The Asterisk War / Characters

Characters in The Asterisk War are sorted according to their main allegiance within the light novels, anime series, manga and video games.

A work in progress.

All spoilers regarding the first six volumes are unmarked.

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Seidoukan Academy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/seidoukan_emblem.png

One of the six schools in Asterisk, the one attended by the main cast. Seidoukan Academy is patterned after Japanese schools. Their governing IEF is Galaxy.

In General

Flower Motifs: The academy's main emblem is a red lotus.
Recurring Location: Being the main school that Ayato Amagiri and his friends study at, it's no surprise that Seidoukan is one of most featured locations in the series.

Ayato Amagiri

Voiced by: Atsushi Tamaru (Japanese), Erik Kimerer (English)

The son of Masatsugu and Sakura Amagiri, Ayato was trained by his older sister, Haruka, as a swordsman and martial artist in the Amagiri Shinmei Style since he was a child. When Haruka disappeared, Ayato transferred to Seidoukan to learn about what has become of her. Ayato famously defeats Kirin Toudou in a duel and wins several tournaments to become Seidoukan's top-ranking student.

Accidental Pervert: He often walks in on the girls when they are changing clothes or unintentionally gropes them when he falls on them.
The Ace: Ayato is the #1 ranked fighter of Seidoukan and winner of tournaments. He is well-known at his school with his autographs being auctioned for hefty prices.
Action Hero: He is a trained martial artist, this is a given.
Adaptation Dye-Job: The blade of the Ser-Veresta is white in the light novel but is changed to purple in the anime, though it started out white in the first episode it appeared in, only to turn purple moments later.
Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Many of the girls in his harem beg him for this. (When he does it to Julis, the reaction is a bit more profound than with the others.)
All-Loving Hero: He believes that everyone has a good side to their character, thanks to how Haruka raised him.
Alliterative Name: Ayato Amagiri.
Ancestral Weapon: His sister's Ser-Veresta.
Armor-Piercing Question: Towards the end of volume 1, Ayato gives one to Julis after his Big Damn Heroes moment when questioned about risking his life to rescue her.
Ayato: Who's going to protect you, Julis?
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: His past swordsmanship training from Haruka and victories in tournaments ends up becoming one of the top-ranking students at Seidoukan.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: His general fighting style after releasing his limiter. Justified, because due to its 3-5 minute time limit, he has to win as soon as possible. Once he manages to release the second seal of his limiter, his time limit gets increased to about an hour, allowing him to fight much more conservatively.
Battle Couple: He often fights together with Julis, who is all but officially his girlfriend.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's a Nice Guy through and through, but you do not want him after you.
BFS: Ser-Veresta can take on a form bigger than he is.
Big Brother Mentor: Following volume 2 he takes on this role for Kirin.
Big Damn Heroes: Towards the end of Volume 1, Ayato rescues Julis from Silas's attacks.
Big Sister Worship: He worships his sister so much that he fought against starpulse people who insulted her.
Boy of My Dreams: Claudia fell in love with him by seeing him in her prophetic dreams.
Breast Attack: In his second duel against Kirin, he wins by surprising her with a change of tactic. He grabs her by the shoulder, throws her on the ground and slams his palm straight into her left breast◊, forcing her to throw up spit and defeating her with one hit.
Calling Your Attacks: He often does this for his techniques. It is a habit and a promise he made with his Childhood Friend Saya because she reasoned it was cool.
The Champion: Ayato joins the Festa to fight by Julis's side and his wish above all else is to be able to protect her.
The Chessmaster: This is deliberately invoked at the end of volume 1 during his final battle with Silas, to the point that he says "checkmate" before he sends Silas to his Disney Villain Death.
Chick Magnet: He gains a following with the Seidoukan girls, especially his Unwanted Harem.
The Chosen One: He's the designated wielder of Ser-Veresta, a memento of Haruka's.
Clueless Chick-Magnet: About every girl he meets falls for him and he never notices.
Coming of Age Story: Ayato has to search for a purpose in life and soon finds one: to protect Julis at any cost.
Conflicting Loyalties: During the Lindvolus Festa. He initially declines to enter because A) he doesn't have any more wishes he wants granted and B) he doesn't want to interfere with Julis's efforts to free her homeland from the IEFs. Lamina Mortis forces him to enter by threatening Haruka's life, causing a rift between him and Julis.
Cool Sword: Ser-Veresta, an Orga-Lux that was once used by his sister.
Crash-Into Hello: Ayato bumps into Kirin while running to a sparring match with Julis.
Curtains Match the Window: He has dark purple hair and eyes.
Death Glare: He doesn't do it often, but he has a rather fierce one.
Declaration of Protection: Mostly towards Julis but especially after his Armor-Piercing Question, although a few others have benefited from it. Like Kirin against her Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist uncle who hates the Genestella.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: A Double Subversion. One of the reasons he came to Rikka was to find something he must do. He soon decides his purpose must be to protect and support Julis. Later on, Julis tells him to find something he must do for himself.
The Dulcinea Effect: He often engages in deadly battles to save girls he barely knows. Indeed, only days after transferring to the Academy, he declares it his life's purpose to help Julis with whatever she needs. Julis lightly implies at one point that she considers this one of his more endearing qualities (she mentions she would've been disappointed if he hadn't stepped in when he saw Kirin's uncle abusing her).
Enter Stage Window: This is how he enters Julis's room to give back her handkerchief in volume 1. Unfortunately, it ends up being a Felony Misdemeanor and he is forced to duel with her.
Establishing Character Moment: When Ayato is introduced, he picks up a handkerchief belonging to Julis and returns it to her while she is changing. And during his duel, Ayato inadvertently grabs Julis's breast while protecting her from a puppet.
Everyone Can See It: His attraction and affection for Julis are obvious.
Experienced Protagonist: Volume 1 starts with Ayato as a famous Master Swordsman and martial artist. Much of the plot involves how he becomes Seidoukan's top student.
Fantastic Fighting Style: Amagiri Shinmei Style dates to the heyday of the samurai and, while focused on katana moves, is a Multi-Melee Master art.
Friend to All Children: Not only does Kirin look up to him like an older brother, but he's very popular among her classmates, as well.
From Zero to Hero: A downplayed example. He starts as a famous Master Swordsman and martial artist when he is transferred into Seidoukan. Then, he blunders into high-profile duels with Julis and Kirin shortly after enrolling, and dethrones Kirin as the academy's top student mere weeks before the start of the Phoenix Festa, where he and Julis become the team to beat (so much so that Dirk Eberwein resorted to taking hostages to try fixing the championship match against him).
Good Is Not Soft: He may be the protagonist, but he can kick ass when he has to.
Heroes Prefer Swords: His weapon Ser-Veresta starts as a sword. Notably, though, its basic form is a large two-handed sword, whereas he was trained in katana swordplay, so it actually slows him down slightly (which is why he loses to Kirin the first time: her Fantastic Fighting Style is slightly faster than his to begin with and Ser Veresta compounds the issue). Ser Veresta is supposed to take on a form preferable to its wielder, but Ayato isn't skilled enough at tuning his prana to get it to do that (Julis ultimately helps him when he fights AR-D in the Phoenix championship).
Hour of Power:
- He can lift the seal of his Power Limiter for a limited number of time: up to 3 minutes is the safest, 5 minutes he will feel recoil and won't be able to move for a while, 10 minutes is the farthest he can push it.
- He is later able to unlock the second level of his power limiter and now can go over an hour.
Idiot Ball: Giving Julis's handkerchief while the latter is getting dressed gave her the perfect opportunity to fight with him.
Invincible Hero: Ayato is presented as more powerful than Julis (the 5th highest ranking Seidoukan Academy student) and able to match Kirin's (the strongest student's) martial prowess with only minor difficulty. He's also gifted the academy's most powerful weapon very early into the series, and only has the most artificial of limits on his extreme powers.
Katanas Are Just Better: Ser-Veresta takes on the form of a katana when unleashing its full abilities. This only happens when Ayato and Julis are both holding the hilt together.
Lady and Knight: His relationship with Julis is that of a Knight in Shining Armor protecting a princess (albeit the princess is no slouch herself).
Laser Blade: Ser Veresta is an energy blade which radiates intense heat and will cut through just about anything that isn't a Lux or Orga Lux like itself. Yep, they gave him a lightsaber.
Like Parent, Like Spouse: His mother looked a lot like Julis.
Living Legend: This guy won several Festas and became the top ranking student at Seidoukan. Top that.
Master Swordsman: He's definitely one thanks to his dojo training.
Memento MacGuffin: Ser-Veresta used to belong to his sister, and is one of the only few tangible pieces of evidence that she used to attend the academy.
Messy Hair: For most of the series, he has a mild case of bed hair. He only fixes it when attending to a high-class party on Lieseltania.
Multi-Melee Master: In addition to being proficient with a sword, he is also good with a spear, kodachi (short sword), and grappling. He's still much better with a katana, though.
New Transfer Student: He transfers to Seidoukan on a scholarship at the beginning of the series.
Nice Guy: He is very polite, helpful and friendly.
Oblivious to Love: Rarely notices the romantic subtext of the girls around him.
Parental Abandonment: His mother died when he was young. His father is alive, but emotionally distant. His older half-sister Haruka stepped in as a Parental Substitute.
Power Limiter: Haruka limited his power when he was a young child.
Purple Is Powerful: His hair, sword and attacks are all colored purple.
Rank Up: He becomes the top-ranking student at Seidoukan after he defeats Kirin.
Red Baron: After becoming Seidoukan's top student, he became known as <Murakumo>.
Retired Badass: Downplayed: after winning the Gryps Festa with Julis, Saya, Claudia, and Kirin, he decides in volume 11 not to enter the one-on-one Lindvolus Festa because he's achieved his major goals and doesn't want to interfere with Julis's efforts to use Festa wins to improve matters in Lieseltania.
Returning the Handkerchief: At the beginning of the series, Ayato finds Julis's handkerchief and returns it to her while she is changing.
Secret-Keeper: One of his best points is that no matter how pressured he is, he will not reveal anything told to him in confidence without the express approval of the other person. If he promises to keep a secret, he will, no exceptions.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: He denies in embarrassment any suggestion of Julis being his girlfriend. Everyone but the two of them knows it's a matter of time before they hook up. He also denies being Sylvia's boyfriend when Mahulena of Rusalka asks him in volume 8 (she asks because she doesn't believe it, either, and is trying to shut down her teammates' antics).
Showy Invincible Hero: There is never any question he will win in a fight, but his amazing tecniques and the allies he gains to his cause make for an interesting show.
Spanner in the Works:
- He ruins Silas's plans to win the Phoenix Festa in Volume 1, which led to a partnership between Seidoukan and Arlequint.
- He also indirectly encourages Kirin to follow her own path to release Seijiro, which ultimately leads to her doing everything important later on.
Stock Light-Novel Hero: Ayato is a talented fighter who claims ownership of one of the most powerful weapons in the world thanks to his enormous magical potential, becomes an instant celebrity amongst his peers and gains the affection of several girls across the Asterisk city. The family of one of the aforementioned girls has even considered putting him in an Arranged Marriage because of the possible political benefits such union could bring.
The Strategist: Although Julis is usually the one who makes the battle plans, Ayato's no slouch either when the situation calls for it.
Underestimating Badassery: Unsurprisingly, Ayato's opponents underestimate how powerful he is thanks to Haruka's training.
Undying Loyalty: His only condition to participate in any Festa is to fight alongside Julis.
Unwanted Harem: To date, whether he knows it or not, he has the affections of Julis, Saya, Kirin, Claudia, and maybe Irene and Priscilla Urzaiz, as well as being asked out on a date by Sylvia, in front of everyone else.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Averted. While Ayato always uses his sword Ser-Veresta, he can properly wield a spear and is proficient in other fighting styles, either armed or unarmed.
World's Best Warrior: He is considered one of the best Seidoukan students at the time of the Phoenix Festa. His peers at the time were Julis Alexia von Riessfeld, Claudia Enfield and Kirin Toudou (he took Kirin's #1 spot in their rematch, and didn't even need Ser Veresta).
Wrecked Weapon: Ser Veresta's activator is damaged to disablement near the climax of the Gryps Final against Team Lancelot, while Ayato is dueling Ernest Fairclough. He drops it in favor of his backup sword lux, prompting Ernest to discard his own Orga Lux in hopes of a real one-on-one duel with Ayato.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Ayato is instrumental in helping Kirin to follow her own path to clear her father's name.

Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld

Princess Julis-Alexia Marie Florentia Renate von Riessfeld

Voiced by: Ai Kakuma (Japanese), Kira Buckland (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/julis_alexia_von_riessfeld_anime.png

Julis-Alexia Marie Florentia Renate von Riessfeld is the fifth top-ranking student at Seidoukan Academy. She also serves as the Princess of Lieseltania, which is ruled by her brother, Jolbert von Riessfeld. She's a "Strega," which is a rare form of Genestella which has the ability to use actual magic abilities (most Genestella simply have advanced physical abilities and the ability to wield magical weapons). Her Strega abilities allow her to produce fire and explosions. She soon catches the eye of Ayato Amagiri and an interesting relationship blossoms between the two.

A-Cup Angst: A downplayed example, while she's by no means un-endowed, she really doesn't like it when she has to compete with Claudia's bosom.
Action Girl: She duels Ayato when they first meet, holds her own against Silas's puppets and is able to fight against Arlequint's robots.
Action Politician: She's the Princess of Lieseltania and has found herself in desperate situations and battles.
Affectionate Gesture to the Head: She loves doing this with children, especially Flora, and is sometimes on the receiving end from Ayato. Given her past relationship with the orphaned children in Lieseltania, this is understandable.
Assassin Outclassin': She does this repeatedly in Volume 6.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: She is a princess and is one of the powerful Stregas of her generation.
Badass in Distress: At the end of Volume 1, she falls victim to Silas's trap and has to be rescued by Ayato. She later plays a crucial role in helping Ayato defeat Silas.
Barrier Warrior: She gains this ability with cloned swords of light in Volume 7 chapter 2, thanks to an experimental Lux co-designed between Arlequint and Seidoukan academies.
Battle Couple: She often fights together with Ayato and while not officially a couple yet, their feelings for each other are obvious.
Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: Played with, as she is actually free to marry whomever she wishes. However, her brother Jolbert warns that if she takes too long to decide, a convenient candidate will be appointed by the Integrity Enterprises Foundation. She only has eyes for Ayato, but ironically the most convenient candidate is probably still Ayato due to their popularity as a Battle Couple.
Burn Scars, Burning Powers: Downplayed when she begins training with Fan Xinglou following the Gryps Festa. Julis is normally immune to her own flames, so Ayato is surprised when she starts turning up with burns after training sessions. No mention of permanent scars yet, though.
Burning with Anger: Whenever Julis gets very angry, she bursts into flames. Ayato found that out the hard way.
Calling Your Attacks: A justified example. Calling out their names helps her visualize their form.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets annoyed with any other girl that tries to take Ayato's attention, particularly Saya.
Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: At the end of volume 1, she's understandably annoyed when Ayato rescues her from Silas.
Defrosting Ice Queen: In volume 1, she starts off rather harsh towards Ayato when they first meet. By the end of the volume, her demeanor softens considerably to the point that she falls in love with him after Ayato's Declaration of Protection.
Deuteragonist: She is the second-most-important focal character in the series who eventually falls in love with Ayato.
Elemental Hair Colors: Her hair is pink rather than red, but the color is still close enough to be associated with her fire element.
Elemental Personalities: She's a hot-headed, stubborn and warm-hearted girl who uses fire-based attacks.
Establishing Character Moment: When we first meet her in Volume 1, Julis loses her handkerchief. As soon as Ayato walks in on her changing, she has Ayato look away. When she finishes changing, Ayato gives her handkerchief back. Unfortunately for Ayato, Julis uses her fire-based powers to attack him since he barged into her room. Boom.
Everyone Can See It: Her attraction to Ayato is so profound to the point that he notices every once in a while, regardless of what she might say.
Feminine Women Can Cook: The meals may be simple, but they are listed as delicious, in-universe.
First Girl Wins: She's the first girl introduced as well as the first to encounter Ayato at Seidoukan. Julis soon becomes the closest girl to Ayato, his combat partner and the one who knows him best. Really, it's more that she's built up to be the winner enough that her not winning would seem more contrived.
Flower Motifs: Her fire attacks often take the form of flowers or alludes to flowers in the name. This is actually a part of her Strega powers, as magic powers need some sort of motif to work.
Friend to All Children: She's quite friendly with children, especially those from certain orphanages in her native land.
Friendless Background: Ayato is the first person that she can call a friend in Seidoukan, although it's not due to other people's lack of interest in her. Rather, it's mostly because she pushes people away.
Claudia: Didn't I say this before? That girl will go all out to protect the things she holds dear. It seems you now fall under that category.
Good Is Not Soft: She may be one of the good guys, but she isn't one to be messed with.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: She gets flustered and gives unconvincing denials about being or wanting to be Ayato's girlfriend.
Heroes Prefer Swords: She often uses swords as her weapons.
Heroic BSoD: Falls into one in Volume 13 after Lamina Mortis forces Ayato to break his promise to her not to enter the Lindvolus, which puts them in direct competition.
Hot Wings: Can give herself or others flaming wings to fly, including Ayato.
Idiot Ball: Being defenseless while fighting with Silas at the end of volume 1 gave the latter the perfect opportunity to curb-stomp her.
Impoverished Patrician: She's a princess who can't shake loose any money from her own government, and has to fight in the Festas just to raise money for orphanages (because the IEF are the ones who really run her country and they hate welfare programs).
It's Personal: Lampshaded. Her resenting Arlequint for Ophelia's fate is this.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite initially looking out for herself, she's willing to save her own country from poverty. She deviates from the jerk part once she realizes that Ayato will protect her no matter the cost.
Lady and Knight: She develops a knight-princess relationship with Ayato when the latter rescues her by the end of volume 1.
Lady of War: Notwithstanding her fiery temper, she's classy, beautiful and a bit haughty (especially to people she doesn't know) and a powerful fighter.
Light 'em Up: In addition to her fire Strega powers, she gains light-based attacks thanks to her rapier lux being upgraded.
Magic Knight: She uses her fire magic to compliment her fencing skills.
Mama Bear: She's very protective of the children in the Liseltanian orphanage to the point that she's willing to help raise money to save it.
Master Swordswoman: She is a master at using swords.
Meaningful Name: Julis is a variant of Julius, which means "downy" in Greek. Florentia and Renate are Latin for "flowering, in bloom" and "rebirth", respectively. Both Julis and Florentina reflect her abilities as a fire-based Strega.
Modest Royalty: Despite being an European princess, Julis dresses like any normal girl. This makes sense since she only wants money to help her subjects instead of looking for luxuries for herself.
Naked First Impression: Ayato's first encounter with her was when he goes to her window to return her handkerchief, failing to take into account that she's still changing her clothes. Cue an understandable "Oh, Crap!" when he realizes this.
Overly Long Name: Her full name is Julis Alexia Marie Florentia Renate von Riessfeld, given her status as a European princess.
Playing with Fire: She specializes in fire abilities.
Politically-Active Princess: She hates the fact that Lieseltania is a Puppet State to the IEF, most especially because it results in the impoverishment of common Lieseltanians. When the IEF closed the charity funding an orphanage in the capital (founded by her mother), she chose to attend Seidoukan Academy in hopes of using her Phoenix Festa victory wish to force them to fund it again. After winning, she decides to use her wish from the Gryps Festa to force political change in Lieseltania on a larger scale, starting with expanding the power of the monarchy.
Pretty Princess Powerhouse: She's the princess of the small kingdom of Lieseltania and a top-ranking Strega with potent fire powers.
Princess Classic: A Reconstruction example. She's a graceful Lady of War and likes feminine things to an extent (she likes pink and can cook), and is currently heir presumptive to the throne of Lieseltania because her brother, the king, has no children yet. However, Lieseltania is a constitutional monarchy and the royal family has little legal authority, and the country is really an IEF Puppet State in any case. She didn't let that stop her, becoming a Politically-Active Princess as an adolescent.
Princesses Prefer Pink: Practically everything about her is pink from her hair to her clothes and weapons.
Protectorate: After questioning what's the thing he wants to do, Ayato decides his main motive is to protect Julis and support her goals.
Rebellious Princess: While a Princess Classic in many respects, she's also got a fiery temper and competes as a tournament fighter. She also rebels against the political status quo in her country, which is controlled by the IEFs through its parliament. She never tries to act like her status as a princess makes her superior to anyone. Ever since she was a child, Julis liked to hang out with the commoners instead of chilling at her castle and she wants to help people in every way she can.
Red Baron: She's often nicknamed <Petalblaze Witch> (Glühen Rose), or Witch of the Resplendent Flames.
Reluctant Fanservice Girl: She always ends up in embarrassing Fanservice-y situations with Ayato, to her dismay.
Rescue Romance: She falls in love with Ayato after he rescues her from Silas' attack.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: A Double Subversion. Although she's a pink-haired Genestella, her temperament is that of a Fiery Redhead. Once you befriend her, she becomes a friendly person.
Royal Rapier: Her Lux, Aspera Spina, and later upgraded to the Shining Long-Range Induction Armament, Rectoluz.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: She participates in the Festa to help her people, and visits her country's orphanages personally.
Saving the Orphanage: Her primary goal is to save a downtrodden orphanage in Lieseltania by participating in the Festa to raise money.
Shaping Your Attacks: Her attacks are usually shaped like and named after flowers. Julis intentionally does it as a way to honor her friend Orphelia, who loved gardening.
Shoo the Dog: At the end of Volume 1, she tries to shoo Ayato out once he pulls his Big Damn Heroes moment to rescue her from Silas's attack. Ayato won't take no for an answer and decides to become her protector.
Signature Headgear: She has two key-like headpieces on either side of her hair. In the books she eventually trades these in for a feather-shaped hairclip given to her by the orphanage she saved.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Ayato wins Julis's affections because of his noble and loyal personality as well as his wish to be her Knight in Shining Armor no matter the cost.
Stock Light-Novel Calamity Princess: She's a princess with pink hair in the half-up-half-down style. She starts as an Ice Queen, has fire powers, and is the main love interest in a fantasy harem story. She's of the more "aloof" variety. There are two main rivals, one of whom is blue haired, with braids and no chest. She's referred to as a genius, and is called "Witch of the Resplendent Flames". She also participates in a Tournament Arc to enter a much higher level tournament and prove her abilities.
The Strategist: Most of the battle plans are drawn up by her. She's not too proud to accept input, however.
Through His Stomach: She tried and succeeded this on Ayato.
Tomboyish Ponytail: While training for the Lindvolus in the later volumes, she changes her hairstyle to a left-side ponytail with a feather-shaped hairpin given by her friends from the orphanage.
Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of volume 1, Julis has become a lot more selfless, considerate and willing to help others. She even volunteers to join in the Gryps Festa to be by Ayato's side.
Training from Hell: Fan Xinglou's training seems to qualify, as Julis repeatedly shows up to meetings with her friends injured. The burns are a particular surprise, given Julis is normally immune to her own fire.
Tsundere: A definite Aggressive type, but a very well-balanced one. Julis initially comes off a distant jerk who believes she has to fend for herself if she wants to help Lieseltania. After falling for Ayato, she becomes a friendlier girl who's easily embarrassed during their intimate moments. However, it doesn't stop her from lecturing Ayato when he pushes himself too hard.
Underestimating Badassery: In volume 1, she underestimated how powerful Ayato really is. By the end of the volume, Julis also makes the mistake of underestimating Silas.
Unwanted Rescue: She didn't want to be rescued by Ayato when Silas corners her towards the end of volume 1. It's rendered moot after Ayato's Armor-Piercing Question.
Uptown Girl: Julis is a Lieseltanian princess who becomes the girlfriend of Ayato, a middle-class Japanese student.
The Von Trope Family: Her family name is von Riessfeld. A good way to know she's royalty. Doesn't hurt that given Lieseltania's location, her being an ethnic German actually makes sense.
World's Best Warrior: Along with Claudia Enfield, Kirin Toudou and Ayato Amagiri, she is considered one of the best students Seidoukan has to offer. In particular, she's thought to be one of the most powerful Stregas alive.

Claudia Enfield

President Claudia Enfield

Voiced by: Nao Tōyama (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/claudia_enfield_anime.png

Claudia Enfield is the president of Seidoukan Academy's student council and the second top-ranking student at the academy. She's also the daughter of Galaxy's Nicolas and Isabella Enfield. After encountering Ayato Amagiri on his first day, she transfers him to the academy.

Action Girl: She takes out Silas, defeats chimeras and fights in the Grpys Festa.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As the Student Council President at Seidoukan Academy and the second top-ranking student at Seidoukan, she can wipe the floor with other students.
Badass in Distress: She spends the entirety of volume 9 on the run because Galaxy put out a hit on her.
Benevolent Boss: She is always understanding and friendly with her actions as Seidoukan's Student Council President.
Big-Breast Pride: She is not shy about showing off, or making use of, her assets.
Big Damn Heroes: In volume 6, she helps Ayato defeat Gustave Malraux's chimeras.
Big Good: She's one of the most valued member of Ayato's harem and is also the benevolent Student Council President of Seidoukan Academy.
Calling the Old Man Out: Despite her loving relationship with her father Nicolas, Claudia politely lectures him for dispatching Gustave to attack Julis to the point that she can't reconsider her decision to participate in the Gryps Festa.
Childhood Friends: She's been friends with Laetitia since they were children.
Combat Clairvoyance: Pan-Dora grants her a limited ability to see into the future, which she mainly uses as a defense in duels.
Cursed with Awesome: Her Orga-Lux is fairly powerful and can see into the future. Unfortunately, it also gives its user nightmares on how they could die, while never showing the same one twice. She states previous users could only manage three days at best, while she somehow has wielded it for at least twelve hundred days, or over three years.
Death Seeker: As a consequence of her long use of Pan-Dora, she became very nihilistic, deciding that the only thing worth doing was trying to die in a meaningful way. However, as a result of the events of volume 9 she ultimately decides she has something Worth Living For.
Disappointed in You: After Gustave's kidnapping of Julis is thwarted in volume 6, Claudia doesn't bother to hide how disappointed she is in Nicolas for what he's done.
Dual Wielding: Her Orga-Lux, <Pan-Dora>, manifests as a pair of broad arming swords.
Establishing Character Moment: In her introductory scene, Claudia breaks up the duel between Julis and Ayato. She reveals her affable, but sly nature to Ayato, and shows him her black panties.
Everyone Has Standards: She may be a sly girl, but she's understandably disappointed when she learns about Koichiro's intentions to corrupt Kirin and when Nicholas plots an assassination attempt on Julis to keep her out of the Gryps Festa.
Fake Ultimate Hero: A Downplayed example. Her fighting skill is nothing to sneer at, but in volume 7 she explains to her teammates that her reputation for Combat Clairvoyance is significantly inflated compared to the reality, by her own design.
First-Name Basis: After meeting Ayato in volume 1, she immediately instructs him to call her by her first name.
The Gadfly: She actively enjoys showing skin to Ayato and occasionally even propositions him. This seems to mostly be for her own amusement (it's ambiguous whether she has actual romantic feelings for him). Confirmed in volume 9 that she is in fact in love with him.
Guile Heroine: As the Student Council President, her fights are mostly of the political variety.
Hair Intakes: She has a pair of intakes in her hair that look like cat ears.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair and is a very reasonable and moral Student Council President.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Like Ayato, Kirin and Julis, she uses swords as her preferred weapons. In this case, it's Orga-Lux, <Pan-Dora>.
Heroic Willpower: Most people can only handle <Pan-Dora>'s effects for three days. Claudia has done it for three years.
Love Before First Sight: She reveals in volume 9 that she fell in love with Ayato long before she met him. She'd seen him in Pan-Dora's nightly dreams of her own death, and in all those thousands of deaths he was the only person who never killed her.
Master Swordswoman: She is capable of using swords in battle.
Ms. Fanservice: She's very well-endowed and fairly regularly turns up in fewer clothes than normal (mainly Shower Scenes and an extended Swimsuit Scene in volume 2), as well as frequently pressing her bosom against Ayato or trying to get him to feel her up (how much of that is her messing with him is ambiguous).
Ojou: Being the Student Council President and the daughter of a high-ranking IEF official is a good place to be. Ayato states that, with the current political climate, she has a better social standing than Julis, who is an actual princess.
Pocket Protector: She narrowly survives being stabbed in the chest by Bujinsai Yabuki because a pendant Laetitia Blanchard gave Ayato to give to her blunts the blow.
Precognition: Her Orga-Lux, <Pan-Dora>, gives her the ability to see a few seconds into the future which gives her some advantage. The downside is that it also gives her nightmares of the many ways she can die.
- She explains her powers in more detail in volume 7 (because she's taken on Ayato, Julis, Kirin, and Saya as her Festa teammates), and they're far more limited than her carefully cultivated reputation suggests. Pan-Dora in essence gives her Mana Meter that allows her to expend accrued points to look an equal number of seconds into the future. This is unreliable due to Multiple-Choice Future, and is most useful as a defense. Furthermore, she only accrues one more second of usable time for every three days that she experiences the old-fashioned way.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Claudia first meets Ayato, she insists to always refer to each other by First-Name Basis by spelling out the syllables of her name.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite her sly nature, Claudia is a moral, just and reasonable Student Council President who cares about her fellow students. When she finds out that Silas has launched a plot to take out the competitors at the Phoenix Festa, she quickly captures him. Later, when she realizes that Koichiro has covered up what happened to Seijiro and is corrupting Kirin for his own benefit, she calmly reminds him that Isabella is a member of Galaxy and Kirin is a valuable asset to Seidoukan. In volume 6, Claudia is understandably disappointed with her father Nicholas for trying to keep her out of the Gryps Festa.
Red Baron: She's known throughout Seidoukan as <The Master of a Thousand Eyes> (Parca Morta).
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: She is willing to bend or break the rules to achieve her goals and protect Seidoukan. Just ask Koichiro Toudou or Nicolas Enfield.
Sex for Services: Claudia offers herself to Ayato "in exchange" for him helping her protect Julis. Ayato panics and makes a break for it, and Claudia was really teasing him. Probably.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She's not shy about showing off her assets to Ayato.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: She talks down Koichiro for his intentions to corrupt Kirin at the end of volume 2.
Stocking Filler: She wears garters to hold up her stockings.
Student Council President: She is the leader of the academy's student council since junior high.
The Tease: She frequently teases Ayato. The first time she invited Ayato to her house, she conducted the meeting in a loosely fitting bathrobe and then placed his hands on her breasts as a "payment" for his help.
Token Evil Teammate: Despite being one of the protagonists, Claudia does quite a few shady things throughout the story.
Unscrupulous Hero: While technically one of the good guys, she does have quite a few skeletons in her closet. She makes no effort to hide that she engages in shady schemes and is willing to take advantage of situations. That said, she has a healthy respect for Ayato's stronger sense of morality and her actions in the greater scheme of things seem to protect him and Seidoukan as a whole.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Despite her family having a feud with the Blanchards, she is still friends with Laetitia.
World's Best Warrior: Claudia is considered one of the best Seidoukan students the academy has to offer, along with Ayato, Julis, and eventually, Kirin.

Saya Sasamiya

Voiced by: Shiori Izawa (Japanese), Sarah Anne Williams (English)

Saya Sasamiya is Ayato Amagiri's Childhood Friend. Although she does not compete in the rankings system, she considers herself to be on Julis Alexia von Riessfeld's fighting level. She prefers to use guns and cannons of her father's design and attends Seidoukan for the purpose of trying to popularize them.

A-Cup Angst: She's frustrated about her body's lack of curves. She gets very jealous of Claudia's and Kirin's breasts.

Alliterative Name: Saya Sasamiya.
Almighty Janitor: She doesn't care about dueling or playing the ranking game, so her actual strength is far in excess of her rank.
Awesome, but Impractical: Her guns have a lot of firepower but are a threat to friend and foe alike. Her weapons are designed by her father, who is considered a pariah in the weapons design field due to the impracticality of his designs. It suits her personality.
BFG: Her guns are often multiple times larger than she is, which frequently causes other characters to be alarmed.
Childhood Friend Romance: She has obvious feelings for her childhood friend Ayato. She confesses her feelings to him in volume 8, but he's too flustered to respond.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Though more subtle than Julis, she doesn't seem to like Claudia's teasing of Ayato very much. And when she first meets Julis, she insists on showing Ayato around instead, as Julis claimed to not want to do it in the first place.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She's a huge ditz who constantly gets lost and misses classes due to oversleeping. However, when she gets serious, she is extremely powerful and on the level with other members of the Academy's Top 12.
Deliberate Underperformance: She's completely unranked but has the skill and power to be a Page One: she's estimated to be approximately Julis's equal as a fighter, but the rankings don't interest her so she doesn't participate in ranking matches. She only even enters the Phoenix Festa as part of a bet with Ernesta to make her apologize for insulting Saya's father.
Going Commando: As she says, she doesn't need a bra yet.
Gun Kata: She's fully capable of using her guns as melee weapons at close range, combining it with bits of Amagiri Shinmei-ryuu she learned from watching and sparring with Ayato and Haruka as a kid. This comes in handy especially with her larger Luxes, which have a significant charge time.
The Gunslinger: She uses Vaporizer-type guns as her weapon. Her guns are usually big and destructive, although she has a number of handgun Luxes as well.
Heavy Sleeper: She often oversleeps, which causes her to be tired in the mornings.
Idiot Hair: She has a cowlick sticking out from the top of her head.
Little Miss Snarker: She has a childlike body and a dry wit, especially when she gets around Julis.
The Musketeer: To win the match against Rusalka in volume 8, she discards her gun and retrieves Kirin's katana from where it had stuck in Miluše's guitar, and destroys her badge with Ayato's Twin Serpents move.
No Sense of Direction: She easily gets lost.
Not a Morning Person: Ever since she was a child she was not good with waking up in the mornings.
Saya: "...My blanket's too cozy; I can't help it."
Older Than She Looks: She is a high school student but her height and lack of assets make her look like an elementary school student. To put this into perspective, Saya is roughly five years older than Kirin, yet is about 3 cm shorter than Kirin.
Rei Ayanami Expy: A stoic young girl with short blue hair, red eyes and pale skin who reveals a Sugar-and-Ice Personality towards the protagonist.
Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: She sometimes says "boom" or "pow" when she fires her weapons. It's unknown whether it's Calling Your Attacks, some sort of voice command for her guns, or for her own amusement.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: Happily opens the door to her waiting room, admitting Ayato and Julis while she and Kirin are wearing nothing after just getting out of the shower.
Shy Blue-Haired Girl: A reserved and quiet blue-haired girl.
Signature Headgear: She has two short braids secured with a yellow and black hairpiece.
Skinship Grope: She tries this on Kirin in the shower. Kirin is barely able to rebuff her.
Small Girl, Big Gun: A few of the Lux her father made for her are large and powerful.
The Stoic: She's often very sleepy and rarely shows emotion. Played with in the manga, where she has virtually no reaction to meeting Ayato after their long separation, but she insists that she's surprised.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She is stoic and reserved towards most people, but open and caring towards Ayato and later, Kirin.
Through His Stomach: She tried this on Ayato, but she had plenty of competition.
Token Mini-Moe: Out of Ayato's harem, only Saya looks like she hasn't gone through puberty yet.

Kirin Toudou

Voiced by: Ari Ozawa (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English)

Kirin Toudou is a first-year student in Seidoukan's middle school section. At the start of the series, she is the top-ranking student at the Academy until Ayato defeats her. She's also the daughter of Seijiro and Kotoha Toudou, and niece of Kouichiro Toudou.

Achilles' Heel: She doesn't actually have a Lux, let alone an Orga Lux. This ultimately leads to her defeat against Ardi because as an android Orga Lux, his barrier can only be broken by another Orga Lux. This weakness is later subverted after her katana is shattered during the Gryps and she replaces it with the Orga Lux Fudaraku.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Being a former top-ranking student, she can easily knock down her enemies in one fell swoop.
Badass Adorable: She's painfully polite and cute as a button. She can also one of the strongest of the series and can completely and utterly destroy you in an instant with a plain normal sword. Ayato admits that her skills are far superior to his.
Because You Were Nice to Me: She starts following Ayato because he cared for her.
Beneath the Mask: The real Kirin is a shy and nice girl with her own plans — a contrast to the fearsome fighter she displays in battles. She casts away the mask after deciding to fight as herself.
Beware the Nice Ones: It's not wise to make her upset or hurt her friends. Just ask Koichiro.
Butt-Monkey: Her father Seijiro was arrested after killing a man in self-defense when she was young. Then, she was regularly forced her to duel with others at Seidoukan for the sake of gaining power and securing Seijiro's release. Well, until her meeting with Ayato at least...
Combos: The Toudou-Style technique "Conjoined Cranes".
Crash-Into Hello: She bumps into Ayato when the latter goes to a sparring match with Julis.
Crippling Overspecialization: When first introduced she's extremely good with the sword, but that's it: the Toudou Style solely focuses on one-on-one dueling with swords, which means she's not good at dealing with multiple enemies and allows Ayato to beat her in their rematch since he's trained in multiple types of weapons. After stepping out of her controlling uncle/trainer's shadow and joining the True Companions, she diversifies her repertoire by incorporating some Amagiri Shinmei Style she picked up from sparring with Ayato, and in volume six demonstrates a Rurouni Kenshin-style Iaijutsu Sheath Strike.
Death Glare: She gives one to Koichiro when she decides to break away from his methods to fight on her own terms towards the end of volume 2.
Establishing Character Moment: She is first introduced bumping into Ayato while he goes into a sparring match with Julis.
Girlish Pigtails: She has her hair up like this, but none of the personality traits often associated with it.
Graceful Loser: Out of gas from her battle with Ayato in volume 2, Kirin graciously accepts her defeat.
Heroes Prefer Swords: She uses her katana and later the Orga Lux Fudaraku as her weapon.
Honor Before Reason: She decides to duel with Ayato for real by the end of volume 2, even if it means sacrificing her position as Seidoukan's top-ranking student and going her separate ways from Koichiro.
Iaijutsu Practitioner: She destroys Gustave Malraux's Spartoi with an iaijutsu Sheath Strike at the end of volume 6.
Katanas Are Just Better: This is subverted: her katana, Senbakiri, is no match for an Orga Lux so she has to rely on evasion in her first duel with Ayato (this was Adapted Out of the anime, where Ayato uses his backup Lux instead so they can clash swords), and while she's the first fighter to land a hit on AR-D's body, given that he's a robot rather than an organic opponent, she can't actually deal him any significant damage with just her sword. Senbakiri is ultimately broken, and she replaces it with a katana Orga Lux called Fudaraku.
Let's Get Dangerous!: When she's in battle, all traces of her Shrinking Violet personality completely vanish.
Lightning Bruiser: She's exceptionally fast and strong.
Little Miss Badass: She may be small, but she can fight when she needs to, such as cornering Gustave Malraux.
Master Swordswoman: She's a master at sword combat as with Ayato.
Mystical White Hair: Has silver hair. Noted to be a part of the trend where Genestella have unusual hair colors when compared to the normal population.
Nephewism: A Gender Flip example. After Seijiro was detained for committing a Crime of Self-Defense, Koichiro took up the task to raise and train her to become Seidoukan's top fighter. Despite how wrong his methods were, it ultimately turns out that he has a point about Kirin having Seijiro released, albeit not in the way he intended.
Nice Girl: A kind and polite girl at heart.
Opposed Mentors: Kirin has to choose between following Koichiro and Ayato by the end of volume 2. She eventually chooses Ayato.
The Paragon: She is looked up to everyone at Seidoukan for her reputation as a top-ranking fighter.
Proper Tights with a Skirt: She has tights with her school uniform.
Punch Catch: She blocks Koichiro's punch when she decides to break away from his teachings for Ayato.
Red Baron: She is known as "Lightning Blade Speed"^note.
Reluctant Fanservice Girl: She is mortified when Saya opens the door and admits Ayato while she's still in her towel after bathing.
Shrinking Violet: Outside of battle, she's a painfully shy wreck with almost no confidence in any of abilities, at least until she meets Ayato.
Skinship Grope: Subverted. Saya had every intention of doing this after their first win in the tournament. But Kirin manages to fend off her grope attempts, while also holding up a towel.
Slave to PR: At the beginning of the series, she has to maintain her reputation as Seidoukan's top-ranking fighter. Then, she sacrifices the position when she battles Ayato at the end of volume 2.
Super Drowning Skills: She can't swim in the water.
Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of volume 2, she becomes a member of Ayato's harem and becomes more confident in herself, but especially after she decides to break free from Koichiro's harsh methods.
To Be Lawful or Good: To remain as Koichiro's pawn in his plans for the sake of expanding his power and securing Seijiro's release (the lawful), or to be with Ayato and secure her father's release on her own terms (the good)? When Ayato tells her to follow her own dreams, she chooses the "good" path.
Took a Level in Badass: She was always a competent fighter, but her lack of a Lux put her on a severe disadvantage. She fixes this when replacing her broken katana with the Orga Lux Fudaraku.
Training from Hell: Since Kirin was a child, she underwent very harsh training from Koichiro in his efforts to secure Seijiro's release and have her go along with his Evil Plan. Well, until Ayato befriended her, at least...
Waif-Fu: She is a very skilled swordswoman despite her small size.
World's Best Warrior: The single best fighter at Seidoukan Academy, at least until she is dethroned by Ayato. Even then, her peers at the time were Claudia Enfield and Julis Alexia von Riessfeld.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's afraid of planes.
Wrecked Weapon: Senbakiri is broken in their semifinal match in the Gryps Festa. Despite this and being badly injured, she manages to break Team Yellow Dragon's captain's badge with the hilt end of her broken sword, winning the match.
Younger than She Looks: For a 13-year old, she already has one well-developed bust, to Saya's envy.

Eishiro Yabuki

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Max Mittelman (English)

Eishiro Yabuki is Ayato's roommate. Well known as a member of the academy's newspaper club, he's also a member of Shadowstar, a secret police force run by the IEF.

Beware the Silly Ones: A slacker and a goofball, who is also the only character so far to outright kill another human onscreen.
Book Dumb: His academic scores are horrible. He's either failing or near failing in every subject.
Bromantic Foil: He is one to Ayato, being the extroverted, playful goofball to highlight his calmer, introspective friend.
Conflicting Loyalty: In volume 9 he's torn between his friendship with Team Enfield, his job at Shadowstar, and his own family, due to Galaxy ordering his Ninja clan to kill Claudia to keep her from asking about the Jade Twilight Incident. He chooses Team Enfield and is banished from his home.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He plays a laid-back extroverted goofball, but is revealed to be a Shadowstar operative at the end of the Phoenix arc, when he hunts down and kills the ninja from Le Wolfe's Gold Eyes who was holding Flora hostage.
Knowledge Broker: He often has inside knowledge due to being part of the newspaper club. Ayato often goes to him and treats him to meals as payment. The quality of the meal he demands depends on how juicy the information is.
Ninja: His other job at school includes stealth and assassination.
Obfuscating Stupidity: To hide that he is a member of the Shadow Star, he poses as a wimp.
Red Baron: Known as the Ninja of the Shadow Star.
School Newspaper News Hound: He runs Seidoukan's newspaper club.
You Can't Go Home Again: His own father banishes him from The Clan at the end of volume 9 for helping Team Enfield and an assassin from Jie Long foil the hit on Claudia. Bujinsai would've had him killed, except Galaxy withdrew the hit afterwards.

Lester MacPhail

Voiced by: Takanori Hoshino (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

Lester MacPhail is Seidoukan Academy's 9th top-ranking student. He was formerly ranked 5th until Julis defeated him.

Always Second Best: No matter how much effort he puts into it, he'd never become a better Genestella than either Julis or Ayato.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He is obsessed with challenging Julis and defeating her. Despite losing to her three times, he still thinks he's the better lux wielder.
Big Damn Heroes:
- At the end of volume 1, before Ayato arrives, Lester attempts to hold Silas's robots off to cover for Julis. It doesn't work out and he gets curb-stomped.
- In volume six, Eishiro blackmails him into helping rescue Flora Klemm from Dirk. Lester fights to Hold the Line against shadow puppets, which buys Saya and Kirin the time they need to get to where Flora is being held.
The Chosen Wannabe: Lester attempts to wield Ser-Veresta, but it doesn't work out and Ayato becomes its rightful wielder.
Dumb Muscle: Not the smartest character in the series, by far.
Et Tu, Brute?: His reaction when Silas reveals his true colors at the end of volume 1 is of shock and outrage.
Fatal Flaw: His recklessness nearly gets him killed when he tries to force Ser-Veresta into obeying him.
Good Is Dumb: He is a good guy, but he isn't that smart.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He can go from calm to extremely angry with minimal provocation, and sometimes deals with it by picking fights with Julis and Ayato.
Heroic Build: Lester shows how serious he trains since Genestella normally have a hard time building muscle.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lester may come off as a jerk, but he proves himself to be decent when he comes to Julis's rescue and helps Ayato on a few occasions.
Leeroy Jenkins: He doesn't ever give any thought to strategy or tactics, except the most basic. He just rushes blindly into battle and tries to resolve everything with brute force. This nearly gets him killed when he tries to bully Ser-Veresta into obedience, and is therefore, indirectly responsible for Ayato gaining access as Ayato is the one who winds up gently subduing it with a record 97% compatibility rating.
- He actually does try a fairly clever strategy when he comes up against Irene Urzaiz in the Phoenix Festa prelims, but unfortunately other contestants have tried it on her before and she defeats him easily.
Red Baron: Known as Kornephoros (Furious Axe of Distant Thunder).
The Rival: To Julis, whom he butts heads with numerous times even outside their duels.
Took a Level in Badass: In volume 11 he talks Julis, now a two-time Festa champion, into a mock battle. Julis, thinking it's a repeat of his obsession from volume 1, naturally isn't expecting much but he gives her a run for her money. Turns out he's been training in a secret dojo run by Fan Xinglou, and agrees to take Julis to meet her.
Tsundere: A male example. While Lester's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to begin with, he's too gruff to act like an openly supportive friend to Ayato and Julis, trying to brush off any of the times he comes in their aid.
Unstoppable Rage: He has serious problems controlling his anger.
The Worf Effect: He suffers heavily from this. It's implied he'd be a decent fighter in an evenly matched fight. Unfortunately, he often ends up facing off against opponents much tougher than he is.
Wrecked Weapon: Irene destroys his original Bardiche Leo with an Unrealistic Black Hole when they fight in volume 3 of the novel (this is Adapted Out of the corresponding anime episode), though he turns up with an identical replacement in volume 6.

Randy Hooke

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Kobushi (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)

Randy Hooke is Lester's friend.

The Straight and Arrow Path: He uses a bow-type Lux.
Yes-Man: He serves as Lester's closest friend.

Silas Norman

Voiced by: Yūichi Iguchi (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

Silas Norman is Lester's second lackey and an associate of Arlequint who hides his true identity as a Dante (the male form of a Strega, or a magician). He was hired by Arlequint to injure many of the top students, including Julis, so he can have an easier time to win the Phoenix Festa. He is eventually outsmarted by Ayato Amagiri and captured by Claudia Enfield.

Arc Villain: He's the main antagonist of Volume 1.
Cheaters Never Prosper: His cheating to compete in the Phoenix Festa fails when Ayato rescues Julis and helps Claudia defeat him.
Crippling the Competition: He has no problems with carrying out assassination attempts on students to ensure his victory in the Phoenix Festa, as he does to Julis in volume 1.
Curb-Stomp Battle: In volume 1, he curb-stomps Lester when the latter assisted Julis. Shortly thereafter, he's on the receiving end of one from Ayato.
Disney Villain Death: Subverted at the end of Volume 1. Silas is outsmarted by Ayato and falls to the streets below. He survives due to his Genestella abilities and is easily captured alive by Claudia and Eishiro.
Eyes Out of Sight: His hair completely covers his eyes.
False Friend: He poses as Lester's friend before revealing his true colors.
Fatal Flaw: His pride and aggressiveness end up doing him in when Ayato sends him flying to the ground and Claudia arrests him.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Ayato destroys the robots that he created and sends him falling to the streets for Claudia and Eishiro to arrest him.
Jerkass: He's arrogant, aggressive and willing to cheat to win a Festa.
Lean and Mean: He's skinny and has a villainous personality.
Marionette Master: He can control puppets to fight.
The Mole: Silas is a student at Seidoukan who is also working for Arlequint.
Put on a Prison Bus: He is last seen being taken into custody by Claudia and Eishiro at the end of volume 1.
Starter Villain: He serves as the first main antagonist that Ayato and Julis encounter for volume 1 and the series in general.
Underestimating Badassery: He underestimated Ayato's power and it ends up doing him in.
Villain Ball: Luring Julis and Lester into a trap to take out the strongest students at Seidoukan so he can win the Phoenix Festa gave the chance for Ayato to intervene and defeat Silas.
Would Hit a Girl: He attacks several female students at Seidoukan including Julis to ensure his victory in the Phoenix Festa, which leads to Ayato to focus on rescuing Julis and defeating him. He shows no discomfort putting a girl's life in danger.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Arlequint drops him like a hot potato the moment he's in trouble at the end of volume 1.

Kyouko Yatsuzaki

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English^notecredited as Johanna Luis)

Kyouko Yatsuzaki is the homeroom teacher of year 1 class 3 and a former student of Le Wolf. She's a Strega who led Le Wolf's only group to ever win the Gryps.

Badass Teacher: This is actually desirable for Asterisk's academies. Julis says that she is among the most powerful Genestella ever, yet how she ended up as a teacher at a rival school is an open mystery. She has very little role early on, but in volume 8 Claudia brings her in to help train Team Enfield (consisting of herself, Ayato, Julis, Saya, and Kirin) for the Gryps.
Batter Up!: She often has a nailed bat with her.
Former Teen Rebel: Having been a student of Le Wolf, this is almost a prerequisite.
Power Copying: Her talent as a Strega is copying the powers of other Stregas and Dantes, which materialize as consumable nails that she stores in her baseball bat. She demonstrates this when Julis attacks her while she's sparring with Team Enfield.

Haruka Amagiri

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)

Haruka Amagiri is Ayato's older half-sister and a former student of Seidoukan Academy. She was the Ser-Veresta's first wielder.

Awesomeness by Analysis: Her Shiki power gives her information on her enemy and the battlefield.
Badass Teacher: She trained Ayato in their family's martial arts style and he was never able to beat her.
Girlish Pigtails: She wears her hair in twin tails.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Varda-Vaos blocked part of her memory while she was comatose in an attempt to cover up compromising information. Unfortunately, the Ser Veresta can burn through anything: Haruka figures out what happened and borrows the sword from Ayato to erase the block.
Master Swordswoman: Like Ayato, she wields a sword as her weapon. She previously wielded Ser Veresta, and helps Ayato figure out how to control it properly in volume 13.
Meaningful Name: The kanji in Haruka's name (遥) means "distant" in Japanese. Ayato's been distant from his sister ever since she went into a coma. At least until she is unfrozen.
Only Mostly Dead: After being defeated in the beginning of the story, she uses a technique that puts her in a healing coma and remains that way for the duration of the series. At least until she regains consciousness.
Parental Substitute: She became a mother figure to Ayato when his real mother Sakura died.
Power Limiter: She gave one to Ayato back when he was young. She also planted one on Madiath Mesa.
She's Back: She eventually comes out of her coma.

Sakura Amagiri

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asterisk_volume_12_2.jpg

Left to right, Akari/Sakura as an adult, Akari as a student, and Madiath Mesa.

Sakura Amagiri, née Akari Yachigusa, was the mother of Haruka and Ayato, and a classmate, Festa partner, and eventual ex-wife of Madiath Mesa.

Cherry Blossom Girl: Her name was Sakura, had pink hair, and is a Posthumous Character.
Dark and Troubled Past: She was born a Genestella to an Impoverished Patrician family that treated her about as well as the Dursleys treated Harry Potter. Viewed as a threat to their social status, she was exiled to a garden shed for most of her childhood and not even allowed to attend school, until she was discovered and befriended by Kotoha Toudou (Kirin's future mother). Eventually she got permission to leave home to attend Seidoukan Academy.
Impoverished Patrician: Her family was "old money" that had fallen on hard times but still tried to maintain its social status, and viewed her being Genestella as a potential embarrassment. Even when they finally allowed her to move to Asterisk, they refused to pay even a penny for her tuition.
Missing Mom: She died when Ayato was a child.
Posthumous Character: She has been dead for several years when the series begins. She only appears via flashbacks starting in volume 13.
Power Nullifier: She was a Strega with the ability to shut down nearby sources of meteoric energy, from luxes to household appliances (which was part of the excuse for her being banished to the garden shed).
"Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Abused and driven away by her not-entirely-sane mother, all she wanted most of her childhood was her love. The most she gets for her mother to talk to her enough to give her permission to compete in the Festa.

St. Galahadsworth Academy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/galahadworth_emblem.png

St. Galahadsworth Academy is one of the six schools of Asterisk. It has a culture patterned after Chivalric Romance, prizing diligence, gallantry, and discipline, and along with Jie Long generally produces the best-ranked fighters in the city. Their governing IEF is Elliott-Pound.

In General

As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Sir Galahad is one of the better-known knights in Arthurian Legend (dating to 13th century French additions to the mythos), while the suffix "-worth" (via Old English worþ) is an Anglo-Saxon derivation referring to an enclosed homestead. And there is of course no real-life Catholic saint by that name.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Their Student Council President is the #1-ranked student, the end.
Chivalric Romance: St. Galahadsworth is themed after this, with a student culture focused on swordplay, gallantry, and a general Knight in Shining Armor motif. The Galahadsworth team that Julis and Ayato fight in the semifinals consists of a fencer (who Ayato thinks could become better with the sword than him given a few more years of seasoning) and a bonafide knight-on-horseback cavalryman with a Jousting Lance (Julis beats him by giving him heat exhaustion).
Inconsistent Spelling: Yen Press's novel translation spells it "Gallardsworth", which inadvertently makes marginally more sense given aforementioned linguistic issues (Gallard is a real surname of Norman origin).

Ernest Fairclough

President Ernest Fairclough

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ernest_fairclough_anime_1.png

Ernest Fairclough is the president of St. Galahadsworth Academy's student council.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He is the president of St. Galahadsworth's student council and is a Master Swordsman to boot. Julis says she's not even in his league.
Knight in Shining Armor: A requirement for using his Orga Lux, the Holy Sword Lei-Glems, is to have the personality of a knight. It will only function if the wielder's mind is pure and just. Sure enough, after he shows his true colors, it quickly abandons him.
Master Swordsman: He uses a sword as his weapon, and is noted to far better than both Ayato and Kirin with it. By the time the Glyps finals roll around, Ernest is still better technique-wise than Ayato.
Red Baron: <Holy Knight> (Pendragon)
Student Council President: He is the leader of the St. Galahadsworth Academy's student council.
Unblockable Attack: Because his sword just phases through whatever he doesn't want it to cut, fighting him makes all of his attacks this. This is foreshadowed by his argument with Dirk Eberwein in volume 2: he sticks the point all the way through Dirk's neck without actually harming him (which Dirk laughs off as a parlor trick).

Laetitia Blanchard

Student Council Vice-President Laetitia Blanchard

Voiced by: Saori Onishi (Japanese), Laura Post (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laetitia_blanchard_anime.png

Laetitia Blanchard is the vice-president of St. Galahadsworth Academy's student council.

Childhood Friends: She's been friends with Claudia ever since they were children.
Friendly Rivalry: While Childhood Friends with Claudia, they have a long-running rivalry in the Festas: Claudia has won whenever they've faced each other^note and Laetitia wants to beat her at least once.
Number Two: To Ernest in the St. Galahadsworth Academy's student council.
Red Baron: <Holy Woman>
Vitriolic Best Buds: Despite her family having a feud with the Enfields, she is still friends with Claudia.

Elliot Forster

Voiced by: Rie Takahashi (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)

An up-and-coming fighter from St. Galahadsworth. Elliot, alongside Doroteo Lemus, faces off against Ayato and Julis in the Phoenix semifinals in volume 5, and returns leading a Galahadsworth team, Team Tristan, at the Gryps in volume 8.

Heroic Build: Double Subverted. He's young and fairly scrawny when we first meet him in volume 5. A year later in volume 8, he's hit a growth spurt and has evidently done some significant strength training.
Master Swordsman: He's young, but when he duels Ayato the latter comments that, given a few more years of seasoning, Elliot could become better with the blade than himself. He initially favors a Lux resembling a saber or Scottish broadsword, but later acquires the Orga Lux Lei-Glems from Ernest Fairclough.
Nom de Guerre: Claíomh Solais, the Shining Sword.
Rank Up: He's ranked 12th at Galahadsworth in his first appearance during the Phoenix Festa in volume 5, but has advanced to 6th by the time the Gryps rolls around in volume 8. He succeeds Ernest Fairclough as student council president and receives his sword Lei-Glems from him after the Orga Lux abandons him, and advances to 1st.
The Rival: He wants nothing better than to pay Ayato back for the humiliating defeat the latter handed him in the Phoenix quarterfinal. He doesn't get the chance, as his team is eliminated by Rusalka one round too early.
Skilled, but Naive: Elliot's downfall when he faces Ayato at the Phoenix semifinals. Despite Ayato using his backup sword Lux against him rather than Ser Veresta (due to the Hostage Situation with Flora), Ayato still trounces him due to a combination of greater experience and simply being older and physically stronger.
Student Council President: He succeeds Ernest as St. Galahadsworth's once Ernest's Orga Lux abandons him.
The Worf Effect: In spite of his reported talents as a swordsman he gets soundly thrashed in his first two speaking appearances. The first time he's up against Ayato and is simply outclassed for experience and physical strength, but the second time he and Team Lancelot are unexpectedly upset by Rusalka of all teams.

Doroteo Lemus

Voiced by: Satoshi Taki (Japanese)

Elliot's teammate in the Phoenix Festa, ranked 11th at St. Galahadsworth. He's a Dante who materializes a horse and armor.

Adaptation Dye-Job: For no apparent reason he goes from being shaved bald in the novel to having a full head of dark blond hair in the anime.
Armor of Invincibility: Subverted. His armor is generated with mana and prana and therefore regenerates, and it protects him from all physical damage. However, as Julis quickly realizes, it doesn't do him any good at all against heat.
Graceful Loser: After collapsing in his clash with Julis, he amicably tells her he gambled and lost, and to go ahead and hit his badge.
Heroic Build: As befitting a character with a Knight in Shining Armor motif. He's a muscular twenty-year-old.
Logical Weakness: His armor covers his school badge and regenerates itself from damage too quickly for Julis to land a second hit. However, it turns out it also traps heat, so she just keeps shooting fireballs at him until he collapses from heat exhaustion. This is Truth in Television: heat management has been a problem since the inception of armor, which modern science is only just beginning to solve.
Jousting Lance: He uses a lance Lux as part of his jousting knight schtick.
Nom de Guerre: Brightwen, the Armored Mage.
Put on a Bus: He doesn't reappear after volume 5 because he's already on his third and last permitted Festa when he teams up with Elliot.
Rugged Scar: The anime adds a small scar on his cheek, likely intended to be a Dueling Scar.

Arlequint Académie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arlequint_emblem.png

One of Asterisk's middle-rated schools, formatted as a research university. Arlequint's student body is heavily factionalized, with student groups competing for research funding from their governing IEF, Frauenlob.

In General

Animal Motifs: Their logo is an owl, an animal linked to Athena/Minerva, the Greco-Roman goddess of wisdom.
Inconsistent Spelling: Arlequint is close to the French for "harlequin", but Yen Press' light novel translations and Aniplex's subtitled translations for the first few episodes of the anime spell it "Allekant". Whether it uses the English or French spelling of "Academy" (or "Académie") is also not consistent.
Meaningful Name: Arlequint is one letter off from arlequin, French for "harlequin". The classical Italian harlequin is a trickster character that pursues its own interests at its master's expense.
Morality Kitchen Sink: Their dedication to pure research is a mixed bag.
- Ernesta Kühne and Camilla Pareto, the most prominent Arlequint students in the series, are basically decent people. Though they were involved in the assaults on prominent Seidoukan students in volume 1, Camilla wants to make self-defense weapons that anyone can use (the logical outcome of this seems not to have occurred to her), while Ernesta wants to create humanlike AI and have humans regard them as equals.
- On the flip side, Arlequint offered the Urzaiz sisters' parents a Leonine Contract so Priscilla would attend... and give up any shred of basic human rights, being a rare Regenerative that Arlequint wanted to study. It was also an Arlequint research group that bought Ophelia from her orphanage as an experimental subject and broke her emotionally.
The Smart Guy: They're the most dedicated school to mana research and factions of students compete internally for funding.

Ernesta Kühne

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese), Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ernesta_kuhne_anime_5.png

Ernesta Kühne is an Arlequint student and the leader of Pygmalion (Sculptor Faction). She's Camilla Pareto's best friend and work partner.

Androids Are People, Too: She wants AIs to be treated as equals to humans.
Genki Girl: She is infectiously hyperactive and energetic.
Mad Scientist: When not dealing with AR-D and RM-C.
Motherly Scientist: She views AR-D and RM-C as her children.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Camilla's blue. Ernesta is playful and cheerful, while Camilla is serious and stern.
Robot Master: She is a genius in making puppets, and she also created AR-D and RM-C.
The Tease: She kisses Ayato on the cheek when she meets him, in front of Julis, Saya and Claudia.
The Woman Behind the Man: She's the one responsible for Silas launching his assassination attempts on Seidoukan students.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She considers Silas a liability and leaves him in Seidoukan's hands at the end of volume 1.

Camilla Pareto

Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Japanese), Cristina Vee (English)

Camilla Pareto is an Arlequint student and a member of Ferrovious (Lions Faction). She's Ernesta Kühne's best friend and work partner.

Cyborg: Half of Camilla's body is mechanical due to wounds sustained from a terrorist grenade.
Death by Origin Story: Her parents died in an insurgent attack while doing humanitarian work, which she blames on their not being trained to use weapons in self-defense (e.g. their bodyguards' firearms). This motivated her to enroll at Arlequint to design weapons that need little training to use properly (she seems not to have figured out that such a weapon could be acquired and used by people very much like the aforementioned insurgents).
I Owe You My Life: Her life was saved by Ernesta after being critically injured when she was younger.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She is the blue to Ernesta's red. Camilla is serious and stern while Ernesta is playful and cheerful.
Robot Master: Unlike Ernesta, she sees robots as tools: she knows her goal of creating weapons anyone can use without training is impossible, so she's trying to build robot bodyguards instead.

AR-D

"Absolute Refusal" Defended Type: AR-D

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ar_d_anime_6.png

AR-D is one of two puppets with A.I.s made by Ernesta. He represented Ernesta during the Phoenix.

Curb-Stomp Battle: He effortlessly defeated every opponent he faced until the Phoenix semifinal, even giving them a full minute to try and usually fail to break through his Deflector Shield. Kirin and Saya make him work for it: Kirin landed the first damaging hit in the entire tournament on him and ultimately forced him and RM-C to bring out their Combining Mecha Super Mode.
Deflector Shields: He can make an energy shield that stops most attacks to protect himself or Rimsi.
Dueling Scar: Receives one from Kirin, the first person who got past his shield. He asked Ernesta if he could keep it as a sign of his growth, which she allows as long as she adds reinforcement beneath it to protect the circuits and parts beneath.
Fun with Acronyms: AR-D, usually pronounced "Ardi".
Mecha Expansion Pack: RM-C acts as his Power Limiter most of the time, in the sense that she carries half his armament. In a pinch, she can shed her weapons and armor and attach them to him, massively increasing his attack and defense power at the cost of damaging himself because the urm-manadites powering it are too much for his structure to handle for long.
Nice Guy: Him offering his opponents a full minute to attack him can seem as looking down upon them, but if they prove to be a Worthy Opponent, he apologizes and treats them with respect.
Pick Your Human Half: Of the "Looks Robotic, Acts Human" variety. He's literally a Humongous Mecha scaled down to human size but clearly acts like a human.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to RM-C's blue. AR-D is loud and boastful while RM-C is almost emotionless and upright.
Robot Names: "AR-D" is the shortened form of "Absolute Refusal" Defended type.
Super Mode: After combining with RM-C he becomes faster, stronger, able to fly, can make multiple shields and use his hammer as a gun.
Unskilled, but Strong: The fight with Kirin and Saya brings this to the fore: AR-D and RM-C are powerful fighters but lack practical combat experience (in no small part because none of their previous battles lasted more than one minute and a few seconds). In particular, since AR-D uses algorithms to predict where an enemy's blow will land and put up his Deflector Shield, all Kirin has to do to get past them is be less perfect, i.e. more unpredictable, in her attack patterns. Unfortunately, AR-D's machine learning quickly lets him compensate: the novel narration notes that, ironically, that fight gives the robots plenty of the experience they need to get better.
Worthy Opponent: Considers Kirin and Ayato as this.

RM-C

"Ruinous Might" Cannon Type: RM-C

Voiced by: Haruka Yoshimura (Japanese), Laura Post (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rm_c_anime_8.png

RM-C is one of two puppets with A.I.s made by Ernesta. She represented Camilla during the Phoenix.

BFG: Her primary weapon is a very large cannon Lux that materializes in her hand. It recharges faster than Saya's Waldenholt Mini-Mecha but is less powerful.
Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: She's regularly beating and blasting AR-D when he gets her annoyed. Since she's his Power Limiter, AR-D can do nothing to defend himself against her. Lampshaded by Ernesta when AR-D asks her why he seems to be helpless against RM-C, and Ernesta responds (paraphrased) that woman was made to keep man in his place.
Emotionless Girl: Unlike AR-D, RM-C shows very little to no emotion.
Jet Pack: She uses it to fly around the arena during the fight with Saya and Kirin.
Pick Your Human Half: Of the "Looks Human, Acts Robotic" variety. She's much more human-looking than AR-D but doesn't really show emotions.
Power Limiter: To AR-D. He needs her approval to combine^note with her.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to AR-D's red. RM-C is almost emotionless and upright while AR-D is loud and boastful.
Robot Girl: Unlike AR-D, RM-C looks completely like a human girl, especially when she takes off her robotic armour parts.
Robot Names: "RM-C" is the shortened form of "Ruinous Might" Cannon type.
Straight Man: She's the one to always reprimand AR-D when he gets too full of himself.

Hilda Jane Rowlands

Voiced by: Yuu Kobayashi (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)

Hilda Jane Rowlands is a researcher who "bought" Ophelia and experimented on her for the sake of making an artificial Strega.

Annoying Laugh: "Khishishishi!" Ayato finds it grating, in-universe, especially since there's simply no context for her to be that "jovial" when he heard it.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: President of the Arlequint Academy Research Institute, the Tenorio <Ubersmensch> faction.
Deal with the Devil: Offers one to Ayato to revive his sister who is in an apparently self-inflicted coma, in exchange for regaining full access to Arlequint's research equipment, personnel, and test subjects. In volume 11, Ayato turns it back on her, using his Gryps Festa wish to restore her to her place at the Institute in exchange for reviving Haruka, but only on condition that she adhere to reasonable ethical standards. She breaks the deal, she makes an enemy of the -IEFs.
For Science!: The thing that distresses her most about Ophelia's "accident?" The lives of her fellow researchers? No. The fact that Ophelia's life has been horrifically, and possibly irrevocably damaged? No. The complete and total loss of the laboratory where it took place? No. What really twists her panties is that Arlequint has completely failed to duplicate the process.
"There's just no value to an experiment where you can't replicate the results."
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: She wears glasses and has a sinister personality.
Just Think of the Potential!: This is how she justifies her behavior.
Lack of Empathy: Doesn't give any value to human life, including her own.
Last Episode, New Character: After spending most of the series working behind-the-scenes, she only makes a physical appearance at the end of volume 6 offering Ayato the chance to awaken his sister from her coma.
Leonine Contract: Arlequint executives have a habit of offering these to impoverished people to acquire new test subjects, and Rowlands is no exception: she's the reason Ophelia is the way she is, a result of her efforts to make artificial Genestella. She gets some Laser-Guided Karma in this regard when Ayato uses his Gryps Festa wish to have her awaken Haruka in exchange for restoring her status at the Institute, but only on condition that she actually adhere to reasonable ethical standards in her research. She either obeys his wishes or she makes an enemy of the IEFs by endangering their regime's legitimacy. And that's if Ayato doesn't get to her first.
A Million Is a Statistic: She doesn't care about the lives of her fellow researchers or her test subjects. Period. All she cares about are the "scientific" results and research.
Playing with Syringes: Has a habit of this.
Red Baron: "The Great Doctor" <Magnum Opus>
Übermensch: Lampshaded. The leader of the "Ubermensch faction" of Arlequint.

Jie Long Seventh Institute

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jie_long_emblem.png

The largest school at Asterisk and the only one to incorporate an elementary school, with a majority-Chinese student body. They're patterned largely after Buddhist monastic schools, with a strong focus on martial arts. Their governing IEF is also called Jie Long.

In General

Fantastic Fighting Style: Known for practicing seisenjutsu, which combines multiple Genestella arts into a comprehensive whole that makes their fighters among the most formidable in Asterisk.

Fan Xinglou

President Fan Xinglou

Voiced by: Omi Minami (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fan_xinglou_anime_4.png

Fan Xinglou is the young president of the Jie Long Seventh Institute.

Adaptation Dye-Job: While her hair is black in the light novels, her hair color is changed to purple in the anime.
Animal Motifs: Butterflies are usually seen flying around her and her hairstyle resembles butterfly wings.
Antiquated Linguistics: Speaks in an archaic manner.
Little Miss Badass: She's one of the most powerful characters in the setting and has the appearance of a 9-year-old little girl.
Really 700 Years Old: She looks about 9, but she isn't as young as everyone thinks she is. It's later revealed she's over 1000 years old.
Red Baron: Divine Revelations.
Student Council President: The leader of the Jie Long Seventh Institute's student council.
Young and in Charge: So young that she is unable to participate in the current Festa. Subverted with the reveal that she's well over 1000 years old.

Li Twins

In General

Ambiguous Gender: Lampshaded. It's very difficult to tell which is the brother and which is the sister.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Extremely proud of their martial arts skill and dojo.
Ax-Crazy: The twins go nuts during fights, especially Shen Yun.
Brother–Sister Team: They're Half-Identical Twins and fight together at the Festa.
The Bully: They are notorious for fighting their matches this way.
Calling Your Attacks: Played with. They're so in synchrony that they call out each other's attacks in battle.
Combat Pragmatist: They use all sorts of nasty tricks while fighting.
Demolitions Expert: The twins use all sorts of bombs and grenades during duels to distract and defeat opponents.
Half-Identical Twins: Everything about them is identical; the one thing that sets them apart is that Shenyun is a boy and Shenhua is a girl.
Master of Illusion: They can use tricks to fool their opponents and attack them at will.
Single-Minded Twins: To truly annoying degrees. They finish each other's sentences in the middle of battle or call each other's attacks.
Theme Twin Naming: Both their names start with Shen.
This Cannot Be!: When they ultimately lost their match against Ayato and Julis.
Trap Master: They use illusions to make exploding talismans invisible.

Li Shenhua

Voiced by: Risae Matsuda (Japanese), Lauren Landa (English)

Anime Chinese Girl: She has the name, dress style, skill in martial arts and the odango hair that place her firmly under this trope.
Cleavage Window: Her dress has an opening that reveals some of her cleavage.

Li Shenyun

Voiced by: Satsumi Matsuda (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)

Laughing Mad: During his Ax-Crazy moments, he laughs wildly.
Paper Talisman: Fights using exploding ones, which work equally well as mines or missiles.
Sadist: He looked like he was about to orgasm when blowing up Julis with his talisman cards.

Le Wolf Black Institute

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rewolf_emblem.png

The "bad guy" school at Asterisk, with a Social Darwinist student culture that promotes duels between students and leads to significant disciplinary problems and higher-than-average dropout rates. They're good at the Lindvolus, not so much in the other Festas. They're governed by Solnage.

In General

Inconsistent Spelling: The anime subtitles spell it "Rewolf" or "Re Wolf" at times. Whether or not there's an 'e' on the end of "Wolf" is also not consistent between translations.
Social Darwinist: As a Le Wolf student, you will either succeed and join the powerful, or you'll fail and be ground down to nothing. Either way the faculty will not help you (not that adults are particularly useful in this series anyway). As a consequence, they have significant juvenile delinquency and dropout rates, and don't tend to be very effective in the two team-based Festas.
Thug Dojo: Among the six schools of Asterisk they're known as this. In addition to high juvenile delinquency and dropout rates and poor academic performance by their students, they're well-known to have connections to various organized crime gangs in the city.

Dirk Eberwein

President Dirk Eberwein

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dirk_eberwin_anime_art.png

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

Dirk Eberwein is the president of Le Wolf's student council. A base-line human whose unprecedented rise to the top of a battle school for super humans is due to his ability to manipulate others behind the scenes.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: His manipulative personality towards others led him to become the president of the student council.
Fat Bastard: He's stated to be somewhat overweight.
The Man Behind the Man: Priscilla would never have gotten out and Ophelia would never have become a powerful student at Le Wolf if Dirk wouldn't have let them.
Manipulative Bastard: He loves treating people as pawns.
Mission Control: Runs everything at Le Wolf academy despite not being a member of the Genestella.
Nerves of Steel: Ernest Fairclough threatens him with his Orga Lux in their first appearance at the beginning of volume 2 (for sexist insults against Sylvia Lyyneheym and Queenvail), even sticking the point into Dirk's neck. Dirk dares him to go ahead.
Non-Action Guy: Being a physically ordinary human, he's no match for any Genestella in actual combat. His political skills make up for it.
Perpetual Frowner: The only facial expression he ever makes is a scornful scowl.
Politically Incorrect Villain: He's openly dismissive of the all-female Queenvail school in his first appearance, complaining in a horribly sexist manner about Sylvia Lyyneheym begging off the meeting of student council presidents due to her European tour. From the light novel:
Dirk: I'm just stating the facts, everybody knows it. Those sluts at Queenvale couldn't run a school to save their lives. How many council meetings has that shorty missed since they voted her president? She doesn't do shit.
Ernest: What a fine vocabulary you have. You've made your point, so if you'd please stop there?
Dirk: Well, she was picked to represent those morons based on her looks, so I guess we shouldn't expect much from her besides— (At which point Ernest draws on him.)
Red Baron: Known as Tyrant (Unscrupulous King)
Student Council President: The leader of Le Wolf Black Institute's student council.
Token Human: He's one of the few members of the entire cast, and the only student body president at Asterisk, who is a baseline human rather than a Genestella.
Villainous Rescue: Played with. On the one hand, he did make a big show of recalling Ophelia who was killing Ayato and Julis with poison. In doing so, however, he left both of them greatly weakened, and at Gustave's mercy.
Would Hurt a Child: He kidnapped Flora Klemm, Julis's friend and visiting dignitary, to cause Ayato to focus on rescuing her. He shows little regard about putting a child's life in danger.

Irene Urzaiz

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/irene_character_art.png

Voiced by: Yumi Uchiyama (Japanese), Erica Lindbeck (English)

Irene Urzaiz is Le Wolf's 3rd top-ranking student.

As Long as It Sounds Foreign: She and her sister are strongly implied to be Spaniards, but there's problems with the Spanish- or Asturian-language incantations she uses in volume 3 (the plurals aren't written properly).
Ax-Crazy: While controlled by Gravi-Sheath, Irene becomes vicious and literally bloodthirsty.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Ayato saves Irene's life and sanity, as well as protecting her beloved sister, by destroying Gravi-Sheath in their match, earning her gratitude.
Big Sister Instinct: She's very protective of her younger sister.
Custom Uniform of Sexy: The jacket of her Le Wolf uniform hangs off her shoulders and is only buttoned above her midriff, exposing the bikini top she wears to cover her chest.
Dark Is Not Evil: Although she is controlled by Dirk Eberwein, looks like a thug and wielding Gravi-Sheath gives her vampiric attributes, she is a good person.
Evil Weapon: The Gravi-Sheath uses her more than she uses it. It gives her potent Gravity Master powers but exacts a heavy toll in mana and prana, which she has to recoup by draining her sister's blood (it transforms her body for exactly this purpose). She and Priscilla actually thank Ayato for destroying it.
Fangs Are Evil: Played With. Gravi-Sheath gives Irene long fangs so she can drain blood from her sister. While Irene is a good person, Gravi-Sheath's influence makes her vicious.
Gravity Master: Her Orga Lux, Gravi-Sheath, allows her to increase or decrease gravity over a specified surface area, and also lets her fire small singularities at her enemies that she refers to as "fanegas", Spanish for bushels (a measurement of volume).
Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to make her mad.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's rough around the edges, but she's a protective older sister to Priscilla. Irene is also grateful to those who help her and her sister.
Magical Foreign Words: She uses either Spanish or Asturian (a closely related Romance language from Asturias in northern Spain), or possibly both, for her incantations.
Mercy Rewarded: She repays Ayato in volume 5 by helping him narrow down where Dirk is holding Flora (they were looking in the wrong part of the city before).
Navel Window: She unbuttons her school uniform to show off her belly button.
Perpetual Poverty: She has a huge debt to Dirk Eberwein, and by the contract on that debt, even if she wins the Festa, the proceeds can't be used to lower it.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: When wielding Gravi-Sheath, her eyes turn into a glowing red color.
Red Baron: Lamilexia (Violent Vampire Princess)
The Runaway: She ran off home after her parents attempted to sell her sister because of her regenerative powers.
Scarf of Asskicking: She wears a black scarf around her neck.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Irene is crude and aggressive, while her sister Priscilla is gentle and doesn't fight.
Sinister Scythe: Gravi-Sheath (Bloody Scythe of Supreme Destruction)
Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's an uncouth brawler with a Hair-Trigger Temper, and usually wears more masculine clothes when not in uniform (jeans and a T-shirt). Her sister prefers dresses and is an excellent cook.
Trapped in Villainy: Is controlled by Dirk Eberwein through a tremendous debt, through no fault of her own.
Vampiric Draining: To become more powerful, she has to bite her sister in the neck, like a vampire.
Walking Swimsuit Scene: She usually walks around in a bikini top under a Le Wolfe uniform. This seems to be for shock value: she turns out to be a jeans-and-T-shirt girl when she and Priscilla invite Ayato and Julis to their off-campus apartment.
Work Off the Debt: She works for Dirk Eberwein as his personal hit-woman to pay off the debt she owes him, which she incurred when he bought out the Leonine Contract that Arlequint scouts got her parents to sign on Priscilla's behalf.
Wrecked Weapon: Ayato destroys Gravi-Sheath in their fight.

Priscilla Urzaiz

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/priscilla_character_art.png

Voiced by: Juri Nagatsuma (Japanese), Christine Marie Cabanos (English)

Priscilla Urzaiz is the younger sister of Irene Urzaiz.

Feminine Women Can Cook: One of her traditionally feminine traits is that she's a good cook.
Girlish Pigtails: She ties back her hair into braided twin-tails, giving her a more docile appearance than her thuggish sister.
Good Thing You Can Heal: Her backstory has her survive an otherwise fatal building collapse because of this.
Healing Factor: She's a very rare type of Genestella, a Regenerative.
Morality Pet: She's the only one who can reason with her older sister and bring out her softer side.
Parental Abandonment: Her parents sold her to Arlequint. Dirk Eberwein bought her back and slapped that debt onto Irene.
Protectorate: Irene's main goal is to keep Priscilla safe.
Rescue Romance: She appears to develop a crush on Ayato after he saves her from some thugs.
The Runaway: As soon as she discovered her regenerative powers, her parents tried to sell her. Priscilla had to run away with Irene to avoid this.
Satellite Character: She doesn't amount to much aside from being Irene's nicer sister.
Sibling Yin-Yang: She's the sweet and physically weaker sister that contrasts the tough and powerful Irene.
Supreme Chef: Even the simplest dishes she makes are fit for a king.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's much more feminine than her thuggish and crude sister.

Werner

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wernher_character_art.png

Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma (Japanese), Chris Niosi (English)

Werner is a college student at Le Wolf, and a Ninja in Grimalkin, Le Wolf's spy unit. He's ranked seventh in the Gold Eyes unit and, in volume 5, kidnaps and detains Flora Klemm on Dirk Eberwein's orders.

Blade Below the Shoulder: For close-range combat, he has two short daggers attached to his wrists.
Casting a Shadow: He's a Dante who fights by weaponizing shadows, turning them into automatons and Combat Tentacles.
Never Found the Body: Eishiro disposes of his body after hunting him down and killing him; all Stjarnagarm finds is the bloodstains.
Ninja: He's based off of the stereotypical ninja, wearing a facemask and black garb and fighting in the shadows with knives.
No Name Given: He's just referred to as "Werner"; we don't even know if it's his first or last name.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Subverted. He escapes from Saya, Kirin, and Lester when they rescue Flora (Kirin is seriously wounded and they have to notify Ayato that they've retrieved her), but Eishiro hunts him down afterwards and kills him in a drainage culvert.

Orphelia Landlufen

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Ryan Bartley (English)

Ophelia Landlufen is the top-ranking student at Le Wolf. She was a childhood friend of Julis from the orphanage until she was taken away by Arlequint and experimented on to make her an artificial Strega.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: She's a Dark Magical Girl and is the top-ranking student at Le Wolf.
Broken Bird: Long ago, she was a sweet little girl who wouldn't hurt an insect. After being subjected to experiments, she's a cold and gloomy Emotionless Girl.
Caring Gardener: As a child, she was a sweet, gentle girl who loved nothing more than taking care of flowers. Unfortunately, the powers she got from Hilda's experiments rendered her unable to get near flowers without killing them. Julis believes this must have broken Ophelia the worst out her entire ordeal.
Cast from Lifespan: Her powers work like this. It is literally killing her to use them.
Childhood Friends: With Julis. They were very close friends at the orphanage.
Creepy Monotone: Ophelia's voice is described to be dark and hollow, cold as if it was frozen and seemingly reverberating from the ground.
Cursed with Awesome: Hilda's experiments made Ophelia into possibly the most powerful Strega in existence and almost untouchable to any opponent. The downside is that her power also made her into a Walking Wasteland, which for a girl who loved flowers like she did is simply the worst power ever.
Dark and Troubled Past: When she was a young girl, she was experimented on by Hilda to cover the orphanage's debts, turning her into an artificial Strega. The full details are not known, but her appearance, personality, and outlook completely changed.
Death Seeker: She may well be this.
Emotionless Girl: Ever since she was subjected to experiments, she is always gloomy and shows no emotion whatsoever. This is less evident in the anime where she often shows a sad expression at times.
Empathic Weapon: By volume 13 she's acquired a repaired Gravisheath from her patrons at Le Wolfe. Worse, unlike Irene she's in full control of it: her blood and prana are just as poisonous as the rest of her, weakening its will.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From an orphaned and friendly child to a gloomy and powerful Strega.
Gone Horribly Right: Arlequint was trying to make a Strega artificially. They succeeded, sort of. While she IS a Strega who was not born that way, the process destroyed the lab where she was being experimented on and created a dead zone and she ultimately ended up joining Le Wolf.
I Owe You My Life: To Le Wolf academy, or rather the branch of Integrity Enterprises Foundation that sponsors them. This is why she's a "student" there.
Inconsistent Spelling: The light novel spells it "Orphelia", the anime subtitles spell it "Ophélia".
Locked into Strangeness: Ophelia originally had brown hair. It turned white as a result of the experiments that made her into a Strega.
Mystical White Hair: She has white hair, hinting at her being an artificial Strega.
Nom de Guerre: Ereshkigal (The Venomous Witch)
Orphan's Ordeal: She was an orphan before being taken by Arlequint.
Poisonous Person: Her powers involve producing various poisons.
Prematurely Grey-Haired: She had brown hair as a child, but it turned white after being experimented on and turned into a Strega.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes are red and she has destructive poisonous powers.
Rei Ayanami Expy: White hair and red eyes, coupled with pale skin? Check. Cold and gloomy behavior? Check. Subjected to experiments that gave her incredible powers? Check.
Signature Headgear: She has two hair adornments that look like horns on either side of her hair.
The Stoic: She keeps the same melancholy look on her face at all times.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to Julis, Ophelia used to be a kind girl that couldn't bring herself to kill bugs. Then, she became a dangerous Emotionless Girl thanks to her being experimented on.
Walking Wasteland: Ophelia has the power to create miasma that corrodes anything it touches. However, she doesn't have control over her range of destruction and kills plant life just by getting near it.
We Used to Be Friends: With Julis before being taken from the orphanage.
World's Best Warrior: Julis describes her as the world's most powerful Strega. Of course, given the amount of veteran Dante and Strega running around, we don't know if that's true or if it's simply Julis being in awe of her power.
You Can't Fight Fate: The experiments that changed her and the time between her and Julis's reunion have turned her into a fatalist, often using words that refer to fate and destiny, and the inability to fight it.

Queenvale Girls' Academy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queenvail_emblem.png

Asterisk's only all-female school, consistently at the bottom of the Festa rankings due to a combination of a smaller student body and a culture that emphasizes performance arts rather than fighting skill. Their governing IEF is Warren and Warren.

In General

Faux Action Girl: They're a highly exclusive all-female institution, and their fighters are not well-thought-of and rarely place high in the various Tournament Arcs, though this is partly because being a One-Gender School means having a smaller talent pool than the other five. The only mentioned Queenvale team in the Phoenix Festa story arc is deliberately put in a bracket against the top-ranked Seidoukan Academy team, Ayato and Julis in order to keep the later rounds exciting, and Rusalka getting to the Gryps semifinals is treated as a freak upset.
Inconsistent Spelling: Yen Press spells it "Queenvale", the anime spells it "Queenvail".
One-Gender School: Unlike the other schools which are co-ed, this school is strictly girls-only.

Violet Weinberg

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Faye Mata (English)

A haughty Queenvale student whom Kirin and Saya encounter while taking a vacation day in anime episode 8, at which time she's ranked 35th at her school. She has a larger role in the Wings of Queenvale Spin-Off series.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Her debut in the original light novels is a bit part in volume 7, chapter 4 (published in Japan in November 2014) where she asks Ayato for an autograph at the School Festival (it's hard to spot: Yuu Miyazaki only uses her given name). The anime gives her a much earlier introduction in season 1, episode 8 (aired as filler in November 2015). She gets a larger role in the Wings of Queenvale Spin-Off.
Alpha Bitch: She's the archetypical pretty, arrogant bully.
Ascended Extra: The anime and the Wings of Queenvale spinoff gives her an expanded role compared to the original novels.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Saya blasts her across the room with Wolfdora in the first five seconds of their duel.
Fangirl: Her first appearance in the novels has her join a crush of Queenvale students trying to get Ayato's autograph (she succeeds).
Girlish Pigtails: She ties her hair up into twintails.
Having a Blast: Her talent as a Strega is generating bombs to attack her opponents with.
Swimsuit Scene: Her debut in the anime is at a city pool in Asterisk, so...

Sylvia Lyyneheym

President Sylvia Lyyneheym

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sylvia_asterisk_war.png

Voiced by: Haruka Chisuga (Japanese), Mela Lee (English)

Sylvia Lyyneheym is the president of Queenvale's student council and an idol singer Strega.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: She's a powerful Strega and the president of Queenvail Girls' Academy's Student Council.
Big Damn Heroes: Helps Ayato rescue Flora when the latter gets kidnapped.
Clark Kenting: She's a master of this. She reveals to Ayato that's she's been doing it for years, walking among the general public outside concert appearances and nobody's ever found her out. It helps that she can change her hair color, taking away one of her most defining features to be recognized by.
Contractual Purity: In-Universe example: in volume 7 her rivals at Queenvail, the Girl Group Rusalka, try to wreck her career by spreading the rumor that she has a boyfriend, which they guessed was why she disappeared for the three days of the School Festival. The readers already know she's on a date with Ayato in exchange for helping him find Flora in volume 5. (This may be incomprehensible to Western readers: Idol Singer fandoms in Japan are very strict about purity.)
Good Samaritan: She tells Ayato the reason she wants to help him is because she believes "who wouldn't help someone in their time of need?", and out of the student council presidents, she's the only one who hasn't shown doing anything shady, immoral or evil.
Magic Idol Singer: She's the world's most famous idol, which makes it hard for her to be in meetings with the other presidents of the other schools' student councils. She's also a Strega with the power to use her singing to do about anything as long as she has a song for it.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Justified, then subverted. During the first onscreen meeting between the student council presidents (in the prologue of volume 2), Sylvia is conspicuously absent because she's on tour in Europe (which Dirk Eberwein complains about). But then she turns up in person in volume 5 (taking a break from the East Asian leg of her tour) and helps Ayato find Flora.
Red Baron: Sigrdrifa (Melodious Witch)
Samaritan Relationship Starter: Both Inverted and played straight. Originally, her interest in Ayato was purely academic as he is one of the leading powers of a rival combat school. Her interest becomes more romantic after seeing his character first-hand when he tries to find and rescue Flora. Also, she is the one to come to his aid in that endeavor.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She answers one of Ayato's calls via video phone while she's in the shower.
Stealth Expert: Ayato muses that if she ever decided to tail him, he wouldn't be able to detect her presence. His observational skills often border on Super-Senses, mind you. Except for romance, for the most part.
Student Council President: She is the leader of Queenvail Girls' Academy's student council.
Superpower Lottery: Her songs can let her powers as a Strega be almost anything rather than a set ability like other Strega and Dante. However, there are limits such as that she can't use any healing abilities, is limited to one ability per song, and her prana usage varies depending on the ability she is using.

Rusalka

Left to right, Monica, Päivi, Miluše, Tuulia, Mahulena

A rock band made up of Queenvale students, rivals to Sylvia Lynneheym. They're introduced in volume 7 (past the end of the anime).

Their members are:

Miluše: Lead vocals, lead guitar. Also #3 rank at Queenvale.
Päivi: Drums
Monica: Bass
Tuulia: Rhythm guitar
Mahulena: Keyboards

Always Second Best: Their beef with Sylvia in a nutshell. She's the top fighter at Queenvale and a world-renowned singer. Miluše is third rank, and musically the band is close to her in popularity, but they want her spot, and to date have reportedly held 73 strategy sessions on the topic (according to Mahulena, the only member who's bothered to keep track).
Attack! Attack! Attack!: Sylvia has beaten all of them in duels individually. Nevertheless, Tuulia suggests fighting her again, thinking they might pull it off the next time.
Bifurcated Weapon: Their instruments are a single Orga Lux, Lyre-Poros, whose urm-manadite core was so powerful and malevolent it drove every wielder insane. Ladislav Bartošik solved the problem by dividing it into five weapons that would be wielded as a group effort.
Contractual Purity: Exploited, In-Universe. In volume 7 and 8 they briefly attempt to take down Sylvia with the rumor that she has a boyfriend. (One supposes they're trying to ruin her reputation in the otaku community, since this probably wouldn't have much effect in the Western world.)
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In volumes 7 and 8 they're set up as a Goldfish Poop Gang for Sylvia and then for Team Enfield, and not expected to advance very far in the Gryps. While fighting St. Galahadsworth's number two team, Team Tristan, they unexpectedly discover how to sync better with their Orga Lux to win a stunning upset, and then give Team Enfield a run for their money in the next round (their first actually difficult fight of the tournament).
Dark Horse Victory: They are not one of the favorites at the Gryps. Mid-battle against Team Tristan, the girls unexpectedly manage to sync better with Lyre-Poros and win a stunning upset.
Five-Token Band: Played with: Miluše and Mahulena are Czech names, Päivi and Tuulia are Finnish, while Monica is more generically Western European. However, these are apparently their stage names, so their actual nationalities are unknown.
Girl Group: They're an all-girl rock band.
Instrument of Murder: Their five instruments are a single Orga Lux, Lyre-Poros, designed by Ladislav Bartošik, the same guy who designed Claudia's Pan-Dora. It lets them fight battles by blasting their enemies with sound waves.
Musical Assassin: In battle mode, Lyre-Poros uses sound for both attack and defense.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Their stated names are said by Miluše to actually be stage names.
Only Sane Woman: Mahulena has kept track of how many times they've tried to overtake Sylvia as top artist and Queenvale fighter, and half-heartedly tries to dissuade her bandmates from their gambit in volume 7, to little effect. Justified in that, having the lowest compatibility rating with Lyre-Poros in Rusalka, she's the least affected by its side-effects.
"W-wait, everyone...! Wouldn't we be better off spending the time practicing, though...?"
The Rival: They're constantly trying to unseat Sylvia as top dog at Queenvale. She appears to find their efforts a source of amusement.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The urm-manadite that powers Lyre-Poros is extremely powerful, but tends to screw with the wielder's mind. Its designer mitigated this by breaking it into five pieces that would be wielded as a group, but it still negatively effects the wielders' judgement (it's more pronounced for more compatible wielders, which is why Mahulena is the Only Sane Woman).

City of Rikka/Asterisk

Helga Lindwall

Commander Helga Lindwall

Helga Lindwall is the commander of Stjarnagarm, the Asterisk city police force. She's a former Festa champion believed to be the strongest Strega in history.

Adapted Out: She doesn't appear in the anime.
The Dreaded: She's one of the few people even the IEFs worry about: when she's tasked by Ayato's Phoenix Festa wish with finding his sister, Helga suspects they let her find Haruka rather than risk a longer investigation uncovering evidence of other crimes.
Older Than They Look: She's described as very beautiful but won the Lindvolus Festa over 50 years ago, which means she's at least in her mid-sixties. Justified in that she has the ability to change her appearance.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Helga is a good cop who has previously investigated the IEFs' role in past coverups, such as the death of the previous Festa Executive Committee Chairman, Danilo Bertoni, in a terrorist incident (Gustave Malraux was also involved).
The Sheriff: Essentially this for Asterisk. She's Da Chief in role but still takes an active part in investigations and policing rather than simply managing the force.
Time Master: She has the power to rewind time for herself, allowing her to reverse wounds she takes.
We Will Not Use Stage Makeup In The Future: One of her powers as a Strega is to change her own appearance and apparent age.
World's Best Warrior: She's popularly believed to be the strongest Strega in history.

Integrated Enterprise Foundations

A group of six powerful megacorporations that arose following the Invertia event and now rule the world for profit: Galaxy, Elliott-Pound, Jie Long, Frauenlob, Solnage, and W&W (Warren and Warren).

In General

Brainwashing for the Greater Good: For the greater good of the company's bottom line, at least. Senior executives at all the IEFs routinely undergo a procedure designed to strip them of all human wants and desires except improving corporate profits.
The Caligula: A MegaCorp that rules the whole world and actively keeps it crapsack because it is profitable is never a good sign.
Corporate Warfare: The integrated enterprise foundations maintain powerful spy networks and Private Military Contractors (made up mainly of Genestella) to enforce their positions, and have sometimes even fought each other. Lieseltania was created as a result of a peace settlement between two IEFs, mediated by the others, that prevented one such conflict from devolving to open warfare.
Democracy Is Flawed: Their power, wealth, and propaganda have let them suborn what democratic governments there are in the world to their purposes, including Lieseltania's parliament.
Everyone Has Standards: Killing someone in self-defense, even if one is a Genestella, is a serious crime. Using their own relatives or children as pawns in their plans, covering up crimes, and hiring someone to kill a princess? They're even more serious matters, as demonstrated by Claudia when she learns about Koichiro's intentions to corrupt Kirin and when Nicholas plots an assassination attempt on Julis to keep her out of the Gryps Festa. Some of Hilda Jane Rowlands's experiments also apparently crossed lines for them: they banned her from certain avenues of research, and only rescind the ban when Ayato uses his Gryps Festa wish to force her to adhere to some ethical standards.
Face–Heel Turn: In the backstory, they were a good organization helping the world to recover. Overtime, however, they decided to let their greed get the better of them.
Fallen Hero: Their original intent of the organization was to help the world recover following the meteor strikes. Now they're just wanting to profit at the expense of everyone else.
Fatal Flaw: Greed. It is through this that has led to the whole world being reduced to poverty.
Greater-Scope Villain: The IEF as a whole serve as the main antagonists of the series, but they never directly confront the heroes. Most of the villainous acts in the series are performed by their Corrupt Corporate Executives or members of the Asterisk student government.
Lost in Translation: Some translations, notably the anime, speak of "the Integrated Enterprise Foundation", capitalized, as if it were a single entity. However, Volume 6 of the novels makes clear that there are multiple IEFs in competition (two of them nearly fought a war over Lieseltania in the Backstory and the others mediated a peace settlement).
MegaCorp: The IEFs control Earth after the Invertia event caused traditional governments to collapse. Ayato remarks that Claudia Enfield is on a completely different level of social standing than Julis (a literal princess) due to the fact that her mother Isabella is a high-ranking official with the IEF.
Money Fetish: They are greedy and always eager for cash.
Overreacting Airport Security: The way they arrest a Genestella for a Felony Misdemeanor is over the top.
Pacifism Backfire: They aimed for a more diplomatic government, but the problem was that the IEFs' main motivation was to accumulate riches and countries reverted to the monarchist systems.
Satanic Archetype: The IEFs are pretty much this but applied to a company. It fits the fallen angel motif nicely as they once intended to rebuild and guide humanity but then became corrupted by greed. In fact, the whole world being rendered into a Crapsack World could be a case of a Deal with the Devil applied to the whole world.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The IEFs liberally use their influence and wealth to change things that don't suit them, up to and including creating remaking entire countries (Lieseltania among them).
Shadow Dictator: The IEF's higher-ups are never revealed directly, and the most we see from them are their executives.

Kouichirou Toudou

Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)

Kouichirou is Kirin Toudou's uncle and trainer. He's a middle manager at Galaxy, the IEF that backs Seidoukan Academy, as well as being the seniormost teacher of Toudou-ryuu following the imprisonment of his brother, Kirin's father Seijirou, for a Crime of Self-Defense.

The Bus Came Back: He is Put on a Bus at the end of volume 2 after he leaves Kirin behind. He isn't seen again until the 11th volume, where it's revealed that he resigned from Galaxy and reconnected with his family to make amends for what he's done.
Domestic Abuse: In his Establishing Character Moment, he slaps Kirin for questioning him. Ayato intercepts the second slap and tells him off. But Kouichirou tells Ayato not to interfere, as it's a family matter.
Kouichirou: Now get out of here, boy. It's not as if a little slap can really do any damage to you Genestella.
Ayato: That may be true, but we still feel pain.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Of the coach variant. He teaches Kirin swordplay after Seijiro is detained and trains her for the Festas, but he uses her as an Unwitting Pawn to advance his career.
Establishing Character Moment: In his first scene, he yells for Kirin to come to him so that she won't be late for practice. Later on, he slaps Kirin when the latter disagrees with him, but Ayato quickly intervenes.
Evil Uncle: He antagonizes Ayato and the other Genestella by the time he shows up in Volume 2 and is also Kirin's uncle.
Fantastic Racism: He despises the Genestella, given that his brother Seijiro was one, and only teaches Kirin to have his father released and build a reputation within Galaxy that he hopes will carry him higher in the hierarchy.
Glory Hound: Part of his Evil Plan involves using Kirin as an Unwitting Pawn and have her win the Festas undefeated to become a famous Galaxy executive.
Green-Eyed Monster: In his backstory, Kouichirou got extremely jealous when Seijiro, a Genestella, became the successor to the Toudou style.
Heel–Face Turn: By the time of volume 11, he decides to atone for his misdeeds after resigning from Galaxy.
Jerkass Has a Point: Despite being involved in a cover-up regarding Seijiro's crimes and being a jerk to Kirin, Kouichirou has a good point about wanting Seijiro released. His point eventually comes true when Kirin releases her father on her own terms.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even though his methods in training Kirin and covering up Seijiro's actions were amoral at best, he's far from an unfair uncle as shown when he reconnects with his family after resigning from Galaxy.
Laser-Guided Karma: He frequently uses Kirin as a pawn in his plans. However, after Ayato shows up in her life, she begins to stand up for herself and breaks ties with Koichiro. Then after Ayato defeats Kirin, Koichiro reveals that he covered up her father's deeds in order for his niece to come back with him; Claudia threatens to ruin Koichiro's career and the latter becomes even less of a jerkass by the time he retires from Galaxy to rejoin the Toudou family.
Mentor Archetype: He became Kirin's mentor in swordplay after Seijiro was arrested.
Non-Action Guy: Unlike Seijiro, who is a Genestella, Kouichirou is an ordinary human. As it turns out, that means he can only hit Kirin when she lets him.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His goals of having Kirin succeed in the Festas and ultimately secure Seijiro's release may be noble, but in fact, he's only doing it for his own personal recognition to the point where he's willing to cover up Seijirou's deeds.
The Resenter: He deeply resents Seijiro since the latter become the heir to the Toudou-style.
Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems backhanding Kirin whenever she disagrees with him. Ayato intervenes, only for him to be forced into a duel with her to get her uncle to stop hitting her. He loses, then finds out she's the top-ranked fighter at their school, but only because he's still unable to go all out at this point. Eventually, Kirin decides to stand up for herself and breaks ties with Koichiro at the end of Volume 2.

Madiath Mesa

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), David Vincent (English)

Madiath Mesa is a member of Galaxy, and the chairman of the Festa Executive Committee. He's also a former Festa Champion.

Affably Evil: Despite his villanous actions, he maintains a calm demeanor.
Ambiguously Evil: What he wants out of the conflict between schools hasn't been revealed. He defeated Haruka and caused her to fall into a coma, but is keeping her safe and waiting for her awakening. He also trains Ayato in how to unlock his final Power Limiter.
Archnemesis Dad: To Haruka, at least.
Authority in Name Only: In terms of his role at Galaxy, at least. His wish after winning the Festa was to become a Galaxy executive, but Galaxy didn't want to compromise their usual executive intake procedures (selectively hiring, and then brainwashing the humanity out of new executives). The solution was to give him an executive title but no actual business role at the IEF beyond administering Festas.
Cool Sword: The Raksha-Nada, a sword-type Ogre Lux made by the same creator as Ser Veresta and Lei-Glems. It has the power to fragment its blade into small flares that he can manipulate individually. He embedded one of them in Haruka when they fought years ago, and uses that as leverage to force Ayato to enter the Lindvolus against his will.
Dark and Troubled Past: Madiath Mesa was Made a Slave by an illegal fighting ring and forced to compete in deathmatches from an early age, before being "given a special scholarship" (read: purchased as a possible Festa competitor) by Seidoukan Academy.
Early-Bird Cameo: That guy that beats Haruka in episode 1? That's Madiath. However, this was only found in the anime.
Luke, I Am Your Father: He is Ayato's stepfather and Haruka's father.
Master Swordsman: He is skilled enough to defeat Haruka.
Nom de Guerre: Lamina Mortis
Power Limiter: He nearly killed Haruka in an Eclipse match after she foiled his plans, which is depicted in the Action Prologue. As a final "screw you", Haruka unleashed her sealing powers on him as he went down much as she had earlier on Ayato, before sealing herself away in stasis as well.
Punch-Clock Villain: He comes across as a level-headed man just doing his job. Subverted: he's secretly one of the series' primary villains.

Gustave Malraux

Voiced by: Hiroshi Iwasaki (Japanese), Joe Ochman (English)

A Genestella Professional Killer, Gustave is dispatched by Nicholas Enfield to assassinate Julis to stop Claudia from participating in the Gryps Festa. He is a former student at Arlequint Academy.

Awesome, but Impractical: The hydra, along with the Colchian dragons he uses as a diversion for Lieseltania's police, uses up most of his prana, leaving him with nothing but Dem Bones when Kirin finds him.
Crippling Overspecialization: He's very good at summoning monsters but not much else: Kirin corners him and easily takes him down in melee combat. She even lampshades it, noting that since she lost to Ayato she's learned to develop more variety in her swordplay (which now includes offensive use of the scabbard a la Rurouni Kenshin).
Kirin: Don't worry. I hit you with the blunt side.
Dem Bones: The last beast he summons are Spartoi, based on the skeletal warriors from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts.
Enemy Summoner: He's a Dante who crafts and summons beasts out of Classical Mythology to attack his enemies.
Faux Affably Evil: He's a well-dressed Soft-Spoken Sadist who will commit terrorist attacks and kill others without hesitation.
Professional Killer: His role in volume 2 is to act as Nicholas's hitman.
Psycho for Hire: He's a Professional Killer but appears to get off on the chaos and violence.
Serial Escalation: In three attacks on Team Ayato, he goes from summoning a single chimera, to a pair of three-headed dogs, to a building-sized hydra.

Nicholas Enfield

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nicolas_enfield_anime.png

Voiced by: Yoji Ueda (Japanese), Kyle Hebert (English)

Nicholas Enfield is a British chief revenue officer assistant at Galaxy, the IEF that backs Seidoukan Academy. He's the father of Claudia Enfield and assistant to her mother Isabella, a fellow Galaxy executive.

Affably Evil: He's a pleasant and loving father to Claudia. Too bad about the terrorist attacks on Lieseltania.
Anti-Villain: Of the Well-Intentioned Extremist variety. Nicholas wanted to keep his daughter Claudia out of the Gryps Festa by using Gustave Malraux to try killing Julis.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's determined to keep his daughter from competing in the Gryps Festa, even if it means hiring Gustave to attack Lieseltania.
Evil Brit: Not only is he an Anti-Villain, but Nicholas resides in London. Appropriately enough, his home is a Gothic Revival mansion located in the city's suburbs.
Inconsistent Spelling: Yen Press's official translation of the novels spells it "Nicholas"; the anime subtitles spell it "Nicolas". Either one is technically correct, although it's more commonly spelled with an "h" in English-speaking countries (including the UK, where he seems to be from).
Love Makes You Evil: His love for Claudia leads to him hiring the Psycho for Hire Gustave Malraux to launch multiple terrorist attacks in Lieseltania and attempt to assassinate Julis because he didn't want Claudia to participate in the Gryps Festa to keep the IEFs from targeting her directly for her wish.
The Man Behind the Man: Gustave Malraux would've never tried to attack Lieseltania and assassinate Julis if Nicholas wouldn't have let him.
Meaningful Name: His last name, Enfield, is a borough in London, England. His residence is in the London suburbs.
Punch-Clock Villain: Unlike Kouichirou, Nicholas comes off as a level-headed executive just doing his job at Galaxy.
Tragic Villain: Claudia plans to gather evidence to potentially destroy Galaxy upon entering the Gryps Festa. Since he deeply loves Claudia, Nicholas must act to help her and Galaxy no matter how immoral the plans might be. He even warns Claudia that because of her actions, Galaxy will continue to pursue her if she does participate in the Gryps Festa.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He dispatches Gustave Malraux to attack Lieseltania and assassinate Julis in an effort to stop Claudia from participating in the Gryps Festa, as she plans to obtain evidence that could potentially destroy the organization. Claudia unsurprisingly calls out Nicholas on this while interrogating him.
Would Hit a Girl: Nicholas recruits Gustave Malraux to launch an assassination attempt on Julis, which seems anything but harmless.

Lieseltania

Located on the southeastern border of Germany, Lieseltania is a country ruled by the Riessfelds, specifically Jolbert von Riessfeld. Originally a territory of the Holy Roman Empire, its collapse caused it to become independent for the next 100 years. It was absorbed during the unification of Germany. After the Invertia, Solnage and Frauenlob fought over the rights to a Beltis asteroid, leading the IEFs to turn Lieseltania into a country.

In General

Crapsack World: The country is in dire financial straits and it is ruled by an IEF with the monarchs' powers being limited.
Modest Royalty: The Lieseltania monarchs have a quite ordinary choice of clothing. Nobody could tell that Jolbert is a king unless they were told so when he wears common shirt and pants.
Puppet King: Under the IEF's rule, Lieseltania monarchs are reduced to having very little actual power.
Ruritania: Lieseltania is a relatively poor Eastern European country with a constitutional monarchy. A map shown in the anime depicts it as approximately the western half of the real-world Czech Republic.
Shining City: Its capital city of Storel often glows in the night. Naturally, it's one of the first places Gustave targets when he's dispatched to launch terrorist attacks on Lieseltania.

Jolbert von Riessfeld

King Jolbert von Riessfeld

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jolbert_riessfeld_character_art.png

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)

Jolbert Murray Johannes Heinrich von Riessfeld is the King of Lieseltania and the older brother of Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld. He's a shameless layabout and puppet for the IEF that runs Lieseltania.

Authority in Name Only: He's the King of Lieseltania, but as a modern European constitutional monarch he has little actual power (the royal family's housing budget is voted on by parliament). This is compounded by his country's government being a de facto Puppet State for an integrated enterprise foundation.
Brilliant, but Lazy: By his own admission, he mostly lays about the palace all day fooling around with his various mistresses. He's actually fairly politically savvy, but unfortunately that only means he knows full well what an uphill climb his Politically-Active Princess of a younger sister has ahead of her if she wants to change their country for the better. He either long ago gave up on, or never seriously entertained the possibility of, trying to stand up to the IEF.
Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: His queen and all of his mistresses were selected by the IEFs.
Non-Action Guy: He's an ordinary human rather than a Genestella like his sister (her birth apparently caused a minor scandal due to the Fantastic Racism against them), so when Gustave attacks the capital in volume six, Jolbert has little choice but to hide behind his security while Ayato and the others stop him.
Overly Long Name: His full name is Jolbert Murray Johannes Heinrich von Riessfeld and like Julis, he is a nobleman.
Reasonable Authority Figure: For what authority he has, Jolbert does genuinely want the best for Julis and for his country, but he doesn't think there's much he can actually do, since the IEFs are controlling Lieseltania.
Royal Harem: He has several mistresses in addition to a queen. They were all arranged matches that benefit the IEF in some way.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Invoked. He promises Julis he'll get serious about being king, if she manages to win the Gryps Festa and give him some actual clout with her victory wish.
Shipper on Deck: He openly ships Julis and Ayato. Justified: He does think they'd make a good royal couple, but he also notes that them marrying would prevent the IEF from picking her husband for its own benefit and to hell with her feelings.

Maria von Riessfeld

Queen Maria von Riessfeld

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maria_character_art_4.png

Voiced by: Kaede Hondo (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela (English)

Maria von Riessfeld is Jolbert's wife and queen consort.

Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: Her marriage to Jolbert was arranged by the IEF.
Dumb Blonde: Julis calls her an airhead.
Top Wife: She's Jolbert's official wife and queen, but the IEF has additionally selected several mistresses for Jolbert. Maria appears to not care about this.

Flora Klemm

Voiced by: Chitose Morinaga (Japanese), Sandy Fox (English)

Flora Klemm is a girl Julis knew from the orphanage, now a maid at the palace.

Animal-Eared Headband: She wears a cat-eared headband.
Curtains Match the Windows: Green hair and green eyes.
Damsel in Distress: Shortly before Julis and Ayato's semifinal match in the Phoenix Festa, Dirk Eberwein takes Flora hostage to force Ayato to have the Ser Veresta sealed away. With Claudia and Sylvia's help, they instead hide Ser Veresta long enough to find where she's being held, and Saya, Kirin, Eishiro, and Lester rescue her.
Defiant Captive: When she wakes up in captivity she immediately tries to escape. She's stopped by her guard, but keeps her wits about her despite being scared out of her mind. She observes how his powers work well enough to be able to warn Saya and Kirin against a surprise attack when they get to her.
Hair Antennae: She has two strands of hair that stick up from the top of her head, resembling a pair of antennae.
Meido: She wears her maid uniform everywhere.

The Golden Bough Alliance

A Nebulous Evil Organization responsible for much of the misery in the series.

In General

Apocalypse Cult: Haruka reveals they're plotting to cause a second Invertia.
Big Bad Duumvirate: They're a conspiracy comprising several major players in Asterisk; known members are listed below. They were responsible for the mysterious Jade Twilight incident, as well as for Haruka's coma.

Known Members (Spoilers!)

Lamina Mortis

Is a pseudonym for Madiath Mesa. See the Integrated Enterprise Foundation section.

Dirk Eberwein

See Le Wolfe Black Institute.

Varda-Vaos

A sapient Orga Lux created by Ladislav Bartošik. Varda-Vaos is able to mentally dominate humans and Body Surf between them.

Artifact Domination: Pretty much her M.O. She takes over the body of her wielder as a meat puppet, and is able to alter the memories of others.
Body Surf: Being an Orga Lux, she can switch puppet-bodies at will.
Gone Horribly Right: What's all but stated to have happened. Ladislav Bartošik is known as an experimenter with mind-affecting Orga Luxes, having also created the Pan-Dora and Lyre-Poros. Varda-Vaos proved so powerful it escaped human control entirely.
Sentient Weapon: She's an Orga Lux, and one of the nastiest ever created.

Azdaja

Another Nebulous Evil Organization that debuts in volume 13.

In General

How the Mighty Have Fallen:
- Samandal originated as a Middle Eastern oil company, and during the early stages of the Reconstruction after the Invertia they had a significant advantage over the other IEFs. They were laid low when manadite displaced petroleum as the world's chief energy source.
- Severclara had the best R&D division of anyone at the time, but lost a war with Frauenlob and Galaxy when the latter two outmaneuvered them politically and got their allies Solnage and Jie Long to switch sides.
The Remnant: They're essentially a terrorist organization formed from the remnants of the defunct IEFs Samandal and Severclara, which were devoured by the other six after a period of Corporate Warfare following the Invertia.

Characters / The Asterisk War aka: Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

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Ayato Amagiri

Voiced by: Atsushi Tamaru (Japanese), Erik Kimerer (English)

Princess Julis-Alexia Marie Florentia Renate von Riessfeld

Voiced by: Ai Kakuma (Japanese), Kira Buckland (English)

President Claudia Enfield

Voiced by: Nao Tōyama (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)

Saya Sasamiya

Voiced by: Shiori Izawa (Japanese), Sarah Anne Williams (English)

Kirin Toudou

Voiced by: Ari Ozawa (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English)

Eishiro Yabuki

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Max Mittelman (English)

Lester MacPhail

Voiced by: Takanori Hoshino (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

Randy Hooke

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Kobushi (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)

Silas Norman

Voiced by: Yūichi Iguchi (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

Kyouko Yatsuzaki

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (Englishnote credited as Johanna Luis)

Haruka Amagiri

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)

President Ernest Fairclough

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)

Student Council Vice-President Laetitia Blanchard

Voiced by: Saori Onishi (Japanese), Laura Post (English)

Elliot Forster

Voiced by: Rie Takahashi (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)

Doroteo Lemus

Voiced by: Satoshi Taki (Japanese)

Ernesta Kühne

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (Japanese), Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

Camilla Pareto

Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Japanese), Cristina Vee (English)

"Absolute Refusal" Defended Type: AR-D

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)

"Ruinous Might" Cannon Type: RM-C

Voiced by: Haruka Yoshimura (Japanese), Laura Post (English)

Hilda Jane Rowlands

Voiced by: Yuu Kobayashi (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)

President Fan Xinglou

Voiced by: Omi Minami (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)

In General

Li Shenhua

Voiced by: Risae Matsuda (Japanese), Lauren Landa (English)

Li Shenyun

Voiced by: Satsumi Matsuda (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)

President Dirk Eberwein

Irene Urzaiz

Priscilla Urzaiz

Werner

Orphelia Landlufen

President Sylvia Lyyneheym

Commander Helga Lindwall

Madiath Mesa

Gustave Malraux

Nicholas Enfield

King Jolbert von Riessfeld

Queen Maria von Riessfeld

Flora Klemm

The Golden Bough Alliance

Lamina Mortis

Dirk Eberwein

Varda-Vaos

Azdaja

Alternative Title(s): Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

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Characters / The Asterisk War
aka: Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English^notecredited as Johanna Luis)