Main Characters
Civilians, Rokuhara Shogunate, General Headquarters, Unaffiliated People, Tsurugi And Cruxes, Past Characters
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Kageaki's Past
Subaru Minato
Subaru Minato
Kageaki's foster mother ever since the loss of his parents. Quickly embracing him as her own son, she went on to become one of the most important persons of his life, who taught him about martial arts and the ways of peace.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Her perceptive abilities are strong enough to read that something is off about her recovered daughter's presence. It's too nebulous, and she wonders if she's really there. This is our first hint that the Hikaru we're seeing is an Astral Projection.
- Doomed Moral Victor: Her teachings about attaining peace by dialogue rather than murder actually worked for Kageaki when dealing with Ichigao Mizuhi, but it later created a series of events leading to her untimely death, masterminded by her mad daughter who viewed her as an obstacle for her goals.
- Face Death with Dignity: Upon becoming the first victim of Muramasa, she calmly accepts her death, not before having a last talk with her son, asking him to take care of Hikaru.
- Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: She's usually graceful and feminine, in contrast to her hugely tomboyish and unladylike daughter.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Delivers quite the haymaker to snap her son out of his funk on whether Hikaru can be fully cured. While it works, she also ended up putting a bit too much force behind it.Kageaki: I'm afraid that I can maintain consciousness no longer. (thud)
Subaru: Huh? (Beat) Huh? Why is blood pouring from your head? And how'd your neck get that funny bend in it? You look like you were attacked by a gorilla or something... (Another Beat) Gods have mercy! Wake up, boy! I'm too pretty to go to jail! - Glamorous Single Mother: Ever since her husband left, she didn't struggle too much to raise Kageaki and Hikaru with the best of her capacity.
- Mama Bear: She points out that if someone killed Kageaki, she'd kill every single person who had a hand in his death, as part of a lesson on how if you kill someone they might have a loved one who thinks just like she does. She's also including herself.
- The Matchmaker: She tries to act as someone who brings Kageaki and Mizuhi together after the latter's defeat. Kageaki just gently ushers her out of the room.
- Mum Looks Like a Sister: Her appearance doesn't make her too old, looking like a grown-up Hikaru.
- Parental Incest: After Akitaka was wounded in a manner which left him unable to impregnate her with the next shrine-keeper, Kageaki was forced to impregnate Subaru. They're not blood-related, but she had been the mother he'd known since he was little more than a toddler and he was barely a teenager, to boot. However, it's not clear how much of a hand she had in the plan. The Minato Patriarch mentions using drugs on Kageaki, possibly either a sedative or an aphrodisiac (or both) to make him more pliable, and it's not impossible that the Patriarch and Akitaka did the same thing to her. In any case, after she gave birth to Hikaru, she swept the whole thing under the rug and returned to what seemed to be a perfectly normal familial relationship, little knowing that she had left deep psychological scars not only on Kageaki, but also Hikaru.
- Parents as People: On top of being the mother of two children, she also has to assume daily chores as the head of the Minato Clan and dealing with her father's attitude. However, her biggest mistake came in regards to handling Hikaru and Kageaki's familial relationship.
- Retired Badass: As the head of the Minato clan, she's the one who taught martial arts to her children and is said to have very good skills in swordsmanship, but she eventually had to retire because of her role as a mother.
- Smoking Is Cool: She's a loving single mother taught Kageaki and Hikaru how to fight, is quite easygoing and kind in a world full of jerks, believes in pacifism even at the cost of her life and she smokes.
- Thou Shall Not Kill: Her motto when it comes to solving conflicts, seeing justice and the like as a pointless endeavor leading to an unending Cycle of Revenge.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By making it clear that Kageaki was not to take a fatherly role in Hikaru's life in spite of being her birth father, she inadvertently set Hikaru on the path to hating her and developing a twisted love for Kageaki, eventually getting herself killed, as well as the dark path her children would follow after her death. In her defense, Subaru didn't expect Hikaru to be able to understand what she was saying while she was still a newborn.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Wholly believes in peace through dialogue and non-lethal means, even in the war-torn world of Muramasa. She eventually gets killed for that very reason by her own daughter, but stays adamant that her son will take on her teachings despite his own flaws.
- You Monster!: When she realizes what Hikaru is planning, she straight up calls her a monster as while she had been troublesome before, it had never been like this.
Minato Patriarch
Minato Patriarch
The oldest member of the Minato household, and the closest thing Minato has to a father figure ever since the disappearance of Subaru's husband. Due to his traditionalist stance, he usually butts heads with her more idealist and modern views.
- Grumpy Old Man: Very, very grumpy. He is infamous for his foul disposition and stubborn nature with people constantly having to fear his outbursts.
- I Have No Son!: He and his stepson frequently were at odds with each other. As a result, as soon as Hikaru was born he had no issue disowning him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He genuinely feels responsible for the decisions which led to the terrible spot his town and family are in, though Subaru cuts him short before he can embarrass himself by admitting as much.
- Pet the Dog: He doesn't tell Kageaki himself, but mentions to Subaru that if he didn't think highly of Kageaki, he wouldn't have sent him to deal with the bandits.
- Racist Grandpa: Highly racist towards outsiders. This is a big reason to why he is so stubborn in getting a non-Yamatoan doctor for Hikaru despite all the native doctors having thrown in the towel.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He only has a fairly small role set in Kageaki's past, yet the results of his actions end up resonating throughout the narrative. Hikaru's missing father? This man tossed him out. The factory that caused her poisoning? He approved it. The decline of her sanity due to waiting so long to get a proper doctor? Yep, this guys. Hikaru coming into contact with Ginseigo? He wanted to rush the ritual despite her not yet being fully recovered. The bandits deciding to raid the town necessitating the use of the cursed tsurugi? All cause this guy forced Kageaki to take action against them. And then the reveal at the very end makes it clear that he is perhaps the source of everything that happened as he forced Kageaki to have a child with his adoptive mother after Akitaka had gone infertile.
- Uncertain Doom: His final fate is left ambiguous after Hikaru gets a hold of Ginseigo even though it is likely that he was yet another victim as the rest of the townsfolk.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: To him, peace is justified no matter how many bodies you pile up so long as you reach the end result.
- We Have Reserves: So what if the bandits go to war with the town?! There's a lot of townspeople! We out-number them, eventually we'll win, and peace with a pile of corpses sitting around is still peace!
Mizuhi Ichigao
Mizuhi Ichigao
The female leader of a bandit group lurking near Kageaki's village. Due to her status as a former Musha, she uses her power and influence to threaten the locals into giving her group resources and live another day.
- Almost Dead Guy: After Kazuma lets his soldiers have their brutal way with her, she manages to stumble to the Minato house in order to warn Kageaki about their impending attack and gives him her real name before expiring.
- Beauty Is Bad: Is noted by Kageaki to be very beautiful, if not for the fact she's also the leader of a bandit group.
- Beware the Silly Ones: In spite of her silly attitude with her enemies, she's still a veteran musha skilled with the sword.
- Defeat Means Friendship: While she was very much a Sore Loser the first time around (when Kageaki used Obfuscating Stupidity to trick her), the second time Kageaki defeated her (honorably), she took it in more grace and after learning of his reasons for confronting her, accepted his terms of ceasing all hostilities and becoming part of the town.
- Did Not Think This Through: You control the bandits because because of your noble title and because you own a tsurugi. What happens when you cede both of those, particularly that nigh-unstoppable metal war machine, to the little brother you've grinding under your heel your whole life? Nothing good, nuh-uh.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies broken in the arms of Kageaki who is frantically trying to tell her to hang on.
- Driven to Suicide: Unable to bring herself to accept Kageaki's offer for herself and her men to give up the way of the sword and become farmers, yet knowing it would be best for them, she sees her pride as the one obstacle to peace and plans to go back to her camp and kill herself after encouraging her men to take the deal. But then she learns more about his situation and sees things in a different light.
- Exact Words: When Kageaki defeats her in a duel, she twists the promise she made about having she and her thugs leave by simply making her brother leader since now "the men won't listen to her". After all, she made the promise, not her men.
- Go Out with a Smile: After Kageaki assures her that peace did return to the town, and that Hikaru not only got the help she needed but was restored to perfect health, she smiles in gratitude. Then she asks him to call her by name and tells him what it is. When he obliges, she smiles once more and expires.
- HA HA HA—No: In her introduction she goes on a long Noblewoman's Laugh before finally shooting down Kageaki's proposal with a Blunt "No".
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: She was more than happy to change her ways to rebuild her life from scratch, if not for her brother having none of that and taking over by murdering her.
- Honor Before Reason: In the face of Kageaki's offer for her her men to become farmers following her second defeat, she turns him down because she and her bandit crew were warriors, even if they were no longer part of the army and stealing from people to survive. Taking mercy or kindness from others wasn't the warrior's way. And because it would mean she in particular, was accepting Kageaki's charity, in particular, thus becoming inferior to him, in her eyes. Learning that Kageaki wasn't simply extending the offer out of pity, but also because it would benefit his family (thus her acceptance would be exchanging a favor for a favor) leads her to reconsider and accept his offer. Unfortunately, her brother has other ideas.
- Hypocrite: She calls out Kageaki for foul play when he tricked her into thinking he was a novice only to then not only go back on her promise in a backhanded way, but even trying to cut him down when he wasn't looking.
- Implied Love Interest: She isn't indifferent to Kageaki following her second defeat against him, to the point Subaru gleefully encourages them to be an item. Before dying, she also reveals her true name to him after gaining her trust.
- Insistent Terminology: She and her group aren't bandits. They're revolutionary patriots who stand against Rokuhara's petty rules! That's why she left the army, and not because she got kicked out for selling stuff on the black market.
- Laser-Guided Karma: That bit about making her brother the leader of the bandits to dodge Kageaki's promise comes back to bite her hard as her brother betrays her and plans to have the bandits go full Rape, Pillage, and Burn, beginning by having them rape her to death.
- Loophole Abuse: Uses one to get around her promise of not raiding Kageaki's town again. It later bites her backs when she attempts to persuade her subordinates to step down for the sake of the city, but by that point she gave most of her weapons to her brother.
- Nature Abhors a Virgin: In binding her wound from their duel, Kageaki becomes the first man to touch her, to their mutual embarrassment. Once her brother steals the gang from her, he plans to sell her as a slave, but since virgins only sell at half-price, he has his men "take care of the problem".
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Is prone of incredibly long and drawn out bouts of the ever annoying "Oh ho ho ho". Even her introduction is one of these. According to her men, she can go on for hours like this.
- Pragmatic Villainy: She deliberately chooses not to raid the entire town, only stealing from shops and buildings on a regular basis, since she perfectly knows people cannot produce anything with destroyed towns and no resources. This, in turn, allows Kageaki to negotiate with her.
- Rōnin: She is a former Rokuhara now acting as a ruthless bandit. All of her training as a musha makes her all the more dangerous.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the shogunate army, someone with a musha is typically the head of a house, with their vassals as men, so Kageaki assesses (accurately) that she's one as well.
- Sore Loser: Not only does she twist the promise she made to Kageaki about withdrawing if he defeated her, she even went so far as to try and cut him down In the Back.
Kazuma Ichigao
Kazuma Ichigao
Mizuhi's younger brother and occasional punching ball.
- The Chew Toy: He pretty much just exists for his sister to trample all over.
- The Dog Bites Back: Mizuhi originally treated him like crap, once he took power he had the bandits gang up on her.
- Lack of Empathy: Upon replacing his sister, it quickly shows he has no qualms about destroying and raiding cities, lacking his sister's pragmatism and not caring about what she built before him, killing the few bandits who refused to follow him.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The man who usurped his sister's gang and had her gang-raped by them to drive the point of her weakness home while using her own tsurugi to keep her from retaliating is himself forced to experience true horror as his men fall to Ginseigo's song and start attacking him while he and said tsurugi are powerless to take so much as one strike at his tormentor. He even desperately ends up pathetically crying out to the sister he killed for help.
- Laughing Mad: When faced with the might of Ginseigo, all he can do is break down into incoherent laughter at the utter insanity he is witnessing.
- Misplaced Retribution: He comes to blame Kageaki for his sister's turn in behavior, as he believes that if they'd kept up business as usual the misfortunes which destroyed the bandit gang (i.e. Ginseigo) never would have happened.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Is played as The Chew Toy at first before he betrays his sister and proves to be an incredibly vile individual, even having the bandits rape her where she stands so harshly that she dies from the experience.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He tells his men to rape his sister after taking over the bandit gang, and encourages their viciousness, to the point where they mortally wound her.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: After he fully seizes control of the bandits he makes it clear that he has no intention of acting with any kind of restraint, to not only take everything people have, but even sell women into slavery.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: A subordinate member of his sister's house. Then she gives him the keys.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: After his sister goes straight, he and a majority of the other bandits decide to take over the gang, ravage the town, and sell people into slavery to pay their way to the mainland.
Muramasa's Past
Muramasa the First
Muramasa the First
The original smith of the Muramasa's line of tsurugi. Originally an Emishi who lived through the Nanboku-chō period
, he worked for the Southern Court as one of its most prestigious smiths, but doubts plagued his mind as he didn't know which form could take his tsurugi. His meeting with Uramu, later revealed to be Nicolas Flamel, helps him discover a way to bring peace to Yamato: The Law of Balance, in which each enemy slayed will cause its pilot to slay a loved one, in order to remind them of what killing people entails. He also granted the tsurugi with the ability to synchronize the pilot's mind to unarmored people, and spread the teaching of the Law of Balance.
With this in mind, he became the very first Muramasa tsurugi, while his daughter become the second, both being bound by the Law of Balance. His plan quickly fell apart due to an accident, ultimately claiming most of the Northern and Southern Court army, and was destroyed during the battle, leaving only his daughter and remnants of the Southern Court.
- Berserk Button: Traitors will piss him off more than anything, but it was the betrayal of Akima and his wife that really set him off into a blind fury.
- Black-and-White Insanity: He has a very simplistic view of the world when it comes to morals and refuses to see the shades of things when it comes to others actions. Uramu eventually makes him reconsider these ideals.
- Cynicism Catalyst: The repeated betrayals suffered by the army slowly grinds at his optimism, but it is the betrayal of Akima and his wife that hit him the hardest.
- Gone Horribly Right: Him giving both his and his daughters tsurugi the ability to spread the wearers ideals across the battlefield was intended to help spread the idea of the Law of Balance so that everyone could understand the flaws of Good and Evil thinking. Instead however it only made things worse as it could spread any ideal, including those of utter madness.
- Honor Before Reason: He refuses to flee from the hidden village despite Uramu's insistence as he refuses to be seen as a coward.
- I Have No Son!: When finding out that his wife had forged herself into a tsurugi to be wielded by the enemy, he denounces her as his wife to the point that he is determined to make her an Unperson.
- Tragic Dream: Like Uramu he only wanted peace and for people to learn the folly of their ways, only to create one of the bloodiest wars in history.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: With Uramu's teachings in tow he creates the Law of Balance for both himself and his daughter as well as giving their tsurugi the ability to spread it to nearby people. All in order to realize peace, to make people abandon the folly of self love. Needless to say, it ended in absolute disaster. Rather than spreading peace, it created chaos as people were driven mad leading to one of the bloodiest massacres in the whole of Yamato's history.
- Writer's Block: Well, forgers block. He knows that his purpose as an Emishi is to eventually forge himself into a tsurugi. Problem is that he struggles with what that tsurugi actually is supposed to be. He wants to create the ultimate tsurugi but struggles to understand what that even is. Even the teachings of Uramu doesn't help him and only leaves him fumbling with his thoughts even more.
Uramu
Nicolas Flamel
A strange foreigner appearing as an old man, acting as Muramasa the First's advisor to help him complete his tsurugi. His true identity is Nicolas Flamel, the alchemist who attained immortality though the Philosopher's Stone. Seeing in Muramasa a way of ending conflict, he shares many of his knowledge and teachings to him, which would eventually pave the way for the Law of Balance.
- Delaying Action: He knows he can't beat a tsurugi, but he still tries to hold them off for Muramasa to escape.
- Immortal Genius: Thanks to his immortality he has been able to wander the Earth and learn all kinds of things from all corners of the globe. And he is quite willing to share that knowledge.
- In the Hood: He walks around with a hood concealing his face most of the time.
- Purpose-Driven Immortality: He is immortal as long as he has the Philosopher's Stone in his possession. He dies shortly after giving it to Muramasa the first, content with the knowledge that he finally found one that could perhaps realize his dream.
- Taking the Bullet: Takes a sword strike meant for Muramasa the first. He mostly shrugs it off.
- Taught by Experience: He has traveled the world and as such has learned a lot that can be downright alien to those he meets.
- Tragic Dream: He simply wanted for people to abandon the idea of self love as he believed that it would lead to peace. This however proved to be a pipe dream as his actions instead only invited chaos.
- You Shall Not Pass!: He tries to hold off enemy tsurugi so that the Muramasa family can escape.
- What Is Evil?: His final lesson to Muramasa the first is to teach him the relativity of good and evil, how they are just two sides of the same coin. This is what finally gives him an ideal to work towards.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: He has some kind of accent in his speech that is quite difficult to pin down. At best it can be described as a Japanese trying to speak English trying to speak Japanese.
Ichijo's Past
Ichido Ayane
Ichido Ayane
Ichijo's father, a bureaucrat in the Sagami Provincial Ministry with a strong sense of justice.
- Black-and-White Morality: He refused to believe that perfect justice could not exist, which was his undoing.
- Driven to Suicide: Unable to accept the fact that he'd betrayed his best friend, he committed seppuku, telling Ichijo to be his "second" and chop his head off.
- Logic Bomb: It's evil to steal but it's also evil to betray your friends. His best friend and one of his only allies in the Ministry embezzled a great deal of money—to help a fishing village which had been devastated by a tsunami and only received a fraction of the money they needed to recover. Not one cent of the money had gone into his friends pocket. Should he bury the evidence, let his friend go and let the village rebuild, or tell the truth and seal their fates? He faced no right answer, just like his friend. Finally, Ayane turned his friend in, anonymously used his own assets to rebuild the village instead, and then committed seppuku for betraying someone who had trusted him.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- His efforts to help the people he served and do the right thing no matter what left him an outcast among his fellow ministers, scorned even by the people he tried to help. Nevertheless, he did what was right—if only one man out a hundred is good, that man must work a hundred times harder.
- Things got even worse after the incident listed above, with the people of the village hating him for betraying the man who'd saved them (he kept his name out of the donation), and his few allies in the Ministry completely abandoned him, leaving him prey for the corrupt bureaucrats who'd always wanted to force him out. Since he'd used Ayane money, money his relatives had expected to get, said relatives scorned him and stripped his house of his valuables as repayment (he made no protest). Finally, his friend was publicly crucified due to the Rokuhara wanting to make an example of him, dying a slow, agonizing death. It was at the feet of his friend's corpse that he committed seppuku.
- Parents as People: He brought Ichijo up to hate evil, but never explained why the things she should hate were to be opposed. To question them would be to invite counter-arguments. Thus, she ended up serving a Black-and-White Morality she didn't understand. And, of course, he made his own daughter chop off his head after disemboweling himself in front of her, which you probably won't find in any parenting journal.
