Characters / Akudama Drive

Akudama

General

• Affably Evil: When you get past their deadly tendencies, they all actually seem like regular people. This makes sense considering every Akudama in the group abides by their own self-interests. Swindler even lampshades this when she tells Sister that she no longer can differentiate who’s good or bad anymore.
• Decoy Protagonist: The group as a whole seemed to be the main characters. However, most of them died in the first ten episodes.
• Dwindling Party: As the story progresses, the Akudama group begins to lose members either by their own accord or by death itself. By the end of the series, they're all dead.
• Go Out with a Smile: The more "heroic" Akudama (Swindler, Courier, Hacker, Hoodlum, and Brawler) all go out rather content with their deaths. By contrast, both Cutthroat and Doctor get rather brutal and Undignified Deaths, owing to their more sadistic and unrepentant natures.
• One Man Armies: Each member, sans Swindler and Hoodlum, is capable of leaving behind a trail of bloody corpses and millions of yen in property damages.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: All referred to by their Akudama title. Even a nothing Akudama like Hoodlum isn't referred to by whatever his real name is.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The first episode makes it clear that they can't stand each other and would prefer to work alone. The only reason that they're together is because of the promise of a billion yen mixed with the threat of being killed via their bomb collars.
• Villain Protagonist: Excluding Swindler, they're extremely dangerous criminals and are the main protagonists of the series.
• Would Hit a Girl: The male members have no issue with fighting, or even killing, any woman who stands in their way.

Ordinary Person / Swindler

Ordinary Person / Swindler

Voiced by: Tomoyo Kurosawa (Japanese), Macy Anne Johnson (English)

^{Click here to see her new look SPOILERS}

The main protagonist of the story. She's an average girl who was accused of being a Swindler for refusing to pay for food with money that isn't hers, and through a series of unfortunate events became caught up in an Akudama-themed heist.

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• Appropriated Appellation: She came up with her "Swindler" alias by flashing back to the police and takoyaki stand owner accusing her of being a swindler.
• Anti-Hero: Starts off as a Type I, but would evolve to a Type III and eventually a Type IV over the course of the series.
• Audience Surrogate: Her main role is to be this so the viewers can learn more about the Akudama and their history.
• Badass Normal: She become this, especially after Episode 8, when she kills two men to protect Sister.
• Batman Gambit: Pulls off her greatest gambit in Episode 12. She shows herself to the Executioners as a means of stalling them while Courier escapes with the siblings. Although she ends up being killed by one of them, it was part of her plan as she set up a recording device to broadcast her execution for all of Kansai to see. And thanks to her pretending to be an ordinary person who was "wrongfully" executed, the public decides to rise up and fight against the Executioners.
• Becoming the Mask: She initially made up with the "Swindler" persona to avoid being killed. However, as she goes along, she slowly becomes an actual one, showing a knack for actually deceiving people, and after being officially labeled as an Akudama, she succumbs to the realization that there's no going back as she now must keep on lying and deceiving in order to survive.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Originally being an ordinary citizen, Swindler is a Nice Girl who reacts in horror at the actions of the other Akudama. As time goes on, however, she shows herself to be quite dangerous in her own right:
  • When some Degenerates try to kidnap her and Sister, she gouges one's eye out with a can, stabs another in the shoulder, and shoots a third in the head.
  • As part of her and Courier's plan to infiltrate Executioner HQ, she sends out a message claiming she's leading an Akudama army, inciting panic and mass riots among the citizens, leading to the deaths to even petty crooks.
  • She kills Cutthroat after tricking him, cutting off his arm and stabbing him.
• Big Sister Instinct: Upon finding out that the contents of the safe is a pair of children, she becomes protective of them and develops the will to stand up to the Akudama to keep them safe. Her first kills are her taking out men who threatened her and Sister with the lid of a metal can.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Doctor seems to assume she's this, believing that her being a Nice Girl is part of her act as a Swindler, not realizing she's actually an ordinary civilian. The extra Irony is that there turns out to be more truth to Doctor's assumption than Swindler herself at first realized.
• Boyish Short Hair: To make it easier to hide, she cuts most of her hair into this style.
• Character Development: As the story progresses, Swindler goes from wanting to bail out of the Akudama situation to actually creating a goal for herself: to protect Sister and to help find Brother. And her time with the Akudama have most likely helped her develop a backbone to fight in dire situations.
• The Chessmaster: She begins to operate as this upon being labeled a fugitive by the Executioners. She orchestrates a series of mass riots by spouting claims that she's leading an Akudama army while using the ensuing chaos to sneak into the Executioner HQ. She would eventually mastermind the city's downfall by broadcasting her unjust death, allowing the citizens to revolt against the Executioners and Courier to escape with the children.
• Consummate Liar: For some odd reason, Swindler, despite being an ridiculously average girl, has an almost unnatural knack for lying and deception. She's somehow able to trick the other Akudama that she's also a dangerous criminal like them, and in Episode 3 when posing as a deliverywoman, she's somehow able to easily lie to the guard about the usual girl being sick despite her clear signs of nervousness.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: While horrified at first, she seems to get progressively used to the other Akudama's murderous antics, culminating in her killing two thugs to defend herself and Sister, something she gets over quickly despite her initial shock, citing that she had no choice.
• Cool Big Sis: She decides to become a big sister figure for Sister in order to protect her and to keep her spirits up while searching for Brother.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Downplayed as she doesn't assume the pose, but the symbolism of her dying by getting impaled against a cross-shaped piece of rubble is very clear. Even moreso with this being a Thanatos Gambit that causes the entire city to rise up against the Executioners, and gives Brother and Sister a chance to escape.
• Determinator: As seen multiple times, once she puts her mind into helping someone, she will achieve her goals no matter what, even if it could cost her life, which it does.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Convincing the Akudama that she is a legendary Swindler managed to get them to spare her life, but also gets her wound up deeper into their schemes since they consider her part of the gang. They even convinced the police that she managed to swipe her name off the records as part of her shtick before she could explain her situation, further reducing her chances of seeking their help to escape.
  • When she tries to digitally pay for some takoyaki in Episode 8, her stamp's signature triggered a wanted poster for both her and the other Akudama to go off. This prompts people to try and arrest, if not outright kill, her.
• The Dulcinea Effect: A rare gender inverted example as Swindler seems to subject this a lot. She doesn’t hesitate to save Courier at almost the cost of her own life twice, and was willing to die trying to get Brother and Sister to their destination safely despite hardly knowing anything about their situation at the time.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Knowing they're cornered, she forcibly pays Courier to get the kids to safety, before pulling off quite possibly her greatest swindle; she has her death livestreamed and acts like an innocence civilian throughout it, causing the civilians to uprise against the Executioners in outrage that they'd kill an innocent girl.
• Expy:
  • Like Makoto Naegi, another character made by Kazutaka Kodaka, Swindler is essentially a completely ordinary Nice Girl who, due to incredibly shitty luck, ends up in a life-threatening scenario surrounded by a bunch of eccentric and dangerous individuals. Her being a female protagonist and her pink color scheme also brings Kaede Akamatsu to mind.
  • Starting as an ordinary, good-hearted person and then growing into a morally grey Anti-Hero who works with a gang of criminals also makes her like a gender-swapped version of Rokuro Okajima.
• First Blood: She kills two Degenerates who sold people on the black market to protect Sister.
• Friend to All Children: She's the only one in the group to treat the children from the Shinkansen like actual children rather than employers or cargo.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: She goes from an ordinary Nice Girl charged with a minor misdemeanor to the most notorious Akudama in Kansai who would bring the city to its knees.
• Go Out with a Smile: As she succumbs to her stab wound, she sees a vision of Brother and Sister finding the promised land and smiles knowing that they'll be okay.
• Guile Heroine: How the other Akudama sees her as given she’s a "swindler". Surprisingly enough, she actually becomes this as the story progresses.
• The Heart: She slowly becomes this for the Akudama as she pushes the criminals to use their talents to help one another in dire situations.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She shows herself to the Executioners in the hopes of stalling them while Courier escapes with the children, with the added bonus of livestreaming her death and making it look like Police Brutality to turn the public against the Executioners.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard:
  • She picks up a 500 yen coin that Courier had dropped and tries to return it to him, but he refuses while warning her that picking up dropped money is bad luck before driving off. She still keeps the coin anyways to return it if they meet again, and sure enough refusing to pay for food using that money ended up getting herself accused of being a criminal and brought to her current situation.
  • Her Chronic Hero Syndrome, particularly in saving cats, has her trying to "save" Black Cat, which not only gets her into a run-in with the Akudama, but also rolled into their heist as well. Additionally, her distracting Pupil in order to save Hoodlum, while a kind and thoughtful action, ultimately bit her in the ass. Since Hoodlum had merely a four-year sentence, it's likely that Pupil would've just apprehended him since his crimes aren't worthy of an execution. However, because she saved Hoodlum, Pupil became confused as to why she wasn't in the system and Hoodlum began to hype up her nonexistent record. This means that the Executors now treats her as another Akudama, which is further cemented in episode 5 when she is on the Executioners' "Most Wanted" list with the others.
• Honor Before Reason: Instead of simply paying for her takoyaki with the 500 yen Courier dropped, she's still insistent on returning it and tries to reason with the vendor that's she'll pay her back later, who responds by calling the police and her being sent down to the station, with the front desk robot even explaining that her actions^note Having money but not paying are essentially fraud. It's especially baffling when you consider that Courier literally said he didn't want it back, saying that it'd only give him bad luck, making this all the more pointless.
• Important Haircut: After being labeled a fugitive and on the run with Sister, she cut her hair into a Boyish Short Hair and changed her attire in order to avoid being recognized.
• Invisible Parents: Her family is never brought up when she is seen at her house in Episode 11. It's implied that she lives alone.
• Irony: Despite it being something she made up on the spot, she is technically a Swindler; she was able to trick some of the world's most dangerous criminals into not killing her by claiming that she was just as or more dangerous than them, with seemingly none of them the wiser. This could suggest that the innocent, naive, ridiculously average Nice Girl we met at the start was just one facade she put on and conditioned herself to fit into for the sake of surviving in this world, and her more level-headed, deceptive and manipulative Swindler nature was something that was always hidden underneath the surface that working with the Akudama brought out of her rather than something she gained due to associating with them.
• Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: She's arrested at the beginning of the story only because she didn't paid for some takoyaki she ordered, even though she didn't eat it and promised the takoyaki's stand owner to bring the money back. It leads to her getting involved with really dangerous criminals and eventually becoming an Akudama herself.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Her Establishing Character Moment shows her saving a cat from getting hit by a car, and what lead her to the group of Akudama in the first place was her trying to get Black Cat to safety.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: Downplayed. Sister and Courier points out to Swindler for her colorful language, it’s funny considering whose pointing it out.
• Lovable Coward: Somewhat. She often hides away in the face of danger alongside Hoodlum, and pretty much admits to being useless as well. However she does try to keep her fellow Akudama alive and help out as much as she can despite it all. She gets better from this.
• Mad Love: She exasperatedly tries to push all of Cutthroat's advances towards her away. This is justified considering the person in question is a renowned serial killer with more than a thousand body counts to his name.
• Manipulative Bitch: Swindler has a shown to be capable of manipulating others from time to time. She was able to trick the other Akudama that she's a criminal just like them, fools security guards to letting her and the Akudama into letting them pass through, manipulates hoards of people to start rioting throughout the city on the claims that she's leading an Akudama army and eventually have them turn against the Executioners with her edited video.
• Mistaken for Badass: Everyone believes her lie that she is an Akudama who erased her name from the records, so they think she is just as dangerous as the other Akudama.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: Her whole plan in Episode 12 was to livestream her death at the hands of Executioners for the civilians to see and riot back, causing a chain of events that'll eventually lead to overthrowing their society as they know it.
• Nice Girl: Too nice. She's willing to actually risk her life just to return a 500 yen coin to a guy who literally said he doesn't want it.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She ends up arrested after refusing to pay with money that Courier dropped, and gets labeled a Swindler afterwards.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: Gives one when when she tries paying Courier with the 500 yen for him to take the kids to safety, and he responds with his usual bad luck line.
  Bad luck is putting it lightly! Picking up this coin is the sole reason I became an Akudama. I lived with criminals, I killed people, and nearly died who knows how many time. Now I'll never have a normal life. [...] Bad luck doesn't even begin to cover it. It took my normal life and made it the absolute worst. But this single coin has changed my life like none other has. This coin has the power to change people's live's in a huge way! Isn't that worth more than any amount? It'll change your life and the kids' lives, so take this 500 yen and accept my job. Courier! Deliver the children to Shikoku!
• Not So Above It All: As the story progresses, the other Akudama's influence rubs off on her.
• Odd Friendship: Sort of. Despite being an ordinary citizen with no outstanding criminal record, she hits it off strangely well with the other Akudama except maybe Doctor.
• Only Sane Woman: She seems to be the only one in the group with a normal track of mind, though it's to be expected.
• Pink Means Feminine: She wears a pink dress and acts fairly feminine.
• Plucky Girl: No matter how bad a situation gets, she always keeps going on.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Downplayed as she's still the most heroic character in the story, but during her journey, she goes from being a Nice Girl to being capable of making unscrupulous decisions, such as murder and eventually the collapse of Kansai, if it helps her accomplish her goals.
• Red Baron: Invoked and exaggerated. She comes up with the codename "Swindler" as a way to gain respect from the Akudama who would have killed her on the spot. Other characters, such as Hoodlum, would then exaggerate her reputation as a remarkable criminal.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: This is her whole shtick and her main title apart from Swindler.
• Ship Tease: Quite a bit with Cutthroat and Courier. She also has a little bit with Hacker as well.
• The Team Normal: At first, she’s the only one of the Akudama to not have a particular skill, due to starting out as a mere citizen.
• Thanatos Gambit: Her Batman Gambit hinged on her being murdered by the Executioners to kickstart the revolution against them. And it worked to devastating effect.
• Think Nothing of It: Played with. She often tries to save others at the cost of almost nothing at all, and she doesn’t expect or even demand gratitude from others.
• Token Good Teammate: She is an average citizen surrounded by a bunch of criminals.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Episode 8, she manages to take out two Degenerates by stabbing one in the eye with a sharp can lid and then shooting the other one in the face. She gets even better when she managed to outsmart and defeat Cutthroat, one of the most dangerous of the Akudama.
• Uncanny Valley Girl: There is something off about her. She felt perfectly okay chasing someone into a collapsing building just to give him back a 500 yen coin and she's taken the murderous personalities of Cutthroat, Brawler, and Doctor completely in stride.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Pulls off the ultimate one in the final episode. In a livestream, she exposes herself to the Executioners and makes an act of being an injured civilian. While the Executioners, knowing she's lying, are quick to kill her, this was done to convince the civilians watching that Executioners are really Dirty Cops who are willing to harm and kill civilians, causing a massive uprising.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: She gives this speech to Hoodlum when he holds her at knife point under Doctor's orders. Swindler reminds him of how much his Bro cared about him and how he doesn't have to stoop to becoming a coward like before. This actually works and Hoodlum lets her go.

Courier

Courier

Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara, Natsumi Fujiwara (young) (Japanese), Jonah Scott, Courtney Meeker (young) (English)

A serious man known for transporting products with high efficiency.

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• Artificial Limbs: He has a robotic right arm.
• Badass Biker: He rides a futuristic motorcycle that can travel at high speeds and be used for combat.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: His general modus operandi is to "leave personal feelings out of work". It’s also hinted at that he isn’t completely unflappable outside of work.
• Big Damn Heroes: When a Degenerate is about kill Swindler, Courier comes in and takes him out first.
• Children Are Innocent: Not him. A flashback in Episode 11 reveals that he was doing courier work for criminals since he was a kid.
• Consummate Professional: Despite being a criminal, Courier has a very professional and serious air about him. So long as you're paying him, he'll deliver your (most likely illegal) packages or even get involved in insane, history making heists. He also makes it a point to avoid killing outside of work.
• Cool Bike: His motorcycle is equipped with grappling hooks, a railgun, and probably much more.
• Courier: This is both his job and codename.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Master accuses him of this, claiming that he's nothing without his Cool Bike.
• Curtains Match the Window: His hair and eye color totally match.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Episode 11 reveals that he got involved in the courier business when he was barely a teen. He even lost his mother, and his right hand, to a hooligan with a gun.
• Energy Weapon: His bike comes equipped with one. In Episode 12, he uses it to destroy the Executioner headquarters for his and the kids' escape, and later removes it from his bike to destroy the last Executioner drone pursuing Brother and Sister.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a hardened criminal with the second highest prison sentence in the group at 745 years, he offhandedly told Doctor that he avoids hurting people outside of work and is shown adhering to his own moral code.
• Foil: To Cutthroat. They both share the same age, height and even three sizes. They also have very clashing personalities and morals (or lack therof) with Cutthroat being very childish and Courier being overly serious when it comes to their own specialized fields.
• Freudian Excuse: His belief that picking up dropped money is bad luck stems from him taking a "tip" his employers dropped on the ground and returning home to discover his mother dead and his hand subsequently being shot off by the killer.
• Go Out with a Smile: He dies peacefully knowing that he was able to destroy the last drone and that the kids will be safe.
• Hates Being Touched: He seems opposed to any form of physical contact, as seen with how he reacts to Doctor’s attempt to seduce him.
• Hidden Depths: Despite his stoic and rather aloof demeanor, there are several moments throughout the series that implies otherwise. When he had to deliver a charm to Sister from Brother, there was no reason for him to wait for Swindler to regain consciousness to finish the job, and the next episode has him cooking for Swindler and Sister as well as giving advice to Swindler as an Akudama.
• In the Hood: He wears a grey hoodie underneath his leather jacket.
• Last Breath Bullet: He dies shooting down someone pursuing Brother and Sister.
• Made of Iron: Part of his large reputation comes from being able to survive almost all sorts of lethal situations that would have killed any other person, coming out of them completely unscathed, all just to complete his assignments without fail.
• Nerves of Steel: His Establishing Character Moment has him crashing through the ceiling and interrupting an intense gunfight between two gangs so he can deliver an armed explosive to one of them.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: He's unfazed by Doctor's attempt to flirt him, which prompts her to ask if he's gay.
• Not So Stoic: He displays a bit of surprise when Brother's lunchbox makes actual food.
• Real Men Wear Pink: According to Swindler and Sister when he agrees to help them find Brother, he's a good cook. He says it tastes like shit to him anyway.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: He carries what appears to be a tricked out revolver in case his Cool Bike can't get the job down.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: In Episode 10, he reveals that he knew Swindler wasn't actually an Akudama for a while.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Swears the most out of all the characters, and is repeatedly called foul mouthed.
• The Stoic: He is recognized as having a serious and cold personality. He even reminds his coworkers not to let their emotions get in the way of the job, such as towards Hoodlum after Brawler's death.
• Trademark Favourite Food: Zigzagged. He seems to like takoyaki, eating it when Swindler first meets him and using Brother and Sister's lunchbox to make some, but he claims that most food tastes like crap to him anyway and it only tastes slightly better. A flashback shows him as a child eating some while his mother patted his head.
• Verbal Tic:
  • Has a habit of clicking his tongue when things don’t go his way.
  • He also seems to be fond of the word "shit" to describe food and things that annoy him. It's to the point that Sister nicknames him "shit guy".

• Weak, but Skilled: While he can keep up with fighting Pupil, he seems to have a very hard time keeping up with Master in terms of strength alone.
• The Workaholic: He's very dedicated to his job and won't waste time on pleasantries with his coworkers.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: In Episode 4, Doctor taunts Courier over this, claiming that he was going easy on Pupil because she was a girl.
• You Shall Not Pass!: He spends his last moments holding off the pursuing Executioner drones so Brother and Sister can escape, destroying all three of them at the cost of his life.

Brawler

Brawler

Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)

A rowdy man known for his impeccable victory streak when it comes to fighting.

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• Affably Evil: He has a surprisingly friendly relationship with Swindler and Hoodlum.
• Affectionate Nickname: He often refers to Hoodlum and Swindler as "bro" as a sign of camaraderie.
• The Big Guy: Obviously. He’s the one who fights the Executioners the most.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: The biggest and brawniest of the crew, he's the first to die.
• Black Dude Dies First: He's the first of the Akudama to die in Episode 6.
• Blood Knight: Brawler confesses that he doesn't care about money. His only goal in life is to take on anyone who can guarantee him a fight where he can put his very life on the line.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He lives for a good fight and is always in high spirits.
• Bullet Catch: He manages to catch a bullet between his teeth and not only that, but he manages to shoot it back.
• Combat Sadomasochist: An extreme non-sexual example - he loves battle so much that his only purpose in life is to test himself in combat, seeing how much damage he can dish out and how much damage he can take while still staying in the fight.
• Death Seeker: Downplayed. He lives to fight, and wants nothing more than a battle that will push him to his absolute limits, which by definition will almost certainly kill him. It's why he has a total disregard for his own personal safety - he just wants to see how far he can physically go. He gets his wish in Episode 6, and it does indeed end in a Mutual Kill against a Worthy Opponent.
• Determinator: Again, personal injury isn't a deterrent for him. It just means he's found a proper challenge. Put him down, and he'll be right back a minute later demanding more.
• Dumb Muscle: He isn't very bright compared to his cohorts. It doesn't help that Kodaka described him as a "built idiot" and the other criminals take jabs at how stupid he is. He's also convinced that Swindler and Hoodlum, the two normal members of the group, are secretly really powerful and would do anything in an attempt to become stronger than them. Hoodlum, of course, uses this to his advantage.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He does a Mutual Kill on Master.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite Brawler throwing Pupil directly at her during the fight, and even vowing to dissect him as retribution, Doctor tends to his wounds at the end of Episode 4 without any hassle. This is subverted when Doctor reveals in Episode 10 that she deliberately did a poor job with his stitches which contributed to him bleeding to death after his fight with Master.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a violent Blood Knight, he backs up Swindler when she calls out Doctor on "bullying" Brother and Sister.
• Expy:
  • His hairstyle, red hair, and being a Bare-Fisted Monk with Super-Strength brings Knuckles the Echidna to mind. His height and status as the Super Gullible Dumb Muscle seems to be largely in line with his Sonic Boom interpretation.
  • He’s the most physically strongest Akudama of the group, loves a good fight, and the first to die off as well. Really brings a certain fight loving criminal named Uvogin to mind, doesn’t it?
• Go Out with a Smile: Hoodlum finds him lying mortally wounded after his battle with Master, and the last thing he does is break into a smile as he realizes that his "big bro" got to see the greatest fight of his life.
• A Good Way to Die: He dies realizing that he scored a Mutual Kill with the ultimate Worthy Opponent in front of the guy he hero-worships. For a Blood Knight as extreme as him, it's the perfect way to go.
• Handicapped Badass: It's revealed that after the train robbery, Doctor intentionally stitched up his wounds in a manner that would ensure he slowly bled out, which led to his death in his fight against Master.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He willingly takes a stab from Master so he can get him in for a suplex.
• Insult Backfire: When Doctor refers to him as a "dreadlock gorilla", he takes it as a compliment, because gorillas are strong.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Funnily enough, despite being on more than good terms with Hoodlum, Brawler doesn’t at all see the problem in hurtling his bro’s body at the enemy like a log to get an attack in.
• The Lost Lenore: A male example. He becomes this to Hoodlum as his death in Episode 6 causes the low level criminal to reevaluate his life and how he treated Brawler in the past. In Episode 10, he even remembers all the amazing things Brawler did and how much his Bro truly meant to him.
• No Shirt, Long Jacket: He doesn't wear a shirt under his jacket and Episode 4 features him shirtless throughout his fight against Master.
• Real Men Eat Meat: Brawler loves to eat meat and is the manliest member of the Akudama.
• Red Is Violent: His dreadlocks, and main color, are red and he is known for his violent lifestyle.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Hoodlum, despite being the brighter of the two lightbulbs, who is also a total coward when it comes to combat. Brawler takes it on himself to deal with the heavy fighting against an Executioner while Hoodlum stays on the side and uses cheap shots whenever he can.
• The Rival: He considers Master to be this and vows to take him out, even if it costs him his own life.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He’s the Manly Man to Hoodlum’s 'more reluctant to fight' Sensitive Guy.
• Super-Strength: Brawler's talent lies in his superhuman strength that allows him to fight and endure any obstacle that stands in his way.
• Those Two Guys: He becomes this with Hoodlum.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He heavily relies on brute strength alone to win his fights, and he’s all the more proud of it.
• World's Strongest Man: He gives himself this title in Episode 3 and he has the skills to prove himself worthy of it.

Hacker

Hacker

Voiced by: Shun Horie (Japanese), Y. Chang (English)

An apathetic boy known for his ability to hack any computer system.

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• Ambiguous Situation: After his departure to Kanto, it's unknown if he somehow survived the Decontamination Area. Episode 11 reveals that he survived but had to give up his physical body upon entering Kanto.
• Attack Drone: He always has two drones that are shaped like bear heads by his side when it comes to moving from place to place or blowing enemies to smithereens.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest member of the Akudama due to being 17 years old.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Turns out Kanto ain't all it's cracked up to be; instead of a peaceful, technologically advanced city, it's actually an advanced supercomputer that drags people into a Mind Hive, otherwise causing them to lose their individuality. He gets trapped inside but is able to avoid the latter with his hacking abilities.
• Berserk Button: Do not overestimate hacking by thinking it's simple to pull off or he'll become annoyed.
• Big Damn Heroes: He pulls this off posthumously through a program he left in Swindler's phone:
  • Just as Courier, Brother and Sister are cornered by the Executioners, it manages to start an uprising of civilians against the Executioners through Manipulative Editing of Swindler's death livestream to make it look like Police Brutality on an innocent civilian. This uproar gives them a chance to escape the crisis.
  • It also manages to shut down all power in Kanto, which extends to the Executioner drones just as the last one is closing in on Brother and Sister running away from it on foot, giving Courier one last chance to destroy it once and for all.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns in Episode 11. Unfortunately, his reappearance is short lived.
• Challenge Seeker: Ultimately, he's bored with how easy it is for him in Kansai and desires to go to Kanto in hopes that it'd be more exciting. Part of the reason for his Heroic Sacrifice to save the Siblings is because he thinks that an advanced supercomputer like Kanto would be able to give him a proper challenge, even getting excited when it actually hurts him.
• The Cracker: His primary role in the group. He even manages to find a way to hack and get rid of his collar as well.
• Do Wrong, Right: When the Siblings are able to create an opening and give him a Heroic Second Wind, he states that Kanto could have avoided it if they opted to prevent them from having self-awareness.
• Electronic Eyes: He has a cybernetic monocle over his left eye that he can use to scan any type of technology.
• Expy: Of Chihiro Fujisaki. Personalities aside, they both sport similar hairstyles and are incredibly savvy when it comes to creating sophisticated computer programs and hacking security systems.
• The Gadfly: Somewhat. Some of the things he says seems to make it like he enjoys inciting some kind of reaction from people, mostly Swindler.
• Gadgeteer Genius: It’s heavily implied that he created those drones that he owns, they can even help him hover around for transportation.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Played with. Hacker goes along with Swindler's desire to rescue the children from the Kanto supercomputer by hacking its software, even if he dies in cyberspace. However, he does this because of the possibility of playing the greatest and most exciting game of his life.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Despite claiming that he is only saving the two children to relieve his "boredom" and to return Swindler’s promise, the fact that he was prepared to die in order to save the children really spoke volumes.
• Hollywood Hacking: Despite claiming otherwise, his hacking seems to be much easier and is definitely faster than it is in real life.
• It Amused Me: He enjoys hacking computer/security systems for funsies.
• Keet: A given considering he’s only 17 years old and gets easily excited when it comes to hacking along with the usage of video game references, it certainly fits.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: He expresses that he is so bored of Kansai that he wants to head to Kanto even if it costs him his life.
• Odd Friendship: Downplayed. Although Hacker gets bored easily he gets along surprisingly well with Swindler, who is by far the most mundane and ordinary out of all the Akudama.
• Older Than They Look: Downplayed. His youthful appearance is befitting for the youngest Akudama. However, his short height is definitely not of an average seventeen-year-old boy.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He had long deactivated the bomb collar that had been keeping him with the group. When the group plans to head back to Kansai, he takes it off and announces his plans to continue riding the Shinkansen the rest of the way to Kanto, even if the Decontamination Area could kill him, while giving Ordinary Person one of his drones as a parting gift.
• Signature Headgear: He often wears a cap with digital circles on the sides.
• Small Town Boredom: Kansai isn't exactly "small", but this is how Hacker feels about it. Nothing ever interests him anymore.
• Spanner in the Works: Swindler and Courier were close to being brainwashed and assimilated into the Kanto supercomputer's Lotus-Eater Machine. Since Hacker already was part of the system, and even maintained his free will, he's able to rescue his friends and snap them back into reality.
• Starting a New Life: His goal in life is to leave Kansai and start a new life at the more promising Kanto region.
• Teen Genius: The youngest out of all the Akudama yet he’s by far the most clever given his speciality is using smarts over muscles. He also manages to hack into plenty of tightly secured facilities without breaking a sweat.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In Episode 5, after he decides to split off from the group and head to the Kanto Region on his own, he gives the thoughtful Swindler one of his drones as a parting gift. Considering how much he values it, it's definitely a huge deal.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He loves jelly drinks.
• Virtual Ghost: He loses his physical body after becoming assimilated into Kanto. Thankfully, with his technological brilliance, he was able to maintain his consciousness and project himself as a hologram to interact with the Akudama.

Doctor

Doctor

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Brittany Lauda (English)

A hedonistic woman known for her superior knowledge of medical expertise.

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• Ax-Crazy: While Doctor keeps herself much more compose compared to Cutthroat, she still a sadistic killer who murders people around her without much reason.
• Big-Breast Pride: She has quite the pair and isn't afraid to use them to her advantage.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She acts like a cooperative member of the group only for her to sell them out to the Executioners once they get to their destination.
• Control Freak: Her ultimate desire, the reason she's a doctor, and why she's so interested in the twins; she wants to control all aspects of human life, including death.
• Cool Shades: She wears pink colored glasses.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Of Hiroko Hagakure from Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls. Both of them are older women with pink hair, a medical background and use their "womanly" charm to manipulate others into doing their bidding. The major difference is that the Doctor has no morals and eagerly toys with the lives of those around her, while Hiroko holds all life valuable and detests killing, especially of innocents.
• Crazy-Prepared: In addition to surgical supplies, she carries various chemicals, not limited to: knockout gas, tear gas (and antidotes) and some sort of foam to vacuum seal a breached wall.
• Deadly Doctor: Her overall archetype. She generally kills more people than she heals and she fights using scalpels and chemicals she made herself.
• Death by Irony: Doctor's end goal was to obtain control of all forms of life and took the lives of innocent civilians on a whim. In Episode 10, she is killed by being trampled over by an out-of-control mob of civilians trying to stitch herself back up.
• Disproportionate Retribution: She mentions that she did a lousy job with Brawler's stitches because he was unaffected by her knockout gas. She took it as an insult to her handiwork.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She sees Hoodlum's bond with Brawler as just him leeching off the stronger man for protection, and thus assumes she'd have his Undying Loyalty if she took over the role after Brawler dies. Swindler calls her out on not truly understanding their relationship.
• Evil Is Petty: Apparently, the reason she set up Brawler to die from blood loss is simply because she couldn't stand the idea of there being someone her drugs couldn't work on.
• Femme Fatale: She has no qualms to exploit her own sexiness to get what she wants, it almost always works except with Courier.
• For Science!: Despite being exonerated for her crimes in exchange for selling out the other Akudama, she's quick to get involved again and go back to committing crimes out of curiosity of the siblings immortality.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: While the tinted glasses do add to her image as a doctor, they also enhance her detached nature.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Master cuts her in half at the stomach when he attacks the Akudama in the sewers. It doesn't last long due to her Healing Factor.
• Hammerspace: She carries several operation kits worth of scalpels and other medical instruments in her longcoat, as well as dozens of bottles of different chemicals.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: She turns on her fellow Akudama by exchanging the two kids for her removal off of the Executioners' wanted list. Considering that she was a Villain Protagonist to begin with, her characterization by revealing herself as a traitor did not change anything beyond her affiliation.
• Healing Factor: She did something to her body that allows her to survive from the deadliest of injuries, while just needing to stitch herself up to completely recover as her near decapitation by Pupil and full-on bisection for Master show. As she reveals to Hoodlum, she's been figuring out ways to perfect healing for years, if not decades. Later on, it revealed she doesn't possess a true healing factor. This means that, after Hoodlum slits her throat and carotid artery like he taught her, she has to carefully stitch it back up to survive, which she's unable to do while being trampled by a group of civilians, leading to her death.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She teaches Hoodlum how to accurately cut the carotid artery while using him as her reluctant minion against Swindler. He uses that knowledge to slice hers, and she's trampled to death trying to repair it.
• Hypocrite: She's hostile toward Swindler, claiming her Nice Girl personality is just a façade and threatening more than once to kill her over it, despite later revealing herself to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who turns on her fellow Akudama and has been working with the Executioners the whole time.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: While Doctor doesn't have the higher moral ground given that she's a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who sells out the Akudama to the Executioners, she is right that Swindler's Nice Girl act may hide a truly cunning and dangerous side, which reveals itself later on when Swindler starts killing people and eventually starts manipulating other people for her own ends.
• Karmic Death: For someone obsessed with choosing who lives or dies, it's quite poetic for her death to be decided by her abused lackey and the citizens who trample her to death.
• Kick the Dog: When she stumbles upon Hoodlum at a drug store, she exposes him in front of the dealer and his pals for seemingly no other reason than just to screw with him and possibly get him killed.
• Knock Out Gas: Her second go-to weapon are tranquilizer bombs that can knock out anyone in seconds. She describes them as being powerful enough to knock out an elephant.
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Wears a labcoat over her Stripperiffic outfit.
• Leg Focus: They're accentuated further by her tall black stiletto boots.
• Loophole Abuse: Due to being cleared of her Akudama status, when Pupil threatens to kill her after stabbing Junior in the heart, she tells her that as an Executioner, Pupil would be declared an Akudama for murder, which forces her to back down.
• Mad Scientist: Her doctor-esque career mixed with her bloodlust make her akin to this.
• Manipulative Bitch: Her core motivation. She wants to be free, and her definition of freedom is having absolutely everything within her control. An example mixed with Oppurtunistic Bastard is when she intentionally set up Brawler to die because he was someone she couldn't control, and then decided to manipulative a depressed Hoodlum into being her lackey and boy toy. She also does this to Pupil by forcing her to hand over Brother or risk losing her new partner. When Pupil threatens to kill her over this, she bluntly states that as a civilian, Pupil would be branded an Akudama for murder, forcing her to stand down and hand over the vault.
• The Medic: She provides medical assistance to her fellow Akudama when needed.
• The Mole: While not confirmed outright, her interactions with Boss after betraying the group seems to imply that she was this to some extent to the Executioners.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her curves and clothes aside, the camera really loves focusing on her breasts and ass.
• Mysterious Past: She reveals to Hoodlum that she is not what she appears to be, but leaves it vague as to what exactly. It's never revealed in the anime, but the manga shows us that Doctor was once a man who, through a surgical operation, constructed a new female body to inhabit using body parts from several female "test subjects" Doctor had killed so that they could "become one" with Doctor.
• Not So Stoic:
  • She's actually caught off guard when Swindler stands up to her and calls her out on interrogating Brother and Sister.
  • In Episode 10, her expression turns delightfully horrified when Hoodlum slits her throat using the technique she taught him. The fear in her eyes stays as she fails to heal herself followed by her being trampled under an out of control mob.
• Psycho Knife Nut: She tends to use scalpels during combat, and she's a bloodthirsty sociopath
• Pulling Themselves Together: She's able to stitch up and recover from practically any injury so long as her hands can reach it, including being cut in half.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives a brutal one to Hoodlum in Episode 8 where she calls him out for what he truly is: a worthless coward who constantly lies just to make himself look better than what he is.
• The Sociopath: Along with killing innocent people on a whim, she proclaims to have the right to give and take away lives thanks to her profession as a doctor.
• Stripperiffic: Her outfit puts a lot of emphasis on her sex appeal.
• The Tease: Early on, she’s seen flirting with Courier in some way. However, he often pushes her away, which causes her to jokingly speculate that he’s gay - though in the dub she instead teasingly asks if she’s not his type.
• Trampled Underfoot: Too weak to move after Hoodlum slices her carotid artery, she's trampled to death by a mob of people trying to board the Shinkansen while trying to fix the wound.
• Undignified Death: If being stabbed in the throat by Hoodlum wasn't enough, she gets trampled on hoards of people before succumbing to her wounds.
• Wicked Cultured: She loves wine and cheese.
• Would Hurt a Child: She throws a scalpel at Sister's throat, revealing her true nature to the group.

Hoodlum

Hoodlum

Voiced by: Subaru Kimura (Japanese), Kellen Goff (English)

A cowardly, low-level criminal who gets caught up in the Akudama heist.

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• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • He attacks Pupil after he sees Brawler's corpse. It ends with him taking her eye.
  • He does this again after he finds out that Brawler's death was actually partially caused by Doctor intentionally sewing him up improperly. The result? He slashes Doctor's throat in the same way she taught him, ultimately leading to her death.
• Butt-Monkey: He's genuinely the loser member of the Akudama. However, he's capable of showing a badass side when he's pushed far enough.
• Cool Shades: He has circular orange glasses.
• Cowardly Lion: He's generally a cowardly individual, but when he's inspired by Brawler's (misguided) admiration for him in Episode 4, he's compelled to stay behind with him and Cutthroat to hold the line against the Executioners. He instantly regrets it though and mostly just watches, aside from when he knocks Master over the head when he's about to finish off Brawler. He also, upon finding Brawler dead after his fight with Master, performs a rage-filled charge at Pupil and manages to take her eye.
• Delinquent Hair: He fashioned his hair to look like a pompadour.
• The Dragon: He's forced into becoming one for Doctor.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: In the confusion of all the citizens trying to board the Shinkansen, he slits Doctor's throat in the way she taught him in order to kill her, only to get his own slashed in return.
• Expy: His general appearance and initial love for money in the beginning is very reminiscent to Leorio.
• False Friend: He tries to act buddy-buddy with Brawler if only so he can use his super strength for protection. In Episode 4, he considered switching Brawler as his best friend in favor of Cutthroat. This is subverted in Episode 6 when he starts to appreciate Brawler as a friend and becomes heartbroken when his bro dies from his fight with Master.
• Fire-Forged Friendship: He originally saw Brawler as someone he could manipulate for his money-making schemes, but finds himself bonding with and being inspired by the man, to the point that he goes ballistic after he dies.
• Go Out with a Smile: As he succumbs to severe blood loss from his neck wound, Hoodlum smiles while thanking Brawler for changing him into being a better man.
• Groin Attack: Doctor inflicts one upon him before seducing him into becoming her right-hand man.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: He often plays up his criminal status and lies that he has a prison sentence of five million years. Funnily enough, Brawler admires him for it.
• Karmic Death: In Episode 10, Hoodlum manages to slit Doctor's throat after she boasts being responsible for Brawler's death with her lackluster stitch work. He even rubs it in her face that he's using the same method she taught him.
• Miles Gloriosus: He tends to exaggerate his crimes and prison sentence so he can stay in the good graces of the Akudama; the rest of his screentime is spent acting like a huge chicken.
• Money Fetish: His crimes are based on obtaining as much money as possible.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: After Brawler dies, any insult towards him becomes this. When Brother shrugs it off upon hearing of it, Hoodlum almost attacks him and, even when it seems like he backs off, he later reveals to Doctor that he slipped a tracker into the sack he dropped so he could sell him out later as payback. He later slices Doctor's carotid artery after she reveals she intentionally set up Brawler to die.
• No One Could Survive That!: His reaction to Doctor surviving her seemingly fatal injuries at the hands of Pupil. He does it again when Doctor survives her bisection at the hands of Master.
• Redemption Equals Death: He dies shortly after turning on Doctor, slitting her throat in the way she taught him and causing her to be trampled to death as revenge for Brawler.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Brawler, though by virtue of Brawler being Dumb Muscle. He's comparatively the smarter one between them and is able to trick the Hot-Blooded Brawler into thinking he's a incredibly dangerous criminal to gain his respect, and so often serves to hold back his violent tendencies, such as in Episode 3 when he calms him down over the fact that they can't kill the guards without setting off alarms by claiming there's someone even stronger inside the building that he can fight once they're further in.
• Self-Destructive Charge: Armed with Pupil's electric jutte, he charges directly at her fueled by rage and heartbreak over the death of Brawler.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He’s the Sensitive Guy to Brawler’s 'Blood Knight tendencies' Manly Man.
• Those Two Guys: He becomes this with Brawler.
• Would Hurt a Child: He becomes physically aggressive towards Brother after the boy brushes off the news of Brawler's death like it's nothing. Episode 8 reveals that he planted a tracking chip on Brother's charm so he can rat him out to the Executioners later out of spite.

Cutthroat

Cutthroat

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Matt Shipman (English)

An eccentric yet deadly serial killer who was rescued from execution during the first mission by the other Akudama.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To Swindler's disgust, Cutthroat takes a strong liking to her because of the pink colors on her outfit and decides to be by her side no matter what.
• Albinos Are Freaks: His white hair, pale skin and reddish eyes imply that he might be an albino, while the freak part is due to him being a childish serial killer.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • During the fight against Master, he loses both of his legs only for them to be reattached by Doctor.
  • Later, when Swindler gets the drop on him, she cuts off his right arm. This backfires on her as he decides to strangle her with his one remaining arm instead.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: He gets distracted very easily when he sees anything red.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • He's childish serial murderer who kills people on a whim and has a body count of a thousand, sanity is out of the question for him. In Episode 9, he channels Jack Torrance.
  • Anyone harming his beloved Swindler, even other Akudama, will be met with his unhinged rage.
• Badass in Distress: His first scene features him in heavy prison restraints and awaiting his execution.
• Bait the Dog: Despite being a dangerous criminal, at first his affection for Swindler seems genuine to the point of harming himself in order to save her. While it's confirmed that he indeed does have genuine feelings for Swindler as the red halo represents his growing love, he is so unfamiliar with the emotion that he thinks he just wants to kill her for himself.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He may be pretty eccentric, but he is also a death row inmate with a record of killing at least a thousand people by the time the series started.
• Blade Enthusiast: Always carries a ton of knives to kill people with.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He's a rather dark example of this due to him being an eccentric, childish serial killer.
• Cute and Psycho: His childlike behavior makes him seem rather innocent at times, though it’s well-established early on that he’s a known serial killer.
• The Coats Are Off: Rare offensive example. When he attacks Courier to get at Swindler, he removes his coat and wraps it around his head to blind him.
• Death by Irony: He's killed by Swindler, the girl he obsessed over and pursued relentlessly to kill.
• Declaration of Protection: Has this towards Swindler, and to her dismay he's willing to kill innocents to follow it through. This is because he wants to kill Swindler personally.
• Evil All Along: Turns out that his protective nature towards Swindler is because he wanted to kill her personally, rather than out of genuine affection.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted in his interactions with Swindler, although superficially he seems to care about her, to the point of ripping off his own legs in order to save her. There is the implication that he only protects her so he can kill her later. This is confirmed when he actually tries to do so at the Executioners' headquarters.
• Expy:
  • His appearance, eccentricity, and need to be around things that he loves and consider "beautiful" are very reminiscent of Nagito Komaeda.
  • His color scheme, psychopathic personality and love for marshamallows is really similar to Byakuran as well.
  • His personality and appearance are similar to Shogo Makishima as well. Bonus points for him being voiced by Takahiro Sakurai.
• Foil: To Courier. They both share the same age, height and even three sizes. They also have very clashing personalities and morals (or lack therof) with Cutthroat being very childish and Courier being overly serious when it comes to their own specialized fields.
• Handicapped Badass: The injuries he sustained from Doctor's betrayal don't make him any less of a threat, with him being able to perform his killings like normal, even being able to make a giant pile of corpses in Executioners' HQ and briefly neutralize Courier.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: After a prolonged chase, Swindler kills him by stabbing him with an electric jutte.
• Innocently Insensitive: Once Brother explains his and Sister's situation as tortured experiments for immortality, Cutthroat then casually tells them that living forever is boring. While Brother agreed with this sentiment, it was still very insensitive.
• Lack of Empathy: Killing innocent people comes just as easy as breathing to him. Also, he doesn’t see what’s wrong with using Brother as a meat shield to get a one-up against Master executioner.
• Laughably Evil: Cutthroat may be a monstrous serial killer, but his childish antics and mannerisms has brought a lot of humor to this series.
• Light Is Not Good: His color scheme consists almost entirely of white, and he is a murderous maniac with a kill-count over a thousand.
• Love Makes You Evil: According to Monomi's speculation in Kodaka's weekly roleplay livetweeting, the growing halo he sees on Swindler is formed from genuine affection. However, his warped sense of thinking led him to believe that killing her himself was the best way to express his growing love for her.
• Nightmare Face: His face becomes more disturbing as he tries to hunt down Swindler to kill her in Episode 9.
• No Sense of Personal Space: He takes any chance to glomp and hug Swindler whenever he can.
• Off with His Head!: He delivered this when he escaped, severing a police officer's head of with a knife. This appears to be his go-to attack when dealing with enemy groups.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: This is his reason for protecting Swindler.
• Practically Joker: Like the Clown Prince of Crime, Cutthroat is an infamous criminal whose murdered thousands for sheer enjoyment, is completely Ax-Crazy, has unnaturally pale skin, has a Mysterious Past, and is obsessed with The Protagonist.
• Professional Killer: Subverted. Despite having a phenomenal record of killing more than a thousand civilians, Cutthroat's personality and behavior is anything but professional.
• Psycho Knife Nut: Is an obsessive, violent serial killer who carries around a variety of knives for cutting people apart.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Compared to the other members in the group, he's the most childish and unhinged. For example, if he ever comes across a red colored button, he'll use that chance to play around with it like a misbehaving child. This leads to hilarious results. It stops being funny when his bloodlust is uncontrollable and he attempts to chase after Swindler.
• Red Is Violent: While his colors are mainly white, his love for the color red (like blood) is dangerously obsessive.
• Serial Killer: Why he's an Akudama; by the end of the first episode, he's killed 1,000 people. And his body count continues throughout the course of the series.
• Skewed Priorities: When he got tossed off a tall building, the first thing he panics about is losing his precious knife.
• The Sociopath: Cutthroat is a serial killer who's incapable of feeling remorse for all the people he's killed, while his obsession with Swindler only stems from wanting to kill her and not out of genuine affection.
• Stronger Than They Look: Do not let his plain look deceive you. He didn't kill countless people by sheer luck. He's also capable of stabbing his victims not only with his weapons, but his entire arm.
• Super-Senses: A weird sort. He's apparently able to see a red halo over Swindler's head that keeps growing bigger and bigger, to the point that he was able to track her down after everyone gets separated after Doctor's betrayal.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: He reveals to Swindler that he sees all things as bloody, with a particular effect surrounding Swindler which is why he's so fixated on her.
• Token Evil Teammate: Even in a group full of criminals, he somehow manages to be this. While all the other Akudama have their own self-interests that drives their personal goal and even moral standards they abide to, Cutthroat on the other hand just kills for the sake of it and doesn’t seem to register his own actions as being immoral at all.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He loves marshmallows.
• White Hair, Black Heart: He has snow-white hair and the blood of a thousand victims in his hands.
• Would Hit a Girl: He's the most eager to kill any female against him, and attempts to do so with Pupil, Doctor, and Swindler at different times.
• Would Hurt a Child: He impales Brother through the chest when he stabs Master in the gut, and is more worried that he didn't reach further than for the child's well-being.
• Yandere: He becomes one of these for Swindler briefly after meeting her because she has a red halo invisible to all but her, causing him to see her as his angel. He swears to stay by her side and never let anyone hurt her. Of course, he's also a dangerous serial killer that wants to do the deed himself, so this doesn't make her happy at all.

Black Cat/Brother

Black Cat

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (Japanese), Daisy Guevara (English)

^{Click here to see his actual appearance}

The mastermind behind the grand heist and the leader of the Akudama. He first appeared to the group as a robotic cat who guides the group on their quest to attack the Shinkasen.

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• All for Nothing: All the effort he made and the money he spent on the Akudama to get him and Sister to a rocket to get them to the moon proves for naught when it's revealed that it was actually destroyed in the war and the one everyone sees is an illusion.
• Ambiguous Situation: It is unknown how much he is aware that Swindler is just an Ordinary Person and why he still recruited her into the grand scheme anyways despite her not being an Akudama.
• Berserk Button: Due to his backstory, he doesn't like the implication that Kanto is a great place like it's publicized as.
• Big Brother Instinct: As explained in his Origins Episode, Brother vowed to protect Sister who was the last sibling to be created from the experiment facility. To a lesser degree this eventually extends to Swindler, who is going out of her way to protect Sister.
• Characterization Marches On: In the beginning of Brother's introduction, he shows that he's very apathetic to the Akudama and hadn’t empathized with Brawler's death at all, casually shrugging it off and saying he didn’t expect everyone to survive. A couple of episodes later and suddenly he shows more emotion and is even slightly saddened by Swindler and Courier's death, with hardly any explanation or development to his character at all.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Brother ends up in tears when he realizes that Sister is jeopardizing her freedom and the effort he put in his Grand Plan just to rescue him from the Executioners.
• Declaration of Protection: He swears to protect Sister and keep her safe.
• Defiant Captive: When he gets captured by the Executioners, he spends his time mocking Pupil and Junior, knowing they can't hurt him without getting into trouble.
• Despair Event Horizon: He get hit this twice. First when he learns the moon was destroyed, making what he did All for Nothing, and later when he, Sister, Swindler and Courier are cornered after the Shinkansen is destroyed.
• Distressed Dude: He's held prisoner by the Executioners for the second half of the series, leaving it to Swindler and Sister to try and rescue him.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After surviving the ongoing wrath of the Executioners, he and Sister are able to reach the safe haven Shikoku and can start a new life together.
• The Faceless: His true appearance was initially unknown until the end of Episode 4.
• Healing Factor: He has one, which helps when Cutthroat stabs through him to reach Master while being used as a Human Shield by Swindler. As it turns out, both he and and his sister were part of an experiment on human immortality.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sends Swindler and Sister into the rocket ship in a last ditch effort to escape from the Executioners.
• Immortality Hurts: He remarks about how he still feels pain after being violently experimented on during a flashback.
• Lack of Empathy: After he learns of Brawler's death, he more or less shrugs it off by claiming he wasn't guaranteeing anyone's survival, pissing Hoodlum off.
• Mr. Exposition: He provide all the details about the set up for the Shinkasen factory as well as the group's mission objectives.
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: When Hoodlum gets pissed at his disregard for Brawler's death, he offers to let Hoodlum punch him since he can survive whatever he can do to him anyway.
• Recurring Element: In regards to the Danganronpa franchise, Brother's true form follows a popular character design of having pale skin, black hair and red eyes.
• The Reveal: At the end of Episode 4, it is revealed that he is a young boy who, along with his sister, was meant to be shipped to Kanto.
• Robotic Reveal: His first appearance was when he revealed himself to the group by using a robot cat at the end of the first episode.
• Signature Headgear: Brother’s signature hat. He also uses it to recreate Black Cat as well.
• Taking the Bullet: He blocks a stab from an Executioner from hitting Courier, giving him a chance to blow their head off. Unfortunately, Courier still suffers a severe wound and eventually bleeds out.
• Walking Spoiler: Brother is this. The true identity of Black Cat and his true motives for why he hired the Akudama in the first place.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: He raises this question at one point, stating his preference to die completely than to live and feel the pain as the wound heals. He even agrees with Cutthroat when he states that living forever would be boring.
• You Are Number 6: His designation in the experiment that gave him his immortality was 2502.

Sister

Sister

Voiced by: Kana Ichinose (Japanese), Laura Stahl (English)

A mysterious little girl who is suppose to be Black Cat's sister. She, along with her brother, were meant to be shipped to Kanto for unknown reasons. She has access to mysterious powers than may lean to either scientific or supernatural.

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• Affectionate Nickname: She seems to be fond of nicknaming people as she calls Swindler "Big Sis" and Courier "Shit Guy". The latter being questionable if it’s affectionate or not.
• Big Brother Worship: She truly looks up to Brother and Swindler as a big sister.
• Character Development: Starting off as your run-of-the-mill Emotionless Girl, she gets more emotive after she's separated from Brother and bonds more with Swindler.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After surviving the ongoing wrath of the Executioners, she and Brother are able to reach the promised land of Shikoku and can start a new life together.
• Emotionless Girl: She hardly shows any emotions. But as she spends more time with Swindler, she learns how to express herself thanks to Swindler becoming a good role model for her.
• Forgot About His Powers: Sister doesn't seem to use her flute very much despite winding up in dire situations that would make her powers incredibly helpful.
• Genki Girl: Her time with Swindler has made her a lot more excitable and cheerful.
• Healing Factor: Just like her brother, she has the power to regenerate her body.
• Lady Swears Alot: Downplayed. She starts talking a bit vulgar after spending time with Swindler and Courier, shocking Brother when they reunite.
• Magical Flutist: She's able to stop the Shinkasen with a special barrier that she created by playing a flute.
• Morality Pet: She's perhaps the only reason why Brother seems so adamant about escaping Kanto and surviving in the first place. The only times he's seen displaying any emotion at all is when Sister is involved in some way as well.
• Nice Girl: In downtime, it's revealed that she's actually a pretty gentle kid.
• The Nicknamer: Calls Courier "shit guy" after hearing him use the word often.
• Recurring Element: In regards to the Danganronpa franchise, her appearance follows a popular character design of having pale skin, black hair and red eyes.
• Satellite Character: She doesn't have much agency apart from supporting Brother. This starts to change as she spends more time with Swindler while on their search to find Brother.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Spending time with Swindler, especially after Brother's captured, causes her to break out of her emotionless shell.
• Walking Spoiler: Revealing who she is almost impossible as it spoils the true identity of Black Cat and their motive for hiring the Akudama.
• You Are Number 6: Her designation in the experiment that gave her immortality was 5557.

Execution Division

General

The Execution Division is a special task force that work under the government. They are responsible for hunting down and exterminating Akudama. They can specialize in combat and infiltration.

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: One even complains before slaughtering crowds of protesters that she'd just had hers dry cleaned.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: When there were only two of them, they were incredibly difficult enemies to defeat. Master is strong enough to fight several Akudama at the same time, while Pupil, despite being weaker, is still a threat in a 1 to 1 battle. When they start to appear in larger groups, they are degraded to Elite Mooks that the protagonists can beat with relative ease.
• Death Seeker: It's revealed that this was actually a large problem when they started out, with a lot of Executioners being perfectly willing to throw away theirs live to kill Akudama, leading to a 80% casualty rate due to said willingness. It got so bad that Boss decided to create a partner system not only to increase efficiency, but to use the bond Executioners form with their partner to make them more reluctant to throw their lives away. This led to the casualty rate dropping to 30%.
• Elite Mook: They're much tougher than the average cop.
• Evil vs. Evil: Despite being foes to the Akudama, they proved to just as bad, especially when they start killing civilians.
• Flower Motifs: The sakura, to represent their responsibility to uphold traditional values of honor and order.
• He Who Fights Monsters: When captured and being transported by Pupil and Junior, Brother insinuates that they are this:
  Brother: From my perspective, you guys are the Akudama.
• Hero Antagonist: They are on the side of the law and are working to kill the Akudama who are the Villain Protagonists of the series. This is subverted when they start killing civilians throughout Kansai, revealing them to be no better than Akudama.
• Knight Templar: They're the main authority of the of the setting who are charged with killing any and all Akudama. Though considering how dangerous Akudama are, it's hard to blame them for using lethal force.
• Lack of Empathy: Aside from Pupil, Junior and possibly Master, the other shown Executioners show an absolute shocking lack of regard for the civilians they're supposedly charged with protecting. The most egregious example is when Boss forces the Chief of Police to declare the rioters Akudama, and the two Executioners with her show absolutely no regard for killing unarmed civilians, one of which only complaining about how they just had their uniform cleaned.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Their actions against the mob in Episode 9, coupled with Swindler's death being filmed for all to see, results in another uprising. But this time one they can't stop as the Chief of Police kills himself instead of giving them permission.
• Lawful Stupid: One of their biggest flaws. They are bound to the laws of Kanto and can't attack anyone unless they're declared to be a criminal or Akudama. Boss tries to bypass this the first time by pressuring the Chief of Police to declare the rioters in Episode 9 as Akudama which grants them permission to kill them. But the second time it happens in Episode 12, the Chief of Police kills himself out of guilt leaving Boss and her Executioners at the mercy of the rioting masses.
• Loophole Abuse: Since it's the police who are the ones in charge of designating who are classified as Akudama, the Executioners can't just declare somebody one on the spot and kill them, or else they risk being declared one themselves. Since Doctor has been cleared of all charges and the police haven't traced her new crimes back to her, Pupil can't kill her when she threatens Junior's life for this reason. It's also why Boss has to force the New Police Chief to declare all the rioters Akudama, otherwise she wouldn't be able to kill them to quell the uprising. This bites them in their asses hard when the footage of Swindler getting killed is shown and another riot breaks out over it, spearheaded by a little girl who's parents were among the ones executed. With the New Police Chief, still feeling extreme guilt over what he did, shooting himself in the throat instead of letting the Executioners kill more civilians.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: The Executioners are allowed to execute any criminal as they see fit. This gets deconstructed in later episodes as their willingness to kill anyone who's labeled as an Akudama, regardless of what they're like, gets scrutinized by the general public. Swindler uses this during her Batman Gambit in Episode 12 to showcase how the Executioners are just dirty cops and that they can murder any civilian. This would result in the Kansai public uniting together to end their murderous streak.
• Uncertain Doom: While most of them die over the course of the series, the fates of Boss, Pupil, Junior, and the duo that helped take out the first mob and later Swindler, are unknown after Courier blows up the tower. The Director's Cut of the last episode reveals that Boss, Pupil and even Junior survived the assault of the mob, with Pupil having a genuine change of heart and being willing to live. The fate and whereabouts of the two who executed Swindler are left ambiguous in both cuts and are last seen trying to hide from the mob.
• Villain in a White Suit: Played with. They wear white uniforms and are the main antagonists of the series, but they are the equivalent of government agents tasked with tracking down and stopping extremely dangerous terrorists. This is played straight when they start killing civilians.
• Would Hit a Girl: They go after both Doctor and Swindler with as much fervor as they do the male Akudama, with both Pupil and Master taking out Doctor each time, not that it means much in the long run.
• Would Hurt a Child: While they don't threaten their lives or kill any onscreen, they treat children with about as much care as they do with an adult, i.e. barely any at all. Brother and Sister get wounded on occasion when the Executioners attempt to reclaim them. And when a girl tries to get a closer look at her recently deceased parents, the Executioner at the scene is not afraid to violently toss her aside, sparing her only due to the law preventing them from shooting innocents. It's her reaction to that and her parents' death, coupled with Swindler's Batman Gambit which helps fuel the fires against the Executioners once and for all.

Master

Master

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), D.C. Douglas (English)

Master is one of the high-ranking Executioners who was sent to go after and eliminate the Akudama group created by Black Cat. He specializes in both close combat and swordsmanship with his laser sword.

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• Blood Knight: Beneath his serious demeanor, Master enjoys going all out in brutal combat as shown in his grudge match against Brawler in Episode 6.
• Cool Mask: He has a black face mask that covers the lower half of his face.
• Hero Antagonist: He is an accredited government agent assigned to assassinate the anarchic Akudama.
• In-Series Nickname: He is also known as "Conviction".
• Inspector Javert: Despite being suspended by Boss, he decides to disobey her command and hunts down the Akudama himself.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: His death at the hands of Brawler leaves an emotional impact on Pupil.
• "Not So Different" Remark: To his displeasure, Brawler points out that they're both pretty similar when it comes to their love of violence.
• One-Man Army: When he went all out in Episode 6, he nearly took out all the Akudama by himself. If it wasn't for some seriously underhanded tactics by Cutthroat, he might've even succeeded. This is especially notable in that later on, the Akudama are able to dispatch waves of Executioners without much problem, whereas he was nearly able to subdue the lot of them on his own.
• The Rival: Of all the Akudama, he's this to Brawler.
• Take Up My Sword: As he lays dying, he gives Pupil his baton.
• Tsundere: Towards Pupil. He typically comes off as a Stern Teacher, often calling her "stupid disciple" and often berating her. That being said, he does care for her well-being, such as when Courier shoots at her and he throws his weapon to stop the bullet, exactly as planned.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He stops dead in his tracks when Cutthroat uses Brother as a shield, though whether it's because he's a child, or important cargo is left ambiguous. But it gives Cutthroat the opportunity to stab him.

Pupil

Pupil

Voiced by: Yumiri Hanamori (Japanese), Jenny Yokobori (English)

Pupil is a young female Executioner who works under Master. She is Master's student and she can be considered a high-ranking Executioner in her own right, despite having less experience than her teacher. She specializes in close combat.

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• Action Girl: She has the endurance and strength to give the Akudama a hell of a fight.
• The Apprentice: A student working directly under the Master.
• Boyish Short Hair: She has a pixie cut that sharply frames her face. It fits her no-nonsense, action-ready personality.
• Death Seeker: Boss insinuates that she's become this after Master's death.
• Everyone Has Standards: She might have a raging hatred for Akudama, but even she's appalled when Doctor reveals that she intentionally orchestrated Brawler's death.
• Eye Scream: While only the aftermath is shown, she loses an eye when Hoodlum attacks her after he sees Brawler's corpse.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Zigzagged considering her role as a Hero Antagonist, but in Episode 6, the right side of her face is left brutally scarred thanks to the emotionally distraught Hoodlum.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Despite eventually starting to question the system that she works for, Pupil ultimately ends up remaining to toe the line through the final episode. This is subverted in the Director's Cut, where she finally rebels against Boss's cruel methods and abandons her Death Seeker tendencies, thus completing her redemption.
• Heel Realization: In Episode 10, she starts to realize that line between what designates an Executioner from an Akudama is much muddier and greyer than she believed, though she seems to have dropped this as she destroys the Shinkansen that Swindler and Courier are on in Episode 11.
• I Work Alone: She attempts to pull this after Master gets killed, but fails due to the system in place and Boss forces her to accept a new partner.
• In-Series Nickname: She holds the alias "Full Effort".
• Irony: She loses an eye thanks to Hoodlum attacking her with her own electric jutte.
• It's Personal: After Master's death, she feels this way towards the main group, but especially Hoodlum for taking her eye.
• The Stoic: She becomes this after Master's death.
• Uncertain Doom: It's unknown what happened to her during the uprising induced by Swindler's death, or if she survived Courier destroying the communications tower. The Director's Cut reveals she survived.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: There's no word on what becomes of her after Courier blows up the police tower. The Director's Cut reveals she survived.

Junior

Junior

Voiced by: Taiko Katono (Japanese), Eddy Lee (English)

Junior is a motivated, young and fresh male Executioner recruit, who is assigned as Pupil's new partner.

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• Death by Irony: He's shot in the stomach by a little girl, one of the citizens he was sworn to and, unlike seemingly all the other Executioners, was genuinely dedicated to protecting. This is subverted in the Director's Cut, which reveals he survived.
• Distressed Dude: Doctor places a needle onto his heart and threatens to kill him unless Pupil complies to her demands. Despite Doctor ultimately being thwarted, Junior still ends up getting hospitalized.
• Everyone Has Standards: While he views Akudama as heartless monsters, he's appalled upon learning that Boss declared all the rioters, who were otherwise people the Executioners are charged with protecting, as Akudama and had them all killed.
• Knight Templar: He might be New Meat, but he's fully indoctrinated into the Executioners' Akudama-hating ideal, going as far as to say that Akudama don't have hearts and should therefore all die. While recovering from his wounds, he finds out about how the mob was handled and begins to wonder if both sides really are all that different, much like Pupil did before.
• New Meat: The newest Executioner who is still getting used to his job environment.

Boss

Boss

Voiced by: Yoshiko Sakakibara (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)

Boss is an elderly woman who seems to be the leader of the Execution Division. She acts as the organization's master control and directs the Executioners on what to do.

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• Big Bad: She serves as the main antagonist of the series as the Executioners answer to her.
• Dirty Coward: She fears angering Kanto to the point that she she orders the death of the rioters, who are all citizens that she's sworn to protect, simply to appease them.
• Dragon-in-Chief:
  • While she does have superiors in Kanto that she must answer to, she still the most dangerous antagonist of the series, due to being the head of the Execution Division.
  • She's this to the New Police Chief as well. While she technically works for him, the Chief is a spineless coward who is cowed into submission by Boss, constantly pressuring him into doing what she wants, which includes labeling thousands of rioters as Akudama.
• The Heavy: While she's definitely the Big Bad, she still answers to the Board of Directors for the Kanto region.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: While Swinder's death was the final push, her ordering a mass murder of the rioters certainly didn't help in preventing the uprising Swindler's final Batman Gambit caused, and she's put in even more of a tough spot when the New Police Chief, wracked with guilt from her forcing him to declare the earlier rioters Akudama, kills himself before he can do the same to the new batch.
• Knight Templar: In Episode 10, her concern with not incurring Kanto's wrath drives her to order the New Police Chief to declare all the insurgents as Akudama so that the police, policebots, and Executioners would start killing them to quell the uprising.
• Leave No Survivors: She forces this onto the New Police Chief in Episode 10 in order to deal with the mob of civilians out for Akudama blood.
• Manipulative Bitch: She casually admits to Pupil that she designed the Master-Pupil system to exploit the feelings the dynamic creates in order to bring out their best performances as Executioners and make them think twice about throwing their lives away. She even admits that she chooses officers who are willing to give up their lives when it comes to fighting Akudama. It's later revealed that she also worked out a deal with Doctor to spare her life in exchange for the two kids.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Zigzagged. Despite the idea of escaping the Quarantine Zone alive being something that no one, not even herself, could imagine being possible, she still suspends Master and Pupil when the Akudama are able to do just that. That being said, she hints that the consequences could have been far worse.
• The Sociopath: Boss has no problems in initiating a wide-scale massacre throughout Kansai, shows zero remorse in all the people she killed, and callously manipulates people to get what she wants.
• Uncertain Doom: It's unknown what happened to her during the uprising induced by Swindler's death, or if she survived Courier destroying the communications tower. This is subverted in the Director's Cut, which reveals she survived.
• Villainous Breakdown: She has a massive freak out when the civilians throw a massive riot in response to Swindler's Heroic Sacrifice.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: There's no sign of her after the destruction of the police station along with the city blackout in Episode 12. In the Director's Cut, it's revealed she survived.
• White Hair, Black Heart: She has white hair due to her age and is cold-hearted towards her officers and eventually arranges a city wide massacre of rioters.
• Would Hurt a Child: She's surprised that the offering to Kanto was a pair of children, but that doesn't stop her from trying to recapture them.
• You Have Failed Me: She suspends both Master and Pupil for an unspecified amount of time for failing to capture/kill the Akudama. She's also on the receiving of this with her bosses, who threaten a far worse punishment if she keeps on failing them.

Others

Bunny and Shark

Bunny and Shark

Bunny's voiced by: Kurumi Mamiya (Japanese), Michael Kovach (English)

Shark's voiced by: Yuichi Nagashima (Japanese), SungWon Cho (English)

A bunny and shark who serve as Kansai's mascots.

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• Greek Chorus: They often appear Once per Episode to discuss a "fun" fact about Kanto, Kansai or the Executioners.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Swindler's livestreamed death, they are quick to draw attention to it and help incite the riots against the Executioners. Though given that they wore shirts adorning Hacker's symbol, this may also be a part of his program's Manipulative Editing.
• Mr. Exposition: They provide exposition into the story's background and history.
• Righteous Rabbit: Bunny is presented as more knowledge and accepting of Kanto's policies while his co-star is portrayed as as a hopeless dolt in comparison.
• Written by the Winners: Based on their dialogue and how they blatantly praise Kanto, the faction that won the apocalyptic war of the two states, their characterizations are written to teach the present and future generations about who won the war and the wonders they do for Kansai.

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New Police Chief

New Police Chief

Voiced by: Masaya Fukunishi (Japanese), Griffin Puatu (English)

The new weak-willed Chief of Police for Kansai.

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• Authority in Name Only: Played with. He technically has more power than the Executioners, as only he has the authority to declare someone an Akudama. But he's also a spineless coward who is easily intimdated into doing their bidding.
• Driven to Suicide: Confronted by another protest and Boss asking him to name another group of protestors as Akudama, he blows his brains out instead of letting it happen again.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He's broken by his decision to name any and all protestors against the Executioners as Akudama, leading to many innocent citizens being slaughtered. He spends his remaining time alive a shell of a man.
• Rank Up: He becomes the new Chief after his predecessor was killed by Cutthroat.