Antagonists
Society of Purifying Flame
Christella Revi
"Holy Mother" Christella Revi / "Suisho Hinomiya"
Voiced by: Mako Hyodo (Japanese), Mary Alice McGuire (English, OVA), Monica Rial (English, Decode)
A rogue alien scientist secluded in Aokigahara with a cult devoted to her worship. A woman shrouded in mystery, she is wanted by the Federation as an Altan criminal supposedly behind the deaths of millions, but there is more to her than meets the eye. In truth, Christella was once a prodigious Altan scholar that rose to prominence despite the intense discrimination against her people. Under mysterious circumstances, she vanished and eventually reappeared as a terrorist opposing the Federation.- Adaptational Gender Identity: In the remake manga, Birdy initially assumes that Revi is male based on Federation data, only to be shocked to learn Revi is female — and then learn that Revi was born male and her current gender is because of a failed attempt to save Tunica Cephon's life by merging her with Revi, much like Birdy was able to do with Tsutomu. Granted, the original manga and OVA, like Decode after them, never finished their stories, but given Birdy not only doesn't express confusion about Revi's gender, but also refers to Revi with female pronouns from the start and even recognizes Revi on the spot the first time she sees her on Earth in those, it does suggest that those incarnations of Revi were born female.
- Affably Evil: Possesses an impeccably graceful and polite demeanor despite being a bioterrorist.
- Ambiguously Evil: Her motivations are reasonable despite her destructive means of obtaining liberty and justice for her people. She is viewed as a legendary figure among the oppressed Altan people, and Gomez himself admits in the OVA he cannot tell if Christella Revi is an angel or a devil in disguise.
- A Mother to Her Men: Revi was willing to sacrifice her life twice to Nechla if it meant she would stop killing her workers.
- Anti-Villain: Her ultimate goal is to end the brutal discrimination and abuse of Altans by the Federation, and to free the entire galaxy from an evil Ancient Conspiracy.
- Armor-Piercing Question: After telling her whole story and motivations to Birdy, she asks if arresting her now will ease her visibly troubled conscience. Stunned, Birdy is unable to answer but is still determined to eventually take Revi to a court of law.
- The Atoner: By the end of the manga, she gracefully takes a life's sentence in prison along with Gomez for all the atrocities they were complicit in to achieve their goals.
- Bathing Beauty: In her first scene in the third part of the the OVA, the audience is introduced to Revi as she's swimming in a pool.
- Benevolent Boss: She treats her Marionettes and Gomez as if they are equals, often telling them to drop the formalities and talk to her casually.
- Big Bad: She takes over as the primary antagonist for the second half of the remake manga, Evolution.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Not wanting Towa to grieve or even follow him to his death, Revi callously tells him to forget all about the mother he knew before departing to confront the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Curtains Match the Window: Hair and eyes are the same color.
- Cynicism Catalyst: The slaughter of Maxwell and his entire monastery shook Revi to the core, beginning her descent into terrorism.
- Death Glare: She is capable of giving a piercing gaze that even strikes fear into Birdy Cephon.
- Death Seeker: What Gomez speculates is that Revi plans on confronting the Sanctum Sanctorum with dying fully on mind. He won't see to that, reminding her she must pay for her vast amount of crimes with him in court.
- Defector from Decadence: Was originally a biologist working for the Federation until she rebelled.
- Dissonant Serenity: She never loses his dispassionate demeanor, even staring death in the face. However, when she is truly angry, she is capable of giving a bone-chilling Death Glare.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In Decode 02, Gomez tells Moss that Revi has rejected her desire to join her, citing the military's hazardous, rogue actions with the Ryunka is in direct violation of her established ethics.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She truly loves her child Towa and shields him from the horrors of her actual work.
- Evilutionary Biologist: A prodigy in biology and genetic research. She has since turned her talents over to engaging in terrorism, albeit for well-intentioned reasons.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Birdy lays this out on Revi when they finally have a heart-to-heart talk, saying that no matter how much she suffered, it gives her no right whatsoever to indiscriminately ruin the lives of innocent people like herself, angrily telling Revi that she took her mother from her in the Central Tower attacks.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In most iterations of the story, Revi is this due to all but one of them being cut short. She tugs the strings of various antagonists, but her motives are never thoroughly explained. She also serves as this for the first half of the remake manga, being responsible for financing Hikawa's work but otherwise doing little to nothing on-screen.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Invoked, literally. Birdy states that, despite her Freudian Excuse, her acts of terror across multiple star systems have made Revi a metaphorical monster. She responds by saying she's aware of this, but one must "become a monster to defeat monsters."
- The Heretic: Her official designation by the department of worship, and by extension, the Sanctum Sanctorum is literally this. Nechla also declares Birdy a heretic supporter for defending her.
- He Who Must Not Be Named: Due to her actions, she is vilified in Federation-aligned nations. The mere mention of her name is considered taboo.
- Humanity Is Special: When discussing with Megius about the fate of the galaxy at large in the epilogue, Revi says this about humanity, stating she believes in the potential of children like Towa, Chigira, and Sayaka to guide humanity from their past mistakes.
- Living Legend: Among Altans, she is viewed as a legendary figure that rose to prominence despite being a third-rate citizen. Even now among the oppressed populace, she is viewed as a hero fighting for their sake.
- Loved by All: During her brief term in the Ministry of Science, Revi was viewed as a paragon among the Altan people.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Tells Birdy that she is willing to use multiple billions of lives as a means to an end if she achieves her goals of freeing the galaxy from the tyranny of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Moral Event Horizon: In-universe. Revi vaguely tells Towa what she intends to do with Birdy is crossing a point of no return and entrusts the child to lead her cult as a better person.
- Ms. Fanservice: A tame example of this, but Revi is often seen in scantily clad robes or in the middle of dressing up as her devotees talk to her behind closed doors.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Under the guise of a cult leader, Revi often wears her robes with the front completely open.
- Nerves of Steel: She never loses her cool, even when facing likely death.
- Non-Action Big Bad: In a World of Badass like this, Revi distinctively has no fighting ability whatsoever.
- Samus Is a Girl: Not a strict use of the trope as Revi isn't an Action Girl, but in the remake manga and Decode no one, not even Birdy, outside a few people know that she is a woman. Averted in the original manga and OVA where it's pretty well-known what gender Revi is. In the remade manga, Tsutomu and his family even end up staying at Revi's house for a little without him or Birdy realizing it, though this is likely due to the before-mentioned fact that Revi was born male.
- The Sociopath: Subverted. Despite all the implications of being a discompassionate extremist who would sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve her goals, it's shown in Evolution that Revi has the capacity for genuine empathy and even remorse, being wracked with both emotions when facing down a mutated Nechla.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A one-sided example. Revi eventually forms an alliance with Birdy, and by extension, Megius, to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the Sanctum Sanctorum. Birdy makes it crystal clear she is not happy with the situation, however, but Revi remains polite and cooperative.
- Tender Tears: Sheds tears when the secrets behind Maxwell's research is steadily unraveled.
- That Man Is Dead: Casts aside his identity as Suisho Hinomiya towards the end of the manga, and coldly tells his son to simply forget that person was ever real and move on with his life.
- Tranquil Fury: When she gets angry, it is almost always this.
- Truly Single Parent: It's unknown who Towa's father is.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: She almost always wears a new outfit for every occasion.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Very extreme, but very well-intentioned; Revi fights for the freedom of all those that suffer under the machinations of a truly evil conspiracy.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: When it's all put together, Revi is this in spades.
- You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Birdy claims Revi could have done so much more good as the head of the Ministry of Science. She agrees but explains how she was forced to resign, meaning she didn't exactly have a winning hand.
Her true identity
SPOILER
After spending most continuities as an enigmatic figure, late into Evolution, Revi's backstory is fully explored as she begins a tenuous alliance with a fugitive Birdy against the Federation. Born male, Christella Revi was a normal Altan kid who was forced to attend a private boarding school dedicated to the department of worship due to his potential. Although the life of a clergyman wasn't what Revi desired, he befriended Altans Maxwell Peridan and Tunica Cephon during his days at the school. Tunica, an Ixorian bound to the church had no knowledge of the outside world or how normal people were. Revi quickly became close friends with Tunica, regularly sneaking her out of the school to play. Tragically, Revi and Tunica were caught in the middle of an Altan terrorist bombing, and the latter perished due to being unusually frail for an Ixorian. Blaming Revi for her fate, the Cephon science department was pressured by the church to bring Tunica back by fusing her consciousness into a comatose Revi. The operation failed, with Revi waking up to be the only mind in his body. However, Revi gained all of Tunica's memories and powers, becoming hyper-intelligent and rising to become the head of the Ministry of Science despite being an Altan. Due to the faulty fusion process, Revi's body sporadically turned female, which he concealed from others. After seeing through Tunica's darkest memories and files of her creation, Revi began an investigation into the department of worship and the sanctum they serve. Revi lost his position in the Ministry of Science before his first term even ended, being falsely accused of leaking high-grade weapons to Altan terrorists and forced to resign. After Maxwell was excommunicated and slaughtered in his own uprising, Revi lost faith in diplomacy and became a terrorist. With a female form, Revi was able to elude the Federation and started a base of operation on Earth. Forming an alliance with US and Japanese governments with Hikawa as her sponsor, Revi began to prepare for a final battle against the Federation to liberate the oppressed from the Sanctum Sanctorum no matter the cost.
Gomez
Georg Gomez
Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese, OVA), Cory Carthew (English, OVA), Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese, Decode), Newton Pittman (English, Decode)
An Altan criminal hiding on Earth under an alias. While publicly an unassuming owner of a small importing company, Gomez is an intermediate for illegal galactic smuggling and the right-hand man of Christella Revi. A highly enigmatic figure, his kind heart and preference for diplomacy betray his allegiances.- Adaptational Jerkass: While he is certainly not more villainous, as a result of his screentime being brutally cut down, just about all of the humanizing elements to Gomez's character from the remake manga are notably not present in Decode. As a result, he comes off as notably more cold, even if his heart is still in the right place.
- Advertised Extra: In Decode, Gomez has a notable appearance in the show's opening, but he is massively downgraded in importance to the show itself from other continuities.
- Ascended Extra: While Gomez is only implied to be of importance in most incarnations of the story, he becomes a leading supporting character in the remake manga.
- Alliterative Name: Georg Gomez
- Affably Evil: Despite his shady allegiances, Gomez is a compassionate and impersonal man who exudes next to no malice. It's no surprise he actually isn't evil at all.
- Ambiguously Evil: Whether Gomez is evil at all is a plot point. Despite overseeing Christella Revi's operations, he is never seen doing anything evil of his own volition. Birdy constantly suspects him as a villain due to his role in murdering Geega and Bacillus, but he points out the only reason he did so was that his family's safety was jeopardized by their actions. Furthermore, after witnessing the depths of Hikawa's depravity, Gomez even takes cautious strides to undermine him, making him one of his greatest enemies. In Evolution, it's revealed he's a relatively good guy all along.
- Anti-Villain: In an honest and heartfelt conversation with Birdy, he explains he only fights for his perceived justice just as she does for her own. This implies he has the utmost faith in Christella Revi's ideals being noble despite her means to achieve them. As it's later revealed, while he does indeed have undying faith in Revi's ideals, he is not entirely approving of her brutal methods and observing her as a person to the end to see if she is ultimately just a criminal.
- The Atoner: He's always planned to turn himself in once he helps achieve Revi's goals. By the end of the manga, they both face a lifetime sentence in prison for all their atrocities. Gomez entrusts Chigira with the safety of his family, as he intends to spill the beans on everyone involved with Revi's grand conspiracy.
- Barbarian Long Hair: Before arriving on Earth, he had long, unkempt flowing hair.
- Beard of Evil: He has a noticeable mustache to compliment his sunglasses for a shady look, although it's subverted in that Gomez is far too complex to be considered evil.
- Better Living Through Evil: Played for Laughs when he offers Birdy to join up with him and Revi again before his battle with Nechla, he says the pay is a nice incentive. She rebukes him with a flustered face.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He only engages in violence if his family is threatened or if he is sufficiently pestered. Numerous characters, including Birdy herself, find out the hard way it's not good to genuinely anger him.
- Big Damn Heroes: Makes a triumphant return with Sylphia to the story to stop a rampaging Nechla from killing Birdy and Revi when all hope is seemingly lost.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Early on in Birdy the Mighty II, an Ixorian with long hair is seen in a page explaining what they are. It isn't until late into Evolution we find out that is Gomez as Gray Cephon.
- Cool Shades: He's almost always wearing an awesome pair of shades. They grant him enhanced vision and awareness of his surroundings, making them more than just sunglasses.
- Cruel Mercy: Gives Nechla brain damage over killing her, specifically stating it would be crueler to let her live with that and the shame of failure. Plus, it's the only other option to maintain her silence in front of Revi, considering Birdy does not want Gomez killing Nechla.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He is so unbelievably strong that any fight he gets into ends with his assailant often brutalized and cowering with no effort from Gomez.
- Early on in meeting Chigira, he also simply manhandles him any time he goes into his monster form to get him to turn back to normal.
- In Evolution, he effortlessly defeats Nechla when she easily took down Birdy and Chigira moments before.
- Deadpan Snarker: Gomez demonstrates a light sarcastic streak, mainly in regards to Birdy's open suspicions over him. He also feigns some sardonic ignorance with Hikawa early on until he sees how sick he truly is and stops humoring him.
- Demoted to Extra: Egrigegiously, despite being a central character in the manga, he is barely in Decode and a borderline non-entity in Decode 02.
- Dragon-in-Chief: He oversees Christella Revi's operations on Earth and she implies he has been protecting her all his life. We find out what that means when Birdy picks a fight with him.
- The Dreaded: Eventually, he becomes something of a boogeyman to Shanfa and her gang after he curb-stomped all of them at once as a warning to stay away from his family. The mere mention of his sighting then on causes them to change plans, citing they can't ever beat a monster like him.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Despite turning a blind eye to the actions of some of his clients, he finds the depravity of the likes of Hikawa and Bacillus to be completely distasteful. When his attempts at diplomacy and reasoning fail with them, he takes measures to stop them from causing more harm.
- He views Capella's wanton disregard for collateral damage with disdain, musing Federation officers have quite changed since he last saw them.
- Although he is not holding Chigira prisoner, he makes sure to receive the consent of his grandmother to shelter him regardless.
- Enemy Mine: When Hikawa begins to threaten all of Japan, he forms a temporary alliance with Birdy to end him once and for all.
- Enigmatic Minion: He is a complete enigma to Birdy, who assumes he must be evil due to serving Revi. As he thoroughly demonstrates this is not the case, she is left even more dumbfounded about who or what he really is.
- Family Man: Outside of his job, he is a devoted family man, and his Earth family means everything to him.
- Finger-Tenting: He does this frequently during moments of contemplation in his office.
- Foil: As we learn more about Gomez, it's clear no one resembles Birdy more than him despite her grievances with the man. Both were mentored by and have a close relationship to Skelezzo, and just like her, Gomez was once an idealistic Federal agent. His original mission of being tasked to arrest Revi even draws parallels to Birdy's current mission. However, through discovering the truth of the world, Gomez gradually took to unscrupulous means to achieve his ideals. Birdy, meanwhile, never lost her sense of idealistic justice even in her darkest hours. All in all, Gomez is a male counterpart to Birdy on a darker path, but without having truly lost his heart along his journey.
- Foreshadowing: In his mock fight with Birdy, he demonstrates an eerie ability to Flash Step at such speed Birdy couldn't even tell what happened. This is his trademark ability as Ixorian Gray Cephon.
- Friendly Enemy: He gradually becomes this to Birdy. While he's still on Revi's side and does his job of showing muscle in front of her, he otherwise has no animosity towards Birdy and provides advice if not outright helping her on occasion.
- Gentle Giant: Gomez is very tall and built like a brick house but pacifistic unless he feels his family is threatened.
- The Glasses Come Off: When he is seriously angered or needs to demonstrate his conviction, he takes his shades off and sees others eye to eye.
- He Knows Too Much: In his past life as a federal agent, he was marked for death for opening up an investigation on Maxwell Peridan's leftover inquirings on the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Heel Realization: After witnessing Hikawa's abuse of Chigira, he comes to understand what depraved scum he is and begins to take measures to stop him, starting with taking Chigira away from him.
- Human Alien: Like all other Altans.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Gomez explains to Birdy when he arrived on Earth, he had nothing but his loyalty to Revi, not even clothes starting off. Through his cover job and new family on Earth, he comes to cherish his friends and family as what's most important to him.
- Hunk: While he's not this now or ugly, in his early 20s to 30s, he was definitely this, having a boyish face and chiseled physique.
- Interspecies Romance: He is an Altan and has a human wife and daughter.
- I've Come Too Far: Invoked. When Gomez blatantly expresses doubt in front of Revi, she exclaims if Gomez wants to turn on her now, he has come too far and is too complicit in her plans for it to mean anything.
- Last-Name Basis: Gomez is almost never referred to by his first name, to the point of it being All There in the Manual.
- Lightning Bruiser: He is unbelievably fast and hits very hard despite his demonstrations of strength being restrained compared to Birdy.
- Made of Iron: In the OVA, Hikawa unloads his pistol all over Gomez's back when he decides to shut down his operation, then stomps his bloodied back with such force it breaks the floor tiles. He later shows up to Birdy in the epilogue completely fine.
- Martial Pacifist: Despite his strength, Gomez only fights if his hand is absolutely forced. He otherwise leaves violence to Revi's marionettes.
- My Greatest Failure: Cites his role in killing Maxwell Peridan as one of the greatest regrets of his life, the other being too late to stop Nechla from endangering Revi.
- Mugging the Monster: As a result of his pacifistic and unassuming demeanor, numerous characters like Bacillus think they can threaten and belittle him for their demands. All of them pay the price, dearly, some with him not even lifting a finger.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: In contrast to Birdy's idealism, Gomez doesn't really tolerate loose ends, ordering Geega and Bacillus to be killed for being dangerous liabilities. After the time skip, he is adamant about killing Nechla to keep her silent against Birdy and Chigira's pleas, but relents to give her a more cruel fate.
- Naked on Arrival: In a flashback showing him crashlanding on Earth, Gomez was completely nude.
- Noble Top Enforcer: He works for the terrorist Christella Revi but harbors no real ill will. He lends advice and helps Birdy on a number of occasions. He also undermines the interests of villains like Hikawa should they prove to be enough of a threat to his values.
- Not So Stoic: When Nechla repeatedly insults him and makes a gesture at tattling to Revi about his deception and of how he could grovel for forgiveness like a dog, Gomez breaks a sweat and shows visible anger.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: As an Altan, it's highly unlikely his real name is Georg Gomez. However, even Revi only refers to him as Gomez, leaving his true identity a mystery.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: This is what Gomez's relationship with Revi amounts to at its core. Originally being assigned to arresting Revi as a federal agent before being swept up in her conspiracy, he never let go of his mission. Until he and Revi accomplish their mutual goals of defeating the Sanctum Sanctorum, he will never let her die, nor will he let anyone else (Birdy) take her in.
- Parental Substitute: He becomes this to Chigira with the consent of his grandmother, freeing him from Hikawa's clutches and taking him in as his pupil and eventual surrogate son.
- Pet the Dog: Frees Rodney Hughes and Chigira from Hikawa's prison out of disgust for him.
- Punch Catch: He does this in his mock fight with Birdy, subsequently breaking her arm. When he meets up with Skelezzo again, the latter tries to sucker punch him as part of his signature Attack Hello greeting. Gomez easily catches his fist and remarks he never changes.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He is frequently shown wearing suits.
- The Stoic: Never raises his voice or loses his calm disposition.
- Strong and Skilled: Gomez is not vastly physically superior to Birdy, but incredibly skilled and disciplined in fighting. As Birdy's ineffectual barrage of wild attacks fails to do anything to Gomez in their first "fight," he thoroughly criticizes her for being Unskilled, but Strong. He later trains Chigira to do more than just throw his weight around with his newfound powers.
- Super-Speed: His trademark ability. Moreso back in the day as Gray Cephon.
- Super-Reflexes: Given he is likely an Ixorian and the enhanced sunglasses he wears, it's nigh impossible to get a surprise attack on Gomez.
- Super-Strength: He not only vastly outclasses Birdy in this department, but their first scuffles in all incarnations end with Gomez breaking her arm with no effort.
- That Man Is Dead: Officially, Gray Cephon died under mysterious circumstances. Gomez now uses his new identity as legal grounds for Skelezzo having no warrant to arrest him, and he doesn't have much interest in doing so either.
- Undying Loyalty: Subverted with Revi. Gomez expresses to Birdy that although he agrees wholeheartedly with Revi's endgame, he is watching her very carefully to determine whether she herself is truly just or simply a petty criminal - at which point, he will ditch her on the spot. His loyalty to Chigira, however, is undying to the point he covertly frees Birdy from captivity, going directly against Revi's interests, simply because it deeply hurt Chigira to see her in such a state.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Gomez is eventually revealed to be this. He might oversee Revi's work, which involves turning a blind eye to some heinous crimes, but he is always watching her to determine if she is on the just path or not. Furthermore, he is involved in a secret operation concealed even from her to similarly take down the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- With My Hands Tied: In one of the most memorable scenes in the manga, Gomez agrees to let Chigira fall into Birdy's custody if she can take him down. He proposes only using his right hand to fight her, much to Birdy's outrage. What follows is Birdy throwing all her weight around with Gomez not even budging before catching and breaking her arm.
- World's Strongest Man: It's evident he is not only implied to be the strongest Altan on Earth but one of the strongest characters in the series. He defeats Birdy in a mock fight standing still with one arm, and other villains that attempt to pick a fight with him are left terrified after the encounter.
His true identity
Click to see Gray Cephon
In Evolution, the audience learns of who "Georg Gomez" is: As Gray Cephon, an Ixorian, Gray was once a poor child that idolized Christella Revi for her role in fighting for Altan rights, which allowed Gray to receive a normal education. As an Ixorian, Gray was enlisted into the federal investigation bureau, where he played a key role in ending Maxwell Peridan's uprising against the department of worship. Later into his life, he disappeared and secretly joined with Revi after discovering the truth of the aforementioned department and the Sanctum Sanctorum. Noted to be the strongest Ixorian ever, Gray was renowned for his strength, skill, and unnatural speed, literally earning the moniker Super Speed Gray
Revi's Marionettes
Salamander, Gnome, Sylph, Undine
Upper left (Gnome), Upper right (Sylph), Bottom left (Undine), Bottom right (Salamander)
Christella Revi's Praetorian Guard, collectively described as the "shield" that protects her divine will. They more often accompany Gomez as an extra set of eyes and ears. Individually, they are extremely powerful and prove more than a match for Birdy and similar Ixorian adversaries. For more on Undine in Evolution, see Sayaka Natsumi's page (spoilers!).- Alchemic Elementals: The four are very clearly a Classical Elements Ensemble that is inspired by the alchemic elementals as each one is specifically named for one and has the corresponding elemental power. Salamander manipulates fire. Slyph controls wind, often manifesting as blades. Gnome possesses unimaginable strength on par with that of Ixorians. Undine controls water and is nearly unstoppable in an aquatic environment.
- Apologetic Attacker: Gnome tries to reason with Sayaka!Undine when he tries to detain her, making it clear he doesn't want to hurt her. But he's soon forced to stop holding back.
- Back from the Dead: Undine in Evolution, albeit in a very different way.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: They work primarily as assassins for Gomez when peace isn't an option. In particular, Salamander kills Bacillus and finishes off Hikawa when he gets an upper hand in his brutal fight with Birdy.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Undine is more frequently nude than wearing any clothing, but even with the remake manga being a Seinen and casually depicting fully-drawn nudity, she has no nipples.
- The Big Guy: Gnome is huge, towering over the already tall Gomez. And while none of them are slouches in physical combat, he is particularly specialized in Super-Strength.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: They primarily provide 24/7 backup for Gomez; Gomez himself is one of the strongest fighters in the series. However, they are useful in ways Gomez cannot always account for, such as surveillance or the protection of his family.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Egregiously, despite being the most prominent Marionette in the first half of the manga, Salamander never appears again in Evolution despite a few mentions.
- Meaningful Name: All four are closely named after Japan's four great spirits governing the major elements of soil, fire, water, and wind.
- Out of Focus: After being the most recurring Marionettes in the first half of the manga, Salamander and Sylph are almost completely out of the spotlight in Evolution. Gnome and Undine, who comparatively had minimal roles in the first half, receive much more development and screentime.
- Recurring Boss: Undine in every incarnation of the story is explicitly this to Birdy, being the most vicious and battle-oriented of her brethren. It usually takes several personal fights for her to be put down for good.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: Compared to the other Marionettes that have integrated into human society, Undine spends most of her time patrolling through the lakes of Revi's forest HQ, killing any suspicious trespassers.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: All of them except Undine are often impeccably dressed in crisp suits when engaging with society.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Averted. Compared to Salamander and Sylph, who are indistinguishably human in appearance, the lines running on Gnome's face and his unnatural cyborg eyes should give him attention, but he wears wraps around his face and sunglasses when in public.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Just like Violin, they are much more human than machine outside of fighting, easily able to blend into society. Salamander is even shown to be able to be capable of grieving the pain Undine suffers from her fights with Birdy. Revi also treats them all as living beings rather than machines.
Hikawa Chemistry
Shogo Hikawa
Shogo Hikawa
Younger as Seichiro Hikawa
Click to see him mutated
A publicly renowned biologist, secretly backed by Christella Revi's terrorist network and black ops government officials of various countries. He runs a pharmaceutical company and is also highly influential in Japanese politics, having miraculously restored Gozo Mido's failing health and subsequently gaining access to his wealth and connections.
- 0% Approval Rating: As the president of his own company, he is hated and feared by all his employees. Apart from some occasional reassurances to keep them in line, Hikawa does nothing to make them feel better. Unsurprisingly, the remnants of his staff are much happier under Agni after the time skip.
- Adaptational Badass: Although the OVA Hikawa put up a good fight against Birdy, he never came close to defeating her as much as endangering innocents, and his body fell apart shortly into their fight after trying to bulk up. Here, in their final encounter, Hikawa brandishing his katana fights evenly with Birdy in his human state and mortally wounds her, causing her Superpowered Evil Side to awaken. After Tsutomu snaps her out of that state, Hikawa then undergoes a successful One-Winged Angel form and is ready for another go until Salamander blows him to smithereens.
- Adaptational Dumbass: In a way, Shogo is this to his OVA counterpart. While Seichiro was a sadistic Narcissist with an inflated ego, he was composed and calculating enough to come very close to carrying out his Evil Plan. This Hikawa is such an impulsive, sadistic monster with no control of his cruelty that he ultimately accomplishes nothing. That said...
- Adaptational Intelligence: Shogo is a considerably more talented biologist than his OVA self. Whereas Seichiro's research was doomed from the start and his ultimate plan to "evolve" humanity would have destroyed all of Japan instead, Shogo's accomplishments with genetic research lay the foundation for Agni's successful work in Evolution.
- Adaptational Jerkass: While Shogo is pretty much the exact same callous asshole his other self was, a misogynistic streak was not a trait Seichiro demonstrated to have.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: A minor but notable case: When the audience glimpses at OVA Hikawa in a flashback, he is seen peforming horrible war crimes. This incarnation of Hikawa lacks those crimes on-screen and was even shown to be genial at a point before we gradually see his decline into cynicism and madness.
- Adaptational Villainy: Though Seichiro Hikawa of the OVA was no slouch, his on-screen body count and actions were kept within the limits of a four-episode TV-13 series. As Birdy the Mighty II is a 33 volume Seinen manga series, of which Hikawa is the main antagonist for roughly half of, he receives much more screentime to demonstrate his twisted personality and motives.
- Ambition Is Evil: Hikawa possesses an unshakable desire to form a superpowered army to first violently liberate Japan from foreigners and then resume conflict against China and reclaim lands he believes are rightfully Japan's, therefore starting another world war that he is confident in winning.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: His ultimate defeat is met with relief by almost every person involved with him, with several characters like Chigira finally feeling they can move on with their lives.
- Arch-Enemy: He is this to Chigira, having ruined his life and changing the course of his destiny forever. Chigira feels unless Hikawa is dead, he simply cannot move on.
- Ax-Crazy: A DSM-V textbook example of a psychopath, who proudly likens himself to being an apex predator in the natural food chain, and therefore allowed to hurt or kill anyone he fancies. This reaches its peak in his final battle with Birdy, where he descends into unbridled fury, shrieking like a bestial lunatic and destroying everything in his way.
- Bad Boss: At best, he intimidates his scientific colleagues to keep them in line. At worst (which is near all the time), he throws the lives of his soldiers away to test "results" in droves, claiming he has a bottomless supply of disposable men readily available. Hikawa is also horrifyingly abusive towards his right hand, Lee, beating her for failure and constantly finding new ways to compromise her dignity, such as stripping her down and groping or even raping her while giving her a verbal beatdown.
- Beyond the Impossible: Hikawa, a human (albeit empowered), mortally wounds Birdy, an Ixorian that many aliens would have difficulty in scratching.
- Big Bad Wannabe: He owes an unspecified debt to Christella Revi (later revealed to be providing him the Spirits that de-aged him and advanced his research.), which he resents. He desires to surpass her expectations by forming his own evil immortal army. Due to his impulsive stupidity, however, he ultimately accomplishes nothing and dies an ignoble death after all his tenuous allies and enemies unite against him.
- BishonenLine: When he de-ages himself to somewhere around his early 20s after he goes into hiding, he becomes a pretty faced man.
- Blood Knight: Despite being a scientist, Hikawa is a bloodthirsty maniac that relishes in combat. With his biological enhancements, he is often seen throwing down with his failed experiments, whom he keeps chained up in his basement to rile them up for a better fight. He also has no qualms of hunting down the same monsters himself should the need arise.
- Body Horror: His One-Winged Angel form he forcibly undergoes in his final battle with Birdy sees him looking like a hulking reptilian monster.
- Canon Immigrant: Sort of. He's based on a character created for the OVA, but as noted below, he was split into two. But not really.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Downplayed. There's nothing remotely comedic or amusing about Hikawa, but the sheer depths of his callousness once caused some of his colleagues to break out into comedic expressions when his response to de-escalating a disaster he caused is to simply propose making it worse.
- Deadpan Snarker: Hikawa snarks at everyone sans Mido in a smug way, which only further inspires resentment.
- Decomposite Character: His appearance and enmity with Birdy is based on the Hikawa of the OVA series, but his grandfather is the one who sports the given name of "Seichiro", with this one being named "Shogo". Ultimately, subverted, as this time, Hikawa decided to pull a My Grandson, Myself.
- Determinator: Even when everyone turns against him and he's lost everything in life, Hikawa absolutely refuses to admit defeat until he is finally killed.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Hikawa is the main antagonist of the first half of the remake manga, Birdy the Mighty II, up to half of the sixteenth volume. The remaining five volumes lack a concrete antagonist, focusing on the mystique of the Altan refugees on Earth. Christella Revi takes up the mantle of the primary antagonist for the second half of the manga.
- Domestic Abuse: He demeans Lee Shanfa, his secretary, in every way he can from emotional to sexual abuse.
- Dramatic Shattering: Like in the OVA, when Gomez reminds him of his debts, Hikawa shatters his wine goblet with two fingers after he leaves.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Inverted. Every one of his associates is appalled by his evil, especially Gomez. Hikawa himself has no standards, whatsoever, and his depravity knows absolutely no bounds.
- Evil Is Petty: He does everything in his power to torment Shigenobu without killing him, simply because he has favor with Mido even in his demented state. From killing his troops to intentionally causing civilian disasters just so he's forced to clean up after him or suffer political consequences. Unfortunately, this backfires big-time for Hikawa when Shigenobu decides Hikawa is no longer worth the hassle of keeping around and cuts his funding entirely.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Hikawa has a morbid sense of humor to go with the snark. It only disgusts or creeps out others.
- Evilutionary Biologist: His occupation. Hikawa is an incredibly talented biologist, which is why Revi and various conspiracies tolerate him. But only for so long.
- Fangs Are Evil: He has huge, unnatural canines that are often visible when he's flashing a Slasher Smile.
- Fantastic Racism: Hikawa has a low view of aliens, viewing them as "monsters." Coming from a metaphorical and literal monster like him, that's rich.
- Faux Affably Evil: Surprisingly, despite how insane and cruel he is, when addressing civilians (often to lure them into his clinic), he is capable of presenting himself in a gentlemanly and charming manner.
- For the Evulz: Although Hikawa does have an end goal, he commits many horrific acts of pure evil simply to sate his bloodlust or pester Shigenobu. Deconstructed in a realistic way when his acts of gratuitous cruelty alienate all his allies, funding for his research is suspended permanently, and he is sentenced to execution.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He pierces through Birdy's chest with his sword in their last battle, mortally wounding her. In her subsequent crazed state, she returns the favor by impaling her entire arm through his torso.
- It's All About Me: He literally only cares for himself and his insane ideals. Although he demonstrates a highly courteous attitude with Mido, it's hinted Hikawa is only doing this so Mido continues to finance his work. Fully confirmed in his last battle with Birdy, where he uses Mido as a distraction and tries to cut right through him to get a hit on Birdy. Birdy is horrified at how he could do that to someone who trusted him so much.
- Irony: Posthumously in Evolution. Hikawa, a completely selfish and evil man who thought he was much greater than he was, happened to lay the foundation for well-intentioned Christella Revi and her allies to fight against a conspiracy far greater and eviler than Hikawa could ever have hoped to be.
- Hated by All: Everyone associated with Hikawa, barring Mido, either despise or deeply fear him, often both. By the end of his tale, he has no allies left, with his weak-willed subordinates even growing a spine and turning against him.
- Hate Sink: Hikawa possesses no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and every sick thing he does any time he's on-screen is intended to inspire loathing from the readers.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: As a result of his stupidity in bullying Shigenobu around, he suspends all funding for Hikawa and attempts to arrest him. In the fallout of the battle between Shegenobu's men, his small army of mutants, and Birdy and Ondine, Hikawa is reduced to a homeless fugitive deprived of resources to even control his Rapid Aging. He attempts to plead to Shigenobu to take him back in, to which he vehemently refuses, forcing Hikawa to make him consent through violence. Even then it doesn't last long as Hikawa is killed in a joint alliance between enemies and former allies alike.
- Jerkass: Besides Hikawa being a sadistic, homicidal psychopath with no regard for any life but his own, he is a smug and sarcastic man who treats everyone as being beneath him.
- Kill It with Fire: As he braces himself for a renewed fight with Birdy, Salamander sends a fireball towards their direction that combusts into a violent explosion, ending Hikawa for good.
- Lack of Empathy: As aforementioned, Hikawa explicitly has no regard for any life but his own, and his response to Shigenobu's protests over the suffering he causes is to shrug it off as his problem to clean up.
- Lightning Bruiser: Owing to his experiments, he is fast as hell, possesses supernatural reflexes, and hits hard.
- Made of Iron: Birdy punches a hole in his torso that almost tears him in half, but Hikawa regains the strength to push for a transformation.
- Master Swordsman: He is incredibly skilled with the use of a personal Nodachi, pulling it out on special occasions and swiftly killing his runaway experiments in one blow. He brandishes the same sword in his final battle with Birdy and gives her a battle for her life.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: Underneath his simple attire, Hikawa is jacked with muscles, which can often be seen since he fights shirtless most of the time.
- My Grandson, Myself: In reality, "Shogo" is really an alias; Seichiro Hikawa was posing as his own grandson.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: As Seichiro Hikawa, a veteran of Imperial Japan, his end goal is to forcibly reclaim its lands from the foreign "invaders" and restore his nation to its "former glory."
- Obviously Evil: He dresses in all black, has Hellish Pupils, is introduced sipping wine in a decaying mansion from the shadows, and is referred to as a "vampire" by kids that snuck around his house and claimed to see someone. And that's just the start of it.
- Old, Dark House: He mainly lives in a remote ancient mansion falling apart at the seams. The house is referred to as "cursed" by children that dared to go near it. Officially, it belongs to Seichiro Hikawa, his grandfather, thus Shogo inherited it from him. Considering Shogo is actually Seichiro, it's his house from the start.
- Older Than They Look: As Seichiro Hikawa whose youth was rejuvenated by Christella Revi's backing, he's pushing his 90s but looks to be in his 30s. When he takes another sip of Spirits after the ordeal with Shigenobu, he rejuvenates to look even younger, appearing to be in his 20s as a boyish man.
- One-Winged Angel: Unlike his OVA self, Hikawa successfully makes a transformation into an all-powerful mutant on the verge of death. But before he has any chance to attack, he's killed by Salamandel.
- Pet the Dog: He once rescued Lee Shanfa from a life of abuse and debt...although, it's obviously subverted with a vengeance when it's clear he was just looking for another human test subject with nowhere to go. When Lee becomes one of the first successful metahumans, he wastes no time abusing her any chance he gets in the most heinous ways imaginable.
- Professor Guinea Pig: Hikawa has extensively experimented on himself, turning himself into the first successful superhuman, granting him his youth, Super-Strength, and other perks at the escalating cost of his already nebulous sanity.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In one instance he's dressing down Lee with verbal abuse, he makes disparaging remarks over her being a woman, stripping her clothes, and even grabbing her breast to mock her. He's also a racist towards aliens as aforementioned in Fantastic Racism, viewing them as monsters and claiming to understand why Shigenobu sought to raise a superpowered army to possibly repel them. Interestingly, in a twisted way, he isn't, however, a racist to humans per se. Shigenobu accuses him of being a racist due to most of his experimentees being Chinese or Russian, but he rebukes him claiming it's simply more difficult to procure Japanese guinea pigs without raising suspicion. In Hikawa's mind, everyone of any nationality is equal in being experimented on by him. That said, he views foreigners in Japan with contempt, believing they compromise its independence.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: As seen in his portrait to the right, official color palettes of Hikawa paint him with a black and red motif. In-universe, he primarily wears black clothing, has jet black hair, and red wine is his signature drink.
- Rapid Aging: If he doesn't periodically dose himself on Spirits, Seichiro will revert to being a man in his 90s. This is why he becomes desperate enough to plead with Shegenobu in giving him his lab and resources back.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He violently rapes Lee early on in making her his subordinate to assert his dominance over her.
- Riches to Rags: After Shigenobu takes everything from him, he's also forced into living in a filthy shithole in hiding since the former also blew up his mansion.
- Sadist: He is defined by his unabashed sadism in such a way it seems to even take precedence over his goals and better judgment.
- Sanity Slippage: He regularly drinks Spirits even when he doesn't have to, and Gomez suggests knocking it off, implying it's possibly the source of his ever degrading sanity.
- Super-Soldier: The first step of his endgame is to make an army of this.
- Super-Strength: Hikawa is physically strong enough to manhandle other superhumans just like him, his failed experiments, and even Birdy.
- Slasher Smile: He sports these often with his teeth fully bared. In particular, a flashback showing Seijiro first rejuvenating his youth has him flash an insane smile after he's de-aged.
- Smug Smiler: Hikawa is almost always seen with a smug smile, being completely unflappable even when Shigenobu turns against him. The only time he drops it is when he realizes Birdy may very well kill him and subsequently flips.
- Smug Snake: Hikawa believes he is better than any other living creature. He's proven, wrong, however, when that smug arrogance and Lackof Empathy takes everything he values away from him.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He literally believes he can get away with anything simply due to the importance of his work, and makes sure to fill out atrocity after atrocity so Shigenobu is forced to suffer cleaning after him. Ultimately, he is proven wrong in the most humiliating way possible.
- Stupid Evil: Ultimately, this is what Hikawa is at his core. He has delusions of far-reaching goals, but they are undermined by his impulsive bloodlust, sadism, and actions of wanton evil until he's reduced to having nothing.
- Strong and Skilled: In contrast to his monster minions, Hikawa is a Master Swordsman and an expert in hand-to-hand combat, making him far more formidable.
- Taking You with Me: He screams that he refuses to die in such an undignified way in his last battle with Birdy, and proclaims that if he is to die to his wounds, he will at least take her with him.
- The Sociopath: Hikawa is completely self-centered, has no conscience, no empathy for anyone or anything, is driven by a relentless lust for power, and has delusions of grandeur. He has been likened to the devil by one of his subordinates, and Birdy herself expresses disbelief how he is human.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As we see in flashbacks to his earlier life as Seichiro, he was a more friendly man as a young adult but years of no progress on his work dulled him into a cynical man. After rejuvenating his youth, anything decent about him went out the window.
- Too Dumb to Live: He knows Shigenobu holds the rights to almost all the money and resources that finance his work, which even includes volunteering soldiers for his experiments. He also knows Shegenobu dislikes him and only tolerates him for his work. Despite this, simply based on not liking the man himself, he goes out of his way to antagonize him in the most unpredictable and horrible ways imaginable until Shigenobu predictably has enough and takes everything away from Hikawa.
- Villainous Breakdown: He only finally falls apart when Birdy nearly kills him, unleashing the monster that's always lurked underneath.
- Villainous Legacy: Although he's long dead by Evolution, his actions cast a massive shadow over the story and many surviving characters that suffered at his hands. Muroto describes it as a "curse."
- Villain with Good Publicity: He is famous in Japan and runs a respected pharmaceutical company. He loses this reputation when Shigenobu marks him as a fugitive following the disaster at his underwater facility.
- We Have Reserves: He throws away the lives of soldiers and experimentees by the hundreds, always rationalizing he will obtain more test subjects. Unfortunately, when he eventually believes he can abduct those with living families, Shigenobu finally turns on him once Hikawa makes it clear to his face he cares nill for the consequences.
- Wine Is Classy: He is often seen with a glass or bottle of red wine at hand, which adds to his sophisticated look on the surface.
- What the Hell Are You?: When Hikawa lays out a speech detailing his goals to a demoralized Akutsu, the man says this verbatim to Hikawa in complete disbelief of who or what he exactly is.
- Would Hurt a Child: As Chigira is at the center of advancing his research, he tortures him with the most heinous experiments imaginable simply to test his limits.
- Would Hit a Girl: He routinely sexually and psychologically abuses Lee on top of often beating her.
Lee Shanfa
Lee Shanfa
- All Love Is Unrequited: As a person prior to her transformation, she was in love with Hikawa for rescuing her from her terrible life, believing he would never hurt her. He would obviously never return any affection for her, and of course, he would do more than just hurt her.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Lee eventually grows fed up with Hikawa and tries to strike out on her own with the fundamentals of his plans, but whatever she was trying to accomplish is personally squashed by Gomez to bury anything related to Hikawa for good.
- Dark and Troubled Past: From what we once see of her recurring nightmares, Lee lived in poverty and was in debt to the wrong people.
- The Dragon: Serves as this to Hikawa until his insane abuse causes her to go off on her own.
- Fan Disservice: She strips naked in front of Chigira upon meeting him the first time, but then promptly undergoes a monstrous transformation to provoke him into doing the same.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Lee frequently fights completely naked, but given her animalistic tendencies from Hikawa's experiments, it's likely she doesn't care about nudity taboos anymore.
- Killed Offscreen: If there were any doubts to Chigira killing her, she never appears again in Evolution.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The degree to which Hikawa abuses Lee predictably has her abandon him, starting a gang of her own and wanting nothing to do with him.
- Sinister Nudity: Often seen nude while fighting... One of her goals was trying to force Chigira into a monstrous transformation by any evil method whether it be strangling him or threatening the lives of the household he resides in.
- The Vamp: She seduces Akutsu into aiding her instead after he betrayed Hikawa to Shigenobu.
- The Worf Effect: Despite being Hikawa's right hand and a superhuman, she frequently gets her ass kicked; she gets manhandled by Capella during her investigations, and later absolutely shredded by Sylphia in a bold attempt at barging into Gomez's home to retrieve Chigira. Chigira under Gomez eventually learns how to fight, and he easily takes down Lee.
- Would Hurt a Child: Psychologically. She repeatedly tries to get Chigira to embrace his monstrous side through emotional manipulation.
Shigenobu
Senator Shigenobu
Post-timeskip.
A senior official of the Japanese government. He leads the special forces defense agency (JSDF) and is involved with Hikawa's superhuman program, providing him resources and covering up loose ends. He is an old favorite of Gozo Mido and a rival to Hikawa for his favor.
- Anti-Villain: Shigenobu harbors no megalomaniacal delusions, only seeking to bolster national security in the face of a possible alien invasion.
- A Father to His Men: He cares deeply for his men and is outraged by Hikawa's callous regard for their lives.
- Bullying a Dragon: On the receiving end of this. Hikawa brazenly believes because he curries favor with Mido, he can pettily torment Shigenobu all he likes. Despite Shigenobu reminding him he is the one providing him all his resources and security, Hikawa mocks him and continues to do as he pleases. Unsurprisingly, Shigenobu has his limits and decides to dispose of Hikawa sooner than later.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He's planned to kill Hikawa a long time ago, considering only doing so when his research on superhumans is concluded. In the past, Mido requested Shigenobu to get along with him, knowing he resents him. He begrudgingly complied, but his patience eventually runs out.
- Corrupt Politician: He is deeply involved in an illicit conspiracy that produces bioweapons.
- Despair Event Horizon: Post-timeskip, the stress of losing Mido and inability to cope with the horrors he endured with Hikawa sent Shigenobu rocketing into a psychological breakdown, and he was subsequently sent to a mental asylum before eventually being released.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Everything about Hikawa shakes Shigenobu to his core.
- Get Out!: When Hikawa crawls back to Shigenobu out of hiding and pleads to take him back in, Shigenobu is impressed by his hubris and sics his men on him.
- He's Back!: His fighting spirit is renewed when the Federation officially arrives on Earth.
- Nightmare Sequence: In Evolution, Shigenobu is plagued by nightmares of Hikawa's cruelty long after his death. A dream he has involves Hikawa betraying him and his monsters tearing him apart.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He justifies the homeless being used in inhumane experiments for the super soldier program, citing them as "trash" that provided nothing to society beforehand. Shigenobu further goes on to mention the apathy society has for the homeless from his own experiences in an attempt to rationalize himself not being not so different from the average person.
- Riches to Rags: Mido's death and the scandal around Hikawa leaves Shigenobu homeless in Evolution.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Shigenobu tolerates Hikawa more than he should, but only because he recognizes the value of his work and because he obliged Mido's request to try to get along with him.
- The Dog Bites Back: Once his patience with Hikawa runs out, he puts out an arrest warrant and seizes all his assets. In the fallout of Ondine and Birdy's battle at his underwater facility, Hikawa is reduced to a street bum with nothing to his name.
- Villain Has a Point: Although the scene is not intended to make him seem too sympathetic, flashbacks to Shigenobu's life as a bum shows he does have a point in how Japanese society unfairly holds the homeless in contempt.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: After sightings of aliens in his country and seeing the destruction the likes of Birdy and Capella can cause, Shigenobu sought to bolster national security with superhumans to combat a possible invasion.
Toshiro Akutsu
Toshiro Akutsu
- Affably Evil: Despite being a fairly amoral scientist, he is approachable and liked by others in his circle compared to Hikawa. He loses the affability part in Evolution, becoming more irritable as a person.
- Beard of Evil: He grows a beard during the time skip to coincide with becoming more villainous.
- Butt-Monkey: He's constantly bullied by Hikawa. Later, he is similarly bossed around by Lee sexually and psychologically.
- The Dog Bites Back: Betrays Hikawa to Shigenobu when he can't take his evil anymore.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite having no qualms of being involved in Hikawa's research early on, his escalating depravity gradually takes its toll on Akutsu's conscience until he's eventually completely worn down. Subverted after the timeskip, where Akutsu becomes a thoroughly despicable individual.
- Forced into Evil: It's made clear that regardless of how he feels, Hikawa will not take his resignation. After Hikawa seemingly dies, Shigenobu reassures Akutsu he isn't going to hunt him down.
- For Science!: He is fascinated by Hikawa's work, and this is why he sticks around for the most part.
- Nervous Wreck: Akutsu is a weak-willed man that is easily intimidated into subordination.
- The Starscream: Betrays Hikawa over to Shigenobu and subsequently gains top control of his Spirits research under the Senator.
- Spanner in the Works: This meek and easily cowed man starts the events that lead to Hikawa's downfall and death.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He's more evil in Evolution as the head scientist of Agni Chemistry, though he is considered a redeeming replacement for Hikawa.
Gozo Mido
Gozo Mido
NSFW: Click to see him mutated
An ancient man from Manchuria since the reign of Imperial Japan. Mido is an extremely influential politician and businessman, but due to being over one hundred years old, his health was irreversibly failing until Shogo Hikawa restored his youth. He was close friends with Seichiro Hikawa, Shogo's grandfather, and views his grandson favorably. However, something seems very off about Mido in the present...
- Ambiguously Evil: Due to the nature of how he is post-recovery, it's uncertain if anything he does after afterward can be said to be his own volition.
- Alas, Poor Villain: For a measure of "villain" considering his state of mind, but he meets a pitful end feebly, tearfully reaching out for Hikawa's corpse in the burning wreckage of his manor. He is given this treatment by his friends and Shigenobu, who finally decided to let him go with how far gone he is.
- Ax-Crazy: Hikawa's faulty experiments to prolong Mido's life has turned him into a monster in human form. He constantly hungers for human flesh and cannot control his libido.
- Death of Personality: Although his memories remain intact, his advisor makes it clear to Shigenobu that Mido was never the same since Hikawa's treatment, being an entirely different man in personality. This is the reason they ultimately decide to let him die with Hikawa in the assault on his manor.
- Dirty Old Man: Played for absolute horror. His monstrous libido as a result of Hikawa's treatments sees him unable to control himself in any way, demanding waves of prostitutes that he either tears apart or devours after he's through having sex.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He truly saw Seichiro as his best friend until the very end.
- Et Tu, Brute?: He is horrified and feels deeply betrayed when Hikawa attempts to chop right through him to kill Birdy.
- Gonk: He looks like a toad, with a big mouth and gag-like lips. Fitting, his monstrous form is akin to that of a salamander, using its massive mouth to devour people whole.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Hikawa almost cleaves him in two in trying to kill Birdy, but fails. As he's in agony from regenerating his wounds, Hikawa cites the fact he failed as a sign of how invaluable his research is.
- Humanoid Abomination: What he really is, although he only undergoes the transformation when Birdy raids his manor.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He devours the prostitutes attending to him whole after he's finished having sex.
Agni & Affiliates
In general
- Adapted Out: Apart from Ackerman making a brief cameo talking to Shyamalan, the organization and all its members are omitted from Decode.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Although still a sinister corporation dabbling in immoral science, Agni is notably more redeeming and complex as an organization without a megalomaniacal bastard like Hikawa at the helm.
- Anti-Villain: Discussed. While involved with illegal human experimentation, with many of its employees not being kept under the dark over it, Agni is still a large corporation with people of all different kinds of morals and motivations joining it. As Revi notes, as the company continues to grow larger, she will inevitably be unable to control everyone to her desires. This is why she contemplates soon taking the fruits of its research and finally departing Earth for her endgame.
- Ambition Is Evil: Tsubaki and Ackerman both desire to exploit the alien crisis and Revi's influence to expand US and Japanese influence as a singular world superpower.
- Evil, Inc.: Agni is once again a pharmaceutical empire that performs horrendous human experiments under the cover.
- Evil Pays Better: It's repeatedly mentioned they treat their employees incredibly well, with compensations and a very high salary. Some of its disgruntled workers refuse to quit even under pressure from Birdy due to the pay.
- Fat Bastard: Pencil, doubling with Four Eyes, Zero Soul, works with Shyamalan on militarizing Marionettes. He is also responsible for weaponizing alien technology provided by the Empire remnants.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: In regards to whistleblowers and traitors. They will hunt you down, something not lost upon its general workers even with their cover stories.
- Sinister Schnoz: Ackerman has a comically large nose and is a ruthless Pentagon agent.
Satyajit Shyamalan
Satyajit Shyamalan
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)
- 0% Approval Rating: Unlike his Decode self, his alternate world self in the manga was noted to have very bad PR, in and out of his own company.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: He appears in volume six of Evolution, twenty six volumes late into the manga saga compared to his episode one debut in Decode.
- Adaptational Sexuality: His alternate world self is gay in the manga.
- Adaptational Ugliness: A very downplayed case. In the manga, he is still handsome, but his more withered facial features indicate he is believably Older Than He Looks.
- Alliterative Name: Satyajit Shyamalan
- Arms Dealer: He is behind the production and advancement of Marionettes, selling them to militaries across the globe.
- Ax-Crazy: Even not taking his insane philosophies and motives into account, Shyalaman thoroughly proves to be a deranged man whose polite exterior barely conceals the homicidal monster lurking beneath the shallow surface.
- Big Bad: His alternate self is this of the rebooted manga, and the concept of the character is retroactively this as well for the entire franchise.
- Big Bad Wannabe: In Decode, He falsely believes he's in full control of the Ryunka and wants to use it to reduce humanity to a small amount of "worthy" survivors. He winds up being one of the first victims killed by its rampage at full power.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Good grief. He's an expert at looking like an open, charming, boyish young executive while plotting to wipe out large chunks of the human race. It's telling that when he wants to get Sayaka on his ship and away from Tsutomu all he has to do is tell the two of them that he's there to help and they believe him almost immediately.
- Canon Immigrant: As aforementioned, he debuted in Decode as a major character but eventually found his way into Evolution a while after Decode ended production.
- Child Prodigy: According to his backstory, he was a child prodigy. Naturally, as an adult, he is the CEO of various corporations and lives the high life.
- The Chosen One: Deconstructed with Shyamalan, who is evil precisely because he thinks he's the chosen one in question and the only ones who matter are him and those he considers equally special.
- Composite Character: The basis of his character and role in the story draw significant parallels to both Seichiro and Shogo Hikawa of the OVA and Birdy the Mighty II.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He has twisted a neuroscience company that intended to advance A.I technology for helping humanity into a weapons manufacturer that creates killing machines to fuel conflicts across the globe.
- Creepy Doll: Shyamalan has a collection of them in his office that he enjoys caressing.
- Death by Irony: For all his talk of natural selection and being one of "the Chosen", he ironically ends up not being one of the "chosen ones".
- Dissonant Serenity: Has this down to an art. He once compares his joy at awakening the Ryunka to that of getting a soccer ball as a little boy. And then there's the fact he calmly and politely broadcasts his genocidal speech to the world.
- Demoted to Extra: A notable subversion. While Shyamalan has vastly lesser screentime in Evolution compared to Decode, only appearing in volume six and thirteen (the final volume), the importance of his role there retroactively makes him the true chief antagonist of the Birdy the Mighty universe that includes previous continuities Left Hanging.
- Disproportionate Retribution: His response to a subordinate concerned over his safety is to point a gun at him, claiming he does not need to worry of safety when he is the "chosen one,"
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Shyamalan's treatment of Sayaka when she goes onto his boat seems very much like date rape, considering he first convinces Tsutomu and Sayaka to trust him with Sayaka's safety, and then proceeds to make Sayaka dress as a bride (Capella even points out that if she didn't know better she'd say he was hosting a wedding) and offers her a drink that knocks her out... Made even worse by the fact that Sayaka is in high school, meaning that she'd either be underage or just barely of age.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Whenever the audience get a closeup of his eyes, we see Shyalaman to have these, reflecting his soulless and sociopathic nature
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: His pretty looks hide a monstrously evil, soulless personality.
- False Reassurance: When taking Sayaka into his custody after murdering her grandfather, he claims he'll take care of her to Tsutomu. Given his ominous wording of "cultivating her", his pupils shrinking and him flashing a Slasher Smile, Tsutomu is very disturbed.
- Faux Affably Evil: On the surface, he can present himself as a courteous gentleman with the best interests of humanity in mind, earning him unanimous support from world leaders as a shining example of a human being.
- Fearless Fool: He is completely flippant to danger or even death, believing as the "chosen one" he is destined to survive anything. He is wrong.
- Freudian Excuse: As a child, he was the only person in a gathering of 4000 others to survive a massive terrorist bombing. The news made headlines and he was subsequently taken in as a Child Prodigy, fueling his twisted obsession with social darwinism as an adult
- The Glasses Come Off: Whenever he gets particularly unhinged, he calmly takes off his glasses and typically flashes a Nightmare Face.
- A God Am I: His alternate world self's plan was to exploit the Nakasugi family's neuro research to elevate himself to a god on earth.
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Shyamalan toys with this—he's a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing so his eyes normally look soft, innocent, and cute, but there are a number of instances in which they switch to looking more evil, especially when he removes his glasses.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He is incredibly irritable, which results in him often easily lapsing into a murderous rage.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Tried to control the Ryunka, a weapon capable of killing everything on a planet. He was literally in the same room with a not fully-mature Ryunka while messing with it in his efforts to control it and was one of the first to die in its rampage.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: With the reveal of the alternate universe, its fate, and the nature of the Sanctum Sanctorum, Shyamalan is more monstrous than any other alien or being seen in the franchise, his avaracious desire for power effectively destroying an entire universe.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Shyamalan gives such a speech, but as mentioned, he's a deconstruction.
- Knight Templar: He sincerely believes his plan to wipe out most of humanity to be in its best interests to advance the species forward.
- Laughing Mad: He frequently cackles a deranged laugh when he doesn't have to put on an act of civility.
- Literally Shattered Lives: He is glassed by the Ryunka.
- Mask of Sanity: As aforementioned in Ax-Crazy, Shyamalan is decent in keeping up a mask of politeness, but he's always only one step off flying into a homicidal rage.
- Near-Villain Victory: As it happens, actually does get his hands on the Ryunka and does succeed in awakening it. Too bad he can't control it as well as he thought he could....
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Big time. He is probably the scariest villain in Decode, despite being the only antagonist who's human in a series crawling with alien criminals including a guy with the ability to devour people and absorb their memories and a Serial Killer who murders his enemies so violently he puts even hardened terrorists off! It's even more disturbing because he doesn't look it. At all.
- Off with His Head!: After he's glassed by the Ryunka, his head rolls off his body and shatters on impact, his eyeballs rolling out neatly before melting.
- Older Than They Look: If it's truly the case that he was a casualty of the Six-Day War, as this would place him in his mid-to-late forties (or even as old as fifty) but he looks no older than late twenties or early thirties.
- Pet the Dog: He adopts an infant that solely survived one of Sayaka's initial Ryunka fueled rampages, reasoning they are kindred spirits in being "chosen ones." It's the only genuinely good thing he does on-screen, even if it is twisted by his insane reasonings.
- Properly Paranoid: Shyamalan doesn't trust Capella at all. He has good reason to be paranoid.
- Psychotic Smirk: He frequently flashes these when he's not practicing Dissonant Serenity.
- Race Lift: His original counterpart, Seichiro Hikawa is Japanese, while Shyamalan is Ambiguously Brown.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Sometimes his glasses reflect off as these to emphasize how creepy he actually is.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He is almost always shown wearing expensive tailored suits.
- Slipping a Mickey: To Sayaka. It wasn't alcohol, after all - that would be illegal.
- Smug Snake: As a result of his beliefs and success in life, Shyamalan is incredibly haughty and arrogant. Despite his boasts to Gomez of being the chosen one, he is eventually proven to be out of his depth and not as great as he thinks he is.
- The Chooser of the One: He's the one who chose Sayaka to be the carrier of the Ryunka.
- The Social Darwinist: His philosophy in life is summarized as believing only a fraction of humanity that survives impossible odds to be worthy of life, and that the rest is unworthy and deserves to perish. It's as every bit as insane as it sounds, and it is even lampshaded in-universe as crazy.
- The Sociopath: While Shyamalan does have a sliver empathy for those he believes are like him, he has complete disregard for all other life around him.
- Unwitting Pawn: Ironically, for all his boasts of being the chosen one, it never really occurs to him he's simply being used by his alien benefactors, despite being given the freedom to do what he basically pleases.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Questionable since we don't get to see what he was like as a child, but his mention of being excited to get a soccer ball suggests that if nothing else, he used to be human enough to enjoy normal children's hobbies.
- Villain with Good Publicity: As shown through computer documents about him, he is very well-regarded publicly and recognized by the U.N. and other world leaders as a great man. After his publicized Motive Rant and subsequent murder of millions, he is posthumously villified.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: By the manga's end, we never find out what became of his prime world counterpart.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Shyamalan demonstrates a pretty good understanding of concepts such as The Chosen One and Only the Chosen May Wield, for example, but he lives in a world where they don't apply and his behavior just makes him a bad person.
Robert Woodman (massive spoilers)
Robert Woodman
Sayaka's husband from the alternate universe. A close affiliate and sponsor of Shyamalan, it was Robert who sought out Sayaka's talent overseas. Their relationship was an unloving one, with Sayaka still in love with Tsutomu and Robert emotionally controlling her through her lack of spine. He and Shyamalan eventually ousted her from the company, seizing her research and accidentally ending the world in their reckless desire to expand their power.- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Although Robert presents himself as an unassuming and well-meaning man, it's all an act to hide his ruthless ambitions.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He is very possessive of Sayaka and deeply resents Tsutomu for his relationship with her. It's to a point Sayaka believes Robert has been looking through her emails to see if she's still in touch with him.
- Godhood Seeker: He proclaims to Sayaka with their achivements in scientific fields, they could become gods on earth.
- Gold Digger: Robert claims to Sayaka he has no genuine bond with Shyamalan and is just using him to get rich.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Along with Shyamalan, his heinous experiments laid the groundwork for all the conflict seen in the franchise
- We Can Rule Together: With Sayaka, he implores her to join him and Shyamalan in their unethical research. When she refuses, they kick her out and take everything from her.
The Empire Remnants
Altoros Cid Altera
Altoros Cid Altera the 192th
Click to see him post-recovery
The 192nd generation emperor of a now scattered Altan empire. He is a young man but dying of illness as a result of being the product of a failing cloning process used to produce new heirs with Etania's blood. Altoros forms an alliance with Christella Revi hoping to restore his health. He soon gets his wish when Revi successfully copies his consciousness into a Marionette. Now in a healthy body, Altoros seeks to solve the dilemma of producing a successor.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: To Birdy after learning of her bloodline.
- Affably Evil: Altoros is incredibly polite and graceful to others, even commoners, despite his status as an Imperial prince.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Revi brainwashes him when he wholly opens up to her, making absolutely sure he serves her every need.
- Cyborg: His consciousness copied now inhabits a Marionette while his old self is set to perish.
- Fatal Flaw: His undying trust in Revi, which his advisors even warned against. He is so grateful to her for giving him the life he never had that he even declares her his surrogate mother while professing his loyalty. It never occurs to him Revi could just be using him.
- Heel–Face Brainwashing: Revi's influence on his mind ensures he gives up his ideals of revenge and conquest after a large portion of the Federation is left stranded on Earth.
- Keet: He is a very lively kid once he obtains his new body.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He has some very archaic views, telling Birdy as a "commoner" she has no right to object to his desires. Given he was brought up in an Imperialist dynasty, it makes sense he thinks like this.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Since he's not even capable of intercourse in his Marionette body, he plans to impregnate Birdy through artificial insemination via his old body.
- Revenge: His singular, one-sided goal in life with all his supporters is to get revenge on the Federation. Deconstructed in that this leads him to be easily tricked and exploited by Revi.
- Succession Crisis: Since he was dying, it was a question of who would succeed him with Wyrm being ill fit. The issue is not resolved even after he gained a new body, as his Marionette form is unable to procreate.
Wyrm Tail
Duke Wyrm Tail of Eon
- Affably Evil: He has the personality of a sociable playboy despite more or less being a pirate.
- Ambiguously Evil: While there is something very sinister going on about him, he brings up good points about the corruption of the Federation. His goals, independent of Altoros and his league, are a mystery, but he assures his hostages it doesn't involve revenge or conquest.
- A Man of Wealth and Taste: The interior of his ship is nothing short of exquisite royalty, complete with a lavish garden and expensive food.
- No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Instead of killing or torturing them as they assumed, he treats his new "guests" to the finest food and drink while conversing about himself and his motives.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Obviously not himself since he would be executed, but when questioned about keeping slaves on his ship, he reasons his servants returning to Eon wouldn't bode well for them knowing the persecution and abuse that awaits those that serviced the old Altan empire in any way.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He...just disappears from the plot, as possibly the biggest loose end of Evolution's hurried ending. The only impact he can be said to have on the story is he ensures Tsutomu and Birdy can no longer separate on time. And with the collapse of the Sanctum Sanctorum, it's permanent.
Federation Department of Worship
Sanctum Sanctorum (massive spoilers)
The Powers That Be, Yggdrasil
- Alternate Universe: They come from a universe that was spawned by Shyamalan inadvertently opening a wormhole that tore apart the fabric of reality. From there, they used genetic data left over from the apocalypse to effectively restart life. The same universe that houses the aliens in the galaxy at large eventually discovers the Earth seen in the story through the Sanctum Sanctorum's efforts at interdimensional travel to find their "mother" Sayaka Nakasugi.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They are A.I constructs spawned from Sayaka Nakasugi's research from another reality, her research having been stolen and exploited by Shyamalan to take over the world. Despite their noble intentions of order through their methods in contrast to Shyamalan's intentions, they have caused untold amounts of suffering through cycles of silencing people and even whole races seeking the truth on the origins of their universe.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: They are are huge, towering over all of Japan in their invasion of Earth. That form as well as their general appearance is actually a holographic projection from their real forms as computer terminals.
- A God Am I: As a likely imprint of Shyamalan's ideologies, they constantly assert themselves as gods.
- Flunky Boss: As immovable A.I terminals, they have next to no fighting ability but have hundreds of Berserker androids on standby to defend them. When Birdy and Gomez destroy all of them, they are completely helpless.
- The Evils of Free Will: Their reasoning for everything they do and lording themselves as gods with mortals to their worships is because they believe without free will, sentient life will not repeat the same mistakes of Shyamalan.
- He Knows Too Much: They go to genocidal lengths to ensure no one knows the truth of them or their goals to uphold order.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: At its core, their intentions are genuinely noble, but their methods are not. And their beliefs are at odds with Revi, who believes humanity should adapt to think for itself, regardless of the consequences.
Nechla Geeze
Pontiff Nechla Geeze Altera
Voiced by: Ryōka Yuzuki (Japanese, Decode), Stephanie Young (English)
Click to see her unleashed form
Second Form
Final Form
An Ixorian Inquisitor in the department of worship. She is also a feared assassin and capable detective tasked with the elimination of Christella Revi. Nechla makes recurring appearances throughout the manga as a notable person in Birdy's life, observing her progress with her lover Kashu since childhood. Although she appeared as a tenuous ally to stop the Federal Army's corrupt actions in the Spring Festival arc, she reappears a major antagonist in Evolution.
- Adaptational Jerkass: As a result of Decode never being completed, most of the humanizing elements to Nechla's character from the late volumes of Evolution are not present. On the other hand...
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Nechla's homicidal tendencies are considerably toned down in Decode, and as a result of her backstory not fully being incorporated, she is more socially adjusted and mentally sound.
- Alas, Poor Villain: In the end, Nechla wasn't willingly evil in almost anything she did and finally finds peace in death after murdering her lover. The grief of killing her sends Birdy into mental shock.
- Aloof Ally: In the instances she helps Birdy, Nechla is very distant and makes it clear she's on her own business.
- Ambiguously Evil: A constant of her character. She is working for the Sanctum Sanctorum but repeatedly shows in privacy that she disdains them and finds sermons tiring. Nechla also demonstrates plenty of noble traits, stopping the Federal Army's actions of her own volition and having amicable relationships with the Altan Refugee Network, stating she has no reason to harm them unless her superiors demanded it. This is a central focus of her character in the ninth volume, where her amnesiac state reveals Nechla was effectively indoctrinated into a cult and what Birdy could have become without loving support in her childhood.
- Attack Hello: In a much less friendly way than Skelezzo. She greets Birdy on Earth by launching a volley of needles at her, stating she was just testing her reflexes when she gets mad over it.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Like Birdy before her, the angrier she gets in her brainwashed state, she turns into a kaiju-like monstrositiy of pure bio energy.
- Bait the Dog: Nechla introduces herself to Birdy on Earth attacking her with seemingly lethal intent, then seems to be intent on killing Tsutomu's dad when he notices them. When Birdy questions what the hell her problem is, she claims she was just planning on putting him to "sleep." All this gives the impression Nechla is as Ax-Crazy as Capella. As we later learn, her weapons are capable of inducing sleep without serious harm and Nechla is thoroughly a Noble Demon.
- Badass in Distress: With Birdy, she spends most of volume eight as a captive of Revi.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Her conscience is literally split into two personalities fighting for control after her brainwashing.
- Big "NO!": When Gomez decides to give her brain damage instead of killing her.
- Black Eyes of Evil: The further her mental state deteriorates under the Sanctum Sanctorum's brainwashing, her eyes turn completely black with slitted pupils.
- Boyish Short Hair: She has short white hair.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Sanctum Sanctorum's mental conditioning of Nechla triggers when her faith completely wavers, brainwashing her back onto the path of her original objective of killing Christella Revi.
- Bullying a Dragon: When Gomez is faced with the dilemma of killing Nechla against Birdy and Chigira's pleas, as she may reveal his deception to Revi in interrogation, she endlessly ridicules him over the possibility. To be fair, she doesn't care about her life and tells him to hurry up and kill her already.
- Dark Action Girl: She perfectly contrasts Birdy, being a cold-blooded assassin for a malevolent department.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She was indoctrinated into worshipping the Sanctum Sanctorum since childhood and envied the carefree life Birdy lived. When her faith began to waver, Nechla was severely punished and made to beg for forgiveness so she does not suffer the same fate as Maxwell Peridan. Her role was promptly repurposed into that of an assassin for her masters, being told killing "heretics" is the only way she could attain "redemption." After all that, it's no surprise Nechla is so screwed up deep down.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: Needles carved from her bio armor are capable of penetrating through the bio armor of other living organisms. Although obviously fatal should she aim for a vital or the head, they induce paralysis or sleep upon hitting non-vitals.
- Death Seeker: Begs Kashu to kill her in a moment of lucidity as she's fighting for control of her mind. After killing Kashu, she feigns cruelty so Birdy absolutely kills her, and she gets her wish.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: When Kashu introduced himself to Nechla, she was mechanical in nature and found him a nuisance. Over time, his kindness grew on her and they became lovers. In regards to Birdy, although she maintains an unfriendly to hostile relationship with her throughout most of the story, she genuinely warms up to her during their escape from Revi in volume nine.
- Demoted to Extra: Played With. Although she does play a slightly lesser role in Decode, it's not by much to her role in the first half of the manga. The anime was Cut Short around where Nechla would have received major focus, and the closing scene emphasizes a buildup to the events of Evolution.
- Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it after instinctively murdering Kashu. She hardens her heart to ensure Birdy does not hesitate in killing her.
- The Dreaded: Birdy pleads with Revi to surrender on meeting her, fearing Nechla and saying she has no hope of surviving if she gets to her.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Post-brain damage, she has these in her vegetive state.
- Eldritch Abomination: Her terrifying form unleashed during her brainwashed rampage. Birdy fearfully even expresses Nechla is no longer anything resembling a humanoid. After Kashu removes the head of this form, it even further devolves into literally looking like an eldritch monster.
- Emotionless Girl: As a result of her horrible upbringing, Nechla expresses she cannot feel emotions like normal people do. Only Kashu brings out feelings of love and empathy in her.
- Fate Worse than Death: What she views happening to her if she failed in her mission to capture or kill Revi, and thus she goads Gomez into killing her. Unfortunately, Gomez is aware of this as well and gives her brain damage over killing her, citing it's more fitting for her to live with the shame.
- Forbidden Love: Her love for Kashu is viewed as this by her superiors, and they believe he leads her astray. As a result, Nechla and Kashu are frequently spied upon. They are also only allowed to continue their relationship if Nechla continues to perform her duties as an assassin.
- Forced into Evil: As we learn more about Nechla's past, it's clear she is what Birdy would have become without the love of people like Violin and Megius: A slave to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Get It Over With: Goads Gomez to simply kill her instead of considering sparing her.
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: Her first time with Kashu was this, being overwhelmed by the influx of emotions, namely love, after living her life up to then as a machine.
- Glass Cannon: Her needle weapons are produced from her bio armor, tiring her out to produce too many of them as well as leaving openings in her natural defenses. In extended fights, Nechla can easily get worn down and she tries to end them as soon as possible.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Intends on defecting from the department of worship and running off with Kashu, but the sanctum's mental conditioning on her turns Nechla into a mindless slave solely dedicated to her objective of killing Revi.
- I Die Free: As she's dying, Nechla makes peace with her split consciousness, embracing her and saying they will finally depart to a world free of pain.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Birdy impales her with her arm then uses Crash, killing Nechla.
- Kill the Ones You Love: She can't help herself and murders Kashu in his attempts to reason with her.
- Ms. Fanservice: She is tall, busty, and her outfits often leave nothing to the imagination. She is also one of the few characters seen on-screen having sex and spends most of volume eight naked in a healing tank with Birdy.
- Noble Demon: She is definitely this compared to others in the department of worship, always wanting to avoid as many casualties as possible and having no real faith in her superiors.
- Not Afraid to Die: Completely flippant at the prospect of death.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: She tells Birdy her assassination of Revi is not involved with the police or out of any personal moral obligation. His masters told her to kill Revi, and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Not So Above It All: Nechla demonstrates a comedic side in front of Birdy when she threatens she'll beat up Kashu for not coming to her rescue, exasperating Birdy.
- Identity Amnesia: After Gomez gives her brain damage, her mind regresses to a child-like state.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Nechla has no interest in any genuine worship to the Sanctum Sanctorum, and off duty is a relatively normal person.
- She's Back: Eventually pieces back her mind from her brain-damaged state. Sadly, it does not last.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In Decode.
- The Stoic: Comes with being an Emotionless Girl and cold-blooded assassin.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Invoked. Nechla acts callous over Kashu's death and goads Birdy with evil rhetoric, only so she will clear her mind of doubt and end her life.
- Stripperific: Whether formal or casual, outside of her robes, her outfits leave little to the imagination.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She's not exactly fond of Birdy and vice versa. However, they irregularly find each other in times of crisis and are forced to cooperate to stay alive.
- Unstoppable Rage: Nothing will stop her from killing Revi in her brainwashed state, and she will trample over everything, including her lover.
- Weak, but Skilled: By her own admittance, she is nowhere near as strong or durable as Birdy, but believes she is more refined in her fighting style.
- The Worf Effect: Although Nechla is practically unstoppable during her assault on Revi's HQ, even easily defeating Birdy, she is completely outmatched when faced with Gomez.
Mace
Bishop Mace
- 0% Approval Rating: Despite his high standing and how conscious he is of his authority, none of his subordinates on-screen are shown to respect him, only fearing the trouble he might cause. Nechla even subverts his leadership by doing her job her own way.
- Ascended Extra: Originally debuting in Decode as a nameless pontiff overseeing an operation to control the Ryunka situation on Earth, the character was imported to Evolution with a name, defined personality, and motives.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Originally, he was just a callous one-note character that didn't care for the destruction of Earth so long as he got rid of the Ryunka. In Evolution, his personality is expanded to that of a twitchy coward obsessed with his authority and power.
- Asshole Victim: He gets his brains blown out by one of his subordinates in the middle of ranting over a justification for nuking Earth again.
- The Corrupter: Flashbacks to Nechla's childhood also illustrate Mace was in charge of indoctrinating her into worship of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Death by Adaptation: Neither he or his entire ship are taken out in Decode.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He attempts to nuke Earth because, in his twisted mind, Nechla undermined his authority and made a fool of him. Mace would compromise all the Federation stands for just so he can kill Nechla through using their mission of killing Revi as justification.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Inverted. When he fires the first orbital laser down upon Earth, his subordinates are left absolutely stunned while Mace is indifferent until he realizes he missed. When he attempts it again, his crew kills him to salvage the diplomatic crisis on Earth.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He has a very deep, booming voice in the anime.
- Entitled Bastard: He's very touchy about his authority, repeatedly asserting his role as leader to force his workers into doing his bidding.
- General Failure: He demonstrates to be a lousy commander in chief and Nechla undermines his authority fearing his incompetence.
- Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: He points his finger this way when bossing others around.
- In the Hood: We never get a look at his face, only his eyes.
- It's All About Me: Everything he does is to improve or preserve his position of power. His planned second bombing of Earth is out of desperation to finish Revi so he can save face with his superiors and not get demoted for his initial screwup.
- Lean and Mean: Although he spends most of his time sitting on his throne, when he gets up, he shows himself to be very lean and hunched over.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: He's halfway through a rant before one of his men has enough and shoots him in the head.
- Motive Rant: He explodes into these when his subordinates question him, raving about their duties to their gods, how they must "avenge" Nechla, and so on.
- Nervous Wreck: After his initial bombardment on Earth misses thanks to Gomez's intervention, he spends his remaining screentime as a stuttering wreck, knowing how screwed he is when the Federation gets word of what he did.
- Pretty Little Head Shots: Averted. The blaster shot goes right through his left eye and splatters his brains all over his throne.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't last long, but his actions make Earth's military forces recognize the Federation as a hostile force, kickstarting the war arc. There's also the fact Mace is why Nechla is the way she is now.
The Federal Army
Capella Titus
Capella Titus
Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese, Decode), Trina Nishimura (English)
- Adaptational Comic Relief: In Decode 02. Due to her involvement in the Ryunka disaster, Capella goes into hiding on Earth through Irma's network. There, she fumbles around trying to adjust to a new life as a cosplaying maid.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Capella makes a silent cameo in episode one of Decode, already on Earth. In the manga, she appears sometime after Birdy's suspension following Tsutomu's body death.
- Adaptational Karma: Unlike her manga self, Capella in Decode is eventually arrested and set for a trial.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Capella is still a thoroughly unpleasant person in Decode, but she displays traits of being a Tsundere and could later be described as cute, something that cannot be said for her original character. Her homicidal tendencies and sadism are also massively toned down.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Although some aspects of her character remain intact, Capella is otherwise an almost completely different person in Decode: she is capable of empathy, being humored, and void of the extreme sadism and bloodlust that defines her manga counterpart.
- An Arm and a Leg: Salamander disintegrates her left arm in a skirmish.
- Ax-Crazy: A deranged, merciless woman who prefers violence to diplomacy. She also thoroughly enjoys killing and torture.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Shyamalan in the first season of Decode. Although their alliance is tenous at best, she provides him with leads on the lost Ryunka and encourages him to unleash it so she can justify placing Earth under Federation jurisdiction.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Her prominent caterpillar brows are a notable part of her look.
- Blood Knight: Capella enjoys combat and takes pride in her record of not being injured in battle.
- The Bus Came Back: Near the end of the first half of the manga, Capella returns to Earth after fully healing her previous injuries.
- Child Soldiers: Birdy assumed early on Capella was this due to her appearance and personality, but it's subverted when it's revealed Capella is older than her.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: A huge fan of this, especially in regards to her interrogations, to the point she's been involved in scandals about this.
- Corrupt Cop: Capella has great influence among extremists in the internal affairs department, which allowed her to escape justice for past scandals involving crimes against life.
- The Corrupter: In Decode, she brings out the worst in both Shyamalan and the Ryunka in Sayaka to advance her own agendas.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers one to Shanfa during her pursuit of leads on Christella Revi.
- Cute and Psycho: Birdy admits Capella at least looks cute when she isn't exhibiting her psychotic personality.
- Deadpan Snarker: Capella is very sharp-tongued in an unpleasant way.
- Demoted to Extra: Although she is not a minor character and her role parallels some significant aspects of her manga incarnation, Capella's diminished presence in Decode 02 ultimately makes her this compared to the significance of her other self to the broader narrative.
- Destructive Savior: She has absolutely no regard for collateral damage, setting off many building explosions during her time on Earth, something that spurs Gomez into action. This trope is later subverted when the audience learns Capella has no good intentions on Earth at all, so the "savior" bit is nixed entirely.
- Don't Make Me Destroy You: Implores Birdy to join the Federal Army's cause after she returns to Earth, as a fellow Ixorian. She makes it clear, though, if she stands in her way, she will kill her even if she would prefer not to.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: She is not on friendly terms with either Tsutomu or Birdy, but helps herself to the former's house food when staying over. He even lampshades that some of it is meant to be his breakfast.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the manga, Capella presents herself to Birdy as an unassuming little girl with a light sarcastic streak. After sending her off and taking custody of some criminals she detained, Birdy discusses her profile with Megius, who nervously relays her history of being involved with scandals of horrific police brutality. Birdy is outraged at how she was allowed on Earth, and the page cuts to a shot showing Capella dismembered and hung her captives, sporting a massive Slasher Smile at the sight.
- Evil Counterpart: She's Birdy if she had no scruples about murder or even a conscience.
- Evil Redhead: Has red hair and is a sadistic monster of a police officer.
- False Friend: Claims she is nothing but supportive of Shyamalan and only wants to be his friend, but it's made painstakingly obvious she is only using him. He doesn't trust her at all, either.
- False Reassurance: When she arrives on Earth, she tells Birdy she'll "take care" of some criminals she detained and to go rest. What Capella did after Birdy left was torture the criminals to death while interrogating them.
- Fan Disservice: She's shown naked when about to hibernate in her restoration pod, but she is severely scarred from burns and has a melted stump of an arm from Salamandel's attack.
- Faux Affably Evil: Her polite and professional manner of conducting herself is lipservice hiding the sadistic monster underneath the surface.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: While the other Federation officers on Earth can at least work with one another and don't mind each other all that much, none of them particularly like Capella, viewing her with a degree of contempt at best. Birdy even complains to Megius about how he could let someone like her loose on Earth, but he informs Birdy he has little authority to control her actions.
- Hate Sink: Unlike her Decode self, the original incarnation of Capella has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and her depravity knows absolutely no bounds.
- Hidden Depths: Despite her thuggish and homicidal demeanor, Capella is an expert in political warfare. Even without her shady connections, she exploits various technicalities and loopholes around the situation on Earth to justify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in giving her a ride back.
- Karma Houdini: She goes into hiding on Earth at the manga's end, with Megius lamenting it is difficult to arrest her with the remnants of the army shielding her from prosecution.
- There Was a Door: Often makes her entrance through blowing up a wall than opening a door.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: When she reappears after healing up to her injuries against Salamander, her arm has grown back, but one side of her face is permanently scarred from burn damage.
- Kick the Dog: In her confrontation with Shanfa and Chigira, she concludes Chigira poses no threat to her, given that he is terrified out of his wits and crying. However, she tries to kill him anyway reasoning she can't let him loose on the populace in his monstrous state.
- Jerkass: Her penchant for violence notwithstanding, Capella is quite a mean-spirited bitch and consequently earns the ire of her colleagues on Earth.
- Just Following Orders: Exclaims she was strictly on orders to instigate the Akrabar disaster, and that ever questioning the "why" of it is a death sentence. She places all the blame on Revi for putting her into that role in the first place instead.
- Knight Templar: When justifying her methods to Birdy, Capella claims everything she does is supposedly in the name of upholding order in the galaxy. This is a complete lie.
- Hair Antennae: She has a couple of locks of hair sticking up in this fashion.
- Meido: Her cover while hiding on Earth in Decode 02.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite her child-like height and build, she is monstrously strong and durable just like Birdy.
- Older Than They Look: She's several cycles older than Birdy, much to her shock since she assumed she was a child.
- Omnicidal Maniac: When she returns to Earth, she exclaims she is determined to reduce it to "a sea of hellfire."
- Put on a Bus: After suffering serious injuries to Salamander, Capella leaves Earth to heal her wounds. Much later on, not long after Hikawa is killed, she reappears to Birdy on comms and resumes duty.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Kashu's blue, being a homicidal psychopath with no regard for legal police procedure.
- Sadist: She loves the pain she inflicts on her targets.
- Slasher Smile: Whenever she's about to get in on some serious action (i.e, torture), she sports a wide grin with bared teeth.
- The Sociopath: Capella is extraordinarily cruel and has no quarter for mercy or compassion. Subverted in Decode, where she mellows out and comes to genuinely like Irma.
- Stripperific: Like other female Ixorian agents, her bio suit is this, but its Decode design in particular leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination.
- Super-Strength: Capella is an Ixorian Altan, meaning she is just as powerful as Birdy.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Like Kidel, she uses a legal technicality to use Tsutomu's house as shelter late into the story. Unlike him, her presence deeply disturb Birdy and Tsutomu.
- Too Dumb to Live: Downplayed. She knows Birdy's By-the-Book Cop nature means she wouldn't try anything, but Capella during her stay at Tsutomu's home needlessly antagonizes her at every turn, up to bragging about murder. As Birdy later demonstrates, she could easily kill her in her sleep, and had it been someone less kind, they would have likely done it.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of all the Federation agents sent to Earth, Capella is by far the most malicious and poses a genuine threat to national security.
- Torture Technician: Regardless of whether she gets any results, Capella is a creative torturer, making the most macabre displays of her victims to demoralize other criminals. She's also skilled in Mind Rape, as evident by her mental interrogation of one criminal.
- Wham Line: This chilling exchange:Birdy: No, I don't think Revi was behind Akrabar. There are key witnesses to testify.Capella: Hmmm. Since there are no mice around, let me tell you something good...Capella: THAT WAS ME. I DID IT.
- Would Hurt a Child: While it's unknown if she knows or cares if he is one, she attempts to kill Chigira, mainly viewing the threat he poses to others in his monstrous state.
Post-timeskip
After fully recovering from her injuries, Capella steadily makes recurring appearances in Evolution, regularly butting in on the diplomatic discussions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Capella's true allegiances are revealed to be with the Federal Army, still scheming to take after Neith's failures and launch a violent invasion of Earth to place it under Federation control. As a result of her actions in mobilizing a military conflict and her allegiances, as well as a pivotal role in the Akrabar disasternote , she is ultimately revealed to be one of the main antagonists of the overall manga saga. Neith
Neith Washgam
- Asshole Victim: While she was thoroughly provoked into acting out of line for a propaganda piece, it's hard to feel bad for her knowing she is a vicious war criminal and Torture Technician herself.
- Ax-Crazy: Derives intense borderline sexual pleasure from the suffering of others, as demonstrated by her abuse of poor Kred.
- Back for the Dead: Makes a brief but significant reappearance after the time skip, where it's shown the JSDF caught and interrogated her. After killing one of her captors, she is shot down.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Her favorite hobby. As the observing sailors note, she doesn't care about getting information as much as she gets her kicks from the interrogation process.
- Dirty Coward: When facing arrest from Birdy for her crimes, she aims for Tsutomu's friends with incendiary ammunition to distract her. Before making her escape, Neith also opts to destroy the entire ship to prevent pursuit, killing everyone on board except Birdy, Nechla, and Tsutomu's friends.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Neith, who gets her kicks off torture, and was specifically torturing Kred and his friends in an illegal interrogation pre-time skip, appears after the time skip brutalized in an unethical interrogation.
- Karmic Death: It doesn't get much more karmic for a war criminal infamous for torture to die an unceromonious death after being tortured herself.
- Lack of Empathy: When the crewmen of the ship plead with Neith to not leave them behind as she's making her escape, she furiously states they all deserve to die with Birdy for being unable to control the situation.
- Naked on Arrival: When she arrives on Earth. She steals some clothes not long after.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Has precious minimal screentime in after the timeskip, but her death is the catalyst Capella uses to justify the Federation's invasion of Earth.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Neith is infamous for the widespread torture of prisoners of war during her days as a soldier.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Realizing she has no chance in combat against Birdy, she opts to destroy the ship they're stationed on, raids the armory, then flees for parts unknown. She is marked as a dangerous fugitive by the Federation not long after.
