The characters of Soul Hackers
Protagonists
- Code Name: In the novel Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers: Nightmare of the Butterfly, his codename is "Cage".
- Heroic Mime: For obvious reasons.
- Improbable Weapon User: Uses a Gun COMP.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: His multi-purpose gun/computer known as a GUMP, which summons demons just as well as it shoots foes.
- We Cannot Go On Without You: He dies first in battle or before the actual last party member, it's Game Over. And because he's the only person in Spookies to be able to take on demons, they rely on him all the time just as much as they do with Spooky.
The Protagonist's best friend. A shy schoolgirl who is skilled at hacking but lacks self-confidence. She accompanies him through the game. Her father is Professor Azuma Michio from Kitayama University's Archaeology Department in Devil Summoner.
- Death of Personality: Near the end of the game, it's revealed that Hitomi's soul is slowly, but surely dying out because of Nemissa's possession. This leads to the latter and the protagonist looking to end the threat of Manitou quickly.
- Demonic Possession: Done to her by Nemissa. She's not thrilled about it at first, but she eventually becomes friends with her "driver" as the game progresses.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Finds Madame Ginko pretty to the point that Nemissa has to tell her to stop staring.
- Missing Mom: Nothing is mentioned about her mother except she died after she was born. Her father was living in America before the events of Soul Hackers took place. Thus, her grandmother was her "mom".
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: It's in the picture.
- Willing Channeler: Later accepts Nemissa sharing her body, and the two talk back and forth and she controls the body occasionally when they aren't fighting.
A female demon who decides to take up residence in Hitomi's body. She is brash, mischievous, and has a penchant for black leather.
- Amnesiac Hero: Nemissa remembers very little about herself. Learning the Phantom Society has some connection to her past is one reason she sides with the Spookies.
- Awesome, yet Impractical: Depending on how you described Hitomi, the skills Nemissa learns changes accordingly. If the protagonist calls Hitomi "sexy", Nemissa learns Almighty Skills. This sounds amazing at first, potentially making Nemissa a Disc-One Nuke, but she doesn't really start to become effective until late-game at Level 75.
- Black Magician Girl: Regardless of what skill-path she's on, Nemissa is going to be one of the toughest magic users in your party.
- Body Surf: As a spiritual demonic entity, Nemissa doesn't have a physical body and requires a host or medium to interact with the real world. Hitomi just happened to be there when the protagonist undid the lock on Urabe's COMP.
- The Cameo: She's part of an exclusive set of Day 1 DLC demons in Soul Hackers 2.
- Dark Is Not Evil: She's a demon, unapologetically hijacks Hitomi's body for her own usage, and is initially rude, but she grows to be a loyal friend to the protagonist and Hitomi.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: Nemissa has three different skill paths depending on how you describe Hitomi to Spooky.
- Playing with Fire and Light 'em Up: Describing Hitomi as "cheerful" gives Nemissa both Fire and Expel magic.
- An Ice Person and Casting a Shadow: Describing Hitomi as "cool" gives Nemissa both Ice and Death magic.
- Shock and Awe and Element No. 5: Describing Hitomi as "surprisingly sexy" gives Nemissa Lightning magic and earlier access to Almighty spells.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: While in Paradigm X, Nemissa decides to deck herself out in jet-black leather clothes after finding Hitomi's taste to be lacking. Hitomi does not approve.
- Heroic Sacrifice: It's the reason she was created in the first place. If Manitou was resurrected for ill purposes, her job was to "lull him to slumber".
- Humans Are Flawed: Her opinion on humans as a whole towards the end of the game. It's not that they're right or wrong, but that she and Manitou can no longer co-exist with humanity as they are now.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Nemissa doesn't remember anything beyond being a prisoner in a program before possessing Hitomi. She's actually a part of Manitou and was created to kill him if he was ever awakened for ill-purposes.
- Meaningful Name: Her name comes from the algonquian language, it means "Elder sister". Specifically, Manitou's. His name comes from the same language.
- One-Man Party: The difficulty of any given battle is determined almost entirely by whether the enemies resist Nemissa's elemental type of choice, and it's a very long time before she stops being better than the entire rest of the party combined. Lampshaded when you fight Finnegan at Amami Float, who challenges you to try and fight him without Nemissa's help. Him having the exact same demons as you does not help, especially if you're on New Game Plus.
- Our Angels Are Different: Her true form resembles one, as seen near the game. It looks surprisingly similar to Zeed's final angelic form.
- Our Souls Are Different: A fragment born from Manitou that is intended to bring death to Manitou should it ever be freed.
- Schrödinger's Player Character: From a gameplay standpoint. Depending on how you answered Spooky's opinion of Hitomi, Nemissa's skill-path changes accordingly.
- Third-Person Person: Nemissa sometimes talks about herself this way. She actually seems to prefer doing so but has the smarts to avoid it when bystanders are conveniently mistaking her for Hitomi. She starts to drop it as the game progresses.
- Achilles' Heel: Zeed is effectively crippled if the moon phase is "New".
- Artificial Demon: He's an artificial demon made using a Dolly Kadmon.
- Evolutionary Levels: Evolves as more stronger demons are fused into it.
- The Greys: Zeed's initial form.
- Guide Dang It!: Getting Zeed to learn the skills you want can be tricky to say the least.
- Hybrid Monster: His secondary evolutions before he evolves into his highest form are a mix of two types: Beastial-Draconic and Humanoid-Angelic.
- Our Angels Are Different: Angelic Types 1 and 2
- Our Dragons Are Different: Dragonic Types 1 and 2
A devil summoner and former employee of the Phantom Society who resigned in disgust to their questionable practices. His Vision Quest provides a password the protagonist need to unlock some hidden features on his GUMP.
- The Atoner
- Crutch Character: All of the vision quest protagonists qualify as this. Urabe in particular is the first character who is actually controlled in battle, and he's quite powerful compared to the first dungeon's enemies. The vision quest itself let's the real protagonist skip his earliest, most vulnerable levels.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the past, which is the result of his family's death.
- Improbable Weapon User: The original owner of the Protagonist's GUMP.
- Killed Off for Real
- Posthumous Character
- Sacrificial Lamb
- Spanner in the Works: Him stealing Nemissa throws a wrench into the Phantom Society's plans.
The second Vision Quest character. An accomplished Summoner and member of the Phantom Society, sent on a mission concerning the Manitou Net. However, he has started to doubt the goals of the group and is reconsidering his membership.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Began questioning his allegiance and leaving the Phantom Society after a encounter with Rei Reiho. But dies before he could get the chance.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices himself to stop Winpe from constantly reviving.
- Improbable Weapon User: Uses a saxophone-style COMP.
- Might Makes Right: A believer in this. He starts questioning it after realizing that not everyone shares this viewpoint.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: His soul lingers after his death, making the demons in Amami Airport uneasy.
- Posthumous Character
- Retired Badass: Gained much combat experience when he served with the Gurkhas. Although it's not clear if he served in the British or Indian armies.
- Sacrificial Lamb
- Unfinished Business: Wants to help someone before passing on, so he guides the Protagonist to where his COMP is so he can take his demons and use them.
An experienced devil hunter of the Phantom Society. She is unique in that she only summons demons to use as her skills. Born and raised in Hong Kong.
- A Taste of Power: She's an absolute One-Man Army who doesn't need demons in her party to defeat abominations. Sneezing on demons is enough to kill them all.
- Big Eater: Her first scene is of her and Nishi eating at a Chinese restaurant, where she orders 'another' mango pudding, a tapioca, and some tarts.
- Demon Slaying: Job of a devil hunter.
- Post Humous Character
- One Last Job: Wanted to make slaying Apsu or Tiamat her last job before she kills Rei Reiho and open her own restaurant.
- Ret Irony: Talks about how after she kills Rei for killing her master Naomi will retire and start a Chinese restaurant. Even if Minap didn't outright say that these were her last memories it'd be obvious that this really would be her last job.
- Revenge: Against Rei Reiho for the death of her master.
- Sacrificial Lamb
- Undignified Death: Dies due to asphyxiation when Apsu and Tiamat retaliate against her destroying their physical forms.
Spookies
Real name Masahiro Sakurai, he founded and leads the Spookies from a mobile semi-trailer truck. He's always seen with a cigarette tucked between his lips. At the start of the game, he assists the Protagonist and Hitomi to hack into the mainframe servers of Algon Soft.
- Always Second Best: To Kadokura.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: He's seen countless demons and even spoken to a couple. But the idea that Algon is actually stealing people's souls? That's what he finds hard to believe.
- Demonic Possession: Gets possessed by Satanael
- Expy: Of Fox Mulder.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Was jealous of Kadokura's skill, so he founded the Spookies to hide his jealously.
- Killed Off for Real: In the normal playthrough. It's possible to save him on New Game Plus, and Intruder establishes that he canonically survived this.
A member of the Spookies, he specializes in hacking and hardware modification.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Constantly does this because he blames his dad for his mom's death.
- Meaningful Name: It's not the fact that he's seen eating lunch in his artwork, but his codename is a deconstruction of the word "launcher."
A member of the Spookies, Six is a known gun aficionado in the group. He's also willing to lend out his wares to his comrades should they need help.
- Cowardly Lion
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite his quirks, Six can handle himself better than most in a fight.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He lost his big sister when he was little by accidentally pushing her down the stairs as a prank. Then a demon manifest in her image as a very pissed off ghost.
- Gun Nut: Acts like one since he's a firearms fan.
- Hypocrite: For all his belitting and insulting of Yu-ichi for acting like a kid, he acts just as childish. It's possible that he doesn't want to see Yu-Ichi make such rash decisions after the traumatic experience Six went through when he was a child.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Lovable Coward: His crippling fear of demons quickly becomes a Running Gag. Though it is understandable, considering that, despite his Wall of Weapons, he's vastly underequipped to fight them compared to the Protagonist and Nemissa.
- Meaningful Name: His codename comes from "Six shooter", which is slang for a revolver.
- Otaku: A firearm Otaku.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Always seen with a revolver holstered in a small of the back (SOB) holster rig.
- Skilled, but Naive: Claims that he's an expert in wielding small arms. Nemissa calls him out since he's not honest about it, which he admits since his combat training didn't prepare him to fight real monsters.
- The Lancer.
- Wall of Weapons: Implied to have a hidden arsenal of small arms (Which are illegally acquired), considering Japan's strict anti-firearm laws.
Another member of the Spookies. He tries very hard to assist the group in whatever way he can, not minding the fact he can be very rash.
- Awesome Mc Cool Name: Yuichi considers his real name "cooler" than any codename the rest of the Spookies have.
- Brainwashed: By the Phantom Society.
- Dull Surprise: After an ill-fated attempt to confront a villain instead of letting the protagonist handle it he slips into this. The other Spookies figure that it's shock but it's actually a sign that he's been brainwashed. Once the brainwashing is broken, he's actually very emotional about how much trouble he's caused.
- Heroic BSoD: If Spooky dies, Yu-Ichi beats himself up over the whole thing.
- The Load / The Millstone: He's definitely one of the two. He's certainly a Millstone after being brainwashed, but he was brainwashed in the first place because of his own stupidity.
- The Mole: After being brainwashed.
- Younger Than They Look: He's a year older than Six, but that doesn't stop Six from treating him like a child anyway.
Phantom Society
Vice minister of Japan, he is the overseer of the project to modernize Amami City. He is also a high ranking member of the Phantom Society, with his true form being Azazel.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Has red skin as his true form Azazel.
- Big Red Devil: Azazel, though he wears a blue outfit.
- Corrupt Politician
- Die Laughing: Azazel after his dying speech..
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Some of his final words before he falls.
- Obviously Evil: He just looks evil.
- Worthy Opponent: Azazel considers the Protagonist one since he defeated Shemyaza.
- Elvis Impersonator
- Gone Horribly Wrong: His attempt to summon Kokabel.
- Heel–Face Turn: After being possessed and abandoned by Moowis.
- Hell-Bent for Leather
- Improbable Weapon User: Has a guitar-style COMP.
- Summon Magic: Summons two Pretas, a Padlock, and a Ippon-Datara in the fight against him. Attempts to summon the great angel Kokabel later but gets Moowis instead.
- Big Red Devil: His Cernunnos demon that he uses for the second fight.
- The Dragon: To Nishi.
- Enemy Mine: Offers the Protagonist one so that he can get to Malsum.
- Good Old Fisticuffs
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking/Cigar Chomper
- Guns Akimbo: He's wearing a double shoulder holster.
- Honor Before Reason: Leaves Yu-ichi unharmed until after he fought the Protagonist to heal his wounded pride. Subverted. He brainwashed Yu-ichi just in case.
- Killed Off for Real: Dies not to long after losing to Malsum.
- Improbable Weapon User: Uses a brass knuckle-style COMP.
- Mirror Boss: Will summon the same demons as the Protagonist during their duel. Only Zeed and demons made through Zoma fusion being the exception.
- Retired Badass: He used to be a career boxer.
- Skippable Boss: Will only be fought a second time if the Protagonists refuses to cooperate and have a Enemy Mine.
- Improbable Weapon User: Uses a Parasol-style COMP.
- Knight of Cerebus: She only appears once before you kill her, but she destroys the parking garage that the Spookies' HQ is at right before she dies.
- Rich Bitch: It's suggested by official Atlus bio data that she comes from a wealthy and prominent family.
- Summon Magic: Summons Vetala, two Kasos, a Purple Mirror, and a Mizuchi for her fight.
- Ax-Crazy: Revels in his bloodlust and insanity.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Has purple skin.
- Death Seeker: Shemyaza laughs as he finally tastes the sweet release of death. Though a second later he wanted to postpone his current death long enough until he dealt with Nemissa.
- Fallen Angel
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: Knows the strongest Ma- spells that belong to each one.
- Non-Elemental: Knows Megidola.
- Red Baron: Master of the magical arts.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Has dark green skin.
- Elemental Powers: Uses Agilao, Mazionga, and Megidola in his boss fight.
- Eye Patch Of Power
- Fallen Angel
- Femme Fatalons
- Horned Humanoid: Has a horn on the right side of his head.
- It's All About Me: While Azazel and Shemyaza are by no means saints, they fully believed in the cause and were willing to die for it. Satanael simply laughs at their deaths and plans on profiting on Manitou only for himself.
- Living Body Suit: Does this to Spooky.
- Power Floats: His body is floating during the battle.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Taken for Granite: Petrifies demons with the highest MAG cost using MAG Drainer and to the lowest level foe using Glimmering Eye.
Kuzunoha Clan
The current leader of the Kuzunoha clan, who are at odds against the Phantom Society. She returns from the original Devil Summoner game to assist the Spookies.
- Badass Longcoat: Wears a white trench coat over her suit.
- Mr. Exposition: Explains what the Phantom Society is and what their goals are. Also touches upon the story of the previous game, comparing its characters to Soul Hacker's.
- Transvestite: Rumored to have been in one in Devil Summoner and had Tomokazu Sugita as her voice actor in the Japanese version. Averted in the English version where Tara Platt portrays Ginko as a ciswoman.
A high-ranking member of the Kuzunoha Clan. After saving Hirasaki City from destruction, Rei heads to Amami City to investigate the activities of Phantom Society.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Acts rude and seems like she doesn't care, but looks into things that she feels could help and gets the aid of Madame Ginko when she's worried.
- Previous Player-Character Cameo: She was the heroine of the previous game in the series, Devil Summoner, playing a similar role to Nemissa. Briefly summarised by Madame Ginko as her having known 'that boy' (the protagonist of that game) very well.
A Summoner belonging to the Kuzunoha clan.
- Body Surf: The current Kyouji Kuzunoha, who switched bodies after Devil Summoner's protagonist took up residence in his own.
- Purple Is Powerful: Wears a all purple outfit.
NPCs
The younger sister of the main character. She's an avid tech fan who would rather spend time playing Paradigm X over studying.
- Brainwashed: She gets her soul stolen by Snappy in the VR Art Museum.
Allies
A guide to the Protagonist again after he helped save Hirasaki City in the first Devil Summoner game. He takes the form of different animals and appears at different points in the story to lead him through Vision Quests.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Kinap did this in the past in order to become a spirit to watch over and keep Manitou sealed away.
- Dub Name Change: Changed from Redman to Kinap.
- Our Souls Are Different: He became a soul to watch over Manitou.
- Spirit Advisor: Kinap's job is to help the protagonist figure things out in Amami City..
A Swiss scientist who became obsessed with the possible creation of life, he fled to Japan in secret after he was nearly killed by an angry mob. He offers his services in fusing demons to create better ones.
- Facial Markings
- Humanoid Abomination: He finally discovered the secret to immortality between the Raidou Kuzunoha games and the modern day Devil Summoner games: a blood transfusion from a vampire.
- Mad Scientist: Still one, though he's less hammy than his younger self and now also creates Artificial Demons.
- Monster Compendium: In the 3DS version.
- Older and Wiser: Much calmer than his younger self that's seen in the Raidou Kuzunoha games.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed. He isn't completely human anymore, but he still works with the Kuzunoha Clan.
Doctor Victor's personal assistant. She is present on the Goumaden to greet her master's guests.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Perpetual Frowner: Doesn't smile since she believes there should be heart behind it.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed like Victor. She may not be human, but she does help the heroes out.
- When She Smiles: Completing her side-quest has her smile and thank the Protagonist for helping her begin to understand what it means to have a heart.
A chef for the Hotel Goumaden galley with a French accent. He's been learning the art of fusing demons into blades in his off-time from Victor.
- The Blacksmith: Replaces Victor from the Raidou Kuzunoha games.
- Monster Compendium: Keeps a record of created swords in the 3DS version.
- Berserk Button: Devil Summoners destroying his research.
- Gag Nose: It isn't Igor's, but it's still pretty big.
- Five-Man Band: Took a liking to Japan's Hero/Sentai groups, so he created each of the Frost Five as one.
- Mad Scientist: He's a thaumoscientist, and creates things from artificial demons, intelligent primates that can become Devil Summoners, to shaved ice flavored Jack Frosts.
- Nerd Glasses
Two expert hacker friends of Spooky. They provide some useful software for the main character to use for his COMP.
- Camp Gay: Beta
- A Friend in Need: Alpha is willing to help out the Protagonist simply because his friend Spooky asks him too. Though not without making a bit of a profit when it comes to making software.
Other Antagonists
- Body Surf: Has to do this to survive outside Paradigm X. He gets around it by making himself a mechanical body.
- Demonic Possession: Inflicts this on Carol J.
- Evil Sounds Deep
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Moowis is a Native American bodysnatching cyber spirit spawned form Manitou that eats souls and becomes a robot.
- Our Souls Are Different: One of the Cyber spirits born from Manitou.
- Poor Communication Kills: Wanted to kill Nemissa for his master Manitou, but Manitou wanted to die and only craved souls because of the humans it could hear who wanted more souls to feed it.
- Recurring Boss: Faced three times during the story.
- Madness Mantra: Once beaten it chants "MANTIOUMANITOUMANITOUMANITOUMANITOU...".
- Our Souls Are Different: One of the Cyber spirits born from Manitou.
- Resurrective Immortality: Will resurrect himself from the computers until Judah sacrifices himself to stop it.
- Evil Sounds Deep
- Our Souls Are Different: One of the Cyber spirits born from Manitou.
- Playing with Fire: His Pyroclastic Tempest skill.
- Poor Communication Kills: Same case as Moowis.
- Status Effects: Inflicts bomb using Bite the Dust, also uses Silent Whisper to Seal his foes magic.
- Big Bad: Kadokura's responsible for running Phantom's soul stealing operation in Amami City.
- Body Horror: His One-Winged Angel looks...rather painful.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Believed to be one by the Spookies after learning the true purpose of Paradigm-X, their tune changes once they meet him. Then he reveals he is as corrupt as previously believed after the Satanael fight.
- Evil Genius: A genius programmer and hacker.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He is based on Bill Gates, though the celebrity resemblance isn't as blatant as STEVEN's.
- :One-Winged Angel: Becomes Great Kadokura before the final battle.
- The Starscream: Allied with Nishi and the Phantom Society, but fully intended to betray them at some point, which he finally does when the Spookies meet him.
- Villainous Breakdown: Completely loses it when the Antenna is destroyed during the Satanael battle.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: He has lost any shred of sanity he had by the time he's confronted.
- Energy Being: Its true form is a blue sea of energy surrounding a black rock like object. Though it spawns a different form for the final battle.
- Final Boss: Of Soul Hackers
- Humanoid Abomination: It's boss form is a gold like humanoid.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Manitou desires death because it cannot coexist with humans, and Nemissa was made to bring the song of death to it.
- Non-Elemental: Magic based Manitou uses Armageddon, Demon Birth Cry, Necro Dogma, and Megidoloan. Physical based Manitou uses Abyss of Naraku.
- Pure Is Not Good: Manitou is a "pure" spirit and has no sense of self. By itself it's harmless, but when surrounded by the madness of humanity it becomes a raging force. Despite this, Manitou wished to coexist with mankind until it reached a point where the souls it absorbed made this impossible.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Manitou while not evil is influenced by the humans and their souls. So it was sealed away to prevent it from being influenced by humans.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Unintentional on Manitou's part, as it only craves souls because the beings it hears want more souls for it.
EX Dungeon Bosses
All the below listed bosses are cameos of characters from the entire Devil Summoner sub-series from the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. They can be fought in the Playstation and 3DS version.
A boss from the original Devil Summoner.
- Flunky Boss: Comes with several Platoon Soldiers like in the original game.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: A vengeful ghost.
The Big Bad from the original Devil Summoner game.
- Back from the Dead: Says he's been brought back just for the chance to kill the Protagonist.
- Improbable Weapon User: He wields a Bible COMP.
- Mirror Boss: Same deal as Finnegan.
- Sinister Minister: Looks like one.
The Protagonist of the original Devil Summoner, who inhabits the body that belonged to the true Kyouji Kuzunoha. The original final boss for the EX Dungeon in the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions of the game.
- Body Surf: Came to this one after his original body was killed by Sid Davis.
- Summon Magic: Summons Shiva, Vishnu, Metatron, Kali, and Anat for the boss fight.
The protagonist of the Raidou Kuzunoha duology and his alternate universe counterpart. Added into the 3DS version of the game.
- Dual Boss
- Suddenly Speaking: Raidou was a Heroic Mime in his games, but in this game, he is given fully-voiced lines.
The Soulless God Oumagatsu served as the final boss from the first Raidou Kuzunoha game. Serves as the new final boss for the EX Dungeon.