| “ | Welcome back, viewers! This is From the Jaws of Death, and I am your host, Cecil Kanagawa! But of course, who doesn’t know me? | ” |
—Cecil[src]
Cecil Kanagawa is the son of Martian mobster and media luminary Croesus Kanagawa and the identical twin brother of Cassandra Kanagawa. His backstory and personality differ slightly between the original and updated version of "Juno Steel and the Case of the Murderous Mask," but in any universe, Cecil considers himself to be the wittiest man alive.
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Early Life[]
Cecil has a flair for the dramatic and a taste for blood. He was once kidnapped by gangsters (in the updated version, this was done at his own request, to spice up a boring TV special) and had to be rescued by Juno Steel, but not before he lost one of his arms, which was replaced by a high-tech prosthetic.
He runs and owns all of the footage from one of Hyperion City's local prisons, Hoosegow, as well as developing and starring in other stream blockbusters produced by the Kanagawa family, such as Colosseum 2: We Gave The Lion A Gun And You Won't Believe What Happens Next.
In the updated version of the episode, Cecil enjoys collecting and putting to use various ancient torture devices. He also owns a makeup and perfume line.
History[]
While investigating the death of Cecil's father Croesus, Juno Steel and Rex Glass first encounter Cecil in his workshop, which is located behind one of his father's antique tomb doors. Cecil sends one of his Camera Men to chase Juno and Rex onto his set for "From the Jaws of Death," a game show where he shows off his expansive collection of ancient torture devices and challenges contestants to escape from them under a time limit. He chains Juno and Rex down to the Throne of Spinning Blades. Before starting the cameras, he makes sure to do their makeup, Juno admitting that the lipstain Cecil picks out for him does look pretty good.
Cecil is shocked and dismayed when Juno and Rex actually manage to escape from his device. He attempts to have his Camera Men force them back into the chairs, but he is cornered into a grove of Pear of Anguish tress by the two instead and subdued.
At that point, Cecil reveals that he was entirely unaware of his father's demise. He begins crying uncontrollably, reciting his many pet names for his father while asking the detective and the agent how it had happened. Rex thinks that Cecil's tears seem genuine, and Juno is eventually talked out of complete skepticism, although he points out that there is a lot of evidence that still doesn't add up if Cecil is innocent.
When asked for an alibi, Cecil explains that he was not in fact at the mansion the night of the murder, as the footage his sister Cassandra earlier showed them of "herself" out on the town was actually him in disguise. He provides video evidence of himself changing in and out of his Cassandra disguise, and Juno reluctantly believes him.
Cecil is last heard blubbering about his father and asking Juno to adjust the cameras in his Pear of Anguish grove so that they can catch his makeup running, as it would make for great TV.
Personality[]
Cecil has an extremely high opinion of himself, made worse by the fact that he's genuinely a genius. He is both very sadistic and very narcissistic. He is willing to do just about anything to get ratings for his shows, and he seems to find no problem using murder and torture to do so because, in the end, he's "making people smile out there." He seems to have very low empathy, either not knowing or not caring that people do not like it when he murders and tortures them, even if they do get to be on TV while it's happening. He also thinks of Juno Steel as his closest friend, despite the fact Juno does not seem very fond of him.
Abilities[]
Cecil has invented his own line of make up. He has also created the Camera Men, mutated genetically modified creatures he creates using DNA from many fast and resilient animals spliced with literal video cameras.
He can also do a perfect impression of his sister Cassandra, good enough to fool their mutual friend Juno Steel, their parents, and Cassandra's entire stream audience.
Relationships[]
Juno Steel[]
Cecil is fond of Juno, and considers him his best friend besides his father, despite the fact that Juno does not seem to share this sentiment. He seems to be genuinely grateful to Juno both for saving his life and for giving him a reason to get his bionic arm, opposite Juno's assumption that he would hold a grudge for losing him the organic one.
Cecil's learned method of expressing gratitude, however, is to "make [him] a star," and Cecil is perfectly willing to kill Juno in order to give him the fame he feels he deserves.
Cassandra Kanagawa[]
Cecil seems to like his sister, even if he does not take her seriously. He refers to her documentaries as 'silly,' though he also took over some of her other shows to give her more time to plan them.
Croesus Kanagawa[]
Cecil was very close to his father, citing him as his best friend aside from Juno. He seems to be the only member of the Kanagawa family who used the several pet names Croesus encouraged his family to use for him.
Min Kanagawa[]
Cecil compares his stepmother to his monstrous Camera Men and his deadly Throne of Spinning Blades, which may be somewhat indicative of their relationship. However, it should be noted that though these are both monstrous and deadly things, they are monstrous and deadly things that Cecil is very fond of.
Episode Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Cecil is transgender, though creator Sophie Kaner has said the label no longer exists in the Junoverse (much like other LGBT identities).[1]
- Cecil's nickname for Juno is "Junebug."
- Cecil's studio for From the Jaws of Death contains many plays on and futuristic renditions of torture and execution devices already known today, such as a 'Grove of Pear of Anguish Trees,' a 'Herd of Brazen Bulls', 'Adamantium' Maidens, and Laser Guillotines.
- Judging by the hand on which Leslie Drescher wears a silver glove during the live show, Cecil is missing his left arm.
- It was revealed in the season 2.1 Q&A that in the original version of Murderous Mask, Cecil was intended to be having an affair with his stepmother, Min. This plotline has been scrapped as of the canon update and is no longer canon.
- When writing Cecil, Co-Creator Kevin Vibert was inspired by Damon Killian from 1987 film The Running Man.[source needed]
- Leslie Drescher drew on their performance as Caroline Bingley in a stage production of Pride and Prejudice when voicing Cecil, and even recited one of Caroline's lines from Pride and Prejudice before every Cecil recording to warm themself up.[source needed]
- Sophie Kaner explains their choice of the name "Cecil" as "kind of the ultimate horrid upper-class entitled boy name," and has said that they wanted the Kanagawas' first names to not be Japanese.[2]
