Akio Watanabe (Earth-4001)

"If I'm overloyal to the Prowler Corps, and by extension, the UNSC, it is because they rescued me from Hell itself."

- Akio Watanabe

Major Akio Watanabe was a field grade officer in the UNSC Marine Corps. He served with the ONI Prowler Corps during the Human-Covenant War.

History
The history of Akio Watanabe is the same as his mainstream counterpart.

Personality
Watanabe was known for his cold approach toward individuals and for his single-minded focus on his mission. Although observant and detail-oriented like most ONI personnel, he did not pay much attention to personal details of those he served alongside; Keyes noted this fact when Watanabe carelessly miscalled Jeffries "Jefferson" after the pilot was killed. Those treated by him in such a way still felt pangs of sadness when Watanabe died, however. Despite his being an ONI operative, he did not believe in torture as many members of ONI did due to his own experiences of being tortured and stated that if he was overly loyal to the ONI Prowler Corps, it was because they had rescued him from a living hell. Instead, Watanabe believed in using more subtle and ingenious methods of interrogation that were physically harmless to the subject. Watanabe did not trust easily due to his experiences and status as an ONI operative. However, he proved himself to be a good judge of character, determining that Lieutenant Jacob Keyes was someone he could trust implicitly just from his actions on Finnegan's Wake. Watanabe also felt that most of the bridge crew were similarly trustworthy, but hesitated to bring them along because he knew that they didn't like him and wasn't sure how that would play out in a moment when a split-second decision needed to be made.