Characters / Gungrave Main Characters

Gungrave Main Character Index
Main Characters | Antagonists | Other Characters

List of all main characters in Gungrave (MAJOR Spoilers for both the video game series and the anime adaptation!)

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Brandon Heat/Beyond the Grave

Brandon Heat/Beyond the Grave

Voiced by (Japanese): Tomokazu Seki (Overdose onwards)
Voiced by (English): Kirk Thornton (anime, Gungrave VR), Chris Cook (Overdose), Seamus Bryner (G.O.R.E.)
Voiced by (Spanish): Rafael Rivera (anime)

"There is one thing I know for certain. To protect is not to betray. Never betray. Never."
The roar of an anguished soul terminates everything that exists as it turns into a rave of bullets...

The protagonist of the video game series Gungrave and its animated adaptation.

Prior to his death, Beyond the Grave was Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowell's best friend. Following the deaths of their friends after running afoul with a mobster's younger brother, Brandon and Harry eventually joined the Millennion crime syndicate, eventually going on to join Big Daddy's inner circle "The Family". During this time, Brandon became close friends with Big Daddy through Maria, who adopted Maria after the death of her guardian. Around this time, he also became one of the organization's top hitmen. Unfortunately, Brandon lost his life to Harry after the latter espoused his desire to usurp Big Daddy and take over Millennion, failing to recruit Brandon and killing him. Unbeknownst to Harry, Brandon's corpse was retrieved and necrolyzed by Dr. T, rechristening him as "Beyond the Grave" and went into hiding.

When Mika Asagi, Maria and Big Daddy's daughter, found them with a case carrying the Left Head and Right Head as per her mother's instructions, Grave went after the Millennion organization with the intent of dismantling it.

In O.D., Grave is awakened once again by Mika after SEED, the drug used by Harry and Millennion, resurfaces and helps her find out who is distributing it and destroy them.
In G.O.R.E., Grave is a member of El-Al-Canhel, an organization created by Mika with the explicit purpose of wiping out SEED once and for all.

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• The Ace: Brandon is regarded as Millennion's best hitman alongside Bear Walken. Ultimately, however, he's a Broken Ace as despite his skills, he really doesn't like his job. It's to the point that, after dealing with Blood War and realizing how much blood he has on his hands, Brandon cuts off all contact with Maria. When she, through Big Daddy, tries to reconnect with him, Brandon refuses on the grounds that he's killed too many people to be with her.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the anime, Brandon's hair turns shock white after becoming Beyond the Grave. In the games, he always has dark hair.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Downplayed. In both series, Grave is very stoic, though he's somewhat more emotional in the anime.
• Adaptational Wimp: To a degree as Grave's still a capable of ripping through hordes of mutants and mafiosos by himself, but the version of him seen in the anime is much more vulnerable to injury, loses his trademark outfit during his fight with Lee, Bear destroys his coffin, he's legitimately out of ammo in the final stretch, and he might have permanently died at the end of the show.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Grave often does this to Mika.
• Always Save the Girl: He always succeeds in saving Mika whenever she's in danger. Subverted in the anime, where he could not do anything to save Maria as she died before he was woken up by Dr. T.
• Ambiguously Brown: In the games, Grave has tanned skin. In the anime, he's much lighter.
• An Arm and a Leg: By the final episode of the anime. He lost his left arm in episode 24, which was shot off by Bunji. Near the end, his right leg broke off due to the effect of Anti-Necrolyze, which is shot to his knee.
• Anti-Hero: Type III, the Pragmatic Hero type. He will do anything to protect his loved ones, even if it involves killing. Though it doesn't mean that he isn't pained by his duty, especially in his early days as a hitman.
• Audience Surrogate: The character-driven nature of the anime turns Brandon into one, being introduced to the underworld's most prominent organized crime syndicate and all that entails joining its operations.
• Awesome McCoolname: Both the names Brandon Heat and Beyond The Grave qualify.
• Badass and Child Duo: He and Mika, though Mika's skill is abysmal and is usually protected by Grave, who will do anything to protect her.
• Badass Back: He doesn't need to turn to gun down somebody.
• Badass Bandolier: Part of his cowboy outfit. He loses it in Overdose, but gets it back in G.O.R.E.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: He initially wore casual clothes, like a leather vest and jeans, but after becoming one of Millenion's top assassins he switches to more formal dresses and suits. He even sports a ponytail and glasses in his later years.
• Badass Longcoat He wears one in the game and in the anime, though Overdose switches it out for a black jacket with a red cross.
• Barbarian Long Hair: As Grave.
• Benevolent Boss: To his squad True Grave. He treats them fairly and doesn't treat them harshly, even helping pay a member's medical bills for his mother. After his death, the members of True Grave question whether he did betray the organization and don't like Bunji's makeover of the group, nor do they like how he rebrands it. By the time Brandon wakes up as Beyond the Grave, the Kugashira group is nowhere to be found and Bunji is the sole member, implying they either left in disgust or rumors of how anyone who works with Bunji winds up dead turned out to be true...
• Berserk Button: Whether in life or in death, there are two things that will set him off: Betrayal and hurting his loved ones. In the anime, Grave goes absolutely apeshit on Bunji when the latter fires a few shots at Mika, and he was already pissed when Bunji demanded to know why he betrayed the organization.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Especially apparent as Grave. When Bunji scares Mika with misdirected shots, he just snaps and proceeds to give Bunji a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• BFG: The "Coffin", a secondary/backup weapon created and designed by Dr. Tokioka. Like Cerberus, only Grave is able to use it due its size, weight, and the sheer number of weapons stuffed into it. It's loaded with a portable missile platform and a chaingun/machinegun. For some reason, the coffin also has a "brain". When it's upgraded by Spike, he gives it a name—"Death Hauler".
• Big Brother Mentor: To Bunji and to the rest of True Grave when he was alive.
• The Big Guy: Even when carrying the coffin Grave is the tallest of all major characters, similar to Guts.
• Blessed with Suck: On the one hand, being a nigh-immortal and extremely tough to kill corpse gives Grave everything he needs to tear down Millennion and Harry. On the other hand, his status as a Deadman comes at the loss of his memories. This is more pronounced in the anime where he has trouble remembering much of his past, such as his relationship with Harry and his inner circle.
• Bring It: In the anime, he has the tendency to wiggle his finger at his opponents.
• Brutal Honesty: To Harry in the final episode of the anime. He outright admits that choosing his best friend over the organization that took them in and gave Maria a safe place to live was a "mistake", although he doesn't totally regret it.
• Celibate Hero: The only woman he had eyes for was Maria, and he distanced himself from Maria and let her be in a relationship with Big Daddy.
• Chaste Hero: He looks puzzled when Maria hugs him. He also gives out a similar reaction when Maria asks him to dance with her.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: In the anime, Brandon goes from saving Maria from thugs (which Harry tells him not to interfere with) to Taking the Bullet for Big Daddy and even taking Bear's place in executing Sid. Later on, he asks Dr. Tokioka to Necrolyze him so that he can deal with Harry if Harry ever veers off course. This is often lampshaded by other characters as well. Harry doesn't call him 'Mr. Buttinsky' for nothing.
• Cool Big Bro: To Bunji. Sadly, this is no longer the case after Harry takes over the organization and both men are willing to kill each other.
• Death by Adaptation: Maybe. Whereas Grave is alive and well in the games, it's implied he dies at the end of the anime.
• Death by Origin Story: And how. The anime details how Brandon Heat became Beyond the Grave, from his humble beginnings in the criminal syndicate to becoming one of its most feared hitmen before his death at the hands of his former friend.
• Declaration of Protection: He swears to protect Mika in the anime.
• Determinator: Even in death, Grave is just too damn stubborn, which is why Doctor T gave him his new name. It doesn't matter who or what is in his way. If they are a threat to those he holds dear to his heart, he will eradicate them with everything he's got. This is best exemplified in Overdose where he's nearly done in by Fangoram and outright forces his regenerative factor to kick into high gear.
• Does Not Like Guns: Before he became Millennion's top hitman, he refused to so much as touch one. The first time he willingly picks up a gun and uses it was to defend Big Daddy from an assassin.
• The Dreaded: As Brandon Heat, he was Millennion's top hitman. He's more famous as Beyond the Grave, the man who single-handedly destroyed it.
• The Dying Walk: A variant in the anime only. Overlaps with Almost Dead Guy. After revealing to Mika that his body is falling apart, Brandon sets off to resolve his conflict with Harry. He manages to reconcile with Harry before his Necrolyze completely wears off.
• Eating Optional: After becoming a Deadman, eating isn't necessary for him anymore, but he still chooses to engage in it. When he and Mika hide out with Brandon's old co-workers before he became a hitman, one of them noticed he didn't seem to enjoy the taste of booze.
• Eye Scream: He was shot in the eye when Harry killed him. Even when he's been turned into a Deadman, his eye has not been repaired. This is also reflected by the Death Hauler's Skull in the anime - one eye is glowing and open while the other is filled with tubes.
• Fate Worse than Death: In the side notes of the game's artbook, Brandon/Grave was actually meant to be Millenion's greatest Deadman enforcer, a mindless tool of destruction for the syndicate that eventually killed him. Dr. Tokioka really didn't want Grave to be trapped in such a fate and escaped to the depths of the city with Grave in tow, living in secrecy for years until the day would come when Grave could destroy the syndicate once and for all.
• Foreshadowing: In the episode of his death, there's a scene where the left lens of his glasses gets Scary Shiny Glasses. Later, Harry deals the killing blow by shooting his left eye and when he returns as Grave, he has no left eye.
• Gangsta Style: His trademark style is his arms crossed above his wrists when shooting.
• Gentle Giant: Towards Mika, towering over her in both games (albeit less so in O.D. and G.O.R.E. where she's coming into adulthood).
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Brandon was one of his gang's best fighters in terms of brute force, since he didn't rely on a gun. This also carried over to when he joined Millennion, albeit at the bottom of the barrel.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Lost his left eye, and the scar left behind as well as his other bullet wounds serves as a reminder of his murder.
• Guns Akimbo: As Brandon and as Grave, he always dual-wielded handguns in a crossed fashion upon becoming a Sweeper. Before that, he just relied on Good Old Fisticuffs.
• The Gunslinger: Types two and four. He was always an accurate shot during his time as a human, and in the games the autolock ensures that his bullets will always be hitting something. When his aim isn't enough, that's when he brings out the big guns in the form of his coffin, or "The Death Hauler", as it is later named by Spike.
• Gut Feeling:
  • Implied throughout the anime. In his letter to Big Daddy, it's hinted that before he dies, he already knows that Harry will soon take the wrong path and kill him in process. And then, years before that, he has a nightmare about Harry pointing a gun at the audience and...bang.
  • Earlier before that, there's young Brandon showing no fear towards Deed, who is pointing a gun at him and threatening to shoot him. Brandon walks up to Deed as though the gun is nothing and beats him up, and later, it's revealed that Deed's gun is a toy.
• Hand Cannon: "Cerberus", a pair of Hand Guns the size of submachine guns, supposedly created by engineers of Millenion for Grave's use and, according to Jyuji in Overdose, a brilliant insane mind. Naturally, only Grave can handle them. They're actually part of a series of guns known as the Cerberus series, named after the heads of the three-headed dog guarding the gates of the underworld, with Grave's guns being the Left and Right Heads.
• Handicapped Badass: As Grave, he can still shoot very accurately despite having just one eye. In the anime's finale, Grave can still take out the Millenion goons with an arm and bricks despite having lost an arm and unable to walk properly.
• The Hero Dies: Twice. Being a Deadman means you're essentially a walking corpse. Possibly in the anime, where Grave and Harry share a Mutual Kill with one another.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: In the anime, he goes on regular fishing trips with Big Daddy.
• Heroic Build: He is extremely well-built, and becomes more so as Beyond the Grave.
• Hidden Depths: Especially in the anime. Brandon may be a street thug, an unforgiving Professional Killer in a mafia organization, and later on, an emotionless undead gunslinger, but he is gentle, selfless, and very faithful to the people he loves.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: When Grave isn't wearing his glasses, he adopts this look to hide his scar located on where his left eye used to be.
• Honor Before Reason: One of his defining traits. Unfortunately, it also leads to his death at the hands of his power-hungry best friend, Harry MacDowel.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The huge guy half of the equation; his hand is practically bigger than Mika's head.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Played with. Grave kills other deadmen like himself as they're the main mooks of Millennion's organization, but he's just as willing to kill anyone who harms Mika.
• Iconic Item: The Coffin and arguably, his original costume
• Implacable Man: He literally came back from the grave so he can finish unsettled business with Harry. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who can keep him down for long.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: In the anime, if he's doing target practice, he's shown to always hit the head perfectly. And with a sniper rifle, he can deal a headshot to someone behind a window and a closed curtain.
• Irony: He Does Not Like Guns, but becomes the most fearsome hitman in Millennion. Even after becoming Grave, he is still extremely skilled with guns.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Brandon had every opportunity to get together with Maria, and Asagi set things up so Brandon and Maria could potentially be official. While Brandon does love her and would literally give anything in the world to be with her, his being a hitman for Millennion and personal belief that he's not worthy of her has him distance himself from her and cut off all contact, even giving Big Daddy his blessing to be in a relationship with Maria.
• Jack of All Stats: Well-balanced in offense and defense, although slightly slower in speed than Billy. He's also the one that must be used before the other two become available.
  • In Chaos Wars, he is very tanky with great offenses while lacking speed, making him a Mighty Glacier.
• The Juggernaut: As Grave.
• Knight in Sour Armor: During his last years as Millennion's hitman, having grown to despise his profession but unable to give it up since it was all he knew and it gave him the means to help Harry. That's also not going into how he gave up pursuing Maria.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Protects Mika all the time, and in the end, thanks to Mika's intervention, Biscoe's agents stop attacking him. Sadly, it's too late by then and he's on the verge of death, if not dying in full in a Mutual Kill with Harry.
  • Kneecaps a Millennion agent and destroys Millennion's research facility, and his right leg is shot off later.
  • As Grave, he only beats up Millennion agents instead of killing them, and in the end, the agents shoot off his right leg and attack him with submachine guns, which only slow him down.
  • Brandon can never shoot Harry, and near the end, his empty gun is switched with Harry's loaded gun. During the Mutual Kill at the end, Harry points his empty gun at him, and Harry, Brandon's murderer, is presumably shot down while Brandon is spared.
• Legendary in the Sequel: By the time of O.D., which is set two years after the events of the first game, he's apparently become very well known in the criminal underworld for having single-handedly torn down Millennion as Jyuji stops fighting him and recognizes him once Mika calls him by name.
• Living on Borrowed Time: As a Deadman, Grave has to have his blood switched and refilled regularly, otherwise his body will be unresponsive and go back to being a completely dead corpse.
• Loan Shark: He briefly was one when he first joined Millenion, but quickly moved up the ranks after he saved Big Daddy's life during an attempted assassination and became a hitman.
• Manly Tears: Sheds them when he finds his colleagues, Gary and Widge, have been massacred. Sheds more when he hears Mika mourning Dr. T's death. In the anime finale, when he admits that he cannot shoot his best friend Harry.
• Martyr Without a Cause: In the anime. Other characters often ask why he is willing to go so far for them. Grave himself doesn't really know the answer, except perhaps his personal belief and creed of not wanting to betray those most important to him.
• Meaningful Rename: The reason Dr. Tokioka gave him his new name? Brandon's loyalty and willingness to fight for the people he loves most literally goes beyond the grave.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: As Brandon Heat, the top Sweeper in Millennion, he was the one person besides Bear Walken you did not want to piss off. As Beyond the Grave, the man who destroyed Millennion by himself? If you find yourself in his crosshairs, all you can do is clench your asscheeks and pray your death comes quick.
• Moe Greene Special How Brandon dies, having his left eye shot clean off by Harry and blown out the elevator.
• Mortal Wound Reveal: A variant in the anime only. Brandon/Grave shows the cracks on his body, indicating that his time is about to end. Cue a crying Mika.
• Mr. Fanservice: In the anime, Brandon has a Workout Fanservice scene in the second episode, and as Grave, he gets a Shirtless Scene when his body receives a treatment from Dr. T or Clothing Damage ensues.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Zigzagged. While Brandon was loyal to Asagi AKA Big Daddy, Harry was the one he considered a true friend and wanted to help bring his ambitions to fruition. In the end, Brandon's death happened because he couldn't choose between who he was willing to protect and who he was willing to betray. He couldn't bring himself to kill Harry, but neither was he willing to let him usurp Big Daddy from Millennion. This is what ends up getting him killed by Harry, who believes Brandon betrayed him.
• Named Weapons: Those giant Hand Cannons of his are part of a collection called the Cerberus series, with the guns themselves being named the Left Head and the Right Head. Then there's the Coffin, which is a Swiss-Army Weapon of heavy machine gun, missile launcher and bazooka, aside from being where he keeps his guns when he's not using them.
• Nigh-Invulnerability/Healing Factor: As a deadman, Grave possesses an extraordinarily powerful regenerative ability, and if given enough time, he can recover from a debilitating injury. It starts to fail when he's shot by Fangoram's Center Head, the most powerful gun in the world and is almost done in were it not for his Determinator status.
  • In the anime, it looks more like Super-Toughness along with Immune to Bullets. Being hit by a truck, stomped repeatedly by a hulking Orgman (this is how Butler Tokioka is killed), and hit by a huge slab of concrete only slow him down. Additionally, explosives barely affect him even in the last episode, in which his body is already very weak.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Pirate (not really an eyepatch; it's just a blackened lens to hide his lost eye). Zombie. Robot. Grave is a one-eyed techno-zombie who wields two Hand Cannon simultaneously and carries around a coffin that is loaded with missile launchers and a chaingun/machine gun. The anime adds Ninja into the mix: Grave jumps very well and can jump from roof to roof.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives one to Bunji in the anime when the man is shooting at Mika and is questioning Brandon about his loyalty to Millennion.
• Not So Stoic: When he finds that his colleagues are massacred, he sheds Manly Tears and gives out a Death Wail.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: There's one in the anime when he takes out two spider-like creatures with his bare hands. Never get to see how, but he easily sends those monsters flying.
• One-Man Army: He single-handedly dismantles Millennion by himself, taking out countless gang members and even Harry's elite inner circle before offing the man himself. In O.D., Jyuji (who initially attacks Grave out of a misunderstanding) stops fighting when he learns the guy he's fighting is the same one who destroyed Millennion.
  Jyuji: The man's a legend!
• Our Zombies Are Different: A mix of Type C (Construct) and Type R (Revenant). He's one of the very few "products" of Necrolyzation that has a will of his own.
• Private Eye Monologue: Acts as The Narrator in the anime, explaining his motives and coloring the themes of the story while also dropping cryptic lines concerning what to expect in each subsequent episode.
• The Quiet One Very rarely speaks, if at all. Mika, the girl he was entrusted to protect, usually reads his facial expressions and gestures to interpret what he wants or needs. He acts a lot more machinelike in the game than he does in the anime series.
• Real Men Get Shot: In contrast to Harry, who is never hit by a bullet until the last episode, in which he dies. Brandon/Grave is shot at almost on a regular basis, usually because of his habit of Taking the Bullet for his loved ones.
• Papa Wolf: While Mika may not be his child, he is the only thing he has left to remember Maria by. And if you threaten her, rest assured, you will find yourself staring down the barrels of his guns. When Bunji scares Mika with a few gunshots in the anime, Grave snaps and gives Bunji a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown even though the anti-Necrolyze bullets have crippled him and left only his left arm usable.
• Parental Substitute: Grave is one for Mika.
• Person of Mass Destruction: He was initially meant to be one according to side notes in the first game's artbook, little more than a tool for Millennion to throw at their enemies. Whenever Grave takes to the field, you can expect lots and lots of bullets and missiles to go flying.
• Possession Implies Mastery: In the anime, Grave just seems to instinctively know how to use the Coffin despite having only just gotten it, whereas the game implies it's been part of his arsenal for a long time.
• Principles Zealot: Never betray.
• Professional Killer: His original occupation before his death. He was the best hitman besides Bear Walken that Millennion had.
• Purple Is Powerful: In the first game, Grave wears a lot of purple in his outfit, and he is the last person you want to pick a fight with.
• Scars Are Forever: Not even necro-regeneration could restore his left eye or heal the scars on his body.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: In the anime whenever shit hits the fan.
• Scary Teeth: Some of the artworks depict him to have sharp teeth as a Necrolyzer/Deadman.
• Sealed Badass in a Can: And actually necessary while he's "inactive", to prevent his body from collapsing and Mika respecting her parents' wishes to allow Grave to sleep until she really needs his assistance.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Before his death, Brandon left a letter for Big Daddy, stating that in the event of his (Brandon's) death, and if Harry and Millennion go down the wrong path, Brandon would allow his body to undergo necrolization and become a Deadman. His last request was to remain locked away in the doctor's confinement chamber, in a state of hibernation, until the time he needs to be summoned. Brandon (better known as 'Grave'), 'sleeps' for thirteen years until Mika (Big Daddy's daughter) awakens/releases him because she was told to seek his protection.
• Sliding Scale of Undead Regeneration: Type III. His healing power is powered by the blood he receives, or else his body will rot and fall to pieces.
• Smoking Is Cool: Averted. Unlike Harry, Blood War, Bear, and Bunji, Brandon doesn't smoke.
• Spikes of Villainy: Inverted. The spikes on his Coffin looks like Legato's, but Brandon/Grave is by no means evil.
• Stoic Spectacles: By the time he starts wearing glasses, he has become a complete Consummate Professional.
• Strong and Skilled: He was already an expert gunman long before he became the undead One-Man Army known as Beyond the Grave.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: May seem really cold and stoic and apathetic on the outside but deep down lies a warm and gentle heart.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: His eyes turned gold after becoming a Deadman.
• Super-Strength: After becoming Grave.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: As Brandon, being a roguish-looking bad boy that was part of a small-time gang of runts. The image fades during his later years as a Consummate Professional.
• Taking the Bullet: For Big Daddy early in the anime. As Grave, he often does it for Mika. It isn't a big problem for him since he is immune to bullets (unless they're the anti-Necrolyze ones).
• Technical Pacifist: In the anime. He won't get into a fight unless he really has to, and when he does, holy ''hell' does he lay the smackdown. Not so much the case after he becomes a hitman, though he won't go out of his way to kill everyone he considers an enemy.
• The Stoic: Brandon pre and post-death was noted to be someone who didn't express himself very well, except for the rare times he smiled or showed genuine sadness and anger.
• Tragic Hero: In the anime, Brandon whole-heartedly believed in The Family's singular principle to "never betray." This applied not just to Big Daddy, but also to his best friend as well. He couldn't choose between either one of them when Harry told him about his plans, and Harry believed Brandon had betrayed him and shot him dead in retribution.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: The deconstruction of his Undying Loyalty. He chooses to remain loyal to Harry, his best friend. What does it get him? Harry riddles him with bullets before jamming a gun into his left eye and shoots him out of the glass elevator. He gets better.
• Took a Level in Badass: Happens twice in the anime. First, after training under Bear Walken. Second, after becoming Grave.
• When He Smiles: The few times he smiles, he looks genuinely happy.
• Undeath Always Ends:
  • The implication in the anime. His body has already gone through hell thanks to the anti-necrolyzer bullets and the damage he's sustained throughout his last shootout with Millennion. In the end, Harry and Brandon finish each other off with a Mutual Kill and Mika lacks the knowledge and means to keep Grave alive, meaning he may potentially be Killed Off for Real.
  • This is not the case in the games since, while grave does need to have his blood regularly replaced, he's only ever really brought out of "hibernation" whenever Mika is in danger or when she needs his help.
• Undying Loyalty: Very faithful to those he loves, willingly takes on their burdens so they don't have to do so for others. Sadly, this philosophy also plays a part in his undoing since he couldn't choose between the man he respected and his best friend.
• Unstoppable Rage: Bunji has been subject to two instances of this.
  • In the anime, Bunji pushes his both of his Berserk Buttons by questioning his loyalty and threatening Mika by shooting around her. What follows afterwards is Brandon/Grave beating Bunji savagely (all while screaming and crying) until Mika pleads him to stop.
  • In G.O.R.E., a brainwashed Bunji nearly kills him before he can be awakened. Quartz stops him, only to get her ass handed to her, which prompts Grave to awaken on his own and literally beat the brainwashing out of Bunji while screaming his name.
• Waking the Sleeping Giant: His necrolization is a contingency plan he concocted with Dr. T in case Harry betrayed him. However, he stipulated that he would only be fully revived if Harry became a true menace to others to the point that someone would seek his body out and return his Cerberus pistols to him.
• World's Strongest Man: Lampshaded by Billy in OD.
  Rocketbilly: Wow, you are amazing, man. You really are hands down the world's strongest Deadman.

Mika Asagi

Mika Asagi

Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (JP; Gungrave (2002) & Gungrave: Overdose), Kumi Sakuma (JP; Anime, G.O.R.E.), Kari Wahlgren (EN; Anime Adaption), Renee Raudman (EN; Gungrave: Overdose), Mayra Arellano (SP; Anime Adaption)

"Have...I met you before? Dr. Tokioka told me...about you. That you're a friend of my mother..."

The only daughter of Big Daddy and Maria who had been living a normal life with her mother Maria and their butler Tokioka, until agents of Millenion came to their house. Barely escaping execution by Harry's minions, both Maria and Tokioka died protecting her. Injured, weary, and fearing for her life, she was given the Cerberus suitcase left to Maria, and one instruction: "Go to wherever he (Brandon) is." However, while she did manage to reach Dr. T.'s hideout, she sees that the man her mother knew is no longer Brandon—he is now the deadman called Grave. Her appearance and returning Cerberus to Grave had "awakened" him, finally allowing to him to bring vengeance to Harry and the Syndicate. As of Overdose, not only is she under the protection of Grave, she also acts as his caretaker and assistant, being his only blood donor (which has made her physically weak but she silently bears it because it's one of the few things she can do to sustain Grave's body).

She always felt that she only causes trouble for Grave, and wonders why he would go to such great lengths to protect her, but Grave often pats her on the head, as if to remind her that she is his "special person" and that she is not a burden—she is a living memento of the people that Grave knew and loved when he was still known as Brandon. She means everything to him, and is the only person who can truly understand his gestures and expressions. Though not related by blood, Mika knows that they are a family. After slowly being overtaken by Seed infection, she and Grave are given a counter-antidote, which Grave administers to Mika. As she falls asleep, Grave breaks his usual silent mannerisms by gently telling her that she must live. In Gungrave: G.O.R.E., she founds and leads an organization called El-Al-Canhel dedicated to destroying Seed once and for all.

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• Adaptation Personality Change: In the game, Mika was surprisingly calm but no less frightened by her situation of being hunted down by Millennion, with Dr.T mentionining that she shakes whenever she sleeps. By Over Dose, she has become quite mature and can snark back at a Orgman who has her dead to rights like it's nothing. In the anime, which covers and expands certain events of the first game, Mika is a lot more childish but does undergo her own Character Development.
• Awful Truth: Mika was purposely kept without any knowledge about Millenion and her parents' involvement, as Maria just wanted her to grow up in a "normal" world. That gets turned upside down once the series opens in both the game and anime.
• Badass in Distress: Becomes this for most of G.O.R.E. thanks to being infected again, with a unique Seed variant made by Who-Knows-Who.
• Break the Cutie: In the anime. Every single episode since her debut either makes her scared or cry, be it losing somebody close to her, barely escaping from death, getting threatened, terrified by gunshots (including misdirected shots), and kidnapped.
• Bodyguard Crush On Brandon/Grave. Before he goes off to finish the rest of his quest for revenge, she gives him a Anguished Declaration of Love and tries to get him to stop.
• Damsel in Distress: In the anime.
• Determinator: In the game series. This is what enables her not to let SEED overtake her.
  • Probably downplayed or zigzagged in the anime. She is a Damsel in Distress and rather cowardly, but she manages to reach Grave despite having an injured leg. Then, in the last few episodes, nothing stops her from finding Brandon/Grave. Even after being coldly dismissed by Biscoe, she immediately runs off and tries to go to the slum by foot, which is very far. She does reach Brandon/Grave in the end, with Biscoe's help.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Shows them after Brandon/Grave leaves her. In the games, her eyes are strangely like this constantly even though she isn't overtly depressed.
• Fragile Speedster: In Chaos Wars, Mika has very low offense and durability, but she is one of the fastest characters and thus, can be utilized to perform combos with the Mighty Glacier Grave.
• Happily Adopted: The first game ends with her riding to the sunset with Grave. In the anime however, this trope may or may not happen.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's the Tiny Girl (obviously) while her guardian (Grave) is the Huge Guy.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: She has blue eyes and remains very optimistic, even in the most dire of situations. This fades by the time of Overdose, where she's more experienced with the world.
• The Kid with the Remote Control: She was tasked to seek out Grave and be protected by him as she is the only one left who can call upon and "control" him. She is far from being a spoiled brat—she genuinely cares about and loves Grave dearly, and is eternally grateful to the people who gave up their lives to ensure that she and Grave can be together.
  • In the anime, when Grave is savagely pummeling Bunji in a fit of rage, he stops when Mika calls him and pleads him to stop.
• Little Miss Snarker: At 13, despite all the recent tragedy she experienced, she still finds it in her to dish out some sarcasm at times, especially in the anime.
• Locked into Strangeness: Thanks to Who-Knows-Who infecting her with a unique strand of Seed, her body is now half-crystallized and able to sense Seed all throughout the world. With her condition stabilized at the end of G.O.R.E., now her goal is to gain control of her strangeness.
• Morality Pet: To Grave. She gives him a reason to "live" and to fight, aside from revenge.
• Parental Abandonment: She was born after her father was murdered and thus, never knew him. She saw her mother Maria die protecting her from Millenion's agents.
• Precocious Crush: Mika begins to fall for Brandon/Grave while under his care and protection in the anime, despite her being fourteen and Grave being a 30+ year old reanimated corpse. In the game series, she looks up to Grave more as a close friend, a Cool Big Brother and/or possible father figure, rather than falling for him.
• Protectorate: To Brandon/Grave.
• Royal Blood: Her biological father is Big Daddy, the founder of Millennion. This is the reason why Harry is after her (wanting to eliminate those who are related to Big Daddy and is afraid of succession dispute). Similarly, Biscoe respects her for the same reason.
• Scars Are Forever: She retains the glowing blue scars along the left side of her face and body in VR and G.O.R.E. even after being cured of her Seed infection in Overdose.
• Tearful Smile: In the anime's finale. Doesn't make the ending less ambiguous.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the first game and the anime, she's effectively a Damsel in Distress and emotional support. In the beginning of Overdose, she has the guts to use a rocket launcher to fight off a SEED mob, and eventually takes charge of doing her damnedest to wipe out the Seed from the world to prevent more tragedy and Deadmen.
  • In a Fire Emblem-like Strategy/RPG game Chaos Wars, she's a playable character and even wields a smaller replica of Grave's Right Head (named Puppy Fang) to fight.

Juji Kabane

Juji/Jyuji Kabane

"You may think the dead feel no pain, but you're wrong. It's just the opposite. No matter how much pain we feel...we can never look forward to the release of death."

Appears as a playable character in Overdose. Juji is a skilled swordsman, and he is a necrolizer like Mika's guardian, Grave. Juji is loud, rude, and has a mind that operates like a runaway train. Claiming that diplomacy isn't his strong point, he is also blind. But with the loss of his sight, he gained an extremely acute sense of smell. He resembles a patchwork doll—he is covered with stitches and wears a tattered coat. When in battle, a large flame perpetually burns on his shoulder.

In combat, Juji dual-wields a pair of red Gun Blades, "Tsumuji" and "Hayate". He is fast and light on his feet, deftly slicing his opponents to ribbons using the "Kuchiba Style". His proficiency with melee combat means his long-range attacks suffer quite a bit. He cannot charge his guns the way Grave and Billy can, but he can charge his swords to perform a powerful series of sword attacks.

Voiced by Hiroaki Hirata and Cam Clarke.

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• And I Must Scream: He was turned into one of Garino's lab rats after a botched job left him at the mobster's mercy. Worse still, Juju states that the results of the experiments force him to meditate in order to keep his SEED half in-check, lest it overtake him and transform into an Orgman. He also mentions how he's constantly in pain, but he's gotten so used to it that he barely even notices it anymore.
• Badass Longcoat: Wears a tattered one, and damn does he make it look good.
• Blessed with Suck: Unlike most Deadmen like Grave, Juji doesn't need to have his blood replaced periodically thanks to his SEED implants. As a trade-off, however, he's in constant never-ending pain and has to meditate to keep the SEED in check, lest he suddenly transform into an Orgman.
• Blind Weaponmaster: He's able to slice and shoot-up hundreds of enemies despite wearing a mask that has no visible eye-holes. He can likely "see" because of his SEED implants.
• Blood Knight: He seems to enjoy all the fighting more than he should.
• But Now I Must Go: At the end of Overdose, he and Billy elect to go part ways with Mika and Grave, stating that they're drifters who don't spend too much time in one place.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to Bunji's Cain.
• Close-Range Combatant: Juji can't charge his shots and has the weakest ranged attacks of the three playable characters. He makes up for this by being very fast and strong in melee combat.
• Cool Mask: Wears one that covers the upper half of his face, and is seemingly made up of multiple straps of leather. It hides the scars of his SEED implants.
• Disability Superpower: Assuming he really is blind, it's implied to be a result of Garino's SEED experiments.
• Dramatic Wind: His coattails always seem to be fluttering about, even in indoor stages.
• Dual Wielding: He wields twin gunblades, and he knows how to use them effectively.
• Eye Scream: Garino did this as part of his "experiments".
• Hot-Blooded: Easily one of the most aggressive characters in the series, as he prefers the blunt and straight approach to dealing with his enemies.
• Incendiary Exponent/Playing with Fire: Ranging from hurling a simple fireball to just turning himself into a flaming missile!
• Lightning Bruiser: He's by far the fastest playable character and his close-range attacks are absurdly powerful. Unfortunately, as a trade-off, his projectile attacks have a short range and much weaker than Grave and Billy's.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: His gunblades Tsumji and Hayate.
• The Nose Knows: He has an extremely keen sense of smell, likely due to his SEED enhancements.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the Red to Billy's blue, being the most aggressive and hot-headed of the playable trio.
• Reverse Grip: He wields his weapons like this.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Garino, who turned him into a lab rat for his SEED experiments.
• Sword Beam: His full-charged melee attack.
• Strapped to an Operating Table: He reveals toward the end of the game that Garino used him in his SEED experiments after Juji screwed up on a job. Although derived as a failure, Garino's experiments gave him increased abilities far exceeding the average Deadman, though Juji now has to meditate in order to keep the SEED within in check while being in constant pain. If he slips up, the SEED will overtake him and he will turn into an Orgman.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Billy. While he may snipe and jape at the ghost tagging along with him every now and again, they're close companions who have each other's backs.

Rocketbilly "Billy" Redcadillac

Rocketbilly Redcadillac

"She's a lady, and she's sad. That means she needs to be treated with kindness. Real men have a duty to supply that kindness. Period. No exceptions."

Also first appearing in Overdose, Billy is an outlandishly dressed rockabilly ghost (???), possessing an electric guitar that Juji found while traveling. He is Juji's best friend, and supposedly is a ladies' man. He has much admiration for his grandmother, and strives to be kind to every woman he meets. Why he wanders the world as a ghost is unknown. He plays the goofball foil to Juji's "straight man" persona, and while Billy has the air of a joker, he really is quite kind and earnest. He also holds some inner sadness, as being an incorporeal spirit means that he cannot hold a lady in his arms.

Billy shreds through his foes using his guitar, the "B.L. 20,000V" to generate lightning bolts with slight homing capability and firing them. His melee attacks are weak, but his long-range attacks are the best of the three. Billy is also unable to dive laterally as well as having lower endurance against large crowds of enemies.

Voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka and Chris Cook.

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• The Atoner: Possibly. His origins are never really explained, but if his dialogue after some boss fights are to be believed, Billy might have underwent a really gruesome death, and is trying to make up for whatever he did.
• Blessed with Suck (Seems to be a pattern—if you're some kind of undead in the series' world, it's mostly unpleasant.)
• Boisterous Bruiser: Although more virtuous and chivalrous than most, he's still an all-around nice person/ghost. Even in his appearance in Chaos Wars, Hyoma (the main character of said game) even comments about how Billy just seems to have the natural ability to brighten someone's day.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": The stylized "B" on the back of his jacket (see picture)

• Dance Battler: When using Blue Lightning as a melee weapon. His dodging abilities are more like stage dives than anything else.
• Downloadable Content: In the Ultimate Enhanced Edition version of G.O.R.E..
• Anime Hair: Plays this trope straighter than any other character in the game.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation / Cutscene Power to the Max: Billy is pretty much immune to everything in cutscenes because of his state as a spirit, yet if you choose to play his campaign, Billy can't dodge very well and takes conspicuous damage.
  • To be fair, in game his guitar is being damaged, and if it's destroyed, then he will "die" for real. It's not his fault if enemies realize they must hit his weapon/weak point only out of cutscenes.
  • "Aw man, I'm on my last guitar string!"
• Glass Cannon: Billy has the best ranged attacks of the three playable characters. His bolts hit quite hard and he's quite beastly in boss fights. The downside is his low defense, which becomes more apparent in higher difficulty modes.
• Improbable Weapon User: Really, who in their right minds would expect a ghost of all people to use a guitar as a weapon? Granted, this one's obviously empowered by Billy and obviously has modifications done to it, but the point still stands.
• Instrument of Murder: Blue Lightning is the guitar that makes the peoples fall down. Someone or something gets fried every time Billy shreds on it, similar to the Nevan weapon in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
• Lightning Gun: One of his Demolition Shots transforms his guitar into a massive BFG that fires lightning.
• Musical Assassin: Billy fights using a guitar with some impressive powers such as summoning lightning bolts and summoning loudspeakers to blast his enemies.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni to Juji's Red.
• Shock and Awe: His guitar fires arcs of lightning strikes, which excel in crowd control when used properly.
• Something about a Rose: "Roses from Heaven" throws around esxplosive roses.
• Soul Jar: The guitar?
• Wave-Motion Gun: "Thunder Love". When you kill Fangoram in Billy's campaign, the beam has more than a striking resemblance to the The Angel Arm.
• Wunza Plot: Juji is an angry undead blind swordsman. Billy is a sweet-tempered ghost of a rockabilly who loves women and possesses an electricity-shooting guitar. They fight crime!

El-Al-Canhel

El-Al-Canhel's Emblem

An organization in Gungrave: G.O.R.E. led by Mika that's dedicated to eradicating the drug SEED, and destroying the Raven Clan, the mafia organization that is its primary handler, which Mika has Grave, under her will, to do the job. It was founded by Mika and a small organization.

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In General

Quartz

Cheni "Quartz" Angel

Voiced by: Masumi Asano (JP), Brittany Lauda (EN)

The young granddaughter of Richard Wong from Overdose. Following an ill-fated run-in with Ganpo Essex, Mika saved her life and recruited her into El-An-Canhel.

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• Action Girl: Capable in a fight with hand-to-hand and a gun.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: In stark contrast to previous playable characters, Quartz doesn't fight at long-range, instead relying on her hand-to-hand combat skills. She does have access to long-range attacks, but they're mostly to slow down enemies long enough for her to get in close.
• Close-Range Combatant: To an even greater extent than Juji as she has nearly no ranged options outside of throwing a slight spread of Seed darts. She compensates by hitting like a truck and being able to close the distance with enemies incredibly fast.
• Downloadable Content: In the Ultimate Enhanced Edition version of G.O.R.E..
• Fanservice Pack: Quartz undergoes this in the Ultimate Enhanced Edition re-release with her DLC, now wearing a dress that is even more revealing than her original one with some underboobs, wears thigh-highs, and foregoes her Modesty Shorts for side-tie panties.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: She's shown using a gun at several points in cutscenes, but in gameplay, she fights exclusively hand to hand.
• Girlish Pigtails: Has two long ones down her back.
• An Ice Person: She has gamed some ice-elemental powers after seed was used to treat her injured arm.
• In-Series Nickname: Her full name is Cheni Angel, but everyone calls her "Quartz".
• I Owe You My Life: She's devoted to Mika, seeing as how the latter saved her life after Ganpo nearly killed her.