A Tragic Fate

What I enjoy most about Hizumi is that he is a complex character who is fully fleshed out in a short period of time. You learn not only who he is but also who he pretends to be. You learn about his life, his past, and what he expects for the future. His entire life is laid out in a few chapters.

What strikes me most about Hizumi is how despite being an anti-hero to our protagonist Ayumu Narumi, he represents a tragic hero archetype more than anything else. Tragic heroes are described by Aristotle as being a character of noble blood, with a hamartia or tragic flaw that eventually leads to their downfall, and a perpeteia or reversal of fortune caused by this flaw. The tragic hero must perform actions that increase his or her own self-awareness and invoke pity from the audience.

Hizumi becomes a tragic hero the moment he chooses to sacrifice his remaining life for Ayumu Narumi. That was the action that changed him. He became aware that even if it wasn't the way he intended he could defy fate even if it wasn't the way he ever intended it to. By giving the man who has become the hero Hizumi always wanted to be a chance at life Hizumi is becoming a hero in his own right.

That being said, Hizumi's hamartia is not traditional in anyway. Hizumi's tragic flaw is his wish to become a hero. He pushes himself to defy his fate by trying to discover a way to stop the curse from awakening within The Blade Chilren's genes thus becoming their savior rather than a pale imitation of the man who cursed him.

Hizumi's perpeteia is his realization of how little time he has left to live and his subsequent despair at the knowledge that he will be unable to defy his fate and become the hero he was always meant to be. This leads Hizumi to committing crimes that he would have once thought to be unthinkable and while Hizumi is a murderer he is not disqualified from being a tragic hero.

As for being of noble blood Hizumi Mizushiro is a clone of Yaiba Mizushiro, a man who was revered as a god or hated as a devil. As the heir to his legacy Hizumi is revered as something beyond nobility even if those who see him that way are few.