Characters for 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess.
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The Human Kingdom
The Princess
The Princess
Voiced by: Haruka Shiraishi
Princess of the Human Kingdom and Commander of the Third Imperial Legion who has fallen into the clutches of the Hell-Horde. Legendary for her fighting prowess and skill at arms, she was raised to do battle with the kingdom's enemies. Unfortunately, this leaves her rather suspectible to the Hell-Horde's offers.
- Afraid of Needles: Despite having suffered grievous injuries on the battlefield with little fuss, the Princess is terrified of simple injections. She's so afraid of needles that she offers to defect and join the Hell-Horde to try and avoid getting her blood drawn during a medical checkup. Tortura offers her a numbing patch in exchange for a secret; before Ex can even finish his "the Princess will never break" speech she's already shouted it out.
- Art Shift: She can flip between a mature hime-type and a much more childish look in seconds, as whatever 'torture' is inflicted begins to take hold.
- Barefoot Captives: She only wears shoes when the "torture" requires her to go outside. This is used against her in one chapter, when the "torture" involves affectionate cats - she gives up a secret when one goes after her toes.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Only ever called "the Princess".
- Friendless Background: Was isolated from people due to her background and training, and the one friend she ever made turned out to be The Mole and attempted to kill her. Part of why she nearly rejects the "torture" in Chapter 4 (the chance to play a four-player fighting game) is because she has no idea how to talk to people she's just met.
- Genius Ditz: Excellent at armed and unarmed combat. A complete idiot at anything else.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Colored pages show the princess has blonde hair and blue eyes, and she's a pretty kindhearted person.
- Hime Cut: Fittingly for her princess title, she has blunt bangs, cheek length sidelocks, and waist length straight hair.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Colored illustrations show she has blue eyes, and is a Kindhearted Simpleton.
- Mr. Imagination: The anime gives the Princess a very vivid and active imagination to show how she's reacting to every "torture" put in front of her.
- Never Bareheaded: She rarely appears without something on the top of her head. It's typically a Cool Crown that reminds us she's royalty, but she's worn other things as well.
- Ocular Gushers: Enki and Youki invited the Princess to an amusement park on their day off. Tortura uses that invitation as the next day's torture; if the Princess gives her secret, she can join them. Ex assumes the two inviting her was a trick all along, and the Princess says it'll be fine since she's been betrayed by someone she considers a friend before, so she can endure this. After the park opens and the Princess seemingly overcame the day's torture, she gets a text from Enki and Youki promising to wait for her at the gate. This sends the Princess weeping geysers that they were sincere about this and immediately revealing her secret in order to join them.
- Play-Along Prisoner: There are many times through the series that show how the Princess is The Juggernaut, easily breaking any restraints and crushing any physical opposition, combined with how her cell door is never actually locked and she can easily remove her ball-and-chain at any time, but for reasons known only to the Princess herself, she never breaks out of the castle on her own while willingly staying in her cell and wearing the chained-ball, only leaving when the Hellhorde gives her explicit permission.
- Princess Protagonist: She's the princess of the Human Empire, and the main character of the story.
- Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Louch's second rescue attempt is foiled in large because his next spell teleports the target's clothes first before sending the person right after, with her knocking Louch away again out of fear that she'd be seen naked by whoever's waiting to greet her.
- Requisite Royal Regalia: Despite being clad in a ragged shirt and not allowed shoes, the Princess constantly wears a small crown unless she has something else to wear on her head.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When trying to tell Ex that clearly, whatever 'torture' is being inflicted, she's definitely not completely overtaken by it.
- Tyke Bomb: Raised as a living weapon against the Hell-Horde... which is why the "tortures" work so well: anything involving treating her like a person will get to her.
- Vague Age: The princess is not a child, being twice as tall as Mao Mao, but both her body type and facial features make her look not quite old enough to be an adult, at least compared to the adults of the Hell-Horde. Chapter 18 has her mention "[her] high school years" in the past tense, so she's at least college-age, but after that she could be anywhere from 19 to 29.
Excalibur (Ex)
Excalibur
Voiced by: Chikahiro Kobayashi
The Princess's living sword, captured alongside her.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: During flashbacks he's shown being capable of cutting through almost anything, which his Volume 2 bio mentions is due to getting sharper the stronger his wielder's magic is. He doesn't display that as a captive of the Hellhorde because he currently has a temporary replacement blade while his normal one went in for repairs, and he was captured before it could be returned to him.
- Broken Pedestal: His opinion of the Princess has declined sharply since she was captured. What doesn't help is how easily swayed by the torture she is.
- Character Catchphrase: "Your Highness?" whenever the Princess shows she might give in to the day's "torture".
- Living Weapon: A sapient sword with a strong personality.
- The Needless: Due to being a living magic sword, he has almost none of the physical needs of the organic characters, nor the capacity to indulge them, meaning he's the one character introduced that lacks a favorite food since he can't eat at all. He does possess a need for sleep, though, since he will get magically exhausted and weak if he's awake for too long.
- No Biological Sex: Ex is a sword. However, he is referred to with male pronouns and has a male voice.
- Only Sane Man: You know it's a comedy when the living sword is the only one who questions anything. His main character trait is pointing out how utterly bizarre everything is.
- Painting the Fourth Wall: Because he speaks through magic instead of physically, Ex's word bubbles are square-shaped and have double borders.
- Punny Name: He's part of a three-sword set with the swords Deus and Machina.
- Worf Had the Flu: His character bio in the Volume 2 extras mentions that just before the Princess was captured, his regular ultra-sharp blade was removed and sent for repairs while he was given a weaker replacement in the meantime, implying that the Princess getting captured was due to her and Ex not being at their full strength.
Louch Brittan
Louch Brittan
Voiced by: Daisuke Ono
The "White Knight" of the Human Kingdom and Commander of the First Imperial Legion. He attempts to rescue the Princess using magic... which never seems to work out.
- Accidental Pervert: His first attempt to save the Princess requires him to tightly grip her. Unfortunately, his hand slips up as he's concentrating on the spell, and when it reaches her chest the Princess freaks out and sends him flying. Though he misinterprets why the first spell failed, his second attempt has him seemingly rectify this with a new spell that requires no physical contact... but also teleports both the clothes and person separately, with the former being sent first, prompting the princess to once again knock him away to teleport on his own after numerous failed attempts to reassure herself.
- Forced Sleep: He's able to cast a spell that puts the entire Hell-Horde's forces to sleep so he can sneak in and rescue the Princess.
- Gonk: Not terribly unattractive, but he looks like an average middle-aged Japanese man under his armor. Definitely not the Princess's type.
- Magic Knight: While as a Knight in Shining Armor (even if lacking in the looks) he has the impressive sword skills expected of one, he also has incredible magical knowledge and the skill to learn a new complex spell in less than a week.
- Magical Incantation: Louch's magic requires his total focus as he recites a mantra to cast the spell he needs.
- Otaku: Wears a homemade piece of merch from his favorite anime under his armor. He and the Hell-Lord bond over it.
The Hell-Horde
The Royal Family
The Hell-Lord (Go-chan)
The Hell-Lord
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda
The leader of the Hell-Horde, a powerful and ominous figure... on the surface. Underneath, he's a massive nerd who loves his family dearly.
- Achilles' Heel: For all the physical and magical might that he possesses, allowing him to No-Sell any external attacks he might receive, he actually lacks any resistance to internal injuries and ailments, so things like mouth ulcers and colds lay him low just as badly as most people.
- Doting Parent: Utterly adores his daughter, Mao-Mao, and is willing to set aside anything else when she's involved.
- Even Evil Has Standards: One of the secrets the Princess confesses to is the location of the empire's ultimate weapon. Whatever the weapon is, the Hell-Lord is afraid to use it, implying its destructive potential is too great for him to risk.
- Face of a Thug: Despite how he appears, he's actually a nerdy family man who actually wants to improve relations between the Hell-Horde and the Human Kingdom and his "tortures" of the Princess are trying to better understand the royal family to do so.
- A Glass of Chianti: As part of his whole "evil overlord" appearance, he's seen holding a wine glass while posing menacingly. Of course, this image doesn't last long.
- Happily Married: There's not even a hint of strife between him and Lulune.
- Holy Burns Evil:
- As he confesses to Tortura during his own "torture" session, he's a demon with an innate weakness to holy magic.
- Exposure to purity - like, say, the preciousness of a pre-school graduation ceremony - has a similar effect to sacred light magic, leaving him temporarily shrunk.
- Horned Humanoid: Has a pair of straight horns on his scalp.
- No-Sell: The Hell-Lord is so mighty that none of the White Knight's attacks so much as scuff or budge him. He can even take a Wave-Motion Gun to the face with no ill effects.
- No Social Skills: Downplayed. Outside of his comfort zone - his family, job, and fandoms - he struggles to talk to strangers.
- Otaku: A major anime nerd, he attends release events, has strong opinions on merchandise, and rejects one of the Princess's secrets because it would mean not watching his anime when they first air.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: In the isekai parody chapter, he only needs two hours to wipe out every villain in the world he's sent to.
- Signature Laugh: "Geh-heh-heh."
- Super Mode: Has a Speed Form which gives him Super-Speed. This being the kind of series it is, he invokes it for things like trying to hold hands with Lulune so he can dodge his embarrassment (though it doesn't do anything for his courage) or making a mile-plus round-trip to a Mark-D's for some food before a speech.
- Third Eye: A trait he shares with his daughter; unlike his other eyes, his third eye is set vertically on his forehead.
Lulune
Lulune
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
The queen of the Hell-Horde, the Hell-Lord's wife and Mao-Mao's mother.
- Doting Parent: Loves her daughter as much as her husband does.
- Happily Married: Clearly loves her husband, to the point she calls him an Affectionate Nickname (Go-chan).
- Horned Humanoid: Like the rest of her family, her horns are straight and rise from her scalp.
- Mystical White Hair: She has natural white hair, courtesy of being a demon.
- Satellite Family Member: Only seen in chapters alongside Mao-Mao. Justified in that she's a housewife.
Mao-Mao
Mao-Mao
Voiced by: Rina Hidaka
The Hell-Lord's preschool-aged daughter and princess of the Hell-Horde. Technically also a "torturer", but she's not very good at it. Not that this stops her "tortures" from working.
- Cheerful Child: Played with; she's upbeat and bubbly most of the time, but has extremely low self-esteem and is afraid of acting too informal around her father.
- Cuteness Overload: Each of the times she has taken the role of "torturer", her "success" came not from properly breaking the Princess into talking, but by being so harmless and cute that the Princess folds because her heart can't handle withstanding her adorableness for very long.
- The Cutie: Every appearance of Mao-Mao in the story is dedicated to highlighting how endearingly cute and lovable she is, with her playing fun things with glee befitting the Cheerful Child she is, and every "success" she has at "torturing" the Princess comes entirely from submitting to her cuteness.
- Horned Humanoid: She has vertical horns like her parents, though she's young enough they're still stubby.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Setting aside that the Hell-Horde fall short of actually being evil, the only reason her "tortures" work is because she's too cute for the Princess to stand.
- Mystical White Hair: She's a young demon with white hair, inherited from her mother.
- Third Eye: A trait she inherited from her father, though her third eye is set horizontally. Oddly, it doesn't have the black sclera of her other eyes.
The High Inquisitor and her Harm-Marshalls
Torture Tortura
Torture Tortura
Voiced by: Shizuka Itō
The chief inquisitor of the Hell-Horde, she is the one primarily in charge of "torturing" the Princess, with her "tortures" mainly focusing on food. Projects a cold demeanor, but is a rather nice person under it.
- Antiquated Linguistics: Downplayed, but Tortura has a tendency to speak formally, and uses old fashioned contractions (for example, using 'tis instead of it's).
- Big Eater: She enjoys eating food as much as she does preparing it, and has no trouble having massive amounts in one go (in a wanko soba eating contest, she casually outpaces the Princess and Youki, with the other two visibly struggling when they reach the usual contest average, and Tortura just carrying on like it's a walk in the park). Thus far, all of her Villains Out Shopping chapters have involved food in some way.
- Character Catchphrase: "'Tis time for torture, Princess."
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Her chilly outer demeanor is just professionalism, and slips more and more as she becomes friends with the Princess.
- Facial Markings: Has a _|_-shaped mark under her left eye.
- Hellish Pupils: Has reptilian eyes.
- Hidden Depths:
- Tortura loves bunnies. Chapter 95 is devoted to her fighting the Cuteness Overload when presented with one (and giving in as soon as she gets an opening). Chapter 175 has her take her lunch break early because she can't stop watching bunny videos on the Internet instead of doing her job.
- She cares deeply about her family. Her phone background is a picture of her baby niece, she expresses a strong desire to be there when her cousin gives birth (and later drives all night so she can visit said cousin on her day off), and she gets along very well with her mother.
- Before she was the grand inquisitor, she actually used to work as a nurse, as revealed when she gives the princess a health check-up.
- Horned Humanoid: Her horns curve out forward from her temples.
- Repetitive Name: Her first and last names differ by one letter.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like a younger version of her mother.
- Supreme Chef: Personally cooks almost all of the food-based "tortures" she presents the Princess with, and has admitted to taking a cooking class on at least one occasion. She takes pride in her work.
Datarma
Datarma
Tortura's assistant, a large stitched-together orc-like creature who never speaks.
- Big Fun: Huge, portly, and just as nice as any of the other "torturers".
- Facial Markings: He has a star-shaped pattern surrounding his right eye.
- Flesh Golem: Implied to be one of these. His body is covered in stiches (most notably his scalp, which has one long cut going all the way around, as if his brain was removed or replaced).
- Hidden Depths: Datarma was apparently a fan of Hair Metal in his younger years.
- Loincloth: Wears one when he's "on the job". Funnily enough, his casual wear tends to be pretty conservative.
- Suddenly Speaking: In chapter 194, his reaction to trying one of the cherries is "Yum..." Ex is utterly flabbergasted that he could speak this whole time.
- The Voiceless: In almost two hundred chapters, he has said exactly one word. Ex comments in his profile that he doesn't speak that often.
Enki and Youki
Enki and Youki
Enki voiced by: Honoka Inoue
Youki voiced by: Anna Nagase
Enki (left) and Youki (right)
A pair of cousins who serve as Torture Tortura's subordinates. Their "tortures" focus around physical activities. They're the first of the Hell-Horde to befriend the Princess.
Enki has two younger brothers, and her second brother, Insuke, attends the same preschool as Mao-Mao.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Chapter 164 shows Enki enjoys cilantro-and-chocolate potato chips.
- Cute Little Fangs: Youki has a single extra-pronounced fang most often visible when smiling happily, which cutely emphasizes how energetic she is.
- Cute Oversized Sleeves: All of Enki's outfits include coats with long hand-covering sleeves, cutely highlighting her subdued introverted attitude.
- The Dividual: They split up from time to time, but usually take part in "tortures" together.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Youki's profile in Volume 1 notes that she got even more chocolate than the most popular boys on Valentine's Day.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: The quiet and introverted Enki has her hair styled to cover her left eye.
- Horned Humanoid: They have oni-like horns on their foreheads.
- The Movie Buff: Enki is this. On one occasion, she and the Princess head to a movie theater, and Youki even mentions that Enki is "kind of pesky about movies."
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Based direct on the Trope Namer, right down to their color schemes. Youki is the energetic Red Oni to Enki's stoic Blue Oni.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: They're cousins instead of siblings, but fit otherwise. Youki is peppy and upbeat, while Enki is introverted and quiet.
Krall
Krall
Voiced by: Aya Yamane
Beastmaster Krall is part of the Hell-Horde's army and specializes in beasts. Her "tortures" focus on cute animals.
- The Beastmaster: It's her official title. She keeps a wide array of pets in her home.
- Cat Girl: Little Bit Beastly variant. She has cat ears, eyes, and paws, but is otherwise human.
- Friend to All Living Things: As you might expect given her "Beastmaster" title, she gets along with animals of all shapes and sizes, ranging from giant hamsters to polar bear cubs to dolphins with legs.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Her "torture" specialty involves these. Among others, she's "tortured" the Princess by showing her a baby polar bear and then taking its ball away (Krall broke first), letting her play with affectionate cats (her legs fell asleep while one slept on them and the other nuzzled her bare toes), and showing her how to play fetch with a chihuahua.
Vanilla Peschutz
Vanilla Peschutz
Voiced by: Miyu Tomita
Scion of the noble Peschutz vampire family, Vanilla is proud of her heritage and seeks to maintain its good name as a "torturer". She's bad at hiding what she really wants, though - all of her "tortures" lead back to her desire for friends.
- Cute Little Fangs: She has a shark-like jaw full of sharp and pointy teeth, but despite how she tries to invoke Scary Teeth when attempting a hand at "torture", they're mostly used to enhance her adorable smiles when feeling happy and enjoying her friendship with the Princess.
- Doting Parent: Her parents are prepared to do anything for her if she asks.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Vanilla's greatest weakness is her loneliness. The instant it becomes clear the Princess is willing to be her friend, Vanilla folds like a house of cards. Most of her "tortures" are blatant excuses to play with the Princess.
- Knight of Cerebus: Her first scene makes her seem like she's going to be like this, with her seemingly going to take things in a more serious direction, but it's immediately subverted in her proper introduction as she turns out to be just as goofy and lighthearted as the rest of the cast.
- Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid: Her father's a vampire and her mother's half-snake demon, half-vampire.
- Our Vampires Are Different: She has bat wings and all of her teeth are pointy, although the modern vampire clan doesn't suck blood directly anymore, instead eating iron-rich foods for nourishment. In addition, vampires are sensitive to the sun, which in this case means they sunburn easily if they spend a long time in the sun.
- Pride: Vanilla is convinced she has to hold herself above others because of the nobility of her family name. This is why she has a Friendless Background. Ironically, her parents clearly care far less about their "good name" than she does.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: According to her parents, she's good at needle felting to make little mascots.
- Vague Age: Subject to this more than anyone but the Princess. Depending on the chapter, she's either as tall as the Princess or as short as Mao-Mao, and her behavior is all over the place, maturity-wise.
- Vampire Lolita Archetype: Vanilla is a childlike vampire girl, comes from a noble family, has blonde hair with her pigtails partially colored pink, and dresses in a punk lolita fashion style.
Giant
Giant
Voiced by: Ai Kayano
A giant whose exact position in the Hell-Horde is unclear. Despite technically being a "torturer", she almost never actually "tortures" the Princess, mostly just bringing her along to enjoy the simple things in life.
- A Dog Named "Dog": A giant named Giant.
- Eyes Always Shut: She's never opened her eyes on-panel.
- Giant Woman: Downplayed in that she's only around eight feet tall, but she's still the tallest character in the series.
- Marshmallow Hell: As the most bosomy character of the female cast (because she's a giant), this inevitably happens when she hugs someone.
- Mundane Luxury: While the "tortures" the Hell-Horde offer the Princess vary all along the line, Giant outright just brings the Princess out of her cell to enjoy the simple things in life without even a pretense of "torture". They include time in a hot spring, talking a walk at night, and literally lying under a tree and doing nothing.
- Playful Cat Smile: Her default expression has her upper lip in a cat-like dip to represent her gentle, playful attitude.
- Team Mom: An extremely pleasant, affectionate woman, she serves as a surrogate mother to the Princess, to the point the Princess actually calls her "Momma" (and later "Master Momma").
- Verbal Tic: Stretches out the last word in her senteeeeeeeeences.
- What, Exactly, Is Her Job?: According to her profile, her position is Class 4 Warrior and Junior Torturer in the Hell-Horde, but no-one's seen her fight or carry out a "torture".
Gilga
Gilga
Voiced by: Sayaka Senbongi
A skilled blacksmith, Gilga doesn't do much in the way of "torture". However, she's been called upon when her specialty is required or when nobody else is available.
- The Blacksmith: A skilled metalworker. When she refurbishes Ex in Chapter 15, he mentions that he can tell how incredible of a job she's doing even without a test cut.
- Mundane Utility: Deconstructed for laughs. She tries to use an incredibly powerful magic flaming longsword as a stove to make fried rice on... but ends up melting the skillet.
Sakura Heartrock (Unmarked Spoilers!)
Sakura Heartrock
One of the Princess's closest friends — actually an assassin sent to slay the Princess. Their friendship ended with Sakura attempting to assassinate the Princess, and getting cut down in turn. However, it's revealed she survived, and when her mission to slay the Hell-Lord goes south, she's convinced to join the Hellhorde and learn to become a "torturer" under Tortura's tutelage. Her "tortures" tend to be applications of her assassin training, such as street performance and knife juggling.
- Ambiguous Gender: She's very androgynous-looking, and from her in-person debut in Chapter 96 to her submitting in Chapter 97, she's never referred to with any gendered pronouns. It's all part of playing up her mystery.
- The Atoner: Regards her probation and apprenticeship as a chance to make people happy with her "tortures" and make up for her past as an assassin.
- Becoming the Mask: Her mission was to befriend the princess, in order to get close enough to assassinate her. The only reason the Princess survived the attempt was that Sakura had legitimately befriended her and held back on what would have been a killing blow.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Makes her debut in a flashback in Chapter 7. Makes her first in-person appearance in Chapter 96.
- Easily Forgiven: Justified. The Princess immediately forgives Sakura for betraying her — as she was able to read Sakura's intentions by her face, and empathized with her lack of agency.
- False Friend: Subverted. She's portrayed as this in the flashback in Chapter 7, as she's attempting to assassinate the Princess. However, when we finally get to hear Sakura's side of the story, it's revealed that her genuine friendship is the only reason the Princess survived it at all.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: With her throwing knives. She can throw knives so precisely that she can solve a Rubik's Cube from dozens of meters away.
- Ninja: She's an assassin, and dresses in a stereotypical ninja fashion on her way to slay the Hell-Lord. She ditches the outfit for a while, but returns to using it after she reinvents her "torturing" style.
- Non-Ironic Clown: Her shtick as a "torturer" starts off as this. She quickly grows disillusioned with it as it loses its novelty.
- Suicide Mission: Sakura's first mission in a long time after failing to kill the Princess? Kill the Hell-Lord. She knows it's a death sentence (or at least that everyone thinks it's a death sentence), but goes along with the mission anyway out of guilt.
- Walking Spoiler: She's the friend who betrayed the Princess, as seen in several flashbacks as early as Chapter 7. But she doesn't appear in person until Chapter 96, and her identity isn't revealed until Chapter 97. Therefore, it's hard to talk about her without spoiling one of the biggest plot threads in the manga.
Others
Kandage
Kandage
Voiced by: Jun Fukushima
The Hell-Lord's most trusted advisor, a short pig-like man.
- The Comically Serious: Treats the info given by the Princess and the Hell-Lord's reactions with utmost seriousness, no matter how silly either of them get.
- A Day in the Limelight: Gets increased focus in Chapter 171, where he and the Hell-Lord are driving to a ceremony.
- Hidden Depths: Knows some pretty tasty fast-food cooking hacks. In addition, it's implied that he was into the rap scene in his youth.
- Pig Man: Has a pig-like snout. Notably, that's his only pig-like trait — he's short, doesn't have pig ears, and isn't particularly messy or sloppy.
- Satellite Character: Never seen without the Hell-Lord, except to let people know the Hell-Lord is absent.
