| “ | How interesting. Let me enjoy the ever-changing expressions of Mantaro's pain! | „ |
| ~ Check Mate as he beats on Mantaro Kinniku |
| “ | I do not feel pain! I do not suffer! I am the ultimate warrior! | „ |
| ~ Check Mate as the damage dealt to his body took effect |
Check Mate is a minor antagonist turned hero in the anime/manga series Kinnikuman.
He is one of the antagonists fought in the dMp arc of Kinnikuman Nisei.
After his defeat, he becomes a Justice Chojin and an ally of Mantaro Kinniku, the protagonist.
In the Japanese dub for Kinnikuman Nisei, Check Mate would be voiced by Koichi Tochika who also voices fellow Kinnikuman character Ilioukhine as well as Griffon Minos in Saint Seiya and Neji Hyuga in Naruto.
In the English dub for Kinnikuman Nisei, Check Mate would be voiced by Wayne Grayson who also voices in many 4kids dubs such as Joey Wheeler in Yu-Gi-Oh and Enel in Once Piece.
Appearance[]
King Form[]
| “ |
Terry the Kid: Check Mate is a chess term. Gorgeousman: Now that you mention it, he's got chess pieces on his body. |
„ |
| ~ Terry the Kid and Gorgeousman commenting on Check Mate's appearance |
Check Mate's most standard form, the King Form. In this form, Check Mate has a mostly human appearance, he has a slightly tanned skin color and a standard human face aside from the marks going down his eyes and his lack of pupils.
Check Mate's clothes are mostly red, with him wearing a red helmet, red baggy pants, red wrist guards, one of which has spikes extending out of it red shoulder pads and a tight red shirt.
The only pieces of clothing that aren't red are his black and white chess cape, his black belt, his black boots and the silver crown on his head.
On both of his shoulders are two chess pieces, a cream rook piece on his left shoulder and a blue horned knight piece on his right shoulder.
Knight Form[]
In his Knight Form, Check Mate's human head is swapped places with his blue horned knight piece, his head now resting on his right shoulder. Aside from this, the top half of Check Mate's body remains the same.
The bottom half of Check Mate's body is turned from human legs to horse four horse legs, making Check Mate appear more like a centaur than a human. This horse body is completely blue aside from the black horseshoes and the white horse tail.
Rook Form[]
In his Rook Form, Check Mate's human head is swapped places with his cream rook piece, his head now resting on his left shoulder. The rook piece now has white open eyes without any pupils.
Almost all of Check Mate's body and clothes has a cream tile look, resembling stone more than flesh and cloth, including both the blue knight piece and Check Mate's head with the human head having no visible mouth anymore.
The only piece of Check Mate's body that hasn't turned to stone is the chess-themed cape he always wears.
Rook + Knight Form[]
In his combined Rook and Knight Form, Check Mate combines design elements from both of his other forms to make one.
Check Mate's shoulders a bare from any chess pieces, instead both the Rook and Knight pieces as well as Check Mate's normal head fuse into one with the left half of Check Mate's new head being the blue Knight piece and the right half being his normal head but the crown he's wearing having the cream tile pattern of the Rook piece.
Check Mate's body, aside from his head has the cream tile pattern that his Rook Form has and the bottom half of his body is a horse's body like his Knight Form has. Some changes to his horse body aside from the tiles are his horsetail which is now longer and has black hair color instead of white.
On Check Mate's torso, he has graphite markings which look like tattoos. These markings include two rook piece drawings on both of his shoulders, a king crown drawing on his stomach, two knight piece drawings on his pectorals and queen crown drawing just below his neck.
This is the only form where Check Mate lacks his signature chess-themed cape.
Personality[]
On the surface, Check Mate is the very personification of a gentleman, everything from his manner of speaking to how he carries himself exudes an aura of refinement which he uses to get the crowd onto his side with most of the audience cheering him on with them knowing that he's a member of the dMp who wants to take over the world.
Check Mate will even go as far as to lie to the audience, telling them all that the dMp won't oppress the humans of Earth if they conquer them and that they wish to live in harmony, which are blatant lies seeing as the dMp are all murders who will level cities to get what they want.
| “ | Check Mate is completely amoral. He has no concept of a handshake or any other kind of affection! He only knows one thing: if an opponent extends his hand, he will break it! | „ |
| ~ Sunshine after Check Mate breaks Gorgeousman with a handshake |
Due to the incredibly harsh upbringing that Check Mate was subjected to, he lacks any understanding of positive emotions or gestures, coming off as oblivious to something as basic as a handshake where he shook the hand the wrong way, breaking the other person's arm before asking Sunshine if he did the handshake correctly.
| “ | I have been broadcasting Chojin wrestling for over thirty years... But I have never seen a wrestler raise a hand against a child before! | „ |
| ~ The announcers as they see Check Mate backhand a child |
Beneath all of his posh speech patterns and manners, Check Mate is an egotistical sadist, willing to do anything he wants to get what he wants. When battling Mantaro, he spent most of the fight intentionally causing him as much pain as possible just so he could watch his pained expressions as he breaks parts of his body.
For a while, he did keep up the facade of being a gentleman, however, once Check Mate was certain that he would win, he would reveal his true sadistic nature, going as far as to place a sharp piece of wood under Mantaro's neck so it would stab into him or cut his head off when he performs an elbow drop, a sentiment that would shock the entire crowd and even Sunshine who didn't think that his student could be this sinister.
While Check Mate hates the Justice Chojin, he has just as much contempt for all of humanity, going as far as to slam a child off of him when the child tried to stop him from killing Mantaro, an act that most Devil Chojin would never dream of doing. Check Mate would even go as far as to openly say to everyone watching that he and the dMp will enslave all of them, including children.
Because Check Mate is unable to feel any sort of pain, he fully believes that he is invincible and has no weakness to speak of. Even when Check Mate's knee becomes so injured that he can barely walk, Check Mate refuses to accept or acknowledge it at all and continue to fight with a potentially career-ending injury.
After his defeat at the hands of Mantaro, Check Mate would do a lot of self-reflecting beginning to accept Mantaro's victory over him and turning away from his normal sadistic cheating ways, becoming more honorable in the process to the point that in one-on-one fights, he refuses to help his ally and even stopping their opponent from cheating.
As a Justice Chojin, Check Mate would start to enjoy the simple things in life such as the sights of Japan and all of the good food that he never got to try when he was younger.
Relationships[]
Sunshine[]
As Sunshine's unofficially adopted son, Check Mate holds a fair amount of respect for Sunshine. Check Mate listens to Sunshine's orders and confines in him when he is confused about things such as handshakes.
Check Mate would begin to lose faith in both Sunshine and the old Devil Chojin when he started to beat down Mantaro easily. Check Mate would openly mock the old Devil Chojin, calling them all weak for not being able to beat the old Justice Chojin. When Sunshine stepped into the ring to confront Check Mate about this, he would kick Sunshine away even though Sunshine was so old that he could barely fight and likely didn't wish to fight in the first place.
After Check Mate was defeated by Mantaro, he would start to respect Sunshine as he did before, the two seemingly holding no hard feelings toward each other, even after Check Mate joined the Justice Chojin.
Biography[]
Past[]
During his youth, Check Mate was an orphan who was abandoned by his parents and survived on the streets by eating scraps out of the trash until he was found by Sunshine who would unofficially adopt him and taking him to the dMp headquarters to train him.
Check Mate would go through many years of brutal training that would make his body physically numb to any pain or distress that could be inflicted onto him.
Because of the Devil Chojin faction was so small in the dMp, only consisting of Sunshine, Check Mate and Rex King, they were never given any respect, leading to them all wanting to beat the Justice Chojin so they can take over the dMp.
Kinnikuman Nisei[]
Check Mate would first appear on a televised message with Rex King, announcing that the Nightmares would defeat the Justice Chojin and take over the world for the dMp. After Rex King was killed by Terry the Kid, Check Mate would take a stand, using his natural charisma to sway the crowd to his side while also breaking the arm of the Justice Chojin Gorgeousman.
Check Mate would fight against Mantaro Kinniku in a match to determine whether or not the dMp would rule the Earth. In their match, Mantaro would attack Check Mate, only to find out that he can't feel any pain. Whenever Mantaro was damaged, Check Mate would take the time to examine his pained expression with his curious attitude.
After repeatedly beating down Mantaro, Check Mate began to think that both he and the Justice Chojin were weak and called Sunshine out, calling the Six Devil Knights weak for not being able to beat them. Sunshine would leap into the ring, only to be kicked aside by Check Mate. Check Mate would continued to beat on Mantaro, hitting him out of the ring before placing a sharp piece of wood under his neck before going to press Mantaro down onto it, using piercing through his neck.
At this point, the crowd started to turn against Check Mate, seeing his wicked side. When a child tried to stop him, Check Mate would backhand him away. Sunshine would attack Check Mate to save Mantaro, Check Mate would attack Sunshine but Mantaro would throw him away.
Check Mate was ready to continue his attack, however, all the damage dealt to his leg shattered his patella, making the blood swell and him unable to move. Despite this, Check Mate still wanted to fight, to prove himself stronger than Mantaro. Check Mate would use both of his forms to beat down Mantaro but he would break free and use the Kinniku Buster on Check Mate, beating him.
After his defeat, Sunshine would carry Check Mate away to heal his wounds and train him to be stronger, the bond between them becoming closer again.
During Mantaro's battle against No Respect #No 1 Fork the Giant, Check Mate would reappear before Mantaro. He along with everyone else thought that Check Mate had come for revenge against Mantaro or to watch Mantaro die against a stronger opponent but instead, he sat by and watched the fight and would stop Fork the Giant from cheating during the fight.
After this, Check Mate would stick with Mantaro, acting as an ally before becoming a Justice Chojin.
Quote[]
| “ | Ladies and gentlemen, I am 100% certain I will defeat Mantaro Kinniku! We of the dMp will come to rule the entire world! But we will not oppress you with undue violence. We will join forces, to co-exist in a new age of prosperity! Yes, a better life for all than we have today... I promise you all! | „ |
| ~ Check Mate lying to the audience to get them on the dMp's side |
| “ | "Hurts"? Hmm... That's what it means to be in pain. Please let me take a closer look at this so-called "pain"! Ah... So when it hurts, your face gets red and you start to sweat... | „ |
| ~ Check Mate examining Mantaro's pained body |
| “ | Hmm... This "pain" is not a good thing. Because of such feelings, you expose a disgraceful side of yourself. Wrestlers should carry themselves... With more dignity and bravery. | „ |
| ~ Check Mate mocking Mantaro's pain |
| “ |
Mantaro Kinniku: Even when you have the advantage, whenever you see weakness you let up and get all preachy. That's your weakness! Check Mate: Not at all! Lacking such notions as pain, suffering or agony, I have no weaknesses! |
„ |
| ~ Check Mate's preachy nature being used against him |
| “ | Now do you understand? I have no such thing as a weakness. I only preach because I am so strong. It gives me the luxury to do so. | „ |
| ~ Check Mate after beating down Mantaro |
| “ | Is the wrestler called Mantaro Kinniku really only this strong? Did I put up with ten years of torturous training under Sunshine... Just so I could fight someone this weak? | „ |
| ~ Check Mate's inner monologue |
| “ |
Check Mate: Sunshine, I finally understand everything. Why your evil army perished... Thirty years ago... Sunshine: I've told you that story many times. Our final battle against the Justice Chojin led by Kinnikuman... Check Mate: Shush You make it sound like you were defeated by highly skilled warriors. But now, having fought Mantaro, the offspring of Kinnikuman... I know the old Justice Chojin couldn't have been strong! And the Devil Chojin who could not defeat the Justice Chojin... Must have been even weaker! |
„ |
| ~ Check Mate confronting Sunshine |
| “ | This is perfect! (Puts a sharp piece of wood under Mantaro's neck) If I land an elbow drop on him in this position... What do you think will happen? | „ |
| ~ Check Mate's sadistic side |
| “ | You fools! Once I beat Mantaro, the whole world will become the dMp's!! When that happens, adults and children alike will serve under our rule!! You'd better prepare your children for that! | „ |
| ~ Check Mate calling out to the crowd about their potential fate |
Powers and Abilities[]
- Chojin Physiology: As a Chojin, Check Mate has superhuman strength, speed and durability. Other abilities that Chojin have that Check Mate has is the ability to grow to be as large as a building and the ability to fly without wings or thrusters, even in the vacuum of space.
- Pain Immunity: Due to all of the intense training that Check Mate went through during his childhood, he became unable to feel any pain such as twisting his legs backwards, having his knee pop open or being slammed to the ground head first, allowing him to push his body well past its limits. The problem with this ability is that it makes it so Check Mate can't tell what parts of his body have been damaged.
- Chess Piece Change: Check Mate is able to transform his entire body by pressing a button on his shoulders, depending on the button pressed, Check Mate will either turn into his Knight Form or Rook Form. Aside from the Pawn Form, only Check Mate can use the chess pieces on his body to transform.
- Knight Form: Check Mate's Knight Form turns the bottom half of his body into a horse, granting him faster movement speed and stronger kicks.
- Rook Form: Check Mate's Rook Form turns his entire body to stone, making it harder to damage him and making all of his attacks deal more damage. Check Mate is also able to split is body apart to avoid attacks or to open and close his body onto a person's limbs to crush them.
- Rook + Knight Form: Check Mate is able to combine both the Rook Form and Knight Form into a single form, gaining both of their benefits at the same time.
- Pawn Form: Check Mate's Pawn Form is his weakest form that barely allows him to move. He never uses this form but can still access it since he wears the pawn transformation device on his body.
External Links[]
- Check Mate on the Kinnikuman Wiki
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 Villains
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dMp | ||
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Devil Chojin Demon Seed Evil-Time Chojin | ||
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Brutal Chojin | ||
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Tag Teams | ||
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Others | ||
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See Also | ||