| Kuro |
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Kuro is a large black guide dog owned by the blind assassin Ryōken Hōinbō. He assists his owner during Hōinbō's hits. Kuro's collar has a custom-made bell on it, with an identical one being attached to Hōinbō's knife prior to his arrest.
Rescuer
- Main article: IS-7 Incident
On a particularly cold day in December 2000, Hōinbō and Kuro witnessed two boys trapped in a frozen car. They rescued the children, only to find that they suffered from amnesia from the trauma of their near-death experience. Hōinbō thus sent them to the nearby Happy Family Home orphanage.
Six years later, in February 2007, Kuro accompanied Hōinbō as he assassinated President Teikun Ō of Zheng Fa at the orphanage. Hōinbō's clients sought to betray the assassin and kill him, but with the help of Sōta Sarushiro, one of the boys whom Hōinbō and Kuro had rescued, they managed to escape.
Supplier dog
- Main article: The Imprisoned Turnabout
Hōinbō was eventually arrested and convicted for his crimes by prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. By this time, Sarushiro had run away from the orphanage, which had closed down. Hōinbō found that Marī Miwa, the owner of the orphanage, was now a warden at his prison, and blackmailed her into providing various goods for him and the other inmates. Miwa would bring the goods to a well in the prison courtyard and spray perfume into the well as a signal for Kuro to arrive. The well was connected to the cell of Shūji Orinaka, allowing the dog to carry the goods all the way back to Hōinbō's cell.
In March 2019, Kuro delivered the dead body of Manosuke Naitō to Hōinbō. The assassin was surprised and had the dog take the body to one of the workrooms. Frank Sahwit spotted Kuro while he was putting the body down and was frightened at the apparent sight of the dog biting Naitō to death. The murder prompted Miles Edgeworth to investigate, as he was the one who had had Naitō arrested. Kuro's fierce barking frightened Edgeworth's companions, Kay Faraday and Tateyuki Shigaraki, into running away, but only startled the prosecutor.
Later, Kuro delivered a chisel with the bell from Hōinbō's knife attached to it. Suspecting that he was being framed, and mistaking the chisel for his knife, Hōinbō had Kuro hide it in his mouth. Edgeworth eventually found the chisel anyway, but since only Naitō's prints were on it, it was ruled out as the murder weapon, and Hōinbō was in turn ruled out as a suspect. Miwa was eventually indicted for the murder.
Going on a walk
- Main article: The Grand Turnabout
A week after the murder, Hōinbō and Kuro escaped from prison to look for Sarushiro. They found Edgeworth, who was looking for the mastermind behind several murders. They figured out that these two people were one and the same, and Hōinbō had Kuro leap on Edgeworth as a distraction so that he could escape. Hōinbō then appeared after Edgeworth exposed Sarushiro, in order to save his life from another assassin.
Personality
Kuro is just as intimidating and dangerous as his owner Hōinbō, to whom he is fiercely loyal. According to the assassin, Kuro knows the standard dog tricks, but also has alternate versions of them used during hits. For example, "roll over" would start with Kuro biting the victim's foot. Kuro also likes to leap on Hōinbō's back suddenly, as if attacking him. One individual toward whom Kuro seems particularly antagonistic is Miles Edgeworth; just about the only thing the prosecutor and the assassin's dog have in common is a shared icy glare.
Name
- "Kuro" is Japanese for "black".
- Kuro's English name in the fan translation of Gyakuten Kenji 2 is "Anubis", which comes from the name of the jackal-headed ancient Egyptian god associated with mummification and the afterlife.
Development
- Assuming that the Kuro who helped rescue Sōta Sarushiro and Manosuke Naitō during the IS-7 Incident was the same dog encountered by Miles Edgeworth, this would make him at least 18 years old. Such longevity is exceptionally rare in dogs, particularly larger breeds, but not entirely unheard of.
- Kuro may be intended to be a Tosa, which are also known as Japanese Mastiffs.