Big Man

"Ay! (Make money! Get fish quick!) Ay! (Big Man in the house!)"

- Big Man introducing himself in Return of the Mammalians

Big Man is a character in and one of the three members of the band Deep Cut, alongside Shiver and Frye, with whom he co-hosts both Anarchy Splatcast, the news show of Splatsville, and Splatfests. He is also the fourth reachable boss of Return of the Mammalians. His signature color is gray.

His voice actor is currently unknown.

Appearance
Big Man is a large dark-gray manta ray, with white dotted markings along his belly and on both sides of his pectoral fins, as well as a perpetual sheen. He stands on his pelvic fins as if they were feet, and his eyes are closer to his mouth along the bottom of his body, giving him an anthropomorphic appearance.

Where a regular manta ray's eyes and cephalic fins would be, Big Man wears a white headpiece. It appears to be carved out of bleached driftwood, with red swirls an a stylized "M" painted on it. The hat is tied to his head with a red rope between his eyes and mouth; this particular fashion of hat-securing bears strong resemblance to classical Japanese bandit characters, such as Kabuki character Nezumi Kozō, a famous thief that wears a hokkamuri headscarf tied under his nose.

In Alterna, he wears a beige mask, which partially resembles an oni mask but with fish inspiration instead of a humanoid one. Unlike his fellow idols, it only covers his eyes and rests atop the string of his hat.

During Splatfests, Big Man's sheen is tinted his team's color, giving him a slight glow. In certain circumstances he also wears a manta ray mask, which takes inspiration from Japanese hannya masks.

Return of the Mammalians
Big Man and the rest of Deep Cut are initially hostile to Agent 3 and the New Squidbeak Splatoon, declaring that all treasure in Alterna is theirs to plunder and that they won't let anyone else have it. Later, when the Squidbeak Splatoon team agrees to give Deep Cut the treasure (after using it to remove Fuzzy Ooze), they decide to become the player's ally and help them in defeating Mr. Grizz. Big Man personally gives the player a version of the Hero Headset with a transparent helmet modification, presumably to help Agent 3 survive in outer space.

Boss

 * Main article: The Obscurest Chiaroscurist.

Big Man is the fourth boss of the single-player campaign, Return of the Mammalians, and the third Deep Cut boss. His boss kettle is found at the Happiness Research Lab Site.

Trivia

 * The boss battle with Big Man is a reference to the boss battle with Phantamanta in Super Mario Sunshine. Besides having a similar appearance of a splitting sihouette of a manta ray, the color of the ink Big Man leaves is also identical to the electric goop Phantamanta leaves (albeit with Deep Cut's symbol). His title, "The Hype Manta Storm", is also a reference to the mission, "The Manta Storm", where Phantamanta is fought.
 * His titles in the Japanese, French, German, and Italian versions also reference the Super Mario Sunshine mission.
 * Super Mario Sunshine wasn't playable in Dutch, but Big Man's Dutch title is translated directly from the English mission name in Super Mario Sunshine. Likewise, the Korean and Chinese titles are translated from the Japanese titles as most dialogues were.
 * In the Japanese version, Big Man is the only Deep Cut member to use standard Japanese instead of a regional dialect, using "boku" as a personal pronoun. This is because he speaks a different language than the other members; saying the word "Ay," followed by a translation in brackets.
 * Big Man is both a descendant of the Manta Clan as well as its patriarch, as shown in Sunken Scroll 12. A family tree can be seen on the left side of the scroll, indicating Big Man's lineage.
 * Despite being implied to be manta ray, Big Man bears far more resemblance to an eagle ray: Big Man and eagle rays have their mouths on the underside of their bodies, while manta ray mouths are positioned more between the overside and underside. In addition, eagle rays have more prominent pelvic fins at the back of their bodies, which Big Man uses as his feet, and which manta rays don't have. Big Man's coloring also resembles that of an eagle ray.
 * Big Man contributes to Deep Cut by creating the backing tracks Shiver and Frye sing to, described as being EDM (electronic dance music) based.
 * In the second half of Splatfests, when Deep Cut performs on the combined floats, there is a brief moment where Big Man's dance startles Shiver and Frye, making them build up more distance. This suggests that Big Man either sometimes improvises out of enthusiasm or that Shiver and Frye underestimate his size.
 * Big Man's musical and dancing style appears to have at least some Brazilian inspiration. Curiously, the European Portuguese translations of his Nintendo Direct appearance is the only version where Big Man speaks normally (without any brackets).
 * Big Man is a good pianist despite his lack of hands. He is also seen with a Nintendo Switch in the Gear vs. Grub vs. Fun Splatfest art, which indicates that his fins are able to do the same things as hands.
 * Big Man used to find Shiver and Frye intimidating. When they approached him to ask about forming a band he was scared that they wanted to fight him.
 * Big Man is a fan of Front Roe and "this one DJ from Inkopolis". He has learnt a lot from Front Roe in particular.

Etymology
"Big Man" is a combination of his size and a pun on the shortening of the word "manta".

Speech in other languages
'''Ay! Ay!'''