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The characters from Snow White and Seven Dwarfs. Unmarked spoilers ahead.


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The Heroes

    Takeru Shakudou 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fafb6386682ae2c5ba9d02e37e879ed0.jpg

The hero of the story. He wakes up in Hachiouji with no memory of the last two years, before quickly discovering his powers as a tekigousha. Upon learning of the government's actions and obtaining a lead on his older brother's whereabouts, he decides to embrace his new abilities and sets out to take down Kuroyuki.

With his right hand, he can create large amounts of heat, generating magma and fire.


  • Affectionate Nickname: Happy-kun.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After he picks a fight with the Hachiouji officials, Makoto prostrates himself, begging for Takeru to apologize, and so does Takeru does—though he notes that he won't stand for doing it all the time.
  • All-Loving Hero: If there was any doubt about it, he treats the monsters in Shibuya as people. The only person he has no sympathy for is Kuroyuki.
  • Always Second Best: He's never won a fight against Izumi.
  • Amnesiac Dissonance: Once he learns that the tekigousha are servants of the government. Subverted, as he's actually been braindead for the last two years and so has never at any point been loyal to them.
  • Amnesiac Hero: The last thing he remembers is heading to Yokohama with his brother, meaning that's two years' worth of (important) memories he's lost.
  • Amnesiacs are Innocent: Completely clueless about what's going on, inspiring worry from others (or amazement at how carefree he is).
  • Anti-Hero: He feels bad about all the killing he does, but still won't hesitate to do it and is not above the occasionally questionable act (e.g. threatening Akane, aka a civilian, alongside Souichi when the man seemed suspicious). His actions lead him to seeing himself as this by the time the heroes end up in Shibuya.
  • Asleep in Class: A post-series omake shows him dozing off while Souich is tutoring him and the other teenagers of the series.
  • Ass Kicking Pose: He strikes one when confronted by hunters in Suginami.
  • Badass Adorable: A One-Man Army in combat, The Pollyanna otherwise.
  • Bash Brothers: With Souichi. Until Ken gets better, they're the primary fighters of the team.
  • Berserk Button: Being a snobby Jerkass in general, especially to innocent civilians, sets him off very quickly. This obviously leads to some trouble for him in Hachiouji, where Jerkasses are plenty abound.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Don't piss the kid off if you know what's good for you. He's got a big heart, but an equally big temper, and is not afraid to do what he has to in order to get the job done.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Towards Shirayuki.
  • Big Brother Worship: He really looks up to Izumi, though that's soon shattered upon realizing that yes, Izumi really is working for the government.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Loud and quick to resort to violence. His response when the hunters find him and Souichi, after his initial Oh, Crap! moment, is that he was waiting for a chance to test out his powers (having just Took a Level in Badass).
  • Blessed with Suck: He's heating up his own body when he uses his ability, and so could accidentally burn himself black by overusing his ability. Fortunately, his body generally forces him to stop before that can happen, though that doesn't stop his arm from hurting a lot of the time.
  • Break the Cutie: Happens slightly during the Faith arc where the following happens, in order: he begins to doubt in the possibility of a happy ending, he finally lets the tears loose over everything that everyone's gone through, and the arc has a Downer Ending. Rather than fall apart, though, he lets it fuel his hatred towards Kuroyuki/determination to win for the upcoming finale.
  • Brought Down to Normal: After Izumi rips out his Grim Rock. He regains his power when Shirayuki has him gouge out another Grim Rock.
  • Bully Hunter: This is essentially his attitude towards the government officials.
  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to Izumi's Cain.
  • Cast from Hit Points: His powers use up his own body heat and blood, hence why his body usually forces a limit on its usage lest it kill him.
  • The Cat Came Back: Poor Makoto.
    Makoto: "T-T-T-T-Takeru-kun!? Why are you at our house again..."
  • Character Development: He loses some of his carefreeness and naivety, going from someone who didn't quite register all the blood he was shedding or think about what came after defeating Kuroyuki to someone who, while still ultimately upbeat and idealistic, also shows more war-weariness and understanding of what it really means to keep smiling.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: Fujimaru scorns him for it in the beginning, as being kind and helpful doesn't get you far in post-apocalyptic Tokyo. This doesn't stop Takeru from always lending his help to anyone in need.
  • Clothing Damage: While a lot of characters tend to suffer this, Takeru in particular gets it in spades, given that he goes around burning everything. By the climax, he's forgone with his shirt entirely, as it was beyond hope, and his jacket, pants, and cloth worn around his waist are in tatters.
  • Commonality Connection: He and Ken end up bonding over their will to keep fighting, even if it destroys them.
  • Complete Immortality: Obtains this from Shirayuki in the finale.
  • Convenient Coma: He's been in one for the last two years.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: His parents died when he was little, and he was raised by Izumi, whom he's now looking for.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He may be an Idiot Hero, but he can still kick ass quite well, and woe betides any opponent for whom he drops the silliness.
  • Death by Origin Story: Not quite death, but he was braindead and as good as dead before Shirayuki saved him and allowed his powers to awaken.
  • Death Faked for You: Once Takeru was officially declared a lost cause by the scientists, Izumi pretended to dispose of him, but instead secretly brought him to Shirayuki and then dumped him in Hachiouji after wiping his memories. Takeru wasn't too happy about it during the process.
  • Death Glare: Very good at these.
  • Declaration of Protection: Towards Shirayuki.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: He doesn't care if others think taking Kuroyuki down is impossible; he'll do it. Even learning that Kuroyuki is immortal doesn't deter him at all.
  • Deliberately Distressed Dude: In the first arc, he lets himself be captured so that he can speak with Fujimaru.
  • Determinator: Takeru wouldn't know the meaning of 'give up' if it slapped him in the face, when it comes to trying to best Izumi, to standing up for what he believes in, to pushing himself with his injuries—to everything he does, for that matter.
  • Determined Expression: See the above picture. His main one comes right after being compatible with the original Grim Rock and just before he kills Kuroyuki.
  • Didn't Think This Through: So exactly how, again, do you plan on taking down the government, Takeru? Thankfully for him, Souichi came along.
  • Disney Death: Very briefly, but during the process of becoming a tekigousha again, no one's certain if he's going to be okay or not as he falls unconscious, and the entire thing reads like a death scene for a few moments.
  • Dissonant Serenity: He's prone to this due to his cheerful attitude, with memorable moments including:
    • When the Hachiouji officers show up to arrest him and Makoto, he just laughs and light-heartedly comments, "Wow! They really found us right away!", to Makoto's dismay.
    • In the finale, as Fujimaru is checking up on everyone, Takeru laughs while watching the flames of the area he set on fire, commenting on how this is fun (prompting Fujimaru, of course, to complain about his carefreeness).
  • Dork Knight: By the end of the series, he's the saviour of Tokyo and still every bit the carefree kid he usually is, even while defusing fights.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: Granted, it helps that Shirayuki's a) a little girl, and b) vital to his enemy.
  • Elemental Punch: A martial artist whose punch is now literally explosive.
  • 11th-Hour Superpower: Immortality, courtesy of Shirayuki.
  • Emotional Powers: In the beginning, when he still doesn't have very good control, his powers usually activate whenever he's getting emotional.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism:
    • The emotional side to Fujimaru's stoic side. Takeru is Hot-Blooded and doesn't think things through, but he at least has the will to fight for what he believes in, whereas Fujimaru is logical and down-to-earth, but this has also rendered him unwilling to do anything because the odds are against him.
    • He then plays this role to Souichi's stoicism, as he supports Souji's desire to be one of the main fighters, while Souichi reminds him that Souji is Just a Kid. Souichi has a point in that exposing Souji to further violence and having him use his power will have negative effects; however, Takeru is able to empathize with Souji and realize how emotionally damaging being forced to stay on the sidelines can be.
  • Establishing Character Moment: He immediately offers to find medicine for a woman he just met, despite knowing next to nothing about the situation. When asked how he can be so optimistic, he replies that he's actually really worried, as he doesn't know where his brother is, before he gives the line that provides the canon page quote. Ending on that profound note, he leaves... before coming back, accidentally slamming the door open in Makoto's face, because he doesn't know where to head.
  • Famed In-Story: In the epilogue, his interference alone can break up a fight. After all, do you really want to argue against the guy who saved the city?
  • Fanservice Pack: It gets clearer as the series goes on that in spite of his lithe appearance, Takeru is pretty well-built.
  • Fearless Fool: Up against a nigh invincible dictatorship? No problem with that! Where others are wary, Takeru never fears any of his opponents, even if he's getting beaten up, such as the case with Amagiya in Hachiouji.
  • Fish out of Water: A minor version, as he wakes up in the post-apocalyptic Tokyo with no memory of it and needs everything explained to him.
  • Flashback to Catchphrase: Takeru's whole "If you can smile it off, you'll always manage somehow!" thing? He got it from his brother, who encouraged him to stay positive when he was little (starting with their parents' deaths, from the looks of it).
  • Foil: To Fujimaru and Souichi.
    • Takeru, the NaĂŻve Newcomer, is never daunted by the nigh impossibility of defeating Kuroyuki and immediately rejects the idea of working for her, whereas Fujimaru, who's been dealing with her for years, has already had his spirit broken and serves her despite inwardly sharing Takeru's defiance. Among the heroes, Takeru is The Idealist, and Fujimaru is The Cynic.
    • Even putting aside their Red Oni, Blue Oni and Idiot Hero/The Strategist dynamics, he serves as one to Souichi while in Suginami, as mentioned underneath Emotions vs. Stoicism. Being a little brother himself, he can empathize with Souji's feelings and is the only one to speak up about them to Souichi, highlighting Souichi's protectiveness as an older brother towards Souji.
  • For Happiness: Why he fights, with it coming up most prominently in the Shibuya arc.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: With Shirayuki. They first met when he was in a coma, and being in her promixity, thanks to Izumi bringing him outside once in a while, awakened him.
  • Gaining the Will to Kill: An odd variation, in that he's already killed several by this point, but after his realization of how many have died because of him and just what that means, he ultimately decides that it doesn't matter: he has a goal and he needs to accomplish it, no matter what.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Souji punches him out of his Heroic BSoD below.
  • Give Him a Normal Life: The general intention behind Izumi wiping his memories and dumping in Tachikawa, so as to avoid Takeru properly awakening as a tekigousha and having to serve the government. Given that this is Takeru we're talking about, it went about as badly as one might expect, though Izumi didn't mind in the end.
  • Good Is Not Soft: He sympathizes with most of his enemies and is willing to give them the opportunity to join him. If they don't take it—well, they shouldn't expect to live very long.
  • Healing Factor: Again, he obtains this in the finale.
  • Handwraps of Awesome: In his case, though, it has more to do with keeping his arm less conspicuous than for fighting reasons.
  • Having a Blast: As part of his powers. Technically, he's causing eruptions rather than explosions, but the effect is still the same.
  • He's Back!: After his Heroic BSoD and subsequent Get A Hold Of Yourself Man punch from Souji, he resolutely returns to the fight.
  • The Heart: His optimism and cheer generally help to keep the group going.
  • The Hero: Though Shirayuki's the face of the story and the Big Good, Takeru's still undeniably the protagonist and, no matter how he thinks of himself, the main hero of the series.
  • Heroic BSoD: Has one after Shirayuki's taken back by the government, as he realizes that she and Izumi were counting on him and he let them down.
  • Heroic Resolve: Nearly blacks out after becoming immortal, due to the strain of the original Grim Rock, but manages to hold on for Izumi's sake, as Kuroyuki's severely injured the latter.
  • Heroic RRoD: This tends to happen from his powers.
  • Heroic Safe Mode: Briefly goes into one when his denial about Izumi starts to crack, realizing that now's not the best time to be thinking about that.
  • Hey, You!: Only ever refers to Kuroyuki as "old hag".
  • Hidden Depths: In-Universe as well. He demonstrates that he's actually not blindly optimistic, despite appearances, prompting Makoto to feel guilty over assuming he had no worries. Waking up in a post-apocalyptic world with no idea how he got there, he can handle, but the truth is that he's worried as hell about what happened to his brother. He just knows that it's better to smile and stay strong, rather than mope.
  • Hope Bringer: He inspires Fujimaru to stand up on fight, encourages Ken to keep on living, and like with Fujimaru, convinces the Shibuya Ward Chiefs that Kuroyuki can be defeated. Say what you will about his carefree attitude, but it does its job of giving people hope.
  • Hot-Blooded: Pun unintended, this is one of the first traits Makoto comments about him after witnessing Takeru get into a fight with government officials. Takeru does tone it down slightly as time goes on, though.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: It takes him about half the series before he finally gets the hang of it.
  • Human Weapon: A failed attempt at this.
  • I Am a Monster: He doesn't angst about it too much, but he doesn't consider himself any better than the 'monsters' in Shibuya, because they're simply trying to protect their allies, just as he is.
  • I Am What I Am: By about halfway through the first arc, he decides to accept that he's a tekigousha, since even if he has no idea what that truly means, he can't change it.
  • I Will Find You: Initially determined to find his brother—until Fujimaru tells him just what's become of Izumi (i.e. he's joined up with the government).
  • Icy Blue Eyes: He normally has Innocent Blue Eyes, but when he's in Beware the Nice Ones / Tranquil Fury mode, they come across as this instead.
  • Idiot Hair: He has two. You get no points for realizing that he's an Idiot Hero.
  • Idiot Hero: Takeru, Takeru...
    Makoto: "Takeru-kun might be seriously stupid..."
  • Indy Ploy: His general inability to come up with anything better than this is why he needs Souichi and the others.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Bright blue eyes, and an idealistic and innocent personality to match.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Towards Makoto in the first arc, until Makoto finally snaps somewhat and tells Takeru that no, he can't live with a smile.
  • In-Series Nickname: Known as the "stray tekigousha" by the government for the first while.
  • In the Back: During his second fight with Uzuki, she pierces through his back with her right hand.
  • It Gets Easier: Not commented on by Takeru himself and he didn't seem to have any problems with his first kill (though he later admits that it didn't really sink in what it meant to kill someone), but this is the kid who went from being nauseous the first time he saw a corpse to causing them with ease.
  • Jumped at the Call: A little freaked out initially when he discovers he has powers, but he's quick to decide to use them to take down the government.
  • Keet: He has some of this, though it dies down as the series goes on and he becomes wearier instead.
  • Kid Hero: He's sixteen.
  • Kill It with Fire: His main method of defeating his enemies. Notably, it's how he kills Kuroyuki, slowly and painfully.
  • Kirk Summation: Deals this to both Fujimaru and, to a lesser extent, the Shibuya Ward Chiefs.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: He's pretty much this for Shirayuki. Interestingly enough, though, he isn't the one intended to be the equivalent of Prince Charming.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: Magma powers aside, he's also a skilled martial artist.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Missing precisely the memories of the last two years, and nothing else.
  • Legally Dead: According to his official status report, he was supposedly disposed of.
  • Lethal Chef: One omake shows his attempt at cooking a Christmas meal. Things on fire are involved.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Most prominently after meeting Kuroyuki for the first time. Before, he found himself unable to summon his powers and burn away the prison bars. Afterwards? He's determined enough that he does it with ease.
  • Living Macguffin: Possibly inherits this status from Shirayuki post-series, now being the container of the 'original' Grim Rock, with him telling Ken's dad that if he wants it, he'll have to steal it from him.
  • Lord Error-Prone: In the beginning, as he vows to crush the government, but it's soon made clear that Takeru has nothing in the way of a strategy and would've been doomed to failure if Souichi hadn't joined up with him. Otherwise, though, he's entirely competent, give or take a few incidents with his powers.
  • Made of Iron: Takeru's had his arm pierced and been whipped, beaten up, nearly drowned from the inside, and stabbed, among other injuries, over the course of about three weeks, but keeps on trucking without any real problems.
  • Magma Man: His powers are specifically of the magma variety, with it being what's coating his right arm.
  • Magnetic Hero: Try as they might to resist, Takeru's upbeat attitude ends up endearing himself to a lot of people who then become his allies.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Guy: He's a bit of a platonic example of this towards Makoto.
  • Memento Macguffin: After Shirayuki's kidnapped back from them, the cloth that she wore around her sleeves is all they have left, and so Takeru wears it around his waist from then on.
  • Mood-Swinger: Takeru can go between incredibly cheerful to incredibly pissed off at an alarming rate.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: A mild version, when he's on his deathbed and it really clicks that he's killed so many and probably caused a lot of suffering, though he knows that it's ultimately for a good goal.
  • NaĂŻve Newcomer: Takeru is a slight example in that, due to having amnesia, he starts off unaware of what happened to Tokyo and the situation it's in now. Needless to say, he quickly learns.
  • Nice Guy: A friendly guy who's always out to help others, even if they're complete strangers, and isn't remotely bothered by others' Jerk with a Heart of Gold attitudes towards him.
  • No Shirt, Long Jacket: In the finale, given a certain definition of 'long jacket'—it's a normal jacket combined with a piece of cloth tied around his waist, giving the appearance of a longcoat at a glance.
  • Not a Morning Person: In a flashback, he complains about having to get up so early to accompany his brother. Considering said flashback is about the day the apocalypse hit, it then gets a painful echo, as Izumi begs for the dying Takeru to wake up.
  • Oblivious Younger Sibling: Well, considering that Izumi had his memories erased...
  • Oh, Crap!: He has this look on his face when the hunters find him and Souichi in Suginami, though he quickly recovers.
  • Older Than They Look: He's the same age as Fujimaru, but barely looks older than Souichi, who's physically about ten.
  • One-Man Army: He already displays some of this with his martial arts, but once he gets the hang of his powers, he fully graduates into this.
  • The Paragon: It comes with being a Hope Bringer.
  • Parental Abandonment: They died when he was little.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: He doesn't have reason to push himself that far on a regular basis and his body won't allow more than one shot of this nature, but once his powers properly awaken, the potential range that he can cover with a single explosion is huge.
  • Phrase Catcher: Some sort of remark/complaint about his carefree attitude.
    "Again with the carefreeness?"
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Not to the same degree as Souichi, but for someone as short and lithe as Takeru, he's quite strong.
  • Playing with Fire: As part of his powers.
  • Please Wake Up: In a flashback, it's shown that Takeru, as a child, initially didn't understand why his (dead) parents were "underneath a rock".
  • Plucky Boy: His optimism is one of his defining traits, and if even Takeru can't believe in the best, you know the situation's dire.
  • The Pollyanna: Not as much as one might think from his demeanour, but damn, is he almost inhumanly upbeat.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When killing Kuroyuki:
    "... Old hag... for a hundred years' worth... burn...!"
  • The Promise: As far as he's concerned, he's made a lot of these, and they're what push him to win.
  • Rage Breaking Point: The entire series can be thought of him gradually reaching this, regarding Kuroyuki, until he finally hits it in the finale.
  • Rebel Leader: If the heroes are La RĂ©sistance, then he's this.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red Oni to Souichi's Blue Oni, with the two of them being the primary fighters of the group for a while.
  • Save the Villain: To an extent, he does this for Fujimaru, and he expresses a desire to help the Shibuya Ward Chiefs as well.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Wears a sash (specifically, the cloth that used to be worn around Shirayuki's arms) around his waist during the latter half of the series.
  • School Uniforms are the New Black: He wears the jacket he got as part of his uniform for most of the series. In his defence, he honestly doesn't have a spare change of clothes.
  • Selective Obliviousness: See Big Brother Worship. In the revision, Fujimaru outright shows him a picture of Izumi with Amagiya, at which point Takeru insists that there must be a good reason for it. Turns out he's right.
  • Shape Shifter Mode Lock: His right arm's permanently covered in hardened magma.
  • Shared Family Quirks: He's inherited his brother's optimism, sense of justice, interest in martial arts, and hot-bloodedness. Granted, a few of those don't apply to Izumi anymore.
  • Sibling Rivalry: He and Izumi fought a lot in the past (in a good-natured way, both being martial artists).
  • Sibling Team: With Izumi in the finale.
  • Skewed Priorities: No, Takeru, maybe you should worry more about the inexplicable steam coming out of your arm than the Jerkass government officials...
  • Slept Through the Apocalypse: More like he lost his memories of it, but the effect is just about the same, as he wakes up with no idea what's going on.
  • Stepford Smiler: A mild case at times. He's usually open about it when he's genuinely upset, but he'll frequently smile to keep spirits up.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: If Takeru's fighting, expect there to be explosions.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: He regards the experimental failures-turned-monsters as fellow people and will fight to protect them. Also, see Let Them Die Happy under Uzuki's section.
  • Taking You with Me: It's suggested that, in a fit of fury, he would've attempted this with Kuroyuki despite knowing that she's immortal had he not been stopped. He was that pissed off at her by that point.
  • Think Happy Thoughts: Most prominently when he cheers up Shirayuki in the finale, by assuring her of brighter things that they'll do in the future.
  • Took a Level in Badass: As he continues to gain more control of his powers. Most notably, when his period of being Brought Down to Normal ends, and when he obtains Complete Immortality.
  • Took a Level in Cynic: Subtly. He never stops being The Pollyanna, but compared to the Takeru at the start of the series, who believed that you could laugh all your problems away, Takeru by the end of the series realizes that staying strong in itself isn't enough to bring about a happy ending.
  • Tranquil Fury: At times, particularly in the final battle—especially as he kills Kuroyuki.
  • Unflinching Walk: At the start of the finale.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: In the beginning, where he can cause a lot of destruction but lacks control, and usually just settles for random explosions. Eventually, though, he gains more finesse. Sort of.
  • Warrior Therapist: Primarily in the Shibuya arc.
  • Would Hit a Girl: In fact, all of the named female antagonists' deaths—Uzuki's and Kuroyuki's—can be attributed to him.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Sort of. He goes easy on Tama, saying that he doesn't want to go all out against a small girl like her. However, as with most things, all bets are off if you push him too far.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: A non-lethal version: he stands in front of the room where Fujimaru is attempting to disable Shirayuki's GPS, guarding him against any soldiers trying to attack and telling them that he won't let them get in Fujimaru's way.

    Shirayuki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/827a6367a577ae5f386b0fc62495c543.jpg

A mysterious young girl who apparently knows Takeru, though he has no memory of her. She's the 'soul' of the government, making her very important to both them, who are desperate to get her back, and Takeru and co., who are just as determined not to let her go.


  • Abusive Parents: Yeah, Kuroyuki's about as abusive as they get.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Chibi-chan.
  • The Ageless: She's been stuck as a little girl for a hundred years, and it's not until the epilogue that she starts aging again.
  • All-Loving Hero: Like Takeru, she cares deeply even for complete strangers. Also like Takeru, Kuroyuki's the one exception to this.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: See Powered by a Forsaken Child below.
  • Badass and Child Duo: Has this dynamic with Izumi.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She only uses it once, but she has a mean Death Glare.
  • Big Good: While Takeru's The Hero, Shirayuki is, in the end, the one guiding everything and who provides the means they need to win.
  • Bio-Augmentation: She's a tekigousha as well.
  • Blessed with Suck: She doesn't have negative side effects unlike the others, but her circumstances negate the benefits of Complete Immortality and make it something of a hell instead.
  • Break the Cutie: If this didn't happen in her past, it starts happening by the finale, most of which she spends as a miserable wreck.
  • Broken Hero: You wouldn't be able to tell from her cheerful demeanor that she's had one hell of a childhood.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Gentle Girl to Izumi's Brooding Boy.
  • Cheerful Child: Despite a very hard life, she's a genuinely energetic and friendly kid.
  • Color-Coded Eyes: Being the resident Mystical Waif, it shouldn't be a surprise that she's one of two characters with distinctly purple eyes.
  • Complete Immortality: Due to possessing the original Grim Rock. She already had a Healing Factor; it made her The Ageless as well.
  • Cute Mute: She expresses her sentiments through smiles and gestures (and lots of clinging).
  • The Cutie: Childlike? Check. Sweet? Check. Beloved by everyone? Check. Hellish life? Check.
  • Damsel in Distress: Granted, it was more that she was kidnapped back to her own home, but she really didn't want to be there.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Her life has been miserable since literally the moment she was born (as it's implied that Kuroyuki twisted her neck or some such to confirm her Healing Factor). From that point, she's been constantly used as an experiment and made to mass-produce the Grim Rock, creating more tekigousha by association, and finally, was forced to rain the apocalypse upon Tokyo.
  • Death Glare: Gives Kuroyuki one for disrespecting the late Amagiya, with Kuroyuki noting that it's the first time she's seen Shirayuki like that.
  • De-power: She loses her inability to age by the end, though her Healing Factor is still in effect.
  • Detect Evil: Or at least has good intuition. Or at least Takeru thinks so. Fujimaru's a little more dubious.
  • Determinator: She's going to see Kuroyuki stopped or taken down, no matter what.
  • Deuteragonist: The heroine to Takeru's hero, as the Not Love Interest.
  • Disappeared Dad: He apparently killed himself upon realizing how far Kuroyuki had gone.
  • Driven to Suicide: Has some suicidal tendencies, if it means stopping her mother's plans.
  • Family Theme Naming: The Shirayuki to her mother's Kuroyuki.
  • Girl in the Tower: During the final arc, as the heroes intend to rescue her from Shinjuku's base while taking down Kuroyuki.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Never in canon, but one illustration and a post-series omake depict her with them.
  • Guinea Pig Family: As far as Kuroyuki's concerned, that's Shirayuki's main purpose in life.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The only outright blonde Japanese, and the most innocent of the cast.
  • Harmful to Minors: There's at least one moment (albeit Played for Laughs) where Souichi brutally kills the enemies and Takeru's covering Shirayuki's eyes. Overall, however, the series definitely isn't shy about this.
  • Hates Being Alone: She can get pretty clingy—mainly to Takeru—and teary if she's left behind.
  • Healing Factor: That she inherited from Kuroyuki. It's likely that nothing can kill her.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: She never dies from it, but whenever she has someone gouge out a Grim Rock from her chest—which is as painful as it sounds—it's always to save them. This is precisely why Amagiya's so devoted to her, in fact. It reaches its head in the finale, where she has Takeru take out the original, despite no one being certain what will happen to her body, whose growth has been stopped for a hundred years, if she loses it.
  • Heroic Suicide: This was likely her intention when she tried to get Izumi to kill her, considering that she's vital to her mother's plans. Having been separated from Takeru, she felt like she had no other options.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Tries to get Izumi to strangle her at one point. Granted, even if it'd gone through, it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.
  • I'm Having Soul Pains: When Kuroyuki is using her Grim Rock to manipulate meteors.
  • Immortal Immaturity: She's still mentally a kid, more or less, despite actually being a hundred years old.
  • Kid with the Leash: When it comes to Amagiya. Especially in the epilogue, where he acts like a rabid cat towards everyone but her, and only she can get him to calm down.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: For Amagiya.
  • Living Macguffin: She's incredibly valuable to the government, for reasons that aren't explained until Fujimaru finally tells the others in Ch. 18.
  • The Load: Subverted. While you'd expect her to be this, being a a child who has to be constantly looked after, her Living Macguffin status is extremely useful—it means that the government can never directly attack their vehicle, and Souichi at least once takes advantage of the soldiers' unwillingness to attack while she's in the line of fire.
  • Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Though her mother's hardly ugly, and Shirayuki's doubts about her are far from small.
  • Meaningful Name: Like Snow White from the fairy tale, she gathers the 'dwarfs' to kill her mother.
  • Messianic Archetype: She continuously suffers in an attempt to help others—namely, when she has people gouge out a Grim Rock from her—and leads the others to defeat the government.
  • Morality Pet: To Amagiya. His devotion to her, while occasionally the cause of his villainy, is also his single greatest redeeming quality.
  • Mortality Ensues: After she has Takeru take the original Grim Rock, she loses her agelessness.
  • Mysterious Waif: The Living Macguffin with a connection to Takeru that he can't remember and who intends to drag him on a journey to Shinjuku, thus serving as his official Call to Adventure.
  • Mystical Waif: She lacks the blank and emotionless attitude that's characteristic of most examples of this trope, but she's got the 'young girl who is actually Really 700 Years Old with mysterious powers and starts the hero's quest' part down pat.
  • Never Grew Up: Thanks, mom.
  • Never Speak Ill of the Dead: After everything Kuroyuki's put her through, the one thing that genuinely makes Shirayuki furious is Kuroyuki treating the late Amagiya as research material.
  • Nice Girl: The reason why Takeru and she are able to get along.
  • Not Growing Up Sucks: See Who Wants to Live Forever? below. She never really seems to mind, but Takeru's quite happy for her when she resumes aging.
  • The Not-Love Interest: She probably would have been the Love Interest in any other story... if she weren't a little kid.
  • Only One Name: Unlike most characters, her last name is never given.
  • Plucky Girl: Starts faltering by the finale, but she ultimately gets better.
  • The Pollyanna: No wonder she and Takeru hit it off so well.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: With a certain device, Kuroyuki can use Shirayuki's Grim Rock's magnetic field to manipulate the paths of meteors.
  • Protectorate: Of Takeru and Amagiya, most notably.
  • Psychic Radar: It's not touched on, but she appears to be capable of detecting tekigousha. Unfortunately, given the time that others have to spend trying to understand her, this usually isn't very helpful for anyone but her.
  • Red Is Heroic: Her outfit is predominantly red.
  • Really 700 Years Old: A hundred, to be specific.
  • Secret-Keeper: Aside from Ken, she's the only one among the heroes who knows about Fujimaru's true ability, as he's forced to use it in front of her. Being mute, she can't exactly tell anyone.
  • Security Cling: She can generally be found clinging to one of the gang (Takeru particularly).
  • Self-Made Orphan: Given that the entire point of the series is to kill her mother...
  • Sensor Character: She appears capable of detecting when other tekigousha are around.
  • Simple, yet Opulent: Her dress isn't that fancy, all things considered, but it stands out in a post-apocalyptic world where no one else wears clothes like that.
  • The Speechless: She gets by through gestures, even if people don't always understand what she's trying to say. She regains her voice in the finale, after passing the original Grim Rock onto Takeru.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: As seen in a flashback, when Kuroyuki implanted the original Grim Rock in her.
  • Super Powerful Genetics: Obtained her Healing Factor from her mom.
  • Tearful Smile: In the finale, when Takeru is gouging out the original Grim Rock and assures her that they'll all get through this, Shirayuki manages a smile with tears in her eyes.
  • Tears of Fear: When reuniting with Kuroyuki. Hard to blame her for being scared.
  • Tender Tears: She's quick to cry, though it's understandable by her being a little girl. Mentally, anyway.
  • Token Mini-Moe: A little girl travelling with a preteen, two teenagers, and three adults, even if not everyone in the group actually looks their age. Ironically, she belongs in that category, being the oldest of them all.
  • Took a Level in Cynic: Getting taken back to Kuroyuki just about shattered her optimism, from the looks of it, as she apparently goes from believing in Takeru's capabilities to feeling that a Heroic Suicide would be her best option, before Izumi talks her out of it.
  • Tsundere: Towards Amagiya. For all her shunning, he's one of the most important people in her life.
  • Tyke-Bomb: Far from loyal, and Kuroyuki has no reason to instill loyalty in her when she doesn't have a choice in the matter, but Shirayuki was essentially born and raised to be an experiment.
  • Walking Spoiler: While the first detail isn't revealed until almost halfway into the story and the second until towards the end, it's difficult to get around the fact that she's a tekigousha and Kuroyuki's daughter.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: She doesn't angst about it, but everyone's pretty happy in the epilogue to know that she's now growing.

    Fujimaru Akutsu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/42cd12b85e08f08fb56316b24a602657.jpg

The Ward Chief of Hachiouji. Despite his position, he's defiant and resentful towards the government—sentiments that Takeru use to convince Fujimaru to betray them. That said, Fujimaru's initially reluctant to become Takeru's ally, believing that he doesn't a chance against Kuroyuki.

His right arm allows him to communicate with machinery.


  • Abusive Parents: His mother gleefully sold him to the government solely for the money, despite presumably having some idea of the hell he'd go through.
  • Accomplice by Inaction: While he's directly done a fair amount of things in the government's name, he carries a large amount of guilt for the countless people he's let die, though he presumably didn't personally kill them. Nevertheless, Amagiya tries to use this against Fujimaru in order to convince him not to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Achilles in His Tent: Two downplayed examples, occurring in quick succession after his Changed My Mind, Kid moment:
    • After the aforementioned scene, he's forced to accompany the heroes when, as the army begins to attack, he realizes that none of them (aside from him) can drive and thus they can't escape from the area without his help.
    • Then, while driving them to where the auto-correction device for Shirayuki's GPS is and still with no intention of actually helping them out with the task, he ultimately chooses to go with them as he knows that he's the only one capable of disabling Shirayuki's GPS.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Forehead-chan.
  • Afraid of Doctors: He mentions once that he hates them, though it's more the environment in general (bad memories and all) as he warms up to Akane just fine.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Admittedly, some of the hate/dislike towards Fujimaru is justified, with him having been a villain for two years and not being the friendliest of people, but outside of the gang, most people don't have anything nice to say about him. Mocked by the scientists for being a Son of a Whore who was discarded by his mother, implied to be worthless by Kuroyuki, criticized by his coworkers and subordinates for his personality, treated with contempt by civilians in the epilogue...
  • Anti-Hero: After deciding to be Neutral No Longer, as he shifts into becoming a Knight in Sour Armor.
  • Anti-Villain: He starts off as an antagonist who hates what he does, never asked to be in his situation in the first place, and only continues because he's lost all hope.
  • The Atoner: Officially one by the Shibuya arc, where he claims that he intends to make up for everything he's done. This can especially be seen in the epilogue, where he's willing to drive his health into the ground in order to help rebuild the city.
  • Badass Biker: Gets around by a nice motorbike, though he's forced to leave it behind in Tachikawa. Ken later reminds him to retrieve it once this is all over.
  • Badass Boast: At the start of the finale, after hijacking the government systems:
    "The electric power and radio waves are under my control. Give up on restoring them. After all, the one who created Shinjuku's control system was me, wasn't it?"
  • Badass Driver: A skilled driver/pilot/what have you.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: As Ward Chief.
  • Badass Longcoat: Again, he wears one as Ward Chief.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: A slighter and more implied version than the standard, but seeing as how the only incident between Fujimaru stuck in a Villainous BSoD, believing Amagiya when the man claimed that he was irredeemable, and his Heel–Face Turn was Takeru getting angry on his behalf, something along these lines was presumably motivating Fujimaru even if he tried to ditch Takeru afterwards. Once the full scope of Fujimaru's backstory is revealed, it's entirely possible that was the first time anyone's ever stood up for him.
  • Berserk Button: Calling him by his family name, as he dislikes being reminded of his mother.
  • Big Damn Heroes: See Changed My Mind, Kid.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Blessed with Suck: His ability, when used at full force, attacks his brain at the same time, putting him in massive pain, and the strain on his body could ultimately kill him within a few hours.
  • Break the Cutie: His past.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: To prevent meteors from striking Tokyo once more and destroy the device Kuroyuki is using to manipulate their trajectory, Fujimaru uses his powers to their limit, succeeding in his goal but ending up ill for it, as he loses his ability.
  • Broken Bird: Between his Dark and Troubled Past and being Trapped in Villainy, he's a resigned mess by the start of the series, having become a deeply cynical defeatist with no sense of self-worth and who wears a Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding facade to protect himself, and it takes a while even after his Heel–Face Turn before he honestly gets better.
  • Butt-Monkey: After his Heel–Face Turn. He's usually the target of the occasional joke, such as nearly suffocating in his and Takeru's first encounter with the Ushio brothers, being the only one to see his Affectionate Nickname from Akane to be an Embarrassing Nickname, falling off a speeding vehicle, and generally being on the receiving end of teasing due to him being The Comically Serious.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: While this changes eventually, Ken urges him to return to the government for this reason (i.e. Fujimaru could get away with it, due to how useful he is), and it's presumably why orders are initially to capture him rather than kill him.
  • Changed My Mind, Kid: He parts ways with Takeru and co., not wanting to be a part of their rebellion. One chapter later, he returns to save them from Ken, driving the vehicle right between the two parties before Ken shoots them.
  • Character Development: The lion's share of it. Fujimaru's growth from a bitter, anti-social villain to a determined atoner as he moves on from his past is the most drastic in the series (barring perhaps Makoto's) and encompasses the entire story, from his debut to the epilogue.
  • Childhood Friends: With Ken (or at least 'childhood' on Fujimaru's part).
  • Classical Anti-Hero: Post-Heel–Face Turn. His Character Development is, overall, about him gaining faith in his ability to win.
  • The Comically Serious: Fujimaru is uptight and not one to take things in stride, meaning that he can usually be expected to react amusingly whenever Takeru or Akane are being their carefree selves.
  • Cool Bike: He owns one. According to Ken, it's pretty precious to him.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Sold by his mother and brutally experimented on and mocked by the scientists, before eventually shifting to being Trapped in Villainy, resulting in an extremely guilty conscience and altogether creating the Broken Bird he is today.
  • Death Seeker: While he doesn't display any suicidal behaviour in the present, there's one flashback where Ken tells him to take a break or else he'll die from the constant experimentation, to which Fujimaru implies that he wouldn't mind dying.
  • Defector from Decadence: He doesn't care about living comfortably, even if he pretends that there's Happiness in Slavery; he betrays the government not because he wants to join up with Takeru (in fact, he tries to ditch him), but because he just wants out of there.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Promptly defrosted by Takeru and Shirayuki by the end of the first arc.
  • De-power: In the finale, due to overusing his ability.
  • Despair Event Horizon: He crossed this at some point before the series—made especially clear in the volume release—with the first arc revolving around Takeru and Shirayuki trying to get him to cross back over it again.
  • Determinator: It takes him a while, compared to the other heroes, but he gets there. He spends most of the finale carrying out his tasks despite being in massive pain due to his powers, and when told by Kuroyuki that the strain will kill him, his response is simply to smirk and tell her that he won't die from something like this. Take a guess as to who's proven right in the end.
  • Determined Defeatist: Post-Heel–Face Turn, before eventually dropping the 'defeatist' part entirely. Lampshaded by Takeru, who points out that Fujimaru only said that it's impossible to win—never that he doesn't still want to try.
  • The Dog Bites Back: If Amagiya had tried dissuading Fujimaru from pulling a Heel–Face Turn in a way that didn't involve figuratively kicking him, Fujimaru might not have interfered, and Amagiya would've defeated Takeru and taken back Shirayuki.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: If his reaction to Takeru discovering the negative effects of his ability is any indication, he doesn't appreciate people worrying over him.
  • The Driver: One of his main roles, given that he and Ken are the only two who can drive, and Ken's usually busy fighting. Whatever vehicle the heroes have stolen, Fujimaru's probably the one driving it. His ability even means that he doesn't need a key to get it started.
  • Easily Forgiven: By Takeru, who goes from viewing him as a lowlife to wanting him on his side fairly quickly. Averted with everyone else, though, as he's Reformed, but Rejected for many by the end, and Makoto's forgiveness is well-earned, given how hard Fujimaru is working to atone.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Again, Forehead-chan.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism: The stoic to Takeru's emotional, though this position eventually goes to Souichi instead.
  • Enhanced Archaic Weapon: His armbrace crossbow.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Takeru in the first arc.
  • Evil Genius: For the government, pre-Heel–Face Turn.
  • Face Realization: Fujimaru honestly believes he's a horrible person for what he's done, making it something of a surprise when Shirayuki decides to place her life in his hands and Takeru claims that he's different from the other government officials.
  • Foil: To Takeru and Ken, and with Ken, to the Shibuya Ward Chiefs.
    • Fujimaru's set up as the second (confirmed) tekigousha, who happens to be Takeru's age, but appears to serve the government without remorse compared to Takeru's defiance. Even when it's revealed that this is a facade, he's still the opposite of Takeru—where Takeru keeps on fighting no matter what, Fujimaru has already given up. As a whole, he continues to serve as the voice of pessimism to Takeru's idealism, and is always the first to suspect people when Takeru chooses to trust them because Shirayuki appears to.
    • Fujimaru's the Jerk with a Heart of Gold who possesses a Hair-Trigger Temper and was known for being a Military Maverick. On the other hand, Ken is The Stoic Nice Guy who happens to be an Extreme Doormat, and the two often clash/have clashed on their differing views about their position. Both, however, ended up with the government due to their respective Abusive Parents and suffer from some sort of self-esteem issues.
    • The Shibuya Ward Chiefs are in the position that Fujimaru and Ken were at the start: knowing that they shouldn't be serving the government, but having their own reasons to. While Haruyama and Mogami try to convince Ken and Fujimaru that their fight is foolish, Ken and Fujimaru try to convince the two that their fight is worth risking their necks for.
  • Forgets to Eat: In the epilogue, as part of his Workaholic status. He doesn't seem to care much about his health, and needs the others to persuade him to take a break.
  • Freudian Excuse: A life of abuse and having no control whatsoever over his life has not done wonders for Fujimaru's ability to have faith.
  • A Friend in Need: The problem with Fujimaru's desire to not be a part of Takeru and co.'s rebellion is that he's also too good of a person to just leave them to die.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: What he's famous for. He's introduced with a weapon that he himself created, soon noted to have constructed all of the government's systems and to have developed new technology (that Takeru thought to be impossible for Tokyo) in a week all by himself, etc.
  • Genius Cripple: Might've become one by the end, as it appears that he can no longer use his right arm (movement and all, that is).
  • Genius Slob: He's fine (albeit a bit mismatched with his Ward Chief outfit) when it comes to his personal appearance, but his room's a mess.
  • Glad He's On Our Side: Implied by Takeru, who, upon really getting to see Fujimaru in action for the first time, comments that he now gets why Fujimaru was so important to the government.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: They stay on his head the entire time (until he loses them, at least) and never actually over his eyes.
  • Good Costume Switch: After his Heel–Face Turn, he ditches the suit and wears a more casual outfit instead.
  • Hair Antennae: When his hair's up in a ponytail, he has two strands of hair curved in this manner, though he's the complete opposite of the associated personality type.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: The most ill-tempered character in the series. According to Ken, he's always been this way.
  • Hand Cannon: One of his later weapons.
  • Happiness in Slavery: Subverted, despite him initially pretending otherwise to Takeru.
  • Heel–Face Turn: In Ch. 8.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: In the epilogue, due to having been a Ward Chief. On one hand, he's known as the one who started the coup d'etat. On the other hand, his district was known for being especially tyrannical, so his reputation is rather mixed.
  • Heroic Bastard: If the scientists who experimented on him are to be believed, he's a Son of a Whore.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • He briefly shuts down in Tachikawa in what amounts to a panic attack before Takeru snaps him back to reality.
    • When he realizes that Ken intends to die for him. He has to be forcibly dragged away so that Ken's (attempted) sacrifice won't be in vain.
  • Heroic Neutral: He tries to be this post-Heel–Face Turn, at least.
  • Heroic RRoD: In the final battle, with his overusing his ability causing him to lose it (and possibly function of his right arm entirely).
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He ultimately loses his power instead of his life, but he comes close to dying in the final battle by using his full ability, surviving through what amounts to sheer willpower.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: He doesn't vocalize it as much as, say, Ken or Souji, but he initially struggles with the belief that he can't contribute anything. Him deciding to help disable Shirayuki's GPS, after seeing that even Shirayuki's trying her best, marks the moment where he tries to have faith in himself for once.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Ken. Aside from ten years' worth of history together, they're virtually attached to each other's side once Ken joins the heroes.
  • Hey, You!: Like Takeru, he only ever refers to Kuroyuki as "old hag".
  • Hit Me, Dammit!: Early on, Makoto swore to give Fujimaru a good punch (for serving the government) once everything was over. Come that time, Fujimaru tells Makoto to make good on his word.
  • Hope Is Scary: He implies that he didn't even bother hoping, as giving up was less painful.
  • Human Weapon: As a tekigousha.
  • Hypocrite: A light-hearted version. Despite chiding Takeru and Ken at different intervals for trying to unreasonably push themselves, he's guilty of the same behaviour, to the point where he's the one who ends up losing his power through overuse and in the epilogue, he's the Workaholic who has to be dragged away from his station.
  • I Have No Son!: Inverted. On the day the Tokyo was destroyed, Ken tells Fujimaru that he'll help him look for his family—to which Fujimaru replies that he has none, thus disavowing his relation to his mother.
  • I Just Want to Be Free: It's what pushes him to pull a Heel–Face Turn, though Takeru realizes that even after that, Fujimaru's still trapped by his feelings of guilt and fear, thus pushing Fujimaru to joining the heroes so he can overcome all that.
  • I Owe You My Life: Or rather, I Owe You My Best Friend's Life, towards Takeru.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: He's not escorting Takeru to Tachikawa; he was already going there, thank you very much. And he didn't temporarily disable Shirayuki's GPS for them; it's too dangerous for him to be around them while it's active!
  • Iconic Item: His goggles, given that in the mangaka's illustrations, he tends to be drawn with them even when it contradicts the rest of his design. note 
  • I'm Having Soul Pains: Whenever he uses his power without his Power Limiter.
  • Improbable Age: Responsible for a large portion of the government's technology at the age of sixteen, thanks to being a tekigousha.
  • Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: During his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Ken, who's at least 12 years his senior.
  • I've Come Too Far: How he initially feels about himself, not helped by Amagiya's affirmation of this sentiment. It's thanks to Takeru that he snaps out of this.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even after his Heel–Face Turn, Fujimaru is irritable, willful, and suspicious of others. He's also quite altruistic and one of the most prone to worrying about his teammates, even leading Akane to comment that he's "surprisingly kind".
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Pre-Heel–Face Turn. It's a bit subtle, but it seems like Fujimaru's trying to act like the villain he believes himself to be.
  • Kid Hero: Like Takeru, he's sixteen.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Cynical and not necessarily of the belief that he'll ever be forgiven, but once he decides to be Neutral No Longer... Yeah, he's going to keep fighting no matter what awaits him at the end.
  • Last-Name Basis: Others definitely aren't on one with him, given his Berserk Button, but he's notably the only person in the series who refers to Takeru solely by his surname.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: In casual settings (primarily in outside-of-canon illustrations), he keeps his hair down. By the epilogue, this seems to be his norm.
  • Licked by the Dog: Shirayuki quickly attaches herself to him, even before he switches sides.
  • Loner-Turned-Friend: Ken's his Only Friend at the start of the series. By the end, that number increases to the rest of the heroes.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Though he usually keeps it up in a ponytail.
  • Long-Range Fighter: When Fujimaru does fight, the weapons he use are always projectiles. Unlike the others, it's doubtful he has any skill in close combat.
  • Made a Slave: More like 'human experiment eventually turned slave of sorts,' but this is essentially his backstory.
  • Military Maverick: Known among the government for being a defiant brat, but still retains a high-ranking position due to his skill.
  • Morality Pet: To Ken. While the man is a Punch-Clock Villain either way, he's nicest whenever Fujimaru is in the picture, as he won't attack then. Fujimaru's also the reason Ken ends up pulling a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Mr. Exposition: If there's something government/setting-related that can't be explained through the narration, chances are Fujimaru's the one explaining it.
  • Mr Fix It: His first Pet the Dog moment involves him fixing a toy airplane.
  • Neutral No Longer: When he decides that he wants to have faith in his ability to make a difference and thus joins up with Takeru and co., with a case of I Owe You My Life sealing the deal in the end.
  • No Social Skills: It's not clear how much of his lack of social etiquette—kicking down doors, driving his motorbike into trailers, etc.—stems from him simply not caring, but one has to imagine that growing up in a laboratory didn't do much to teach him manners.
  • Not Afraid of You Anymore: After having been terrified of Kuroyuki for most of his life and generally unable to refute anything she says about him, he makes it clear in the finale that she doesn't intimidate him anymore.
  • Odd Friendship: He and Ken are about as different as you can get.
  • Only Friend: While Ken's more liked by others, at least, Fujimaru appears to be this for him, due to Ken being otherwise Married to the Job.
  • Only Sane Man: While it's just him, Takeru, and Shirayuki, what with the latter two being The Pollyanna. He's the only one who thinks that running off with two suspicious thieves just because they claim to share your goals is more than a little questionable.
  • Outside Man, Inside Man: Outside Man to Ken's Inside Man. A very understanding version, though: Fujimaru knows Ken well enough to not bother with asking him to defect with him and he doesn't hesitate to trust the man with his life, regardless.
  • Parental Abandonment: His father's never mentioned (and given Fujimaru's origins, he probably doesn't even know who his father is and vice versa), and his mother sold him.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Takeu notices, and recognizes it as a sign of how unhappy Fujimaru is.
  • Pet the Dog: How the reader first knows that he's a decent person at heart: he's nice to machines.
  • Power Limiter: The sleeve/glove he wears over his right arm turns out to be one.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Sort of. He's not the one killing Kuroyuki, but after destroying the device in the Mirror Room and knowing that Kuroyuki is soon to be defeated, he tells her this:
    "... Old hag...! You'll get... what you deserve...!"
  • Punch-Clock Villain: He chases down Takeru purely because his job dicates it, with him even getting annoyed when then ordered to do extra work and take Takeru to Shinjuku as well.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted. While he's the first antagonist of the series, he turns out to be an Anti-Villain at worst and quickly pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red Oni to Ken's Blue.
  • Redemption Equals Affliction: The redemption comes at the start of the series and the affliction at the end, but his Heroic Sacrifice & subsequent Heroic RRoD during the final battle is largely part of his attempt to atone.
  • Reformed, but Rejected: In the epilogue, some civilians aren't too keen on forgiving him even after he helps to take down the government.
  • Refusal of the Call: After repeated A Friend in Need moments, he finally accepts it.
  • Right Hand of Doom: His protector makes his right arm rather noticeable.
  • Safety in Indifference: It's why he's afraid to hope, and Ken mentions that you can tell when Fujimaru's denying something to himself, because he'll default to being expressionless.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: Takeru's Phrase Catcher above? Fujimaru's probably the one saying it.
  • Science Hero: His skill in technology saves the day more than once.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He attempts this after betraying the government, but Takeru and co. catching up with him ultimately turns it into a proper Heel–Face Turn.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: The things he's done under Kuroyuki's dictatorship have left their mark on him, to the point where he has a panic attack in Tachikawa after his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: He tries to do this in response to Takeru's Kirk Summation. Given that Fujimaru's on the verge of a Villainous BSoD by then, it works about as well as you'd expect.
  • Slip Knot Ponytail: It tends to come undone when he uses his full power.
  • The Smart Guy: For the heroes, post-Heel–Face Turn, being the resident Techno Wizard and Mr. Exposition.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: As seen when he was a kid, as per is presumably common for the tekigousha experiments. In his case, he requested for them to remove the restraints, as he wouldn't bother trying to escape.
  • Son of a Whore: It's revealed in the revision of Ch. 46 that his mother was a prostitute. The scientists rubbed this in his face when he was a kid, commenting on how he was just an unwanted child worth some pittance.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Pre-Heel–Face Turn. Afterwards, he's more subdued when it comes to his issues, now that he's gotten out of the situation that was perpetuating them.
  • Sour Supporter: You have to give the guy some credit for trying to resist becoming Takeru's ally.
  • Tainted Veins: When using his true ability.
  • Talking to Themself: He doesn't do this, but for those unaware of his ability, it can come across as this.
  • Tears of Joy: The one time he's seen crying in the present is while expressing his gratitude towards Takeru for going back to save Ken.
  • Techno Wizard: Even without his powers, he's a genius when it comes to technology.
  • Technopath: He can communicate with machines. And hijack them entirely at full power.
  • Teen Genius: Incredibly skilled with machines, despite his young age. Granted, he kind of cheats, considering the nature of his power, but he keeps it up in the epilogue, even after his De-power.
  • Took a Level in Cheerfulness: At the start, Takeru told him that he'd be able to smile a lot more once they took Kuroyuki down. Come the epilogue...
  • Took a Level in Idealism: Over the course of the series. He goes from being a Broken Bird to a Determined Defeatist to a proper Determinator, as his faith in victory grows.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Post-Heel–Face Turn, in a mixture of dropping the Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding facade and not constantly trying to convince Takeru to give up.
  • Tragic Villain: This lasts for all of one arc, with him initially feeling that it's too late for him to be anything more than a villain. By the end, he decides that irredeemable or not, he's not going to use that as an excuse to commit further crimes in the government's name.
  • Trapped in Villainy: He knows very well that if he defects, he'll become a fugitive.
  • Trash of the Titans: Thankfully, it's not actual garbage, but his room's littered with various machine parts, toys, papers, etc.
  • Trauma Button:
    • His last name, as noted under Berserk Button. Izumi calling him by his full name doesn't seem to set him off (though it's possible that he was restraining himself/too preoccupied with the high-tension situation in the two cases), but Kuroyuki using his last name (off-screen) very obviously upsets him. This being Kuroyuki, she was well aware that it could trigger bad memories for him.
    • Mixed with the below trigger, thinking about Kuroyuki herself in relation to his childhood, as it prompts feelings of being trapped and under her control all over again.
    • Post-Heel–Face Turn, comments along the lines of "How many people do you intend to kill/have you allowed to die/etc." This and the one regarding Kuroyuki are what cause his flashback episode in Tachikawa. Once he starts moving past his guilt, though, they fortunately begin to fade.
    • To a lesser but more consistent extent, medical facilities and anything related make him visibly uncomfortable.
  • Tsundere: He gets flustered whenever it's suggested that he cares, which he'll likely deny. Unfortunately for him, all of the other heroes see right through him.
  • Tsurime Eyes: Befitting his Tsundere status.
  • Universal Driver's License: Despite the fact that he's only had about the last two years to learn, he seems capable of driving/piloting anything. His ability probably helps.
  • Villainous BSoD: Immediately before his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Weak, but Skilled: He's not physically suited for combat like the others and has no real fighting abilities, but he does have a bunch of nifty weapons that allow him to hold his own whenever he does enter the fray.
  • Willfully Weak: Due to the negative side effects of his powers, he keeps his Power Limiter on at all times, only removing it and using his true power when he has to.
  • Workaholic: He's become one by the epilogue.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Essentially what Takeru tells him and what pushes him to betray the government, even if he can't believe it fully. It comes up again in the next arc, albeit not to Fujimaru's face. Takeru and Shirayuki both agree to believe in Fujimaru even though he can't believe in himself, and eventually, he proves them right.
  • Young and in Charge: Sixteen and Ward Chief of Hachiouji.

    Ken Kenneth 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/13251323f23bdc85710dae67596e4cef.jpg

The Ward Chief of Tachikawa, and a longtime friend of Fujimaru's. Unlike Fujimaru, he's genuinely loyal, in a sense, believing that carrying out your duty regardless of your beliefs is part of being a soldier. Ultimately, though, this doesn't stop him from joining the heroes.

He is able to assimilate his right arm into a gun, with him forming bullets out of his own blood.


  • Abusive Parents: When Ken was about to be disowned for not living up to his father's standards and he asked for a second chance, his father's response was to have him agree to be experimented on.
  • Affably Evil: He gives Takeru a bag of N&Ns upon meeting him. And then tries to kill him two chapters later.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Beast-san, due to him being a Determinator.
  • Alliterative Name: This is even marked by his name being written as K.K, with Ken/Kenneth written in furigana.
  • Anti-Hero: He's a Nice Guy, but like Takeru, he acknowledges (in response to Ryuuichi's What the Hell, Hero? moment to him) that while he believes in his cause, his actions effectively make him a criminal.
  • Anti-Villain: He's a Punch-Clock Villain at worst.
  • Archnemesis Dad: Not within the series, but it's implied that after the epilogue, Ken's father may be the group's next enemy.
  • Arm Cannon: His ability.
  • Artificial Limbs: Has one for his right arm when not using his power, as his actual arm apparently decayed and fell off before the start of the series.
  • The Atoner: In the epilogue.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: The Ward Chief of Tachikawa and easily more badass than his men.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Towards Fujimaru. This is clearest in Shibuya when, despite generally being okay with everyone else fending for themselves and choosing to simply believe in them, he tells Fujimaru to call for him if he's in trouble. When Fujimaru, somewhat affronted, asks if Ken doesn't have any faith in him, Ken merely repeats himself.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Again, one of sorts to Fujimaru. Perhaps a bit of a dark example, though: Ken believes that Fujimaru is better off being subservient rather than defiant and advises him to be polite, as he knows that rebellion is futile. After his Heel–Face Turn, he goes to being a straighter example.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Not bad at these.
    • When Uzuki's about to finish Takeru off, having bested all of the tekigousha up until that point, Ken suddenly shows up, half-dead, and manages to break her black diamond. While she and Izumi are under a barrage from him, the others take that time to escape.
    • After Takeru, Souichi, and Souji get separated from the others, Takeru decides to try and take down the enemy helicopters, despite knowing that they'll probably fire on him and kill him before he can do it, if he can even accomplish it to begin with. Ken then shows up on the scene and takes care of it for him.
  • The Big Guy: Of the heroes, with his main role being to provide (literal) firepower.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Black Sheep: He comes from a prestigious military family, of which he's considered the failure because he wasn't the upstanding soldier he was expected to be (rather, he was a coward who stayed off the front lines).
  • Blessed with Suck: Heck, one of his major roles is to demonstrate that being a tekigousha is this, in case all the mentions of him being on the verge of death due to his powers don't tip you off.
  • Bloody Murder: Forms bullets with his blood.
  • Bottomless Magazines: He uses his blood as bullets.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: Just see him with Shirayuki in the epilogue, or look at the omakes where he did things like leave Christmas gifts for Fujimaru.
  • The Brute: Of the government, as the chief of the most military-focused ward.
  • Cast from Hit Points: His ability, as it causes the poison to build up.
  • Character Development: Through his friendship with Fujimaru and being inspired by Takeru, he decides to stop being an Extreme Doormat for his family and the government, forsaking them in order to do what's right and fight for the people rather than his duties.
  • Childhood Friends: With Fujimaru.
  • Coat Cape: Not as often as Izumi, but he can occasionally be seen wearing his coat like this.
  • Commonality Connection: In the moment where the two honestly become friends, he empathizes with Takeru's desire to keep on fighting even if it wrecks his body.
  • Cowardly Lion: A coward who was too afraid to go out on the frontlines—and yet was willing to volunteer for the tekigousha experients, which aren't exactly a walk in the park either.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: His appearance—ski mask and all—when he debuts is, as Fujimaru notes, pretty ominous, but Ken's an Affably Evil Punch-Clock Villain at worst.
  • Defiant to the End: Even when it becomes clear that Izumi will kill him, Ken, while nice enough not to outright taunt the other man, still manages to smile and make a comment about how Izumi wanted to save Takeru two years ago, hinting that he knows about Izumi's Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding facade.
  • Determinator: Being half-dead won't stop Ken from jumping into the fray. Neither will recovering from an operation, bleeding to death, any manner of wound for that matter, etc.
  • Don't Say Such Stupid Things!: In the volume release, Fujimaru berates Ken when he starts putting himself down, telling him to stop saying that. Later, he follows it up with the You Are Better Than You Think You Are moment below.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He's not especially offended by it, but as seen in the revision, he'd rather the others not try and help him walk when he's still capable of doing it on his own.
  • Dull Surprise: When his neck gets near-fatally cut, though in his defence, he was blacking out.
  • Easily Forgiven: Like with Fujimaru, Takeru and the others accept him on the team quite easily, but averted with the general populace, who aren't so quick to forgive the ex-employees.
  • Emotional Bruiser: He grew out of it, but according to Fujimaru, he used to cry all the time in spite of being huge.
  • Extreme Doormat: Initially for his father and for the government, with the latter being due to a case of My Master, Right or Wrong.
  • Face Death with Dignity: He survives, thanks to Takeru, but he was fully prepared to do this when Izumi was about to kill him.
  • Fake Arm Disarm: It's not a big deal if his gun arm gets ripped off.
  • Family Honor: Why his father was ready to disown him: considering how prestigious Ken's family, his father therefore had very high standards for him. Maintaining it is why Ken signed up for the human experimentation and likely has to do with why he stayed with the government for so long.
  • A Father to His Men: He's shown to care for his subordinates, especially in the epilogue where he tries to take the blame off their shoulders.
  • First-Name Basis: He just about always uses the appropriate Japanese Honorifics or titles when referring to people, making it notable that Fujimaru is the one exception.
  • Foil: To Fujimaru, and with him, to the Shibuya Ward Chiefs.
    • To Fujimaru, with them being two halves of an Odd Friendship. Where Fujimaru is ill-tempered, rebellious, and disliked by his coworkers, Ken is stoic, subservient, and appears to be respected by his subordinates. Fujimaru ended up as a tekigousha because his mother, who saw him as worthless, sold him; Ken willingly volunteered to win the approval of his father, who saw him as worthless.
    • The Shibuya Ward Chiefs are in the position that Fujimaru and Ken were at the start: knowing that they shouldn't be serving the government, but having their own reasons to. While Haruyama and Mogami try to convince Ken and Fujimaru that their fight is foolish, Ken and Fujimaru try to convince the two that their fight is worth risking their necks for.
  • Forced into Evil: Subverted, which he appears to feel a bit guilty over—he willingly signed up to be part of this.
  • A Friend in Need: Betrays the government to save Fujimaru. And that was the best case scenario, considering that Ken was expecting to die there.
  • Freudian Excuse: His desperation for his father's approval in the past led him to joining up with the government and is presumably the source of his initial Extreme Doormat attitude.
  • The Gadfly: Mildly. He seems fond of teasing Fujimaru, whose Hair-Trigger Temper he is well aware of (and mostly amused by).
  • Gentle Giant: Very imposing in terms of stature, but also a very nice guy when it comes down to it.
  • Genius Bruiser: Can be seen reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky in an omake.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Post-Heel–Face Turn.
  • Gratuitous English: On occasion.
  • Handicapped Badass: He can't even breathe without the use of a device, but it doesn't stop him from posing a threat. Played for Drama, however, as this severely damages Ken's self-esteem.
  • Heel–Face Turn: In Ch. 17.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Like Fujimaru, he suffers from this in the epilogue, having been a Ward Chief.
  • Heroic RRoD: His power slowly kills him every time he uses it, with the damage being irreversible. Until Akane comes along, at least.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Attempts to pull one off to save Fujimaru, but Takeru ends up saving him and dragging him away.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Sees himself as a burden, what with being half-dead.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Fujimaru.
  • Human Weapon: As a tekigousha. He, in particular, wanted to become stronger through this.
  • I Can Still Fight!: Take a shot every time Ken pushes himself in spite of his injuries/being half-dead (and another every time Fujimaru yells at/scolds him for it). For a relatively short series, you'll be taking quite a few.
  • I Have No Son!: His father was about to disown him for not living up to standards, before Ken begged for another chance.
  • I Just Want to Be Badass: As part of his backstory.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Fujimaru.
  • Just Following Orders: In a mixture of being a case of My Master, Right or Wrong and knowing that if that didn't apply, he'd be Trapped in Villainy anyway.
  • Large and in Charge: Much bigger than the average person, and the Tachikawa Ward Chief.
  • The Last Dance: He just wants to be able to fight until his last breath, much to Fujimaru's chagrin.
  • Long-Range Fighter: He's a tekigousha who assimilates with guns, after all.
  • Loophole Abuse: Veering on Insane Troll Logic, but Ken claims that he's not betraying the government, he's just carrying out his duties—after all, he's supposed to show off his ability, isn't he? He just happens to also be aiming roughly at his coworkers.
  • Made of Iron: As noted underneath I Can Still Fight!, Ken gets injured a lot and consequently keeps on fighting even while badly injured just as often, leading to his nickname as Beast-san.
  • Married to the Job: Haruyama comments on how Ken was so devoted to his duties that he never had time to chat.
  • Military Brat: He hails from a military family.
  • Missing Mom: Though his dad's still alive, his mother is never mentioned.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Unlike Fujimaru, he sincerely believes in this. Friendships wins over duty, though.
  • Nerves of Steel: Always composed, even under pressure. Alongside Souichi, he's one of the only ones to keep cool after the Wham Episode (Takeru and Akane are stuck in a Heroic BSoD, Souji's sitting there crying, and Fujimaru's nerves are distracting him).
  • Nice Guy: While initially on the villains' side, he's generally a friendly person who's respectful even to his enemies.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: He's surprised when Takeru comes back for him while he's on the verge of death, as he knows that he's about to die soon to which Takeru responds that Fujimaru is worried, so they should escape together.
  • Not Afraid to Die: Becoming this was a major part of his backstory, having once been a coward.
  • Not So Stoic: If even Ken's clearly unsettled, the situation's probably bad.
  • Odd Friendship: With Fujimaru. Putting their age difference aside, Fujimaru is not the sort of person you'd expect someone like Ken to get along with.
  • One-Man Army: His debut even involves him being able to take on both Souichi and Takeru, who are One-Man Armies themselves. After he recovers, he easily fires away at enemies while the group makes their escape from Suginami.
  • Only Friend: To Fujimaru, before Takeru and co. come along.
  • Outside Man, Inside Man: The Inside Man to Fujimaru's Outside Man. As noted in Fujimaru's section, they have a much less conflicted version of this: while Ken briefly tries to convince Fujimaru to rejoin the government, it's clear that Ken would never do anything to harm Fujimaru, technically enemies or not.
  • Papa Wolf: The oldest of the group, and the one most likely to try and defend everyone.
  • The Patient Has Left the Building: Subverted. Ken tries to go after Takeru and co. even though he's supposed to be waiting for an operation—and then Akane just walks up to him and sedates him.
  • Phenotype Stereotype: American, with blond hair and green eyes.
  • Power Degeneration: As he uses his powers, the poison builds up in his body, slowly killing him.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: His debut makes this clear. He won't lift a finger against Fujimaru and so doesn't make an attempt to capture Takeru and Shirayuki, as they're Fujimaru's allies. The moment Fujimaru leaves them and they join up with the Ushio brothers and launch an attack on the base, though, Ken gets straight to work.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the Blue Oni to Fujimaru's Red.
  • The Scapegoat: Far from completely innocent, but in the epilogue, he attempts to divert blame from his subordinates by taking it all on himself.
  • Secretly Dying: While he doesn't make that much of an attempt to hide it, he didn't seem to be in any hurry for Fujimaru to realize that he was on the verge of death already.
  • Shrinking Violet: Again, he's noted to have been very timid before.
  • Sorry That I'm Dying: As he nearly dies and blacks out, he apologizes to Fujimaru in his thoughts, whom he assumes to be calling out for him.
  • The Stoic: He can laugh and yell like an ordinary person, but for the most part, he's not on the emotional side.
  • The Strategist: As the only one of the party who's an actual soldier, he has the best understanding of military tactics.
  • Super-Soldier: One of the combat-oriented tekigousha of the government. Bonus points for having been a soldier even before then.
  • Tainted Veins: They indicate how badly the poison is afflicting his body.
  • Team Dad: Shares this position with Souichi. He tends to look out for the others as one of the older party members.
  • Tender Tears: Again, once upon a time, he was a huge crybaby.
  • Thicker Than Water: Subverted. Despite his initial devotion to his family, he ends up betraying them to do what's right. Or more personally, he chooses his friendship with Fujimaru over them. The epilogue has him effectively cut ties with his father.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: He ultimately chooses 'good'.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Once more, this is part of his backstory.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: He starts off believing, like numerous characters, that Kuroyuki can't be defeated. By the time the heroes arrive in Shibuya, he vows to use his power to fight for those who've lost everything and can no longer hope.
  • Trapped in Villainy: Subverted. This technically applies to him, but it's not why he's loyal to the government. Again, he's a case of My Master, Right or Wrong.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Has some degree of this, as he can presumably assimilate with/into different guns.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: He desperately wanted his father's approval when he was younger, to the point of volunteering for the tekigousha experiments. By the end of the series, he seems to have let it go.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: In the finale, Ryuuichi tears into him for having turned traitor and now killing the subordinates who'd once believed in him.
  • White Sheep: After his Heel–Face Turn, given that his family works with Kuroyuki.
  • Workaholic: He's very devoted to his duties, to the point of being Married to the Job.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems with opening fire on Uzuki.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In response to Ken's Heroic Self-Deprecation, Fujimaru has this to say, referring to one of Ken's Big Damn Heroes moments:
    Fujimaru: "Hey, Ken... I don't think of you as a burden. Back then, if you hadn't come, none of us would be here right now."
  • You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: Despite him being a loyal subordinate, as he's dying from his ability in any case, the government intends to set up his death to their advantage as part of an experiment.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: He's on his deathbed by the time he's introduced.

    Souichi Ushio 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4549374b053024462fe09bba5ee6bd7a.jpg

The elder of the two Ushio brothers. Due to his body's rejection of the experimentation, he's progressively de-aging and thus knows that he doesn't have long left to live. Consequently, he's determined to take down the government before he dies, both to restore hope to the people and as means of revenge for him and his brother.

His ability was assimilating a blade with his right arm. However, due to overuse, he no longer possesses said ability.


  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: He wields one.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Mini-chan.
  • Aloof Big Brother: He has some shades of this, as while he and Souji are very close, Souichi is on the aloof side and generally has an air of competence that Souji hopes to match.
  • Anime Hair: Even in the rain, he can ruffle it back into its spikes!
  • Anti-Hero: The most pragmatic and least idealistic of the group, as well as the one least inclined to sympathize with the enemy.
  • The Anti-Nihilist: As far as he's concerned, tekigousha tend not to live for very long, and so they should make the most out of their lives while they can, rather than focus on their inevitable deaths.
  • Apologetic Attacker: After threatening a civilian in order to force her cooperation, he understandably apologizes for having to do it.
  • An Arm and a Leg: While it fell off in an abnormal manner, he permanently lost his right arm during the experimentation, as revealed in a flashback.
  • Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: He states that it's for practical reasons, but given that he even wears the hair decoration and continues to do so even in normal clothing, he might have some fondness for the fashion, at least.
  • Badass Boast: When he and Takeru first meet and establish that the latter has no idea how he's going to defeat the government (and thus will lose):
    Souichi: "Come with me if you want to win."
  • Badass Bookworm: It's revealed in the epilogue that he was an economics student at university.
  • Badass Normal: Not that he enjoys this role, though. For all the misery that his ability caused him, he desperately wants it back now, in fear that he'll drag down the group.
  • Bash Brothers: With Takeru, with Souichi noting in the beginning that he was waiting for a combat tekigousha (like Takeru). In the finale, he's this with his real brother, Souji.
  • BFS: Could previously turn in his arm into this.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Aside from obviously possessing this towards his real brother, he sometimes demonstrates a slight protectiveness towards Takeru too, as Souichi's well aware of their age difference.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Takeru, whom he often gives advice to regarding usage of his powers. In the end, he shows signs of this to Ryuuichi as well.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Does this at one point, saving Ken and Fujimaru before Haruyama and Mogami can kill them immediately after his operation is finished.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: Could previously turn his entire arm into a blade.
  • Blessed with Suck: He used to be this, and the negative side effects didn't disappear along with his power.
  • Blood Knight: A minor case: he won't go picking a fight unnecessarily, but he does seem to enjoy fighting if his smirks are any indication.
  • Bound and Gagged: In a flashback, due to how rebellious he was during the experimentation.
  • Broken Ace: Smart, charismatic, a good brother, and a major badass that waltzes in and takes the stage—and underneath it all, a lot more prone to insecurity than one might believe, even if he functions fine in spite of it.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Pre-series. If you think being tiny, one-armed, and lacking in special abilities makes Souichi incompetent, you've got another thing coming.
  • Brutal Honesty: The main cause of his Jerk with a Heart of Gold status. Souichi tends to say it like it is, no matter how cruel it might sound.
  • Cassandra Truth: One minor moment. He introduces Souji as his younger brother, but when he later reveals their ages to Takeru and Fujimaru, they're blatantly shocked: they thought he was kidding back then.
  • Character Development: The Desperation (and, to an extent, the Faith) arc(s) deals him a Humble Pie, forcing him to drop some of the Big Brother Instinct due to how much it's messing Souji up and swallow down what he himself refers to as him having been "conceited, selfish, and idiotic".
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Much more physically capable than someone in the body of a ten-year-old should be.
  • Close-Range Combatant: In a contrast to Ken, he fights purely using blades. The omakes suggest that he and Souji used to train in swordsmanship.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Souichi has absolutely no qualms about fighting dirty. Considering he's The Team Normal, a Handicapped Badass, and physically about ten years old, it's easy to see why. This includes surprise attacks, traps, using Shirayuki as a hostage of sorts, etc.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and blue eyes.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He and Souji were taken away for 'mandatory labour' half a year ago—in other words, sent to be experimented on. Afterwards, they were locked up in a room, where they (or rather, only Souichi) had to slaughter wave after wave of people in order to survive, as the downsides of their powers came into effect. Souichi doesn't let it get to him, though.
  • De-power: Again, pre-series.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Emphasis on the 'deadpan'.
  • Defiant to the End: Even after being arrested and experimented on, Souichi kept on fighting back so much that they had to keep him asleep during the experimentation. This didn't change even when he learned that he was dying, and even him doing The Last Dance could be considered an extension of this.
  • Determinator: Let's put it this way: he spent months locked up in a room, having to basically fight non-stop while he gradually de-aged, and managed to keep on going and win each time. Upon then realizing that he's dying, he decided to screw despairing and instead stick it to the people who did this to him and his brother. You can imagine the sort of willpower that conviction gives him.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: Forget wasting away—he's going to defeat the government before he dies.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: He regains his previously lost ability, thanks to Akane and Souji's efforts. That said, he never truly regains his right arm (in normal form).
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism: Stoic and level-headed where Takeru is reckless and emotional, and possessing the 'reasonable' view on how to deal with Souji, whereas Takeru's opinion is more empathetic.
  • Fake Arm Disarm: His right arm gets ripped off in the final battle. This time, though, as he still has his powers, the loss isn't permanent as he then assimilates with one of Amagiya's claws.
  • Family Theme Naming: His and Souji's name are identical save for the second character, with Souichi's being 'one' and Souji's being 'two'. One imagines that if they had a third brother, he'd be 'three'.
  • Foil: To Takeru. He serves as Takeru's Big Brother Mentor, being stoic and strategic where Takeru is emotional and reckless. While in Suginami, why this sometimes serves in Takeru's favour, on the flip side, is illustrated: he can better understand Souji's feelings, especially being a fellow little brother, while Souichi's position as an elder brother is blinding him.
  • Fountain of Youth: One that can't be turned off.
  • Handicapped Badass: Similar to his status as the Badass Normal, he really wishes he weren't this, as badass as it might seem to the reader.
  • Hero of Another Story: While Takeru was causing a ruckus in Hachiouji, Souichi and Souji were causing their own ruckus in Tachikawa.
  • Heroic RRoD: Suffered this pre-series.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Like Ken, he sees himself as a potential burden and the reason why they might not win, being The Team Normal suffering from Power Degeneration. Keep in mind that Souichi has never at any point been helpless; if anything, he's been nothing but an incredibly solid fighter.
  • Hey, You!: Initially refers to Takeru as "stray" and Fujimaru as "Ex-Ward Chief".
  • Hidden Depths: His involvement with economics in the epilogue and an illustration depicting him as a businessman indicate where his non-war-related talents and interests may lie.
  • Hope Bringer: Trying to be this for the people is part of why he fights against the government.
  • Human Weapon: Like Takeru, he and his brother are a failed version of this.
  • Humble Pie: He fails to realize how damaging his Big Brother Instinct is to Souji, even when Takeru points it out—it's not until that he honestly sees how much of a wreck Souji is that he has a change of heart.
  • Hypocrite: Though he's a believer of living while you can and not fixating on your death, he (initially) has difficulty applying that notion to Souji.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Just look at the above picture.
  • Improvised Weapon: When he needs a new blade to assimilate with, he uses one of Amagiya's claws.
  • Ineffectual Loner: He's not afraid to ask for help from Takeru and co. (and in fact knew very well that he couldn't defeat the government on his own), but his refusal to depend on Souji causes problems, with him eventually acknowledging that it was stupid arrogance on his part to not depend on Souji more.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Blunt and unsympathetic, but always looking out for others. He's also one of the few who didn't need Takeru to come and convince him to stand up and fight: he already had a strong enough sense of justice to want to liberate the people, odds be damned.
  • Just Like Robin Hood: What he and Souji apparently went around doing pre-series: steal from the government, give to the civilians.
  • Justified Criminal: It's really hard to blame him and Souji for becoming thieves in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, especially when they keep little of it for themselves.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: While the group overall is fairly good about this, Souichi's likely the one stating when it's time to escape.
  • The Last Dance: If he's going to die, then he at least wants to see the government fall before he does.
  • Life-or-Limb Decision: When fighting Amagiya, he sacrifices his assimilated weapon to get away before the mind-breaking tekigousha's light hits. That said, seeing as how Souichi already lost his actual arm a long time ago, there's no real damage, beyond the loss of his weapon.
  • Little Big Brother: Thanks to the fact that his body is de-aging, he'll always be smaller than Souji.
  • Loveable Rogue: He's introduced as a thief, charismatic and competent.
  • Machete Mayhem: His second weapon.
  • Made of Iron: Being severely dehydrated and getting his ribs broken doesn't slow him down any.
  • Mangst: He does finally break down a bit when he's dealt a Humble Pie, though even then, he remains relatively stoic.
  • Muggle Power: He hated his power, up until the point that he lost it and realized how much he needed it to win against the government. Now, all he wants is to have it back.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: As Takeru notes, for a guy who's about physically ten, Souichi is pretty damn strong.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Again, when he realizes how much of a mess Souji is.
    I... drove Souji into a corner. If he was trying to protect me, then... why...!? Why would he [apologize]...!?
  • Nerves of Steel: It takes a lot to ruffle Souichi. As noted under the same trope for Ken's section, he's one of the two heroes who remains perfectly composed even after the Wham Episode.
  • Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: In his backstory, a group of people were convinced that he'd be an easy kill, since they had guns and he only had a blade. Guess who won?
  • No Sympathy: He's remarkably flat while talking about Ken's condition, and his response to Ryuuichi's issues is to just hit the guy. He also explicitly states that he has No Sympathy for the three unnamed mind-breaking tekigousha after hearing about their abuse under Kuroyuki's hands, implied to be because it'd hold him back otherwise.
  • Not So Stoic: Primarily where Souji is concerned.
  • Older Than They Look: He's twenty-two.
  • One-Man Army: His backstory firmly cements him as this, and he doesn't let up in the present either.
  • Painful Transformation: As with Souji, fusing his arm with the blade wasn't exactly pleasant.
  • Parental Abandonment: His and Souji's parents can be seen in an omake, taking place in the past, but are never mentioned within the story. For that reason, they're presumably dead.
  • Perpetual Frowner: He's got a nice smile, but his face tends to be stuck in either an icy glare or a flat expression.
  • Pet the Dog: While he didn't entirely need it, Souichi's heroic side is established when he off-handedly tells Souji to drop off their goods in a place where some homeless children will find it, revealing that the two aren't even stealing for themselves.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's the next hard-hitter after Takeru, while being about two-thirds of the teenager's size.
  • Please, Don't Leave Me: In a revision-only flashback, Souichi begs for Souji to not die before he does.
  • Power Degeneration: His powers caused him to grow younger and younger, hence how he turned out the way he is now.
  • Pragmatic Hero: He fights the dirtiest out of everyone, and has no qualms about coercing civilians into cooperating with him (though whether he would've actually gone through with his threat is a different story). Considering that he's running out of time, it's understandable that he needs to win as quickly and efficiently as possible.
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: After regaining his powers and just before he proceeds to kick Mogami's ass:
    "... My right arm's throbbing in a way that it hasn't for a long time."
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue Oni to Takeru's Red Oni, as well as Souji's.
  • Revenge: See The Last Dance.
  • Sarashi: Wears one for a while, after getting his ribs broken.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Manly Man to Souji's Sensitive Guy.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon: This was his ability: assimilating his right arm with blades.
  • Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: This trope is precisely why he wears old-fashioned clothing that can easily be adjusted. Furthermore, an easy way to tell if Souichi's de-aged is to check where the hem of his hakama lies as Takeru notices after Souichi regains his ability.
  • Sibling Team: With Souji.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: He's aloof and confident whereas Souji is soft-hearted and meek.
  • Slasher Smile: He sports a mild one after he regains his ability.
  • Smug Smiler: Souichi has primarily two expressions: his passive one, which is his default, and a smirk, which is typically shown to the enemy.
  • Spiky Hair: As the resident aloof badass among the heroes.
  • The Stoic: He's one cool customer.
  • The Strategist: He falls into this role for a while, during his debut. Funnily enough, he states that he's not very good at actual tactics, hence why he then passes the role onto Ken.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Typically very aloof, but he does have his softer moments, however rarely.
  • Tainted Veins: Whenever he used his ability.
  • Team Dad: Shares this position with Ken.
  • The Team Normal: The only member of the party to have no special powers, having lost his pre-series.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After becoming an Empowered Badass Normal. Less of a jump than the others, given how much of a One-Man Army he already was, but damn if his enhanced ability isn't impressive.
  • Trauma Conga Line: While not necessarily the most traumatic of all the pasts in this series, Souichi and Souji win in terms of how compressed the time-frame is: over the last two years, their normal lives ended when the apocalypse hit, their parents presumably died at some point afterwards (as omakes suggest they were alive before then), and they then had to live under the dictatorship's reign, got arrested, and... well, see Dark and Troubled Past for the rest. And now, just to top things off, they're dying.
  • Underestimating Badassery: He's tiny and missing an arm. Needless to say, the average civilian assumes he's a helpless kid.
  • Unwitting Pawn: He's suspicious about how the government just dumped them in Tachikawa and let them roam free, but doesn't realize just how much of a test subject they still are.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: His (lost) power.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Like the others, he doesn't hold back against Uzuki.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He avoids killing the three mind-breaking tekigousha, as they're only around Souji's age (i.e. twelve).
  • You Are Worth Hell: Souji's opinion of him. If Souichi is going to die, then Souji would rather die with him than after.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Similarly to Ken, due to the fact that he and his brother are experimental failures, the government's happy to try and manipulate them to their death For Science!.
  • You Remind Me of X: Takeru tells Souichi that the latter reminds him of Izumi (or rather, the Izumi from before this entire mess), with both being the Big Brother Mentor type.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: Downplayed. He's almost always the one who insists on holding the enemy off so that the others can run away.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Seeing as how he's de-aging, he knows that sooner or later, he'll revert to pre-infancy.

    Souji Ushio 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e118f6eabe786519adc63106bf40910e.jpg

The younger of the two Ushio brothers. Like his brother, he's an experimental failure, though in his case, his body is rapidly aging. Because of this, Souichi dislikes having Souji fight; however, Souji, for his part, is eager to help out and take down the government, just as everybody else.

Similarly to Souichi, Souji's ability is assimilating a blade with his right arm.


  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Can assimilate his arm with one, effectively turning his arm into a blade.
  • Adorably Precocious Child: He wants so badly to pull his weight.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Beanpole-kun.
  • Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: For the same reasons as Souichi.
  • Badass Adorable: A weird example in that he's physically a middle-aged man, but he still has the mannerisms of a very sweet and innocent kid. When, you know, not slicing people apart.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: One of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet, and great at killing people!
  • BFS: Turning his arm into this is his ability. Eventually, though, he manages to turn it into a smaller, more precise blade.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Saves Souichi and Takeru from two hunters and other soldiers right before Souichi's about to be killed.
  • Big Little Brother: An unavoidable result when he's rapidly aging and his older brother's rapidly de-aging.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: Part of his ability.
  • Bleed 'Em and Weep: Not at his first kill, but rather, he cries when he decides to solidify his will to kill and brutally murders the hunters about to kill Souichi and Takeru.
  • Blessed with Suck: For the same reasons as Souichi (well, except in reverse).
  • Blind Weaponmaster: After losing his sight.
  • Break the Cutie: It's not obvious at first, but he's understandably been badly affected by what happened to him and Souichi.
  • Character Development: He starts off as being a timid fighter and a bit of Souichi's shadow, going along with his brother's will even when he wants to speak up. The climax of the Desperation arc has him finally stand his ground. Also, while perhaps having more to do with initial shyness than an outright personality change, he goes from being The Quiet One to something more akin to the Cheerful Child.
  • Cheerful Child: If he's not being The Quiet One, then he has shades of this.
  • Close-Range Combatant: Just like his brother.
  • Cowardly Lion: Being all of twelve, he's pretty terrified, but he'll still fight alongside everyone else (or at least he wants to).
  • Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and blue eyes, like Souichi.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: See Souichi's section for the details.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: He doesn't seem to care about the revenge aspect as much as Souichi, but he's determined to take down the government like everybody else, even if it'll hasten his death.
  • Family Theme Naming: The 'two' to his brother's 'one', regarding the last half of their names.
  • Gaining the Will to Kill: Like Takeru, he's a variation in that he's already killed by this point, but while in Suginami, he decides to let go of all his fears and reservations about fighting.
  • Gentle Giant: Physically, he's pretty tall, albeit on the lanky side, but still a kid inside.
  • Good Is Not Soft: A very nice kid who will cut you to bloody pieces if he has to.
  • Grew a Spine: He generally goes with whatever Souichi wants, but eventually comes to put his foot down on wanting to help out as well.
  • Handicapped Badass: Becomes blind after helping Souichi to become an Empowered Badass Normal.
  • Harmful to Minors: He saw his brother be forced to slaughter countless people to protect the both of them, was understandably terrified by the entire thing, but later regrets that he didn't help out, with the guilt eating him from the inside.
  • Hero of Another Story: As noted above in Souichi's section.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Due to Souichi's desire to protect him, Souji's got zero self-esteem.
  • Human Weapon: A faulty one.
  • I Just Want to Be Badass: If Souichi would just let him!
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: When his ability upgrades, he kills a hunter using iaijutsu.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: A very innocent kid, if you ignore all the killing (which, unfortunately for the characters, is the standard).
  • It Gets Easier: By the finale, the crying and Survival Mantra stop.
  • It's All My Fault: Souji blames himself for how Souichi turned out.
  • Just a Kid: He gets this treatment from Souichi, who doesn't underestimate him, per se, but is wary about putting his little brother on the front lines and having him use his ability further. Much of Souichi's Character Development is moving past this.
  • Just Like Robin Hood: Like his brother.
  • Justified Criminal: A thief who steals because there's no other way to get resources in the new Tokyo.
  • Kid Hero: The youngest among the heroes at age twelve.
  • The Last Dance: Same as Souichi. He doesn't have much longer left to live, making it imperative that he wins while he's still alive.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Wants to do this—though he's already a One-Man Army, so Fujimaru and Takeru are baffled at the implication that he isn't already serious.
    Souji: "Brother, is it okay... if I also get serious from now on...?"
    Takeru: "Serious?"
    Fujimaru: "You mean you were holding back before?"
  • Machete Mayhem: One that he fuses with his arm.
  • Martyr Without a Cause: His desperation to help occasionally leans towards this. He has a tendency to try and hold the enemy off in an attempt to be useful, before the others point out that it's better to just run.
  • Nice Guy: He even lacks Takeru's temper and Ken's stoicism, making him one of the sweetest members of the team.
  • One-Man Army: You wouldn't be able to tell from his mannerisms, but he's as good of a fighter as anyone else.
  • Painful Transformation: The first time we see him assimilate, it appears to be quite painful, even if Souji tries to tell himself otherwise.
  • Parental Abandonment: As mentioned under Souichi's section, his parents are likely dead.
  • Power Degeneration: In the opposite direction of Souichi. Souji's powers cause him to age quickly.
  • Protectorate: Souichi's, which he's not happy about. Ironically, Souji's possibly one of the biggest badasses in the series, being the only one among the main fighters who's never really in need of rescuing, as Takeru, Fujimaru, Ken, and Souichi have all needed help at some point.
  • The Quiet One: Outside of flashbacks, it takes quite a few chapters after his debut before he even says a word. It's probably due to shyness, in part, as he's more talkative afterwards.
  • Rapid Aging: The side effect of his powers.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red Oni to his brother's Blue.
  • Reluctant Warrior: He's afraid—either of his power or of fighting—but that doesn't mean he'll hold back.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Wears one in the finale.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Souichi's Manly Man.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon: His ability: assimilating blades with his arm.
  • Shrinking Violet: He's a bit on the shy side, though he warms up quickly enough.
  • Sibling Team: With Souichi.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: See Souichi's section.
  • Survival Mantra: The first time the reader gets to see him in action with his abilities:
    "I'm not scared, it doesn't hurt, I'm not scared, it doesn't hurt..."
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Expresses pity towards Ryuuichi, whereas Souichi was content to just let the guy wallow in his misery.
  • Tagalong Kid: Subverted. He might be the resident kid of the team (aside from Shirayuki, the Living Macguffin) but he pulls his weight just like anyone else.
  • Tainted Veins: They can be seen along his assimilated arm.
  • Tender Tears: He's prone to tearing up/crying. Justified, since, despite his appearance, he's just a preteen in a pretty awful situation.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: After spending the series with his condition getting worse, the epilogue has him regain some of his sight through surgery.
  • Took a Level in Badass: As with Takeru, Souji's powers eventually get stronger—namely, around the time that he finally decides to fight with Souichi as equals, even if Souichi disagrees.
  • Trauma Conga Line: See Souichi's section for the details. Everything that could go wrong for the two of them over the last two years has gone wrong.
  • Troubled Fetal Position: After Shirayuki's taken from them.
  • Unwitting Pawn: As with Souichi.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifter: Or voluntary assimilating, rather.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: He's still mentally and emotionally twelve—i.e. his actual age—but a very responsible one.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Doesn't hesitate to attack Uzuki.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: See Souichi's section.
  • Younger Than They Look: Outwardly a middle-aged man, actually twelve.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: As with Souichi, his aging issues mean that he won't last for much longer after the series.

    Akane 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8a4471110461f59a228e92fc142decfa.jpg

A civilian and back-alley doctor living in the Suginami district. Akane is an abnormality among tekigousha, having gained his power not through experimentation, but from inheriting them through his late father.

He is able to communicate with blood.


  • Action Survivor: Though his ability is a lifesaver, Akane amounts to a bystander who inadvertently got dragged into everything, with no skills in combat whatsoever. It's particularly noticeable in the finale, where everyone has their duties and Akane figures he'll just scout on his own, since it's not like he can contribute to any of the groups.
  • Actual Pacifist: Beyond forcibly sedating Ken, he never lifts a finger against anyone, be they enemies or people threatening him.
  • All-Loving Hero: Suffice to say that he's one of the only characters who actually seems to be fond of Amagiya.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Seemed to have been a bit of an outcast when he was young, as he was rather curious about other people's blood and thus came across as a weirdo.
  • Back-Alley Doctor: A sympathetic example, as he would be a legitimate doctor, but presumably isn't allowed to be in the new Tokyo.
  • Bad Powers, Good People: Being able to talk to blood is a pretty ominous-sounding ability, but Akane only ever uses it to help people.
  • Badass Pacifist: He's not at all intimidated when Takeru and Souichi threaten him, and fearlessly accompanies the heroes into the final battle.
  • Blessed with Suck: Subverted. He's one of the only tekigousha who neither appears to have any negative side affects to his ability, due to his unusual means of gaining it, nor is in a situation that makes the worst of it.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A great doctor, even if he doesn't seem like it.
  • Corner of Woe: Played seriously. After Shirayuki's kidnapping, he sits in the corner of the truck in a Troubled Fetal Position instead of taking care of his injuries, overcome with guilt.
  • Creepy Good: He's introduced as a Back-Alley Doctor, scares the living daylights out of Takeru when he suddenly shows up, initially has several expressions framed in shadow, talks to blood, etc. He's also one of the most well-intentioned and compassionate people you'll ever meet.
  • Creepy Shadowed Under Eyes: To enhance his Creepy Good image.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Pink hair and eyes.
  • Doctor's Orders: You're not going to get away with being a disobedient patient under his watch.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: In the epilogue, he goes back to having short(er) hair, as he apparently used to before the apocalypse hit.
  • Failure Knight: He couldn't use his powers to save his mother, as she forbid him from sharing the info he gleamed with doctors, who would've been able to help her. It's why now, he wants to at least be able to use his ability to save the tekigousha, no matter what the cost is to himself.
  • For Science!: A benevolent version: he's curious about the tekigousha, which is a large part of why he accompanies the heroes.
  • Friend to All Children: He seems very happy over getting to be Shirayuki's designated guardian for a while, looks after Tama for a bit when Haruyama and Mogami die, and may have worked with children as a doctor if the omakes are any indication.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Akane's typically a girl's name, making his gender all the more confusing if he didn't use male pronouns.
  • Gentle Giant: As Takeru keeps on saying/thinking when Akane first appears, he's huge—but a sweetheart, nevertheless.
  • Heroic Bastard: From the way Akane talks about his parents, it sounds like they might not have had time to get married before Akane was conceived.
  • Heroic BSoD: After Shirayuki gets kidnapped from them, as he was the one holding onto her at the time.
  • In Touch with His Feminine Side: Effeminate in appearance, basically a grown-up, mild Keet, has a Gender-Blender Name, fulfills the stereotypically feminine role of The Medic, etc.
  • Insistent Terminology: More like insisting on not using terminology. He disagrees with being called a 'tekigousha' because that implies that he's one of the government's creations, which is false.
  • It's All My Fault: How he feels about the incident where Shirayuki was taken back from them, to which Souichi responds that there was nothing anyone could've done.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: The fact that he had to keep his power a secret meant that he couldn't tell the doctors what he knew about his mother's blood in order to save her life. He was hoping to become a doctor so that he could have all the knowledge he needed without others' help, but...
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Wears one in the epilogue. Unsurprising, considering he was a legitimate doctor before the apocalypse hit.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's always had long hair, as shown in flashbacks, though he used to wear it in a ponytail. In the present, he keeps it loose, before cutting it sometime before the epilogue.
  • The Medic: His role in the series.
  • Momma's Boy: The reason he wanted to become a doctor to begin with was to cure her.
  • My Greatest Failure: ... Except she ended up dying before he even got the chance.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Being able to help the tekigousha defeat the government with his ability that couldn't save his mother.
  • Nice Guy: Though a bit on the weird side at times.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Understandable to some degree, being a doctor, though Fujimaru reacts poorly on Ken's behalf.
  • No Social Skills: Akane's a bit too overly forward.
  • Non-Action Guy: The only one among the heroes (sans Shirayuki) who can't fight at all. Even Fujimaru, while not usually a fighter, possesses some degree of combat ability.
  • The Nicknamer: Those Affectionate Nicknames above? They're all his doing.
  • Only One Name: We never learn his last name.
  • Orphan's Ordeal: See My Greatest Failure.
  • Parental Abandonment: They're both dead, for different reasons.
  • The Pollyanna: Very similar to Takeru in this regard: aside from his one Heroic BSoD, he's almost endlessly optimistic to the point of recklessness. In fact, while not as overt about it, he might be even more positive than Takeru is.
  • Pursuing Parental Perils: Understandably, his mother wanted Akane to keep his powers under wraps.
  • Red Pill, Blue Pill: The heroes give him the option to stay behind in safety rather than accompany them into the final battle. Without hesitation, Akane makes it clear that he intends to help them to the very end.
  • Science Hero: His ability to talk to blood and medical expertise come in handy more than once.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Inverted. Takeru and co. try to have Akane not take part in the final battle, and Akane has to persuade them to let him come.
  • Super Powerful Genetics: Inherited his ability from his late father.
  • Troubled Fetal Position: Like Souji, he does this after Shirayuki's taken from them.
  • Turn Out Like His Father: Presumably why his mother wanted him to not use his power.

The Government

    Kuroyuki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/baeadd6d8b1506d985d59f961f4d051d.jpg

The main antagonist of the story. As the governor, Kuroyuki rules over Tokyo as a dictator, claiming to be the people's saviour. The creation of tekigousha is her doing, as she oversees the human experimentation.


  • Abusive Parents: Twisting Shirayuki's neck as soon as Kuroyuki gave birth to her to see if she'd inherited Kuroyuki's regenerative abilities, having Shirayuki go under cruel experimentation as a toddler and noting that it wouldn't matter if anything happened to her because she could always give birth to a new child, repeatedly gouging out her heart to mass-produce the Grim Rock, invoking an apocalypse through her (which, as it happens, puts Shirayuki in a lot of pain)... The list goes on.
  • The Ageless: She's this as part of her abilities.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Perhaps not quite the physical fighter Izumi and Amagiya are, but she's the governor of Tokyo and the one who's won the Superpower Lottery.
  • Bad Boss: It'd be easier to name the subordinates that she doesn't treat poorly. That is, none.
  • Badass Bookworm: She's got a Ph.D in geology.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: If she has one thing going for her, she's a sharp dresser.
  • The Baroness: Of the Rosa Klebb variety, and of the definite Sadist variety.
  • Big Bad: As the one responsible for the dictatorship and making everyone's lives hell.
  • Bio-Augmentation: Shirayuki isn't the first tekigousha. Kuroyuki is.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's nice to Uzuki, but that's only in order to support Uzuki's delusions of her.
  • Blackmail: Definitely not above this.
  • Color-Coded Eyes: Has purple eyes. Besides the fact that she's the one whom Shirayuki got them from, they fit her status as the very first tekigousha.
  • Combo Platter Powers: She's one of the few with abilities that have no connection to one another. Namely, immortality and damage reflection.
  • Complete Immortality: Part of her powers, and one of the main obstacles Takeru and co. have to overcome when it comes to defeating her.
  • Cultured Badass: She certainly enjoys the finer things in life, at least.
  • Deader than Dead: How you know that Takeru definitely managed to end her immortality? The epilogue reveals that she was utterly burned to death and turned to ash.
  • Depraved Bisexual: She was married to a man in the past, but also has a sexual relationship with Uzuki, the three unnamed female mind-breaking tekigousha, and is seen enjoying herself in Toshima with female prostitutes.
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: Or rather, destroying Tokyo seems to have been more of a "Let's see if we can do it" sort of thing, but taking over certainly was a nice benefit. For starters, it's much easier to get experimental subjects.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Always composed, no matter the situation.
  • Emperor Scientist: The ruler of Tokyo, who uses her authority to run human experimentation.
  • Evil Matriarch: As Shirayuki's mother and the Big Bad.
  • Evil Overlord: Being the governor of Tokyo, she amounts to this.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: While not so interested in wiping out normal humans, she very much has an interest in taking the tekigousha enhancements as far as she can go, with the finale indicating that she wishes to create the "perfect tekigousha".
  • Family Theme Naming: The 'Snow Black' to Shirayuki's 'Snow White'.
  • Faux Affably Evil: She always talks as if having a simple conversation with others, never raising her voice or losing her temper. It makes her come across as all the more douche-y.
  • Fluffy Fashion Feathers: She's sometimes seen wearing them on her shoulders/back.
  • For Science!: Her main motivation.
  • Full-Name Basis: She often refers to the Shakudou brothers by full name.
  • A Glass of Chianti: While in Toshima.
  • God Save Us from the Queen!: Or governor, in her case.
  • Graceful Loser: She accepts her defeat rather well, taking it as proof of how amazing tekigousha—her life work—are.
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: Amagiya slices her in half, though with her Healing Factor, she regenerates so quickly for it to not even be seen, beyond the tear in her shirt.
  • Hated by All: Nobody likes Kuroyuki save for Uzuki. Who, unsurprisingly, has been brainwashed.
  • Healing Factor: She possesses one, unfortunately for all those who want her dead.
  • Hoist by Her Own Petard: When the tekigousha that she created stage a revolt using their bestowed abilities. Though for her, this is actually the best way to die.
  • Hope Crusher: Fujimaru is the prime example of what she can do to a person, though she makes it clear to everyone that they should just roll over and give up.
  • I Have Your Wife: Or, in Izumi's case, his brother.
  • I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Or I Will Punish Your People, in a sense, towards the Shibuya Ward Chiefs. See Forced into Evil under their section for more information.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: She apparently saved Uzuki's life at one point and appears to treat her kindly, compared to her other subordinates. Of course, this being Kuroyuki, it's hardly as kind in actuality as it sounds.
  • Kick the Dog: Cheerfully indulges in this.
  • Kid with the Leash: She's apparently the only one who can keep the (unnamed) three insane/insanity-inducing girls in line. In this case, though, she's happy to let them loose in the finale.
  • Kill It with Fire: How she dies.
  • Knight Templar: Subverted. She acts like one, proclaiming herself as a saviour, but her only real motivation is science and she knows it.
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine: If she's not wearing her suit, then she's wearing this.
  • Lack of Empathy: Yeaaaaah. Even before she outright became the Sadist she is now, she was disturbingly uncaring about how horrified her husband was by her moral decline.
  • Mad Scientist: A very calm version, but she's a scientist and definitely immoral.
  • Manipulative Bitch: She happily preys on her victim's weaknesses to keep them under her control, not to mention what she did to Uzuki...
  • Mirror Boss: Any damage dealt to her will be dealt back to the attacker.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Mostly in chapter covers or bonus illustrations in volumes, making her a downplayed example, but being the only legal woman, she tends to be allotted this role.
  • My Beloved Smother: A rather malevolent version who doesn't care at all for Shirayuki as a person. She simply can't afford to have the core of her experiment run around freely.
  • Nerves of Steel: She never loses her cool, and doesn't even flinch when a glass window right next to her suddenly shatters.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Among the various things she doesn't care about when it comes other people, their personal space is one of them.
  • Only One Name: No last name given.
  • Orcus on His Throne: She spends the entire series up until the finale sending out other antagonists to deal with the heroes, while waiting for Takeru and co. to reach her.
  • Playing with Syringes: This is her schtick in general, but it can best be seen in a flashback, when she experimented on Shirayuki.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: She's the first tekigousha, courtesy of burying the original Grim Rock in her own body as the first test to see what it would do.
  • Really 700 Years Old: She's 120~130, thanks to having obtained Complete Immortality.
  • Sadist: She's definitely got a thing for humiliating people, with Fujimaru and Izumi being two of her main victims.
  • Sanity Slippage: Her backstory shows that she was (presumably) normal—and then she discovered the Grim Rock.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: Or, well, I Have Means of Producing Supernatural Powers! Though she herself also happens to be a tekigousha and one of the most powerful ones at that.
  • Self-Mutilation Demonstration: More so to prove to herself that she can heal in a flashback, though she also allowed Izumi to beat her up to establish this and her Mirror Boss abilities during their first meeting.
  • The Sociopath: The woman has utterly no sense of morals or standards, to the point where, considering she's responsible for the problems of just about literally every character in the series (and, despite being the main antagonist, rarely appears in outside material), she seems to represent a source of suffering more than being a legitimate character/person at times.
  • Speak Ill of the Dead: She's not above badmouthing her late husband, whom she inadvertently drove to suicide.

    Takurou Amagiya 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aca30efd4414c99e14ca5ee18c02ec59.jpg

The lieutenant captain of the government's Imperial Guards and thus one of Kuroyuki's right-hand men. He's fiercely loyal to Shirayuki above all, however.

He can transform partially into a sabertooth tiger, granting him fangs, claws, and abnormal physical capabilities.


  • Absurdly Sharp Claws: He possesses large and very sharp claws as part of his transformed state.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Furball-san, from Akane. Giiya, courtesy of Shirayuki once she regains her voice.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: A mild version: after he and Izumi brawl in the streets, Kuroyuki tells the two to bark like a dog if they want to be pardoned, to which Amagiya complies without a care.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: He 'dies' trying to protect Shirayuki, with her crying over his supposed death as he lies in her arms.
  • Animal Eyes: If his powers have gone far enough.
  • Animorphism: His ability.
  • Anti-Hero: Of sorts, by the end, due to being on Shirayuki's side.
  • Anti-Villain: Once it becomes clear how much he cares about Shirayuki.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the lieutenant captain of the Imperial Guard, which would make him the second strongest member of the military—and he can back that up when he gets serious.
  • Ax-Crazy: At his worst.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: He wears the suit that most government officials wear.
  • Badass Longcoat: Again, as part of his uniform.
  • Battle Butler: To Shirayuki.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: A bit... odd, but no less dangerous.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Blessed with Suck: His powers come with the teensy side effect of wearing down his sanity.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You: In the past, he assumed this was the case when Shirayuki tried to save him, before he realized that she was doing it simply because she didn't want him to die.
  • Co-Dragons: With Izumi.
  • Declaration of Protection: Towards Shirayuki.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Shirayuki's, as she hugs him when he 'dies'.
  • Disney Death: He appears to have died, but his act of licking Shirayuki's regenerative blood ultimately keeps him alive, as revealed in the epilogue.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: He's entirely willing to go along with whatever Kuroyuki wants—unless it interferes with Shirayuki's well-being.
  • Fangs Are Evil: If Amagiya has his fangs out, it's a very, very bad sign.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He can get fairly passive-aggressive around Izumi.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He's not as bad as Kuroyuki—which is a very hard standard to reach—but he's one of the bigger Jerkasses among the antagonists.
  • Go Out with a Smile: He smiles at Shirayuki as he (supposedly) dies in her arms.
  • Handicapped Badass: His first fight with Takeru involves his right arm being in a sling the entire time.
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: How he 'dies', due to him trying to cut Kuroyuki in half.
  • Hellish Pupils: Again, he potentially has these, depending on how much of his power he's let take over him.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: As in his insanity, he didn't remember about Kuroyuki's abilities, he's killed when he rips Kuroyuki in half and the damage is done to him as well.
  • Human Weapon: Subverted. He's a tekigousha thanks to Shirayuki, but she did it to save his life, rather than have him be a weapon (as he'd initially believed).
  • I Owe You My Life: Towards Shirayuki. It turns out that he was an imperfect tekigousha (and thus should've been disposed of) before she saved him.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Thanks to his powers.
  • In-Series Nickname: Pervy Glasses, from Takeru.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his douchiness, he honestly cares about Shirayuki.
  • Jerkass: Otherwise, he's this to everyone else.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After getting hit with an attack that induces insanity, he goes completely berserk.
  • Kick the Dog: His attempt to persuade Fujimaru against pulling a Heel–Face Turn is pretty dick-ish.
  • Laughably Evil: Initially. His interactions with Shirayuki make it hard to take him seriously... until he starts beating Takeru up.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: When his power's out at full force.
  • The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Due to his animalistic powers, he himself tends to behave in an animalistic fashion.
  • Never My Fault: Most evident in the first arc, but he's not too great at realizing when he's the one who's upset Shirayuki.
  • Nominal Hero: He cares about Shirayuki, and that's about it.
  • The Not-Love Interest: If Shirayuki is this to Takeru, the hero, then Amagiya is this to Shirayuki, the heroine.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: After all, Beware the Silly Ones. For all his oddities, he's one of the strongest characters in the series, with the only ones who've been shown to match or surpass him being Izumi and Kuroyuki.
  • Only Mostly Dead: Despite having been ripped in half, the fact that he inadvertently ingested some of Shirayuki's regenerative blood ends up saving his life, as revealed in the epilogue.
  • Only One Name: Only in the magazine release, however. In the volume release, containing a revision of Ch. 45, his first name is revealed.
  • Panthera Awesome: Partially turning into this is his ability.
  • Papa Wolf: Again, if you interpret his relationship with Shirayuki in this way.
  • Partial Transformation: How far the transformation has gone is generally a good indicator of his sanity levels.
  • Pet the Dog: The dog being Shirayuki in this case.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When he completely loses control, his hair grows by quite a bit.
  • Sanity Slippage: Due to his powers, which gets progressively worse as the series goes on.
  • Smoking Is Cool: The highest-ranking officials among the government both smoke.
  • Sole Survivor: From the looks of it, he was the only one among his group who survived the experimentation. And even he would've died along with the others, had Shirayuki not come along.
  • Specs of Awesome: Despite what first appearances might suggest, he's one of the strongest antagonists in the series.
  • Super-Senses: He has something along these lines, as indicated by him being able to detect that Shirayuki was crying despite not being in the immediate vicinity, with Kuroyuki praising his animalistic instincts.
  • Super-Soldier: In fact, he volunteered for additional experiments so that he could become stronger.
  • Super-Speed: Part of his abilities.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: While they're presumably natural, his gold eyes are likely meant to emphasize his beast-like powers/state.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He doesn't like working with Izumi very much.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: He states that if Shirayuki weren't with them, he would've simply razed districts to the ground to get rid of Takeru and co.
  • Third-Person Person: Occasionally, as a sign of humility.
  • Token Evil Teammate: If you place him as one of the heroes by the end, then he's this.
  • Tragic Monster: After Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, though one shred of humanity remains: his loyalty to Shirayuki.
  • Undying Loyalty: Towards Shirayuki.
  • Villains Out Shopping: One of his first appearances has him put together a bouquet for Shirayuki.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: His ability, though it gets not-so-voluntary when he starts losing control.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: His ability has not done wonders for his stability, and it only gets worse as the series goes on.
  • Wolverine Claws: As part of his transformed state.
  • Yandere: One for Shirayuki. The reason he fights against the heroes is primarily because he fears that if they win, he'll be separated from her.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Granted, he was trying to kill her by that point, but Kuroyuki pulls this card on him.

    Izumi Shakudou 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/83bb0a566c0cb3bdadd12d0100180352.jpg

Takeru's older brother and the captain of the Imperial Guards, making him Kuroyuki's other right-hand man. He has a reputation among the government for being cold and terrifying.

He is an atmospheric tekigousha, allowing him to manipulate force in a telekinesis-esque manner.


  • Afraid of Their Own Strength: Hence why he's Willfully Weak.
  • Aloof Big Brother: Towards Takeru. This wasn't the case in the past, and so Takeru's understandably distressed by his brother's sudden cold attitude.
  • Always Someone Better: To Takeru, who's never won a fight against him.
  • Anti-Hero: What he ultimately is.
  • Anti-Villain: He pulls off a few dickish moves, but he lacks Kuroyuki's sadism and Amagiya's Ax-Crazy tendencies, and is an okay guy off-duty. Then there's the fact that he's actually The Mole.
  • Arch-Enemy: Inverted. As The Mole, he's the one Amagiya personally hates the most and thus spends most of the finale hunting down, though Izumi, on the other hand, seems to be fairly ambivalent towards Amagiya (if not somewhat fond in his own way).
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the captain of the hunter squad, and while all the members are badass in their own right, he trumps them all.
  • Badass and Child Duo: With Shirayuki.
  • Badass Creed: Of the hunter squad:
    "Go and conquer."
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: As a government official.
  • Badass Longcoat: Part of his uniform. He, in particular, tends to wear it in a badass manner, using it as a Coat Cape.
  • Barbarian Longhair: Just to really drive his badass and The Dreaded reputation home.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Towards Takeru. Everything he's done has been to save his brother.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Was one for Takeru while they were growing up.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Broken Pedestal: For Takeru, who really didn't want to believe that his brother was a part of the government.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Brooding Boy to Shirayuki's Gentle Girl.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: Despite being rather physically imposing, he's friends with Shirayuki.
  • Bully Hunter: Takeru mentions that Izumi hated foul play (hence why it's so hard to believe that he's now a villain). Presumably, he's the one Takeru got the attitude from.
  • Cain and Abel: The Cain to Takeru's Abel.
  • Chained by Fashion: He wears chains around his right arm.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Being restrained to a bed means nothing to him—the bed and equipment just get pulled along with him as he gets up.
  • Coat Cape: How he wears his Badass Longcoat.
  • Co-Dragons: With Amagiya.
  • Determinator: Just like his little brother, who probably got it from him. Nothing will keep Izumi down if he has a say in it.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: He's not even remotely loyal to Kuroyuki and they both know it.
  • The Dreaded: He's the leader of the squad responsible for dishing out punishment, so anyone would be afraid to get a visit from this guy.
  • 11th-Hour Ranger: He finally joins the heroes in the finale, after Takeru makes it clear that the jig is up, and that the time to take Kuroyuki down is now.
  • Enigmatic Minion: He's evidently operating on a different wavelength from Kuroyuki and Amagiya.
  • Eye Scream: His right eye seemed to have been injured when the apocalypse hit.
  • Eyepatch of Power: He wears bandages around his right eye, due to the aforementioned Eye Scream.
  • Face of a Thug: As noted by Nakanoshita.
  • A Father to His Men: Mainly to Uzuki and Ryuuichi, whom he looks out for.
  • Flashback Nightmare: In Ch. 37-38, detailing his first fight against Kuroyuki.
  • Forced into Evil: He joined up with the government to save Takeru's life.
  • Full-Contact Magic: His ability.
  • Gentle Giant: His kind side is less obvious than the other examples on this page, but he occasionally shows it to Shirayuki, and Takeru mentions that he used to be a great and compassionate guy.
  • Good All Along: He's been pretending to be an antagonist as part of his ploy to keep Takeru alive and to take Kuroyuki down.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He nearly pulls one off in the finale, with him ultimately being stabbed through the chest, but things fortunately end in time for him to be saved.
  • Hidden Depths: He might seem like your typical cynical, brooding, and manly badass, but he's also the one who inspired Takeru's "smile and remain positive no matter how bad things get" mindset, being a practitioner himself.
  • Hot-Blooded: He used to be this, according to Takeru.
  • Human Weapon: As a tekigousha.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: What he claimed in the past when confronting Nakanoshita who was about to commit suicide.
  • Instant Expert: He doesn't immediately know how to aim exactly or adjust his power level, but compared to Takeru, he picks up his ability remarkably fast.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gruff and has a few Kick the Dog moments, but a decent guy when you actually get to know him. Not to mention that while flashbacks suggest he's always been a little on the rough side, his more Jerkass moments can probably be attributed to him wearing a Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding facade.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Unlike Fujimaru, who wears a facade to cope with his misery, Izumi's seems to be to shake off suspicion directed towards him. Even if Kuroyuki and Amagiya know that he's plotting behind their backs, they can't exactly get rid of him while the government believes he's perfectly loyal.
  • Kick the Dog: Upon reuniting with Takeru, the first thing he does is comment that Takeru should be dead, before ripping out his Grim Rock. Takeru's glad to see you too, Izumi. Though it's just part of his facade.
  • Licked by the Dog: Shirayuki really likes him, which has to mean something. Turns into a bit of a Kick the Dog moment, though, as he tells her to get back to Kuroyuki's side, at which point her expression falls. Again, part of his facade.
  • Made of Iron: It's clear where Takeru gets his determination from, at least. Death (or a hell lot of sedatives) is probably the only thing that can keep Izumi down.
  • Mangst: He's been dealing with a lot over the last two years, but you won't catch him openly moping about it.
  • Military Maverick: Amagiya accuses him of being this, comparing him to Fujimaru, as both act however they please while shielding themselves with their authority.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Being a very well-built adult male, he tends to provide a lot of eyecandy for female readers.
  • Nerves of Steel: Nothing can get this guy to freak out or despair.
  • Noble Top Enforcer: He's a much better person than Kuroyuki or Amagiya, even if he's The Dreaded.
  • Not So Stoic: It's when he smiles that Takeru realizes that he's still the same brother he always knew.
  • Off with His Head!: At one point sliced off the heads of workers who'd been embezzling government supplies as punishment.
  • Parental Abandonment: They died when Takeru was little, leaving Izumi to raise him.
  • Perma-Stubble: Along with his Barbarian Long Hair, this adds to his gruff appearance.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Though given the fact that he's the one whom Takeru inherited his optimism from and his behaviour once he finally drops the facade, this might not necessarily be who he really is.
  • The Pollyanna: He's not as overt about it as Takeru, but he's the one who inspired Takeru to be this.
  • Power Limiter: The chains around his right arm act as this.
  • Pragmatic Hero: Seeing as how he has to act the part of the villain so as to brush off suspicion.
  • Promotion to Parent: After his and Takeru's parents died.
  • Real Men Cook: Going by omakes, it looks like he did all the cooking in the Shakudou household.
  • The Mole: Why he's stuck with the government.
  • Shared Family Quirks: See Takeru's section.
  • Shirtless Scene: Gets a few of these, typically after being injured/while recovering.
  • Sibling Rivalry: With Takeru, pre-series.
  • Sibling Team: With Takeru in the finale.
  • Smoking Is Cool: As with Amagiya, he smokes, and it does make him look very badass.
  • Stealth Mentor: For Takeru. Throughout the series, Izumi dances the fine line between helping Takeru and diverting suspicion off of himself in front of his subordinates.
  • The Stoic: It's apparently a relatively recent development, as he used to be Hot-Blooded.
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: A less sinister version in his case: he was strapped to a table thanks to the operations done so that he could recover after his fight with Amagiya.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He has his soft moments, typically around Shirayuki and Takeru.
  • Super-Soldier: As a combat-oriented tekigousha whose job is specifically to kill people.
  • Talking Down the Suicidal: He's done this for Nakanoshita in the past and does it again for Shirayuki in the present.
  • Together in Death: Just before he goes to pull off a Heroic Sacrifice, he tells Amagiya that they can continue their fight in the afterlife. Subverted, as Amagiya turns out to be Only Mostly Dead, and Izumi survives as well.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In Takeru's eyes, he has, having gone from a Bully Hunter to The Dragon.
  • Tough Love: Takeru mentions that Izumi used to beat him up a lot. Lovingly. In a sense, this is what he displays for most of the series.
  • Trapped in Villainy: Presumably why he's still with the government. Well, that and the fact that he's The Mole.
  • Willfully Weak: Keeps his power restrained via wearing (heavy) chains around his hand so that he doesn't overdo it.

    Uzuki 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/699e9c867445a6fd740dd7dd98e54c0f.jpg

A member of the hunter squad. She's incredibly devoted to Kuroyuki, though why is beyond is anyone's guess.

Her right arm is made of diamond, allowing her to break through just about anything.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: See Let Them Die Happy.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Takeru blows off her right arm, ultimately killing her.
  • Badass Adorable: An upbeat teenage girl who can kick ass.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: While everyone else left her to die as she was trapped underneath rubble, Kuroyuki saved her. Of course, it's all one big, damn lie.
  • Berserk Button: Don't insult Kuroyuki in front of her.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Blood from the Mouth: As she dies.
  • Brainwashed: Courtesy of Nakanoshita rewriting her memories.
  • Child Soldier: She looks to be a teenager, but fights as a member of the hunter squad.
  • Cute and Psycho: Did we mention yet that she's fanatically devoted to Kuroyuki?
  • Dark Action Girl: The main one, being more combat-oriented than Kuroyuki and less sympathetic towards the heroes than Tama.
  • Dying as Yourself: Subverted. When she begins to regain her real memories on her deathbed, Takeru acts as if her Fake Memories are the genuine ones so as to grant Uzuki a happy death, rather than have her die horrified over everything she did.
  • Fake Memories: Kuroyuki planted these in her.
  • Faux Affably Evil: She's initially polite to the heroes, even while trying to capture/kill them—though she's quick to anger when they aren't defeated as soon as she'd like.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Her hair, with the left side being somewhat longer than the right.
  • Genki Girl: While not hyperactive, she's very spirited and energetic in what she does, compared to her coworkers.
  • Go Out with a Smile: She dies with her delusions, content that she faithfully served her kind and gracious "Kuroyuki-sama" to the very end.
  • Human Weapon: As a tekigousha.
  • I Owe You My Life: Towards Kuroyuki.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be rather uppity and inflexible, causing her to clash with the more easygoing Shibuya Ward Chiefs, but if you earn her affection, she's loyal without question.
  • Killed Off for Real: She marks the first major character death in the series.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Courtesy of Nakanoshita, she doesn't remember anything that would paint Kuroyuki in a negative light.
  • Let Them Die Happy: When Uzuki's real memories start resurfacing, Takeru feeds into her delusions so that she can die believing that she was right in everything.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: To Ryuuichi.
  • Made of Iron: Getting shot in the leg doesn't slow her down much, and she has to be carried away by Izumi to stop fighting.
  • Meaningful Appearance: She wears hair clips, helping to signify that she's really just a teenager girl in the end.
  • Obliviously Evil: She honestly thinks Kuroyuki is an amazing person, much to Takeru's bafflement.
  • Only One Name: No last name given.
  • Psycho Supporter: Though she's not that psycho. Just very... dedicated.
  • Pure Is Not Good: Kuroyuki describes her as a very pure girl—hence why she's so mindlessly loyal.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: They're somewhere in the reddish-orange range, with her being one of the first major threats in the series.
  • Suicide Mission: She realizes that going to Shibuya to take down the heroes is likely this, but it's fine if it's for Kuroyuki.
  • Super-Soldier: Due to being a tekigousha who's also part of the hunter squad.
  • Super-Strength: In a sense. It's not that she's that physically strong, but because her hand is nigh indestructible, she can easily punch through walls and whatnot.
  • Taking You with Me: She doesn't succeed, but when Takeru presses her Berserk Button, she rather vehemently declares that she'll kill him even if it kills her.
  • Third-Person Person: On occasion. Like Amagiya, she likely does it to indicate humility.
  • Tsundere: While an upbeat and sincere girl who's extremely dere for Kuroyuki, she can occasionally be rather ill-tempered and uppity towards anyone not Kuroyuki.
  • Undying Loyalty: Towards Kuroyuki, in case it wasn't obvious yet.
  • Villainous Breakdown: She begins to lose it in the Shibuya arc, presumably due to subconscious conflict between her real memories and her false ones.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She was already dead by then, but Kuroyuki was well aware that she could've killed Uzuki in the same blow when she launched a missile on Shibuya.

    Ryuuichi 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b154be921e5fce18e92d13fc118c0304.jpg

A member of the hunter squad. He serves as one of the main villains in the final arc.

Like Ken, Ryuuichi can assimilate his arm into a gun, though in his case, he possesses this ability for both arms.


  • Anti-Villain: He knows full well that he's in the wrong, but hates Takeru for having killed Uzuki, and can't let go of his devotion to her even if it means fighting for a lowlife like Kuroyuki.
  • Arm Cannon: His ability.
  • The Atoner: He's become this by the epilogue, working to rebuild Tokyo to make up for having served the government.
  • Avenging the Villain: He really hates the heroes for having killed Uzuki.
  • Berserk Button: Traitors. This might be a slight projection of his own conflicted feelings, knowing that serving the government is morally wrong but feeling obliged to do it anyway, out of loyalty towards the late Uzuki.
  • BFG: Unlike Ken, who usually chooses more wieldly forms, Ryuuichi has one of his arms be this in the finale.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As a tekigousha.
  • Bottomless Magazines: Part of his ability, due to using his blood as bullets.
  • Child Soldier: His exact age isn't clear, but he doesn't seem to be much older than Takeru and Fujimaru. At the very least, the fact that Souichi seems him as a youngster indicates that he's probably not any older than twenty.
  • Death Seeker: He seems a little too insulted that Ken won't kill him once he's been defeated, possibly due to the fact that he's living solely to reunite with Uzuki in death.
  • Determinator: He could give the heroes a run for their money.
  • Evil Counterpart: Somewhat of one for Ken, both being the same type of tekigousha and similar in personality: serious, dutiful, etc. However, Ryuuichi chooses the lawful spectrum of To Be Lawful or Good and resents Ken for not doing the same.
  • Fake Arm Disarm: Ken manages to shoot one of his arms off, but as we're talking about Ryuuichi's assimilated gun arm here, it's not quite the same as actually losing an arm.
  • Heartbroken Badass: He's introduced after Uzuki's death, and it's revealed in the finale that he really hasn't taken it well.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Despite insisting that he won't do this, he apparently pulls one during the brief timeskip to the epilogue. Presumably, Souichi and Souji got to him.
  • Heroic RRoD: In the final battle, he fights Ken until he's finally too exhausted to move.
  • Human Weapon: As a tekigousha.
  • Implacable Man: He chases the heroes throughout most of the finale, and is only taken down when Ken finally fights him to the point of exhaustion.
  • It's Personal: Between Avenging the Villain and resenting Ken for betraying them, his fight against the heroes is a personal vendetta on his part.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: Knowing about Uzuki's brainwashing and that Izumi, whom she respects, isn't on the same wavelength as her means that he's always been painfully aware of alone Uzuki is, hence his devotion to her.
  • Made of Iron: What with being the Implacable Man, wounds don't do much to keep him down.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Subverted. He doesn't really give a damn about Kuroyuki.
  • Not Afraid to Die: As Ken remarks, Ryuuichi is so single-mindedly devoted to his cause that he doesn't fear death.
  • Not Brainwashed: Souichi initially believes that he's been brainwashed like Uzuki, before Ryuuichi easily tells him that that isn't the case (though he was aware of Uzuki's).
  • Not So Stoic: He initially seems like one of the saner and more well-adjusted members of the government. During the final battle, when up against the heroes? The kid's an emotional wreck.
  • Only One Name: No last name given.
  • Perpetual Frowner: And unlike the other examples on this page, the reader never does get to see him smile.
  • Revenge Before Reason: His anger tends to get the better of him in the finale, and ultimately, it becomes clear that his desire for revenge won't really make him happy.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: Somewhat. He's aware that Izumi isn't loyal to the government, compared to Uzuki, who believed in him to the end. In the same vein, he knows that Izumi never really empathized with Uzuki.
  • The Stoic: Even Amagiya doesn't intimidate him.
  • Super-Soldier: Like Uzuki, he's this as a member of the hunter squad.
  • Undying Loyalty: Towards Uzuki. Except she's dead by the time he appears, so you can imagine how well that works out.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Hence why he's the Implacable Man in the finale.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Unlike Ken, he chooses 'lawful'.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Same ability as Ken.
  • Worthy Opponent: Ken sees him as this.

    Kouhei Nakanoshita 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6c0900640efd5890b59e305ed13b6383.jpg

A member of the Imperial Guard, and a good friend of Izumi's.

He has the ability to manipulate dreams.


    Shibuya Ward Chiefs 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/29adb84bb238262107a239dca625aaa4.jpg

Consisting of Juuzou Mogami, Haruyama, and Tama, who have been tasked with killing the heroes when they pass through Shibuya.

Mogami possesses a tree-like body and can turn his arms into root-like appendages; Haruyma can turn his arms into dinosaur-like appendages; Tama can transform into a pterodactyl-like creature.


The group:
  • Anti-Villain: If Kuroyuki weren't threatening them, they probably would've been willing to let Takeru and co. through Shibuya and onto Shinjuku.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: A given, with them being Ward Chiefs.
  • Badass Crew: The three of them fight together.
  • Bio-Augmentation: As tekigousha.
  • The Dreaded: While they're good people, the reader knows that they're not to be trifled with when Fujimaru and Ken are visibly wary before the heroes even enter Shibuya.
  • Foil: They can be seen as this to Fujimaru and Ken, also being sympathetic antagonists who stand a chance at being converted to the heroes' side but refuse to because they believe that Kuroyuki can't be defeated. However, their reasons beyond that are different, and so Fujimaru and Ken can only appeal to them so far. As per usual, it's Takeru who pulls them all the way.
  • Forced into Evil: Kill the heroes or Shibuya will be destroyed—and while they know that they can escape, the 'residents' can't.
  • Heel–Face Turn: In Ch. 35, just before Kuroyuki bombs Shibuya.
  • Honor Before Reason: They refuse to save themselves while their 'people' die, and so try to rescue the residents when Shibuya is bombed, in spite of knowing that it's likely impossible.
  • Human Weapon: As tekigousha.
  • I Just Want to Be Free: They want nothing more than to be free from Kuroyuki's blackmail.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: They're just following orders—orders that they have to be blackmailed to carry out, for that matter.
  • Stupid Sacrifice: See Honor Before Reason. They decide to try and protect their people until the end, despite knowing that they'll die either way.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: They all see the failures-turned-monsters as proper people.
  • Trapped in Villainy: The straightest example in the series. For them, the fear of death, especially for their people, is what keeps them 'loyal' to Kuroyuki.
  • Villainous Friendship: The three of them are basically a family.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: All of them, of different varieties.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: They don't believe in this.
  • Worthy Opponent: Being old acquaintances/maybe even friends, (again) Ken treats Haruyama and Mogami as this.

Mogami:
  • Affably Evil: Quite polite to Fujimaru and seems apologetic over the entire situation, even while strangling him.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Whiskers-san, from Akane.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Mogami has no qualms about taking advantage of Fujimaru's distracted state (over worrying about Ken) to nearly kill him.
  • Gentle Giant: He's got a large build, even next to the well-built Haruyama, but a polite man who helps to look after Tama.
  • Green Thumb: His ability is nature-based.
  • Killed Off for Real: When Kuroyuki bombs Shibuya.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: His response to Fujimaru setting him on fire and blowing up part of his chest is basically, "Well, it does hurt, at least."
  • Papa Wolf: Towards Tama. He and Haruyama'll let her fight on her own, but they react strongly when she falls from the sky, and are not pleased with her decision to die alongside them. It's also probably a safe guess to say they're the reason why she survives.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Dies shortly after agreeing to join the heroes.
  • The Stoic: Much calmer than Haruyama and Tama.

Haruyama:
  • Affably Evil: His first action upon seeing the two is to good-naturedly tease Fujimaru and seem sincerely glad to see that Ken's in better health. This doesn't stop him from trying to kill them.
  • Animal Eyes: As part of his dinosaur transformation.
  • Animorphism: His right hand is the jaws of a T-Rex, while his left arm has the shell of a stegosaurus.
  • Combat Pragmatist: He doesn't believe that Talking Is a Free Action, shall we say.
  • Hellish Pupils: Again, to indicate his dinosaur aspects.
  • Killed Off for Real: When Kuroyuki bombs Shibuya.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hair reaches his waist, and while not effeminate, he still lacks some of the obvious masculinity that some of the other characters have.
  • Nice Guy: Barring the part where he's trying to kill the heroes, his friendly and easygoing nature suggests this.
  • Only One Name: No first name given.
  • Papa Wolf: Towards Tama, as with Mogami.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Dies shortly after agreeing to join the heroes.
  • Rugged Scar: He has one over his eye.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: He's not wearing a shirt underneath that (open) jacket.

Tama:

Other

    Makoto 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2dc2c9e8e839d30bf3e38b70e0acfa36.jpg

A civilian of Hachiouji. He's the one to find Takeru, and thus the first person—and first friend—Takeru meets upon waking up in the post-apocalyptic Tokyo.


  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Not when it's the only way to appease the Hachiouji officials. Takeru thanks him for it, knowing that he was doing it on Takeru's behalf.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: See My Fist Forgives You. In the end, it's subverted, as Makoto really is too nice to go through with it.
  • The Bus Came Back: After being Put on a Bus, he reappears in the epilogue, dropping by to visit Takeru.
  • Butt-Monkey: You gotta feel sorry for the guy, constantly getting dragged around by Takeru and being pulled into his mess.
  • Character Development: Meeting Takeru helps him to recross the Despair Event Horizon and have faith once again, with him being a much more upbeat person in the epilogue.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Losing his dad was this for him. Thankfully, with Takeru's help, he eventually gets better.
  • Disappeared Dad: He was taken away for 'mandatory labour'.
  • Gonk: He's drawn a bit differently from the other characters.
  • Good Samaritan: He freely helps out Takeru, even when it gets him in trouble.
  • Ironic Echo: He tells Takeru to hurry up and run away from the government—after all, if Takeru keeps smiling, then he'll make it through, right?
  • My Fist Forgives You: He swears to do this to Fujimaru once everything is over.
  • Nice Guy: Not the happiest of people, but ultimately a really nice guy. Case in point: in the epilogue, where he forgives Fujimaru with a smile.
  • Only One Name: No last name given.
  • Perpetual Frowner: The fact that he starts smiling more is a sign of Takeru's influence, and by the epilogue, he's a pretty cheerful guy.
  • Put on a Bus: While he's remembered through flashbacks, he disappears after the first arc, being an ordinary citizen who has no reason to accompany Takeru on his quest to destroy the government.
  • Supporting Protagonist: The first few chapters are shown from his perspective.
  • Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Much happier in the epilogue than he was at the start of the series.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: He makes it clear in the beginning that he can't bring himself to be hopeful. By the time he parts ways with Takeru, he tells him that he'll hang in there and wait for the day that Takeru brings down the government.

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