A list of characters in the manga ''{{Manga/Aiki}}'', and its sequel ''AIKI-S.'' Names are listed in western order.

All trope names are unmarked, per wiki policy. Beware of spoilers.
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[[foldercontrol]]

!Introduced in AIKI
!!Kunitoshi Joukyuu and his Allies/Disciples

[[folder:Kunitoshi Joukyuu]]
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/191018_3.jpg]]
Kunitoshi Joukyuu is an expert martial artist, renowned for his prowess in the art of grappling and throws. About ten years before the start of the series, the bones in his body were dislocated and relocated overnight by his father, who wanted to teach Joukyuu a lesson about humility. Despite this, Joukyuu still retains all of his technical skill in martial arts, as well as his crass, self-serving, perverted nature.
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* AntiHero: Joukyuu is of the breed of protagonist that's more like a villain than an actual hero. Though his actions do always end up saving the day at the last minute, the journey to get there is a completely different story.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Through and through, with the caveat that he has earned the right because he is an extremely difficult opponent to fight. It only gets worse as his body begins to recover and he demonstrates, more than once, why he's known as the Gravity Magician.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Skilled at dissecting the weaknesses and strengths of a particular fighter's style even if he's never encountered it before. He can even imitate, if only lightly, things he's barely seen, such as the internal strikes of kenpo.
* BadassInANiceSuit: While teaching at Ryobu University, he puts on a full suit. He ditches the suit jacket later, though.
* BadassTeacher: Though he actively dislikes the "teaching" part, he does work at Ryobu University for part of ''AIKI'' and has been re-hired there in ''AIKI-S'' despite letting his contract lapse previously.
* BigEater: He eats a lot to fuel his fighting style and most of his techniques.
* BloodKnight: Though it's rare for him to get a good fight, when he does he becomes damn near insatiable.
* BreakTheHaughty: His father's decision to dislocate his joints was an attempt at teaching him some humility. It didn't work out, as Joukyuu has gone out of his way to improve his skill to compensate for his weakened body and is still as arrogant as he was in his youth, if not more so.
* BrilliantButLazy: One of the fundamental cornerstones of his personality. Joukyuu is an incredibly skilled martial artist, such that he's a known name in the martial arts world, but he hates working hard or putting effort into anything unless it's really caught his interest, resulting in pulling petty tricks like sending other people out to fight for him. Bull is frequently a cover for him in these kinds of situations.
* CombatPragmatist: He will not hesitate to use ''any'' trick in the book to get a leg up on his opponents, including lies, insults, throwing people as human projectiles, or stealing weapons.
* TheCynic: Through and through; he derides traits and ideas such as friendship and fair play, stating that anything goes in a fight and that friends are for weaklings.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: His stronger attacks, such as "Raijin" [[spoiler:and his 90% Left Arm]]; they're powerful enough to twist spines, shatter bones, knock people out with a touch to the head, or--most famously--"stop time" on whatever he targets (that is to say, literally redirecting force in such a way that he suspends people or objects in midair, or stops them from attacking outright by '''freezing their limbs in place'''). However, his physical condition means that overexerting himself with his stronger moves, even when his body's recovered to 70%, is risking a dislocation of whatever limb he uses to attack with.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: In his adolescence, he had short, spiky black hair; in ''AIKI'', 10 years later, he's dyed it blonde with dark roots at his temples and styled it to stand straight up. By ''AIKI-S'', at least a year after the finale of ''AIKI'', he's stopped dyeing it and has cut it differently, no longer letting it stand up.
* FlashStep: The Wind and Thunder Step techniques that he uses, which are performed by doing a series of ridiculous poses with exacting precision. Wind Step alone makes him appear to be immaterial, causing parts of his body to effectively disappear, while Thunder Step moves him quickly enough that he can be standing behind someone before they even blink.
* HandicappedBadass: He may still be ambulatory, but attempting to use too much of his strength at once, either on the attack or to move in battle, will cause his bones to dislocate themselves, limiting how much force he can use overall.
* HyperactiveMetabolism: After taking an injury [[spoiler:from Veronica]] during part 2 of ''AIKI'', he stuffs himself with food, gaining weight. Over the course of one fight, he processes the food and slims down to his usual build.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler:In a more literal sense come ''AIKI-S'': though he was previously limited to using his Time Stop with his left hand, he's regained the ability to use it (at reduced strength) with his right hand as well. In a pinch, he can even use his right foot and right hand together to replicate his 90% Left's Time Stop, albeit at about half strength.]]
* ItAmusedMe: Joukyuu's reasoning for doing almost anything is more or less centered on whether it will entertain him (or give him a chance to score with a girl).
* LackOfEmpathy: It is rare, if not damn near impossible, to get Jouykuu to admit that he actually worries or cares about anyone in any meaningful capacity; he's casually indifferent to pretty much everyone he knows at best, and actively tends to mock them at worst.
* JerkAss: His prominent character trait; if Joukyuu isn't mocking you or generally being a dick, then he's either asleep or sick.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sometimes he can be at least a little kinder than his reputation suggests. Every now and again he'll offer unbiased advice to his "disciples", or assist them in roundabout and indirect ways (such as trying to keep Mei from getting exhausted in a prolonged fight she couldn't handle). [[spoiler:He does something similar in trying to keep Miu from getting caught in a secret technique she doesn't know how to handle once she comes to the US during ''AIKI-S''.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: If he offers either a compliment or consolation with a straight face, ''he means what he says''. Offering even a little praise to Akemi in ''AIKI-S'' for winning a fight actually had her break into OcularGushers because of how unexpected it was. [[spoiler:He also consoles Akemi after she loses to a super-enhanced Julietta, and goes out of his way to catch Veronica and stop her from trying to fight Cassandra after sustaining severe injuries; the former moment even has Akemi comically flatline in her hospital bed for a moment from the sheer disbelief that Joukyuu isn't mocking her for losing.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: The primary difference between Joukyuu at 16 and Joukyuu at 26 is the fact that he's dyed his hair and got some bags under his eyes. Otherwise, he looks exactly the same. He gets rid of the dye and gets a new haircut by the time he's seen in ''AIKI-S.''
* PickyEater: If it's not Japanese food, you'd better bet he'll make a fuss about having to eat it, let alone look at it. It's played a bit more seriously later on, though: because he's so used to Japanese food, his body will revolt against him if he eats too much of something else; burgers and other Western foods actually gave him the runs for a while.
* PowerLimiter: The dislocations in his body, which are gradually (though not completely) fixed as the manga goes on, thanks to Mei's grandmother. [[spoiler:However, his biggest power jump, the return of his 90% Left Arm, is Veronica's fault; she slashes across the front of his body and it loosens it up a bit.]] With his condition untreated, he is limited to what he states is about 10% of his original strength.
* RedBaron: Is known as the "Gravity Magician", "UFO Man", and "Sorcerer" due to his expertise in throwing techniques and how he can appear to defy physics using them. He's skilled enough to completely redirect the momentum of his attackers with his hands or his feet from all sorts of impossible positions, or even '''completely halt them either in midair or mid-attack'''.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: For the most part, this is how he "teaches" people. He will give an occasional hint, and maybe a demonstration (more often than not by using the technique on the people that want to learn it), but that's about all; he's otherwise perfectly willing to let his "disciples" get the snot kicked out of them to figure out what they need to learn.
* SlasherSmile: When he's in the mood to kick some ass, or when he's got a nasty plot in mind.
* WeakButSkilled: In comparison to his old self, who had [[LightningBruiser power, speed, and technique]]; he's kept the last two (and in fact has improved on his technique, since he needs it to compensate for his loss of strength). This means that as his body slowly recovers and grows stronger, he can apply that technique to more and more ludicrous maneuvers; by the time he gets into his first fight in ''AIKI-S'', he's at about 70% of his old strength overall.
* WhatTheHellHero: Everyone (including even the antagonists) call him out on his rotten personality and dirty tactics in battle; more than once, they have all agreed that someone like him shouldn't be allowed to live.
* WorldsStrongestMan: It's made clear multiple times that he's probably the strongest character in the series. In ''AIKI'', Karasumaru, Houju, and Veronica were the only ones that could force him to fight even a little seriously, let alone injure him. The only thing that makes it even in those cases is the damage to his body limiting his overall power output, otherwise he'd have just run them over. [[spoiler:While Veronica beats him in ''AIKI'', he's eventually able to return the favor to her in an intensely close match that leaves them both worn out. In ''AIKI-S'', though, Cassandra flat out goes toe-to-toe with him, disabling his left arm just long enough to take him down in a straight fight while coming out of it relatively unscathed; he never gets a chance to rematch her largely because he's too injured afterward to even try.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: The words "Chivalry" and "Joukyuu" can never be used in the same sentence. The man has absolutely no qualms about beating the living tar out of women that challenge him and makes a point about how martial artists should never let gender hold them back. Though he appeared to avert this when he first appeared and was subdued by Mei and Metara, it was more along the lines that he didn't want to strain his body and didn't see a need to fight them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rin Kizuki]]
[[quoteright:135:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/190990_378.jpg]]
The granddaughter of the school board's chairman; a third-year student at Juuzenji High. Her grandfather asked her to watch over the school in his absence, but she is currently being pressured by the best fighter in the school, Miu Takatori.
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* ActionGirl: Despite being a relative novice, she's still more than capable of taking care of herself; in her introduction she easily takes out an entire group of armed students that attempt to ambush her.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Rin is extremely perceptive and thoughtful, which is what fuels her growth throughout the first half of ''AIKI''. She often records Joukyuu fighting whenever she can in order to study the tapes later, and listens intently to whatever advice he has to offer no matter how half-assed it is. This eventually escalates to the point where she actually imitates and partially uses some of his basic techniques based on what she studied from the recordings she made.
* KlingonPromotion: Gets one of these, albeit unintentionally, by proving her strength over other members of the Juuzenji Ten Knights; Miu appoints her the new captain of the Ten Knights until Rin and Miu graduate from Juuzenji.
* LittleMissBadass: Small and cute, but also extremely capable in a fight when pitted against enemies at her level.
* LovelyAngels: Develops this dynamic with Miu over time, though she also sees Miu as a rival in addition to a comrade.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Rin relies on momentum-based throwing and maneuvers, and her build remains relatively svelte throughout all her appearances in the story; however, she demonstrates an excess amount of power relative to that build as a result of her techniques.
* NotSoAboveItAll: The moment something looks like it might be Joukyuu giving her training advice, she'll lose her cool exterior and throw herself headlong into it regardless of how silly it makes her look; this includes trying to build foot dexterity by doing *everything* with her feet.
* OlderThanTheyLook: By the end of the first arc, she's old enough to attend Ryobu University, and for all of that still looks like a preteen or a teenager.
* PutOnABus: As she starts attending Ryobu University at the end of ''AIKI's'' first half, she doesn't make any appearances in the second half save for a short bit at the end, and again as a cameo at the end of ''AIKI-S''.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Miu's Red. She's calmer, more polite, and much more cool-headed most of the time.
* SkilledButNaive: While she is most certainly a talented fighter, she lacks experience, and it shows in her lack of higher-level techniques and her naivete.
* WaifFu: She relies primarily on throwing techniques to compensate for her lack of physical strength and short reach.
* WeakButSkilled: Much like Joukyuu, down to the heavy reliance on throws. Unlike him, though, she can't branch out from throws very much because she doesn't have the build for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Metara]]
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/270463.jpg]]
An English teacher at Juuzenji, and one of Rin's bodyguards. Uses a pair of modified revolvers to fight.
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* CantCatchUp: Due to her lack of actual martial arts skills, she doesn't really reach the heights of the stronger characters in the cast.
* TheGunslinger: Her fighting style, albeit unrefined.
* LeadTheTarget: The primary skill that Metara has yet to learn, which is what hampers her ability to fight.
* PutOnABus: She and Mei both get accepted into Ryobu University, so they stay with Rin and only make cameo appearances at the end of ''AIKI'' and ''AIKI-S''.
* SexForServices: Has sex with Joukyuu on her own accord so she can get him to train Rin.
* WanderingTheEarth: Left Juuzenji for a while when she realized that she wasn't strong enough to protect or fight alongside Rin. She returns later on, firing from far away to save Mei from losing to Chamoni.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mei Hou]]
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/houmei_2321.jpg
A gym teacher at Juuzenji, and one of Rin's bodyguards. She practices Chinese Kenpo and is proud of her musculature and power.
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* ActionGirl: She won't hesitate to fight, especially if it's to protect or help Rin.
* AmazonianBeauty: She's ''ripped'' and likes to wear qipao that flatter her breasts and figure; most notably, they expose her well-defined arms and legs.
* AnimeChineseGirl: Played with to a degree: while she does wear a qipao and knows Chinese martial arts, she doesn't speak with an accent, and isn't portrayed as stereotypically greedy, or especially interested in (or good at) cooking.
* FinishingMove: Once she returns from her training trip, she has two:
** Cannon Punch. It appears to be a simple, if strong, punch to the gut, but with her reduced musculature she can actually put the kinetic force of her body into the blow and get the internal strike off correctly, making the target feel incredibly ill and weak.
** Keihou (Force Cannon). Like Cannon Punch, it's targeted straight at the abdomen, but is a two-handed palm strike instead, greatly increasing the damage done.
* LogicalWeakness: Kenpo is made to be used with a body that is lithe and flexible, using the motion of the body to generate the power needed for inner strikes. Mei's over-training of her muscles has actually made her kenpo weaker because her body isn't flexible enough to convert motion into power anymore, which Joukyuu and her grandmother both point out to her when she begins to have trouble in her fight against Saruwatari.
* MadeOfIron: Generally speaking, her body is built for taking a lot of punishment, even after slimming down some; she even takes a knife through her palm and barely even flinches.
* MightyGlacier: She has a lot of strength and can take a hell of a beating, but she's not very fast; most of her wins come from lasting long enough to get in one good hit. It's implied that when she was younger she was closer to a FragileSpeedster since her slimmer body build was more suited to kenpo and internal strikes at the time.
* PutOnABus: She and Metara both get accepted into Ryobu University, so they stay with Rin and only make cameo appearances at the end of ''AIKI'' and ''AIKI-S''.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most translations of ''AIKI'' refer to her as either Houmei or Hou Mei. Going by [[UsefulNotes/ChineseNames Chinese naming conventions]] and a note from a later translation, the second is correct--her family name is Hou, and her given name is Mei. However, most characters tend to refer to her as [[FullNameBasis Hou Mei.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: When she comes back from her training trip with Metara, she's slimmed her body down a bit and can use internal strikes again, using one to beat Chamoni in one blow.
* UnskilledButStrong: The result of her focus on her muscles; she can hit hard, but her overall technique and skill have deteriorated as a result of focusing on purely strength training.
* WanderingTheEarth: Left Juuzenji for a while when she realized that she wasn't strong enough to protect, or fight alongside, Rin. She returns later on alongside Metara.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Miu Takatori]]
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/191038.jpg]]
Joukyuu's cousin and the daughter of Juuzenji's principal. A third-year student, and the top martial artist of the class, she wants to enter Ryobu University, and initially approaches Joukyuu in order to enlist his help in fighting against Rin.
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* ActionGirl: More than willing to take the fight to Rin or anyone else that gets in her way, and will enjoy it all the way.
* ArrogantKungFuGirl: Miu's absurdly confident in her own skill and isn't shy about letting it be known once she takes the field, though she manages to avoid SmallNameBigEgo by virtue of being attentive and relatively cautious once she knows she's fighting people at or above her league.
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: How she gained her top position in her class and got the clout to be a threat to Rin in the first place.
* BloodKnight: She really enjoys fighting and is eager to test her skill against people, especially when they underestimate her.
* CombatPragmatist: Fights extremely dirty, much like Joukyuu. She literally flashed him mid-fight once in order to get a chance to throw him, and has no compunctions about disarming people or using their own weapons to tangle them up.
* DistaffCounterpart: In a lot of ways she is this to Joukyuu, as they share a lot of the same nasty personality traits, especially their arrogance and love of a good fight; of all his "disciples" she's the one that fights the most like him, too. The only thing she's lacking is his absurd natural talent and ability to deconstruct opponents' styles at a glance, though she's no slouch in the analysis department either given enough time to study her opponents. [[spoiler:The similarities between them become especially evident when she reveals her ability to mimic his "Time Stop" in ''AIKI-S''.]]
* EnemyMine: She has a few of these moments with Rin at first when Juuzenji's Ten Knights begin to make their moves independent of her, but it eventually reaches the point where they're [[LovelyAngels surprisingly comfortable working together to fight.]]
** [[spoiler:During her 3-way match with Kahle and the leader of the Red Dragoons in ''AIKI-S'', Miu's forced to work with Kahle when it becomes obvious that neither of them can beat the Dragoons' leader with his new modifications. Unfortunately, Kahle uses what appears to be a HeroicSacrifice to both disable the Dragoon leader's blades AND take Miu out of the fight with a shock.]]
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: [[spoiler:When she reappears in ''AIKI-S'', her hair's clearly grown out a bit more from when she was last seen.]]
* FemmeFatale: She's extremely attractive and willingly uses that to get her way when she feels it'll benefit her.
* FlashStep: One of the main points of her fighting style, similar to Jouykuu. She can use her "Falcon Step" variant of his Wind Step to move in curved paths and evade opponents' attacks easily.
* TheGadfly: Something she shares in common wtih Joukyuu; she has a rather nasty personality and enjoys mocking people even when things aren't looking up for her.
* PutOnABus: She gets a recommendation to Ryobu University as well, so she stays in Japan with Rin, Mei, and Metara while Joukyuu travels to Europe, and doesn't reappear until the last panel of the manga.
** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:She returns during ''AIKI-S'' as a second-year at Ryobu University and a member of Joukyuu's team, following Veronica's loss to Cassandra.]]
* MsFanservice: Mostly an attempt to get Joukyuu on her side; she eases up on it (at least in terms of directing it at him) as the manga gets more serious.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Rin's Blue, as she's arrogant, a bit reckless, and easily provoked.
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:When she returns in ''AIKI-S'', she's gotten a bit faster and stronger. However, the most notable improvement she's made is the ability to use Joukyuu's Time Stop technique. However, she can only sustain it for a fraction of the time he can (Joukyuu estimates it to be about 0.02 to 0.05 seconds, as compared to his 0.1 or 0.2 seconds); additionally, Joukyuu can do it with just his left hand, while Miu has to prepare her whole body for it and has to wait for an exceptionally strong attack so that she can get the time to launch a counterattack.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Akemi Kageyasu]]
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kageyasu_akemi_2433.jpg
Joukyuu's first "disciple", trained by him before the story starts, and Daiki Karasumaru's girlfriend. A student at Ryobu University.
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* ActionGirl: Though Joukyuu's "training" was relatively half-assed, Akemi is more than capable of handling herself as a result of it.
* AmazonianBeauty: She is depicted as an attractive woman with a muscular yet lean and curvaceous build. Usually, she wears a bra-top underneath a short leather jacket that allows her to flaunt her defined and well-toned abs.
* AmicableExes: Of a sort with Karasumaru; she doesn't consider herself his girlfriend anymore, she but still tries to look out for him and keep him from getting too carried away with his thirst for strong opponents.
* AscendedExtra: Akemi becomes one of the supporting protagonists for the second half of ''AIKI'' and the entirety of ''AIKI-S'', being one of only two characters introduced in the first half of the manga that travels to Europe with Joukyuu for the second half.
* BifurcatedWeapon: Uses [[DualWielding Aa pair of jutte]]; later in ''AIKI'', she devises a way to turn it into a staff with one jutte at each end, and even gives it chain attachments so that she can use it like a sansetsukon.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Has a little of this in regards to her position as Joukyuu's first disciple; as much as Joukyuu annoys her, she dislikes being shown up by other people learning from him, especially Miu.
* FlashStep: Not only can she use Joukyuu's Thunder Step, but she can combine it with rapid jutte strikes to attack from multiple angles.
* InsistentTerminology: Even when Joukyuu's being the scummiest of scum, she will call him sensei without fail.
* LastNameBasis: Most characters call her Kageyasu--it's rare that she's ever addressed as Akemi.
* LoveMartyr: Her decision to try and save Karasumaru from himself turns her into a little bit of this, even though they're not together-together anymore; she spends a lot of the first half of ''AIKI'' trying to get him to give up on his dreams with the Road of Talent, and while he regards her affectionately enough (in his own way, anyway), he rebuffs her continuously. [[spoiler:During his appearance in part 2 of ''AIKI'', she goes out of her way to try and make sure he gets out of Europe alive, to the degree that she fights him herself to drag him away from Houju getting ready to kill him.]]
* OnlySaneMan: Tends to hold this spot among all of Joukyuu's disciples; Miu is pretty much Joukyuu in all but name, Rin is generally better adjusted but can be drawn into single-minded focus in training if she gets a silly idea from one of Joukyuu's suggestions, and Dornier is both a bit weird and hangs off of Joukyuu's every word without question. Rarely, though, Akemi will prove [[NotSoAboveItAll that she's as easily provoked into childish behavior, especially if Miu is involved.]]
* TheRival: Considers herself one to pretty much all of Joukyuu's disciples (save maybe Dornier, who treats her with respect befitting Joukyuu's "first disciple"), but especially to Miu, who she's roughly even with in power and who she dislikes on principle. [[spoiler:Miu figuring out how to use Time Stop in ''AIKI-S'' has her fuming in jealousy at Miu overtaking her in strength.]]
* SpamAttack: How she uses her jutte during her Thunder Jutte technique; she combines the high movement speed of a Thunder Step with multiple stabs from both weapons to maximize damage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Balboa]]
An acquaintance (and arguably "another disciple") of Joukyuu's.
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* FashionableAsymmetry: She wears one leopard-spotted legging on her right leg, leaving her left bare.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: She wields a katana bent at an unusual angle with a reinforced back. She can use it as a hatchet if she reverse-wields it, or use it to thrust when using it normally.
* MasterSwordswoman: Her specialty in combat.
* PutOnABus: She chooses to stay behind in Europe at the end of ''AIKI'' to train with Houju.
[[/folder]]

!!Juuzenji High School
Juuzenji High School is a high school in Joukyuu's town with a focus on martial arts.

!!!Juuzenji Ten Knights
A group of students at Juuzenji that work together under their captain, Kosuke Karasumaru; next to Miu they are supposed to be the strongest students at the school. They each have different fighting styles and abilities.

[[folder:Akifumi Wadou]]
* KidSamurai: A teenaged variant of this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kiku Keichou]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Chie Ouei]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Santana Ryougoku]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nancy Ouzeki]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kangen]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eishou]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Meitoku]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kosuke Karasumaru]]
The captain of the Ten Knights, and the one the others report to.
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* AwesomenessByAnalysis: How he fights; he has the ability to predict people's movements by looking at them and can react accordingly despite his lack of speed.
* LogicalWeakness: He can't predict his opponent's moves if he can't see their faces or if they don't take the bait from his taunts.
* WeakButSkilled: He gives off this impression, but aside from his ability to read people's expressions he's pretty much useless in a straight fight.
[[/folder]]

!!!Other Students

[[folder:Tenhou Kanemoto]]
Joukyuu's half-brother by way of his mother.
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* NonActionGuy: He can fight but isn't relatively strong by the standards of the cast, so he never bothers.
* TheSmartGuy: Plays this role for Karasumaru and his Road of Talent later on in Part 1 of ''AIKI''.
* SlasherSmile: Though it's rare, he can come up with these just as frequently as Joukyuu can; fitting, since they're related.
* TheStrategist: His actual skill, and the one he provides to Karasumaru and his Road of Talent; he gives them advice about how to deal with Joukyuu and his allies.
[[/folder]]

!!Ryobu University

Japan's premier university for martial artists.

!!!The "Road of Talent"
A group of students that's gathered under Daiki Karasumaru; similarly to Juuzenji's Ten Knights, they all specialize in different fighting techniques.

[[folder:Tropes that apply to the whole group]]
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* BadassCrew: Daiki intends them to be this for the fighting world at large, or so he says.
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: What the members that aren't Daiki all serve as.
* ThemeNaming: Every member's name references an animal, with the potential exception of Chamoni.
** Daiki Karasumaru - karasu, crow.
** Seiji Saruwatari - saru, monkey.
** Shikae - shika, deer.
** Inoguchi - ino, boar.
** Rei Kanisaki - kani, crab.
** Kujirai - kujira, whale.
** Habu - named after a pit viper.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Daiki Karasumaru]]

The older brother of Kosuke Karasumaru, and the leader of the Road of Talent.
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* AwesomenessByAnalysis: He picks apart and deconstructs his opponent's fighting style on a level much higher than Kosuke's.
* BloodKnight: He loves risking his life to fight strong opponents, above and beyond anything else. He was extremely eager to try himself against Joukyuu and even the prospect of a rematch with Joukyuu excites him. [[spoiler:He was even willing to go up against Houju using an actual sword after Houju already exerted a fair amount of effort just kicking his ass with a sheath.]]
* CoolShades: Wears them all the time. [[spoiler:They hide the damage done to his eyes by his Retinis Pigmentosa.]]
* {{Determinator}}: The man ''does not stay down'' when he's pressed in a fight. [[spoiler:Even when he's weaker than he was taking on Joukyuu, Daiki still challenges both Veronica and Houju to fights, and in the second case Kageyasu has to knock him out so that Houju doesn't lose patience and kill him outright.]]
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler:He has Retinis Pigmentosa, which narrows his eyesight tremendously (he explicitly compares it to a pinhole camera) but doesn't impact the actual quality of his vision. He can clearly see parts of objects and can perceive slow-moving things just fine, but has trouble keeping up with fast movements.]]
** [[spoiler:After his defeat at Joukyuu's hands this goes even further; with the injuries he took from Joukyuu he can't fight at his full power until his body fully heals.]]
* ProphetEyes: [[spoiler:He has these, hidden under his glasses.]]
* WalkingTheEarth: What he decides to do after losing to Joukyuu. [[spoiler:During the second half of ''AIKI'' he shows up as a member of Veronica's organization, sent from headquarters alongside The General.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Seiji Saruwatari]]
An excitable boy that claims to practice the Cat Fist.
----
* BrattyHalfPint: Saruwatari's implied to be a student at Ryobu University but appears to be about Rin's age, and is extremely obnoxious to boot.
* IKnowKungFaux: The way his Cat Fist techniques are treated by most of the rest of the cast. It makes him a match for Mei and Rin, but mostly because Mei's not built to handle a prolonged fight against a speedster and Rin lacks the battle experience to exploit his weaknesses directly.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Despite practicing a fake martial art he's entirely too proud of his skills.
* SuperSpeed: He can temporarily push himself to move with explosive bursts of speed, but it both wears him out and stresses his legs immensely.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Zig-zagged a bit. While he has no issue fighting Mei, he [[VillainousCrush has a gigantic crush on Rin]] and can't bring himself to fight her seriously.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shikae]]
A well-built and muscular young man with a serious attitude.
----
* DanceBattler: Shikae states that his techniques were inspired by a famous European dancer's movements, particularly his leg flares.
* ExtremityExtremist: Despite his huge upper body leading people to think that he's a boxer or something similar, he's actually a kicker; he simply uses his hands to support his body while he fights from a handstand position.
* OnlyOneName: It's unknown if Shikae is his first name or given name.
* PutOnABus: His last fight with Joukyuu sends him to the hospital for the rest of ''AIKI''.
** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:He appears at the US facility where ''AIKI-S'' takes place as one of the competitors invited there: his comments when he meets Joukyuu again imply that it's been about a year or so since the events of ''AIKI'', as that's how long it took Shikae to recover from the beating he took at that point.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Inoguchi's Red; while she's not entirely unobservant, he's the cooler-headed one between them, and the one most prone to stopping Inoguchi from doing something reckless.
* TheStoic: His composure is practically unshakable and only breaks when he's faced with truly outrageous situations.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Inoguchi, earning them the nickname "Inoshiki Combination".
* WanderingTheEarth: [[spoiler:What he decides to do at the end of ''AIKI-S'', with Dornier and Inoguchi.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Inoguchi]]
A punkish young woman who loves to fight.
----
* BerserkButton: Cracking jokes about her figure (especially how it isn't womanly) will piss her off ''immediately.''
* BraidsOfAction: Has a few small ones near her temples. [[spoiler:She loses them in ''AIKI-S''.]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Her favorite weapon aside from her smaller scythes is a double-ended staff with one sickle on each end that also doubles as a 3-section-staff.
* LadyLooksLikeADude: She's relatively muscular and isn't very busty, and is mistaken for a man fairly often.
* OnlyOneName: Similar to Shikae--Inoguchi is probably her family name but no indication is given either way.
* PutOnABus: After getting thrashed in ''AIKI'', she's in the hospital and doesn't reappear for the rest of the manga since Joukyuu goes to Europe.
** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:She returns alongside Shikae in ''AIKI-S''.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Shikae's Blue: she's much more hot-tempered than him, a lot less likely to pay attention to her enemies, and far easier to piss off.
* SinisterScythe: Is fond of using these, both smaller handheld ones and longer ones.
* TattooedCrook: Has some tribal tattoos on her shoulders and belly.
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Shikae, earning them the nickname "Inoshiki Combination".
* WanderingTheEarth: [[spoiler:What she decides to do at the end of ''AIKI-S'', with Shikae and Dornier.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rei Kanisaki]]
* EmbarrassingNickname: Anything referencing crabs [[BerserkButton will piss her off.]]
* WeaponSpecialization: She prefers to use whips for combat, and even has chakram-like ones for when she has to fight up close.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kujirai]]
* EyepatchOfPower: She wears one over her right eye.
* LastNameBasis: Kujirai is her last name; her given name is unknown.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Habu]]
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:As soon as Daiki seems like he's become far more interested in his own personal strength over the growth of the Road, she begins making plans to turn on him. They don't pan out.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Chamoni]]
[[/folder]]

!!The Houju Family

A family of sword-users that's currently living abroad in Europe. Chairman Kizuki left Japan at the start of ''AIKI'' to attend to their needs.
----
[[folder:Tropes that apply to the whole family]]
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Though Houju often scolds them for their recklessness, he cares deeply about them and will protect them however he can.
* BadassFamily: Houju himself is the greatest swordsman alive, and though his daughters are unseasoned they're no slouches themselves; Lelulia, Marlene, and Shizuku all have their various skillsets and are more than capable of handling themselves in a fight. [[spoiler:This also includes their deceased sister Cordelia, and extends to Cordelia's daughter, Veronica Yuminowa.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kaneoto Houju]]

The greatest swordsman still living in the world, despite his advanced age. He and his family become the targets of a terrorist named Veronica Yuminowa and her organization because they're in possession of the legendary sword, Heaven.
----
* DirtyOldMan: He's got a streak of this, fitting his womanizing ways from when he was much younger.
* HandicappedBadass: He's 80 years old and has both cataracts and rheumatoid arthritis. Even with all of that in mind, he's still more than a match for pretty much anyone else in ''AIKI'', Joukyuu included, provided that he doesn't strain himself.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: The foundation of his "No Sword" Style; he uses a variety of unusual blades, including swords fashioned like fans and tonfa-shaped swords.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's rude, blunt, perverted, and generally crass, mostly as a result of his old age. Despite this, he does care a lot about his family; when everyone but Lelulia is captured by Veronica, he explicitly tells Lelulia to save Marlene and Shizuku first when she tries to assist him. [[spoiler:This extends to his granddaughter Veronica as well, as he expresses some concern for the level of conflict she's thrown herself into, regrets the actions he's taken to make her (rightfully) bitter at him, and doesn't want to see her get hurt.]]
* MasterSwordsman: His claim to fame, to such a degree that his style of swordsmanship is known as the "No Sword" style; he's mastered (and even created) such a variety of swords that he can use pretty much any one he wants.
* OldMaster: With his advanced age comes great skill due to his years and years of practice. It's deconstructed a bit because his old age limits his fighting time significantly; no matter how much he compensates with his skill, he can't completely ignore his physical limitations.
* PickyEater: He greatly dislikes the European food he's been living on for a while, and greatly prefers Japanese food.
* ReallyGetsAround: All of his daughters have different mothers, and even in a flashback at 58 years old he was shown to be primarily interested in sleeping with women over anything else. [[spoiler:This is part of why Veronica hates him so much, as her mother Cordelia is one of his daughters and he wasn't around to support her because of his constant womanizing.]]
* WeakButSkilled: His great age has drastically reduced his physical strength and overall stamina, but he's more than good enough to compensate for it with the skills he's picked up from a long fighting career, especially when he uses different swords to suit the situation he's in.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lelulia]]
Houju's youngest daughter. An expert in thrown weapons and stealth techniques since she's too small to use a sword as of yet.
----
* BadassAdorable: She may be a child but easily used a throwing knife to destroy a missile launcher.
* FlechetteStorm: Her preferred method of attack.
* {{Ninja}}: The skillset she's picked up due to her small size and young age. She's the stealthiest of her sisters and is the hardest to catch.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marlene]]
Houju's middle daughter. Skilled in the use of unusual blades, much like her father.
----
* CannotTellALie: Shizuku attempts to lie to Veronica about the whereabouts of her usual sword when questioned, but Marlene immediately spoils the lie by blurting out that Shizuku left it behind.
* HotBlooded: Of the three daughters, she's the one that's the most impulsive, rough, and reckless, probably the closest to a young Houju out of all his children.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Picked up this habit from her dad: she first uses a double-ended katana in battle, then switches to another pair with odd hooks near the hilt later on.
* SmokingIsCool: Is almost never seen without a cigarette.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shizuku]]
Houju's oldest daughter, a bit cool and collected, unless Joukyuu is around. She fights using a regular katana and iaijutsu.
----
* GoodScarsEvilScars: She has an X-shaped one on her forehead.
* HopelessSuitor: To Joukyuu; she [[LoveAtFirstSight falls in love with him almost immediately after meeting him]] and tends to interpret almost anything involving him as a potential overture to her. He's not interested at all.
* IaijutsuPractitioner: Stated to be her specialty; fitting it, she uses a normal katana in comparison to her father and her sisters.
* TsurimeEyes: To the degree that Joukyuu actually nicknames her after them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Houju's Fourth Daughter (unmarked spoilers)]]
Houju's fourth daughter is a woman named Cordelia. She's older than Shizuku, making her the actual oldest of Houju's known offspring, but died from an illness before the start of the story, orphaning her only daughter and Houju's only known granddaughter, Veronica Yuminowa.
----
* DaddysGirl: Of a sort; Veronica indicates that Cordelia had a deep and abiding respect for Houju's skill as a swordsman and tried to pass that respect on to Veronica despite the fact that he effectively abandoned Cordelia to her own devices.
* DeathByDespair: Implied to be the reason why her illness got bad enough to kill her once her husband died.
* InTheBlood: It's implied that she inherited her father's drive and skill in the martial arts, though her precise area of expertise is unknown. It might be the sword, given that she's seen holding one in a flashback.
* PosthumousCharacter: What little we know about her is stated by either Veronica or Oubliette.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Her death is pretty much entirely why Veronica is the way she is and is also the source of Oubliette's UndyingLoyalty to Veronica.
[[/folder]]

!!Veronica's Group

[[folder:Veronica Yuminowa]]
A terrorist operating in Europe that's seeking out the Houju family to take possession of Heaven for her own purposes.
----
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Being an exceptional martial artist, she has a high talent for analyzing and dissecting her opponents' techniques. She replicated Chinese inner strike techniques nearly perfectly after experiencing them once.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: [[spoiler:Averted quite pointedly after she loses to Cassandra in ''AIKI-S''; because she took a literal explosion to the face from Cassandra's buckler, Veronica's head is wrapped in gauze, as is most of her arms and legs, and her right eye is behind a medical eyepatch. The bandages don't come off until several chapters later (at least a week and a few days after Cassandra beats her), and even once the bandages are off, her bandaged eye is still blackened and doesn't open up all the way until a few more chapters pass.]]
* TheComicallySerious: When Joukyuu tricks her into eating umeboshi, she maintains her usual frown but can clearly be seen sweating and looking intensely uncomfortable at the taste.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Averted; though her extreme skill with the sword implies that she hasn't learned to do anything else, Veronica states that she also learned aikido from the same person that taught Dornier. When she gets into a spar with Akemi during ''AIKI-S'', she proves it; using only her aikido, she matches and nearly defeats Akemi.
* CurbStompBattle: Spends most of her time in ''AIKI-S'' giving these out, which makes sense since she's the second-strongest person on Team Infinite next to Joukyuu. [[spoiler:She finds herself on the receiving end once she fights Cassandra, who overwhelms her strength to strength and speed to speed, then beats her in one blow.]]
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: In ''AIKI-S'', she wears her hair up in a loose bun as opposed to letting it flow free as she did in ''AIKI''. [[spoiler:She lets her hair back down after recovering from her painful loss to Cassandra.]]
* {{Foil}}: Serves as one to Joukyuu in a variety of ways. Their differing genders are an obvious point, but Joukyuu is a BareFistedMonk who focuses on Aikido throwing techniques that he's augmented with a few other tricks he's picked up over the years, whereas Veronica is primarily a sword user with some skill in Aikido should she happen to be caught unarmed. Joukyuu likes to goof around and toy with his opponents, actively mocking and teasing them even when they've got him on the back foot, whereas Veronica prefers to get straight to business and dislikes making jokes. She lightens up a bit in the latter aspect come ''AIKI-S'' and is more willing to deliver snappy one-liners when emphasizing just how badly she's going to kick some ass, but it becomes obvious how much more no-nonsense she is compared to Joukyuu once they're interacting more frequently.
* HeelFaceTurn: She's made one by the time ''AIKI-S'' starts and she begins teaching at Ryobu University. Though she's still prickly and standoffish to most people, her allies included, she doesn't antagonize Joukyuu or Akemi overmuch, and at the very least considers herself Joukyuu's subordinate (for now).
* IaijutsuPractitioner: Her specialty in swordsmanship, to the degree that she can make several attacks with one swing; a demonstration of this ability had her split a pole both horizontally AND vertically at the same time, after only one swing of the blade.
* NotSoStoic: When Master Hon asks if Joukyuu is her boyfriend and Joukyuu winks back at her in reply, she finally cracks the stoic look she's kept through most of Joukyuu's foolishness with a look of sheer, loathing disgust and a grimace to boot.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Veronica is normally very prideful and cold, and even at her most "friendly" is not inclined to apologize to anyone, or admit fault about anything. [[spoiler:So when she actually apologizes to Joukyuu for losing to Cassandra, admitting that she got too cocky, she ''means it.'']]
* OfCorsetsSexy: She wears a white corset in addition to her hat and a cloak. When she returns in ''AIKI-S'', she wears halter tops to much the same effect.
* OrphansOrdeal: She doesn't talk about it, but it's implied by Oubliette that she was thrown into foster care after her mother's death and had a difficult time there, turning into the cold person that we know of as a result of those experiences. [[spoiler:This is also a large part of why Veronica despises Houju so much, as Cordelia still respected him deeply despite his neglect and Veronica rightly feels him unworthy of that devotion.]]
* PerpetualFrowner: Fitting her stoic attitude, Veronica rarely smiles, and when she does it's more like a nasty smirk.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:She is Kaneoto Houju's granddaughter via his oldest known daughter, Cordelia.]]
* WanderingTheEarth: She takes to this at the end of ''AIKI'', [[spoiler:moved by Oubliette's dying words and the regrets he shared with her]]. She returns in the first chapter of ''AIKI-S'', invited to be a lecturer at Ryobu University.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Her loss to Cassandra in ''AIKI-S'' is a prime example of this; she was the most recent antagonist to even give Joukyuu a prolonged fight, let alone manage to injure him badly enough to call it a "win" on her part, so Cassandra kicking her ass so thoroughly underscores Joukyuu's earlier assumption of just how dangerous Cassandra is.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Oubliette]]
Veronica's second-in-command.
----
* BattleButler: His primary motif; he wears glasses and has a handlebar mustache to go with his nice suit, and is always politely deferential to Veronica without a second thought.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:He attempts to stop Catacomb from blowing up Veronica's headquarters and is shot several times for his trouble; Veronica is able to find him before he dies and he explains everything to her, including the reason behind his fierce loyalty to her.]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: He uses a whip with interchangable heads; it can fire stun darts, explosives, and more, letting him fight at multiple ranges.
* ProphetEyes: Behind his small, square glasses.
* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: "Oubliette" is a name [[RedBaron he earned on the battlefield.]] It also doubles as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast a reference to the fact that his fighting style metaphorically imprisons his enemies in a dungeon and slaughters them wholesale.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: To Veronica. [[spoiler:He was attracted to her mother Cordelia and deeply regretted being unable to help Veronica after both her parents died.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Selene Kujirai]]
The older sister of the same Kujirai that was part of Karasumaru's Road of Talent.
----
* EyepatchOfPower: Wears one like her younger sister, but over her left eye instead.
* PowerFist: Uses two clawed gauntlets in contrast to her younger sister's one.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Her name has alternately been translated as Seline or Seleen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Joey the X]]
A masked martial artist.
----
* ArmedLegs: His shoes are not only armored but have hidden weapons in them that he can deploy for extra attacking.
* ExtremityExtremist: He uses kicks to fight along with armored boots, in contrast to the Kujirai sisters.
* GratuitousJapanese: Uses both this and GratuitousFrench, often when referring to himself (moi/watashi), or others (anata).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Andrew]]
A giant, helmet-wearing warrior that attacks Joukyuu, Balboa, and Kageyasu in Europe.
----
* FeelNoPain: His main advantage in a fight. This winds up working against him when Jouykuu temporarily gets around this, causing him extreme discomfort since he's not used to feeling hurt.
* LightningBruiser: He's huge but can also move incredibly fast. This is mostly because of the drugs he's been treated with for most of his life.
* SuperSoldier: The program in the Soviet Union that created him was intended to produce this. They succeeded, to a point.
* UnskilledButStrong: For all his explosive speed and power, he was never really formally taught how to fight and has very little in the way of technique.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Harry]]
* TheGunslinger: His primary forte in combat, though he has attachments on the grips for when he has to fight up close.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Catacomb]]
* TheMole: [[spoiler:He's associated with the government forces fighting against Veronica's group and infiltrated her team to destroy her base.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dornier]]
An excitable young woman that also uses throwing techniques. She idolizes Joukyuu for his prowess in aikido.
----
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Her tendency to fawn over Joukyuu leads her to take some of his more ludicrous statements way too seriously.
* CuteLittleFangs: When she isn't smiling with her mouth wide open, her prominent canines look like this.
* {{Determinator}}: Her loyalty to Joukyuu is so unshakable that she endures broken ribs just to get to him and warn him of Veronica's imminent attack.
* GenkiGirl: Excitable and cheerful pretty much all the time.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: She makes use of boxing gloves attached to long attachments that she wears like gloves. Despite their goofy appearance, this greatly increases the range of her blows, and combined with her use of aikido this makes it easier for her to both attack and throw people since she uses them as extensions of her arms. She can also take the gloves off to reveal claws.
* HeelFaceTurn: When forced to choose between Joukyuu and Veronica, she chooses Joukyuu after some noticeable hesitation.
* InsistentTerminology: Insists on calling Joukyuu "Laoshi" (much like Akemi calls him "Sensei") once she gets to know him, acknowledging him as her teacher.
* LoonyFan: Of Joukyuu's, to the degree that once he acknowledges her skills even a little bit, she considers herself one of his disciples.
* NiceGirl: For all her eccentricities, she's also a genuinely kind-hearted person; she readily accepts Akemi as a senior disciple under Joukyuu and is never rude to her.
* PlayfulCatSmile: Is prone to smile like a cat due to her eccentric personality.
* UndyingLoyalty: When she learns that Joukyuu was only cooperating with Veronica for his own amusement (and to get Veronica to leave the Houju family alone), Dornier winds up siding with him despite a brief moment of inner conflict. From that point on, she has absolute loyalty to him no matter what. [[spoiler:This even persists in ''AIKI-S'': once she discovers he's been invited to the facility to fight, Dornier immediately joins forces with Joukyuu for the duration of the run.]]
* WanderingTheEarth: [[spoiler:What she decides to do at the end of ''AIKI-S'', with Shikae and Inoguchi in order to get stronger, feeling that her performance at the facility was pathetic.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:De Havilland]]
Harry's master.
----
* TheGunslinger: Much like Harry, though his guns are basically held like chakrams and fired accordingly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Curtis]]
A boxer.
----
* {{Acrofatic}}: He's extremely fast and extremely big.
* ExtremityExtremist: Fights primarly with his hands.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Abreu]]
----
* KillerYoyo: Her preferred method of fighting.
* OjouRinglets: Wears her hair like this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bonze]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The General]]
----
* RedBaron: "The General" is basically only a nickname he goes by; his actual name is Lieutenant Douglas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gouta]]
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nakajima]]
----
[[/folder]]

!!Other Characters
[[folder:Tatsukuni Joukyuu]]

Joukyuu's father, and the one responsible for limiting Joukyuu's physical strength.
----
* AbusiveParents: Keep in mind that regardless of his reasons, he ''purposely, and by all appearances permanently, disabled his own son'' to teach him humility.
* CombatMedic: In Joukyuu's own words, Tatsukuni was a middling martial artist, but had extensive knowledge of the human body, such that many martial artists know of him by repuation alone even though he's dead in the present day.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Roughly his motivation for why he dislocated most of Joukyuu's bones as a teenager. He believed that Joukyuu having his strength and skill come to him so naturally prevented Joukyuu from really appreciating his talent; part of it was also to [[BreakTheHaughty tame Joukyuu's ridiculously inflated ego.]]
* PosthumousCharacter: By the time the series has started, he's dead. He has made an appearance in one flashback and is infrequently referred to by the other characters, usually in the context of Joukyuu's disability and his role in causing it, as well as how extensive the damage was.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tatsuhiro Takatori]]
Miu's father, and Joukyuu's uncle.
----
* DirtyOldMan: Gets Jouykuu to evaluate two students for Ryobu University and then agrees to rent out a whole strip club for the two of them as a treat for Joukyuu.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rei Hou]]
Mei's grandmother, an acupuncturist who met Tatsukuni in passing once. She winds up getting roped into trying to treat the breaks in Joukyuu's body.
----
* BrutalHonesty: She's quite upfront about her doubts when it comes to curing Joukyuu.
* TheMedic: The role she serves, though she explicitly admits that she doesn't have much experience with joints the way that Tatsukuni did.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: Compared to Mei, she's rather small.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ayaka Shinonome]]
Jouykuu's mother, a famed orthopedist.
----
* AbusiveParents: Though it's PlayedForLaughs, she says herself that she put Joukyuu through a hellish childhood in order to try and straighten him out when his self-absorbed, nasty personality began to develop. She'd bring him to the operating theater to show him organs as she worked, or lock him outside the house for days if he misbehaved. Even when he's grown she still routinely bosses him around, bullying him into taking a job at Ryobu University and not hesitating to hit him to get him to comply.
* {{Nepotism}}: She gets Tenhou into Ryobu University by pulling several strings, compensating for his lack of actual martial arts talent.
* PerpetualFrowner: In contrast to her PerpetualSmiler facade on television.
* SitcomArchNemesis: Is this, crossed with a comedic variant of EvilMatriarch, to Joukyuu; Akemi points out once that they're very much like a snake and mongoose in their mother-son relationship.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bull]]
A punk delinquent.
----
* BoisterousWeakling: What he is by comparison to pretty much everyone in the main cast.
* ButtMonkey: The moment he encounters Joukyuu his life goes straight to shit. Shikae beats him effortlessly, humiliating him repeatedly, and then Joukyuu has him kidnapped and dumped outside of Japan two separate times, using him as a scapegoat in an elaborate plan the second time ''just because it was funnier that way.''
* CassandraTruth: Once he becomes aware of just how dangerous the world of real martial arts is, he tries to warn off people that attempt to fight against Joukyuu or other people that he's encountered. The people he's warning usually ignore him and get their shit pushed in for their trouble.
* FakeUltimateHero: Shikae effectively sets him up as one of these to keep him from losing face with his gang, but it backfires; Bull lies to them about defeating Shikae as expected, but this just means that they assume Bull is way stronger than he actually is. [[spoiler:Joukyuu runs a similar gambit in ''AIKI-S'', setting Bull up as a dangerous, powerful martial artist known as Bull The Infinite to the facility heads and convincing them that Joukyuu, Veronica, and Akemi are all Bull's subordinates.]]
* InelegantBlubbering: Whenever he's put into a tight situation due to Joukyuu fooling around.
* OnlyKnownByHisNickname: "Bull" comes from a partial pun on his last name, Furokawa.
* PaperTiger: After his first ever attempt to fight real martial artists in town goes terribly wrong it becomes clear that Bull's tough-guy front and claims of boxing are mostly just bluster; he's incredibly weak by the standards of everyone else.
* ThrowTheDogABone: Joukyuu eventually deigns to teach him one dodging technique that enables him to get a hit in against Shikae. It's a weak hit, but just enough to distract Shikae for a Joukyuu finisher.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Osamu Kizuki]]
The board chairman of Juuzenji High School, and Rin's grandfather.
----
* CombatMedic: Similar to Tatsukuni, he is an amazing acupuncturist, to the degree that he's able to reverse Andrew's years-long drug regimen and enable him to feel pain again.
* DirtyOldMan: Joukyuu, Kageyasu, and Balboa find him in the middle of sex with a woman when they go to visit him.
[[/folder]]

! Introduced in AIKI-S

[[folder:Soutetsu]]
A chef that comes to Ryobu University to invite Joukyuu on a trip to the United States.
----
* BareFistedMonk: As expected of a karate practitioner.
* ChefOfIron: Though he doesn't use cooking utentils or food to fight, he doesn't need much more than his bare fists.
* DentedIron: He has a bit of this going on; though he's not as old as Houju, his hands are hard and a bit misshapen due to many years of hard practice, and he doesn't have the speed or stamina he used to, either.
* {{Foil}}: Serves as one to Kaneoto Houju; while they're both old masters of their martial arts and are no longer in their prime, Soutetsu is a humble, polite, and mild-mannered man who prefers to spend most of his time working as a chef, and is supremely skilled at both cooking (especially when it comes to Japanese food) and fighting despite his statements to the contrary about his skill in either. Houju, on the other hand, is a perverted JerkAss who only excels at swordcraft and swordplay; unable to cook for himself, he mostly subsists off of packaged, imported Japanese food when he can get it in Europe. Soutetsu also has no other family that is known of, while Houju was such a womanizing scoundrel in his younger years that he has multiple daughters by multiple women [[spoiler:and a granddaughter he didn't know about for most of her life]].
* HumbleHero: Soutetsu really doesn't like to brag about his martial arts or his cooking; however, he's great at both.
* MightyGlacier: The way he fights basically boils down to this now that, by his own words, he can't move as quickly as he used to. His strikes are extremely deliberate and powerful all the same, and he still has a tight defense and intense precision.
* OldMaster: Soutetsu is a long-time practitioner of karate, skilled enough to defeat an armored enemy with careful application of his strength.
* SupremeChef: Though he claims clumsiness due to his hands, Soutetsu is an amazing chef, especially when it comes to making Japanese food.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jessica]]
A mysterious, buxom woman that shows up at the climax of ''AIKI-S'', claiming to be Soutetsu's step-cousin.
----
* MsFanservice: She wears a ''very'' small bikini and has a generous bust to boot.
* SecretAgent: [[spoiler:She's a government agent tasked with taking down the US facility, and Soutetsu is her partner on the case.]]
* TheTease: Plays this angle with Soutetsu a lot, pressing up against him and being generally flirty.
[[/folder]]

!!US Facility Management
[[folder:Dana]]
The woman in charge of running the battles at the facility.
----
* BerserkButton: The martial artists constantly causing her trouble and fighting whenever they want is hers, as it deprives her of combat data.
* PlayfulCatSmile: Her defining feature; her mouth is always fixed with a playful smile even when she's irritated or pissed off.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Donuts, shared with Secretary Stafford.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Secretary of Defense Stafford]]
The government official that Dana reports to as part of the ongoing experiments at the facility.
----
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Donuts.
[[/folder]]

!!Teams Competing at the Facility

!!! Team Infinite
Consists of Joukyuu, Kageyasu, Dornier, Bull, and Veronica initially. [[spoiler:Bull is propped up as the figurehead lead, "Bull the Infinite", hence the team's name; Shikae and Inoguchi are also added in as members and introduced as Bull's subordinates too, while Soutetsu is put on the team as a "reserve" member of sorts. However, once Dornier, Veronica, Shikae, Inoguchi, and Kageyasu are all eliminated, the facility sends for Miu Takatori to join them as their final team member.]]

!!!Team Orleans
An underground organization from France.
----
[[folder: Team Tropes]]
* AmazonBrigade: Every member of Team Orleans is a woman, without exception.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nadeju]]
The leader of the team sent out to the US facility.
----
* BoisterousWeakling: For all of her big talk, Nadeju is literally the weakest member of the team.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Her main character flaw; she jumps to assumptions constantly and is extremely unobservant and stubborn, which causes her team no small share of grief during the events of ''AIKI-S''.
* DualWielding: Dual-wielding a pair of rapiers.
* TheLoad: Her recklessness and bratty behavior make her this to the rest of Team Orleans. She charges in during Orleans' team battle against Veronica, causing them to lose, and her plan to try and use both Joukyuu and Bull as hostages backfired so badly (Joukyuu's case: he had a bad case of the runs and escaped them; Bull's case: she [[MistakenIdentity assumed that Shikae was Bull]] and had Cassandra and Bianca capture him instead) that her own grandmother named Cassandra the new team leader afterward.
* {{Nepotism}}: How she got her position as Team Orleans' leader; her mother Reina is the leader of the main organization, and her grandmother Hilde was the leader before Reina.
* PutOnABus: She's sent home once Reina arrives, since her mother thinks she's too immature to have any involvement in the facility battles and needs to reflect on her failures back in France.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Blair]]
A woman that likes gambling with cards. She's sent to the competition as a scout for the rest of the team before they arrive.
----
* EyesAlwaysShut: Even when she's in shock, she keeps them closed; only in rare situations (namely, being in pain) does she open them at all.
%% something about using a fan goes here.
* TheGambler: Her hobby, though similar to [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure D'Arby the Elder]] she's also an accomplished cheater who prepared a number of tricks for manipulating her card draws.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Cassandra]]
A tall, muscular blonde woman. The strongest member of Team Orleans in the initial group that arrives at the facility.
----
* TheAce: Hands down the best fighter Team Orleans has, though she's not at Granny Hilde's level yet in terms of raw experience. She's also the most personable of Team Orleans overall, and is genuinely a nice person to be around.
* AmazonianBeauty: The tallest woman in both ''AIKI'' and ''AIKI-S'', with a physique to match and impressive breasts on top of that.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: She's highly observant even when it comes to techniques she doesn't really know, and can analyze their strengths and weaknesses without getting sucked into her enemy's pace.
* CombatPragmatist: During her match with Joukyuu, a new trick he's pulled out has her racing to think of something that will distract him long enough for her to get a leg up on him. [[DistractedByTheSexy So she flashes her boobs at him]], then catches him in a submission hold and weakens his left arm enough to keep him from using Time Stop at his leisure.
* {{Foil}}:
** Much like Veronica, she's also one to Joukyuu; they're both highly observant natural talents with a knack for deconstructing techniques [[spoiler:and even mimicking them]]. The main differences between them, gender aside, are rooted in their personalities, builds, and fighting styles; Cassandra is a huge, quintessential NiceGirl and SpiritedCompetitor who's mixed together the best of what she's observed and picked up into a terrifying all-rounder's style, with and without weapons, whereas Joukyuu is an average height, somewhat stocky JerkAss ArrogantKungFuGuy that's rooted his techniques in the unarmed principles of Aikido first and foremost and only added bits and pieces of what he's found interesting from other styles.
** She also serves as a foil to both Andrew and Mei Hou; in Andrew's case, they're both extraordinarily large Westerners who started learning how to fight at a young age, but where all of Andrew's strength and speed comes from years of illegal experimentation to turn him into a SuperSoldier that fights with brute force first and foremost, Cassandra's fitness is all natural and is refined by 20 years of learning techniques all over the world. On Mei's end, she shares Cassandra's trait of unusual height and muscular build, and they were both noted to be [[ChildProdigy young geniuses]], but where Mei let her musculature interfere with her skill in kenpo, Cassandra's body build is nothing but an asset to her fighting style, as it lets her use a broad variety of techniques and she went out of her way to ensure that all aspects of her body kept pace with her growth.
* InstantExpert: According to Granny Hilde, all she really needs to learn how to do just about anything is watch it in some form, a process only helped by her PhotographicMemory--she's picked up several sports just by watching professionals on [=DVD=]s before going out and putting those skills to practice.
* LightningBruiser: She's agile enough to do several backflips with ease, but also hits hard, can take a fair bit of punishment and has good enough reflexes and speed to keep pace with Veronica. Even Joukyuu is hard pressed to stay ahead of her with evasion.
* LogicalWeakness: While she seems to be completely invincible, Cassandra is still human; there are certain things she can't just shrug off, like sleeping or tear gases. [[spoiler:Getting hit with a shitton of electricity and having no way of grounding it knocks her out just as hard as anyone else, too, and even when she's had a week to recover she's still not 100%.]]
* MasterOfAll: Where she stands overall when compared to most fighters in ''AIKI'' and ''AIKI-S''. Due to her natural physique and talents combined with her training, she's strong, tough, fast, agile, and perceptive on a level that only Joukyuu really matches up to. Coupled with her ability to keep her head under pressure, she's probably the most obvious contender to challenge Joukyuu's status as the strongest character in the manga, and it's blatantly stated during her fight with Joukyuu that she's the strongest combatant in the facility aside from him. Her only real flaw is perhaps being a bit too straightforward personality-wise (and thus, a little naive).
* MultiMeleeMaster: She demonstrates flawless proficiency with the use of a buckler, her bare hands, and clubs.
* NiceGirl: She's friendly, considerate, and compassionate, willing to defend her teammates when they're in trouble or even when they're getting lectured for screwing up. She even took care of Joukyuu when Nadeju tried to use him as a hostage and he had the runs due to binging on Western food.
* PowerCopying: Granny Hilde states that Cassandra's been picking up martial arts from all over the world and incorporating whatever she's been exposed to into her fighting style. [[spoiler:Her ultimate defeat of Joukyuu proves this; she copies Joukyuu's Time Stop, then combines it with the internal strike techniques she picked up from observing Hon's kenpo to beat Joukyuu in one hit. Unlike Miu's Time Stop, which took a year to develop and is ''still'' severely inferior to Joukyuu's, Cassandra's Time Stop is about '''half''' as good as Joukyuu's (by his own estimation) even though she's only experienced it at full strength ''once.'']]
* SpiritedCompetitor: She's more than happy to battle against anyone that challenges her, and doesn't really have hard feelings over losing a well-fought match. She's also respectful of her opponents and takes them all seriously when she fights them.
* StrongAndSkilled: This is why Joukyuu calls her "his favorite" of Team Orleans, dovetailing with TalentedButTrained. While she initially appears to just be all muscle like Mei Hou first was, she's actually done the work it takes to maintain her skill alongside her stature, and her natural gifts (her extreme kinaesthetic coordination, her excellent memory, her natural growth and height) complement that intensely well. Joukyuu himself calls her "a real monster" when he learns more about her fighting history.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Shortly after beating Joukyuu, she loses her next match to the Red Dragoons via a surprise electric shock, even after using the same Time Stop/Internal Strike combo that took Joukyuu down.]]
* WorthyOpponent: Joukyuu considers her one from the moment he first sees her. [[spoiler:She proves his estimation correct, giving him the most difficult match he's had in either ''AIKI'' or ''AIKI-S'' and decisively beating him by using his Time Stop against him to deliver the finishing blow once she's ensured he can't use it on her any more.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bianca]]
* CoolShades: Always wears a pair of sunglasses, even inside.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mirenu]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Her small stature apparently hides the fact that she's a fully-grown woman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Granny Hilde]]
Nadeju's grandmother, a former leader of Orleans.
----
* EyesAlwaysShut: Lending to her doddering personality, Hilde often walks around like this, making it look like she's asleep or near to it.
* IWasQuiteALooker: States that she was beautiful enough that Houju couldn't stop talking about how attractive she was; given what we see of her during this flashback, she wasn't exaggerating.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: She's shrunken down quite a bit in her old age and uses a scooter to get around.
* OldMaster: She is either at or above Houju's age but is still capable of blocking strikes with her walking stick and reading the flow of battle exceptionally well; Veronica couldn't hit her once in the short time they fought against each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Reina]]
Nadeju's mother and Hilde's daughter, and the current leader of Orleans.
----
* IronLady: Is stern, no-nonsense, and uncompromising for the most part.
* TheStoic: The image she primarily projects whenever she's not fighting.
[[/folder]]


!!!The Black Moon Brigade
[[folder:Kahle]]
The leader of the Black Moon Brigade, derisively called a "mummy" because of his full-body wrappings.
----
* CampGay: ''Incredibly so.'' He fawns over Soutetsu, Hon, and Joukyuu, admiring their stoic attitudes and strength, and flips out whenver anyone tries or threatens to harm them.
* CombatPragmatist: He primarily fights with high-voltage electric shocks to disable unwary opponents that try to touch him, and even has adhesive on his bandages to counteract infighters or bladed weapons.
* FireForgedFriends: Forms this sort of relationship with Hon after a while of interacting at the facility, being the one person from Erante that he communicates with the most often.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: After fighting primarily with electricity and even sticky adhesive, he's forced to eventually reveal his actual specialty; leg-based combat. As it turns out, Shikae, despite not knowing his name, recognizes his movements; apparently, he used to be a famous disco dancer that inspired Shikae's style of fighting.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webuska]]
[[/folder]]

!!!The Red Dragoons
[[folder:The Deputy Commander]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pancho]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Julietta]]
[[/folder]]

!!!Team Erante

[[folder:Paula]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: She makes use of a surfboard that also doubles as a shield.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gonzales]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gomez]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Master Hon]]
A master of Chinese kenpo and the final member of Team Erante.
----
* OldMaster: though he's younger than the likes of Hilde, it's exceptionally clear that he's up there in years.
[[/folder]]