Main character of the show. In short, he was going to get married, some guy called "The Claw" iced his bride, and he's going to kill the guy in return. Along the way, he makes a name for himself as a total Badass, acquires a ton of names, and more or less goes a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to avenge the woman he loved.His primary weapon is a sword which can morph into a grappling hook. However he can also summon a mecha called "Dann of Thursday" when the situation calls for it.
Chick Magnet/Nakama These two tend to go hand in hand, as Van seems to unintentionally get attractive women to follow in his wake (despite having no interest, as he's very devoted to his deceased lover), and manages to make friends despite his very personality militating against it. It gets so bad Ray Lundgren blatantly lampshades it.
Healing Factor: When he links with Dann of Thursday he can heal almost all the injuries he sustains. It's necessary for him to enter Dann once a week because he will die if he doesn't, and Dann's functionality would shut down completely without him.
Van's main traveling companion. She's an orphan with a strong sense of loyalty to her kidnapped brother: she'll risk anything to get him back. However, she is also deeply concerned with right and wrong, and is willing to put her sense of ethics above her emotions when necessary.
Cool Pet: Her pet turtle Kameo counts for this big time. He helped make money when she had none, and actually saved her life in the beginning of the series. He has the bullet mark on his shell to prove it.
Girlish Pigtails: Notable because in the scenes when she has her hair down, she frequently looks older.
Hairstyle Inertia: A flashback shows that when she was a small child, she wore the same pigtails as when she was a teen and as an adult.
The Heart: She's the character who most cares about helping others in need, even if she hardly knows them.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Van towers over her. A sketch in the artbook really brings this home. Even after Wendy is grown up, the top of her head is still a little below shoulder height to Van when they stand together.
I Will Wait For You: A variation: she never explicitly promises this, but it seems to be what she's doing.
Jail Bait: She's probably somewhere around 13, but that doesn't stop grown men from threatening her sexually in episode 4. Good thing she's traveling with a protective Celibate Hero.
She's probably younger than that considering that she's later teased about not wearing a bra yet. It's either that, or she's just REALLY underdeveloped.
Kid Sidekick: She's no good at fighting, but she's smarter and more grounded than Van, so sometimes steers him the right direction.
Modesty Shorts: When hiking across the world its a good idea to wear these.
Tagalong Kid: But for good reason! This is her role as part of the Five-Man Band, but when she's traveling alone with Van, she functions more as a Kid Sidekick.
Tsundere: She may seem like a sweet, innocent girl, but Van frequently brings out her irritable side.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Justified in that she and her brother have been living on their own for years.
An information broker who has known Van for a long time, and happens to be one of his few friends (whether Van openly admits it or not). She originally was a neutral element in his life, but when her life is ruined by the same guy who murdered Van's wife-to-be, things become personal.
"When you're out for revenge, humanity just gets in the way!"
Ray, like Van, witnessed his wife murdered by the Claw, and took to getting revenge for her death. Unlike Van, however, he is willing to do anything to kill the Claw, even taking the lives of innocents who get in the way.
Everything's Better with Spinning: His armor, Volkain, is attached to a drill and often makes its entrance by burrowing up from the ground, in contrast to the falling Dann. It destroys most of a train station in Episode 13.
Would Hit a Girl: His first actual episode has him shoot two women individually before he drills a hole clean through their Armor. One of those women was his employer.
In the same episode, he also fires at Wendy, and later threatens her again to keep Van from attacking him.
Big Brother Complex: Subverted. Joshua is the younger one, and he despairs over the coldness of his big brother Ray.
Ditzy Genius: He's a brilliant engineer who can fix anything in the world, but he lacks common sense and sometimes tact.
Dogged Nice Guy: Semi self-inflicted. He's a very nice kid, but his innocent naivete tends to backfire around less patient people and makes them disdain him.
An Armor pilot with a bit of an Idol Singer theme. First encountered by Van and the others in an armor tournament where she was fighting to earn enough prize money to save her orphanage.
Dance Battler: What her Armor fighting style amounts to.
A quintet of walking shout-outs to the days of themed combining super-robots. They were content to wait around in their town's cantina, tired and forgotten by the younger generation, until Van stumbled along one day and showed them that there are still people with the spirit of heroes.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: At first it seems like the townsfolk don't appreciate their local retired heroes, but it turns out that's mostly the younger folks opinion. The sheriff in particular is kind of torn about having to regularly arrest his childhood heroes for drunk and disorderly conduct.
Five-Man Band: Albeit their The Chick is dead; her granddaughter Yukiko fills in spirit, motivating the others to keep fighting the good fight.
A... very nice, affable old man who is a Friend to All Living Things, polite, soft-spoken and loves everyone... except that he's the Big Bad. While his motives may seem good, his final goal is morally problematic. His charisma is one of his main strengths: he gathered a lot of followers by merely 'helping' them. However, he has also committed his share of murders, namely Van's bride Elena and Ray's wife Shino, which marked him as the ultimate target of their bloody revenge.Tropes associated with The Claw:
And Call Him George: He has a habit of killing people because of this, although it's ambiguous the degree to which it's accidental versus accidentally-on-purpose.
Insane Troll Logic: The various ways that he downplays and justifies his crimes can often fall into this. For instance, him explaining to Ray that his murder of the latter's wife wasn't such a big deal because 'she still lives on in your heart, doesn't she?' The viewer is left rather surprised that Ray does not immediately fill him full of holes and explain to him that his missing organs aren't such a big deal because they, too, still live on in his heart.
Wendy's brother. At first kidnapped against his will by The Claw, he is later charmed with The Claw's methods and faithfully served him, abandoning his sister. He also strikes a relationship with Fasalina and goes a bit more on the extreme side later on. He is later selected as the pilot of Saudade of Sunday and spends his life protecting The Claw.Tropes associated with Michael:
A Man Is Not a Virgin: Seems to be proven completely during Michael and Fasalina's intense sex scene, but is subverted in a later episode, which explicitly refers to him as a "boy" in contrast to Van, who is both a man and a virgin.
Death by Sex: If you believe he and Fasalina were crushed by that falling boulder. According to the Drama CD, however, they survived.
It's Personal: Michael hates Van because Van killed Gadved, and (Michael thinks) kidnapped Wendy. Van, on his part, blames Michael for abandoning Wendy.
Only a Flesh Wound: Subverted when he collapses from blood loss after being shot in the arm.
Punch Clock Villain: Well if he is not doing 'evil', he mostly spends his time trying his damnedest to befriend his fellow friends.
The Power of Love: Subverted, as his relationship with Fasalina was one of the main reasons he stayed with The Claw. Their intense sexual encounter pretty much closed the deal.
A blank-eyed beautiful woman who was formerly a slut/prostitute/pole dancer and came to hate her own, unclean body. Until The Claw rescued her and promised her the new world where she can be cleansed from her unclean body. Cool-headed, polite and soft-spoken, she is somewhat The Claw's second in command. She grew interested in Michael, and later had sex with him. She's also Carmen 99's arch-enemy, as she is responsible of the death of Carmen's friend, her hometown's destruction and her fall from grace. She pilots the Dahlia of Wednesday.Tropes associated with Fasalina:
Berserk Button: There's nothing that can actually make her angry, but calling her a whore comes close.
Boobs of Steel: She is quite possibly the most powerful female in The Claw's group, if not the whole series, and the bustiest as well. Granted, of the two named females in the Claw's group she's the only one who's an adult.
Foe Yay: She and Carmen really like antagonizing each other. She tries this on Van, but it fails due to him being a Celibate Hero.
Hey, It's That Voice!: Quite possibly one of the first instances of Masayo Kurata jumping up from 'adorable little girl' to... well look above. Also in the US, she has Karen Strassman for her voice.
Pet the Dog: Semi-played straight, albeit a little late. If she wasn't so broken, she wouldn't be nearly as messed up, and she did genuinely try to be The Heart of the antagonist team (even the JerkassTykebomb Carossa had a soft spot for her), and even truly falling for Michael at one point.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The jerk part is subverted with Carossa who just wants to protect his sister Melissa. Mostly a way of projecting his massive insecurities, and both Fasalina and his sister managed to get his softer side to show.
Knight Templar Big Brother: Carossa is definitely one of these, due to his overprotective nature of his younger twin sister Melissa. This is taken to extremes when she saves his life and dies during the same battle.
Punch Clock Villain: When not working for the bad guys, these kids aren't all that different from the average brother/sister dynamic you'd see at their ages.
