Characters / Yosh!

The large and assorted cast of characters of the Yosh! webmanga.

Main Cha-er Good G-um...People Living in Shiden's Complex

Philip "Phil" Brown

The main character. Seemingly the only "normal" character of the cast, Phil soon finds himself the keystone of the battle to determine the world's fate...or something.

He and Kate started dating in 2007.

• Above the Influence: He has eyes for Kate and only for Kate, and numerous sexy ladies in various states of undress don't phase him a bit. Everyone is well aware of this.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Invoked. Lin decided to test the limits of his invulnerability by shooting him with a sniper rifle. His "null" powers disintegrate the bullet without him even being aware that someone was shooting at him.
• Adaptive Ability: While his most famous ability as the Null is magical immunity, the power actually protects him and adapts to better keep him safe from what would hurt him. For example, the first bearer of the power was reportedly killed by magic, so the first "Null" was immune to magic, and since he was killed by physical force Phil started out as Made of Iron and got tougher over time due to Penpen "training" him to build up his resistances. This intelligence to his power is why the robot girls, who are made with Magitek, can be around him without negative effects, and why he can cancel a spell that reverses gravity on a friend and have them float to the ground instead of falling flat on their face.
• Anti-Magic: His prime ability as the Null.
• Ascended Fanboy: In a sense; he's depicted as having idolized anime and comic book heroes growing up, and the discoveries that he's magic-immune and that evil super-mages are trying to take over the world pretty much renders him the hero. However, Phil doesn't make that mental leap in-comic until fairly recently.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Proposes theories about magic artifacts and the like simply by analysis. Not the best example in-series, but not too bad.
• Blessed with Suck: While his Null abilities are potent, and useful both against the antagonistic members of the Magi and other magical threats, being the fantasy fan he is he's more than a little bummed sometimes that there's so much cool magic stuff that he can't use. Even most of Shiden's gadgets can't be used by him since they run on Magitek-derived energy.
• Chaste Hero: Mistook Kate kissing him as an attempt by her to sexually assault him.
  • Inverted when Phil proposes to Kate, not the other way around.
• Genre Savvy: Knows a lot about monsters because he's an otaku and a comic book fan.
• Hidden Depths: Shows a surprising amount of maturity between his episodes of goofiness.
• Idiot Hero: Considered to be one by many, and his actions back it up very nicely most times.
• Nice Guy: Nice to everyone he meets, even when they expressly try to kill him (though that may just be the "idiot" talking).
• Nigh-Invulnerable: A cross-product of his Null ability to nullify magic and Penpen's special "training" to build up resistance to physical trauma.
  • Made of Iron: In the earlier days of the comic, before the plot came together. Phil gets hit by a 18-wheeler and suffers only a minor head injury and broken glasses, gets punched directly into his apartment from across town by Axel, is later knocked out of the same window by Kate (said apartment is several stories above the ground), and recovers from a kunai to the heart in less than a day (an identical injury left a paramedic in a coma). After that point, he no longer even bleeds...
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: In one of the side comics, a very nude Kate comes running out of the shower, chased by ghosts, and Phil is more focused on protecting her from the ghosts than the fact that she's completely naked, even when she's glomping him in fear. Even after the ghosts are taken care of, he's more concerned about Kate's well being than admiring the scenery.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Lia at least believes that Phil uses it.
• Otaku: Taken to ridiculous measures when he and Kate win an anime trivia challenge (and a trip to Japan) because the audience got annoyed that Phil answered every question correctly and explained them.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: When an emergency situation has someone teleport into his bedroom while, he, Kate, and Michelle are sleeping, underclothed, he's the one who screams and tries to cover himself. Kate calls him out on it.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He's only interested in and attracted to Kate, and she knows it. That's why she's completely comfortable sharing his bed with a very attractive Michelle while he's present, everyone under-clothed.
• Understanding Boyfriend: And how. Kate can talk to him about anything without him freaking out at her. She even confessed to wanting to change her VR avatar in a What Might Have Been kind of way, and Phil was not only okay with it, he told her that this is something to not feel guilty over.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Doesn't seem to care either way, being surrounded by Mages, Chimeras, demons, and robot girls.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: He can pull off a very convincing impersonation of being a girl, and has infiltrated a criminal's domain by dressing up as a maid to rescue Kate. (Long Story). That being said, having his VR avatar turned into a girl by one of Blue's pranks is actually quite traumatizing for him. So much so that he breaks down in tears.

Kate Summers

A Type-A (Animalistic) Chimera and Phil's roommate. Was thrown out of her house when the Weirding happened, and was shuffled around between schools and foster homes until she finished high school. Working at anime conventions was the only job she felt secure with, and she soon meets and moves in with Phil. Following the events in Japan, she and Phil officially become a couple and, after moving to Shiden's apartment complex in Yorktown, VA, begins working at the Java Journal as a waitress. Frequently serves as the voice of reason in absence of Nami (and sometimes in the presence of Nami), and can be considered the other most "normal" person (Chimera-ism notwithstanding).

Despite her misgivings, she was able to patch things up with her father.

Tropes associated with Kate:

• Ambiguously Bi: She finds Phil's "Cat Girl Maid" avatar adorable, doesn't mind being under-clothed or nude with Michelle, and has considerable Ship Tease with Blue.
• First Girl Wins: She's the first girl to come into Phil's life, and she's the only one he's romantically interested in.
• Official Couple: With Phil. Bonus points now that they're officially a couple.
• Only Sane Man: At times, though she has been shown to get pretty... loose in filler.
• Parental Abandonment: The exact circumstances are learned later in the story: Her mother wouldn't admit that the creature she saw in her daughter's room was actually her, and convinced her father to throw her out. Her father didn't take it well, eventually divorcing to run away in search of Kate.
• Polyamory Does not mind sharing Phil's bed with another beautiful woman, Michelle, all under-clothed. There is also, a yet-undisclosed, list of circumstances that make it true with Blue as well.

Axel, a.k.a. "Darklord"

A longtime friend of Phil and Kate's, Axel possesses an impressive array of dark, demonic, and shadow-based magics, as well as that constant air of badass around him. While he looks human, he is actually an M-type (Magic) Chimera, which gave him access to dark powers as well as the ability to see and partially control demons. During the Weirding, his mind also became home to a Demon Lord, which the Demoness kept busy by trapping it in a maze. Later get his demon exorcised and full access to his powers, but doesn't take kindly to his friends fraternizing with the Magi.

Tropes associated with Axel:

• Cool Shades: Only ever seen once without them, though they don't always hide his eyes.
• Allergic to Love: Allergic To Cute: Can be physically damaged by Azumanga Daioh, and Rieko once shuts down his demon form through Moe.
• Demonic Possession: Inadvertently brought about by Josephus, who allowed the demon to take control.
• Kid With The Remote Control: Due to being the "officially"-recognized master to the Demoness, Axel is the only one who can order her around.
• Determinator: In his flashback, he's able to regain control of his mind while the demon is speaking the Demoness's true name—before she creates the maze to trap it. He also undergoes Training from Hell from a Demon Prince to learn how to effectively use his powers.
• Limited Wardrobe: Only ever seems to own one coat: the badass one, only taking it off twice. Lampshaded when a recent page shows him owning multiple pairs of his trademark shades as well as a closet full of coats.
• It's Personal: Bears a personal grudge against Josephus for letting the Demon take over his body. He's killed Josephus once (as the demon) and nearly pulled a repeat performance.
• The Lancer: Sort of fits this role, down to the personality type.

Penpen

A two-foot-tall, talking penguin with a Jello fetish that lives as Phil's "pet". Seems to have it out for Phil, attempting to kill him several times and having a scarily impressive knowledge of explosives and weapons.

Tropes associated with Penpen:

• Combat Pragmatist: Will take all kinds of dirty or cheap shots with anything he's got on hand. He is a demon, after all.
• Killer Rabbit: Penguins that are demolitions experts, highly-trained in most forms of weaponry (including firearms, which leaves the question of how they can pull the trigger, engage in a gelatin fetish and have an appreciation of the fine arts.

Tom

Another longtime friend of Phil's, Tom is American-born, but received formal ninja training in Japan, but was sent back after the Magi of Power attacked his team during a training mission. Forms a relationship with Robot Girl Miyo, and lives in Shiden's apartment complex in Yorktown.

• Big Brother Instinct: Miyo means a lot to him even before they begin to get really close. Putting her in danger is the quickest way to majorly piss him off.
• Team Chef: A very excellent chef and proud to admit it. None of the other characters seem surprised about it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Shisou, prominent at first but later toned down a great deal.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Falls in the same place on this as Phil, but didn't want Miyo to know that she was a robot because of the emotional strain he believed it would put on her.

Shiden

A friendly enemy of Phil's, who builds Miyo, Toyoko, and Nami as part of an elaborate scheme to visit some sort of vengeance upon Phil early on in the comic. Character Development soon has him making lots and lots of money off of his inventions and focusing more on them rather than antagonizing Phil, enough so to build an entire compound where most of the main characters eventually take up residence.

• Fanboy: Of Chobits, which is why all of his robot girls have Persocom ears.
• Mad Scientist
• Magitek: he discovered Orichalcum at some point after the Weirding, and uses it to power both the robot girls and his base.
• Oblivious to Love: Doesn't even realize that Toyoko's feelings of affection are deeper than just the usual "robot girl is attached to daddy until she grows up a bit" variety, but actual, genuine love.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Is pretty silly and eccentric, but knows his science. Very, very well.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Averted; his numerous inventions are the reason that he's become so filthy rich.
• The Rival: Of sorts, to Phil, initially.

Shisou Kobayashi

A ninja rival and associate of Tom's. Believes that Tom attacked his clan and stole something that they were guarding, since Tom was the only non-Japanese ninja in the area, and the attacker was apparently not Japanese as well. He followed Tom back to the states and used Miyo as a tool to draw Tom out, but got laid out for his trouble once Miyo was safe. Became a friend of the group after learning the truth.

• Artifical Limbs: Has his left arm replaced with a prosthetic.
• It's Personal: His (completely unfounded) grudge against Tom. It later turns out that the Magus of Power was responsible for the incident he blamed on Tom.
• Deadpan Snarker: Plenty and often. Sometimes in Japanese.
• Wolverine Claws: Of a sort; they're more like blades attached to his fingers.

Naoko Kobayashi

Shisou's fiancee (later wife) and a Shinto priestess. The level of her ability is so high that the Five refer to her as the "Saint" Magi. She is also an M-Type Chimera, which is responsible for magnifying her powers, but not supplying them.

• Power Dyes Your Hair, Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Part of a new set of abilities she discovered.

Miyo

The first Robot Girl introduced in the comic, and the first to be built by Shiden. He built her to get rid of Phil due to the latter's interest in the Chobits anime (which Shiden felt Phil had no right to like or something), but seeing Tom causes her mind to overload and reboot, mentally turning her into a normal sixteen-year-old girl, and she falls in love with the ninja.

She and Tom aided in the construction of Shiden's complex, and moved in when it was finished.

• Heel–Face Turn: Of a sort, once she became attached to Tom.
• Genki Girl: After her initial overload from Tom-exposure.
• Robotic Reveal: In Japan, she finds out that she is a robot when she saves Tom from an attack. Discovering this caused her to have a tidy little freak-out. Afterwards, she worried that Tom would treat her differently because she was a robot, but those fears were quickly dispelled.

Nami

Another Shiden-built robot girl, with a dry and sarcastic personality. Introduced along with Toyoko shortly after Miyo befriended Tom.

• Ambiguously Gay: With Blue. Lots of it. Also with her previous roommate, Michelle.
• Cool Big Sis: To Rieko. In part because Rieko's body was reverse-engineered from her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Particularly in regards to Shiden, who she tends to think of as a total buffoon.
• Unusual Ears: Is the first to find out that they can be taken off to reveal normal ears, and does so happily.

Toyoko

The third of the original robot girls. Unlike Nami, she has a deep, undying admiration for Shiden (which later becomes actual love) and is willing to ignore almost all of his silliness as a result.

• Berserk Button: Threaten or hurt Miyo, in any way, shape or form, and she will take off her limiters to intervene. Awesomely.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When Miyo had her Tokyo breakdown, Toyoko got pissed. Very, very pissed.
• Cool Big Sis: To pretty much every robot girl, most of the time, since she's the most mature looking and acting.

Rieko

A shy, somewhat quiet robot girl.

• Heroic BSoD: When she first woke up and saw Cain, it triggered a flood of memories from when she was alive—including her death. This strained her CPU and caused her to zone out for a little bit, and she still lacks her memories.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: To date, she is the sole robot chimera seen in the comic.
• Shrinking Violet: Averts Fiery Redhead quite nicely as a result.
• Unusual Ears: They're fox-like.

Lien

Another one of Shiden's robot girls, built to serve primarily as his (and later, Phil and friends') bodyguard.

• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Admits (in her own subtle way) that she does enjoy swooping in to save people.
• Emotionless Girl: Played with; she specializes in combat functions and is oftentimes very much The Stoic, but is more than capable of thinking and feeling like any of Shiden's robots. She just prefers to keep her emotions under wraps, and actually fears that if she doesn't fulfill her purpose, she'll lose the meaning to her life.
• Gunslinger: Knows her way around pistols and is an expert markswoman.
• Lightning Bruiser: Moves very quickly AND hits like a tank.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Reveals her softer side at extremely rare intervals.

Jenelle "Blue" Carell

Another Type-A Chimera that Phil and Kate meet at a convention. She quickly makes fast friends with them, and later moves into Shiden's complex in the room next to theirs. She also works as the Java Journal's manager.

• Harem Seeker: In the side comics, and in some parts of the main comic, she's been shown to be highly motivated by thoughts of having a harem.

  Blue: "Don't touch my sexy harem!"

• Innocently Insensitive: After her prank turns Phil's VR avatar into a cat-girl maid, she defends herself saying it's a common fantasy and asks if he'd like some time alone. When she sees Phil actually break down in tears, she immediately apologizes and rushes over to comfort him, allowing him to Cry into Chest.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: Is often trying to get some intimate time with Nami or Kate, among others.
• Punny Name: From the get-go it's pretty obvious that her nickname comes from her hair color.
• The Tease: When it comes to Nami, and sometimes with Kate (though it's pretty friendly in regards to both of them, and even less serious in the latter case).

Demoness

Axel's familiar, who met him on the night of the Weirding when he became a Chimera.

• And This Is for...: When she shoots the guy who abused her and her older sister, she makes explicitly clear why she's shooting him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Amazingly. "Demon Prince", Penpen's "idiot nephew" and rival to he demon throne once conned her older sister out of her True Name, then when he got bored with her, went after Demoness, and threatened her with the fact that he could compel her older sister to tell him her true name if she didn't do it herself, willingly, and the consequences for making him do so would be quite grim.
• Happiness in Slavery: By the rules of the demon realm, she's Axel's slave due to his invoking her True Name (while he was possessed by another demon). She has no complaints regarding the situation and is often seen clinging off him.
• Hot as Hell: Often (playfully) invokes the stereotype, but hasn't done anything explicitly sexual despite any evidence to the contrary that her teases might imply.
• No Sense of Personal Space: At first. When introduced, she saw nothing wrong with groping anyone and everyone she was interested in. Axel has apparently taught her why this is a bad thing at some point.
• The Tease: With everybody. Just barely edges out Blue for being the comic's best example of this. This aspect of her personality makes her one of the few people Phil feels uncomfortable around, especially considering the fact that she makes Kate uncomfortable.

The Magi and their Associates

Josephus

The first Magus of Fire. Tries to recruit Kate into his group of Chimeras, but fails, and gets murdered by Axel's Demon for his trouble. The Twins bring him back to life shortly afterwards, though.

• Asshole Victim: After he's strangled by Cain, It's safe to say that no one really misses him.
• Brought Down to Normal: When Axel attacks him with the spear artifact once possessed by the Null, Joe's raw power is released as a fire elemental, leaving him powerless.

"Power"

The unnamed Magus of Power. A Japanese woman. Killed by Shisou in Japan.

• Back Stab: Is put on the receiving end of one by Shisou.
• Drunk with Power: Became drunk with power when she unlocked her full spectrum of abilities again.
• Jerkass: Kills innocent people without a care in the world. Arrogant to a fault.

Emi

The second Magus of Power. Succeeds the deceased first Magus of Power, her cousin. Also Japanese.

• Bratty Half-Pint: Though she's a bit older than the trope implies (14 or 15), she has been called a brat to her face at least once.
• Brutal Honesty: Emi has a habit of speaking without really thinking about what she says.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Gets hit with a beach ball and teased a few times; powers up to fry everyone in range afterwards.
• Heel Realization: When Phil "nulls" her powers for a few moments after the beach ball incident, she realizes exactly what she was about to do. And feels moderately bad about it. Afterwards, she begins to soften up a little bit.
• Jerkass: Kind of one, with shades of a softer side. Most of it has to do with her upbringing, and part of it is her powers.
• Ojou Ringlets: Huge ones in the front. A fancomic once likened them to drills.
• Precocious Crush: Has a minor crush on Hue, who is several years older than her.

Messilia "Lia" Venelli

Magus of Water, and Hue's good friend... and fiance. From Italy.

• Awesomeness by Analysis: Is more than intelligent enough to pick up on details other people miss, and is in general very perceptive and difficult to surprise.
• Defector from Decadence: Disapproves of the way the Five is handling things, and decides to help out Phil and his pals.
• Ojou: Has shades of this in her personality; is generally calm, unflappable, and kind-hearted, as well as quite refined.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Prone to this early on, though it quickly fades into simple heightened formality.

Water

The personification of Lia's powers.

• Death Seeker: She hates being bound to a host, for good reason. To break that bond, she's perfectly willing to die, even if that means taking out all of humanity with her in the process.
• Empty Eyes: The only way anyone (or at least the audience) can tell it's "Water" and not the person she's impersonating is that her "eyes" are just pools of water, no pupils, no sclera, nothing.
• Good Is Not Soft: She shows that sincerely cares about people, at least once Lia allowed her to freely examine her mind and motivations. She also is perfectly fine with usurping Lia's body, ripping off Cain's arms and leaving him to die from blood loss when his behavior reminds her of previous Magi she was bonded to; leaving Lia with no memory of what happened.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can alter her appearance to resemble anyone she's seen.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Like most, if not all, of the manifestations, her past is not a kind one. Even though many of her hosts have been good and kind people, she's been so thoroughly deceived and flat-out lied to by all of them (except Lia) that she simply can not bring herself to trust anybody. Lia has to prove her honesty by being willing to risk Mind Rape from her. If Lia hadn't been willing to do that, "Water" would have tried to break the bond by any means necessary, including killing all of humanity.
• Yandere: Whether it's towards Phil or towards "Null" is unclear. Still she's smitten with him to clearly unhealthy levels. So much so that she tried to kill her host, Lia, to "protect" him.

Hugo Van Regal aka Hue

Lia's longtime friend and fiance, and Magus of Earth. American-born but grew up with Lia in Italy.

• Barrier Warrior: Of sorts. Prefers to use earth shields when he fights. Has saved Emi from getting killed at least once.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Though he's often shy and nervous, once shit hits the fan he can get serious in a heartbeat.

Serena

• Locked into Strangeness: Her physical changes are so contrary to her original appearance that her grandfather was rather freaked out when it happened.
• Parental Abandonment: Possibly. Her mother works in the city, while she looks after her grandfather in the jungle. What her father's doing is unknown.
• Power Dyes Your Hair, Breast Expansion: A side effect of her powers manifesting. She used to have black hair, blue eyes, and a smaller bust.

"Life" and "Death"

Also called "the Twins". They are the only ones of the Five that actively recall the memories of their predecessors, and are the currently only ones that are actually evil.

• Creepy Twins: The are the most openly antagonistic of the Magi, and even the others tend to be on eggshells around them. This is actually their magic, the Atlantean prince and princess they've been using as hosts are actually pretty nice.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Death, apparently as a consequence of her powers, slowly sickens and dies after a while, with Life following soon after only to be reborn, with Death herself noting that modern advances in medicine are likely the only reason that she's lasted as long as she has. After the twins are freed from the control of their magic, this becomes a major point of concern.

Cain

The resident mad scientist of the group.

• An Arm and a Leg: When he threatens Lia with poisoning Hue in order to get a teleport off the Magi's island, Water takes over and cuts off both of his arms and leaves him to die.
• Best Served Cold: Against a de-powered Josephus, who was manipulating him with illusions.
• Freudian Excuse: He saw his sister murdered by a mob during the Weirding, and then Josephus saw his intellect and manipulated him with the hopes of getting his sister back to join his cause.
• Mad Scientist: Unlike Shiden, he's not the affable kind, either.
• The Insomniac: Type B, the obsessive. Apparently has medication for it, but refuses to take it, resulting in his disheveled and manic appearance.

Proxy

The butler.

• Battle Butler: The primary servant of the Twins, and a powerful combatant who uses their magic to enhance their physical abilities.
• Undying Loyalty: Is fiercely loyal to the Twins, and is one of their main protectors as a result. After the Atlantean prince and princes are freed from their magic and need a legal guardian just in case, the two note that Proxy is one of the few that their magics unequivocally trust, so they decide that he should be their first choice.

Other Characters

Mr. Summers

Kate's father.

• The Atoner: Wants to make up for what happened to Kate, in lieu of his wife.

Cortex

A government agent that severely distrusts all magi and wants to make sure that they're not a threat to regular humans by any means necessary.

• Character Development: His interactions with Shiden and Lia have made him considerably less brutal and extreme in his methods and makes him second guess his assumption that Magi are automatically card carrying Evil Overlords. He's still fairly pragmatic though.
• Evil Plan: Pretends to try and rob a local historian of several priceless artifacts from the Null War in order to gain access to a magical seal in the historian's basement.

"That Demon-Prince Guy"

Axel's teacher in the demon arts.

• Sink or Swim Mentor: A mild example; he taught Axel in a very hands-on sort of way.

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