Disclaimer: Due to receiving a completenote and comprehensive publishing cycle, as well as being fully written by the original creator Masami Yuki, tropes and canon pertaining to Birdy the Mighty II and its immediate followup Evolution will supersede those of other continuities such as Decode. Please be considerate when editing.
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Protagonists
Birdy Cephon
Birdy Cephon Altera
Birdy as she appears in Decode
II & Evolution Vol. 1 - 10
Evolution Vol. 11 - 13
As she appears in the OVA
As Shion Arita
Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese, OVA), Alex McCord (English, OVA), Saeko Chiba (Japanese, Decode), Luci Christian (English, Decode)
An Altan Federation police officer, she arrives on Earth in pursuit of alien criminals who are using the planet as a refuge. Birdy possesses genes of Ixorians, Altans genetically enhanced to be used as supersoldiers by the old Empire, making her a force to be reckoned with.- Action Girl: Birdy is a badass Cowboy Cop that can demolish combat-grade robots with her bare hands and Human Alien Super-Strength.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Birdy on the idea of lethal force. In both the original manga and remake manga, Birdy is shown to be quite horrified at Gomez killing Bacillus and at the idea she played a role in Hikawa's death in the latter. Conversely, her OVA and Decode counterparts don't have a problem with putting down their enemies if they're a still-active threat themselves, as Birdy herself is the one to put Bacillus down during her second encounter with him in both series, and she does also kill Hikawa in the OVA without angsting about it.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: While Birdy retains white and pink hair throughout her incarnations, how it's colored varies: the original manga and OVA both have it with the right side being white and the left side pink; the remake manga makes it where her bangs are pink, but the rest is white; and Decode makes it where her bangs and the bottom of her mane are pink, but the rest is white.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the OVA and Decode, Birdy has few qualms of killing if it's necessary in the line of duty. In the remake manga, the very idea of murder is unacceptable to her, and she will always try to arrest her targets. One of the reasons she constantly looks down on and antagonizes Gomez, regardless of his reasoning, is because he had an arm in killing Geega and Bacillus. Notably, Birdy believing she killed Hikawa is something that deeply haunts her conscience even throughout Evolution, whereas she directly killed him in the OVA and never angsted over it (and likewise in the OVA and Decode, she put down Bacillus herself without fretting about it).
- Adaptational Jerkass: In Decode, during the Central Tower Attacks, she FLIPS when she sees Violin's broken visage, in complete disbelief and denial she is a Marionette. In the other continuities, this particular outburst never happened, nor did Birdy ever angst over Violin's identity.
- Adaptational Modesty: In the original manga, Birdy ignores Tsutomu's request to "Please Put Some Clothes On" and confronts Bachilus in her birthday suit. The OVA version of the scene does see her don her uniform right after Tsutomu requests this.
- Adaptational Sexuality: In the manga, Birdy is a Celibate Hero and rejects Kred's romantic feelings, as romance would interfere with her duties as a police officer. In Decode, she is romantically involved with Nataru.
- Adaptational Skimpiness: Birdy's uniforms in the remake manga and Decode tend to cover less than the uniforms in the original manga and OVA. Evolution tops it off by giving her a Navel-Deep Neckline in her newest uniform.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: In Decode she is shown to have worn what was basically little more than a bikini as a child with what amounted to an apron serving as basic cover for her front.
- Amazonian Beauty: Although it isn't always made readily apparent, Birdy is incredibly toned and muscular.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: During her mindless destruction of Agni's facility, Birdy turns into a Kaiju-like monstrosity.
◊ - Auto Doc: Birdy can be seen using tanks with such features to help her heal from battles (which means, pretty often).
- Badass in Distress: Spends almost all of the ninth volume of Evolution as a captive of Revi and her affiliates.
- Bathing Beauty: While on Earth, Birdy develops a fondness for baths, especially since the ones in her world focus more on function rather than comfort.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Birdy in the first part of the OVA, somewhat justified in one case by Out-of-Clothes Experience. Subverted in the second part near in the end when the only view of her front is from the shoulders up. Averted in the last two parts as she's not in a situation where she's nude. This is also in effect for the original manga, but not the reboot.
- The Berserker: To the point that it could be mistaken that it's how she earned the "Berserker Killer Birdy."...though, it bears mentioning, the machine she killed in revenge for Violin's death was known as a Berserker, which is how she earned it. It also bears mentioning that in the remake manga, she goes berserk when pushed enough.
- Berserker Tears: Birdy's crying these when she's trashing the robot that killed Violin. Much later on, she sheds these when forced to kill Nechla, which is followed by a Heroic BSoD.
- Between My Legs: Gets used in the first episode of Decode when Birdy confronts Geega in the abandoned building.
- Big Eater: Much like several incarnations of The Flash, Birdy needs to eat a lot of food often at the expense of Tsutomu's wallet.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Although it's most emphasized in her Decode design, Birdy has notable caterpillar brows.
- Breeding Slave: As a result of her possessing genes directly from Etania's lineage, Revi offers her up to Altoros as this to solve the Succession Crisis in exchange for his support.
- By-the-Book Cop: Ironically, despite her recklessness and tendency to disobey protocol, Birdy Cephon is the ultimate example of an ideal police officer: she is deeply compassionate, strives for what is genuinely right, and vows to never kill, no matter how heinous the villain. This makes her stand out in her department, and the Federation at large, which is infested with twisted murderers and extremist officials skirting the law and abusing their authority.
- Camera Abuse: Early in the first season, Birdy kicks a piece of debris at the non-In-Universe Camera, which nevertheless tumbles backward and cuts out with static.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Birdy's resistance to alcohol in Decode is non-existent. She ends up plastered after a single can of beer, few seconds after drinking it. Granted, she's an alien, but still. Conversely, in the OVA, she was shown to take a swig of wine without any problem.
- Celibate Hero: She's not oblivious to Kred's feelings for her, but she states romance would interfere with her duties as a police officer and has no interest in pursuing a relationship.
- Character Tics: Birdy cracking her knuckles before clenching them into fists. Prepare for some serious ass-whooping.
- Cheated Angle: Birdy's hair in the original manga and OVA with the side of her bangs facing away from the reader/camera being spikier.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Birdy and Nataru in Decode 02. They lived in the same city but hadn't seen each other for years after a terrorist attack.
- Clark Kenting: In Decode, Birdy as "Shion Arita" puts an effort to behave more like an airhead and has her hair brown. However, this is averted in the OVA where Birdy's real hair is visible and doesn't bother acting too differently.
- Cleavage Window: Birdy's uniforms usually have this as part of the torso section. Towards the end of the Evolution manga, the uniform takes this another level by going past her navel.
- Combat Stilettos: Justified in that Birdy uses her heels as kick-off propulsion devices/mini-rockets, though only the remake manga and Decode versions of Birdy have them. And they make such a cool sound, so who can blame the designers?
- Conflicting Loyalty: Eventually comes to a head in the manga where she is torn between her loyalty to the Federation and Earth. Despite the danger Hikawa poses to Japan, the Federation has no interest in intervening in human affairs. Birdy chooses to disobey her superiors and forms an alliance with Gomez to take Hikawa down for good.
- This becomes a major part of Birdy's Character Development in Evolution, where her sense of morality proves increasingly incompatible with how corrupt the Federation truly is. She ultimately chooses to assist Revi over letting Nechla kill her, rendering her a fugitive.
- Cowboy Cop: Birdy has a well-established reputation for disobeying protocol and being reckless. The only reason she hasn't been dismissed is due to Megius' lenience on her.
- Crossdresser: In the original manga, the OVA, and the remake manga, Birdy would sometimes shift into her form, but still wear Tsutomu's clothes, despite being bigger than him.
- Cute Little Fangs: Birdy sprouts them in Decode.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Especially regarding the death of a woman named Violin who was killed trying to protect Birdy when she was little. While not much was not revealed in the OVA, later installments reveal Violin was an android who raised Birdy. Additionally, Birdy, much like other Altans, was subjected to intense racism.
- Death Glare: When forcing an Agni scientist to reveal what they're doing behind the scenes, at the sight of the laboratory, the man snaps and goes into a massive Motive Rant, tearing down Birdy for simply thinking she can do whatever she wants and justifying himself and the research. When he finishes by callously revealing the beast-man intentionally let loose into the city was Hinako's father, Birdy under the influence of Tsutomu's emotions let out this expression◊ moments before hell itself is unleashed on the facility.
- Deep Sleep: In-between Birdy the Mighty II and the time-skip leading to Evolution, the link between her and Tsutomu's mind becomes even more unstable, with one mind threatening to completely overtake the other. To try and prevent this from happening, Birdy goes into stasis for two years, effectively granting Tsutomu full control of a body again.
- Dirty Harriet: In one episode of Decode, Birdy poses as a prostitute at a bar for a short while.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: In Decode 02, she forgets that she has Super-Strength and hugs Nataru maybe a little too tightly.
- Dramatic Chase Opening: The OVA's first episode showcases Birdy pursuing Geega through a suburban Tokyo street. The "Decode" TV series starts with a space battle as Birdy chases after the gang.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Tsutomu sarcastically asks if Birdy's glad that Tuto isn't around so she can indulge in some creature comforts... after Tuto was destroyed in the previous episode. She responds by making a fist and swapping back to his body long enough to sock him.
- Eldritch Abomination: Very curiously, Birdy demonstrates the possibility of being this in Evolution. During her mindless rage-fueled rampage of one of Agni's facilities, Birdy briefly turns into a Kaiju purely made of bioenergy that terrifies the fleeing workers. After she regains consciousness, she doesn't even remember what transpired during her rampage. As it turns out, Birdy and all Ixorians by extension are products of the Sanctum Sanctorum's efforts at reproducing their numbers but failing.
- Fair Cop: Birdy. Signs of how attractive she is involved her dealing with a talent scout who thought she could be a model in the OVA and her "Shion Arita" alter ego actually being one in Decode.
- Fake Memories: When Tsutomu is going through Birdy's memories, Megius warns him that some of the things he sees may not be the way things actually happened but only the way Birdy wishes they had happened.
- Fanservice Pack: In the reboot manga, her outfit already had started with a dose of Adaptational Skimpiness applied to its design where it was strapless, backless, and sideless then came Volume 11 of Evolution where she attained a new variation of the attire where it takes the skimpiness of her prior attire and applies a Navel-Deep Neckline with the left and right sides of the front part having a couple horizontal slits along with her butt barely being covered enough.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: In the OVA, the boot of Birdy's right leg only comes up to her knee while the one on the left stops at her thigh.
- Fiery Redhead: Well, Birdy's got pink hair and it's only one of two (the other being white), but close enough.
- Forgiving the Accidental Pervert: When she switches places with Tsutomu while he's taking a bath and ends up accidentally getting peeped on by his dad (who wanted to bond with his son), Birdy realizes it's an accident and simply exchanges greetings before he leaves to ask his family about the "stranger" in the tub.
- Full-Frontal Assault: A heroic version. As opposed to the OVA, Birdy in the original manga did not don her uniform when Bacillus was outside of Tsutomu's house and confronted him in the nude.
- Furo Scene: One scene in the OVA and frequent use in Decode. Birdy also loves baths in the manga, since it's much more relaxing than the adjustment tub on her ship.
- Genetic Abomination: She's an Ixorian, a genetically-engineered species capable of assuming an Eldritch Abomination kaiju form when pushed far enough.
- Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: It's revealed late into Evolution that Ixorians are not products of the long-gone Altan empire, but actually manufactured by the Sanctum Sanctorum within the Federation itself to suit their mysterious agendas..
- Genius Bruiser: Despite being raised solely for combat, she delves into pretty advanced philosophy of life and moral philosophy.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Her belief she killed Hikawa shakes her to the core and stays with her even into Evolution.
- When she hears Revi's whole story and realizes how corrupt the Federation is, she falls on all four at the sight of Nechla preparing to kill Revi, at a loss on what to do. Ultimately, she decides to pursue her own justice and snaps out of her funk, defending Revi from Nechla.
- A God I Am Not: When Tsutomu (in chapter 77) shouts that aliens are useless, Birdy reminds him that they are not gods.
- Godiva Hair: Remake manga and Decode Birdy. The original manga and OVA versions, not so much.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: Not literally obviously. But she is a sexy alien chick.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Birdy has a short fuse and thus is quick to anger. In the OVA, even Tsutomu was quick to agree with Gomez about Birdy being a hothead.
- Harmful to Minors: Not only was she subjected to racism like other Altans, but when she was ten, she was at the center of a terrorist attack where she saw her surrogate mother die in front of her.
- Hellish Pupils: Birdy has noticeable cat-like pupils that get more emphasized the angrier she gets. When she goes crazy, they fully become this. They're a sign of having the blood of Etania in her.
- Hot-Blooded: Very boisterous and easy to rile up. Gomez cites Birdy's inability to control her temper as a flaw.
- Hotter and Sexier: The original manga subjected Birdy to Barbie Doll Anatomy. The remake sees Birdy being subjected to Adaptational Skimpiness and depicting her with nipples.
- Human Alien: Just like all other Altans.
- Humanoid Abomination: As an Ixorian, she has a default humanoid form but is capable of turning into an energy-based kaiju when pushed far enough. Even her kaiju form still looks somewhat humanoid.
- I Am a Monster: Killing Nechla and remembering her unconscious rampage of Agni's lab causes Birdy to slip into deep depression of her identity, fearing she could wind up eventually becoming a monster that has to similarly be put down.
- In-Series Nickname: Berserker Killer Birdy. And it has a completely different meaning than it appears at first glance.
- Kaleidoscope Hair: As Shion Arita, she has brown hair while as Birdy she has her pink and white hair.
- Leotard of Power: Birdy's work outfit. Male officers are also seen wearing the same thing, so it's apparently the Investigator's uniform. (The technology level allows shielding, so the lack of coverage isn't a defensive concern.)
- Lightning Bruiser: Birdy is lightning fast, and is strong enough to rip robots apart and toss girders like a javelin.
- Made of Iron: Almost nothing on Earth can hurt Birdy; to wit: metal doors closing in on her break apart, Hikawa's genetically enhanced monsters fail to graze her, and she is completely impervious to bullets (though they admittedly cause her discomfort).
- Magic Pants: The OVA played around with this. Initially, Tsutomu's outfit did not change when Tsutomu changed into Birdy, leading to a girl in boy's clothing kicking monsters around. Later she incorporated her leotard-like uniform into the matrix so she'd be in her clothes, not his, after a transformation.
- Mistaken for Murderer: In the second season of Decode, several criminals escape, then one by one, each of their numbers is killed. The survivors assume wrongly that it's Birdy and that she was given orders to silence them for their involvement in the events of the first season.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her looks have always been emphasized for Fanservice, but in Decode and especially the remake manga it's taken up a notch in promotional material. Generally downplayed in the stories themselves, especially in the remake most ironically, where Birdy is a dutiful Celibate Hero.
- Mundane Solution: In the OVA, Tsutomu figures out that one of the aliens can be defeated with ordinary dish soap. In the remade manga, gasoline does the trick, though it's Birdy that realizes it and is then scolded by Tsutomu for destroying a car to dump gas on herself and the attacking alien.
- My God, What Have I Done?: This pretty much sums up Birdy's reaction to fatally wounding Tsutomu, most obviously in Decode. This is also her reaction to believing she killed Hikawa.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Double Subverted with Birdy's nickname, "Berserker Killer" Birdy. Turns out it doesn't mean The Berserker, it refers to the fact that she killed robots called Berserkers. The second subversion comes in when we find out these things give armies a run for their money.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Subverted. Birdy's mission in the original manga, OVA, and the remake manga is to arrest Christella Revi, but as Revi had to do with an attack that killed Violin, Birdy has a personal ax to grind with her. This doesn't apply to Revi in Decode, as Birdy doesn't know Revi's on Earth, and her mission's somewhat different.
- No Sympathy: While she does acknowledge the truth in her whole story, Birdy flat out says she has no sympathy for Revi herself after everything she's done in her life as a terrorist.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Birdy uses this in both seasons of Decode when in her alter ego of Shion Arita.
- One-Winged Angel: When pushed far enough, Birdy turns into an energy-based kaiju.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Capella takes shelter in Tsutomu's house once the war between the Federation and Earth kicks off, she starts causing environmental damage that leads to the deaths of several people. When she rubs this into Birdy's face and how she does not have the legal authority to control her, Birdy later contemplates killing Capella in her sleep. Fortunately, she reminds herself she is not a murderer, and finds a peaceful alternative to detaining Capella with Gomez's aid.
- Really Royalty Reveal: While Birdy has no idea and is irritated over the reveal, she possesses blood directly inherited from Etania, making her suitable to give birth to the next Altan emperor.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: When Birdy and Nataru are together, starting back when they were kids, Birdy is usually shown wearing pink and Nataru, blue.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: In both the original manga and the OVA, Tsutomu asks Birdy to do this when she goes out to confront Bacillus. In the OVA, she complies, but in the original manga, she ignores the request and confronts Bacillus in the nude.
- Revenge Before Reason: After the Sanctum Sanctorum expresses an utter Lack of Empathy towards the fates of Kashu and Nechla, Birdy opts to destroy them. Despite pleading with Birdy, explaining the consequences of namely never being able to return home again, Birdy is unconvinced and goes through with it.
- Roof Hopping: How Birdy travels to catch criminals.
- Secret Identity: In Decode, prior to being merged with Tsutomu and even afterward, Birdy assumed the name "Shion Arita". This didn't stop Keisuke Muroto, Tsutomu himself, or Nataru from recognizing her. Averted in the OVA when Birdy, outside of taking some of Hazumi's clothes, doesn't bother disguising her hair or acting differently.
- Self-Serving Memory: A rather tragic example in Decode with Birdy's memories of Violin painting her as more human in behavior than she actually was in reality.
- Sensual Spandex: Birdy's outfit seems to be quite skin-tight.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Her first and second◊ outfits bare her back. Her new attire as of Evolution Vol. 11 is a bit more revealing in this regard namely since she barely has enough coverage for her butt.
- Shock and Awe: In the OVA, Birdy can electrocute people by grabbing them and unleashing an electric shock into them. This is how she accidentally kills Tsutomu and, after absorbing power from an electricity pylon, defeats Hikawa after he mutated as a result of his own serum. This ability, with slight changes, is properly named "Crash" in the remake manga, where Birdy gathers her bio-armor around her hands and projects it outward, radiating it through her body and unleashing a devastating shockwave. In the OVA, the same shockwave is what stopped Hikawa's plan to contaminate Japan's water supply, sending the sewer water up into the sky with him.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: She dons a new bio suit after volume eleven of Evolution, her previous one having been damaged been beyond repair in her final battle with Nechla. It is explicitly designed after the latter's own suit.
- Sore Loser: She never got over her first scuffle with Gomez and quickly tries to pick a fight the next time they meet, forcing Tsutomu to calm her down. Later on, she also boasts to Kashu she beat up Nechla when he inquires about their altercation...when it was completely the other way around.
- Space Cop: Her occupation, of course.
- Standard Female Grab Area: Defied in the OVA - when one of the Arkazoids grabs Birdy to get her hit by a train, she rips the robot's arms off while getting out of harm's way.
- Statuesque Stunner: Stands at 170 cm.
- Super Cop: She's a superhero and a cop. Built like a tank, super strength, and lightning speed with roof hopping.
- Superhero: She's built like a tank, has Super-Strength, can roof hop and get around quite quickly, and she fights with martial arts and does lots of acrobatics.
- Superpowered Evil Side: In the remake, should Birdy be pushed enough, she can enter a bestial state of mind where she only craves blood. Taken a step further past that phase and she turns into an Eldritch Abomination.
- Super-Soldier: Birdy herself is one, created through being a result of a bioengineering program to created soldiers and police officers.
- Super-Strength: She's strong enough to punch holes into the hulls of spaceships, destroy robots, and toss girders like javelins.
- Sweat Drop: Birdy does this upon finding a bomb just as it's about to go off in the OVA.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Late into Evolution, Birdy finds herself cooperating with a number of adversaries she otherwise detests and would want nothing to do with, one of the most significant being Revi herself.
- Terror Hero: Birdy is one of the rare non-anti-heroic examples. She is known as "Berserker Killer Birdy" (see the Berserker entry on this page for an explanation of that) and also strikes fear into the hearts of her opponents because she is an Ixioran. This trope manifests especially when the fugitives start being brutally murdered, and the first conclusion they jump to is that Birdy is responsible.
- Thou Shall Not Kill: Abhors the idea of killing in the line of duty and makes it a point to always arrest her targets. When faced with the dilemma of putting down Hikawa for the sake of humanity, she still tries to only detain him until he forces her into her Superpowered Evil Side, where she then tears him apart. After his death, Birdy is still shaken at the idea of being complicit in his death.
- Title Drop: Birdy does this in a made-up speech in the original manga. And precisely echoing that, she does it again by the end of Evolution.
- Training from Hell: What Birdy went through becoming an Ixorian Federation officer.
- Ultraman Copy: Like the original Ultraman, she's an intergalactic police officer that accidentally mortally wounds a human and merges with him to save his life, together they fight against evil aliens that arrive on Earth. She even has red and white bicolored hair and her outfit towards the end of the remake manga's continuation, Evolution, is similarly pink and white.
- Unflinching Walk: Birdy does this after detonating Bacillus in episode 3 of Decode.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Birdy often gets by throwing her freakish strength and endurance around, but when faced with Gomez he criticizes her lack of real finesse and discipline. Much later into Evolution, she also fares poorly against Nechla, an Ixorian who is comparatively not as strong or durable as her, but a trained assassin who incapacitates her with precise attacks on her non-vitals.
- Unstoppable Rage:
- Birdy's reaction to Violin's death involves completely and violently dismantling the robot that killed her, going berserk and beating it to bits with its own claw.
- She goes berserk on Hikawa after he learns how to penetrate her shield and nearly kills her, being sent into a mindless homicidal fury until Tsutomu barely reels her back in.
- In Evolution, she again goes berserk after discovering what Agni did to Hina's father. Made even worse by Tsutomu's influence on her mind, Birdy becomes enraged to the point she unconsciously enters a monstrous state never seen before.
- Vague Age: Birdy's age isn't specified in either the OVA or Decode. In the OVA, she's clearly older than Tsutomu, but according to Tsutomu, she's too young to drink alcohol, which means she could be somewhere in the 17-19 age range. Doing the math in the Decode version, based on references to her past in the second season offer that she's probably at least 24 there.
- Verbal Tic: In the Japanese version of Decode, Birdy as Shion Arita tends to accent the "u" sounds in words that have them and add "de arudesu" to a lot of sentences.
- V-Sign: In the first three parts of the four-part OVA series, the credits would end with an image of Birdy flashing this.
- Walk on Water: With a little help of her thrusters, Birdy moves quick enough to run on the water surface.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- In the remake manga, Birdy actually considered trying to cover up what happened to Tsutomu before Morality Pet Tuto pointed out that he was recording what happened and hence it was impossible, so Birdy decides to help Tsutomu after all. How serious she was is questionable, but she's reprimanded by her superiors nonetheless.
- In both the OVA and Decode, Tsutomu chastises Birdy for drinking alcohol when she's supposed to be on duty in the former and about to do so before Hazumi arrived in the latter. Both are compounded by different things: in the OVA, while she was able to drink wine without any problem, Tsutomu points out that she's underaged (as mentioned as "Vague Age", at the oldest, Birdy in the OVA would be 19 due to Japan's legal drinking age being 20) and in Decode, while she is of legal age there (both based on evidence in the second season and the fact that Tsutomu doesn't feel the need to mention her age as part of his chastisement of her), as mentioned in "Can't Hold His Liquor", she did get shitfaced after just one beer.
Tsutomu Senkawa
Tsutomu Senkawa
Voiced by: Tetsuya Iwanaga (Japanese, OVA), Justin Thompson (English, OVA), Miyu Irino (Japanese, Decode), Micah Solusod (English, Decode)
A high school student who has his mind hosted within Birdy after being accidentally killed during her confrontation with Geega. Birdy tries to help Tsutomu resume a normal life until his body is rebuilt, but he is quickly dragged into the politics of the galaxy at large.- Anti-Hero: While Tsutomu is kind and does have a good set of morals, he is at the end of the day, a normal teenage boy whose life was completely upturned by accident. He doesn't want to be a true hero, can be (understandably) self-centered, and possesses a much more vindictive and pitiless mindset than the idealistic Birdy.
- All Men Are Perverts: He is a teenage boy whose natural sexual urges are being repressed by virtue of his mind inhabiting a sexy female alien's body. The more the story goes on, the more vivid Tsutomu's erotic fantasies of girls he finds attractive become. Downplayed by the time skip, where Tsutomu grows out of that phase but still keeps a mild lecherous streak in regards to Sayaka.
- Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Tsutomu's dad attempts to bond with him by joining him in the bath. Of course, this is what led to the Accidental Pervert moment where he sees a naked Birdy.
- Bad Liar: When Natsumi eventually deduces the Tsutomu she's seeing may be an alien, possibly even Bacillus from before, he makes some absolutely feeble attempts at lying that fall flat. It doesn't matter much since soon after, Tsutomu and his friends are abducted by Neith Washgam and the truth is all revealed.
- Bathtub Bonding: As noted above, Tsuotmu's dad tried to do this with his son, but ended up discovering Birdy.
- Batman in My Basement: In the manga and OVA, Tsutomu has to keep his situation hidden from his family. This ended up making his family think he's crazy as he seems to be yelling to himself, his father (in an attempt at Bathtub Bonding with his son) catching a nude Birdy in the bath after she switched with him, his family to wonder why the son is running around the house in the nude, and his sister, Hazumi, accuses him of crossdressing when Birdy decides to "borrow" some of her clothes. The trope remains in the remake manga, though Birdy has her own clothes for being a little less conspicuous, but it's averted in Decode, where Hazumi has moved out and only checks in on him, and his parents have left due to the father's job, leaving Tsutomu alone.
- Bittersweet Ending: Downplayed. On one hand, Tsutomu hooks up with Sayaka for good by the manga's end. On the other hand, while the stranded Federation alien scientists manage to solve his mental fusion crisis with Birdy, the destruction of the Sanctum Sanctorum and the loss of interdimensional travel means the technology to separate the two may never come to pass. Tsutomu doesn't mind, however, having wholly adapted to his life with Birdy.
- Book Dumb: He flunked his initial college entrance exams, something Hazumi constantly berates him for. In a study party with his old friends, Sayaka also notes he's...bad at pretty much every subject.
- Character Development: At the early stages of Birdy the Mighty II, Tsutomu is a complete Butt-Monkey who is subject to the whims of the crazy world he's dragged into, and he is frequently played for comedy to contrast the very serious themes of the story. After the time skip, however, as a college student, Tsutomu is more reserved and mature. The experiences he had with Hikawa also shaped him to become a much less forgiving and irritable person.
- Cooldown Hug: Leaps into Ondine!Sayaka with this and pleading to spare Sayaka, even though she starts clawing at his sides.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: The remake manga and Decode show Tsutomu needing to wear glasses when he's not merged with Birdy. In the original manga and OVA, Tsutomu didn't wear glasses to begin, thus merging with Birdy didn't improve his vision.
- First-Episode Resurrection: Though depending on which version you watch, how far into the first episode he dies varies; in the OVA, he dies within the first few minutes while in Decode, he dies when the episode is halfway through.
- First Law of Gender Bending: Tsutomu gains his body back in the first season finale of Decode only for it to be destroyed again and he's forced back into Birdy.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Happens in Decode — After obtaining injuries during a battle in episode five of the second season, Birdy passes out and Tsutomu awakens to find himself in Birdy's form and unable to change back. This lasts through Episodes 6 and 7, which are the aforementioned Whole Episode Flashback examples, where he journeys into her memories and is resolved by the end of episode seven when he finds Birdy and things are returned to normal. The manga is more appropriate to Man, I Feel Like a Woman since the first thing Tsutomu does when he realizes he's in Birdy's body is to grab his chest and groin in disbelief. His time before journeying into Birdy's past is shorter, and he at least again checks his groin after returning to his body just to be sure that everything was proper again.
- Funbag Airbag: When Geega throws Tsutomu at Birdy in the original manga, Tsutomu ends up slamming into Birdy and his face ends up slamming into her chest.
- Gender Bender: Part of the premise, given Birdy's and Tsutomu's respective genders.
- Good Is Not Soft: He is much less reserved on the idea of killing compared to Birdy. Whereas Birdy is traumatized after believing she killed Hikawa, he tries to console her by saying that such an evil bastard doesn't deserve pity or sympathy. In Evolution, he sincerely asks why Birdy is doing so much to protect Revi from Nechla, reminding her that she is the one who is behind all their misfortunes, even up to the circumstances that led to her guilt over Hikawa's death.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: How Birdy kills Tsutomu in Decode.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: In the OVA, Tsutomu used his hands to cover himself up to run back to the bathroom to grab the clothes while his family was standing around.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In Decode, Tsutomu (who's just regained his body) takes the Ryunka into his own body so that Birdy can destroy it without killing Sayaka. Fortunately, he's able to share her body again.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: The Freaky Friday / Man, I Feel Like a Woman and Whole Episode Flashback examples, the former setting it off and justifying the latter, where Tsutomu had to rescue Birdy after getting stuck in her form and how he learned of her past. In the manga, this knowledge becomes very handy when some of Birdy's old classmates show up on Earth.
- Man, I Feel Like a Woman: The aforementioned "Freaky Friday" Flip in Decode and the remake manga resorted in Tsutomu briefly in Birdy's form.
- Mind Hug: Tsutomu to Nataru in the last episode of Decode 02.
- Morality Pet: Tsutomu becomes this for Birdy, admonishing her to take better care to ensure human lives aren't endangered by her activity.
- Non-Action Guy: Although really most of the series' men are this to the point it would probably be easier to list men who demonstrate actual fighting skills.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Tsutomu was one before his encounter with Birdy.
- Parental Abandonment: Tsutomu's family in Decode, as mentioned in Batman in My Basement, aren't present. His parents move to another city for his dad's job, but leave him in the house so he can stay in the same school.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Hikawa's evil haunts Tsutomu's sleep even into the timeskip.
- People Puppets: Birdy at times tends to take control of Tsutomu's form, much to the latter's annoyance and anger. In the remade manga, she tries to use his body to fight much to his relief, as he had accepted that the only way to save his friends from harm was for her to transform and fight off a monster. She ends up not being able to fight well in his form, but it all turns out okay in the end.
- Secretly Selfish: Although Tsutomu likes Birdy and does not necessarily regret his experiences, he deeply desires to have his body and freedom back, something he tries to conceal from others.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Temporarily. See the "Freaky Friday Flip/Man, I Feel Like A Woman" examples.
- Unstoppable Rage: In Evolution, Birdy again goes berserk after discovering what Agni did to Hina's father. Made even worse by Tsutomu's emotional influence on her mind, Birdy becomes enraged to the point she unconsciously enters a monstrous state never seen before.
- Throwing Off the Disability: When he's merged with Birdy conscious, he no longer needs his glasses.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Hayamiya. Tsutomu's attitude and just general behavior manage to rile her up plenty.
- Voice of the Legion: During episodes 5 and 6 of Decode 02, while Tsutomu is stuck in Birdy's form when he's on her ship, he was portrayed as speaking with both his and Birdy's voice at the same time.
- What the Hell, Hero?: While going through Birdy's memories, he calls out Megius on his segregation of Ixorians from the general populace and inaction against the discrimination Altans endure under the Federation.
Supporting
Friends & Family
Natsumi Hayamiya
Natsumi Hayamiya
Voiced by: Yukana Nogami (Japanese, OVA), Matty O'Shea (English, OVA), Kanae Itō (Japanese, Decode), Cherami Leigh (English, Decode)
Tsutomu's childhood friend and classmate. Although Hayamiya is locked out of the loop in regards to the crazy events all around her, she quickly grows suspicious of Tsutomu's strange behavior and quietly starts an investigation of her own into the mysterious woman (Birdy) she's been seeing on and off.- Accidental Pervert: An unusual gender-inverted example in Decode, where Hayamyia, after hearing Birdy's voice in the bath, takes a look out of surprise, only to find a naked and embarrassed Tsutomu.
- Awesome by Analysis: Eventually deduces Tsutomu's secret through analyzing everything from the Bacillus incident to some mismatching details about his body, namely his lack of cavities and the notable scar on his ass she saw when younger.
- Demoted to Extra: In the OVA continuity, Natsumi is Tsutomu's crush from junior high and plays a significant role as a recurring support character. But in Decode, she hardly has any presence at all and is only seen briefly in a couple of episodes. Plus, her role as Tsutomu's romantic interest is given to Sayaka, although ironically this is what also happens later in Evolution due to drifting apart during their college years.
- Fanservice Model: She dreamed of becoming a gravure idol but gave up on it due to a nasty appendicitis scar.
- Humanizing Tears: Despite doing her best to stay strong and indifferent as usual, she quietly breaks down and sheds tears in the aftermath of Bacillus' attack on her school.
- I Will Wait for You: Natsumi tells Tsutomu this after he tells her he doesn't intend to talk about the situation with Birdy in part 3 of the OVA.
- Idiot Hair: Has one stray hair that points up, but Hayamiya is mature and intelligent well beyond her age.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hayamiya is sharp-tongued, rough around the edges, and picks on her friends when they're late or don't take the things she says seriously, but she obviously cares about them very deeply, and she was the one who came up with telling the world the story of the refugees after the Ryunka destroyed Roppongi in the first season.
- Maybe Ever After: The OVA leaves the official status of Tsutomu and Natsumi's relationship ambiguous. The strongest evidence being her vow to "wait for him" at the end of episode 3.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Ryota, although she does have a mild temper.
- Official Couple: Hooks up with Ryota at the end of the manga.
- Out of Focus: In Evolution, she along with Ryota are notably out of focus with the stakes becoming much higher and focusing on Christella Revi and galactic politics.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Hayamiya is notable for being a completely normal high school girl not actively involved in any supernatural affairs, unlike her friends.
- Secret-Keeper: After the incident with Neith, she and Ryota know about everything with Tsutomu, but keep it to themselves.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Tsutomu. They may be friends, but Tsutomu still manages to rile her up a lot.
Kazuyoshi Chigira
Kazuyoshi Chigira
Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi (Japanese, Decode), Chris Burnett (English)
One of Tsutomu's high school friends. Despite appearing to be an ordinary teenage boy, Chigira is actually of Altan descent, his family having fled to Earth in the fall of the Empire. His parents quickly hooked up with Christella Revi, but his grandmother not wanting that life for him took him under her wing. After Bacillus' attack on his school, Chigira is hospitalized and abruptly transported over to a facility under the direction of Shogo Hikawa. There, his Altan genes and compatibility with Hikawa's experiments make him a key person of interest.- Ascended Extra: Although Chigira is a very minor character in the original manga and OVA, he is a central character in the rebooted manga, with most of the first half's plot hinging on his existence.
- Body Horror: Hikawa's experiments on Chigira initially turned him into a hideous monster irregularly, and he exhibits strange deformities even as a human. After Gomez takes him in, he learns to better control mutating but cannot undo the deformities. This is a factor as to why he chooses to leave his current life behind.
- But Now I Must Go: Ultimately chooses to leave his friends and old life behind to follow Gomez, and by extension Christella Revi, having found a new place to be after Hikawa's death.
- Cosmic Plaything: As a result of his genes being critical to furthering Hikawa's plans, he spends a lot of time being jerked around by one organization after another.
- Demoted to Extra: In Decode, he is reduced to an insubstantial character. Sayaka takes after elements of his character from the remake manga.
- Human Alien: He is of Altan descent, his parents being refugees on Earth in the fallout of the Empire.
- Nice Guy: Easily the most pleasant of Tsutomu's social circle. However, his kindness begins to slip with the trauma he suffers through Hikawa, turning him into a case of Good Is Not Nice when he gains the will to fight and even kill.
- I Am a Monster: Chigira suffers from depression and an identity crisis after escaping Hikawa, citing himself as a monster without anywhere to go. Gomez helps him get back on his feet.
- I Choose to Stay: Gomez makes it clear he isn't holding Chigira prisoner and allows him to leave his estate should he desire, only warning him of the realistic consequences of him doing so. Chigira chooses to stay with Gomez of his own will despite Birdy's insistence on returning him to his old life.
- Like a Son to Me: Gomez eventually sees Chigira as his surrogate son at the eve of Hikawa's demise.
- Pretty Boy: Compared to Tsutomu and Ryota, he has a very feminine face and slender build.
- Really Royalty Reveal: In the Millennium Beats arc, it's revealed the Chigira family were Altan royalty that descended to Earth with the Arita dynasty. They broke off from the Aritas due to a disagreement over their agendas.
- Took a Level in Badass: Under Gomez's tutelage, Chigira controls his newfound powers and becomes a skilled fighter, easily capable of manhandling Hikawa's rogue monsters.
- Vigilante Man: He has a brief stint of this, feeling he must make amends by hunting down the monsters Hikawa unleashes upon Japan. Gomez pulls him out of it, explaining he can't do everything on his own and Birdy is soon to take care of Hikawa for good anyway.
- Unstoppable Rage: Early on, Chigira would irregularly transform into his beast form and attack everything on sight, causing Gomez to necessitate the use of force to turn him back into a human. After some time with Gomez's family, he learns control but flips when Shanfa raids their home and threatens to kill Gomez's family.
Post-time skip
- Anti-Villain: Chigira is now firmly on the side of Christella Revi, which puts him at odds with the protagonists. However, he isn't exactly a terrible person, and like Gomez mainly sees Revi's endgame over the bumps in the road. He quickly stops being an antagonist altogether in Volume 8.
- Apologetic Attacker: He admits he doesn't want to hurt Tsutomu but does his job of restraining him if necessary.
- Defector from Decadence: He cannot abide for Revi's plans for Birdy and helps her escape, knowing he won't be able to return to her side.
- Face–Heel Turn: He is now on the side of Christella Revi and, as a member of a special forces unit, oversees the shadier aspects of her operations. Still not quite a bad guy, though, and it barely takes.
- Irony: His grandmother wanted Chigira to have a normal life away from his Altan heritage, and specifically Revi. Look at him now.
- I Owe You My Life: When Revi asks Chigira why he doesn't flee when Nechla has them dead to rights, reminding him she was indirectly behind many of his misfortunes, Chigira states he owes a debt to Revi for healing him when he was an infant, as well as giving him a firm purpose on life now. This reveals despite everything, Chigira does not have any regrets or doubts about the path he has taken.
- Malevolent Masked Man: He often wears a sinister-looking white mask now. When Tsutomu inquires about it, he says he received a nasty injury in a training exercise.
- Super-Soldier: He is the ultimate realization of the super soldier project started by Hikawa.
- Took a Level in Badass: From an ordinary teenage kid with uncontrolled mutant powers to a trained elite special forces agent.
- Undying Loyalty: To his surrogate father Gomez, and vice versa.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Justified. He's nearing his 20s now but has a stern disposition of nothing like a normal teenager around that age considering the experiences he's gone through over the years.
- The Worf Effect: He just can't catch a break despite his training and position now. His attempts to restrain Ondine see him floored with his intestines ripped out, and he proves to be able to do little to nothing against Nechla.
Ryota Sudou
Ryota Sudou
Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma (Japanese, Decode), Ian Sinclair (English)
A close friend of Tsutomu and an even closer one to Chigira, going way back to childhood with the latter. The circumstances around Chigira's disappearance cause Ryota to get involved with alien affairs.- Ascended Extra: Although he isn't a substantially important character in the remake manga, Ryota is a non-existent background entity in other iterations of Birdy the Mighty.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: His eyes are drawn as beady to highlight his gruff nature.
- Best Friend: He is Tsutomu's closest friend after Natsumi, who herself is comparatively busy with her private life and not as involved with what's going on with Chigira.
- Hot-Blooded: Loud and outgoing with a temper.
- My Greatest Failure: He cites his inability to do anything about Chigira's fate as his greatest failure, and is determined to protect Natsumi and Tsutomu.
- Nerves of Steel: When facing the threat of force by Neith's thugs, he boldly stands up to them to prevent them from hurting his friends any further.
- Official Couple: With Natsumi at the end of the manga.
- Out of Focus: Like Natsumi, after the time skip, his life drifts away from Tsutomu's and he has little involvement in a plot escalating to galactic politics.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Natsumi.
- Secret-Keeper: As with Natsumi, the affair with Neith Washgam saw all of Tsutomu's secrets revealed. They keep it to themselves and are only concerned for Tsutomu's safety.
- Shipper on Deck: He tries to often get Tsutomu and Natsumi to hook up. Sadly, by their college years, Tsutomu has found a different partner in Sayaka.
Sayaka Nakasugi
Sayaka Nakasugi
Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)
Sayaka as she appears in Decode
Evolution
A high school friend of Tsutomu and a wealthy Ojou. She parted ways with her friends when her father's company, Nakasugi Industries, was taken over. She reunites with Tsutomu at a college reunion party, where the two steadily pursue a relationship. Sayaka originally debuted as a central character in Decode, which predates Evolution, but her manga incarnation substantially diverges from the original character. As a result, tropes between the two will be separated.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair color is dark violet in the manga than blue.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: Sayaka debuted in the first episode of Decode, whereas in the manga she first appears in the second volume of Evolution, the twenty second volume of the overall saga.
- All-Loving Hero: Desires to become a neuroscientist to help humanity by advancing artificial intelligence technology.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: She freaks out when she's asked to come back to help with her father's old research, running right into traffic and falling into a coma.
- Attempted Rape: When Tsutomu meets her, she was threatened by a gang of delinquents with sexual assault.
- Apocalyptic Log: The tome the alternate world Sayaka left behind that became Maxwell's Forbidden Book contained libraries of documents that detailed the fall of life on that world.
- Big Damn Kiss: Gives one to Tsutomu by surprise in the epilogue.
- But Now I Must Go: Chooses to leave for the countryside with her mother after she regains consciousness from her accident.
- Canon Immigrant: As mentioned in her description, she was imported from Decode, although it should be noted like with many others like her, Masami Yuki conceptualized her to begin with.
- Child Prodigy: In various scientific fields, namely neuroscience and robot development.
- Cool Big Sis: To Hinako, who looks up to her as a kindred spirit. Made darker considering they both lost their fathers to Agni.
- Demoted to Extra: Averted. Sayaka does not play a lesser role in the manga than she did in Decode, and as the story goes on, she has an incomparably larger role here than she did in that continuity.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: As she tells Tsutomu, being a wealthy Ojou her life was set on rails her parents established. After her father's company was taken over, she had no idea what to do now that her life of comfort was effectively over.
- Fatal Flaw: Her submissive and clumsy nature might seem endearing to her friends, but it's played very seriously when it's revealed this is what let Robert and Shyamalan push her around in the other world. This led to the end of that world when they seized her research from her and she was left with nothing.
- Nice Girl: Compared to the temperamental and snarky Natsumi, Sayaka is nothing but endearingly shy and kind.
- No Social Skills: As a result of a privileged, sheltered life, Sayaka is extremely awkward in social situations, with no sense of fashion and a personality that comes off as ditzy. Natsumi and Tsutomu find it endearing, though.
- Official Couple: With Tsutomu by the end of the manga.
- Ojou: What she was before Nakasugi Industries was taken over by PMI.
- Rescue Romance: How she met Tsutomu, as aforementioned in Attempted Rape. Although it was Birdy in Tsutomu's form that scared away the thugs, something he feels embarrassed over.
Post-coma
- Abusive Parents: Sayaka's parents used her as the basis (guinea pig) for their neuroscience research, specifically implanting a human conscience into a robot for A.I. development, which later extended to militaristic purposes; the creation of autonomous killing machines that would become the Marionettes we see in the story is founded on the Nakasugi's work. This research was restarted when PMI took over and her father died, though they do try to pull her back in, voluntarily or not.
- Apologetic Attacker: It doesn't want to hurt Tsutomu as a hangover from the time it spent with him, as well as Sayaka's memories, but tries to kill him when he persists in defending Sayaka.
- Ax-Crazy: This Marionette's personality is largely derived from Sayaka's self-loathing, regrets, and Undine's killing intent. It will destroy anything standing in the way of its goals.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: It is using Undine's body, after all.
- Death Seeker: It feels the only way it can amend for its (Sayaka's) role in creating weapons for war is to kill Sayaka's comatose self and take it with her to the grave.
- Eye Scream: Undine's face never recovered from her fight with Birdy, notably her right eye that looks torn out. Agata states he can't do anything about it but wait for natural recovery.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: It tears apart almost everything, from humans to marionettes, into showers of gore during its assault on Agni's HQ.
- Full-Frontal Assault: It quickly forgoes the need for clothes and rips them apart in its rampage.
- Madness Mantra: All it often says is chief Sasaki's name, having a burning desire to kill him for his role in further weaponizing her parent's unethical work.
- Must Make Amends: Due to Sayaka's inner guilt for being the basis for the Marionettes, it feels the only way it can make amends is by destroying every last trace of Agni. This includes Sayaka.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: It is fueled by nothing but Sayaka's hate and soon embarks on a warpath for Agni's destruction.
- Shrinking Violet: It is this when it initially meets and interacts with Tsutomu, but its soon undone as it wrestles with its sense of identity.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Grows to love Tsutomu from its time with him, and as Sayaka regains consciousness, it states it wishes things could have gone differently.
- The Worf Effect: It is absolutely unstoppable until Gnome steps in to take his sister back. When he stops holding back, he makes short work of it.
Endgame spoilers
In the last volumes of Evolution, Sayaka returns to Japan at Revi's behest when the tome Maxwell Peridan stole from the Sanctum Sanctorumis finally deciphered. In it is a diary and series of documents written by Sayaka Nakasugi, detailing a different life from that of theone we know. The other Sayaka became romantically involved with Tsutomu but chose to pursue a career opportunity in neuroscience overseas, effectively ending their romantic life. In America, Sayaka's prodigious talent was recognized by Satyajit Shyamalan, who extensively funded her work. Sayaka eventually found a new lover in Robert Woodman, a close affiliate of Shyamalan. Sayaka eventually made a breakthrough in A.I. development, creating a biochip that essentially gives sentience to wild animals and even computers. Shyamalan quickly seized control of her research to effectively control humanity as a god on earth. His avaricious desire for power would not stop there, and Shyamalan soon sought to open research into interdimensional travel and the multiverse. Shyamalan's recklessness caused the end of all life on Earth when he opened a wormhole that tore apart the fabric of reality. The computer terminals imprinted with Sayaka's neurochip survived, however, and restarted life with the genetic data left behind the apocalypse. These living terminals would become the beings that form the Sanctum Sanctorum, vowing to never let the mistakes of Shyamalan and Robert repeat themselves by ruling over all sentient life under its own jurisdiction of unquestioning faith to its ideals.Decode
- Amnesiac Lover: After separating Ryunka from her, Sayaka lost memory of all the time the parasite was growing inside of her. Which means the time spent with Tsutomu.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: While under the influence of the Ryunka, she tears apart a cute bird with her bare hands ( actually Capella's marker spying on her.)
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Her state for the whole running time of Decode's first season even when seemingly normal.
- Bus Came Back: Returns for the last two episodes of the second season, hoping to reunite with Senkawa as she has found photos of the two of them together. Senkawa never arrives, but Sayaka believes they will meet again someday.
- Color-Coded Eyes: Purple eyes can be symbolic of showing that a character is special in ways that many other characters aren't. Given the subsequent miracles and 180's in fortune she's been through, that wouldn't be too far off.
- Does Not Like Spam: She is noted to be a vegetarian and despises meat. Another sign she isn't herself after her recovery is her chowing down on steak and loving it.
- Fallen Princess: The sheer trauma of losing her grandfather, murdering her maid (who was serving as a Parental Substitute), combined with being partially responsible for two unrelated mass slaughters left Sayaka completely broken. And then she had her memory of those events wiped, leaving an empty emotional hole, while unable to even recall her friends or her grandfather's funeral. If that wasn't enough, she ends up on a farm run by her very distant relatives, who aren't exactly handling the situation with depressive, lonely girl in a new place particularly well.
- Not Herself: As her housemaid notesm Sayaka is a vegetarian, hates deep water, and was very socially withdrawn prior to her accident. The fact she starts eating meat, enjoys swimming, and acts very flirtatious causes some deep concerns over a loss of identity.
- Ojou: Also ill and Person of Mass Destruction.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni to Hayamiya's Red Oni.
- Sent Off to Work for Relatives: After everyone in her family/household is dead, to causes both related and unrelated to the plot, Sayaka is sent to work on a farm with relatives.
- Silk Hiding Steel: According to both Tsutomu and Shyamalan, is much stronger than her meek, delicate appearance would suggest (though in Shyamalan's case he might just be flattering).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Hayamiya's Tomboy.
- Unexplained Recovery: Invoked with Sayaka Nagasuki after a car wreck. She's not expected to survive, but the next day she's fully recovered and cured of her previous status. Her grandfather accepts it as a miracle but their maid is deeply concerned. For very good reason, as the "miracle" was caused by an ancient biological super-weapon.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Sayaka can't recall what she was doing during night-time for few days, but it definitely wasn't sleeping, going by being bruised and with her bare feets being cut and covered in dirt. Turns out she was just sleep walking and it wasn't her murdering women in the metro. This doesn't make her condition or what she does while sleep walking any less nightmarish.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sayaka has a pathological fear of deep water. The fact she starts swimming after her recovery is what immediately tips off her housemaid something is very wrong with her.
- Writing Around Trademarks: When Sayaka is dressing up for her recovery party, all her clothes come from stand-ins for famous fashion designers, but still obvious enough to pick the brands up on a fly.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Sayaka is one of these, or at least on a fast track to being one.
Keisuke Muroto
Keisuke Muroto
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Robert McCollum (English)
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Muroto debuts in episode one of Decode, whereas in the manga he does not appear until Bacillus is killed.
- Big Good: After Hikawa's death, he serves as Birdy and Tsutomu's main man for leads on suspicious activities on Earth in regards to aliens and Revi's mysterious cult. Following the time skip, he is Tsutomu's part-time boss and provides leads on Agni.
- The Cassandra: A reporter who focuses solely on aliens. Almost everyone dismisses him as a conspiracy theorist.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While he might seem like an eccentric goof, he is a genuinely skilled investigator and serves as an invaluable informant to Birdy when she needs information.
- Deadpan Snarker: Enjoys teasing Tsutomu, much to his chagrin.
- Everyone Has Standards: As obsessed as he is with prying for Tsutomu for more information on Birdy, he becomes very worried for his safety after seeing firsthand what Agni is like, and implores him to stop working for him.
- Intrepid Reporter: Gets very involved in his strange line of work.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Ironically, even into Evolution, he doesn't know Tsutomu's secret when his high school friends do.
- Squee: Unsurprisingly, his reaction to seeing aliens descending upon Earth in the news.
Hazumi Senkawa
Hazumi Senkawa
Voiced by: Tomoko Maruo (Japanese, OVA), Debora Rabbai (English, OVA), Mikako Takahashi (Japanese, Decode), Jamie Marchi (English, Decode)
Tsutomu's older sister. Although normally a minor character, in the remake manga, she has a slightly increased but critical role, later volunteering for paid clinical trials at Hikawa Chemistry, spurring Birdy and Tsutomu to her rescue. After the time skip, she finds a job at Agni Eletech, a subsidiary of Agni Chemistry, a pharmaceutical enterprise ironically built upon Hikawa's legacy.- All Just a Dream: When all hell breaks loose in Hikawa's underwater facility, she concludes she is dreaming in a delirious state and passes out.
- Big Sister Bully: Downplayed. She likes to tease and wrestle Tsutomu, but is concerned for his well-being and makes sure he studies well.
- Body Horror: While she is rescued from Hikawa before serious harm, it's shown she's grown scales on the back of her neck from the clinical trials.
- Damsel in Distress: Being among the latest batch of fresh victims for Hikawa's work, it's up to Birdy to save her.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Much like Tsutomu, she wears glasses in the remake manga and Decode, but not the original manga and OVA.
- Education Mama: She's the one who makes sure the hard way Tsutomu studies.
- Spanner in the Works: Her volunteering for Hikawa Chemistry directly leads to Hikawa's downfall when Birdy raids their facility to rescue her. After the timeskip, her new job at Agni is what Tsutomu and Birdy use for leads on their illicit activities.
Other Allies
Tuto
Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)
Birdy's robot companion (Marker) aiding in her Earth investigation. Although introduced in Birdy the Mighty II, Tuto is killed as soon as Geega is introduced before the audience learns anything about him. He has a marginally expanded role and character in Decode, sharing a familial bond with Birdy and working as a TV producer for her cover as an idol singer.- Ascended Extra: An extremely minor case. He gets a bit more limelight and character in Decode, but he is quickly killed off.
- Camp Straight: His disguise as a foppish television producer with an outlandish voice.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In Decode, he dies protecting Birdy from Bacillus.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies very quickly before we get to know much of him, and he isn't mentioned much posthumously
Towa Hinomiya
Revi's son. He is intentionally left oblivious to the true nature of his mother and her goals. In later volumes, he becomes an ally to Birdy and her friends as he steadily becomes involved in the awful truth of his mother's conspiracy.- Everyone Has Standards: He is taken aback by Revi's cruel intentions for Birdy and helps her escape from her clutches.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Towa almost looks just like Revi.
- Was It All a Lie?: Confronts Revi with this when she reverts back to her male form and denounces their relationship. He is left without a proper answer, although Revi's comments about Towa in the epilogue indicates he does genuinely care for him.
Alta Refugee Network
Irma
Madam Irma
Voiced by: Ako Mayama (Japanese, Decode), Wendy Powell (English)
An eccentric lady who runs an antique shop covering for a refugee network sheltering Altans from the Federation. She also serves as an information broker to Birdy for a price, so long as none of it involves official police business.- Adaptational Personality Change: Irma is much more playful and comedic in Decode than the dead serious, stone-cold character of the manga. Another significant change to her character is cooperating with federal authorities even on business, handing over Capella to Kashu when he comes looking. This is something her manga self explicitly swears to never do.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: She implies she has assassins on her payroll when Birdy questions her too much about information she's not willing to spill, warning her it would be unwise to talk to her on Federation business.
- Knowledge Broker: Her other job besides running the network, albeit always for a price.
- Mysterious Past: Who Irma is herself is a complete mystery. She is influential enough, however, to have contacts with certain Federation officials, the Altan refugees on Earth, and Gomez.
Agata Juuzou
Agata Juuzou
- Ambiguously Evil: His ridiculously Obviously Evil look and quirks aside, it's not clear if he's a bad guy. He has plenty of shady connections, one of which is Christella Revi herself, but he mostly seems to be interested in his own research. He had no idea what the Nakasugi family was up to, and later he directly goes against Revi's interests to retrieve Ondine!Sayaka before they dismantle her.
- Big Damn Heroes: Albeit, for selfish reasons, but he does prevent Revi from taking back Undine with his new Oni toy.
- I Gave My Word: After Tsutomu fulfills his end of the deal to befriend Undine!Sayaka, Agata informs him where Sayaka is being held by Revi as promised.
- Immortality Seeker: One of the reasons he is assisting Christella Revi and PMI is because he wants to successfully transfer his own consciousness into a Marionette.
- Large Ham: He is louder than life and bombastic like a classic Mad Scientist villain. Tsutomu finds him very strange and untrustworthy from the get-go.
- Obviously Evil: He has the looks and mannerisms perfectly down, but is otherwise too enigmatic and inoffensive to be considered evil.
- Mad Eye: You see his eyes on the right? That's how he looks all the time, often coupled with Nightmare Face or Slasher Smile.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never know what became of Juuzou and his surrogate android daughter by the end of Evolution.
Arita Family
A particularly notable Altan family. Its ancestors were set to be the latest inheritors to the old Imperial throne before Etania overthrew the royal family. The Aritas subsequently fled to Earth during a feudal era with other royal families, one of which included the Chigiras.
The latest heir and successor to the Arita dynasty after her brother was deemed ill fit for a leadership role after the Oni was let loose. Through the ordeal, Momiji learns she's destined to inherit more than just a hot springs inn.
The patriarch of the Arita family. He was a prince in the old Altan royalty and was next to claim the throne until Etania usurped him. Having fled to Earth, Koreie set an initiative for his descendants to eventually reclaim Alta and restore the Aritas to their rightful place as rulers. His personality lives on as an A.I. in the spaceship they landed on Earth with, which is now underneath the Arita hot springs. Descendants are obligated to imprint their personalities onto the ship's mainframe to manipulate future descendants into accomplishing Koreie's goal.
Momiji Arita
- All There in the Manual: Years after Evolution ended serialization, a tweet by the author illustrated that after the Federation effectively migrated to Earth's orbit, the Aritas had no reason to hide anymore with the newfound peace and subsequent dismantling of the Altan Refugee Network.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Her looks are one of the reasons her family inn is popular.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: She was raised to be this, of the Extreme Doormat kind, with a future laid out for her from the get-go, up to an arranged marriage and bearing children. However, she ultimately subverts this (see below) and chooses her own path in life.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Beneath the graceful demeanor, Momiji is initially already aware of some of her family's dark secrets, and is more than capable of fighting.
- Screw Destiny: After discovering the destiny laid out for all descendants of the Arita family, Momiji becomes enraged and is determined to never let herself or future descendants bear that tragic burden any longer. With Birdy, she destroys the Arita spaceship, making sure the Aritas from then on aren't shackled by their ancestor's legacy.
Koreie Noah of Alta / Nobuie Arita
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Subverted. The A.I. that's inherited Koreie's personality is practically the real deal and not straying from its intended purpose in any way.
- Ambition Is Evil: Noah's initiative has unfairly taken away the futures of many of his descendants for a now impossible goal.
- But Thou Must!: It's clear he's never taken "no" for an answer before Momiji, repeatedly insisting she must do her part to reach his goals.
- Face Death with Dignity: When the ship's mainframe is about to shut down forever, he realizes how wrong he was and wishes the best for his future descendants and the destinies they make for themselves.
- Manipulative Bastard: Tries to use the A.I. of Momiji's deceased mother to guilt-trip her.
- Mr. Exposition: He lays out a massive amount of exposition on the universe at large, all of which sets the stage for the second half of the manga.
The Federation
In general
Over a thousand years ago, the galaxy was ruled by powerful Imperialist aliens known as Altans. Eventually, a usurper named Etania challenged the throne and ousted the royal family, starting a new empire renowned for its tyranny. Subsequently, a 700-year war began between the old royalty and Etania, ultimately culminating in the decimation of both. In the aftermath, seven of the fifteen star systems formed the Space Federation, and the remaining eight systems were divided into the opposing Alliancenote and several non-affiliated planets. The Altan home planet of Alta fell under Federation control, where the natives are often subject to intense oppression despite claims of democracy and goodwill for all races.
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Federation was founded by the beings that make up the Sanctum Sanctorum, the same extraterrestrials that produced the previous Altan empires, in a cycle of exercising and maintaining their power.
- The Empire: What Revi and Gomez surmise the Federation to actually be despite their claims of championing democracy and equality. As Capella proves through their special military operations to forcibly absorb other planets and star systems into the Federation, it's played straight.
- Empire with a Dark Secret: Learning of their origins and true motivations amount to a death sentence, as Maxwell and Revi found out.
- Genocide from the Inside: Revi speculates the Sanctum Sanctorum subtly encourages the oppression of Altans as a means of systematic genocide.
- The Federation: It's right there in the name. Swearing an oath to not repeat the mistakes of the fallen Altan empires, the Federation champions itself as collection of united governments and species who are all equal to one another.
Investigation Division Officers
Megius
Commissioner Megius
Click to see his human guise
Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa (Japanese, OVA), Yutaka Aoyama (Decode), R. Bruce Elliott (English, Decode)
The chief of the special investigation division of the Federal police department. He is Birdy's commander on duty and also her surrogate father figure.- Benevolent Boss: To Birdy. He cares for her well-being, has nothing against Altans, and it's noted any other commanding officer would have fired her long ago for her reckless way of working.
- Big Good: In Evolution, he strikes off on his own investigation of the Sanctum Sanctorum and is covertly supportive and cooperative with Birdy's own unsanctioned investigative efforts into the grander conspiracy surrounding Christella Revi.
- The Bus Came Back: Eventually reappears in Evolution as a desk jockey, using Skelezzo as a mouthpiece to deliver messages to Birdy he otherwise couldn't send.
- Cruel to Be Kind: After Birdy makes progress on Revi's whereabouts, Megius repeatedly, harshly tells her to resign from the force. This is because Megius knows Sanctum Sanctorum will get involved and is deeply concerned for Birdy's safety.
- A Day in the Limelight: In the remake manga, chapters 121 - 142 heavily feature him in a protagonist role, depicting his role in Birdy's childhood up to the tragic Central Tower attacks.
- Gory Discretion Shot: You see that mouth of his? He's not afraid to use those mandibles to bite off heads should he have to. When he throws down with one of Revi's leftover monsters during an investigation with Birdy, she shields her eyes from the sight.
- Insectoid Aliens: He's a praying-mantis-like alien that stands out in a cast full of humanoid aliens. Other characters like Skelezzo enjoy teasing him for this.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He has four arms, but conceals the second set under his robes for practical reasons: When an Altan thug holds him at knifepoint, he takes him by surprise with his hidden arms while his visible hands are held up.
- Out of Focus: Despite a constant presence in the early volumes of the manga, once Capella relocates him a quarter way through the story, he is not seen or heard from again until late into Evolution, where he becomes a central supporting character.
- Parental Substitute: He has served as a father figure to Birdy since her childhood, and with Violin's death fully took the responsibility of being her sole guardian.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He recognizes the injustice and corruption running rampant in the Federation, but he is not prejudiced against Altans and only desires to make the galaxy a better place.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Not long after Hikawa's death, it's revealed Capella used her connections in internal affairs to relocate Megius, rendering Birdy her defacto subordinate on Earth.
- Was It Really Worth It?: He asks this of Revi in the epilogue of the manga, saying he implicitly must have known the damage fromdestroying the Sanctum Sanctorum. Revi still justifes herself, stating she has freed the universe.
Kidel Forte
Sergeant Kidel Forte
- Adapted Out: Completely omitted from Decode.
- Big Eater: Besides having a swarm to feed, Kidel himself has a huge appetite, often eating through all the snacks in Tsutomu's house.
- Bus Crash: Between the time skip, the rat acting as a mouthpiece for the identity of Kidel Forte talking to Tsutomu before the time skip died of old age. A new one fills in for him.
- Good Is Not Soft: When Birdy suffers a Heroic BSoD from believing she murdered Hikawa, Kidel tries to comfort her by rationalizing police officers, especially Ixorians, must kill in the line of duty should the threat be too great. She quickly calls him out on this, however.
- Nice Guy: Kidel is the most genial and likable of all the Federal agents dispatched to Earth, more so than Birdy herself.
- Non-Action Guy: Kidel and his subordinates, being diminutive rat aliens, work purely as reconnaissance. Even if they could bite or claw at people, it would do nothing to the genetically enhanced monsters and cyborgs they're up against.
- Police Are Useless: While Kidel and his group do occasionally function as effective spies, it always falls flat with their prime target, Gomez, who wears sunglasses that grant him an enhanced peripheral vision, and is always protected by Revi's marionettes. They have absolutely no fighting capability, and in the instances where the enemies catch wind of their presence, all they can do is scurry with not all of them always making out. Tsutomu even complains how Kidel doesn't seem to do anything besides eat up all his food.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Kidel's presence in Tsutomu's house has disturbed his family, who call for rat exterminators, and he eats through his food supply. Tsutomu at one point demands he leave, but Kidel insists on staying.
Kashu Geeze
Kashu Geeze
Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese, Decode), Christopher Bevins (English)
An Ixorian Federation spymaster and Capella's partner. Unlike his murderous co-worker, he is level-headed and reasonable. He is also Nechla Geeze's lover despite her religious devotion, something that strains their relationship as he's a federal agent. Although Kashu plays a seemingly minor role in the first half of the manga, his occupation and what it entails steadily leaves a great impact upon the story in Evolution and he is a central character in the ninth and tenth volume.- Affably Evil: Subverted. Although Kashu does radiate a shady aura in Birdy The Mighty II, it's revealed in Evolution he is an all-around heroic man.
- An Arm and a Leg: He almost loses half of his torso along with his arm in his attempts to appeal to a brainwashed Nechla's conscience.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: After the time skip, he is always wearing a crisp tailormade suit.
- Childhood Friend Romance: With Nechla.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He is melted alive and consumed inside of Nechla's monstrous form after a futile attempt at reaching out to her.
- Cooldown Hug: He tries this to appeal to Nechla's conscience during her brainwashed rampage. Unfortunately, Kashu manifests in her mind as someone trying to lead her astray from her path and she nearly kills him in response.
- Demoted to Extra: Possesses minimal screentime and an insubstantial role in Decode.
- Determinator: Even with his arm torn off and Birdy pleading with him to retreat, Kashu does not stop in trying to save Nechla even knowing he will probably die.
- Everyone Has Standards: Kashu is not too reserved about killing in the line of duty, but he is incredibly disturbed by Nechla's occupation as an underworld assassin. One of his goals in life is to subtly sway her away from that life without compromising himself to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: After spending most of the story as a spy and apparent Non-Action Guy despite being Ixorian, He dons his armor and makes a heroic last stand against Nechla despite having just lost his arm.
- Living Emotional Crutch: To Nechla, being the only person to have ever shown her kindness in her entire life.
- Master Actor: Comes with being a spymaster.
- Only Sane Man: Of all the federal agents deployed to Earth, he has the least eccentricities or issues. Kashu is a sociable and hardworking officer, nothing more or less.
- Razor Floss: His main form of offense is he can manifest his bio armor as this.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In Decode.
- The Mole: He has infiltrated Christella Revi's network through Ackerman's unwitting trust, informing his superiors on all their activities.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Capella's red, being a friendly and generally composed man.
- Wham Shot: Post-timeskip, when the man Ackerman talks to turns around to reveal himself as Kashu.
Other Federation Members
Skelezzo
Skelezzo
Click to see his human guise
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese) and Christopher Sabat (English)
A Federation military officer and Birdy's former combat instructor.- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: His localized name is "Skelezzo" and the cybernetic implants on his head make him look skeletal.
- Attack Hello: Skelezzo does this generally when Birdy and he reunite. She reciprocates enthusiastically.
- The Bus Came Back: After a long absence in the story, he appears to Tsutomu and Birdy after the time skip to relay Megius' messages.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: As Birdy's instructor during her teenage years.
- Fantastic Racism: He once makes a remark toward Violin to not act out of line when she objects over Birdy's escalating training exercises, as she is a Marionette. And although it's in a playful way, he frequently calls Megius out for his looks.
- Genius Bruiser: Skelezzo, who taught Birdy how to fight, greets his subordinates with a flying attack, and runs a successful undercover operation.
- Large Ham: Boisterous, hot-blooded and always yelling. Birdy clearly picked it up from him even though she already had a temper before coming under his tutelage.
- Scary Black Man: His human disguise is a bald muscular black man.
- Tranquil Fury: Although he lets him know he isn't obligated to fight him, Skelezzo makes it abundantly clear how betrayed he feels by Gray's newfound allegiances when he meets him again.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He admonishes Megius for the meanspirited way he tells Birdy to resign from her job without much initial explanation.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He is best friends with Megius despite the sheer differences in their personalities, going all the way back to childhood.
Kred Gahow
Kred Gahow
- Adapted Out: Kred's character, while making a brief cameo to flashbacks of Birdy's childhood, largely does not exist in Decode. Certain aspects of his character as an adult are instead given to Nataru.
- All-Loving Hero: One of the most straight-up heroic characters in the story. Kred strives for peace and will outright defy the procedures of the Federation to do what's right.
- All Love Is Unrequited: He loves Birdy and she's not oblivious to it, but she isn't interested in romance.
- Big Eater: He grows obsessed with Earth's food, gorging himself like an animal on takoyaki (promptly giving him away to local cops), and cites it as one of the reasons to come back.
- Butt-Monkey: His re-introduction to the story sees him hilariously failing to adjust to Earth customs, being promptly chased around by both Federation agents and local police officers, then he gets captured by Neith and sexually assaulted during her interrogation.
- The Cameo: In Decode 02, we see his classroom alteraction with Birdy from the manga, but he doesn't appear again afterward.
- Fantastic Racism: As a kid, Kred was a bully that picked on Birdy for being an Altan, having totally bought into Federation propaganda. He completely grows out of this as an adult, striving for diplomacy between all races out there.
- Irrational Hatred: Even for a racist bully, Kred took his hatred for Altans to new heights, repeatedly demanding Birdy be incarcerated by police officials for a kindergarten fight.
- I Owe You My Life: Kred feels forever indebted to Birdy for saving his life in the Central Tower attacks.
Alta
Violin
Violin
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese, Decode), Jennifer Seman (English)
A recurring character in Birdy's frequent nightmares. She was a Marionette android and the surrogate mother of Birdy.- Heroic Sacrifice: She died to protect Birdy during the Central Tower attacks.
- Mama Bear: She is fiercely protective of Birdy, tearing through armies of Revi's robots to find her.
- Ridiculously Human Robots:
- Despite being a Marionette and even claiming she exists solely to protect Birdy, Violin is so empathetic and independent it calls into question how much of a robot she really is.
- In Decode she is played a bit differently. While she appears very human in Birdy's flashbacks, it is eventually revealed that this was Birdy simply remembering an idealized version of Violin. The real Violin was acting far more robotic.
- One-Woman Army: Almost nothing can put her down in her path of carnage through Revi's forces until she ultimately dies faces squaring off against a Berserker-type Marionette.
- Posthumous Character: She's long gone by the time any of the series start. In fact, her only two appearances in the OVA are flashbacks to her death.
Maxwell Peridan (spoilers)
Maxwell Peridan
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Revi solemnly reminisces that no matter how big his new religion became, they were woefully ill-prepared to engage in combat against the Federation. He and his order were absolutely decimated.
- Death by Origin Story: His death is what finally caused Revi to descend into terrorism.
- Driven to Suicide: The media states this is what he did when cornered, but it was Gray Cephon that did him in.
- He Knows Too Much: Through his delving into the secrets behind the Sanctum Sanctorum, he was viewed as a massive threat by the department of worship. This is one of the reasons he was excommunicated and marked for death.
- The Heretic: Maxwell was always viewed as something along the lines of this, constantly questioning the scriptures of the church and having his own ideas on faith. He eventually becomes this outright to the department of worship, and his legacy as a heretic is used to instill fear into their worshippers.
- Make an Example of Them: His name and actions are later immortalized by the Sanctum Sanctorum to scare their disciples into subordination, making them fear ending up becoming like him.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Before he took the flight to his hometown after being excommunicated, he promised Revi they would meet again. She narrates they never met again after he departs.
- Number Two: He was Revi's most important man during her days of legally working for a better tomorrow.
- Mr. Exposition: Through his conversations with Revi, Maxwell provides a ton of exposition on the inner workings of his department and the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Posthumous Character: He's long dead in the present day.
Tunica Cephon (massive spoilers)
Tunica Cephon
- Broken Bird: When Revi goes through the darkest corners of her memories, she is revealed to be this.
- Death by Origin Story: Like Maxwell, her death and role in Revi's life shaped him to become what he is now.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She is initially very cold to Revi, but gradually warms up to his kindness.
- Half the Woman She Used to Be: The bombing that took her life left only her upper torso.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She shields Revi from a truck carrying dangerous explosives, knowing she wouldn't survive.
- I Just Want to Be Free: Tunica grows obsessed with Revi's daily stories of the outside world, having never had a life outside the department of worship. After being snuck out several times to see the world, freedom is revealed to have been her truest desire.
- Posthumous Character: She's long dead by the present day.
- Rape as Backstory: One of the most obscure memories Revi finds during his exploration of her memory banks is being raped by a vile pedophile clergyman, the sight of which sends Revi into a Heroic BSoD.
- Super-Soldier: Subverted. Despite being an Ixorian, she was genetically produced for a purpose that doesn't involve combat. Birdy is confused about how she died when Revi recollects her story.
- No Social Skills: In a very tragic way, her closed life and trauma made Revi conclude that Tunica was brought up as a non-human. She wasn't seen as a living, sentient creature, but a machine and treated as such. This led Revi to enact the ordinary education law for Ixorians, which allowed them to live normal lives as kids. The same law is what gave Birdy her freedom as a child.
- Photographic Memory: She was raised by the Sanctum Sanctorum to serve as a living computer.
