From the group of ragtag convicts exploring this mysterious, uncharted isle to the duty-bound executioners escorting them, Hell's Paradise contains quite the diverse cast of characters.
Spoilers are unmarked, so proceed with caution.
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Convicts
Criminals sentenced to death, offered a pardon in return for retrieving the Elixir of Life from the island of Kotaku. Of the many offered this pardon, only ten lived to see the island. Gabimaru the Hollow
Voiced by: Chiaki Kobayashi (Japanese), Alejandro Saab (English)
"My own life takes top priority and I'm not planning to die. My whole goal's to survive and make it home. Home to my wife. I'm not about to lay down my life. But I'll sacrifice whatever it takes otherwise. My ideals, reason, sense, even my humanity."
The main protagonist. The strongest shinobi of Iwagakure feared as "Gabimaru the Hollow". He was sentenced to death row, but journeys with Sagiri to search for the elixir of life so that he may reunite with his wife.
- Accidental Pervert: He accidentally walks on a naked Mei who's changing. Unlike most examples, he doesn’t care and decides to wash up with her, since everyone in his village besides the chief bathes together.
- The Ace: The most talented ninja ever produced by the Iwagakure village, Gabimaru is beyond just the best assassin to ever live: he's a genius capable of foraging, analyzing his surroundings, predicting behaviour of people around him and even mastering the ancient art of Tao immediately after learning of its existence.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Illustrations for the manga present his eyes as magenta in color. The anime version has them in yellow.
- Albinos Are Freaks: It's more due to his past as The Dreaded but the citizens of Japan are greatly disturbed by the albino Gabimaru and he's treated with utter disdain by the guards trying to execute him in the beginning.
- Always Save the Girl: Forms a platonic version with Sagiri, with whom he finds himself forming such a deep friendship that he will risk life and limb to protect.
- Amnesiac Hero: Played With. After defeating one of the Doshi, Gabimaru expends too much Tao and loses memories his of both his wife and the mission. He reverts to the mentality of an Iwagakure ninja; someone would contemplate killing potential allies and has We Have Reserves mentality in regards to himself.
- Animal Motifs: Affectionately compared to a cat in several scenes, hence the nickname "Kittymaru".
- Anti-Hero: Gabimaru admits to having "slaughtered countless" and is so unfettered in his quest to get back to his wife he'll even consider killing comrades along the way.
- Badass in Distress: When Zhu Jin activates their Kishikai form as a final desperate attack Gabimari is nearly killed by the onslaught and only saved by Mei's intervention.
- Because I'm Good At It: Gabimaru isn't a sadistic person but he was raised since birth as a killer and it takes practice for him to not use murder as the most convenient means to an end, nearly killing Sagiri in the process. As the story goes on, he gains more depth but the skills or willingness to shed blood never disappear.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: His heart belongs to Yui thanks to the compassion she showed him and though he was initially reluctant and wanted to continue his duty to the village chief, her kindness and warmth showing him there was more to him than just a killer shattered his world view and Gabimaru happily fell in love, becoming completely devoted to his wife.
- Beneath the Mask: Underneath his mask as the unfeeling, merciless Gabimaru the Hollow is someone who does have emotions and humanity after marrying his beloved wife, even if he denies it. It takes Sagiri telling him that not running from emotions is a sign of strength for Gabimaru to get over his denial of this.
- Brains and Brawn: Yuzuriha proposes that she be the Brains to Gabimaru's Brawn, providing information on the creatures on the island if he helps her fight. Gabimaru agrees to the partnership.
- Bridal Carry: Does this for Sagiri, subconsciously saving her from the fish monster that attacks them.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: His relationship with his wife in essence. In the first chapter, he tries to maraud as an Emotionless Guy, but it's just him trying to suppress his sadness of never seeing his wife again. In reality, they share a loving, normal relationship full of affection for each other.
- Call to Agriculture: Following the adventure on Kotaku, Gabimaru and Yui settle down and start a farm with each other. In fact, the "Forest of Misfortune" oneshot published in April 2023 has Gabimaru learning how to grow crops from some local village children.
- Catchphrase: "Guess I'll kill." Which is uttered in response to being provoked as a show of his newfound wish to not be a weapon of mass murder, only engaging enemies when it's actually necessary.
- The Comically Serious: His reaction to and attempts at jokes are this, with barely a change in voice tone or facial expressions. He's far more expressive around his wife in the past, however.
- Combat Pragmatist: His approach in combat, in contrast to the usually flashy and violent art style in the manga, is actually very calculated and experimental. He never stops thinking of any possible avenues to take advantage of and defeat his opponent, no matter how dirty or insane they are. This includes, but not limited to: gouging out eyes, using rocks as projectiles, biting, Groin Attack, playing dead, etc.
- Covered in Scars: Under his shinobi outfit Gabimaru's body is covered in scars thanks to the Training from Hell he received in Iwagakure as a child.
- Dark Is Not Evil: As a ninja, Gabimaru's garbed in dark clothing but despite his ruthlessness, he's The Protagonist of the work and given the nefarious plots of the Shogun, Iwagakure and the Tensen of Kotaku, far from the least moral around, in fact fighting to stop them.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has his moments mouthing off to Sagiri when he wants to get going on their quest or when he calls her out on her fatigue after battle, much to her comical chagrin.
- Dented Iron: By the time he's got to fight Shija and the Iwagakure ninja sent to kill him, he's been battling on Kotaku for some time and is reaching his limit for stamina, putting him at a disadavantage.
- Determinator: Nothing will stop Gabimaru from trying to find the elixir of life so he may reunite with his wife. He endures a barrage of rippling shockwaves sent at him by Zhu Jin to get up close and beat them too fast that they can't regenerate from it fast enough.
- The Dreaded: The man is feared as a pitiless assassin and terrified onlookers at one point years ago when he viciously dismembered his opponent he was set to fight from a rival village to Iwagakure. When the chief hires out his ninja, his clients even expect mass carnage due to Gabimaru's reputation.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Already bearing a Charles Atlas Superpower thanks to his shinobi training and quickly becoming a master of Tao, Gabimaru also injects himself with a flower from Kotaku to enhance his abilities, becoming something more than human in the process.
- Experienced Protagonist: By the beginning of the story, Gabimaru is already a famed warrior from years of training as a ninja, able to kill many enemies with ease.
- Everyone Has Standards: A hardened killer who admittedly has had little time to learn much about himself as a person rather than a weapon, Gabimaru finds himself enraged at the prospect of the two Dōshi stating their wish to sleep with the terrified Mei.
- Extremity Extremist: Fighting unarmed, Gabimaru prefers using his legs to attack with powerful kicks.
- Famed In-Story: He's The Dreaded ace of Iwagakure and tales of his abilities range from him being a monster to a whole squad of killers acting, such is the prowess of Gabimaru as an assassin.
- Fiery Stoic: A ninja famed for his lack of emotions while killing uses his Ninpo to set himself on fire by raising his body temperature to ignite the oil on his skin, and is later revealed to have fire Tao. While Gabimaru shows himself to be more emotional than his reputation portrays him to be, he's much more calm than most fiery flame users.
- First Time Feeling: His reaction to his wife teasing and kissing him was to blush, embarrassed and surprised there was anything more to him than the hardened killer he'd been raised to be.
- Friendly Enemy: With two of the Iwagakure ninja sent to kill him. Before battling they cast illusion jutsu on Gabimaru which he sees through and politely provides them feedback to improve upon. It goes both ways as the other ninja idolize him and are over the moon to hear his suggestions.
- Good Counterpart: Or at least better counterpart to the omnicidal Rien. Like her he loves a much gentler person than himself and would do anything for his spouse but unlike the Tensen master Gabimaru's partner is still alive and he's not so unfettered as to coldly use other people he cares about as pawns for Yui. In the end, the two even come to understand each other's similar devotion to their loved one and it's what leads Rien to revive Gabimaru with the last bit of her strength when both are mortally wounded.
- Happily Married: It's implied through his memories and conversation with others that marrying his wife was the best thing that has ever happened to him. It's gotten to a point he's comically violent to Yuzuriha's approach by excusing himself as a 'married man'.
- Heroes Fight Barehanded: His main choice in combat. While like most ninjas he's a Combat Pragmatist, carrying as many weapons as it's logically possible to do so to cover most situations, the caliber of opponents he's facing means his fights usually boil down to this.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: For given definition of 'hero' anyways, Gabimaru being a convicted killer does him no favors when the second expedition party arrives and he along with the other criminals are presumed to be responsible for the dead Asaemon.
- Hitman with a Heart: A flashback reveals that spending time with his wife made Gabimaru much more compassionate to the point he didn't want to kill people anymore unless absolutely required, which was part of the reason he was turned over to the Shogunate for execution to begin with. That being said, if push comes to shove he is more than willing to kill, especially if it's for the sake of his own survival or protecting people he's attached to.
- I Am What I Am: Gabimaru, like the rest of Iwagakure, was forced into becoming a killing machine and was put through brutal torture to stiffle his emotions. It's not until he meets Yui that he's actually allowed to form genuine connections, and being cut-off from Iwagakure on Kotaku gives him the freedom to actually accept himself for who he is.
- I Just Want to Be Free: He wants nothing more but to live a peaceful life outside the village with his wife.
- Ineffectual Loner: Gabimaru is a capable fighter and survivor alone but he can't conquer Kotaku without aid and he nearly dies fighting Zhu Jin, needing Mei to save him before he regroups with his comrades and becomes stronger as he works with his allies.
- Instant Expert: After Fuchi manages to translate Mei's instructions on how to manipulate Tao, Gabimaru—already a genius fighter—becomes near-unstoppable in his immediate mastery, unleashing a series of furious attacks on the two Dōshi he's disgusted with for trying to engage in sexual 'training' with the terrified Mei. Played With, in that it also results in him collapsing and waking up with memory loss.
- Is This What Anger Feels Like?: Notes his own surprise at the new things he's learning about himself as he starts to care for comrades for the first time and becomes disgusted with the two Doshi trying to have Mei have sex with them to continue their training practice and drives him to try to ruthlessly murder the two.
- Ki Manipulation: In the later part of the series, Gabimaru manages to master using Tao, the resident Life Energy, and even invents some unique techniques Lord Tensen didn't know or bother learning.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He's a cynic who's seen how brutal the world can be but he's determined to make it through his quest for the elixir, in part to return to his wife and in part for the wellbeing of his newfound comrades he starts caring for.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Overusing his Tao early on strips away most of Gabimaru's memories of his wife and everything that came after her, and much of the Character Development they caused along with them, temporarily causing him to revert to the "Hollow," unfeeling killer he was before meeting her.
- Last of His Kind: After the chief is put to death for treason it's implied the shogun has Iwagakure village wiped out, leaving Gabimaru the last of its ninja.
- Legacy Hero: His name Gabimaru is just a title passed on to the Aces of the Iwagakure ninja clan. He has no real name of his own.
- Like Brother and Sister: Gabimaru's relationship with Sagiri over the course of the story eventually becomes this. This is fully cemented during the Epilogue where Yui refers to Sagiri (and Yuzuriha) as the couple's honorary sisters.
- Made of Iron: This man simply just won't die. Justified when it's shown there's a ninja technique of hardening one's muscles to an extent steel blades failed to even injure the skin (or, at least, when used by normal mooks).
- He survives getting his upper body smashed into the earth by Rokurota, though not without immediately bleeding from his mouth, nose, and eyes afterwards. Any other person would have been reduced to a paste, but Gabimaru does admit he most likely couldn't survive another blow like that.
- Master Swordsman: Surprisingly for a shōnen hero, a subversion. While very capable with both short swords and katanas, Gabimaru's real specialty is hand-to-hand combat, his swordsmanship lags behind actual samurai and other specialists such as Sagiri and the other Asaemon swordsmen.
- Nerves of Steel: Gabimaru is known as the "Hollow" for being an emotionless killer who isn't bothered by the bloodiest or most dangerous of situations. He does learn emotion and compassion through his wife but his steadfast bravery remains throughout his adventure to Kotaku.
- No Social Skills: His wife essentially had to teach him normal human etiquette, right down to saying “thank you” (Which he comes across as awkward while doing.) And even then he still has much to learn, he’s surprised that pointing a sword at Mei makes her cry.
- Not So Stoic: Gabimaru turns out to be quite expressive in front of his wife. He becomes extremely flustered when she kisses him and sports a Luminescent Blush both right after and again later on when she brings it up in conversation.
- Sagiri notices Gabimaru wearing a heartbroken expression whenever he is forced to kill.
- Realizing the significance of the Shogun's pardon would mean be can see his wife again is enough to make him shed tears.
- Gabimaru cries again when he cannot bring himself to kill Sagiri, and fears that his hesitation means he will not survive long enough to see his wife again.
- One-Man Army: Gabimaru alone is enough to take down squads of men, his own ninja when they turn on him, tons of monsters on Kotaku and dozens of the Iwagakure elite of 50 sent to kill him by the village chief.
- One True Love: He's only ever had romantic feelings for Yui and will do anything to be with her again.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents were jonin of Iwagakure who planned to abandon the village to live a peaceful life with him as a baby. However, they were caught by the chief and killed for treason, leaving him to be put through brutal training as a child to become the next "Gabimaru the Hollow".
- Professional Killer: What he was trained to be.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's actually pretty darn short (150 cm or 4'11”), but makes up for it in terms of sheer skill and power.
- Playing with Fire: An Iwagakure speciality, where accomplished practitioners can set themselves on fire, fully or partially, and use it to damage the enemy. Gabimaru can even breathe fire.
- The Power of Love: His love of Yui literally gives him the strength to overcome his most powerful foes and he hallucinates conversations with her which imbue him with the determination to fight back, being so devoted to his wife his love for her literally helps him become stronger.
- Punch-Clock Hero: Gabimaru is only interested in the elixir so he can be pardoned and reunite with his wife. It's to the point he even struggles to not kill off Sagiri early on when he fears she'll slow him down.
- Red Baron: "The Hollow", a reference to his emotionless killing as a ninja.
- Reluctant Warrior: His first action, if possible, is to talk his enemies out of a fight. Unfortunately for them, they usually insist on fighting.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: Yuzuriha at one point attempts to seduce him, which completely fails. His heart belongs to Yui, after all.
- Shonen Hair: The protagonist of a more mature shōnen and has spiky, unruly white hair to boot.
- The Stoic: He is known as 'Gabimaru the Hollow' for his seeming lack of emotional expression. However, the trope is subverted, as his character arc is all about facing and learning to deal with his own emotions.
- Tranquil Fury: When his wife is threatened in any way.
- When He Smiles: Once Rien's defeated and everyone's on the ship home, Gantetsusai says that Yui must be a villain for being able to tame Gabimaru, which actually causes the ninja to laugh.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Subverted. His white hair adds to his image as "Gabimaru the Hollow", a ruthless killer who's sentenced to death. However, it soon becomes clear that Gabimaru isn't as hollow as he seems. He doesn't want to kill anymore, genuinely loves his wife which helped him regain his humanity, and Sagiri convinces him to redeem himself.
- Would Hit a Girl: He doesn't hesitate to strike his enemies regardless of gender, and has wrestled Yuzuriha a couple of times when she tries to seduce him.
- Would Hurt a Child: Subverted. He seems as if he's about to attack Mei, to Sagiri's protest, but he's actually wrapping her in vines.
Aza Chōbe the Bandit King
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Nazeeh Tarsha (English)
"I'm gonna slaughter every last monster and convict on this stinking island! There'll be nobody to stop us from finding that elixir. And then? We swallow it down ourselves. Nobody's gonna screw with how we live our lives ever again... not even death itself!"
A notorious, scar-filled bandit due for execution after leaving bloodbaths in his wake during his rampage through the Shogunate.
- Big Brother Instinct: Nothing is more important in this world than his younger brother. Absolutely nothing.
- Bratty Half-Pint: His physical body is reduced to that of a child's following his close shave with death. Despite this setback, he and Toma still set out to Hong Kong to take the criminal underworld by storm.
- Combat Pragmatist: He has no distinct fighting style at all besides “anything goes”. If there’s any weapon nearby, he’ll use them. If he only has his fists, no problem. If he sees a jar of his enemies’ weakness, he’ll shove it down his throat to use against them later. If it helps him in anyway, he’ll use it with a grin and won’t think twice.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has blond hair and yellow eyes.
- Determinator: Once he gets going nothing and no-one will stop him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Chobe may be a notorious murderer and bandit, but there's no question that he's genuinely great brother to Toma.
- Expy: According to the Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho fan book, he is loosely one for Mugen from Samurai Champloo.
- Genius Bruiser: Chobe may rely mainly on his strength and determination in fights, but he's not a stupid brute at all. Arguably his greatest strength both in fighting and in life in general, is being able to assess any situation faster than anyone, and adapting to them, coming up with strategies on the fly. Contrary to appearances he does think before he acts, and his thinking is quick as it is thorough - which is how he and Toma have managed to survive so far.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the climax of the series, Chōbe sacrifices himself to kill Zhu Jin so that Toma can survive. Given his Healing Factor, however, he's able to be revived by Gui Fa, with the only caveat being that Chōbe's physical body is reduced to a child's.
- I'm a Humanitarian: To even his brother’s comedic disgust, Chobe has no problem eating either Soshin or human meat. Though it's later shown in an omake that he only did that to mess with Toma since he enjoys the disgusted face Toma makes.
- Instant Expert: He becomes the first of the island's visitors to use Tao, by examining the Doshi he's fighting.
- King of Thieves: After their parents died he and Toma lived as beggars until they were taken by a group of bandits. Chobe adapted quickly, and eventually became the very leader of those bandits, leading him to be called "Bandit King".
- Healing Factor: After escaping from Lord Tensen’s assimilation pit, Chobe gains the ability to regenerate from fatal injuries.
- Mukokuseki: Is blond with light eyes.
- Parental Abandonment: His mother died of illness when he was young and his father was executed for joining a revenge scheme to avenge his daimyo master.
- Rugged Scar: Chobe is a bandit who has gone through a lot of battles, and his scarred countenance is a sign of that. This is contrasted by his younger brother Toma, whom he always protects and as a result is still smooth-faced. Gantetsusai lampshades this by saying that Toma wouldn't be as pretty as he is if he was more experienced in battle.
- Scars Are Forever: His facial scars and blind right eye not only don't go away with time, they seem to survive his entire body regenerating from basically nothing.
- Sexual Extortion: After he joins up with the Tensen, Rien more or less forces Chōbe to perform Bochu Jutsu with her, lest she kill him. However Chōbe does consent to her offer, with his only condition be that he be on the top.
- Sherlock Scan: His greatest strength; within the first few seconds of a given situation, he'll have already figured it out and made a conclusion. He deduced Lord Tensen's weakness after cutting Ju Fa in half in his first scuffle with them, and learns about how to use Tao after just finding out about it.
- Siblings in Crime: He and his brother Toma are known as the infamous Aza brothers of Iyo, with both of them being dedicated to the other's safety first and foremost.
- Super-Strength: Chobe can kick men straight into the air, crush their skulls like actual grapes, and wield weapons made for bigger creatures than himself with no issue.
- Tarnishing Their Own Beauty: When the bandits threatened to disfigure him and Toma so they wouldn't stand out from the group with their aristocratic looks, Chobe took the initiative and intentionally cut-up his Pretty Boy looks before they could get to his brother. This shocked the bandits so much they left Toma alone after that.
- Unskilled, but Strong: In a story full of characters with special skills and abilities, Chobe's battle skills essentially boil down to hitting things really strong and fast. If it doesn't work, he'll simply do it harder and better. That's all. This also applies to his Reiki abilities.
- Probably best showcased in his fight with Gabimaru. Where it not for his healing factor, Chobe would have died to the ninja before the battle started. Chobe gets a few hits in mostly by letting Gabimaru strike him.
- The Unfettered: Chobe cut his own face to ward off bandits as a kid, drank Sōshin blood for nutrients, risks losing himself using a dangerous transformation, slept with Rien, and ate a jar of Water Tao to rip out of his stomach and use in a fight later. Being the ultimate survivor who does not care what lines he has to cross to live, and to keep his beloved brother alive is repeatedly identified as one of his greatest strengths, along with his quick thinking and perception.
Moro Makiya the Apostate
Prior to being sent to the island, Makiya was the founder of a false religion that had gained many followers. Before his arrest, his goal was to obtain enough influence to overthrow the shogun.
- Cult: He was the leader of one before his arrest.
- Death by Irony: A master manipulator whose modus operandi is to brainwash people into following his false religion ends up being seduced, duped, used as a guinea pig, and disposed of by Yuzuriha.
- Informed Ability: Because of his very early death in the story, most of what we learn about Moro is told from second hand accounts, like that he is a skillful Manipulative Bastard who had enough charisma to create a Scam Religion.
- Manipulative Bastard: Supposedly, his greatest strength is his ability to control others to do his dirty work.
- Tested on Humans: Yuzuriha admits to having used Makiya as a guinea pig to test the dangers of the island, ultimately resulting in his death.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appears in the early chapters before disappearing, only to be revealed in a flashback to have died shortly after setting foot on the island.
- The Worf Effect: Although he is stated to be a charismatic puppet master, Yuzuriha was able to play him like fiddle up to his death. This is meant to highlight Yuzuriha's cunning and manipulative nature, and why even Yuzuriha's allies needs to be wary of her.
Nurugai
Voiced by: Makoto Koichi (Japanese), Cassie Ewulu (English)
A member of the mountain-dwelling Sanka tribe. Due to her tribe being considered "heretics" who refuse to bow down to the laws of the Shogun, she is treated as a villain and due for execution despite never actually committing any crimes.
- Fragile Speedster: Nurugai is very agile, fast on her feet, and capable of avoiding most attacks thrown at her, even from Tensen. But she is still a petite 12 year old girl, which means she can't takes as much damage as some of the other more supernaturally strong criminals.
- Happily Adopted: She's taken in as Shion's daughter in the epilogue, and the two of them go on adventures across Japan while looking for a place to settle down.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Perhaps because she was raised in the mountains, Nurugai has no problems being naked in front of Tenza. When Tenza is reasonably flustered by this, she asks why he's "fussing over things that don't matter".
- It's All My Fault: Live on and preserve her people’s bloodline or die as penance for bringing about their deaths. These are the two choices she believes she has now in life. Tenza convinces her to follow the former.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: She gets repeatedly mistaken as a boy, and rarely bothers to correct the people who misgender her. Although she wouldn't actually deny that she's a girl, she does express surprise when people immediately get her gender right (e.g. Shion and Jikka).
- My Greatest Failure: She helped out a couple of Samurai navigate their way through the mountains and led them to her village, resulting in their massacre.
- Girliness Upgrade: In the Epilogue, where she gains a more feminine appearance and manages to get a few male admirers, much to Shion's annoyance.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Being helpful to few strangers lost in the mountains led to her village being massacred.
- Odd Name Out: Nurugai is the only convict without an epithet, as she's the only one who never committed any sort of crime whatsoever, instead just being an innocent kid in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Precocious Crush: Decides she’s going to marry Tenza if they survive, something that he notes is too soon for more than one reason.
- Samus Is a Girl: After helping Tenza kill some monsters and realizing her will to live, it's revealed (to the reader and Tenza) that Nurugai is actually a girl when she's naked from washing the blood off of her.
- Sole Survivor: She accidentally led a group of seemingly lost samurai to her Sanka village, with them slaughtering them all, including her grandfather, for being considered rebels against the current shogun because of their desire to live by their traditional ways. She only survived because the samurai imprisoned her to get her to reveal the location of the other Sanka settlements before they would execute her, and she was freed by Tenza.
- Token Good Teammate: Unlike all the other convicts, Nurugai isn't actually a criminal. She was to be executed because she's a part of a nomadic tribe that doesn't bow to the state laws, and therefore seen as a "heretic".
Tamiya Gantetsusai the Blade Dragon
Blade Dragon
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Phil Parsons (English)
"Literal immortality would get boring fast. I'll perform feats to shake the earth and heavens! Then, my name will pass down through the generations and become legendary. Until they're telling bedtime stories about me! The name "Tamiya Gantetsusai" will live forever!"
A traveling swordsman who was sentenced to death after assaulting the daimyo he was supposed to serve and destroying his manor.
- Berserk Button: Implying that he’s weak or doubting his strength in general. The reason he’s convicted? A Daimyo doubted that he could cut down a real dragon in a civil conversation. So he cut down the dragon plaque on the Daimyo’s gate, along with the whole gate.
- Blood Knight: Tamiya Gantetsusai relishes in battle, and his initial desire is to die in a blaze of glory after defeating the legendary creatures inhabiting the island in order to immortalize his name and legacy. He grows out of this mindset after Fuchi's death, however.
- The Big Guy: He's physically the largest of all the main characters, and he's the most likely to rely on brute force to fight. Shion notes that he's the slowest at grasping the concept of Tao because he doesn't believe in anything he can't smash with his fists.
- Character Development: Tamiya starts the story as a braggart and a Glory Seeker who wants to die gloriously and leave behind a legend that will live forever. After wrestling with whether or not this will truly make him happy, and losing Fuchi, whom he had come to see as a friend, when the executioner dies bandaging up his wounds, he ends the story as a calmer and better person, choosing to carry on Fuchi's work as a doctor while also passing on his own sword skills as a teacher. Ironically, his last scene is him getting annoyed at some Dojo Hunters (something he did a lot before the island) who keep interrupting him while he's in the middle of giving medical advice to his patients.
- Character Tic: He usually keeps his arms folded in his kimono, and tends to stroke his beard.
- Chivalrous Pervert: While he certainly has an eye for pretty girls (Sagiri's, Yuzuriha, Adult! Mei...), Tamiya also respects their boundaries and one of the few things that genuinely riles him up is the Doshi's stated desire to use Mei as a Sex Slave to train their tao.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: His, height, hairstyle, color palette, and habit of fondling his chin while keeping his hands inside his kimono all evoke Toshiro Mifune's Sanjuro character from Yojimbo and its sequel.
- Dark Horse Victory: Ultimately, he is the convict that completes the mission, gives the Elixir of Life to the Shogun, and receives the official pardon. Since one of the surviving criminals had no plans to return to Japan and bailed, and the other two were ninja who were trained to disappear, they agreed among themselves to let Tamiya take the credit as he would have the hardest time staying under the radar.
- Establishing Character Moment: After a boisterous and boastful introduction to Fuchi, Tamiya sees one of the human-faced butterflies of the island land on his wrist, feels its sting, and instantly severs his own hand, turning deadly serious as the hand begins blooming into plants. This establishes not only that Tamiya is a Master Swordsman who can easily back up his boasts, but that he has very sharp instincts and is absolutely willing to do anything without a moment's hesitation in the pursuit of victory, up to and including self-mutilation.
- Everyone Has Standards: While he is a fighting nut and easily provoked, he is actually one of the nicer characters, being shown to be very protective of children and weaker fighters.
- He was angered and disgusted by the Doshi planning on using Mei as a sex slave.
- Despite his lust for battle, he dislikes war, though mostly because surviving a battlefield is more about luck than skill.
- When Chobe tried to torture Ju Fa upon his defeat, Tamiya stepped in and finished him quickly. Then gave a small comfort by setting what's left of Tao Fa next to them.
- Glory Seeker: He happily admits that he doesn't give a damn about the pardon. His goal in the expedition is to cut down the hermits and monsters of the island and become an eternal legend.
- Handicapped Badass: He quickly loses his hand and later gouges out his own eye on the island, but these handicaps only help him improve his fighting skills.
- Hot-Blooded: He typically flashes a crazed grin at the prospect of a fight, and he's quick to try and cut down anyone who even implicitly insults his skills.
- Leeroy Jenkins: He often starts attacking while someone on his side is trying to think of a strategy, and tells them to shut up when they try to reason with him.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: He cuts off his own left hand after it gets infected by Paradise Butterflies. Fuchi replaces it with a hook.
- Manly Facial Hair: He has a particularly large mustache, in addition to pointed sideburns and a goatee. His eyebrows also look like spikes.
- The Nicknamer: He almost never calls anyone by their actual name. He calls Fuchi "tiny-emon", and refers to Gabimaru and Chobe as "ninja" and "bandit guy". He only starts calling Fuchi his actual name after the latter dies to save him.
- Smarter Than You Look: He is indeed a major Blood Knight who forgoes strategy in favor of cutting his enemies down. On the other hand, he’s very perceptive as far as combat is concerned. He knew exactly what Toma’s reasoning for attacking him was, spent their “fight” criticizing his tactics and lack of combat experience, and deduced that the reason for that has been his brother protecting him.
- Spirited Competitor: For someone who doesn't tolerate any doubt against his skill, he still enjoys combat even when he’s the one getting his ass kicked.
- Taught by Experience: Upon learning about Tao from Mei, he immediately opts their group just cutting down a horde of Sōshin as practice. Ironically, he doesn't accomplish much in learning it. He plays it straight by the time of his fight against Tao Fa, learning to “see” her attacks through his impaired vision.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Holds this opinion in regards to actual immortality, stating it’d eventually get dull. Figurative immortality, in which his name goes down in history, is more his speed.
- Worth It: Tamiya isn't the least bit guilty about wrecking the Daimyo’s gate. In fact, he says he’s going to cut down his whole mansion once the search is done. He has a similar attitude about mutilating himself, not caring about gauging out his own eye if it will allow him to better perceive Tao.
- Would Hit a Girl: While he unashamedly loves attractive women, he has no problem fighting them either.
Warped Keiun, Hunter of the Hundred
Voiced by: Shun'ichi Maki (Japanese), William Ofoegbu (English)
A warrior monk driven by his obsession with weapons to kill and claim the weapons of over a hundred martial artists.- 24-Hour Armor: Implied. His armor, which he refers to as "Living Armor", is grafted to his skin.
- Battle Trophy: Each weapon in his vast collection is one of these.
- Corrupted Character Copy: He's obviously designed to evoke the famous Japanese partly-historical partly-mythological folk hero Benkei the weapon-collecting warrior monk, but hideous, monstrous, and evil rather than handsome and ultimately heroic. And Keiun goes about collecting weapons by murdering strong martial artists rather than humbling arrogant warriors in fair duels before taking their swords as trophies.
- Licking the Blade: Likes to do this to his weapons before using them in combat.
- Human Pincushion: How Gabimaru ultimately kills him, by impaling him to death with his own large collection of weapons.
- Karmic Death: A man obsessed with killing people to steal their weapons is ultimately turned into a Human Pincushion by Gabimaru, using the many weapons of Keiun's fallen victims.
- Malevolent Masked Man: Wears a red mask to hide his disfigured face, and is one more eviler criminals that was sent to the island.
- Serial Killer: His obsession with weapons has driven him to kill over a hundred warriors so that he might add their weapons to his collection.
- Starter Villain: He is the first hostile encounter Gabimaru faces on the island.
- Walking Armory: Keiun proudly wears the weapons he has claimed from warriors he's slain.
Rokurota, The Giant of Bizen
Voiced by: Hinata Tadokoro (Japanese), Ray Hurd (English)
A giant who killed everyone in his home village of Bizen.
- Alas, Poor Villain: After Sagiri decapitates him, we get flashbacks to his crimes as he ponders why no one would play with him, reminding the audience that rather a hardened criminal like the other convicts, he was a (most likely mentally disabled) child who didn't know better. Sagiri herself realizes this, comforting him in his last moments by apologizing for the pain he suffered during their fight and reassuring him that no one hated him.
- And Call Him "George": Despite his immense size and strength, he is only 8 years old, and ended up accidentally killing anyone who could've taught him right from wrong or restraint before he was developmentally capable of it. Anyone he doesn't kill for a quick meal was accidentally killed by Rokurota because he was trying to "play" with them, not realizing his unbridled strength causes his "playmates" to die instantly.
- Enfante Terrible: At only 8 years old, he's killed his entire village and many others. Justified by the fact that nobody was strong enough to rein him in during his formative years, tragically killing his own parents by mistake and never learning right from wrong, only playing and eating.
- Expy: According to the Jigokuraku: Kaitai Shinsho fan book created by Yūji Kaku, Rokurota is one to Leatherface from the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
- The Faceless: The face concealer he wore in the Shogun's presence is never removed. What he looks like at present is never revealed aside from one eye hole. When he's decapitated, his final moments comforted by Sagiri depict him as the infant he was at heart other than whatever he currently looked like.
- The Giant: Was by far the tallest prisoner at 321cm tall, with a bulky muscular build to match.
- The Gift: Sagiri would realize some time after Rokurota's death that he was actually an inherent master of Tao, which would explain a lot of his supernatural abilities.
- Horror Hunger: He starts off seeming like a Gentle Giant, letting other convicts hit him during the death match while he just lounged on the floor, and was mostly cooperative with the authorities. This all changes when Rokurota got hungry, and instantly kills Eizen shortly after arriving on the island. He eats what remains of Eizen on his hand, before wandering into the forest for more food to eat.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Due to his Horror Hunger, he kills and cannibalizes people for easy meals.
- Inelegant Blubbering: He starts sobbing halfway through his fight with Gabimaru and Sagiri out of sheer frustration and hunger.
- The Juggernaut: He's a literal giant of muscle who's strong enough to kill even the highest ranked Asaemon with a single blow. He's also tough enough that his skin and bones can't be pierced by swords and spears conventionally. The only way to kill him is via decapitation by slashing through the seam between sinew, muscle and bone, a feat that requires the two immensely powerful protagonists to use every skill at their disposal and some outside the box thinking to get him into a vulnerable position.
- Lightning Bruiser: Not only was he extremely strong, he was also very fast and very durable. He takes out Eizen and Genji with single powerful blows and tanks everything Gabimaru throws at him, forcing Gabimaru to team up with Sagiri to take him down.
- Logical Weakness: He may be extremely strong and tough, but he still needs to breathe. Gabimaru weakens him by setting the surrounding forest on fire, and thanks to his height and Inelegant Blubbering Rokurota breathes in most of the smoke giving him carbon monoxide poisoning. He ends up falling to the ground choking, which gave Sagiri the perfect opportunity to behead him.
- Made of Iron: During the death match between the prisoners, he simply laid on the ground while letting other prisoners hit him with their fists and rocks to no avail. Later on he tanks everything Gabimaru hits him with, and most of Sagiri's sword strikes bounce off of him.
- Non-Malicious Monster: On account of being a literal 8-year old, he simply wanted others to play with but was just too strong and unwittingly killed everyone in his entire village. His immense size also gave him an appetite to match, which made him go on rampages and kill more people just to sate his hunger, as nobody was able to teach him right from wrong.
- Off with His Head!: Sagiri decapitates him.
- Self-Made Orphan: His first victims were his own parents, unwittingly killing them by throwing rocks with such force that they went right through them, and he appeared to be only a toddler at the time.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Although he is dealt with relatively early in the story, Rokurota's actions would have a profound effect on the rest of the story. Sagiri was able to gain a basic understanding of Tao during her fight with Mu Dan thanks to having already fought proficient Tao users like Rokurota and Gabimaru, even if neither fully understood how their powers worked, leading to her Took a Level in Badass. Also, Rokurota's murders of Eizen and Genji would be one of the main sources of conflict between the survivors of the first expedition party and the second expedition party lead by Shugen.
- Story-Breaker Power: On top of being The Juggernaut who can survive blows that could kill Gabimaru (i.e. a sword strike from an Asaemon), Sagiri came to the conclusion that Rokurota was a naturally gifted master of Tao, which is meant to explain the giant's supernatural abilities. This would have initially made him the strongest of the 10 criminals before the others Took a Level in Badass after learning about Tao. In theory, Rokurota's usage of Tao would have also made him a huge threat to the Tensen, but they were introduced immediately after his death.
- Super-Strength: He was strong enough to uproot trees and throw them without much difficulty.
- Too Powerful to Live: Rokurota's natural gifts with Tao would have made him the biggest threat to the Tensen during the early stages of the story and prior to the other characters Taking a Level in Badass. Naturally, the story opted to get rid of him before introducing the Tensen and put the other characters through the gauntlet to learn about Tao. Not that it would have mattered much as Rokurota's childish and feral mind would have made cooperation with him impossible to begin with for the rest of the expedition party. This is why Gabimaru and Sagiri opted to put the rampaging giant down when they had the chance.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Fights like a wild animal, swatting and smashing his enemies with his bare hands. Thanks to his sheer size and strength, it's all he needed. Gabimaru ended up seriously underestimating him because of this and nearly paid with his life.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The first person that is not only capable of hurting Gabimaru but can also tank his attacks. If not for Sagiri's intervention it's entirely possible that Gabimaru would have died fighting him. This shows that even with all the previous feats we have seen from him in battle, even someone like Gabimaru won't be able to just No-Sell the dangers of the Island and the other criminals.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite his massive frame, he was only 8 years old. He may have suffered from an abnormal case of gigantism.
Yuzuriha of Keishu
Kunoichi of Keishu
Voiced by: Rie Takahashi (Japanese), Jill Harris (English)
"I don't have a story. Getting to live and return home's reason enough. I don't wanna die while I'm still young! That's all!"
A Kunoichi of unknown origins who was to be executed for invading a castle and murdering its daimyo. She becomes one of Gabimaru and Sagiri's first allies on the island.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Her hair is pitch black in manga illustrations, and purple in the anime.
- Ambiguously Bi: She tends to be overly affectionate to everyone, especially Gabimaru and Sagiri, but Sagiri calls her out on the fact that she only does this to get something, be it a powerful bodyguard in Gabimaru's case or in Sagiri's case an ally executioner who might help her when it looks like the Elixir really is a myth. That said, she does indeed seem to be at least partially attracted to both, as her displays of affection come with full awareness that neither really bite (Gabimaru more so since he has a wife), but she still flirts with both regardless. It is true that her own goals and self-preservation outweigh any genuine feelings she has. However, the epilogue does insinuate that her feelings for both are most likely genuine - she willingly chooses to be by Sagiri's side to the very end, and it's implied her self preservation is actually just an excuse for her to be with Sagiri. When the mangaka of the series, Yuuji Kaku, was asked on their Twitter if Yuzuriha had romantic feelings for Sagiri, their only reply was
"God only knows". - Animal Motifs: She's called a "vixen" ("kitsune" in the original Japanese text), a female fox, by Sagiri, fitting with Yuzuriha being a sly, seductive young woman.
- Big Sister Instinct: She became a Shinobi to raise money for the sake of her younger sister, who has an incurable disease. Maybe. The backstory she told the others is mostly lies, but it's implied that her having a sister is the one thing she didn't lie about, which was confirmed to be true in Chapter 70 of the manga and in her backstory in the spin-off light novel. What she left out however, was that Saya was already dead before the series started.
- Brains and Brawn: Yuzuriha proposes that she be the Brains to Gabimaru's Brawn, providing information on the creatures on the island if he helps her fight. Gabimaru agrees to the partnership. Despite the fact she is actually one of the strongest fighters in the series she enforces the trope when Gabimaru calls her out on not helping him fight.
- Character Development: She becomes more willing to show genuine kindness and empathy to people the more the series goes, even becoming a genuine friend to Sagiri.
- Covered with Scars: While on the brink of death she lets go of all her ninjitsu to focus on healing, which reveals she was hiding the fact that her body is actually covered in scars.
- Dark Action Girl: Make no mistake that she is simply some otherwise defenseless Femme Fatale, her prowess in battle is well on the big leagues, with some extremely versatile personal ninjutsu and deadly martial arts.
- Dark Feminine Light Feminine: Yuzuriha forms something of a duo with Sagiri over the course of the series, with Sagiri being an elegant, polite, and sentimental member of the Yamada clan whereas Yuzuriha is an outgoing, flirty, and somewhat callous convict.
- Determinator: She'd rather not risk her life at all, but when pushed into a corner she'll do it if it means getting rid of who or whatever pushed her there in the first place.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Although Yuzuriha had grown strong enough to barely defeat and kill one of the Tensen, her fight with Ran left her too worn out when she is forced to face off against Yamada Asaemon Isuzu, and needed Sagiri's protection just to survive. Yuzuriha claimed that she would have been able to easily defeat the Asaemon had she been at full strength.
- Dude Magnet: Being the Heroic Seductress among the protagonists,Yuzuriha gets a lot of attention. Moro Makiya, Senta, Genji, Mu Dan, and Tamiya Gantetsusai were all attracted to her on some level.
- Femme Fatale: She seduced Moro Makiya and used him to test out the bugs on the island for information, which eventually led to his death. She tries this on Gabimaru but he's too smart (and faithful to his wife) to fall for it, so she proposes a partnership instead.
- Heroic Seductress: Upon seeing Gabimaru's skill, she almost immediately tries to seduce him, saying that she'll do anything he wants if he protects her. He flatly refuses her, well aware of kunoichi's methods (and because he has a wife). And she got Genji to fall for her charms, which is why she has two executioners.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Yuzuriha like to use her feminine wiles to get men (and possibly women) to ally with her. The best example of this is with Genji, who claims to be staying on the island to keep on an eye on her because of how dangerous she is. In the anime, during Genji's explanation the scene cut to a flashback of Genji staring at Yuzuriha's chest. Gabimaru and Sagiri are quick to figure out that Yuzuriha successful seduced the Asaemon.
- Improbable Weapon User: Yuzuriha's ninjutsu allows her create weapons from her own bodily fluids and mucus secreted from her sweat glands. She primarily uses this technique to create Razor Floss, but can also make spears and hollow armor that she can puppeteer.
- Lovely Angels: With Sagiri whenever the two are paired up. Yuzuriha even chose to remain by Sagiri's side as her travel companion and bodyguard during the Epilogue.
- Marionette Master: Yuzuriha's ultimate ninpō is her ability to create hollow armor from her body fluids and then use her strings to control a small squadron of these hollow soldiers to fight for her.
- Maybe Ever After: With Sagiri, whom Yuzuriha seem to have developed a genuine attraction for over the course of the story. The main story ends with Yuzuriha deciding to accompanying Sagiri on her new journey to improve her swordsmanship and become the Yamada's clan next leader. When Sagiri ask Yururiha why she is follow her around, Yuzuriha claims it was out of love for Sagiri, while Sagiri surmises that Yuzuriha was probably just bored with her time in hiding. The mangaka of the story also decided to leave it ambiguous of what became of Yuzuriha's and Sagiri's relationship after their adventure.
- Ms. Fanservice: Gantetsusai refers to her as "that kunoichi with that nice ass". Given her seductress tendencies, it's very likely intentional on her part. Her initial outfit shows off a lot of her cleavage and her hips. She later jacks a few different outfits from Lord Tensen's premises.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Her top shows off a lot of her cleavage and ends at her upper stomach.
- Not Quite Dead: She's seemingly killed in the aftermath of her fight against Ran, but she later turns out to still be alive.
- One-Woman Army: Yuzuriha was condemned as criminal for single-handedly invading Sagiwa Castle, defeating their sentries, and assassinating the feudal lord for tricking her into becoming a ninja under the false promise she would be rewarded with a special medicine to cure her ill sister. She would later be able to defeat several Iwagakure ninjas despite her injured and worn out state after fighting Ran. It does help that her Marionette Master technique allow her to act as an almost literal example.
- Pet the Dog: While Yuzuriha is certainly one of the more ruthless characters in the main cast, she does have a nice side to her deep down. For instance, although Yuzuriha does choose to let Senta die in favor of saving the more combat-ready Shion, she still does comfort the Yamada Asaemon in his last moments and gives him companionship before death.
- Poisonous Person: Mixed with Yuzuriha's ability to secrete and manipulate water is her ability to imbibe toxins and mix them into her water streams.
- Pragmatic Hero: Yuzuriha is extremely self-serving and practical-minded, and refuses to sacrifice anything unless absolutely necessary. At one point, when given the choice to save either Senta or Shion from their fatal injuries, she immediately picks Shion (who is much stronger and therefore more useful in future battles), even though Senta got injured from saving her. She notes that she actually had enough medicine to (probably) save both, but didn't want to run out of supplies so early in the journey. However, when she is later given the chance to go off on her own and escape the island, she chooses to stick with the heroes, and almost dies helping Gabimaru fight one of the Tensen, showing that she does have a good heart after all.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Out of all the team, Yuzuriha seems most fond of Sagiri, whom she affectionately calls Sagirin. She frequently tells Sagiri that she loves her, and enjoys cuddling the other girl. In Chapter 50, Sagiri figures out that Yuzuriha's new found affection her is largely due to needing an Asaemon vouching for her in case Yuzuriha returns to the Shogun empty-handed. Even after Sagiri already promises to help Yuzuriha regardless of knowing the ninja's true intention, Yuzuriha continues to flirt with Sagiri anyways. It even goes into the Epilogue, where she tags along with Sagiri as a bodyguard, with Sagiri not really being bothered at all.
- Sex Slave: In a similar vein to Mei and Doshi henchmen, it was pretty clear that Mu Dan intended to capture Yuzuriha alive for this purpose to use her for Bōchū Jutsu, the training of Tao through sexual intercourse. Although, Mu Dan internally mentions they would kill Yuzuriha and turn her into Tan if she didn't give the results they wanted. Mu Dan ultimately gives up on this goal once Yuzuriha proves to be too troublesome to capture alive.
- Sexy Mentor: In Chapter 60, Shion requested that she and Gabimaru teaches the survivors of the first expedition party on how use Tao for espionage. Yuzuriha fully embraces the role as the "teacher" of the training session and even wears Senta's glasses to complete the look. Of course she uses her lesson on ignoring distractions as an excuse to tease some of her allies, such as pinching Toma's nose and cuddling Sagiri.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: She openly shows off her body. Justified, as she's very much a Femme Fatale who uses sex appeal to her advantage.
- The Tease: Yuzuriha is a shamelessly seductress who would flirt with anyone whom she believe can be useful to her, with Gabimaru and Sagiri being among some of her favorite targets. Most people who are aware of her pragmatic nature don't take her flirtatious behavior too seriously.
- Tragic Keepsake: She apparently kept Senta's glasses after his death and wears them in Chapter 60 when acting as the "teacher" during group training.
- Walking the Earth: With Sagiri in the epilogue.
Akaginu, The Cannibal Courtesan
A royal courtesan who was arrested for killing her clients.
- Attempted Rape: Tried to rape Shion when she failed to seduce him. It didn't end well for her.
- Didn't Think This Through: Her seduction attempt might have worked if she didn't try it on a straitlaced blind man.
- Dude Magnet: As expected for a royal courtesan. Chapter 46.5 would reveal that Jikka, Genji, and Kishō were all infatuated with her and wanted to be paired up with her during the expedition despite knowing (or because of the fact) she is a seductive Honey Trap.
- Foil: To Yuzuriha as two women who use their beauty to try and seduce men, but while Yuzuriha also has her martial arts and ninjutsu to help her should seduction fail, Akaginu just has seduction.
- Honey Trap: Her modus operandi is to seduce her targets so that she can murder them.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Implied by her epitaph, though it's never shown if she does indeed eat her victims or if that is just a euphemism for her way of seducing men before killing them. Supplementary material would confirm that she is a literal cannibal who feasted on fishermen and samurai.
- Literal Maneater: She isn't called the "Cannibal Courtesan" for nothing, as the supplementary material would confirm.
- Male Gaze: Chapter 0 and the anime focus a lot on her lips, even after she is dead.
- Off with Her Head!: Beheaded by Shion, while we only see the aftermath, Shion latter states that he made it as quick and painless as possible.
- Serial Killer: The rare female type, even rarer is that she is a sexual sadist who seduces men and then kills them.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Killed Offscreen not long after landing on the island by Shion after she tried to seduce him.
Harubo, Killing Buddhist Prayer
A violent criminal who wears the garb of a Buddhist monk
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Hilariously, his assigned Asaemon, Jikka, was absolutely ecstatic after his assigned criminal was killed by Chobe very early in the expedition. Jikka even gives Harubo's killer an exaggerated handshake.
- Flat Character: Has the least characterization of the 10 criminals, his only purposes are to highlight Chobe's superhuman strength and let his assigned Asaemon leave early after Harubo's death to form a second expedition.
- Rubber Man: While we never learn how it works we see in the battle royal and his attack on Chobe that he can stretch his arms and legs to an absurd length which he then uses to squeeze people to death.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Because he dies so soon, Jikka is able to return to the mainland and gather a second expedition.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The first of the named criminals to die, he tries to attack Chobe as everyone makes their way to the island but is quickly dispatched.
- The Worf Effect: He uses his Rubber Man powers to try to kill Chobe, but his assassination attempt only proves how big a threat Chobe is due to him No Selling the attack and killing Harubo effortlessly.
Yamada Asaemon
Members of the Yamada Clan, the Asaemon are executioners known throughout Japan for their swordsmanship. Each of the ten convicts sent to the island is accompanied by a Yamada Asaemon who is to decapitate them, should they attempt to escape. Sagiri
Voiced by: Yumiri Hanamori (Japanese), Marisa Duran (English)
"Do those without doubt even exist? And if they do, does that lack translate to strength? I have come face-to-face with doubt time and time again. My own. As well as the doubt harbored within the strong. We struggle and doubt and struggle again. If abandoning such doubt is the way of the samurai then samurai I am not. For I refuse to leave such things behind. To the bitter end I remain nebulous and ill-defined. For that is who I am."
The daughter of the head of the Yamada Clan, a group of sword-testers and executioners. She has unparalleled skill with the blade but doubts about killing. Sagiri is the 12th-ranked Asaemon in the Ittō-Ryū School, the lowest rank, due to her gender. She is assigned as Gabimaru's executioner.
- Action Girl: She can certainly hold her own in a fight, and her sword skills are among the best in the clan. When she finds her confidence, that is.
- All of the Other Reindeer: She is ostracized by the people outside her clan for being the daughter of an executioner, while her own family disdains her for wanting to become a sword-tester instead of simply a wife. At the very least however, she has close friends within the clan who genuinely respect her and her skills despite the culture of sexism at the time. In fact, among the party of Yamada-Asaemon executioners sent to Shinsekyo, only Eizen and Genji are shown to disdain her for her choice of being a sword-tester instead of as a wife for the clan.
- Almighty Janitor: Sagiri has the lowest rank out of the 12 ranked members due to her gender, but her skills with the sword are one of the best.
- Ambiguously Bi: Played With, as Sagiri comes off as Asexual more than anything. Throughout the manga it is shown that she has no interest in marriage, actively avoiding it even, and any closeness she has with male characters is almost always shown to be, at least from her perspective, entirely platonic. She does end up very close with Yuzuriha, but usually only shows indifference or annoyance when the ninja girl tries anything, while Fuchi and the rest of the Yamada Asaemon insinuate that she has, or at least, had, a crush on Shugen, which she deliberately neither confirms nor denies. That said the person she becomes an embarrassed stuttering mess when first meeting them is Yui. When Yuuji Kaku was asked on their twitter if Sagiri had romantic feelings for Yuzuriha or if the two became a couple after the series, their only reply was "God only knows", which only adds to the ambiguity.
- Arranged Marriage: As heiress of the Amada clan, even if she is a samurai, she's still expected to wed the next clan head. The fanbook reveals that after her long journey in the epilogue, a now-stronger Sagiri declares her refusal in being forced to marry the current clan head Jikka, and challenges him to a duel to make him step down from his position.
- Big Sister Instinct: Sagiri quickly becomes protective to Mei after meeting her. Though the "big" part is subverted since Mei turns out to be far older than her.
- By-the-Book Cop: Takes her duty as an executioner very seriously, following Yuzuriha to the bath to watch over her in Senta's place and refusing to be called a nickname. However, she lets go of being a stickler when her fatigue gets the best of her in the bath.
- Classical Anti-Hero: Sagiri's arc largely centers around her accepting her own doubts and insecurities, understanding that they ultimately make her who she is.
- Closet Geek: She's got a whole closet of senjafuda for kabuki actors she admires, and she vocally dislikes it when someone brings it up.
- Cradling Your Kill: She cradles Rokurota's severed head after beheading him, comforting the convict in his last moments. She later cradles Gabimaru's mutilated torso in a similar manner, although in his case she was saving his life from Rien's flowers.
- Cuteness Proximity: She adores Mei, which is more pronounced in the omake chapters where Sagiri regularly and instinctively hugs her whenever Mei does something even remotely cute.
- Dark Feminine Light Feminine: Sagiri forms something of a duo with Yuzuriha over the course of the series, with Sagiri being an elegant, polite, and sentimental member of the Yamada clan whereas Yuzuriha is an outgoing, flirty, and somewhat callous convict.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Sagiri is first introduced as a cold and aloof Consummate Professional, although this is mostly just a front to cover the doubts and guilt she feels about her role as an executioner. After learning to come to terms with her emotions, and allowing herself to express them more honestly, she's easily the most sentimental of the bunch.
- Deuteragonist: Sagiri has the most screentime after Gabimaru, and the two are often together fighting enemies or in official art.
- Ethereal White Dress: As an executioner, Sagiri wears a white robe. The volume notes state that her pure-white attire is meant for mourning the souls of deceased criminals.
- Everyone Can See It: Fuchi and apparently, most of their other clansmen, believe that Sagiri has a crush on Shugen though she denies this out of embarrassment. Whether she really did have a crush on him or not is unclear, as, unlike her rejection of the notion that she has feelings for Gabimaru, she actually blushes when Fuchi brings it up. What is clear is that she was very attached to him when they were children, and Eizen thinks that, at the very least, she viewed Shugen as an older brother whom she deeply admires even in the present day.
- The Executioner: Chose to follow the Yamada clan tradition of becoming one instead of a wife, having trained to decapitate criminals with one cut of her blade.
- Fan Disservice: Although Sagiri is an attractive young woman who gets a few moments featuring her naked scattered throughout the manga, most of those scenes are Imagine Spot where she see herself being molested by the bloody and undead hands of the headless ghosts of her past victims. This is meant to be a visual representation of Sagiri's fears and insecurities when she takes a person's life and not give them a painless execution.
- The Fettered: Sagiri is plagued with doubts and indecision over the guilt she feels for being an executioner. Rather than ridding herself of these emotions, however, she learns to embrace them and keep her held held high in doing so, which ends up serving as a major source of strength for her.
- Friend to All Children: Noticing that Mei's hair and skin aren't cared for and that she doesn't have any parents to teach her, she washes her hair and re-creates an Edo bath experience for the young girl.
- Good Is Not Soft: Reconstructed. Sagiri is an executioner who follows her duties to the letter, but overall she's a very compassionate person. The executions she carries out constantly weigh on her mind and she'd rather execute a criminal who fully deserves it. However, Sagiri's arc centers around her coming to understand that there's nothing wrong with feeling guilt for the lives she takes and that she's not somehow a weaker person because of it.
- Has a Type: According to the fanbook, Sagiri likes a man who understands independence well.
- Hidden Depths: She's a big fan of Ukiyo-e and even has a collection of Senjafuda (basically the Tokugawa period equivalent of signed trading cards) from kabuki actors she's obsessed with. She keeps it a secret from her family though, and was not happy that Fuchi somehow knew about her stash in an omake chapter.
- Holding in Laughter: She's one of the few people to see anything funny in Shion's blindness puns. When he tries to cheer her up after Senta's death with one of his jokes, Sagiri actively needs to hold in her laughter.
- Honor Before Reason: A stubborn stickler to the rules, Sagiri refuses to untie Gabimaru's hands at first, even though this would hinder his ability to proceed with their search, because the mission's decree states that all the convicts hands must be bound at all times. Later, when the group enters Horai, she refuses to change out of her uniform, even when there are plenty of cleaner and more comfortable outfits lying around in the palace.
- Lady of War: A polite, soft-spoken female executioner of the Yamada clan who chose to become a samurai rather than a wife. Sagiri's kenjutsu has a focus on grace and precision due to her lack of muscle strength, with Genji noting that her swordplay is unparalleled when all doubts leave her blade.
- Like Brother and Sister: With Gabimaru over the course of the story. She also views many of male Yamada Asaemons, like Shion, Shugen, Fuchi, Senta, and Tenza, as her brothers.
- Lovely Angels: With Yuzuriha whenever they are paired up. In the Epilogue, the two become an official duo as they travel the provinces together.
- Master Swordsman: Sagiri is a very skilled swordswoman, with Genji stating that her kenjutsu is unrivaled when she overcomes her doubts. The only reason she's ranked 12th Asaemon is because she's a woman. At the end of the story, she goes off traveling to improve her swordsmanship further.
- Maybe Ever After: With Yuzuriha, of all people. In Epilogue, Sagiri decide to go on a new journey with Yuzuriha to improve her swordsmanship and visit Gabimaru and Yui during their travels. Supplementary material would reveal that at end of her adventure with Yuzuriha, Sagiri would return to her clan, reject her Arranged Marriage with Jikka, and challenge him to a duel to determine who would be the Yamada's clan next leader. Of course, this comes with implication Sagiri gets to chose who she wants to be with if she wins the duel. It is deliberately left ambiguous if Sagiri and Yuzuriha became more than friends after the story, with the mangaka opting to neither confirm or deny any possible romantic relationship between the two.
- Mistaken for Romance: Sagiri is thought to be smitten with Gabimaru by Shion but she actually sees him on a deeper platonic level, viewing him as someone who's been forced into a life of crime and cruelty and one who can help her overcome her own insecurities. Throughout the work the two form a close friendship which remains even after their journey ends.
- Ms. Fanservice: Sagiri is an attractive young woman with a figure that rivals Yuzuriha's, with Tamiya commenting on her ample bosoms at one point. Quite a bit of the official supplementary artworks tend to feature Sagiri in flattering outfits, including bikinis. Slightly downplayed in the actual story, as she usually dresses very modestly and isn't as sexualized as Yuzuriha or the Tensen. While she does get a few nude scenes throughout manga, most of those moments are used for Fan Disservice.
- The Not-Love Interest: Sagiri is the series' Deuteragonist and forms a deep friendship with Gabimaru over the course of the series. However, their relationship is entirely platonic.
- Oblivious to Love: Is unaware of Tenza's crush on her even though some of her clansmen can see his affections clearly. That saying, it's indicated that even if she knew about it, she wouldn't reciprocate, as she only views him as a younger brother figure.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: With Yuzuriha over the course of the story. Naturally, Yuzuriha is the causal flirt in their friendship who frequently tells Sagiri that she loves her, repeatedly hugs her, and even kisses Sagiri on the cheek at one point. While Sagiri responds with annoyance or indifference with Yuzuriha's flirting, she doesn't outright reject Yuzuriha like Gabimaru does. There are several moments where Sagiri would be the more affectionate one of the two, like when she hugs Yuzuriha in Chapter 89. It even goes into the Epilogue, where Sagiri and Yuzuriha decide to travel the country together with the goal of improving the former's swordsmanship.
- Amusingly, she also seems to have this kind of relationship with fellow female Asaemon, Isuzu. Unfortunately, this comes into conflict with Sagiri's relationship with Yuzuriha as Isuzu was pretty upset to catch Sagiri in the arms of another woman, although this is largely because Yuzuriha and other surviving criminals were ordered to be executed by Shugen.
- Samurai Ponytail: Sagiri has her hair in a ponytail and is a 12th rank Asaemon of the Yamada, a clan of Rōnin who serve as executioners and sword-testers.
- Showing Up Chauvinists: What she struggles with being a woman in the Yamada clan who chose to become a samurai instead of a wife, leading her to be treated with scorn and ranked last among the Asaemon despite having the best sword skills. Genji tells her that while she has mastery of the blade, she doesn't have martial skill as her gender limits her. Sagiri later acknowledges to him her own weakness and lack of experience, but regardless resolves to choose her own life. When he refuses and tries to attack her instead, she not only dodges his strike but also swipes his sword from his hand before he could even notice. She gets Genji to accept her as a samurai and is entrusted with his sword as he dies. The fanbook reveals that after the ending, Sagiri, now stronger after her long journey, challenges Jikka to a duel to make him step down as the Yamada head and refuse her Arranged Marriage to him.
- Skilled, but Naive: Sagiri has unrivaled absolute skill in swordsmanship, but, as Genji states, she hasn't seen enough battle to make her a soldier. At the end of the story, she leaves on a long journey to improve her blade-testing and become stronger.
- The Smurfette Principle: Initially shown to be the only female member of the Yamada Asaemon clan, and the only female member with an official rank.
- Statuesque Stunner: Sagiri is one of the tallest women in the series standing at 172 cm, or 5'7”, and is very attractive. She is about 12 cm taller than Yuzuriha and noticeably towers over Gabimaru.
- Supporting Protagonist: While Gabimaru is the main character of the series, the story mostly follows Sagiri's perspective and how the events of her journey and her peculiar relationship with Gabimaru changes her.
- Sweet Tooth: Sagiri has a bit of a sweet tooth as Fuchi reveals in an omake that she keeps a candy stash hidden somewhere in her closet.
- Team Mom: Gradually takes on this role towards the survivors of the first expedition party over the course of the story, being the most moral and protective member among the group. Sagiri often prioritizes the safety of her allies above anything else, and wants to save as many people as she can including several of the criminals.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Sagiri has her long hair in a Samurai Ponytail, and chose to become an executioner instead of a wife as expected for women in the Yamada clan, earning her the disapproval of the male Yamada clansmen.
- Took a Level in Badass: She adopts the "middle way" during the fight with Rokurota, and becomes a significantly more competent warrior from there on out.
- Torso with a View: Rien blasts a hole in Sagiri's stomach from the back while the latter was distracted over Shugen's death, as payback for Sagiri and Gabimaru nearly defeating her prior. Luckily, she survives and heals from the damage thanks to Rien's change of heart from Gabimaru's actions and words before Rien finally lets go and expires.
- Warrior Therapist: Pretty much states that she's this before pointing out to Gabimaru that he doesn't want to die because he loves his wife."Through my work, I have witnessed the final moments of all manner of people. When they are on the brink of death, I perceive what lies in their hearts. The blade reflects one's true nature."
- Weak, but Skilled: While her sword-testing technique is one of the best in her clan, she lacks the muscle strength and battle experience to be an effective fighter against the stronger enemies of Kotaku. At least at first; the introduction of Tao certainly helps her close the gap.
- Wrecked Weapon: Has her katana cut in half by Gabimaru when he tries to kill her. She gets a replacement that was used by Warped Keiun.
Eizen
Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (Japanese), Cody Savoie (English)
The 1st rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan and frontrunner for the position of next clan head. He is assigned as the executioner of Rokurota.- Decoy Protagonist: He's the only Yamada Asaemon—aside from Sagiri—to have a speaking role prior to the journey to Kotaku, with the other Yamada being depicted in the background or in silhouettes. He's also established to have a mentor relationship with Sagiri, which may lead one to think he'll be a major character. However, he's almost immediately killed off.
- Eyepatch of Power: Has a large one over his left eye and is top-ranked in his clan. For all the good that does him.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: His upper body is crushed by Rokurota's massive palm.
- Minor Major Character: Eizen is regarded as a big deal in-universe, but in-story he's killed off rather quickly.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Eizen is Sagiri's superior and was something of a mentor to her during the earliest parts of the story. He is killed by Rokurota not long after setting foot on the island, and his death is partially used to motivate Sagiri during her fight against Eizen's killer. Later it would be revealed that he is also Shugen's mentor. Eizen's death would also act as a motivator for Shugen's actions upon his arrival on the island.
- Morality Chain: He served as this to his protege, Shugen. A flashback shows Shugen wondering why the Asaemon don't keep their blades jagged to cause the criminals they kill to suffer more, with Eizen explaining it's not right to make them suffer. When Shugen discovers Eizen's body he immediately chips away at his blade to make it jagged and decides to kill every criminal on the island and every Asaemon who defends them.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He expresses some rather chauvinistic attitudes toward Sagiri, although he's far less vindictive about it compared to Genji. However, it's a somewhat justified example as the story takes place during a very patriarchical time period.
- Sacrificial Lamb: The top-ranked executioner is the first to die on the island after appearing in only two chapters, emphasizing the great danger that the assignment presents.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Like many other samurai, he expresses this attitude towards Sagiri. Although, it is worth mentioning that his attitude towards Sagiri seems to be more a misguided attempt to keep her physical and mental well-being safe than genuine sexism. But it is mostly up to the audience's interpretation of him.
- Tempting Fate: When he was warned of Rokurota's Made of Iron abilities, Eizan claim that there is nothing that a sword wielded by an Asaemon cannot cut, only to be killed shortly afterward preciously because he couldn't cut through Rokurota's massive hands.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He is established as one of the strongest of the clan and has a mentor-like relationship with Sagiri, but is killed immediately upon arrival to the island.
- The Worf Effect: Being the 1st-ranked Asaemon and Sagiri's superior, it would be safe to assume that he is a powerful warrior. Unfortunately, he is immediately killed by his assigned criminal, Rokurota, to build up the Giant of Bizen as a dangerous threat to Gabimaru and the others.
- The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): He is the 1st-ranked Asaemon and spends most of his limited screen time lecturing Sagiri, only to be the first Asaemon killed from being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle. Justified in-universe by Senta explaining an Asaemon's rank comes from how fit they are to lead instead of just their skill with a blade. Sagiri is one of their best fighters but is ranked dead last as 12th due to her gender.
Shion
Voiced by: Chikahiro Kobayashi (Japanese), Reagan Murdock (English)
"It is the era we live in and its shogunate that determines criminality. And a mere samurai has no hope of changing such facts. However... a man himself can change."
The 4th rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan. Originally assigned to a convict named Akaginu, but takes over Nurugai after his prisoner, and her original keeper, Tenza, dies.
- Abusive Parents: He was born blind but as a child his mother scarred his eyes to make his Blind Weaponmaster act more convincing. When he was about to be taken in by the Todoza and, later, the Yamada-Asaemon, she made up a bullshit backstory about him to explain his scars and his abilities, which gives him massive self-esteem issues due to having to live in a lie. Despite this, he respects her well enough to go along with her ploys so that he wouldn't bring her shame, and doesn't seem to hold any bitterness regarding her frankly poor treatment.
- Badass Teacher: He's Tenza's master and a Blind Weaponmaster of the sword.
- Big Brother Instinct: He's Sagiri's other older brother figure from within the clan aside from Shugen. Upon meeting a two-year-old Sagiri who was worried over the scars over his eyes, the first thing Shion does is cheer her up by making funny faces at her, which apparently still gets her laughing even in her teen years.
- Blind Justice: An blind executioner who faithfully follows the Yamada Asaemon rules, stating that the era one lives in decides the crimes."We Yamada Asaemon are no more than blades for the era to wield... Does a blade get to choose whom it cuts? No."
- Blind Weaponmaster: Shion is blind since birth, but due to his ability to sense "waves" or "Tao", he manages to be one of the top-ranked members of the clan.
- By-the-Book Cop: Follows the executioner rule that in the event of a breach of rules to execute one's charge, and killed his criminal after she attempted to seduce him. He demands an explanation for why Tenza is supporting Nurugai, executing her himself if he's dissatisfied with it. He accepts Tenza's word and defers from executing her. Ironically enough, Shion ends up renouncing his role as a Yamada Asaemon and leaves the clan after taking Nurugai in as his surrogate daughter.
- Disability Superpower: As Nurugai puts it, he "sees" through his enhanced hearing and smell from being blind.
- My Greatest Failure: He escapes with Nurugai when his group encounters Tensen for the first time, leaving Tenza to get killed. Despite knowing that it was the "right" decision (as he most likely would have died if he had stayed to fight), he still regrets failing his friend.
- The Leader: After the survivors of the first expedition party regroup in Hōrai, Shion became the de facto leader of the remaining criminals and executioners due to being the highest ranking Asaemon among the group.
- Parental Substitute: He becomes a mentor and sort-of father figure to Nurugai, whom he swears to protect in place of his dead friend Tenza. In the epilogue, he behaves like a Boyfriend-Blocking Dad towards her—chiding her for wearing clothes she's "too young" to wear, threatens a couple of drunks attempting to hit on her, and lectures her about the dangers of men. He then leaves the place while carting her on a wheelbarrow like one might push a baby on a pram.
- Pungeon Master: He loves to make puns about his blindness, though not many see eye-to-eye with his sense of humor.
- Team Dad: Takes on this role among the Asaemon, often acting as a mentor figure to his fellow executioners. He is also this to the survivors first expedition party, taking on the role of the de facto leader of the group and strategizing their next moves against the Tensen.
- Unable to Cry: Due to his defective eyes, Shion is incapable of shedding tears. He feels bad about this, as this meant that he could not properly mourn for his dead friend.
- Would Hit a Girl: While this is true of all the executioners (sans possibly Genji) Shion kills Akaginu pretty much the moment she tries to break the rules with even Sagiri being more lenient to her prisoner. Of course, her attempting to rape and likely kill him after didn't help her case...
Fuchi
Voiced by: Aoi Ichikawa (Japanese), Justin Briner (English)
The 9th rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan, known for his vast knowledge of medicine. He is assigned as Tamiya Gantetsusai's executioner.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Downplayed. Fuchi was ostracized by many of his fellow samurai due to his interest in dissecting corpses, but he seems to have a pretty close relationship with Shugen, Sagiri, Tenza, and Senta. The first thing he does after reuniting with Sagiri and Shion was to ask about "Ten" and "Sen".
- Can't Take Criticism: He gives Gantetsusai his katana guard as an eyepatch after their battle with Ju and Tao Fa. When Toma and Gantetsusai himself disapprove of how it's positioned, Fuchi gets bitter and curses their sense of taste.
- Face Death with Dignity: He's at peace while dying, even as he acknowledges his actions were illogical, and merely wishes both his friends as well as his friends-turned-enemies luck.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Fuchi and Tamiya start off possessing the standard strained relationship expected of a convict and the executioner assigned to kill them. Surviving the various monsters on the island forces them to rely on each other and become friends, albeit the kind who always bicker.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He lost his life after standing up against Shugen to defend his criminal charge. While Shugen's attack didn't immediately kill him, he eventually succumbs to his wounds after using the last ounce of his strength to treat Gantetsusai's wounds instead of his own.
- Magically Inept Fighter: He, Tamiya, and Nurugai have the most difficulty in utilizing Tao. And unlike the other two, he doesn’t progress much in it by himself and expresses no interest in doing so. That said, he acknowledges its usefulness and isn’t above using its mechanics to give his companions an advantage.
- The Medic: Fuchi comes to the island equipped with plenty of medical supplies. He's also the most likely to nag his injured teammates (especially Gantetsusai) about getting first aid.
- The Nicknamer: Fuchi gives nicknames to his closest friends in the Yamada Asaemon clan. He calls Sagiri "Sagi", Senta as "Sen", Tenza as "Ten", and Shugen as "Shu", to name a few.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Fuchi has a near-obsession with dissecting corpses. While this endeavor is meant to better understand the biology and anatomy of various living things, his "distasteful" interests cause him to be ostracized by many of his colleagues. Notably, his specialized weapons are intended for exploratory surgery.
- Older Than They Look: Don't let his short stature fool you. Despite looking like a young teenager, Fuchi is actually 20 years old, three years Sagiri's senior.
- Translator Buddy: He's able to understand what Mei's trying to convey with her limited vocal skills through reading her body language and often shares with the rest of the group.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Tamiya develop this relationship the more time they spend on the island, the pair concerned with each other's safety even as they continue to trade barbs and Tamiya pretends not to know Fuchi's name. Fuchi is mortally wounded stopping Shugen from executing Tamiya and when forced to choose between healing himself or a mortally wounded Tamiya, saves the latter and dies from his own wounds.
Toma
Voiced by: Kensho Ono (Japanese), Matt Shipman (English)
"Adapting is strength. So an unchanging relationship is just... extra baggage. That's what makes my brother strong."
The younger brother of Aza Chobe, who has infiltrated into the Yamada Asaemon clan for the purpose of breaking his convict brother out before he's executed. As such, he is assigned as Chobe's executioner.
- Beast and Beauty: Chobe and Toma have this dynamic. Chobe being Covered with Scars, wearing ragged clothes, and is openly brash. While Toma is more refined in looks and personality despite being nearly as vicious.
- Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: As well as this.
- Big Brother Worship: He admires Chobe and relies on him in everything in life.
- Expy: According to the Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho fan book, he is one to Jin from Samurai Champloo, while his brother was modeled after Mugen.
- Important Haircut: He cuts his long hair when he decides to start fighting his own battles instead of simply piggy-backing on his brother's strength.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Toma is a Bishōnen who sports back-length hair. His delicate appearance makes it clear that he's not used to fighting "real" battles despite his skills with the sword.
- The Mole: He infiltrated the Yamada Asaemon so he can free his brother. Although they had the prefect opportunity to try to flee once they were alone on the island, they decided to continue the mission anyways as the brothers wanted to steal the Elixir of Life for themselves.
- Parental Abandonment: His mother died of illness when he was young and his father was executed for joining a revenge scheme to avenge his daimyo master.
- Satellite Character: Invoked. Toma sees himself as nothing but an extension of his brother, and his motive is singularly to follow Chobe. This is eventually defied when he decides to grow on his own.
- Sibling Team and Siblings in Crime: what they do when not fighting plant demigods.
- Siblings in Crime: He and his brother Chobe are known as the infamous Aza brothers of Iyo, with both of them being dedicated to the other's safety first and foremost.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Toma looks beautiful and delicate, and is generally mild-mannered. But he's actually a skilled and talented fighter, very smart and quick to learn... and also as villainous as his brother.
- Strong and Skilled: Toma is actually very good at fighting, he just hasn't had a whole lot of chances so far, having always been protected by his brother.
- Took a Level in Badass: Toma clearly becomes more confident as the series and learns to stand on his own two feet without relying on Chobe.
Senta
Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita (Japanese), Jordan Dash Cruz (English)
The 5th rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan, and a scholar of religion and theology. He is assigned as Yuzuriha's executioner.
- Acrofatic: Despite his overweight build, he's very fleet-of-foot and his fighting style relies on speed.
- Badass Bookworm: He provides a lot of insight into the background behind Kohaku and the Soshin that roam it due to personal religious research. The fight against Mu Dan proves that he’s as deadly as any Asaemon. His knowledge on plants is pivotal in helping Shion land the fatal blow on Mu Dan by correctly identifying the floral equivalent of a tanden in Mu Dan's monstrous final form.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He’s a mild-mannered fellow who’d actually rather not be executing people in all. Nonetheless, he’s ranked 5th among the Asaemon and is genuinely deadly in combat.
- Big Fun: A rotund member of Yamada Asaemon, and probably one of the nicest among them, referring to even the convicts he's charged with killing if they step out of line with honorifics and having more confidence in Sagiri's abilities than most of them, admittedly half-agreeing with Genji's suggestion she leave the island but also believing in her capabilities enough to keep Gabimaru in line.
- Blind Without 'Em: Senta wears glasses and apparently can't see without them. When Yuzuriha wants to perform her ninjutsu technique that she doesn't want Senta to know about, she steals his glasses.
- Bodyguard Crush: Sagiri suspects Senta may have feelings for Yuzuriha due to how willing he is to defend her. Senta claims he doesn't love Yuzuriha, he just admires her for living how she wants and never lying to herself, unlike himself who was pressured into becoming an Asaemon against his will and lied to himself to justify his job's necessity. While he's dying, Yuzuriha holds him to ease his passing and the knowledge he's held by the person he admires allows him to die happy.
- Butt-Monkey: Yuzuriha steps in front of his title box when he introduces himself. He also gets pinned to a tree by her, gets verbally jabbed by Sagiri regarding his guard duties, and Yuzuriha comically uses him as a meat shield against Mu Dan.
- Cowardly Lion: Senta clearly doesn't like fighting, with this being mentioned as the reason behind his distinct style of using his blade more like a fencing sword to strike swiftly and at a distance. However, Senta's still willing to take on the monsters of the island, including one of the Lord Tensen.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Yuzuriha's arms after being fatally wounded by Mu Dan.
- Father, I Don't Want to Fight: Senta hates killing and never wanted to be an executioner, wanting to be an artist instead. Unfortunately, his family would never permit him to pursue his passions due to their tradition of giving their kids to be trained by the Yamada Clan and become an Asaemon.
- Go Out with a Smile: Ultimately, dies happy and smiling knowing that his responsibilities as an Asaemon are done and that he gets to spend his final moments in the arms of the woman he admired most.
- Let Them Die Happy: Invoked by Yuzuriha on his deathbed. She told him that his duties as an Asaemon were done, that he was free to think of whatever he wanted.
- Mr. Exposition: Throughout the first act of the story, Senta is the one who primarily delivers the exposition on Kotaku, using his vast knowledge of theology to slowly unravel the island's true nature.
- Nice Guy: While the other prominent Yamada Asaemon like Sagiri and Shion are altruistic individuals, Senta's default attitude is to be friendly and courteous, even if he's interacting with a convict.
- Religious Bruiser: When his dreams of being an artist were dashed due to being forced to become an Asaemon, he fell into despair and turned to religion. His expertise in theology allows him to poke out the holes in the religious trappings of the supposed "Shinsenkyō."
- Reluctant Warrior: He grew up wanting to be an artist, but the tradition of being an Asaemon didn’t make that an option. His job as an executioner weighs on him to the point where he sought out religious scriptures to cope with it.
- The Smart Guy: He's a scholar and, before the group unites with Shion, Senta serves as their source of information.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: He's one of the most intelligent members of the Asaemon and wears glasses. It's lampshaded in a Black Comedy way when Yuzuriha and Gabimaru, presumably at the former's insistence, wears the deceased Senta's glasses while acting as teachers for their group.
- Taking the Bullet: He pushes Yuzuriha out of the way of Mu Dan's stinger, causing flowers to bloom out of him, and while he's given a brief Hope Spot after the flowers are cut away, he still ultimately dies due to blood loss.
Genji
Voiced by: Volcano Ota (Japanese), Gabe Kunda (English)
"When dawn breaks, take a boat back, Sagiri. The burden of this mission is too great for a woman."
The 8th Ranked Yamada Asaemon, who was assigned to keep watch on Moro Makiya, only to end up assisting Senta in supervising Yuzuriha after she kills him.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despite his sexism, he was very protective of and encouraging towards his little sister, Isuzu, when she joined the Asaemon.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Doesn't necessarily act nice, but he otherwise comes off as serious and dutiful, the worse that can be said about him is that he's weak to women. However, he later displays some Stay in the Kitchen views by outright ordering Sagiri to return to the mainland since he effectively sees her as a baby machine for the clan, and attempts to kill her after she respectfully asks that she's given the freedom to choose how she lives.
- Covert Pervert: As serious as he might seem, it has been shown a few times that seductive women are a big weakness to him. Gabimaru and Sagiri are quick to realize that he chose to stay on the island after Moro's death was because Genji fell for Yuzuriha's charm. Chapter 46.5 would reveal that he really wanted Akaginu to be his assigned criminal.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Attempts to kill Sagiri for the crime of requesting that she be judged by her capabilities as a warrior as opposed to her gender.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: More like "Sexism Cannot Comprehend Action Girls". When Sagiri defies his orders to return to the mainland and pours her heart out to him about her desire to be seen as a warrior in her own right, all he has to say is that it was painful to listen to and tries to kill for refusing to do her "duty".
- Half the Man He Used to Be: After his attempt on Sagiri's life is foiled by her stealing his sword right from his grasp, he's effectively bitch-slapped in half by Rokurota.
- Hypocrite: Pretty much ousts himself as one with his Stay in the Kitchen beliefs, as he voices them despite helping Senta in supervising Yuzuriha when Sagiri and Gabimaru run into him. Even more so when his sister shows up later as another Executioner, and it turns out he went out of his way to support and stick up for her.
- Never Learned to Read: Genji didn't know how to write until Shugen taught him how, and the first thing he wrote was a thank you letter to his friend for teaching him.
- Pet the Dog: Posthumously, it's revealed that he was very kind and supportive to his sister Isuzu, who was often bullied for not being conventionally attractive by the standards of their time.
- Redemption Equals Death: After coming to realize that being a woman doesn't detract from her determination be a warrior, he accepts Sagiri's resolve to become a Samurai and bequeaths his sword to her before passing.
- Stay in the Kitchen: While Sagiri is suggested to suffer this treatment in general, Genji is shown to be the most vocal, outright demanding she leave the island to be a pawn in an Arranged Marriage and trying to kill her when she refuses the next day. Ironically, he was a big supporter of his own sister's decision to become an executioner and supported her in spite of the bullying she received for not being conventionally attractive.
- Take Up My Sword: As a way of apologizing for his Stay in the Kitchen behavior he gifts Sagiri his sword.
- What You Are in the Dark: Despite having just tried to kill her, his first instinct when Rokurata ambushes them is to push Sagiri out of the way.
- The Worf Effect: Despite being one of the strongest Asaemon in terms of physical strength, Rokurota was able to fatally injure him with ease. This was to demonstrate Rokurota's own inhuman strength and deceptive quickness before Sagiri and Gabimaru are forced to fight the giant.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite looking like a middle-aged man, Genji is actually only 19, making him older than Sagiri, Tenza, Senta, and Kisho but younger than the more youthful-looking Fuchi and Shugen, who are both 20. He even looks older than Shion and Eizen, who're 27 and 28 respectively!
Tenza
Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (Japanese), Ben Balmaceda (English)
"I'm gonna get you home, Nurugai, kid! Because more than any of the other convicts here... you deserve to keep on living!"
The 10th rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan, assigned as Nurugai's executioner.
- Blade Spam: His specialty in his technique is speed, but Shion points out that it's sloppy. Taking this advice, he uses his technique "Ittō-ryū Ultimate: Pounding Torrent" on Zhu Jin, who manages to avoid all his slashes and lethally wounds Tenza.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mortally wounded by Zhu Jin, he decides to keep on punching them to buy Shion and Nurugai enough time to escape before dying.
- Hopeless Suitor: One of the Extra chapters shows that Tenza is attracted to Sagiri because of her beauty and personality, a fact that's supported by Toma's observations according to the notes he made in his infiltration journal. Unfortunately for him, Sagiri's not only oblivious to his affections, her comments about him regarding his compatibility with her as a suitor in bonus material has her state that while she's fond of him, she thinks of him more as a "cute younger brother" to her thanks to his headstrong and reckless personality.
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: Inverted. As he's about to die, Tenza sees visions of what his life could have been if he had survived.
- Nice Guy: Nurugai offhandedly insults him while giving him advice on how to row a boat. He just thanks her for the advice without any complaints and swears to get her off the island alive.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: His ghost appears to Nurugai, inspiring her to go back and save Shion in his battle against one of the Tensen, and follows approvingly after the two of them when they leave together.
- Posthumous Character: He is killed off shortly after his introduction, but the memory of him still influences the actions of other characters, in particular Shion, Nurugai and, to a lesser extent, Shugen.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Type 3. Despite being an executioner, he recognizes that Nurugai doesn’t deserve to be executed for anything truly heinous. He follows his duty, but unlike the other Yamada he's determined to actually assist her in surviving from the start.
- Sacrificial Lion: Unlike Eizen, Tenza sticks around long enough to seem like he’ll be a major character due to the bond he’s formed with Nurugai and his history with Shion. Then he’s killed not even a quarter of the way into the story to establish the threat of the Tensen.
- Street Urchin: Was an urchin who got scooped up by Shion to become a Yamada Asaemon after the latter sensed potential in Tenza.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Flashbacks show that he used to argue a lot with Shugen, due to Tenza's wild and rambunctious nature clashing with Shugen's strict adherence to proper conduct. Despite their frequent squabbles, Shugen sees Tenza as a close friend.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He is killed off within a few chapters after his introduction, although he gets a lot more than most of the manga's examples and later flashbacks and a Not Too Dead to Save the Day moment do still give him more closure.
- The Worf Effect: He is killed by Zhu Jin, despite Tenza's impressive showing of swordsmanship during the fight, to establish how dangerous the Tensen will be to the rest of the cast.
Kishō
Voiced by: Shun'ichi Toki (Japanese), Bradley Gareth (English)
The 11th rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan, assigned as Keiun's executioner.
- Ambiguous Situation: The circumstances of how he and the main transport ship ended up in Derelict Graveyard or how he got infected with the Arborification are unclear. The fact he had his sword out implied he was attacked when attempting to leave the island, but by whom is never revealed.
- Asshole Victim: His brief appearance depicts him as a condescending jackass whose words nearly result in Gabimaru and Sagiri trying to kill each other. His death isn't particularly viewed as a tragedy by readers.
- Covert Pervert: Chapter 46.5 would reveal that he really wanted to be paired with Akaginu before being assigned to Keiun.
- Informed Attribute: We learn from Shugen that Kishō's strength in battle was his perception, giving him a form of Combat Clairvoyance, though we never get to see him fight in the series proper.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he does so in a rude manner, he makes several valid points in his criticism of Sagiri and his grievances towards the assignment they were given.
- Killed Offscreen: Tenza and Nugiri come across him after he's already succumbed to arborification with the specifics of how it happened unknown.
- Sacrificial Lamb: He is the second Asaemon to die while trying to leave the island. His death to meant to show that escaping the island will be just as dangerous as exploring it.
- Tempting Fate: After his convict dies, he brags about getting to go home early. His body is later discovered succumbing to arborification in a graveyard of ships, presumably onboard the one that was meant to take him home.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: After the death of his convict and some barbed criticism towards Sagiri, he goes to leave the island... but is found shortly later by Tenza and Nurugai in the Derelict Graveyard having succumbed to the flower disease, then gets ripped in half by the monstrous tentacles stalking the place.
Jikka
The 3rd rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan. Originally assigned as Horubo's executioner, but never made it to landfall due to his charge getting killed off during the journey. He is later sent back to Kotaku as back-up alongside Shugen, Kiyomaru and Isuzu.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: Jikka reappears near the tail end of the series and initially appears to be a Wild Card. However, his alliance with the survivors and his politicking behind the scenes allow those who did survive the final battle to live on.
- Affably Evil: Beneath his goofy exterior, Jikka is capable of surprising ruthlessness and only cares about becoming the leader of the Asaemon so he can live a life of unimpeded hedonism. However, he isn't actively malicious, viewing any of the horrible things he does as nothing personal. After previously trying to arrange Shugen, Sagiri and Shion's assassinations while on the island, once Jikka gains the position he's coveted, he arranges for Sagiri, Shion as well as every other survivor from the island to live happily ever after.
- Ambiguously Evil: While introduced as a laid-back slacker seemingly devoid of ambition, his intentions become a lot more nefarious as the series goes on.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Jikka's perception skill surpasses even Shion's Tao perception, and he is able to "just know" the right spots to evade enemy attacks and deliver a killing blow.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Behind the appearance of a lackadaisical man who'll do anything to get out of work it is a devious mind more than happy to plot the deaths of his comrades to advance his rank amongst the Yamada Asaemon.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Jikka is one of the top-ranked swordsmen in the Yamada Asaemon clan, but he doesn't take his duties as a sword-tester seriously and prefers to spend his time drinking and cavorting with prostitutes. Despite being glad to have an excuse to leave Shinsenkyo and go home without making landfall, he's strong enough on his own to slay one of the sea monsters responsible for the ship graveyard preventing anyone else from leaving and escaping on his own.
- The Chessmaster: Sets the Iwagakure chief up to be executed for his crimes and devises a way to get all of the surviving criminals freed, as well as becoming head of the Yamada Asaemon with Shugen's death.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Jikka is a prime example of how a person can still get far in life by relying on his talent alone. Lazy and frivolous, he only does the barest minimum of what his job requires and spends the rest of his time fooling around with wine and prostitutes. He never puts any effort in his fights, sits out from difficult encounters (including the Final Battle), and arguably gets the best Happy Ending of all the survivors, as he ends up becoming the head of the Yamada Asaemon clan after the journey is over since all of the other ranked members of the clan have either died or left, guaranteeing him a lifetime of luxury from then on.
- The Hedonist: Jikka loves spending his days drinking and sleeping around with anyone who'll have him. The reason why Jikka wants to become the head of the Yamada Asaemon is so he won't have to go on missions anymore and can live as hedonistically as he wants.
- Karma Houdini: It's revealed in the fanbook that he was the unknown burglar responsible for the murders of Shugen's parents when he was a child. Because Shugen never learned that he was the culprit behind his parents' deaths, Jikka never faces justice in any form for his crimes. To add insult to injury, he not only outlives Shugen, he also becomes the head of the Yamada-Asaemon clan in the series' ending.
- Lazy Bum: Whenever there's fighting to be done, expect Jikka to position himself as far away from the action as possible. Not because he's a coward or lacks the necessary skill, but because he doesn't want to put in the effort. He even shakes Chobe's hand after the latter kills Jikka's convict because it means he can go home early.
- Manipulative Bastard: Despite his laidback personality and laziness, Jikka is easily the most cunning member of the main cast, and his schemes are what enable the survivors to get around the "only one convict may live" rule, and allow them to find their happy endings.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, no one among the Yamada-Asaemon, including himself, remembers what Jikka's first day in the clan was like, according to an omake. In fact, asking further only gets you more questions than answers, with incidents ranging from him being drunk on his first day on the job, to him doing naked handstands in the nude, to him floating in midair.
- Nothing Personal: When the Aza brothers ask what Shugen did to warrant Jikka arranging his assassination, Jikka admits he doesn't hold any enmity towards Shugen. It's just that Shugen's in the way of Jikka becoming first ranked Yamada Aesamon and permanently retiring from field work.
- Really Gets Around: He mentions having a lot of lovers, both men and women, he wants to get back to in the mainland, which is why he is so eager to leave Kotaku. Once Jikka's morality is called into question later in the story, this behavior is shone in a less pleasant light, as he is seen harassing a woman who is clearly uncomfortable in the situation.
- Serendipitous Survival: Chobe kills off his convict very quickly, allowing Jikka to return to Edo before the journey even begins, thus ensuring that he's not among Kotaku's victims. Though given how skilled with a blade he turns out to be, he almost certainly would have survived anyway.
- Wild Card: Jikka at first appears to just be an immensely skilled but incredibly lazy samurai who just wants to get off the island as quick as possible so he can go back to drinking and sleeping around. His refusal to obey or fight when Shugen orders seems more an indication of his laziness than anything more nefarious. Then he asks the Aza brothers to kill Shugen, Sagiri and Shion to make his ascension to rank one Asaemon and it's clear while Jikka may be a lazy hedonist, he's also no true ally to those around them.
- Xanatos Gambit: Tries to have Shugen killed by the Aza brothers, knowing he'll either remove an obstacle to his own advancement or get a couple of criminals killed by Shugen who would never believe Jikka concocted such a plot.
- Younger Than They Look: Jikka's unshaven appearance makes him look like he's a man in his 30s, but he's really only 28 years old in the story, making him the same age as Eizen.
Shugen
Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki (Japanese)
"Being a samurai means being prepared to die at any moment in order to carry out the will of the clan. For duty is the pride of a samurai and the pride of the Yamada clan. Free of thought till death. With singular devotion towards death's embrace."
The 2nd rank of the Yamada Asaemon clan, and is one of the reinforcements sent to Kotaku alongside Jikka, Isuzu and Kiyomaru.
- The Ace: The strongest and most skilled executioner among the Yamada Asaemon. He can effortlessly copy his kinsmen's techniques and use them for his own against droves of enemies who are foolish enough to attack him.
- All Your Powers Combined: Shugen can perfectly imitate the swordsmanship and special techniques of any of his fellow Asaemon, up to and including altering his elemental Tao to match theirs. Darkly, in one case, this means imitating Fuchi's style to try to kill Tamiya, when Shugen was the one to mortally wound Fuchi and Fuchi died saving Tamiya's life at the expense of his own.
- Anti-Villain: Shugen is a brutal, zealous Knight Templar, but it stems from a Dark and Troubled Past of watching his parents be murdered by bandits who were never caught and later seeing his beloved comrades (and mentor) having been horribly murdered on Kotaku. Even as he ruthlessly cuts down his foes, he's seen shedding tears begging the people he kills to be reincarnated as good in their next lives.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: When Gabimaru ultimately cannot bring himself to destroy Xu Fu's body, since seeing it reminds him of his own love for his own spouse, Shugen has no such hesitations, and this ultimately seals Rien's doom. Pointedly, when Rien uses her last burst of power to restore the health and lives of everyone left on the ship, she leaves him out.
- Big Brother Instinct: Shugen is generally a protective older brother figure to his younger Yamada Asaemon kinsmen, but he was especially this to Sagiri, especially when both of them were younger. Not only was he the one who recommended that Sagiri get a rank as an executioner because he believed she truly deserved one, an omake chapter revealed that when he learned that Sagiri was pelted with rocks by a bunch of bullies for being the daughter of the Yamada Asaemon during that flashback from Chapter 2, he was enraged at was done to her and immediately went off to "file a complaint" against her offenders.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Shugen is seemingly unable to understand the nuance of the situation with the convicts and their escorts even going so far as to kill Fuchi for working with his convict. The only concession he ever makes is that it is the Executioners job to kill the convicts so he won't let the Tensen kill them.
- Cavalry Betrayal: Not originally intended, but upon seeing that his clansmen and women have chosen to ally with and even befriend the remaining criminals on the island for both survival and sentimental reasons, Shugen immediately starts trying to kill them all.
- Defiant to the End: Shugen never once wavers in his devotion to the Yamada clan, using his last moments to cut down Jofuku's corpse without a hint of hesitation.
- Foil: To Sagiri, with the two of them holding antithetical philosophies as members of the Yamada clan. While Sagiri is plagued with doubt over the lives she takes, Shugen feels absolutely none and goes above-and-beyond with his hard-line stance on punishing criminals. While Sagiri seeks to end the lives of convicts gracefully and painlessly, Shugen believes that criminals should suffer before they die. Sagiri starts out as a By-the-Book Cop, but slowly learns to open up and follow her own sense of morality instead of mindlessly following the Yamada clan's dogma. Shugen, however, never once wavers in his single-minded devotion to the clan, not even when standing at death's door."These wounds would have ended an ordinary man yet I only feel a twinge of pain, and I still stand. My very humanity is now lost to me. However, I bear no regrets. For I am a samurai. Isuzu and Kiyomaru too were exemplary warriors. I shall make them proud by carrying out our clan's duty, forever undying. I am free of all doubt!"
- Honor Before Reason: Big time. He's fanatically devoted to the Yamada Clan's code of conduct to the point that he's willing to kill Fuchi for allying with a convict.
- Knight Templar: Shugen holds a very hard-line stance against criminals and their associates, and doesn't think that death-row convicts deserve a painless death. In the past, he was assigned to interrogate a crime lord to give up his associates, and executed the criminal's entire family, from the elderly to the youngest infants. When he arrives to Kotaku, he is determined to kill all the convicts who are still alive, and anyone who stands up for them, including his own friends.
- Manly Tears:
- Shugen gets frequently moved to tears whenever he thinks about his fallen comrades, and openly cries when he finds the dead body of his mentor, Eizen. But this doesn't reduce his ruthlessness as an executioner, or his skills in battle.
- While mercilessly killing the family—babies included—of a village's Yakuza, Shugen actually weeps while begging the final criminal to live a virtuous next life so Shugen won't have to see them as people who need to be hunted down and put to death.
- Pet the Dog: Despite how rigid he usually is, when it comes to his fellow Executioners he is actually a lot more loose and understanding. The only reason Sagiri even has a rank is because he begged and threatened to quit if the government wouldn't, and the reason Izusu and Kiyomaru are so loyal to him is because he similarly treated them well despite their appearance and age, respectively.
- Politically Correct Villain: He stands out amongst the very traditionalist Yamada Asaemon as quite open to the idea of female samurai and even pleads to Sagiri's father that she be allowed to join their rank, claiming he could have no honor in holding a position that wouldn't allow such a talented fighter amongst their rank on the basis of her gender. Shugen is a ruthless killer but he's not a bigot.
- Power Copying: He is a very versatile learner, and is able to use many of his comrades' special techniques. When facing Shugen, Gantetsusai felt like he was fighting several different people, due to Shugen constantly changing his combat styles to suit the need of the battle. This even allows him to change the attributes of his Tao to suit the person he's copying.
- Serrated Blade of Pain: Invoked. Shugen wished for something like this in a flashback to show how much he despises criminals and only restrained himself in the past when Kishō scolded him for his hatred and bloodlust. After getting on the island and finding Kishō's mutilated body, Shugen wastes no time chipping his blade's edge to make it ragged so that it would cause more pain when he strikes down his enemies.
- So Proud of You: Implied. Although he and Sagiri hold drastically different viewpoints by the end of the series, Shugen expresses genuine pride in his friend for having found her own path, shedding tears when he sees her and Gabimaru fighting Rien in tandem.
- Would Hurt a Child: In a flashback, Shugen is shown beheading an infant in front of the baby's father as punishment for being a member of a yakuza gang.
Kiyomaru
An unranked Asaemon, Kiyomaru is sent to the island as part of the Shogunate's reinforcements.
- Almighty Janitor: He is one the best Asaemon in terms of fighting abilities, but has yet to be given a rank due to his young age.
- Blind Obedience: He exhibits this towards Shugen, going along with his plan to kill all the surviving criminals and any Asaemon who protect them, not bothering to ask any questions on the morality of this action.
- Bratty Half-Pint: He's a young boy whose brattiness stems from his insulting demeanor towards anyone not named Shugen and his insufferable arrogance as a swordsman.
- Cavalry Betrayal: He follows Shugen's lead in trying to kill off the other executioners for treating their charges like friends instead of criminals.
- Child Prodigy: His skills are stated to be on par with an upper ranked Asaemon, and he is at the top of his class when it comes swordsmanship. The only reason why he was not been given a rank is because he is not of age yet.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He ends up getting anticlimactically getting crushed to death under debris during the final battle with Rien.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Isuzu mocks him by calling him "Little Kiyo". He, in turn, calls her "Giantess".
- Insufferable Genius: While as talented as the next Asaemon, Kiyomaru is the most unpleasant about the contingent of ninja serving as their Mooks, and orders one to kill themself to prove their loyalty.
- Just a Kid: Other Asaemon treat him as a child and underestimate his skills because of his age. Shugen refusing to do the same and treating him like a samurai despite his young age is what earned Shugen Kiyomaru's Undying Loyalty.
- Kick the Dog: Admittedly, it's long since been established that the Stone Village ninja are Asshole Victims, but he demands one kill themself on the voyage over just to prove how loyal they are.
- Spin Attack: His fighting style incorporates a lot of spinning attacks.
- Squashed Flat: He is crushed under a large piece of debris after Rien unleashes her full power and destroys the ship they were on, with only his arm remaining.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Tiny Guy to Isuzu's Huge Girl.
- Undying Loyalty: Towards Shugen for not treating him differently due to his age.
Isuzu
An unranked Asaemon and the younger sister of Genji. She is sent to the island along with Shugen and Kiyomaru as part of the Shogunate's reinforcements.
- Action Girl: She's skilled enough as a fighter to be an Asaemon, as well as chosen for the second expedition to the island.
- All of the Other Reindeer: She was treated like an outcast by most of the Asaemon at her dojo due to her gender, her unusual height, her dark skin and her lineage as one of the mountain folk.
- Almighty Janitor: Much like Sagiri, Isuzu is actually one of the strongest Asaemon is terms swordsmanship and her skills are on par with an upper rank member. However, the clan refuses to give her a rank solely because of her gender.
- Amazonian Beauty: Defied. While by modern standards Isuzu is quite attractive, her height, muscles, and tan skin often see her bullied and mistreated by other women since feudal Japanese beauty standards tended towards both slightness and Raven Hair, Ivory Skin.
- Ambiguously Bi: Isuzu's relationship with Sagiri has undertones of Pseudo-Romantic Friendship while Isuzu's reverence of Shugen seems like a Subordinate Excuse.
- Animal Motifs: While she was originally compared to a gorilla by people bullying her, some supportive words from her brother saw her embracing the moniker, seeing gorillas as chivalrous and strong creatures she should be proud of.
- The Big Gal: She is the tallest Asaemon at 215 cm and along with her brother, is physically one of their strongest members among their ranks.
- Big Little Sister: She is 10 cm taller than her already hulking older brother, Genji.
- Designated Girl Fight: During the battles between the first expedition party and the second, Isuzu ends up facing off against Yuzuriha and Sagiri.
- Driven to Suicide: She almost commits seppuku on the spot when she sees Fuchi's dead body, hoping it might appease the Shogun.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Kiyomaru insults her by calling her "Giantess". She insults him back by calling him "Little Kiyo".
- Foil: A big one to Sagiri, a classically-beautiful finesse fighter to her unconventionally-attractive power fighter. While they are both kind, sensitive and gentle people at heart, Sagiri's angst comes from feeling the weight of those she's killed, her struggles with sexism within the Asaemon, and childhood abuse for being an executioner's daughter, while Isuzu instead suffers from mistreatment due to her appearance and lack of conventional femininity. And most ominously, while they both embrace supportive, non-romantic friendships to help them out of these emotional slumps, Sagiri finds peace through her relationship with the Jerk with a Heart of Gold Gabimaru, a ninja who wants to leave his life of bloodshed behind, while Isuzu instead clings to Shugen, a Knight Templar who turns her against former friends and ultimately leads her to her death.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: During the final battle, she takes her attention off Rien once Kiyomaru is killed and immediately gets her upper body crushed by the Tensen's gravity attack.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Had this relationship with the only other female Asaemon within the clan, Sagiri. Isuzu has a habit of affectionately referring to her fellow Asaemon as "my dear Sagiri" and the two were shown blushing at each other during a brief flashback in Chapter 94 when they were children. However, this takes a dark turn when Isuzu reunites with Sagiri while Yuzuriha was embracing her. Although Isuzu try to murder Yuzuriha shortly afterwards largely due the orders given by Shugen, there was definitely some Clingy Jealous Girl vibes coming from Isuzu after seeing her close friend side with a criminal.
- Statuesque Stunner: Defied. By modern standards, Isuzu would be considered an Amazonian Beauty. However, most people are intimidated by her very tall stature of 215 cm due to the beauty standards of feudal Japanese.
- Subordinate Excuse: It's implied part of the reason she's so loyal to Shugen is because she has romantic feelings for him. While other Asaemon mocked her appearance, Shugen was one of the only people to refer to her as beautiful.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Huge Girl to Kiyomaru's Tiny Guy.
- Undying Loyalty: Like Kiyomaru, she is dedicated to Shugen because he never treated her differently due to her appearance.
Lord Tensen
Lord Tensen are the rulers of Kotaku island, made of eight immortal beings individually named Rien, Zhu Jin, Ju Fa, Tao Fa, Mu Dan, Gui Fa, Ran, and Mei. In General
Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Female form), Jun'ichi Suwabe (Male form)(Japanese), Michelle Rojas (Female Form), Ian Sinclair (Male form) (English)
Tropes that apply to the whole group.- Artificial Human: They were created by Xu Fu who combined his own Tao and the Tao of flowers to continue his research of immortality.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The only way to defeat a Tensen is to destroy their tanden (the Japanese word for the lower dantian in Chinese Daoism) using a Tao attack that hinders the Tensen's own Tao.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: They can change their sex between male and female at will, and both are conventionally attractive.
- Conflict Killer: The first arc of the story is about the 10 criminals needing to compete against each other to retrieve the Elixir of Life, since only one of them could receive the pardon. But once the Tensen enter the picture, the surviving criminals and Asaemons are forced to pull an Enemy Mine during the second arc in order for them of having any chance of defeating their new immortal foes.
- Distant Finale: Despite having their tanden destroyed they are still able to be reborn, though at a much much slower rate, the last panel shows that Gui Fa lived into modern times and he and Mei are talking about how Ju Fa and Tao Fa have just been reborn.
- Foul Flower: All of them have a strong association with flowers and they serve as the series' primary antagonists. Justified, given their nature as Plant People.
- God Guise: Presenting themselves as deities to the islanders, the Tensen are really cloned bodies of Rien, who trained her own Tao to allow herself such abilities. She's a powerful and long-living human but none of them are true divine beings.
- Healing Factor: Being part-plant, the Tensen can't die unless their tanden is destroyed, and they would simply regenerate themselves no matter how many times they are cut down.
- Lack of Empathy: The Tensen regard humans as nothing but livestock to harvest Tan from, and they don't seem much concerned about each other's well-being when one gets injured or even killed. Subverted with Ju Fa and Tao Fa, who care very much for one another, if no one else. Also subverted with Rien, whose goal of achieving true immorality is motivated by her love for her deceased husband, Xu Fu, whom she wants to resurrect.
- Life Drinker: Maintaining their eternal youth and vitality requires them to consume the tan of other living things, and as time has gone on it's required increasingly rarified tan from particularly strong or numerous sapient creatures to avoid diminishing returns. It's implied that the "perfected" elixir they create in the last few chapters gets around this since Gui Fa and Mei don't seem to be engaging in it in the Distant Finale.
- Manchild: They have spent the entirety of their long lives seeking to perfect their various forms of immortality and as such don't know much about the world outside of their island. There is also the fact they have no choice in the matter which has left a noticeable impact on their psyches.
- Not So Invincible After All: They initially seem like invincible gods, but in reality they're just very strong beings who are still entirely mortal.
- One-Winged Angel: Each Tensen is capable of transforming into a monstrous form known as Kishikai, usually doing so as a last resort. The transformation grants a massive and overwhelming boost of power, but degrades their mental state and quickly drains their Tao, leaving them as elderly husks afterwards. Some, like Ran, can retain their personality while in the form, while others can partially transform into the state, lessening the drawbacks.
- Physical God: They are seen as this, considered to be the supreme beings of the island, commanding the Soshin and passing judgment on humans who come to the island.
- Plant People: The Tensen are made out of a combination of human and flower Tao, and their Kishikai forms almost always lean towards Botanical Abomination.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Tensen were created by Rien 1,000 years ago, though all take on very youthful appearances, kept young by eating the Tao of the living.
- Sex Shifter: All Tensens can easily switch between "Yin" (female) and "Yang" (male) forms at will, although most of them prefer to stick to one gender.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: At the bottom are mindless monsters: the Soshin, Mooks whom all the named characters can mow down with relative ease, and the Moshin, who're a fair bit tougher due to their monstrous size but still not too much difficulty. Next are the Doshin, Elite Mooks with high intelligence who look like humanoid (but hideous) mashups of various plants or animals and human beings, who can command the lesser monsters and mutant animals on the island and have a limited mastery over Tao that grants them both a Healing Factor and some special sensory abilities, that represent a huge roadblock to any characters who haven't yet mastered Tao, but don't give a great deal of trouble to those that do. And finally, at the top of the pyramid are the Tensen themselves, any one of whom requires multiple main characters working together in concert to defeat, and whose leader is even stronger than that.
- Tyke Bomb: A flashback shows that Rien raised all the other Tensen to view humans as inferior, essentially trapping all of them as what they are now.
Xu Fu (SPOILERS)
The famous Chinese explorer and alchemist who was tasked by the Qin Emperor to find the Elixir of Life.
- Dead All Along: Even the Tensen thought he was still alive but deep in meditation, but it's eventually revealed he died centuries ago, and Rien's current search for immortality is actually an attempt to bring him back.
- Historical Domain Character: A very famous figure
in both Chinese and Japanese (where he is known as Jofuku) history. Hell's Paradise's story is after his second voyage to find the Elixir of Life. Historically he, and his very sizable entourage, are never seen again though there are many myths and legends that he ended up in Japan. - The Lost Lenore: To Rien, as her entire motive is to bring him back from the dead.
- Post Humous Character: In reality, he's been dead for centuries before the story began.
Rien (SPOILERS)
Chinese Pronunciation: Lian
Click here to see her ideal form
The firstborn of the Tensens and the leader of the group. In actuality, she was the wife of the now-deceased Xu Fu who assisted him in his immortality research, and is now driven to bring him back to life at all cost.
- Abusive Parents: Rien does care for the Tensen in her own, warped way but she's not above painfully punishing them as she states. She cruelly casts Mei out for defying her cruelty and manipulates all of them into thinking she'll lead them to enlightenment when really all she cares about is bringing back her own husband.
- Actually a Doombot: A complicated case. Her true form is that of an almost completely arborified hag. What we see is technically a doll, but her mental powers are so great the doll possesses godlike powers and can shape to a "true shape" kin to her ideal self.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Just as Shugen destroys her beloved husband's body so the heroes don't have to, Rien kills him shortly afterwards and pointedly refuses to restore his life as she does the others, sparing the surviving Asaemon the burden of having to kill a man they all respected who would never have let any of them live for allying with criminals, let alone permit their final decision to allow the two ninja to escape while Tamiya claims the pardon.
- Big Bad: As the leader of the Tensens, Rien leads the experiments to create the Elixir of Life that the main characters are seeking. She is also the primary cause of the Arborification of the unfortunate humans that managed to land on her island and her goal to spread this Arborification to the entire population of Japan so that she can harvest their Tan to create the perfect Elixir of Life turns her into the primary antagonist that the heroes must stop.
- Big Brother Bully: Subverted. Rien claims to be the first of the Tensen from whom the others split each as aspects of a Hermit who achieved enlightenment and she's justified to punish them for failures. In reality she's an Abusive Parent who created the Tensen as copies of herself to aid in her research.
- Bishōnen Line: While all the other Tensen's One-Winged Angel forms are Botanical Abominations, Rien's is a dark-skinned and reasonably-beautiful humanoid, albeit one with many arms and many eyes.
- The Chessmaster: Rien has the greatest knowledge of Tao in the cast and uses it to oversee the creation of a true Elixir of Life and nearly orchestrates its completion, preparing all of Japan as sacrifices for the energy it will require.
- Cold Ham: Rien is very stoic and composed but her presence commands respect, with her words and philosophy echoing to the attention of all present in her scenes, including the audience.
- The Corrupter: As much as she may truly care for them, Rien is the manipulator who drove the Tensen down their path, teaching them to devour humans for immortality and that their place was above mankind, all so they would be ready for her ultimate goal of reviving Xu Fu.
- Despair Event Horizon: When Shugen destroys her husband's mortal body, and with it any hope that she will ever be able to be with him again, the art shows an expression of perfect, heartrending despair on her face as she realizes that all the horrible things she's done are All for Nothing.
- The Determinator: Rien has spent nearly a millennia trying to revive Xu Fu and with each failure of blooming the Banko flower merely returned to her research to resume.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Rien is a vicious manipulator willing to kill an entire country of people but it's all to bring back her dead husband.
- Although they are ultimately pawns, Rien does have some degree of genuine care for the Lord Tensen members, at least those loyal to her and she goes looking for Mu Dan's killers after they're beaten by the heroes. Though she says the Tensen are all expendable, she has plant ovules of them which will allow them to come back to life and sends Gui Fa to protect them. It takes a thousand years for them to resurrect, but given that Rien's ultimate goal is immortality for herself and her husband, a millennium is a drop in the bucket.
- Evil Counterpart: To Gabimaru, both are dark people capable of great cruelty who are softened by the genuine love for their spouses who're shown to be people interested in showing their more-jaded partners a happy life and ultimately would do anything for their beloved. Rien is the extreme having lost her lover a millennia ago and having abandoned her moral compass to bring him back.
- Evil Mentor: Very much so to the other Tensen, who are evil in the first place due to her teachings about surpassing humanity and gaining greater knowledge in their immortal lives blooming the Banko flower and eating humans' Tao to live forever.
- Expy: With the manga being inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau, Rien is the stand-in for the villainous title character of the latter work, being a researcher unfettered in reaching her goal and experimenting on a group of people who become something more than human.
- Face Death with Dignity: After realizing she and Gabimaru are kindred spirits who would both do anything for their spouses, she chooses to die reuniting with her long-lost love.
- Genius Bruiser: The single most powerful character in the work, who does battle with Gabimaru, Sagiri and Shugen at once in the finale and a brilliant schemer who's played the denizens of Kotaku for millennia.
- Godhood Seeker: Puts on the front of one as she convinces the Tensen they will achieve ultimate transcendence through knowledge. In reality she just cares about reviving Xu Fu.
- Half the Woman She Used to Be: Courtesy of Sagiri in the climax, which actually manages to be fatal as Rien is caught off guard from Shugen destroying Xu Fu's body.
- Invincible Villain: Or at least nigh-invincible Rien has spent thousands of years strengthening her Tao, to the point that it's far above anything the heroes can accomplish, effectively making her invincible to their attacks. However, she still is a mortal who still does need to be in the proper state of mind to use Tao, which proves to be her undoing.
- It's All About Me: Rien cares nothing for the nation of people she's willing to sacrifice as long as it brings back Xu Fu and allows her to live happily.
- Lack of Empathy: Rien used the denizens of Kotaku as fodder for her experiments and later seeks to use all of Japan as materials to bloom the Banko flower. She loves her husband but has next to no feelings for anyone else.
- Love Makes You Evil: Every cruel action she's committed throughout her lifetime has been in service of one day reuniting with her husband Xu Fu.
- Mad Scientist: A brilliant researcher of Tao and Tan and utterly amoral in her quest to use their properties to revive her lover, no matter how many she has to kill along the way.
- Manipulative Bastard: The Tensen believe Xu Fu is in deep meditation and they are all working on a true Elixir of Life for knowledge. In reality, Rien is using them to bring back her dead husband.
- The Man in Front of the Man: Claiming to be Xu Fu's delegate while he meditates to the Lord Tensen, Rien's actually plotting to bring back her spouse, who died centuries ago and she's the mastermind of the plot to create the elixir.
- Necromantic: Rien wishes to exterminate all life in Japan and turn them into an Elixir of Life in order to resurrect her dead husband, Xu Fu.
- Not So Stoic: Normally completely straight-faced, Rien can lose her composure when Xu Fu is involved: weeping passionately to his body when she believes she'll finally be able to revive him and dropping all other matters when his corpse is at risk of being damaged. In fact, the only way the heroes manage to disrupt her powerful command of Tao is by destroying his vessel, distracting her so Sagiri may land a fatal blow.
- Older Than They Look: She's over 1,000 but the manga reveals a subversion with the bodies Rien interacts with being clones like the Tensen and her real form withered over the centuries.
- Samus Is a Girl: Played with. All Tensens can change sexes at will, but Rien is initially one of the Tensens who prefer to stick to a male form. However, when her true identity is revealed, she decides to stick to her true female form to unleash her full power.
- Taking You with Me: Sagiri lands a fatal blow on her by cutting her apart from the navel during the final battle, but Rien manages to cling on to life just long enough to kill Sagiri and Gabimaru along with her. Though after realizing that Gabimaru shares a similar devotion to his spouse as she did to Xu Fu, she decides to use the last of her strength to restore Gabimaru and Sagiri instead.
- The Unfettered: Rien is ruthlessly devoted to bringing back her husband and coldly manipulates the Lord Tensen members and when her initial plan is foiled, goes so far as to try to drain all life in Japan to bring her beloved back.
- Villain's Dying Grace: Having mortally wounded Gabimaru and Sagiri in the final battle, the dying Rien chooses to restore them as she dies happily rejoining her husband.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Their ultimate combat form is a rare female example, fighting topless with exposed breasts.
Mei
Voiced by: Konomi Kohara (Japanese), Macy Anne Johnson (English)
A mysterious young girl whom the heroes encounter near the heart of the island. She travels together with a tree-like being named Hoko.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Her One-Winged Angel form, while still very alien, is much less scary and much more beautiful than the rest of the Tensen.
- Big Little Sister: Inverted. She is actually the the second oldest Tensen and thus is the "older sister" to the other Tensen except for Rien. However, she usually has the youngest appearance among her "siblings" due to her Sleep-Mode Size.
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to Rien's Cain. Or at least it seems that way. The actual nature of their relationship turns out to be very different.
- Cute Mute: Mei is a cute little girl who quickly becomes Everyone's Baby Sister once she becomes a more permanent part of the team. Her inability to speak (or, rather, say more than one or two words at a time) evokes a greater sense of vulnerability that gets the others even more protective of her, despite her powers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the last few chapters, Mei assumes her One-Winged Angel form despite having weak reserves of Tao to let the survivors escape the island and chase Rien in the last seaworthy ship, and lies about whether or not she'll have enough juice left in the tank afterwards to return to being a human being.
- Mystical Waif: Even before the true extent of her powers is revealed, Gabimaru notes that her strength surpasses normal humans, suggesting that she's not a human.
- Older Than She Looks: Despite her childlike form she is actually one of the oldest Tensen, second only to Rien.
- Precocious Crush: She's a young girl who visibly develops a bit of a crush on Gabimaru upon meeting him. Though the "precocious" part turns out to be completely wrong as Mei is thousands of years older than him.
- Rapid Aging: The more she uses her Tao abilities, the more her body begins to age back to her true adult form. However, due to the injuries Rien inflicted on her, once she reaches her adult form her body will slowly start to turn into a tree and she will need to extract a large amount of Tao from another being to rejuvenate herself and resort herself back to child form.
- Really 700 Years Old: She's roughly around two thousand years old, as she was alive at the time of the Qin dynasty.
- Replacement Goldfish: Hoko admits to using her as a surrogate for his lost daughter and asks her forgiveness for it. Mei not only freely gives it, but assures him as best she can that just as he came to love her for herself and think of her as his own daughter, so too did she come to love him and think of him as a father.
- Sex Slave: The hideous Doshi henchmen try to be nice about it and put a pretty gloss on it, but when they talk about using her to "train their Tao" through sexual intercourse, it's pretty clear Mei has very little desire to let it happen, and they don't plan to take no for an answer.
- Sleep-Mode Size: Her child form turns out to be one, minimizing her Tao consumption so she doesn't have to drain more from other living things.
- The Voiceless: Has vocal cords, but by the time she actually speaks, she only possesses a limited vocabulary, speaking only one or two words at a time.
- You No Take Candle: By the time she actually speaks, it’s like this. Her vocabulary is so limited that the party has a hard time understanding her, although Fuchi figures out enough to serve as a Translator Buddy.
Zhu Jin
Chinese Pronunciation: Yuanjun Tathātā
"Could you... leave? Please? I only just dealt with some others. When I come across you humans... I have to capture you. And today's been busy..."
One of the Tensen, and the first the characters meet. Their study specialty is breathing exercises to attain immortality. Their element is water.
Has a somewhat childish attitude and sees murdering intruders as nothing more than an annoying obligation.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Implied to be somewhat of their dynamic with the other Tensen. Another character muses that they would do anything for attention and their scenes are all about spending time with the other Tensen.
- Arch-Enemy: Becomes one for Shion and Nurugai after killing Tenza.
- Big Brother Worship: While they acknowledges their siblings all have their bad sides, Zhu Jin's inner monologue reveals they see all their siblings as incredible and that's why they seek their praise. After fusing with the Banko, Zhu Jin attempts to gain that praise by collecting the necessary types of Tao to complete the Right of Just Consumption.
- Climax Boss: Their One-Winged Angel form turns out to be the biggest obstacle the heroes face, aside from Rien of course.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: Since Tensen can already transform partially between male and female forms, Zhu Jin surmises they can transform partially into their Kishikai form to get additional power without using up huge levels of Tao. Turns out they're wrong, as the partial transformation ends up burning through so much Tao that Shion is able to nearly kill them just through attrition without even having a Tao that hinders Zhu Jin's.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: They don't understand why Shion would use Tao to shave away his own life just to avenge a comrade who's already dead.
- Hero Killer: Is responsible for the death of Tenza, one of the only unambiguously heroic characters in the series.
- Not Quite Dead: They're seemingly killed in their fight against Shion, but they turn out to be just alive enough to fuse with the Banko, causing them to go insane with power.
- One-Winged Angel: The last antagonistic Tensen sans Rien to survive, they fuse with the Banko to become an horrific monster that includes aspects of all the other Tensen.
- Punch-Clock Villain: While Zhu Jin doesn't have compassion for humans, they don't particularly enjoy killing them either, seeing it as just a chore they'd either just get over with or shirk entirely if it's been a long day, like when they offer to just let Gabimaru go after tiring themself out killing Tenza.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Despite being introduced as a borderline Invincible Villain, as the first of the Tensen to show up, Zhu Jin ends up going down the easiest out of all of them in the climax. Though it's subverted hard when they subsequently fuse with the Banko.
Ran
Chinese Pronunciation: Lan
"My Tao and muscle are in perfect harmony. I am flesh... perfected!"
One of the Tensen, they reside in Doin Palace and their study specialty is "physical exercise" to attain immortality.Usually shows a polite attitude to everyone but is absolutely brutal in a fight.
- Affably Evil: They're one of the most genuinely friendly members of the Tensen, welcoming Aza Chobe into the fold with open arms, being overjoyed at the prospect of Mei rejoining their "family" even if they have to resort to force, and acting incredibly complimentary towards Gabimaru and Yuzuriha when they prove themselves Worthy Opponents.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Ran specializes in Dō'in and is convinced of the perfection of their physical prowess and Tao working in unison. Even when they compliment Gabimaru and Yuzuriha's skills, Ran still expresses how all their efforts are futile and will result in their deaths.
- The Dragon: While they have no particular authority over the others, they are arguably the closest to Rien, as the leader is seen remembering their words when in a tough spot. They are also totally in league with Rien's plan and are openly motivated to follow them.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ran genuinely missed Mei and is overjoyed at the prospect of Mei rejoining the Tensen, even if they have to make her join by force.
- Mana Shield: Ran stretches their Tao into fine threads and bundles them in a way that makes them similar to muscle fibers, allowing them to make Tao as an impervious suit of armor.
- Mind over Matter: Ran uses Tao to manipulate inorganic material. They're the one who constructed all the statues and buildings on the island to push the Tensen's Scam Religion, and the one who continually changes the palace layout according to Feng Shui.
- Pet the Dog: They are downright enthusiastic at the prospect of Aza Chobe joining the Tensen and spent the whole time praising them and looking for excuses to be their teacher.
- Worthy Opponent: Ran goes from dismissing Gabimaru and Yuzuriha as threats to viewing them as "wonderful opponents" as they see the depths of the pair's skill, strategy and teamwork.
Ju Fa
Chinese Pronunciation: Ju Hua
One of the Tensen, always seen with Tao Fa. Together they reside in Bochu Palace and their study specialty is bochu jutsu (aka sexual practices) to attain immortality. They usually appear as male and act with great jealousy in regard to anything related to Tao Fa. They are one of the most openly hostile towards mortals, openly considering them inferior.
- Brother–Sister Incest: With their "sister" Tao Fa, though of course it's largely a moot point since they were specifically created to perform bochu jutsu with one another and the Tensen are rather alien from human beings to begin with.
- Jerkass: With the exception of Tao Fa, who he openly shows affection towards, Ju Fa is the most hostile and aggressive of the Tensen, openly dismissing human beings as cattle. It turns out to be an active effort on their part to repress their own feelings of empathy towards humans.
- Lack of Empathy: One of the few Tensen to avert this. Not only does he feel affection for his partner Tao Fa, but he actively dislikes it when others suffer, although he tries his hardest to repress this feeling for Tao Fa's sake.
- Pretend Prejudice: They're one of the Tensen who's most vocal in how much they despise humans. However, flashbacks reveals Ju Fa doesn't hate humans, they only pretend to in order to help Tao Fa maintain her sanity and cope with the horror of their situation, trapped on an island for centuries where their continued survival depends on killing sapient beings not so different from themselves.
- Trapped in Villainy: Their hatred of humans is shown to also be a front in hope to protect Tao Fa, and due to the desperation of their situation.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Flashbacks reveal Ju Fa was actually surprisingly compassionate as a child. They only became more hostile towards humans because they realized Tao Fa's guilt over killing innocent people was going to make her go crazy unless Ju Fa helped her cope by pretending humans were inferior beings whose lives didn't matter.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: They're the masculine Yang to Tao Fa's feminine Yin. Their Kishikai form even has them fusing with each other.
Tao Fa
Chinese Pronunciation: Tao Hua
Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Michelle Rojas (English)
One of the Tensen, always seen with Ju Fa. Together they reside in Bochu Palace and their study specialty is bochu jutsu (aka sexual practices) to attain immortality. They often act with cheerfulness towards everything, but this attitude merely hides psychosis and desperation.
- Ambiguous Gender: The only Tensen who really averts this. She of course can change gender at will but she is very vocal about preferring the form of a female. She is also the only Tensen who never changes gender during a fight, only partially doing so by briefly altering her limbs into male form when physically attacking.
- Brother–Sister Incest: With her "brother" Ju Fa, though of course it's largely a moot point since they were specifically created to perform bochu jutsu with one another and the Tensen are rather alien from human beings to begin with.
- Cute Bruiser: She appears exclusively as an attractive lady and leans deep into a Genki Girl personality. And she’s capable of overpowering both Gantetsuai and Fuchi with her fists.
- Stepford Smiler: Always shown smiling and laughing, Tamiya thinks he found a kindred spirit and asks her if she is having fun during their fight. She frowns for the first time and says no, she hates everything and can't stand her life, she is forced to either smile and act happy or go insane.
- Trapped in Villainy: She is desperate after millennia of futile search for immortality, and trying to have fun to retain some sanity.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: She's the feminine Yin to Ju Fa's masculine Yang. Their Kishikai form even has them fusing with each other.
Mu Dan
"I just love tinkering and, for better or worse, this sort of nonsense. Amusing, no?"
One of the Tensen, they reside in Shuden Palace, their study specialty is the search for immortality via Tao in vital points and organs.
They are "interested" in humans and often seek them out for nefarious reasons. Shows a clear sadistic side. Is often followed by an entourage of "kyoshi", zombie-like abominations.
- Blood Knight: Mu Dan loves getting the chance to fight and makes mention of their wish to die in combat. Tellingly, when mortally wounded, they're thankful to pass doing what they loved.
- Death Seeker: Thanks their killers while dying, saying that their greatest wish was always to witness the epitome of mortal power.
- Faux Affably Evil: They maintain a happy, smiling, friendly demeanor even while talking about experimenting on humans for both research and to convert them into toys for Mu Dan's own personal amusement.
- Hope Crusher: Happily boasts to Hoko the religion the Tensen have preached to the villagers was a sham to ensure their obedience and cheerfully notes Hoko's piety will do nothing to ensure him a place in heaven.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Some of Mu Dan actions towards Yuzuriha comes off as this, such as holding on to her in suggestive manner when she first tried to run away from them. This is only made worse when Mu Dan realized that Yuzuriha is a proficient Tao user, and spend the first half of their fight trying to capture Yuzuriha alive to be used for Bōchū Jutsu.
- Mad Scientist: Mu Dan enjoys experimenting on the humans they kill and reduces them to zombie-like beings devoid of free will they use as pawns: ranging from being chairs at their leisure to human bombs they'll use in a fight.
- Night of the Living Mooks: Mu Dan turns people into braindead, zombie-like beings that follow them around and when fighting they'll use them as meat shields or soldiers.
- Sadist: Mu Dan is by far the cruelest of the Tensen and replaces their usual detached look on humanity with the persona of a nasty child torturing insects, drawing out their suffering in fights and using them to create combat zombies.
- Villainous Crush: On Yuzuhira after seeing her talent with Tao and comments on how they plan to use her for Bōchū Jutsu, which involves training through sexual intimacy.
- Villainous Friendship: Mu Dan doesn't seem particularly interested in Rien's ultimate goal but they get along well enough with their master and when dying, their final thoughts are their wish to share the glorious power they just witnessed with her.
- Villain Takes an Interest: They become infatuated with Yuzuhira, and spend their fight trying to take her hostage as an apprentice.
- Why Am I Ticking?: In addition to using them as support fighters, Mu Dan can also convert their zombie slaves into living bombs to attack their enemies.
Gui Fa
Chinese Pronunciation: Gui Hua
The last of the Tensen to be introduced, they reside in Shuitsu palace and their study specialty is achieving immortality by meditation.
The quietest of the Tensen, they are very shy and often hide their face with a book. They are also arguably the smartest of them all.
- Ambiguous Gender: According to Mei, unlike the other Tensen who tend to at least default to one gender or another, Gui Fa tends to stay a mix of both, essentially becoming Non-binary.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Inverted; the Tensen with dark black schlera is the least-aggressive of them.
- Heel–Face Turn: Though they helped with collecting Tan and aided Rien's master plan to wipe out every human in Japan, but they never fight the heroes and aren't particularly enthused about Rien's evil plan. By the time of the Distant Finale, they live a mundane life with Mei and are implied to be intent on raising their reborn siblings like a genuine loving family.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Though Gui Fa never opposes Rien, they're the least malicious of the Tensen, to the point where they don't even bother fighting Sagiri when they come face-to-face, reasoning it's too late for Sagiri and her friends to stop Rien.
- The Quiet One: They're the least talkative of the Tensen. According to Mei it's because they're shy, which is also why Gui Fa tries to keep a book covering their face.
- Shrinking Violet: Mei notes that they're incredibly shy, so much that they keep a book in their face even when speaking to an enemy so that they won't have to actually look at them.
- Sole Survivor: They're the last Tensen to survive in the Manga. They also find Mei's remains and managed to revive her.
- Tin Man: Gui Fa insists that Tensen can't feel real emotions and says that Mei must have realized that by "pretending" to be family. When Mei says she never pretended, Gui Fa grows solemn and admits to envying her, indicating they do feel more deeply than they want to believe. In the Distant Finale, it's implied Gui Fa and Mei are going to raise their reborn siblings as a proper family this time.
- Token Heroic Orc: They seem to lament the inevitability of conflict and, while they still do not want to oppose Rien, they openly want no hostility with humans and merely speak to Sagiri. After finding out Rien's true nature they pretty much disown them.
- The Unfought: Refuses to fight Sagiri of their own volition and just talks to her. Sagiri obliges knowing that she can't beat them.
Iwagakure Village
Village Chief
Voiced by: Mugihito (Japanese), Bill Jenkins (English)
Chief of Iwagakure Village and the father of Yui.
- Abusive Parents: Scarred his own daughter's face with a hot metal rod after she expressed her desire to live a normal life.
- Asshole Victim: He's forcibly aborified and executed by the Shogunate for his actions during the mission on Kotaku. Considering the absolutely horrific things he did to the ninja in training, the guy definitely had it coming.
- Bad Boss: As to be expected of a man who runs his village like a death cult, he's a horrible master to his followers. He murders villagers who want to leave Iwagakure, turns children into Tykebombs by subjecting them to deadly training and literal torture, enforces death matches between his shinobi to determine which will inherit the title of "Gabimaru the Hollow, and forces his assassins to throw themselves into mortal danger or even kill themselves on their employer's command.
- Big Bad Wannabe: He's the immortal chief of Iwagakure, a village he runs like a death cult in order to churn out highly skilled and utterly merciless shinobi who will even slit their own throats if commanded. He's responsible for Gabimaru's scheduled execution and eventually takes a more active role in the story by sending his shinobi to escort the next expedition to the island, all to have Gabimaru assassinated. Ultimately he's nothing more than a conman who faked his immortality to indoctrinate children into his cult, and Shija, his chosen successor to Gabimaru, ends up sabotaging his plans by ordering all Iwagakure shinobi to kill themselves, and Jikka arranges for the chief's execution almost as an afterthought.
- Complete Immortality: He is seemingly unkillable, a power he gained after consuming a mysterious medicine from across the sea. His apparent immortality is what convinces Gabimaru that the Elixir of Life must be real. Yuzuriha speculates his demonstration of this was just an illusion to indoctrinate young shinobi into believing they could not resist him, with his death apparently proving her right.
- Decapitation Presentation: The only time he's seen in the present day is when his severed head is presented to Jikka and Sagiri to confirm he was executed for conspiring against the Shogun.
- Evil Mentor: To Gabimaru, Shija and all of the Iwagakure ninja, whom he mentally broke and molded to be his pawns as an assassin master.
- The Ghost: Despite the looming shadow he casts over the series, he does not appear outside of flashbacks until the end of the series, when his severed head is presented following his execution.
- Hate Sink: While most antagonists in the series have redeeming, tragic or cool qualities, the Iwagakure Chief is a despicable monster who abused his daughter, betrayed his top shinobi, and subjected children to horrific training and torture to turn them into ruthless killers prepared to die at his or their employer's command. Though he mainly appears through flashbacks, each new piece of information revealed about him establishes him as a vile sociopath who only exists to be despised.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Gabimaru's marriage to Yui ends up making him a more merciful and compassionate person to the point where he ends up completing a mission that's expected to be a bloodbath without any casualties. When Iwagakure's employer is understanding about Gabimaru becoming a better person after his marriage, the chief arranges for Gabimaru to assassinate their employer and the man's wife to prove he hasn't gone soft. Gabimaru spares them and kills the comrades who turn on him instead.
- Mayor Pain: The head of the Iwagakure villain and uses his position to manipulate and break children into being his murderous pawns so he can rent them as assassins.
- Not So Invincible After All: He is executed on Jikka's orders at the end of the series, with his executioners remarking that his supposed immortality was nothing more than a ruse to manipulate the village.
- Predecessor Villain: Although he's alive during the story, the damage he wrought by ruining Gabimaru's life and imprisoning Yui has already been done. Even when he orders Gabimaru be killed, only his ninja are seen in present.
- Resignations Not Accepted: He murdered Gabimaru's parents because they wanted to leave the village after having their son, arranged for Gabimaru to be executed when he asks the chief to let him retire, and because "Gabimaru the Hollow" is a title reserved for the village's top shinobi, he has intended successors kill their predecessors in duels to prove their worth.
- Tested on Humans: Since Jikka already arranges for him to be executed, he also has him ingest the Elixir of Immortality first to test its effects, causing his remains to turn into a tree.
- Would Hurt a Child: In addition to outright encouraging his students to murder each other, the chief even makes them consume a poison which makes them feel like they're being tortured and raped for 72 hours and killing 90% of the users, to imbue the survivors with superhuman abilities.
Yui
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese), Skyler McIntosh (English)
"Are any of us truly without sin? You seem to be suffering a great deal. But acts of regret and reflection are part of atonement. If even a single person who accepts you should appear, then, is that not enough?"
Gabimaru's wife, and the daughter of the village's chief. Returning to her serves as Gabimaru's primary motivations for his actions.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: She's a sweet and gentle woman who serves as Gabimaru's Morality Chain and Living Emotional Crutch.
- The Ghost: Zig-zagged. Yui has appeared plenty of times in Gabimaru's flashbacks, but she never actually shows up in person. This in part lead to Yuzuriha speculating that she doesn't actually exist and that she's merely an Invented Individual meant to Gaslight Gabimaru into submission. However, she is ultimately shown to genuinely exist.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A kind blonde who never gave up on her dream of living a normal life, finding beauty in mundane pleasures and being the first to make Gabimaru feel like a person instead of a heartless killing machine.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Defied. She used to let down her bangs to cover the burn scars on her face, but she ties it back after Gabimaru tells her not to hide it, saying that she's beautiful either way.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Yui, like the rest of Iwagakure, was groomed from a young age to become a killing machine. However, she genuinely just wants to live a normal life alongside Gabimaru, noting that for people like them, normalcy is the toughest battle they can face.
- One True Love: She's the only person who can make "The Hollow" Gabimaru feel any kind of strong emotions, and his love for her is noted to be the primary source of his strength.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Implied at least, while we never see her fight or anything, the fact she has a massive burn scar on her face and a flashback showing she too can't taste or feel anything heavily implies she went through the same Training from Hell that Gabimaru and Shija went through. The fact she still managed not only to live though it but to retain her bright and cheery personality as well speaks volumes of the iron-like will she must have.
Shija
"Intimacy with death makes us yearn for life. What a shame to die, we think. Yes, death! Death, which embodies life itself! True life is only found in that moment of parting!"
A shinobi from the Iwagakure clan sent to the island to kill and replace Gabimaru.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Shija's given a rather somber send-off, spending their last words on asking Gabimaru if they can meet again in their next life.
- Ambiguous Gender: Shija's gender is stated by the author as "unknown" on Twitter. Their use of "Boku" and the fact that they are serving as a Shinobi of the Iwagakure clan imply that they are male, but their appearance and mannerism are rather feminine. It should be noted that despite the Stay in the Kitchen mentality prevalent among the clan, there have been female shinobis shown throughout the manga, including among the Iwagakure.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Or possibly Crazy Jealous Guy; it's debatable only inasmuch as the character has an Ambiguous Gender. Shija is immediately catty and rude to Saigiri when they meet and tries to badmouth Yui so Gabimaru will forget her.
- Combat Pragmatist: Shija was taught that victory is what's most important in combat, not honor, and so routinely performs underhanded tactics to win, such as deliberately targeting something or someone their opponent loves to give them an advantage in a fight.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When Sagiri says she's come to not only sympathize with Gabimaru but with the entire Iwagakure Clan, Shija is so enraged that they calmly force Sagiri to inhale drugs that mea her feel like she's being tortured and violated, admitting they themself was subjected to the drug along with every other child in the village, so they want to "help" Sagiri understand them.
- Dragon with an Agenda: The most effective of the Iwagakure chief's minions once Gabimaru goes rogue, Shija is however only concerned with getting to be the one to kill their idol. Once they lose to Gabimaru, Shija has their underlings commit mass suicide with their own personal mission failed, thwarting the chief's attempt to have Gabimaru assassinated.
- Enfant Terrible: As a child, Shija would gruesomely murder any other child who insulted or disrespected Gabimaru.
- Graceful Loser: Shija genuinely loves Gabimaru in their own twisted way and when mortally wounded, chooses to order all the Iwagakure ninja present to kill themselves as a final gesture to their beloved.
- Hate at First Sight: Shija utterly and immediately loathes Sagiri for her closeness with Gabimaru upon seeing them together. They punctuate this by not only calling her a "hag" but also attacking and torturing her after they restrain Sagiri.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Shija's long hair covers half their face, hiding the burn scar they've inflicted on themself.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: When Gabimaru tells Shija he doesn't want to go back to his old ruthless self and just wants to live a normal life, Shija sympathizes and sheds tears, telling him it's impossible for both of them.
- Loving a Shadow: Shija is less in love with Gabimaru then they're in love with their idea of Gabimaru the Hollow as an emotionless and utterly ruthless killing machine that they idolize.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In trying to get Gabimaru to go back to his old personality by claiming he and his wife were just pretending to be normal people, Shija inadvertently ends up revealing Yui is a real person and not a fabricated individual invented to gaslight Gabimaru. This confirmation strengthens Gabimaru's resolve to win the fight so he can reunite with her.
- Overzealous Underling: Shija would frequently go out of their way to gruesomely and enthusiastically murder anyone who disrespected Gabimaru whether he wanted them to or not. Shija would also offer to carry out assassinations for Gabimaru or murder their employers for unpleasant missions, much to Gabimaru's annoyance.
- Prehensile Hair: Shija's ninja skills imitate this through using their hair as a weapon.
- Self-Harm: Shija burns their own face to be like Yui in hopes that Gabimaru would notice and love them the way he loves Yui.
- Single-Target Sexuality: The only person Shija loves is Gabimaru, to the point where they consider all women to be "hags" and all men, except Gabimaru, to be "geezers".
- Tragic Villain: Given that they were brought up in what is effectively a death cult, it's really not hard to see how Shija ended up the way they did. Sagiri even lampshades that Gabimaru may have ended up the same way if he never found Yui.
- Tyke-Bomb: Like all children raised to become assassins in Iwagakure, Shija was subjected to training that killed many of their peers, brainwashed to obey any order from the chief or the village's employers, and drugged with substances that made them feel like they were being tortured and raped, all to ensure those survived were only the strongest and most fanatically devoted.
- Yandere: Shija is obsessively in love with Gabimaru and wants to kill and be killed by him. When the two were still trainees, Shija murdered many of their fellow shinobis who badmouthed Gabimaru, and later burns their own face to make themselves look more like Yui. Gabimaru even points out to Saigiri that negotiation with Shija is a pointless gamble because whether he returns their feelings or not, Shija is equally likely to take it as a reason for aggressive action.
Other Characters
The Shogun
Voiced by: Chafurin (Japanese), Barry Yandell (English)
Tokugawa Nariyoshi, the eleventh shogun of Japan, who orders the expedition to Kotaku.
- The Caligula: Orders the purge of nomads and a self-interested series of dangerous expeditions to Kotaku so he may possess the Elixir of Life, all while spreading his days as a hedonistic moron who orders battles to the death and many of the aforementioned trips to Kotaku to enjoy as deadly theatre.
- Dissonant Serenity: The Shogun loves watching violence, yet he's always inclined to watch it happily, like a child enjoying a show, as seen when he sits with an amused smile while Shugen butchers the family's of criminals and even presents the corpse of an infant to the child's mob boss father.
- The Hedonist: The Shogun enjoys displays of violence as good art and for his own amusement orders a group of convicts to fight to the death for his entertainment; has Shugen massacre a group of Yakuza and their families to witness the bloodshed; and even sets up a series of expeditions to fail before getting serious about claiming the elixir from Kotaku to watch the struggle as boats full of his men are horrifically killed on the deadly island.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Although his fascination with violence in a society that had been at peace for many generations is relatively common in historical fiction depictions of the Shogunate, Nariyoshi is a fictional character rather than an historical one and he does not bear a strong resemblance to any Shogun in particular, save that, like most of the Tokugawa line, he's fairly portly. That said, he does resemble a few Tokugawa figures:
- Being the 11th shogun who is known as The Hedonist is the attribute of the Real Life Tokugawa Ienari.
- Being the Tokugawa that is portrayed as delighting in (if not causing) violence borrows from fictional portrayals of Matsudaira Naritsugu (notably 13 Assassins), despite being only known to be an Upper-Class Twit at his worst.
- Being the 11th shogun who is known as The Hedonist is the attribute of the Real Life Tokugawa Ienari
- Stupid Evil: His retainer internally notes that the Shogun having the convicts fight each other to the death to thin out their numbers is a pretty stupid idea since it'll injure the survivors, thereby reducing their chances of finding the elixir of immortality on the island.
- Uncertain Doom: After ordering the death of the Iwagakure village chief, Jikka convinces the Shogun that the elixir (which turned the chief's body into a tree) could be used to make the Shogun into an immortal monument. His retainer tries to quell the Shogun's clear excitement but he looks elated at the prospect, leaving it likely Jikka's trickery leads to his death.
Hoko
Voiced by: Chō (Japanese), Jim Foronda (English)
A tree-like humanoid who is first seen accompanying Mei and trying to take care of her in a ruined village.
- A Dog Named "Dog": "Hoko" turns out to be the name of his mostly-extinct race that had their tan sucked out over the centuries by the Tensen's experiments.
- Brutal Honesty: He's incredibly blunt that he believes those who arrived on the island won't survive for long.
- Disappears into Light: When he sacrifices his life and Tao to save Mei, his death is framed as his disappearing into light.
- Heroic BSoD: Finding out that his faith was a Scam Religion created by beings that held and hold his kind in utter contempt throws Hoko into despair, before his friends are able to appeal to his love for Mei to get him to offer vital guidance and advice to help the heroes take steps to understand Tao mid-combat to defend her from Doshi.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Hoko chooses to offer the last of his life-force to Mei to stabilize her being, affirming their connection as father and daughter as he does.
- Last of His Kind: It turns out that the strangely-humanoid trees are the remains of all the other Hoko on the island, and that he's the very last one left, having adopted Mei to shore up his sense of identity and purpose after the deaths of his wife and daughter.
- Losing Your Head: His head's taken off by Mu Dan. Due to his tree-like nature, he survives, but it hastens up the speed of Arborification that will one day drive him to madness.
- Mr. Exposition: He is one to inform the protagonists on who the Tensen are, the hierarchy and some of the history of the island, and most importantly, how to kill one of the Tensen.
- Must Make Amends: Part of his willingness to sacrifice himself to save Mei comes from wanting to atone for forcing Mei to "play family" and act like his daughter. Mei reassures him that they weren't play acting, they were a family.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter succumbed to Arborification centuries ago, which is the main reason why he's become so attached to Mei as a substitute.
- Papa Wolf: He's very protective of Mei, viewing her as a surrogate daughter, and is willing to fight even those who severely outclass him for her safety.
- Paper Tiger: Despite his imposing and intimidating appearance, Hoko isn't much of a fighter and mostly relies on the intimidation factor of being a hulking tree-person. When he is attacked directly, he ends up reduced to a still-speaking head in pretty short order.
- Parental Substitute: He viewed Mei as a substitute for the daughter he lost centuries ago, despite the fact she's actually older than he is. He eventually comes to admit he was being selfish in forcing her to act out that role just to "play family" with him. Mei disagrees, insisting they became family for real.
- Really 700 Years Old: He turns out to be over a thousand years old.
- Was Once a Man: He was once a normal human until he and his entire village became affected by a disease known as Arborification which turned them into humanoid trees. In its final stages, it causes the infected to migrate to Hōrai, where they lose their minds and spend eternity reciting prayers.
- Your Days Are Numbered: He knows Arborification will take him soon and he'll be reduced to another mindless praying tree outside Hōrai. Mu Dan cutting off his head only hastens up the speed of Arborification. Knowing that he does not have long anyways, he allows Mei to absorb his life force to restore her Tao.
Aki
A child who befriends Gabimaru in the Forest of Misfortune oneshot.
- Adorably Precocious Child: She ends up instructing Gabimaru on how to grow crops.
- Disappeared Dad: Her father passed away a couple years prior, and she's had to look after her family ever since.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She and her friends try to attack Gabimaru after assuming that he's a dangerous criminal looking to hurt their familiesnote . However, Gabimaru was just trying to practice growing crops. She and her friends never once suspect the village monk of wrongdoing, when in truth he's the one who's been poisoning their parents.
- Shooting Superman: She and her friends attack Gabimaru after (correctly) guessing that he's one of the criminals who returned from Kotaku. But given that Gabimaru is Gabimaru, he nonchalantly shrugs it off and eventually Aki's attempts on his life become something of a game.
Village Monk
The head monk of Aki's village.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He puts on the guise of a kind old monk. In truth, he's a bandit who's been poisoning the villagers so he and his henchmen can take over the village.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: He tries to poison Gabimaru with some neurotoxin, only for Gabimaru to subsequently throw it in his face.
- Miles Gloriosus: He tries to intimidate Gabimaru by claiming that he and his men were the criminals who returned from Kotaku, not knowing that he's talking to someone who actually was in that group.
- Mugging the Monster: He and his men try to kill Gabimaru after he discovers their secret. It goes exactly as well as you'd expect.
- You Know Too Much: Not that Gabimaru was planning to let him go anyway, but he points out that the monk and his men couldn't have been the criminals who returned from Kotaku, because only one criminal returned home alive, as he himself was one of the criminals who "died" on that island.
