Grings Kodai
| Grings Kodai グリングス・コーダイ Grings Kōdai | |
 Kodai | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Hometown | Nimbasa City |
| Region | Unova |
| Animated debut | Zoroark: Master of Illusions |
| English voice actor | Sean Schemmel |
| Japanese voice actor | Takanori Jinnai |
Grings Kodai (Japanese: グリングス・コーダイ Grings Kōdai), often referred to by simply his surname Kodai, is the central antagonist of Zoroark: Master of Illusions.
History
He is known as a man with ruthless ambition and is widely recognized for his business success, even having a magazine published following his exploits. However, the cause of his business success is supernatural. Kodai possesses a strange power; at times, he will begin to hallucinate painfully and have a vision of the future. Rowena later reveals to Ash and his friends that Kodai was directly responsible for a disaster that befell Crown City twenty years prior. He discovered Celebi in the city and touched the "Time Ripple" produced from its time traveling - giving him his future sight abilities. However, by tampering with the time ripple and absorbing the mysterious energy inside it, the time ripple violently collapsed and produced a tremendous, dark-colored explosion of "negative time" which killed all the plant life within Crown City and the areas around it. Nearly twenty years would pass before the city and its people fully recovered from the disaster.
By present day, Kodai is the president of a powerful corporation bearing his name, the Kodai Network, with a secretary and assistant named Rowena and a bodyguard, Goone. He is shown in a news broadcast planning to enter the Pokémon Baccer World Cup in Crown City using Raikou, Entei, and Suicune.
Because the abilities he gained from touching the Time Ripple slowly disappear, Kodai is madly desperate to find it once again so he can renew them regardless of the cost to the people of Crown City. Unknown to all but his assistants, he has abducted two mysterious Pokémon, Zorua and its mother Zoroark. He blackmails Zoroark into attacking Crown City in the guises of his legendary beasts by threatening the safety of her child. Zorua escapes, but this does not harm Kodai's plan, as Zoroark is unaware of that fact and he merely uses a projection of Zorua to convince her. Kodai begins his plan, secretly editing Zoroark's illusionary rampage to make it appear she is truly destroying the town. He then proceeds to order the city's evacuation and 'apologize' for his Legendary Beasts rampaging and framing Zoroark for full responsibility of the attack. With the city empty, Kodai is then free to search Crown City for his prize.
He intends to capture Celebi, who has appeared in Crown City from twenty years in the future, with the goal of finding the Time Ripple it leaves behind upon arrival, as should Celebi should reach the Time Ripple first, it will disappear before he can obtain its power. A vision he has early in the story reveals to him that Ash and his friends will oppose him before he even meets them, but also seemingly shows him emerging victorious. His visions and pursuit of Celebi ultimately lead him to the Pokémon Baccer Stadium, where the Time Ripple is located. However, Celebi takes off into the forest, forcing Kodai to follow, only to discover he'd been tricked into chasing Zorua disguised as Celebi. Despite the best efforts of Karl's Bronzor and Zorua, he ultimately knocks Bronzor out and recaptures Zorua with the claw he intends to use to absorb the Time Ripple, only sustaining a bite to his arm in the process.
Upon returning to the stadium, he has his Mismagius disable Ash, Pikachu, and Celebi with Psychic, allowing him to approach the Time Ripple unopposed, until a vengeful Zoroark arrives, determined to reclaim her son and take revenge on Kodai. However, Kodai was prepared for this and uses Zorua to hold Zoroark at bay, threatening to kill him should Zoroark continue opposing him, proving his point by cruelly electrocuting Zorua. He then orders his Shuppet to finish off Zoroark as he begins to absorb the time ripple's power, telling Ash that he doesn't care if all the greenery in Crown City dies once again, his prideful nature causing him to continue gloating, fully admitting to his role in the disaster 20 years earlier without guilt and that he'd get away with it now just as he had then. As the disaster from the past starts to repeat itself, time suddenly started reversing and Kodai realizes to his horror that the Ripple of Time he absorbed was merely an illusion created by Zoroark. Unable to understand how it happened, he discovers that when Zorua bit his wrist earlier in the fight, the young Pokémon destroyed his illusion canceler, leaving him open to Zoroark's powers.
Karl and Rowena then reveal themselves, having captured Kodai on video admitting to his guilt in the previous disaster and acknowledging he would willingly cause it again. Enraged, Kodai orders his Shuppet to attack Zorua from behind for breaking his illusion canceler, but Zoroark leaps in front of the attack. Kodai then proceeds to violently attack Zoroark before she can recover for deceiving him, electrocuting her, but was struck back by the determined Illusion Pokémon's Dark Pulse. Her counterattack destroyed his robotic arm, preventing him from absorbing the Time Ripple. Zoroark then proceeds to take down his Shuppet with Dark Pulse while his Mismagius falls to Ash's Pikachu and Dawn's Piplup. With his claw destroyed and Pokémon defeated, Kodai is left defenseless as Zoroark and the Legendary Beasts that serve as the guardians of Crown City move in on him. However, Kodai manages to escape inside of the stadium, but before he can escape, he begins hallucinating from another illusion by the dying Zoroark, believing himself safely on board his airship. Zoroark cancels her illusion, causing Kodai to trip over the guardrail of the balcony he was truly on, falling to the field of the stadium and knocking himself out. When he regains consciousness, he finds himself surrounded by Zoroark (whom was revived by Celebi), Zorua, Officer Jenny, and many others while the video recorded by Karl is broadcasting throughout the city. With the revelations that he was the one responsible for destroying the plantlife two decades previously and that he was willing to do it again, Kodai was arrested by Officer Jenny.
During the credits of the movie, the news report published by Karl and Rowena reveals that Kodai and Goone were both arrested and sent to jail for their crimes.
Technology
Kodai's vast wealth enables his access to a significant amount of high-tech equipment needed for his mission. Among the tools he is seen using:
- Illusion Generator: A small orb that can create a physical manifestation of artificial Pokémon data; very similar to Dr. Yung's Mirage System.
- Illusion Canceler: A bracelet that, when activated, shows its wearer any nearby objects that are actually illusions.
- Amphibious Vehicle: A four-wheel drive, Jeep-like car capable of driving in water just as well as on land. It is equipped with the Illusion Generator as well as remote-controlled saucers that can generate electrified iron crates. The unfolding arms in the back of the car can then tow the crate around.
- Robotic Arm: Originally appeared as a device contained within a backpack with a large arm-mounted cannon. It was later streamlined into a durable cable with a claw at the end which could be hidden inside Kodai's sleeve. It is used to absorb the Time Ripple's energy, and the modern version can also discharge electricity to shock anything in its grasp. Its output is capable of reaching a high level of voltage that can mortally wound the powerful Zoroark, making it potentially deadly to anything smaller or weaker.
- Airship: A massive, eight-engined flying boat that serves as Kodai's base of operations.
- Pen Camera: A homing, flying camera disguised as a pen that can be used for spying. Its weakness is the loud buzzing it makes while flying.
- Hoverboard: Used to quickly cover long distances and to find the time ripple. Similar to the hoverboard used by Zero, but equipped with radar maps of Crown City and a large spotlight.
- Remote Cameras: Several flight-enabled camera units used to carry out surveillance on many areas at once.
- Video Editing Software: An extremely powerful, high-tech video editing program. It is capable of taking input from several video feeds at once and splicing pieces of them into one falsified, impossible-to-distinguish video.
Personality
Kodai is a master manipulator, using his supernatural ability to see into the future to set up complex plans in order to secure and increase his vast fortune. While he presents himself as kind and looking out for the good of Crown City, he is actually one of the few characters in the Pokémon anime to be portrayed as purely evil. He is an egotistical, ruthless, heartless man with a pronounced sadistic streak. He has absolutely no compassion for anyone and cares only for himself, not caring who or what he must destroy to get what he desires. However, his two greatest weaknesses are his over-dependence on his future sight, which he used to gain his vast wealth and power, and his fear of losing that ability which he believed would gradually lead to the loss of everything he gained. He's also an extremely prideful man, which ultimately leads to his undoing.
Pokémon
| Debut | Zoroark: Master of Illusions |
|---|---|
| Voice actors | |
| Japanese | Kikuko Inoue |
One of Kodai's Pokémon is a Mismagius, which he has owned since it was a Misdreavus. Years ago, when Kodai first discovered the Time Ripple, Misdreavus was present at the scene. After evolving, Mismagius still served Kodai faithfully and helped him by using its Psychic attack to prevent Ash from stopping Kodai from taking the energy from the ripple and renewing his ability to see the future. Mismagius was later defeated by Pikachu's Volt Tackle.
Shuppet is Kodai's other Pokémon and worked with him closely during his search for the Time Ripple. Years ago, Kodai used Shuppet to help him find Celebi's Time Ripple and it was thanks to this that Kodai accidentally got his powers after he attempted to extract some energy from it.
Years later, Shuppet was shown to be fiercely loyal to Kodai and obeyed his orders without question even though Kodai's eventual goal would end up wiping out all of the plant life in Crown City. It was shown to be ruthless in its obedience, as it attacked Zorua from behind when it attempted to run to Zoroark but was defeated thanks to Zoroark's Dark Pulse.
Shuppet's known moves are Foresight, Shadow Ball, Psychic and Thunderbolt.
Controlled
With the Pokémon Baccer World Cup approaching, Kodai claimed that he was going to enter his three legendary beasts as a team, the Nimbasa Legends. However this was simply a ploy as the Beasts he was seen to own were only holograms that Kodai later claimed had escaped.
Kodai also used the holograms to test Zoroark's Illusion ability.
When Zoroark had done its job to attack Crown City in order to cause an evacuation, Kodai needed to retrieve it. In order to do that, he created a projection of Zorua as bait to lure Zoroark into a trap.
Escaped
- Main article: Zorua (movie 13)
Kodai kidnapped Zorua from its homeland alongside its adopted mother, Zoroark. Later Kodai attempted to hold it hostage to force Zoroark to follow his orders to attack Crown City. However, while being transported Zorua escaped Kodai's airship, but this didn't hold up Kodai's plans as Zoroark was unaware of the escape and Kodai made her believe Zorua was still captive.
- Main article: Zoroark (movie 13)
Kodai's plan was for Zoroark to cause Crown City to be evacuated in order to allow him to search the city for Celebi's 'Time Ripple'. Once this was accomplished, Zoroark was recaptured however she later escaped when she heard Zorua screaming for help.
Voice actors
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In the manga
His role in the Manga is nearly exactly the same as his role in the movie, but he uses his holograms more often, including confronting Ash via illusion instead of in person. After mortally wounding Zoroark, he runs to the stadium when confronted by her and the legendary beasts, where he meets his end when Zoroark chases him off the top of stadium wall with illusionary vines, sending him falling to his death.
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| English, Italian, Spanish | Grings Kodai | Same as his Japanese name. |
| French | Grégoire Kodai | |
| German | Ken Kodai | |
| Korean | 그링스 나흐벨츠 Grings Naheubelcheu | |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 克林克斯‧寇泰 Kèlínkèsī Kòutài | Transliteration of his Japanese name. Coincidentally, the 寇 in his name either means "enemy" or "to invade". |