Norito Goshi

Norito Goshi (五士 典人) is a member of Guren's squad and of the Goshi family, one of three prodigious clans serving the Hīragi Family. He is a minor character in Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen light novel series and the Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign manga series. In the manga, he is a colonel of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army and part of the Moon Demon Company.

Appearance
Norito is a tall, young man with bleach-blond hair tied in a short ponytail and a small goatee. He has mischievous, sleepy brown eyes.

Catastrophe
He wore the First Shibuya High uniform, a black gakuran with a standing collar with red trim which was also around the cuffs. The school emblem was located on the left breast. He left the jacket open, revealing a blue shirt underneath. He also rolled the sleeves up to his elbows.

When Guren squad is first formed, he wore the standard JIDA uniform which consists of a long-sleeved black jacket with two rows of gold buttons on the front and red details including the shoulder epaulets. A brown Sam Browne belt passes diagonally over his right shoulder and holds a brown pouch on his left side. Along with that, he wears a pair of white gloves and a red standard belt. He also wears the uniform trousers with knee-high black boots which goes over his trouser legging.

Vampire Reign
He wears the standard JIDA uniform which consists of a long-sleeved black coat with light green details including the shoulder epaulettes which has a brown Sam Browne belt passing diagonally over his right shoulder along with along with straps crossing under his waist to form an X, two rows of gold buttons on the front which are unbuttoned at the top, and has his sleeves rolled up. Along with that, he wears a pair of white gloves and a white web belt with a gold waist-plate. He also wears the uniform trousers and black boots which go over the trouser's leggings. He usually wears the black cape as well.

Personality
Norito is a flirty man, who enjoys teasing Guren's two retainers. He often makes perverted jokes, such as how he wants Sayuri to hold him in a headlock so his head is right up in her breasts.

His behavior apparently pisses Guren off most of the time, which is evident from Guren kicking Norito instead of Shinya, or ordering his retainers to beat him up.

Being part of the prestigious Goshi family, Norito is proud of his lineage and skills. However, he has come to respect Guren's strength as the two bonded in their school days.

History
The Goshis were one of the branch families serving the Hīragis. Despite that, Norito was someone who was unmotivated to work hard. This stemmed from the fact that his younger brother was much more talented and hailed as the next head of the Goshis', which created an inferiority complex in Norito.

Events of 2012
He beats up Guren in practice but because Guren is hiding his true strength, he doesn't really fight back. Mito berates him for it. Guren says that it's not like he can win against him as he is the eldest son of the Goshi Family. Mito gets angry as earlier, Guren said that he had never heard of Jūjō family but is scared of some second fiddle from the Goshi Family. Norito is insulted by this and responds by calling her family bigshots who think their so high and mighty and that she should just wait until he takes over for his family, so he can wipe the smirk from her face. The two begin two fight.

During the qualification exams, he watches the fight between Mito and Shigure. He whistles, calling it hottie versus hottie and that he wouldn't mind in the middle of that catfight.

Days later, the Thousand Nights attacks and kills many students and teachers.

After the Order of the Imperial Demons announces it put down the "terrorist group" that attacked them before, the school reopens. Mito and Norito become friendly with Guren, Sayuri, and Shigure.

Mito tries to train Guren on fighting and Norito tries to comfort him. He tells Guren that doesn't like hard work either but he had to because his parents forced him to. He says he understands where Guren is coming from as he never wanted to be part of a big clan, or be forced to grow stronger and he's just sick of it.

Days later, Shinya, Mito, Norito, and Guren leave to continue their examinations in the gym. When Guren arrives for his bout, Kureto questions him about the Thousand Nights and then attacks him with the intent to kill, forcing Guren to fight seriously.

A few days after that, Guren, Shinya, Mito, Norito, Sayuri, and Shigure report to Kureto’s office, where Aoi Sangū lets them in. Kureto orders them to investigate Ueno Zoo. Guren leads this new team.

The squad enters Ueno Zoo and battles a chimera made with genes from the Four Horsemen of John.

Norito teases Mito when she scolds Guren for hiding his true strength, so she hits him and he laughs. After school, Norito invites himself, Mito, and Shinya over to Guren’s apartment to play.

In Guren's condo, Shinya is defeating Mito at shogi while Norito and Guren watch. Although none of them knew how to play shogi, Norito insisted on them buying a cheap game from the convenience store. They played in an elimination-style tournament against each other. Norito handedly defeated Guren in the first round, and Shinya is winning the second. As it turns out, Guren felt drained at the start of his match and lost on purpose, delighting Norito and causing Mito to comfort him. However, Shinya realized it, annoying Guren evermore. When they tease Mito, she tells them the TV is distracting her.

Mito and Norito turn back to the game. Mito surrenders. Since Mito is hungry and Shinya has things to do, they decide to continue their tournament next time. The three of them leave, and Guren picks up the phone Shinya left on the ground. Shinya left a funny message for Guren on there, but the phone did not contain any useful information. Shinya rings the doorbell, and they chat again. Shinya glances at the TV screen. Mito and Norito come for Shinya, and the three leave again.

During fourth period the next day, Guren resists the need to sleep while Shinya snoozes on his desk. Mito approaches Guren while hiding a shogi board behind her back. She scolds him about taking care of himself. He agrees to try and end the conversation. Mito tells him she had fun yesterday and says they should get together sometime in the future. Guren contemplates having companions and a squad.

She finally challenges Guren to a shogi match. Guren believes it is too dangerous for him to sleep there, so he accepts.

The student sitting in front of Guren offers his seat to Mito. Norito notices what they are up to and approaches from the middle of the room. Shinya wakes up and says he will watch if Guren plays seriously this time. Mito, Norito, and Shinya bicker over who gets to face him. Shinya says he will help wake Guren up for his meeting with Kureto. They set a three-second time limit per turn, and Guren wins four out of seven matches against Shinya. Eventually, a classmate who knows shogi well faces them and trounces all of them.

That night, the Thousand Nights attacks the school. Norito helps protect Mito.

Norito uses his illusions to help Sayuri, Shigure, and Mito escape, but he does not know what happened to them afterward. He uses an illusion to hide in the girls’ restroom and make the door invisible.

The enemy notices his illusion and breaks in, defeating Norito easily. Norito thinks even his brother would lose to them. He surrenders but then refuses to betray his comrades. The enemy reveals they have already captured his younger brother. One of the Thousand Nights members brings his knife down on Norito.

He struggles, and the blade cuts his chest but does not cause a fatal wound. He notices there are subtle illusions placed all over the school that are filling those present with the desire to kill. He then hears screaming in the hall, and a blood-coated Guren steps into the restroom and kills all of the Thousand Nights members inside.

Norito notices something is wrong with him, and Guren begins asking for blood. Guren fights the urge to kill Norito or to tell Norito to run. Guren eventually retreats and continues slaughtering everyone in the hallways.

Norito chases after him. He finds Guren about to kill Mito, so he detonates an explosion tag on his bag. Using an illusion spell, Norito escapes with Mito. Mito struggles, but Norito helps her understand the situation.

Guren tells him they cannot come back and rescue him because they will die here.

Norito and Mito escape to a balcony and jump to the ground. Guren chases them, struggling with the desire to kill them and the despair of being unable to save anyone. Guren's sword nicks Norito's face but stops short of any serious damage. Guren takes control again and tells Gosh to not come back. Noya takes control again.

Shinya fires missiles of powerful talismans at Guren and allows Norito and Mito to flee.

Later on, in the classroom, Shinya arrives with Mito, Norito, and nine other soldiers. They all have demonic blades equipped to them.

Noya wakes up, demanding murder.

Shinya, Norito, Mito, and Guren struggle against Noya. Thanks to the cursed gear, their injuries heal unnaturally fast. Shinya tells Noya that the humans have already found a way to turn demons into their slaves. They fight, and Norito uses an illusion to distract Guren while Shinya pastes a weakening talisman on Guren's neck and hugs him. The troops pierce Shinya and Guren with wooden stakes, and chains wrap Guren to Shinya from the feet on upward. Guren loses consciousness. m.

Over an hour later, Guren opens his eyes in the classroom but is too embarrassed to start talking right away. Mito and Norito are so relieved that they have tears in their eyes.

Mito, Norito, and Shinya overhear his conversation with Kureto and try to comfort him. When Guren denies having companions, Shinya disagrees and tells him to take responsibility and lead their squad. All three hold out hands to him. He takes their hands and calls them tiring. They laugh.

Later, Mito, Shinya, and Norito play video games at Guren’s apartment until Mahiru shows up. Guren attacks her, and they fall from the twenty-fifth floor. Mahiru stops her fall by using her sword. Guren is badly injured but recovers.

Guren and Shinya play Bomberman until 3 a.m., and Mito and Norito are already asleep.

Guren plans his next move with his group and reveals some documents Mahiru left to him about the Seraph of the End.

Kureto visits Guren and orders him to kill Mahiru within forty-eight hours or else he will kill Guren’s father and the rest of the Order of the Imperial Moon. He calls Aoi, stating that Guren betrayed them and cut him down. He orders Sakae’s death, but this is all a ruse.

Guren and his group escape to the roof and steal Kureto’s helicopter before heading to Kyoto. They crash in the mountains and head down to a farmland and come across a truck, and they discover that each of them has been trained to hot-wire vehicles. Norito starts up the car immediately, impressing Mito with his skill. Guren and Shinya notice that the owner left the key in the ignition, but Mito does not notice and keeps praising Norito's skill. Guren sleeps for seven hours while chatting with Noya.

They enter the love hotel where the others are resting, and a pair of students in sailor uniforms mistake Guren and Shinya for a couple. They find Norito listening to porn while sleeping. Before Guren turns it off, Mito rushes in and scolds them for their impurity. Norito wakes up, and the other girls arrive. Guren puts on the news and changes into civilian clothes.

Suddenly, Asuramaru drops down in front of him, but Shinya quickly knocks it away before Guren comes into contact with it. Asuramaru unsheathes, screeching loudly as it lodges itself into the ceiling. Guren tells his friends that this is Mahiru's sword and says he did not realize he had it.

A vampire breaks in through the window and tells them not to move. Guren summons Noya and performs a more powerful attack than he has ever performed before. She catches his sword in her mouth.

Guren orders the squad to use a retreating formation with him as the sacrifice instead, but Shigure and Sayuri attack the vampire instead of retreating. The vampire catches their weapons and comments that they are quick.

Mito appears in front of Guren and is stabbed in the chest. She coughs up blood from a fatal wound. Looking back at him, an expressionless Mito tells Guren they're using the Tenka Formation. Guren realizes this is not Mito but rather one of Norito's illusions.

Using the illusions, Guren cuts the vampire in the neck. The vampire is unable to defend herself in time because Shigure placed talismans on her sword and detonated them. Shinya appears from behind, cutting off her sword arm, and Mito sends the arm flying into the hallway. They continue fighting, and the vampire wonders why her wound will not heal. She turns to escape through the window but is stopped by an illusion of a wall. While she is distracted, Shinya cuts off her feet. Guren stabs her through the chest.

Sakae's body is returned to Aichi, and his head is reattached prior to his burial. Guren dresses in his father's ceremonial kimono and greets the nine other family heads. Shinya, Norito, and Mito also sneak in using their cursed gear to disable the alarms.

In an attempt to cheer Guren up, Norito brings Guren a porn mag and even manages to convince Mito that it is okay. Guren ignores him. When Guren asks if their houses allowed them to come, Mito and Norito side-step the question but say they are on holiday.

Shinya brings a brand-new game over to Guren.

They play games until 2 a.m., and Mito manages to trump everyone in the wrestling game. After playing so late, they fall asleep and all rest in the same room.

Guren leaves with Shinya, Mito, Norito, Shigure, and Sayuri to return to Tokyo and attend a meeting of the higher-ups. Mito brings cards for poker.

A few days later, the usual group meets at Guren's apartment, sans Shigure, who is still being treated after Guren accidentally cut off her arm. Guren tells them what happened. Then, they eat curry and play more games. Mito owns them at Bomberman once again, and Guren marvels that she has surpassed the skills of a human.

On December 10th, Kureto sends in Guren and his gang to take care of students that have become possessed by demons at the school. Guren arrives first and knocks out one demon-possessed boy. Mahiru, now a vampire, appears. She applauds Guren's strength. She admits this is her doing and does not care about the victims. She asks about the experimentation on Asuramaru. Humans must undergo surgery in order to meet qualifications to use a Black Demon, but the current success rate is less than 20%. Most people die. Although Kureto, Shinya, and Guren had successful surgeries, Norito, Mito, Sayuri, and Shigure did not even meet the basic criteria to have the surgery done. The rest of the group arrive and attack Mahiru, but she escapes.

On December 23rd, at 1 p.m., Guren takes Shikama Dōji to meet with Shinoa. The traitorous faction attacks them, but Guren kills them quickly and incidentally drenches Shinoa in their blood. Shinoa loses consciousness as soon as she touches Shikama Dōji, but Guren manages to escape with her.

Norito calls Guren and reports that Guren's apartment was set on fire by the traitors. Their phone call is interrupted. Guren steals a motorcycle and escapes, but a van chases and crashes into him. Traitorous soldiers face him, but Shinya attacks with Byakkomaru while pulling up on another motorcycle. Norito arrives in a stolen minivan with the rest of their squad and picks them up. He says policemen are still chasing them. They ask Guren what they should do about the end of the world.

Shinjuku Arc
When the vampires attack Shinjuku, Norito joins the rest of Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose's squad. When Guren fights against Mikaela Hyakuya, Norito and Shigure work together against him to allow Guren to attempt a strike for Mika from behind. At the end of the battle, Norito can be seen talking with Colonel Mito Jujo.

Nagoya Arc
In the start of Nagoya, Norito hangs out with his squad in the Ebina Rest Stop. He finds a dirty magazine and tries to talk the three girls in squad into trying on a bikini. When Mito arrives, he tells her that Guren wanted to see her in a bikini, causing her to get flustered. When Guren makes a short speech afterward, Norito and Shinya make fun of him for doing it on a sports car which causes Guren to beat him.

When Yu arrives for a punishment later, Shinya and Norito team up to tease Guren about his feelings for them. Once again, only Norito gets beat up; although he requests a headlock from Sayuri, she sends him flying across the room instead. Shortly after, Norito uses his Cursed Gear to make a smoke illusion of a naked, crying Yu with four slaps on his lap. He makes the illusion beg for his mama and causes the rest of Sergeant Shinoa Hiragi's squad to come running.

Once they commence their operation in Nagoya, she heads underground with the rest of Guren's squad to hunt Nineteenth Progenitor Mel Stefano. Although they succeed in killing him, the battle was dangerous, and Guren nearly dies several times. He assigned three squads per noble, with the exception of two groups: Shinoa and Narumi's squads only had those two squads, and Guren's squad took on one vampire on their own.

Afterward, a soldier named Kusunoki makes it to Guren, informing him that ten soldiers were killed and twenty held hostage. He expires and Guren orders them to reinforce Shinoa and Narumi's squads before heading off to kill Thirteenth Progenitor Crowley Eusford in Nagoya City Hall.

The Moon Demon Company regroups, and Sergeant Aiko Aihara arrives with only seven survivors from her squads. Guren Squad, Shinoa Squad, and Narumi Squad leave to hunt Thirteenth Progenitor Crowley Eusford, Seventeenth Progenitor Chess Belle, and Seventeenth Progenitor Horn Skuld while Aiko waits for other survivors to pass them the order to reconvene at Nagoya Airport.

They reach Nagoya City Hall, and after Crowley catches Gekkōin, Guren and his squad discuss what to do. After careful planning, Guren decides that his squad will take his squad to attack Crowley while Shinoa and Narumi Squads free the hostages. He gives them five minutes to rescue as many hostages as they can and act as a proper diversion for the main force in Shinjuku. As soon as the five minutes are up everyone has orders to retreat to the Nagoya Airport immediately.

Guren and Shinya attack Crowley at the same time but he easily negates their attacks at close range. He then swings Guren into Shinya, throwing them into the wall behind them. Crowley, Chess, and Horn then step toward them. Mito notices this and moves to assist them but Norito holds her back and tells her, she would only get in the way.

Guren then orders Norito to take action. Guren's squad breaks in through the windows, and he orders them to save everyone and escape. Norito makes an illusion of flames and magma, which startles Chess.

Outside, Shinya thanks Norito for creating the illusion that saved them.

As Mika engages in the Moon Demon Company, Norito says Mika is underestimating them, but Sayuri wonders if he has an objective other than attacking them. Shigure says they have to kill it regardless. Norito summons an illusion, but Mika dives through it anyway, surprising him.

Shortly after Mika flees with Yu, vampires rain down around the Moon Demon Company. After seemingly escaping the vampires, Shinya arrives with Guren Squad at Nagoya Airport, sans Guren. When prompted by Norito, Shinya says Guren told him a transport chopper was supposed to be waiting there for them to escape with. He says they were supposed to then use the chopper to fly to Shinjuku, where a trap is supposed to be lying in wait for the vampires. Shinya reveals that the plan was devised by Kureto, instantly alarming Guren Squad.

Osaka Arc
Three months later, after being locked up along with the rest of Guren's squad, the group meets Guren at Shinjuku complaining about their imprisonment. However, Guren tells them to be quiet and that they must go to Osaka. He is next seen in a car with the squad being driven by Guren to an unknown destination somewhere in Osaka. Due to Shinya's interrogating Guren for answers for his actions back in Nagoya and where they are being taken to, Guren teasingly asks

Shibuya Arc
Shibuya comes under attack from the Hyakuya Sect's army and Norito has his cursed gear ready as he approaches Ferid who is conversing with one of the assailants, Basteya Irclu.

The invading Hyakuya Sect members are suddenly impaled en masse by chains and walking among them Norito wonders aloud what is going on. He listens to Shinya's suggestion that they should go find Guren. Having avoided one of the first's scythes coming towards them, and seeing the large scale damage to the city, Norito remarks that the situation is like a super Kaiju battle at this point, and what can squishy little humans like them do. Arriving at the barracks, Norito is attacked by one of the chains coming out of Guren and is shocked asking if it lady Mahiru with him.

With Guren having transformed into a demon, Norito urgently agrees with Shinya to restrain him. He is then thrown to the floor by a crushing power from Guren. Calling to Shinya after he is thrown into a wall even as a demon, Norito expresses further shock when Shinya is stabbed, asking what did Guren just do. With the chains fizzling away, Norito notes it is freakishly quiet outside and wonders where Guren has gotten to.

Natural abilities
He excels more in illusionary techniques rather than physical attacks, and covers Guren who mainly fights in close range combat.

It was shown that his illusions are strong enough to even affect a Thirteenth Progenitor's brain like that of Crowley Eusford's. This was however depicted only in the anime with him, casting an illusionary field of volcanic lava that is seen erupting from within the ground. Further more, he is able to summon forth numerous soldiers of the JIDA as an illusion to help fight alongside him against the vampires on the battlefield.

Cursed Gear

 * Kakuze (覚世): A manifestation-type demon weapon from the Bodhisattva series that creates illusions. It takes the form of a Japanese smoking pipe. Norito will usually begin his illusionary technique when he starts blowing smokes from out of the pipe.

Book 1
"Dude, seriously? It hardly counts as practice when I’m fighting a pushover like you."

- Norito to Guren.

"Seriously! Forget about the odds, you can’t just forfeit! She fought hard, for your sake. She didn’t care about the consequences! You can’t just tuck tail and run! I don’t care how strong Seishiro is. You need to get in there and fight!"

- Norito to Guren about Sayuri’s sacrifice.

"If staying alive is all it takes to get a hug from a pretty girl, then come to papa!"

- Norito.

"They picked the wrong school to attack. We’re not gonna just let them get away with murdering our friends like that. We’ll get revenge."

- Norito.

"Haha! But seriously, don’t tell me you’re getting bullied again. Tell me who did it. You saved me the other day, it’s my turn to do you a favor."

- Norito to Guren.

Book 2
"In the end, Guren, the more you run the harder things get. You know what I mean?"

- Norito to Guren.

"I’ve been where you are, Guren. I never wanted to be part of a big clan, or be forced to grow stronger. The truth is I was sick of the whole thing. Either way, there’s no harm in being friends. We are classmates, after all."

- Norito to Guren.

"The bull-shitter, himself! So all this time you’ve really been some kind of boy-wonder. I bet everything comes easy to you, right? Not like us ‘normal people’? I bet your mummy and daddy and all your followers think you’re such hot shit."

- Norito to Guren.

"The real reason you saved us is you’re secretly a nice guy! Or maybe you’re just lonely. Either way, you saved my life and I won’t forget it. From now on we’re friends, you hear me? Friends!"

- Norito to Guren.

"Heh. Nah, I don’t get along with my family all that well. I’ve got a little brother. He’s a grade lower than me, but he’s good at everything…"

- Norito.

Book 3
"O-Oh, Lord Shinya… The truth is, my younger brother is the important one in our family. My parents don’t have very high expectations for me…"

- Norito to Shinya.

"The opposite, actually. They said you were just an Ichinose in the end, a degenerate and a traitor. And that you’d show your true colors before too long. They told me not to get too close."

- Norito to Guren about his parents' thoughts.

Book 4
"…it’s not like I feel much loyalty toward them in the first place."

- About the Imperial Demon Army.

"…I still hate putting in an effort."

- Norito to himself.

"This is what I get for showing off… Man, it’s really those three girls’ fault. For being such hotties. I may not be loyal to the Hiragis, but I’m still a slave to love."

- Norito to himself.

"You already took my little brother captive, didn’t you? I don’t know if you know this, but he’s the one who’s good at everything in our family. Everyone in the clan has big hopes for him. He already betrayed the Hiragis and surrendered, right? If I do the same, what will people start saying about the Goshi Clan? It’d look bad. All lopsided. We’d be known as the family of traitors. So instead of ratting out my friends…how about I don’t?!"

- Norito to the Thousand Nights.

"But I’m not gonna go and get myself killed just because it’s my fault! Maybe I’m putting words into his mouth, but I don’t think that’s what Guren wants. So I’ll take a raincheck on that front! If he wanted his friends dead, he wouldn’t have risked his life to save us. That would be crazy! Listen to me, Mito. We have to run. We have to leave him behind, and run."

- Norito to Mito.

"We’ll come back for you. Next time we’ll be the ones to save you, I promise."

- Norito to Guren.

Book 5
"Ooh la la, look at Mr. Chivalry. I think I’ve got a crush!"

- When Guren gets a blanket for Mito after she fell asleep while they played video games all night.

"Man, I wish I had some popcorn for this show. Best friends forever, right? This is some real passion. Not that I’m complaining or anything. I never thought I’d make a bunch of spaz friends like you guys when I got to high school. But I’m just gonna sit back here and drink my cola. I’m listening, though. Carry on, carry on."

- Norito to his squad.

"I guess… The truth is, people were always so busy showering my perfect little brother with praise that I turned into a delinquent. I used to sneak out on my lessons to hang with my boys."

- Norito to Shinya and Guren.

"Really? Then, keep revising it. Pretty soon, you might even fall in love with me. You’re really a hottie, you know. I could even imagine myself marrying you…"

- Norito to Mito after she says she might revise her opinion about him.

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign
"You fool! This chick is wearing a bikini on the cover of the Christmas issue! The ocean isn't the only place for hot bikinis!"

- Norito to Guren.

"Oh, hey Sayuri! Could you make it a headlock, please? Y'know, with my head right at your--"

- Norito to Sayuri.

Trivia

 * Norito 「典人」 means "scripture person".
 * Goshi 「五士」 means "five samurai".
 * According to fanbook 8.5:
 * Interests/Likes: [Interests] cute girls [Likes] philosophy books
 * Favorite food: chips/chocolate cream puffs
 * What he looks for in the opposite sex: every cute girl