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Main Characters

Kei Nagai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/298800.jpg

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English), Jose Antonio Toledano (Mexican Spanish)

Our cynical, loner protagonist who finds out he is a demi-human after an unfortunate accident.

The Ace: Before the whole Ajin mess he got himself into, he was a brilliant student with remarkable achievements and with a bright future in medicine ahead of him, not only acing, but getting a perfect score in a mock medical exam.
Adaptational Heroism: Downplayed and subverted: Kei both in the manga and the anime has his moments of doing genuinely badass, heroic things. But, there's usually a great, big "but" attached, for all the anime does round out both his heroism and his less heroic traits a little more... Though, his shining moments are usually only brought out when he's in a particular sticky situation and he needs help.
Anti-Hero: Though he starts out as The Paragon, doing his best to avoid killing and treat everyone gently — in his own words, "be a fine and upstanding person" — he eventually slides allll the way down to Nominal Hero and even Sociopathic Hero; as the series progresses, he becomes ever crueler, more ruthless, and more selfish, but still one of the more heroic characters. By the time the story hits its stride, the only thing keeping him from being a flatout Villain Protagonist is his strong grip on his Moral Sociopathy/ apathy. He even acknowledges that he tried to be a good person simply because that's what you are supposed to do to be accepted in society, not because he felt any moral desire to. After his life went to hell and he became a wanted man on the run with no chance of a normal life, his pretense of being a "good" and "moral" person went out the window.
Big Brother Instinct: Played with. He shows concern towards his sister, Eriko, when she's kidnapped by Satou early in the story, but Sato notes later that his inquiry about her to him during their first meeting seemed insincere. That saying, if the Imagine Spot he had prior to meeting Sato was anything, it might've been genuine, if not exactly an all-consuming worry.
- Also, the reason he got into medicine in the first place was so that he could find a cure for his ailing sister's condition, though, like Eriko mentioned, it may just have been for self-serving reasons. What both he and Eriko struggle with is the concept that he can, perhaps, care to some degree and that it could motivate him in turn... but, it's not something he does in the usual ways or can feel to the same degree others do. But, it could well still be there, if outside factors and situations don't overwhelm his ability. On the plus side, even Eriko doesn't confuse his antisocial traits with being an Ajin: it's just the way her brother has always been.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed, but still somewhat present. Kei in the first few chapters comes across as fairly nice guy. As the series goes on, however, Kei is primarily characterized as a logically-driven Jerkass who isn't afraid to throw others under the bus if the situation calls for it. Though given that the first volume was written by a different writer than the rest of the series, it's more likely a case of Early-Installment Weirdness.
Break the Cutie: He's fairly kind and decent when the story begins; he's well-known for helping his schoolmates with studying and tests, and seriously questions the common wisdom that Ajin aren't human and deserve to be tortured For Science!. Even after dying from getting run over by a truck, shot at by a cop, smacked in the head with an aluminum baseball bat and dying a second time due to the same guy who smacked him strangling him just to see if he'll come back, his first thought after Kai asks him to stun a pursuing motorcyclist with his Voice is that getting paralyzed while riding a motorcycle at speed will probably kill him — causing him to hesitate long enough for said cyclist to run them both off the road. When he begs the cyclist to call an ambulance for Kai, he's kicked in the ribs and told Kai's injuries are his fault for not surrendering. ...and thus begins his journey down the Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes.
Brilliant, but Lazy: An odd case. If he can see the point to something and it meets his general goals, he's likely to work his butt off doing it. The problem is that, if he doesn't see the point to something, he's very quick to blow it off as nothing to do with him, ergo, not important and, therefore, it's just not done or gets half-assed if he can't get out of it. However, his "half-assed" is usually more than enough.
Character Development: While he becomes more ruthless, he also gets a better grip on finding motivations beyond "just getting by via hard work and a mask of perfection". In short, getting to grips with being a persecuted Ajin helps him get to grips with being antisocial in a complex social environment on his own terms, rather than just using bogus templates to skirt around dealing with people only as things.
Characterization Marches On: No doubt a side effect of the story changing hands early on, but Kei at the start is a pretty different character than Kei later on. He starts out the story trying to be a moral person. Even though he cut his best friend out of his life at his mother's urging, he clearly felt bad about it and tries to do the right thing. That is completely clashing with his more sociopathic personality later in the story where he only cares about self preservation and is a cold jerk for the most part. The story does a decent job of explaining the change by saying that Kei was just putting up a front of being moral so he could succeed in society, but as his sister realized all along, it was just a front. And it was a front that he quickly drops when he realizes it won't help him anymore in the situation he's in.
Combat Pragmatist: Expect him to play dirty in a fight. There's also his tactical prowess and eerily logical and rational mindset to consider.
The Comically Serious: Has his moments, especially around Kou.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Deaths. First, when he was run over by a truck and his body was mutilated beyond recognition before being resurrected, which gives him (and all the accident's bystanders) the knowledge of being an Ajin. Next, he gets strangled to death by some random crook. And then, there was his torture at the hands of scientists, where he was made to experience numerous deaths with varying degrees of pain. Of course, being an Ajin, and therefore being unkillable by any means, they don't stick.
The Cynic: Becomes more cynical as the series progresses. One cannot blame him.
Determinator: Very, very begrudgingly so. But, Kei is made of immensely stubborn, impossible-to-keep-down, in-your-face, reoccuring middle-fingers when he wants to be. It's getting him to that point that's hard. Also... It's a very bad idea to do that.
Everybody Has Standards: Sincerely apologizes to his sister and Kai over what he put them through, and helps the old lady who fell off her bike even though it was of absolutely no benefit to him at the time. Which puts paid to anybody writing him off as merely a 2D personality disorder on legs.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Well not bad so much as relatively sociopathic, but when he was planning to flee the country and disappear, he felt compelled to call his mother one last time. Even though they spent most of it arguing, he hung up with a rare smile on his face.
Expy: Strictly in terms of appearance, Kei is a dead-ringer for Shotaro Kaneda from AKIRA due to Ajin's Art Shift. Considering that Gamon Sakurai has described AKIRA as a major influence on him, this was probably intentional.
Ineffectual Loner: Kei's not so taken with joining Tosaki or Kou at first.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Ultimately averted. For the first few episodes, he refuses to kill even while he's being vivisected and even though he quickly learns to accept the deaths of his armed enemies, he actually attacks Satou to keep him from killing the surgeons who did it because they're incapable of hurting them at that particular moment. As time goes on, however...
Jerkass: Let's face it, he's this without trying too hard and knows it. And, it's knowing this that lies behind why he does make an attempt to not be it to the max, though. There's a reason he and Tosaki get each other. His sister also calls him this. Turns out she was right about him.
Genius Bruiser: Apparent during his fight with Kou. Kei mentally describes his plans to knock Kou down (in order: poisoning, concussion, suffocation) with textbook accuracy, all while putting them in action. Justified in this case, since he was studying to be a doctor, after all.
The Golden Rule: He's happy to skate by while politely ignoring most issues and doing socially expected "chores" if he's pretty much left politely alone in return. However, treat him very well or do something really helpful and he will endeavour to return the favour to the best of his ability (even if not in exact Equivalent Exchange terms, since his ideas on value and interest may vary). Treat him very poorly... and you've just made a truly terrible tactical mistake. Actively be a dire threat to his existence, and he goes strategic on you.
How Do I Shot Web?: Well, it's not like you can find unclassified textbooks dealing with the care and training/ controlling of BMs that are (very loosely in his case) attached to you, so... Yup: brainstorming sessions, trial, error and frustrated growling ensue as he is forced to go all empirical methodology at it.
Lack of Empathy: When escaping from the government facility, Kei asks a sympathetic surgeon why he feels so much about the plight of others. Kei admits that he's only ever pretended to care for others, but never actually felt anything for them. It's somewhat hollow, though, as he does seem to manage connections to some small degree — even if he's not convinced he can or does. See dealing with both his family, Kai, Kou and even, to some degree, Tosaki.
Love Is a Weakness: "Let your heart guide you and your body will crumble". Kei seems to notice this within Tosaki, believing it to be his advantage and Tosaki's disadvantage.
It's All About Me: While he has occasionally shown that he cares for certain individuals, the person he would always prioritize would be first and foremost, himself. But, note that (small) ability to put others into the picture: he's more complicated than simply being selfish, even if he'll never manage truly selfless.
Manipulative Bastard: Particularly when he poisons Kou after faking a friendly conversation and meal and then confines him in an abandoned truck, because he can't afford anyone knowing where he's been hiding. He's also fast in exploiting Tosaki's main weakness, his ill wife, by threatening to have his IBM kill her if Tosaki doesn't listen to his proposal of alliance.
Moral Sociopathy: His baseline code is: "whatever will help me get by successfully with minimum hassle" which morphs into "do whatever will keep me not turning into a permanent lab rat... with minimum hassle" whenever that crops up. Help him to survive, and he'll return the compliment, and seemingly care enough not to be too much of a pain in return. Otherwise, he'll take or leave pretty much any social interaction on a face-value basis if it makes things run smoothly, and only digs deeper if his life is on the line. He'd much rather be left alone and even needs pushing to consider taking sides. He's no unraveling sociopath (even though he does get more ruthless, he still doesn't hit "outright, degenerative disorder"), but that doesn't mean he's able to do closeness properly even at his best: just ask his sister, mother, people from school... He even drops relationships quickly, if it would make his life easier to do so, with or without justifications (see Kai, his mother, how quickly he adapts to realizing his cram school buddies aren't places to seek help, and so on).
Nominal Hero: He eventually joins Kou and Tosaki in order to stop Sato, but mostly for his own good and safety. He's not interested in saving people and says he doesn't care whoever might die in the process. How much he's deluding himself on that point is up in the air: he might be able to care about a few people. Even if not for very long or all that deeply.
Not So Stoic: He begs and screams for Sato to stop when he has one of the few people who was genuinely kind to him in his clutches. Later on, he weeps over his failure to save the man.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kei constantly gives Kou shit for his Book Dumb tendencies and expresses visible annoyance on the rare occassion that Kou brings up a good point. In the climax of the series, however, Kou comes up with a genuinely good idea that would allow them to finally defeat Sato^note, prompting Kei to yell "You are the man!" At this point the guy is so at the end of his rope that he doesn't even bother with his normal Insufferable Genius attitude.
Pet the Dog: While a very cold and aloof person, Kei has a few moments here and there which make it clear that he still does have a heart deep down.
- Despite cutting off their relationship at a young age, Kei does genuinely value the wellbeing of his friend Kaito, parting ways with him in chapter 5 to stop him from getting hurt. Later on, he's so distraught when Kaito is killed in front of him that he triggers a flood.
- After finding out that the old lady he was living with was taken captive by one of her neighbors, Kei puts his getaway with Kou at risk by going back to rescue her.
- He advises Kou to not let himself get decapitated, as that would be one of the few things that would kill him for real.
- Although he does accept it and decides to keep moving forward, he's genuinely bothered when he discovers that Hirasawa is going to die.
- For all his talk of not caring how many people Sato kills, when push comes to shove and Kei is given a free ticket to escape from Japan and live a peaceful life overseas, he ultimately can't bring himself to do it and joins up again with the others to stop Sato from having his way.
Resurrective Immortality: The power he possesses as an Ajin.
Safety in Indifference: Kei makes a habit of not getting close to anyone and staying away from those he's close to.
Sociopathic Hero:
- His safety is his first priority, and he's not averse to killing people he barely knows to protect himself (also when he thinks his IBM has killed Kou, his overall reaction is "This might be a problem..."). He always thinks rationally, and has admitted to only pretend caring about other people. Even when he saves one of the doctors who experimented on him, he later says it was because since the man was an Ajin sympathizer, he could be a valuable delegator to the government. Even his own sister doesn't think good of him, and implies that Kei's wish of being a doctor has little to do with Eriko and more to do with his self-value.
- That said, he still decides to fight against Satou when the latter's plans threaten any chance he has of ever living normally. He also does ask Satou about his little sister's well-being, and though still putting himself above everyone else, he most definitely has a sense of gratitude: he is shocked and thankful to Kai for helping him escape, and goes out of his way to rescue the old woman who gave him shelter while he was on the run.
- After a big attempt to stop Satou from assassinating an important person fails and the Ajin division gets shut down, Kei's first instinct is to cut his losses and flee the country. However, something inside him agreed with Kou that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he gave up after everything that had happened. So he decides to stay and finish the fight.
The Spock: A more sociopathic version as he tends to apply ruthless rationality to most situations.
Suicide Dare: A "harmless" example. When Kou admits that he's still having trouble getting used to dying, Kei tries to get him to kill himself on repeat by strangling himself with a noose.
Teach Him Anger: Satou purposefully abandons Kei to be captured after discovering he's too passive to protect himself, let alone fight in his revolution. It's implied that he did the same to Tanaka; only rescuing him from the government lab after he'd suffered enough to hate humans. It only half-works on Kei; though he becomes quite capable of killing government operatives, soldiers, and even cops, he never becomes the full-blown Ajin-supremacist Satou is.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Kou, which is not surprising since they are as different as night and day. Also with Tosaki, though amusingly enough, despite being on tense terms, both manage to interact quite civilly when working together.
Teen Genius: Kei might still be in high school, but he's an absolute genius through-and-through, being able to come up with great plans both in advance and on the fly. It's telling that despite working with trained government operatives, he's the one to come up with the plan to get the drop on Tanaka and the others during the raid on Forge Security.
Virtue Is Weakness: Yes-no: is quick to vocalise this opinion. However... for all he could quite happily poison, strangle, bash or burn Kou for being an idiot over his urge towards emotional Chronic Hero Syndrome... he doesn't always shut him down and even facilitates some of what Kou concocts. Mostly, however, he'd like to bomb Kou's unmodified ideas from orbit for being very, very dangerously stupid. Kei can compute that not having normal emotions of his own as a yardstick can prove tricky when dealing with other people. Having somebody like Kou to rein in helps him keep his own balance, too. Even though it's annoying as hell and he can't always grok the idiocy.
We Used to Be Friends: With Kaito after Kei stops seeing him after his mother learns of Kaito's father's criminal background. Kei's mother forbids Kei from ever seeing Kaito again. Even years later Kei actively avoids and shuns Kaito for the benefit of fitting in with his friends. Though he does feel regret for it later.
What You Are in the Dark: Even after being given a clear ticket to safety, Kei ultimately refuses to let Sato have his way and takes him on despite not having any plan whatsoever.
You Can't Go Home Again: Not that Kei really has any desire to, but his mother and younger sister basically disown him after they learn he's a demi-human.

Nagai's Black Ghost

Axe-Crazy: Bloodthirsty enough to attack and kill people on its own whims.
The Blank: It has no face, just an opening that shows of the hollowness inside.
Determinator: It's certainly attached to one. But, is also one itself. Many of its more independent actions can be summed up as "Surprise! I'm not dusted! Welcome to new and interesting pain!". Ghosts aren't supposed to be able to keep on ticking when an Ajin is either delirious or out for the count, but this one can. When it feels the burning need to, that is.
Improvised Weapon: When trying to reroute the Americans kidnapping Tosaki, it uses ripped up street signs as weapons.
It Can Think: Its notably independent compared to normal black ghosts, capable of acting on its own initiative.
Jerkass: Manages to be abrasive and rude, despite only being able to parrot things Nagai previously said. Having said that, what it chooses to say back at which points give the strong impression of both deliberate taunting — and occasional finger-wagging of the "I told you so" variety.
Lean and Mean: Rather thin and quite aggressive.
Like Father, Like Son: Kei gets frustrated with it for a reason: it's as stubborn in its heel-dragging and as slow to volunteer its services as he is. It is also just as capable, just as hard to keep down and all too uncomfortably quick to pick up new tricks at the worst time for opponents... once finally convinced it should do so, that is. It's also rather quicker to lash out in anger when pushed, but it certainly gets that from somewhere, too. Kei puts up fronts; his "Ghost" doesn't really need to.
Made of Iron: Abnormally dense compared to normal black ghosts due to its age.
Reverse Psychology: It always disobeys Nagai, so he uses this to command it. After a brief period where it wises up to this and refuses to do anything he wants, Nagai manages to get over this and it obeys him normally.
Stubborn Mule: Good luck getting your ghost to take you seriously, Kei...
Unskilled, but Strong: It can stay out longer and be summoned many more times a day than normal black ghosts, but it lacks any actual skill in combat and relies on raw ferocity. As a result it tends to get demolished by other black ghosts in a fight, but gets summoned back almost immediately for round two.
Zerg Rush: A limited version as Nagai can only have one at a time, but Nagai makes up for their weaker quality by just spamming one after another. Ends up being played straighter in the season 2 finale where Nagai achieves a Flood.

Kou Nakano

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/298803.jpg

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Griffin Burns (English)

An Ajin who's introduced during Satou's first Ajin meeting. He eventually meets Kei and joins him in a Teeth-Clenched Teamwork type of partnership.

Big Ol' Eyebrows: It's about the first thing you notice about his face. And, good luck not continuing to look.
Book Dumb: He sure has no patience for the long strategical or intellectual speeches Kei gives at times, much to the latter's exasperation. Given Kei is The Smart Guy and The Chessmaster, it makes for quite some amusing moments.
Kou: Hey, Nagai! You got my shirt dirty!
Kei: Aren't you used to that, blue-collar boy?
Kou: This is red!
Chronic Hero Syndrome: "Because it's the right thing to do!" may's well be his mantra. He needs Kei to work out how to do whatever he'd like to do without getting himself (and everybody around him) repeatedly killed.
Classical Anti-Hero: Of the idiotic, Jerkass with a Heart of Gold delinquent variety. Except, he's more impulsive than actually a total idiot (whatever Kei might argue).
Dumbass Has a Point: Kou... isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. However there are a couple moments where he makes some genuinely good points, such as when pointing out that since telephone poles are hallow, they can trick Sato into regenerating in there. It almost works.
The Face: Of his partnership with Kei, to a certain extent. He's quite the "people's person", managing to get both of them a car mostly by making friends with some strangers at a bar (granted, the fact that the strangers were drunk helped) and he actually befriends most of Tosaki's henchmen once they start working on the same side. While Kei's usually the one doing the negotiations, Kou is the guy people seem to trust more. More than that, when Kei needs to think or act normal, he's got Kou to bounce off.
Foil: To Kei. Whereas Kei is the man with a plan, lacks empathy and has a hard time interacting with people (he's good at pretending to be social, but isn't so good at getting people to like him), Kou is impulsive, cares about people around him (whether he knows them long or not) and trusts and becomes friends with others too easily. Kou may not be the man with the plan, but he is the guy with the emotionally driven, motivational cattle-prod the man with the plan sorely needs to get his arse in gear.
Good Is Dumb: Kou is one of the nicest characters in the series, and also probably the dumbest.
Hot-Blooded: Another thing that sets him apart from Kei.
Leeroy Jenkins: Kei complains that Kou is 100%, direct-to-target Leeroy, hold any sense of danger. However, it's a little bit more going on than that. Sure, Kou isn't one for convoluted plots, but he isn't totally heedless of the need for strategy, either. If he was, he wouldn't listen to Kei at all.
What the Hell, Hero?: Gives many of these to Kei whenever the latter voices that he'll worry about himself first and foremost and doesn't care who might die in the process.

Government

Yu Tosaki

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/298805.jpg

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English), José Gilberto Vilchis (Mexican Spanish)

A high-ranking official in the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, head of the Ajin Management Committee. As the head of the Committee, he is responsible for capturing Kei and stopping Satou when the latter begins his attacks.

A Lighter Shade of Black: He is still an agent for the corrupt Japanese government and a cold-hearted man of pragmatism. But in comparison with Satou, the man he is supposed to stop, he is much less extreme in being evil and is even sympathetic in a few points.
Bait-and-Switch: When his motive is introduced, it seems that he’s in it for the money. However, at the end of the episode, it turns out that he wants the money so he can pay for his bedridden fiancée’s debts from her parents and healthcare.
Benevolent Boss: You wouldn't think it at first, but Tosaki turns out to be a pretty decent guy to his subordinates. While he's seemingly blackmailing Izumi into working for him, it's later revealed to be a whole bunch of hot air and he actually destroyed all of the records that she was an ajin. He even defends her honor when Sokabe refers to her by her birth name. Later on, he gives Kei and Ko the chance to walk away from everything after their first attempt to take down Sato fails.
Birds of a Feather: He and Kei. Highly driven for their own reasons, selectively caring, calculating, very intelligent... there are a number of reasons they actually work well together, despite not particularly liking each other.
Character Tics: He carries around a small container of mints and frequently dumps a handful in his mouth.
Deathbed Confession: He confesses the truth to the public about the government performing unethical experiments on ajin before bleeding to death. Though it's zigzagged in that he was already in the process of leaking the truth and was fully ready to face the consequences before he got stabbed by Sokabe.
Death Flag: He is getting one after being stabbed by Sokabe.
Did Not Think This Through: Sort of. He thought kidnapping Ogura, who was visiting Japan at the time as part of a joint Ajin research program between the U.S. and Japan, during Satou’s attack on the lab and faking his death would have gone uninvestigated. Not only does the U.S. send agents to conduct an investigation, the absence of Ogura’s cigarettes among the evidence that was collected immediately clues them in on his survival.
Dying Moment of Awesome: He holds a press conference revealing the truth about the Japanese government performing unethical experiments on ajin while bleeding to death. Notably, he doesn’t show his injured state at all, maintaining his composure until the end.
Evil Laugh: To the man who sold out Nagai because of a rumor that the government would be offering money to anyone who found any wanted Ajin.
Face Death with Dignity: After he is fatally stabbed, he gets up, has his press conference, and ultimately sits down on a bench and passes away, all without betraying his pain for a moment until he finally bled out.
Fantastic Racism: Tosaki seems to genuinely resent ajin as a whole, getting angry when Kei's IBM looks at him and threatening to leak Izumi's secret to the higher-ups. Though it turns out to be a more downplayed example, as he does treat Kei and Ko with a surprising amount of decency after the failed attempt to capture Sato and turns out to be a far nicer boss to Izumi than he comes off as.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: His glasses are a sign of his calculating and pragmatic nature. He has no qualms about doing bad things if it means getting his job done.
Good All Along: He turns out to be a far better person than he initially comes across. While he was complicit in the immoral treatment of ajin, he was only doing it to save up the money to pay for his fiance's surgery and secretly planned to reveal everything to the press. Furthermore, unlike his superior he's shown to be someone who genuinely cares about doing the right thing, deciding to continue putting his life on the line even after the Japanese government decides to concede to Sato's demands.
Hate Sink: Actually subverted. The start of the series sets him up as a rather hateable individual, but he displays some sympathetic Hidden Depths as time goes on.
In-Series Nickname: Ogura refers to him exclusively as Four Eyes.
Insistent Terminology: It's To-SA-ki, not To-ZA-ki.
Jerkass: He has absolutely no sympathy towards the Ajin, and is no stranger to kidnapping and subjecting a known scientist to Cold-Blooded Torture when he has information he needs. He's also a bit of a Bad Boss towards his subordinate Izumi, whom he uses occasionally for his own purposes. However close he skirts going towards Lack of Empathy levels with Ajin, however, he never quite manages it: it's caring about people that fundamentally drives his Jerkassery.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His Bad Boss tendencies aside, he treats Izumi FAR better than Douglas Almeida treats Carly Myers, and releases Izumi from her contract to him when he believes his injuries will only end up getting them both killed by Sato.
Meaningful Name: His name Yuu and his fiancee Ai. Their chapter's name is U & I, written in English.
Mutual Kill: Stabs Sokabe to death for threatening Izumi and himself, but is himself stabbed with a much thinner blade in his side. The wound to Yuu takes time to bleed out, but eventually he dies as well.
Pet the Dog: Has a couple moments here and there that show he's really not as bad as he first seems, though by far the biggest one is when he leaks all of the Ajin Management Committee's unethical actions to the press and arranges new identities for Kei, Kou, Izumi, and Tanaka so that they can put everything behind them.
Secret-Keeper: He knows that Izumi is an Ajin, but is pulling strings to prevent her from being used for experiments. However, he's not doing this out of kindness, but is using her for his own purposes.
Secret Stab Wound: Gets stabbed by Sokabe in his side. Eventually dies from this.
The Stoic: He never breaks his composure, regardless of how bad the situation is.

Izumi Shimomura

Izumi Shimomura/Yoko Tainaka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/298804.jpg

Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela (English)

Tosaki's assistant and sort of bodyguard, who is an Ajin.

Action Girl: Not only is she adept at using her IBM, she fights Tanaka's bare-handed and forces it back despite grievous injuries.
Adaptational Wimp: She fares poorly in her first fight against Tanaka's IBM in Eriko's hospital room in the live action movie adaptation, where Tanaka had her on the ropes the entire time. In both the manga and anime, she easily turns the tide of the fight in her favor shortly after reviving and quickly recovering from Tanaka's surprise attack, forcing him to retreat after accomplishing his objective of obtaining Eriko.
Affectionate Nickname: She named her black ghost "Kuro-Chan."(Japanese for black).
Badass Adorable: She can be a total dork outside her serious demeanor and employer's shadow. Her interaction with Eriko is a crowning example of this. She also fights with her IBM for the first time against Tanaka's and wins. And that was after she had just respawned from being lifted up and Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 27 expands on her backstory.
Dark and Troubled Past: Her life before becoming Tosaki's assistant was not easy. Her father died in an accident while she was in high school. She had a shaky relationship with her mother, due to the latter insisting on keeping a useless, money-sucking boyfriend around, and her own boyfriend was cheating on her with one of her friends. When Izumi's stepfather tries to sexually assault her, he accidentally kills her, finding out upon Izumi's resuscitation that she's an Ajin, and decides to use her to get money. Witnessing her mother's silence over this, Izumi runs away from home. Later she finds out that her mother killed her stepfather to stop him from outing her as an Ajin, but was also killed by him during their struggle. Living on the streets, she had to prostitute herself to survive, but eventually contracted an STD which was killing her slowly and painfully when Tosaki found her. He relieved her of the pain, then proceeded to blackmail her into working for him against her fellow ajin, and is still doing so.
Endearingly Dorky: She accidentally slips out information regarding Black Ghosts, something only Ajins should know, while she was questioning Eriko. When she realizes her blunder, she blushes. Eriko then internally notes that she's a weird person.
Good Is Not Nice: She shows zero hesitation when she guns down the Health Minister's guards when saving Tanaka. Justified, as she has pretty understandable reasons to resent them considering that she herself is an ajin.
Hunter of His Own Kind: She's an Ajin, but works with Tosaki, allegedly so she can get to know her own kind better.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: By Tanaka's Black Ghost. She gets better.
Older Than They Look: Played for Laughs in the last chapter, as she's apparently only 3 years younger than Tanaka.
Parental Abandonment: Both her parents are dead.
Ship Tease: With Tanaka in the last chapter where the two of them move in together.
The Smurfette Principle: Izumi's the only female in the main cast, except for Carly Myers in the anime.
Starting a New Life: Her real name used to be Yoko Tainaka, but once she becomes Tosaki's assistant she takes on her father's last name and her mother's maiden name to do this.
Two First Names: Inverted, both her first and last names are family names. That's because its an alias taken from her mother's maiden name and her real father's last name.
Undying Loyalty: Ultimately, to Tosaki. Even after he confirms that he destroyed all her records that she's a Demi-human, she chooses to stick it out with him until the very end.

Kuro

Shimomura's black ghost.

Meaningful Name: Besides the implication of being the only black ghost whose ajin names it, "kuro" means "black".
Tiny-Headed Behemoth: Kuro is the most physically imposing black ghost seen so far, but its head is little more than a fin-like nub.

Ikuya Ogura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ogura.png

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Kinoshita (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

A Japanese-American biophysicist professor abducted to work for Tosaki.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's quite the eccentric, but his knowledge on Ajin is second to none.
Easily Forgiven: It takes all of a few hours to start getting chummy with the man who tortured him. Considering that he's later shown to be a diehard fatalist, it's likely that Ogura doesn't even see the point of getting angry at someone who, from his perspective, has zero agency over their own actions.
The Fatalist: He's a strong believer in predestination, and according to his theories ajin are the only ones capable of determining the future for themselves. Though he does seem to question his beliefs somewhat when he ultimately survives.
Feel No Pain: Played with. He certainly feels it, but he disregards it as only being physical pain.
Fingore: Tosaki chops down two of his fingers to get him to talk. It doesn't work.
Must Have Nicotine: He never ever stops smoking, and he completely ignores No Smoking signs. Even when he's captured, his bodyguard killed, and is being tortured and his fingers chopped, all wants is to get his pack of cigarettes back, and that's all it takes to get him to talk.
Outliving One's Offspring: It's revealed in the series' climax that his son passed away years ago.
Straw Nihilist: According to Ogura, ajins are the only reason that humanity has any value whatsoever, as they're the only ones who aren't subjected to absolute predestination. Though it's implied that he loosens up on this belief somewhat when his predictions of his own death turn out to be incorrect.
Tempting Fate: In chapter 46, he notes that he's probably going to die once he finishes his Mild Seven cigarettes and in the series' climax, he's down to his last one. He survives.
Tragic Keepsake: The discontinued Mild Seven cigarette brand, since his late son bought them for him on Father's Day.

Hirasawa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_09_03_084546.png

Voiced by: Atsuyoshi Miyazaki (Japanese), Paul St. Peter (English)

One of Tosaki's agents responsible for Kei and Nakano after they joined his group.

Cold-Blooded Torture: He roughs up Ogura when trying to get information about Ajin out of him.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Even though he didn't stand much of a chance, he still goes down swinging against Sato.
Easily Forgiven: Despite beating Ogura, the two are seen watching tv together scant days later.
Killed Offscreen: Beaten to death by Satou after being fatally shot. Fight was never shown.
Morality Pet: He is one of the few characters that Kei ever showed any empathy in.
Neck Snap How Sato kills him.
Secret Stab Wound: Fatally shot by Sato. He attempts to hide it but was eventually discovered by Kei.

Manabe

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_09_03_084453.png

One of Tosaki's agents in the Ajin Management Committee.

Big Damn Heroes: He shoots Sato in the chest with a sniper rifle just as he's making his getaway in a helicopter, causing him to fall back to the ground.
Ret Irony: He talks about how he plans to go into retirement right before going into a dangerous confrontation with Sato's group. And it turns out to be completely subverted in the end. Despite all the signs pointing to the contrary, Manabe turns out to be the only human in Tosaki's group to make it to the end fo the series alive.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After being defeated by Sato at Forge Security, Manabe decides that enough is enough and to get away from things while he still can. He ultimately changes his mind.

Sokabe

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_08_31_160026.png

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Martin Billany (English)

High-ranked member of the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, assigned to supervise Tosaki and later to succeed him as the head of the Ajin Management Committee.

Irony: At the start of Chapter 53, he calls Tosaki out on wearing gloves during his work, saying that Tosaki is still clinging to the past. That same chapter Tosaki kills Sokabe without gloves on after the latter threatens Izumi and tries to stop Tosaki from leaking the DHCC's secrets to the public.
It's All About Me: In contrast to Tosaki, Sokabe doesn't give a damn about anything besides climbing up the government hierarchy.
Jerkass: His job seems to be to constantly pester Tosaki regardless of what the situation is.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: The guy really has no ideals or beliefs outside of boosting his own position. The few times where it looks like he's pulling a Pet the Dog moment, it turns out to just be him acting in his own self-interest.
Kick the Dog: While Sokabe's an all-around asshole, he really crosses the line when he threatens to notify the higher-ups that Shimomura is an ajin, which is what prompts Tosaki to kill him.
Mutual Kill: Yuu stabs Sokabe to death for threatening Izumi and himself, but is himself stabbed with a much thinner blade in his side. The wound to Yuu takes time to bleed out, but eventually he dies as well.
Smug Smiler: As if his character design is not indicative of his Jerkass personality enough, his smirk rarely leaves his face.

Kouma

Colonel Kouma

Voiced by: Itaru Yamamoto (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)

A colonel of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and member of the Ajin Management Committee.

Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After realizing that the Anti-Demi Special Forces were not authorized by anyone higher than the Health Minister, he ignores the demands to keep them secret, mobilizing them to deal with Sato's final wave.
The Watson: Given that Japan is pretty far behind the US when it comes to knowledge on ajin, Kouma's misconceptions on how IBMs work is what prompts Ogura to deliver some exposition on them.

Yuuwa Tokui

Voiced by: Toru Ohkawa (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)

Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare. Tosaki's superior.

Dirty Coward: He kowtows to the (supposed) demands of Sato's group the moment his own life is threatened.
Hate Sink: He's pretty much the series' stand-in for everything wrong with the Japanese government. He's a cowardly, self-important sleazeball who has no problem with putting captured ajins through heinous experiments for the sake of lining his own pockets.
Karma Houdini Warranty: He's shot in the hand by Izumi and later has his career destroyed when Tosaki comes clean about the Ajin Management Committee's actions to the public.
No Name Given: His name is rarely seen, as most of the time he is simply referred to by his title.
Sleazy Politician: From his few actions that he made in the manga and the anime, he is most certainly not an honest and upstanding politician, engaging in dirty stuff with corporations and being obstructive with Tosaki's work.
Villainous Breakdown: Has a complete mental breakdown and panics when Colonel Kouma, realizing that nobody higher than the Health Minister was told about the Anti-Demi Special Forces, authorizes their mobilization to stop Sato's "final wave," since the Health Minister still refuses to act anyway to try to stop it all. Realizing that his career is over if they are mobilized, the Minister even tries (and pitifully fails) to shoot Kouma in response, albeit too late to stop him.

Douglas Almeida

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)

An anime-original character. An official from the United States Department of Defense sent to investigate into the disappearance of Ikuya Ogura in Japan.

Bullying a Dragon: Abusing and torturing one. His Ajin assistant.
Canon Foreigner: He's a new character from the anime.
Cold-Blooded Torture: To get the information on the location of Dr. Ogura, he kidnaps Tosaki and tortures him with a stun gun and a muscle relaxant that makes him experience feelings of suffocation. He is also implied to have done the same multiple times to Myers to stop her from having any second thoughts. Worse, he clearly looks like he's enjoying it.
Eagleland: He represents the worst parts of a boorish US government. Intervening the affairs of another government for some tiny gain to the United States, usage of interrogation in getting people to talk, and general Jerkassery to everyone, including his assistant.
Hoist by His Own Petard: After enduring his constant abuse and tortuous behavior, Meyers shoots him the first chance she gets.

Carley Myers

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese)

An anime-original character. Assistant to Douglas Almeida and also an Ajin.

Birds of a Feather: Non-romantic version with Izumi. As both are Ajins with similar jobs and similarly horrible experiences, the two manage to sympathize with each other and eventually dropped the conflicts they had.
Canon Foreigner: She's a new character from the anime.

Myers's Black Ghost

Non-Human Head: Instead of a humanoid head, it has something resembling intersecting geometric shapes.

Anti-Demi Special Forces

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0061_030.png

A special unit of the SDF trained to fight ajin.

Badass Normal: They're all regular humans, but are more than capable of holding their own against ajin.
The Cavalry: They're finally deployed in the final battle against Sato.
Chekhov's Gun: They're routinely brought up throughout the pseries, but don't make an appearance until the end.
Fantastic Racism: Averted. After Sato is finally captured, they just thank Kei and the others for their help despite them being ajin.
Overt Operative: Despite being an illegal, secret unit, they have labels explicitly saying "Anti-Demi Special Forces" on their uniforms, making deniability pretty much impossible. It is the use of these insignias that led Colonel Kouma to realize they were never intended to actually be used, just being a money sink and pet project for the higher-ups.

Ajin Resistance

In General

Defector from Decadence: In the anime, when it’s discovered that Satou doesn’t actually care for the plight of their fellow Ajin, all key members but Tanaka abandon the Resistance. A few even decide to join Kei and Tosaki in their efforts to stop Satou.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: With the exception of Tanaka, none of them have any illusions that they're fighting for the rights of demi-humans.
Terrorists Without a Cause: Ultimately, Tanaka is the only one who actually cares about securing ajin rights. The rest of them are just so bored with modern life that they turned to Sato as a way to get their thrills. It's telling that in the final arc, Tanaka is abandoned as a decoy by Sato, who says he did so because Tanaka did not fit their group anymore.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: The group as a whole have no problem with aiding Satou in killing humans if it meant freeing other Ajin from persecution and the inhumane experiments they endured. Unfortunately for them, it’s ultimately averted in Satou’s case, and possibly Tanaka’s.

Sato

Sato (Real name: Samuel T. Owen/O'Brian)

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), Pete Sepenuk (English), Pedro D'Aguillon Jr. (Mexican Spanish)

The leader of the Ajin resistance and the primary antagonist of the series. A psychopathic adrenaline junkie, Sato seeks a fun challenge above all else, regardless of how many lives are lost in the process.

Adaptation Name Change: His surname is changed from Owen to O'Brian in the anime.
Ax-Crazy: Describing in detail how he's going to cut off Kei's head and make him watch his body grow another one should be hint. Then he outright admits it to a Surgeon begging him for mercy.
Sato: Sorry. That won't work. To tell you the truth, I rather enjoy killing.
Berserk Button: The one thing that can genuinely enrage him is breaking the rules of his "game".
Big Bad: Leader of the Ajin resistance and a brutal terrorist who commits crimes against civilians and tries to corrupt Kei to create conflict for his own amusement.
Blood Knight: It's heavily implied that he doesn't actually care that much about the Ajin cause; he just wants to cause a ruckus and make the whole world a battlefield for his own amusement.
But Not Too Foreign: American, with a British father and Chinese mother. He uses a Japanese name in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese, and the audience is unlikely to be aware that he's not actually Japanese at a glance.
Challenge Seeker: Doubles up with In-Universe Self-Imposed Challenge - if a task isn't hard, it's not fun for him.
Sato: Whenever I play videogames, I always make sure to play the hardest mode the game has to offer.
Tanaka: Oh? Where's this coming from?
Satou: I've learned one thing - if the game is really hard to play, then it's also a lot more fun.
Combat Pragmatist: Has no trouble in using others as human shields. Oh, and his declaration about attacking the Grant Pharmaceutical HQ? He meant he was going to crash a plane (a skyscraper in the anime) on it.
Satou: Brace for impact.
The Chessmaster: Sato is a notably cunning strategist, a necessary skill given his habit of making things harder for himself by telling his enemies his intended targets. Even when Nagai creates and executes a plan in the space of a few hours based on unforeseen circumstances, Sato already had a counterplan in place for it.
Crazy-Prepared: He seems to have a habit of having plans in place to counter very specific actions by his enemies, like booby trapping a specific section of tunnels to free himself if he's buried alive.
Death Is Cheap: Like all ajin, he resurrects after dying. Unlike them, he's very casual about this and will happily kill himself for the benefits of resetting.
- He goes beyond even other Ajin in regards to this. He literally has no fear. Even pragmatic Ajin like Kei who have gotten used to dying and regenerating have certain concerns, such as being decapitated (the biggest part of an Ajin's dead body is what regenerates, when decapitated, the decapitated head dies while a new head reforms onto the body with all of the Ajin's memories.) This idea scares Kei who does everything he can to avoid it. Sato on the other hand has no such worries. He cut his own hand off to have it snuck into a secure building before throwing himself into a meat grinder so that he would fully reform inside said building. In the final act he flips this idea on its head. By leaving cutting off an entire arm and leaving it at the military base he was occupying so he could fly the bases fighter jets into various government buildings, then reforming from the severed back at the military to do it again.
Dissonant Serenity: Always wears a calm smile, even when slaughtering his way through a government facility.
Eyes Always Shut: He only opens them twice in the entire first season of the anime.
Far East Asian Terrorists: Sato is no freedom fighter. He's a terrorist. He goes through with his threats to bomb the Grant Pharmaceutical Company headquarters. By hijacking a commercial airplane in the most brutal way possible and flying it into said building. In the anime, it was planting explosives in an unrelated building in order to topple it onto the pharmaceutical's building. He targets government and corporation personnel and kills them one by one. In the anime, he eventually uses captured VX gas missiles to threaten the government, and even launches one of them on the Prime Minster’s Official Residence.
Faux Affably Evil: Sato is a soft-spoken, level-toned man and remains calm and cordial in any situation, even while happily telling people how much he looks forward to killing them.
Fun with Acronyms: "Sato" is an alias made up of parts of his real name, "Samuel T. Owen/O'Brian"^noteOwen in the manga, O'Brian in the anime.
I Gave My Word: Even when Sato goes out of his way to make everything as difficult as possible he still holds up the promise and mission he sets out to do. One retired veteran brings up that he still saved his captured brothers life despite intentionally messing up to make things as dangerous as possible.
In Harm's Way: His whole motivation. He doesn't feel satisfied if he's not playing his "games" so he seeks out and creates conflicts to fight in.
In-Series Nickname: During his time in the United States Marine Corps, he was nicknamed Pokerface.
Latex Perfection: In the beginning of season 2, he uses a flawless mask to hide his identity and sneak onto a plane.
Manipulative Bastard: He allows Kei to be captured and experimented on so that Kei will develop a hatred towards humans. He also wants to put Kei in his debt when he and Tanaka break Kei out.
Not in This for Your Revolution: While he's the leader of the Ajin Resistance, Sato doesn't care even the tiniest bit about the cause he's supposedly fighting for. He's really just an adrenaline junkie doing it for thrills.
Not So Invincible After All: Discussed. Sato is an extremely competent fighter who's seemingly impossible to take down in a direct fight. However, he still is a human being at the end of the day and, like any human, he can be beaten. Although Sato is able to outgambit every single trick the heroes throw at him, Kei finally manages to get the better of him by way of a simple bout of bad luck when Sato is knocked unconscious by falling into a river head-first.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He allegedly fights for the freedom of the Ajins. In truth, he just wants War for Fun and Profit.
Off with His Head!: Promises to do this to Kei. Ends up on the receiving end of this from Kei. It only slows him down long enough for the American military to capture him though.
Old Soldier: Takes down entire buildings or enemy camps with minimal support at least three times in the manga, all of them ending up mostly in a successful note for him. At one point, Sato goes against the entire Metropolitan Police's Special Assault Team, an elite group trained specifically for anti-crime/terrorist operations, mostly on his own and calmly smiling all the way. That's after hijacking a plane and piloting straight to a building. And he livestreams it.
One-Man Army: Don't let Sato's age fool you; he's borderline unbeatable in a direct fight. As if to drive the point home, he clears out an entire JSDF base on his own in the final arc.
Otaku: He loves video games and pop culture in general and is often seen playing arcade games and game consoles, from the Game Boy in flashbacks to Xbox 360 in the present day. He didn't want to go back to Asia after being discharged from the military until he was informed that he was going to Japan, the birthplace of Pac-Man and many other games.
Psychotic Smirk: At the end of his broadcast declaring his upcoming attack on Grant Pharmaceuticals.
Race Lift: He has the Welsh surname "Owen" in the manga, but the anime changes it to the Irish surname "O'Brian."
Self-Imposed Challenge: In-Universe. He's constantly arranging to make things harder on himself, as he considers things boring if it's too easy for him. Usually this takes the form of revealing his targets ahead of time, sometimes even mentioning the specific dates and times he plans to attack. The most extreme versions comes when he's threatening the combined military might of Japan and America while arranging for his own men to abandon him.
Semper Fi: He went to the Marine boot camp in San Diego during the Vietnam War but was discharged after basic training due to illness. In reality, he was recruited into a top-secret black ops unit.
Signature Headgear: Sports a newsboy cap. Other characters can readily identify him by it.
The Sociopath:
- In one chapter, we see a flashback of Sato's father punching him inside a barn. We at first think perhaps his current behavior is based on abuses from his childhood. However at the end of the chapter, we see his father was beating him to teach him a lesson about the value of life, as we see Sato bloody with multiple dead animals lying around him. And when his father hugs Sato and tells him he loves him, we see Sato is completely uncomprehending of what he is talking about.
- When he witnesses his gangster uncle being gunned down by members of a rival gang, his only regret is that he "lost his meal ticket" (since his uncle had been employing him). Later on in his origin story, it is shown that he literally sees the world around him as a video game.
- In the last arc, his "final wave" of suicide bombing attacks ends prematurely not due to running out of targets or any kind of empathy, but rather he got bored of doing the same thing over and over, showing a sociopathic need for stimulation that coincidentally prevents the heroes' plan from working.
Sociopathic Soldier: Was discharged from the US military for insubordination because of his love of killing. In the manga, he was in Vietnam to rescue a prisoner, but he deliberately foiled the stealth rescue operation by attracting all the enemies with a gunshot so he could kill them. An anime OAD adapting the chapter updates the setting to Africa, but keeps the general structure the same.
Stealth Expert: He can get in and out of anywhere without firing a single round if he wants to. But he likes to make things more challenging.
Tranquil Fury: He was not happy about Kei shooting him. He noticeably stopped smiling at the end of his speech about how he was going to kill him for that. Later subverted. he was only pretending to be angry to test Kei. After all, he's suffered worse without breaking a sweat.
War for Fun and Profit: His true motivation is to entertain himself. A war against humanity is just what he needs to do that.
World's Strongest Man: Sato is an absolute beast in combat. In 1976, he killed a hundred North Vietnamese soldiers on his own even after losing a leg in the process. Later on, he joined up with a triad to train their men, and even then he effortlessly managed to fend off several enemy gangsters in a surprise attack. And that was before he found out he was immortal.

Sato's Black Ghost

Human Shield: When restrained and repeatedly killed, he manifests his ghost directly over him to intercept the bullets.
Off with His Head!: Its head ends at the chin as if it was sheared cleanly through.
Red Right Hand: Besides the typical menacing appearance of a black ghost, it has six fingers on its hands.
Remote Body: Sato's skilled enough with it to directly control its actions when he wants to.
Too Awesome to Use: Sato only uses it as a last resort, half because he can't summon it often and half because using it would rob him of the chance to do the killing himself.

Koji Tanaka

Kouji Tanaka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/298806.jpg

Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)

An Ajin that was captured by the Japanese government and experimented on. He was rescued by Satou, who teaches him about what he is and what he can do.

Adaptational Villainy: He loses most of his sympathetic traits in the anime. In particular, the subplot of him sparing one of Sato's assassination targets out of gratitude is cut out entirely.
Anti-Villain: Has shades of this here and there. Unlike Satou who's been suggested to be playing terrorist more for amusement than for a cause, Tanaka seems to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist in favor of Ajin, gets angry when one of his unwanted teammates kills someone out of Satou's hit-list, warns three human girls to stay away from the place where one of Satou's plans was going to take action and even hesitates when a woman who was in his killing list and who did nothing but stand by while he was being tortured tearfully apologizes to him.
- This started as a result of another minor character (another Ajin) pointing out that Satou's ideology would just foster further resentment towards Ajin.
  But if.. you start with this terrorism... things will get out of hand. The whole country will support... hunting down Ajins.
Ax-Crazy: Being repeatedly killed in incredibly gruesome ways didn't do his sanity any favors. However, he is still less violent than Sato.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Or at least, extremely ruthless.
Broken Pedestal: Gradually loses all of his faith in Sato as he slowly pieces together that he doesn't care about ajin and is only in it for thrills. Sato ghosting negotiations with the health minister is the final straw that causes him to defect.
Character Tics: Pulling his lower lip down when thinking.
Debt Detester: After being rescued by Izumi he agrees to help her as he doesn’t want to indebted to her.
The Dragon: He acts as this to Satou as his closest and oldest ally.
Even Evil Has Standards: He has more morals than Satou since he does not have as great of a fondness for killing. The exact extent of this varies between the manga and the anime. In the anime, when he learns Sato doesn't really care about Ajin rights and only wants the joy of conflict, Tanaka is clearly unhappy but stays with him anyways. In the manga, Tanaka pulls a full Heel–Face Turn.
Heel–Face Turn: He turns against Sato after the rest of the Resistance shows their true nature by passing up on their one chance to settle thing peacefully with the Japanese government so they can go commit acts of terror at a JSDF base.
I Will Fight No More Forever: He decides there's been enough bloodshed after the assault on Forge Security and decides to peacefully negotiate with the Japanese government. Unfortunately, Sato doesn't quite see eye-to-eye, so Sato abandons him entirely.
Laughing Mad: He tends to go into hysterical laughter when things go poorly. Chronologically, the first time he did this was when Sato broke into his cell and freed him.
My God, What Have I Done?: Has an understated one in the anime when he watches an unrelated skyscraper be used as a weapon on the actual target.
The Only Believer: With a few exceptions, he seems to be the only resistance member who actually wants to have better rights, instead of being a terrorist for its own sake.
Only Sane Man: He's the only one who had a legitimate reason for joining the resistance.
Running Gag: His terrible aiming skills used to be this.
Ship Tease: With Izumi in the last chapter where he takes her up on an offer to move into her apartment.
Slasher Smile: Fond of these, particularly when closing in for the kill.
Token Good Teammate: Out of everyone in Sato's group, Tanaka has by far the most sympathetic reason for joining up with Sato, being horrifically tortured and exploited by the Japanese government for a decade until Sato rescued him. Furthermore, he's the only one who at least tries to avoid needless casualties. Unsurprisingly, he's the one who pulls a Heel–Face Turn when Sato abandons him for being in this role.
Took a Level in Kindness: Becomes noticeably more altruistic as the series goes on, particularly after sparing one of his targets at Forge Security when she shows genuine remorse for partaking in his torture.
Undying Loyalty: To Sato for freeing him from an endless cycle of torturous deaths at the hands of a weapons testing facility. In the anime even when he learns Sato doesn't give a damn about Ajin rights, which was the whole reason he joined up, he chooses to stick around. In the manga while he does eventually turn against Sato, he has a moment of hesitation when trying to shoot Sato with a tranquilizer gun, which allows Sato to get the better of him.
Villainous Widow's Peak: Has a widow's peak and is one of the antagonists. Though it's downplayed in that he's by far the most sympathetic member of the resistance.

Tanaka's Black Ghost

Remote Body: Tanaka can control it remotely, but has to cover his eyes and ears in order to use its senses.
Slasher Smile: Its only facial feature is a fang-filled gash of a mouth that stretches halfway around its head.
Wall Crawl: When hunting police snipers, it uses its claws to crawl straight up the side of a skyscraper.
Wolverine Claws: Has long, hooked claws it uses as weapons.

Masumi Okuyama

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/okuyama.png

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Lucien Dodge (English)

The hacker and engineer of the Ajin resistance.

Adaptational Heroism: In the anime, he's a genuine believer in the Resistance's supposed cause. In the manga, he's just going along with Sato because he was intimidated, though he later notes that he's still glad he did it since it beats the monotony of his normal life.
The Aloner: It's implied that his ghost is the closest thing he has to a friend. After Ko gets the drop on him, Okuyama decides that he may as well defect at this point. While destroying all of the evidence connecting him to Sato, he comments that these past 5 weeks were the most exciting his life will ever be before lamenting to his ghost that the two of them are on their own again.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's willing to do a lot of nasty things in pursuit of Ajin rights, but when he finds out Sato was just using the promise of Ajin rights to cause conflicts he abandons the Resistance.
Evil Genius: He is responsible for all the high tech work in Satou's terrorist cell, being able to hack for information and construct complex destructive devices.
Hazy-Feel Turn: After finding out Sato's true motivations he turns traitor to work against Sato, but clearly still supports the idea of the Ajin Resistance.
Just Following Orders: Was never interested in the idea of Ajin resistance. Only agreed to work for Satou because he didn’t want to fight him.
Lack of Empathy: Notably, despite doing lots of work with explosives and contributing significantly to the resistance's bodycount, he is completely apathetic to everything that happens on the field, with his voice never changing in tone.
The Mole: He's an actual employee at Forge security, and as such manages to be the one who gets the others in.

Okuyama's Black Ghost

Non-Human Head: Its head is a thin tube that droops over.
Only Friend: It's heavily implied that Okuyama's ghost is the closest thing he has to a friend.

Takahashi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_08_02_075457.png

Voiced by: Masashi Nogawa (Japanese), Michael Sorich (English)

A member of the Ajin resistance who supports Satou on the field.

Adaptational Heroism: In the anime, he's a genuine believer in the Resistance's supposed cause. In the manga, however, he's simply a thug who enjoys causing chaos for its own sake.
Ax-Crazy: During the assault on Forge security, Takashi shoots some innocent bystanders and laughs about it. The guy was high on drugs at the time, but still.
Drugs Are Bad: He's a habitual drug user and he's clearly the biggest Jerkass in Sato's group.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he's an unrepentant terrorist, Takashi does genuinely love his brother Gen as he completely loses it when he's killed by the Anti-Demi forces.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's willing to do a lot of nasty things in pursuit of Ajin rights, but when he finds out Sato was just using the promise of Ajin rights to cause conflicts he abandons the Resistance.
Hazy-Feel Turn: After finding out Sato's true motivations he turns traitor to work against Sato, but clearly still supports the idea of the Ajin Resistance.
Mirthless Laughter: He laughs manically when stressed, such as when the group is preparing their attack on the pharmaceutical company.
Psycho Party Member: Arguably even moreso than Sato. Takashi really doesn't give two shits about the Resistance's cause and simply finds modern life so boring that he's willing to join up with Sato. Though the fact that he gets himself high before each mission probably has something to do with it.
Those Two Guys: With his brother Gen.

Gen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_08_02_070751_2.png

Voiced by: Daigo Fujimaki (Japanese)

A member of the Ajin resistance who supports Satou on the field.

Adaptational Heroism: In the anime, he's a genuine believer in the Resistance's supposed cause. In the manga, however, he's every bit as bloodthirsty as Sato and simply enjoys causing chaos for its own sake.
Born Lucky: Considering that he isn't an ajin, it's kind of crazy that he lasted as long as he did given all the shootouts he was involved in.
Cold Sniper: Skilled enough to snipe handcuffs off of Sato from several blocks away and has no remorse about casually killing multiple police officers.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's willing to do a lot of nasty things in pursuit of Ajin rights, but when he finds out Sato was just using the promise of Ajin rights to cause conflicts he abandons the Resistance.
Foreshadowing: There's quite a few hints that he's a human before the audience is told about it. During the first wave, he surrenders after Takahashi is shot by police snipers. During the assault on Forge Security, he stays out of the line of fire and supports Tanaka and Takahashi by reseting them when they're hit by tranquilizers. After Sato breaks into the building, he wakes up both Tanaka and Takahashi by killing them to get the tranquilizer drug out of their system, but Gen is carried by the other two on a stretcher as killing him would be permanent.
The Generic Guy: He gets the least characterization out of all the members of the Ajin Resistance.
Hazy-Feel Turn: After finding out Sato's true motivations he turns traitor to work against Sato, but clearly still supports the idea of the Ajin Resistance.
Scars Are Forever: He gets a scar across the bridge of his nose after being grazed by a bullet. As an ajin this wouldn't be true, but he hasn't died since he got it. It's actually because he isn't an ajin.
Those Two Guys: With his brother Takahashi.
Wham Shot: He is shot dead… and doesn’t get up.

Other Characters

Kaito

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/298686.jpg

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English), Gerardo Mendoza (Mexican Spanish)

Kei's childhood friend that comes to his rescue after Kei learns he's a demi-human.

Affectionate Nickname: The Nagai siblings both just refer to him as Kai (though Eriko at least adds a -san suffix at the end with it).
Badass Biker: Kind of. It's not exactly a full-blooded Hog, put it that way. But, it's clear that in a few years, he'd invest in something a bit more substantial, given his druthers. For a high school kid, though, his rig is impressive.
Badass Normal: He's a human with some fancy high kicking moves.
Big Damn Heroes: He rams into Sato with a motorcycle in the final battle.
The Bus Came Back: He finally reappears many chapters later in prison for helping Kei escape the authorities.
Clothing Reflects Personality: Kaito is seen wearing a smiley face earring in one ear as a kid and as a teen. His shirt displays the same logo as well.
Decoy Protagonist: He is initially set up to be the Deuteragonist to Kei's protagonist. However, little ways into the story, Kei leaves him behind for his own safety, at which point he completely disappears from the story for a long while. Even after returning, he is still more of a secondary character.
Delinquent Hair: It's dyed blond as well. Deconstructed, a bit: his background means he wears it as a badge, because he's got little other choice. A criminal's son is expected to be a tearaway.
Expy: A blond, loyal childhood Muggle Best Friend who doesn't mind that their intellectual friend is not totally human and goes out of their way to help them? At the very least, Kai resembles Hide Nagachika more than Kei resembles Kaneki, that's for sure.
Honor Before Reason:
- Kei's pretty much avoided Kaito for years and treated him like a jerk, yet at the first sign of trouble Kaito runs to Kei's aid without any hurt feelings. And after Kei abandons him one more time and he end ups jail for helping him, Kaito still states that if Kei's ever in trouble, he will help him again.
- Also in jail, he repeatedly gets his ass kicked for helping a guy (an Ajin, at that, though he doesn't know it at the time) who's being bullied by other inmates. It had nothing to do with him personally, and he's even told by the guy he tried to help that he won't get anything from him for it, but it doesn't faze Kaito at all.
Loners Are Freaks: Due to his father's criminal history, people actively avoid Kaito. While walking to school, Kei and his friends spot Kaito outside of a convenient store eating. Kaito sees Kei, smiles and waves which prompts Kei's friends to ask if he knows him. In which Kei response with, "No way, that guy's a freak."
No Name Given: Kaito's last name is never given.
Put on a Bus: Basically disappeared from the story for a good while after Kei leaves him behind. Justified: Kei is decapitatable — Kai isn't.
Undying Loyalty: Towards Kei. Doesn't hesitate to run home and start packing things when a police officer asks him if he knows Kei after the incident.

Eriko Nagai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_08_26_110239.png

Voiced by: Aya Suzaki (Japanese), Marieve Herington (English)

Kei's younger sister.

Damsel in Distress: When Sato kidnaps her.
Delicate and Sickly: She has a rare, incurable disease that forces her to live in the hospital. However, she's no wisp of insubstantial sweetness who is way too good for this sinful world. And, she defies that aspect of the trope. She's sick. She's a girl. And, any other ideas you have about this are your problem if you make them hers.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: With the possible exception of Kai, her interactions with nearly every character she's spoken to has her being a total angry and somewhat bittersweet grump in conversations. However, given that one of the people we most see her interacting with is Saitou (who has more than a passing emotional resemblance to her brother, and she zeros in on that at record speed)... She could be forgiven for giving him a tailored gloss on reality that which would allow her to survive, all in a manner he could compute. (She was well aware how much danger she was in, and was fighting to stay alive.)
Precocious Crush: Seems to have had this for Kai, if her Luminescent Blush when mentioning him is any clue.
That Thing Is Not My Child!: Well, brother, in this case. Subverted in that she doesn't reject Kei because he's an Ajin. She even says she feels pity of the Ajin in general; she just doesn't care for him as an individual too much, really. However, she might have been tailoring her answer to fit the audience: professing too much actual concern over one antisocial individual to another cut from the same cloth? Would come across as a lie to Sato's radar and get her either killed or taken to be further used as a tool. No thanks!
- Though if her conversation with Sato, one moment of reminiscence, and her witnessing her brother one last time in the news is anything, she might still have some of the sisterly affection she used to have towards her brother in the past left for him.

Ritsu Nagai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0044_013_9.png

Kei and Eriko's mother.

Adaptational Attractiveness: As a result of Adaptational Early Appearance, she's more pleasant to look at in the anime, though this could change by the time it adapts Chapter 44.
Adaptational Early Appearance: Early on in the manga, her face was hidden from view, but the anime makes no attempt to hide it.
Adaptational Nice Guy: It's not much, but in the anime, she & Kei still live together and she makes sure to ask him about his grades, while in the manga, it's implied she was absent for most of his life.
Bait-and-Switch: Kinda. Her first appearance early on in the series seems to indicate that she outright disowns Kei after discovering that he's a demi-human. When she shows up again later on, it's shown that she does care about Kei's wellbeing, even if she's just as cold and logical about it as he is.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Her late husband was emotional, which is why she fell for him.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Evil" may be pushing it, but she does seem to love her children, despite how distant and harsh she may be.
Evil Old Folks: The manga depicts her as looking rather aged, and she sounds like a jerk, though not quite evil.
Ice Queen: Definitely. At one point, she talks about how you need to cut off connections if it's necessary to succeed. It certainly explains where Kei got his issues from, and Eriko doesn't like that both Kei and her mother are this.
Jerkass Has a Point: Her choice to disown Kei may seem cold, but she really isn't wrong when she says that there's absolutely nothing she could possibly do for him. Given that Kei largely takes after her, he doesn't exactly disagree.
Like Parent, Like Child: Kei's logically-driven nature is largely taken after his mother, though she notes that he still has some of his father's compassion in him.
Parental Neglect: She doesn't seem to visit Eriko often nor does she do anything about her son being an Ajin other than disown him. The latter is at least justified, since she can't defend him without getting in trouble. In the manga, it's suggested that she doesn't see Kei much either. Though given that she and her husband are divorced, it's likely that she's so busy with work that she can't set much time aside for her kids.
Parents as People: She's by no means a sentimental person, but she does wish the best for Kei. While her decision to seemingly disown him certainly comes across as cold, she's not wrong when she says that there was absolutely nothing she could do for him in that situation.
That Thing Is Not My Child!: Initially, she has no comment about the discovery that her son is an Ajin, but later, she and Eriko disown their connection to Kei after it turns out he's an Ajin, though after Kei calls her, she reveals that she still loves him, but she can't do anything to help him and instead urges him to disappear from society to save himself.

Takeshi Kotobuki

Voiced by: Soma Saito (Japanese)

Another Ajin whom Kaito befriends in jail.

The Killjoy: He's never shown cracking a smile and constantly derides others as idiots for standing up for people.

Kotobuki's Black Ghost

Non-Human Head: It has something that looks like an overly long neck without a head.
Winged Humanoid: It has wings rather than arms, the only black ghost in the series to display such a feature.

Hanae Yamanaka

Voiced by: Tamie Kubota (Japanese), Barbara Goodson (English)

An elderly woman who gives Kei shelter for a while.

Cool Old Lady: She sympathizes with Kei's situation and lets him take refuge with her.
Defiant Captive: When she's taken hostage by Kita, she doesn't cry or beg for her life, instead just telling him to get it over with.
Secret-Keeper: She knows Kei's true identity, but tries to pass him off as her grandson.

Kita

Voiced by: Shoto Kashii (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)

An old man living near Hanae.

Asshole Victim: Considering that he tried to kill Yamanaka out of a pretty grudge against Kei, no one's exactly shedding tears over him when Kei takes his life.
Jerkass: He hates Kei not because he believes he's a threat to society, but because he invested a lot of money into Grant Pharmaceutical and feels entitled to revenge after Sato destroys the company.
Make It Look Like A Suicide: According to Kei, he tried his best to make his death look like a suicide.

Shinya Nakamura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_08_26_124133.png

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese)

The central character of the Nakamura Shinya Incident. A college student who discovered that he was an Ajin after a motorcycle accident.

A Day in the Limelight: At the end of Volume 2, there's a one-off chapter dedicated to elaborating on just what happened in the Nakamura Shinya Incident.
Unstoppable Rage: After Yusuke gets killed by government agents, he goes into a complete rage, creating multiple IBMs that slaughter through the agents.

Jun Suzuki

Dr. Ogura's assistant in the USA. The first ever known Ajin in Japan, whom the US Government coerced Japan to hand over as they did not have an Asian female Ajin specimen.

Fate Worse than Death: Averted. She definitely lucked out when the Americans coerced Japan into handing her over, saving her from years of horrid torture.
Genki Girl: She is arguably the most upbeat non-sociopath character in the manga.
Minor Major Character: She's clearly a big deal in Ajin research, but she only appears a handful of times in the actual manga.

Yusuke

Yuusuke

Shinya's best friend.

The Bus Came Back: Kinda. His dead body makes a brief reappearance in chapter 46.
Senseless Sacrifice: Sadly, despite sacrificing himself for Shinya, the government agents still have Shinya cornered. However, his death did in fact trigger Shinya to go into an Unstoppable Rage.
Taking the Bullet: He takes a bullet for Shinya when government agents corner the two. He seemed to have fully believed that Shinya is still a human and not an Ajin even until the last moment.

Akiyama

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An ajin who works as a firefighter.

11th-Hour Ranger: Helps the others to take down Sato during the final battle.
Back for the Finale: Comes back into the story after Kou rescues him from the steel drum he was trapped in.
Cassandra Truth: He tells Tanaka that he's being manipulated by Sato and that all they're going to do by commiting mass murder is to cause the rest of society to hate ajin. Tanaka himself admits that Akiyama was right.
Everyone Has Standards: He comes to the initial Resistance meeting, but ducts out after finding out Sato plans to commit mass murder.
Nice Guy: He's shown to be a pretty altruistic guy, given that he immediately tries to dissuade Ko from getting involved in a potentially dangerous group.

Characters / Ajin

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