Characters / Villains From The Strider Manga

Strider Character Index
Strider Organization | Villains from the Strider Games | Villains from the Strider Manga

Enterprise, a.k.a. the Syndicate

A large corporation featured in the manga and NES adaptation, Enterprise is mainly concerned with the development of weapons and distribution of supplies, but has secretly spent 30 years developing the ZAIN Project, a brainwashing weapon to which control all of humanity. While most of its members are interested in the power to subdue any person they desire, company director Faceas/Faysus Clay secretly plans to use it to control all of humanity and lead them into a new millenium.

Common tropes

• Corporate Conspiracy: Outwardly a respectable corporation, Enterprise has spent 30 years on the Zain Project, an initiative to develop a Mind-Control Device and Take Over the World.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: All high-ranking members who appear are rotten to the core.
• MegaCorp: A massive corporation with bases all over the world.
• Mind-Control Device: The ZAIN Project has been developed over 30 years in order to create one. This results in the Mother Computer, "Yggdrasil", and the ZAIN Terminals.

Faysus Clay

Faysus Clay (Faceas Clay in the NES translation) is the director of Enterprise, who has spent the company's resources on the ZAIN Project for 30 years in search of a way to "evolve" humanity to the next stage, as he believes humanity to be defective since they were created by God and he plans on taking his place and finish his work. By mind-controlling the whole humanity, he'd cull their destructive impulses and lead them into a new, golden era.

• The Evils of Free Will: A firm believer that humanity's woes all come from their capacity to cause harm, and the only way to fix that is to remove free will entirely.
• Machine Worship: Clay views most things in technology terms, stating that his ZAIN Project will serve to "debug" humanity from its malice in much the same way one would deal with a glitch in a computer. He's also removed all human protection from his chambers, and is entirely confident the machine defense systems are enough, and this comes back to bite him at the end.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Clay's main objective with the ZAIN Project is to force humanity to evolve through mind control, thinking this would be the only way to get rid of humanity's flaws and start a new golden era.
• Oh, Crap!: His reaction once Hiryu destroys his machine defense system in the manga. Similarly, he cries out Hiryu's a "monster" once the glass shield goes down in the NES game.
• Orcus on His Throne: In both adaptations, he is finally confronted by Hiryu while sitting on a throne of his own.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a three-piece blue suit.
• Spell My Name With An S: The NES Game spells his name as Faceas Clay, however, as pointed out by a fan translation, Faceas does not translate very well into the Japanese Text^note フェイサス as it's the Japanese pronunciation of "Face Us", the characters are also used for the title of a proposed "Tales of..." game titled "Tales of Faithus" and a mailbox named the Fāssus.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Clay wants to mind-control humanity because he believes it is the only way to remove their inherent evil nature, as well as help it move into the next evolutive step. He tells Hiryu his project will prevent wars and distribute wealth equally, eliminating poverty as well, and refers to this new age as a "Golden Millenium" for humanity. When confronted with all the innocents that had died for his project, Clay states those were inevitable sacrifices required for his revolution.
• Zero-Effort Boss: For as much as he can be called a "boss" in the NES game. When confronted, Clay is defended by a shield of tempered glass, but the player only needs to strike at it a few times for it to break, ending the stage with little fanfare and no opposition.

Kazakh Institute Director

The Director of the Kazakh Federation Mental Institute, an asylum front for one of the company's ZAIN laboratories. This scientist has conducted human experiments in order to perfect the ZAIN Project's faulty mind control, which thus far has turned its subjects into thinkless, barely-functioning zombies. He's also the creator of the ZAIN Terminal hidden within the building, which he treats and speaks to as if it were a children.

• Adapted Out: Despite being the main designer of the ZAIN Terminals, he's nowhere to be found in the NES version of the story.
• Driven to Suicide: Following the destruction of the ZAIN Terminal, he literally goes insane and lets himself burn to death inside his laboratory.
• Mad Scientist: Specially in his treatment of his "child", the ZAIN Terminal. Kain actually name-drops the trope at one point.
• Motherly Scientist: The director coddles and treats the ZAIN Terminal as if he were his child, and is devastated to the point of insanity once Hiryu ignores his pleas and destroys it.
• Non-Action Guy: As a scientist, he's really incapable of defending himself against Hiryu or Kain, and neither can stop them from destroying his creation.
• No Name Given
• Tested on Humans: The Director has tested the ZAIN Terminal's mind control capabilities on dozens of prisoners captured by the Secret Police, turning them into vegetative-state zombies. He also uses them as a defense measure, releasing them en-masse to kill intruders.
• Undying Loyalty: Truly believes in president Clay's plans for humanity, and praises his name as he is consumed by the flames of his destroyed laboratory.
• Villainous Breakdown: He starts out very confident in the security he has got for his secret lab, as he tells Faceas Clay through a phone call. This confidence vanishes just as Hiryu and Cain make quick work of his men, making him jump on the phone to ask for reinforcements moments before both striders confront him. But the real breaking point comes right after Hiryu destroys the Zain Terminal, which he treated as his child: he goes Laughing Mad, mocking Hiryu and Cain that their efforts are futile since the terminal they destroyed was but one of millions and finally burns to death while fanatically praising Faceas Clay.

Yuri

An Enterprise secretary who serves as the link between Matic and Enterprise, and is sent by Clay to investigate why agents of Striders are hindering their plans. Yuri is a vain executive who is truly fascinated by the prospect of controlling the entire world through the ZAIN Project, and looks down on anyone who opposes their vision for humanity.

• Adapted Out: Entirely missing in the NES game.
• Co-Dragons: In a sense, he and Matic work together to realize Enterprise and Clay's goals. Or atleast, that's what he believes...
• Dirty Coward: He's not a fighting man and quickly sells out his boss to Hiryu to save his life. Then, he tries to shoot him from the back, and gets sliced for his troubles.
• The Fundamentalist: Enterprise's vision and plans for humanity are correct and justified, and anyone who opposes or believes otherwise is not worth anything more than a quick death.
• Pride Before a Fall: He's so much prideful of Enterprise that he feels offended when Matic tells him to avoid confronting Hiryu, asking him to not underestimate the power of the company. He then corners Hiryu in a trapdoor with a bunch of soldiers armed with super-sonic machine guns and brags about how Hiryu's done for. Next he knows, Hiryu has beheaded all his men and is about to do him in.
• Vomit In Discretion Shot: He is visibly vomiting as his men are beheaded in front of him by Hiryu.

Keith

The Commander of a small Special Forces unit expert in close melee combat, Keith is a seasoned soldier and warrior who finds enjoyment in fighting. He and his unit were contracted by the Kazakh Institute Director following Hiryu's retrieval of Kain to serve as an extra defense for his ZAIN Laboratory.

• Blood Knight: Enjoys a good challenge and openly declares he wants to test himself against the Striders.
• Covered with Scars: His whole body is all scarred, a quick tip about how much he enjoys fighting.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Keith is really confident in his skills, and claims to be above the mere soldiers Hiryu has just dispatched. Then less than a second later he gets a Cypher to the chest and can't even believe it.
• Frankenstein's Monster: Invokes the image of the creature in his look, specially in his square-shaped head.
• The Giant: Quite the large man, with a Frankenstein feel to his design.
• Large and in Charge: A rather massive muscle man and the leader of a small unit of Special Forces soldiers.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: There's less than 10 pages between his introduction and his death.

Kodiak

A character from the NES Strider. A mercenary who rides a futuristic one-wheeled motorcycle, he's specially intrigued by the strength of the Striders. Hiryu finds him first as he guards Kain's confinement cell on Kazakh, and later as a guard on Enterprise's HQ.

• Blood Knight: Straight tells Hiryu he wants to taste the strength of a Strider.
• Hired Guns: A mercenary for hire.
• One-Wheeled Wonder: Rides a one-wheeled motorcycle in battle.
• Ramming Always Works: His entire strategy is to run back and forth in his motorcycle trying to ram Hiryu.

Yggdrasil

Also known as the ZAIN host computer or the Mother ZAIN, Yggdrasil is the central core of the ZAIN Project. A massive computer system integrated into the company's skyscraper in Los Angeles, it functions as the most important piece of Enterprise's mind control plans, being capable of controlling any human on Earth that has been implanted with a transmitter. Although treated as a machine for most of the story, in the end it reveals sentience of its own. Serves as the final boss in the NES adaptation.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The computer claims its main order is to protect humanity...then says it will kill any human that stands in its way...
• Attack Its Weak Point: Hiryu finally destroys it by hitting its core the moment it is exposed.
• Combat Tentacles: It uses the connection wires all around it as tentacles to impale or strike back.
• Deadly Disc: One of its two projectiles in the NES version is a spinning disc-shaped object.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: What Yggdrasil does to Matic when he claims to own it.
• Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Yggdrasil turns sentient right at the end of the story, with no real foreshadowing.
• It Can Think: It surprises everyone when it suddenly kills Matic and declares his mission to kill all who opposes it.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Its destruction takes down the Enterprise HQ skyscraper along with it in the manga.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Named after the large tree of Norse Mythology, as Clay considered it the beginning of a new world.
• Spell My Name With An S: In the NES game, its name is rendered Yugdesiral.
• Stationary Boss: In the NES game it is completely stationary, throwing out bombs and disc projectiles from its position.
• Turned Against Their Masters: The computer, silent until then, got pretty fed up by Matic calling it his property, and so it lashed out and killed him in protest.
• When Trees Attack: While it has a more mecha look in the manga, the NES version sprite is much more closer to a large, evil ominous tree in appearance. It also helps some characters refer to it as the "Main Tree" of the project.

Kazakh Secret Police

A special police force established by the Kazakh government in order to deal with the budding rebel groups appearing as a result of their reckless dictatorship and the country's dire economical situation. The Secret Police is later revealed to have a deal with Enterprise, providing prisoners for their experiments.

Common Tropes

• Bayonet Ya: Their grunt soldiers wield rifles with bayonets as their weapons.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: They kill off captured rebels just to save off court fees.
• Karma Houdini: The Police as a whole get no comeuppance in the Manga.
• No Name Given: No individual member is ever named.
• Secret Police: Of Kazakh, and it's not very nice.
• Tank Goodness: During the raid on the rebel hideout, the Secret Police brings in a "T-48" model tank, one of the most advanced models as noted by Kain.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The fates of the two main members of the police seen in the Manga are not elaborated on.

Commander

A Commander within the Secret Police, he appears spearheading the raid against the rebel hideout where Kain and Sheena were at the moment, and is eventually able to capture Kain with the reluctant help of a little girl.

• I Lied: Once the Flower Girl succeed in capturing Kain and asks for him to fulfill his promise to release her father from prison, the Commander not only laughs at that, but tells her that what she did was expected of any civilian and she shouldn't expect anything in return.
• Would Hit a Girl: As soon as the Flower Girl starts bothering him, he has no compulsion in slapping her out of his way.

Chief

An officer of the Secret Police. A lazy and corrupt individual, he's confronted by Hiryu and Sheena to get Kain's whereabouts off him, and is then captured in order to leave the police HQ safely, and finally ends up revealing Enterprise's plans to Hiryu.

• Adaptational Job Change: His counterpart in the NES game has the job of Vice-Commander.
• Bald of Evil: He's got no hair and a black soul.
• Bound and Gagged: The last time we saw him, Hiryu and Kain dumped him all tied up at the front door of the Kazakh Institute to serve as a distraction while they infiltrate the building.
• Dirty Coward: He gets scared easily, at one point pissing himself after Sheena threatened him to shut him up.
• Mr. Exposition: Hiryu forces him to reveal everything about Enterprise's ZAIN Project and its brainwashing weapon.

Phantom Unit

A self-proclaimed terrorist group appearing in the Strider Hiryu Gaiden chapter of the manga. They are lead by the Zangi Brothers.

Common Tropes

• Big Bad: The Zangi Brothers serve as the main antagonist in the Gaiden chapter.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Aaron is a massive man, while his brother is of normal height, if perhaps a bit smaller since he's hunched over most of the time, so it's hard to tell.
• Brains and Brawn: Aaron is pure brute strength with no strategy backing him, while his older brother is much more analytical, formulating plans and strategies on the spot.
• Delinquent Hair: Several of the unit's soldiers sport mohawks.
• The Dreaded: They have a reputation for their viciousness in battle, and are said to be as strong as an A-Class Strider.
• Prisoner Exchange: The basis of the Gaiden's story is that the Phantom Unit kidnapped an important scientist to demand the release of one of their own members, imprisoned some time ago.
• Sibling Team: They are at their most dangerous when working together.

Aaron Zangi

The younger of the two brothers, Aaron is both massive and not too bright. He puts his massive size to good use, wielding a large katana and smashing through things and enemies alike, although his go-to strategy seems to always default into "rush at target, smash".

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: All he ever does when fighting Hiryu is rush him with his sword and try to hit him.
• Big Little Brother: That's right, the guy towering over everything and everyone in his vicinity is the younger of the two brothers.
• Hostage Situation: Aaron initially tries to force Hiryu to surrender by threatening to kill Dr. Hogan, held tighly in his massive hand. As Hiryu was not budging, Aaron gave up and threw the doctor over to him, citing he'd be unable to best Hiryu's speed or his Cypher. In the end, however, this was all a ruse Aaron pulled to get his brother, disguised as Hogan, close enough to attack and injure Hiryu.
• Katanas Are Just Better: He wields a massive katana scaled to his size.
• The Giant: Hoooly Mother of God, isn't he a big guy! When face to face, he's easily three or four times Hiryu's size.
• Large and in Charge: Quite an understatement: a towering giant and one of the leaders of the Phantom Unit.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite his size, he seems to be quite fast when rushing at his targets. Although he's still a slowpoke as far as Hiryu is concerned, obviously.
• Made of Iron: He tanks a massive surge of electricity which killed all his other men, and comes out of it with "only" massive body burns, an almost bald head and some anger issues, but otherwise no worse for wear.

"Elder Zangi"

The older brother and the more resourceful one. He fights with a split-ended whip with kunai attached to each end, which he uses to both ensnare and injure simultaneously. Unlike Aaron, he always observes the situation and plans ahead the best way to deal with enemies, and is also a master of disguise.

• Combat Pragmatist: Has no problems in using dirty tactics, such as disguising himself as the hostage or hiding behind his brother and springing a surprise attack on Hiryu when he's most vulnerable.
• Enhanced Archaic Weapon: He fights with a two-ended whip with Kunai attached to the ends.
• Master of Disguise: He manages to take Hiryu off-guard by disguising as the hostage he was sent to rescue.
• No Name Given: Unlike his brother, the chapter never mentions his actual name.
• Scary Teeth: Has sharp-like teeth and a nasty personality.