Main Characters: Arachnid, Caterpillar, Blattodea
The Organization's "Bugs": Recurring, Exclusive to Arachnid, Exclusive to Caterpillar, Exclusive to Blattodea
Other Characters
Related series: Jackals, Choubu no Shinobi, Himenospia
Bug-like assassins who appear in both Arachnid and Caterpillar, as well as in Blattodea when applicable.
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General
- Animal Motifs: All of those assassins have a arthropod motif, ranging from simply wielding weapons related to them to behaving like bugs and having superpowers. One could even say they're mad enough to actually think of themselves as bugs. Any outlandish things they do are followed by wild life documentary-esque explanations on insects that are often far from a satisfying explanation of why seemingly normal people have such abilities.
- Inexplicably Awesome: The seemingly mundane world of the series has a society obsessed with bugs and some people are born as bug-like mutants for some reason. The specifics are never really elabored upon.
- No Name Given: The Organization members are only known by their codenames and fake names, as they have no real names or family registers. Only Blattodea reveals the given names of each character upon introducing them.
- Professional Killer: They're all hitmen for the Organization, though as you might expect, most of them aren't professional at all.
Spider/Kumo
Spider (クモ; Kumo)
An experient member of the Organization who has trained Hibiki and Alice, the latter of which he kidnapped for having the same C.E.C. condition as him. Has had a death wish for quite a while, so even though he forms a bond with Alice, he forces her to fight and kill him.- Animal Motifs: Has a general spider motif.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Trains Alice to avoid letting her C.E.C. disorder make her distracted by pointless things for long periods of time. Kumo himself is not shown acting like this, since he's long mastered his ability.
- Badass Teacher: A stone-cold assassin who trained Hibiki and Alice, and who's implied to be Riokku's master as well.
- Bottomless Magazines: It seems Kumo could fill a lot of rooms with his threads without worrying about running out of them.
- Cool Shades: Wears a full noir set of those, a hat and a trench coat.
- Crazy-Prepared: Peharps not as crazy and paranoid as Alice, but he displayed some nice moves during his battle against Imomushi in the prequel, such as blocking her sudden attacks and making her unable to fire a gun at him by wrapping it in thread.
- Cynical Mentor: Kumo appears strict towards Alice and says he's training her just because she can be useful against Suzumebachi, but does want the best for her. He once treated Hibiki similarly as well.
- Dark and Troubled Past: C.E.C. did him no good before he learned to use it for killing.
- Death Seeker: Has been looking for A Good Way to Die, so even though he comes to like Alice as a daughter, he trains her to surpass and kill him.
- Decoy Protagonist: Gets killed by Alice in the first volume.
- Disability Superpower: Also has "Congenital Excessive Concentration", which grants a combo of Instant Expert learning skills, Super-Senses and Super-Reflexes.
- Dub Name Change: The official English translation for the Manga UP! app changes his codename from "Spider" to "Arachnid" to force a Character Title Drop. He's just themed after spiders, and not after all arachnids.
- Generation Xerox: Alice's future master and father figure fights the man who was Dinoponera's master and adoptive father. Ironically, neither girl knew of this.
- Graceful Loser: He was all too satisfied with his battle and loss to Paraponera at the Ageha ship and throws a tantrum at Imomushi saving and carrying him out of the ship before its self-destruction.
- Hat Damage: Paraponera shoots Kumo's head through his hat, but the thing is webbed. A nearby Kinohadakamakiri becomes relieved that Paraponera didn't go for a Moe Greene Special instead.
- Hyper-Awareness: His C.E.C. ability grants him Hyperfocus.
- Improbable Weapon User: He is Kumoito's original owner. It's said that its wire is made out of 190000 spider threads folded together and that they can withstand up to 600kg and 1500 degrees of heat.
- Immune to Bullets: Uses threads to block bullets. Even when Paraponera fires a damn minigun at Kumo it just knocks him on his back.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The first person from Arachnid who attacks Imomushi in the Ageha group's ship during the prequel. He had actually been sent on very suspicious orders but didn't care because he values his own life that much.
- The Mentor: Trains Alice in just two weeks and gets her to lethally replace him. She spends the series remembering his various lessons to get out of trouble.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Forces Alice into a fight to the death after her training is finished.
- One Last Smoke: Before her supposed mission to assassinate Suzumebachi, Alice finds Kumo smoking despite him having said he would stop...
- Parental Substitute: Alice thought of him like this as he trained her. He does reciprocate her feelings, but sadly that doesn't keep Kumo from forcing Alice to kill him, which leaves her all alone and with no resources to fight against whatever assassins are thrown at her.
- Posthumous Character: After his death, Alice and Hibiki sometimes remember his advices. It's also revealed he paid Kabutomushi to protect Alice and we see him getting more action in the prequel Caterpillar.
- Power of Trust: Upon being hired to protect Alice, Kabutomushi had threatened to run away with the money paid in advance without doing the job, but is convinced to do it because Kumo sincerely trusted she had the best skills to keep Alice safe.
- Professional Killer: It's noted by Hibiki how impressive Kumo was for, unlike everybody else, assassinating people without excessive violence and rape.
- Razor Floss: Almost indestructible wires that can be controlled remotely even when detached from the Kumoito make for terrifying traps that just seem to spawn everywhere in an instant.
- Red Herring: C.E.C. may be a hereditary ability, but he's not Alice's biological father.
- The Stoic: Always cold and calculated.
- Suicide by Cop: Thought the best way to go was by his daughter's hand, like a sacrificial spider mother
. - Too Powerful to Live: He uses this as an excuse to attack Alice and force her to fight him.
- Trap Master: Uses his threads to capture and hang people.
- Un-person: Died and got erased from history. Alice vows to carry his memory on.
- The Worf Effect: Ultimately loses to Paraponera but Imomushi appears right on time to help.
Hornet/Suzumebachi
Hornet (スズメバチ; Suzumebachi), alias Jin Togawa
The single member of the Organization who is able to contact their mysterious boss and acts as their front man.- Almighty Janitor: Prior to becoming Number Two of the Organization, Suzumebachi worked by day as a mailman.
- Animal Motifs: Giant Japanese Hornets, the large wasps with potentially lethal toxins that dissolve human tissue. In the past he had the codename Ashinagabachi, after the Polistes genus of wasps.
- Archnemesis Dad: Alice has learned from Kirigirisu that Suzumebachi is her father. He is responsible for her mother's death and according to Kumo, the Organization would crumble if Alice killed him. She later confronts him on the school's rooftop.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the Organization's frontman and is shown to be another powerful Evil Counterpart to Alice in terms of skillset once she catches up to him.
- Badass Back: Of course he pulls this trick as well as anyone else in this series.
- Batman Gambit: A very convoluted one regarding both Alice and Dinoponera. On top of plotting for Alice to become the new Boss, Suzumebachi is said to have called Dinoponera to Japan to counter the Queen's Rule virus because her namesake ant's venom is the cure. To this end, he didn't tell her anything and expected Alice to defeat her specifically by making her stab herself. It is all but directly stated that he sent Sasori to get Dinoponera raped so her body could produce antibodies to let her resist the zombiefication and be able to help other people. Then it is only by Contrived Coincidence that Dinopo had previously met Chiyuri and Yamato to be able to learn what she is supposed to do next, but then Yamato dies holding off the zombies and the girls spend a whole year without finding Alice and Japan has been all but completely destroyed by then.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: A sting over each hand. Instead of the flesh-melting effect of the giant asian hornets, they're based on paper wasp stings, whose pain can instantly kill the victim out of sheer shock.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: As soon as Jin got his promotion he became possessed by the will of the Boss, like all Suzumebachi before him. From time to time he'd get back to his senses and look after Ayana and baby Alice from afar, but that disrupted the powers of the Boss and Jin was eventually forced to kill Ayana in cold blood.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: His corpse shields Alice from a rifle bullet... out of a posthumous desire to help her instead of Alice pulling him with her strings. Sure. Also, clearly his shoulder is much sturdier than his head...
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Jin Togawa had to become Suzumebachi or else the pregnant Ayana would have been killed. He tries to look after her and Alice in secret afterwards, but then the Boss sent him to kill them out of spite.
- Death by Irony: Dies from a shot to the head like the previous Suzumebachi, and it happens just as suddenly. The killer was a sniping Ginyanma, whom Suzumebachi kept from killing Alice after her battle against Kumo in the beginning of the series.
- Didn't See That Coming: Out of all things Alice could do, he didn't quite expect her to, say, drop her blade like an anvil on him. Although he tries to block it, it still goes through his arm and shoulder.
- Disability Superpower: Congenital Excessive Concentration.
- Disappeared Dad: Left his family behind in an effort to protect them from the Organization. It was for naught.
- The Dragon: "Suzumebachi" assassins like him are held under mind-control to work directly under Organization's Boss until they must be disposed of and replaced due to age or failure.
- Dragon with an Agenda: He's loyal to the Boss' cause, being mind-controlled and all, but when he has no eyes on him he tries to give Alice a chance to escape the Arachnid hunt for certain reasons. Ultimately, it turns out he is Alice's father and had made a deal with Hanakamakiri to force her to be the next Boss after she survives the Arachnid Hunt.
- The Dreaded: He's noted to be a very danguerous person who is worthy of his position within the Organization, but his back-seat role in either story doesn't show much of what he can do. To his credit, he got a stealthy back stab on Imomushi and is not only aware of the weaknesses of Alice's weapon, but also makes short work of Alice once she challenges him. For a while, at least.
- Evil Makeover: Got a Beard of Evil and a Bald of Evil with sick tattoos when he had to abandon his family to become Suzumebachi. His clothes were the same back then, though.
- Final Boss: He's the last person Alice has to fight before the secrets of the Organization are fully revealed to her. Ginyanma and Yoriko also severely threaten Alice's life after his death, but they're more of a Post-Final Boss.
- Flash Step: Warps across a large distance to get behind Alice when they begin fighting, because he's able to "stop time" like his daughter does.
- Foreshadowing: His concern about Alice hints at him being her father. And if he's Alice's father, then he must also have her hereditary concentration superpower.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Sara is the mastermind of the Arachnid Hunt and the main antagonist for most of the story, while Suzumebachi manages the rest of the Organization in the background.
- He Knows Too Much: The Boss has Ginyanma kill Suzumebachi before he can tell Alice anything he knows about the boss' identity. But this is because the Boss' ability requires him dead to replace him with Alice.
- Hyper-Awareness: On the same level of Alice, if not above due to his greater experience.
- In the Back: His prefered method of assassination is backstabbing people in such a a way that it instantly kills them from shock alone. It is how he gets rid of Imomushi, though he's revealed to have spared her as part of a deal with Hanakamakiri.
- Kick the Dog:
- In the prequel he repeatedly tells Imomushi that it is her own fault her sister Mika died but he knows Mika was actually secretly raised as an evil assassin. That's why Imomushi's out for his blood in the main story.
- It is implied he told Sasori to get Dinoponera raped by the army ant zombies as part of a convoluted plan to have the ant-girl put a stop to the zombie outbreak.
- Brutally beats up Alice during their fight despite her being his daughter, since he feels killing her there would spare her from what the Boss plans.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Upon getting his promotion he left his family behind and hoped they could be saved from the Organization's genocide plan. Unfortunately, this concern screwed with the Boss's agelessness powers and they tried to force him to kill his wife and daughter. Suzumebachi couldn't bring himself to kill Alice, but that didn't save her from the Boss' plans.
- Legacy Character: Various people have served the Organization's Boss as Suzumebachi. Previous hornets include Hideki Tojo and an ambassador of Japan who was the Boss' adopted son.
- Lightning Bruiser: Physically strong and capable of inexplicable pseudo-teleportation like other charcters in the series.
- Like Father, Like Son: Used to be a clumsy gentle man much like how Alice is now.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Alice is his daughter.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He claims to be loyal to the Boss but doesn't look like it sometimes, giving Alice chances to fight or flee during the Arachnid Hunt because she's his daughter. Turns out he never had a choice in the matter of becoming a vessel for the Boss and drawing the line at killing Alice made him expendable even before the start of the story.
- Neck Lift: What better way to get your daughter to listen to why you abandoned her and killed her mother?
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: To his own defenseless daughter.
- No Name Given: It's eventually revealed that he was named Jin Togawa back when he was Ashinagabachi.
- No-Sell: Alice can hardly restrain him or block his attacks because he can effortlessly cut her threads. Alice gets around it by shooting the blade straight above into the sky so it pierces through Suzumebachi when it comes crashing down.
- Offing the Offspring: Has given Alice chances to escape or become stronger during the Arachnid Hunt despite whatever orders he has been given by the boss, but shows no mercy to her in battle. Likely because at that point he feels killing Alice will save her from succeeding his role. Ultimately, though, it is revealed he just knew she would survive everything and was plotting to make her the new Boss.
- Put on a Bus: After talking to Dinoponera in chapter 37, he doesn't appear again until chapter 58, which not only confirms he had hired Kirigirisu for Alice's sake, but also shows him holding a locket with a picture of Alice and her mother.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His ability enables him to fire punches with extreme speed and precision, which he combines with his arm blades. Like Alice hasn't had enough of that already.
- Redemption Equals Death: He's shot to death while trying to make amends with Alice. He still gets to help her from beyond the grave and this earns her forgiveness.
- Stealth Mentor: He secretly intended for the Arachnid Hunt to be a proving grounds for Alice to become the new Boss of the Organization.
- Super-Reflexes: Plus Super-Senses, given what his ability turns out to be.
- Tragic Keepsake: A pendant with a picture of a child Alice and her mother.
- Tragic Villain: Suzumebachi wanted to protect his family but became a puppet for the Boss and was forced to leave Ayana raising their daughter by herself. He is forced to kill Ayana and dies before he could reconcile with Alice.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Used to have grey hair, but he wasn't such a bad guy back in the day.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- It's implied he was the one who invited Dinoponera to the Arachnid Hunt to spur Alice's growth. He then sends Sasori to dispose of her after she loses. However, it turns out getting her raped was a sick way to make Dinopo a Living MacGuffin to counter the zombie apocalypse.
- After Suzumebachi refused to kill his own daughter, the Boss began plans to have her replace him. He is eventually killed after his loss to Alice.
Carrion Beetle/Shidemushi
Carrion Beetle (シデムシ; Shidemushi)
The men who cleans crime scenes and disposes of bodies and evidences left by the Organization's operations. The original one is an important figure in Caterpillar.- Animal Motifs: The Silphidae family of beetles.
- Cleanup Crew: There's multiple shidemushi people other than the one seen in Arachnid, both young men and unexplained look-a-likes, who clean crime scenes for the Organization.
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: The Arachnid one shows up at Shouran High School as a janitor, eager to begin shoving corpses into the large incinerator the school happens to have.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Despite being one of the instigators of the conflict in Caterpillar, the leader isn't fought and barely appears at all. We don't even see if he really dies when the Ageha gets nuked. Likewise, the minions never engage in combat with anyone.
- Undying Loyalty: The original Shidemushi was hired by the Boss after losing everything in World War II, and as such he stages the battle royale in Caterpillar to lure and kill a number of politicians and shareholders who were a thorn on the Organization's side even if he must also sink with the Ageha.
Scorpion/Sasori
Scorpion (サソリ; Sasori), alias Saori Ono
"The scorpion... might look like a sadist, but to live in the harshest of environments... one has to be a masochist."
A cruel assassin who infiltrates Alice's school as a part-time nurse and becomes interested in being the one to kill her. She uses syringes and a mechanical tail with toxins to paralyse, torture and kill her targets.Sasori also appears in Caterpillar as a minor antagonist who fights Imomushi twice. She becomes one of Alice's most hated enemies for certain reasons and survives up to the events of Blattodea.
- Animal Motifs: Scorpions. She has very danguerous poisons and a mechanical sting to befit her motif.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: Her stinger was surgically implanted, but the ability to detect sounds with her body like scorpions do is just plain supernatural.
- Arch-Enemy:
- Sasori is one of the first assassins who attack Alice in Arachnid. Since then, Alice comes to hate Sasori for how she played a role in the death of her mother Ayana and the scorpion-girl is the only foe who can match her in combat.
- Setsuna despises Sasori for getting her raped and turned into a half-zombie during the Arachnid Hunt. Ironically, she is captured by Sasori and forced to train with her in order to be free.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Rather than being hanged to death by Alice, Sasori injects herself with lethal venom from her tail... except the sequel reveals she didn't actually do that and just put herself on suspended animation instead. Apparently she was counting on Jigabachi to break her free from Alice's noose, and got lucky that Kirigirisu needed her alive and warned the then hospitalized wasp doc about her predicament before it was too late.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Has a long mechanical scorpion tail attached to her back which is loaded with her three toxins. It also instantly guards her against attacks.
- Blood Knight: She killed her own parents and stalks Alice out of a desire to hunt and kill anyone she perceives as stronger and bigger than even herself.
- Break the Haughty: Downplayed. Most of the smug and naughty villainesses in the series end up humiliated and broken until they wet themselves in fear and/or get killed. However, Sasori is noticeably portrayed with a certain respect even when she's defeated. Despite a brief Villainous Breakdown and not-quite death upon being defeated by Alice, she quickly gets over it and remains a confident and intimidating threat in Blattodea.
- Catchphrase: She says that a scorpion has "three friends" and then explains the effects or her poisons.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: She always has a malicious smile on her face.
- Climax Boss: Sasori's battle against Alice in the Arachnid Hunt begins as she kills Yoriko and claims to have killed her mother too, confirming all the suffering Alice has been through was not a coincidence. Alice internally screams that Sasori is her ultimate enemy in this battle royale.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Dissects her victims while they're numb and paralysed, but conscious.
- Combat Pragmatist: Sasori usually avoids direct fights and goes only after people who are off guard or weakened. She then paralyzes them as soon as she can without them even realizing it.
- Composite Character: Back in Jackals, a scorpion-themed assassin was handily killed by Blood Witch Domino, a cruel woman who had a thing for torturing people with scalpels.
- Crazy-Prepared: Set fire to a chemistry room so she could ambush Alice a week later during the Arachnid Hunt. Of course, it turns out Alice had also visited that place beforehand.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: The volume 6 version of Blattodea chapter 27 adds a lot of dramatic shading on Sasori's face, particularly under her eyes, when she meets a traumatized Setsuna.
- Cute and Psycho: She keeps an inoffensively cute attitude while posing as a nurse, but is one of the most deranged characters in the series.
- Deadly Doctor: She really enjoys dismantling people and developing toxins.
- Dissonant Serenity: Happily explains to Jigabachi how she found her life's calling back when she murdered her parents out of a twisted love for them.
- Dramatic Irony: Sasori nearly kills her own Boss without realizing it, and for further irony it is right after said person dies for real that Sasori comes back to reveal she tricked Alice and survived their fight thanks to Jigabachi.
- Enfant Terrible: When a young Sasori got a kitten from her parents, she soon cut it to pieces. She later also dissected her own parents, not out of hate or revenge, but out of a twisted sense of love and a desire to hunt bigger and stronger prey.
- Evil Feels Good: Hugs herself suggestively while her tail knocks Alice around, even comparing their battle to sexual intercourse.
- Evil Mentor: Sasori locks Setsuna, who's been "dulled" by her friendship with the kind-hearted Chiyuri, in a basement and tells her to become strong enough to defeat her if she wants to get out. The story directly parallels the pair with Kumo and Alice, but their relationship is more like that of Kinohadakamakiri and Hanakamakiri because of Sasori being responsible for Setsuna being raped and zombified.
- Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: She explains her abilities and the effects of her toxins to people who she's already paralyzed.
- Faux Affably Evil: Sasori is unfailingly polite to everyone she wants to torture and kill. Notably, unlike nearly all the other wicked females in the story, Sasori is never given any sympathetic traits. She's all-out evil.
- Foil: In Blattodea, Sasori captures and trains an unwilling Setsuna, the bob haired girl she tossed to a bunch of rapist zombies in the past. This juxtaposes her with Kumo, the mentor who kidnapped Alice and had a Stockholm/Lima Syndrome relationship with her, and with Karina, the unknown aunt who resembles Alice's mother and tries to seduce her into evil.
- Foreshadowing:
- While confronting Hibiki in chapter 16, a chunk of the doorframe above her explodes for no apparent reason. Later, how she paralysed Mukade without moving? That's because she has a mechanical scorpion tail.
- In Caterpillar, when Imomushi first punches Sasori away she feels she's been countered by something and Sasori suddenly breaks though the rubble that's fallen over her afterwards.
- Given Name Reveal: It is eventually revealed her presumably real name is Saori Ono.
- Hammerspace: Despite her long coat, how was she walking around with a tail that long behind her for so long without anyone noticing? In some scenes - like when she poisons Imomushi and Mukade - it looks impractical or even impossible for her to hide and use it, but the implication is that she really is doing that.
- Hanging Around: Alice hangs Sasori from the ceiling with spider threads because it's the most painful and drawn-out death she could deserve for killing Yoriko and being involved in Ayana's assassination. Sasori seemingly injects herself with lethal venom in response to die on her own terms, but Blattodea later establishes she only put herself on suspended animation and survived long enough for Jigabachi to untie the noose.
- Hospital Hottie: The gorgeous disguised assassin variety of nurse, of course.
- Hyper-Awareness: Has the ability to detect, through sounds and vibrations, anything on a three meter radius around herself. And her tail reacts to incoming threats with frightening accuracy.
- Instant Sedation: Her blue toxin quickly puts her targets to sleep.
- Joker Immunity: Sasori's survival in Blattodea is convoluted, but excusable by her being too noteworthy and appealing as a villainess to stay dead when there's a whole new story to be told.
- Just Between You and Me: She takes some time to gloat and trash-talk once she paralyses people.
- Karma Houdini: Due to surviving being hanged by Alice in Arachnid, Sasori has effectively gotten away with everything so far. Note how she's reintroduced alive and well in Blatodea while Alice is lamenting Yoriko's true death and while her victim Dinoponera is being gangraped even further than before, as if to add further insult to injury.
- Kick the Dog: Sasori gets Dinoponera raped by the army ants as part of Suzumebachi's absurd plan against the incoming zombie apocalypse, but mainly does for her own enjoyment and finds the ant-girl's fate hilarious. Right afterwards, Sasori (almost) kills Yoriko and declares she was involved in the murder of Alice's mother. As such, Sasori is a Hate Sink and a major antagonist in the overall story despite not holding Big Bad or even The Dragon status.
- Knight of Cerebus: Out of all the psychopaths after Alice, Sasori is the most competent and is always close by when her prey can't put up a fight. Her scenes during the Arachnid Hunt are some of the darkest in the story.
- Love at First Punch: Got a crush on Imomushi after their first encounter, even if all that meant was that Sasori really wanted to dissect her. Ironically, they never meet during the Arachnid Hunt.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Sasori likes to record the dying screams of her victims.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Granted her deadly red poison to Suzumebachi for him to kill his ex-wife and make it look like a suicide.
- Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed. Sasori is a curvy woman dressed rather provocatively with some cleveage and miniskirts, but hardly shows as much skin as most other female characters in the series. Even in pin-up posters she's usually portrayed pointing scalpels at the viewer or being poised to attack with her tail, which helps convey a sense of danger and untouchability to her character.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Sasori teases Alice about how something big is going to happen inside the school soon, giving her all the more reason to booby trap every single room in there.
- Revealing she was involved in Ayana's death fuels Alice with so much hatred that her concentration control goes off the charts and she shrugs off all of her past injuries to fight Sasori despite barely being able to move just a while before.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Really likes to dissect people while recording their screams.
- Not Quite Dead: Blattodea reveals she only pretended to die from her red venom upon comitting suicide, as she had instead hit herself with a different venom that supressed her heartbeat to leave her half-dead while keeping brain damage to a minimum. Then Jigabachi saved her from the trap Alice set upon her.
- The Paralyzer: Her yellow toxin leaves the victim numb and paralyzed.
- Perpetual Smiler: It's rare for her to not be looking smug or sadistically happy about her misdeeds.
- Pitiful Worms: To a cruel arachnid like Sasori, everyone in the Organization besides herself and Alice are mere "crawlies" beneath her notice.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: In Blattodea, she tries to engage in combat against Alice right after Kabutomushi killed Yoriko, but Kabutomushi doesn't let it happen and Jigabachi then dissuades both her and Kabuto from fighting.
- Post-Rape Taunt: When Sasori drops Setsuna to a crowd of rape-zombies and the girl starts screaming, she looks gleefully at the scene and remarks "How wonderful! You've made a lot of friends!"
- Powers Do the Fighting: Sasori's mechanical tail automatically counters attacks, sometimes to her own surprise.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- Sasori saves Setsuna from Rin and acts like a teacher figure to her, with the narrative paralleling the nurse with Kumo of all characters. It's implied she only does this as part of her and the late Suzumebachi's plan to forcibly turn Setsuna into a Living MacGuffin, and also because Kagimushi needs Setsuna alive to help guard Hibarigaoka Prison. Clearly, Setsuna will be kissing and thanking Sasori in yet another parallel to Youko from the author's Killing Bites soon enough.
- Sasori putting a shirt on the naked and unconscious Setsuna after taking her to the basement is surprisingly considerate of her. However, it plays into all the symbolism involving Setsuna going from no panty shots to being stripped over and over since Sasori got her gangraped, so it conveys how much the nurse is in control of her at this point.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Carries plenty of knives and scalpels under her coat, among other things, to torture and kill her victims.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Gladly goes after Dinoponera and gets her raped by a horde of zombified students under Suzumebachi's orders, turning her into a guinea pig for producing antibodies against the their virus. This both sets Sasori as the newest threat to Alice and knocks the mood of Arachnid down a couple notches.
- Say It with Hearts: Her speech bubbles often have those.
- Self-Disposing Villain: She stabs her own back with her tail when Alice has her hanging from the ceiling, but Blattodea reveals she didn't actually die.
- Self-Made Orphan: Before the surgery for her tail, she tells an amused Jigabachi about how she murdered her own parents. This scene was originally shown in grisly detail, but Volume 11 censored it with a black panel.
- Smug Smiler: The first of many smug villainesses to appear in the story.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Appears inside the closed room Yoriko and Alice were in and stings Yoriko's neck without either of them realizing it.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Her actual name, Saori, is just one letter away from "Sasori".
- Super-Reflexes: Even if it doesn't look like she's aware of an incoming attack despite her sensivity to sound, her tail sure is and will respond on reflex.
- Super-Senses: Her body is able to recognize vibrations and sounds as if she's an actual scorpion.
- Technicolor Toxin: As she often explains, her paralyzing toxin is yellow, the sleeping one is blue and the red one causes instant death.
- To the Pain: Whenever she has somebody paralysed at her mercy, she likes to go on about the effects of her poisons and how she enjoys examining people's insides while recording their screams.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: She already liked to dissect animals back when she was a child. Years later she would tear her parents apart as well.
- Villainous Breakdown: Becomes very angry once she realizes that Alice had spent the past week preparing traps all over the school and more or less had the fight won before it even began. Downplayed, however, in that as soon as she is saved she calmly goes back to hunt Alice again without coming off like a Sore Loser over it.
- Villainous Rescue: Sasori keeps Rin from killing Setsuna by putting the latter to sleep, and seems intent on being a teacher figure to her. Setsuna, naturally, doesn't trust her at all.
- Worthy Opponent: As much as Sasori was infuriated to lose to Alice, she came right back and in a good mood to ask for a rematch once she was saved, saying trying to kill Alice is what really gets her going.
Sand Wasp/Jigabachi
Sand Wasp (ジガバチ; Jigabachi), alias Yasuomi Fujimoto
A Mad Scientist who collaborates with Anabachi to brainwash Oki and take Yoriko hostage. He also appears in Caterpillar, trying to capture, torture and kill Imomushi with help from a trio of kids.- Animal Motifs: Red-Banded Sand Wasps.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: With Yoriko as his hostage, he finds himself wondering how much electricity it takes to damage a person's brain.
- Deadly Gas: Attempts to take Kabutomushi down with nerve gas but it doesn't affect her at all.
- Depending on the Artist: Counting his alternate universe self in Himenospia, Jigabachi has been portrayed by four illustrators other than Shinya, with at least a little difference in his facial structure and hair each time.
- Disney Villain Death: Subverted; Kabutomushi shoves him through a wall and into the streets below — but to save Sasori he comes right back all bandaged in the sequel.
- Dramatic Irony: He heard Yoriko is supposed to be kept alive, so he settles for performing electric torture on her. The reason Yoriko must be spared is because she is his Boss.
- Electric Torture: He orders a mind-controlled Oki to torture Yoriko with a electricity-charged rod.
- Given Name Reveal: Blattodea establishes his actual name is Yasuomi Fujimoto. This confirms Dr. Fujimoto from Himenospia really was based off him.
- I Love the Dead: Has this exchange with the perverted weaver ant kids in Caterpillar:"You prefer a living woman than a cadaver. A pretty unusual fetish, huh.""No, we don't think it's that unusual."
- Mad Scientist: Looks the part and tries to perform Electric Torture on a girl for giggles. Fittingly enough, he's acquaintances with Sasori and has enough of a kill count to be ranked tenth amongst the bug assassins.
- The Mentor: In both Caterpillar and Arachnid he trains child assassins to help him capture his targets.
- Monster of the Week: Yet another crazy guy trying to kill Alice. At most, his claim that Yoriko is supposed to be kept alive becomes relevant later. In Caterpillar he doesn't do much, either. He captures Imomushi but Sasori puts him to sleep so she can fight her instead.
- Mr. Exposition: When he first appears in Blattodea, he tells Kabutomushi that Anabachi survived her slamming his face into the floor and that Kirigirisu was the actual mastermind behind everything.
- Named After Somebody Famous: He's named after Yasutaka Fujimi, the author of The Island of Giant Insects.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Jigabachi tries to escape from Kabutomushi once he realizes he lost but wastes time trying to bring his equipment along and gets shoved out of the building.
- Villainous Friendship: He is in good terms with Sasori and is who implanted her scorpion tail. He even saves her from dying hanged by Alice's threads when told she was in danger, despite being bedridden from injuries at the time.
- You Never Asked: Sasori gets mad and puts him to sleep because he likely knew Imomushi had immunity to poison but never told her about it.
Water Strider/Amenbo
Water Strider, Shinobu Takazawa (アメンボ; Amenbo, 高沢 忍; Takazawa Shinobu)
A sports teacher who turns out to be yet another assassin, one who specializes in drowning people. She's friends with Imomushi.- Animal Motifs: Gerridae bugs, known as water striders. Halobates in particular are the only known truly oceanic, offshore insects, so she gets to have her own boat to save Imomushi with in Caterpillar.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: Her ability to inflate herself is an analogue to how submerged water striders can breathe and rise to the surface by trapping air bubbles through countless hairs on their body.
- Balloon Belly: Somehow absorbs air to inflate and avoid drowning in the pool Alice left her in. After Imomushi rescues her, Amenbo spits it out and becomes normal again while Riokku wonders if she is even human.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Learned to absorb enough air to inflate through "Special Training", huh.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- She appears very early on Arachnid as one of Alice's teachers.
- She briefly appears in Caterpillar to explain Klinefelter's syndrome to Imomushi, as well as for a quick way to establish that they're in good terms with each other as seen in Arachnid. Then much later she is the one who comes to get Imomushi and company out of the Ageha cruise ship before it gets nuked.
- Crazy-Prepared: Her bizarre "Unsinkable" ability can keep her from drowning even if she's tied up.
- Cute and Psycho: She has a lot of fun drowning her student for money.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: Amenbo gets webbed up by Alice and is almost drowned on a pool.
- Monster of the Week: The first assassin who attacks Alice during the Arachnid Hunt.
- Ms. Exposition: Briefly appears in Caterpillar to explain Hanakamakiri's Klinefelter syndrome to Imomushi.
- No One Could Survive That!: Alice tangled Amenbo while underwater and left her to drown. But Amenbo survived. By turning into a balloon. However, she was unable to break free from the strings and would have died if Imomushi didn't help her.
- Say It with Hearts: She's one of the female characters with hearts on her speech bubbles, typically when what she's saying isn't all that nice.
- Walk on Water: She wears buoy shoes to stand over water.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Last seen in the Arachnid Hunt before the outbreak. She hasn't reappeared in Blattodea as of volume 6.
Katydid/Kirigirisu
Katydid (キリギリス; Kirigirisu), alias Otonari Midori
A violinist who has been hired by a certain man to take his daughter, Alice, out of the assassin-infested Arachnid Hunt. He apparently has his own plans for the Organization, though...- Animal Motifs: Katydids and crickets.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Has a wrist blade.
- Cassandra Truth: He reveals to Alice that Suzumebachi is her father, but Alice and Oki seem to have dismissed it as unbelievable. Oddly enough, in Blattodea, it is implied he has the ability to force people to believe anything he says, and that's why Kabutomushi hurried to the rooftop to save Alice from the Boss.
- Ceiling Cling: He has special shoes that let him cling to walls and ceilings.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Averted; Alice and Oki defeat Kirigirisu but don't believe what he tells them and leave him behind. He gives them no support either and goes to report what happened to his boss.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Kirigirisu didn't seem to do much in the Arachnid Hunt but play violin and look mysterious. In Blattodea, however, it is revealed everything happened according to his designs. For unknown reasons, he wanted the Boss dead and ensured both Sasori and Alice lived by warning Jigabachi and Kabutomushi to come save them.
- Flash Step: Kirigirisu overcame Oki by jumping all over the walls and ceiling... or peharps not, since Oki had to move around Alice's threads and lost on purpose.
- Graceful Loser: Doesn't lose his cool when he finds himself all webbed up by Alice.
- The Man Behind the Woman Behind the Man Behind the Woman Behind the Woman: REALLY?...
- The Nameless: Revealed to be named Otonari Midori in Blattodea.
- Stating the Simple Solution: He is told to end the Arachnid Hunt by taking Alice out of the school, but Alice insists to find Yoriko first. If The Reveal early in Blattodea is any indication, then he never wanted Alice to escape so easily anyway.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Greeted Hibiki from nowhere and left as soon as he looked away. He does the same to Alice, Oki and Kuramoto later. The latter is rather impressive— he's defeated because Alice had been setting traps in that room but he still managed to sneak up on her like that.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: Which allow him to jump between walls without breaking stride.
- Wall Jump: One of his main skills.
Camel Cricket/Kamadouma
Camel Cricket, Hibiki Fujioka (カマドウマ; Kamadouma, 藤岡 響; Fujioka Hibiki)
- All Webbed Up: Alice immobilizes him with her thread, but he counters by slamming her into the ceiling.
- Animal Motifs: Camel Crickets and grasshoppers in general, to befit his Kamen Rider motif.
- Ax-Crazy: Since when does Kamen Rider endorse murder and rape anyway...
- Badass Arm-Fold: He lets Alice wrap him with thread while holding this pose, then unexpectedly smashes her against the ceiling with a high jump.
- Badass Back: He makes Alice's use of this trope backfire on her while playing it straight for himself when he slams her at the ceiling.
- Badass Boast: Constantly makes boasts. For example, when overcoming Dinoponera's poison:"A worm like you wouldn't understand. Your trifling venom... is powerless in the face of LOVE."
- Badass Normal: Hibiki doesn't have unusual powers, but diligent training has made him able to total speeding cars with a single kick.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: To Dinoponera asking if he wants to bring a weapon to fight her, he responds that a true man only needs the body of steel they have built themselves. He doesn't hesitate to challenge Abu the swordsman in Blattodea either, though he doesn't get to try because Chiyuri just punches Abu out of their way.
- Berserk Button: Gets mad when Chiyuri mistakes him for a Sailor Moon fan just because it shares themes and action poses with Kamen Rider.
- Big Damn Heroes: Saves Alice from Hanmyou, then from Dinopo— no, Kabutomushi was the one in peril at that time. And later Hibiki shows up to keep the Media ants from harming Alice, but Oki gets rid of him immediately after.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Has thick eyebrows to befit his manly image.
- Blank White Eyes: His eyes go blank with rage when performing flying kicks.
- The Bus Came Back: He abruptly disappears from Arachnid and Gokiburi just assumed the zombies got him. Then he's reintroduced in chapter 13 of Blattodea, where he's seen arrested at Hibarigaoka Prison but in good health.
- Butt-Monkey: The idea of a Kamen Rider aficionado who wants to stamp everybody's faces with love-powered kicks gets increasingly played for comedy instead of awesomeness as the chapters go on.
- Calling Your Attacks: Of course he shouts variants of "Rider Kick" while attacking.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Has no unusual powers, and is simply strong from harsh training alone.
- Child Soldier: He's shown being trained by Kumo some years before the start of the story.
- Combination Attack: Hibiki tricks Riock into launching him towards Dinoponera. As the series' author seems oddly adverse to writing teamwork in fights considering his body of work, things like this are the closest we get to it.
- Determinator: Stood back on his feet over and over until he defeated Riock.
- Disney Villain Death: The last time we see Hibiki in Arachnid is when Oki dropkicks him into a pit full of crazy army ants. He's assumed to have been zombified, except he apparently escaped offscreen between series.
- Diving Kick: He frequently stamps justice and love on peoples' faces with Rider Kicks taken right out of the Kamen, er, Kahen Rider show.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He gets very abruptly kicked into a hole by Gokiburi to not be seen again in Arachnid, wasting all the focus the story had previously given him. He only returns in chapter 13 of Blattodea.
- Dynamic Entry: Makes some great entrances by dramatically kicking people.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Hibiki hates how Megumi rules Hibarigaoka Prison with corruption and fear, but feels like he can't do anything about it on his own. Once Chiyuri voices her disgust for the prison and vows to destroy it, he admits she's right and starts helping her.
- He-Man Woman Hater: His introductory scene in Blattodea has him berating the perverted prisoners around him for lusting over women whose beauty can't compare to that of men and that are so "cowardly, arrogant, vile, weak in body and in spirit" that they couldn't hope to be heroes.
- He's Back!: His Out of Focus periods usually end with somebody getting kicked across the room. Usually...
- Heroic Spirit: Hibiki endures a dozen hits from Dinoponera's stings, which she claims are coated with venom worth a thousand dinoponeras.
- Hit Me, Dammit!: When Hibiki finds Riock has come back to challenge him, he tells Riock to hit him, to everyone's confusion. Turns out he wanted to try his punch-propelled kick against Dinoponera.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Hits Alice with the strongest kick he has, only to get bounced back into a wall by the web she had set ahead of her.
- Hotblooded: Very loud and eager to fight.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: He fights with flying kicks like he's "Kahen Rider".
- Ignored Enemy: Has to pause his battle against Dinoponera when Riock arrives on the scene, but then he unexpectedly uses a punch from Riock as a springboard to hit Dinoponera with a kick.
- It's Personal: Wants revenge for Kumo's death, without knowing Kumo forced Alice to kill him. Even after Alice explains this, Hibiki still feels bitter about it and treats her as an enemy.
- Justice Will Prevail: Hibiki is a parody of ruthless tokusatsu heroes who'd kill anyone and anything they regard as "evil". He's a justice-spouting Kamen Rider fan but is also a lunatic and essentially works for Shocker. No-name male characters are frequently shown to admire Hibiki, but nobody else takes him seriously.
- Kiai: Repeatedly shouts "LOVE" while stomping people and proclaims "JUSTICE" when he's done.
- Large Ham: He frequently goes on loud speeches about heroism. The reason he respects Chiyuri is that she can speak as bombastically as him, even if she mistakes him for another Sailor-Force fan like herself and Setsuna.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's very strong and agile, with such cricket-like jump strength that he can zip between walls while performing his flying kicks.
- Made of Iron: Resists many powerful attacks from Riock and a large amount of Dinoponera's poison.
- Major Injury Underreaction: He's able to suppress the pain from Dinoponera's venom through force of will and earns jawdrops from everyone in the corridor, including a shocked ant girl who claims she just hit him a dozen times with venom worth a thousand dinoponera ants.
- Manly Gay: As macho as it gets, but also gay for his late teacher Kumo.
- Meaningful Name: Named after the series Kamen Rider Hibiki. Also, his surname is certainly a reference to Hiroshi Fujioka, the actor who played Takeshi Hongo in the original Kamen Rider.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: Somewhat. Doesn't keep Alice and Dinoponera from beating him silly.
- The One Guy: Hibiki is basically the only male character who manages to stick around and continue contributing to the plot after his first defeat, as well as one of the very few with any remotely heroic characteristics. Even then, he's still just as after Alice's head as anyone else in the Organization is, so his status as a protagonist is circumstantial at best.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Hibiki has saved Alice a few times while claiming this, which is Played for Laughs. He saves Kabutomushi while thinking she was Alice and also gets kicked down a hole by Oki right after actually saving Alice.
- Otaku: Has no shame whatsoever in worshipping Kahen Rider.
- Perma-Stubble: He has a five o'clock shadow when first seen as a prisoner at Hibarigaoka Prison as an indicator that Megumi had been making him sit around keeping the inmates under control, but it just disappears between scenes at a point he couldn't have shaved it.
- Pet the Dog: Blattodea introduces him as a misogynistic weirdo, but he comes to respect Chiyuri enough to promise to bring Dinoponera back to her and help the two meet Alice to solve the zombie outbreak, in contrast to other characters who want Dinopo killed to keep the outbreak going.
- Pop-Cultured Badass: A powerful fighter who's obsessed with Henshin Hero comics.
- Post-Victory Collapse: He faints after defeating Riock during the Arachnid Hunt.
- The Power of Love: One who has no love in his heart can't become a hero, or so he says. "Love" is his battle cry while repeatedly kicking enemies.
- Put on a Bus: In Arachnid, he gets comically kicked down a hole right after coming back from a previous bus trip. This turns out to be a case of being Put on a Bus to Hell, as when we next hear of him, he's presumed to have been caught by the rape zombies. He only shows up alive and well much later, in the sequel.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He notes that Kumo's assassinations were admirable for avoiding rape and other needless cruelties... right after sending his mooks to perform a "purification cerimony" on Oki and stating Alice deserves that, too. His excessive violence is noted to be hypocrital, but Hibiki insists he's only paying evil unto evil.
- The Rival: He's one to Riokku, who also considers himself a real life Kahen Rider. Ironically, unlike him Riokku actually got combat advice from the creator of the series.
- Running Gag: You know you're being used for comic relief when not only you can't harm a little girl with your awesome flying kicks four times in a row, later another girl dropkicks you into a hole.
- Serious Business: Aspiring to become like Kahen Rider, Hibiki adopted his ideals and fighting style.
- Signature Move: Various double-page spreads are dedicated to his Rider Kicks. He uses those attacks often enough that people soon learn to see them coming, so Hibiki has to find ways to surprise them anyway.
- Strike Me Down: Concedes victory to Alice and asks this of her in shame from being tricked into bouncing back into a wall. Alice says she should kill him, but is too hurt to move much and would rather call a truce and let him understand she was forced to kill Kumo.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Hibiki idolizes and loves his master Kumo. He wanted Kumo to accept his feelings once he surpassed him, but Kumo just said it'd depend on whether or not he would still be alive by then. Do note that was Kumo a Death Seeker long before he met Alice...
- There Can Be Only One: Upon meeting Riock, Hibiki isn't amused about someone else claiming to be the true Kahen Rider, let alone a person who believes in brute strength over the training of one's skills. Amusingly enough, the prequel eventually established Riock had actually personally received advice from the author of that manga.
- Training from Hell: From either Kumo when he first joined the Organization or on his own when he's got time to spare.
- Tranquil Fury: During his fight against Alice, more or less. Anytime he wasn't glaring with hate or looking like he was having a lot of fun kicking her around.
- Tsundere: Says the sort of things you'd expect from the type to Alice after their fight.
- Wall Jump: Does one for the Triangle version of his Rider Kick.
- The Worf Barrage: Hibiki kicks and stomps Dinoponera repeatedly but to no effect other than getting praised for actually "almost" scoring a few hits.
- The Worf Effect: After a difficult battle against Riock he saves Kabutomushi from Dinoponera and fights her, but despite landing hits he only manages to make the sailor girl blush.
- Uncertain Doom: Gets forgotten about by Arachnid and is presumed but not actually confirmed to have turned into a zombie. Blattodea brings him back in chapter 13, and it's established that he did get away unscatched.
- Would Hit a Girl:
- You can easily find examples of actual Kamen Riders killing female opponents with extreme prejudice, and Hibiki himself is portrayed as deranged for partaking in this. He almost gets Megumi gangraped, brutalizes Alice with great pleasure and shows no mercy to Dinoponera either.
- In Blattodea, he walks up to the crowd of naked women who were being used as sex slaves by Juzuhigemushi fully intending to beat them up for defying the monk and upsetting the order in Hibarigaoka Prison. Chiyuri stands up to him, but their conflict is defused by Hebitonbo's appearance.
Sia Ferox/Riock
Sia Ferox (リオック; Riokku)
A brutish man who's a big fan of the Kahen Rider show. He comes to kill Alice at her school but gets sidetracked by a rivalry against Hibiki. He doesn't do much in Arachnid, but Caterpillar gives him a larger role as one of Imomushi's allies.- Ambiguously Brown: One of the few dark-skinned characters in the series, and has white hair.
- Animal Motifs: Sia ferox crickets.
- Badass Normal: Has no unusual abilities other than punching really hard.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Whereas Hibiki is only seen kicking, Riock only ever punches people.
- Berserk Button: Gets murderously upset at any anyone badmouthing the "Kahen Rider" series or being challenged as a real-life representative of it. When Riokku meets Shoichiro, he actually gets mad at the man for claiming to have written the series as if it's fictional when it's clearly real!
- The Big Guy: Has a bigger role in the prequel as an ally of Imomushi and Hanakamakiri.
- The Brute: A savage powerhouse who doesn't bother with skills and strategy during combat.
- Combination Attack: Unintentionally does one with Hibiki to attack Dinoponera.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Decides to become Imomushi's lackey after losing to her in a fistfight.
- Dumb Muscle: "Riock cannot process more than two questions at a time", says Kumo.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the prequel he begins as an enemy but then decides to help Imomushi and Hanakamakiri.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: One of his punches gets used as a springboard by Hibiki to jump off the walls and the ceiling to stomp him.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Is also a Kahen Rider fan, but uses a different fighting style than Hibiki's.
- Immune to Bullets: Nanafushi empties her machine gun on him, but he stands up unharmed. He ends up running away to find Imomushi before she can try again with a larger caliber.
- Made of Iron:
- Ichijikukobachi manages to make him a bloody mess, even sending her blade through his arm, but Riock manages to break the wire linking it to her to avoid having his brain stabbed and forces his way through.
- And yet Dinoponera defeats Riock with a single punch to the chin...
- Manchild: He's in his late teens, but is violently childish and believes Kahen Rider actually exists.
- Megaton Punch: He can easily behead people with his punches.
- Metronomic Man Mashing:
- In Caterpillar, he slams Zomushi all over the room they're in.
- Swings Hibiki around before making him bounce across the Shouran Highschool's pool.
- Mighty Glacier: Riock can punch heads off and tank severe punishment, but although he's capable of rapid fire punching he's slow on his feet. And quite weak to poison despite his size, it would seem...
- Monster of the Week: Only has a minor role in Arachnid. After Dinoponera worfs him, he disappears from the story.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: Against other built men, at most. When it comes to crushing nimble women and little girls, Riock gets badly hurt or outright K.O.-ed in a matter of seconds.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives Hibiki one hell of a beatdown.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He interrupts Hibiki's fight against Dinoponera to avenge his loss to him, only to attack her instead after she defeats Hibiki first.
- Otaku: About the Kahen Rider show, much like Hibiki.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Riock takes a while to wake up after being defeated by Hibiki, so he winds up added to the death count of the Arachnid Hunt.
- The Rival: Hibiki "Kamadouma" Fujioka, who has a different view of how a Kahen Rider should fight.
- Running Gag: In the prequel he repeatedly makes a fool out of himself by getting worfed every time he tries to just punch people out.
- Serious Business: Another Kahen Rider nerd who sees himself as the best real life Rider. The prequel shows he actually met the mangaka of that series and got combat advice from him.
- Talk to the Fist: When Hibiki first starts blabbling about how he is the one worthy of the Kahen Rider title, Riock just punches him through a wall.
- Unskilled, but Strong: He fights with raw strength, not caring about Hibiki's fancy trained techniques.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Dinoponera knocks Riock out during the Arachnid Hunt, we never see him again. As of Blattodea volume 6, he's still unaccounted for.
- The Worf Barrage: The guy hits like a truck, but other characters will often tank and counter his attacks effortlessly to set an impression on the reader.
- The Worf Effect: Pretty much his role in either story, and yet even he scores more than Goki does...
- Hanakamakiri finds Riock had fought and killed three people at once offscreen, including what looked like a buff wrestler. Then this gnarly old guy shows up out of nowhere and survives a Megaton Punch to the face with no damage even to his Cool Shades. He then blocks the next one with a single finger and easily rider kicks Riock into oblivion. Soon after, a girl with spike powers shows up just for Riock to be a fool trying to punch her, which sets up the aforementioned Cool Old Guy's first on-screen fight. And then Osamu Tezuka beats him senseless too.
- Hibiki is advised against attacking an unconscious Riock because he could still react, but Imomushi does it later and is able to counter him and establish her strength. Then when it's Riock's turn to attack Dinoponera, who already had proved herself whimsically stronger than Imomushi, Kabutomushi and Hibiki, he gets knocked out cold in a single hit.
Green Tree Ants/Tsumugiari
Green Tree Ants (ツムギアリ; Tsumugiari), alias Dou, Mou and Kyou Fujimoto
- Animal Motifs: Green Tree/Weaver ants, which are known for their gripping abilities.
- Ascended Extra: From very minor antagonists in Caterpillar to lackeys of side anti-heroine Gokiburi in Blattodea.
- Creepy Child: It doesn't take long for them to creep out Imomushi with their... curiosity. They take off what little clothes she's wearing when Jigabachi paralyses her and begin happily groping her until they get into an argument and begin throwing each other around instead.
- Given Name Reveal: Introduced as Dou, Mou and Kyou in Blattodea. Their "Fujimoto" surname implies Jigabachi himself created them.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: They try to harass Gokiburi in the Ageha ship. While she does reluctantly show off her body to the boys so they carry the Heracles Horn to Kabutomushi for her, she also takes nude pictures of them and blackmails the triplets into becoming her manservants.
- Improbable Infant Survival: When they beg Imomushi to let them escape from the nuking of the Ageha, they lampshade the trope saying children are the hope of the future. By the zombie apocalypse, they're doing just fine helping Gokiburi.
- Made of Iron: For disrespecting her personal space so much, Imomushi hits them hard enough to cause shockwaves over the surrounding rooms. The kids just comically run away crying while holding their aching heads.
- Monster of the Week: Jigabachi and them only managed to be a minor setback for Imomushi in Caterpillar.
- Older Than They Look: Two years pass between Caterpillar and Blattodea, but they don't seem to have aged in the latter story.
- Opposite-Sex Clone: They're vaguely stated to have been cloned from Kabutomushi, who doesn't seem to be aware of it.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The triplets play catch by throwing Imomushi. They have amazing grip strength thanks to a device on their hands, but their power level in general is just unnatural as they seem to have been cloned from Kabutomushi.
- Playing Doctor: Their whole gimmick is creepily asking girls to play doctor with them.
- Remember the New Guy?: They're never mentioned by Gokiburi in Arachnid, but Caterpillar and then Blattodea show they are her minions.
- Theme Twin Naming: Translated from Japanese, their names make up the greeting "how are you today".
House Centipede/Geji
House Centipede (ゲジ; Geji), alias Momoko Ashida (葦田 喪喪子; Ashida Momoko)
She appears in Blattodea as Gokiburi's subordinate at Hibarigaoka Prison.
- Advertised Extra: She's on the cover of Arachnid volume 7 and the story at one point pretended she would do something significant along with Goki and Alice, on top of the author being a fan of WataMote at the time and giving her his own wife's birth date, but ultimately she just jobs to the army ants with Goki and is completely forgotten until the end of the story. Fortunately, she does have a more significant role in Blattodea.
- Animal Motifs: Scutigera coleoptrata centipedes, known as House Centipedes or Gejigejis. They're quite creepy looking, indeed. This centipede girl, however, not so much. Though she already acts like a hardened assassin in her age.
- Attempted Rape: Almost gets raped by the brainwashed student mob which turns out to be strong and maniacal enough to ignore even broken arms, but Oki saves her. The students are set to not rape people anymore when they do capture Geji and Oki, but then she disappears from the story and Oki assumes she got raped into zombiefication offscreen — which thankfully didn't actually happen.
- Author Avatar: Implied to be one for the author's wife, Sato. Shinya shamelessly drawing his own avatar hugging a body pillow of Tomoko to help promote the WataMote anime, getting married to Sato and introducing Geji into Arachnid happened around the same time frame in 2012. Sato wrote the WataMote parody in one of the volumes and shares her birthday with Geji.
- Badass Adorable: She's supposed to be kind of like Tomoko Kuroki, but prettier, murderous and confident.
- The Bus Came Back: Appears from out of nowhere in Blattodea doing just fine and allied with Gokiburi after she was assumed to have been caught by the rape-zombies offscreen in the previous story. Just in time for the 10 year anniversary of the WataMote series too.
- Ceiling Cling: Geji uses this to try to hide from Oki. It might have worked better if she hadn't clung to the opposite side of the room, but moving over a Oki who was in the middle of entering and closing the door was already quite the achievement.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: In a sketch from Volume 8, with the author saying she looks familiar. Geji actually only has eyebags for a couple of panels in Arachnid, but this is rectified by the sequel.
- Cute and Psycho: She's plenty cute but is murderous and can fight either hand-to-hand or by using her socks as clubs.
- Dark Action Girl: A psycho girl who fights with socks and brags about enjoying her lonely assassin life while mocking Gokiburi for making friends with Alice.
- Damsel in Distress: She and Oki are captured by the student mob in chapter 60 and are put into some kind of crucification as the students form ant-like totems to hold them on display for Alice to see. She is never shown being broken free, is assumed to have been zombified offscreen, and then just shows up ok way later in the sequel.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Oki and Alice just leave her tied and half-naked after defeating her, but the three get to work together later. By Blattodea, Geji and Oki still appear amicable to each other despite their nasty personalities.
- Distaff Counterpart: To throwaway character and fellow centipede Mukade.
- Expy: Geji, or rather Momoko, looks like fellow Gangan Comics character Tomoko Kuroki, though she acts the opposite of her in many ways. While her status as this trope wasn't that noticeable in Arachnid proper, the omake of Volume 8 goes out of its way to show Geji does have a few of Tomoko's quirks. By Blattodea, Momoko is outright dressed almost the same as Tomoko and paraphrases her series' "no matter how I look at it, it's your guys fault..." title (the only other time she said that was on the aforementioned omake). Briefly acknowledged in 2021 by WataMote authors Nico Tanigawa on Twitter too.
- Flash Step: She's so fast she actually manages to outstep Oki over and over.
- Fragile Speedster: While she may be faster than Oki, she turns out to have much less endurance and it only takes a couple hits to knock her out.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon: A girl who bludgeons people with her socks.
- Heel–Face Turn: She later helps Oki search for Kuramoto at Alice's request. In Blattodea, though, she and Oki are villains from Chiyuri's perspective and they want to subjugate the newbie roach.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: She's a creepy and antisocial girl whose hair covers her left eye, tying to how she an expy of Tomoko, who covers her right eye.
- Improbable Weapon User: The "Geji Saps", which are resistent and stretchable knee highs that she can fill with heavy things to smash people with.
- Inner Monologue: The WataMote parody chapter has her doing this while pretending to be asleep. She considers attacking the heroines, but doesn't feel confident enough to do it. She goes on to make excuses about how everything is awful and it's their fault.
- Little Miss Badass: She's a good enough fighter for her age and is also a little shorter than Alice and Oki.
- Little Miss Snarker: Has an openly abrasive personality.
- Loners Are Freaks: Geji seems comfortable about being unpop— er, a lone assassin, even mocking Oki for wanting to be friends with normal people. Then again, Geji later works along with her just fine. Maybe her feelings are not all that different from how Oki's once were.
- Mini Dress Of Power: A different school uniform than the one used by the Ouran High schoolgirls.
- Monster of the Week: It looked like she was going to avoid this when she returned to side with the heroines after her fight against Oki. However...
- Never My Fault: Like a certain someone, Geji is the kind of person who blames others for her own shortcomings.
- No, I Am Behind You: As one of the story's speedsters, she pulls this trick on Goki at least once.
- Offscreen Teleportation:
- On one panel, she's wearing both of her socks. A couple pages later, despite standing still and facing Oki the whole time while mocking her, she has already taken a sock off, filled it with heavy stuff and smashed Oki's face with it. Really.
- She escapes from Megumi's Goki Twist hold between panels, saying how she did so is a secret.
- Oh, Crap!: When Oki grabs Geji's hair from behind and in a disturbing tone declares she will not let anyone harm Alice. Later, Geji is doing fine against the student mob until she freezes up upon seeing them forming bizarre towers to attack her and Oki.
- Punny Name: Blattodea reveals Tomokopede's actual name is "Momoko", after a particular scene from the WataMote manga where Tomoko's name is misheard as that.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tells Oki she is a fool to want friendships with normal people despite living as an assassin. Oki responds she doesn't care about what Geji says and simply wants to live in her own way.
- The Rival: Presented as a faster and cockier girl than Oki, but she soon becomes an ally.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: At the Arachnid Hunt, Geji goes around in her undies after losing to Oki, but despite the rape festival going on the school she doesn't seem to care. She doesn't even complain about Oki stealing her clothes.
- Ship Tease: She and Megumi are often paired together in scenes and bonus illustrations, even if portrayed like they're both upset about that. By Blattodea, the two are on friendly terms while working at the Hibarigaoka prison.
- Significant Birthdate: September 22 is the birthdate of Sato, creator of Fragtime and Living Dead!, who is married to Murata Shinya. She drew the WataMote parody featuring Geji on volume 8.
- Slasher Smile: She was at her most unhinged while about to deal a killing blow to Oki.
- Smash Sisters: Helps Oki against the student mob so they and Alice can get out safely from the school.
- Smug Smiler: Like pretty much every other girl in the story.
- Smug Super: Geji acts like she's a pro assassin and finds it hilarious that Oki is proud of her speed.
- Stating the Simple Solution:
- She reminds Alice that the Arachnid Hunt should end if she manages to exit the school. This time, Alice agrees and decides to try and make a escape plan even if Kuramoto might have been captured.
- She wonders why Megumi won't just fight Chiyuri directly if she hates her so much, but Megumi insists they are the Big Bads at Hibarigaoka Prison and cannot dignify Chiyuri with their presence until the end.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Subverted in that Oki at least notices Geji somehow slipping over her and clinging to the ceiling on the other side of the room while she closed the door.
- Stripperiffic: Oki claims Geji's clothes for herself after knocking her out, to get out of the dominatrix getup she was forced to wear. So, when Geji appears again she's only wearing underwear and is soon surrounded by undesirables.
- Super-Speed: Geji is faster than Oki and Alice, though it doesn't help her much in Arachnid...
- Too Slow: Taunts Oki with this line while beating her up.
- Trash Talk: Mocks Oki for her unimpressive speed and how she is protecting Alice and Yoriko for the sake of friendship.
- Uncertain Doom: Gets forgotten about by the plot of Arachnid and is presumed but not actually confirmed to have turned into a zombie. In Blattodea, she shows up alive and well from out of nowhere.
- Underestimating Badassery: Thought she could make short work of Oki, but didn't count on "cockroaches having two brains".
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Geji attempts to flee from Oki when she realizes she can't defeat her, but Oki appears by the door and knocks Geji out.
- Whole Costume Reference: She dresses in a school uniform very reminiscent of WataMote's Tomoko Kuroki's in Blattodea, but colored violet instead of yellow.
- The Worf Effect:
- Despite being fairly strong, she almost gets raped by the zombiefied student mob just so we see they can hold their own in combat despite their brainless condition. And then again with Oki when they're barely started to join forces but are both spooked by the reveal of the zombies' ant-like chain attacks and get easily captured by them.
- Her first appearance in Blattodea has her and Gokiburi swiftly capturing both Dinoponera and Chiyuri, just to show they've apparently become super strong offscreen.
Velvet Worm/Kagimushi
Velvet Worm, Shoichiro Iwamine (カギムシ, Kagimushi; 岩峰正一郎; Iwamine Shoichiro)
The author of the Kahen Rider series who turns out to be Imomushi's master. He appears in Blattodea working as a security officer at Hibarigaoka Prison, and hands Gokiburi a bunch of goons to help her against Chiyuri.- Almighty Janitor: He's a cartoonist — this setting's Shotaro Ishinomori, in fact, who's a powerful martial artist and assassin.
- Animal Motifs: Velvet worms, which aren't insects but do descend from a common ancestor (the idea of caterpillars directly evolving from them, however, is rejected by the science community at large). And crickets as well.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Kagimushi is one of the most high-ranked assassins in the Organization and becomes the man in charge of security at Hibarigaoka Prison in Blattodea. Even though Gokiburi is the director and acts like she's a big deal, she still answers to Kagimushi and is unnerved by him.
- Badass Teacher: One of the very few masters in the series who didn't act like a total jerkass to his pupil.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He first appears as a Mr. Exposition in one of the episodic bug fun fact scenes, lecturing the reader about crickets.
- Cool Old Guy: He's Shotaro Ishinomori as a kickass assassin with Cool Shades.
- Insane Troll Logic: He appears as an antagonist in Blattodea acting in nonsensical and gratuitously evil ways. He sends assassins to kill Chiyuri and Setsuna as punishment for defending themselves against Juzuhigemushi's threats of rape, giving the absurd justification that Chiyuri must be a spy aligned with Serena just because she's friends with Setsuna and is as strong as Imomushi. Then once Setsuna is captured and is found to be a Zombie Infectee, Shoichiro accuses Chiyuri of being infected too and demands her banishment like she isn't worth raping. Even when Chiyuri reveals Yamato is her master and Shoichiro decides to recruit her, he senselessly knocks her out on the spot without provocation.
- Ki Manipulation: His powerful Inazuma Punch seems to have an area of effect due to this trope, and only Yamato Gokiburi's Wave Cannon could stand up to it.
- Megaton Punch: His signature move is lying down limp and then instantly snapping back up into a massive punch. He pretends to hit Bokugehamushi, stopping just short of her face. The huge shockwave from the move plus the fear factor still incapacitates her by causing a Power Incontinence. He then performs one that hits harder than Osamushi's own 100000 horsepower steel arm and mortally wounds him.
- No-Sell: Like Imomushi, he can let blunt force flow evenly through his body in such a way that all damage winds up on the floor he stands on.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: As part of Murata's grand plan to solve the Earth's energy crisis by making deceased authors spin in their graves, Shoichiro is a Shotaro Ishinomori who works for Shocker, supports Japan nuking itself on purpose and tries to get two girls raped and murdered.
- Pet the Dog:
- Caterpillar portrays him as a kind master to Imomushi, and he displays mercy by scaring Togehamushi off without injuring her.
- As the warden of Hibarigaoka Prison in Blattodea, he starts out acting evil for no good reason. After putting Makoto in charge of general management, he praises how she's been looking after the civilians in the prison and says her empathy is just what all the other employees woefully lack, what with them being hitmen and all. Ironically, Makoto appears to be a traitor to his cause and introduces him to his archnemesis Serena immediately afterwards.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Scarves are associated with Kamen Rider, after all.
- Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Blattodea introduces him as an ally to Gokiburi, which makes him an antagonist to Chiyuri and Dinoponera. He downright says the girls should be killed if they cannot be disciplined, and his pupil Imomushi had left the prison like its shelter wasn't worth it to her. Even after learning that Chiyuri is the pupil of his old friend Yamato and deciding she and Setsuna can be useful, he knocks her out for no reason other than to assert his authority.
- Wardens Are Evil: He doesn't obey Megumi but lets her and their evil henchmen do as they please in Hibarigaoka Prison, which is a terrible place for all the civilians and inmates living in it.
Horsefly/Abu
Horsefly (アブ; Abu), alias Shion Mashida (松田待田)
A swordsman who is known to have been killing other organization assassins while using minimal effort. Gets defeated by Kabutomushi during the Arachnid Hunt but shows up later in Blattodea working for Kagimushi.- Animal Motifs: Horse-flies.
- The Bus Came Back: He gets defeated by Kabutomushi rather early in the Arachnid Hunt and only shows up alive and well in chapter 16 of the sequel. Ironically, at that point nearly every surviving or missing character except Kabutomushi had been reintroduced!
- Butt-Monkey: First time we see Abu, he gets a good hit in but is whacked out of a building in an almost comical way. The second time, Chiyuri punches him in the gut and knocks him out before he does anything.
- Combat Pragmatist: Abu's style involves lethally stabbing people under their blind spots on the first chance he gets. It works against Kabutomushi but her heart is armored and she responds by shoving him into the pavement. In Blattodea he avoids this tactic against Hibiki, feeling like it might be wiser to see his opponent in action first... but then it's Chiyuri who swiftly knocks Abu out while he's ignoring her.
- Disney Villain Death: Kabutomushi wanted to shoot him into space, but settles for shoving him out of a window instead. He does survive this.
- Flash Step: He's able to disappear from Kabutomushi's sight and stab her during the split second she's distracted. It is the same "Brand Nero" Shadow Walker skill Isaac had in Jackals.
- Given Name Reveal: Named Shion in Blattodea. His surname was retconned from Matsuda (松田) to Mashida (待田) on his second appearance.
- Informed Attribute: His thing is that he's allowed to hunt down other assassins and has killed several in single underhanded blows, but the series doesn't show any of that and treats him like a joke.
- Katanas Are Just Better: He wields a katana, which Kabutomushi even calls old-fashioned before she breaks it. It's actually comically subverted in how he's so easily beaten both times he appears — the second time by an unarmed opponent, even.
- Master Swordsman: He's clearly a pretty danguerous fellow with a katana, even though he's played for a fool both in Arachnid and Blattodea.
- Monster of the Week:
- Pops in to fight Kabutomushi and gets popped out of the school shortly after. A rather shameful display for someone who's supposed to be a distant successor to Darkness Isaac, one of the major hitmen from Jackals.
- In Blattodea, he's part of a Quirky Mini Boss Squad who wants both Chiyuri and Dinoponera killed. He attempts to fight Hibiki and Chiyuri but is immediately knocked out cold by the latter, leaving his female comrades as the only credible threats against the protagonists.
- Mythology Gag: A rather disconnected example. He and Kabutomushi are counterparts for Isaac and Roxy from Jackals but Kabutomushi's just whacks him out of the school instead of specifically countering him with the Killing Bite, a move created by Roxy that Kabuto was later established to know in the Caterpillar spinoff.
- Smug Snake: He's certain that he can kill anyone in a single hit, and he would have killed Kabutomushi if it wasn't for that heart armor business, but ultimately he just gets beaten senseless every time he shows up.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Introduces himself by suddenly appearing behind Kabutomushi. It's the same in Blattodea when he encounters Hibiki and Chiyuri.
- The Stoic: Has a quiet and cold-blooded behavior while fighting but still acts smug about his skills.
- Uncertain Doom: If old man Jigabachi didn't die from getting blown out of the school and right into concrete, it's safe to assume Abu didn't die either just from landing on a Car Cushion. Indeed, Blattodea brings him back as part of Kagimushi's Quirky Miniboss Squad.
