Characters / Otomedius

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Angel Squadron

Otomedius Debut

Anoa Aoba

Arguably the main character, and a staple of Otomedius' promotional art. Anoa is a bright and cheerful girl with a penchant for blue. Her Ride Viper is the Vic Viper. When not saving the world, Anoa is a second year high school student at St. Gradius Academy.

• Awesome, but Impractical: Hyper Anoa. The concept of her becoming more powerful as her Platonic power grows is great from a story perspective, but when it happens in gameplay, it strips all of your powers and weapons, leaving you to face the final stage with default speed, no weapons, and no options.
  • Also, Anoa's Platonic Break. By the time it's charged and ready to fire, the enemies it's locked on to are most likely off the screen. It's impressive though when used on bosses.
• Big Good: Hyper Anoa
• Energy Weapon: Vic Viper's primary weapon.
• Girlish Pigtails: Meant to invoke the split-hull design of the Vic Viper itself.
  • Art Evolution in Excellent keeps the aesthetic, but makes Anoa's pigtails an actual extension of her bangs, furthering the split-hull/fanged appearance of the Vic Viper's hull.
• Hair Antennae: Which become even more prominent in her Hyper Form.
• Jack of All Stats: Vic Viper is identified as a 'Balance Type', and Anoa's default weapon loadout is intentionally easy to use for beginners.
• Magical Girl: Her Transformation Sequence is even featured in the trailer for Otomedius Excellent.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Vic Viper space fighter. Her Hyper Form is also a homage to the Metalion, the player ship of Nemesis 2, complete with 9 slots on the power-up gauge, including the Back Beam, Up & Down Lasers, and a maximum of two options.
• Roboteching: Anoa's Platonic Break in Excellent is a swarm of homing lasers.
• Super Mode: Gains one when her Platonic power overdrives near the end of Excellent, resulting in Hyper Anoa.
• Vapor Wear: Her transparent skirt reveals she isn’t wearing panties, and her front is only covered by an apron like segment of her dress.

Erul Tron

A Gradian. Erul is Anoa's best friend, and came to Earth as part of a search for her older brother, the pilot of VIXEN (a ship from Nemesis 3, one of Konami's earlier shooters). She's quite intelligent, and enjoys studying Earth culture. Her Ride Viper is Lord British. Erul is a second-year student, in the same class as her friend Anoa.

• Energy Weapon: Lord British's signature weapon, Ripple Laser, fires expanding laser rings that still destroy enemies that fly through the center.
• Human Aliens: She's supposedly a Gradian, though it makes more sense for her to be a Latian.
• Magical Girl: Presumed to transform like Anoa.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Lord British space fighter.
• Shout-Out: Her brother was the pilot of VIXEN, the main starfighter from Nemesis III. Another is her credit dialogue in Gorgeous, quoted word-for-word from the Salamander OVA.
  Esmeralda: "What are you going to do now?"
  Erul: "Well... I'll think about it while listening to some rock music."
• Stuff Blowing Up: Erul's Platonic Break, where she positions her Options and then detonates them.

Diol Twee

A third year student and the closest to being an adult in the cast, Diol is the squadron leader. She's firm, but has a sisterly kindness to her approach on leadership. She seems to be bonded to the Flint, an organic component of her otherwise artificial Serenity Viper.

• Brainy Brunette: She is shown in the ending of Excellent to be leading a lesson of some sort.
• Cat Girl: She is not one. However, her cat-ear style headset and tail-like tentacle give her the appearance of one.
• Combat Tentacles: Her Platonic Break attack smashes half the screen with huge spiked tentacles similar to her "tail".
  • According to the portrait cut in, they come out of her hair◊.
• Cool Big Sis: Edging into Team Mom territory.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Diol gets very excited during the boss rush in Excellent, commenting that her body feels hot and she wants to fight more and more.
  Diol: "More! More! Harder, faster!"
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Flintlock, playable ship in the Konami sleeper hit Xexe.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her outfit is bare in the shoulders and has a split in the middle that goes all the way down to her waist.
• Shout-Out:
  • Her tentacle tail resembles those found on the Flint in the original game.
  • While her Ride Viper resembles Flintlock, her default outfit also borrows (albeit lighter color) elements from Alpinia, a fighter in Solar Assault.
• Workaholic: A rare, upbeat version. Diol loves her work for the "G" Organization and can't seem to put it down.
  • In her ending cutscene from Gorgeous, Diol announces that the mission is complete and she wants another one, because her "work is never really finished." Anoa and Erul promptly complain about the work load, but she just laughs it off.

Madoka

An immigrant from Planet Mel, Madoka is an engineering genius who built her own Ride Viper - Which is based on Twinbee, a hero from her planet. On Earth, she's a first-year high school student.

• Art Evolution: Madoka underwent significant design changes between Gorgeous and Excellent.
  • Of note, she wears shorts now, instead of a skirt. She's also opted for Twinbee's iconic gloves.
  • Murdoch Viper now has handles for her to hang on to. Additionally, the seat now physically resembles Twinbee's body, with the cushion itself replacing the windshield/eye portion. It's also referred to as Murdoch Viper Mk.II.
• Dumb Blonde: Completely inverted, as she's a mechanical genius. She's still just a first-year student, though.
• Enemy Summoner: The rare heroic version, Madoka's Platonic Break summons a duplicate of Gainbee who punches the crap out of enemies for a while.
  • In Excellent, she summons a Shooting Star enemy who swoops through, unleashing a variety of attacks along the way.
• Genki Girl: She even charges up her Platonic Break with a mischievous giggle.
• Girlish Pigtails: Wrapped in ribbons.
• Human Aliens: She's Melian, not human.
• Identical Grandson: Another theory is that she's the identical descendant of the original Madoka.
• Lethal Chef: The Madoka of Twinbee fame is horrible at baking cookies. If this is the same Madoka, than Tita's line "I won't miss you, cookie!" while Madoka was departing must've referred to this.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of Twinbee.
• Third-Person Person: Though the subs just translate it as her using "I", unlike with Tita.
• Transfer Student Uniforms: Madoka doesn't wear a standard "G" uniform or a standard St. Gradius school uniform.
• Wrench Wench: Built her own Ride Viper completely from scratch, before she even saw any of the others.

Emon Five

Hailing from another dimension, and the planet Ebisuboshi, Emon Five is the only male in the entire cast. While he himself is inspired by Ganbare Goemon, his Xel Viper is drawn from Thunder Cross. Emon is (was?) a second year student in Anoa's class.

• BFS: Technically, Big Freakin' Tobacco Pipe.
• Human Aliens: He's an Ebisuboshan.
• GAR Anthropomorphism: Of the ship from Thunder Cross. ... and Ganbare Goemon.
• The One Guy: Literally the only named male in the entire series.
• Putoneibus: Left the team prior to Excellent for the purpose of training.
• Shout-Out: The character for Five is 'Go'. Read in Japanese, Emon's full name is Go Emon.
• Smoking Is Cool: ...when you use a pipe longer than your entire body.
• Take That!: Due to being cut from the cast in Excellent, his sister Emon-8 attacks the Angels in a fit of rage.
  Emon-8: "How dare you drive out Emon-5 like that!"
• Wave-Motion Gun: Emon's Platonic Break spreads his Options and uses them like a Wave-Motion Tuning Fork.

Tita Nium

A Bacterian, Tita is a spacey girl whose body is rife with cybernetics. She flies the Big Core Examiner, and has a terse relationship with the rest of the squadron, being the same race as their primary enemy. Tita aspires to win their trust, though doesn't understand humans very well. Tita is in Madoka's class, as a first-year student at St. Gradius.

• Ahoge: It moves on its own...
• Bird Run: In the trailer for Otomedius Excellent, right before she flashes a creepy smile at the camera.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Comes across as an enormous spacecase.
  Tita: "Like water off a supersonic duck's back."
• Emotionless Girl: But getting better.
• Energy Weapon: Primary weapon of the Big Core Examiner.
• Evil Costume Switch: Her DLC outfit in Excellent is her old Bacterian uniform.
• Eyepatch of Power: The D-Burst cutin◊ suggests it conceals the interface to Big Core Examiner's weapon system.
  • It helps that her eyepatch has "BC System" written on it in plain English.
• Heel–Face Turn: Before the games take place.
  • The Time Travel in Excellent suggests that her defection was fairly recent, as her access codes were still usable in Dark Force's fortress.
  Tita: "I wonder if my clearance codes still work... ...Hm...This should be adequate."
• Hidden Depths: At least one of the images shown during the credits of Excellent shows her working a takoyaki stand.◊ As one of the cooks.
• Human Aliens: Bacterian. This is an important story point for Tita, as everything she does is to try and get the other Angels to accept her as one of their own despite being the same species as their worst enemy.
• Kill Sat: Tita's Platonic Break invokes this by calling down a spread of high-powered lasers from the sky.
• Magical Girl: Presumably, just like Anoa.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Big Core class battleship.
• Punny Name: Titanium.
• Shout-Out
  Tita: [reacting to Emon's presence] "What a pity for the first 1 MEGAROM PACK..."
  • Ganbare Goemon was the first game Konami released in the 1 MEGAROM PACK format. She feels sorry for Emon.
• Super Drowning Skills: The swimsuit art collection makes it pretty clear Tita swims like a hammer◊. She doesn't seem too concerned about it, though.
• The Snark Knight: Or maybe Little Miss Snarker.
  Tita: "Is this an admission ceremony or what?"
• Third-Person Person: The type who does it only occasionally, and for no apparent reason. She also sometimes calls herself "Tita the Second" despite there being no suggestion of a precursor Tita.
  Tita: "Tita the Second is in a pinch!"
• Weapons-Grade Vocabulary: Tita's DLC weapon, Megaphone, attacks enemies with harsh language, a reference to a powerup from Parodius. It's surprisingly effective.

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Otomedius Gorgeous Debut

Esmeralda

Another pilot from Planet Gradius, Esmeralda is a formal and businesslike tactician and weapons expert. She's a reference to the popular Gradius Gaiden, and pilots Jade Knight. Despite her cold and curt exterior, she seems to have a weakness for cute things. Esmeralda is in Diol's class, as a third year student.

• Curtains Match the Window: Despite the rampant color-coordination of the entire cast, she's the only one who actually displays this. And even then, it's tentative, being a noticably different shade of green.
• Downloadable Content: In Gorgeous. She becomes unlockable instead in Excellent.
• Human Aliens: Like Erul, she's a Gradian.
• Magical Girl: It's generally assumed that all of the Angels with this style of uniform have a Transformation Sequence.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Jade Knight space fighter.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her outfit has a gap in the middle that goes down to her navel.
• Rebellious Spirit: Has a rivalry with Diol.
• Slow Laser: Jade Knight's primary laser weapon, Round Laser, projects circle-shaped lasers that ripple out from the craft a short distance in all directions. Shouldn't lasers travel forever?
• Superpower Lottery: In addition to Platonic Energy, Esmeralda appears to have the ability to mimic Round Laser with her bare hands◊.
• Tsundere: "Aww, a cat~... I mean, battlestations, now!"
• Walking Armory: Esmeralda is the only character in Gorgeous who can use every single weapon in the game.
  • This is carried over in Excellent, in that Esmeralda can use everything except for the character specific weapons, of which there are 1 per character (or 2 in the cases of Strarf, Kokoro, Gesshi, and Poini).

Poini Kune

Esmeralda's wingman, Poini is a surprisingly young girl with an equally surprising intelligence. Like Esmeralda, she's a reference to Gradius Gaiden, piloting Jade Knight's partner ship, Falchion Beta. Also like Esmeralda, Poini is in Diol's class at St. Gradius, as a third year student in spite of her age.

• Child Prodigy: Shown in an upperclassman's uniform, placing her in the same class as Diol and Esmeralda, despite being at least eight years younger than they are.
• Downloadable Content: In Gorgeous. She becomes unlockable instead in Excellent.
• Gratuitous English: Poini's Japanese actress is well known for English as well as Japanese dialogue, so she makes use of it.
  Poini:[facing Excellent's Gunner Wall] "I hope you can entertain me~." (Word-For-Word quoting the Gunner Wall from Gradius Gaiden)
• Gravity Sucks: In Excellent, Poini's Platonic Break generates a black hole which sucks enemies and bullets into it.
• Human Aliens: Gradian.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Falchion Beta space fighter.
• Precocious Crush: Appears to have one on Esmeralda. She gets jealous of Diol's being cast opposite her in the school play during the credits to Excellent, the two are constantly paired together by the games, and then there's the cleavage dive.
• Rule of Cute: Pretty much justifies her entire existence.
• Shout-Out: A lot of Poini's English dialogue is pulled straight from the Gradius Gaiden announcer's script.
  Poini: "You are a new legend. Good job!"
• Summon Magic: In Gorgeous, Poini's Platonic Break summoned dragons made out of gravity which would home in on enemies and destroy them, leaving behind a massive wave of powerup capsules.
• Superpower Lottery: In addition to Platonic Power, Poini appears to have the ability to generate gravity wells◊.
• The Nicknamer: Calls Esmeralda "Esme".
• Vocal Dissonance: When she shifts into English dialogue, Poini's voice actress tends to slip into a deeper, more womanly voice than Poini's usual childish pitch when speaking Japanese. This is most evident during her Platonic Break and Burst attacks, where it sounds like a completely different person calling out "Crush all of them!"

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Otomedius Excellent Debut

Gesshi Hanafuuma

A samurai girl who references Getsu Fuma Den as well as Neo Contra and Axelay. Fuuma and Kokoro come to Angel Squadron to replace Emon. She's a very no-nonsense sort of girl who takes her job and her training very seriously. She lives by the code of bushido, though seems to be unaware of the history of her family name as she does not recognize Ryukotsuki.

• Expy: To Genbei "Jaguar" Yagyu of Neo Contra.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Owns a metal sword that she uses on foot as per the trailer/OP (see image), but some of the promotional art shows that she also uses a Laser Blade. Additionally, in the game itself, Gesshi gets access to the exclusive weapon Thunder Sword, which has short range but does an incredible amount of damage.
• Replacement Goldfish: Joined the team to replace Emon.
• Sarashi: She wears some across her chest, as appropriate for her warrior's lifestyle.
• Shout-Out: Her Ride Viper is based off the namesake fighter of Axelay, albeit only visually. One of her themes, Colony, is remixed from Axelay's soundtrack as well.
• Summon Magic: With Poini's new Black Hole Platonic Break, Gesshi gets her old homing dragon, though it's somewhat nerfed because Gesshi has no Options to speak of.

Kokoro Belmont

A girl who references Konami's popular Castlevania series. Kokoro is an all-business sort of girl who works hard so that she can live up to her noble lineage. She compliments Gesshi's samurai sensibility quite well. Kokoro's Ride Viper is Stavros.

• Aerith and Bob: Her first name is decidedly... unconventional... for her clan. Simon. Trevor. Julius. Richter. Juste. Kokoro.
• Downloadable Content: Kokoro appears in the OP and ED, but playing as her requires getting DLC.
• Heroic Lineage: She's a Belmont for heaven's sake. She even uses a whip. Apparently, she has a brother. Considering she was born in 1995, and her hair colour, it's quite possible that she's the little sister of Julius Belmont, who, according to Castlevania canon, is definitively the strongest Belmont (even in his old age). Considering each generation of Belmont is stronger than the last, that means she's effectively on his level. In 1999, Julius offed Dracula permanently, possibly at the height of the Dark Lord's power. Unfortunately, Julius lost his memory and started Walking the Earth until Aria Of Sorrow, which takes place 35 years later. Poor Kokoro would've spent thirty-five of the first forty years of her life not knowing her brother's fate. Good thing she's dedicated enough to continue the good fight in Julius' stead.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Secretly. Kokoro differs from other characters of this type in that she already knows and accepts that she can't be normal, and while she has fun in her civilian life and likes hanging around with the other Angels, on missions she's completely focused on eliminating the enemy, not even allowing herself to get upset when her allies are hurt or killed. She needs to live up to her family name, after all.
• The Illegible: Kokoro tries to write her name in kanji on her gym uniform. It looks like she drew a wobbly smiley face.
• Kill It with Water: Kokoro's exclusive Missile-type weapon is Holy Water.
• Lighter and Softer: Even the Castlevania shown in her preview doesn't look so bad.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of Castlevania, of all things. Her Ride Viper, the Stavros, seems to be based on the 1942 Strikers series, but actually is not since Konami had nothing to do with that series.
• Replacement Goldfish: Joined the team to replace Emon.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Seen in and out of uniform, and decorated with crosses.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Kokoro switches between very serious, formal speech (trying to be the person she's expected to be) and talking like a normal teenager (her true personality).
• Wave-Motion Gun: Kokoro's Platonic Break, the Lightning Sword, is a cross-shaped mega laser previously used by DeltaTry in Gradius Gaiden.
• Shout-Out: Kokoro's lone Option is a Trigon unit, referencing the player ship from Trigon (Lightning Fighters in the US) that Deltatry in Gradius Gaiden also references. Her DLC soundtrack also consists of remixes from Castlevania, Trigon, A-JAX and Flak Attack.
• Weapon Specialization: Wields a whip while having the least Stripperiffic uniform. Also gets access to the exclusive weapon Beam Whip.

Arnval

A robot girl from the Busou Shinki series of collectable figurines. She's a very demure and even shy person who tends to keep to herself. She dislikes combat and lacks the motivation for it, so tends to default to her programming. She contrasts with her playful and active sister in more ways than one. Arnval's Riding Viper is Anthurium.

• Captain Ersatz: Her weapon loadout and powerup gauge arrangement is identical to Emon's. She also has the same Platonic Break attack.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Arnval and Strarf were built based on stolen Bacterian schematics to be used against the Bacterians.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Arnval seems to be a Blue type, to Strarf's Red.
• Reluctant Warrior: Would rather not attack anyone, and keeps reminding herself that she just needs to follow her programming and everything will be fine.
• Robot Girl: She's human-sized, while most Busou Shinki are the size of tiny dolls, but she's still artificial.
• Special Guest: Visiting from Busou Shinki Battle Rondo.
• Wave-Motion Gun: "Hyper Blaster!"

Strarf

Arnval's partner, also from Busou Shinki. Strarf seems to be optimized for night combat, and otherwise is a very active girl compared to her subdued partner. Strarf's main system imitates psychic powers, which she exercises with many of the weapons systems on Alpinia. Unlike Arnval, Strarf is a very active and playful girl who is very curious about the world of humans.

• Ass Kicks You: In the trailer for Excellent, Strarf tries to shove Arnval out of the picture with a flying butt-bump.
• Downloadable Content: Like Kokoro, while Strarf shows up in the OP and ED, playing as her requires getting DLC.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Arnval and Strarf were built based on stolen Bacterian schematics to be used against the Bacterians.
• Genki Girl: She seems much more upbeat than Arnval.
• Karaoke Box: Shown to be really into karaoke during the end credits.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Strarf's Platonic Break spawns a spread of missiles, which she controls with her mind.
• Mind over Matter: Strarf's exclusive weapons PsyCom and Mindblast utilize artificially-generated psychic powers to manipulate weapons on Alpinia. The first is a [Homing Lasers homing laser]] while the second is a short-range force wave. Additionally, she uses this to control her Platonic Break attack.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Angel/Devil pair seems to have this going on with their personalities, with Strarf being Red.
• Robot Girl: She's human-sized, while most Busou Shinki are the size of tiny dolls, but she's still artificial.
• Special Guest: Visiting from Busou Shinki Battle Rondo.

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The Bacterians

Otomedius Debut

L.B. Gofer and R.B. Gofer

Referred to as the "Daughters of Gofer", these sinister twins seem to be behind most of the Bacterian activity in the series.

• Alien Invasion: Pretty much their shtick.
• Cleavage Window: Their uniforms have them, which is a little uncomfortable considering their apparent age.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: R.B. wears red ribbons and has a warm personality. L.B. wears blue ribbons and has a cool personality.
• Dual Boss: Hugin and Munin.
• Expy: Basically a game counterpart to Paula of Salamander. Not a surprise.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: L.B.'s Core is on the left side of her head, R.B.'s Core is on the right. Additionally, each one has a single Evil Eyebrow tattoo, guess which one has it over which eye.
• Half-Identical Twins: They're twins, and resemble each other, but are clearly not identical.
• High-Speed Battle: Both against Hugin and Munin, and again against Odin Core.
• Human Aliens: Bacterians.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of Gofer, final boss in many Gradius games. Especially weird, considering Gofer is an immense, pulsating brain with destroyable eyes.
• Only Known by Initials: It's never explicitly stated what R.B. and L.B. stand for. It's generally believed to be Right Brain and Left Brain, given the physical shape of their predecessor, a giant brain named Gofer.
• Really 700 Years Old: They look like little 14-15 year olds (and that's really pushing it), but they've been running the Bacterian army for at LEAST 700 years.
• Recurring Boss: Encountered in Stage 2 and again in Stage 7.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: R.B. being Red, L.B. being Blue.
• Sequential Boss: After taking damage in Hugin and Munin, they team up with Eye Golem and supercharge their attacks.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Pengu are ... special.
• The Cameo: They show up in Excellent, piloting Tetran and supplying most of the hazards for the stage, but aren't a boss and cannot be defeated. They just run off before the real boss arrives.
• Twin Telepathy: Justified since they're two halves of a brain.

Eliza

A mermaid queen who sides with the Bacterians out of what seems to be whimsy more than actual malice.

• Punch-Clock Villain: Her heart just isn't in it.
• Sea Monster: Her pet, Sea Lion, who lives inside an enormous oyster.
• Shout-Out: The fish pictured on her hat was alive 15 years ago.
• Special Guest: Visiting from Gokujou Parodius.
• Unusual Ears: Fins, to go with the mermaid look.

Titi XIV

Queen of Space Egypt, Titi XIV sided with the Bacterians in an attempt to harness their Core technology and advance her civilization.

• Battleship Raid: Ship of Sun is quite large, taking up a good four screens.
• Build Like an Egyptian: Of course.
• Bullet Hell: Scarab Core fires hundreds of bullets in patterns right out of Don Don Pachi.
• Cheerleader Pharaoh Starship Captain
• More Dakka: Scarab Core deserves special mention.
• Night of the Living Mooks: Played with. Pengu in the Alexandria stage are dressed like mummies, but are still obviously penguin robots.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: When she comes out in Scarab Core.
• Sequential Boss: Fights first with Ship Of Sun, then comes in immediately after with Scarab Core.
• Shout-Out: The above-mentioned Don Don Pachi bullet patterns from Scarab Core.
• Stripperific: Half cheerleader, half pharaoh, half dressed.

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Otomedius Gorgeous Debut

Meta Lium

One of the Gofer twins' ace pilots, found piloting Big Core DX.

• Evil Counterpart: An older version of Tita still loyal to the Bacterians.
• Eyepatch of Power: Like Tita, considered part of the interface with Big Core DX's weapons.
• Human Aliens: Bacterian
• Noblewoman's Laugh: When she introduces herself, and again when she berserks.
• Oh, Crap!: General player response when her ship deploys its Options.
• The Cameo: Appears in Excellent, but gets taken out by the stage's actual boss before she can fight.
• Shout-Out: Metalium is the name of the player ship in Nemesis II.
  • At the end of Stage 3, before Big Core DX appears, the player is faced with two machines hurling out dozens of fireballs, just like the intro of the first Gradius boss ever, Big Core.
  • While these machines are running, the classic Aircraft Carrier theme from Gradius also plays.
  • Also, her outfit bears a striking resemblance to that of a certain very well - known Tsundere.

Yoshiko

Empress of Easter Island, a weird society of sentient Moai statues.

• Attack Drone: Summons tiny Moai heads to help her fight.
• Enemy Summoner: Think destroying her Mini-Moai will make the fight easier? She just coughs up more.
• Energy Weapon: Has a large variety of them, too.
• Large Ham: To the point of reciting opera exercises while firing her most powerful laser.
• Modesty Towel: Evidently, turning into a significantly smaller Moe Anthropomorphism of herself wasn't exactly planned.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of herself, when defeated. Evidently this happens a lot and is considered shameful in Easter Island culture.
• Naked People Are Funny: ...Naturally, she freaks the hell out.
• Power Tattoo: All black, with glowing tattoo markings that change colors as her attack pattern shifts.
• Special Guest: Also visiting from Gokujou Parodius.

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Otomedius Excellent Debut

Neko-Sencho

A bikini-clad catgirl pirate. Her motivation as a villain isn't explained in the least. Given her pirate motif, the most sensible explenation is that she's a mercenary that the Bacterians have hired.

• Cats Have Nine Lives: Invoked when her Mirrored Core is close to defeat.
  Neko Sencho: "I'm gonna need all nine lives for this-nya!"
• High-Altitude Battle: Neko Sencho attacks the angels above the clouds. Mirrored Core emerges from the clouds in a way reminiscent of a surfacing submarine.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Cat Pirate Ship from the Parodius series.
• Shout-Out: Her battle music Runaway is remixed from "Crisis, 4th Movement", the mid-boss song from the original Parodius where the Cat Pirate Ship is encountered.
• Space Pirates: With flavors of more traditional nautical Pirates, such as her surcoat, hat, and cat's paw.
• Verbal Tic: Ends most of her sentences with "nya".
  Neko Sencho: "I'm no 'fraidy cat! I'm an air-sea-landcat, the purrfect feline warrior-nya! I'll bat you around like a ball of string-nya!"
• Warm-Up Boss: Generally considered easy, even in high loop play.

T.B. Rika

• Bait-and-Switch Boss: The stage initially seems like you'll be fighting the Gofer Sisters in a Tetran, which you can damage throughout the level. And then they take off down a side-street and T.B. leaps out with a perfect-condition Tripod Core.
• Human Alien: Bacterian
• Noblewoman's Laugh: When she introduces herself.
• Only Known by Initials: Like the Gofer sisters, it's never stated what T.B. stands for, though there is a sensible theory that it stands for Tuberculosis. She is, after all, a Bacterian.
• Sadist Teacher: Many of Tripod Core's attacks are prefaced by her announcing it is a punishment of some kind, and she was a teacher at the characters' school, St. Gradius Academy.
• Shout-Out: Her theme, Falling Rock, is a remix of the "The Final Enemy" which has appeared in Gradius II and was a theme for Chichibinta Rika, an enemy from the Gradius Series.
  • Her Riding Core, Tripod Core, bears an uncanny resemblance to certain other 3-legged war machines.
    • Combining these two and you will get a shout out to Guerrilla Contra.
• The Mole: She infiltrated St. Gradius Academy, though for what purpose is unclear. If she was hoping to endear herself to her students in the hopes of them going easy on her, it didn't work.
  Poini: Rika-sensei or not Rika-sensei, I won't hold back!

Ryukotsuki

A three-armed demon lord from a distant hell who was slain a long, long time ago. The Gofer Sisters resurrected her so they could use her power against the G Organization's newest members, Kokoro and Gesshi.

• Fiery Redhead: Both literally and figuratively.
• Kill It with Fire: "Die in a fire!" is one of her favorite lines.
• Lethal Lava Land: Attacks the Angels inside a volcano.
• Power Echoes: Has that demonic reverb behind all her dialogue.
• Shout-Out: Her music, Fallen Leaves, is a remix of Ryukotsuki's boss theme from Getsu Fuma Den (And a variation was used in Castlevania).

Shiori Fujisaki

A teenage high school student. Her motivation for working with the Bacterians is completely unexplained.

• Affably Evil: She wishes the player luck right before she starts attacking.
• Ambition Is Evil: If her battle quotes are any indication, she wants to make a name for herself in the Bacterian army, and she refers to herself as a legend in the making.
• Evil Costume Switch: Of the Convenient Color Change type. She's wearing the regular Kirameki Sailor Fuku of her game, Tokimeki Memorial, but it's black-and-white coloured here instead of the normal blue-and-yellow.
• Evil Redhead: In this game, that is.
• Heaven's Gate From Nowhere: Shiori just shows up out of nowhere and attacks. Her entire presence is never explained in-game. Other materials indicate that she learned of T.B. Rika's status as an alien, and grew enamored with an overly-romantic idea of this alien society. She is seemingly unaware that she has been stealth-recruited into the Bacterian Empire.
• Special Guest: Originally the star of Tokimeki Memorial.
• Shout-Out: Her battle music, Wave That Comes, was originally from the shooter minigame in Tokimeki Memorial.
  • Also, the ship she controls, the Heaven's Gate, was originally That One Boss from Gradius Gaiden.

Ruby & Cobalt

Two female androids created by the Bacterians, intentionally based on Hikaru and Akane in both appearance and personality.

• Affably Evil: They're actually quite playful, for villains.
• Boss Rush: Encountered at the end of one.
• Expy: Of Hikaru and Akane from the Parodius Series.
• Shielded Core Boss: The front half of Metal Slave has to be destroyed before the gates to its central Core can be targeted.
• Shout-Out: They pilot a boss that's not been seen since the MSX port of Salamander.
  • Their boss music, Dark Cherry, is a remix of Hikaru and Akane's theme from when they were a boss in Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius

Dark Force

Adult form

Child form

The Final Boss of Otomedius Excellent.

• Big Bad: So big and so bad that she can't be defeated. The characters have to travel back in time to when she was a little girl to even stand a chance.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Dark Force: She claims that her defeat is only temporary, quoting Bacterion from the original Gradius games.
  Dark Force: "I was spawned from the desires of humanity... So long as you exist... so shall I."
• Chained by Fashion: In her child form, her arms and legs are inexplicably shackled together.
• Enemy Summoner: Spawns endless waves of Mecha-Mooks during her final encounter.
• Expy: She's basically a Goth-Loli version of Castlevania's Dracula — an anthropomorphic force of evil who seemingly wants to destroy everything. Highlighting this, the first phase of her boss fight takes place in a castle/cathedral for no immediately obvious reason. Tita even comments that these Bacterians are different, and Kokoro says her family has a history of dealing with this sort of thing.
  • She is also basically a humanoid version of the Black Viper (the sister of Emperor Devil Gava) from the Contra series, though her role resembles more of The Triumvirate, who are the real antagonists behind the events of Contra, and are the True Final Bosses.
• Final Boss Preview: She destroys the fleet of Gradians from her dimension.
• Full-Frontal Assault: In her adult form, she appears to be nude for some reason. However, as her body is heavily shaded with white and black, nothing can be seen.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the original Dark Force, which is something of an Eldritch Abomination.
• Mirror Boss: Black Viper. Armed with Laser, Ripple, Flying Torpedo, and Valcan but has no Options.
• Nostalgia Boss: Her final form, complete with a remix of Dark Force's theme from Gradius 3.
• One-Winged Angel: Her second form, the giant mecha-like Death Bringer.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Annihilates the entire Gradian fleet in just a few seconds. Even as a child, displays this kind of capability.
  Dark Force: "I will gather up my might again... and show you the power of a god."
• Sequential Boss: First, she pilots the Black Viper, a Bacterian copy of the Ride Vipers. Then, she pilots a mecha. Finally, in the secret final stage, she's an Anti-Climax Boss.
• Shout-Out:
  • After you defeat Dark Force in her first phase and she escapes, you can see portraits of the final bosses of Gradius 1, 2, 3, and Salamander 1 and 2.
  • Her ride, Black Viper, was this to the sister unit of Emperor Devil Gava from Contra series.
• True Final Boss: She's the boss of Stage 8, which only unlocks on Expert mode.
• Tyke Bomb: The Gofer Sisters created her as a Person of Mass Destruction. In her adult form, she's completely invincible and annihilates the Gradian Fleets in a single attack. Even when she's in her larval stage, she's very powerful.

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Supporting Cast

Otomedius Debut

Operetta / Operator

Effective commander of Angel Squadron, Operetta is a robot girl who coordinates the squadron's activities and dispatches them on their missions.

• Big Good
• Calling Your Attacks: Operetta fulfills the narrator's duties from previous Gradius titles.
  "Homing Missile!"
  "Aqua Laser, level two!"
• Catchphrase: Fans already know what it is.
  "Destroy the core!"
• Gratuitous English: "Shoot it in the head!" "Destroy the core!" "Destroy them all!"
• Mission Control: She's the one giving the Angels their missions and alerting them to changes on the battlefield.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of a tactical computer.
• Robot Girl: May even be a hologram.
• Robot Hair: Cables form the locks down her back.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: In this case, Red, Blue, and a pale Purple.

Irene

In Otomedius Gorgeous, Irene appears as a reference to Xexex, as an automated distress beacon embedded in Snowflake Core. The actual character doesn't make an appearance.

• Damsel in Distress: She's not actually controlling Snowflake Core; she's trapped inside it.
• Shout-Out: Her entire presence. In particular, Holo-Irene's dialogue is a word-for-word recording of the original Irene's distress call during the intro for Xexex.

Pengu

The innumerable Penguin robots fielded by the Bacterians. Pengu fulfill Konami's Penguin Quota.

• Abnormal Ammo: Among the usual bullets, they also attack by throwing fruit and ice cubes.
• Shout-Out: Often found flying small craft that resemble classic Gradius enemies.
  • One even resembles Vic Viper, itself!
• Spread Shot: The above-mentioned fruit explodes in a spray of bullets when it hits something.

Dr. Venom

• Heel–Face Turn: For unexplained reasons, assists the Gradian fleet against the Bacterians during a mass assault in Excellent. In the final stage, he's coordinating the fleet's repairs and pursuit of the routed Bacterian ships.
• The Unfought: In Gorgeous, he's hanging around and you hear his laugh at one point, but you never fight him. He appears again in Excellent and again is not a boss. Considering that he's undergone a Heel–Face Turn in the finished product, fighting him might be difficult.
• What Could Have Been: Was originally going to be the last bonus boss of Excellent, but this was given to Dark Force's final form, and his role in the plot was reworked.

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Destroy them all!