Characters / Blue Eye Samurai

Main Characters

Mizu

Debut: "Hammerscale"

I'm on the path of revenge. There's no place on it for love, friendship or weakness.

Voiced by: Maya Erskine (English)^{Foreign V As}Sam Dominguez (Latin American Spanish), Estefenia Piedra (Latin American Spanish, young), Mutsumi Tamura (Japanese)

The protagonist of the story, who is half-Japanese and half-British. Mizu has spent a lifetime being beaten down, shunned and hunted for the mistake of their birth and seeks revenge on the father who sired her.

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• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Her blade slices through flesh, bones, armor, and can even pierce stone walls.
• Abusive Parents: Mizu's mother kept her hidden as a child due to the bounty on her head, forced her to present as the opposite gender and creating severe gender dysmorphia, then abandoned her after faking their deaths in a housefire, leaving her to starve on the streets and with buckets of trauma. When she by chance encounters Mizu again as an adult, she steals from her, then uses emotional blackmail to get her to marry a local horse trainer solely so she can indulge in her drug habit on his expense, all but outright selling Mizu to a man who is fortunately not enough of a brute to indulge in Marital Rape License. And top it all off, she's one of the two people who might have sold out Mizu to her enemies for more opium, and at the very least doesn't care that Mizu would have died.
• Action Girl: She's a master swordsman who can dominate practically everyone she encounters in either swordsmanship or hand-to-hand combat.
• Age-Gap Romance: In the past, Mizu was married to a man older than her by at least a decade. It didn't last.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Has jet-black hair and is a stoic, antisocial woman with a cold demeanor.
• Anti-Hero: Of the Unscrupulous Hero variety. She is mostly concerned with her own quest for revenge and is mostly uncaring towards the feelings of others as she pursues this quest. She will, at the very least, avoid killing those who are not a threat and, despite admitting that she is no samurai, has a sense of honor: When Madame Kaji's brothel comes under fire by a bandit gang as a result of a mission she failed, she stays and defends the establishment with her life against overwhelming odds instead of simply carrying on with her journey. Then she finds and drags their leader to Kaji so she personally can take her vengeance for Kinuyo, invoking her name.
• Appropriated Appellation: Mizu technically isn't a Samurai (having nowhere near the social standing to hold that title), but people keep addressing her as such and calling her one to the point it sticks. After Ringo expresses distaste at her ruthlesness being "un-Samurai-like" she explicitly notes she's not a Samurai, Ringo's the one acting like she is.
• Arranged Marriage: "The Tale of The Ronin and The Bride" reveals she had one in the past to an exiled samurai called Mikio, arranged by her mother. Though it started as nothing but an exchange of services to care for her ill mother and help with his farm, it turns into a Perfectly Arranged Marriage when Mizu and Mikio get to know each other and genuinely start to fall in love. It unfortunately didn't last..., as Mizu's location was revealed to bounty hunters by either her mother or Mikio, who throw the blame at each other, which ruins their marriage and Mizu kills him before dedicating the rest of her life to revenge as a result.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Mizu is a self-taught sword fighter, who learned only from watching Master Eiji's customers practice their moves. As a child.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Mizu shows nothing but gratitude and respect towards Master Eiji, whom she refers as her "Swordfather", for taking her as his apprentice and foster child when no one else wanted her.
• Berserk Button: Insulting her mixed-race status or calling her a freak/monster/demon for it is a good way to get yourself slashed to ribbons, as shown in her very first scene.
• Birds of a Feather: Mizu and Taigen end up developing a deeper connection despite their initial hostility towards each other in part thanks to the two of them being skilled warriors who are too driven and stubborn to die.
• Big Eater: Virtually any time she is shown eating, she wolfs down a lot of food in a very small amount of time.
• Big Damn Heroes: Slices through a Thousand Claw member before he could lay a hand on Akemi.
• Blood Knight: She seemed to get very excited during her sparring match with her husband Mikiko to the extent of unsheathing her blade and forcing him to do the same in order to feel the full rush of the fight. In the present, that enthusiasm isn't present. It's likely that she only gets excited by the prospect of a fight if her life isn't on the line, which it unfortunately is most of the time.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: Mizu gets covered with blood very rapidly once she fights, both her own and that of her enemies.
• Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: During her marriage, she put on a white bridal kimono to symbolize her devotion to her new husband after he rejected her for her prowess in combat. Then her enemies arrived and when her husband left her to die, she slaughtered them, drenching it in blood.
• Blue Is Heroic: Naturally, she is associated with the color blue and wears mostly blue. To the extent that it is jarring when she wears a white kimono to try to be the dutiful wife for her husband. Of course, it is Mizu, so the kimono quickly gets splattered with blood...
• Broken Ace: She is by far and beyond one of the best sword wielders in the series, but such skill was forged in trauma and pain and came at a tremendous cost - including the loss of the man she loved, who grew to see her as a monster. There is really no way to describe Mizu other than "hollow", with revenge being seemingly the only thing that keeps her going.
• Celibate Heroine: Mizu's mission is all that matters to her; she neither seeks romance, nor does she want sex. That said, she doesn't seem totally void of desire, as she has some Ship Tease with Taigen, is revealed to have been married in the past and can't help but show some interest in the goings on at Madame Kaji's brothel.
• Character Development: It takes her a while to get there, but she does slowly begin to accept putting her trust in other people after spending so long avoiding connections out of fear of being hurt and betrayed.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Mizu is demonstratively superhuman with her feats of strength and endurance going far beyond anything anyone should be capable of, made more apparent by her largely being self-taught and lacking any visible muscle. This is almost a plot point, as the sheer unbelievability of her feats lead to her being believed to be a literal demon.
• Child by Rape: By implication; Mizu doesn't know enough details about her conception to know if it was consensual or not; the woman who raised her was a prostitute (at least in later life; during her childhood, Mizu was taunted with the claim she was one but we never saw indication of that), but given how much of a piece of work Fowler is and the fact the other potential fathers are apparently not much better, its implied she's probably the product of rape.
• Choice of Two Weapons: Mizu carries a sword as her main weapon but the weights on her arms and legs can form a staff to attach to her blade, transforming it into a naginata.
• Cold Ham: She hardly ever raises her voice but speaks eloquently, dramatically, and cockily nonetheless.
• Color Motif: Blue, of course. The color of her eyes, her cape and even her blade.
• Combat Pragmatist: Mizu is not above fighting dirty if it means reaching goals or fighting for her life. Everything from sneak attacks, improvised weapons, or even using her teeth are fair game to her. Averted when her sword is broken and she's fixated on repairing it even though Taigen points out she doesn't need a sword to fight.
• The Comically Serious: Can come off as this, mostly when she's dealing with Ringo's Motor Mouth and clumsy antics.
• Cool Shades: Wears a pair of orange-tinted glasses to conceal her blue eyes.
• Cradling Your Kill: After snapping Kinuyo's neck, she holds her in her arms for a good moment, as if comforting her in death.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: Her distinctive blue eyes which the series is named after are frequently commented on looking creepy and demon-like.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Mizu's life was never sunshine and roses, but the thing that really broke her hopes for a life outside of revenge is her short-lived marriage: despite having been pushed into it by her mother, Mizu eventually did fall in love with her husband, Mikio, but their relationship soured after she turned out to be a better fighter than he was. Then, either he or her mother sold her out to bounty hunters, and no matter who was guilty, neither of them made a move to help her. When she overcame her enemies, her husband and mother both started claiming that the other was guilty to try and worm their way back into Mizu's good graces. After things got violent, Mikio stabbed Mizu's mother to death, only to be swiftly killed by Mizu herself, who, devastated by the betrayal, closed herself off to things like love and happiness and dedicated her life to revenge.
• Dark and Troubled Past. A given. Being a half-breed, Mizu lived her entire childhood secluded from the outside world, and forced to pass as a boy to escape the bounty placed on her head. During a fire that kills her mother or so she thinks, Mizu has been forced to fend for herself and being bullied by other kids who treated her like an animal. It's only thanks to finding a Parental Substitute in Master Eiji that things start looking better for her.
  • "The Tale of The Ronin and The Bride" pushes this even further: Mizu got into an arranged marriage by her mother to an exiled Samurai named Mikio. They genuinely fell in love, but her husband turned his back on her when she bests him in a fight, and leaves her to die when bounty hunters got her location. Either her mother or Mikio sold her out, but Mizu doesn't care who did: they both had their motives and revealed themselves unworthy of her trust, so after Mikio kills her mother, Mizu kills him at her turn It's this very event that makes Mizu give up on living a normal life to entirely focus the rest of her life on her revenge.
• Death Glare: Complete with Creepy Blue Eyes, Mizu has a powerful one, that makes anyone on the receiving end of it fear for their life and think of her as demonic.
• Deadpan Snarker: As befits a cynical, stoic Anti-Hero, Mizu's wit is as dry as it is pithy, and often bitter. It's demonstrative of how her life has left her hardened and closed off from others.
  • When she fights her way through the Shindo dojo:
    Student: Be warned. You face my Shindo-Ryu.
    Mizu: The problem with Shindo-Ryu is... it's trash. [proceeds to wipe the floor with the rest of the dojo]
  • When she meets Taigen:
    Student: Taigen has won 24 duels. How many have you won?
    Mizu: [looking around the knocked out bodies around her] Should I have been counting?
  • In Episode 3, Mizu gets invited to parley over tea with Heiji Shindo. Taigen follows her the entire time, complaining that it's an ambush and there is no tea. They reach the meeting space, and lo and behold, a pavilion is waiting for them.
    Mizu: I was just in the mood for tea.
• Determinator: When climbing through the castle Mizu is impaled through the foot, drugged, beaten, strangled, exploded with a grenade twice and thrown from the castle and still manages to climb her way on the outside to the top floor while carrying someone. This is just one of the many, many times she has fought her way out of seemingly certain doom while suffering crippling injuries.
• Detrimental Determination: Mizu's insistence on crashing through anything and everything to get to her revenge comes to bite her on multiple occasions, with her regularly walking into traps or nearly dying from the injuries she ignored in the heat of the fight. The crown jewel is the season 1 finale, where she sets the room ablaze to try and keep Fowler from escaping, and the fire spreads across all of Edo.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mizu cares very little for plans and often falls into traps and ambushes because she doesn't care to think through what might go wrong. It comes to a head in the season 1 finale, where she attempts to trap Fowler by lighting his room on fire, not thinking about how easily the fire could spread, which leads to her accidentally burning down the entirety of Edo.
• Elemental Motifs: Her name means "water" and there are many scenes in which she is seen bathing, exercising or fighting near water. It also represents her Creepy Blue Eyes, and she definitely sits more on the "dangerous, unstoppable, and full of sorrow" side of the water symbolism than anything life-giving or nurturing. Mama even compares her to water, being "impossible to catch".
  • Notably, her katana is unique in that the meteorite it was made with gives it a distinctive blue hue, couple with the patterns in the steel, echo this motif.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Twofold: either her mother or her husband sold her out for their own selfish gains, though both blame each other. When Mikio kills her mother, Mizu kills him at his turn and leaves as an angry, bitter orphaned widow with nothing else to live but revenge.
• Everyone Has Standards: Mizu might be utterly ruthless in pursuit of her revenge, but she would rather not have innocents who have nothing to do with her quest in the crossfire. In the final episode, she becomes horrified when her shortsighted attempt to trap Fowler by setting fire to the room they're in dominoes into the entire city of Edo burning down.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Played straight with Taigen; she gains a lot of respect for him and vice versa after they work together to escape Shindo's trap. But averted with Akemi; they save each other's lives and it looks like Akemi will reconcile with the demon who ended her marriage prospects to Taigen, only for Mizu to stand aside when her father's soldiers drag her off to Edo. Akemi does not forgive Mizu for this, even after Mizu turns up in the season finale to rescue her.
• Gotta Kill Them All: Her mission is to find the four white men who could have been her father, and kill them all. She's already killed one.
• Half-Breed Discrimination: Born to a Japanese mother and a white father, Mizu's entire life has been dictated by the racism of the era to a mixed race person.
• Heartbroken Badass: Mizu's less than rosy life has left her jaded with one purpose left: revenge.
• Hiding Your Heritage: Mizu wears a distinctive pair of tinted glasses in public to hide the colour of her eyes. These also count as Inhuman Eye Concealers, since people regard blue eyes as demonic.
• I Am a Monster: Her whole life, Mizu has been called a monster for being part-white and having blue eyes, considered by Japanese culture to be demonic. She has been conditioned to think of herself that way, accepting that if the world sees her that way, she cannot be anything else.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: If Mizu's facing a single tough enemy, then she will take off the weights on her forearms and ankles. If she's surrounded and outnumbered, those same weights can be combined with her sword to form a naginata, as it is the better weapon when outnumbered.
• Icy Blue Eyes: As in the show title. They mark her as half-white and reflect her cold and calculating nature.
• Informed Deformity: In the looks department, she's not quite bad. In fact you'd go as far to say she's beautiful, in an androgynous fashion of course, with her beautiful blue eyes (considered a beauty standard in the present time). However, due to her half-Caucasian appearance, she's constantly referred to as hideous or undesirable, and her blue eyes are seen as creepy and "monstrous".
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Her eyes are stated to be "monstrous" by everyone who crosses paths with her... even as a young, innocent child who never asked to be born and who must go through prejudice on a daily basis. In Episode 5, Mizu's eyes reflect the genuine love and later betrayal she lived with her ex-husband.
• Internalized Categorism: She's been hated and demonized her whole life for being biracial, and the only Europeans she's ever met were horrible people. As such, she believes herself to be literally monstrous, is on a mission to find and kill her white father to avenge her own birth, and during a hallucination, she sees a completely white version of herself and strangles it.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: The one time we see her spar with her husband Mikio, it ends with her holding a blade to his neck and then passionately kissing him. When she's not in danger of being mortally wounded (which is always), a good fight seems to be one of her turn-ons.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: She doesn't have to do much to pass as a man, only bind her breasts and wear a scarf to hide her lack of Adam's apple. Other than that, men and women alike think she is a young man, with only Ringo knowing her true gender (because he saw her naked).
• Made of Iron: Mizu spends every episode past the first racking up new injuries. She falls down multiple cliffs, gets stabbed, gets shot, nearly suffocates from both strangulation and drowning, caught in the edge of explosions, and still keeps going.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Mizu knew her mother or at least thought she did, if Fowler's word is worth anything, but the only thing she knows about her biological father is that he was white. As there were only four white men in Japan around the time she was born and she's not sure which of them fathered her, Mizu resolves to kill all of them to get revenge for the suffering she endured because of her mixed race.
• Master of All: Most swordsmen train at a single dojo and keep their techniques secret, but as a swordmaker's apprentice Mizu saw and learned multiple styles, giving her a distinct edge over more specialized swordsmen.
• Master Swordsman: A self-taught one, she watched the men her master forged swords for practice and imitated their moves, giving her a distinctively eclectic blend of different sword styles to draw from.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Her Charles Atlas Superpower strength, speed, and durability, her peerless Master Swordswoman talents, and her ability to both accidentally and deliberately leave chaos and mayhem in her wake all border on the supernatural, suggesting that the Mythical Motifs comparing her to an onryo, a spirit of vengeance, are only partially metaphorical.
• Mercy Kill: As requested by Madame Kaji, she is set to kill Kinuyo to free her from Boss Hamata's filthy claws without putting the lives of everyone at the brothel at risk. She snaps her neck, holds her dead body and makes it look as if she defended herself from a guard trying himself on her.
• Missing Mom: Double-subverted. Initially, she believes that her mother died when bounty hunters set fire to their when she was a child. In reality, it was a ploy for her to fake her death and abandon Mizu for whatever reason before running into Mizu as an adult.
  • However at the end of the first season, it's revealed that the woman taking care of Mizu in her early childhood wasn't mother after all, and simply a maid to look after her. And the identity and fate of Mizu's actual mother is currently unknown.
• Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed compared to the likes of Akemi, but still has her moments:
  • In the last scene of the pilot, Mizu bathes in a stream to heal a wound she had in combat. When she hears someone sneaking up on her, she takes her sword and was ready to fight stark naked, but it's only revealed to be Ringo, who now knows she's a woman.
  • In "The Tale of The Roning and The Bride", Mizu gets an intimate scene with her husband Mikio, and her breasts and thighs are showcased in quite a few angles.
• Murder by Inaction: After she was betrayed and sold out to bounty hunters, Mizu doesn't budge as Mikio overpowers her mother and stabs her to death, before she kills him at his turn.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: She's a pretty thin woman, but she's capable of some surprising feats of strength like carrying Taigen on her back while scaling the side of Shindo's compound. As the only beings shown capable of performing feats of strength are visibly large men with muscle, it leads to the implication that her strength might at least be partially supernatural.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • When she is asked to kill Kinuyo as an act of mercy by Madame Kaj, Mizu cries and is even shaking by the aftermath, not believing she just killed an innocent young girl.
  • She's horrified when her pursuit of Fowler resulted in the entire city of Edo burning to the ground.
• Mysterious Past: Apparently, even to herself. Fowler reveals that the woman who raised her was not her mother and hints that there is more to her origins than she realizes.
• Mythical Motifs: She is compared to an onryou repeatedly, and while it initially seems like nothing more than an insult directed at her Icy Blue Eyes, it quickly becomes obvious just how apt the comparison to a Vengeful Ghost is for someone like her. Onryou are also associated with creating natural disasters to get their revenge, and Mizu inadvertantly sets the city of Edo ablaze trying to kill Fowler.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Much of Mizu's abrasive edges and ruthless disposition are a defense against a world that has only ever hurt her, so she's learned to actively refuse to care about anything beyond her immediate goals because lowering her guard and making herself vulnerable has consistently betrayed her to harm.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: She is solely focused on getting revenge on the Four White Devils and any man that might be working for them. While she does kill Kinoyu, it's at Madame Kaji's request in order to spare the girl from Hamata and she is definitely shaken by it, and spares the life of a young child that caught sight of her in the aftermath despite the dangers of leaving a witness.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her efforts to kill Fowler leads to her unintentionally setting fire to the imperial capitol, something Fowler cruelly points out.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After Mizu mercy-kills Kinuyo at Madame Kaji's request, a small boy sees her leaving the scene of the crime. She spares his life, but he rats her out to Boss Hamata and his gang, who attack the brothel.
• Not So Above It All: Although she remains focused on her objective, Mizu can't help but show curiosity at some of the erotic sights from Madame Kaji's brothel.
• One-Woman Army: Throughout the series Mizu repeatedly takes on a small army's worth of armed soldiers and gangsters, and tears through each and every one of them in spectacularly brutal displays. The fact that she's capable of taking on such odds and coming out on top leads some to wonder if she genuinely is a demon.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mizu, who is normally The Stoic and an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl, cries after she kills Kinuyo. Sure it was an act of mercy, but it's made clear that Mizu has a conscience and standards, and would've rather saved the girl in different circumstances.
• Patricide: The crux of her goal; one of the white men she hunts is her biological father, and, unable to know for sure which of them it is, Mizu opts to simply kill them all.
• Pet the Dog: Mizu is introduced as a fairly cold, ruthless and standoffish person single-mindedly focused on her revenge but we see she's not entirely heartless:
  • She starts the series by protecting Ringo from the rude, cruel Hachi holding him at gunpoint.
  • She gives some coins to the needy, and Akemi's golden comb to a mother and her child left to freeze in the winter in front of a city gate.
  • She also gives a quick, painless death to Kinoyu, and holds her frail dead body for a good minute. This is the first time a usually stone-faced killer like her is seen crying after taking someone's life.
• The Power of Hate: The main fuel behind her Charles Atlas Superpower is her sheer, burning fury at the life her mysterious father condemned her to. It ties directly into her Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Mythical Motifs, as she verges on being an actual, literal onryo in her relentlessness and capacity for mayhem.
• Revenge Before Reason: Mizu does not care if she's walking into an obvious trap - if there's even a small chance it gets her closer to vengeance, she's taking that chance. t
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Mizu seeks to avenge herself for the suffering and indignity she has been through as a mixed race woman by killing the father who sired her. She is not really sure who it is but has narrowed it down to four and intends to eliminate all of them to be sure.
• Rule of Symbolism: Mizu wears a pair of orange-tinted glasses to hide her blue eyes. Orange is Blue's complementary color.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: When she was married, Mizu put her hair in a Prim and Proper Bun, wore a white kimono and makeup on the day of her wedding and to prove her devotion to her husband after he rejected her warrior side. It's a stark contrast from the masculine look she sports in the present day.
• Shoot the Dog: She's willing to do some fairly ruthless things in the name of pragmatism for her revenge. Most evidently, she goes through with assassinating a innocent woman at Madame Kaji's request, although as a Mercy Kill and she’s shaking in regret afterward.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Mizu disguises herself as a man, when growing up it was because the bounty on her head was for a girl; now she does so because of the limited options for a woman traveling through Edo-era Japan. She even lampshades it:
  Mizu: Revenge is a luxury for men.
• That Woman Is Dead: Discussed with Master Eiji in Episode 7:
  Mizu: I'm not the child you once knew.
  Master Eiji: No. That child would see you and run.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: She's not actually evil, just incredibly ruthless, but this ruthlessness was born from a lifetime of utter shit, from being abused by almost everyone she encountered to being betrayed by the only people she ever loved. This mistreatment was largely due to everyone already believing her to be a monster, and its resulted in her self-identifying as a monster. Akemi even comments on it:
  Akemi: You're not the killer you pretend to be. You're just... angry.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: After being betrayed by her husband, she kills him and leaves to become the vengeful ruthless swordswoman she is today.
• Tomboyish Voice: Although her voice is still recognizably feminine (to modern viewers), she has a deep voice for a woman. Justified, as she travels disguised as a man.
• Tragic Monster: She's not a monster per se, but she has been repeatedly compared to an onryo. As the puppet play shows, hate alone was not enough, it takes one special, especially bitter ingredient to create enough bloodshed and woe to birth an onryo: love, poisoned by betrayal.
• Traumatic Haircut: As a child, her mother would regularly shave her head so she'd pass for a boy (since the bounty on her head was for a girl). It only fueled Mizu with fear for her life and gender dysmorphia.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Was ready to fight butt naked when she heard noises sneaking up on her while bathing in a creek. Turns out it was just Ringo, who now knows she is a woman.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Years of being secluded, hunted, bullied and treated like garbage by the world around her turned an innocent little girl into a ruthless killing machine in her adult years.
• When She Smiles: Though she is cold and sometimes arrogant, there are moment where Mizu genuinely smiles. The flashbacks of her past marriage to Mikio shows her at her happiest.
• Woman Scorned: After her husband left her to die by bounty hunters, and the ambiguous possibility that he alerted her presence to the authorities in the first place, she stops his attempts to an apology by throwing a knife at him (using the very skilled he taught her) and killing him in the process.
• Would Hurt a Child: Mizu cuts down a younger, teenage-ish member of the 100 Claws as he cowers in front of her. This was after she spared a young child who witnessed her leaving and another teenage member of the Claws, both of which came back to bite her.
• Your Makeup Is Running: After Mikio abandons her when she is about to be attacked by bounty hunters, Mizu starts to cry and her makeup washes off with her tears, and later gets covered by the blood of her enemies.

Ringo

Debut: "Hammerscale"

My whole life has been a battle.

Voiced by: Masi Oka (English)^{Foreign V As}Elliot Leguizamo (Latin American Spanish)

A handless soba noodle chef from a small town. Mizu saves Ringo's life from a gangster and swears his devotion to her as her apprentice.

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• Abusive Parents: His father often beat him and mocked him for his disability.
• Accidental Pervert: While following Mizu, he interrupted her during a swim in a creak, catching sight of her naked and realizing she's a woman.
• Always Someone Better: Initially prides himself on making the best soba around until he encounters better soba vendors. This is what sparks his pursuit of "greatness".
• An Arm and a Leg: Subverted. He tells The Swordfather that he was born without both hands.
• Apologizes a Lot: With his clumsiness and Motor Mouth, he tends to annoy Mizu and not listen to her most of the time, and always ends up apologizing for it.
• Ascended Fanboy: He has a very romantic idea of what it means to be a Samurai, and by the end of season one he's gone on quite the adventure, met the shogun, and helped save the imperial family—all things most Samurai only ever dream of achieving.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's a Nice Guy, though a little naive and somewhat airheaded, but you do not want to get on his bad side. He tackles Taigen when he thinks he harmed Mizu, and will kill an enemy if he sees no other choice.
• Big Fun: A portly young man who is friendly, loyal, and diligent.
• The Big Guy: He ends up playing this role while travelling with Mizu and later Taigen.
• Big Sister Worship: Even after he learns Mizu is a woman, he is impressed by her sword skills and wants to be as great and resourceful as her. Meeting her alone is what pushes him to leave his abusive home behind.
• Blade Enthusiast: Being a cook, he carries many sorts of knives among other tools in a roll bag. His primary weapon is a kitchen knife he ties around his stump.
• Broken Pedestal: Mizu letting Lord Daichi's men take Akemi away out of indifference breaks his romanticized view of her, and he leaves her in disappointment. He's too much of a nice guy to not return back to her side when she ends up needing help, however.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his very silly and somewhat air-headed ways he is actually very competent and reliable when he's on the ball.
• Covert Pervert: Even though he seems relatively innocent, he happily allows two prostitutes (that Mizu hired to keep him out her way) to teach him how to touch a woman. He also later stares at Akemi after Mizu foils her assassination plot against her. Then there's this gem from the first episode when he surprises Mizu bathing in a creek, discovering she is actually a woman:

  Ringo: [notices Mizu has breasts] ... peaches!

• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Absolutely everyone takes him for a harmless buffoon but he always manages to surprise them in some fashion.
• The Cavalry: Pulls this off twice for both Mizu and Taigen:
  • First by knocking out Heiji Shindo's giant, using him as a shield, then rescuing Taigen and Mizu on horseback from Shindo's ambush.
  • Then Ringo manages to rescue them both from drowning after Mizu's first attempt on Fowler goes wrong.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He seeks to be "Great", it doesn't matter at what and he seeks to obtain that wisdom from Mizu, who he believes has already achieved greatness.
• Gentle Giant: A tall, bulky guy who is sweet, friendly and goofy.
• Handicapped Badass: Doesn't let the fact he has both of his hands missing (from birth) hinder him from cooking superbly, helping Mizu and even killing some opponents.
• Hero-Worshipper: When he sees Mizu stand up for him and fight off Hachi easily, he is in awe by her skills and aims to be a "great like her" from that moment forward.
• Improbable Chopsticks Skill: As he has no hands, he manipulates things using a couple of chopsticks shoved into the strings he has tied around his stumps.
• Innocently Insensitive: When Ringo finds out Mizu is half white, he asks if her blue eyes help her see in the dark or if she drinks milk, unaware that she was treated like she wasn't human her entire life because of her mixed race.
• I Owe You My Life: Devotes himself to be by Mizu's side as her apprentice when she defends him from Hachi at his father's restaurant.
• Ironically Disabled Artist: Due to a birth defect he was born without hands, but he is an accomplished chef and when he leaves his father's restaurant the customers notice the steep decline in food quality.
• Jumped at the Call: His oath to Mizu was also him eagerly leaping at the opportunity to escape his abusive father.
• The Klutz: Justified. Because he's missing both hands, he tends to drop things most of the time. Even then, his large girth doesn't help not bump into things.
• Manchild: He's not the most mature type of person, often reacting with child-like wonder to things outside his purview. Justified in that his father kept him isolated from the world and he was never really allowed to grow up until he left with Mizu.
• The Medic: He is knowledgeable about medicines and is able to brew remedies for Mizu when she is injured.
• Motor Mouth: He's very talkative, to the initial annoyance of other characters, which is ironic for someone so stealthy.
• Morality Pet: To Mizu. His belief in and admiration of her helps her in rethinking her approach to taking down Fowler.
• Nice Guy: Without a doubt the nicest character in the entire series. He's the closest thing Mizu has to an actual friend, though she does not see it that way at first.
• Plucky Comic Relief: His good-natured foolishness serves as a comedic foil for Mizu's grim journey.
• Punny Name: Annoyed by his repeated Stealth Hi/Bye-ing, Mizu puts a bell on his foot that rings as he goes.
• The Runaway: After Mizu saves his life from being held at gunpoint, he leaves his abusive father and vows himself to be her loyal apprentice.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He leaves Mizu after she lets Lord Daichi's men take Akemi away, an act he deems dishonorable. He ends up coming back, though.
• Secret-Keeper: Because he accidentally sees her bathing, he is the only one who knows that Mizu is actually a woman.
• A Shared Suffering: He attaches himself to Mizu because they are both outcasts due to being, in his words, deformed.
• Spanner in the Works: Had Mizu not ultimately decided to allow him to tag along, she would have been killed well before meeting Abaijah. He also plays a key role in warning the emperor about the coup and ensuring that his family escapes.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He is as he says "naturally stealthy" despite his large size, so much so that Mizu ties a bell on him so she won't be caught off guard.
• Supreme Chef: Makes excellent soba.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Because he is a cook, he is aware of what is and isn't edible and what would happen if you slip certain things in a meal. He defeats Shindo's Giant Mook by feeding him a stew with poisonous mushrooms before their fight, then knocking him off a cliff while he's doubled over vomiting.
• Team Chef: He takes care of the meals and medicine during Mizu's journey.
• Vague Age: His round face, large size and childish behavior doesn't help determine his age, though he appears to be around his early 20's.
• Weapons of Their Trade: Played with, initially he is armed with a kitchen knife, because that is the knife that he's most familiar with. Later after apprenticing under the Swordfather, he uses a hammer.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Mizu for letting Lord Daichi's men take away Akemi against her will.
  Ringo: You are no samurai. Samurai are honorable!
• Wolverine Claws: Used as tools rather than weapons. Among the many attachments he ties to his stumps are a pair of hook-like claws for climbing.
• Undying Loyalty: Develops this for Mizu. He always comes to her aid when she gets injured in battle, and even though he leaves her when she does something "dishonorable" by letting Lord Daichi's guard taking Akemi away, he ends up coming back to her aid after her failed coup at Fowler's castle and saves her life.

Taigen

Debut: "Hammerscale"

You're good, maybe better than me....and no one is better than me.

Voiced by: Darren Barnet

An up and coming swordsman whose prodigious skill has earned him dozens of victories in duels from rival dojos. His life falls apart after a defeat at Mizu's hand which sets him on a journey to reclaim his honor.

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• Abusive Parents: Mentions his father used to beat him whenever he failed to catch enough fish during the day.
• Aimlessly Seeking Happiness: Reveals to Akemi in the season finale that all he wants is to be happy, after a full season of him trying to regain his honor. To twist the knife, Akemi rejects their initial plan to live a secluded happy life, in order to become great and fully committing to her new husband, leaving Taigen without a goal or ways to seek his happiness.
• Ambiguously Bi: Experiences arousal wrestling with Mizu, whom he thinks is a man, although they both wave it off as being due to the adrenaline.
• Birds of a Feather: Mizu and Taigen end up developing a deeper connection despite their initial hostility towards each other in part thanks to the two of them being skilled warriors who are too driven and stubborn to die.
• Break the Haughty: His social standing in Kyoto collapses after his first encounter with Mizu, and subsequent events force him to admit that he's not quite as skilled or as ambitious as he'd wished to believe.
• The Bully: As a child, he was the leader of a group of bullies hunting down and tormenting Mizu. He even cruelly tells her to jump from a cliff and mocks her "whore mother". Throughout his character development, Taigen starts to regret his past actions.
• Bullying a Dragon: Even after Mizu has handily defeated and nearly killed him, Taigen can't resist tossing out one last insult at her back. She turns around and cuts off his topknot, ruining his engagement and future.
• Butt-Monkey: He gets swatted away, flung around, and knocked out a lot. The only time this isn't played for comedy is when he's captured and tortured for days by Shindo.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Fittingly, since it happens before Abijah "prays" in a chapel. When Taigen is tortured, he takes on this position and sports a mutilated body, long hair and garments that parallel the crucifixion of Jesus.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has his moments, most of them aimed at Mizu's expense.
• Defiant Captive: When he is captured and brutally tortured by Heiji Shindo's henchman, it's not enough to break Taigen's mind, who remains cold and insolent towards his captor.
  Heiji Shindo: Why suffer so much to protect an enemy?
  Taigen: [dry laugh] He deserves better than you. [Death Glare]
• Determinator: He lets absolutely nothing stop him from getting another duel with Mizu, even enduring days of excruciating torture at the hands of Shindo. By the end, even Fowler is baffled by just how he keeps on going.
• Did Not Get the Girl: After spending the entire season trying to regain his honor and status in order to wed Akemi, she ends up rejecting his offer to run away with her and instead commits to her marriage to the shogun's son.
• Everyone Has Standards: Or at least, enough honor. Taigen could've easily killed Mizu after she passed out from her fight with Chiaki and the Four Fangs, but didn't go through it because it's not honorable. Instead, he opted to wait for her recovery so they can have a fair fight.
• Fingore: Part of Heiji Shindo's torture on him included his henchman ripping off each of Taigen's fingernails. Ouch. They thankfully grow back after Ringo saves him and Mizu and he takes time to heal at Master Eiji's home.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Originally he only held contempt for Mizu but after they rescue each other from Shindo's trap they find themselves much closer with a mutual respect. In addition, although not as antagonistic as he was towards Mizu, Taigen had a relatively low opinion of Ringo, but after he helped them escape from Heiji Shindo's archers, Taigen was very impressed and downright chummy with him.
• Freudian Excuse: Taigen mentions his father would beat him as a child if he did not bring back enough fish, which probably explains why he took part of the bullying Mizu endured.
• Honor Before Reason: Taigen is a deeply principled man and even when being tortured by Shindo, he will not submit any information about Mizu despite his personal issues with her.
• Honor Is Fair Play: The reason he doesn't kill Mizu when she's passed out in front of him is because it would be dishonorable to kill her when she can't fight back.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Twice.
  • Has sex with Akemi while she depicts a brutal battle scene in poetry.
  • Gets visibly aroused wrestling with Mizu... which is unfortunate because not only is he allegedly engaged, but he believes she's a man.
• I Hate Past Me: When he goes back to his childhood village, he ends up feeling remorse for the way he bullied Mizu when they were children.
• I Owe You My Life: After Mizu rescues him from Abaijah's castle, his rivalry becomes fueled much less by hatred and much more by respect.
• Irony: At the start of the series, Akemi wants to live a quiet, happy life with Taigen, but he leaves her in Kyoto to persue his revenge against Mizu to regain his honor and become a great, respected samurai. By the end of the season finale, Taigen tells Akemi all he wants is to be happy and doesn't care if he isn't great. Akemi ends their relationship because she has now become the one looking for greatness.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Many of Taigen's worst traits are the result of the environment he grew up in. He comes to regret the way he treated Mizu when they were kids, and he risks is life to thwart Abaijah's coup. It should also be noted that part of the reason Akemi is so determined to marry him is because she's knows he respects her as a person and is terrified that any other man would abuse her.
• Kids Are Cruel: Was very mean brat as a child, as seen with his bullying of Mizu. He even calls her mother a whore, which is shocking coming from a kid's mouth, and tells her to jump a cliff to kill herself.
• Meaningful Name: His name has a few meanings: "strong", "fearless" and "warrior", to which all three describes pretty well Taigen's character.
• My God, What Have I Done?: A very mild example. After returning to their village, Taigen is shown reflecting on how he and the other village boys bullied Mizu and it's made clear that he regrets his actions.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: In the dojo where he trained, he was easily the best swordsman and a master of the craft, undefeated in every duel he'd taken part in. Then he encounters Mizu, someone actually on or above his level, and is humiliated. Subsequently, Taigen would prove to be an average fighter but is really nothing to really sing about, he just seemed that way because he's a decently talented swordfighter training at a dojo whose style is "easily learned, easily defeated".
• Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: He grew up in the same village as Mizu and used to bully her for her heritage. However, he is more sympathetic than most uses of this trope because, despite his racism (which is very much the product of the culture he was raised in) and his arrogance, he is still very much a man of honor. When he reflects on bullying a younger Mizu, it's indicated he regrets that he went along with the bullies.
• Self-Made Man: He is the son of a poor fisherman who made a name for himself as a swordsman despite his humble beginnings. Its for this reason that Akemi's Nouveau Riche father initially agrees to their engagement.
• Ship Tease: Gets this with Mizu in the seventh episode, though at this point he thinks she is a man.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He believes himself the finest swordsman in the land despite his handy defeat by Mizu in the first episode. He claims The Battle Didn't Count because he was drunk at the time. Also somewhat downplayed in that he was the only one to put up any sort of fight for Mizu, forcing her to take off her training weights (at which point she mopped the floor with him).
• Sweet on Polly Oliver: He and Mizu share a few intimate looks when they're wrestling. At one point he actually gets aroused when she pins him down, which he shakes off as "missing Akemi".
• The Rival: Develops a deep rivalry with Mizu. It starts off as pure hatred but develops into a very respectful one.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He seeks a formal duel with Mizu to settle the score and regain his honor after Mizu defeated him and cut his topknot and will not allow them to die before then.
• Traumatic Haircut: Taigen suffers this at Mizu's hand, his topknot being cut clean off to the scalp in a single stroke of her sword. This of course is a tremendous loss of honor during the time period, costing him his future prospects as a samurai and his engagement to Akemi. To add insult to injury, the prominent bald spot it leaves him with is extremely unflattering and makes it especially difficult to hide his disgrace.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Mizu when he realizes she knew about Fowler's plot against the Shogun and Akemi being in danger but didn't say anything until after she was finished convalescing to improve her chances to get another shot at revenge on Fowler. And then he vows to kill her again.
  Taigen: [coldly] You really are a demon!
• Why Won't You Die?: Even Fowler, an expert in torture and cruelty, is surprised by Taigen's will to live after days of vicious torture.
  Fowler: "Are you still alive? Why?"
• The Worf Effect: Most of his action scenes consist of him doing just enough to show that he's genuinely highly skilled, and then getting beaten/humiliated/forced to turn his attention elsewhere so Mizu and their other allies can eke out victory by the skin of their teeth. He's certainly far from useless, but his usefulness tends to have a shorter shelf life than one might expect. That said, if Mizu wasn't the protagonist, Taigen would probably be unstoppable.

Akemi

Debut: "Hammerscale"

I've been a captive my whole life. If I die today, I die free.

Voiced by: Brenda Song

The daughter of a Nouveau Riche lord from Kyoto, Akemi has the beauty and poise expected of a noblewoman but struggles to find a way to maintain her freedom as a woman living as bargaining chip in her father's political career.

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• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: After a season of adventures and character development after meeting Taigen again she realizes she has grown and changed too much to be satisfied with just being his wife and living quietly and that she has the potential for greatness in her.
• Abusive Parents: Has an exceedingly misogynistic father who schemes to use her as a political pawn. One who so far as to threaten selling her into prostitution or imprisoning her when needed.
• Action Survivor: Has no fighting skills and can easily be overpowered by experienced warriors, however she does manage to kill two men during the attack at Madame Kaji's brothel.
• Animal Motifs: Has two.
  • She is compared to a pig by her father and her caretaker Seki, much to her chagrin, as an animal that can live in a sheltered position seeking freedom but does not have the tools to survive when it gets that freedom.
  • Later episodes have the symbolism of a bird trapped in a cage applied to her as she receives several as gifts for her wedding to the shogun's son.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: She has one in her younger (possibly) half-brother Tomoe, who is a boisterous toddler that frequently throws around food and remains undisciplined by their father.
• Aroused by Their Voice: She's able to get a client in the brothel erect (despite him being unable to do so for some time) and convince him to masturbate himself to climax by reciting erotic poetry to him. The other working women are genuinely impressed.
• Arranged Marriage: At the beginning of the story her father is seeking a proper suitor to marry her, and she manages initially through her sweet words to convince him to let her marry Taigen who she already was in a relationship with. But his loss of honor at Mizu's hand makes the marriage fall through and she is later promised to the second son of the Shogun who has a reputation for Domestic Abuse. Ironically, once she actually meets him, she finds he's actually a kind man with a bad reputation. While also growing to care for her new husband, it's also implied she realizes just how great of an opportunity it is to be married to this passive man while still accessing his family's power.
• Badass Bookworm: While she is no fighter, she has a vast knowledge of poetry, and she is a cunning seductress able to make men fall to her feet with her words only.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: She's stated to be beautiful by many characters, and she has her heart at the right place.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: She goes to all kinds of trouble to avoid marrying the shogun's son only to find her father plans to kill him in a coup, but by that time she's found he's not so bad after all.
• Big Damn Heroes: Manages to save both Ringo and Mizu respectively when they're about to be killed by members of the Thousand Claws by stabbing them In the Back.
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: Gets drenched in blood after Mizu saves her from a gangster from the Thousand Claws by slicing through the man with her katana.
• Character Development: She starts the series feeling like a helpless pawn whose only option is to finagle a marriage to a Nice Guy. When that falls through, she starts taking risks on her own to get him back until she figures out that instead of just trying to flee like a bird, she's capable of seizing power using her own wits and determination.
• Cruel Mercy: She prevents her father from being executed for the part he played in Fowler's failed coup, but only to demonstrate to him the power she now holds over him, making it clear in no uncertain terms that he is now her prisoner as she had once been to him.
• The Dog Bites Back: Akemi gets payback for her father's abuse by locking her in the very cell he locked her in. It goes even further by the end of the season finale that her father survived the fire, and now that he is a traitor, will be kept alive... as his own daughter's prisoner. Talk about karma.
• Driven to Suicide: After Mizu lets her father's men capture her and she is forced to marry the shogun's son, Akemi attempts to jump off a balcony to escape the abuse her husband was hinted to have done to his past wife. Seki stops her and talks her out of it.
• The Dutiful Daughter: Justified; has a younger brother named Tomoe who is still a toddler, and being of age to marry, her father attempts to use her to climb the social ladder, although against her wishes.
• Faux Action Girl: Justified; while Akemi has a few kills under her belt as of the fifth episode, she is in no way a trained fighter due to the time period and is easily bested against men who trained their whole lives as warriors.
• First-World Problems: Part of her character arc. While the restrictions she lives under and the threat of being married off to a domestic abuser for her father's wealth are far from trivial, the women of Madam Kaji's brothel live far worse lives and tell her they'd trade places in a heartbeat. She later hires them as her ladies-in-waiting, both because she needs people she can trust and to thank them for helping her.
• Guile Hero: Akemi is resourceful and very good at getting her way purely on her wits, looks and charisma. This is something that Seki has instilled in her from a young age to help protect her interests as a woman in a man's world.
• Grin of Audacity: Has one when she tells Lady Ito that her treacherous father will be left "in her care".
• Heroic Seductress: She's a stunning young woman, and over the course of the season, learns to use her good looks at her advantage to get what she wants.
• Honey Pot: She tries to do this to kill Mizu, when she encounters her in the brothel but it does not work because she recognizes her from their brief first meeting in Kyoto.
• I Die Free: Says this word for word to Ringo while they protect Madame Kaji and the prostitutes from the Thousand Claws.
  Akemi: I've been a captive my whole life. [wields a knife] If I die today, I die free.
• Irony: One of the central reasons she fights so hard to marry Taigen is because she knows he'll treat her with respect and fears that the lord her father chose would be a brute. By the finale of season one, she gets a double dose of irony when she discovers that her betrothed is respectful and kind only to find out immediately afterwards that her father was planning on killing him and installing her as a puppet queen. The irony doesn't end there as, after all of this, she's given one more opportunity for exactly the life she wanted at the series' start: A quiet, stable life with Taigen. She turns it down and chooses greatness instead, honoring the wishes of Seki, whose Last Words to her was telling her that his dream for his nation was that it would be ruled by her.
• Meaningful Name: Akemi can mean "bright beauty", which is definitely the case with her.
• Missing Mom: Her mother apparently passed away when she was very young, hence why she was neglected by her father and mostly raised by her retainer Seki.
• Mistaken for Prostitute: Often when on the road, she is able to use this to her advantage by pretending to be a high-class courtesan searching for a new brothel contract in order to travel more safely.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's an alluring beauty, and has her fair share of erotic scenes showing off her breasts and nude body.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: She doesn't realize it at first due to his terrible reputation, but it turns out Takayoshi is actually a soft-spoken and kindhearted man, providing her with both a gentle and loving partner as well as a position that offers her more power than she originally had. Shame about her father planning to kill him to install her as a puppet queen.
• Rebellious Princess: The Runaway variety. To Seki's surprise she adapts quite well, when he assumed she'd give up after seeing how harsh the outside world was.
• Silk Hiding Steel: When gang members are raiding the brothel, she steps out to help Ringo act as the last line of defense in case enemies get past Mizu. She is able to handily finish off two men with a small knife she pilfered from a merchant in the previous episode.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Though Taigen has his flaws, his is ultimately a man of honor who genuinely loves Akemi. She finds out that the same could be said for Takayoshi, despite his terrible reputation, which allows her to settle into her arranged marriage with him much more easily.
• Spoiled Brat: Discussed. Whilst her father is still misogynistic and considers her property, he has provided her with a very luxurious life. Akemi is accustomed to getting her way and being refused a way to fox her way out of her arranged marriage causes her to rebel. However, it's also made clear that her position really is genuinely unfair and, after some time to adapt, she manages to survive on her own quite admirably.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Mizu's Tomboy.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Throughout the season Akemi languishes in her position as a woman, complaining that she does not have the freedom and the choices that a man in her position would have, but her caretaker Seki repeatedly points out that what she does have is the cunning and the charisma to use the position she has to obtain not only the freedom she desires, but to rule above the men in her life if only she applied herself.

Allies

The Swordfather

Debut: "Hammerscale"

All must be pure for the sword to be pure: the metal, the maker, the one to wield it.

Voiced by: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

A blind blacksmith, he is a master crafter of swords, and serves as a mentor and father figure to Mizu.

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• Affectionate Nickname: His actual name is Eiji. "Swordfather" is what Mizu calls him out of respect and admiration.
• Analogy Backfire: The positive version. When Mizu reveals her heritage to him, she refers to herself as being "of mixed metals". He responds that the greatest swords are made of mixed metals, so she might be something shameful, or she might be something strong instead.
• Big Good: He is a master crafter of swords, and serves as a mentor and father figure to Mizu.
• Blind and the Beast: Heavily downplayed, but it is clear that Mizu's whole 'blue-eyed half-breed' thing does not register with him and all he noticed was a mistreated homeless Street Urchin. When Mizu blurts out the truth about her mixed blood, he still keeps her on as his apprentice.
• Blind Seer: Downplayed: Though he cannot see, he appears well aware of his surroundings, knowing a young Mizu didn't leave his house when they first met and knowing if she did not put away her tools correctly.
• Blind Weaponmaster: A variation; he's not a samurai himself, but he insists that each customer demonstrate how they use a sword to guide him in making their next sword. Apparently he's able to get this information just by listening, or placing his hand on their back to feel the movement of their body.
• Commonality Connection: While at first he was annoyed at Ringo's antics, they bond somewhat after realizing both don't let their respective disabilities hinder them in their daily lives. He's also impressed that Ringo made his various hand-replacing tools himself.
• Cool Old Guy: He's an old but very capable swordsmith who took Mizu in even if he didn't have to.
• Covered with Scars: His arms and hands are striped with sword wound scars. How he got them is never elaborated on, whether from past days as a soldier or samurai himself, or as a part of his learning sword styles for himself to better craft blades to their weilders. Either way, Eiji has survived a lot of damage that would otherwise cripple a lesser man for life.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He tells Ringo that he lost his sight in a fire, though it has yet to be revealed how it happened.
• Eyes Always Shut: Due to his blindness he tends to keep his eyes shut. At moments where he does open them, they are shown to be grey to showcase he is not able to see.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: When Mizu is ruminating bitterly on her failures in her quest and as a person, Eiji gives her a rap on the head with his tongs to get her out of her self-pitying mood.
• Morality Pet: He is the one person in the entire series that Mizu is always respectful and kind to.
• Open-Minded Parent: Does not care the slightest if Mizu is half-breed. When she mentions every man sees her as a monster, Eiji states as as matter of fact that he doesn't have eyes, thus he can accept her.
• Papa Wolf: When Chiaki starts slapping Mizu for breaking his blade, he catches his hand without being able to see where it is and his hold is so strong Chiaki can't break free from it.
• Parental Substitute: He clearly was the closest thing Mizu ever had to a father in her life.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers a soft one to Mizu, who then learns to accept who she is as a whole, as well as acknowledging others in her bloody journey instead of her singular focus.
  Swordfather: Your sword broke because the blend was wrong... It was too pure. Your metal wants to be blended with new steel... The fire in you rages beyond control.
  Mizu: I'm not the child you once knew.
  Swordfather: No. That child would see you and run. That child understood the meaning of a sword, the line separating life and death.
• Spotting the Thread: He's able to deduce Psycho for Hire Chiaki is not a book-binder just by grabbing his hand.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Respected all over Japan for his exquisite swordcrafting.
• Would Hurt a Child: Justified; he doesn't hesitate to give Mizu a rap with his tongs whenever she makes a mistake, but it teaches her the discipline necessary for his craft. Furthermore it's always backed up by the Swordfather quietly stating what she did wrong; compare this to the harsher blows and racial abuse she gets from everyone else.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He keeps trying to get Mizu to understand this. When she first reveals the truth about her heritage, Eiji points out that it's only a deformity if she lets it be one, because the strongest metals are alloys. Later, when she begins really thinking of herself as the demon others accuse her of being for her obsession, Eiji points out that another type of person noted for obsession is an artist, opening up about his feelings towards his own craft and how it is the only true skill and purpose he has... and that it isn't something he can do alone.

Seki

Debut: "Hammerscale"

There are only so many paths available to each man and each girl. Fight within your confines, not against them.

Voiced by: George Takei

The senior attendant in Daichi's household and Akemi's favorite tutor since childhood.

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• Battle Butler: Essentially acts as Akemi's personal butler and teacher, but he can also wield a sword competently if need be.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: He dies on Akemi's lap after he caught a stray bullet during the final episode.:
• I Did What I Had to Do: He arranged Akemi's marriage to the shogun's son despite knowing he might abuse her, because he figured it was the best option she had. This leads to their falling out.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Though his insistence of Akemi going through with her arranged marriage to the shogun's son was rooted in a misogynistic mindset, she later realizes that he was correct when he told her that her marriage to him could open new opportunities up to her so long as she applied the cunning and determination she already possessed.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Akemi accuses him of this after she becomes disillusioned with his advice, and he admits that he's never been much good at anything. However, considering all of the cunning Akemi exhibited throughout the show that got her ahead actually came from his guidance, this might actually be something of a subversion. His only misstep was assuming that her marrying the shogun's son would protect her.
• Noble Bigot: Deconstructed. He's very protective of Akemi and seeks what's best for her, and seems to be a better father than her actual father is. But he still holds the same misogynistic views as every other man in the time period, and repeats the same "you're either a modest wife or an immodest whore" ultimatum her father gave her. Rather than his noble traits making him sympathetic inspite of his misogyny, however, it makes them sting worse because it makes his outburst feel more personally betraying. Furthermore, the reveal of how he truly views Akemi makes recasts his prior acts of support as manipulation, and casts doubt on if their bad luck up until this point was genuine or pre-planned by him to make her see "reason". However, after this destroys their relationship, his nobler side ultimately makes him see the problems with his line of thinking, especially when it directly leads to her being endangered by Fowler's coup. He makes up for it by trying to help her escape for real, making sure to frame this as being her decision to make for herself.
• Old Retainer: He's been serving Akemi's family at least since she was a child, probably even longer.
• Papa Wolf: Having raised Akemi as his own daughter, he's very protective of her. He frees her from the dungeon her father locked her in by killing the guards and locking his own Lord inside himself.
• Parental Substitute: As it becomes very evident, he raised Akemi far more than her actual father did. In the finale, when Akemi's father locks her up with the intent to make her his Puppet Queen and threatens to kill her if she doesn't comply, Seki is the one that rescues her. His Final Words as he dies are, "I raised you..."
• This Is Reality: He points out several times to Akemi that she doesn't live in a culture where she can freely Marry for Love despite her desperation to be free from the whims of her father and other powerful men. It leads to Akemi being estranged from him as she views it as him promoting the misogynistic system keeping her trapped.

Madame Kaji

Debut: "Peculiarities"

To deny desire is to cut a corner of your own heart. To sever a limb and still expect to fight true.

Voiced by: Ming-Na Wen

The madam of a brothel specializing in "peculiarities". She has been under contract with Henji Shindo before, and provides valuable information to both Mizu and Akemi on their quests.

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• All for Nothing: Played with through her request to have Mizu Mercy Kill Kinuyo and make it look like an accident. They're quickly found out, but in the end Mizu wipes out Hamata's forces. Mizu hands him over to Kaji and her girls, who then kill him.
• And This Is for...: She kills Boss Hamata with a claw from one of his own henchmen for torturing, raping and breaking Kinuyo, whom she saw as her daughter.
• Anti-Hero: She's ruthless and concerned primarily with the well-being of herself and her girls, but she does have a sense of honor and is fiercely protective of those under her.
• The Cynic: She holds no hope that the world will be fair or kind to her, and generally assumes the worst of everything and everyone, an assumption that is often proved right. She tells one of her girls that all of life is about getting up and doing what you don't want to do.
• Does Not Like Men: As she's at the bottom of the social ladder and makes a living from the kind of men who would spit in her face in public while still demanding her services in secret, Madam Kaji has no respect for men and their misogyny towards her and her women. Ironically, the only man she grows to respect is Mizu.
  Kaji: He's a beast? He's weak. He's a man, all men are weak. The ones who act beastly are weakest. They penetrate women and think that makes them powerful. Really, their pricks are fragile. Exposed.
• Everyone Has Standards: She bluntly says that her girls had better get over any compunctions they have about fetishes and sex, and is harsh in telling Akemi that if she proves too picky she'll throw her out onto the street. However, when she was given the teenage Kinuyo by her abusive father, she instead protected and raised her, promising her that she would never let a man touch her again. It should be noted that she immediately realized that Akemi was a rich runaway who had never been abused, but it was as clear as day that Kinuyo had a horrible upbringing.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The owner of a brothel and prostitute in charge of it, she has a high sense of honor and is a kind, but firm maternal figure to the girls under her care.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Blunt, rude, and even a bit spiteful sometimes, but ultimately cares deeply for the women in her care.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Her tough but fair treatment of Akemi results in a positive example of this. Akemi covers all her and her employees' debts and then some, and gives them the chance to live as her noble ladies in waiting, just about the highest station a women at the time could ever hope for. While their status as noble ladies is unclear given that the capitol was mostly burned down by the season finale, she and the surviving prostitutes were warned of the coup and escape before things go down. They'd been in the area on business regardless of their ties to Akemi, so they easily could have died if they hadn't run into her.
• Mama Bear: Very protective of her working girls. She murders Boss Hamata for what he did to Kinuyo.
• The Mentor: When Akemi runs into her again in Edo, she gives the Rebellious Princess advice on how take control of her life via seduction and manipulation.
• Mercy Kill: Realizing that she doesn't have any means of rescuing Kinuyo without getting herself and all the girls under her care killed, she decides this is the best way of freeing the poor girl from the life of a Sex Slave.
• Miss Kitty: Runs a brothel that caters to "peculiar tastes" (which is how characters refer to what we would today call kinks or fetishes).
• Offing the Offspring: A justified, tearjerking example. Madame Kaji loves Kinuyo like a daughter, but knows that she can never see her again without the Thousand Claws burning her brothel to the ground and killing her and the other girls. She asks Mizu to Mercy Kill Kinuyo and Make It Look Like an Accident so she can be free of a life of constant abuse. She definitely does not want to go through it, but sees no other option. After Mizu tells her the deed is done, she breaks down crying.
• Parental Substitute: When a man sold his daughter Kinuyo to her, Madame Kaji takes pity of her when she realizes she is deaf and mute, and takes her in under her care. She promised the girl she would never be touched by a man again. Unfortunately, Boss Hamata, who takes half of what she gains, "loves to break things" and decides to take the delicate Kinuyo away from her.
• Rape and Revenge: Kills Boss Hamata for abusing and raping Kinuyo.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: A firm believer of this. She only facilitates consensual sex. Through the flashbacks involving Kinuyo we see that if she can afford to take in any girls who were forced into prostitution she will not make them have sex. The only woman we see her pressuring at all is Akemi, who Kaji realizes is a runaway princess with a warm bed waiting for her at home, and even then she gives Akemi the opportunity to walk away.
• Sex Is Good: To be expected from a madam, of course, but she tells Mizu that sex is an art and a pathway to self-knowledge, and that there is nothing shameful in desire. She has no illusions about the darker parts of the sex trade, but she considers sex itself good, even spiritual.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She's a prim and proper lady of her time period, however, she can be ruthless if any of her girls are threatened. Just ask Boss Hamata...
• Team Mom: Treats the girls under her care as if they were her daughters.
• Wolverine Claws: Wears one of Boss Hamata's guards' claws to kill the bastard for what he did to Kinuyo.

Ise

Debut: "Peculiarities"

Voiced by: Stephanie Hsu

A prostitute working for Madame Kaji who performs a 'princess act', posing as a noble-born courtesan.

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• Because You Were Nice to Me: When Akemi decides to personally employ Madame Kaji's girls, Ise is overwhelmed by her kindness, and confesses to hearing Fowler's plan to murder the shougun and his his family.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's quite frank.
• I Just Want to Be You: Played for Laughs. When Akemi bemoans her situation, Ise claims that she would trade lives with him.
• Railing Kill: Lord Daichi kills her by pushing her off a balcony when she reveals Fowler's plan to storm the shogun's palace, something he knew and was an accomplice of.
• Unknown Rival: Has an understandable resentment of Akemi when she first arrives at the brothel, as she's a genuine princess and thus could take her clients away from her. She doesn't know that Akemi has no intention of staying.

Kinuyo

Debut: "Peculiarities"

A young deaf and mute girl sold into prostitution by her abusive father. She became like a daughter to Madame Kaji but was forcefully bought by Boss Hamata to be his personal concubine.

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• Abusive Parents: Her father beat her and sold her to Madame Kaji. When she accidentally spills water from a cup, she shields herself with her arm, expecting Madame Kaji to hit her like her father did.
• Born Unlucky: This poor girl had one of the most miserable lives in the series. And that's saying something.
• Broken Bird: Was sold to a brothel by her own father, and taken away from the woman who showed her kindness and love to become a cruel's man Sex Slave. Madame Kaji even lampshades that he "loves to break delicate things", hence why he took the sweet and meek Kinuyo by force.
• Cute Mute: She is stated to be deaf and mute, and is cute as a button.
• Damsel in Distress: Played for Drama. She finds herself bought and abused constantly by a powerful gangster, and the only way she can be saved without Madame Kaji and the girls at her brothel being at risk, is to kill her and Make It Look Like an Accident.
• I Die Free: Knowing she can't have Boss Hamata killed without putting her life and those of her girls in danger, Madame Kaji demands Mizu to Mercy Kill Kinuyo and Make It Look Like an Accident so she can be free of a life of pain and suffering. Played with in that Kinuyo herself did not choose this, and her reaction to Mizu's gesture implies that she specifically rejected it... but Mizu didn't give her a choice.
• Kill the Cutie: Though Madame Kaji knows there are no other options because of Hamata's social powers, she demands her death by Mizu so she can be free of a life of pain and being raped constantly by a horrible man.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: By Madame Kaji's request, Mizu snaps Kinuyo's neck and stages her death as being self-defense against one of Hamata's guards forcing himself on her.
• Meaningful Name: Kinuyo means "silk", and she is just as delicate as the fabric.
• Neck Snap: How she dies by Mizu.
• Pimping the Offspring: Her father sold her to Madame Kaji, but Kaji instead protected her and raised her.
• Sex Slave: Boss Hamata forcefully took her from Madame Kaji because he "likes to break delicate things".
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She was an adorable Cute Mute girl, but was horribly beaten by her father because of it and eventually found herself within the clutches of a monster who abused her multiple times. The only way out for her was a quick and painless death by Mizu, because saving her and/or killing Boss Hamata would put the lives of Madame Kaji and her girls at risk. There was no happy ending for this girl, and even Mizu cries after she kills her.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Twice.
  • She gets sold into sex slavery by her own father, and the owner of the brothel takes her in pity and vows no other man will touch her again. Unfortunately, Boss Hamata forcefully takes her as his concubine and proceeds to abuse her physically and sexually.
  • When she thinks she is safe with Mizu, and might see Madame Kaji again... Mizu snaps her neck.

The Four White Devils

In General

Skeffington, Routley, Violet and Fowler. Four British criminal smugglers who were uniquely permitted to do business in Japan with the Shogun, despite his own laws directly forbidding outsiders. Together, they trafficked weapons, drugs, and people in and out of Japan. As the only white men in Japan at the time of her conception, one of them must be Mizu's father, but she has no way of knowing which one so she sets out to kill them all.

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• Create Your Own Hero: One of them fathered Mizu, and had her mother killed. This makes them responsible for her being discriminated against for her mixed race heritage and the long list of traumas that came with said discrimination. Their activities also contribute heavily to the anti-white sentiment among the Japanese as they are criminal traffickers whose exports include weapons, drugs, and people, which further fueled Mizu's self-loathing that stems from her white heritage. As a result, they directly created the person who has Gotta Kill Them All.
• Evil Colonialist: They're four opium/gun/slave traders who seek to colonize Japan. Fowler, already a stone-cold monster himself, says the remaining two are even worse than him.
• Four Is Death: It's certainly no coincidence that these deadly, unspeakably monstrous colonizers of Japan number at four (a number that is a bad omen in Japan).
• The Ghost: Fowler is the only one of them to physically show up in season 1.
• Horns of Villainy: The last silhouette (L-R) appears to wear animal horns as headgear.
• Last-Name Basis: All of them are referred to by their last name, even Fowler, who's almost never called Abijah.
• Lean and Mean: The second (L-R) of the Sinister Silhouettes appears rail-thin and very tall.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: It's unclear which of them is Mizu's father. It's probably not Fowler as he doesn't resemble her, lacks her distinctive blue eyes, and by his own claim he had all his own bastard children killed already. We don't know anything about Violet other than he's already dead, while Skeffington and Routley are both given vague descriptions that point to either of them being Mizu's father.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "The Four White Devils" is not a group you want to find trouble with, especially in Edo-period Japan.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Japan cut itself off from the West, Skeffington and Routley promptly returned to London. Violet and Fowler remained in Japan.
• Shoulders of Doom: The first silhouette (L-R) has some gigantic shoulder-pads.
• Sinister Silhouettes: Their first (chronological) appearance are as shadowy silhouettes in Mizu's past.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Each potential father has at least one trait when can be seen in Mizu.
  • The silhouette of Violet when Mizu recalls killing him looks very similar to her.
  • Fowler does not physically resemble Mizu at all but they do share a ruthless, cutthroat personality, something Fowler acknowledges.
  • After he contemplates the possibility that Mizu is in fact his daughter, Fowler then mentions Skeffington's tall frame, and Routley's blue eyes.

Abijah Fowler

Debut: "Hammerscale"

No one murders so well as the British. It's our number one export.

Voiced by: Kenneth Branagh

An Irish arms dealer and business partner of the crime boss Heiji Shindo. He is one of the four white men who were in Japan at the time of Mizu's conception.

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• Ambition Is Evil: He's already wealthy and powerful before the series started, but that's not enough. He wants to rule Japan and has no qualms about torturing and murdering countless innocents to get what he wants.
• Ambiguously Bi: While at Madame Kaji's brothel, he allows himself to be sodomized by one of the girls wearing a Tengu mask. Yeah....
• Arc Villain: Of Season One.
• Arms Dealer: His main job appears to be smuggling European firearms into Japan.
• Ax-Crazy: How else would you call a guy who can tell a person's sex by the sound their bones make when they break ?
• Bad Boss: Best shown where after finding out that Mizu killed the Four Fangs, Fowler kills the informant in a fit of rage.
• Big Bad: Of the first season, Fowler is the instigator of the plot and the only of the four white men on Mizu's hit list to make an appearance.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Instead of killing him as she intended, Mizu is forced to take him prisoner when he reveals the two remaining white men are in London. Presumably, so he can use his influence and/or act as her guide in a culture she knows nothing about.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Downplayed, but at no point does Fowler act under the illusion of his pursuits being noble or justified. He sees his planned conquest of Japan from the shadows as nothing more than him satiating his own hunger for control and speaks of Britain's penchant for murder and destruction with fondness.
• The Chessmaster: Fowler's been working for over a decade to increase his standing in Japan, to allow him the chance to kill the shogun and rule it from the shadows.
• Combat Pragmatist: "No one does murder quite like the British", as he says and he is all too happy to use the technological gap of a gun versus a sword to get the leg up on an opponent.
• Cornered Rattlesnake: When forced into an actually even fight, he prefers to use hit-and-run tactics and flees when put in a disadvantageous position, as seen in his final battle with Mizu. When he has absolutely nowhere to run off to due to Mizu burning down the shogun's palace (and accidentally all of Edo), he directly charges at her in order to subject her to a positively vicious No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• Cultured Badass: Fowler is well-versed in Japanese culture (though more out of necessity than curiosity as he loathes the Japanese) and a Master Swordsman who gives Mizu a run for her money.
• Deadpan Snarker: Carries himself with a lot of cocksure mockery towards everyone and everything surrounding himself.
• Dissonant Serenity: He tends to speak most brightly when he's utterly furious.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first scene shows him putting the finishing touches on a masterfully painted image of a man disembowelled by a bull... and then responding to a compliment of his mastery by saying he hates painting and every other "useless" art he's mastered while unable to leave the castle, and destroying the picture, with the camera showing that he was using an actual disembowelled corpse as a model for his painting. This is Fowler; multi-talented, meticulous, bored, resentful, and obsessed with violence and bloodshed for the sheer pleasure of it.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: At least from what he said from his backstory, he did legitimately love his sister and tried his best to keep her alive. Sure, he did cannibalize her, but only after she already died and after he protected her body from starving masses for 3 days.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Implied. He's a right and proper bastard throughout who's unapologetically deeply racist and sadistic to his core, but the way he comments about Skeffington and Routley being the worst of them to Mizu when bartering his life, as well as his early comments about how he "doesn't need souls" while talking to himself about his plan to seize the country in the chapel, give the implication that he was not fond of selling off people personally, if for no other reason than because he seems to be above that sort of trade.
• Evil Colonialist: This is part of his ultimate goal to take over Japan and open its borders to the British and rule it through a puppet Shogun.
• Evil Is Bigger: Being British means he's quite taller and more imposing than the average Japanese.
• Evil Redhead: Irish, orange-haired, a brutal fighter and a ruthless arms dealer.
• Fat Bastard: He is compared often to an overcooked dumpling and is presented as all the fouler for it. Given his past where he nearly starved to death in a famine and was forced to eat his own sister's corpse to survive, it's understandable why he would overindulge.
• Faux Affably Evil: Chirpy and convivial, and a homicidal maniac.
• Foreign Culture Fetish: Averted. He's a master of several forms of Japanese art, from painting and woodblock to ceramic and calligraphy. He's proficient with a katana, and sometimes wears Japanese clothing and puts his hair up in a Japanese style. And he hates every part of it, because each skill mastered reflects countless hours of soul-crushing tedium in his Gilded Cage of a fortress, and each Japanese mannerism he adopts is the result of having to bow to a shogun he despises.
• Freudian Excuse: Fowler regales Heiji Shindo with his past as a child during the Nine Years' War and the subsequent Ulster famine, during which both his parents died and he had to cannibalize his sister's corpse to survive. This goes a long way to explain how he turned out to be such a nasty piece of work.
• Freudian Excuse Denial: In that same breath as he recounts his horrible childhood that culminated in cannibalizing his sister's corpse, he makes it perfectly clear he doesn't see it as an excuse for the kind of monster he turned into—in fact, it empowers him to go farther than most reasonably would in an attempt to take what he believes belongs to him, and given his ambitions, is effectively all of Japan regardless of the pain he's going to inflict.
  Abijah Fowler: It was the last thing I ever did because I had to, I control my life now. Every bite.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Once a starving peasant boy forced to eat his dead sister's corpse just to stay alive, now a powerful arms dealer.
• Gilded Cage: He lives in a castle on a remote island and isn't allowed further into Japan except for once a year where he makes a journey to pay tribute to the Shogun, who won't even deign to meet him in person. He is well-appointed and supplied, but also thoroughly sick of his isolation.
• Gun Fu: When in-between the lengthy reloads of his rifle, he typically wields his gun in a manner not too dissimilar to a staff to intercept those trying to capitalize on the perceived window of vulnerability.
• Guns vs. Swords: Played with, he is all too happy to use the gun to end fights quickly but the lengthy reload speed of the guns of the era means he is also armed with a sword and a dagger for when there just isn't time to do that.
• Hated by All: Nobody has a kind thing to say about him, not even his close associates like Heiji, Chiba, and the shogun, who all find him to be an overweight and repulsive menace.
• The Hedonist: Not particularly concerned with anything other than indulging his desires at any cost.
• Hidden Depths:
  • At first glance, you would be forgiven for assuming Fowler to be a just a violent buffon. However it quickly becomes clear through the way he conducts his business and art and how well-versed he is in Japanese culture (despite loathing it), that he is actually a highly intelligent individual who resents his isolation. His Dark and Troubled Past also shows he is a much more hardened and survival-minded individual than anyone gave him credit for, as well as establishing him as someone who rose to the top without any privileged background.
  • He ends up surprising even his long-time "partner" Heiji by designing a modular flintlock that can be disassembled and disguised as ordinary objects. He sneaks two thousand weapons into Japan this way.
• Hypocrite: As an Irishman who lost his family and nearly died in a famine caused by the British, you'd think he'd have a more sour view of colonialism. Instead of vowing to protect others from such suffering, he only vows to give himself a life where he controls every aspect of it and never has to become so desperate again at any cost.
• I Am a Humanitarian: Tragically in his past to survive during a famine he had to eat his dead sister's kidneys to survive.
• I Just Want to Be Free: A villainous version. He's completely fixated on making a life where he can do whatever he wants at any time, with nothing able to interfere, and doesn't care if he has to turn Japan or anywhere else into his private playground.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: He's very familiar with what it feels like to break a woman's bones, to the point that he discerns Mizu's gender by breaking some of hers. He's also spent the last few years isolated in a fortress where the only women around are the prostitutes Shindo brings him. It's not hard to connect the dots on how he gained such expertise.
• Ironic Name: Abijah means "God is my father" and although he believes in God, he's rather apathetic about Christianity, instead viewing it as something to implement on Japan should his plan to colonize it succeed.
• It's All About Me: Except for possibly Violet, the only thing that matters to Fowler is Fowler. It's implied that he once loved his sister given the lengths he went to save her, but her death (and what he had to do afterwards to survive) was his Cynicism Catalyst and now he's resolved to live only for himself.
• Killer Bear Hug: He nearly kills Mizu this way in their final confrontation, squeezing her into his metal breastplate and breaking several bones in the process.
• Know When to Fold Them: Competent and deadly as he is both in ability and in cunning, Fowler is quick to recognize he has no chance contending with someone as crazy and vengeful as Mizu is in their final battle, especially when she thoughtlessly burns the whole of Edo just to get to him.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Fowler says that as bad as he is, Skeffington and Routley are even worse. If what he says is true, then that is one hell of an accomplishment, given all the atrocities Fowler himself has committed.
• Lightning Bruiser: He combines his Stout Strength with unlikely speed and reflexes, making him a deadly threat to even the most gifted warriors in the series.
• Meaningful Name: Nobody is fouler than Abijah Fowler. "Fowler" also literally means "hunter of birds (fowl)", fitting his predatory nature and association with guns.
• Nay-Theist: Fowler believes in the existence of God, but doesn't think much of him or Christian values in general. During his impromptu "prayer", he admits that he hasn't tried to reach out to any higher power for a long time, and ruefully states that the chapel was built without his permission. Nevertheless, he still tries to bargain for God's favor by promising to spread Christianity throughout Japan if his planned coup should succeed.
• Never Accepted in His Hometown: The unspoken historical read on why Fowler is still in Japan even after the implementation of the Closed Door edict rather than pick up sticks and head home is that being an Irishman in Japan was probably a better prospect at the time than being an Irishman in Great Britain. After all, Fowler had already suffered at the hands of the English in his youth, so why trade one island of bigots who hate him for another at this point?
• Never Be Hurt Again: His desire for power seems to rooted in the loss of his family during an English caused famine in his youth. After being forced to partially cannibalize his sister's corpse, he vowed that he would control every part of his life.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Half-mockingly notes to Mizu that Edo is burning to the ground because of her pursuit of revenge at any cost. Declaring that its her 'white' half showing and speculates that she really is his daughter.
• Offing the Offspring: He kept track of his various bastards and had them all killed, along with their mothers, meaning the tunnels beneath his castle are literally lined with tiny skeletons. It's why he dismisses the idea that Mizu is one of them. Though we do see a green-eyed woman in the brothel that supplies him with prostitutes, suggesting that he missed one.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Extremely racist towards the Japanese despite being extremely well-versed in Japanese culture (as he puts it, the more he learned, the more he hated it). He also mocks Takayoshi's stutter.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: A very dark version of it. He speaks proudly of how good the British are at murder and destruction, having suffered it himself when his family died under a English caused famine, and is extremely brutal and cruel as an outgrowth of it. When Mizu (accidentally) sets the capital ablaze, he compliments her and claims it's her "white half" coming out.
• Renaissance Man: He's phenomenally gifted at everything he puts his hand to, including business, art, and of course violence. The fact that he could master so many different aspects of Japanese culture over the years despite hating every minute of it speaks a great deal about his talents.
• Sadist: Played with. When he has Mizu and Taigen at his mercy, he beats them bloody with his bare hands instead of simply stabbing or shooting them, or ordering his guards to do it for him. But when Taigen is being tortured, he finds it boring and doesn't bother to watch. As seen under Never Be Hurt Again, it seems like this at least partially because he enjoys being so in control that he can inflict pain as he pleases, rather than enjoying the pain itself. Hence why he prolongs various one-sided fights that let him knock around and torment helpless foes, but takes no interest in situations where he isn't the one inflicting pain.
• Satanic Archetype: Just as Mizu is almost a literal onryo, whose rage and hatred regularly lets her accomplish the impossible while leaving a trail of carnage and mayhem in her wake, he's a near-supernatural Satanic presence. He's a cruel, hedonistic, ruthlessly talented polymath whose corruptive influence is felt across the nation, his colours are red, black, and white, and he even has a scene where he casually attempts to bargain with Jesus himself in a twisted parody of prayer.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Mizu sets the entire Imperial Palace on fire just to get a shot at him, he concludes she's too crazy to fight and tries to cut his losses and flee.
• Self-Made Man: He comes from a horrifically impoverished background but grew up to become a powerful arms dealer thanks to his willingness to do absolutely anything to come out on top.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: He's a green-eyed, Irish-born redhead, which makes him stand out quite a bit in Japan, and the Big Bad of the first season.
• The Sociopath: He is definitively this. Not only is Fowler a completely remorseless murderer, torturer and criminal, he is a utterly cruel individual in general who cares only about his own survival and ambitions, has a great need for short-term stimulation (which he sates via sadistic or hedonistic behaviour), and has a pretty arrogant and superior attitude that he hides under a a degree of superficial glib.
• Strong and Skilled: Fowler has mastered the use of a Japanese katana well enough that Mizu comments on the cleanness of a rose stem he cut, stating that it shows a master's skill. Despite that, he prefers using brute force in a fight whenever he can't use a gun, using speed and strength and whatever is in the environment to give himself every advantage he can, putting Mizu on the ropes several times despite her sword skills being among the best demonstrated in the series.
• Stout Strength: Underneath that fat is plenty of muscle and he puts it to great use in any fight.
• Terms of Endangerment: When he finally realizes who Mizu is, he calls her 'Little Miss'. Even while still crushing her in a Killer Bear Hug.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Rather, too kinky to observe torture, anyway. He's a sadist, but he's indulged in this so much over the years that straight-forward torture for information is boring to him.
• Tranquil Fury: He hardly raises his voice, but he often makes it violently clear that he's growing incredibly impatient with his isolation.
• Underestimating Badassery: Everyone from the Shogun to his co-conspirators underestimate Fowler as just a white crime lord. The Shogun never bothered to meet him in person for 10 years, always delegating someone to take his tribute, and even his co-conspirators plan to intercept and steal his guns to perform the coup themselves. This proves to be very bad for them, with the Shogun's army and defenses getting crushed in just a few hours, and his co-conspirators who tried to betray him getting caught and executed. As Fowler goes into his Motive Rant and Freudian Excuse, Heiji Shindo is visibly uncomfortable as he realizes that this man is a greater survivor and warrior than any of them, given how he climbed from the absolute depths of hell and rose to the top without any privileged background.
• Villain Has a Point: Fowler gives the Shogun a Breaking Speech that mocks him for thinking he could ever keep the white man out of Japan, saying he might have succeeded for a few centuries but would end up failing in the end. That's exactly what ended up happening historically when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Japan and demanded Japan open up trade to the Western powers, complete with the dissolution of the Shogunate as a result when civil war broke out. Fowler is loathsome, but completely right in this case about how futile closing the country off completely was.
• Visionary Villain: He explains to the Shogun that he plans to do more than just get rich off trading with Japan. After he has put a puppet on the Shogun's throne, he will use that to transform all of Japan with British culture, religion, morality, and customs until they will come to see him as more attractive than their own way of life.
• Wicked Cultured: He spends his time holed up in a palace at the outskirts of Japan learning various Japanese art forms. He shows himself to be a pretty decent (if morbid) painter. Though subverted when he makes it clear he hates all of it, he only learns it because it's something to do while he waits for his opportunity to enter Japan without the Shogun coming down on him. If not for that, he'd never even bother with it.
• Why Won't You Die?:
  • Said almost verbatim when Taigen stops him from killing Mizu during the raid on his fortress, after weeks of starvation and torture.
    Fowler: You're still alive? Why?
  • He soon gains this attitude towards Mizu, not only for her utter refusal to die but for her dogged persistence in killing him. In the end even after all that's happened, he realizes that he can't beat her and instead persuades her to keep him alive so she can use him to find the other two.
    Fowler: You just keep happening.

Violet

Debut: "An Unexpected Element" (flashback), "All Evil Dreams and Angry Words" (mentioned)

One of the four white men who were in Japan at the time of Mizu's conception, and Mizu's first target for revenge.

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• Ambiguously Related: Violet as he appears in the flashback to his murder is physically identical to Mizu, but Fowler doesn't seem to consider Violet her father, and it is possible that Mizu was only projecting herself over him, as the flashback is presented from her perspective.
• Ambiguous Situation: His physical appearance is this. He either does actually resemble Mizu as shown in the flashback to his murder, or he doesn't, in which case, he's The Ghost like Skeffington and Routley.
• Didn't See That Coming: Mizu catches him completely unaware lounging on a sofa in what may or may not have been a poorly defended mansion.
• Gender-Blender Name: "Violet" is usually a female given name, although it's implied to be a nickname or a surname.
• Posthumous Character: Mizu killed him before the show even began, so all we know about him comes from a flashback to his death and a few comments from Abijah.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Maybe. When Violet is "seen" in flashback to his murder, he looks to be an older mirror image of Mizu. Fowler doesn't appear to think Violet is Mizu's father, or at least it's a moot point to him entirely now that Violet's dead, so it's more than likely Mizu is simply pasting herself over him in her mind through Self-Serving Memory, given that her quest is an extremely metaphorical form of suicide.
• Villainous Friendship: Abijah considered him a friend, at least enough to say "For Violet" before beating Mizu bloody with his bare hands.
• Warmup Boss: Mizu's first major kill on her revenge quest, and from the look of it in her flashback, it was brutally quick and easy for her.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: At least thus far, we know practically nothing of his personality or trade outside of Fowler considering him a friend.

Skeffington & Routley

Debut: "The Great Fire of 1657" (mentioned)

The other two white men who were in Japan at the time of Mizu's conception.

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• Creepy Blue Eyes: Abijah mentions Routely has similar eyes to Mizu when talking about her father's possible identity.
• The Ghost: During season 1, which focuses on Abijah Fowler, and during which they're in London. Best we get are smoky silhouettes who might be depicting them.
• Large and in Charge: Abijah (who himself towers over everyone) describes Skeffington, a big-time slave trader, as a tall and imposing figure. One of the Sinister Silhouettes seen in Mizu's flashback (too thin to be Fowler) notably towers over the other three.
• Sinister Silhouettes: The first appearance of the Four chronologically and the only "appearance" of Skeffington, Routley and Violet in the first season are as smoky silhouettes in Mizu's imagining of her past.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The two of them made their riches off of selling Japanese women to England, and Abijah goes as far to say that they are even more evil than him.
• Viler New Villain: Abijah says they were the worst of the four, growing rich off selling Japanese women to England. And this is coming from a man with an entire sewer full of dead bastard babies and who can identify gender by the way someone's bones break.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Abijah describes Routley as having pretty eyes similar in shape and presumably color to Mizu as a way of pointing out how he could be her father.

Other Antagonists

Heiji Shindo

Debut: "Hammerscale"

In my youth I saw enough flawless swordsmen to know I'd never be one. I put my effort into other arts: commerce, tea.

Voiced by: Randall Park

A merchant and member of the Shindo samurai clan. He's an associate of Fowler, harbouring him on his island, and acting as his de facto liason with the world outside his tower.

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• An Arm and a Leg: Mizu cuts off his right hand while he's trying to force her to go along with his plan.
• Black Sheep: His brother is master of one of the most renowned schools of swordsmanship in Kyoto. He runs the black market trade with the West.
• Blatant Lies: He tells Mizu and Taigen that there aren't any white men in Japan, because that would be illegal and surely no one would break that law. He clearly doesn't expect them to believe him, since he then just laughs and starts discussing his partnership with Fowler.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Being a sadist, he loves directing torture sessions, if the one with Taigen is anything to go by.
• Crazy-Prepared: He has a hundred hidden archers prepared to rain arrows if Mizu refuses his offer. She discovers he's not bluffing, but barely escapes. Later he's rigged his stronghold with a series of ridiculously elaborate booby traps, complete with a mirror-based viewing system so he can watch from a safe place.
• Dirty Coward: He plays dead when Mizu slaughters Fowler's men during the invasion of Edo. When Taigen finds him hiding amongst the corpses, he goes to his death desperately trying to bribe him.
• The Dragon: Given Fowler can't leave his fortress, Heiji essentially acts as his errand man most of the time.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As amoral as he is, he still appears disturbed by Fowler's sheer level of depravity (and at one point outright tells Mizu he despises the man). The one-sided slaughter of the shogun's troops appears to bother him as well. He also seems rather perturbed by Fowler recounting his god-awful childhood during the 9 Years' War and Ulster Famine.
• Face Death with Despair: He panics and pathetically begs for his life when Taigen is about to kill him, although this ends up being in vain.
• Fat and Skinny: The skinny one compared to Fowler.
• It's Personal: While at first he was willing to at least try to bribe Mizu into going away, he makes it very personal to kill her after she cuts off his right hand. He's on the receiving end when Taigen kills him in revenge for his torture.
• Lean and Mean: Shindo is a small lean guy and completely evil.
• Karmic Death: Killed by Taigen, a man he had tortured, who gives an Ironic Echo to said torture before the final blow.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In his youth, he gave up trying to be a warrior because he realized he'd never be a truly great one. In middle age, he makes legitimate attempts to buy off opponents that prove themselves too tough to defeat easily.

  Shindo: Now, I can keep hiring more and more expensive cutthroats, and you can keep killing them, which will cost us money, and you, time. This benefits no one.

• Non-Action Guy: In contrast to his cohort Fowler (who's very handy in a fight), Heiji is absolutely hopeless in a straight fight and much prefers negotiating. He knows there are far better swordsmen out there, which is why he went into commerce in the first place.
• Out-Gambitted: He and the other conspirators planned to seize Fowler's guns for themselves, but did not realize exactly how he planned to smuggle them into the country. When Fowler discovers their treachery, but unknowing of Heiji's involvment, he uses them for target practice. Leaving Heiji no choice but to continue supporting a man he hates.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Heavily implied that one of the reasons he can't stand Fowler, is due to anti-white racial biases present in Japan. Especially since he refers to his face and scent when explaining his hatred of the Irishman.
• Pragmatic Villainy: After Mizu kills the Four Fangs, he realises there's no point wasting money on more assassins that she will likely also kill, so tries negotiation instead.
• Sadist: If anything, he's even more straightforwardly sadistic than Fowler. His Western business partner is obsessed with personal control, both gaining and willingly relinquishing it. Heiji just likes seeing people suffer. He even has a low-tech but sophisticated security camera system set up in his castle to let him watch and enjoy as its many death-traps (which he appears to have personally designed) tear invaders apart.
• The Starscream: Admits to Mizu and Taigen that he hates Fowler and briefly offers them a strategy on how to kill him, but it falls apart because they can't trust him to not betray them. However, he then plots separately to cut Fowler out of the coup, making it clear his hatred was genuine and that he likely would have helped Mizu kill him.
• Torture Technician: Appears to enjoy conducting torture sessions if Taigen is any indication.
• Wicked Cultured: He's been Fowler's guide to and teacher in Japanese culture for a decade, and while his tastes are strange and depraved, he appears to be almost as genuine a polymath as his disciple/business partner. Everything he has is of extremely high quality both aesthetically and functionally - he even made an elegant little Christian chapel for Fowler despite zero interest or input from the latter. Mizu discovers a route into his castle largely by noticing that some of the alcohol shipped there doesn't meet his obvious standards of quality, and digging into why that is, who it's for instead, and what they know.
• Xanatos Gambit: His attempt to personally dispose of Mizu is one of these: he first offers an exorbitant bribe for her to give up her quest and her sword, and when that predictably fails, offers instead to smuggle her into the castle himself, guaranteeing her safety within a "sword-length" of Fowler's throat. If she dies, it's no concern of his, and if she succeeds, it gets rid of a man Shindo sincerely hates. Unfortunately, his speechifying tips off Mizu to the fact that Fowler himself isn't nearly as defenseless as Shindo makes him sound, as well as an alternate route into the fortress. Negotiations quickly go south after that. He was, of course, prepared for that eventuality as well, with hundreds of archers prepared to open fire on his command, but he underestimated just who he was dealing with.

Lord Chiba

Debut: "An Unexpected Element"

Voiced By: Gedde Watanabe

A nobleman in cahoots with Fowler and Heiji's scheme.

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• Asshole Victim: Given his corruption, it's hard to feel to bad for him when Fowler discovers his treason as executes him with a smuggled rifle.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While he goes along with overthrowing the shogun for power, when Fowler says that thousands will die during the coup, Chiba is shown to be horrified at the idea and asks if it was needed for so many people to die.
• Fat Bastard: Is working to overthrow the shogun and take Japan, and is noticeably overweight.
• Tempting Fate: When another man panics during Mizu's storming of Fowler's mansion, Chiba assures him that she wouldn't dare attack such high people. Cue Mizu impaling the man as soon as he agrees with Chiba.

Lord Daichi

Debut: "Hammerscale"

Voiced by: Patrick Gallagher

Akemi's father, a Nouveau Riche lord from Kyoto, who seeks to gain even higher standing within Japan by marrying his daughter off to the Shogun's son.

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• Abusive Parents: Is one, of the neglectful, emotionally and verbally abusive kind, as he pays Akemi so little attention it takes him days to notice she's missing, and when she angers him he doesn't hold back threatening to sell her to sex slavers, and later has her imprisoned and warns that she's only even alive because he allows it.
• Affably Evil: When first introduced, he seems to be a doting father, at least by the standards of the time, and even despite his cruel language he seemingly bends to Akemi's wishes. He's actually in-league with Fowler and Shindo and is one of the most vile characters in the show.
• Archnemesis Dad: To Akemi. Not only is he forcing her to marry the cruel son of the shogun for his own benefits, he's actually part of the coup with Fowler and Shindo to kill the shogun's family, and using his surviving daughter as a Puppet Queen.
• Do You Trust Me?: Subverted; he asks his daughter to trust him when she once again vents her anger at being forced to marry the shogun's son. It's actually foreshadowing that he's part of the coup plot, and plans to kill the royal family leaving his daughter as the only viable successor.
• Evil All Along: When Akemi brings Ise with a warning about the plot against the Shogun, he thanks the women...then kills Ise and imprisons Akemi while revealing he was in-league with Fowler and Shindo the entire time. In fact, the plan hinged on him marrying Akemi into the Shogun's clan then allowing Fowler's coup to proceed, which would give Daichi a direct line to the Shogunate himself and they could rule through him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He certainly wants to be, anyway. He's a Rags to Riches Nouveau Riche lord who was once the son of a pig farmer, but aims to not only rise above his station but to assume the Shogunate after assisting in a coup then betraying his partners.
• Hate Sink: A truly reprehensible sleaze who treats his daughter more like a means to advance his own station, couldn't give less of a shit how that affects her, and is willing to sell out his own country for power. The man is also so misogynistic he can't even reminisce of his late wife without talking about how of a "proper" woman she was to him.
• He-Man Woman Hater: He doesn't outright hate women, but he views them solely as property, or specifically, as farm animals (particularly, pigs), to be raised, reigned, then sold off. He straight up tells Akemi that if she doesn't marry who he tells her to marry, he'll sell her to a brothel instead.
• Ironic Echo: Tells Akemi that she's "still living because he allows it". Akemi repeats the same sentence after Seki rescues her from her prison and locks her father in the cell instead, and by the end of Season One, Akemi becomes the one and only reason he is still alive, as without her, he would be executed for betraying his country.
• Jerkass Has a Point: For all his misogynist beliefs when it comes to his daughter, he's not exactly wrong in saying that she grew up pampered with little experience outside wealth.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: While putting his daughter in an Arranged Marriage against her wishes is quite dickish, it's softened when it turns out the Shogun's son is a timid Nice Guy, so Akemi probably would be happy with him. Then he reveals that's a lie too, he's plotting to murder the poor kid and his family while forcing Akemi to be a puppet ruler. Father of the year, everyone!
• Laser-Guided Karma: Although he survived the fire that gutted Edo, the coup failed and Daichi finds himself in Akemi's "loving" care; after treating his daughter like a prisoner, he is now very much in her power and sure enough, she's the only reason he isn't outright executed for treason.
• Pet the Dog: He's actually quite patient and playful with his rambunctious toddler son, claiming that he'll make a great lord one day due to him doing whatever he wants. However it borders on Parental Neglect given that he enables his son's wild behavior without disciplining him, and given the fact that's a massive misogynist, it's not hard to suspect favoritism.
• Pimping the Offspring: Arranges Akemi to be forced into a marriage to the Shogun's son, who is rumored to be a brute that beats his wives, for his own political gains. When Akemi begs him not to go with it, he outright spits out that he could easily sell her to prostitution instead.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: As noted, he is deeply misogynistic.
• The Starscream: Declares to Akemi this is his plan, assist in the coup then betray the rest, so he can take over as Shogun instead of just being Fowler's Puppet King.
• You Remind Me of X: Akemi uses this to get his agreement to marrying her off to Taigen, who reminds him of his own Rags to Riches story. Unfortunately, Taigen's humiliating defeat at the sword of Mizu quickly ends that idea.

Blood-Soaked Chiaki

Debut: "Hammerscale"

I've taken more than many lives. They call me Blood-Soaked Chiaki.

Voiced by: Mark Dacascos

The leader of the Four Fangs, a quartet of assassins working for Fowler and Shindo.

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• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Chiaki comes to Eiji and Mizu with the request to make him a sword, giving them a sob story about wanting to avenge his father's death at the hands of a drunken ronin. However, Eiji can sense that something is off about him and we get a our first hint at Chiaki's true colors during his and Mizu's sparring match. It isn't until he after he is presented with finished but broken sword that Chiaki reveals he is an assassin who just wanted a sword for his work.
• Blood Knight: His moniker is "Blood-Soaked" Chiaki and he loves to engage in battle and killing.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Averted; he probably doesn't remember the many people he's killed, but he does remember the half-breed apprentice who made his Broken Blade and has already connected it with the blue-eyed samurai he's been sent to kill.
• Create Your Own Hero: Downplayed compared to the Four White Devils. Chiakia does have a hand in Mizu's transformation into a hardened warrior after encountering her as a child. His cruel treatment of her mixed with genuinely good advice on her footwork while sparring (albeit, only so he could knock her around) was some of the limited genuine foundational training that led to her growing into a master with the blade.
• Deadly Sparring: When Mizu sees him practicing his swordplay and tries mimicking his movements, he offers her to join him in a practice match. The spar goes much further than Mizu expected, with Chiaki hitting her hard enough to draw blood and laughing sadistically. This is the first hint that Chiaki is not the soft-spoken man seeking to avenge his father that he claimed to be.
• Evil Laugh: Chiaki has a distinctive maniacal laugh, which Mizu recognizes when she encounters him again as an adult.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In a Bait-and-Switch fashion, it appears like Chiaki is about to give a young Mizu advice on her stance... only to push her in order to humiliate her, and continues to mock her half-breed ancestry.
• Karmic Death: Finds death by the very hand of the young child he cruelly mocked and underestimated years ago.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The "Blood-Soaked" part in front of his name is not just for show.
• Psycho for Hire: He's a blood-thirsty maniac who works for Fowler as an assassin.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He doesn't bother to hide his disdain for Mizu and her heritage. Even as he lays dying he refuses to recognize Mizu as a warrior.
• Red Baron: "Blood-soaked" Chiaki. He also has a team of assassins collectively known as "The Four Fangs".
• Sure, Let's Go with That: He's angry at first when the sword made for him breaks due to Mizu's inexperience in forging it, but quickly realises that wielding the Broken Blade of Eiji will only enhance his reputation.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Him and the Four Fangs are the first enemies in the series who give Mizu a real challenge.
• Would Hurt a Child: He slaps a young Mizu when she takes the blame for breaking his blade. He would have gone further if not for Master Eiji catching his hand and stopping him.

Boss Hamata

Debut: "Peculiarities"

The ruthless leader of the Thousand Claws, who has an iron grip on Madame Kaji's town.

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• Asshole Victim: He's a cruel thug who finds joy in beating and raping delicate-looking women. Considering he's a brute and a rapist, no tears are shed when Madame Kaji kills him with the claws of his own men.
• For the Evulz: He forcefully took the timid Kinuyo from Kaji's brothel, simply because in her words, he likes to break delicate things.
• Hate Sink: While Fowler and Heiji have moments of being affable and humorous, Hamata is never presented as anything but a vile thuggish rapist.
• Karmic Death: Killed by Madame Kaji and other prostitutes. By the claws of his own henchman, no less.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He took Kinuyo from Madame Kaji by force to make her his Sex Slave, because he "likes to break delicate things". Madame Kaji mentions to Mizu that a healer must regularly come to treat Kinuyo for the bruises he leaves on her.
• Scary Teeth: His teeth are noticeably crooked and stained.
• Would Hit a Girl: He physically and sexually abuses Kinuyo.

Hachiman

Debut: "Hammerscale"

No one messes with Hachi!

Voiced By: West Liang

A flesh trader who is connected with Heiji Shindo and threatens Ringo and Mizu with a European pistol at a restaurant.

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• Asshole Victim: Considering he's a human trafficker, women beater and a huge Jerkass in general, he totally deserved having his fingers sliced off by Mizu.
• Bullying a Dragon: What does he do after Mizu slices off two of his fingers? Call her a "half-blooded demon bastard" and comparing her to an onryo. He gets more fingers sliced off for this.
• Fingore: His fingers get sliced off from Mizu using one of the restaurant's knives when he tries to threaten Mizu with his gun. To make matters worse for him, he calls Mizu an onryō upon seeing her blue eyes leading to more of his fingers cut off from his hand even after his fingers got maimed.
• Hate Sink: Introduced as a thuggish brute who physically abuses two young girls that he boasts to having bought, and threatens Ringo at gunpoint and calls him a dog after he accidentally spills soup on him.
• Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: He threatens Mizu with his pistol at close range which Mizu easily shuts him down by cutting off his fingers with a knife.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Despite just losing two of his fingers to Mizu, the first thing he does upon learning her half-Cacasuain ancestry is to call her a "half-blood demon bastard".
• Small Role, Big Impact: Though he only appears in 2 episodes, his possession of a pistol is what allows Mizu to discover he's connected to Heiji Shindo eventually kicking off the main plot of season 1 to track down Abijah Fowler. Additionally, his presence at the restaurant is how Mizu meets Ringo, one of the main characters of the series.
• Starter Villain: He is one of the first adversary Mizu faces, as she has been following him at the very start of the show.
• Too Dumb to Live: While he survives his encounter with Mizu, insulting the ancestry of someone who just sliced off two of your fingers is an extremely stupid thing to do. Sure enough, he loses more fingers for it when Mizu unleashes her katana.

Ito Clan

Shogun Ito

Debut: "The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride"

Voiced by: Keone Young

The current shogun of Japan harbored Abijah Fowler and Violet in exchange for tribute, and the target of Fowler and Heiji Shindo's ultimate plan.

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• Ambiguously Evil: He's not a particularly dastardly villain, but he certainly isn't much of a Benevolent Boss given him breaking his country's own laws out of greed.
• Asshole Victim: Given that he allowed Fowler to stay in Japan is exchange for tribute, despite it being very illegal, it's hard to feel that bad for him when Fowler ultimately kills him.
• Boom Head Shot: Courtesy of Fowler.
• Cool Old Guy: Even it did border on Too Dumb to Live, him brazenly challenging the armed Fowler to a duel was pretty cool.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: The Itō clan, while real, never held the shogunate of Japan with that honor chronologically going to the dynasty of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The shogunate was controlled by the Tokugawa clan, and the Ito were only a moderately powerful clan thanks to their support of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Sengoku period.
• Only One Name: No clue of his given name, and only referred as "Shogun Ito".
• Undignified Death: His attempt to challenge Fowler to a duel is unceremoniously rejected with Fowler just shooting him on the spot after he takes the time to mock the fact that his subjects would witness his humiliation.

Lady Ito

Debut: "The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride"

Voiced by: Tamlyn Tomita

The wife of the shogun and mother of Takayoshi.

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• Abusive Parent: She refuses to let her son talk most of the time and is implied to have spread nasty rumors about him that have led to him developing an unearned terrible reputation.
• Honor Before Reason: The reason why she leaves the witnesses of her husband's death to perish in the temple's fire, as it would tarnish their family's reputation and honor.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Appears more cunning and ruthless than her husband, as she gives her son a terrible reputation so he gets respected through fear, and she shows a deadlier side when she orders her sons to leave those who witnessed her husband's death to die, so there would be no witnesses of his Undignified Death.
• My Beloved Smother: She's incredibly controlling over Takayoshi, constantly talking in his stead to hide the fact that he has a stutter. It's implied she's also the reason why Takayoshi has such a bad reputation.
• Karma Houdini: She kills those who witnessed her husband's murder at the hands of Fowler by trapping in them in the burning palace in order for her family to save face, and hasn't suffered any consequences for it as of yet.
• No Name Given: Her given name has not be revealed yet, and she is only known as Shogun Ito's wife.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: She torments Akemi by making her eat a variety of revolting dishes followed by a roast bird that her son had previously killed.
• Pet the Dog: For her past torment of Akemi, Lady Ito does seem relieved to see that she survived the fire.

Takayoshi

Debut: "The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride"

Voiced by: Harry Shum Jr.

The son of the shogun and the one arranged to be married with Akemi.

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• Apology Gift: He gave Akemi a pair of birds as an apology for killing the one she released and forced her to eat. Sadly, Akemi misread the situation and slapped him across the face for it.
• Domestic Abuse: Subverted. He apparently has a reputation for this, with his first wife being killed, apparently by hanging herself with an obi. However, given that we learn that Takayoshi isn't as cruel as expected, it's more likely that these were just rumors caused or spread by his controlling mother.
• Face of a Thug: On the surface, he appears to be a very cold and emotionless man, which certainly lent fuel to the reputation he had of being a horrible abuser. Then Akemi gets him to talk, and it turns out that underneath his stoic face is a very soft-spoken and gentle man who's just been trying to hide his stutter for his controlling mother's sake.
• Innocently Insensitive: He shoots a bird that Akemi liked with an arrow and only later realizes it distressed her. Later he tries to apologize for this (and for his mother's idea of roasting the dead bird for Akemi's dinner) by giving his new bride two new birds. Akemi is not amused, but rather quickly warms up to him when she discovers he's not the monster she initially thought he was.
• Nice Guy: Although Akemi initially believed him to be emotionless and cruel, behind closed doors he's rather timid and soft-spoken, so Akemi is horrified when she finds out her father set him up to be murdered by Fowler.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: He has a reputation for being horribly abusive to his brides, which was one of the reasons why Akemi was so against being married off to him. However, she later discovers that he is in fact a very kind and soft-spoken man beneath his apparent stoicism. He just happens to be submissive to people who are willing to spread nasty rumors about him.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Contrary to what his reputation implied, he does legitimately want to make Akemi happy. When Akemi comes to realize that he's in fact a kind man, the two of them are pretty willing to consummate. Unfortunately, Akemi's father wasn't ever planning for the marriage to be a long one.
• The Quiet One: He hardly speaks, in part to hide his stutter.
• Shrinking Violet: A male example. He's a timid young man who doesn't object at all to his mother and her handmaidens spreading nasty rumors about him.

Flashback Characters (*UNMARKED SPOILERS*)

Mama

Debut: "A Fixed Number of Paths"

Voiced by: Ann Harada

Mizu's mother who died some time ago as a result of the bounty on Mizu's head for her white ancestry. The circumstances of her death directly drive Mizu's quest for vengeance.

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• Abusive Parents: She treated Mizu horribly in her life, and is as much responsible for her hardened edge as the rest of society. She kept her hidden as a child due to the bounty on her head, forced her to present as the opposite gender and creating severe gender dysmorphia, then abandoned her after faking their deaths in a housefire, leaving her to starve on the streets and with buckets of trauma. When she by-chance encounters Mizu again as an adult, she steals from her, then uses emotional blackmail to get her to marry a local horse trainer solely so she can indulge in her drug habit on his expense, all but outright selling Mizu to a man who is fortunately not enough of a brute to indulge in Marital Rape License. While the treatment in her childhood was ostensibly to protect her, her exploitative treatment of her later in life was purely due to selfishness.
• Addled Addict: Part of her unpleasantness is implied to come from her opium addiction. She not only becomes particularly nasty when cut off from her supply, she steals from Mizu and emotionally blackmails her into agreeing to an arranged marriage all for the sake of maintaining her finances to support her addiction. It's also possible that she sold out Mizu to the bounty hunters because the money she was getting wasn't supplying her with enough.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Was it her who sold out Mizu's identity and location, or Mizu's husband, or both? Both had motivation and evidence of guilt, and fully blame one-another.
  • With the reveal that she was never really Mizu's mother, but just a maid hired to take care of her, two more are created. Firstly, whether she ever actually cared about Mizu in the first place, and her later abusive mistreatment solely the result of her drug addiction poisoning her personality, or did she only take care of her for the money, and always solely saw her as a meal ticket. Secondly, the fire that seemingly killed her, was it the fault of bounty hunters tipped off to Mizu's location by her going outside, or did Mama herself set the blaze to fake their deaths, since the money paying for her to keep care of Mizu had ran out and she no longer had reason to keep care of her.
• Entitled Bitch: Despite treating Mizu terribly, she still acts like Mizu owes her money and favor. While she and Mikio each blame the other for selling Mizu out, Mama tries to get Mizu to take her side because "she's her mother" despite the possibility that she sold her out and the certainty that she abused Mizu throughout her life.
• Kick the Dog: Pretty much non-stop after she reunited with Mizu she abused her in some form. Putting aside the fact she abandoned her and gave a pretty terrible excuse for it, but she then went on to steal from Mizu, guilt her into marrying a horse trainer solely to leach off of them, and spitefully taunted her when they had a fight. This is without getting into whether she sold Mizu's location out to the soldiers looking for the bounty on her.
• Parents as People: If there's a generous interpretation of her actions and you don't believe she sold out Mizu, she might have cared for Mizu as a child. Her pushing Mizu into an arranged marriage could be chalked down to era-specific attitudes and she may have seen it as an opportunity for security for the both of them. She may have convinced herself it was a win-win situation and it was better for Mizu to have as close to a traditional means of living rather than to live life as an assassin.
• Pet the Dog: Mizu does have at least some positive childhood memories of her mother, indicating that there was at least an attempt at being a loving parent toward her.
• Posthumous Character: She died long before the main story begins and only appears in flashbacks.
• Single Mom Stripper: Subverted; she's a prostitute to support her opium habit, and later claims to be continuing to do so to support Mizu but it's just emotional blackmail to manipulate her daughter into accepting her arranged marriage.
• Slut-Shaming: Often called a "whore" in a condescending manner, mostly by a young Taigen and Mikio.
• Two-Faced: When Mizu encounters her as an adult, she has burn scars (from the fire in which she supposedly died) on the side of her face, though the symbolic version also implies.

Mikio

Debut: "The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride"

Voiced by: Byron Mann

Mizu's former husband from her brief marriage, with whom she had a chance to set aside her quest for revenge and possibly have a happy, normal life. Things didn't work out that way.

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• Age-Gap Romance: He's around a decade older than Mizu, and while their marriage started out as an arranged one, they end up genuinely falling in love. Shame about it going horribly wrong later on, but that's besides the point.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs Mizu to forgive him after he left her to die. He keeps going even after he killed her mother, and gets a knife thrown at his neck for it.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Which one betrayed Mizu to the bounty hunters, him or her Mama. He watched Mizu be cornered by them and rode off, only returning after all was done, claiming to have had a moment of cowardice but returned to help. However, if he had, it was a very huge overreaction to her besting him in a friendly spar, and considering his prior character before that point, also hugely out of character. Doesn't matter which one did it however as :he kills her mother and she kills him right after, as whether he was guilty or not, he did still leave her to die.
  • The specific reason why his feelings towards Mizu turned sour after losing their sparring match in the first place is never divulged. On one hand, he possibly had a misogynistic streak and fragile sense of pride that wouldn't let him accept being beaten by a woman. On the other hand, he could've been frightened by just how into their match Mizu got, specifically because she decided partway through that she wanted to fight him with an unsheathed sword.
• Animal Motif: Horses. He's a horse trainer, but also is a large, strong, yet gentle figure who takes time to soften up.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He was the one who asked Mizu to show "all of her" and spar with him to see her warrior side. When she bests him in a fight, showing herself to be better than him and a Blood Knight, Mikio's opinion on Mizu completely changes and it's the start of their Perfectly Arranged Marriage's downfall.
• Beneath the Mask: Twofold. When Mizu first met him, it turned out that beneath his large and intimidating exterior was a chivalrous and kind man. Then after they got married, it turned out he had a hidden misogynistic streak and a very fragile ego. Considering his particularly strong reaction to Mizu besting him in a sparring match, it's possible he wasn't aware of this other side to himself until it hit him at the worst possible time.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: While he goes down quickly, dying with a knife thrown at your head isn't a pleasant way to go, if the choking noises he makes before he dies are by of any indication...
• Death by Irony: Mizu kills him with a thrown knife, which he taught her to do.
• Death by Woman Scorned: After he left Mizu to die to bounty hunters and may or may not have betrayed her in the first place, she kills him by throwing a knife at his head.
• Dirty Coward: When Mizu proved herself to be better than him in combat, Mikio calls her a monster, avoids her and leaves her to die when she gets cornered by bounty hunters (surely with the petty motive that she can take care of herself). Though he decides to come back, he sees Mizu surrounded by the corpses of the bounty hunters, covered in blood and with murder in her eyes. While begs for her forgiveness by calling himself a coward, it doesn't work in his favor and Mizu completely loses her trust in him, going as far as to kill him in rage when he keeps telling he's sorry and he loves her.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite his hidden misogynist streak, Mikio isn't a believer in the Marital Rape License; he respects Mizu's lack of desire for a physical relationship, and they only have sex when she wants to.
  Mikio: I'm not a brute.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Insecurity; Mizu proving herself his better in combat sours Mikio's opinion of her, causing him to lash out and leave her to fight off several bounty hunters alone, then come groveling back to try and regain her affection after she survives.
  • Potentially cowardice; one reading of his negative reaction to Mizu during their sparring session could be that he became legitimately terrified of her due to how much she was willing to push their safety for the sake of a sexual thrill. Rather than choose to confront her directly over how dangerous her behavior was, he opted to avoid her entirely, leaving her at the mercy of the bounty hunters.
• Gone Horribly Right: He actually encouraged Mizu to spar with him in order to get to know her better, only to find that he's repulsed by the side of herself she shows in combat, to say nothing of Mizu destroying his pride by beating him.
• Hidden Depths: He seems to be a Gentle Giant who is kind and chivalrous to Mizu until they fall in love, but turns out he has some issues with his masculinity and when Mizu, a woman, bests him in sparring, his humiliation completely sours him, to the point he's even willing to allow her to be killed without raising a blade to help her.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: He's a lot more insecure about his masculinity than he thinks, and losing to Mizu in a sparring match ultimately is what sours his opinion of her.
• Karmic Death: Leaving Mizu to die without coming to her aid and (maybe) being the one who betrayed her in the first place, it's not without saying that he didn't deserve Mizu's knife thrown at his neck.
• Kick the Dog: Whether he was the one to contact the bounty hunters or not, his treatment of Mizu after their spar was still needlessly cold and cruel, and then he rode off when she was outnumbered by armed men.
• Meaningful Name: The name Mikio can possibly mean "husband". That's this Mikio's role in Mizu's backstory.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: When Mizu reveals that she learnt to use the sword, he invites her to spar against him, so he'll know all sides of her. Unfortunately, the pleasure his wife gets from sparring him, her Blood Knight fury, and the fact that she won all serve to repulse him.
• Noodle Incident: What the "transgression" that got him exiled was; Mikio never says, though he expresses a hope that he can earn his way back into his lord's good graces.
• Pet the Dog: During their marriage, as it was purely transactional, he makes a point to tell her he's not a brute and sleeps in a separate bed, refusing to lay a hand on her until they actually fall in love. He also takes her abysmal homemaking skills in stride, not complaining about her terrible cooking and doesn't take issue with providing home and care for her mother, despite the woman's drug habit.
• Posthumous Character: By the time the main story gets underway, Mikio is long dead.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: If his soured opinion of Mizu after their sparring match was a result of him fearing for his life, he certainly ensured that she'd end him by leaving her at the mercy of the bounty hunters.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Mizu lacks the ruthless attitude needed for a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and nearly gets killed by some opium traders she'd have carved through in the present day. It's being rejected and betrayed by Mikio after falling in love with him in their brief marriage that makes Mizu become a "demon".
• Sore Loser: A possible interpretation on why his feelings towards Mizu soured after their sparring match is that his ego couldn't handle being bested by her.
• Through His Stomach: Mizu's cooking eventually improves while he in turn teaches her to pick apples by throwing a knife.
• Would Hit a Girl: While he shows himself to be reluctant to hurt Mizu during their sparring match, Mikio later kills her mother with a knife when they argue about who sold out Mizu to the authorities.

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