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Characters / Buso Renkin

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A list of characters and character-related tropes from Buso Renkin!

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Main Characters

    Kazuki Muto 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvel_vs__capcom_3__kazuki_muto_by_kingoffiction_d9ovct9.png
Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (JP), Steve Staley (EN, credited as Steve Cannon)

The Hero of the story, Kazuki is a very well-meaning guy who enjoys helping people. At the start of the story, he's caught in the crossfire between Tokiko Tsumura and a Homunculus and killed, but Tokiko gives him a Kakugane as a means of resurrecting him. He later learns to use this alchemical device to create the lance-type Buso Renkin Sunlight Heart.

  • All-Loving Hero: Kazuki often declares his intention to protect everyone, and will defend people who were trying to kill him a few moments before, if he thinks they're redeemable, and even if they have betrayed him in the past or if it means going against the wishes of his Action Girlfriend.
  • Big Brother Instinct: While he is more than willing to save anyone he sees in danger, Kazuki is particularly protective of his younger sister Mahiro and was even willing to attack an alchemical snake monster with nothing but a metal pipe when it tried to eat her. One of his reasons for training to become an Alchemist Warrior is to get stronger so that he can better protect her.
  • Calling Your Attacks: As they are highly enthusiastic character, Kazuki will shout the name for his attacks during combat, usually "Jousting/Sunlight something". This habit was Lampshaded during the first arc of the series when Tokiko, who is a more serious character than Kazuki, asks him why he keeps yelling attack names during the fight, and Kazuki responds that he feels more powerful that way (which is the same explanation the Nobuhiro Watsuki uses in his author's notes).
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: As a Stock Shōnen Hero, Kazuki is more than ready to jump in and help anyone he sees anyone in danger, and will even help the villains if he believes them to be redeemable. This tendency actually got him killed in the first episode when he accidentally got in over his head while trying to save someone.
  • Clingy Macguffin: Kazuki's First-Episode Resurrection involved replacing his destroyed heart with an alchemical device known as a kakugane. This sees Kazuki begin his life as a Stock Shōnen Hero, and halfway through the series we find out that the kakugane is of the black variety, which tends to make the user absurdly powered, but he has to nourish on other people's energy to subsist.
  • The Defroster: Kazuki's warmth, cheer, and optimism slowly bring Tokiko out of the bitter shell she'd been in since witnessing a homonculus devour all of her classmates at the age of 10.
  • Deliberate Injury Gambit: During his final fight with Shusui Hayasaka, Kazuki knew he couldn't stop his more skilled opponent's Reverse Do finishing move with a traditional defence so he returned his buso renkin to its kakugane form inside his chest just before it hit, stopping an attack that would have cut him in half with his near-indestructible Magitek artificial heart, shocking his opponent long enough to reactivate his weapon and strike a near fatal blow of his own.
  • Determinator: While it is implied that he always had the mental attitude to carry on no matter what, the series justifies Kazuki's physical ability to do so despite serious wounds due to his Magitek artificial heart granting him greater stamina, and a low level Healing Factor. This even becomes a major plot point in the second half of the series when the kakugane serving as Kazuki's heart is discovered to be a highly dangerous, modified version, which has given Kazuki energy-draining abilities and is slowly turning him into a monster.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The very first time Kazuki appears in the series, he is taking a fatal blow for a stranger, and then suddenly waking up later and screaming that he'll avenge his death before going on to beat up his friends while half asleep. These scenes do a good job of showcasing his Chronic Hero Syndrome and borderline Cloudcuckoolander nature.
  • First-Episode Resurrection: Kazuki Muto sacrifices his life to protect a girl he's never met when she is attacked by a monster. The girl, Tokiko Tsumura, was just playing helpless to bait out the monster, and feels badly enough about his death that she uses an alchemical device known as a kakugane to resurrect him. With his new Magitek artificial heart Kazuki decides to help Tokiko protect his town from man-eating monster.
  • Heroic Suicide: In the second half of the series, Kazuki was willing to kill himself if he was unable to find a way to reverse his transformation into a Walking Wasteland. He doesn't have to go through with it in the end.
  • Hero Protagonist: Kazuki is the central protagonist of the series. He is a Nice Guy, if a little naive, and is determined to do the right thing no matter what. He is turns out to be the only one who can stand a chance against the Big Bad.
  • Hypocrite: Papillon called him this for wanting to continue fighting him despite having been killed, comparing it to how he was practically on his death bed because of his illness and wanting to fight to continue to live. It's when Kazuki fights Papillon and says that he should stop killing and accept his fate that he begins to call Kazuki this, when Kazuki got a second chance. Of course the entire thing falls flat because Kazuki doesn't have to kill people in order to survive. That chances after he begins to turn into a Walking Wasteland, but once again falls flat because Kazuki fights to find an alternative that means not having to siphon life from people.
  • I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Kazuki has a tendency to unintentionally get Tokiko burst out in a Luminescent Blush, such as when he hugged her protectively while giving his In the Name of the Moon without his shirt, or in the episode when he touches her scar.
  • Idiot Hero: While he is not a total moron, Kazuki can be remarkably childish, naive, and overly trusting of his craftier adversaries. He also has a number of Comic Relief stupid moments throughout the series, such as twice forgetting his hand is injured when trying to shake someone's hand, and his Blatant Lies excuse for his relationship to Tokiko.
  • Lightning Bruiser: When using the energy of the Sunlight Heart, Kazuki can greatly increase his speed and attack power that, when coupled with the high level durability from his Determinator status and artificial heart, makes up for his lack of training at the beginning of the series. Unfortunately, as the Sunlight Heart is a lance, this speed is linear and is mostly used to perform Dash Attacks.
  • Likes Older Women: Kazuki's favourite dirty magazines all feature older women. When his love interest Tokiko, who is a couple years older than Kazuki, discovers this she finds it quite amusing.
  • Next Tier Power-Up: Half way through the series it is revealed that Kazuki's kakugane is actually one of the three black kakugane capable of turning its wielder into a super-powered Walking Wasteland that drains the life from everyone around them. The upgrade actually becomes the driving force of the second half of the story, since Kazuki needs his kakugane to live, and the transformation is supposedly irreversible and will eventually cause him to remain in that form permanently, causing his former allies to turn on him. The transformation also causes a more standard upgrade, in the form of a new Sunlight Heart.
  • Nice Guy: He’s a honest and kind young man who tries to help everyone.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: Kazuki was just a normal, if overly energetic, high school student until he got killed while trying to save a girl from a monster and was brought back to life by implanting a Kakugane into his chest as a replacement heart.
  • Organ Dodge: In at least one of his fight's Kazuki he gets stabbed in the heart, only for it not to do anything as his heart had already been destroyed and replaced with a Kakugane that can transform into the Magitek weapon that he was holding in his hand at the time.
  • The Power of Friendship: While defending his school from a homunculus army released by Doctor Butterfly, Stock Shōnen Hero Kazuki says that he's regaining strength by drawing on the spirits of his friends and classmates. What he (and the audience at this point) don't know at the time is exactly how literal that statement is, as it is later revealed that he's begun to draw on the Life Energy of the people in the school and begun his transformation into a Walking Wasteland.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: As setup for his First-Episode Resurrection, Kazuki dies while trying to save a girl from a monstrous homunculus. Unfortunately the girl, Tokiko, was a warrior from a Creature-Hunter Organization who was attempting to lure the homunculus into a trap and was in no danger whatsoever.
  • Shirtless Scene: While he has a few during the series, Kazuki's most prominent shirtless scene is at the end of the L.X.E. arc when he transforms into a Victor for the first time. The scene isn't intended as fan service, however, but to set Kazuki up as a mirror to the always shirtless Victor.
  • Shonen Hair: Kazuki Muto has the typical spiky brown hair of a Stock Shōnen Hero with the addition of a lighter streak at the front and a strange M-shaped section that looks like there's a misshapen pair of Triangle Shades sticking out of his head.
  • Stock Shōnen Hero: He's an optimistic and reckless Idiot Hero with spiky hair and a Determinator who he refuses to back down from any opponent no matter how strong they may be. This strong will is fueled even further when he is cheered on by others. He cares a lot for his companions and will do anything to protect them. He also will risk his life to save complete strangers.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Kazuki has great durability due to his Magitek artificial heart and Victor powers, while his lance, Sunlight Heart, has great speed and attack power. On the other hand, however, with the exception of some basic, self-taught, martial arts moves, Kazuki had received no formal battle training prior to the start of the series and even after Captain Bravo's intensive training, he has the least skill and experience of any Alchemist Warrior in the series.

    Tokiko Tsumura 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/15824.jpg
Voiced by: Ryōka Yuzuki (JP), Tara Platt (EN)

The Alchemist Warrior who saved Kazuki's life, and unwittingly introduces him into the world of alchemy, Tokiko is more experienced and serious than Kazuki but is uncomfortable in social situations. She has an intense hatred of Homunculi and will go to any lengths to defeat them, and those who work with them. Tokiko wields the Death-Scythe Buso Renkin Valkyrie Skirt.

  • Achey Scars: It's not mentioned until the epilogue but when Tokiko finally explains the origins of the scar across her nose she mentions that it's still sensitive enough to detect air patterns and that, when Kazuki touches it, she feels a calming sensation.
  • Action Girlfriend: Tokiko becomes the girlfriend of the former ordinary high school guy Kazuki Muto at the end of the series' first arc. A highly skilled Alchemist Warrior, Tokiko first met Kazuki when he got himself killed by a monstrous homunculus while unnecessarily trying to save her life. After healing him, Tokiko becomes Kazuki's mentor before the pair eventually form a Battle Couple until Kazuki eventually surpasses her in power.
  • Adaptational Wimp: While she is just as badass in the first half of the series, Tokiko Tsumura, the Action Girlfriend of Stock Shōnen Hero Kazuki, had most of her fight scenes in the second half of the anime cut out because the animators removed many scenes from the main character's side of the arc, including all of her fights, so that they could use the saved screen time to play up the threat posed by the Big Bad. Adding that to the fact that in both versions of the story she spent half the first arc being sidelined due to injuries, and she comes across as far less impressive a fighter than she was in the original manga.
  • Anti-Hero: Due to her hatred of homunculi and anyone who works with them, Tokiko is the most ruthless of the main characters, being more than willing to Shoot the Dog in order to complete her mission. She does, however, soften somewhat as the series, and her relationship with Kazuki, progresses.
  • Armed Legs: Tokiko's Valkyrie Skirt consists of scythe-bladed Spider Limbs that attach to her nervous system through metal bands around her thigh, forcing her to fight in her short skirted Sailor Fuku style uniform as a longer skirts or trousers would rip when it is deployed.
  • Blemished Beauty: She has a long thin scar that extends from one cheek, across the bridge of her nose to the other cheek. It was inflicted by a homunculus trying to kill her and was the first time she manifested her Valkyrie Skirt from the kakugane that was being used to heal her. She could have used the kakugane to eliminate the scar but chose to keep it as a reminder to her of what had happened.
  • Boring, but Practical: While other Alchemist Warrior's buso renkin manifest weapons with powers such as gravity control or invulnerability, Tokiko's Valkyrie Skirt just gives her a four of Spider Limbs ending in sharp blades that, while lacking any abilities beyond precise manipulation, can quickly and efficiently kill her opponents.
  • Catchphrase: Tokiko is known for using the phrase "I'll splatter... your guts!", or some variation on the theme, when she fights. While the phrase does become less prominent in the second half of the series, it is still notable enough that the anime used it as an On The Next Episode Of Catchphrase.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Tokiko will use almost any tactic possible to defeat her foes. One of her favourite tactics is to go for her opponent's eyes, and she is also willing to disrupt her opponent's ability to heal properly, use surprise attacks and pretend to be defenceless to win a fight.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: At the beginning of the series, Tokiko is a cold figure who is easily annoyed and barely tolerates Kazuki's antics. As the series progresses, however, she grows increasingly attached to his eternal optimism and, by the halfway point of the series, eventually falls in love with him to such an extent that she is willing to die rather than live without him.
  • Going Commando: Towards the end of the series there is a brief fanservice scene of Tokiko getting ready for a mission, which briefly shows that she doesn't wear any underwear beneath either her casual clothes, or her signature Sailor Fuku uniform.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Tokiko has a long scar stretching from cheek to cheek across the bridge of her nose. This scar is very noticeable, representing her status as an Anti-Hero, but it's clean and even, showing her inherently good nature.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Her hatred towards the homunculi and stoicism make Tokiko come off as a cold, uncaring jerk. However, as shown in her interactions with Kazuki, she does care about all life.
  • The Lancer: By the second arc of the series, Tokiko has become the Anti-Hero Lancer to Stock Shōnen Hero Kazuki. As Kazuki's Action Girlfriend, she is his most common partner in battle with a Weak, but Skilled fighting style and hatred of homunculi that contrasts with his Unskilled, but Strong abilities and All-Loving Hero personality.
  • New Transfer Student: Due to her age, Tokiko has twice transferred into a school on a mission for the Alchemist Army. The first time, told during flashbacks, was to investigate a the miraculous healing power of a relic at Newton Apple Academy for Girls that turned out to be a kakugane. The second time was at the beginning of the series when she transferred into Ginsei Private Academy to search for the student who was creating homunculi, and keep an eye of Kazuki.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Tokiko is rarely seen without smiling during the first half of the series as she is totally dedicated to her mission to destroy homunculi. This changes in the second half of the series when she begins to soften her expressions due to her relationship with Kazuki.
  • Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: While the series is more along the lines of Urban Fantasy than Science Fiction, it does borrow the sci-fi aesthetic for its Alchemy, including giving the main heroine, Tokiko Tsumura, a traditional sci-fi bob hairstyle.
  • Scars Are Forever: Tokiko got the long scar across her nose from a homunculus attack when she was a child. Captain Bravo has said that it could have been healed with the power of alchemy, but she wanted to keep it to signify her birth as a warrior, and as a reminder of her hatred of homunculi.
  • Sexy Flaw: After she and Kazuki have a Relationship Upgrade in the final chapters, the epilogue chapter revolves around Kazuki wanting to touch Tokiko's facial scar because he thinks it's pretty.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Despite finding him annoying and exasperating at first, the first two arcs of the series see Tokiko fall in love with Kazuki due to his irrepressible optimism, virtue, strong will and determination to protect everyone.
  • Sinister Scythe: Tokiko's buso renkin, the Valkyrie Skirt, is classified as a Death-Scythe buso renkin but is actually Downplayed as it has very little resemblance to a traditional agricultural scythe, consisting of four leg-mounted mechanical arms, each with an angular blade at the end that are similar to the blade of a straight war scythe.
  • Sole Survivor: Tokiko was the only survivor of a homunculus attack on her elementary school when she was 10. The event was so traumatic that it left her an intense hatred of homunculi, and very few memories of her life before the incident.
  • Spider Limbs: Tokiko's buso renkin, the Valkyrie Skirt, takes the form of four scythe-like blades that latch onto her legs and are controlled by nerve impulses through her skin. Over the course of the series she is shown using these limbs to move over difficult terrain, break her fall, and climb up walls and ceiling.
  • Transfer Student Uniforms: After transfering into Kazuki's school, Tokiko keeps wearing her Sailor Fuku style Newton Apple Academy for Girls uniform as the shorter skirt makes it easier to use the thigh-mounted blades of her Valkyrie Skirt than the gown-like dress that female Ginsei Academy students wear.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Tokiko has no memories of her life before the age of ten after watching a homunculus eat every single person in her school alive, leaving her the only survivor. She never regains her lost memories but has still dedicated her life to exterminating homunculi as revenge for the event.
  • Tsundere: While it becomes less prominent as the series progresses, Tokiko can become angry whenever Kazuki does something really stupid, but she still cares for him and can be very sweet when he does well.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Tokiko had no clue that the Kakugane that she used to revive Kazuki was one of the hidden Black Kakugane and that, by using it as a replacement heart, Kazuki would eventually transform into a Walking Wasteland that the Alchemist Army would want to hunt down and kill. Tokiko unknowingly created a second Victor Powered.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Compared to Kazuki, her Buso Renkin specializes in a precise and swift movement, as opposed to giant energy blasts. As Kazuki himself notes, it's almost completely lacking in flashy special abilities like most of the others, but the device's range of motion and her perfect control of it is beyond anything modern science could reasonably create, and incredibly deadly in its own right.

    Papillon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/papillonoutfit.jpg
Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (JP), Spike Spencer (EN)

Koushaku Chouno, a highly intelligent but sickly loner despised by his family, he became the homunculus Papillon in an attempt to cure his illness, and develops an antagonistic rivalry with Kazuki Muto. Papillon fights with the Black-Powder Buso Renkin Near-Death Happiness.

  • Agent Peacock: Papillon comes across as a campy villain due to his ice-dance inspired outfits, his Large Ham personality and his quirky mannerisms, but he is still an incredibly dangerous combatant who uses his intelligence, and the firepower of his buso renkin, to great effect.
  • Animal Motifs: Papillon has an obsession with butterflies that extends to his clothing and weapons. In addition to his trademark butterfly mask, Papillon's post-transformation outfits all feature butterfly designs and his buso renkin's default form is a pair of butterfly wings made of black powder.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Downplayed when Papillon bursts into tears when Kazuki strands himself and Victor on the Moon. He goes so far as to give up on his plan to burn everything, dedicating himself to finding a cure for Kazuki's Victorisation should the Alchemist army find a way to bring him back to Earth.
    Papillon: "And now... there's no one left... who knows my name!"
  • Back from the Dead: After being killed by Kazuki at the end of the New Life arc, Papillon's remains were recovered by Dr. Butterfly, and placed within an alchemical Healing Vat that he had invented, to test its capacities. While it takes some time, Papillon is eventually fully restored with no ill effects.
  • Badass Bookworm: Even after his transformation into a superhuman Homunculus, the highly intelligent Papillon retains his thin, sickly and nerdy appearance even though he can now easily impale an opponent with his hand and is impervious to any non-alchemical weapon.
  • Barely-There Swimwear: Papillon's Beach Episode swimwear is a black mankini that draws this reaction from bystanders as it is less concealing than the normal Speedo, since it leaves virtually his whole ass hanging out, other than one narrow strip, with no side coverage whatever. In some other non-beach scenes, he wears a particularly skimpy pair of Speedos that usually covers much more.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Papillon is not shy about voicing how much he enjoys destruction and how he plans to burn down all the "trash of the world". Despite this, however, he never seriously follows up on his rhetoric, even before his character development.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: Papillon has some masochistic tendencies when fighting, taking advantage of his Healing Factor and reacting with something close to arousal when he is injured. While he isn't quite as sadistic, he does take pleasure in fighting, and took even greater joy in eating his family.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: While it doesn't happen immediately, Papillon's defeat at the hands of Kazuki begins his Heel–Face Turn, going from Faux Affably Evil to The Only One Allowed to Defeat You, then becoming an Anti-Villain, before finally becoming one of the protagonist's most important allies and a popular urban legend.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After becoming a homunculi, he goes all out on his family, intending to spare one if they remembered he’s not Jiro. No one does and they’re all killed. Given how neglectful they were of him, it’s hard to say it wasn’t karma.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": After his transformation into a superhuman homunculus, Papillon has got annoyed at anyone who calls him "Koushaku Chouno" as he believes That Man Is Dead. He makes an exception for his Worthy Opponent Kazuki though as he was there when "Chouno" died.
  • Evil Tastes Good: Immediately after his transformation into a homunculus, and before his character development into an Anti-Villain, Papillon takes great joy in the taste of human beings.
    Papillon: "As dark as the devil, as hot as hell, as sweet as a kiss. This is how a human tastes."
  • Facepalm of Doom: After becoming a homunculus, Papillon kills his jerkass younger brother by grabbing his face and consuming him through an orifice in his palms—he just sucks them right in, leaving behind nothing but their empty clothes.
  • Faux Affably Evil: At the begining of the series, Chouno acts charismatic and polite, but it is still obvious that this is hiding a twisted, self-serving insanity. After his defeat by Kazuki, however, Papillon begins to undergo character development, first becoming Affably Evil before eventually turning into an Anti-Villain for the second half of the series.
  • Friendly Enemy: After his initial defeat, Papillon acts quite friendly towards Kazuki and the other protagonists — chatting with them in a friendly manner and actually defending them when it is in his interest — while still maintaining his role as antagonist and wishing to burn the world. During the second half of the series, however, his character development eventually leads him to join the protagonists in their attempt to take down the Big Bad.
  • Glass Cannon: Papillon's Back-Powder Buso Renkin, Near-death Happiness, has enough firepower to blow large holes in concreate, and dismember regular humans, but his disease means that he suffers from a severe lack in stamina compared to the other homunculi.
  • Good Costume Switch: After completing his character development, and became an Urban Legend during the epiloge, Papillon switches his purple butterfly logo to orange.
  • Having a Blast: Papillon's buso renkin, Near-Death Happiness, gives him the ability to create and control gunpowder at will. Papillon typically forms this gunpowder into a pair of butterfly wings attached to his back, using controlled explosions to grant him a form of flight, but will also form the gunpowder into smaller butterflies that he will unleash against his enemies. An entire flock of these smaller butterflies is able to blow an opponent to pieces.
  • Heel–Face Turn: While he had been fighting on the side of the heroes for a while, Papillon finally gives up his plans to burn the world after Kazuki defeated him in a rematch and gave him a Patrick Stewart Speech, and eventually becomes a beloved urban legend.
  • Held Back in School: Due to his chronic ill health, Koushaku Chouno (who would go on to become Papillon) was twice held back a year during high school. This was one of the reasons that his father decided to disinherit him in favour of his younger brother Jiro.
  • Hidden Depths: At the beginning of the series, everyone who knew Chouno Koushaku thought of him as nothing more than a Teen Genius wallflower who would die from his chronic illness before too long. After he transformed himself into the superhuman homunculus Papillon, however, it was revealed that he had a shamelessly flamboyant Large Ham personality.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: The reason that Papillon wanted to become a humanoid homunculus was due to his terminal illness, shown by him having coughing fits that would bring up quite a bit of blood. Due to the interference of his brother, however, his transformation was incomplete so that although he gained an immortal, super-human body, his illness wasn't cured like it should have been and his bloody coughing fits continued.
  • It's All About Me: At the beginning of the series, Papillon only thought about himself and was uncaring about how his actions affected others, even if it meant the death of his loyal subordinates. This attitude became less and less prominent as the series continued, beginning with him doing nice things when they benefit himself as well, until he becomes a slightly less self-centred Urban Legend by the end of the series.
  • Karma Houdini: Despite being directly responsible for dozens of deaths, and indirectly responsible for many more, Papillon doesn't receive any form of lasting punishmentnote . By the end of the series he even becomes a beloved urban legend, serves as inspiration for children's toys at fast food restaurants, and is the only person, except for the main character, to be allowed to keep his kakugane due to his character development, despite still showing no remorse for his initial actions.
  • Missing Mom: His mother is never brought up at any point in the story.
  • Offstage Villainy: It's implied that in order to transform himself into the homunculus Papillon, Chouno had numerous people killed for his experiments, including children. As the protagonists didn't discover his plans until the process was almost complete, however, these deaths are never seen, and once Papillon becomes an Anti-Villain they are never mentioned again.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Papillon is single-mindedly obsessed with ensuring that nothing and no-one else kills the protagonist Kazuki Mutou before he can get a rematch with the Stock Shōnen Hero. He takes this obsession so far that he eventually becomes one of the heroes' most valuable allies despite technically being a villain.
  • Patricide: After Koshaku Chouno became Papillon, he decides to eat everyone in his household - except those that can tell the difference between him and his (already deceased) younger brother Jiro. Nobody succeeds, including his fathernote .
  • Sickly Prodigy: Koushaku Chouno was a Teen Genius who excelled at studying until his Incurable Cough of Death resulted in him twice being held back a year at school and disinherited by his family. In an effort to cure himself, Chouno took up alchemy and eventually became the superpowered homunculus known as Papillon with a near-immortal body and is capable of stabbing his hand straight through an opponent's body. As the transformation wasn't complete, however, Papillon is still physically frail and coughing, despite his inhuman abilities.
  • Sissy Villain: Koushaku Chouno (a.k.a. Papillon) is of ambiguous sexuality, and uses many effeminate mannerisums. He also wears flamboyant outfits (ranging from an ice dancer's outfit to nothing but Speedos), sports a distinctive butterfly mask, and has a lot of Foe Romance Subtext with Stock Shōnen Hero Kazuki.
  • Straw Nihilist: Due to his terrible childhood, Chouno concluded that humans were nothing but hypocrites and phonies and developed a hatred of humanity in general. This hatred, alongside his terminal illness, was a reason why he wanted to leave humanity behind to become a superhuman homunculus. His character development eventually leads to him give up his hatred, however.
  • Teen Genius: Despite still being in high school, Chouno not only managed to recreate his great-grandfathers alchemical research but also discovered the method to becoming a humanoid homunculus, something his ancestor failed to do without the help of the Alchemist Traitor Victor had his brother not interfered with the incubation. After becoming Papillon, Chouno retained all his intelligence, and by the end of the series his research enabled him to create black and white kakugane, something only one other alchemist in history had been able to so.
  • This Is My Name on Foreign: Before he became a humanoid hommunculus and took on the name Papillon, French for butterfly, the character had the family name of Chouno. The "chou" is Japanese for butterfly, the "no" is just there to make it a surname.
  • Trouser Space: Whether he is wearing his tight, ice dance inspired costume or his butterfly embroidered speedos, Papillon has been shown to pull whatever he needs from the crotch area of his outfit. Keys, a spare copy of his costume and even the a bulky, larger than palm-sized kakugane have all appeared from his costume despite there being no indication that they were in there beforehand.

The Alchemist Army

    Captain Bravo 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capbravo.jpg
Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (JP), Patrick Seitz (EN)

A Warrior Chief of the Alchemist Warriors that Kazuki and Tokiko work for, Captain Bravo gives them advice and help on many occasions. His real name is Mamoru Sakimori but he claims to have abandoned that name after a past tragedy. Bravo's wields the Buso Renkin of the Metal Jacket, Silver Skin, a metallic outfit that is said to possess the greatest defensive ability of any Buso Renkin.

  • Badass Long Coat: The primary part of Captain Bravo's Silver Skin is a silver trench coat that has the highest defensive capability of any buso renkin. He can also fire it at an opponent to restrain them.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: As his buso renkin has no true offensive capacity, Captain Bravo has to rely on his mastery of unarmed combat to fight equally against the Magitek weapons wielded other characters.
  • Beehive Barrier: While it is a solid barrier rather than a force field, Captain Bravo's jacket buso renkin, the Silver Skin, is made up of tiny, Nigh-Invulnerable hexagons that become viable when it is struck, and can regenerate extremely quickly if something does manage to break through. Due to these abilities, the Silver Skin is considered the best defensive capabilities of any buso renkin.
  • Catchphrase: When using his Large Ham persona, Captain Bravo has a habit of using "Bravo!" as a catchphrase whenever possible but will drop it when he is serious, or when he is speaking as Mamoru Sakimori.
  • Calling Your Attacks: As part of his Large Ham persona, Captain Bravo has names for most of the attacks he uses during combat. He does Subvert this at one point, however, by attacking first and then calling out its name afterwards.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Despite the fact that Captain Bravo's Silver Skin buso renkin only boosts his defence, he is still capable of shattering telephone poles, and fighting on a par with superhuman homunculi, simply through hard work and dedication.
  • Coat, Hat, Mask: The form of Captain Bravo's indestructible Silver Skin buso renkin is a variation of the typical Coat, hat, mask look that deposes of the mask, replacing it with a high collar that conceals Bravo's face and identity. The outfit isn't very inconspicuous, however, as it makes Bravo extremely noticeable in an otherwise contemporary setting.
  • Collared by Fashion: The coat of Captain Bravo's Silver Skin buso renkin has such a high colour that, when pulled up straight, it almost reaches the brim of his hat. The Warrior Chief uses this as a means to hide his identity, in place of the mask part of the more traditional Coat, Hat, Mask ensemble.
  • Diving Kick: Captain Bravo's Meteor Bravo Kick attack sees him jump high into the air before crashing down on the target foot first. Bravo uses the attack a couple of times during the series and, at one point, the attack is shown to be powerful enough to seriously damage the metal telephone pole his target was standing on after they dodged out of the way.
  • Enhanced Punch: Captain Bravo's Direct Hit Bravo Punch technique enhances his regular Badass Normal Bravo Punch attack with the Nigh-Invulnerable ability of his Silver Skin buso renkin to produce bolder crushing force.
  • The Good Captain: Bravo is a noble leader who cares deeply for those under his charge. Even when ordered to terminate Kazuki before he can become a Walking Wasteland, he was planning to kill himself afterwards, and is relieved when Kazuki manages to overcome him in their second battle.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: During the third arc of the series, Bravo uses his impenetrable Silver Skin buso renkin to shield Kazuki, Tokiko and Gouta from Hiwatari's napalm bomb, while he takes the full force of the attack. While he doesn't die from the sacrifice, he is wounded seriously enough that he spend the rest of the series in recovery, and the Big Good has to alter his plans to compensate for his absence.
  • Large Ham: Captain Bravo's public person resembles an adult version of a Stock Shōnen Hero, being extremely dramatic and loud even when just ordering a hamburger. He also has a tenancy to be overly enthusiastic about almost everything and does things simply because "It's cooler that way".
    YES! I AM!
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: Bravo's metal jacket buso renkin, Silver Skin, is able to protect him from almost any harm as, even if an attack is powerful enough to pierce its near impervious skin, the buso renkin's regenerative capabilities mean that any damage it sustains is almost instantly repaired. The Silver Skin is also able to stop energy based attacks and can protect the wearer from the vacuum of space.
  • Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Bravo's Smash Bravo Rush attack sees him unleash a storm of punches at his opponent so fast that they almost hit simultaneously. As with all his attacks, this is achieved through his own skill and strength rather than with alchemical enhancement.
  • Rule of Cool: Captain Bravo freely admits that his odd mannerisms and Large Ham public persona due to his belief that things are "cooler that way!"
  • Stone Wall: Bravo's Silver Skin is said to have the greatest defensive abilities of any buso renkin but lacks any form of destructive offensive ability. While he does try to compensate for this weakness with impressive barehanded-combat skills, he is still unable to cause the level of destruction more offensive buso renkin are capable of.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: As a master of unarmed combat, Bravo typically uses traditional martial arts when he fights but will include some professional wrestling moves, like an Octopus Stretch and an Argentinean Backbreaker, as they fit with his Large Ham persona.

    Warrior Chief Hiwatari 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sekima_hiwatari_buso_renkin_434.jpg
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Kyle Hebert (EN)

A violent Warrior Chief of the Alchemist Army, Sekima Hiwatari leads the Re-Extermination Squad tasked with eliminating Victor and Kazuki. Formally a member of the same team as Captain Bravo, his volatile and abrasive personality is a stark contrast to that of his colleague. Hiwatari wields the Buso Renkin of Napalm, Blaze of Glory.

    Gouta Nakamura 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gota.jpg
Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (JP), Liam O'Brien (EN)

A highly intelligent, but inexperienced, Alchemist Warrior, Gouta trained with Tokiko and eventually developed a crush for her. He dislikes Kazuki at first, not just because of jealousy, but also because Tokiko puts herself at danger to help him. Gouta wields the Buso Renkin of Chakrams, Motor Gears.

  • Armed Legs: Gouta can attach his Motor Gears to his feet. While primarily intended to increase his movement speed, he can also use the razor-sharp spinning discs to enhance the power of his kicks.
  • Deadly Disc: Gouta's buso renkin is the Motor Gear, a pair of razor-sharp chakrum that resemble gears. When thrown, Gouta can control their speed and direction from a distance, and ensure they always return to his hands. Gouta is also able to attach the Gears to parts of his body to enhance his hand-to-hand combat power and his movement speed.
  • Fragile Speedster: When using his Motor Gears in their Sky Walker Mode, Gouta can greatly increase his speed and agility. Unlike many of his fellow Alchemist Warriors, however, Gouta's stamina and physical abilities are no greater than a regular human, so he is far more vulnerable than his comrades.
  • I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Eventually. It's noted that he actually becomes more mature when he stops dwelling on his feelings for Tokiko.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Gouta's Moter Gear is noted as having the lowest attack power of all the offensive buso renkin in the series but he is able to make up for it with the weapon's versatility and his own intelligence. As a result Gouta has one of the most successful on-screen battle records of the Alchemist Warriors in the series.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Thinks that he's the Romantic False Lead and Veronica between Kazuki and Tokiko, but he really isn't; Tokiko does like him, but not in any romantic way, while Kazuki is completely oblivious to their "rivalry" and talks about what great friends they are. Kind of veers into All Love Is Unrequited territory.

The L.X.E.

    Victor Powered 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/victor_8.jpg
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN)

An ancient alchemist who was given a Black Kakugane in place of his heart in order for him to survive. This granted him amazing strength, durability, and the abilities of flight and regeneration, but also drove him mad. Uses an axe.

  • Anti-Villain: That being said, he's got some serious motivations for being the way he is, and when it's proven that the Alchemist Warriors are willing to go to great lengths to retrieve Kazuki, he abandons his duel with him to help return him to his friends and family.
  • Bifurcated Weapon: One of the abilities of Victor's great axe, Fatal Attraction, is to split into two smaller tomahawk axes, each with a blade made of red energy, allowing him to fight multiple opponents at the same time.
  • Big Bad: He wants to destroy everything related to alchemy, and his states as a Walking Wasteland means that he's a threat to the world just by existing.
  • Evil Counterpart: As with Kazuki, Victor's life was saved by the power of alchemy only to begin turning into a Walking Wasteland and have his comrades turn against him. Unlike Kazuki, who remains forever hopeful and trusting, Victor was consumed by hatred and vowed to destroy everything touched by alchemy.
  • Freudian Excuse: Not only did being infused with the Black Kakugane lead to the death of his wife, but then the Alchemist Army went and turned his own daughter into a Homunculus and sent her after him. It's hard to blame him for deciding that anything related to alchemy needed to be destroyed.
  • Gravity Master: Victor's great-axe Buso Renkin, Fatal Attraction, has the ability to strengthening, weaken, or even reverse the pull of gravity on an object, allowing him to levitate or crush his enemies. According to the author's notes, at full power, Fatal Attraction can create miniature black holes to utterly destroy anything it strikes.
  • Made of Iron: Took the attacks from missiles and five separate Buso Renkins powered by a giant robot without a scratch. Of course, the fact that he was using a giant body double formed from all the sea life he'd drained probably had something to do with it.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: His status as a Walking Wasteland aside, his Fatal Attraction lets him hand out absurdly high levels of crushing damage.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Wants to destroy all things related to alchemy because the Alchemist Army turned his daughter into a Homunculus and sent her out to kill him.

    Dr. Butterfly 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_butterfly_4147.jpg
Voiced by: Katsumi Chou (JP), David Lodge (EN, credited as Kelly Lake)

Around a century ago back when Bakushaku Chouno was a normal human, new sciences and technologies were flooding in from all over the world. One of them was alchemy which most people dismissed as charlatanry, however Bakushaku sensed there was more to it and so he began to delve into its mysteries. To his disappointment he found that there were limits to how far he could go on his own. His studies had consumed a fortune and years of his life went by until he discovered the homunculi and the Kakugane which led him to a dead end. However, not long after he met Victor Powered, a traitor of the alchemist warriors, the two then joined forces. Victor was severely injured so in exchange for his knowledge of alchemy, Bakushaku promised to heal him when he had finished his research.

At some point later Bakushaku became a humanoid homunculus and discarded his identity, now calling himself Dr. Butterfly. He then went on to found the L.X.E.

  • Animal Motif: The Moth, despite being called Dr. Butterfly - Papillon describes him as this, for becoming a lesser type of Homunculus despite knowing of Victor's superior form.
  • Antagonist Abilities: His Buso Renkin qualifies, being capable of jamming electronics and shrouding a region in fog to prevent the outside world from interfering with his plans. Plus he can also focus its effect to create powerful illusions, or screw with his foe's perceptions.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: He's the one calling the shots in the LXE, due to Victor going through an extensive recuperation process after his past battles with the Alchemist Army.
  • Evil Old Folks: He's got no qualms with letting the Homunculi under his command devour a high school's worth of teenagers.
  • Light Is Not Good: The head of an organisation of man-eating monsters, Dr. Butterfly also has a strong association with light as all of his costumes invoke a lot of white and the concentrated form of his Buso Renkin, Alice in Wonderland, uses light to effect an opponents sense of sight in order to create hallucinations. His great-grandson, Papillon, also mentions that he is more of a moth than a butterfly as he was attracted to the light of Victor.
  • Master of Illusion: When concentrated on a single individual, Dr. Butterfly's Buso Renkin, Alice in Wonderland, is capable of creating disturbing hallucinations that can break the minds of all but the strongest willed of victims.
  • Pet the Dog: Despite dismissing Papillon as an incomplete Homunculus, he nonetheless expresses a desire to protect him while discussing the matter with Moonface. He gets over it when Papillon openly rebels, and tries to kill him.
  • Offing the Offspring: He tries to kill Papillon, his great-great-grandson, when the latter turns against him. It gets inverted when Papillon ends up killing him.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Victor. The whole reason he founded the League of eXtraordinary Elect was to marshall the resources needed to heal him.
  • Villainous Friendship: While it's ambiguous whether Victor ultimately saw him as a friend or loose end to be tied up once he healed, Dr. Butterfly was quite genuine in his loyalty.

    Moonface 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mooonface.jpg
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Christopher Corey Smith (EN)

Originally named Lunare Nikolaev, Moonface is a homunculus with a moon-shaped head and a higher-up of LXE He is depicted as constantly cheerful, rarely seen without smiling, and he uses the catch phrase "Moon~" whenever possible. After LXE is defeated, Moonface is put into custody by the Alchemy Warriors, and later sent to the Moon with Victor and the other homunculi. Moonface joined the LXE a hundred years before the start of the series, when he came from Russia to Japan for reasons unknown.

  • Affably Evil: He's remarkably polite and welcoming to friend and foe alike, even when announcing his killing intent. He also believes that Papillon could be a useful addition to the LXE's attack forces, even when Dr. Butterfly is dismissive of the idea.
  • Agent Peacock: While not as blatant as Papillon, Moonface opts for a rather flamboyant tuxedo and a moon-faced visage. He's still a dangerous adversary.
  • Doppelgänger Attack: The ability of his Buso Renkin, Satellite 30, allows Moonface to create 30 versions of himself, each one representing a phase of the moon with a head of the corresponding shapenote . Each version is also real and has its own version of the Satellite 30 so, while only 30 copies can be produced at any one time, they all need to be destroyed to defeat him.
  • Graceful Loser: Once defeated by Bravo, he acquiesces to the latter's request for information on the LXE's operations.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • His head looks like a moon his name is also a play on "moon phase", which refers to his Buso Renkin's ability to create a duplicate representing every phase of the moon during a month.
    • His original name also counts, being similar to "lunar", meaning "of the moon".
  • Number Two: To Dr. Butterfly. He'd be The Dragon, but Dr. Butterfly already fills this role to Victor.
  • Shout-Out: Watsuki stated that he got the idea of Satellite 30 from the character Agent Smith from The Matrix Reloaded.
  • Verbal Tic: Due to his obsession, Moonface will take any opportunity to talk about the Moon while using an elongated "Moo~n!" and will often end his sentences with the word and use it at random moments.

    Shusui and Ouka Hayasaka 
Shisui voiced by: Kishow Taniyama (JP), Bryce Papenbrook (EN, credited as Dick Smallberries)
Ouka voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (JP), Lara Cody (EN, credited as L.C. Curci)

Twins who initially work for LXE, but eventually undergo a Heel–Face Turn and join the Alchemists.

  • Brother–Sister Incest: Subverted; there's a lot of Incest Subtext between them, but that's because the only good part of their childhoods were the "wedding games" their kidnapper played with them where the two pretended to get married. Once she died and their parents rejected them, it was all they had left to hold onto. The subtext fades away once they make their Heel–Face Turn and have other people to rely on.
  • Cute Machines: The small, animated doll that functions as part of Ouka's Buso Renkin, who is also called Angel Gozen.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: As young kids, Ouka and Shusui lived in an apartment with their mother who forbade them to go outside, telling them that it was dangerous outside. One morning their mother died in her sleep, but having never been taught the concept of death, the twins had no idea what had happened until her body started to decompose. Confused and scared, the twins tried to leave the apartment to get help, but nobody got involved until sometime later, when the police arrived to arrest their "mother", who had had an affair with their real father and after the affair ended kidnapped the twins. The twins were found in a state of severe malnutrition and dehydration and were quickly taken to hospital, where they learned that their birth parents no longer considered them their own children. Leaving the hospital, they ended up living rough in the park, and were eventually taken in by the L.X.E. after Shusui had an encounter with Dr. Butterfly and Moonface.
  • Empathic Healing: Ouka's Buso Renkin can absorb a target's injury and transfer it to her.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Shusui's Buso Renkin, Sword Samurai X, resembles a katana.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: According to Shusui, the definition of gratitude is "stab the guy in front of me through the chest, even though he just risked his life to protect me and my sister from someone who wants to kill us". Averted with Ouka, however.

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