Characters / Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow

The cast of the Shall we Date?: Ninja Shadow game.

---

Saori and Kaname Shishido

Saori Shishido (the Player Character)

"I am Saori, the shadow of my brother... the shadow of Kaname. The eyes of justice are upon you! Prepare to meet your fate!"

• Action Survivor: She must become this fast, if she wants to survive in a place as dangerous as Nagasaki.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Downplayed. Saori tends to swear by the "Single Woman Seeks Good Man" motto, but Toru and Tsubaki are the closest to exceptions. (With Toru as the most overt one, considering his and Tsubaki's personalities.)
• Alliterative Name: Saori Shishido.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: Kaname's death was a terrible shock for her, and her huge pain about it ia a driving force in her character.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: In her boy disguise, Saori is very often called "beautiful".
• Badass Adorable: She is a super cute-looking Action Survivor who grows into this trope as she becomes more experienced in the battlefield.
• Battle Couple: She and her chosen boyfriend can become this. It's especially glaring at the end of Makoto's route (when they fight his Well-Intentioned Extremist brother Toru together), the last part of Asagi's path (when they're the only ones who sneak into Suetsugu's mansion to kill him) and at the "tail" of Yuzuki's route ( where they team up to distract Suetsugu as he shoots at them, she fatally wounds him, and then Toru finishes him off.)
  • Subverted tragically in Toru Nakagawa and Tsubaki Kusunoki's route, since she fights against either because even if she loves the guy, her loyalty to the Vigilantes is her priority. Her chosen beau understands her reasons, even, and both of them say they'd be disappointed otherwise.
• Bifauxnen: Contrasting with her girly-looking brother, though in a subversion she looked very girly before Kaname's death and her Important Haircut.
• Blade on a Rope: She's seen wielding a Kusarigama scythe.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Saori is kind, plucky and patient, so she can become the Gentle Girl to several of her boyfriends. Of special note are her dynamics with Asagi (once they open up to one another), Tsubaki (ditto), Okita (who is quite ill and almost resigned to death) and Kagura (who has a terrible Dark and Troubled Past and a fierce Split Personality born from it.)
• Depending on the Writer: Since the love interests are all very different in personalities, different sides of Saori's character are explored in each route. i.e. she broods quietly yet deeply about Kaname's death in Eduard's path, is more action-oriented and straightforward in Makoto's/Hijikata's/Toru's, in Shintaro's she nears Broken Bird levels of mourning regarding her brother at some moments, and in Okita's she is more patient and gentle.
• Expy: If she's paired up with Zeyo Sakamoto, Saori can be seen as the Oryo to his Ryoma.
• Head-Turning Beauty: Particularly in Makoto's route, there's plenty of comments about how beautiful his "fiance" is.
• Important Haircut: Saori's first step towards taking Kaname's place is to grab one of her knives and cut off her until-then very long hair in front of his lifeless body.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Okita's path is about her becoming this to him. It's a very Justified Trope: He's very seriously ill and expected not to live for too long, so Hijikata invokes the trope by asking Saori to give him a reason to keep going on.
• Morality Pet:
  • If Kagura's path is chosen, Saori has a chance to become this to Homura, Kagura's Blood Knight of a Split Personality
  • She can also become this to the more morally-grey boyfriends, like Toru and Tsubaki.
• My Sibling Will Live Through Me:
  "From now on, I'm Kaname. Until the day I restore my village and find my vengeance, I must abandon the name Saori"
• Plucky Girl: This young woman is stubborn as HELL when she wants to.
• Recursive Crossdressing: Saori is a Sweet Polly Oliver who finds herself Disguised in Drag more than once. Including a "trip" to the Red Light District in Toru's route.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Her "cutely boyish" looks allow her to do this and impersonate her dead brother. Her disguise tends to be good enogh to fool the vigilantes and many others for quite a while, except when the plot demands it.
• Taking the Bullet: She does this for Makoto, when Willem tries to shoot him In the Back towards the end of his route. And only then the other Vigilantes realize that she's a girl.
• These Hands Have Killed: Downplayed: she had never killed anyone before coming to Nagasaki and is understandably shaken whenever she does so in-story, but recovers quite faster than expected.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: For a Country Mouse and tomboy, she's quite good at more typically girly activities like make-up use and dress up.
• Tsundere: She's a Type B ("hot to everyone, cold to the love interest") in Makoto's route. It doesn't help that he clearly enjoys riling her up.
• You Are Not Ready: Happens in Shintaro's route, when her emotions get the worst out of her in a mission.

Kaname Shishido

"The one who leads the village must always act in the name of justice"

• Big Brother Mentor: He cared a lot for his little sister and she loved him back just as much.
• Cynicism Catalyst: His very early death near breaks Saori and makes her swear for revenge.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: A very handsome and feminine-looking fella. No wonder his bifauxnen little sister could take his place so well.
• Go Out with a Smile: As he was about to burn to death in a warehouse, he smiled to his sister and entrusted her with the safety of their beloved village. Then, he perished.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He tried to help some people in severe trouble (as in, "their village is being burned down" kind of trouble) and ended up killed for it.
• Sacrificial Lion: His death is what pretty much kicks off the whole plot.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: He sincerely believed in justice and the goodness of people.

The Nagasaki Vigilantes

Makoto Nakagawa

"Nagasaki shall know that its vigilante bring justice"

• Ambiguously Bi: Stealthily implied in his Epilogue. He deliberately makes a Clingy Jealous Girl believe that "Kaname" is his boyfriend and when an embarrassed Saori points it out, his reaction is basically a "who cares...?"
  • As mentioned below, Ukyo also seems to think Makoto is bi, or at least more prone to fall for someone's personality than their gender.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Played straight when he falls asleep on Saori's shoulder, subverted later when she finds him sleeping but he wakes up almost immediately.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Surprisingly, it's played rather straight when he's the chosen boyfriend. One of Saori's most important missions there is to pose as a girl and as his girlfriend after he blows her cover and he quite enjoys getting under Saori's skin as it happens.
• Berserk Button: He really, really doesn't like it when people lie to him. He's not very happy when he realizes that Saori is a Sweet Polly Oliver in his route, and it's only when she tells him the truth behind it that he lets her stay.
• Big Good: He's no frontline fighter, but leads the Nagasaki Vigilantes very well.
• Childhood Friends: Makoto and Asagi have been friends for a long, long time, since their families are allies from quite a while ago.
  • He and Zeyo Sakamoto turn out to be this as well, according to the latter.
• Combat Pragmatist: When he and Toru fight, he resorts to kicking his brother away when it's needed much to Toru's surprise. It's very, very needed since Makoto is not a good fighter and he's clearly aware of it.
• Cooldown Hug: Saori gives him one in his route, to prove him that she believes in him even after he's become the biggest suspect of being a Serial Killer.
• Hidden Depths: He's an amazing artist, and he built the Meiko Salon with the money he got for his beautiful artwork. Saori once watches him paint and is pretty much entranced at the sight.
  • Also, in his own route Saori realises that the deal with his Aloof Big Brother Toru causes him lots of sorrow.
  • Toru's route also delves quite a bit in Makoto's mind and POV, revealing that he's The Unfavorite in the Nakagawa clan compared to his brother and has suffered quite the emotional damage for it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's the owner of the Meiko Salon and leader of the group. He does very well at both tasks.
• The Stoic: Always carries himself with cold serenity, trying not to let any emotions get in the way of his huge responsabilities. Logically, he comes off as more emotional in his route and in Toru's.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Very tall, with dark-blue hair, very good-looking.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: In his own route, he develops a penchant for snarking at Saori a LOT and for almost anything. Even his True Feelings mini-events are full of sarcastic remarks.
• Team Dad: Whether he's not the main love interest or not, he often displays a quite fatherly concern for his subordinates and for Saori. It's especially glaring in Kagura's route, since he's the one who saved Kagura's life.

Asagi

"Roast in the flames of perdition"

• Accidental Pervert: A plot point: an Accidental Kiss at the start and an incident involving a fire shikigami and a waterfall lead to him realizing very soon that Saori is a Sweet Polly Oliver.
• Ascended Extra: He takes the backseat in other routes than his own, logically... save for two paths: Makoto's and Toru's. In the first, it's because he is Makoto's closest friend and the one who knows him the most, so he supports Saori's attempt to clear his name as much as possible (even if he can't do lots); whereas in the second case, he also knows Toru very well and realizes that Saori can be the key to deal with him, so he kinda becomes Saori's Big Brother Mentor and helps her as much as he can.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: His route drips of this at the start. It's ultimately subverted since Saori gets to see his Hidden Depths rather soon and they warm up to one another faster than typical BST couples.
• Childhood Friends: As already said, he and Makoto have known each other since they were tiny. As such, Asagi is unwaveringly loyal to Makoto; it shows in Makoto's and Makoto's brother Toru's routes where he does his best to support Saori's effort to help him.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: If he and Saori become a Battle Couple in his route, they avert this since he's the spell caster and she favors weaponry. He puts everyone but Suetsugu to sleep when they infiltrate his Big Fancy House and then creates a Ring of Fire so he won't escape, and Saori uses the blade of her kusarigama to kill the asshole.
• Inept Mage: Considers himself as this, despite having pretty decent skills to start with. It's because he needs far more power and skills to be a good heir to his family's shrine and feels that he's a burden on his much-loved father and head priest, plus some priests treat him like crap for his lack of skills. In reality, Asagi turns out to be a case of Unskilled, but Strong: as a child his spiritual powers were so strong, he had a serious case of Power Incontinence that led him to accidentally summon ghosts. Mokuren, fearing that little!Asagi would be isolated and maybe even executed by the family leaders, performed a ritual that partially sealed some of Asagi's powers within his body, which saved Asagi's life at the cost of weakening his health.
• Magic Knight: Asagi uses his Onmyōdō skills in battle, including: shikigami, force fields, sleeping spells, some degree of Astral Projection, creating clones of a dead person, etc.
• Miko: Genderflipped example, as he is the heir to a Shinto shrine run by an ally of the vigilantes.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: One of the most poignant scenes of his route take place when he's doing this in a waterfall behind the Himuro shrine and almost collapses in Saori's arms, due to his terrible mental state.
• Missing Mom: Asagi's mother passed away when he was a child. His route reveals that she left him a cape with a crystal brooch, and if the player plays their cards right, Asagi gives it to Saori when they admit their feelings for one another.
• Mission Control: To a degree: the people who need the Vigilantes' help leave their written requests at the Himuro Shrine and then Asagi uses his shikigami to check on the petitioners and then relay info to the group.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: In his route he's snarky, aloof, kind of an asshole at first... but he turns out to have serious insecurities about his mystical skills, terrible self-esteem problems because of said insecurities, and at times he also shows genuine difficulties approaching others (aside of Makoto and Saori).
• Took a Level in Badass: In Asagi's route, after Mokuren's Heroic Sacrifice lifts the Power Limiter over him, his mystical powers experiment a monstrous boost. He immediately uses them for the Vigilantes' and Nagasaki's sake, and to cover-up Suetsugu's unplanned murder.

Ukyo

"I'll make this quick and painless"

• Badass Adorable: He is a cheerful, smiley, teasing and a little child-like redhead man who doubles as an extremely skilled swordsman.
• Big Brother Mentor: Outside his route, he's this to Saori and to his childhood friend Eduard.
• Big Eater: Ukyo loves eating, has a huge Sweet Tooth, and whenever he's featured in a scene including meals he will always steal food from others.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: When at work? Totally serious. When off-work? Childlike and flighty.
• Fair Cop: Outside the vigilante group, he works as a high-ranked police commisioner. This is vital in his path, where the specific plan that he develops to first unmask and then kill Suetsugu heavily depends on his position as such.
• Fiery Redhead: Averted, he's quite level-headed unless he's off-work or in front of a plate of sweet dumplings. He does have strong emotions, but tries to keep them on check for the sake of everyone.
• Shipper on Deck: He comes off as this from pretty much the beginning in Eduard's route, as he sees that Saori (or better said, "Kaname") is a good influence on his best friend.
  • He also ships Makoto/"Kaname", again from before Saori is revealed to be a girl. In his opinion, "he (Makoto) fell in love with the person, not the gender"
  • In the last CG before Okita's Sweet Ending, Ukyo is pretty much pumping his first up when Saori and her boyfriend are reunited and about to kiss.
• Spanner in the Works: In Makoto's path, he asks the Edo Vigilantes for help to find out if Makoto has become a Serial Killer or not, leading to them finding out that his brother Toru has framed him.
• Tattoo as Character Type: The left side of Ukyo's body plus his left shoulder and arm are covered in red tattoos. They're more often than not covered by his clothes, however, and when uncovered they resemble tribal ones.
• The Tease: Love, loves teasing Saori in his route and in others'.

Eduard

"The time of judgement has come for you"

• Amnesiac Lover: Eduard really can't remember how he lived before coming to Japan as a child. Him recovering his memories becomes a huge drive of his route's plot as a whole.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied to have this, and the fact that he has amnesia doesn't help. It turns out that he was an orphan and then a Tyke Bomb for a group of Dutch assassins known as the "Red Roses" (which Willem also was a member of), and at some point he was used as a scapegoat and targeted for elimination by them. The 10-year-old Eduard had to fight for his life and then flee as far as he could, collapsing almost dead at the entrance of Ukyo's village, where a pre-teen Ukyo found him and took him in. All of this caused him to have Trauma-Induced Amnesia, which started to be undone when he found Willem again.
• The Gadfly: At times he manages to tease Saori and leave her completely, absolutely flabbergasted. i.e., in his route he once talks about a female friend who used to kiss him whenever he got hurt, causing Saori to get jealous... And said friend was the guard dog of his and Ukyo's village.
• Innocently Insensitive: He truly doesn't seem to notice when he's acting too chummy with other people, due to his lack of social skills.
• Manchurian Agent: It's looks like Eduard's Trauma-Induced Amnesia may be a mix of the real thing and a sort-of hypnosis coming from the Red Roses group, which began to be undone when Willem performed the "trigger": shooting an unloaded gun at him. In a subversion Eduard did not exactly reset to the person he used to be, rather he managed to resist the conditioning itself after it seemed he'd give in, and after seemingly siding with Willem, he decided to fight back.
• Mighty Whitey: Averted, his foreigner condition doesn't always give him an advantage compared to the others. In fact, he's said to be popular with women due to his beauty, but he's still victim of lots of prejudices because he's a non-Japanese man in an almost completely isolated territory.
• No Social Skills: At times Eduard is genuinely unaware of how stand-offish or awkward he comes off to others in his route, and specially to Saori since he treats her like a girl and that makes her think he'll blow her cover, when he has no intentions to do so. He does seem to slowly learn from experience, however.
• Parental Abandonment: As Eduard recalls his past, he also recovers his few memories of his mother. He says that she was a kind woman who raised her on his own (and he has zero memories of his dad), but she died young and then he was taken in by the Red Roses group.
• The Quiet One: He's so quiet, it even creeps Saori out a little at the start.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's the only member of the Vigilantes who wears Western clothes, as it befits his position as a foreigner.
• Shipper on Deck: Just like Ukyo supports his potential relationship with the Player Character, Eduard will support a prospect match up between Saori and his Big Brother Mentor. He knows from the beginning that Saori is a girl, but had he not known or had Ukyo fallen for a living Kaname, he probably wouldn't have minded anyway as long as Ukyo was happy.
• The Tragic Rose: Roses are associated with him, and he's implied to have gone through LOTS of suffer and heartbreak when young. It's fully confirmed at the end.
• Trauma Button: He has a huge one and it's the presence of his "Forgotten Childhood Friend", Willem. It's played straight in his route but downplayed in Shintaro's, when he fights him to help Saori and Shintaro reach Toru.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: His purple eyes completely capture Saori's attention.

Yuzuki Hirano

"Heaven may show mercy, but I will not."

• Arranged Marriage: Yuzuki's eldest brother Asahi is about to go through one with a woman from a rich family, while his second brother Yusahi is married to a lady who works in the Family Business. At the start of his route Yuzuki is being pressured into getting into an arranged union with a rich girl who already likes him.
• Berserk Button: Both women and people who betray his trust. Which is why he feels thoroughly betrayed when either Saori tells him that she's a girl (in his route) or Makoto is believed to be a murderer (in Makoto's).
• Beware the Nice Ones: In Makoto's route, he gets immensely angry when Makoto decides to take Shintaro outta a mission that will involve dealing with his face heel turned mentor, Toru.
• Character Tics: Cleaning his hands with a handkerchief when he touches something he doesn't like, or someone he doesn't care for touches him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Yuzuki is both an Heroic Bastard and a Son of a Whore - his mother was not just Hazuki Hirano's mistress, but a very beautiful hooker from the Red Light District who raised him there in his early years. He was taken in by the Hiranos when very young, and while his father and half-brothers were very kind to him, the rest of his family and many others treat him like crap. So he trained as a ninja in the Iga region, under the watching eye of the guys from Ninja Assassin (especially Aoi, Souji and Sion), and joined the vigilantes to become a worthy person.
• He-Man Woman Hater: It's implied in the other routes that Yuzuki views women (with the exception of Haru) as manipulative and deceitful. It becomes quite an issue in his route, logically. It's because he has always resented his prostitute mother for leaving him, though with help of Saori, Aoi and Souji he begins to work past it.
• It's Personal: Towards Suetsugu's partner Tokaiya, who has caused lotsa trouble to his merchant father.
• Mistaken for Gay: Invoked and exploited by him in his route, when he claims to have fallen for "Kaname" to get his father and brothers off his back regarding an Arranged Marriage. (Though he later clears it up.) Naturally, the "boy" he chooses to do this with happens to be a Sweet Polly Oliver...
• Nice Guy: A very gentle and kind young man who always has a soft smile on his face. He shows a much more complex side in his own route, however, which often involves him being not so nice. But even in his harshest days, his kind nature can't be completely hidden: when Saori explains the exact reason why she deceived him and everyone with her Sweet Polly Oliver deal, he does calm down enough to agree to keep the facade a little longer when he could've perfectly exposed her.
• Princely Young Man: A Nice Guy type, as the youngest son of a very respected and rich merchant named Hazuki Hirano. In fact, part of his motivation to be a vigilante is to keep his family and the Family Business safe.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Makoto's route, since he believes that Makoto is a Serial Killer and loses his faith in him. Though when Wakasa and Kinshirou prove Makoto's innocence, he immediately apologizes and does what he can to compensate.

Kagura

"Sorry, but it looks like playtime is over"

• Beware the Quiet Ones: Kagura is kind and calm when he's not fighting, and a brutal Blood Knight when he is. Because Homura, his far more blunt and borderline Ax-Crazy Split Personality, is the one on the front. He was specifically "born" to deal with the most unpleasant parts of vigilante life and protect Kagura, whom he sees as his Only Friend, from them.
• Dark and Troubled Past: A teenaged Kagura was a member of a group of assassins that attacked a ninja village to kill everyone there. Things backfired badly when the Sole Survivor of the village, Wakasa (the one from Ninja Assassin), fought back and killed all of them save for Kagura, who was found by Makoto and Shintaro and taken in by them. The trauma coming from this is what caused the birth of Kagura's Split Personality, Homura, who has taken up the "mission" to protect Kagura's frail mind by taking charge during missions.
• Death Seeker: As a result of "something" he did in the past, Kagura thoroughly loathes himself and wants to die. The explanation is under "Dark and Troubled Past".
• Devoted to You: Homura has this for Kagura, taking many risks and doing many questionable things to keep him safe. Then, when Saori actually asks him if he has any other desires for himself other thn Kagura's safety, he's at quite the loss.
• Eyepatch of Power: He covers his right eye with a spiffy-looking one. Whenever he removes it, it reveals a red eye contrasting with his non-covered green one. Then things get REAL bad... For his enemies.
• Foreshadowing: If Kagura is chosen as the instructor/love interest, not only he's rather shocked and at first tries to disuade Saori, but the team's reaction (save for Makoto) is a Mass "Oh, Crap!". This shall be a hint that there's more than meets the eye regarding Kagura as a whole.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Kagura's route states that he has a very, very low opinion of himself due to his Dark and Troubled Past. Regarding his "relationship" with Homura, Kagura tells Saori that he doesn't hate him, but believes both of them are tainted and should die.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: In a way, Homura. Being born from Kagura's past trauma and taking the current one upon himself, during Kagura's path Homura becomes increasingly paranoid and overprotective of him and not just because Kagura's prospect death would be his own. When Makoto plays a Batman Gambit to confirm his suspicions about Homura's intentions, Homura gets so angry that he attacks Makoto for it and only Saori's intervention stops him.
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: Kagura has a huge Heroic BSoD when he identifies Wakasa as not only the Sole Survivor of the village he and his originl companions destroyed, but as the man who subjected said companions to a Cruel and Unusual Death. When he and Homura are more stable, the two reach an agreement and ask Wakasa to kill them... but Wakasa refuses, saying tht even if he cannot fully forgive them, he has learned with time (and with the help of his ferllow Edo Vigilantes and a girl who's implied to be the MC from Ninja Assassin) that it's best to live through even if it means carrying the guilt of having taken lives.
• Super-Stoic Shopkeeper: A normally rather calm man, whose specific day time job is taking care of the Meiko Salon. Unless his Split Personality, Homura, arises.
• Undying Loyalty: Has this for Makoto whom he owes his life to, referring to him as "my lord" and talking almost dreamily about him at times. The closest to his faith wavering takes place when Makoto is believed to be a Serial Killer, and even then he still wants to believe in Makoto's innocence.
• Visible Silence: He... uses lots of ellipses... when he speaks... When Homura is in control, however, he drops it completely and speaks far more bluntly.
• Walking Spoiler: It's a little hard to talk about Kagura without mentioning Homura aka his Split Personality.

Shintaro

"First, you lost your virtue. Now you'll lose your life"

• Boisterous Bruiser: He's the most Hot-Blooded of the Vigilante group and believes that good matches are ways to communicate between fighters.
• Broken Pedestal: In both his and Makoto's route, it's revealed that Makoto's brother Toru saved Shintaro's life and taught him swordmanship. So when Shintaro finds out about his Face–Heel Turn in Makoto's route, he is both shocked and in severe denial at first.
• Cannot Talk to Women: Out of shyness, rather than anything else. It's really cute, though at times Saori believes that he won't trust her after he learns that she's a girl; when this happens, he has to reassure her that it's just because he doesn't know how to deal with girls.
• Combat Medic: He's familiar with the basics of Western medicine.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Shintaro was a ninja from the Iga region, who once worked for a local family. When he failed a mission, his employers were all murdered and he barely managed to escape in a boat that arrived to the Dejima harbor in Nagasaki. In deep shock for his loss, he got ready to drown himself in the sea — but Toru and Makoto were passing by, and saw him. Toru taunted him to make him react and gave him a Curb-Stomp Battle, scarring him on the cheek... and then took him in as his apprentice.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: A Good Scar on his cheek. Toru gave it to him inm in an attempt to bring him out of his suicidal Heroic BSoD.
• Heir to the Dojo: He looks like this (his sprites have him wearing hakama similar to those used by kendo practitioners), but it's subverted because he owns the local dojo rather than just being the heir to it.
• The Reliable One: He's considered as this among the group, with even Makoto putting all his trust in the guy. If this doesn't happen, it's a sign that something's very wrong or his former mentor Toru is involved.

The anti-Shogunate Revolutionaries

Toru

^{Click here to see him without his mask} 

"For Nagasaki's sake, I will destroy Nagasaki"

• The Ace: Toru was pretty much his family's golden child as he was blessed with smarts, strength, beauty, charisma, etc. No wonder his younger brother Makoto, despite having his own share of merits, feels that even now he cannot really compare.
• Affectionate Nickname: His best friend Tsubaki calls him "Silver Star"
• Aloof Big Brother: As said below, he's one to none other than Makoto. On the other hand, while his younger brother neither hates Toru nor wants him dead, he resents him because he's had to be The Dutiful Son ever since he ran away and he also must live up to the high standards that Toru set.
• Anti-Villain: While Willem is a Manipulative Bastard and Suetsugu is a greedy Smug Snake, Toru seems to have deep-down altruistic motives... which he'll carry out violently. Fully confirmed in Makoto's route, Shintaro's, and his own.
• Ascended Extra: To a background chara and ally of Suetsugu, to a Big Bad Duumvirate member in Kagura's path, to the actual Big Bad in two routes ( Shintaro's and Makoto's), to a full-fledged Love Interest with his own story mode.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Toru has an extremely sharp eye for detail, which is how he found out that Saori was undercover as a prostitute when they met and later recognized her when she was dressed up as a boy.
• Big Bad: Of Makoto's route ( since he's his older brother and their plans and viewpoints clash) and Shintaro's (as his Broken Pedestal.)
• Big Bad Duumvirate: He and Tsubaki become this in Sakamoto's route.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: In Yuzuki's route not only he doesn't lift a finger to defend Suetsugu when Saori and Yuzuki come for him, but when Suetsugu is mortally wounded, he laughs at the other man's dying pleas and finishes him off.
• Cain and Abel: He has a younger brother that he cares for, but does not get along with. Said brother? Makoto, who hadn't seen him in several years and is not happy when he recognizes Toru as an ally of Suetsugu.
• Combat Pragmatist: Toru is not just a skilled swordsman, but a quite dirty fighter when needed. i.e., when Saori and Yuzuki face him at the end of the latter's route, he doesn't hesitate to use a bomb and giving Yuzuki quite the burns in his arm.
• Cool Mask: He always shows up wearing a lovely black one.
• Dating Catwoman: Toru is very attracted to Saori and, in his route, she falls for him. But if he's the love interest, he directly opposes her and the Vigilantes....
• For Want Of A Nail: In-story, Toru's route begins when Makoto decides that there's no time to give "Kaname" proper training, so Saori is to join the group from the very beginning...
• Karma Houdini: Unlike Suetsugu, he often escapes from the heroes Half the time anyway.
• Kick the Dog:
  • In Makoto's route, he kills two innocent women who have crushes on Makoto, and later two completely unrelated passerbies, to frame Makoto for serial murder and force him to talk to him.
  • In Kagura's route, he tricks a desperate Saori into a deal where he's supposed to give her a medicine that could help Kagura and Homura to merge in peace... but then he and Willem capture her and try to force feed it to her instead.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Does it twice to Suetsugu:
  • In Ritsu's route, he murders the tycoon when he's jailed and about to be trialed.
  • In Yuzuki's route, he just stands and smirks as Yuzuki and Saori fight him, and once he's mortally injured by Saori, Toru calls Suetsugu pathetic and gives him the finishing blow.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Despite being an Aloof Big Brother to Makoto, Toru's own route shows that he loves his little brother deeply and one of his motivations is protecting him.
• Love at First Sight: With Saori, throwing yet another wrench in his relationship with his younger brother in Makoto's group. It even gets lampshaded during his fight with Makoto and Saori. It's logically given more focus in his route, where he meets Saori when she's pulling a Dirty Harriet mission, protects her from Suetsugu by tricking him into thinking he's having sex with her behind a closed door, and later actually searches for the "unnamed" prostitute he spoke to in Nagasaki because he's that fascinated by her pluck and by her not fully yielding to him.
• Love Makes You Evil: At least a part of his motivations include his affection for Nagasaki, "the city that Makoto loves", and the love he has for his younger brother. Even if he has to burn down the city and frame him for murder to keep him safe.
• Master Swordsman: Probably one of the best sword fighters in the whole story.
• Necessarily Evil: He claims to be like this when confronted by Makoto and Saori in the first's route, saying that he works with Willem and Suetsugu for the sake of Nagasaki. He's telling the truth.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He may be an opponent and in cahoots with Suetsugu, but he doesn't seem to like fighting and killing without an actual reason. In Kagura's path, when Suetsugu tries to get him to hurt Saori and Kagura, he refuses and says his sword is not for such things.
• Promoted to Love Interest: He's shown as a villain (especially in Makoto's and Shintaro's routes), but also gets his own path where he shows different sides of his personality and his motivations are discussed.
• The Reveal: Toru's true nature is... He's a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely thinks the Shogunate is so thoroughly corrupt, he must take it down and rebuild it. This why he left the Vigilantes (which he helped found, but later saw as useless against the Crapsaccharine World), allied with the rich and powerful Willem and Suetsugu (though he plans to eventually backstab Suetsugu when he's no longer useful) and, in Makoto's route, is not above murdering four innocents and kidnapping Saori: he wants to get him, Shintaro and Saori to join his cause.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Attempts this in Shintaro's route, planning to leave Japan in one of Willem's trading ships.
• Shipper on Deck: Not as openly as others, but still there. If Tsubaki is Saori's love interest, when he finds out he'll be pretty impressed with Tsubaki's taste in women and support him and Saori.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Everything in Toru's path points at him and Saori becoming this, since he's an Anti-Villain and not only she's a vigilante, but she priorizes her loyalties to the group and to Nagasaki over their love, no matter how much it hurts her... Subverted: while Toru is captured, judged and exiled, both of his endings have him and Saori ultimately reunited in one way or another.
• Strong Family Resemblance: The Cool Mask not only hides Toru's features, but also hides how he looks like an older version of his loved/hated little brother Makoto - especially regarding their near identical eyes and jawlines. Saori lampshades it when she sees him unmasked.
• The Tease: He tends to tease Saori quite a bit in their path, often via double entendres.
• Villain Has a Point: Makoto acknowledges that Toru is right in regards to the filth and corruption that taints Nagasaki and the whole shogunate, and decides to "inherit [my brother]'s will" so he can guide it towards the future.
• Villainous Breakdown: He suffers a big one at the end of Makoto's route, when he's surrounded by the Vigilantes and loses to Saori and Makoto. At the end he's left a sort-of shadow of the proud man he is, wondering why has he lost when his only desire is to protect the Nagasaki that his brother loves.
  • He goes through another in Shintaro's route, when his former disciple not only rejects his We Can Rule Together proposal but fights back with all his might.
• Villainous Friendship: He has this with Tsubaki Kusunoki: they genuinely appreciate one another as persons, Toru saved Tsubaki's life in the past, and they share the desire to destroy the Tokugawa government to cleanse Japan from its corruption.
• We Can Rule Together: Makes such offers to his brother Makoto, his disciple Shintaro, and his prospect lover Saori.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Suetsugu, in Ritsu's route. Noticeable because in other routes, the Vigilantes are the ones who do him in, and in this time it SEEMED that he'd survive and be thrown in jail, but Toru would have nothing of that.

Tsubaki Kusunoki

"Help me make the world a better place!"

• Affably Evil: He's always calm, soft-spoken, in control of himself...
• All of the Other Reindeer: He's been discriminated for being half-Dutch AND the son of a prostitute.
• Ascended Extra: From a character seen only in Toru's path, to having his own romance route, and then to the Big Bad of Hijikata's route and to him and Toru being the Big Bad Duumvirate of Sakamoto's path.
• Anti-Villain: He's a man who's had an horribly harsh life, and said Dark and Troubled Past has shaped his desire to destroy a Shogunate that does nothing for the people in need.
• Badass Bookworm: He's a very knowledgeable doctor and a just as capable fighter.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Played with in his route since he's a snarky Manipulative Bastard and he often toys with Saori's emotions and thoughts, which make her react passionately to his presence.
• Big Bad: In Hijikata's path, as said above, after Suetsugu gets Demotedto Extra and suddenly killed off.
• Confusion Fu: When Eduard and Saori fight him in Toru's route, they note that his fighting style relies on how hard to predict his attacks are. It takes Shintaro's intervention to get the advantage.
• Dating Catwoman: He's not exactly a friend of the Vigilantes, despite having Villain Respect for them, so he and Saori will be this if he's the chosen lover.
• For Want Of A Nail: Rather than beginning with Saori picking an instructor: Tsubaki's route starts with him and Toru briefly kidnapping Saori before she gets the chance, then sending her back with the group unharmed. This is because Tsubaki wanted to directly talk to her: he happened to witness Kaname's death and Saori's decision to become him, so him and Toru see her as a potential ally or at least a link with the Vigilantes.
• Graceful Loser: Whenever he's defeated, he takes it calmly and even show quite the admiration for his rivals. i.e., in Hijikata's route he willingly gives Hijikata the medicine he urgently needs right before he's taken into custody, as a "prize" for having entertained him. (With Zeyo implying that he had always intended to give it to Hijikata, whether he won or not.)
• Honey Trap: He uses himself as this in his route, intending to get Saori to love him so he can use her potential affections to his benefit. But by the time he reveals it and an understandably heartbroken Saori calls him out, it looks like his feigned feelings have become real...
• Hospital Hottie: A very, very handsome doctor.
• Manipulative Bastard: Very crafty and good with words, and very willing to use that for his benefit. i.e., in Hijikata's route he attempts to use a medicine that Hijikata desperately needs as a bargain item to sway him to his side and in his own he tries to set Saori as his Unwitting Pawn.
• My Greatest Failure: He says in his route that he witnessed Kaname's murder and the destruction of the village he died for, and that he feels bad for not being able to save anyone else.
• Not So Above It All: In the From Winter With Love event, Tsubaki shows a surprisingly competitive side.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's got an excellent sense of aesthetics and is very, very good with stereotypiclly girly stuff like make-up, hair-care, etc. Justified: he was raised in a high-class brothel, so he learned such things from his prostitute mother and her co-workers.
• Shipper on Deck: In his best friend Toru's route, he supports a prospect relationship between him and Saori. Tsubaki believes that Toru is the kind of man who'd only fall in love with a very special woman, and when he meets Saori he realizes that she can become the special girl who can potentially esnare Toru's heart.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: In his route, he tells Saori that she's foolish for thinking he's handsome and for believing that she can save the world.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: A more justified than the standard version: Tsubaki is aware of his physical beauty, but he detests it because his red hair, pale skin and almost-golden hazel eyes are the proof of his Dutch blood, which caused him lots of pain. If Saori tells him that he's handsome anyway, he's shocked and dismissive at first, but also genuinely touched.
• Villainous Friendship: He and Toru appreciate one another and get along sincerely well. Tsubaki explains to Saori it's because Toru risked his life in the past to help him, so he owes him big time.
• We Can Rule Together: While Toru is more into straight-up action and forcing Makoto, Saori and/or Shintaro to join him, Tsubaki aspires to get the Vigilantes to become part of his cause without needing to fight. As such, his route has him asking Saori to be his contact with the group, using the girl's potential feelings for him to his advantage.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: As the phrase above states, Tsubaki wants to reform and change Japan to purge its corruption so no one will be discriminated like it happened to him.

Zeyo Sakamoto

"A new dawn is comin' to Japan!"

• Ascended Extra: As of October 2017, he was mostly seen in Tsubaki, Okita, and Hijikata's routes. But he got his own in November.
• Big Entrance: He starts his route by smashing through the door of the Vigilantes' reunion office, before happily greeting the group and totally ignoring Saori reaching for her kusarigama and Makoto's huge annoyance. Ukyo and Asagi lampshade this by complaining about Zeyo startling everyone with his arrival, with Zeyo admitting that he totally did it on purpose.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Some of the post-chapter skits show that, when off-work, Zeyo is a very cheerful and almost childish individual. But from what the story shows, he's a fearsome individual and more in control than his cheery outlook lets people see, since he completely drops the jokester facade when things get serious.
• Cool Shades: Tends to wear those. Heck, the player can purchase them at the start of his path!
• Depending on the Writer: Despite being seen with Toru and Tsubaki, Zeyo's own plans change a bit depending on the route he appears in. In Tsubaki and Hijikata's routes he is the first's full-blooded supporter (albeit less ruthless than them), but in Okita's own he has interests that involve both parties and shows sincere sympathy for Okita's condition, while his romance route has him allying himself with the Vigilantes and being willing to fight Toru and Tsubaki if it's needed to bring the Shogunate down without a bloody and messy rebellion.
• Everyone Has Standards: According to Okita and Tsubaki's routes, he supports the latter's cause and understands his reasons but draws the line at magnicide, and by its end goes through a Heel–Face Turn. In his own route, he tells Saori that he wants to talk to Nobuyoshi Tokugawa and let him know what people want for a new era, rather than directly attacking him; the last part of it is all about him and Saori travelling to Edo to get an audience with the Shogun and having to confront Toru and Tsubaki over their intentions to start a rebellion.
• Forgotten Friend, New Foe: Towards the Vigilantes, in the other routes. It turns out he was a founding member who left very early (so much that Kagura, Eduard and Yuzuki have no idea of who he is, while Shintaro is rather troubled) to pursue his own methods of justice.
• For Want Of A Nail: Zeyo's route begins when he shows up at the Vigilantes' doorstep and Makoto decides to assign "Kaname" as his partner so "he" can keep tabs on him.
• Guile Hero: The real Ryoma Sakamoto was both a powerful fighter and a promising politician. His fictional counterpart gets the chance to be this through and through in his own romance route, since his biggest desire is to end the decadent Shogunate without starting a civil war over it.
• The Gunslinger: Like both Willem and the real-life samurai that inspired him, Zeyo is a skilled gun user. He even discusses the pros and cons of this when Hijikata shows up and attacks him and "Kaname".
• Hidden Depths: If his True Feelings are to be believed, he's another one who doesn't really care about the gender of the person he falls in love with.
• Historical Domain Character: A quite fictionalized version of the famous samurai Ryoma Sakamoto, a Cultured Badass who not only was a skilled gunslinger but a rather promising politician.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: A Rare Male Example, which lets him show his lovely pecs and abs.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Zeyo is always up-on-people's faces and spaces, which annoys Saori a little when they meet.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The cheerful, sociable Zeyo and the gentle, patient Saori are quite the Gender-Inverted Example.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Ryoma Sakamoto was assassinated few before the Meiji Restoration properly began. This fictional expy of his manages to live through his ordeals and in his route, he and Saori earn themselves a completely happy ending.

The Shinsengumi

Toshi Hijikata

"Here comes the dramatic ending!"

• Amazon Chaser: He at first tells "Kaname" "You got spunk!", but when Saori openly confirms to him that she's a woman (he had noticed, before but wanted her to tell him herself), he's even more impressed. In his own words:
  "I like women who are bold"
• Ambiguously Brown: He's quite more dark-skinned than the average character of this game.
• Ascended Extra: From being a background character in Tsubaki's route, to also getting his own.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Probably one of the straightest examples here, and lampshaded more than once.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't like being teased, and specially not about his more superstitious side.
  • More seriously speaking, he really hates anything and anyone who is a threat to the Shogunate and the peace. Especially if his boss, the Shogun, is involved. This is why he reacts so badly to Zeyo's presence: he's been on the man's tracks, believes him to be a huge potential terrorist, and will do near anything to stop him and his plans.
• Brutal Honesty: This man has no brain-to-mouth filter and always says what's on his mind, and at times Okita has to pull him back.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: If the That's what I call Summer Event is to be believed... for such a serious-looking military man, he seems to be quite into fortune telling. He's VERY embarrassed when teased about it.
• The Comically Serious: He comes off as this in more slice-of-life situations, like when Makoto has him and Okita help out at the Meiko Salon.
• For Want Of A Nail: Hijikata's path starts with him and Okita dropping by the Meiko Salon right when "Kaname" is about to choose a mentor, and then by Hijikata directly telling Makoto to let him guide "this man"
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Hijikata is extremely prone to get flared up and jump into conclusions.
• Healthcare Motivation: Someone in his circle of friends (later confirmed to be Okita) is seriously ill, but Japanese doctors cannot help them. Hijikata has learned that Western meds may be able to do something, so he's desperately looking for a specific medicine... and Tsubaki has a big dose handy, which he tries to use to sway Hijikata to his cause. Hijikata doesn't take the bait, but he admits to Saori that had she not appeared and slapped him to interrupt him, he would've been very tempted to accept.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Okita are very good and close friends.
• Historical Domain Character: Well, yes.
• Seppuku:
  • Mentioned for laughs in That's what I call Summer, as he tells Asagi "disembowel yourself!" when the other man teases him too much. His profile has the trope as one of his "likes" (according to his companion Okita) and mentions that he's a skillful kaishakunnin (again, according to Okita). This phrase sums all up:
  Okita: "Just so you know, Toshi's hobby is ritual suicide, so be careful, Saori."
  • According to Hijikata himself in his own route, the Shinsengumi has a set of very strict rules. If a member of the group breaks them, he is to commit seppuku on the spot.
  • This reaches Overly Long Gag levels in the event story From Winter with Love, where he becomes immensely grumpy due to the cold and pretty much threatens almost anyone he talks to with forcing them to go through it.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Wears a white military uniform plus gloves, a Badass Cape and a spiffy belt.
• The Shinsengumi: Of course he's a member of it.
• Shipper on Deck: In Okita's route, he's implied to be this to him and Saori. One of the most meaningful talks he has with her is the one where he asks Saori to become his best friend's "reason to live".
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Both he and Okita are introduced this in Tsubaki and Zeyo Sakamoto's paths, since they've been on the latter's track for a while already. In Zeyo's route he even has to defend Saori from him, since Hijikata mistakes "Kaname" as one of his accomplices.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Justified, the real Hijikata was very good-looking.
• Training from Hell: He thinks "Kaname" is weak but spirited and plans to shape "him" into a tough warrior in all senses.
• Those Two Guys: He and Okita tend to be this when they show up in other routes.

Soshiro Okita

"This is for justice, which the Shinsengumi upholds!"

• Ascended Extra: He was mostly seen in Hijikata and Tsubaki's paths, then got his own route in October 2017.
• Badass Adorable: This super cute and girly-looking swordsman is one of the best fighters in the whole game, period.
• Bash Brothers: Okita and Hijikata are near unseparable, and they often fight together.
• Big Brother Mentor: Out of Saori's potential mentors/boyfriends, he and Ukyo take this approach. Especially after Saori tells him about Kaname.
• Death Seeker: In Okita's own route, Hijikata implies that Okita's biggest ambition is to die at the service of his beloved Shinsengumi rather than of his tuberculosis. He promptly asks "Kaname" to help him find a reason to keep on living.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: It's Okita, of course he will be.
• For Want Of A Nail: Okita's path starts just like Hijikata's, but instead of asking Makoto to give him the honor of training "Kaname", Hijikata says that Okita will do it instead.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: As said above, he and Hijikata are very good and close friends. Hijikata's Healthcare Motivation is centered on getting him meds to live a little longer.
• Historical Domain Character: Again, yes.
• It's Not You, It's Me: Since Okita is not expected to live even one year more, he's been pretty much cutting off his emotional ties to everyone. In Hijikata's words, he pretends to be okay and keeps people at arms' length so no one will suffer when he dies.
• Shipper on Deck: Not only he deduces Saori's secret on his own, but he totally ships her with Hijikata in the latter's route. Implied to be a Shipper with an Agenda, since he's seriously ill and wants to entrust Hijikata to Saori in case he passes away.
• Sick Episode: Okita spends half of his route's Chapter 5 unconscious and bedridden after he and Saori kill Suetsugu, and Saori takes care of him. For worse, before collapsing Saori sees him coughing up Blood from the Mouth.
• Stepford Smiler: The promotional image for his route says that there's a "secret behind his playful smile". In his route Saori notes that he smiles all the time but there's something odd about said smile, and during the Sick Episode incident she feels horrible for not doing something about it before Okita passed out of his illness; plus, Okita himself thinks that he has given up on anything similar to love, and is even smiling when he tells Saori that he'll be lucky if he lives another year.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Hijikata squabble often, but they always have each other's backs.

Other Love Interests

Ritsu

"The truth will bring you to justice"

• Bare-Fisted Monk: Unlike the Vigilantes, he fights barehanded. He's implied to have borderline Super-Strength, at least enough to break thick wooden bars and try taking on Toru barehanded.
• Dating Catwoman: Toyed with in his route, since Ritsu wants to capture the Vigilantes and Saori, as "Kaname", is one of them... but Ritsu must not find out about it, or she'll have to "silence" him.
• Demotedto Extra: Since Ritsu is the only love interest that isn't a member of either Vigilantes, Shinsengumi or Revolutionaries, he barely shows up in the newest routes.
• First Guy Wins: Out of all the prospect boyfriends, Ritsu is the first one who appears onscreen.
• For Want Of A Nail: In-story, his path begin with Saori being unable to choose among the prospect instructors, and asking Makoto for some time to take such an important decision. The Vigilantes decide to take turns helping "Kaname" out, and then she meets Ritsu...
• Freudian Excuse: Ritsu's younger brother, whom he raised after their parents' deaths, was killed by the Vigilantes for having seen their faces and potentially being able to reveal who they are. Ritsu is deeply angry and resents them for it, plus he feels guilty for not having done enough for his brother' sake before his death.
• Guile Hero: Ritsu is a mix of Intrepid Reporter and Knowledge Broker who really, really want to play this role. His biggest goals are to expose Suetsugu's evil and find out the identities of the Vigilantes.
• Heroic Build: When Saori takes a ride on his back, she realizes that underneath his clothes, he's really freaking ripped.
• Intrepid Reporter: He makes yen as the editor/owner/reporter of a local tabloid.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He is friends with the members of the Vigilante group and also a pupil of Shintaro's dojo, yet he doesn't know about the Vigilantes' identities. Him finding out could be a very, very bad thing, since the honor code of the group would mark him for death like it happened to his (Ritsu's) little brother, and logically it becomes a huge issue if the player chooses him as the Love Interest. In the end, he finds out and collaborates with them, then he joins the group after realizing that they have the same goals and desires. He hasn't fully forgiven them, but he acknowledges that they're similar.
• Muggle Best Friend: He's a pretty good friend of Shintaro and Ukyo, and eventually befriends Saori, but he doesn't know that they're Vigilantes... aka the ones he despises the most, aside of Suetsugu.
• Piggyback Cute: Once he does this for Saori when she hurts her ankle... Ironically, this happens after he almost catches her and the Vigilantes, and Saori has just dressed up as a girl to protect herself.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: He hates Suetsugu as much as the Vigilantes do, but he also has a very cynical impression of the Vigilantes themselves since he also considers them murderers after they silenced his brother, and aims to make justice within the law. Hence why he chases after the group.

Nobuyoshi Tokugawa

• Ascended Extra: From merely being mentioned, to appearing in Tsubaki, Hijikata, Okita and Sakamoto's paths (plus Shintaro's Spin-Off), to a romance option whose route was finally released in January 2017.
• Big Good: Of the whole game, as the one holding the position of the 15th (and historically speaking, last) Shogun of the Tokugawa clan.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: When at work, he's a smart and shrewd Reasonable Authority Figure (though not above some snark and smiles). When off-work, however, he's quite playful and flighty.
• Guile Hero: Being the 15th Tokugawa Shogun, the Benevolent Boss of the Shinsengumi members and a benefactor of both the Edo and Nagasaki Vigilantes makes him this, since he turns out to have tabs on near everything whenever he shows up.
• Historical Domain Character: A fictionalized, younger and prettier version of the last Tokugawa Shogun.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: His full-body sprite has him wearing an incredibly detailed and ornate outfit.
• King Incognito: In Shintaro's Spin Off Event, Saori and her boyfriend meet Nobuyoshi in Tokyo itself. They don't know that he's the Shogun, however, and he doesn't tell them either. The two believe that he's simply an eccentric Princely Young Man willing to give them a personal tour of Edo until Hijikata shows up...
• Nerves of Steel: This man never loses his composure, and it's especially notorious when, in Tsubaki's route, Tsubaki almost kills him in his sleep - and it turns out he pretended to be asleep, and manages to make everyone in the scene (Saori, Tsubaki, Hijikata, Okita and Sakamoto) lower their weapons so they will listen to him.
  • In Sakamoto's route, Nobuyoshi also shows his chops as this when he accepts to grant him and Saori an audience and listens to Zeyo's ideas and desire to change Japan from the inside.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In Saori's own words:
  "He may play the dimwitted Shogun, but this man didn't miss a beat!"
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The fact that he is Okita and Hijikata's Benevolent Boss places him squarely here and in Big Good and it's confirmed when he personally shows up at the end of some routes.

Villains

Willem

• Affably Evil: Very polite and poised, even when he's threatening people or deliberately triggering them.
• Arms Dealer: His specific brand of business, and he's good enough in it to smuggle lots of foreign weaponry into Dejima with a bit of help from Suetsugu, which the Revolutionaries use to their advantage.
• Big Bad: Takes this position in some paths, specifically Eduard's and to a lesser degree Shintaro's and Kagura's.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: A rotten-hearted individual with lovely white-blond hair and a gorgeous face.
• The Gunslinger: He favors guns, marking yet another difference between himself and the Japanese cast.
• Hero of Another Story: In a way, since he's actually The Dragon and The Evil Genius and a prospect Love Interest of the Shall We Date?: Ninja Assassin game.
• Karma Houdini: He never gets caught by the Vigilantes, even when his plans go to Hell.
• Manipulative Bastard: Dear God, yes. He loves messing with his target's minds and hearts, and it's seen terrifyingly well in Eduard's route since he tries his hardest to trigger him and reawaken his forgotten memories.
• Villain Team-Up: With Suetsugu and Toru Nakagawa.

Saburo Suetsugu

• Alliterative Name: Saburo Suetsugu.
• Big Bad: Of the game, as he had Kaname murdered when he tried to stop his evil deeds and runs lots of unsavory activities in the Nagasaki undergrounds.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: If confronted by Saori, he can't even remember having her brother killed since he's had many poor villages burned for not paying their tributes.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the most powerful merchant in the Nagasaki guilds, owner of the huge Hizenya shop group and, as said above, he got his power through many illegal activities.
• Demoted to Extra: From Tsubaki's path onwards, Suetsugu is relegated to just being the Disc-One Final Boss. This gets to the point that he gets unceremoniously killed off in almost all of the new routes.
• Dirty Old Man: He tries to molest Haru and often frequents the Red Light District.
• Hate Sink: Pretty much exists to be an unlikable asshole.
• Heel–Face Turn: Subverted rather oddly in Asagi's path. It seems he has pulled this and is giving large donations to the city to make up for what he's done... but in reality, Suetsugu is dead (he was killed by Saori, with Asagi's help), and the ones acting in his name are shikigami with his looks that are controlled by Asagi. He says that the fake Suetsugus will disappear with time, and when the last one "dies" the Vigilantes will say he just died of illness or old age.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Subverted, he has a Western gun and clearly knows how to use it. But he's still no match for the Vigilantes.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Routinely claims that poor people don't deserve to live, refers to the foreigner Eduard as "barbarian" in his route, publicly insults Yuzuki for being the illegitimate son of his business rival, tried to goad Toru into hurting Saori and Kagura without any real reason in the latter's route, and upon discovering Saori is a woman disguised as a man in Makoto's route, he starts referring to her as 'it'.
• Smug Snake: A thoroughly unlikeable, slimey bastard who kicks puppies all around and is loathed by everyone. Plus he pales in comparison with the far more skilled Willem, Tsubaki and Toru, who don't have him in high regards either and are clearly using him for his position in the guild.

Other characters

Haru

• Ambiguously Gay: In Shintaro's route she seems smitten with Saori after meeting her as "Kaname", and towards the end she reveals that she knew all along that she was a girl. And from the official Gender Reveal onwards, she's quite giggly and pleased to be able to interact freely with Saori...
• Attempted Rape: At least in two routes, some guys (one being Suetsugu) have tried carrying her away to get sexual favors from her. Fortunately, she owns and works in a restaurant that the Vigilantes frequent (plus she's implied to be business partners with Yuzuki) and they won't tolerate that.
• Berserk Button: No one should EVER mess with anything she cooks. Or steal anyone's food in front of her.
• Fangirl: She thinks the Vigilantes are really cool since they punish evil in the darkness and take care of the city.
• Genki Girl: She's pretty cheerful and easy to fire up.
• Motherly Side Plait: A very cute waitress/restaurateur with a gentle disposition and a hairstyle to match.
• Muggle Best Friend: She's good friends with the Vigilantes and especially Saori, but has no idea of who they actually are.
• Supreme Chef: She wouldn't be able to run a successful restaurant without having enough skills for it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • She and Ritsu are seen squabbling more than once.
  • She also has shades of this with Ukyo, especially if he's rude or childish in front fo her.

Kinshirou Tooyama, Souji Sasaki, Aoi, Wakasa Tsumori, Sion Iseya, Ichika, Natsume and Hotaka

• Ascended Extra: Wakasa, during Kagura's route. Holy crap, Wakasa.
• Big Brother Mentor: Sion, Aoi and Souji were this to Yuzuki, whom they trained in martial arts.
• Big Damn Heroes: Wakasa and Kinshirou are vital to prove Makoto's innocence when he's framed for murder.
• Childhood Friends: Natsume is from Eduard and Ukyo's village.
• Hero of Another Story: They're the protagonists and love interests of Ninja Assassin, which were the basis for Ninja Shadow.
• Hospital Hottie: Wakasa is the very good-looking personal doctor of the shogun and is rather interested in a certain hallucinogen "mist" used by the Jack the Ripoff in Makoto's route.
• Shipper on Deck: In Yuzuki's route, Aoi and Souji are hardcore Saori/ Yuzuki fanboys. From before Saori is revealed as a girl, as they correctly deduce that Yuzuki cares more for the personality of a prospect lover than the gender.
• Spanner in the Works: In Makoto's route, they and Ukyo completely derail Toru's plan to destroy the Nagasaki Vigilantes by framing Makoto for murder and forcing him to join his cause. It's especially true regarding Wakasa, since he's able to deduce that drugs were involved in the case.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Hotaka is a very girly-looking guy and plays female roles.

Mokuren Himuro

• Good Parents: To his son Asagi, whom he tries to help as much as possible. Asagi may be harsh and teasing, but he loves and respects his old man deeply.
• Papa Wolf: There's nothing he wouldn't do to help Asagi, including an Heroic Sacrifice in his route, where he unseals Asagi's powers fully at the cost of his own life.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The head of the famous Himuro Shrine, plus a good ally to the vigilantes.

Tadateru Nakagawa

• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a Hatamoto (a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan) and, like his son and fellow hatamoto Makoto, he does his work very well. Sadly, in the paths were Toru is directly involved, he ends up resigning from his post.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Inverted: when he resigns from his hatamoto work, it's for the sins of his Black Sheep son.

Hazuki, Asahi and Yusahi Hirano

• Big Fancy House: The Hirano family home is lovely, from what one can see in Yuzuki's route.
• Family Business: The three lead the very, VERY succesful Hiranoya imports shop, via hard work.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Hazuki is not jut a skilled businessman, but a very honest one. Which puts him at odds with Suetsugu and his group.
• Parents as People: Hazuki is not a bad person, in fact he loves his three sons with all of his heart, but despite his good intentions he hasn't always been the best father to his boys. Especially considering that Yuzuki is a Heroic Bastard with serious issues.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Hazuki is one of the very few members of the merchant guilds that is NOT corrupt, which is why Suetsugu despises him so much. He also does his best to help Yuzuki and the Vigilantes when it's possible, by giving them supplies and especially information.