Characters / GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness

Characters for GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness.

For the characters from previous seasons, see here.

Makai Knights

Ryuga Dougai (GARO the Golden Knight)

Portrayed by: Wataru Kuriyama

Successor to the title and armour of GARO. Unlike his predecessor, he roams freely without jurisdiction over any region of Japan. His habit of dressing in black exudes a wild and imposing personality even though he is actually quite kind and positive. He possesses the ability to sense the feelings of others by touching their belongings.

• Berserk Button: Takes offense from being called the "GARO who lost its golden shine."
• Blind Weaponmaster: Temporarily loses his eyesight after episode 18.
• Celibate Hero: Respectfully rejected Rian's advances in #11. She may or may not have been kidding.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While Kouga was just about as stoic could get, Ryuga is far more of a people person.
• Determinator: Just like his predecessor, this guy simply WILL NOT GIVE UP. Even after blinded by the enemy.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In Goldstorm, his hair became closer to that of Kouga, to show that he'd become more mature.
• Eye Scream: He's stabbed through the eyes with Sonshi's sword in Episode 18. Tears of Blood follow. He only got better thanks to his mother's help but at the cost of her own eyesight.
• Handicapped Badass: Loses his eyesight in episode 18. What does he do immediately afterwards? Train himself to compensate, then escapes from prison without the GARO armor.
• Hidden Depths: He can sing and play the guitar.
• Keet: He's quite cheerful, especially when compare to Kouga. Doesn't mean he can't get serious, though.
• The Kirk
• Telepathy: Can determine people's feelings by touching their belonging as shown when he can feel the thought of the people in Vol City when touching a statue inside the city.

Aguri Kusugami (GAI the Sky Bow Knight)

Portrayed by: Tsunenori Aoki

Aguri is the latest in a line of Makai Knights of the Kusugami clan. He approaches his responsibilities with a cold and analytical view bordering on heartless, but secretly worries that he cannot live up to the prestige his name carries.

• Aloof Archer: Intelligent, stoic, cool headed and uses bow as his weapon.
• Badass Bookworm: His careful planning to defeat the Horror in episode 3 is proof of this.
• Bifurcated Weapon: After his bow was broken by Sonshi, it was fixed by Burai so it can be used for close range combat, he can now split his bow and arrow into a pair of katanas.
• Expy: Uses bow and arrow, wears glasses, stoic personality, look down on the main protagonist for his lack of skill, highly intelligent, and comes from a noble family in his profession. He's pretty much Uryu Ishida.
• Insufferable Genius: He's kind of a jerk, but without his planning they would never never have defeated the Horror in episode 3, Ryuga himself admitted this.
• Jerkass: He doesn't show any concern about his teammates and didn't even tell them about his plan to fight a Horror despite using his teammates as pawns so the plan can work.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Turns out he's not so bad after all. He's the one who shed the most tears after knowing what the Madou Horror does to their victims souls. And as #19 shows, he will go through hell and back for his fellow comrades.
• The Spock
• The Stoic: Hardly shows any emotion throughout his appearance so far.
  • Not So Stoic: As #13 shows, Aguri is not without emotion or sympathy. He even cries after finding out what the Madou Horrors does to the victims. And again in #20, at Ryuuga's reunion with his mother.
• Stoic Spectacles: Aguri is the first Makai Knight to wear glasses. He's also pretty much like Kouga in term of temperament.

Takeru Jakuzure (ZEN the Flame Sword Knight)

Portayed by: Junya Ikeda

Takeru is a self-styled playboy who would rather find a lady friend than battle Horrors. He is the most extroverted of the three Makai Knights, but also the one least in control of his emotions.

• Amputation Stops Spread: Cut off his right hand to prevent the Zedom Seed infection from turning him into a Madou Horror
• The Casanova
• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it after nearly losing Rui; even more after he sees what happened to her family...
• Everyone Loves Blondes
• Handicapped Badass: Losing his right hand doesn't stop him from being a perfectly good Makai Knight.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Takeru's brash, impulsive, promiscuous and hard to get on with, but he's as heroic, loyal and selfless as any of his comrades.
• Large Ham: And possibly an Actor Allusion, considering his actor's previous role...
• Life-or-Limb Decision: Loses his right hand in Episode 18.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: But became a Ladykiller in Love after meeting Rui.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me/Power Fist: Gets an artificial hand made of soul metal, which can act as this.
• The McCoy
• Playing with Fire: He's not the "Flame Sword Knight" for nothing.
• Spanner in the Works: The entire reason that Tousei failed to turn Ryuga into a Madou Horror is Takeru got his hand stabbed with the last Zedom seed at the last second, blocking it from being stabbed into Ryuga's head
• STD Immunity

Priest Burai

Portrayed by: Kohei Otomo

A Makai Priest based in Vol City. He acts as the commander of the Makai Knights cell within Vol City, and fights alongside an Makai Beast named Rago. He has a history with Ryuga, being the one who trained him in the past.

• The Beastmaster
• Big Good: Pretty much this in the Volt City conflict. Sonshi seems reluctant to take him on, and when you consider Sonshi's talent...
• Cool Old Guy
• Worf Had the Flu: Despite the aforementioned reluctance, Sonshi was able to beat him when they fought offscreen. He said that he was too weakened from sending Rago after Tousei and Sonshi.

Rian

Portrayed by: Miki Nanri

A beautiful and flashy Makai Priestess who is Priest Burai's only disciple. Intelligent and seductive, she supports the Makai Knights both behind the scenes, and in battle using a pistol armed with magical bullets.

• Action Girl: A given for any Makai Priestess, but Rian shines just a bit more from being part of the main cast.
• Badass in Distress: In episode 18, she was captured so she could be used for the Zedom Ritual, which would cause her to give birth to Madou Horror Plants.
• Berserk Button: Don't try to steal anything valuable in her presence; she will beat you down for it. This was due to her poor upbringing, which gave her a much greater appreciation for things of value.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: One leg of her pants is missing a thigh.
• Genki Girl
• The Gunslinger: The first character to use a gun to augment her hand-to-hand.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: The aforementioned gun.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: "Hooker" would be too much and thus downplayed but she dates rich men to obtain diamonds for her Madou tools. She was really concerned with a man she was dating after he was tempted by a Horror.
• Ironic Echo: She told Enhou and Ryuga that she wants to bear their children. She is kidnapped by Tousei to make her give birth to madou plants.
• Last-Name Basis: Strangely, she calls Aguri by his family name, despite calling Ryuga by his first name in the previous episode.
• Master of Disguise: Rian can disguise herself and her companions as almost everyone.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only girl in a team of knights and priests.

Zaruba

Portrayed by: Hironobu Kageyama (voice)

The smart-mouthed Magic Ring who acted as the partner to the previous GARO. He does not acknowledge Ryuga as GARO, and thus refuses to work with him. Instead, he spends most of his time with Burai.

• Talking Weapon

Rago

Priest Burai's dog-like Familiar.

• All Animals Are Dogs
• Team Pet

Residents of Vol City

Enhou

Portrayed by: Hiroko Sato

The female commander of SG-1, the private security group in charge of imposing order within Vol City. Although she constantly clashes with Ryuga, she has a virtuous heart and wishes to gain enough power to protect the innocent within the city. She is turned into a Magic Horror by Tousei against her will, becoming a puppet under his control.

• Action Girl: The commander of SG-1 and a skillful combatant.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: She's recently been turned into a Horror. At first she doesn't know this, but she fully embraces it in episode 5.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Can go toe-to-toe with Ryuga, while her subordinates can't even catch him despite outnumbering him. And this was before she became a Madou Horror.
• Brainwashed and Crazy
• Dark Action Girl: Becomes this after being made into a Madou Horror.
• Dying as Yourself: Is the first and so far only Madou Horror to retain her original human form upon death.
• Face–Heel Turn: She's a Horror now and is tasked by Sonshi to handle Ryuga.
• Friend on the Force: She initially appeared as though she was becoming this to Ryuuga. Then the Face–Heel Turn happened.

Rivera

Portrayed by: Kumi Imura

A news reporter known as the "Goddess of Justice". She delivers the daily "News Time" reports in Vol City and is absolutely trusted by the public. She is actually a Magic Horror and a high-ranking member of the conspiracy.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: Forced into hiding after the Makai Knights manipulate the media to frame her for a murder... the same trick she pulled on Ryuga.
• Weirdness Censor: Her "news" reports usually consist of "nothing bad happened today". This is because she is part of the conspiracy covering up the Horrors.

Kensui Kaneshiro

The mysterious head of the prestigious Kaneshiro Group that controls Vol City. He is actually a Puppet King controlled by Tousei Kaneshiro, who secretly seized control of Vol City through his Magic Horrors and used Kensui as a figurehead to deflect suspicion from himself.

• Cool Chair: Rarely seen out of his wheelchair.
• Puppet King

Sonshi

Portrayed by: Yasuaki Kurata

A mysterious man who acts as the secretary to Kensui Kaneshiro, and seems to be linked to the Magic Horror conspiracy. He is a Magic Horror himself, and serves Tousei as his right-hand man. However before all those happened, he was also a former Makai Knight.

• Badass Boast: "Three incompetent Makai Knights..."

• Evil Old Folks: A meta example too, being played by veteran martial arts actor, Yasuaki Kurata who has dan degrees in karate, judo and aikido. Just to put this in perspective, he takes on Aguri, Takeru and Ryuga all at once and he barely seems to be having any problem.

• One-Man Army: When you can take on three Makai Knights at once you earn the title.
• Shadow Archetype: Not only is his full Horror form very Garo-like, its weapon is a sword, the most often seen Makai Knight weapon before Aguri came along.. Turns out, it's because he was formerly a Makai Knight.

Tousei Kaneshiro

Portrayed by: Kanji Tsuda

An estranged son of Kensui Kaneshiro who owns and operates a steakhouse in Vol City. After encountering a Horror in his shop, he approaches Ryuga and attempts to provide him with assistance in his battle against the Horrors. He is actually the one behind the Magic Horror conspiracy, having created the Magic Horrors to seize control of Vol City from the shadows. After his true significance is revealed, he steps out of the shadows and becomes the public ruler of Vol City by assassinating the rest of the Kaneshiro Group.

• Abusive Parents: Abandoned by his father for being a bastard. While turning her mother into an Inga Horror justifies calling him a monster, she also neglected him.
• Almighty Janitor: Appears to be a humble steakhouse owner-cook. In reality, he's the Big Bad.
• Bastard Bastard: He's Kensui Kaneshiro's son from a different mother, and thus the black sheep of his family. Apparently, his mother was raped by Kensui.
• The Corrupter: He turned Enhou into a Madou Horror, and plans to turn Ryuuga into a Madou Horror as well. And before that, the first Madou Horror he made was his mother. All the Madou Horrors in Vol City were made by him.
• Karmic Death He rubbed his status as a human in the faces of the Makai Knights, knowing quite well that they are forbidden to kill a single human. He then got turned into an Inga Horror, making him fair game.
• Manipulative Bastard: He's very good at manipulating people, and even the Makai Knights have been dancing to his tune for most of the series - they just didn't know it.
• The Man Behind the Man: To Sonshi.
• The Man Behind the Monsters: In spite of the Makai Knights' expectations, he's human.
• Non-Action Big Bad: As expected from a regular human being, he's physically weak as shown as he was knocked unconscious when Takeru smacked him with his remaining hand. This is the guy that played the knights and priests for fools as far as 15 years back when it all started.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His Evil Gloating can be likened to a child taunting a playmate, even with gleeful pointing and laughing, and he even threw a tantrum when he failed to stab Ryuga with a madou plant.
• Walking Spoiler: That much can be said.

Jinga

Jinga

Portrayed by: Masahiro Inoue

A Fallen Makai Knight-turned Horror is is the Big Bad of Gold Storm Sho and its sequels.

• Affably Evil
• The Bad Guy Wins: In "Kami no Kiba - Jinga" with Amily's help, fully reviving himself in Jinga Mikage and killing off the main cast and creating a huge influx of assumed exorcised Horrors to wreak havoc.
• Battle Couple: With his wife Amily.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Jinga accidently possesses Rian in a bid to seize Ryuga's body. Jinga then struggles with Rian in a mental mind-scape to convince Rian to give up and let him take over. It's a stalemate until Amily extracts Jinga's essence and uses herself as a vessel to reconstitute him.
• Big Bad: Of "Gold Storm Sho", "Kami no Kiba", and "Kami No Kiba - Jinga".
• Blood Knight: Jinga enjoys every bit of conflict he participates in, adamant that Ryuga has these tendencies too.
• The Corrupter: Implied with Jinga toward Ryuga, upon Ryuga demonstrating utter hatred for the former. He tries several times to get Ryuga to stop holding back and give in to The Power of Hate. It doesn't take.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
  • To Barago, both being Fallen Makai Knights who made a habit out of eating Horrors to increase their strength. But Barago was human in name only while Jinga was a human who became a Horror.
  • To Tousei Kaneshiro, both former humans who became Horrors and corrupt people to suit their ends. But who they were before becoming Horrors are contrast, Tousei was a Psychopathic Manchild while Jinga was noble Makai Knight who was driven mad upon finding his child murdered by the people he was helping.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Averted as Jinga admits that the desire for revenge that attracted the Horror that possessed his body ceased yet still remembered it well.
• Demonic Possession: Jinga attempts this on Ryuga during the battle to seal Radan. He gets Rian instead.
• Evil Laugh: Jinga is very fond of these.
• Evil Versus Evil: Picks a fight with Messiah, and loses.
• Flaying Alive: The helmet of Jinga's Horror armor can basically be described as "Gai's helmet, skinned."
• Freudian Excuse: Played With. Jinga was a morally-upstanding Makai Knight until they came upon a village sacrificing children to appease a "demon" that plagued them. Though he and Amily killed the Horror, they learned the villagers killed their son as a sacrifical offering in their absence and go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that resulted in them being possessed by Horrors. But Jinga eventually reveals in the final episode that he lost all desire for revenge the moment he became a Horror.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Jinga and Amily eat fellow Horrors so that they can become powerful enough to control Castle Radan upon reviving it.
• Kill All Humans: The closest thing to a motivation Jinga appears to have.
• Mook Maker: Jinga and Amily's penthouse is designed as an outright nest for Horror-spawn, with a barrier powered by Ki Manipulation that releases Horror batches every night.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Jinga, ultimately.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Jinga feels this way toward Ryuga.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jinga and Amily, once good people, massacre Homuro Village upon finding out that despite killing the creature that terrorized it, their child was used as a Human Sacrifice to appease the (already-dead) demon by the superstitious townsfolk. It didn't stop at Homuro. Daigo's Sensei Seiji goes on one against the Horror that ate the children he'd been training as Knights when it infests Daigo's dojo. Daigo holds himself back from engaging in one when Jinga kills his Sensei.
• Slasher Smile: Jinga does nothing but enjoy everything his enemies do two-thirds of the time, and is rarely seen without a smile on his face.
• Unwitting Pawn: Averted as he discovered Rinza's plans to revive Messiah well-in-advance and killed her the moment she announces it.