as possible!

• Each playable character has a "garbage weapon," which is an equippable weapon with intentionally poor stats. Fusakin's is a pacific saury, a fish.
• Each playable character (along with the NPC, Gabukin) is inspired by the developer and his real-life friends. The real-life model for and voice of Fusakin is a scenario writer for MO4 and has also drawn an unofficial gijinka design for Fusa.

Isn't it obvious? I really love Fusakin because I find him adorable, awww, for a number of reasons. When it comes to design, all of the playable characters are fairly cute, but Fusakin has a face that looks like Miffy and cute expressions. I think he looks rather rabbit-like in general, which appeals to me, and I think you can guess why. Even if he doesn't exactly like it, I think his original form is really, really cute, poor guy… Ah, it's a right shame he can't do his really cute peace sign pose without proper hands, right?

I wouldn't like Fusakin quite this much if he were just cute, though, you know? I appreciate how well his character strikes the balance between cutesy and cool. Even though Fusa is often silly, he is one of the most competent and strong characters. His involvement in the Vanitas fight in the main story and the Evil Fusakin fight (and the moments afterwards……) in the post-story really demonstrate this coolness——as do his really awesome-looking skill animations. Though, at the same time, Fusakin is obviously trying really hard to look this cool, which I find twice as endearing. Like this guy got soo excited thinking about being mysterious he built armor twice his size on accident. It's awww…