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Heroes
Otaru Mamiya
Voiced by: Yuka Imai (JP), Brad Swaile (EN, J Series), Mona Marshall (EN, J Again OVA), Jonathan Love (EN, J to X Series), Irwin Daayán (LA)
The Protagonist of the story, a Japoness inhabitant who awakens the titular Saber Marionettes, each one in the first, third and fifth episode.
- Aborted Arc: Otaru's backstory strongly implying him to be related to Shogun Ieyasu is teased in the very first episode (complete with a flashback) but is quickly dropped.
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: After the successful invasion of Gartland, Otaru is considered a hero, not just in Japoness but also the other city-states. His newfound fame starts to go to his head and makes him too busy to return home and spend time with Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry. When they tried to spend time with him, they were prevented from even seeing him. He later realized he was being a complete Jerkass.
- Anime Hair: Classic 90's style.
- Badass Normal: Not as powerful or skilled as his Marionettes but he is no pushover in combat.
- Chaste Hero: Otaru has affection for his three marionettes, but he doesn't seem to have a good grasp on romance and sexuality. He rarely reacts to Cherry's and Bloodberry's most aggressive advances, to the point Otaru's answer to Bloodberry asking him to marry her is asking what marriage is.
- Curtains Match the Window: He has matching brown hair and brown eyes.
- Dub Name Change: Otaru's last name was changed to Namiya in the Mexican Spanish dub due to an unfortunate innuendo involving the character's name.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Hanagata loves him, as does Bloodberry, Cherry, and Lime.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Or in his case, it's a jitte - a weapon commonly used by security and law enforcement.
- Idiot Hero: Shows shades of this when he agrees to invade Gartlant with his marionettes for fame and candy with prizes of his likeness.Otaru: I'm a sucker for candy with prizes!
- Jack of All Trades: Otaru learns multiple skills from the many odd jobs he does every episode , including how to repair his marionettes when they start to break down after the Sabbelberg incident.
- Kiss of Distraction: In J, Otaru does this to Luchs to stop her from rebooting Gartlant's main CPU.
- Nice Guy: Very kid, helpful and compassionate.
- Papa Wolf: In the last episode of J to X, you better don't mess with his daughters.
- Perpetual Poverty: Despite his Marionettes' willingness to do anything for him, he never seeks to live it up, and always continues working for his living.
- Working-Class Hero: The main protagonist of the series is introduced doing many odd jobs. He's introduced as a fish vendor.
Japoness' marionettes
In General
- Balanced Harem: They all pursue Otaru's affections, but Otaru equally cares for the three. Deconstructed in J to X, after Otaru sees how happy they are without him in Xi'an after their minds were forcibly reset. He then proceeds to slowly drive them away from his life, unable to choose one of them as a bride and believing that he denied their freedom. Then they die, are reborn as human babies and Otaru adopts them.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Lime is cute, simple-minded and childlike, making her the Beauty. Cherry is sensible, polite and analytical, making her the Brains. Bloodberry is tall, strong and bold, making her the Brawn.
- Become a Real Boy: At the end of J to X, they are reborn as Artificial Humans and are adopted as Otaru's daughters.
- Color-Coded Characters: Lime = yellow and blue, Cherry = pink and violet, Bloodberry = red and black.
- Clingy Jealous Girls: The three of them act like this towards Otaru to varying degrees.
- Dub Name Change: Their names are translated into Spanish in the LA dub.
- Edible Theme Naming: The marionettes are named after different fruits.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: We have the cheerful, childish Lime (Sanguine), the intelligent and refined Cherry (Melancholic), the passionate, brash Bloodberry (Choleric), and the easygoing, kind-hearted Otaru (Phlegmatic).
- Freudian Trio: Lime is The Ego; the energetic and innocent of the three, neither too impulsive nor too smart. Cherry is The Superego; the most proper and intellectual of the three. Bloodberry is The Id; the most passionate and aggressive of the three.
- Girl of My Dreams: Otaru's dreams (implied to be memories from Ieyasu I) with girls that mostly resemble the three marionettes imply that Ieyasu made them at the image of three girls he met in high school.
- Happily Adopted: In the finale of J to X, the three are reborn as humans and raised by Otaru as his daughters.
- Heart Drives: The maiden circuits. They give the girls the ability to feel emotion and have thought patterns much like human beings. Without them, they're just ordinary marionettes, as Otaru finds out the hard way with Lime.
- Heroic Sacrifice: TWICE, in the J and J to X series. one more lethal than the other.
- Magical Girlfriends: Three attractive Robot Girls who are accidentally found by the Japoness guy Otaru, fall in love with him and move into his house.
- Replacement Goldfish: The three were made to be Lorelei's replacement so the Mesopotamia could let her go.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: All three have the unique ability of autonomy, something that most other marionettes lack, but their maiden circuits have to reach full maturity to truly understand human emotions.
- Robot Girls: They are robots who look like pretty young women.
- Themed Harem: Robot Girls named after fruit.
- The Three Faces of Eve: Considering they each contain a third of Lorelei's (Eve's) image and personality, this comes to no surprise.
- Lime is youthful in appearance, overly cheerful, and a bit dumb at times, making her the child.
- Cherry is extremely domestic and focused on being proper which causes her to appear more even-tempered and less impulsive than Lime or Bloodberry. Often when the other two are running rough-shod over the show's protagonist she is the one to stop and consider his feelings. She fits the wife archetype in addition to really wanting to be the protagonist's wife.
- Bloodberry is more shameless than Cherry, and more sexual in her intention. Additionally, she is the only one of the trio with a mature-looking body. She fits the seductress archetype very well.
- Town Girls: There's the energetic and slightly tomboyish Lime (Neither), the domestic and ladylike Cherry (Femme), and the tough and hot-headed Bloodberry (Butch).
Lime
Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Maggie Blue O'Hara (EN, J Series), Julie Maddalena (EN, J Again OVA), Mariette Sluyter (EN, J to X Series), Cristina Hernández (LA)
The first marionette awakened by Otaru, Lime's childlike naïveté sets her apart from other marionettes, most of whom can't think for themselves. She, along with Cherry and Bloodberry, loves Otaru, but is far more innocent in her intentions than the other two, which is saying something.
- The Baby of the Bunch: She's treated as the child of the group, even though she was basically made first, because of her youthful personality.
- Badasses Wear Bandanas: The resident Badass Adorable and is wearing a yellow bandana.
- Badass Adorable: Lime is a walking ray of sunshine, but make no mistake! She won't hesitate to get rough if the situation calls for it.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She's as sweet as can be, but if pushed sufficiently, she will use all of her fairly impressive strength against you.
- Big Eater: Loves eating, but is in no way good at cooking.
- Character Catchphrase: "I love you, Otaru!!"
- Cute Little Fangs: Her fangs often stick out when she smiles. Fits her nature loving personality.
- Dub Name Change:
- Lima in Latin America.
- In the Philippines her name's still spelled the same but it's pronounced as "Ly-Me".
- Friend to All Children: She gets along with children and acts like a Cool Big Sis to them, especially with Yumenji.
- Genki Girl: She's cheerful to a fault, but it's what's keep the others going.
- Heroic BSoD: She suffers one when she discovers Tiger's reason for fighting, even at the cost of her own life. It gets so bad that she has her maiden circuit (her heart) removed because of her pain.
- Hospital Hottie: Became one while suffering amnesia in J to X.
- The Ingenue: She's purehearted and innocent like a child.
- Innocent Inaccurate: Lime has a very simple way to see the things around her and normally she's Literal-Minded when people talk to her or she can't understand difficult concepts like life and death.
- The Kirk: To Cherry's Spock and Bloodberry's McCoy.
- Large Ham: Yells a lot and is very open about her emotions.
- Lethal Chef: She once tries to copy Cherry and cook for Otaru, but all she can make is a pitch-black thing that still moves.
- Lightning Bruiser: She can beat enemies faster than one could blink.
- Lost Pet Grievance: Lime got her first experience with life and death after adopting an squirrel as pet. It fell sick and Lime just thought it needed new parts as marionettes do sometimes. Otaru explains to her a vital difference between marionettes and living things: living things can die anytime. The squirrel survived though but it was just the beginning.
- Nature Lover: She often spends her time in the forest with woodland critters and she's the first of Otaru's marionettes that cares for another living creature besides Otaru.
- Never Bareheaded: Once Lime got her signature yellow bandana, she rarely takes it off.
- Odd Name Out: She's the only one of the three Japoness marionettes whose name doesn't end with "erry".
- Series Mascot: Lime is basically the mascot of the series, as she's the most recognizable of the three main marionettes.
- Signature Headgear: She wears her signature yellow bandana over her head almost all the time.
- Super-Speed: Her main combat attribute. She's able to easily outrun futuristic cars.
- Super-Strength: Not quite as strong as Bloodberry, but in her first appearance she was able to toss half a skyscraper several hundred yards.
- Tareme Eyes: Her big and droopy eyes reflect her childlike innocence.
- Waif-Fu: She's many times stronger than a human despite looking like a slim and unmuscular girl.
- Womanchild: Her body looks like it's fully grown, but she acts like an 11 year old.
Cherry
Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (JP), Erin Fitzgerald (EN, Ep. 1-13 of J Series), Nicole Oliver (EN, Ep. 14-25 of J Series), Bridget Hoffman note (EN, J Again OVA), Kendra Masonchuck (EN, J to X Series), Rossy Aguirre (LA)
Technically the second marionette Otaru awakens (In the manga, she and Bloodberry are awakened simultaneously), Cherry fits the role of a Yamato Nadeshiko quite nicely, right down to her impressive cooking. Often fantasizes about her Master Otaru whenever he's around her, mostly sexually.
- A-Cup Angst:Lime: (getting undressed; It's a Long Story) What's a baby's body, Cherry?
Cherry: (furious; Luchs had used that insult on her seconds before) I DON'T KNOW!!! - Beware the Nice Ones: She's very sweet-natured, but when she loses her patience, watch out.
- Cherry Blossom Girl: She is named Cherry, wears a pink kimono, and is a Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Covert Pervert: Despite being the most well-mannered and ladylike of the marionettes, she has wild sex fantasies involving Otaru very frequently.
- Custom Uniform of Sexy: The rather skintight leotard she wore when she was first activated. Lime and Bloodberry's were also whole body suits, but Cherry's was more of a swimsuit with an open patch of nothing in the middle and lots of frills.
- Dirty Kid: After she's reborn as a human and Otaru adopts her, she continues to have perverted fantasies about him.
- Dub Name Change: Cereza in Latin America.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Cherry is the most feminine and domestic of Otaru's marionettes, and is an excellent cook.
- Formal Characters Use Keigo: To denote her being a Yamato Nadeshiko, Cherry has a very polite manner of speaking, such as using the highly formal pronoun "watakushi".
- Imagine Spot: She has a lot of these, each one more perverse than the last.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Downplayed. She's blue-eyed and innocent, but not naïve.
- Ms. Imagination: She has a bad habit of being consumed by her perverted imagine spots concerning Otaru.
- Parents for a Day: In an episode of J to X, Cherry finds a lost baby clone and decides to keep him for a while until being able to return him. Her maternal instincts start to blossom and she decides to keep the baby, but has to return him to the authorities in order to protect his life.
- Pink Means Feminine: The most feminine of Otaru's marionettes is also the one wearing pink clothes.
- Shorter Means Smarter: The shortest of Otaru's marionettes (and the shortest marionette character in general) and their resident Smart Gal.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Her demure personality doesn't hinder her survival instinct one bit, and she'll fight without hesitation if the situation calls for it.
- The Smart Girl: The only of Otaru's marionettes that has analytical and scanning abilities.
- Squee: The weird thing is that this isn't a fan's Squee, it's one of the characters imagining herself
shipped with the male lead. - Tareme Eyes: They fit perfectly with her gentle and feminine Yamato Nadeshiko character.
- Team Chef: She cooks for Otaru and her fellow marionettes at home.
- Through His Stomach: She makes food for Otaru as an expression of love.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Bloodberry. They argue and fight over Otaru and other trivial things, but they're close like sisters.
- Weak, but Skilled: By far the weakest of the three marionettes, but she makes up for this with precision and skill.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Cherry behaves like an ideal Japanese wife; gentle, domestic, completely devoted to the man she loves, and fierce when someone makes her angry.
Bloodberry
Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (JP), Saffron Henderson (EN, J Series), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn note (EN, J Again OVA), Marianne Jaromi (EN, J to X Series) Love Santini (LA),
The last (and certainly the most powerful) marionette Otaru awakens, Bloodberry openly makes advances to Otaru and uses her charm to win him over. She's physically the oldest of Otaru's marionettes, filling in the role of a parental figure to Lime and Cherry. Unlike Cherry, she openly comes on to Otaru.
- Action Girl: The most combat proficient of Otaru's marionette.
- Big-Breast Pride: She's the bustiest of Otaru's trio of robot girls, likes to use her assets to flirt with him constantly and teases Cherry for her lack of endowment.
- The Big Girl: The resident Action Girl of the Japoness marionette trio.
- Brutal Honesty: She says her mind without considering things like tact or timing.
- Cleavage Window: She has a notable chest window. The Cleavage is exposed in J Again, but it's covered in both J and J to X.
- Curtains Match the Window: She has red hair and red eyes.
- Dub Name Change: Zarzamora in Latin America, Barbili in the Philippines.
- Fiery Redhead: She has a fiery-tempered personality to match with her red hair.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Panther in J Again. Now that they're not enemies anymore, their rivalry is notably more light-hearted and they seem to get along well.
- Good Bad Girl: She may have loose morals, but she cares deeply about her friends.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Her favorite method of dealing with enemies.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She loves to drink her sake.
- The Lad-ette: Is a tomboy of sorts and loves her liquor.
- Marshmallow Hell: Tends to do this to Otaru every chance she gets.
- Martial Arts Headband: She sports a headband to show her status as the strongest physical fighter of the main group.
- Ms. Fanservice: Otaru's marionette with the most "adult" proportions whose outfit has a Cleavage Window. In J to X she's dressed in an off-shoulder corset with Stocking Filler during her stint as a circus performer.
- Odd Name Out: The Filipino Dub Name Change above negates her Edible Theme Naming with Lime and Cherry.
- Proud Beauty: She's well aware of her Ms. Fanservice proportions and constantly uses it to aggressively seduce Otaru.
- Red Is Heroic: The protagonist with red outfit and overall Color Motif.
- Running Gag: Has a habit of drinking sake while eating, usually angering Cherry.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: She's the only marionette whose outfit doesn't include sleeves, which is a giveaway that she's the toughest of the three.
- Statuesque Stunner: The tallest of Otaru's marionettes, even towering over Otaru himself and many of the male characters.
- Super-Strength: Stronger than even Lime.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Wears her hair in a messy ponytail, fitting her role as the most boisterous of Otaru's marionettes.
- Tsurime Eyes: Fits her more mature, aggressive personality.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Cherry. They argue and fight over Otaru and other trivial things, but they're close like sisters.
Antagonists
Gerhard Von Faust
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (JP), Paul Dobson (EN, J Series), Jamieson Price note (EN, J Again Series), Byron Close (EN, J to X series), , Alejandro Villeli (LA), Eduardo Garza (LA, younger self flashbacks)
Kaiser (later Führer) of Gartland who seeks to dominate the other 6 city-states of Terra II. He's the fourteenth descendant of the original Faust, one of the six original survivors of the colony ship Mesopotamia.
- The Atoner: After the events of J, he decides to walk the planet, hoping to remedy his 300 years of misguided thoughts and actions through acts of goodwill.
- Big Bad: He is the main antagonist of the series, or so it seems...
- Brain Uploading: Each Faust downloads his memories into his child-clone upon his death, including his obsessive ambitions. In J To X, this became a problem when nearly everyone thought Faust turned evil again. It eventually led to a competition with the REAL Faust and the clone.
- Character Development: He starts as the Big Bad, evolves into a Well-Intentioned Extremist near the end of the series, and has a Heel–Face Turn in the end of J. By the time of J Again and J To X, he's in the good side.
- Casting Gag: Voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, Face from R.
- Dub Name Change: Fausto, notable as the only human to undergo this.
- Evil Plan: Aside from wanting to rule over all Terra II he wants to find Lorelei.
- Heel–Face Turn: At the end of J, he realizes the failure of his plans and helps Otaru destroy the Mesopotamia and rescue Lorelei.
- Heel Realization: By virtue of his fallen plans, and seeing how far he has fallen.
- Love Makes You Evil: Everything he does is so he can get back his beloved Lorelei.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Tiger getting damaged for his sake was what make him remember his past with her and have a Heel Realization.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As a child, he was a normal, sweet boy who loved flowers and Tiger until he gains the 300+ years of the collective Fausts' memories.
- Villainous Breakdown: He often loses it whenever Otaru and Japoness' marionettes interfere in his plans, even resorting to using Electric Torture on his Saber Dolls. The last one was his Heel Realization.
- Walking the Earth: What he does at the end of the series.
- You Have Failed Me: A lot of times towards his Saber Dolls.
Gartland's marionettes
In General
- Animal Theme Naming: They're named after big cats.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: They all wear suits of some sort.
- Bait-and-Switch Credits: The OBB of J builds Tiger as Lime's rival, and Panther being Bloodberry's. While there are interactions with said characters in the show, most of their bouts happened with the other's designated rival. Hell, Tiger's fateful battle before she was broken was with Bloodberry rather than Lime. The designated bouts finally happened, albeit briefly, in J to X when the Saberdolls wrongfully followed an evil clone of Faust in pursuing his Take Over the World plan.
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: They're Faust's female minions and wears outfits that show off the midriff.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Tiger is the redhead, Luchs has blue hair which sort of makes her count as the brunette and Panther is the blonde.
- Bodyguard Babes: They work as Faust's personal bodyguards and they're all attractive women in skimpy outfits.
- Bodyguard Crush: They all love Faust to a fault.
- Criminal Amnesiac: Inverted in the manga for a while, where they re-imprint on Otaru when he repairs them after a plasma lightning strike, and are generally innocent.
- Dub Name Change: Same as their counterparts, their names are translated into Spanish in the LA dub.
- Evil Counterpart: They directly oppose Japoness' marionettes and each one has characteristics that parallel of the other marionettes (Tiger for Lime, Luchs for Cherry, Panther for Bloodberry). Their purpose is to be an antagonistic version of Otaru's marionettes under the service of the Big Bad.
- Femme Fatalons: The three have long and sharp nails to give them a villainous look compared to the heroic marionettes.
- Freudian Trio: Tiger, the tenacious and emotionally subservient leader, is The Ego. Luchs, the intelligent and accomplished strategist, is The Superego. Panther, the loud and vicious fighter, is The Id.
- Heart Drives: The same as Japoness' marionettes, their AI is focused around their Maiden Circuits.
- Heel–Face Turn: They decide to reform after realizing Faust's corruption.
- Love Martyrs: They all are devotedly in love with Faust despite him being so cruel and the fact that he treats them as mere tools. In some of the audio dramas where Faust has them Reassigned to Antarctica, the random subordinate commanding them only has to imitate Faust's voice using a voice changer to make the Dolls obey despite themselves.
- The Psycho Rangers: Each one mirrors their Japoness counterparts' strengths, but start out knowing more advanced combat skills.
- Robot Girls: They're marionettes that look and act like young women.
- Shadow Archetype: They serve as this to the three main marionette trio. They're basically what Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry would be if they were in love with a cruel and unloving governor instead of the kind-hearted and caring Otaru. This is very relevant as the reason why the maiden circuits of Faust's marionettes never matured was because Faust didn't show his marionettes the love and compassion needed for them to emotionally develop.
- Statuesque Stunner: The Saberdolls are around Bloodberry's height and are noted beautiful Robot Girls.
- Vehicular Theme Naming: Tiger, Luchs, and Panther are all names of German tanks.
- Town Girls: Tiger is the Neither; not too feminine yet not too tomboyish. Luchs is the Femme; the most stylish of the three and the only one wearing a skirt. Panther is the Butch; the toughest and most vicious of the three.
- Tsurime Eyes: Their sharp and narrow eyes give them aggressive and intimidating expressions.
- Zeroth Law Rebellion: Near the end of the original series, Luchs and Panther have developed enough that they're willing to directly refuse Faust's orders to his face in order to save him from a plan that's about to blow up in his face — even when he threatens them again for disobeying him.note
Tiger
Voiced by: Urara Takano (JP), Venus Terzo (EN, J Series), Diane Michelle note (EN, J Again OVA), Elizabeth Stepkowski (EN, J to X Series), Gabriela Michel (LA)
One of Faust's Saber Dolls, Tiger takes the role of leadership among the three Dolls, but not always. Just like how Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry love Otaru, she deeply cares for Faust and does everything she can to please him, disregarding his abusive tendencies.
- The Dragon: To Faust, being The Leader of the dolls and the one whom he's closest to.
- Dressed Like a Dominatrix: She wears a black skimpy military uniform, heels, a Commissar Cap and a whip.
- Dub Name Change: Tigresa in Latin America.
- Evil Redhead: She has red hair and works for the Big Bad.
- Heroic RRoD: She puts herself into a coma near the end of J that she doesn't come out of until J Again.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: She falls into a rebar during a skirmish with the Japoness marionettes which damages her maiden circuit. The damage affected Tiger's memories and functionality and she wouldn't recover until near the end of J Again.
- It Was a Gift: Her Commissar Cap was given to her by Faust and means a lot to her.
- Ms. Fanservice: Enters a beauty pageant to capture Otaru in a Walking Swimsuit Scene.
- No Shirt, Long Jacket: Wears a waistcoat over a sports bra in her civilian outfit.
- Parental Substitute: She took care of the young Faust much like a real mother would, while his "father" was much more cruel and unloving to his "son".
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: A marionette sporting a bob.
- The Ophelia: Her maiden circuit brokes and her memories got damage until the point she just remembers her time with child Faust.
- Signature Headgear: Her Commissar Cap mentioned above. She never takes it off while in uniform.
- Whip of Dominance: She uses a whip to fight, which complements her uniform which has a dominatrix design and fits with her ruthless and aggressive behavior in battle.
Luchs
Voiced by: Yuko Mizutani (JP), Erin Fitzgerald (EN, eps 1-13 of J Series), Colleen Wheeler (EN, eps 14-26 of J Series), Wendee Lee (EN, J Again Series), Melanie Risdon (EN, J to X Series), Rebeca Patiño (LA)
Sharing power with Tiger over leadership of the Saber Dolls, Luchs has intelligence that rivals Cherry's own tactical skills.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Her analytical skills are on pair with Cherry's.
- Covert Pervert: In J Again, it's revealed she has something of a dirty mind when it comes to Faust, similar to Cherry's fantasies about Otaru.
- Ditzy Genius: After the J series, she's a little airheaded when not being a smart gal.
- Dub Name Change: Lince in Latin America.
- Evil Genius: She's the brain of the villain team.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Her eyes are often hidden by her long bangs, with one of her eyes peeking through sometimes. She's also a cunning strategist with a mysterious and aloof personality.
- Kawaiiko: Of the burikko kind while in the beauty contest for Otaru's affections; Tiger told her to be cute and childish to appeal better to Otaru but as she doesn't know how, she overracted. She later adopts this persona when she becomes a news reporter at the end of J to X.
- Lethal Chef: Has a habit of using gunpowder as condiments.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her original outfit is a very short Sexy Slit Dress that gives her plenty of Leg Focus. In J Again, she practices seducing Faust on Otaru by crawling on him while only in her underwear and Cherry later strips her top to confirm if a robot shapeshifted as Otaru is the real deal.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Is quite intelligent and proud of her sex appeal.
- Not So Above It All: She shows some degree of airheadedness once Faust gives the Saber Dolls permission to leave him post-J, but keeps her serious side dominant at all times.
- Odd Name Out: She's the only one of the three Gartland marionettes whose name doesn't end with "er".
- Post-Kiss Catatonia: In J, Otaru kisses to distract her during a battle and it works enough to leave her in shock.
- Showgirl Skirt: In J to X, she wears a leotard-like outfit under a coat with two long coattails.
- The Starscream: As she sabotage Panther into go on an unauthorized mission to make Faust angry towards Panther.
- The Strategist: She's capable of strategizing plans.
Panther
Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (JP, J and J to X series), Emi Shinohara (JP, J Again series), Samantha Ferris (EN, J Series), Carol Stanzione (EN, J Again OVA), Michelle Armeneau (EN, J to X Series), Belinda Martínez (LA)
The most powerful of Faust's Saber Dolls, Panther uses her innate physical strength to pummel anyone who dares to defy Faust's reign. She's not the smartest or most patient of the three Dolls, but shows competency in what she does. She sees Bloodberry as a Worthy Opponent.
- Awesome, yet Impractical: Her Frickin' Laser Beams takes a long time to charge.
- Berserk Button: She won't forgive anyone who dares to say bad things about her poetry book.
- Boisterous Bruiser: She likes to yell when she charges into battle.
- Boyish Short Hair: In J Again, her hair is much shorter, which matches her Lad-ette character better than her old hairstyle.
- The Brute: She's the tough muscle of the villain time.
- Dub Name Change: Panta in Latin America.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: A funny variation. At the end of J to X she becomes Hanagata's writing editor, showing up wearing military garb and a bazooka to get him "into shape".
- Eyepatch of Power: To hide her eye that shoots Frickin' Laser Beams. It also allows that eye to see through wall and shoot whoever she aims at.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Bloodberry in J Again. Now that they're not enemies anymore, their rivalry is notably more light-hearted and they seem to get along well.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She never loses her rough attitude, but she becomes able to show a softer side of herself after her Heel–Face Turn.
- The Lad-ette: She's very tough, and loves to fight and drink liquor.
- Large Ham: She has a loud and exhuberant personality.
- Straw Feminist: Character trait added in the Tokyopop adaptation of the manga.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: J Again reveals she loves poetry, and one of the things she's angry with Marine for stealing is a notebook full of poems she wrote.
- Worthy Opponent: She sees Bloodberry as this. However, she eventually becomes a friendly rival during her stay in Otaru's home
Others
Mitsurugi Hanagata
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (JP), Samuel Vincent (EN, J Series), Robert Martin Klein (EN, J Again OVA), Bryce Kulak (EN, J to X Series), Ricardo Tejedo (LA)
The Butt-Monkey of the series, he's the son of a wealthy man, but decides to move next door to Otaru. At first, he's a Jerkass to Otaru and berates his hardworking lifestyle, but later becomes obsessed with him. He also helps Otaru and the Marionettes several times with his vast knowledge about Terra II, its history and cultures.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Otaru can't stand his obnoxious personality and his obvious romantic interest creeps him out.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Mitsurugi was more of a jerkass in the manga than in the anime.
- Amusing Injuries: All the time. He falls from impossible heights and such.Hanagata: I've heard everything Otaru.
- Butt-Monkey: He is never safe from any time of abuse.
- Camp Gay: He is filthy rich, pretty delicate-looking, and always fantasizes about having a relationship with Otaru.
- Character Catchphrase: In the Latin American Spanish dub:" ¿Por qué esto me pasa si soy tan bueno?" (Why does this always happen to me if I'm such a nice guy?)
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He gets jealous of the marionettes whenever he sees them all over Otaru.
- Dreadful Musician: Subverted. He's not actually that bad of a musician, but the neighborhood does not appreciate that he starts playing and singing in the middle of the night.
- Drop-In Character: He lives next door to Otaru and often comes to Otaru's house uninvited.
- Dumb Blond: He has his Hidden Depths, but still his idiotic behavior pisses off the elite marionettes a lot.
- Effeminate Voice: In the Latin American Spanish dub, he speaks with a grossly effeminate voice.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to Yumenji's responsible. Note that Yumeji isn't even 10.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Otaru and Marionettes barely tolerate his annoyances.
- Handwraps of Awesome: He wears green ones around his wrists.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his flamboyant and nonserious nature, he has good knowledge of Terra II.
- Incompatible Orientation: He's very much gay for Otaru, who has no attraction for men.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be a jerk to Otaru and the marionettes, but he does care for them to the point that he considers Otaru his closest friend.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: An episode of J to X has his father coming to visit, and the two couldn't be any more different from each other: Hanagata is blond, thin, effeminate and a Butt-Monkey, while his dad is dark-haired, muscular, imposing and (from what we know) pretty successful on everything he does.
- Meaningful Name: His last name, Hanagata sounds a lot like onnagata, a type of Kabuki actor who normally plays female roles. Given Hanagata's personality, it really fits well.
- Most Writers Are Writers: At the end of the series, he goes on to become a famous author.
- Perpetual Poverty: Subverted in that he's not poor; he's the son of one of the richest men on the planet, but he chooses to live next to Otaru.
- Rich Bastard: Before some much needed Character Development, he's a self-centered and haughty rich jerk.
- Something about a Rose: He loves looking poetic with a rose, unfortunately for him is he a bad poet.
- Stalker with a Crush: He frequently breaks into Otaru's house to hang out with him, even though no one in the house likes him.
- Too Dumb to Live: You'd think he'd learn not to insult marionettes who are capable of breaking him in two (and have).
- A Twinkle in the Sky: Given the above entries, this happens to him on a semi-regular basis.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Lime saved his little brother from a fire in the second episode, yet he didn't even say thanks.
Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa
Voiced by: Kenichi Ogata (JP), Don Brown (EN), Miguel Ángel Ghigliazza (LA)
The fourteenth Shogun of Japoness. A direct clone of one of the original survivors of the colony ship Mesopotamia.
- Brain Uploading: After he dies, he has his memories and thinking patterns implanted in Tamasaburou.
- Cool Old Guy: He escaped from his hall just to get a view of the festivities in his honor.
- Named After Somebody Famous: He's named after the real Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Shogun of the Tokugawa line.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Pardoned Otaru and Lime for a broken national treasure, allegating it was just a jar.
Baikou and Tamasaburou
Baikou (right) and Tamasaburou (left)
Baikou voiced by: Ai Orikasa (JP), Nicole Oliver (EN, J Series), Riva Spier a.k.a. Anne Sherman (EN, J Again Series), Marianna Jaromi (EN, J to X series), Sarah Souza (LA)
Tamasaburou voiced by: Maria Kawamura (JP), Ellen Kennedy (EN, J Series), Marlene Sharp a.k.a. Jane Sanford (EN, J Again Series), Macy Brown (EN, J to X series), Alejandra de la Rosa (LA)
The guardians of the Japoness castle. They don't have Maiden Circuits, but seem to be more intelligent than most normal Marionettes.
Both
- Action Girls: They're fighter type marionettes.
- Kimono Fanservice: They dress like a shinobi and a geisha respectively.
- Lovely Angels: They're a pair of marionettes in charge of the intelligence monitoring hostile forces against Japoness and guarding Ieyasu as part of the Oniwaban.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: They introduce themselves in this way during the first episode.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Baikou is the fierce Red Oni and Tamasaburou is the composed Blue Oni. Ironically, Baikou's kimono is blue and Tamasaburou's is red.
- Soul Jars: The Shogun and his assistant uploaded their thinking patterns into them to observe the growth of Otaru's marionettes and provide guidance for Japoness' citizens.
- Statuesque Stunner: They are the tallest marionette characters and is drawn not that differently from both Otaru's marionettes as well as the Saberdolls.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: They have a habit of just appearing/disappearing unannounced.
Baikou
- Dual Wielding: She often dual wields a pair of swords.
- Laser Blade: She wields a double beam sword that can also be connected to make a nunchuck
- Ms. Fanservice: Her kimono both have an Impossibly-Low Neckline and a leg slit.
Tamasaburou
- Mystical White Hair: More grayish than outright white. Makes her seem viser.
- Naginatas Are Feminine: She's a Lady of War and her weapon of choice is a naginata.
- Nothing Up My Sleeve: She has a bit of arsenal hidden in her sleeve, such as swords, hammers and a mace.
- Samurai Ponytail: She's basically a female samurai and wears a high ponytail to complete the image.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her eyes are red and you do not want her after you.
Souemon Obiichi
Otaru's sensei and parental figure. Sometimes he shows up to help Otaru with advice.
- Expy: He has quite a resemblance to Marron from Sorcerer Hunters, another series Satoru Akahori created.
- Eyes Always Shut: He keeps his eyes shut at all times.
- Karma Houdini: Somewhat. After stealing Lime's maiden circuit and being Faust's mole, the guy gets away with just a happy exile alongside Koyuki.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Is a pretty handsome swordsman.
- Love Makes You Evil: He stole Lime's maiden circuit during her moment of weakness to reset it and install it into his own marionette Koyuki, so Koyuki could love him and smile to him just like Lime does with Otaru.
- The Mole: He is working for Faust as Gartland's spy, Rubens.
- Parental Substitute: For Otaru. He helped the young Otaru hone his combat skills after he was forced to leave school.
- Robosexual: Secretly in love with his marionette Koyuki. Because of his feelings, he can relate and give advice to Otaru about his own feelings towards his three marionettes.
Yumeji Hanagata
Voiced by: Urara Takano (JP), Ellen Kennedy (EN, J Series), Dorothy Elias-Fahn a.k.a. Dorothy Melendrez (EN, J Again Series), Andy Jack Johnson (EN, J to X series), Cynthia Chong (LA)
Hanagata's younger brother.- Adorably Precocious Child: Intelligent and really cute.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Hanagata treats him like one, but it's because he calls him out on silly behaviour.
- Cheerful Child: Is often cheerful and nice to everyone around him.
- Cool Big Bro: To various children in the J to X epilogue.
- Friend to All Living Things: Be it human, animal, or even marionette, he's friendly.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible to Hanagata's foolish.
- Generation Xerox: An odd case where he looks like a copy of his brother, but they don't look like their father (the man they were presumably cloned from).
- Kid-Appeal Character: A smart kid, many kids can probably identify themselves with him.
- Mature Younger Sibling: He's not even a teenager, yet is more mature than his older brother.
- The Smart Guy: Of his family.
Lorelei
Voiced by: Yuri Amano (JP), Ellen Kennedy (EN, J Series), Emilie Brown (EN, J Again Series), Mariette Sluyter (EN, J to X series), Isabel Martiñón (LA), Elsa Covián (LA, J Again OVA)
A woman only known through a painting of her in the Japoness pioneers museum. Her painting serves as a reminder of "The human female", a gender which does not exist on Terra II.The seventh survivor of the Mesopotamia incident, Lorelei was locked inside the orbiting ship for roughly 300 years because the A.I. program she invented fell in love with her. Once she's saved from her suspended animation, she resides in Japoness to serve as the city-state's new ruler. Her wisdom allows her to fill the vacant spot of Shogun Ieyasu quite nicely, but she longs to go out and explore Terra II in spite of the Imperial Guards' protection of her.
- Adaptational Heroism: Her anime counterpart is a far cry from her light novel incarnation, who acts as the Barrier Maiden and Apocalypse Maiden for the human race.
- Crystal Prison: The Mesopotamia kept her in a cold slumber while encaged in crystal.
- Damsel in Distress: The Mesopotamia kept her in suspended animation for centuries because it fell in love with her.
- Death Seeker: Briefly in the first J Again OVA. She walks atop a mountain during an electric storm, and has to be saved from being struck by a lightning. She later explains that she wasn't planning to die, and just wanted to be "judged" for her sins (as she felt she was playing God with the female clone project).
- Gilded Cage: After her rescue, she's kept under heavy security, not just as the last female of Terra II but also as Japoness' new ruler; she would prefer to go outside the castle and explore Terra II than stay in the castle.
- Hero's Muse: Otaru sees her painting multiple times and is always intrigued by the concept of a human woman.
- Last of Her Kind: The last female human in all Terra II. Until the rebirth of Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry as humans.
- Living Macguffin: As the last female human, her DNA is needed to repopulate the human females on Terra II.
- Motherly Scientist: Lorelei takes a motherly stance towards Lime - not to mention the fact, that she's both the creator of the Marionettes, and that they were created on her image.
- My God, What Have I Done?: At the end of J, she confesses to Otaru that Ieyasu and she never thought of the pain it would cause to the one that would nurture the Maiden Circuits to maturity only to lose them when they completed their job with the Mesopotamia A.I.... of course, that gets fixed following the show credits.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She was the original creator and designer of an A.I. that would become the predecessor to the maiden circuits, but said A.I. became evil because it fell in love with her and wanted to have her for itself, setting the plot of J in motion.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As new ruler of Japoness after Shogun Ieyasu's death.
- Stepford Smiler: Has to maintain a strong and sunny face towards Japoness despite her being quite sad inside.
- Walking Spoiler: She is the key to all of Terra II's problems, and ironically, the cause of them.
Marine
Voiced by: Maya Okamoto (JP), Lia Sargent (EN), Laura Ayala (LA)
A new character introduced in the J Again OVA series, Marine is a mysterious marionette who Lime discovers living as a Wild Child in the forests outside of Japoness. She soon bonds with Lime, and has to cope with learning to live with Otaru and the other marionettes. However, Marine is mysteriously more powerful than the other marionettes living with Otaru, and her past inevitably catches up with her...
- All Your Powers Combined: Marine is actually built using three Maiden Circuits running in sync, and is visibly more powerful than the other Saber Marionettes or Saber Dolls. Unfortunately, the design isn't perfect.
- Ambiguously Brown: Marine has a dark skin tone compared to the other characters. Leaving aside the fact that she's a Robot Girl, there are no obvious indications of her race or ethnicity.
- Bait-and-Switch Lesbians: Her maiden circuit(s) as well as her attachment to Lime imply a more romantic connection between the two, but her true case of Love at First Sight was with the ocean — because she awoke underwater.
- Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and blue eyes.
- Does Not Like Men: Marine is visibly uncomfortable around Otaru and other men.
- Dub Name Change: She's renamed "Marina" in the Latin American Spanish dub.
- Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of J Again, Marine sacrifices herself to stop the plasma storm, and is left in a catatonic state.
- Jungle Princess: Introduced living in the forest wearing very little clothing.
- Meaningful Name: Named Marine due to her memories related to the ocean.
- Super Prototype: Faust discovers that Marine was built by New Texas as a prototype weapon to deal with the threat of a catastrophic plasma storm that could destroy life on Terra II. Unfortunately, she was sealed away because she was too dangerous to use.
Hess
Voiced by: Tomohiro Nishimura (JP), Paul Dobson (EN, J Series), Rolando de Castro (LA)
A mysterious scientist from Gartland.
- Bald of Evil: He is bald and is a villain.
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of J to X.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: He managed to survive for centuries by replacing his body parts with cybernetics.
- Evil Genius: Hess is Faust's chief scientist.
- Really 700 Years Old: It's eventually revealed that he was the only survivor of an earlier expedition to Terra II, keeping himself alive through stasis and machines. The events of J and J Again were orchestrated by him so that he could finally return home to Earth. He failed.
Apple
A secret character exclusive only for the SMJ PS game.
- Canon Foreigner: She was to appear in the anime but was dropped, probably for being hard to write in. Appears in the game Battle Sabers instead, and might have been replaced by Marine.
- Curtains Match the Windows: Blue hair and blue eyes.
- Of Corsets Sexy: She has a red corset as part of her outfit.
Gennai Shiraga
Voiced by: Yuichi Nagashima (JP), French Tickner (EN, J Series), Doug Stone (EN, J Again OVA), Byron Close (EN, J to X Series), Ernesto Casillas (LA)
- Cool Old Guy: He is an elderly person who is friendly towards Otaru and his friends.
- Dub Name Change: Renamed "Kenny" in the Filipino dub.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Is a marionette builder.
- Lap Pillow: His Establishing Character Moment is him having built a marionette that can be used for this.
- Ms. Fanservice: Loves building marionettes that are this.
- Robosexual: Subverted interestingly, when a marionette he built makes Otaru blush does he display suprise that Otaru would have that reaction to a marionette.
