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The Blood Berry (ブラッド・ベリー, Buraddo Berii) is a weapon in both installments of the No More Heroes video game series. It is a seemingly primitive beam katana model obtained by Travis Touchdown through an online auction. The name is a metaphor for "the taste of blood", the weapon being the fruit that holds the "flavor" that can start a career in killing, in Travis' case.
Its name is also likely patterned after Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly, an anime starring characters named Strawberry, Blueberry and Cranberry that Travis is fond of. According to supplemental materials, the Blood Berry is created by Wolf Vann, the same designer of Henry Cooldown's Cross Sword.
When activated, the frame of the Blood Berry is extracted along with the blade, and the receiver is headed by a blade attachment in the form of a pointed spike. The Blood Berry is one beam katana that cannot function properly without a receiver, and so this blade attachment allows the beam katana to penetrate matter it normally cannot by having a standard, dull receiver. The Blood Berry is also the only recognized beam katana to contain a guide bar in its design.
Despite its construction, its output differs from game to game; No More Heroes featured it as a weak weapon initial weapon with poor features, with Desperate Struggle featuring it with considerable attack power. Nonetheless, its battery usage and slow recharge mechanics shows its vintage.
Touchdown begins both No More Heroes titles with the Blood Berry in his hands at the initial start of each game.
Trading cards[]
The Blood Berry appears on two trading cards in the Design Materials set of No More Heroes. These are Trading Card No. 104 and Trading Card No. 130. An early rendition of the Blood Berry also appears on Trading Card No. 98 and Trading Card No. 127.
Trivia[]
- A trading card which features concept art of the Blood Berry reveals that early in the development of No More Heroes it had no proper name, being referred to as simply "Travis's Early Beam KATANA."
- On the Famitsu No.X-2 T-shirt in No More Heroes, two Blood Berries serve as crossbones beneath a skull, with the caption "Too fast to live, too young to die."
- The designer of the Blood Berry is not clarified in the series. Artist Miwa Shirou illustrated pieces of the Blood Berry among other beam katanas in Dr. Naomi's workshop for an EROTICA Portrait card, but this is her only connection to the Blood Berry to date.