Bacillus
Bacillus
Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese), Chris Ayres (English)
As Goro Nagase.
A highly wanted parasitic, slime-like alien criminal. In all iterations of the story, he steps up to take down Birdy Cephon after Geega's defeat but is quickly defeated. He has a slightly more expanded role and character in the rebooted manga.
- Adaptational Badass: He is a far more tenacious foe to Birdy in the remake manga, surviving multiple encounters and serving as a recurring threat.
- Adaptational Distillation: In Birdy the Mighty II, one of the earliest arcs features Bacillus as an Arc Villain and centers on his gradual descent into total insanity. In Decode, he is simply introduced the way he is by the end of that arc with no buildup.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Bacillus is a far more cunning character in the remake manga than he is in any other continuity. Even in his descent to further insanity, he is capable of planning and keeping a loose grip of his mind, something his Decode incarnation doesn't have the ability to do.
- Adaptational Villainy: Although Bacillus is largely the same bad guy in every continuity, he has a considerably higher on-screen body count in the remake manga. Coupled with his greater intelligence and higher capacity for premeditated cruelty, it makes this incarnation of Bacillus the most malignant of them all.
- Ax-Crazy: Birdy and Revi surmise that Bacillus grows more insane with each body he takes, his psyche simply being unable to handle the overflow of memories. He eventually completely loses it.
- Axes at School: Eventually, Bacillus simply decides to walk up to Tsutomu's school with a revolver on hand under the guise of Goro, indiscriminately shooting up enough people hoping to draw Birdy out.
- Aliens Are Bastards: He's a slime-like alien that assimilates other lifeforms.
- Appendage Assimilation: All slime monsters can do this. He even does it to Geega in Decode.
- Asshole Victim: He is abruptly incinerated by either Gomez or Salamander at the height of the carnage he causes at Tsutomu's school.
- Blackmail: He threatens to murder Gomez's wife and daughter if he doesn't comply with helping him locate Birdy.
- Blob Monster: Bacillus is a green slime monster that can assimilate any living creature, including dogs, people, and in Decode, Geega.
- Body Horror: Bacillus is an oozing parasite that bonds and kills the host, then moves on to another. In the OVA, he bonds himself to several dogs at once before getting repelled by dish soap, then bonds himself to some Arkazoids that Birdy took out seconds earlier. In Decode, his then-current host falls apart, then moved to Geega, who also falls apart as his flesh seems to be literally melting.
- Combat Tentacles: Bacillus uses these in fighting Birdy.
- Cop Killer: He murders detective Goro Nagase for his body. Later, when Goro's team suspects he's acting strangely, Bacillus butchers them all on the spot.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the original and rebooted manga, he is incinerated to death by either Gomez or Salamander when he goes out of control. In the OVA and Decode, he is killed by Birdy.
- Face Stealer: He takes a form by consuming the host.
- Flanderization: He's always batshit insane in every depiction, but even in continuities besides the remake manga, Bacillus demonstrates a little cunning. In Decode, he is introduced as already completely insane and is almost animalistic in nature.
- Human Disguise: He settles for a human form after cycling through animals, killing detective Goro Nagase for his body. Although considering Bacillus is behind a string of mysterious human deaths in the suburbs, Goro isn't the first victim.
- It's All About Me: Gomez describes Bacillus as an intensely selfish individual that puts his own interests above everything else.
- Knight of Cerebus: The point in which Bacillus shows up in every continuity after Geega always marks a more serious turn of events considering the greater threat he poses. However, he truly takes this up in the Seinen reboot, being the first villain to demonstrate how darker the manga is by gruesomely murdering innocents on-screen and stirring mass panic.
- Moral Myopia: As he's dying, he curses Gomez in complete disbelief of how he could "betray" him. Not too long ago, Bacillus threatened to murder his family and betrayed Revi. Granted, he is completely insane by this point...
- Logical Weakness: He is a mucus-like parasite. Fire kills him instantly.
- Possession Burnout: Bacillus's possession causes the body to decay, forcing him to find another host. Although Revi was working on an artificial body for him, he goes off the deep end in wanting Birdy's body instead.
- Small Role, Big Impact: While Bacillus really doesn't accomplish much of anything, his atrocities set most of Birdy the Mighty II's plot in motion by injuring Chigira and him subsequently being transferred over to Hikawa's hospital. Also, his actions set the police and Natsumi on leads of discovering Tsutomu's condition and ties to Birdy very late into the story
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Gomez and Revi conclude Bacillus is no longer possible to control after he threatens the former. Salamander is dispatched to kill him.
- Villainous Breakdown: He completely loses what's left of his mind when Salamandel sets him on fire, repeatedly screaming Gomez's name in impotent fury.
- Would Hurt a Child: He tries to take over Natsumi in his first fight with Birdy as a mere slime, almost succeeding. Later on, he starts shooting up Tsutomu's school, only keeping it restrained to save enough bullets for his confrontation with Birdy.
Geega
Geega
Voiced by: Atsushi Ono (Japanese), John Swasey (English)
- Adaptational Badass: In the original manga, he had no fighting ability whatsoever. In every version since he demonstrates enough ability to defend himself competently. However, most notably, he is by far the most badass in Decode, being biologically enhanced enough to fight on even footing with Birdy.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: He sports one of these in Decode, enhanced to penetrate Birdy's bio armor.
- Death by Adaptation: He is captured by Birdy in the original manga and OVA. He dies one way or another in every other continuity.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In Birdy the Mighty II, he is assassinated by Salamander when cornered by Birdy. In Decode, Bacillus devours him when he completely loses his sanity.
- He Knows Too Much: In the rebooted manga, Gomez has Geega assassinated when he faces imminent capture by Birdy.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He never lasts long, but he's the reason Birdy accidentally kills Tsutomu. What he smuggles into earth based on the continuity (Spirits, the Ryunka) also enable the major antagonist's plans.
- Starter Villain: He is always one of the first two characters introduced next to Birdy.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Geega is always either captured or killed not too long after his introduction. He lasts the longest in the remake manga, but not by much.
The Oni
The Oni
Click to see it weaponized
The Arita Family is famous for more than the quality of their hot springs. An Urban Legend circling around the family is their ancestors slew an Oni, and the Aritas monetize this myth by displaying trinkets belonging to the Oni. In truth, the Oni is in fact a biological Robot Soldier the Arita royalty brought with them fleeing Alta. While the old guard tried to power it up, they failed and left it to rot under where the modern Arita inn is built today. When some sensationalist TV reporters sneak around the inn, they accidentally discover it and have the great idea to fiddle with it until it springs to life.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Despite its biological body, it is by all accounts a robot in Altan terms. Having long lost its purpose and having no directives, all it can do now is destroy everything around it.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Its artificial heart is its only weak point.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When it reappears to fight Gnome for Undine, it completely decimates the Marionette.
- It Can Think: To a degree. While it is for the most part a mindless engine of destruction, it can adapt to combat tactics. When Birdy fends it off the first time, it seeks out its armory (the Arita "trinkets") before re-engaging her.
- Post-Final Boss: The epitome of this. It is the last major foe Birdy faces in the first half of the remake manga. While it is very tough and strong, it is not as tough as Hikawa, and its plot relevance is ultimately very minimal.
- Reforged into a Minion: It makes a surprising reappearance in Evolution as Agata's reforged bodyguard, armor and all. It proceeds to lay a can of ass-kicking on Gnome.
- Robot Soldier: Its purpose in the Altan empire.
Kinzel Hower
"Cannibal" Kinzel Hower
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)
:
A notorious galactic terrorist, whose claim to infamy comes from previously razing the planet of Eon. Hower originally debuted in the one-shot special King of the Labyrinth, which was created to celebrate the release of the OVA. His story was repurposed into an episode of Decode and he also appears in Evolution, already imprisoned, illustrating the events of the other continuities can be taken as Broad Strokes to the rebooted manga's timeline.- Adaptational Dumbass: In Decode, Skelezzo describes him as a psuedo-intellectual, and he fittingly demonstrates to be a Smug Snake that thinks he's smarter than he really is. In the manga, he is a Hannibal Lecter-like criminal that Megius consults for advice.
- Colony Drop: His plan is to drop an inactive satellite right on top of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He cannibalized his victims on Eon, which is where his title comes from.
- Insufferable Genius: Kinzel loves to brag about his intelligence and college degrees.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Kinzel wants to destroy the Sanctum Sanctorum because he feels they're wasting people's tax money. He is right there, but doesn't know how much worse it actually is with them.
- Sadist: He salivates at relaying the tragic story of Revi and the Akrabar disaster.
- Smug Snake: Only in Decode, where he's not as smart as he thinks he is.
The Alliance
The Holy Interstellar Alliance of Aryuku, The Union
The other major political body of the galaxy, fiercely opposed to the Federation. While they play a significant background role to the backstory and political wars of the Federation, their members seldom appear in the story proper. Some of their on-screen major actions include financing Kinzel Hower's plot to destroy the Sanctum Sanctorum, as well as forming a very tenous alliance with Christella Revi in smuggling Spirits grass to Earth, making them effectively responsible for kickstarting the plot of Birdy the Mighty II. Seichiro Hikawa
Voiced by: Osamu Ichikawa (Japanese), Ted Lewis (English)
- Adapted Out: Unlike the remake manga, Decode does not feature the character of Seichiro Hikawa even under a different name. He is instead replaced by Satyajit Shyamalan, who is a considerably different character despite filling in for Hikawa.
- Ax-Crazy: He is evidently insane, but it is truly cemented when he tries to annihilate all of Japan even knowing subconsciously his plan is doomed to fail.
- Breath Weapon: After he's mutated, he is capable of launching a psychic laser from his mouth.
- Canon Immigrant: Sort of. He was created for the OVA and while he never appeared in the original manga, he was imported when the remake manga began — as two different people (albeit as grandfather and grandson). Or so it seems.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: He bulks himself up when facing Birdy, being more than a match for her afterward. Not long into the fight, however, his body literally falls apart and he's reduced to a shriveled mutant with moderately improved psychic powers.
- Fantastic Racism: He openly views Azkazoids (Marionettes in Decode and the remake manga) with contempt, and he even disparages the death and nature of Undine in front of Salamander — her brother.
- Mind over Matter: One of the abilities his experiments granted his subjects (as mentioned below himself included) was telekinesis.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: His backstory, motives, and character draw disturbing parallels with the real Unit 731 and ShirÅ Ishii.
- Older Than They Look: His experiments on himself have physically de-aged him back to his prime. After his death fighting Birdy, his corpse reverts to its true age.
- Professor Guinea Pig: One of his test subjects after hooking up with Revi was himself, giving him restored youth, superhuman strength, and telekinesis. It also starts to deform him after a while.
- Single Tear: We see him shed one of these in a flashback to when Revi met him.
- Smug Snake: He acts like he's better than he is in front of others when subconsciously he knows his research is flawed.
- Super-Soldier: His initial experiments in the Imperial Army were to this end, as are his experiments for Revi.
- Super-Strength: Not only was he able to go toe-to-toe with Birdy, he at one point chucks her into a wall like a ragdoll.
