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Characters / Black Torch

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Characters of Black Torch:

Bureau of Espionage/Oniwaban

Established in the Edo period, the Bureau of Espionage deals with domestic and foreign threats to Japan. Originally, the BoE handled mononoke-related problems, but very few members have anything to do with mononoke in modern times.

    Black Torch 

A new team under the supervision of the Onmitsu, the branch of the BoE dedicated to fighting mononoke. Created by Ryousuke Shiba, Black Torch is an experimental investigation team specializing in mononoke-related incidents.

  • Freudian Trio: The three field agents:
    • The Id: Jirou. He's by far the most emotionally-driven member. He relies on instinct rather than planning, but still manages to be an effective fighter.
    • The Superego: Reiji. Logical and intellectual, he acts on facts instead of emotion. He easily parses important information from his surroundings and uses it to create a plan of attack.
    • The Ego: Ichika. She can be hot-headed (especially when dealing with Jirou), but is usually calm and direct in her actions. She's the middle-ground between Jirou and Reiji in personality.
  • Hunter of Monsters: They investigate incidents regarding mononoke and slay the perpetrators as necessary.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: None of the field agents get along initially. Jirou butts heads with Ichika and Reiji, Ragou doesn't trust any of them, and Shiba could care less about any of this.

Jirou Azuma

The main character. Born with the ability to speak to animals and trained in the ninja arts, Jirou regularly picked fights with people that abused animals. One day, he happens upon an injured cat in the woods. He soon discovers that the cat is actually a powerful mononoke named Ragou. The two end up fusing into one being, becoming the first human-mononoke hybrid.

  • All the Other Reindeer: As a child, he got into fights with other kids regularly because they made fun of his ability to talk to animals.
  • Audience Surrogate: Jirou is completely new to the hidden world of the Oniwaban and mononoke, so he needs things explained to him (which also explains stuff to the audience).
  • Book Dumb: Doesn't really know anything academic and isn't really interested in learning.
  • Determinator: Never gives up, not even when he's on the verge of death.
  • Foil: To Reiji. Jirou is a rough-and-tumble guy with messy hair and a bad attitude. He's also been kept in the dark about the Oniwaban and mononoke his whole life, despite being trained in ninja techniques. Reiji is a calm, intelligent Chivalrous Pervert with neat hair. He's been trained to take part in the Oniwaban since childhood.
  • Friend to All Living Things: He'll help any animal, no matter what. He regularly got into fights with people that hurt animals, even before acquiring Ragou.
  • Hot-Blooded: Easily riled up and prone to punching-first-and-asking-questions-never.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Gets a huge hole through his heart from a mononoke. Ragou heals him by fusing with him.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Planning is not something that Jirou does. He tends to leap into action fists-first without bothering with a plan.
  • Living MacGuffin: Mononoke are after him due to his connection to Ragou. They need Jirou to survive until they can figure out how to unfuse the two, but that doesn't mean that they have to be nice about it.
  • Parental Substitute: He was raised by his grandpa and his gramp's dog, Nachi.
  • Power Incontinence: Has great difficulty controlling Rago's power without the help of his partner.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Reiji's Blue.
  • Rookie Male, Experienced Female: The rookie to Ichika's experienced agent.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: He can talk to animals, although how or why he has this ability is not explained.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Snipes at and teases Ragou, who in turn snarks at Jirou. They get along pretty well despite that, with Jirou considering Ragou his partner.
    • He also has this relationship with his grandpa. Although they fight frequently and address each other rudely, they both seem to care deeply for each other.

Ragou

At first glance, he looks like a black cat with a sun-like marking on his back. Ragou is in fact a very powerful mononoke that was sealed away until someone woke him up. He saves Jirou's life by fusing with the boy, becoming Jirou's new partner and literal headmate.

  • Cats Are Mean: Ragou doesn't pull any punches in his jibes about Jirou's intelligence.
  • Cats Are Snarky: He really likes to snark at anything and everything.
  • Head Pet: Often pops up on Jirou's head when he wants to interact with the outside world.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Really just wants to be left alone. Unfortunately, he's a Living MacGuffin with amnesia and he nearly dies in the beginning after being overwhelmed by other mononoke.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Remains standoffish and sarcastic even to those that he likes. He saves Jirou's life even though he doesn't know the boy very well. He also goes berserk after Amagi slaughters the boy and the village that he watched over.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Doesn't remember much initially after waking up. He has no idea who is after him or why they want him so badly.
  • MacGuffin Super-Person: As one of the most powerful mononoke, everyone and their grandma wants their hands on him.
  • Not in This for Your Revolution: Doesn't care about the feud between humans and mononoke, or about Amagi's plans of world domination. Ragou just wants to be left alone.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: When sufficiently angry, Ragou can destroy huge entire towns and huge swathes of forest with ease. This makes him very valuable to mononoke and very dangerous to humans.
  • Sealed Badass in a Can: Sealed himself away centuries ago. Now Jirou functions as the can.

Ichika Kishimojin

An experienced member of the Oniwaban, Ichika has been aware of the hidden world of mononoke since she was a child.

  • Action Girl: She's a skilled and experienced fighter.
  • Ankle Drag: How Ichika got an unconscious Jirou into the transport vehicle.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Ichika's mom was killed in battle when Ichika was a child. She was also subjected to the doubts and misgivings of others who questioned whether a girl could be a suitable successor or not. Ichika eventually found out that her mom was still alive, but turned to stone by a mononoke. Her dad was forced to keep it a secret and nobody could figure out how to undo the curse. This caused Ichika to develop a deep hatred of mononoke.
  • Missing Mom: As mentioned above, her mother was petrified by an unknown mononoke when Ichika was still a kid.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Her outfits are much tighter and reveal more skin than those of her companions. Her stealth suit shows her legs and has two belts framing (and accentuating) her breasts.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: Looks like a slender girl, but can punch hard enough to dent a wall.
  • Smurfette Principle: The only female Black Torch field agent.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Implied in a flashback. As a result, she hates people that look down on women.
  • Rookie Male, Experienced Female: The experienced agent to Jirou's rookie.
  • Tranquil Fury: Remains relatively calm outwardly even when absolutely infuriated. She tends to only get riled up when dealing with Jirou.

Reiji Kirihara

The heir to the Kirihara family and member of Black Torch. He specializes in sword techniques.

  • Always Second Best: Could never beat his older brother Shinji in anything. It turns out that Shinji always thought that about him.
  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to Shinji's Cain.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Loves to flirt with beautiful women, but never goes beyond that.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Reiji's older twin brother, Shinji, got possessed by a cursed sword and murdered their father and many others. Reiji was unable to do anything and had to watch his brother walk away.
  • Foil: To Reiji. Jirou is a rough-and-tumble guy with messy hair and a bad attitude. He's also been kept in the dark about the Oniwaban and mononoke his whole life, despite being trained in ninja techniques. Reiji is a calm, intelligent Chivalrous Pervert with neat hair. He's been trained to take part in the Oniwaban since childhood.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a small scar on his left eyebrow.
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: The Kirihara-style seems to specialize in quick draws.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Wields a katana in battle.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Jirou's red.
  • Willfully Weak: Shinji accuses him of being this after a childhood incident where Reiji beat Shinji in a practice bout. Reiji denies doing this, but Shinji suggests that he held back subconsciously so as not to shame his brother.

Ryousuke Shiba

The Section Chief of Special Section 2, the arm of the Oniwaban dedicated to dealing with mononoke-related incidents. He establishes a new unit called Black Torch and recruits Jirou, Ichika and Reiji into it.

  • Fantastic Racism: Averted. He's pretty chill with mononoke despite being the Section Chief of the mononoke-hunting arm of the Oniwaban.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Has Jirou listed as a missing person by the police and taken into custody by his section. Jirou's individual rights and freedoms don't mean shit to Shiba so long as Jirou/Ragou pose a potential threat.
  • Mission Control: Plans and oversees missions, but doesn't directly take part.
  • Perma-Stubble: It doesn't look like he ever shaves, but he doesn't have enough facial hair to make a goatee or a beard.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Never seen without a cigarette in his mouth.
  • The Stoic: Pretty much nothing fazes him.

Hana Usami

Shiba's subordinate, she handles all the administrative and non-combat related work.

  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: Lampshaded in Volume 5 when Usami points out that she's technically a part of Black Torch as well.
  • Nice Girl: Cheerfuly and friendly, Usami is always there to lend a listening ear to her teammates.
  • Plucky Office Girl: Does most of the menial administrative stuff that Shiba can't be assed to do. Her boss' carelessness doesn't seem to get her down though.

Fuyou

A mononoke working closely with Shiba. She specializes in illusions and support.

  • Dynamic Entry: Tries this (and fails) in her introduction.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Works with an organization that hunts her own kind. She can be grouchy, but isn't harmful to humans.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Part of her youthful appearance.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: Almost literally. Her ability traps people in large lotuses where they must battle illusions.
  • Meaningful Name: One of the ways 'Fuyou' can be written translates to lotus blossom.
  • Older Than They Look: Looks like a little girl, but is likely much, much older.
  • Psychic Link: Can allow others to communicate with her and with each other telepathically through magic lotus petals.

    Black Cloak 

An elite squad of fighters in Division 1.

  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Neither Inui nor Himezuka use weapons in a fight. They both rely exclusively on martial-arts.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Both Inui and Himezuka are just normal humans, yet they're both able to send mononke flying with a simple punch.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: They're much more competent than the fledgling Black Torch. They aren't brought in unless the situation has already gone tits up.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Their suits look very nice, but they're actually specially-designed armor made to withstand a bazooka blast.

Touka Kusumi

The no-nonsense chief of Section 1. Doesn't like Shiba.

  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a jagged scar through her eye. She's also much colder and harsher in demeanor than Shiba.
  • High-Heel Power: Kusumi wears a pair of stiletto heels that add to her intimidating image. She's in charge of the biggest section of the Oniwaban and judging by the scar on her face, she didn't get her position by sitting pretty in an office somewhere.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Always looks grumpy.

Inui

A loud, boisterous member of Black Cloak.

  • Beware the Silly Ones: Sure, he's a loud, boisterous fighter that makes up silly attack names and gets no respect from his partner, but he's part of Black Cloak for a good reason.
  • Butt-Monkey: Constantly gets scolded and literally kicked in the ass by his partner, nearly gets killed by a berserk Jiro...
  • Incoming Ham: Introduced via flying kick, while screaming "SUPER DETERMINATION" at the top of his lungs.
  • Large Ham: Loud and easily excitable.

Himezuka

A much calmer and quieter member of Black Cloak.

    Other Members 

Toshimasa Azuma

Jiro's grandfather and a retired member of the Onmitsu.

  • Dope Slap: Frequently employed on his grandson, although with considerably more force than is typical.
  • Parental Substitute: Raised his grandson from childhood.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Even though he's often stern and gruff, he cares deeply for his grandson. He also lacks any particular prejudice against mononoke, unlike many other Onmitsu members.
  • Retired Badass: Used to be a part of the Onmitsu and Kusumi's instructor.

Mononoke

Mysterious beings that live in humanity's shadow. Although they once walked among humans, the efforts of the Oniwaban pushed the mononoke to the fringes of society. Now the mononoke have united under a leader to subjugate and rule over humanity.

  • Casting a Shadow: They can summon weapons and doorways made of a shadowy substance.
  • Fantastic Racism: Many mononoke hate humans. They resent being hunted by the Oniwaban and forgotten by the rest of humanity.
  • Flash Step: Mononoke do this often, even the really big, hefty ones.
  • Healing Factor: Can heal from most major wounds, if they're well fed.
  • Horned Humanoid: The majority of mononoke (bar Ragou) appear human. They have horns, which they can hide when not using their powers. The horns help mononoke control their abilities.
    • Horns of Villainy: Most of the more evil mononoke have bigger racks. The heroic mononoke either have no horns (Ragou) or relatively small horns (Fuyou).
  • I'm a Humanitarian: In order to become more powerful, mononoke can eat humans to steal their vitality.

    Amagi's faction 

Amagi

A powerful mononoke with a mysterious connection to Ragou.

  • An Arm and a Leg: Gets an arm blown off by a pissed of Ragou. He's fully healed by the time he appears in the modern day.
  • A God Am I: Amassed a following of humans in the past, ordering shrines built in his name and demanding that the humans worship him as a god.
  • Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Adds to his creepy appearance.
  • Entitled Bastard: Amagi wants respect from humanity, but doesn't earn it through good deeds. He feels that humans should respect and fear mononoke because they're more powerful than humans and can eat/kill them as they please.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: His particular talent involves eating other mononoke for more power.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Pinned the blame for a slaughtered village on Ragou by provoking the other mononoke into a destructive rage. The Oniwaban would naturally blame Ragou, which meant that the cat-mononoke had two options: 1) join Amagi against the humans or 2) kill Amagi and have both humans and mononoke hunting him down.
  • Master Race: He firmly believes that mononoke are vastly superior to humans, which means that the natural order of the world is one where mononoke rule over humanity.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Wore a distinguished kimono and cloak in Ragou's flashback and a three-piece suit in the present day.
  • We Can Rule Together: Presents this offer to Ragou multiple times. Ragou consistently refuses, causing Amagi to attack him.

Kouga

A mononoke dressed like a punk. He confronts Jirou and Reiji at the Killing Stone shrine.

  • BFS: Creates a massive axe-like blade.
  • Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Either that or he wears a lot of eyeliner.
  • Slasher Smile: Does this a lot when fighting.
  • Starter Villain: The first mononoke that Black Torch fights as a team (minus Ichika, who is stuck outside of the barrier with Shiba). He's also an example of a Wake-Up Call Boss, since he proves more difficult to defeat than Reiji or Jirou had anticipated. He's still weaker than the mononoke that they face later though.
  • Sweet Tooth: Implied by all the Snickers bars that he munches prior to fighting.
  • We Can Rule Together: Offers to fuse with Ragou in Jirou's place and rule as immortal kings.

Tetsuwa, Roren and Naruko

A trio of mononoke responsible for a series of killings around the city.

  • The Brute: Tetsuwa is easily three times the size of his companions and he hits extremely hard. He's not stupid though and gives Jirou a run for his money until Ragou reveals a new power.
  • Master of Illusion: Roren's specialty. He can evoke Your Mind Makes It Real, so if someone falls off an illusionary platform, then they'll die for real.
  • Mind Control: Another one of Roren's powers. He has difficulty controlling a large number of people at once or the minds of children.
  • Picky Eater: Tetsuwa doesn't like eating human heads. Apparently they're too hard to eat.
  • Sleepy Head: Naruko. Understandable, considering that she's maintaining a large barrier all by herself. Her eyes stay open even while unconscious.
  • Smug Snake: Roren spends a lot of time taunting Ichika, but quickly gets his ass kicked.
  • Stripperiffic: Naruko only wears a leather collar and strategically-placed black strips of fabric on her upper body. It's very clear that she's not wearing anything underneath, not that she has anything to show.
  • Too Kinky to Torture: Roren reeeaaallly likes it when Ichika gets rough with him.

Shinji Kirihara

Reiji's twin brother.

    Other Mononoke 

Ibuki

The mononoke residing in Avidya Forest.

  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Only in relation to her husband, Monjumaru. Otherwise she's about as tall as Jiro.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: Trains Jiro by pitting him and Monjumaru against each other repeatedly. No actual lessons or anything, just making him fight until he gains control of Rago's power.
  • Snakes Are Sinister: Averted. She's actually pretty helpful. Makes sense, since she can take the form of a white snake, which are considered lucky in Japan.
  • Stripperiffic: Her rather generous assets are on full display. It's a wonder that she isn't spilling out of her top every time she moves.
  • Voluntary Shapshifting: Can assume the form of a white snake or a voluptuous woman.

Monjumaru

A skull-headed mononoke and husband to Ibuki.

  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Towers over Ibuki, who isn't exactly short herself.
  • In Love with the Mark: Monjumaru was originally an Onmitsu ninja sent to kill Ibuki. After promising to dedicate his life to her, Monjumaru eventually fell in love with Ibuki and married her.
  • Sinister Scythe: Wields a huge scythe.
  • Skull for a Head: Has a giant deer-like skull for a head.
  • Was Once a Man: Used to be human, until Ibuki shared her power with him, thus making him a half-mononoke.

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