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Makina Hoshimura
Makina Hoshimura
Voiced by: Nana Akiyama (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
- Everyone Can See It: Makina and Ouri's feelings for each other. Saki, Itsuki, Takamasa, and Fleshe all either allude to it or point it out outright several times.
- Guns Akimbo: Makina and several other Shakabane Hime wield their guns this way.
- Healing Factor: After Keisei's death, due to the curse she acquires because of her attachment to him.
- Hime Cut: Level bangs, sidelocks, and long in the back.
- In My Language, That Sounds Like...: 'Makina' means 'machine' in Filipino. Oddly fitting, since the girl's a frickin terminator when she's pissed off.
- Love Triangle: A rather complicated one, with both romantic and platonic elements. Makina definitely has some romantic feelings for Keisei, but he loves her in a strictly platonic sense, more as a little sister (which makes sense, since he was adopted by her family). Ouri and Keisei of course have a strong mutual bond as brothers, and Ouri shows some signs of a romantic attraction to Makina, particularly later in the series.
- Maybe Ever After: Despite the cliffhanger ending, the last dialogue between Ouri and Makina before the cliffhanger scene implies this:Ouri: Brother once told me that we're not here for the dead. A monk's duty is to lessen the pain for those who the dead leave behind. I know I'm still new at this, but I can help you. So please, let me.Makina: Monks aren't here for the dead.Ouri: You're not dead. That's why you fight, isn't it? To stay alive. That's not something a dead person does.
- More Dakka: Prefers MAC-11
machine pistols. - Shoo the Dog: Makina attempts to not get Ouri involved in her missions at first.
- The Undead: She's a "living corpse".
- Vapor Wear: Though it is confirmed late in the series that Makina does wear a bra, we never see any sign of panties. If she does wear anything under that skirt, it has to be a thong.
Ouri Kagami
Ouri Kagami
Voiced by: Tatsuya Hasome (Japanese), Aaron Dismuke (English)
- Accidental Pervert: A couple of times. Surprisingly, little to no attention is paid to him doing this.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: To be more exact, a son of a zombie.
- Blood Oath: Ouri and Keisei become some sort of this, because to contract a Shikabane, the Contractor must have his own blood written in his palm by his Shikabane. This contract is transferable. Before Keisei died, he transferred the glowing red seal of Makina to Ouri.
- Creepy Child: Ouri was like this, and also a death-obsessed boy. He got better...maybe.
- Dangerous 16th Birthday: Ouri's 16th birthday is when he has to take over for Keisei after the latter's death.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Ouri's Zadan. It's because he's
born from a Shikabane. - Everyone Can See It: Makina and Ouri's feelings for each other. Saki, Itsuki, Takamasa, and Fleshe all either allude to it or point it out outright several times.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Ouri is revealed in Kuro to have been born when a heavily pregnant woman was killed by a hit and run accident, but her obsession/regret over having never held her child allowed her to come back as a Shikabane, the child surviving in her womb and being born as Ouri. Several characters wonder if this makes him human, Shikabane, or something else entirely — including Ouri himself.
- Happily Adopted: He was found and adopted by Keisei.
- I Love the Dead: When you consider that Makina is basically a living corpse.
- Love Triangle: A rather complicated one, with both romantic and platonic elements. Makina definitely has some romantic feelings for Keisei, but he loves her in a strictly platonic sense, more as a little sister (which makes sense, since he was adopted by her family). Ouri and Keisei of course have a strong mutual bond as brothers, and Ouri shows some signs of a romantic attraction to Makina, particularly later in the series.
- Maybe Ever After: Despite the cliffhanger ending, the last dialogue between Ouri and Makina before the cliffhanger scene implies this:Ouri: Brother once told me that we're not here for the dead. A monk's duty is to lessen the pain for those who the dead leave behind. I know I'm still new at this, but I can help you. So please, let me.Makina: Monks aren't here for the dead.Ouri: You're not dead. That's why you fight, isn't it? To stay alive. That's not something a dead person does.
- Non-Action Guy: At least until he begins training to become a contracted monk.
- Parental Abandonment: He's an orphan.
Keisei Tagami
Keisei Tagami
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)
- Blood Oath: Ouri and Keisei become some sort of this, because to contract a Shikabane, the Contractor must have his own blood written in his palm by his Shikabane. This contract is transferable. Before Keisei died, he transferred the glowing red seal of Makina to Ouri.
- Dirty Old Monk: He can be seen offering (or forcing upon) Ouri sexual posters or skin mags.
- Love Triangle: A rather complicated one, with both romantic and platonic elements. Makina definitely has some romantic feelings for Keisei, but he loves her in a strictly platonic sense, more as a little sister (which makes sense, since he was adopted by her family). Ouri and Keisei of course have a strong mutual bond as brothers, and Ouri shows some signs of a romantic attraction to Makina, particularly later in the series.
Contracted Monks
In General
- Good Shepherd: The monks are the ones contracting Shakabane Hime and fighting shakabane, thus keeping the public at large safe from the later.
Rika Aragami
Rika Aragami
Voiced by: Saeko Chiba (Japanese), Cynthia Cranz (English)
- Author Appeal: Check out how she looks in the manga compared to the anime.
- Razor Floss: She uses this as her weapon.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the lone female Contracted Monk.
Takamasa Sogi
Takamasa Sogi
Voiced by: Tokuyoshi Kawashima (Japanese), Joel McDonald (English)
- I Love the Dead: When you consider that Itsuki is basically a living corpse.
- The Stoic: After his inability to kill his buddy-turned-shikabane caused the death of a lot of people.
Sadahiro Mibu
Sadahiro Mibu
Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese), Eric Vale (English)
- Oral Fixation: Is usually seen with a toothpick in his mouth.
- Scars Are Forever: Has a scar on his face.
Shuji Isaki
Shuji Isaki
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Mike McFarland (English)
- Ambiguously Evil: While a relentless Mean Boss towards Minai with a Lack of Empathy and looking out for himself to gain a promotion, he's not really a Sinister Minister nor truly corrupt and does have some Pet the Dog moments with Minai out of the goodness of his very Hidden Heart of Gold, making his character ambiguous and was killed before his Character Development would advance further and confirm his character as either a Good Is Not Nice Jerk with a Heart of Gold or some Hate Sink.
- Anti-Hero: He's one of the monks fighting the rogue shikabane, but is looking out for himself to be number one and seemingly lacks compassion towards anyone including Minai.
- Cain and Abel: With his brother. He really wants to kill him.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He flips out when Minai is with other men, to Entitled to Have You levels.
- Good Is Not Nice: He's unpleasant in general despite fighting an evil force.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: In spite of his callous nature, as his OVA-exclusive A Day in the Limelight shows.
- It's All About Me: He ambitiously looks out for being number one, seeking a promotion amongst the sect.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his surly nature with a Lack of Empathy, he has a Hidden Heart of Gold and does care for Minai despite treating her like a tool (unless the latter is viewed as either Tough Love or just heat of moments in battle).
- Lack of Empathy: He seemingly does not care about others, especially Minai, who he treats like a tool (unless it's viewed as some kind of Tsundere Tough Love following the revelation of his Hidden Heart of Gold in the OVA).
- Mean Boss: Mostly towards Minai.
- Nominal Hero: He mostly looks out for himself and treats Minai like a tool, but is still part of a sect battling an evil force.
- Pet the Dog: In the OVA prequel, he finally cooks something for Minai to eat and eventually did buy her a motorcycle following agreeing with her it would be a Combat Pragmatist move in their hunt for shikabane.
- Scars Are Forever: Has two scars on his face.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: What his relationship with Minai is like to a point of actually kissing her once, except in a nuanced and unpleasant fashion mostly.
- Tsundere: Towards Minai.
- Unscrupulous Hero: He hardly bats an eye when mistreating Minai when fighting evil undead.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When he (who still kept the same scowl that he would carry up to adulthood) and Minai were kids in their Forgotten First Meeting.
Sougen Takamine
Sougen Takamine
Voiced by: Hidenori Nakamura (Japanese), Kent Williams (English)
- Mentor Archetype: To Keisei.
Kanechika Umehara
Kanechika Umehara
Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (Japanese), Christopher Bevins (English)
- Dirty Old Monk: He's a bit of a pervert.
Shikabane Hime
In General
- Deus ex Machina: The Shikabane Hime restore their connection to their contracted monks through The Power of Friendship.
- Gender-Restricted Ability: Only young women within a certain age range can become Shikabane Hime.
- Healing Factor: All the Shikabane and Shikabane Hime to some degree.
- Magical Girl Warrior: The Shikabane Hime are a rather darker variant.
- Mystical 108: Shikabane Hime must kill 108 Shikabane, the traitor monk uses 108 Shikabane to fuel his dark power.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Shikabane are the supernaturally powerful undead forms of people who die harboring intense regrets or obsessions, which enable them to possess their bodies and return to a pseudo-life.
- Superpowered Evil Side: While all Shikabane Hime has it, most only assume it once, never go back, and have to be put down before they go an inevitable rampage. Itsuki is notable in that she assumes it whenever her Contracted Priest gets too heavily wounded or when her energy supply runs low, but she goes back to normal afterwards. We never get to clearly see it, but we do know that she gains snakelike eyes and fangs at the very least, and it seems that when in full gear she turns into a giant naga.
- Super-Soldier: The Kougonshuu is basically exploiting the Shikabane Hime for their ability to fight Shikabane. The traitor monk disagrees with this practice.
- Synchronisation: A Shikabane Hime can heal most wounds very quickly if her Contracted Monk is nearby, but the wounds pass to the monk. Conversely, if a Contracted Monk is severely wounded it causes great trauma for his Shikabane Hime, and if he is killed then usually the Shikabane Hime, being cut off from his Rune, dies as well.
- The Undead: All Shikabane Hime are basically living corpses.
Saki Amase
Saki Amase
Voiced by: Mika Kikuchi (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
- Action Girl: Like all other Shikabane Hime.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: She's quite hot headed.
- Little Miss Badass: She wields a giant hammer.
- Little Miss Snarker: Saki has a habit of speaking aloud her contracted monk's inner thoughts.
Itsuki Yamagami
Itsuki Yamagami
Voiced by: Chise Nakamura (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)
- Action Girl: Like all other Shikabane Hime.
- Guns Akimbo: She fights with a pair of M945 Combat handguns.
- In-Series Nickname: Saki calls Itsuki "Ribbon-Hime", for obvious reasons.
Akira Tōoka
Akira Tōoka
Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese), Anastasia Muñoz (English)
- Action Girl: Like all other Shikabane Hime.
Minai Ruo
Minai Ruo
Voiced by: Yuka Hirata (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)
- Action Girl: Like all other Shikabane Hime.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Minai's perfered fighting style is unarmed with only her spiked gauntlets.
- Domestic Abuse: Her boyfriend beat her and she eventually snapped and killed him, then committed suicide.
- Driven to Suicide: See Domestic Abuse.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: In the DVD bonus episode, Minai says she knows some boxing, which is what she uses to fight Shikabane.
- Meaningful Name: Minai's name is spelled with the kanji 水薙生, with this one 薙 meaning "mow down (the enemy)" and this one 生 meaning "life" or "birth".
- Mercy Kill: Despite Sadahiro's offer to help her transferring her bond to Ouri, she ultimately allowed herself to be terminated.
Kamika Todoroki
Kamika Todoroki
Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Terri Doty (English)
- Action Girl: Like all other Shikabane Hime.
- Dual Wielding: She wields two katanas.
- Master Swordsman: She even has the title "Sword Princess" due to her skills.
- Sarashi: At least in the extra-Fanservicey, Clothing Damage-filled ending sequence (she's too badass to get much Clothing Damage in the show proper).
- Sword Beam: Kamika can do this with her dual katanas.
- They Call Him "Sword": Kamika has the title/nickname "Sword Princess".
Flesh Backbone
Flesh Backbone
Voiced by: Aya Endo (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English)
- Action Girl: Like all other Shikabane Hime.
- Animal-Eared Headband: Cat-eared headband.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl: Just look at her.
- Eagleland: Freshe is the mixed type. Having apparently died in a plane crash on her way to Harajuku, she is a blonde, freckled, tall, unbelievably boorish and obnoxious, hyperactive, hypersexualized (wearing a ridiculously skimpy mockery of traditional Japanese attire with no bra to hold her gargantuan breasts and no panties, a fact which she is insistent on making everyone aware of one way or another), and has learned everything she knows about Japan strictly from anime (her weapon, an oversized shuriken, is remarked upon as something that no Japanese in real life would ever consider using). While she is very friendly and good natured, she is simply too much an idiot for most people to suffer most of the time.
Shikabane
In General
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: One or two Shikabane? Huge, powerful monsters. The hordes of them that show up in the finale? Pretty much just zombies.
- Healing Factor: All the Shikabane and Shikabane Hime to some degree.
- One-Winged Angel: All Shikabane have two forms; an (almost) perfectly human-like one and a far more monstrous one that they typically need to turn into to make full use of their powers, though they are often still supernaturally powerful even in human form. Shikabane Hime are implied to be locked into their human forms as part of the ritual that turns them from Shikabane into Shikabane Hime.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Shikabane are the supernaturally powerful undead forms of people who die harboring intense regrets or obsessions, which enable them to possess their bodies and return to a pseudo-life.
Hagino
Hagino
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Z. Charles Bolton (English)
- Monster Misogyny: He kidnaps women and kills them in groups.
- Voluntary Transformation: He can turn into a bat.
Kun Osaki
Kun Osaki
Voiced by: Mayumi Iizuka (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)
- Empty Eyes: She has no pupils in her eyes.
- Idol Singer: She was a J-pop star.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: The shkiabane singer Kun's scream can smash people against the wall and dissolve bullets in midair.
- Musical Assassin: She uses her voice as a weapon.
Tomoharu Kishibe
Tomoharu Kishibe
Voiced by: Anri Katsu (Japanese), Scott Freeman (English)
- The Killjoy: Quite literally. He uses his Psychic Powers to control car engines to kill teens who like to drive fast and their spectators.
- Psychic Powers: He has the ability to control the engines of cars.
Seven Stars
The Seven Stars is a group of seven Shikabane who worked together for a common goal. Hokuto
Hokuto
Voiced by: Chika Fujimura (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)
- Cain and Abel: Makina and Hokuto. Turns out that Makina's ancestors are the Cain.
- The Grim Reaper: Hokuto is as close as possible to being an embodiment of Death, and it's the fault of Makina's ancestors.
- Human Sacrifice: She was raised as a sacrifice, born to be killed as a child.
- Technicolor Eyes: Her eyes are two different colors and are red.
Isaka
Isaka
Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (Japanese), T.A. Taylor (English)
- Thinking Up Portals: He has the ability to open portals.
Hazama
Hazama
Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)
- Combat Tentacles: He has giant centipedes for arms.
Kowaku
Kowaku
Voiced by: Yuki Hayashi (Japanese), Bob Carter (English)
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: His curse allows him to change the make up of his body.
Ena
Ena
Voiced by: Michi Niino (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)
- Body Surf: His curse allows him to switch from one corpse to another, as long as they are nearby.
- Mad Artist: When he was alive he was an artist who slashed his paintings and killed his models.
Hizuchi
Hizuchi
Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese), Jerry Jewell (English)
- Vengeful Ghost: Or Vengeful Corpse. Ouri's mother was responsible for his death. Hizuchi was determined to make Ouri pay for what happened to him.
Toya
Toya
Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi (Japanese), Jamie Marchi (English)
- Emotion Eater: She attaches balloons to her victims. These balloons cause their happiness to grow to its peak. At which point, it explodes and kills the victim. Or its final monstrous form could devour its victim. Toya was the result of a poor family going to an amusement park, then committing suicide.
- Mind Manipulation: Her curse allows her to manipulate the minds of people.
Others
Akasha Shishido
Akasha Shishido
Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese), Jessie James Grelle (English)
- Anti-Villain: At first he seems like the normal evil Jerkass, but when you hear about why he went rogue, what happened to his Shikabane Hime, and what REALLY happens when your Shikabane Hime kills 108 Shikabane you may start to sympathize with him, if not just feel sorry for him.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He allies with the Seven Stars in order to bring down the Kōgon Sect, eventually becoming the Contract Priest for Hokuto. However, he was killed by Hokuto in the final episode when he rejects her for his previous Shikibane Hime, causing her to revert into a Corpse.
- The Lost Lenore: He was proud and strong in his faith, until he was forced to kill his Shikabane Hime, Hibiki, who was his fiancee when she was alive.
Black Cat
Black Cat
Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
- Animal Metaphor: The cat is actually a metaphor for Ouri actually being part Shikibane himself. It is not known how he became this way, but that after transforming into a Shikibane after realizing this, the separate entity that his subconscious had become, eventually fades away as well.
- Cats Have Nine Lives: A ghost cat frequently appears from nowhere and rant cynically about Ouri's "real nature". Only Ouri can see it, even though every character is aware of the supernatural. Creepy. the cat is really part of Ouri's self, since souls permanently leave this world upon death. So it's an Uncatty Resemblance.
- Enigmatic Minion: He's not exactly a villain, but his true agenda remains unknown.
Nozomi Kasuga
Nozomi Kasuga
Voiced by: Miki Maruyama (Japanese), Tia Ballard (English)
- Nightmare Fetishist: She eventually starts becoming fascinated by death.
Mizuki Inuhiko
Mizuki Inuhiko
Voiced by: Fuyuka Ōura (Japanese), Clarine Harp (English)
- Oral Fixation: She usually has something in her mouth.
- Student Council President: She dreams of becoming this.
Sumitori
Sumitori
Voiced by: Masayuki Shouji (Japanese), Sean Michael Teague (English)
- Captain Oblivious: He's oblivious to the world of Shikabane.
Hiroshige Ushijima
Hiroshige Ushijima
Voiced by: Tooru Nara (Japanese), Micah Solusod (English)
- Buxom Beauty Standard: He openly complains about the lack of busty women in their class and obsesses over Nozomi because of her breasts, calling her "Omune-sama" ("Breast Goddess" in the dub).
Riko
Riko
Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Stephanie Young (English)
