Ichirou Watanabe emerges as a central antagonist navigating dual roles across intertwined realities. In the tangible world, he wields influence as Shijima Motors’ senior executive director, ruthlessly pursuing proprietary self-driving technology created by the late Ikumi Morikawa. His machinations ignite the story’s core conflict: he engineers Momotarō Morikawa’s arrest on fabricated espionage charges and hunts Kokone Morikawa to reclaim a tablet harboring the stolen software code.

Within Heartland’s fantastical domain, he embodies Bewan, a cunning council member scheming to dethrone the monarch. Masked as a loyalist, he undermines defenses against the Colossus—a rampaging metallic entity—by hexing robotic guardians and framing the king’s tactics as inept. This mirror role echoes his real-world ambition to dominate through calculated deception.

His objectives intertwine corporate and regal aspirations: advancing Shijima Motors’ agenda to unveil Ikumi’s suppressed technology at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for prestige, while his Heartland counterpart engineers chaos to pose as a savior and claim the throne.

Watanabe’s history intertwines with Ikumi’s struggles against her father, Isshin Shijima, who opposed her innovations. A photograph uncovered by Kokone exposes his shadowed involvement in their familial rift, suggesting decades-old tensions over Ikumi’s research and her eventual exile from the company.

His methods span corporate manipulation, henchmen dispatched to stalk Kokone, and supernatural sabotage in Heartland. Yet his plans crumble as Kokone unravels her family’s legacy, culminating in his downfall when Ikumi’s technology—crafted to fulfill her altruistic vision—defies his exploitation.