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Drifters
Drifters in General
- Badass Normal: Even though the drifters have no magic, they rely on their sheer determination, cunning wits, combat skills and advanced weaponary to survive.
- Freudian Trio: Among the three main characters, Toyohisa is the Id, Nobunaga is the Superego, and Yoichi is the Ego.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: What the group has been assembled as thanks to Murasaki.
- Sociopathic Hero: Really, one could pretty much place every Drifter under this category. It's lampshaded by Abe when they first decided to "claim" an elf village instead of just helping the villagers or assisting people because they are selfish conquerors by nature. In any other story, they would be the bad guys. However, the Ends are much worse.
Shimazu Toyohisa
Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese), Jessie James Grelle (English)
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: His nodachi and wakizashi.
- Anti-Hero: The Unscrupulous Hero. He revels in battle and is a Blood Knight, but he's an honorable person and is genuinely willing to help the elves, unlike Nobunaga.
- Battle Cry: Lets out a piercing howl which Nobunaga says sounds more like a monkey than a man. This is actually Truth in Television, as Jigen-ryu, a sword style from Satsuma, Toyohisa's home domain, was very widely practiced at the time when he lived, and employed a long, discordant kiai called the enkyō, or "monkey scream".
- Bearer of Bad News: Since he lived 18 years after Nobunaga's death, Toyohisa breaks the news rather harshly that everything that Nobunaga had striven for had collapsed and Toyohisa himself died in the last battle of a crumbling era.
- Beat the Curse Out of Him: Toyohisa does some form of this to Joan by throwing her into a well while pounding her, as seen when her pyrokinetic powers fade and her madness subsides somewhat. Unusual in that Toyohisa had absolutely no wish to do that (he had honestly no way of knowing that would happen), and that he left her alone after that, because he believes there is no honor in killing a woman.
- Berserk Button:
- Doing something he considers dishonorable which ranges from killing innocents or raping prisoners, to refusing to commit Seppuku to redeem your subordinates lives will cause him to abandon all trappings of honor himself and murder those people in the most horrifying ways possible.
- Dissing the Shimazu clan is a more comedic one, as he usually starts shouting angrily about how great his family is.
- The Berserker: Has no regard for his own physical well being in battle, ordering his subordinates to shoot while he's still in the firing line or throwing himself on swords if it means killing his opponent.
- BFS: That nodachi is almost as tall as he is.
- Blood Knight: If his usual slasher smile wasn't already a dead giveaway, take note that his first kill on the battlefield was at age 14.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: In terms of combat tactics, Toyohisa is right up there with Nobunaga. However when it comes to long term political strategies and conspiracies, many consider him an incapable idiot. However, Nobunaga believes it's not a matter of Toyohisa being incapable of such cunning, but rather he just decided not to bother trying in the first place and focus solely on combat. Nobunaga goes on to say that this was probably a trait he got from the rest of the Shimazu clan, as he states they had a lot of talent and potential in many fields of governing, but combat was always their top priority above all else.
- Catchphrase: When going for the kill on someone in particular, often a commander of some kind, he'll demand that they "Leave [their] head here!" This is lampshaded by Olminu when she's discovered by them as she freaks out over the "'Leave your head here' Ghost".
- Combat Pragmatist: Certainly not to the extent of Nobunaga; but in their duel, Hijikata states that Toyohisa has no samurai honor since he keeps using hit-and-run tactics. Toyohisa rebukes his claim by stating that there is no such thing as honor in a true fight to the death, and that going all out against an opponent, while using whatever resources or tactics at your disposal, is a sign of respect.
- Contrasting Franchise Main Character: Toyohisa's outfit is prominently red, as opposed to Alucard's black one. While both are eager for a fight, Alucard has this tendency to play with his food while Toyohisa's good side is much less ambiguous. While Alucard is an Invincible Hero with New Powers as the Plot Demands, Toyohisa is a Badass Normal who is usually outmatched.
- Covered with Scars: Given how we're first introduced to Toyohisa and his near constant suicidal tendencies in fights, is it any wonder his body is riddled with battle scars? And after his bout with Hijikata Toshizō, his growing collection shows no signs of slowing down.
- Dissonant Serenity: He keeps his cheery, wide-eyed smile on even in the midst of battle, as a sign of how genuinely fun he finds it all. It's disturbing both for the audience and the rest of the cast.
- Fearless Fool: Much to the lament of his comrades. They are constantly vexed at how Toyohisa can be such a highly competent general and such a reckless battle idiot at the same time. Everyone develops their own pet theory behind his behavior with most his close allies believing he was raised like this, and with most enemies believing he is genuinely insane. In truth it's a little from column A, a little from column B, and a whole lot from column C.
- Genre Savvy: Toyohisa surprisingly realizes that the Drifters propping themselves up as rulers is likely to end really badly (particularly since the Orte Empire they are overthrowing is, like them, human and it's unlikely that the Elves are going to be happy exchanging one set of human rulers for another).
- Honor Before Reason: He'll show mercy to any enemy that discards their weapons and will never kill a girl. Unless they've done something like raping prisoners.
- Humble Hero: A rare seinen version. It's clear to everyone around him that, Toyohisa has the talents and skill of a great general, but he himself has never, and probably will never, view himself this way. No matter his accomplishments he has always seen himself a "brat of the battlefield" unfit to be held in such high regards.
- I Shall Taunt You: Olminu comments half-seriously that although he doesn't do it deliberately, Toyohisa is a genius at provoking his enemies into fits of rage and frustration, as Joan of Arc, Hijikata Toshizo and even the Greater-Scope Villain EASY found out the hard way.
- Idiot Hero: Not that it stops him from being a scarily competent strategist when he wants to be.
- Improbable Age: At only 30 (and, this being a seinen manga, that's acknowledged as pretty damn young), he's an odd choice for commanding La Résistance, compared to the much older Nobunaga... however, you have to remember that Toyohisa has been fighting wars since he was a teenager, and thus already has over 10 years of experience under his belt, which make his talents more believable.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Toyohisa's katana can easily cleave through armour and even break the swords of the Orte Empire without losing its edge.
- Loophole Abuse: When fighting a soldier of the Orte Empire, Toyohisa snaps that anyone who doesn't speak Japanese should die. Yoichi snidely asks if that means he's going to kill the two elf children, so Toyohisa promptly teaches them to say "Help me!" in Japanese.
- Magnetic Hero: A seinen version of types 2 & 4 for demi-humans, with type 5 reserved for the OCT members and his fellow Drifters. It's shown early on that despite most people seeing him as a terrifying killing machine (which he definitely is on the battlefield), Toyohisa posses a natural talent in breaking down cultural barriers and turning almost anybody he meets into an ally (and even they are scared of him at times). The first example of this was when he convinced the elven serfs to kill the Orte knight for massacring their people despite not understanding Japanese. He gets along best with the Dwarves however since they both have similar traits thanks to both belonging to a warrior clan/race.
- Morality Chain: He serves as one along with Yoichi for Nobunaga. And is slowly becoming one for Yoichi as well.
- Not Afraid to Die: Toyohisa's main mindset, which borders dangerously close to that of a Death Seeker, what with his repeated use of suicidal attacks, remarks about wanting to die a glorious warrior's death, and his belief that his death would be used as fuel for his comrades to achieve more in their pursuits. This outlook on his own life has unnerved friend and foe alike. His companions are especially fearful of this, knowing that without him all their plans will fall apart, and are constantly trying to talk him out of this way of thinking.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Olminu thinks that the way he fights makes him no different from the Ends.
- Off with His Head!: Likes to do this to his enemies in battle.
- Pet the Dog: Toyohisa tells an elf not to kill an unarmed soldier.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Toyohisa is extremely proud of his Shimazu lineage and any sort of dissing of the clan is a huge Berserk Button for him, though it's mostly Played for Laughs.
- Pure Is Not Good: Oda calls him pure when he doesn't want Toyohisa to dirty his own hands, yet he's an Anti-Hero Blood Knight who loves cutting off his foes' heads.
- Replacement Goldfish: Played with in Chapter 13, with Nobunaga hinting that he may see Toyohisa as a replacement for his lost son. He's quickly shot down by Toyohisa. So he promptly ribs him about being a replacement for his father instead. This pushes one of Toyohisa's many Berserk Buttons, leading to an improptu Big Ball of Violence Yoichi joins in for absolutely no reason.
- Rousing Speech: Prone to giving one of these before each battle. Nobunaga mentions that one of Toyohisa's greatest talents is to be able to get people to willingly follow him onto the battlefield. A good example is when he gives an epic Tired of Running speech to a bunch of desperate refugees and soldiers begging for the Drifter's help to stop the Black King's genocidal army. Most of it involved him flat out challenging their resolve to fight for survival, the result of which gains him more manpower for the cause.
- Samurai: He is a member of the Shimazu noble family, who fought in the Sengoku period's civil war.
- Sheath Strike: Aram is on the receiving end of a brutal beatdown with Toyohisa's sheath.
- Shirtless Scene: Barely three chapters in and the only things covering his torso are a few bandages.
- Shown Their Work: Toyohisa's strange Battle Cry, which Oda likens to a monkey, and his aggressive, reckless fighting style have basis in reality. Toyohisa is from Satsuma during the Sengoku Jidai. At the time, the local sword style was Jigen-ryu. Instead of traditional kiai, Jigen-ryu swordsmen used the enkyō, meaning "monkey's scream", a long, shrieking bellow to disconnect their enemies. The philosophy of Jigen-ryu is to strike only once, holding your sword high, charging the opponent heedlessly and bringing it down vertically or diagonally with all of your strength. Sound familiar? This style was part of what gave the Shimazu clan their reputation for fearlessness, and was still feared by the Shinsengumi during the late Edo period (of which Hijikata was an officer), as many imperialists were from Shimazu and neighboring provinces and used the style to combat the Shinsengumi and other shogunate forces.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: How does Toyohisa deal with the trolling garbage spewing from Rasputin's mouth? Why he just kills his soldiers and beats the crap out of his political pawns in front of him. That would shut most evil manipulative bastards up. Not that Toyo was really listening in the first place.
- Sword and Gun: Toyohisa's weapons of choice are his katana and a flintlock firearm.
- Tareme Eyes: He's got big, round innocent-looking eyes like a classic shonen hero. Unlike a classic shonen hero, though, those eyes stay wide and friendly even when he's in a battle-frenzy. It looks remarkably disturbing.
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Values Dissonance: Compared to Hijakata's Edo era sensibilities. The Edo period was centuries of relative peace and stability where the samurai inhabited an increasingly civil social role. This is where Hijikata- and the modern reader- get their ideas for samurai honor. In contrast, Toyohisa lived in the tumultuous Sengoku Jidai, centuries of warfare where social upheaval and bloodshed were an every day affair. Toyohisa has zero qualms about fighting dirty or appearing uncouth, leading Hijimata to see him as a shameful coward. - "Well Done, Son" Guy: In a sense. He's not as obsessed about it as some other characters, but although his father is already dead, Toyo is determined to make him proud by killing as many enemies as possible. It's hinted that this may stem from his dad being so pleased with him when he killed an enemy in his first battle.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: He wouldn't kill one, as is his personal code, but he does kick Joan in the gut, then knock her out with a headbutt when she refuses to surrender.
Oda Nobunaga
Voiced by: Naoya Uchida (Japanese), Robert McCollum (English)
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When trying to intimidate Olminu, he proclaims his villainy, which includes arson, mass murder, making toasts with the skulls of men he has killed, taking over the country, and dancing Atsumorinote .Nobunaga: You know me. The one they call the devil. My hobbies are burning everything down and killing everyone. Then sipping toasts from the skulls of the vanquished. Great fan of power through the sword. Loved to dance Atsumori.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Oda is more than willing to get his hands dirty to ensure they win. But he will not accept Toyohisa getting his hands dirty.
- Blood Knight: Nobunaga outright thanks Rasputin for giving them the excuse they needed to start a war against the Black King, and smiles insanely as he sees a building full of enemies go up in flames, as he fondly reminisces how good it feels.
- Boom, Headshot!: Makes the shot on one of Orte's soldiers.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Enforced. Oda clocks Toyohisa out to prevent him from shouting out the "execute" order on some POWs. He sighs in relief, smiles, and then proceeds to give the command himself. As he explains to the recovering Toyohisa, it is he who will "shoulder" the "burden" of being the Card-Carrying Villain of the group. Toyohisa is understandably both skeptical and pissed.
- Depraved Bisexual: He is quite hands-on with Olminu and complains "I wish" when Toyohisa mistook Yoichi for his retainer, Mori Ranmaru.
- Dirty Old Man: He didn't need to grab Olminu's breasts while speaking to her.
- Dung Fu: He's really obsessed with weaponizing feces and other human waste, much to the bewilderment of the rest of the cast. He first uses it to poison the arrows used by elf archers and later uses it to manufacture gunpowder.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He wishes his son had fled instead of making a stand at Azuchi Castle.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He realizes that he can't see the hearts of the people as a brutal ambitious sociopath and has a severe Lack of Empathy, which is why he has been betrayed so much during his life.
- Eyepatch of Power: Though, judging by how the eyepatch has been shown on both eyes, he might still have them both.
- Heel Realization: The reason he gives for wanting Toyohisa to be the ruler instead of him. He had thought fear and wealth ruled men, but couldn't understand their hearts or true desires. When he was betrayed at Honnou-ji, his first thought was that the traitor was his own son. After becoming a Drifter, he realized his methods only led to a wasted life and feels no desire to try again. Now, he would rather use his knowledge to help the more naturally capable Toyo to that role.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Pulls off a headshot on one of Orte's soldiers with a matchlock rifle, using only one hand with an eyepatch on from some distance.
- Morality Chain: Hannibal makes it painfully clear that it's thanks to the influence of Toyohisa and Yoichi that Nobunaga is kept from reverting fully back to his evil warlord ways, and that if something happened to one or both of them, then the true "Devil Lord of The Sixth Heaven" would be set free once again.
- Mythology Gag: He compares Saint Germi to a man who "made a bomb out of a tea kettle" - his old enemy Matsunaga Hisahide. He's promptly surprised when it turns out Saint Germi reveals he knows about Matsunaga, and refuses to be compared to him. He also occasionally comes across something that reminds him of his own military experience, and almost always takes the time to fondly reminisce about the massacres he's committed.
- Mundane Luxury: Nobunaga is, maybe unsurprisingly given his past occupation, familiar with refeeding syndrome, and urges the people serving food to the dwarves not to allow them to gorge themselves too full lest they inadvertently kill themselves by eating too much.
- The Nicknamer: Calls Toyohisa "Toyo" or "O-Toyo", which even Yoichi takes to eventually. Also makes up embarrassing nicknames for Olmine. This refers to Nobunaga's real-life tendency to bestow demeaning or embarrassing nicknames on people. For example, he called Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the second unifier of Japan, after Nobunaga) "bald rat" and Akechi Mitsuhide "kumquat head."
- Obfuscating Stupidity: He was known as "the Fool of Owari", after all. But don't let your guard down for a second, he's cunning all the way through.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: He is rattled when he learns that his empire crumbled, that his clan fell to pieces, and that his son killed himself when his defeat was inevitable.
- Slasher Smile: Nobunaga has an impressive one. He invites Rasputin, whose plans are slowly crashing around him, to join him in one.
- Take Over the World: Currently Oda Nobunaga's plan to fight the Black King is to take over the countries that haven't already been conquered by him.
- The Strategist: Being an experienced military commander, he uses this to help the elves and fellow Drifters subdue Orte forces.
- Token Evil Teammate: Which is considerable for an amoral team like the Drifters. He's aware of this and decides to take it upon himself to do the dirty work for the team so they can achieve victory.
- Unable to Cry: After hearing about what happened to his son.
- Vicariously Ambitious: At the start he was planning to put Toyohisa in charge of the Orte Empire and direct him from behind the scenes.
Nasu Suketaka Yoichi
Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese), Justin Briner (English)
- Artistic License – History: Even though his real life counterpart, Nasu no Yoichi
, died at the age of 64, he seems to have been a teenager when he died in our world and Murasaki recruited him. - Blood Knight
- Combat Medic: He has enough skills to apply After-Action Patchups to Toyohisa. In these occasions he also acts as a sort of nurse for Toyo, bringing him food and feeding him, and generally looking after him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied. In one flashback he calls his previous master, Yoshitsune, a monster for his brutal fighting methods, and he's very shaken upon learning that Yoshitsune has been also brought over to this world. Later he automatically attempts to chase down and kill soldiers Toyohisa has granted mercy to, only to end up apologizing for acting on old habits, saying that this is the kind of job he had to do in his previous life. Toyohisa tells him that there are no more orders to follow because this time it's their fight.
- Dark Secret: His association with Yoshitsune.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: You'd be forgiven for initially assuming he was a woman. He's even referred to as a otokonoko (translated as she-male in the english version of the manga) by Joan.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Being an archer can do wonders.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: This is to be expected, given his semi-effeminate appearance.
- Morality Chain: He serves as one along with Toyohisa for Nobunaga. And it seems Toyohisa is slowly becoming this for Yoichi.
- Samurai
- Splitting the Arrow: He is capable of splitting arrows in the bullseye multiple times without fail while showing off to the elves.
Hannibal Barca
Voiced by: Yutaka Aoyama (Japanese), R. Bruce Elliott (English)
- Arch-Enemy: To Scipio.
- Blessed with Suck: Like the other Drifters, he got a second chance at life when he died. However, unlike everyone else, he died when he was really old and as a result he has to struggle with the limits of his body, including poor bladder control and senility.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He's definitely gone senile, that's for sure. However, he does have his moments of clarity, and when he does, it's usually wise to listen to him, even if his explanations are difficult to comprehend at first.
- Eyepatch of Power: Just like Oda.
- Grumpy Old Man: He's senile and decrepit, which gets worse when Scipio isn't around. Though he does show the occasional bit of military insight.
- Heroic BSoD: Hannibal gets a major one after losing contact with Scipio.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: To Scipio.
- Moment of Lucidity: Hannibal has these in between his senile state, showing age hasn't completely dulled his senses. During one, he implores that Toyohisa stay alive, instead of recklessly getting himself killed, to lead the Drifters as a respectable ruler and how his presence serves a Morality Chain to allies like Nobunaga so their amoral ambition and the Black King's brutality won't cause endless carnage.
- Old Master: When tested by Toyohisa to determine whether or not he would be an asset to them, and thus allowed to stay with the group, he stops the much younger, stronger, opponent dead in his tracks with a twig. Sure, it's used to emphasize a point with him, and he doesn't actually try to fight him (having gone senile and being obviously aged as he is), but that he was actually able to stumble Toyohisa with an object lesson and convince him he would be valuable to them definitely counts as an example of this trope.
- Potty Failure: One of the many problems his old body is causing him is weak bladder control. During Episode 3 he soils himself in front of troops he was supposed to command.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Scipio.
- You Remind Me of X: After being impressed by the results when Toyahisa tried to test Hannibal, Toyahisa happily tells Olminu that his eyes reminds him of his uncle.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus
Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English)
- Arch-Enemy: To Hannibal.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: To Hannibal.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: He is frequently seen arguing with Hannibal, but refuses to let anyone else insult his former enemy.
- Tsundere: He'll never admit that he is Hannibal's friend.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Hannibal.
- White Man's Burden: Tries to "enlighten" Naoshi to the ways of Rome since he doesn't know Latin.
The Wild Bunch (Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid)
Butch voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)
Sundance voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Kent Williams (English)
- Anti-Nihilist: They believe that they have no pleasurable past to look back on or a good future to look forward to due to being the Wild Bunch and only focus on the present.
- Badass Driver: With Butch at the reigns of their horse-drawn cart, the group has survived constant assault from the Black King's forces.
- Blood Knight: Butch, specifically. Downplayed, especially when compared with the others, but he's seen to be a bit trigger-happy.
- Gatling Good: Sundance uses one against some monsters. However, they've run out of magazines so it's become dead weight for them.
- The Gun Slinger: Both of them.
- Those Two Guys: Sundance and Butch are never seen apart.
- Outlaw: Both of them.
Naoshi Kanno
Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese), Justin Cook (English)
- Cool Plane: Kanno's Kawanishi N1KJ-2 Shiden-Kai! Apart from being an Imperial Japanese Navy fighter plane that is obviously not the venerable Zero, it is a super-performing flying tank in this world. Even better, the shells from its four 20mm auto-cannons can pierce through dragon scales, for crying out loud! Unfortunately, the plane is useless with no fuel available, no supplies to repair the damage it came with, and no ammunition for the 20mm cannons. note
- Hot-Blooded: And how.
- Like a God to Me: Parodied. The dog-men that he first meets after crashing refer to him as the "Sky God"… but they're kind of scared of him because he's so violent.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Although he doesn't understand the context of the battle of Carneades, watching the inhabitants being burned alive triggers a flashback of the fire bombing of Tokyo, and convinces Kanno to attack the Ends side.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Though not in the North American translation.
- Sudden Name Change: Naoshi Kanno is Sugano Nao in the North American translation, most likely due to misreading the kanji in his name.
Tamon Yamaguchi
Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (Japanese), Sonny Strait (English)
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Sends a message to Kanno, hoping to secure his allegiance in defending the beached and damaged Hiryū.
- Smoking Is Cool: Is seen smoking with a cigarette after an Orte Empire shipping fleet was wiped out.
Sacred Band of Thebes
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Elite soldiers handpicked by the Count.
Ends
Ends in General
- Anti-Human Alliance: Their goal and they've gathered numerous non-human races.
- Face–Heel Turn: They turned on the world once brought over from earth to the current world.
- Fallen Hero: Some of the members are this, as they were once heroic figures, but were soured by their past experiences and now seek to end humanity as revenge.
- Historical Domain Superperson: Most of the Ends were historical figures who were given supernatural abilities such as Hijikata Toshizo being able to summon the fallen Shinsengumi, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova being An Ice Person, and Joan of Arc having fire-based abilities.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Originally, all Ends wanted to destroy everything else in the world thanks to what they had suffered through in the old world. The Black King's arrival changed everything.
Black King
Voiced by: Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese), Jeremy Schwartz (English)
- A God I Am Not: He makes it clear that he's not immortal, which is why he is teaching monsters how to farm and build a civilization for when he's gone.
- Benevolent Boss: He genuinely congratulates his minions on their efforts and heals the wounds of those that survive one at a time. His compassion for demi-humans is a notable trait which makes him so praised.
- Big Bad: Of the entire series.
- Break the Haughty: The Black King easily did this to the Bronze Dragon.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: In the omakes, he proclaims his love of big breasts.
- Covered with Scars: When his arms are visible, they're shown to be covered in various scars.
- Dark Messiah: Heavily implied to be the Christian Messiah himself. Some details:
- He once tried to save humans, but was betrayed by them, alluding to Jesus' Passion.
- He has two circular marks/scars in his palms, the same where nails were driven into Christ's own.
- He refers to himself as "the Inexorable Tribulation", a phrase associated with The Antichrist.
- He can heal, an allusion to the many Biblical stories of Jesus' miracles. Being able to multiply organic supplies references one particular miracle: the feeding of the 5000, where Jesus divided five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed the masses with multiple baskets left over.
- He is often seen wearing a white cloak similar to common depictions of Jesus.
- In an Omake he mentions numerous things about himself while building a house, stating he was jobless till his thirties, once rampaged through a marketplace, looks like Johnny Depp and lived in Japan (A Shout-Out to Saint Young Men)note , had humble beginnings, and that they will likely not reveal his true identity for fear of backlash.
- Evil Overlord: Zig-Zagged. He has a sinister name and appearance and leads an Anti-Human Alliance to wipe out humanity in this realm. However, he lacks most traits associated with this trope due to being as The Good King towards his non-human followers and is well-intentioned... Towards them at least. He still serves as the Big Bad for the story, nonetheless.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Both the Japanese/English versions give the BK a deep and threatening voice. Parodied in the omake specials released on DVD/Blu-Ray.
- The Faceless: His hood only leaves a black circle visible, giving no signs of his face.
- The Good King: He cares greatly for his subjects and works just as tirelessly to create a civilization for them to inhabit after his death as he does to annihilate humanity and any that assist them.
- Good Powers, Bad People: His power is life itself. With him being capable of healing any wound, creating an endless supply of wood and organic supplies, and even capable of creating cancer in his enemies by making an excess of life.
- Healing Hands: The Black King can heal effortlessly. Too much life, though, and his powers transform the healed flesh into cancer.
- In the Hood: His face has not been seen yet.
- Kill All Humans: One of his many goals.
- Lean and Mean: The Black King appears very thin, and is leading a genocide against humans.
- Visionary Villain: The Black King seeks to enlighten the inhuman races, giving them culture and basic technology, for the day he's no longer with them.
- We Have Reserves: Merciful boss aside, he´s still perfectly fine with sacrificing fodder soldiers if necessary. Not that the soldiers know that, though...
Hijikata Toshizō
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)
- Badass Longcoat: Wears one.
- Berserk Button: He was already skirting on the edge the moment he saw Toyohisa sporting the Shimazu clan crest. What set him off was Toyohisa catching on to the reason that Hijikata hates him, cheerfully blurting out that his descendants "must have done something" to him. Said "something" being the Shimazu, i.e., the Satsuma Domain (and their allies), killing all of Hijikata's friends and comrades.
- Hate at First Sight: The second Hijikata saw Toyohisa sporting the Shimazu clan crest it didn't matter whether he was a Drifter, an End, or even a god. He wanted that man dead.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Hijikata does this to his enemies using the spirits of his dead comrades.
- Not So Stoic: Can't really blame him for losing his cool when he was faced with an ancestor of one of his most hated enemies responsible for the deaths of a lot of Shinsengumi. That and unnerving enemies is a natural gift to Toyohisa.
- The Quiet One: Which surprised Rasputin when he talks after the Black King effortlessly makes the Bronze Dragon join them.
- Samurai: One of the last, dying in 1869 after having fought on the side of first the Tokugawa shougunate and then the Republic of Ezo against the Imperial forces centered around the domains of Satsuma and Choshu.
- Summon Magic: Hijikata can summon the spirits of the fallen Shinsengumi to fight alongside him during battle.
- The Stoic: Unless you mention anything or anyone related to the Shimazu Clan.
Joan of Arc
Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)
- A-Cup Angst: In the omakes where the Black King mocks her for it.
- Ax-Crazy: Being burned at the stake destroyed her mentally, turning her into a psychotic pyromaniac.
- Beat the Curse Out of Him: Toyohisa does this accidentally when he throws her into a well, which causes her to lose her fire powers and her madness to fade somewhat.
- Burn the Witch!: She was victim of this before she got thrown into the other world, despite explicitly not being a witch.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She does not like being shown mercy by Toyohisa because of her gender.
- Irony: Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and now she uses fire to burn all in her path. Overlaps with Death by Irony.
- Playing with Fire: Her main magic skill.
- Pyromaniac: She goes on and on about how she'll burn the Drifters and anything else in her path.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The "red" to Anastasia's "blue".
- Unskilled, but Strong: She lacks experience and relies mostly on her fire powers, as Toyohisa quickly realizes.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: One can't help but pity her insane state after being burnt alive.
Gilles de Rais
Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)
- Annoying Arrows: Yoichi and other elves' arrows weren't enough to make him flinch. Until a gatling gun came along and blew him to bits.
- Chained by Fashion: He nearly strangled Yoichi to death with it.
- Character Death: The first of the Ends to die.
- Eye Scream: Yoichi shoots him in the eyes. It doesn't stop him.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He did this to an elf.
- Implacable Man: Even turning him into a Human Pincushion with arrows won't stop him.
- Love Makes You Evil: The flashback scene as he dies implies that he committed so many atrocities in life so that he would be certain to follow Joan to Hell.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Gilles de Rais finds this out the hard way when Butch shoots him to pieces.
- See You in Hell: He says he'll wait for Joan in hell as he dies.
- Super-Strength: He's able to slice through a stone wall with ease.
- Super-Toughness: He shrugs off dozens of arrows, many of them in vital spots, and it takes shredding him completely with gatling gun fire to put him out of commission. Even then he remains alive for a few minutes and even tries to move before finally giving up.
- Sword Lines: He leaves a purple trail in the anime whenever he swings his weapon.
- Would Hurt a Child: A bit of an understatement for Gilles De Rais, who in Real Life was a child serial killer. note
Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova
Voiced by: Junko Kitanishi (Japanese), Rachel Robinson (English)
- An Ice Person: Everything freezes in her presence.
- Curtains Match the Window: Both her hair and eyes have a silvery-white color.
- Emotionless Girl: Due to her and her family being executed by pro-Bolshevik revolutionaries.
- Ice Queen: She's aloof and has a stoic demeanor, and there's the fact that she can create blizzards.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The "blue" to Joan of Arc's "red".
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The real Anasasia was said to be a cheerful girl who loved climbing trees and playing pranks on the servents.
Grigoriy Yefimovich Rasputin
Voiced by: Masahiko Tanaka (Japanese), Christopher Bevins (English)
- Break Them by Talking: Subverted: He tried to do this to the Drifters when they first entered Orte... he didn't get too far until he was shown exactly who he was up against.
- Fanboy: Of the Black King in an omake in Volume 2.Rasputin: "You're so cool, Black King! I wanna be just like you!"
- The Spymaster: He serves as one for the Black King's army by convincing humans from different countries to spy for the Ends and betray their fellow man.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
- Combat Pragmatist: He doesn't concern himself with honor and considers those that do to be fools.
- Evil Mentor: He's suggested to have been one to Yoichi.
- Wild Card: The Black King allows him to do whatever he wants. It's never made clear whether he's an End or Drifter, but currently he's allied with the Ends.
Akechi Mitsuhide
Voiced by: Sho Hayami (Japanese), Brandon Potter (English)
- Casting Gag: Sho Hayami has also voiced another incarnation of Akechi Mitsuhide, which is in Sengoku Basara.
- Samurai: Another one in the Ends alongside Yoshitsune and Hijikata.
- The Starscream: Historically, he's responsible for betraying Nobunaga and the cause of his death. His reasons for betrayal in this incarnation are as of yet, unknown.
Monsters
Bronze Dragon
Voiced by: Rintarou Nishi (Japanese), Phil Parsons (English)
- Body Horror: The Black King turns her body into cancer to make her join his alliance.
- Break the Haughty: She really shouldn't have tried to attack the Black King.
- Extra Eyes: It has 3 pairs of eyes. The eyes glows blue in the anime.
- Join or Die: The Black King's choice to the Bronze Dragon who he will no longer allow to sit on the sidelines.
- Large and in Charge: Of her Dragon servants.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Similar to traditional dragons save for her body being made out of bronze.
Elves
Elves In General
- Can't Argue with Elves: Their ancestors had this mentality, straining relations with the Dwarves who held similar views towards them till they were both defeated by Orte.
- Enslaved Elves: Initially at least. Then the Drifters help them rebel against the Orte Empire.
- Fantastic Slurs: Some Elves call humans "short ears", a reversal of "long ears" aimed at them by humans.
- La Résistance: Turn into one with help from the Drifters.
- Older Than They Look: Live 5-6 times longer than humans, but age at a slower rate; the two kids who rescued Toyohisa in the beginning turn out to be older than he is.
- Proportional Aging: Elves are stated to have a lifespan about five or six times that of humans, and it shows in their rate of maturation. The youngest elves shown are young boys who, when asked, reveal their ages as thirty-six and thirty-nine. This shocks Toyohisa, since this means they're older than he is.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: The Drifters turn them from serfs into a resistance force that rebels against the Orte Empire.
Shara
Voiced by: Junji Majima (Japanese), Jerry Jewell (English)
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Toyohisa talks him down from killing a surrendered soldier during the rad of the Orte castle, warning he'll be no better than the scum who subjugated his people. Subverted once Toyohisa learns Orte had been raping the elven women and lets Mark and the other Elves slaughter them.
- Older Than They Look: 106 years old.
- Promotion to Parent: To his brothers Mark and Marsha, since their father is dead.
- Revenge: He considers fighting against Orte his way of avenging his father.
Orte Empire
Aram
Voiced by: Isshin Chiba (Japanese), Gregory Lush (English)
- Asshole Victim: He deserves no sympathy when the Elves decide to kill him, given what he's done to them.
- Character Death: He meets his demise after the elves were convinced by Toyohisa to stab him to death with pitches, forks and other weapons from fallen soldiers.
- Kick the Dog: Giving the command to kill the elves for helping any Drifter who arrives in the world.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He takes this at the receiving end when Toyohisa saw the corpses of the slaughtered elves. He gets brutally beaten by Toyohisa with a scabbard to the point where his teeth fall off. The elves watching were really terrified by the sight.
- Starter Villain: The first enemy encountered by the Drifters in the other world.
Adolf Hitler
- Driven to Suicide: After founding the Orte Empire he ended up committing suicide, though nobody knows why. Interestingly, this means he essentially killed himself twice.
- Fantastic Racism: Naturally, considering he's the one who begins the Orte Empire.
- Mythology Gag: Ties in how Nazi Germany would have been created if the Beer Hall Putsch hadn't failed.
- Posthumous Character: He was already dead long before the story began.
Count Saint-Germain
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)
- Break Them by Talking: He tries this on Toyohisa. It achieves Epic Fail status.
- Camp Gay: He's certainly flamboyant and a blatant lover of young male elves.
- Cassandra Truth: None of the other Orte Nobles listened to him when he told them not to take a certain shipping route after declaring war on the Trade Federation.
- Defector from Decadence: He's not sticking around to see Orte fall and is ready to join its conquerors.
- Depraved Homosexual: Implied. However he’s not as explicit as his retainers whose Camp Gay personalities irritate him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Not exactly evil; his reasons for helping the Drifters are self-serving, but even he's offended when Olminu accuses him of being an End.
- Mr. Exposition: He knows and explains all of the critical happenings occurring with the Orte Empire and the world the Drifters have ended up in. He even angrily called to Murasaki directly when the other Drifters barely acknowledge his existence, showing only he supposedly knows the person bringing the Drifters together.
- Oh, Crap!: When he hears the new Drifters have made gunpowder and are moving in to free the Dwarves to make firearms, he realizes there is no salvation for the Orte Empire.
- Older Than They Look: He hasn't aged a day since before the founding of the empire. Makes sense considering that he was supposed to be immortal in life too.
- The Quisling: He only acts for his own interests. When the Orte Empire was rising to power, he gave them his land that he acquired to gain power and the freedom to act as he wished while they were in control. He later quickly sided with the new conquerors, the Drifters, when he realized the Orte Empire was doomed.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Tends to view his two retainers in exasperation and annoyance. However, he does keep them around because they are skilled fighters and provide intelligent insight of political situations.
- Skyward Scream: The Count, upon a particularly bad Oh, Crap! moment, yells at the sky for Murasaki.
Mills
Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima (Japanese), Micah Solusod (English)
- Butt-Monkey: He was spared because of his virginity, but now everyone makes fun of him because of that very reason. Even St. Germi can tell that he stinks of virginity.
- Virgin-Shaming: Everyone mocks him for his virginity despite his virginity being the one thing that saved his life.
- You Will Be Spared: Mills, the single officer in the fortress who did not participate in the rapes is left alive, conveniently for Oda to spirit him away to explain the Orte Empire's bureaucracy and to serve as manager for the conquered resources. He's not particularly happy about this, mostly because the Drifters now use him as a paperwork sink. Being threatened by the Elves and having his virginity routinely mocked does not help his mood.
Octobrists
Octobrists in General
- Light Is Good: In a way. Their uniforms are white, and the organization's main goal is to unite the Drifters to fight the Ends.
Abe no Seimei
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)
- Older Than They Look: He's 83.
- Pelvic Thrust: He has a tendency to do this while striking dramatic poses, which eventually gets lampshaded by Yoichi and Butch.
- Sociopathic Hero: Maybe even crossing with Knight Templar when he thinks all Ends must die, no matter how tragic their pasts.
Olminu
Voiced by: Shiho Kokido (Japanese), Gwendolyn Lau (English)
- Barrier Warrior: Her magic is based on creating stone walls for defense.
- Boob-Based Gag: Her large breasts are a constant source of comedy. Oda constantly gives her nicknames over them, and at one point they have a very audible bounce to them.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Any nickname given to her by Oda, since the tend to have something to do with breasts.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: The Drifters have come up with interesting ways to utilize Olminu's ofuda for utility and offensive purposes.
- Heroic BSoD: When she catches on with the devastation her ofuda are being used for.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Olminu is unsurprisingly horrified by the many creative ways the Drifters have used her wall-creating ofuda for, such as walling enemies to pelter them with bombs and sealing exit doors to an exploding building.
- Red Baron: Because of her expertise with the Stone Wall spell, Abe refers to her as "Olminu of Stone Coffins".
Kafet
Others
Easy
Voiced by: Kanae Itō (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
- The Anti-God: She's Murasaki's rival and opposite number. Assuming Murasaki is indeed some kind of deity...
- Berserk Button: She starts throwing a tantrum and cursing when she sees the Drifters doing things like freeing the Elves. She also gets really upset when she turns around while giving Murasaki a speech and finds he is gone.
- Casting a Shadow: The corridor Murasaki occupies becomes engulfed in darkness when Easy comes to visit, and her quarters are always darkened, in contrast to Murasaki's pristine white corridor.
- Evil Is Easy: She is indeed about as evil as they come, and quite possibly Evil itself. The way she goes about monitoring the war - dressed in a nightgown, lounging about in a couch surrounded by stuffed animals and using a laptop - definitely gives off a slothful vibe when compared to Murasaki's more business-like desk, and her Ends are endowed with supernatural powers while Drifters have to make do with their own abilities.
- Fun with Acronyms: Implied with Easy, as her door has her name spelled E.A.S.Y., with a partly obscured title, beginning with Eternal Ambassador.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Easy has at least three stuffed rabbits in her room.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Appears to be the one supporting the Ends and who took them to the other world.
- Psychotic Smirk: When she looks on her laptop and sees news about the Black King's actions.
- Technician vs. Performer: The Technician; she focuses on brute power and well-known figures, and views her Ends as "tools."
- Wicked Cultured: She listens to opera while reading the news on her laptop.
Murasaki
Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese), David Wald (English)
- Big Good: He collected the Drifters to help save the world they've ended up in and restore balance by defeating the Ends.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: Murasaki is either this or a Sufficiently Advanced version; he sends people from death to other worlds through queues and paperwork.
- Humans Are Special: He believes this, which sets him apart from Easy.
- Smoking Is Cool: Murasaki smokes modern cigarettes heavily. His ashtray is full of cigarette butts by the time Toyohisa shows up at his desk.
- Technician vs. Performer: The Performer; he focuses on clever and original tactics and comparatively obscure figures, and encourages his people to grow beyond their abilities.
Doug
Voiced by: Riki Kagami (Japanese), Mike McFarland (English)
- Character Death: He's killed in a fight with Yoshitsune.
- Suicide Mission: Considers spying on the Ends and their army to be this. He only accepts since the Octobrists are the ones giving the mission.
- Unusual Ears: Appears to have animal ears on his head.
