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Characters from the anime/manga series Darker than Black. When reading these, bear in mind that pretty much all Contractor characters are also Stoic Tin Men with Conditional Powers and display Lack of Empathy, while Dolls are all True Neutral Emotionless Persons verging on Empty Shells.

Due to wiki policy, trope names will not be Spoiler tagged. Please read at your own risk.


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The protagonists

A special operations team employed by The Syndicate.

     Hei 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hei_6618.PNG
Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi (JP), Jason Liebrecht (EN)

The Hero (well, for a given level of "hero"), a.k.a. Li Shengshun, a.k.a. Lee Hyeonsik, a.k.a. BK-201, a.k.a. LI-KUN!!! a.k.a. The Black Reaper. He works for The Syndicate, doing their dirty work to retrieve items and information related to Hell's Gate. He works undercover as Nice Guy exchange student "Li Shengshun," taking menial jobs wherever the higher-ups need him, and relying on his apparent naivety to avoid suspicion. He has the Contractor ability to manipulate electricity, has the most awesome coat in the universe, and is a weapons-grade Chick Magnet to boot.

Has an incredibly Dark and Troubled Past featuring war, betrayal, and the disappearance of his younger sister. Bringing it up is generally a really bad idea and one of the few ways to get a reaction out of him.


  • '90s Anti-Hero: Definitely is a candidate for this one since most of his looks and actions meet the standards by being a stylish assassin with a cool coat with a sociopathic and ruthless demeanor towards his opponents. You can say that he is the electric Wolverine or Deadpool, whatever you call it. By no means he is no Batman unless you count Arkham Knight, Grim Knight, and Batman Azrael into the pool.
  • Amicable Exes: Only apparent in the last time he's with Amber. After being hell bent on killing her for most of Season 1, he finally gets to hear her side of the situation and makes peace with her in a very touching Cool-Down Hug.
  • Anti-Hero: A hitman for The Syndicate who doesn't really bother to question the morality (or, more often, lack thereof) of his assignments, with no compunctions about cheating, killing, or torture if he feels it's necessary.
  • Atomic Superpower: Hei's true power is altering matter on the quantum level. While in possession of the Meteor Fragment, Hei's powers were amplified to the extent that he was able to destroy a large portion of South America almost effortlessly.
  • Badass Longcoat: So badass, in fact, that the coat is bulletproof only when he wears it.
  • Badass Normal: Both before the Heaven's Gate event and in season 2.
  • Berserk Button:
  • Big Brother Instinct: Towards the aforementioned little sister in the past, and Yin. Toward the end of the second season, he also starts to treat Suou this way.
  • Big Eater: He's both an excellent cook, and known for eating a ridiculous number of servings per meal. Granted, he probably burns a lot of calories due to all the super powered contractor fights he partakes in, but still. Since he's a Contractor, it initially seems that his eating habits are his Remuneration, but it turns out that, nope, he just really likes food.
    Chiaki: You are going to get so fat. Sure, maybe you can get away with it now, but once you hit thirty and your metabolism slows down— well, if there's any justice in the world...
  • Break the Cutie: Heaven's War and most of the interquel OVA.
  • Broken Faceplate: One of the most common and effective ways to show that a foe is to be feared is for them to break Hei's mask.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Second season. Even after losing his electricity-based superpowers, Hei still kicks serious ass.
  • Chick Magnet: Boy howdy. Almost every woman he interacts with either falls in love with him or treats him as an honorary family member, be they an Emotionless Girl, a Magnificent Bastard, the Fair Cop trying to catch him, or someone whose first sight of him was the (apparent) murder of her father.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Has absolutely no qualms about attacking from ambush, playing dead, using anything handy as a weapon, or using supernatural powers in a fistfight, and will hit girls if he needs to. At one point in the second season, he demonstrated how throwing a snowball could be used as an effective tactic.
  • Cool Mask: His mask looks like a cross between V's mask and Billy the Puppet's face.
  • Cover-Blowing Superpower: At one point, he's undercover as a waiter in a restaurant, and a violent, drunk customer tries to walk out without paying and he ends up in the way. Hilarious Deadly Dodging ensues.
  • The Cowl: He fits this almost perfectly except for the fact that a lot of his behavior is far from traditionally heroic.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Extremely. Start with dead little sister and betrayal by his girlfriend and work up from there: his little sister became a Contractor and was recruited by The Syndicate, and he joined as a Badass Normal to try to protect her. They were both in their early teens. After a few years of very mixed feelings, guilt, and trauma later, his then-girlfriend Amber (apparently) betrayed him, and his sister disappeared when Heaven's Gate exploded. He basically woke up with her powers, no sign of her, and no clue what the hell happened.
  • Dating Catwoman: His relationship as Li with Kirihara.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Good luck if you have to train with him.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness:
    • Permanently. Because his eyes are black, you can count on one hand the number of times you can tell the pupils from the irises, and they get stylized to dark blue-gray. We never once see light reflecting off them.
    • Quite a few contractors display this in the series, to signify how they aren't happy, or anything else regarding emotions for that matter. Which makes the revelation that Hei isn't properly a Contractor and doesn't have their sociopathy all the more horrible, because he was already like that before he got powers.
  • Endearingly Dorky: The express intent of Hei's Li persona. Nobody would expect that ditzy, cute, and clumsy student to really be an expert assassin.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Evil is pushing it but Li and Hei sound different.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Mr. Fanservice to Perma Stubbled, long-haired "sexy hobo" between seasons. Then back to normal after he gets to a stash of Hidden Supplies in Tokyo.
  • Expressive Mask: Very subtly. While his mask's mouth is usually angled upwards in a grin, during serious scenes it's angled downwards (with a little help from the camera) into a much more somber/neutral expression.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Fits the Obfuscating Stupidity version- "Li" often has these, and you know it's Hei when his eyes open and they're cold, blank, and unreflective.
  • Facepalm of Doom: All the time; it seems to be his preferred method of frying someone.
  • Failure Knight: He's very protective of Yin because she is his last ally alive. Aside from his Big Brother Instinct this could be seen due to the fact that he ultimately failed to save his little sister all while losing Amber, Huang and Mao (though he survives). When Yin changes into Izanami and disappears, he thinks she has died and blames himself, taking the loss rather harshly.
  • The Gadfly: Hei does have a sense of humor, though you rarely see it. It usually takes the form of playing jokes at at the expense of someone else, such as in episode 3 when Mao got caught by Li's landlady. She contemplated selling Mao to a meat market, which Li seemed to disagree with before adding "...Though [cat meat] might be tasty." Mao was not amused.
  • Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Watching Hei's eyes in an episode where he's mostly being Li is highly entertaining, just to see if you can spot the moments where his personality switches. In general, as Li, they're either closed or very wide, and narrower the rest of the time. This picture gives a pretty good comparison.
  • Grappling-Hook Pistol: Or rather, retractable cables with snap-hooks. Though twice, when he's had to get a cable particularly far away, he used a crossbow.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: He's not quite a Contractor; he has his sister's powers, but normal emotions and no remuneration.
  • Heroic Neutral: He'd really prefer to just be left alone, but the Syndicate isn't about to let someone so useful get away from them. Consequently, although he usually just does what he's told, he's still the group's loose cannon and will occasionally ignore orders entirely.
  • He's Back!: While he starts off the second season in rather bad shape, by episodes 8 and 9, he's looking and acting more like his old self, depower be damned.
  • Iconic Item: His Badass Longcoat, White Mask of Doom, and knives.
  • I Have Many Names: Well, to start with he's Hei, BK-201, and the Black Reaper and uses at least two different aliases (and probably more), not to mention whatever his real name is, Mayu's... description of him.
  • Immune to Bullets: Thanks to his coat. Subverted when Huang shoots him in the leg when he isn't wearing it and he spends the rest of the episode limping.
  • Implied Love Interest: The series never makes it clear if he has romantic feelings for Yin or he's just acting out on his Big Brother Instinct. There is promotional art that makes it appear more romantic, however promotional art is often used as fanservice to hype up viewers.
  • Important Haircut: Once he arrives back in Tokyo in the second season, he does this to illustrate his return to his former self.
  • Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery: His mask seemingly has no eyeholes and just has eyes and mouth seemingly painted on it, making it perfect for concealing his Secret Identity and adding to his "Black Grim Reaper" persona's mystery.
  • Jerkass: On a bad day. The second season has a very long string of bad days, though.
  • Just a Flesh Wound: He doesn't tend to get slowed down much by stuff like a bullet through his leg or a spar of wood a foot long stuck in his shoulder.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Even in-universe he gets written into Slash Fics, or that in a flashback, Amber thought that Hei holding his sister in his arms while she slept off her Remuneration looked "romantic."
  • Lightning Can Do Anything: Averted most of the time, but given that the ability underlying this is quantum manipulation of matter, there are... exceptions. Especially when Hell's Gate is involved.
  • Loophole Abuse: Since Hei isn't a genuine Contractor, he can use his borrowed powers without worrying about a Renumeration and still has enough emotional empathy to make risky decisions, whereas true Contractors will only act rationally. An example being if a Contractor were surrounded by police with no way to escape even with their powers they'll surrender without issue, since that's the rational thing to do. Hei, on the other hand, will risk trying to escape no matter how insane or impossible it might seem. This always catches both police and Contractors off-guard, since everyone else is unaware that he's not a Contractor due to his movements coinciding with his sister's marked star.
  • Malevolent Masked Man: The way most of the cast sees him. Makes sense.
  • Master of the Mixed Message: His feelings towards Yin are this.
  • Meaningful Name: 'Hei' is the Chinese pronunciation of 黒, the character that means 'black' in both Chinese and Japanese.
  • Mr. Fanservice: A very good-looking badass with a Dark and Troubled Past who can qualify for both All Girls Want Bad Boys and Nice Guy and can be almost cute when someone gets past his shell? Yeah, there's a reason pretty much every single female he interacts with for any length of time ends up crushing on him or treating him as a surrogate family member. Especially since he's a really good cook.
  • Mook Horror Show: The Black Reaper earned that name.
  • Mugging the Monster: Pro tip: if you're going to try to walk out of a restaurant without paying, make sure that the cute, clumsy waiter you attack for getting in your way isn't a superpowered ninja known and feared throughout the criminal underworld who can "accidentally" send you careening into furniture.
  • Mundane Utility: He can use his abilities to zap people, crack locks, knock people out, defibrillate his own heart... or fix a TV. (Though it might take you a while to realize that's what he did)
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: While he's undercover. Parodied in the omake.
  • Nice Guy: As Li. Even as himself, he's usually way nicer than most Contractors, and given the full extent of his abilities, he could be much, much worse.
  • Not So Stoic: Though he's deeply in denial about most of his feelings, they show through occasionally.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: In his Li Shengshun persona. Li isn't stupid per se, but he's a clumsy, naive, and generally harmless dork. Well, unless you attack him with a broken bottle.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Once, he managed to disappear from about ten feet in front of Kirihara in the time it took her to put on her glasses, while she was pointing a gun at him and he had a bullet wound in his leg that had him limping badly. And there wasn't anything tall enough to do a Building Swing escape in the area, so that possibility is out.
  • One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: Hei doesn't appear to have a Remuneration.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: "Hei" is Chinese for "black," and odds are pretty much certain it has nothing to do with his real name.
  • Out of Character: In universe, Hei does not behave like a typical contractor. They're supposed to be emotionless, pragmatic, and incapable of empathizing with others. Hei does have emotions, has a kind side, and is known to act on these feelings without much rationality. This puzzles both ally and foe alike.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Played with. When he's on a job, he wears a white mask and a bullet resistant black overcoat. However, it's less of a disguise, more of means to keep witnesses from getting too close a look at him. It works because he moves too fast for anyone to get more than a glimpse of The Black Reaper.
  • The Paralyzer: Though he uses the "walking downed power line" attack more often, he's also able to knock someone out with a touch.
  • Psycho Electro: Generally an aversion. Generally.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: See Heroic Neutral.
  • Red Baron: The Black Reaper
  • Reality Warper: Shock and Awe is only one manifestation of a more general quantum-manipulation ability that Dr. Schrader mentioned could even be used for Super-Empowering. When he's in the Gate, he can basically restructure everything around him.
  • Secret-Identity Identity: He has distinctly different personalities as Li, Hei, and the Black Reaper.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: While nowhere near as severe as Havock, he still hasn't gotten over Heaven's War.
  • Shock and Awe: Hei can't shoot lightning, he can merely give off electric discharges, meaning he has to conduct the electricity to the enemy. Enter the metallic choke-wire. But he used that even before he could zap people.
  • Sociopathic Hero: Being trained with no emotions to show no mercy to his enemies has proven this one to him and even torturing them shows another proof he is not willing to hesitate to reach his ends.
  • Soul Fragment: The source of his powers is what's left of his sister's mind after Heaven's Gate fused them.
  • Static Stun Gun: He uses his electricity power like this at times. In one case he actually pretended to have a taser, because he wasn't disguised at the time.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: He's a master at this, to the point of Offscreen Teleportation.
  • The Stoic: Borderline Stoic Woobie; remember his traumatic personal history and that he never wanted to be involved in any of this and the only reason he's working for the Syndicate is that they'd kill him if he tried to leave, and the reason he pretends to be a vicious, emotionless killer becomes a good deal clearer.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Underneath the Obfuscating Stupidity, stoicism and pretending to be jerk, Hei is actually the result of a Nice Guy being forced to fight since he was a teenager, and he's very protective of his True Companions.
  • Superpower Lottery: A low-key win at first glance; he's got a pretty powerful attack that can also be scaled back for nonlethal takedowns, and doesn't have to go line up pebbles or anything similarly inconvenient every time he uses it. However, it turns out he really hit the jackpot— his powers are from his sister, so he's got no remuneration, and under the right circumstances he's an honest-to-god Reality Warper.
  • Supreme Chef: Oddly enough. Presumably it's due to a lot of practice.
  • Survivor Guilt: The end of Gaiden and Season 2. Hei after he thought Yin died and afterwards. Hei blames himself for being the reason Yin turns into Izanami. According to some Japanese magazines, because of his strong guilt he continued to drink despite knowing Yin was alive, because he did not believe he deserved to be happy. Spending time with Suoh seemed to have knocked him back into his senses.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Something happened between him and Yin in the Time Skip between the two seasons, and as a consequence for much of the second season he acts like a drunken, violent jerk.
  • Touch of Death: If he can touch you, he can zap you to death.
  • Tranquil Fury: When he's angry, it's a vicious, cold anger.
  • Underestimating Badassery: You'd think that the fact that he was called the Black Reaper when he was just a Badass Normal Child Soldier would be a tip-off, but apparently a lot of people missed the memo.
  • When He Smiles: According to Amber, he has the most beautiful smile. In a Hope Spot in the interquel, we see that she has a point.
  • White Mask of Doom: Holds the current page image.
  • The Worf Effect: The interquels and second season feature quite a few instances of this, though it makes some sense when you consider that he had the element of surprise in almost every fight he got into in the original series.

     Yin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Yin_5536.PNG
Voiced by: Misato Fukuen (JP), Brina Palencia (EN)

A doll assigned to Hei's group. A clairvoyant Emotionless Girl with the ability to project surveillance specters through water, she acts as the group's recon unit.


  • Apocalypse Maiden: In the fourth OVA and second season, it is implied being in the Gate at the end of the first season has made Yin capable of killing every human and Contractor on the planet, as discussed in the OVAs.
  • Blind Seer: It's not obvious that she's blind until a flashback from before the appearance of the Gates, since her abilities pretty much perfectly compensate for it.
  • Brown Note: In Season Two, she triggers Contractors to commit suicide.
  • The Comically Serious: She speaks in Creepy Monotone even while reciting in-universe Fan Fiction.
  • Convenient Coma: Puts herself into one to stop her Superpowered Evil Side.
  • Covert Pervert: Apparently Kiko introduced her to slash fic.
  • Emotionless Girl: As a Doll, she's supposed to lack emotions. This is eventually Subverted, since she shows she can express emotions.
  • Extreme Doormat: Since she's a Doll, Yin is obedient, quiet and stoic and supposedly lacks a will of her own. She eventually does develop the ability to think for herself.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Forced into it. Or something.
  • Finger-Forced Smile: She uses her fingers to force herself to smile. She looks really cute.
  • Frozen Face: She can't express emotions with her face even if she wants to. She has to use her fingers if she wants to smile.
  • Heroic Willpower: In the OVA episodes, Yin wills herself into a coma to control her Izanami side.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Asks Hei to kill her to destroy Izanami.
  • Implied Love Interest: She is in love with Hei but the series never makes it clear if he has romantic feelings for her or he's just acting out on his Big Brother Instinct. There is promotional art that makes it appear more romantic, however promotional art is often used as fanservice to hype up viewers.
  • Kill the Cutie: Unconfirmed. The ambiguous nature of Gemini's ending leaves her fate open for interpretation
  • Living Macguffin: In the second season.
  • Mystical White Hair: Her silver hair hints at her supernatural nature as a Doll and her powers.
  • Not Herself: At one point in the Gaiden OVAs, she speaks up out of the blue and starts coldly analyzing the problems with Hei's plan, then suggests another idea. He's rather creeped out, and it only gets worse a minute later when she says she doesn't remember saying anything.
  • Not So Stoic: She starts crying in one episode and occasionally shows evidence of a crush on Hei.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Yin, which means silver in Chinese, is only a nickname to fit the Colourful Theme Naming of the group. Her real name is Kirsi and she's Finnish.
  • The Quiet One: Don't expect her to talk much.
  • Rei Ayanami Expy: Silver hair, reddish eyes and pale skin for the appearance; in addition, she is not quite human (a doll), and a Mystical Waif/Emotionless Girl.
  • The Stoic: She always has the same cold expression in her face.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's supposed to be a Doll unable to feel any kind of emotion, but as the series progresses she shows more and more capacity to express human feelings.
  • Tears from a Stone: In one episode, she cries despite being a Doll supposedly incapable of emotions.
  • Tragic Monster: In the second season, simply by being alive Yin could end the world. She seems aware of it as despite the world's governments and the Syndicate trying to control her and prevent the end of the world, Yin wants Hei to kill her.

     Huang 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Huang_365.PNG
Voiced by: Masaru Ikeda (JP), John Swasey (EN)

Hei's "handler," a Syndicate employee who relays his instructions and acts as backup when necessary.


     Mao 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mao_8947.PNG
Voiced by: Ikuya Sawaki (JP), Kent Williams (EN)

A body-swapping contractor trapped in a cat's body who helps Hei's group.


  • Body Surf: He has the ability to do this, but only between animals.
  • Butt-Monkey: The series has a lot of Mao-abuse.
  • A Dog Named "Dog": "Mao" is "cat" in Chinese.
  • The Heart: While it's not obvious given his kind of snarky tone, Mao is one of the nicest Contractor characters and tends to bring out the best in Huang and Hei.
  • Insistent Terminology: Mao is very clear on the point that he's not a squirrel, just a cat temporarily in a squirrel body.
  • Voices Are Mental: His voice sounds exactly the same (and disproportionately deep) as a cat, a bird, or a flying squirrel, and one character who knew him as a human recognizes him by it.

     Suō Pavlichenko 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suoh_9266.PNG
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (JP), Alison Viktorin (EN)

The Deuteragonist of Season 2, a half-Japanese, half-Russian schoolgirl. Her father is a scientist studying ME and her brother is a Contractor; her mother is a photographer who moved to Japan eight years ago. She gets pulled into the plot because of attempts to capture her twin and winds up hanging around Hei.


  • Beware the Nice Ones: Harm July and Suo will show no mercy.
  • BFG: A Russian PTRD-41 anti-tank rifle.
  • But Not Too Foreign: She is half-Russian, half-Japanese. Likely of Ukrainian ancestry, '-enko' is a common ending for Ukrainian family names.
  • Clone Angst: According to her mother, a copy of the real Suou. According to her father, an Opposite-Sex Clone of Shion. Either way, she's upset about it, and angsts until Hei snaps her out of it.
  • Cold Sniper: When in "Contractor-mode."
  • Dead All Along: According to her mother, the real Suou died years ago.
  • Fake Memories: Her memories are mostly fabricated.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Like Hei, she has Contractor powers while retaining human emotions/morals. Unlike him though, she does have a Remuneration and temporarily loses those emotions/morals when her powers activate.
  • Half-Identical Twins: Revealed to have been enforced by Shion's Contractor power. Her body is technically a near-exact copy of his since said power requires one key differentiation.
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Mayuko, Kiko friends says after she first sees her. Kiko accuses her of being a loli.
  • Little Miss Badass: She actually grows into this once she's had time to process everything happening to her (which is a lot).
  • Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Or is she?
  • Meaningful Name: This rendering of "Suou" is Japanese for sappanwood, which yields brazilin, which oxidizes to brazilein, which ranges from purplish to orange-red. The first kanji means "revived" or "be resuscitated" and can serve as an abbreviation for the Soviet Union. Her surname is a reference to another famous sniper.
  • Mind-Control Eyes: When she's particularly upset.
  • No Periods, Period: Averted. It's responsible for her temporary Power Incontinence.
  • Opposite-Sex Clone: According to her father, she was created through Shion's power, then implanted with the memories extracted from the original (deceased) Suou.
  • Precocious Crush: Comes to have one of these on Hei.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: Enabled through her Meteor Core necklace after it's infused with Hei's Contractor power.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: When being driven to the brink, her necklace summons/creates a BFG and she becomes a merciless Contractor, albeit one who wants to kill other Contractors for their evil actions. After this first time though, she retains her morality when using her powers.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau

     Misaki Kirihara 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kirihara_8508.PNG
Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (JP), Kate Oxley (EN)

The head of the TMPD's PSB Foreign Affair Division, Section 4, which covertly deals with contractor-related crimes and terrorism; she takes a special interest in the cases related to BK-201, which starts to grow into an obsession over time.


  • Action Girl: On a good day she can kick all kinds of ass.
  • Big Eater: Not as much as Hei, but she likes greasy food.
  • Blind Without 'Em: When she's not wearing her glasses, she squints all the time.
  • Cool Car: Her blue Porsche 997 Carrera.
  • Criminally Attractive: She falls for Hei even though she connects him to BK-201 as early as episode 18. It takes a couple suspicious coincidences, a partially-cracked mask, "Li" slipping into his Black Reaper voice, an accidental Meaningful Echo, and some surprising openness on his part before she figures it out/admits it to herself.
  • Dating Catwoman: Her relationship with "Li"- given the morality of the series, it's hard to tell which of them is the "Catwoman."
  • Fair Cop: In season 1 and part of season 2 until she quits the police force.
  • Go-Go Enslavement: Alice insists on dressing her in a qipao as punishment for forgetting about her party.
  • Hazy-Feel Turn: From the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications then to the New Syndicate
  • Nepotism: Her father is ranked above her on the police force. She doesn't appreciate his attempts to ensure the correct progression of her career. In the second season, she quits her job out of frustration and a wish to find Hei.
  • Stalker with a Crush: She's still trying to find Hei in the second season, even though she's no longer working for the police department. As in, "obsessively watching the star BK-201 through a telescope." Kanami informs her that she needs to get over him and find another guy.
  • The Stoic: And not a contractor (she expresses less emotions than some contractors)!
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Generally acts very cool and professional, but gets almost moe when she opens up a bit.
  • Token Good Teammate: Of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications aka Section 3
  • You Need to Get Laid: Has been informed of this quite a few times in the second season because of her obsession with finding Hei.

     Yuusuke Saitou 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saitouyusuke_270.PNG
Voiced by: Tomoyuki Shimura (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN)

Kirihara's second-in-command in Section 4. Known to have a big crush on her, although he never acts on it due to problems of potential rejection.


  • Bodyguard Crush: Towards Kirihara. Almost happened though in the OVA, but never worked due to the gas.

     Yutaka Kouno 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kounoyutoko_8097.PNG
Voiced by: Kosuke Toriumi (JP), Todd Haberkorn (EN)

One of Kirihara's underlings. Usually works alongside Saitou in PSB-related cases.


     Kunio Matsumoto 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matsumotokunio_8015.PNG
Voiced by: Nobuaki Fukuda (JP), Kenny Green (EN)

Another Division 4 officer. One of the oldest officers to work in the PSB. At the end of the Shikoku no Hana manga, Matsumoto was forced to retire due to a major injury in the hands of Harvest.


     Mayu Otsuka 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mayuotsuka_4717.png
Voiced by: Yuuna Inamura (JP), Leah Clark (EN)

A member of Section 4 and closet fan. She is an official liaison officer to the National Observatory to check on contractor-related appearances in Japan.


  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Likes to read and write erotic fanfiction and can be kind of ditzy, but also shows some competence, figuring out BK-201's identity when the rest of the police force failed miserably.
  • Female Gaze: Spoofed. Hei's "sexy collarbone" has since become a meme.
  • Loony Fan: Quite possibly even loonier than Kiko.
  • Stalker with a Crush: She stalks Hei for a few days, leading the group to suspect that she's working for someone to try to interfere with their mission.
  • Too Dumb to Fool: Not dumb exactly, but like the other Wrong Genre Savvy characters, she makes some accurate deductions, despite having odd logic and sometimes the wrong conclusion- she figures out that "Li" is the Black Reaper on account of his "sexy collarbone"

     Yoshimitsu Horai 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshihorai_1810.PNG
Voiced by: Michihiro Ikemizu (JP), R. Bruce Elliott (EN)

Also known as the Director. Kirihara's boss in the PSB.


  • Big Bad: As the highest ranking member of The Syndicate seen in season one, he's the closest thing representing his side, in opposition to Amber, who seeks to help Contractors while the Director and his superiors oppress them, seeking to destroy Hell's Gate to eradicate Contractors.
  • The Man Behind the Man: He's also a leader of The Syndicate.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He uses Kirihara and her team to further his own goals, and even tells Kirihara in the first season finale that she is an indirect member of The Syndicate.

Secret Intelligence Service

     November 11, AKA Jack Simon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/november11_834.png
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (JP), Troy Baker (EN)

MI6's top agent, assigned to Japan to investigate Gate-related activity. He has the power to freeze liquids and a rather James Bond-like attitude.


  • Affably Evil: Is remarkably polite and friendly for a Contractor.
  • Second-Face Smoke: In his introductory scene, he's dealing with some gangsters and voices his extreme disapproval of smoking early on. When they try to double cross him, one of them lights up and contemptuously blows smoke in his face. Big mistake.
  • Shameless Fanservice Guy: He just doesn't care.
  • Shout-Out: He is a secret agent. He is an only guy whose name is a month and a date - a certain guy's birthday.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Sometimes subverted, sometimes played straight; the first time we see him dealing with his remuneration, he starts hacking out the smoke in a decidedly un-cool way, but the rest of the time he makes it look good.
  • Touch of Death: Like Hei, if he can touch you, he can kill you.

     April 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/April01_476.PNG
Voiced by: Takako Honda (JP), Nazia Chaudhry (EN)

A contractor on November 11's team who can create storms at will.


  • Back for the Dead: She's reintroduced in Gemini of the Meteor and shows off her skills defeating a contractor with Super-Speed... only to be promptly killed by Hei immediately after.
  • Cursed with Awesome: She's the only Contractor we've seen so far who loves her remuneration: she has to drink beer.
  • Faux Action Girl: In the episode where she's injured, Huang shows Hei a sheet of paper listing her kills which are numerous, but in-series, she just assists November 11 and schleps July around. Although she does manage to score a kill on the enemy contractor Goran. Not to mention nearly killing Hei ... until he kills her of course.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her abilities are deadly in combination with November. In the sequel series, she show that she can summon a swirl of water around her opponent's head to drown him on his feet.
  • Making a Splash: The second season shows that her powers extend at least a little beyond rainstorms.
  • Phenotype Stereotype: The only aversion on the MI6 team, as she's black with blue hair and yellow eyes.
  • Significant White Hair, Dark Skin: Naturally, given that she's an Expy of Storm from the X-Men. She's a Black woman with short white hair and the Contractor-granted ability to control weather, and one of the earlier examples of a Contractor who is suggested to be more morally ambiguous than their reputations would have you believe.
  • Supernatural Suffocation: Her contractor ability is water manipulation. In the first season, her role is essentially to provide the Elemental Baggage for her partner November 11, who can freeze water. However, in the second season she gets her chance to shine, first by her powers being uniquely suited to take down a Contractor, and then almost killing the first season's protagonist by enveloping his head in water. Unfortunately for her, her Making a Splash abilities don't really cut the mustard against his Shock and Awe ability...
  • This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The conditions for her only solo kill are rather contrived, though her following showing against Hei is still relatively impressive.

     July 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/July01_8113.PNG
Voiced by: Kiyomi Asai (JP), Cherami Leigh (EN)

The Doll assigned to November 11's team.


  • Emotionless Boy: Being a Doll, he's supposed to lack emotion.
  • Finger-Forced Smile: He uses his fingers to push his mouth into a smile like Yin. Unlike Yin, his goes back to creepy. It even manages to creep out Hei in full jerkass mode.
  • True Companions: Kirihara is very surprised when he describes November this way.
  • Phenotype Stereotype: Blond with gray eyes.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Since he is a Doll, he appears emotionless, but he has a hidden warm side. Only November 11, April, Kirihara and Suo seem to be aware of it. To be fair, it's mostly for them.
  • Tagalong Kid: Particularly in the second season, where he just sticks around for lack of other options. Or possibly lack of other reasons to be around Suo.

     August 7 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/august7_3623.PNG
Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze (JP), Gregory Lush (EN)

A Contractor introduced in Season 2. He is part of the same team as April and July.


  • Achilles' Heel: a powerful Space Master, his main restriction is he has to be able to see his opponent — so Hei throws his longcoat over August's head and electrocutes him while he is powerless.
  • Blessed with Suck: He's a former stage magician and received the power to "do real magic" (albeit by making spatial distortions localized around his body), something which would make him the greatest magician ever. Unfortunately, his Remuneration is to give away how magic tricks work, something which hurts his pride as a former magician and takes away any professional benefit he could get from his powers.
  • Expy: He has often been compared to Cornelius Alba of The Garden of Sinners.
  • Faking the Dead: He pretends to be killed by Hei.
  • Hollywood Tactics: If you're effectively immune to ranged attacks and you're up against a ninja known for ingenuity, it would seem like a good idea not to let him get close.
  • Space Master: Mina, while observing his fight with Hei, explicitly states: "So he's distorting the area around him. Neither swords nor guns will affect him."
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Referred to by some fans as the "New November 11". Actually an aversion though, as his openly psychotic personality is closer to that of Wei in the first series.

Evening Primrose

The Contractor La Résistance with a distinctly Social Darwinist cast - think Magneto.

     Amber 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Amber01_1343.PNG
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (JP), Laura Bailey (EN)

The founder of Evening Primrose, who used to work for The Syndicate, the CIA, and MI6, but betrayed all of them. She was in South America during Heaven's War, and Hei considers her responsible for what happened at its end.

She can manipulate time, and her remuneration is getting younger.


  • The Chessmaster: Which is not surprising, considering her ability. Even after her "death."
  • Cuteness Proximity: Acts even more cutesy than usual over Mao.
  • Death by De-aging: Ends up dying by using her time powers to send Hei back in time, de-aging to nothing.
  • Expy: Bears a staggering resemblance to C.C. of Code Geass, particularly when we see her as an adult.
  • Femme Fatale: Just ask Hei. .. although he'd give you the wrong answer. Hei thinks she is, since she betrayed his group in Heaven's War. However, his sister was in on it too, and they didn't tell him because they both knew that continuing to work for The Syndicate was safer for him in the long run. She still loves him and wants him to be happy.
  • Fountain of Youth: Her remuneration.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She moved heaven and earth just to get into a position where she believed Hei could be happy by turning Japan into his own cosmic plaything at the cost of all Japanese humans.
  • Meaningful Name: The mineral amber led to the discovery of electricity; see the entry on the main page for details.
  • Merlin Sickness: Frequent use of her ability makes her grow continually younger.
  • Necessarily Evil: Seen in how even in her "kill all Japanese humans" plan, she was willing to use the last of her power and seemingly Ret-Gone herself.
  • Not So Stoic: Breaks her jolly demeanour when Hei is facing a dilema on whether to let the Contractors or humans die, she's angrily asking if saving contractors is what he wanted in the first place. As this is one of the only times she's not smiling, it's rather jarring.
  • Older Than They Look: Justified, as her remuneration makes her younger.
  • Omniscient Morality License: Literally: Because she can see into any number of possible futures, she does morally questionable things on the logic that it is the best plan possible.
  • Oracular Urchin: Since she's a lot older than she looks and has a limited ability to see the future.
  • Ret-Gone: Possibly her ultimate fate.
  • Superpower Lottery: She certainly won this. Her ability allows her to can control time itself, and with her remuneration being to age younger, she could theoretically make herself immortal.
  • Time Master: Her ability lets her travel back in time, or freeze time for everyone but herself and anyone else she chooses.

     Amagiri 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Amagiri01_8076.PNG
Voiced by: Takuya Kirimoto (JP), Travis Willingham (EN)

Amber's second-in-command. He has the very straightforward power of shooting waves of force.


  • Big Eater: Not by choice, his remuneration requires him to eat a half dozen hard-boiled eggs.
  • Brains and Brawn: Amber's the brains, he's the brawn.
  • Died Standing Up: When his soul was taken by Yin.
  • Disney Death: Seemingly burnt to death along with Brita at the end of the first season, he shows up in the third Gaiden, but now is bald with some signs of scarring, and has an Eyepatch of Power over his "shut" eye.

     Maki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Maki01_1733.PNG
Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei (JP), Maxey Whitehead (EN)

A contractor working for Amber. His power is to blow up anything he's touched, and he has an enormous crush on Amber.


  • Asshole Victim: Runs around blowing up buildings, hints that he intends to do more, attacks Hei because he's jealous and runs November 11 through a gauntlet for no real reason when his time would be better spent escaping. Not even Amber is sad when he dies.

     Brita 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Brita01_8033.PNG
Voiced by: Chie Nakamura (JP), Jamie Marchi (EN)

A ridiculously sexy contractor working for Amber as a spy. She can teleport, taking along anyone she touches.


PANDORA

     Eric Nishijima 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EricNishijima_4831.PNG
Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (JP), Chuck Huber (EN)

A high-ranking PANDORA official, he is a Japanese citizen who was born overseas. He plays a background role throughout much of the first series.


  • Smug Snake: Nishijima is a smug, smiling asshole who gloats over his authority in PANDORA, happily obstructs police investigations and ultimately loses it when the Saturn Ring is rendered inoperable and he can't take a second shot at his desired Contractor genocide.
  • You Have Failed Me: Courtesy of the Director.

     Dr. Schroeder 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Drschroder_3409.PNG
Voiced by: Iemasa Kayumi (JP), Bucky Pearl (EN)

A scientist working at PANDORA's lab at Hell's Gate.


  • For Science!: He's actually not upset at all when Hei screws his anti-Gate system up since it gave him something new and interesting to observe.

     Meena Kandaswamy 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meena01_1724.PNG
Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Carrie Savage (EN)

A scientist working at the laboratory in the Gate who got her position by making a deal with The Syndicate. Acts as Hei's contact when he infiltrates the place.


     Nick Hillman 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Nick01_1704.PNG
Voiced by: Shigeru Nakahara (JP), Eric Vale (EN)

A cheerful scientist Hei meets while undercover at an observatory.


  • Birds of a Feather: He and "Li" are both Nice Guy borderline-stoics who want to make the world better for their little sisters, and they get along really well. They even have the same powers.
  • Evil Counterpart: He even has the same powers as Hei (the main difference is Hei's powers are straight Reality Warping that he uses almost exclusively for electricity, while Nick's are actually electricity)
  • The Mole: He's the mole for the Central Intelligence Agency.
  • Karma Houdini: [[spoiler: Charming and genuinely well-intentioned as he is, he still kills multiple people including the mentally broken Corrina(granted she was a CIA asset but only became one because she wanted to leave hell's gate due to it mentally destroying her and certainly didn't deserve to die) and gets away at the end of the episode.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

A group of Japanese agents introduced in Season 2.

     Genma Shizume 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genma-animestockscom-08_978.jpg
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (JP), Newton Pittman (EN)

Part of the team dedicated to hunting down Hei and Suou, a contractor with the ability to turn solid objects into heavy armor. Has a habit of hitting on everyone he encounters.


  • Bait the Dog: Genma initially comes across as an affable, jokey Lovable Sex Maniac, and a pushover at that, since Suo "defeats" him by throwing a trash can over his head. Further appearances establish him as a sociopathic pedophile who finds wanton brutality incredibly amusing.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He is a pretty laid back guy who initially seems to be a Plucky Comic Relief and keeps that attitude even after it becomes clear that he is a vicious psychopath
  • Genre Savvy: He makes a reference to Dark and Troubled Past as adding invoked Moe points.
  • Instant Armor: His power involves coating himself with nearly impenetrable armor. However, anti-tank fire can damage it and it doesn't do a damn thing against a laser katana to the eye.
  • The Juggernaut: When in "armor mode".
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Played for laughs; by episode 11, he's pretty much the only one who doesn't know that Suou isn't Shion.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: Subverted; his hitting on people is played as a joke at first, but it becomes apparent he's actually a sadistic sexual predator, possibly even a pedophile.
  • The Mole: He is ultimately revealed to be a spy for the CIA.
  • Pædo Hunt: He makes several sexually suggestive comments to Suo and told Kirihara he was less interested in her than some schoolchildren passing by the window. His later appearances make it clear he is not just joking.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Genma is easily the most disgusting villain in the whole series. In addition to a number of disturbing sexual advances (some of them to children), it's implied he sexually assaulted Yoko before killing her.
  • The Sociopath: While his pronounced Lack of Empathy and capacity to deceive others effortlessly without a shred of remorse is typical of almost all Contractors, this trope uniquely applies to Genma given that he is also highly sadistic and almost perpetually preoccupied with appeasing an insatiable craving for stimulation.
  • Stupid Evil: He doesn't really think his acts of pointless cruelty through very well.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Narratively, his role is very close to November 11's: they're both Contractors who end up working closely across organizational lines with Kirihara, despite her mistrust of Contractors in general. What's more, Genma and November 11 both cultivate relaxed, wryly humorous demeanors to obscure how dangerous they really are. And they both love doing the Anti-Villain boogie early on in their respective seasons. But whereas November 11 ultimately comes down on the side of integrity and fortitude, Genma lands in a much uglier moral space. The former is Affably Evil, while the latter is most certainly Faux Affably Evil.

     Mina Hazuki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MinaHazuki01_7912.PNG
Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (JP), Kara Edwards (EN)

A contractor with the ability to turn objects into laser katanas. Part of the MIAC team hunting Hei and Suou.


  • Blessed with Suck: Her Obeisance/Renumeration is to French kiss or have other kinds of intimate contact with men, despite being gay.
  • Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: Despite being shunned by her family, being informed that her mother is dying distracts her during a fight with Hei, and she muses about still having some caring towards her mother.
  • Evil Counterpart: Has similar dress sense, weaponry, and personality to Hei; her background as The Ojou who broke from her powerful family is rather similar to that of Kirihara.
  • It's Personal: She takes Youko's death at what she believes to be Hei's hands rather badly.
  • Laser Blade: Her power is to transform any held object into an energy blade (or wire as the case may be.) She carries around a wooden katana for this purpose.
  • Leitmotif: The awesome first segment of "Suizen Reika" scores Hazuki's fight scenes toward the end of the season.
  • Pragmatic Pansexuality: Her remuneration is to make out with guys, but she is a lesbian, and finds the one man who's usually available disgusting even aside from his gender. She can suck it up, but tries to get "rid of the taste" by rinsing her mouth with vodka and forcefully kissing Youko right afterwards.
  • The Ojou: A conversation with her grandfather in episode 9 suggests she was graceful, high-class young woman and much more deferential prior to becoming a Contractor.
  • Psycho Lesbian: "I got rejected..." Gee, ya think?
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: She really flips out when Yoko dies.

     Yōko Sawasaki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/YokoSawasaki01_442.png
Voiced by: Kozue Yoshizumi (JP), Tia Ballard (EN)

The group's token human, a scientist who worked under Dr. Schrader.


  • Ambiguously Gay: Hazuki regularly makes out with Yoko, usually to make up for having to kiss a man for her Renumeration. If Yoko reciprocates the attraction is unclear, as Hazuki doesn't ask permission, but Yoko doesn't seem to dislike Hazuki for it and tends to blush in her presence. Keeping Hazuki safe is also the one thing on her mind when Hei kidnaps and interrogates her about Yin's whereabouts.
  • Bait the Dog: Initially appears very cute, friendly, and outgoing, but she follows in the footsteps of the similarly affable Dr. Shrader in having For Science! as a mantra, pursuing "experiments" without concern for human life.
  • For Science!: She basically rips Hei's soul in half just to see what happens.
  • Male Gaze: The target in the "Hazuki-vision" shot in the interquel OVA. Played for laughs more than anything.
  • Mission Control: She is the "token normal" member of the group.
  • Post-Kiss Catatonia: Gets hit by this when Hazuki gives her a Forceful Kiss to get rid of the taste of kissing Genma due to her Remuneration.

     Spoiler Character 
  • Misaki Kirihara, who leaves the Public Security Bureau to join in the second season.

Others

    Mai Kashiwagi 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maiep3.png
Voiced by: Cherami Leigh (EN)
The daughter of a former PANDORA scientist who took part in the initial investigation of Hell's Gate, Mai is a Moratorium—a human with the powers of a Contractor, but unable to control said powers.
  • Action Girl: A downplayed case in that Mai has zero combat abilities, and she has little to no control over her powers. She eventually transitions into a Dark Action Girl thanks to her training with the Syndicate.
  • Broken Bird: Mai acts like a Genki Girl, but she has some serious troubles stemming from her resentment towards her father and incidents involving her powers acting up without her realizing it.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: As a Moratorium, she regresses into a Doll-like state after she uses her powers. She defaults into this state after she becomes a Contractor.
  • Forced into Evil: Downplayed in that she wasn't exactly forced into evil. As a Contractor, the logical choice for her would be to join the Syndicate rather than be taken in by the Public Safety Beaureu.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: She really doesn't take it well when she accidentally sets both her best friend and her father ablaze.
  • Playing with Fire: Mai can set anything around her ablaze, though she can't control exactly what she sets on fire. At least not until she becomes a Contractor.
    Mai: I told you to leave me alone! Why didn't you listen?!
  • Power Limiter: The blue "star" in Mai's wrist is what keeps her powers from manifesting. It wasn't a permanent solution and it is steadily growing weaker until it can no longer keep Mai from transitioning from a Moratorium into a Contractor.
  • Put on a Bus: She disappears from the plot entirely after Episode 4 and doesn't make a reappearance until near the end of the first season as an agent of the Syndicate.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: The first sign that she has become a Contractor is when her pupils glow bright red.

     Wei Zhijun 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WeiZhijun02_5843.png
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao (JP), Robert McCollum (EN)

A contractor serving the Chen Long Tang crime family. His power is to blow holes in anything he gets blood on.


  • Blood Knight: Although he figures out Amber would only let him fight Hei if she knew Wei would lose and die and saw this via time travel, he still wants to fight Hei to the death due to a mix of pride and enjoyment.
  • Bloody Murder: His power involves throwing his blood on things and thereby making holes in them.

     Alice Wang 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AliceWang01_116.PNG
Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (JP), Caitlin Glass (EN)

The heir to the Chen Long Tang family. She was friends with Kirihara as a teenager, and did not react well to her friend's career choice.


  • Alice Allusion: Her name is Alice and she lives in the illusion that her father's company is quite good.
  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Grows more aloof as the arc pogresses.
  • Ambiguously Lesbian: Her being Ax-Crazy can be explained with that if she choses Kirihara will there be no direct inheritor after her, at least not easily, making her chose between love and family, both difficult choices for a Mafia Princess.

     Gai Kurasawa 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GaiKurasawa01_8834.png
Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (JP), Brandon Potter (EN)

A rather useless private investigator who accidentally stumbles across the edges of Hei's assignments a couple of times. It's said that he was an ex-police officer who left to be a PI.


     Kiko Kayanuma 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kikodarkerthanblack_2644.PNG
Voiced by: Emiri Katou (JP), Brittney Karbowski (EN)

Kurosawa's cheery, excitable secretary, who only works for him because she can watch yaoi at work. She has an over-the-top stalker-crush on "Li."


  • Expressive Hair: It even curled into little heart shapes when she first saw Hei.

     Havoc AKA Carmine 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/havocdtb01_6393.PNG
Voiced by: Naomi Shindo (JP), Luci Christian (EN)

Quite possibly the most dangerous contractor in existence, she killed hundreds or even thousands in South America- and then something happened that removed her powers and some of her memories but restored her emotions to normal. Now she's wracked with guilt over what she did, leaving her as probably the only case of a woobie who ate babies in history.


  • The Atoner: She considers the loss of her power and former contractor state of mind to be her second chance and truly wants to make good on it. It ends with an extremely frustrating Heel–Face Door-Slam.
  • The Butcher: Was the Contractor with the single largest body count, numbering well into the thousands by some counts.
  • De-power: The most significant example of this in-universe. Her arc introduces the concept of "Regressor/Forfeiter" to the audience and she is considered an invaluable research specimen by the scientific community.
  • Dies Wide Open: Hei shuts them before going to confront the people who killed her.
  • Eats Babies: Her Renumeration involved drinking the blood of children.
  • Evil Redhead: Prior to reforming anyway.
  • Explosive Decompression: Havoc's contractor power is explained to be a powerful degree of inducing this, and in large areas. November 11 states at one point that the police's sub-machine guns would be useless against Havoc in all her glory, indicating that her vacuums are powerful enough to tear solid matter apart at such speeds that bullets or other mass-based attacks would be simply unable to even touch her.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: Immediately after she gets her powers back but remains reformed, she is impaled by one of November 11's ice spears.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Her ultimate fate, thanks to November 11 who feared her too much to let her live.
  • Meaningful Name: Two, in fact. "Havoc" simply due to her former ungodly destructive abilities, but perhaps more meaningful is her supposed real name "Carmine", which is the shade of red most human blood forms when dried— a reference to her Eats Babies remuneration as well as her ungodly body count and red hair.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: And it was well-earned, even if now she mostly just inspires people to want to give her a hug.
  • Nothing Is Scarier: A variant. We only meet her after losing both her powers and the personality she was so feared for, but those in the know about her history are absolutely terrified of her. November 11 spends much of her episodes almost gushing about how absolutely out of their league he, his companions, and Kirihara's whole team would be if Havoc got her powers back and decided to pick a fight. He then chooses to snipe her from a very wide distance at the very first sign it might happen.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We never get to see her use her power, though by all accounts it's unlike anything else in the series we do see.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: It is noted that Havoc commonly used her vacuum-creation powers to disrupt the ground itself, causing devastating earthquakes— among other things.
  • Power of the Void: Her power is to create vacuums of incredibly significant strength and apparently over large areas.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Her memories of herself as a contractor positively mortify her. She would 100% prefer to die than become "Havoc" again.

     Bertha and Itzhak 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BerthaItzhak_6574.PNG
Voiced by: Ai Satou (Bertha, JP), Yutaka Aoyama (Itzhak, JP), Melinda Allen (Bertha, EN), Vic Mignogna (Itzhak, EN)

Two Contractors working for FSB to capture Yin. Bertha's power allows her to force objects to resonate, usually breaking them, although it can also stop someone's heart; Itzhak can absorb observation ghosts and use them to manipulate and control the minds of dolls.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Their deaths are most definitely played for sympathy. It helps that they feature as the villains of what's already probably the most heart-wrenching story in the series.
  • Ambiguously Jewish: Besides Itzhak's name, his personality is reminiscent of Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop.
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: She's an overweight former opera singer who kills people with her voice.
  • Beard of Sorrow/Perma-Stubble: Itzhak’s appareance.
  • Blessed with Suck: Bertha has to swallow and puke up stuff (she chooses cigarettes) as her renumeration/obeisance (she can theoretically swallow and regurgitate any object she'd choose, but she does that with cigarettes as to remember her daughter, who choked to death on her mom's cigarette butts she swallowed).
  • Cigar Chomper: Quite literally with Bertha.
  • Fights Like a Normal: Given that his Contract has almost zero combat applications, Itzhak makes use of a large hunting rifle instead. He's pretty good with it.
  • Pillar of Light: A side-effect of Itzhak's power; when he dies, all the observation ghosts he's grabbed disperse at once, creating a huge version.
  • Warrior Poet: Literally, in Itzhak's case: his remuneration is writing poetry.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Itzhak has one of the most specialized and useless-in-combat abilities we've seen, which is presumably why he was paired with someone who can kill quietly and almost instantaneously or cause massive structural damage.
  • Wicked Cultured: Both, in different ways, between opera singer Bertha and reluctant poet Itzhak.

     Harvest 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Harvestdtb01_2014.png
The primary antagonist of the Interquel manga, Shikkoku no Hana. His power is to dissolve matter, and this ability to manipulate the connections between atoms allows him to give normal humans Contractor abilities.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Yeah, he'll give you superpowers. But watch out for that flower...
  • Deal with the Devil: Has the ability to give humans Contractor-like powers. However, they have to kill their closest friend to do it, and they start turning into walking plants.
  • Evil Counterpart: His Contractor power involves the ability to manipulate electrons, similar to Hei, and as a result he can also grant normal people powers.
  • Green Thumb: Those flowers. Creepy as hell.
  • Hollywood Evolution: He rants about Evolutionary Levels.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Plays off people's emotions to get them to accept his Deal with the Devil.
  • Mook Maker: Plants seeds into the corpses of his opponents and re-animates them as contractor zombies.
  • Necromancer: His powers allow him to raise the dead.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: Since he can break down pretty much anything, bullets are completely useless and even attempts to gas him just result in him chemically decomposing the gas. The cops manage to hit him with tranquilizer darts and electricity.

     Azusa Tsukimori 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/290px-Azuza_6245.png
A young schoolgirl Hei encounters in Shikkoku no Hana. After being seduced and betrayed by her coach, Daisuke Mioka, she desires to become a Contractor in order to exact revenge. And then she meets Harvest...
  • Interrupted Cooldown Hug: A non-hug version: Hei has pretty much managed to talk her down from her Roaring Rampage of Revenge, when her coach comes up behind her with a taser and knocks her unconscious. Retribution was not long in coming, from both Hei and Azusa.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: She seeks out Harvest in the first place in order to go on one of these.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Hei puts a lot of effort into trying to convince her to stop her rampage before the flower blooms and she's completely screwed. She decides to finish it at the last minute anyway, though he kinda deserved it.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: Ends very badly indeed.

     Daisuke Mioka 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/290px-Daisuke_Moita01_763.PNG
A young coach for a girls' volleyball team in Shikkoku no Hana. Loves the ladies but goes about it in the most dickish way possible.
  • Karmic Death: He goes out kicked to death by the girl he seduced and betrayed.
  • Kissing Cousins: He also macked Kyouko, Azusa's best friend and his kid cousin.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: Azusa kicks him so hard he explodes
  • Manipulative Bastard: Do not sleep with this man.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: And it's his downfall.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Really, Daisuke? You're going to taser someone that you know would love NOTHING more than to kill you in the most horrible way possible, right when they decide to spare your life? Really? And even if she hadn't killed him for that, Hei certainly would have.

     Parcel 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/290px-Parcel_1725.png
A contractor of one of PANDORA's many factions working to kill Harvest. Her power is teleportation through use of black portals. Her Doll is a modified cyborg named "Champ."

     Shion Pavlichenko 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shiondtb01_8557.PNG
Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (JP), Lindsay Seidel (EN)

Suo's brother, who was transformed into a Contractor. His power is to produce copies of things and people with one trait changed, and his remuneration paralyzes his legs, putting him in a wheelchair most of the time.


  • Hikikomori: On account of being imprisoned and his Remuneration, which left him temporarily crippled.
  • MacGuffin Super-Person: The reason everyone's chasing Suou is to use his powers. However, it turned out he was a lot more active than we were giving him credit for.
  • Madwoman in the Attic: After he became a Contractor, his father imprisoned him in a metal room from which he couldn't leave. Or maybe not. Dad and son are in cahoots. It's... complicated.
  • Manipulative Bastard: He enjoys messing with Suou's head a little too much.
  • Mind-Control Eyes: Only one.
  • Power Degeneration: His remuneration makes him very weak, although it seems he can recover with no ill effects given enough time.
  • Superpower Disability: Has the ability to create anything. As with all contractors though, he has to pay a price for using the power. In his case he is left unable to walk, and the duration of this disability is proportionate to what he creates.
  • Throwing Off the Disability: He uses a wheelchair as part of his Remuneration. Typically of this trope, he suddenly rises from his wheelchair at a plot-important moment.
  • Twin Switch: Has Suo take his clothing in the first episode, so she can escape. However, given later events, it seems more likely to have been so he could escape...

     Dr. Pavlichenko 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MikhailPavlichenko_7647.PNG
Voiced by: Katsunosuke Hori (JP), Sonny Strait (EN)

Suo's father and the inventor of a device which can pull memories from people even after they are dead.


     Madame Oreille 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madameoreille_8589.PNG
Voiced by: Kaho Kouda (JP), Jennifer Green (EN)

A mysterious character with connections to the CIA. She's also known throughout the underworld as a reliable information broker.


  • The Chessmaster: Apparently she was betting on the fact that Hei would head back to Tokyo.

     Mr. Smith 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MrSmithdtb01_4853.PNG
Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), David Trosko (EN)

A mysterious CIA agent seen interacting with Madame Oreille.


     Tanya 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tanyaakulova01_9808.png
Voiced by: Yui Ishikawa (JP), Alexis Tipton (EN)

Suou's best friend who becomes a Contractor for the FSB at the start of the second season.


     Ilya Sokoloff 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/IlyaSokoloff01_1606.PNG
Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (JP), Christopher Bevins (EN)

A Russian FSB Contractor featuring in the second series.


  • Ax-Crazy: Played with: While most Contractors can kill without much thought, becoming a Contractor actually made him less kill-crazy. Also, theoretically, he now kills in the most painless way possible. But, yes, he's still crazy.
  • Deadly Gaze: His powers allow him to shut down his victims' brains by making eye contact. The effect is degenerative but not instantaneous, making his victims die slowly as their cognitive and motor functions gradually shut down.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Looks like he'd be a dorky nerd, but is actually a total psychopath who is bad even by Contractor standards.
  • Karmic Death: He kills people by making it impossible for them to breathe. Hei strangles him to death.
  • Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: His remuneration.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Clearly inspired by real-life serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian man who murdered and mutilated women and children.
  • Serial Killer: Prior to becoming a Contractor.

     Claude / Shichi 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Claude_daylight_7727.png
Voiced by: Tetsuya Iwanaga (JP), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN)

A Contractor who features as a major antagonist in the interquel OVAs.


  • Attractive Bent-Gender: His disguise as Amber actually isn't all that different from his true appearance.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Despite being shot and nearly bleeding out, he still manages to slaughter many Contractors that wanted to live in peace and forces Yin into awakening Izanami, creating a worldwide threat that could kill many humans and Contractors and setting up the second season. He still ends up dying due to Izanami, although it is less of a Karmic Death since he seemed to enjoy being killed by Izanami as he knew he had already won.
  • Big Bad: Of Gaiden, where he plots to turn Yin into Izanami, causing her and Hei to go on the run for the series.
  • Dying Smirk: Even as he lies dying, he's happy to watch Izanami begin destroying the world.
  • Fantastic Racism: Reveals he doesn't like humans to intelligence agencies paying him a ton of money for Yin/Izanami...Shichi tosses their money away and manipulates the situation so everyone there will die. Though he didn't see himself dying, probably, but didn't care because he won in the end of the OVA.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Shichi speaks in a calm, level tone and acts falsely polite while dripping with mocking sarcasm.
  • Karma Houdini: He dies but is fine with it, because he knows he had already won.
  • Manipulative Bastard: His habit of using shape-shifting to trick people into killing their loved ones.
  • Master of Illusion: His power if to create the illusion that he's someone else, often using this to manipulate his victims before killing them.
  • The Social Darwinist: Due to being exploited by humans, he began to wonder why Contractors don't exploit humans...after all Contractors have powers and humans don't.
  • The Sociopath: Seems to have no attachment to others, even killing his partner who he seemed to be friendly with and had no problem killing a lot of Contractors, despite his claims that Contractors are better than humanity and his dream of them ruling humans. Whereas other Contractors have felt some emotion towards others, Shichi's emotions can be summed up as spite against humans.
  • Super Power Lottery: He won. He can utterly fool another's senses as well as having a limited ability to control his victims' bodies, and his remuneration is extremely light.

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