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Main Characters
Subaru Sumeragi
But the cherry blossoms were so beautiful...
Voiced by: Kappei Yamaguchi (OAV's), Shouta Aoi (2021 anime)
Subaru is the head of the Sumeragi Clan of onmyouji at the young age of sixteen, and is intensely dedicated to his work. Despite this heavy burden, he remains a sweet, naive boy who is devoted to helping those in need.
He is very close to his twin sister Hokuto, and often relies on her for emotional support. He is easily flustered by Seishirou's grand romantic gestures toward him, but holds a great respect for the man, and gradually grows to rely on his support as well.
- Action Fashionista: He wears very nineties-like outfits courtesy of Hokuto.
- Agent Peacock: He's the classic sweet sixteen, blushes at just about anything and wears outrageous outfits courtesy of his sister; he has the face of a very pretty girl, large green eyes. His build is small and skinny and he is the youngest head ever of the Sumeragi Clan, the most powerful onmyodo users in Japan, next to their rivals the Sakurazuka Clan. He's compassionate and gentle true - but kicks serious ass with his impressive spiritual powers and exorcisms. There's a reason why at such a young age, he's the head of such a renowned clan.
- All-Loving Hero: Subaru is an innate compassionate person and will always listen to people's troubles, empathize with them and try his best to help them. It's also demostrated that he holds back his own power when dealing with his cases, as he's afraid of hurting others with his might and prefers to let himself be hit. Even when he grows sad and bitter after Seishirou's betrayal and Hokuto's death, "Start" and X/1999 have him still showing genuine kindness to those who really need it, like Kamui or the characters from "Start".
- Angst Coma: He becomes catatonic after Seishirou attacks him, and only gets to wake up after seeing in a vision that Hokuto was killed by Seishirou.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: The "Start" annex and X/1999 reveal that he grow bitter and detached after Hokuto's death.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Shy, introverted, naive Subaru has his moments. He once nearly broke the arm of a guy who was harassing a blind man.
- Break the Cutie: Subaru is uncannily innocent and sweet, and suffers more and more as the series progresses. And he hasn't even gotten to X/1999 yet...
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Subaru has the bad tendency of focusing too much in helping people that he falls sick very often. And even so, he pushes himself to the limit in order to finish his job. And he's not nearly recovered when he has to jump into another one.
- Conspicuous Gloves: Justified. The gloves are magical talismans which hide him from the man who marked him as a kid. They don't work.
- Dream Weaver: He can dive into people's dreams and/or consciences, and see/influence them to help the "dreamers" deal with their problems. He uses this power on the comatose rape victim Midori in the manga for example.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Subaru's often mistaken for being a girl - he's just that pretty!
- Entendre Failure: Subaru isn't very good at getting innuendoes, so unless someone makes the point straight to his face, he will be as lost as a kid. That's why Seishirou is so blatant and straightforward in his proclamations of love, to the teen's embarrasment.
- Forgets to Eat: His job and duties consume him and his stomach takes the brunt of it.
- Friend to All Living Things: Subaru loves animals, and often bonds with Seishirou over the animals at his practice. He yearns to go to college to be a zookeeper — however, his duties as clan head have made that dream all but impossible.
- Half-Identical Twins: With Hokuto.
- Horrible Judge of Character: SUBARU.
- Luminescent Blush: He turns red as a tomato at the drop of a hat. Particularly when Seishirou starts flirting with him.
- Meaningful Name: "Subaru" is the Japanese term for the Pleiades, the constellation that seems to be pursed by Orion, the hunter.
- Misery Builds Character: Oh Subaru.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Though Subaru looks waifish and mild, he is a combat-trained black belt. In volume six, he nearly breaks the arm of some punk who was harassing a blind man, and scares off the rest of the punk's friends with a look.
- No Accounting for Taste: Subaru is too good for Seishirou, but he's still in love with the man even after Hokuto is murdered and even years later in X/1999. He has no illusions about Seishirou and acknowledges that they'll always be Star-Crossed Lovers, however..
- Parental Abandonment: His only shown relative is his grandmother, who lives in Kyoto. Subaru and Hokuto live on their own in Tokyo.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Subaru is introverted, naive, powerfully magical and the head of the Sumeragi family. Meanwhile, Hokuto is extroverted, energetic, fairly savvy, mostly-a-muggle and the spare child in the family.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: He has jet-black hair that frames his face as a teenager and a very pale, creamy skintone. Unless he's furiously blushing, of course.
- Self-Care Epiphany: Enforced. Subaru's an All-Loving Hero who can't help but give a piece of his heart to everyone he knows; Hokuto understands this and that's why she's so insistent on Subaru getting together with Seishirou: so he starts to think about his own wants and needs.
- Stellar Name: Like Hokuto and Seishirou, Subaru is named after a constellation — "subaru" is the Japanese term for the Pleiades. Both he (and Hokuto, being his twin) were born under the "north star" - but the literal name went to "Hokuto," who was born first. (See her section for more). Later on in X/1999, it is revealed Subaru is one of the Seven Seals - each Seal being born under stars in the Big Dipper.
- Uke: Absolutely. He's small and very slender, remaining slender even after he reaches his taller adult height with large eyes and a face so pretty he's often mistaken for a girl. His sweetness and the way he gets so flustered around Seishirou just cement the fact.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: He has a large, emerald-green pair in the manga/anime. In-universe, his eyes are considered to be just beautiful.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Subaru tries to see the good in everyone, and will always try to help those strayed from the path of goodness. Sadly, the world always demostrates that such thing is not easy, if possible at all.
- Workaholic: Subaru is a workaholic for the sake of other people, and despite claiming his love for animals, not even his dream of being a zookeeper can get above his job. Hokuto always tried to push him into accepting Seishirou's attempts to court him, hoping that Subaru gets to think more about himself.
Hokuto Sumeragi
That's right! Your favorite and only sister!
Voiced by: Miki Itō (OAV's), Nana Mizuki (2021 anime)
Hokuto is Subaru's elder twin sister, and his loyal emotional support. She is a happy, energetic young woman, and incredibly skilled with her sewing machine. She is nowhere near as skilled as Subaru at magic, but makes up for it with perseverance (and a healthy dose of martial arts).
She wishes only the best for her younger brother, but fears that his tender heart will only bring him pain. She eagerly encourages Seishirou and Subaru's relationship, hoping to make Subaru care about his own needs and feelings. Despite this, she often senses something just a little off about Seishirou...
- Action Fashionista: She is a super fashionable Badass Normal.
- Action Girl: While only average in spellcasting, she is quite the Badass Normal martial artist.
- Ambiguously Bi: She and the girl she rescued in the "Smile" side-story grew awfully close, and she even refers to "going on a date with her girlfriend" in a later arc, but we find out in the sequel that she fell in love with a male Dream Weaver (Kakyou Kuzuki) when she used her Dream Walker powers on him by accident.
- Big Sister Instinct: Hokuto is self-sacrificing to the utmost to achieve Subaru's happiness and she's very protective towards him, despite Subaru being the more powerfully magical of the two. She threatens to kill Seishirou if he hurts Subaru and she's only half-joking. When Hokuto meets him dressed up as Subaru, Seishirou isn't surprised at all — he was probably betting on Hokuto doing this.
- Boyish Short Hair: As it helps her to sometimes play Twin Switch with Subaru and the girl totally rocks it.
- The Caretaker: Hokuto's life mostly revolves over keeping Subaru healthy, both physically and emotionally. She's constantly cheering him when things go wrong, cooks and cares for him. While her occasional shopping with Seishirou and the "Smile" short story show she has her free time, Subaru is her main concern and will always suffer when he does.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Seishirou holds her in his arms as she dies.
- Dream Walker: Revealed to have this power in X/1999.
- Expy: Hokuto's practically the inspiration for Tomoyo, with her role as The Hero's closest emotional support and wardrobe expert.
- Fag Hag: She and Seishirou are fairly close friends, and often bake and shop together. Subverted in that she does warn him not to hurt Subaru at knifepoint in the manga, as said above, and later sacrifices her life to protect Subaru from him.
- The Fashionista: She has an infinite wardrobe of flashy, sometime over the top, outfits and she's also in charge of her brother's.
- Genki Girl: She's always upbeat to keep Subaru cheerful.
- Half-Identical Twins: With Subaru.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Confronts Seishirou and demands that she be killed in Subaru's place. He obliges.
- Meaningful Name: Both she and Subaru were born under the north star, so the name could have been given to either of them - but she was born first, and therefore was "the guide." There's more to them being born under a constellation; see Subaru's section for more.
- Playful Cat Smile: Whenever she's teasing Subaru over his feelings for Seishirou.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Hokuto is extroverted, energetic, fairly savvy, mostly-a-muggle and the spare child in the Sumeragi family. This contrasts with Subaru who is introverted, naive, powerfully magical and the head of the family.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Her raven hair is cut the exact same way as Subaru's as children and teenagers, and they share the same pale skintone as well.
- Shipper on Deck: She is an insistent and instant Seishirou/Subaru fangirl despite knowing that Seishirou is dangerous.
- Stellar Name: Like Subaru and Seishirou, Hokuto is named after a constellation — "hokuto" is the Japanese term for Polaris.
- Thanatos Gambit: As detailed later in X/1999. Her Heroic Sacrifice was actually a gambit to both save Subaru's life and give Seishirou a Last-Second Chance. It both worked (Subaru ultimately survived) and backfired horribly (Seishirou used it as a part of his own Thanatos Gambit).
- Supreme Chef: She says she's practicing for her future Housewife's life.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She always knew that Seishirou was dangerous, but she could also see that the man was gaining a special spot in Subaru's heart, so she let him get closer to her brother in order to get him to think more on his own needs and desires.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: She has gorgeous green eyes, which are just as beautiful as her twin's, though hers reflect her cheerful persona and hide her deadly-sharp intuition.
- Yaoi Fangirl: She ships Subaru with Seishirou hardcore even despite knowing better.
Seishirou Sakurazuka
But you and I have met before, Subaru-kun.
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (OAV's), Yuichiro Umehara (2021 anime)
Seishirou is a friend of the Sumeragi twins; a warm, kind veterinarian in his mid-twenties. He likes to goof about with Hokuto, and constantly expresses his romantic intentions towards Subaru, to the latter's embarrassment. Despite his playful demeanor, he is a knowledgeable mentor to the twins, and often gives sobering commentary on the state of Tokyo and human nature.
Hokuto suspects him of being the Sakurazukamori, the longtime rival of the Sumeragi clan — Seishirou always laughs the accusations off, as he, of course, has no magic ability...or does he?
- Determinator: Very determined to get Subaru to love him back. For more reasons than one..
- Badass Bookworm: For all his "stupid" acting, Seishirou is rather...well-informed whenever he chooses to reveal that side.
- Eye Scream: Takes a knife to the eye while protecting Subaru from a woman suffering a nervous breakdown. The eye is permanently damaged.
- Kindly Vet: He is a kind and caring doctor to all the animals in his care, and often bonds with Subaru over their shared love of animals.
- Love at First Sight: How he claims to have fallen for Subaru.
- Love Confession: Tells "I love you" to Subaru at least once per volume.
- Meaningful Name: Seishirou is named after "Orion", the constellation that appears to chase after the Pleiades, the constellation that gives Subaru his name.
- Milky White Eyes: After his eye is injured. It's never clarified if his eye is totally missing and thus he wears a glass eye, or merely blinded to the point of being discolored.
- Nerd Glasses: They suit him rather well.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Sometimes Seishirou'll deflect his observations and probing with this.
- Seme: Of course. He's the older, much taller, and handsome man who pursues the innocent, shy and pretty Subaru.
- Stellar Name: Like Hokuto and Subaru, Seishirou is named after a constellation — "seishirou" is the Japanese term for Orion.
- Stoic Spectacles: Oh yes...
- Straight Gay: Unless he's goofing around with Hokuto, he has absolutely no Camp Gay mannerisms.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's incredibly good looking both with and without his glasses.
The Sakurazukamori
The Sakurazukamori.Why do you look so sad? Are you really so hurt that I've betrayed you?
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (OAV's)
- Affably Evil: He's always polite, even with his victims.
- All Take and No Give: He turns out to be like this to Subaru. Fuuma eventually tells Subaru much, much later - Seishirou was a very selfish man.
- Badass Bookworm: The Sakurazukamori knows what he's doing.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: He murders people and looks impeccable doing so.
- Badass Longcoat: Black, just like his heart.
- Cool Shades: The Sakurazukamori favors them - they just make him look even cooler.
- His glasses are also Sinister Shades with a touch of Sunglasses at Night.
- Cradling Your Kill: He normally is showed holding his most recent victim to take them to the sakura tree in order to bury them. He also cradled his mother and Hokuto after killing them.
- Dissonant Serenity: He is almost always calm, cold and collected. The few times his poise is ruffled, it is always subtle or very quickly smothered back to this.
- Evil Counterpart: To Subaru as Seishirou and to the entire Sumeragi clan.
- The Glasses Come Off: When Seishirou is in Sakurazukamori mode.
- Kick the Dog: Seishirou uses his veterinary practice for magical purposes - the backlash of his spells strike the animals instead of himself, often killing them in utterly careless cruelty. Also, just as Subaru realizes his love for Seishirou, the latter beats him to a pulp. He simultaneously explains, while breaking Subaru's arm and kicking him around the room, that despite his previous assurances of love he really feels nothing for anyone.
- Kill the Ones You Love. Inverted. Sakurazukamori are killed by the ones they love the most. It's how the job is passed down.
- Manipulative Bastard: One of the greatest examples in all of manga or anime.
- Noble Bird of Prey: His familiar is a large hawk.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Seishirou's glasses were nothing more than a facade to make him look harmless.
- Secret Identity: Seishirou as the Sakurazukamori, though it was fairly obvious on purpose from the beginning. What wasn't as obvious was just how brutal and sinister he really is.
- The Sociopath: The Sakurazukamori is trained since birth to see humans are mere objects and can't really see the evil in "breaking" human beings. X/1999 states that it's not so simple: Seishirou's mother Setsuka insists that he will love someone enough to let himself be killed by them, even when Seishirou himself tells her that he simply cannot love anyone.
- Stalker with a Crush: Seishirou is certainly is very touchy-feely with Subaru, always knows where he happens to be and always leaps to his protection. He does literally spy on him constantly with onmyoujutsu and grows increasingly possessive of him. Despite all this, the Sakurazukamori still claims he feels nothing toward him.
- Super Smoke: He summons his hawk shikigami using the smoke from his cigarittes.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Seishirou is even more terribly handsome when he drops his kind act. Somehow this sinister sophistication is incredibly appealing.
- Teens Are Monsters: He has been the Sakurazukamori since he was 16 years old.
- Torso with a View: The Sakurazukamori favorite way of killing his victims is ripping out their hearts from their torsos with his bare hands.
- Useless Accessory: Hokuto sees right through Seishirou's glasses to his empty, heartless gaze despite the fact that he wears the glasses to hide this very fact.
- Villain Takes an Interest: His interest in Subaru's pure heart is what made him curious enough to spare his life in order to make the Bet.
- Walking Spoiler: Played with. Seishirou's identity was practically an Open Secret; his incredible cruelty was shocking.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Seishirou, as a sociopath, literally cannot comprehend normal human emotion. The bet he made with a young Subaru long ago was to see whether he could be made to love someone, and Seishirou claims Subaru failed. Claims.
Other characters — from the manga
Lady Sumeragi
- The Cameo: In X, she and Subaru are still in contact and she worries a lot for his sake. And with VERY good reasons.
- Cool Old Lady: A more quiet version.
- Iron Lady: Rules the Sumeragi clan with a hand of steel inside a silk glove. She is a kind person underneath, however.
- Kimono Is Traditional: Very much so.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She wears classic kimonos and appears to be a very graceful lady - but she's incredibly powerful and unwilling to change her ways.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: A harsher, older version but still a very proper Japanese lady.
Kuniko Hashimoto
- All of the Other Reindeer: She was hated by her classmates, who either ostracized her or bullied her.
- Eye Scream: Trying to stand up against her bullies caused her to get stabbed in the eye for her troubles.
Midori Mitsuki
- Angst Coma: She went to sleep and simply didn't wake up.
- Forgotten First Meeting: She and Subaru were friends as kids.
- Innocently Insensitive: Played with. She said to Subaru in the past that he was not normal in order to get him to notice her, but she didn't knew how close to home that comment hit and how much it hurt him.
- Mental World: When Subaru dived into her mind in order to wake her up, he finds himself in a park where little Midori is innocently playing alongside a child Subaru born from her memories.
- Puppy Love: Midori used to have a crush on Subaru when they were kids and, despite growing apart overtime, still remmbers him fondly.
- Rape as Drama: She was kidnapped and gang-raped. For worse - though the people around her didn't know she was the victim - weren't sympathetic to her plight; using the incident for idle gossip and unknowingly referring to her as "damaged goods".
The old man and his daughter Sachiko
A little family which consists of a nameless elderly man and his daughter (along with his grandchild and in-laws)
- Elder Abuse: Emotional and Psychological example. Sachiko thinks her old father is a total burden on her middle-to-lower class family, which in turn causes a lot of distress to the old man.
- I Gave My Word: The old man wishes to die so he can stop to burden his daughter, but he promised to his dying wife that he'll live until he has made 100 things to make Sachiko happy.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sachiko, when Subaru explains the reason for her dad's death.
- No Name Given: The old man.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Sachiko likes bananas a lot. And her dad is hit by a car while trying to get her some.
Yuuya and his mother
- Eye Scream: Yuuya's mother crosses the Despair Event Horizon and attacks Subaru with a knife to try extracting one of his kidneys. Seishirou blocks the attack... and guess what happens.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While Seishirou would have revealed himself as the Sakurazukamori sooner or later, Yuuya's mother attack on him and Subaru forced it even sooner.
Other characters — from the OAV
Kazumi Asou
Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru
- Break the Cutie
- Broken Bird
- Cynicism Catalyst: She's driven to revenge because her beloved older brother was murdered by Shinji Nagumo.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Subverted. She adores her brother's dog which she's taking care of now... but she kills the poor doggie to cast a spell that she wanted to use to punish Shinji.
- Revenge: Her motivation. It backfires HORRIBLY on her.
Shinji Nagumo
Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda
- Ambition Is Evil
- Born Lucky: Horrifyingly deconstructed, as he weaponizes his extremely good luck to stage accidents where he will at most get broken limbs, but his targets will die. This is how he killed both Kazumi's brother and his own boss.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- Disney Villain Death: How he is defeated at the end of the first OVA. He plummets from the skyscraper which is supposed to be under construction and on the way down, he is torn apart by the dog's spirit.
- Elevator Failure: How he kills his boss. This is also how Subaru learns about him, as the old man had hired him to check on the building before dying...
- Smug Snake
- Villainous Breakdown
- Winds of Destiny, Change!: His powers.
Yamagawa
Mirei
Voiced by: Emi Shinohara
- Psychic Powers: Post-cognition, alias seeing the past via touching objects with her bare hands. It's said to be a very rare ability among psychics themselves.
- Lamarck Was Right: It was inherited from her mother.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Very softspoken, sweet and traditional. But refuses to stay put and let more girls be victimized by the Serial Killer, despite how dangerous it is and her mom's Heroic Sacrifice
Satoru Miyazaki
Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka
- Book Worm
- Hot Librarian
- Mundane Utility: He actually uses his Psychic Powers in his hobby. He picks up rocks and, with his powers, he learns where they came from and any stories behind them.
- Psychic Powers: He has Mirei's same abilities. No wonder they fall in love.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: A Rare Male Example, and pretty much the template that CLAMP used to create Fujitaka and Aoki
The Subway Killer
Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto
A serial killer- Cute and Psycho: As a child.
- Enfante Terrible: He accidentally strangled his little sister to death when he was less than 10 years old.
- Serial Killer: He murders young women who take the subway alone.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Beautiful white hair. Totally unhinged mind and heart.
