Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Tokyo ESP

Go To

The Character Sheet for Tokyo ESP.

    open/close all folders 

Heroes (Part 1)

    Rinka 

Rinka Urushiba

Voiced by: Ibuki Kido (Japanese), Sarah Wiedenheft (English)

The female lead, she was touched by the glowing fish and became an Intangible Girl.

  • Action Girl: Even before gaining her powers, she was capable of man-handling multiple thugs.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: While Rinka in the manga is a albino from the start, her portrayal in the anime gives her naturally brown hair and eyes that change to white and red, respectively, only when she activates her ESP.
  • Badass Normal: Even before getting the fish, Rinka was an amazing martial artist. At the end of the series, she's once again this, as Peggy ends up consuming all the fish.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Whenever she gets the hell beat out of her it shows for chapters after that fact.
  • Big Eater: She talks about food a lot and shows especial enthusiasm when presented meals, though this may factor more into her poverty and lack of money.
  • Break the Cutie: The author hates her for the sheer amount of things he puts her through...
  • Brought Down to Badass: At the very end. Sure, everyone has lost their ESP...but that functionally means she's Queen of the Hill in terms of fighting prowess, since not even Claudia or Minami could take her without their powers. Given the fact she's now working in her dad's detective agency, it's very likely she'll get to use all the skills she learned.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Loses her ESP after dying for a few minutes in Chapter 18. She eventually remembers that her martial arts abilities have very little to do with her power, and starts training again.
  • Bully Hunter: She comes across someone bullying and has to intervene.
    • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Heroic inversion. Rinka saved Azuma from thugs six months before the story began and then promptly forgot about it.
  • Cross Counter: Her favored tactic. Unlike most versions, however, she always comes out unscathed thanks to her intangibility, while her opponents are hit with both the power of her kick and their own forward momentum.
  • Cruel to Be Kind: How Rinka was forced to fight in the arena. Her usual tactics, knocking people out in a single strike, would always end up with the spectators calling for blood and getting the opponents killed, so she has to be needlessly cruel in her methods of disabling them, leaving them brutally mauled, but alive. When she can't, her Enemy Within does it for her.
  • Determinator: She does not give up easily, and given how the story goes, it's a good thing.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: Essentially what she is for the entirety of the story, besides the points where her powers are gone. Her ability to phase through solid objects is rarely useful against the plethora of other ESP users Rinka needs to fight, but one thing they do is allow her to even the playing field - traditional weapons don't phase her at all, meaning her opponents need to get into close combat with her, which she excels in. That being said, creative application of her powers allows Rinka to pull off some neat tricks mid-fight, such as phasing in and out of an elevator to ambush the one person who is nearly equal to her in hand-to-hand combat and phasing her own melee weapons through her body to catch enemies behind her off-guard.
  • Enemy Within: The CIA gave Rinka one so she could infiltrate the fight club. By performing a certain gesture, her heart and mind go to a dark place to eliminate any doubt she has and fools telepaths. Only, it doesn't exactly go away after the 1 hour period like it was supposed to...
    • Split-Personality Takeover: Her darkness took over during one of her arena fights and instantly went for the win against an esper who could control her with her eyes by inflicting both Eye Scream and a Groin Attack on them, and then leaving them to burn in a fire.
  • Famed In-Story: By the last third of the manga, pretty much everyone has nothing but nice or fearful things to say about her, and Ren is outright surprised when Rinka suggests that someone might have ESP she can't handle.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With Kobushi by the final third of the manga. The two have nothing but respect for each other after having spent the entire manga saving each other's hides and bickering.
  • Forced Prizefight: She's been involved in this for the last year as of Part 2 while working undercover for the CIA.
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: More sincere at first, later on she'd really really like Azuma to be.
  • The Hero: She's the main protagonist of the series, and a very heroic one to boot.
  • Hope Bringer: In Part 1. When she "attacked" the statesman, a lot of people felt betrayed.
  • Idiot Hero: She has her moments.
  • In-Universe Nickname: "White Girl," due to her hair.
  • Intangible Girl: Her ability lets her phase through everything, including her clothes.
  • Kick Chick: She specializes in kicking attacks, though the martial art she's trained in (Eskrima) also includes punches, grabs, throws, stick-fighting and the use of improvised weapons. In fact, she's too specialized, before Master Yoda and her father beat that out of her and teach her "Close Panda Combat," which includes more of the grappling and disabling techniques.
  • Logical Weakness: One that holds her back during the final attack on the ARES PMC; while her intangibility evens the playing field against most opponents, allowing Rinka to phase through anything inorganic, it does nothing to protect Rinka from getting hit by organic material. Dionysus Plants, whose ESP can easily be ascertained by reading her name, is able to take Rinka out of the fight almost immediately; as a Plant Person, everything Dionysus Plants fights with is fully organic, meaning that simply slamming Rinka into the floor with root structure and covering the ground beneath her in more root structure leaves her utterly helpless.
  • Made of Iron: Early on, Rinka takes a lot of punishment as she learns the ropes of her powers and commits herself to using them to aid others. As the story progresses and Rinka gets into more fights, she naturally becomes more durable and capable of taking hits. Her fight with Nadja in the climax of part 2 is brutal for both sides, and ends with Rinka having taken several attacks that would have broken her legs or just outright killed her if she'd been through the same fight in part 1.
  • Ms. Fanservice: The anime really loves bringing attention to her athletic body, such as an extended scene of her being naked.
  • Meteor Move: SKULL CRUSHING PSY-KICK!
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Chapter 18 has a heartbreaking one.
  • Perpetual Poverty: Due to her father having no job, Rinka is pretty close to this.
  • Power Perversion Potential: She can phase through solid objects, and until she learns to control her powers falls through her clothing a few times.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: Quite literally in chapter 75 thanks to a combination of Kuroi Claudia's powers and The Magic Goes Away.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Wears a dress for the first time on her date with Azuma. A cheap one, but he compliments her on it the next day.
  • Shower of Angst: Has a brief one in Chapter 21.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kobushi in Part 2.
  • World's Best Warrior: By the end of the story, it's a stiff competition between Kobushi and Rinka. Given The Magic Goes Away, neither have their powers to fall back on anymore, but they were already unstoppable combatants when push came to shove. The only open question is which of the two is more skilled.

    Azuma 

Kyoutarou Azuma

Voiced by: Keisuke Koumoto (Japanese), Adam Dahlberg (English)

The male lead, his power is Psychic Teleportation with a Hero Complex and a dark past.

  • An Arm and a Leg: He winds up losing an arm trying to escape an explosion while saving lives.
  • Badass in Distress: Kidnapped in 18 with no way to get back. A telepathic bird helps him. Yes, really.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: And Rinka is the one who inspired him.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Yes! He lost his parents and was forced to survive in a war-torn country until the Professor picked him up.
  • Dating Catwoman: He actually isn't, but did live with Minami for at least a year before the series started. The exact nature of their relationship causes Rinka some angst.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Despite Rinka's reluctance to get involved with him and to accept her ESP powers he keeps showing up and encouraging to use her powers for good. Fortunately for him it's not long before she starts crushing on him.
  • Heroic Wannabe: In almost any other series he'd be the main character, but Rinka does a better job embodying the ideals he espouses and kicks a lot more ass.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: All because of his costume. Rinka as the White Girl is much better accepted. At least until part 2.
  • Hidden Depths: He acts happy and cheerful, but he's went through some heavy stuff and is much more complex.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: He stops playing a nice hero and went to beating down Yakuza with a bat and shooting one after they burned down Rinka's home.
  • Mundane Utility: Teleportation is an awesome way to get out of having to pay for public transit.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Almost entirely because his superhero concept is really intimidating: A crow's head on an old fashion formal suit. Amusingly, his suit is based off an in-universe cartoon where the hero dresses up that way.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: Along with Rinka at the end of chapter 75.
  • Psychic Teleportation: His ability allows him to teleport which looks as if he vanishes into smoke.
  • Teleport Spam: He eventually learns to Psychic Teleportation in quick successions.
  • Training from Hell: He received extensive Special Forces training with the CIA Special Activities Division during the time skip after part 1.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Even though he is still pretty much Rinka's sidekick, part 2 shows that he is now a much more competent melee and gun fighter upon his return to Tokyo after going missing with Rinka one year prior. Thanks to the aforementioned Training from Hell with the CIA .

    Rindo 

Rindo Urushiba

Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Bryan Massey (English)

A retired cop and Rinka's dad, he's an overprotective father who gained a form of Telekinesis.

  • Mind over Matter: Can attract anything towards himself. However, as shown near the end of part one, he can slow the attraction of objects towards himself as well, or stop them; he just can't push them away from him.
  • Papa Wolf: He's crazy protective of Rinka. His first appearance has him rampaging down the streets calling her name because he thinks she's in danger.
  • Psychic Powers: Telekinesis.
  • Retired Badass: Used to be a cop, before he was fired for trying to root out corruption.
  • Shout-Out: To Wolverine and Iwahata

    Kobushi 

Black Fist (Real Name: Kuroi Kobushi)

Voiced by: Mai Aizawa (Japanese), Jenny Ledel (English)

A Phantom Thief with the ability of Invisibility and a skilled boxer.

  • Action Girl: She's even more skilled than Rinka when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. It helps that she's a boxer.
  • Alliterative Name: Kobushi Kuroi.
  • Always Someone Better: Is this to Rinka as a combatant. This might have changed following Yoda's training, but Rinka never fights Kobushi following her detainment, so it's never made clear. It is known, however, that Kobushi never lost a fair fight with Rinka, largely because her skills as a pugilist allow her to keep up with Rinka. When she's reintroduced in part 2, she knocks Rinka out with a single punch. Rinka wasn't expecting it, but it goes a long way to show just how powerful Kobushi is, and demonstrates she really only needs one solid hit to put Rinka down.
  • Arch Nemesis Dad: You don't get more 'archnemesis' than your mom being the Big Bad.
  • Big Damn Heroes: To her sister, stopping their mother from killing her in Chapter 62.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: A Rare Female Example.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Despite the fact that she likes fair fights. She still fights fair, but she likes using as many resources at her disposal as she can.
  • Depraved Bisexual: She uses this as a reason for showering with Rinka and passing information along to her during the latter's imprisonment as a forced prize fighter.
  • Fiery Redhead: And an Evil Redhead at first.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With Rinka by the final third of the manga. The two have nothing but respect for each other after having spent the entire manga saving each other's hides and bickering.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: A champion boxer strong enough to punch her way out of a steel cage.
  • The Handler: She's Rinka's for the Part 2 infiltration of the Hong Kong Superhuman Trafficking operation.
  • High-Heel–Face Turn: Due to Rinka's father.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Though she's starting to think of the others as family.
  • Invisibility: Her power, one that she's quick to use for petty thievery.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: Her reasoning for helping them is first to steal the mysterious stone, then to get stronger than Rinka, and finally to settle the score with her sister.
  • Ki Manipulation: Gets these after a long period of absence when she was training.
  • The Lancer: To Rinka, in the second part of the series. Not only does she act as a stabilizing agent and foil during Rinka's traumatic stint as a prize-fighter, she is also Rinka's primary partner in both the Underground Fighting arc and the ARES arc. Notably, while Rinka is the one to beat the Big Bad of each arc (The Professor, Nadja, and finally Claudia) it's only as a result of Kobushi in some way aiding her beforehand. Against The Professor, she has a grenade go off right before he can kill Azuma, opening him up for a beat down. Against Nadja, she takes a bullet for Rinka by distracting Nadja just long enough for Rinka to get to solid ground. And against Claudia, she slaps an ESP Cuff on her wrist, nullifying her incredible power, so that Rinka and Claudia can get into a more even fight.
  • Likes Older Men: Likes Rinka's dad, her "prince."
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Her Spy Catsuit is unzipped down to her midriff.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: It's actually a title in her family that she strives for, as the best thief. This is what gives her an "in" to the criminal underground.
  • Parental Abandonment: Never knew her parents, only her grandmother. Because her mother killed her father.
  • Phantom Thief: The real phantom thief. So good in fact, she managed to infiltrate ARES' headquarters on pure talent alone, without the use of her ESP.
  • Psychic Block Defense: She's immune to telepathy because her childhood training left her able to close her heart on a dime.
  • The Rival: To Rinka at first.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: By part 2, Rinka and Kobushi are practically this, with Rinka spending more time for Kobushi than she does with Azuma. Rinka's straight-laced heroic antics and Kobushi's irreverent attitude see the two clash, but it's clear Rinka sees Kobushi as a trusted ally and Kobushi herself is willing to cut down on her worst attributes to be a faithful, if prideful, friend.
  • Spy Catsuit: She wears one and sports a very low neckline while doing so.
  • Sweet Tooth: Almost always has some kind of candy in her mouth, usually lollipops.
  • World's Best Warrior: By the end of the story, it's a stiff competition between Kobushi and Rinka. Given The Magic Goes Away, neither have their powers to fall back on anymore, but they were already unstoppable combatants when push came to shove. The only open question is which of the two is stronger.

    Murasaki 

Murasaki Edoyama

Voiced by: Azusa Tadokoro (Japanese), Lara Woodhull (English)

The daughter of a Yakuza boss, she gained Psychometry from a glowing fish.

  • Badass Adorable: She's very cute, and has some badass moments given the potential of her powers.
  • Bespectacled Cutie: Possesses the glasses and the meek personality befitting the trope.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Can't get much bigger than derailing the Big Bad's plan at the last moment and saving the day.
  • Brainy Brunette: She has plenty of knowledge and learns how to properly use her powers for the better.
  • Daddy's Girl: Though their relations are a little tense, she's close to her father.
  • Lethal Harmless Powers: Psychometry, the ability to see an object's past by touching it. Cool and useful, but definitely not dangerous. But if you manage to find a master martial artist's nunchuks...
  • Lonely Rich Kid: It's hinted that most of her peers stay away due to her father's occupation. Similarly, when first meeting Rinka and Azuma, she claims that Peggy (a penguin) is her only friend.
  • Mafia Princess: Her father is a yakuza boss.
  • Post-Victory Collapse: Happens to her every time she fights because she has very little physical stamina.
  • The Runaway: Because she doesn't want to be involved with the Yakuza anymore.
  • The Smart Guy: She's a Brainy Brunette and with her power, she serves this role with Ayumu.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Has no physical strength or stamina, being an elementary schooler, but once she picks up a weapon she gains all the knowledge and skills of its previous owners.

    Ayumu 

Ayumu Oozora

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Morgan Berry (English)

A son of one of the most outspoken people against espers and everything they stand for. He has the power of Precognition, but he can only see two seconds into the future. He is also a student of Master Yoda called in to train with the others. He is a middle school student with aspirations to be a member of Congress, like his mother.

  • Berserk Button: It's not an afro, it's a perm!
  • Follow in My Footsteps: His mother wants him to do this.
  • Jerkass: At first. He slips back into it after Rinka and Azuma return, but it's treated more as him feeling betrayed.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's fast by himself, but he seems even faster because of his ability to see all attacks two seconds in advance. However, when he thinks too much about the possible futures in battle, he slows down.
  • Parental Obliviousness: His mother is completely oblivious to his powers at first... then he has to save her from another esper with his own powers.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: After bonding with Murasaki and the others, and working together with them to stop the Professor.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: It's hinted that he wishes for his mother's approval. Given that he's an esper and she's against espers...

    Yoda 

Master Yoda

Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese), R. Bruce Elliott (English)

A Martial Arts Master who trained much of the Tokyo Police Force, including Rinka's father. He is constantly dressed in a panda suit and is an esper himself, with the power of clairvoyance. Yes, he is named after that Master Yoda.

  • Battle Aura: Has quite the frightening one.
  • Dirty Old Man: Has a tendency to grab Rinka's boobs as "part of her training."
  • Eccentric Mentor: A Dirty Old Man and martial arts teacher who wears a panda suit.
  • Handicapped Badass: After getting hit with a tranquilizer, he is bound to a wheelchair for a while.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Just like the other Yoda.
  • Old Master: An aged master of the martial arts.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: He's extremely fast and strong despite his size.
  • Shout-Out: Named after Yoda from Star Wars, and even resembles him outside of the panda costume.
  • Worf Barrage: More than anyone in the manga by far, especially after he finishes training Rinka. Expect some reason for why he can't track someone with clairvoyance anytime someone brings up the idea in part 2. Humorously, the one time it did work, it immediately is made pointless because Claudia chooses at that very moment to come in and save Orisube.

    Peggi 

Peggi

Voiced by: Kaoru Mizuhara (Japanese), Heather Walker (English)

A Flying Penguin who is known as the "Collector." He can devour ESP by eating the glowing fish.

  • Flight: Unusually, he's not only a penguin. He's a flying penguin.
  • Power Nullifier: His right fin transforms into an ESP eating shark-thing. When it receives Benediction, it grows large enough to consume all the ESP in the world and reform the Ark.
  • Spell My Name With An S: "Peggy," "Peggi," "Pegi," and "Pengy," among others.
  • Team Pet: Kind of serves as the team mascot.

    Parrot 

Parrot

Voiced by: Minori Chihara (Japanese), Jamie Marchi (English)

A pelican that Azuma meets when he is left on the deserted island. It helps him escape. It can communicate to him because it gained powers of Telepathy from the light fish. He later joins the heroes in their crime fighting.

Heroes (Part 2)

    Ren 

Ren Jomaku

The Hero of Part 2, taking place over a year after the events of Part 1. She is a first-year high school student who gets caught up in an esper terrorist attack at her school. Ren herself is an esper, however.
  • All-Loving Hero: Her last appearance in chapter 75 has her trying to rescue the mole from the Esper Liberation Front who only pretended to be her friend to get close to her, lured her into a trap with a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, had her subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture and tried to blow her up, twice.
  • An Ice Person: Her power allows her to freeze things,though it's not the true nature of her abilities.
  • Bully Hunter: Her powers were discovered and her life changed when she used them to stop a bully.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: One of Ren's problems is that she finds herself living day by day, and doesn't really know what to do with her life. While she at first attempts to become a police officer to spend time with Zeusu, she eventually grows to honestly want to do the job and make the world a better place. Nene's final prodding to get Ren to become a cop is the point where Ren truly understands she wants the job for the job, not for Zeusu.
  • The Determinator: No matter how she's hurt, betrayed, or beat-down, she always gets back up again and rushes to protect her friends. This is the quality Zeusu loves most.
  • Deuteragonist: Once Ren and Rinka team up for the final part of the story, Ren fulfills this role. She gets less focus than Rinka, but she's ultimately one of the four people who ends up finishing off the Big Bad, and she has her part to play in the greater conflict. Though both Rinka and Ren have their reasons for confronting the final challenges set before them, saving Marume from the Electron God ultimately Zeusu from Kuroi Claudia makes the last series of events personal for Ren.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: She squeezes her "milk box" too hard when she's thinking about her new crush, getting it all over her.
  • Foil: To Rinka: Dark-eyed, dark-haired glasses-wearing Ordinary High-School Student (comparatively) who can freeze everyone else in place to Rinka's Perpetual Poverty Action Girl who can pass through solid matter.
  • Lovable Coward: Unlike Rinka, she absolutely does not want to get involved with what's going on at her school and wants some normalcy in her life again.
  • Love at First Sight: To Zeusu.
  • MacGuffin Super-Person: Her ability is the key to releasing the Messiah from "Lock Space" inside the ark.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Freezes Master Yoda upon sight because she thought he was an alien, keeping him from helping her and Zeusu fight off the other esper delinquents.
  • The Nicknamer: Immediately names Zeusu "Juice-kun" once she finds out his name.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: Or as ordinary as a girl can be in a city where 20% of the Kanto region has esper powers. She also goes to a school for espers.
  • Power Incontinence: Loses control of her powers occasionally, causing her to freeze herself in awkward situations. It completely goes berserk in moments of great stress, releasing an amount of power never seen in the series before. It happens again in chapter 76, after the "glowing fish" presumably took all Esp away.
  • Power Nullifier: Somehow, she also has the same ability to remove powers as Peggy. This is because she stops their hearts when she freezes them, technically killing them.
  • Reluctant Warrior: Despite being more reluctant to fight, she definitely can when pushed into a corner.
  • Time Stands Still: Within the sphere of her power she freezes even time.
  • Was It All a Lie?:she asks this to Zuesu, when she learns he's the heir of the security, military group that's after her.

    Zeusu 

Zeusu Tetsuya

The main male protagonist of Part 2. He goes to school with Ren and fights the esper terrorists alongside her. He has the ability to change the state of any physical object. He's actually the heir to the antagonists of Part 2.
  • The Atoner: Vows to become this from Chapter 73 onwards.
  • Becoming the Mask: He fell in love with her despite the fact that he was supposed to be monitoring her and stopping her from getting in the way of their plans.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Don't let his eccentricities fool you. Once he gets serious, he's a force to be reckoned with.
  • Big Bad Friend:He is the heir of ARES.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Has shades of this. Once he slipped a ice treat into Ren's bag in order for it to keep cool.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome:Saved Kozuki from the Esper mercenaries that were chasing after her.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Hoo boy. His entire childhood was a living hell. Not a day went by without someone trying to kidnap or kill him.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: There is one reason, and only one reason why he's loyal to ARES, and that's his "benefactor," the board president, the one person who kept him alive and who he'll never betray.
  • Evil All Along: See Big Bad Friend above.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: He can control all forms of metal.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Keeps going back and forth between being a hero and being a villain due to Conflicting Loyalty. By chapter 73 he finally settles on being a "hero," but by then, numerous good and valiant characters have died, and Ren is not quite as forgiving as she would be otherwise.
  • Hidden Depths:On the surface, he's very eccentric, and not very talkative. However, he can easily subdue a speedster, and take an explosion in close proximity. Even though he's the heir of ARES, he saved Kozuki from the mercenaries employed by the company. Granted he may not have known who she was. Also, he doesn't seem to agree with his protectors killing needlessly, as he ordered Amame to stop killing and to focus on capturing Minami. Also, there are signs he's developed genuine feelings for Ren, but creates an inner turmoil between these feeling and his position.
  • Insane Troll Logic: In response to Ren's Was It All a Lie?, he states that he doesn't recall lying; it's just that he never told the truth. Then, he turns it on her by saying that she just didn't know him.
  • The Lancer: To Ren. Later, horribly subverted
  • Lethal Harmless Powers: One would think "bending spoons" isn't that big a deal, right? Well, not only can he bend any piece of metal but he can do it in any way he likes. He uses a tiny piece of metal shrapnel to stab Claudia in the throat from just out of her reach.
  • Meet Cute: With Ren, when he uses his powers to get her skirt out of the subway door.
  • The Mole:He got close to Ren, because he was after her ESP.
  • The Stoic: This guy constantly sports a blank face.
  • Transforming Mecha: Zeusu's power can basically make a car into a Transformer Robot.

The Professor and Associates

    The Professor 

The Professor (Real Name: Hokusai Azuma)

Voiced by: Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese), Jeffrey Schmidt (English)

Azuma Kyoutarou's adoptive and Minami's father, he is leading the group that is letting the glowing fish roam free.

  • Big Bad: Of Part 1, anyway. Despite being imprisoned for the majority of Part 2, his agents are one of two factions vying for power, the other being ARES, which makes him one of several big bads for the series as a whole, the others being the ARES board of directors.
  • The Beastmaster: He likes creating illusion beasts to help fight, such as dragons and other mythological creatures.
  • The Chessmaster: He isn't a Magnificent Bastard for nothing.
  • Cultured Badass: As befitting a former archaeologist, researcher, and university professor, the Professor is very intelligent and knows a great deal about history.
  • Crazy-Prepared: He left a message in the tablet piece Murasaki had just for her, anticipating she would get it more than two years into the future and as a back-up in case he died.
  • Freudian Excuse: Losing his friends and wife drive him over the edge.
  • Hope Spot: Lets the heroes gain popularity and inspire hope, before crushing it to fan anti-esper sentiment.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: His belief.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: His weapon of choice is a massive odachi.
  • Killed Off for Real: Dies in Chapter 73.
  • The Lost Lenore: The loss of his wife is one of the contributing factors to the way he is today.
  • Make an Example of Them: Orders this to Rinka and Azuma, and he meant it.
  • Manipulative Bastard: The Professor can wrap almost anybody around his finger, and let them think they're in control.
  • Master of Illusion: His power. As explained more in detail later, this isn't the full truth; the Professor's real power is a specialized form of telepathy that allows him to impart images and the sensory effects related to those images in a person's head. This is an important distinction, for two reasons; firstly, this makes the Professor incredibly powerful because unlike most illusionists he can indirectly kill people with his illusions. Rinka and Kobushi nearly die when the Professor makes them think they're frozen in ice, and thus their brains think that they can't breathe in any air, as an example. However, the second reason this distinction matters is that it gives the Professor a clear weakness; when other telepaths are around, they can overwrite or null any images the Professor puts into a person's head, leaving the Professor mostly helpless.
  • Me's a Crowd: One of his favored fighting tactics, made with his illusions.
  • No Body Left Behind: When esper powers are sealed in chapter 75, his corpse cracks, flakes apart and the pieces float away like leaves on the wind..
  • Not Quite Dead: Someone that looks surprisingly similar to him turns up in Egypt in chapter 76.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: We never learn his actual name. The fact Minami never uses it despite being his daughter is justified in that, after her first kills, she was taught to see The Professor as her leader, not her father. Still doesn't explain why we never see his wife say his name in the flashback chapters.
    • In the anime, Kyoutaro mentions his name at one point.
  • Redemption Equals Death: After spending the entire series devoting himself completely to revenge, and even ignoring his daughter when she is wounded in favour of pursuing his goal, the Professor dies protecting Minami, and his last words to his daughter are to tell her to leave him and live her own life. The narrative even acknowledges that in the end, he didn't die as the monster he had become, but as a father.
  • Scars Are Forever: Has a really really nasty burn on the left side of his face, scalp, neck, and torso, normally hidden behind an illusion.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: His entire quest for vengeance in regards to his wife and students was doomed to failure in any event. If the head of the PMSC's testimony is true, the one who gave the order is long dead due to an internal power struggle in Ares. He doesn't care, and continues his Roaring Rampage of Revenge anyway, stating that his grudge will never be sated.
  • Social Darwinist: Subverted. At first, it seems that he wants to create a world where the strong, espers, can flourish while the weak normals, stagnate, but it becomes clear later on that this is all bullshit, and all he really cares for is revenge.
  • Taking the Bullet: Minami intended to do so for him when Amame was about to kill them, but he turned around and took it for her.

    Minami 

Minami Azuma

Voiced by: Sachika Misawa (Japanese), Mallorie Rodak (English)

Azuma's adoptive sister who follows the professor, she's also can do Psychic Teleportation.

  • Action Girl: Instead of hand-to-hand combat, she fights with a sword.
  • Attempted Rape: Led to her using her powers for the first time in front of another person and also her first kill of her would-be rapists.
  • Berserk Button: Do not, under any circumstance, bring up the fact that Rinka was the one who ended up with Azuma. And especially don't imply it's something to get over.
  • Combat Pragmatist: She took out Peggy before even trying to fight the heroes with a tranquilizer needle.
  • Curbstomp Battle: Against Rinka. Their second fight is more evenly matched, since Rinka's new skills allow her to counter Minami's Teleport Spam, at which point Rinka's advantage in physical combat eventually lets her win the fight. By their third and final fight, the tables are completely turned; not only can Rinka effectively beat down Minami, she can do it by handicapping herself due to having to hold Minami's hand; while Minami gets in some good hits, the start and end of the fight show that Rinka was never in any danger of losing in the slightest. And Rinka was holding back and had a broken arm.
  • Dark Action Girl: Easily the best female villain in part 1, she has no qualms about getting her hands dirty.
  • The Dragon: To the Professor.
  • Dual Wielding: Likes doing this with swords.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Azuma is pretty much the only person she won't kill, and Kozuki is the one person she won't let be killed.
  • Eye Scream: Amame jabs out her right eye with her bare hands.
  • Hannibal Lecture: To Rinka. While beating her at her own game.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: She wields a katana.
  • Kick Chick: Kicks just as much as Rinka.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Given her "attack on sight" attitude towards Rinka and feelings for Azuma.
  • Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: With Kozuki. By part 2, after being on the run with each other for the better part of two years, they have become exceptionally close, and much of their dialogue is suggestive enough to imply they're actually lovers, not just friends. They both make deep sacrifices for the other, and when Minami thinks that Kozuki died, she hits the Despair Event Horizon, and is only brought back by the revelation that she survived. By the time she's with Kozuki again, she all but outright says the words 'I love you' and promises that, after one final battle, she'll travel the world with Minami as a couple. She keeps that promise.
  • The Rival: To Rinka. She jumps at any chance to fight her, and Azuma's role certainly doesn't help.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Prior to her disappearance two years ago. Now, she's mostly just ice.
  • Teleport Spam: Combined with her swords, it's a deadly fighting style.

    Kozuki 

Black Fist (Real Name: Kuroi Kozuki)

Voiced by: Hiromi Konno (Japanese), Lindsay Seidel (English)

Kuroi Kozuki, the other Black Fist's younger sister. She has a teleportation ability as well, but she can only teleport other people and things, not herself, just by touching them. She desires the title of "Black Fist" in the Kuroi family, and to do that she must steal something valuable enough to please their grandmother. As such, she joins the Professor for her own reasons.

  • Alliterative Name: Just as her sister.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Uses her teleportation abilities to teleport random things such as shields, guns, and a moai head into her battles.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Her Spy Catsuit is unzipped even lower than her sisters, going past her navel.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her mother was banished from the family after she was born, after killing her father.
  • Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: With Minami. By part 2, after being on the run with each other for the better part of two years, they have become exceptionally close, and much of their dialogue is suggestive enough to imply they're actually lovers, not just friends. They both make deep sacrifices for the other, and in chapter 70, Kozuki actually begs Minami to run away with her instead of going off to fight alongside the professor, and when Minami refuses, demands to go with them, despite already being badly wounded. Also of note, her entire reason for joining The Professor was to steal the Ark of the Covenant so she could give it to her grandmother, something that was certain to let her hold the title of Black Fist. And for a while she looks like she really plans to cut and run with the Ark, even taking it to London with her and Minami...but she never goes through with it because she knows how important it is to Minami. She is so faithful to Minami she is willing to give up her lifelong quest to become Black Fist just to make her happy.
  • Psychic Block Defense: She's immune to telepathy because her childhood training left her able to close her heart even while asleep.
  • The Rival: To her sister.
  • Spy Catsuit: Just like her sister.

    Lin 

Lin Linquian

Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Trina Nishimura (English)

One of the espers that the Professor recruits. She first appears to attack Rinka and the others at school. She has the ability to make a "long range spirit punch," i.e., she has repulsion powers as opposed to Ken's attraction powers.

  • Mind over Matter: Her powers of repulsion.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: With Minami and the other subordinate, she delivers one of these to Rinka in their first meeting, resulting in her temporary death.

    The Puppeteer 

Unnamed Subordinate

Another esper that the Professor recruits. Like Lin, she first appears to attack Rinka and the others at school. By locking eyes with someone, her ability allows her to take control of their bodies.

    The Telekinetic 

Unnamed Subordinate

Another esper that the Professor recruits. He has extremely strong powers of telekinesis..

    The Seer 

Unnamed Subordinate

Another esper working for the Professor. He has the power to sense other espers and uses chains with daggers on the end for combat.

ARES PMSC

    The Rakshasa Siblings 

Anija and Amame

A brother and sister pair that the ARES board president adopted as children, and who now act as his right hand. Anija, the brother, is a powerful pyrokinetic while Amame, the sister, possesses Super-Speed. Both of them are powerful assassins and the last of a clan of assassins, called the Rakshasa, from an unnamed Middle-Eastern country.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Though it's not quite clear which of them is older, Anija is fiercely protective of his sister. See Taking You with Me.
  • Big Eater: Amame. It crosses over with Sweet Tooth, as she prefers snacks.
  • Cold Sniper: Both of them have their moments of coldly shooting powerful enemies from a distance.
  • Creepy Twins
  • The Determinator: Both of them. As stated above, Amame got stabbed through the foot, and her only reaction was to use the sword as a weapon, without bothering to take it out. Anija was actually shot in the back of the head, and survived long enough to save his sister's life, then blow himself up.
  • Genius Ditz: In the field, Anija is an unstoppable juggernaut of fiery death with a keen, observant mind. Off it, he's a klutz with no common sense, to the point his sister constantly berates him for it.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted. Though both have been shown to use guns at some point or another, Anija is an extremely powerful pyrokinetic whose prefered tactic is to simply blast things from a distance, while Amame uses her Super-Speed to devastating effect in close combat.
  • Last of His Kind: They're the final remaining members of an ancient assassin order. The rest were wiped out by air strikes when modern warfare found their home.
  • Mr. Fanservice/Ms. Fanservice: Given how little both of them wear, they're this.
  • Mundane Utility: At one point, Amame uses her super-speed to go grocery shopping, and Anija uses his pyrokinesis to light the president's cigarettes.
  • Not Quite Flight: Anija can use controlled flame jets to essentially fly, and Amame can use her super speed to jump extraordinary distances, using even the smallest surfaces as stepping-stones.
  • Playing with Fire: Anija is a pyrokinetic.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Anija, whose pyrokinesis is monstrously powerful.
  • Sibling Team: They're rarely seen alone.
  • Super-Speed: Amame is a speedster.
  • Taking You with Me: Anija, after being shot, blows himself up to kill the Professor and the Seer to keep them from killing his sister.
  • Undying Loyalty: To the ARES board president. It has something to do with the fact that he adopted them when they were children.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Once their personalities become more fleshed out, it is shown that they have this kind of dynamic. Anija has a few problems with common sense, and Amame never lets him hear the end of it. That being said, it is clear they care deeply for one another.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Anija never wears a shirt.

    Kuroi Claudia 

Kuroi Claudia

A woman who is on the board of directors and the superior officer of the group responsible for the Hong Kong underground arena.
  • Abusive Parents: She's one to her daughters, torturing Kozuki and getting off on it. Oddly, she was also getting off on masochistic joy because she felt that she shouldn't be making her own daughter suffer.
  • Bad Boss: The worst in the series, which is saying a lot.
  • Big Bad: Of the final third. The Professor, evil as he is, is busy taking down people Claudia has already considered useless, she has a personal beef with two of the heroines (What with being her daughters), it takes every team member to bring her down, and she represents the last major threat to Tokyo. The story comes to a close after she is depowered, and it turns out she planned out much of the plot to gain benediction.
  • Black Widow: She's killed all of her husbands just for the hell of it.
  • Enemy Civil War: Her faction of ARES is acting separate from the others, and then she winds up attacking her own faction too.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: She's a boxer, just like her daughters.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Her faction of ARES invented the anti-esp bracelets, and forced espers through brutal Forced Prize Fight tournaments to test their effectiveness. Guess what gets used on her in chapter 74.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: When she's finally taken down, through a series of attacks just shy of a Rasputinian Death, and all Esper powers in the world are sealed away, she puts a gun to her head, and then throws it away before pulling the trigger. Sadly, she's teleported away or killed everyone around who would very happily do it for her at this point.
  • Large and in Charge: Claudia is one of the most powerful members of ARES, and she towers over just about everybody in the series. Hell, she's even taller than Rindo, if only by a little bit.
  • Large Ham: She just loves to chew the scenery. She drops this when she is given benediction, feeling empty inside at having gotten everything someone could have ever wanted...except not at all what she wanted.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Karma catches up to her in a big way in chapters 74 and 75.
  • Megaton Punch: Her punch was enough to topple Rinka, crack the ground beneath her, and break her arm from blocking it.
  • Missing Mom: She's this to both the Black Fist sisters.
  • Never My Fault: When asked why she's going on a rampage despite getting all the power she could ever dream of, she points out that she's resentful of the world for having what she does not, friends, family, fun times, etc., and cries that it's unfair, failing to realize that the reason for it, is her own decision to throw it all away of her own free will.
  • The Resenter: The reason why she's doing all those horrible things she's shown doing? She's jealous of the rest of the world for having what she does not, friends, family, etc., crying that it's unfair. Of course, she fails to realize that she has none of those things because she threw them away herself.
  • Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: What her rampage pretty much boils down to.
  • Teleportation with Drawbacks: She has the ability to teleport other people and objects on contact. Unlike Kozuki, she's shown herself to be powerful enough to also do this with energy blasts. She still suffers the same drawback Kozuki does, however; while she can teleport other things to and away from her, she can't teleport herself. This inhibition is taken away once she unlocks Benediction; she's simply such a powerful teleporter now she can teleport herself. And entire buildings.
  • There's No Kill like Overkill: She teleports in 3 missiles to try and kill her allies and Rinka's faction when she gets what she wants.
    • Drops entire buildings on one of her former allies after getting a power-up from the messiah.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Does this to the entirety of ARES in chapter 65, with missiles!
    • Does it to her last subordinate and the messiah after she receives benediction in chapter 72.

    Puppet-Master 

Puppet-Master

A mind-control esper, and another member of the ARES board of directors.
  • Brown Note: Later chapters explain that his powers are based on a sound that compels people to do what he wants. One of the esper police even blocks this sound with a wall of water.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: He tries to kill Minami by chopping off her head with a sword using his mind-control powers to disable her. He winds up chopping off the head of an accomplice who was disguised as Minami by The Professor's powers of illusion and getting his own head cut off by The Professor.
  • Off with His Head!: How the Professor kills him.
  • People Puppets: He can also do this. He does this to Kozuki to use her powers to retrieve the hidden arc, and later, to Ren to break the seal.
  • Psychic-Assisted Suicide: His schtick. Including the guy the Professor wanted killed. You can imagine he took it poorly when he found out.
  • Red Baron: Known as the Emperior of Assassination. One guess how he got it.

The ESP Liberation Front

    The Front as a whole 
A sinister group of espers who want to dominate the ESP Zone in Part 2.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: They've killed 200 people including politicians and police officers, wear sharp suits and various oversized masks.
  • Fantastic Racism: Anybody who isn't an esper is a non-human that doesn't have the right to live.
  • Far East Asian Terrorists: Of the ESP variety.
  • Insane Troll Logic: They declare that any esper who does not automatically join their ranks is a traitor, even if the esper in question was being attacked with lethal force as a non-esper the day before, the front is targeting their friends and family, or the esper in question is compulsory enrolled in an academy that supposedly teaches espers how to control their powers so they're not a threat to themselves never mind being a threat to others. Furthermore, the best way to counter esper based discrimination, based on well-justified fear and suspicion is to set off bombs in public establishments thereby giving non-espers even more reason to fear and suspect them.
  • Nebulous Evil Organization/Standard Evil Organization Squad
  • Unwitting Pawn: They were being used to set off a Nuclear Bomb and lure in the people who kidnapped the Professor.

    Sairo 

Sairo

The ESP Liberation Front's hitman. Wears a mask of Anubis, the Egyptian god of death.
  • Shout-Out: Youkai: Dog mask aside, his high-speed knife attacks are similar to a kama-itachi (sickle weasel).
  • Super-Speed: His power.
  • You Have Failed Me: Murders the group of esper high-schoolers they paid to riot at the ESP academy after they failed to cause any damage, got their powers taken away, were caught by the authorities, and were about to snitch on the the organization.

Other Characters

    Edoyama 

Edoyama

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (Japanese), Brian Mathis (English)

Murasaki's father, the Yakuza boss.

    Rei 

Rei Oozora

Voiced by: Fuyuka Ōura (Japanese), Linda Leonard (English)

Ayumu's mother and a member of the Diet, the Japanese Congress. She hates espers.

    Nabeshima 

Nabeshima

Voiced by: Yoshito Yasuhara (Japanese), Greg Dulcie (English)

The head of the police force who used to work with Ken, Rinka's father.

    Torada 

Torada

Voiced by: Jin Domon (Japanese), Daniel Penz (English)

Head of the Esper Taskforce.

    Merayama 

Merayama

An esper that fought Rinka at the beginning of the series, who worked under the Professor. She encounters him again later.

    Mr. Pompadour 

Mr. Pompadour

A Delinquent. He is also an esper and a professional boxer, and has the ability to make force fields.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top