Kurisei Shinku

''"All this blood... It reminds me of someone... I think she had red hair." -Kurimuzon''

Issei Hyoudou (兵藤 一誠 Hyōdō Issei) is the main protagonist of the series. A second-year student at Kuoh Academy, he is a pervert who has a habit of fantasizing women naked, and is well known for being creepy at the Academy, but, in contrast to this, he is also surprisingly hot-blooded and hard-working. His first girlfriend suddenly kills him, but Rias saves him and brings him back to life as a Devil of her own clan, making him a member of the Occult Research Club. His rank is "Pawn", and while his powers as a Devil are low-ranking, on his left arm he wields a Sacred Gear called "Boosted Gear". He works hard day and night for the sake of his master and the highest-ranking Devil, Rias. His goal is to one day rise in rank into a high-ranking Devil so that he can gather his own servants and create his own harem, becoming a "Harem King" and suck on president's boobs. However, after becoming a One-Eyed Ghoul and Naki's torture, he is left with a broken mind and a child-like disposition, called by the name Kurimuzon (クリムゾン Kurimuzon).

Appearance
Issei is a young teen with messy brown hair and eyes, often wearing red shirt beneath his Kuoh Academy uniform. Like all Devils, he has black bat-like wings spreading out from his back, giving him the capability to fly. Boosted Gear manifests on his arm, covering the entire forearm and hand, while his Balance Breaker, Scale Mail, envelops his entire body.

However, after the two year time skip, Issei's appearance changes drastically. His hair is now white and longer, covering his ears and his bangs hide his eyes. He often goes around wearing a long white coat with a red hoodie underneath with a buttoned shirt and worn out black slacks and worn sneakers. Over the bottom half of his face is a mask with a dragon-like snarl. His Kakugan is located in his right eye. At times, when he is angered or suffering from a headache, he develops green irises with a slitted pupil.

Personality
Issei is, for a lack of better words, a pervert. Ever since his encounter with an old man, he and a few other children, two of which being his best friends Motohama and Matsuda, have developed an unhealthy obsession for breasts, and aspires of one day becoming a Harem King, surrounded by several beautiful women. However, despite his lewd tendencies, Issei is actually a kind and gentle individual who is easily angered when his loved ones are threatened. He is protective of his friends, and would risk life and limb to protect them, which has been shown multiple times through out the series. He also harbors feelings for his master, Rias, but due to the incident that claimed his life, he is hesitant and unable to express his true feelings.

However, after a misunderstanding between him and the others, he is left heart-broken and wondering if he still truly has a place with the Occult Research Club. He still wondered if his friends cared about him while in Aogiri's custody, often thinking of them while being tortured. Each session brings his mind to a state of collapse, the only things keeping his sanity together being the math equations Naki gives him to solve while the torture is going on, and his time with Eto after each sessions. Eventually, all rationality is destroyed, as he hallucinates seeing Raynare, who is mocking him for his failures, even insulting his friends and Eto.

At long last, his former personality is destroyed, and violently attacks Raynare, who in reality is one of Naki's subordinates. Issei devours him, still thinking he is fighting Raynare, and displays a child-like personality, complaining that Naki is noisy before attacking him.

As Kurimuzon scenes, he is shown with a child-like disposition, and is prone to outbursts that require the power of Tatara, Noro, and Ayato to restrain him. However, he is very obedient and loyal to Eto, due to the fact that he only recalls his time with her, but nothing of his previous life. He appears to cherish her greatly, and follows all of her instructions carefully. When he and Ayato were about to fight, Eto ordered him to stop. Immediately, he ceased his activities.

There are times, however, when Issei's memories come back to him through certain events. One such example is when he sees the corpses of the Investigators and their pools of blood, recalling someone with red hair. However, he appears to have no intention of remembering his past, wanting to spend his time with Eto or playing with her rather than deal with annoying things that hold no value to him.

Abilities
Despite the fact that he is a pervert, he attracts numerous girls around him: Rias, Asia, Akeno, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina and Ravel. This is due to him wanting to protect and help them despite almost dying at the hands of his opponents. He is oblivious to the girls around him being in love with him. Early on in the series, Rias explains the reason why she cannot have any more Pawns other than him is because she had to use all 8 Pawns to bring him back to life; however, the real reason is because of his Sacred Gear.

In the light novels, it is revealed that Issei's Sacred Gear has more capabilities then what has been shown before. The Boosted Gear is actually a forbidden Gear which starts of as a gauntlet at its first stage. While training and mastering its powers, the Sacred Gear will begin to spread throughout the body as armor. Once fully mastered, it is said to be able to kill a Satan or a God. This is because the gauntlet doubles the user's power every 10 seconds without limit, the only restriction being the user's own ability to handle the power. Hence why Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils fear this power.

In Volume 4 of the light novels prior to the meeting of the three factions, he receives St. George's Dragon Slayer sword, Ascalon, from the Archangel Michael. Due to his training in the Underworld with former Dragon King, Taninim, he obtained a great stamina that he can use when he gained his Balance Breaker, which he does during his fight with Kuroka where he gained full-access to his Balance Breaker. Issei has a tokusatsu show in the Underworld called Breast Dragon Emperor Oppai Dragon (乳龍帝おっぱいドラゴン Chichiryūtei Oppai Doragon?), which stars him as the main character named Issei Gremory and is popular among the children.

Issei's Sacred Gear, "Boosted Gear" (赤龍帝の籠手（ブーステッド･ギア） Būsuteddo Gia?, lit. "Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet"), is one of the Thirteen Longinus, where one of the Two Heavenly Dragons, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor, resides. Issei is nowhere close to mastering his Sacred Gear, and as a result when he enters Juggernaut Drive, 99 percent of his lifespan is sacrificed, though he and Koneko managed to get it back. During Rias' Rating Game against Riser, Issei's Boosted Gear transformed to its second form, called the Boosted Gear Gift (赤龍帝からの贈り物(ブーステッド・ギア・ギフト) Būsuteddo Gia Gifuto?, lit. "Gift of the Red Dragon Emperor") which allows him to transfer his boosted powers to other people or objects. During his fight against Vali, Issei placed one of Albion's jewels on his right gauntlet, resulting in the creation of the "Dividing Gear" (白龍皇の籠手（ディバイディング・ギア） Issei was banned from using it by Azazel, because it shortend his lifespan whever he used it. Issei can also fire a beam of energy from his Boosted Gear by concentrating his magical powers, which he dubs the "Dragon Shot" (魔力弾（ドラゴンショット） Doragon Shotto?). In Volume 12, it was revealed that after seeing Sirzechs use his Power of Destruction, Issei had been working on controling his Dragon Shot, allowing him to redirect it in midflight so that it could hit different targets as he wished. During his fights against the Hero Faction of the Chaos Brigade, Issei developed a technique to fire off a barrage of mini-missles with only enough explosive force to knock out, but not kill, a normal human. In Vol 12, Issei unlocked a forbidden power of the Balance Breaker called Longinus Smasher. A powerful energy blast fired from a cannon hidden in the chest of the Scale Mail. Issei had previously used it against a member of the Old Maoh faction while in Juggernaut Mode, but had not memory of it.

As a Ghoul, he exists as the first ever Devil/Ghoul Hybrid, easily become one of the most dangerous threats the CCG has ever faced. With his Devil powers adding to his Ghoulish strength, he possesses physical strength powerful enough to create small craters in the ground, and incredible regeneration abilities. During Naki's torture, when his fingers were ripped off, they had already started to grow back. In addition, he has high amounts of stamina, despite being an Ukaku/Bikaku, likely due to his nature as the wielder of Boosted Gear. At this time, he doesn't appear to be able to call upon Ddraig, much less able to hear his voice. Due to the appearance of his Kagune, he is called by the nickname Crimson Dragon (クリムゾンドラゴン Kurimuzondoragon) by both Aogiri and CCG, classified as an SSS-Rated Ghoul.

Kagune

 * Ukaku: After Kanou's experiment, Issei became the first ever Devil/Ghoul hybrid with a Chimera-type Kagune. His Ukaku Kagune was inherited from Yoshimura, initially taking on the appearance of silvery feather-like plumes with a blade. However, his nature as a Devil, and also because of Boosted Gear's influence, has changed it considerably, becoming crimson, scaly dragon like wings. It is capable of shooting several hundreds of crystals in a few seconds, possessing even greater power than any Ukaku Ghoul to date, save for the One-Eyed Owl. He is also capable of flight, unlike the others, perfecting it in tandem with his Devil wings. Like other Ukaku's, they can crystallize for defensive purposes, though they can also be used to become make-shift blades and cut down the enemy.
 * Bikaku: After Kanou's experiment, Issei became the first ever Devil/Ghoul hubrid with a Chimera-type Kagune. His Bikaku was inherited from an unknown Ghoul, an SS-Rated Ghoul according to Tatara, initially taking on the appearance of a bushy green tail. However, his nature as a Ghoul, and also because of Boosted Gear's influence, has changed it considerably, now resembling a slender, narrow reptillian like tail with spikes at the tip. It is capable of intercepting attacks, like his wings, and can also deal heavy damage. The spikes also make it rather volitile, easily allowing him to skewer his enemies or inflict a grave wound.
 * Kakuja: According to Eto, Issei has committed several acts of cannibalism in the last to years, and was stated to have acquired a Kakuja. However, nothing about it has been revealed as of yet. What little is known is through Tatara, as he had seen it first hand, describing it as a "true dragon", mentioning that it was far more terrifying than even Eto's Kakuja form.

Trivia

 * Issei is the first Ghoul/Devil Hybrid in the series to date.
 * As Kurimuzon, he doesn't appear to have access to Boosted Gear, much less able to hear Ddraig's voice.
 * Issei is the third Chimera-type Ghoul, the others being Hinami Fueguchi and Nutcracker.
 * Issei's experiences in Aogiri, down to his hallucination with Raynare, alludes to Kaneki's change in the Aogiri Arc.

Quotes

 * "My life-long dream... is to become... A HAREM KING!"
 * "Riser Phenex! I'm Issei Hyoudou, the Pawn of Rias Gremory! ...Buchou's virginity belongs to me!"
 * "Haa... hahahahaha... Oh man, I'm hallucinating now... aren't I? Hahaha.... H-hahahaha... I'm... I'm so fucked up, aren't I... Buchou...?"
 * "...So noisy..."