| “ | It's not a kitten! It's a tiger! | ” |
—Noboru Kodo | ||
Noboru Kodo (虎堂ノボル Kodou Noboru) is a classmate of Gao Mikado at Aibo Academy. Among the academy's elementary division 6th-year students, he is ranked 2nd in Buddyfight. He uses a Dragon Knight deck. During his fight against Tetsuya, his buddy was Dragon Knight, Red Baron but then becomes Dragon Knight, El Quixote after meeting and confronting him at Aibo Academy. His Core Gadget is a lance.
In Hundred, he has returned as a minor antagonist, after being brainwashed by the efforts of Gratos and the Hundred Demons, taking on the name of "Tiger" and now utilizes a Dungeon World Knight deck with Knight of Glory, El Quixote as his buddy. Under Gratos he serves as the Inverse Fiend for Miserea's Inverse form.
In Triple D, Noboru's parents have returned to Japan, meaning that Noboru has been able to go back to school with Gao and his friends.
He is voiced by Izumi Kitta (Japanese) and Zoe Slusar (English).
Appearance[]
Noboru is an average height and have yellow eyes and yellow hair with black tiger stripes on his head.
In seasons 1 and 2, Noboru wears a pale yellow elbow-length shirt with a black tiger symbol on the front and a blue short-sleeved open jacket. He also wears dark orange shorts with short black leggings. He also wears blue sneakers with grey highlights. He wears a tiger striped sweat band on his right wrist and two bracelets on his left wrist.
In season 3 and 4, Noboru now wears a white t-shirt with a golden tiger symbol and wears a sleeveless blue vest and a red scarf around his neck. He wear light grey baggy capris trousers and black leggings, as well as blue loafers with white soles. He still wears his tiger sweat band.
Personality[]
Noboru is first seen as rather arrogant about his skills as a fighter and the superiority of the Dragon Knights and is always annoyed when calling the tiger on his shirt a kitten (in the Japanese version Noboru's nickname is 猫シャツ "neko shattsu", "Cat-shirt"). He also dismissed Gao's wins as pure luck.
In reality, Noboru tends to underestimate his abilities and feels he's not special. He often blames his defeats as luck, trying to quit Buddyfighting once, but after listening to El Quixote's advice and defeating a criminal named Aooni Konmae he becomes more confident about himself. By the time he faced Magoroku Shido in the ABC Cup, El Quixote says he finally has the courage to be himself.
In the Japanese version he learned basic English while in USA and now says his usual "Not a cat, call me tiger!" response to his shirt being mocked in English. Unlike Suzumi Mikado however, he still mainly uses japanese phonetics while speaking in English.
Anime Biography[]
Noboru is first seen arguing Gao about Dragon Knights being better than Dragons and was displeased when Gao pulled a Buddy Rare card before him. When the ABC cup is announced he enters with his friends Raita Niitani amd Kakumo Maihama as his team mates. After some practice fights he runs into an old man who claims his deck needs some improvement because it spends too much gauge quickly, but Noboru just ignores him and challenges Tetsuya Kurodake for additional practice but lost due to not having Gauge like the old man had warned him. After the fight the old man runs into him again and reveals himself to be Dragon Knight, El Quixote. El Quixote offered to become Noboru's Buddy monster which he agreed to.
With El Quixote's help Noboru qualifies for the tournament, improves his self esteem, defeats a criminal, and skillfully beats Magoroku Shido despite Shido's bribery attempts to try to force Noboru to lose.
At the end of Episode 15, he and his family moved to USA, however he hid the fact he was moving from his friends and after they learned they all gave him a farewell to remember. In episode 21, he is seen telling his other friends that his shirt is a tiger.
In Episode 47, Noboru returns to compete at the Gaen Cup Tournament, and it is revealed that he is a part of Team Destiny which consists of him, Jin, and Kazane. However, their real goal is not to win but to help Gao fight against Disaster.
In Episode 51 Noboru reveals that he is the leader of Team Destiny and wins against Genma in the Gaen Cup with his new item Cavalry Dragon, Hyperion.
In Episode 53, In the first round of the semi-finals, Noboru faces with the mysterious Purgatory Knight who uses the Purgatory Knights archetype which El Quixote identified as legendary members of Dragon World, wondering why they are in Darkness Dragon World now. During the fight Noboru realizes who the Purgatory Knight is and throws his Core Gadget to remove his helmet, revealing Purgatory Knight to be Tasuku Ryuenji. He explains to him that he need time to grow up and spend time with other kids which what Commander I told him, he needs his help. After having watched Tasuku's change of attitude he tries to snap him out of it but fails and is defeated.
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
In D Episode 7 he is found with El Quixote in the park with Bal, he tells Bal that Buddyfight is just a game of luck which results to Bal believing that luck is everything, he then looks for Bal after Gao told Bal that luck isn't really anything, he finds Bal drowning his sorrows in pizza near a pizza truck. Noboru proceeds to his fight with Gaito where he tells Gaito that he will win and that Buddyfight is a game of luck, he then loses to Gaito's Impact Monster after he couldn't draw his item card and dual equip with it. After the fight Bal gives Noboru what he believes to be a lucky fortune but was actually a charm for safe childbirth.
In D Episode 30, during the WBC Cup World Championships, Noboru; along with Gao, Bal, and Baku, meet up with Tetsuya and Asmodai. After the workout, Noboru became a girl when Tetsuya accidentaly gave him a workout for women; which make him a girl for the whole episode, until the workout wore off after Gao's victorious buddyfight win.
Gallery[]
For a full gallery of Noboru Kodo, see Noboru Kodo/Gallery.
Buddyfight Records[]
| Record (Season 1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent(s) | Episode(s) | Outcome |
| ABC cup team mates | 7 | Win (10 times) |
| Tetsuya Kurodake | 7 | Lose |
| ABC cup preliminary match opponent | 8 | Win |
| Aooni Konmae | 10 | Win |
| Magoroku Shido | 14 | Lose (Flashback) |
| Magoroku Shido | 14 | Win |
| Gao Mikado | 15 |
Lose |
| Genma Todoroki | 51 |
Win |
| Tasuku Ryuenji (as the Purgatory Knight) | 53 |
Lose |
| Record (Season 2) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent(s) | Episode(s) | Outcome |
| Ikazuchi | H22 | Lose |
| Jin Magatsu | H26 | Win |
| Suzuha Amanosuzu | H27 | Win |
| Kemura | H29 | Win |
| Genma Todoroki | H30 | Win |
| Gao Mikado | H36 | Interrupted (Lose) |
| Kiri Hyoryu & Rouga Aragami (With Davide Yamazaki) | H44 | Lose |
| Record (Season 3) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent(s) | Episode(s) | Outcome |
| Gao Mikado | D3 | Win |
| Gaito Kurouzu | D7 | Lose |
| Li Kung Fu | D29 | Win (Mentioned) |
| James Knightman | D34 | Win |
| Kyoya Gaen | D34 | Lose |
| Gao Mikado | D51 | Lose |
| Record (Season 4) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent(s) | Episode(s) | Outcome |
| Sakate Onigashira | X5 | Lose |
| Sakate Onigashira | X54 | Win |
| Bolt Fuchigami | X55 | Win |
| Gao Mikado | X57 | Lose |