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The Four Main Students
Hiroshi (ひろし)
- "So stupid... There is no way monsters can exist. It's scientifically impossible..."
The main character of the Ao Oni series, he accompanies three of his friends into a mysterious manor which is rumored to house a terrifying monster. Not that he believes in monsters, of course... they're scientifically impossible, right?
- Action Survivor: He's an ordinary teen who has nothing but his wits to help navigate him through the mansion.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: From Version 3 onwards he has silver hair. His original sprite was a brunette, but was switched for one of Takuro's gang when the story and characters were distilled for newer versions.
- Agent Scully: Insists that it's scientifically impossible for monsters to exist at the beginning of the game.
- Closet Geek: The shorts reveal him to be a hidden fanboy of the blockman oni during its otherwise failed attempt at becoming a mascot character.
- The Comically Serious: Portrayed as such in the animated shorts. He keeps his wits about him even when observing (or taking part in) wacky antics.
- Dirty Coward: The shorts interpret his constant running from the oni as being a "tendency to flee at the first sign of trouble".
- The Eeyore: His character profile for the shorts describes him as having a "somber aura".
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Only in version 6. Certain names activate cheat codes.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: While Takuro is the ostensible leader of the team, Hiroshi does almost all of the heavy lifting when it comes to escaping the mansion.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His dialogue at the beginning of the game has him come across as rather blunt and dismissive, but he goes out of his way to attempt to save the other three no matter what. All incarnations tend to portray him as this to varying degrees as a result.
- Non-Action Guy: Relies entirely on his wits to survive in the manor.
- Not So Above It All: The shorts make him quite prone to engaging in absurd behavior alongside the oni, in sharp contrast to his normal personality.
- Player Character: The main player character in all versions of the game.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Can choose to pull this after finding the rope ladder in versions 3 and 5. However, doing so results in a game over and a bad ending respectively.
- The Smart Guy: Initially insists that the idea of the supernatural is silly, scientifically speaking.
- The first movie made him a hobbyist entomologist.
- Scarf Of Ass Kicking: Consistently drawn with a long white scarf.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Is The Smart Guy of the group, as well as the only one to wear glasses.
- Sole Survivor: Ends up as the only person to escape the manor in versions 3 and 6.
- The Stoic: Generally portrayed as level-headed to the point of being near-emotionless.
- Tempting Fate: His introductory line is always a variation of "So stupid... Ghosts can't exist, scientifically speaking." and boy does it come back to bite him.
Takeshi (たけし)
- Anime Hair: His rather bizarre hairstyle has captured the imaginations of many artists. Is is a pompadour? A flattop? Something else entirely? The world may never know for certain.
- Butt-Monkey: The shorts take his status as a coward and exaggerate it to make him the most pathetic of the main four.
- Composite Character: Takes over the Once per Episode Heroic BSoD from one of Takuro's posse in version 1, as well as being the most outspoken coward of the group as per Kazuya.
- Delinquent Hair: His hairstyle is rendered as a pompadour in the animated shorts.
- The Ditz: The shorts depict him as the group's dimmest bulb as well as its biggest bumbler.
- Driven to Suicide: He hangs himself in version 6.
- Face of a Thug: The shorts give him the look of a Japanese Delinquent despite being the biggest coward of the group.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Portrayed as such in the shorts, where the other three often completely forget about him after he is killed. Mika in particular rarely has anything good to say to or about him.
- Gag Nose: The shorts, which normally give him a normal face, often have him gain his gigantic nose from versions 3-5 when he is saying or doing something stupid.
- Heroic BSoD: The first time Hiroshi finds him after they're separated, he's in a state of shock and his teeth are chattering too much for any sort of communication.
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself in version 6 for telling the others about the mansion in the first place.
- Japanese Delinquents: Has the look of one in the shorts, despite not possessing the behavior to match.
- The Load: Doesn't contribute much besides panicking.
- Lovable Coward: While he's a massive coward, he's the only one of the non-playable members of the group who is consistently portrayed as being on good terms with Hiroshi.
- Nice Guy: Generally always depicted as a supportive friend to Hiroshi.
- Nonstandard Character Design: All the Character Portraits in versions 3-5 are in noticeably different styles, but his is the most striking in its cartoonish simplicity and huge nose. The novels run with this by making him distinctly shorter and more simplistically drawn than his friends.
- Not-So-Badass Longcoat: The shorts give him a stylish-looking white coat to go with his delinquent look, but he's about as far from badass as you can get.
- Once per Episode: He always ends up hiding in a closet at the start, and always has a Heroic BSoD because it's his fault everyone is in the mansion. In Version 6 only, this drives him to suicide. The shorts turn both into Running Gags.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: One short features a magical closet that grants everyone who hides in it a rococo-style makeover. Takeshi's, for whatever reason, is a Pimped-Out Dress. He doesn't seem to mind one bit.
Takuro (卓郎)
- Adaptational Heroism: Is a bully in the original version, but considerably more of a Nice Guy in all other versions of the game.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the live-action film and novels, however, his bullying ways are back in full force. Plus he's a murderer.
- Asshole Victim: In both Version 1 of the game and in the movie.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Whenever he's portrayed as being a Jerkass, he's invariably supposed to be a popular and charismatic guy with a hidden brutal side that he takes out on those below him on the social food chain.
- Catchphrase: Similar to Hiroshi's "scientifically impossible" line, he will always mention that the mansion is "cleaner than expected" at the beginning of the game. This is carried over into the shorts.
- Depending on the Writer: The most egregious case of the four. Whether he's a Jerkass bully or a cool Supporting Leader varies heavily depending on the version of the story.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The first movie has him find out that Shun is intending to subject him to Tuckerization in an RPG. He brains Shun with a plank and then stuffs his dead body into a crate in response.
- Face–Monster Turn: In version 6, you can find Takuro somehow alive after getting killed by an oni encounter. He rejoins your party, but after long enough, checking the inventory screen will reveal an oni-transformed Takuro in the usual sprite's place, and you have very little breathing room (if at all) to escape.
- Fiery Red Head: He has red hair and is quite easy to piss off.
- Flanderization: The shorts give him an obsession with vinegar due to his association with it in the games.
- Future Loser: The shorts depict his 70-year-old self as balding with a large gut, and the least gracefully-aged of the main four.
- Gang of Bullies: Leads one in the original version.
- Hot Guys Are Bastards: Whenever he's portrayed as a Jerkass, since he's always made to be noticeably better-looking than Hiroshi and Takeshi. Special mentions go to the movie and novels, where he's pretty much a villain.
- Idiot Hero: In the shorts, where his solution to everything is "use vinegar on it".
- Jerkass: Occasionally presented as such: an abusive bully who bosses around the less assertive Takeshi.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The shorts portray him as such. He's generally friendly with Hiroshi and Takeshi, but is quick to make fun of them when they're in a compromising position.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: The shorts suggest that he'd be plenty interested in Mika if she weren't so creepily possessive of him.
- Off with His Head!: His death in 3 involves the Oni biting his head off. Becomes a Running Gag in the shorts, where this is almost always the way that he dies.
- Red Is Heroic: Has red hair and is the Standardized Leader of the group.
- Standardized Leader: His character profile in the shorts even states that he's pretty much only considered the leader of the group due to having the look of one.
- Supporting Leader: He's the group's leader, but Hiroshi's the protagonist.
- This Is No Time to Panic: Tries to encourage the others in version 3 but is cut off by headchomp.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He's an antagonistic bully in the first version of the game, but is generally presented as a much friendlier guy in all future releases. Certain adaptations revert him back into a Jerkass, but they are much fewer in number.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The shorts make vinegar into this for him.
- Twisted Ankle: Suffers one in version 6, forcing him to camp out in a closet. It also proves to be his doom when he and Hiroshi are fleeing from the Oni at one point, but he trips because of his ankle and is killed.
Mika (美香)
- Adaptational Jerkass: Far more obviously unpleasant in the shorts than anywhere else.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In the shorts. She seems like a cute Lovable Coward on the surface, but is actually callous and violent.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: In version 3, the monster makes her into an exercise mat.
- Curtains Match the Window: She has brown hair and brown eyes.
- Cute and Psycho: The shorts portray her as being murderously violent when enraged, to the point where even the oni fear her.
- The Fake Cutie: The shorts often have her put on an affected cutesiness in an attempt to attract Takuro's attention.
- Final Girl: Averted, most notably in version 6 where she's the first member of the group to be killed.
- Flanderization: Her implied crush on Takuro becomes a full-on obsession in the shorts.
- Jerkass: The shorts portray her as often being openly hostile to everyone not named Takuro.
- Lovable Coward: Not quite to the same degree as Takeshi, but she's still prone to freaking out.
- O.C. Stand-in: Occurs often, since she doesn't have much characterization to work with compared to her friends.
- Resist the Beast: After turning into an Oni she still won't attack her father.
- Sailor Fuku: Her outfit resembles this.
- Satellite Character: Other than being a Lovable Coward, her primary character trait is that she cares about Takuro to the point that she won't join Hiroshi in trying to escape unless Takuro's with him.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Her character profile for the shorts states that the only reason why she chose to take part in the trip to the mansion was for a chance to get closer to Takuro. Considering her portrayal across all versions of the story, this may be true of all incarnations of her.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female character in most versions of the story. The shorts play up her pride in her de facto heroine status as a result.
- Stalker with a Crush: Portrayed as such toward Takuro in the shorts. He finds her cute, but her clinginess frankly disturbs him.
- Too Dumb to Live: In Version 6, she refuses to go with Hiroshi when he asks her, stating that the Oni could be out there. If she had just gone with Hiroshi, she might have actually survived to the end instead of being the first casualty to the Oni.
- You Don't Look Like You: Contrary to her previous incarnations, the animation shorts show her with a orange side ponytail and orange eyes, and a pink version of her Sailor Fuku outfit.
Mobile Scenario Characters
These characters can be played as in the mobile games as extra "scenarios".
The Shopkeeper/Mystery Man/Mika's father
The unnamed man that appears in the end cutscene getting eaten by the Oni. In the mobile version you can play as him.- A Day In The Lime Light: The mobile version of Ao Oni has a chapter dedicated to him.
- Foregone Conclusion: He could not escape the oni, just like how it ended in the original scenario.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He's revealed to be Mika's father, and he went into the mansion to find her.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Compared to other sprites which have been edited to look like Japanese high schoolers, his sprite is an unaltered sprite titled shopkeeper that comes with RPGMaker XP, hence why he is called that.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He has no idea that his daughter died at the hands of the Oni, nor the fact that she Came Back Wrong. At least until he meets her face to face.
- Papa Wolf: Risks his life to find his daughter. It doesn't pay off.
- Parents Know Their Children: Even though she was transformed into an Oni, he still recognizes his daughter.
- Too Dumb to Live: He went into a mansion where there teenagers mysteriously disappeared. Subverted in his chapter where it's revealed that he's Mika's father, and went into the mansion in hopes of finding his lost daughter.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's killed of as soon as we meet him. Subverted in the mobile version where he has his own chapter where he gets motive and a bit of history established.
Traveler
Young Girl
Teacher
Old Man
Nike-Chan
A mouse that can be controlled in Ao Oni 2, he gets his own chapter in the game aswell.- Earn Your Happy Ending: Unlike most other Ao Oni characters, Nike manages to outrun the Oni and escapes to his family.
Onis
The Ao Oni
The main antagonist of the game, the oni is a strange creature living in the mansion, killing people that come.- Big Bad: Plays this role consistently throughout all the games.
- Black Eyes of Evil: It has big, pitch black irises that serve to emphasize how inhuman it is.
- Drop-In Nemesis: It spawns randomly, and only disappears after a certain period of time. Some of its appearances are scripted events, however, and it must be outlasted in order to advance the plot.
- Extreme Omnivore: Not only does the Oni eat humans, but it also chews up an escape rope in a few versions of the game.
- Ghostly Gape: Its mouth is generally shown this way when preparing to devour someone.
- Humanoid Abomination: Its body is shaped similar to that of a naked person, but its head is unnaturally oversized and one of its eyes is bigger than the other.
- Implacable Man: Zigzagged. It will chase Hiroshi through many rooms but stops after a while, and successfully hiding in a closet ends the chase sequence. If Hiroshi is slow to hide in the closet, the Oni will open the closet, leading to a game over.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: A flashback from Takeshi reveals that it sports these, though thankfully it doesn't show them in regular gameplay.
- Multiple-Choice Past: The Oni have multiple origins or no origins depending on the story:
- In some versions of the first game, the Oni are Eldritch Abominations spawned from a giant blob. In other versions they are The Virus.
- In the novels they are the result of ancient parasites revived from fossilization.
- In the kid novels they are a Superpowered Evil Side created by radiation from a meteor.
- In some of the manga they are a Shinto curse.
- In the 3D movie, they are humans transformed into pollinators by the sex pollen of sapient flower fairies using a pathogen that transforms them into an Oni after their genitals fall off.
- Non-Indicative Name: He looks more purple than blue—though in fairness, purple is not a basic color term in Japanese.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: A master of this. Especially when exploiting the text boxes.
- Was Once a Man: Going by the transformation of other characters into Oni in version 6 of the game, it can be assumed that he used to be a human as well.
Blockman Oni
A square oni that appears randomly in the old building in version 6 of the game.- Deadly Lunge: It chases Hiroshi by occasionally dashing in a straight path at a pace faster than the other Onis.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: It only appears during the later half of version 6 as two scripted chase sequences. Otherwise it is absent from the other versions of the game.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: It sports scary, sharp, jagged teeth, and is every bit as deadly as the first Oni.
- Named by the Adaptation: This Oni is officially called "Fuwatty" in both the second film and animated shorts.
Other Onis
There are lots of other oni creatures in a room near the end of versions 3 and 6.- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Many bizarrely deformed variations of oni appear only in this room without any explanation for their existence.
Version 1 Exclusive Characters
Hiroshi (Version 1)
Unlike the Hiroshi seen in later versions, this Hiroshi is a dark-haired high school freshman who gets dragged to the mansion along with his buddy Kazuya. After being sent to investigate a strange noise, he returns to find the others missing, and sets out to track down his friend before escaping.- A Friend in Need: Is determined to find and save Kazuya.
Kazuya (カズヤ)
Hiroshi's best friend, and a prime target for the bullying Takuro. Winds up seperated from him, and thus his main motivation for exploring the manor.- And Now for Someone Completely Different: He becomes the player character temporarily in version 1 while looking for Hiroshi.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Actually escapes on his own, but goes back to look for Hiroshi.
Megumi (メグミ)
A member of Takuro's gang and his Love Interest in version 1.- Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: Zig-zagged: the one she sets up might lead to Hiroshi's death when first encountered, but can be easily maneuvered past. And she's aware enough of its weakness to tell Hiroshi to lock the door.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Is attracted to Takuro, the leader of a Gang of Bullies.
Takuro's Followers
Two other teenagers who round out Takuro's Gang of Bullies. One of the two, Ryota, bears a strong resemblance to the Hiroshi of the later versions, while the other serves the same purpose as Takeshi.- No Name Given: Ryota's name is only mentioned in passing; the other is never named.
- Red Shirt: The one (Ryota) who resembles Hiroshi in future versions is the first casualty of the Ao Oni.
- Satellite Character: Have almost no personality outside of being Takuro's followers.
Others
Naoki (直樹)
Another of Hiroshi's friends, a dark-haired student who only appears briefly in version 3 of the games; in the subverted Scary Surprise Party sequence, he's the guy in the oni suit.- Ascended Extra: For such a minor character, his role is elevated plot-wise in both the novel and the movie.
- Dramatic Unmask: When he reveals that he only dressed up as an oni to scare Hiroshi.
- Evil Laugh: Has one of these.
- Posthumous Character: In the first movie and the novel. Also counts as Death by Adaptation.
- The first movie mentions that he was killed in a traffic accident, which was later revealed to be a suicide with the assumption that he was unable to withstand Takuro's bullying.
- The novel has him as a former classmate of Shun's who got killed in a mysterious incident before Shun changed schools. It is rumored that he died inside the mansion due to the monster's curse.
- Related in the Adaptation: He is Anna's younger brother in the movie.
- Scary Surprise Party: Though it's also unfortunately All Just a Dream.
- You Don't Look Like You: In the game he's only shown to have black hair and grey eyes. In the novel however, his appearance is drastically changed to having navy blue/green hair in a bowl cut, and he wears a green jacket with a black hood and black pants.
Shun (シュン)
The main protagonist of the Ao Oni novel, and a character in the first movie.- Canon Foreigner: Has never appeared in any of the games to date.
- Death by Adaptation: He is killed by Takuro when the latter hits him with a wooden plank for using his name in an RPG game he was making. However, Shun does not realize this and hangs out with Anna for most of the film until he finds his dead body in a crate.
- Dead All Along: Turns out to be this.
- Shrinking Violet: Introverted and meek, he is unable to open up to his classmates in the novel. He is on friendlier terms with Hiroshima and Anna, however.
Anna Horakiawa
A character from the Ao Oni novel, and the main protagonist of the first movie.- Canon Foreigner: Has never appeared in any of the games to date.
