Characters / Bad Apple Wars

Tropes related to the characters of Bad Apple Wars. Beware of unmarked spoilers!

• All bios and quotes are from the official website.

The Protagonist / Rinka

"Why is it that I always feel like I'm empty inside?"

The protagonist of the game. A girl who feels empty inside and has nothing she hopes to do with her life, she blends in with everyone else. Despite feeling inferior to those around her thanks to this sense of emptiness, she hasn't quite been able to change herself.

• Apologises a Lot: She gets called out for it by Higa. Rinka does gets better in every route as she gains confidence through the routes.
• Blank Slate: The core to her character. She truly has nothing—no skills nor weaknesses, no good memories nor bad memories, no likes nor dislikes. Significant in most character routes because it allows her to read their past memories easier. Particularly significant in the White Mask's route because her blank slate life means she has never experienced despair, causing her to have an enviable "white aura."
• Character Development: Always undergoes a ton of it during every route.
• Crash-Into Hello: With Higa.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the White Mask's NEVAEH ending, she pushes him aside and sacrifices her soul in his place.
• Identity Amnesia: In Alma's route, she decides to pretend to be his past beloved and remain with him forever at NEVAEH Academy. She fulfills the role wonderfully due to being a Blank Slate.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Her main desire, since she admits to having nothing to her character. She just wants something special to be invested in—something only she can do.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: On the Good Apple's routes, she accidentally helps the Bad Apples despite her position as a Prefect.
• Reincarnation Romance: In certain routes:in Alma's, she's the reincarnation of his Lost Lenore; in Higa and Shikishima's routes she romances their reincarnations in their good endings.
• Second Love: In Alma's route.
• Tap on the Head: Knocked out by a ball in Higa's route.
• The Voiceless: As the protagonist, she has no voice actor.
• You Are Number 6: In the Good Apple route, she's assigned the label "Number Two" in the prefects.

Shikishima

Voiced by: Akira Ishida

"I will go wherever. I follow my heart, the breeze, my feet..."

Shikishima calls himself an odd apple, not a good apple, and aligned with neither the Bad Apples nor the Prefects. He spends his time painting quietly on his own, and appears without warning in unexpected places. It isn't just his position in the school that's odd, his behavior is quite strange as well. His Soul Totem takes the form of various art supplies, including his sketchbook.

• All of the Other Reindeer: Was isolated as a child for being strange. This leads to him isolating himself.
• Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: Scarf, in this case. Rinka does this twice in his route.
• Color Motif: Yellow. Yellow hair, yellow eyes, yellow clothes, yellow sunflowers.
• Heroic BSoD: Has a severe one after Sanzu expresses her love through a song, which he previously thought was impossible. He becomes obsessed with expressing his love through his art.
• Incurable Cough of Death: How he died, just as his uncle died.
• Out of Focus: Compared to the other love interests in the game. He barely shows up in the Bad Apples' route and he's borderline non-existant in the Good Apples'. For a meta example, Shikishima has eight chapters, whereas everyone else has the standard nine.
• Photographic Memory: Mentioned and demonstrated once.
• Reincarnation Romance: Implied. Though Shikishima passes away in his own time, he has a distant relative in the modern day who looks and acts like him who falls for Rinka.
• Signature Scent: Rinka says he smells like a calming mixture of "paints and sunny fields."
• Stepford Smiler: The main character recognizes this in his route.

Bad Apples

Alma

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai

"Do you want to live? If you do... fight the school."

A young, red-haired man who acts as the leader of the Bad Apples. He's got a great poker face, making it hard to tell what he's thinking. Being a person of few words, he can sometimes come across as scary, but the Bad Apples truly believe in him thanks to his strong will and charisma. His Soul Totem is a red thread.

• The Atoner: Wants to atone for breaking his promise to be with her beloved when she dies.
• Clark Kent Outfit: You might not notice at first glance, but Alma has a six-pack.
• Color Motif: Red.
• The Comically Serious: Tells jokes while never breaking his deadpan nature.
• Determinator
• Driven to Suicide: Out of fear of forgetting his beloved, he kills himself to try to die with those memories.
• Fiery Redhead: Subverted in that he may be a redhead, but he's of the rare, stoic nature.
• Former Teen Rebel: Apparently a delinquent in his former life.
• The Gadfly: Likes teasing his past beloved and Rinka with a straight face.
• Given Name Reveal: Alma Fudoh is his full name.
• The Leader: To the Bad Apples.
• Meaningful Echo: "Good night."
• Morph Weapon: His red thread, which turns into a knife. Incredibly significant in his ending, when he wields a scalpel and suture thread reminiscent of his Soul Totem forms to save Rinka's life.
• Pinky Swear: Makes one with Rinka.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Despite their color schemes, the Blue to Higa's Red.
• Red String of Fate: His Soul Totem that he used to play Cat's Cradle with his beloved in the past is an allusion to this. Said beloved mentioned that a red string of fate ties together two people who made a promise before they were born and it will ensure that the two will meet again in life, no matter how far apart. Later, Rinka decides to literally interpret his red thread as the red string and wrap it around all the Bad Apple's pinkies so they would be reunited in life. It turns out the two have been bound by a red string of fate since before their deaths, as Rinka is a reincarnation of his beloved.
• Sitting on the Roof: Or sleeping on the roof, in Alma's case. The roof ends up being a significant location in his route for him. It is where he meets the protagonist, where he committed suicide, and where Rinka visits him in the ending.
• The Stoic
• When He Smiles: Both Rinka and Higa react by blushing to his smile with shock.

Higa

Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe

"Ain't got no choice, not if he's the one asking me... I'll protect you."

A tall young man in a white biker jacket and a member of the Bad Apples. He worships Alma as if he were his own brother. Acts like an old-school punk, though supposedly he has only acted this way since he came to NEVAEH Academy, and in fact used to be quite different, though he has always had a rather harsh look about him. His Soul Totem is a white ball.

• Batter Up!: His weapon is a bat, after all. He fights with his white ball which can turn into other baseball gear, including a mitt and a bat, and can explode.
• The Champion: To Alma. And how.
• Crash-Into Hello: With Rinka in their first meeting. And their second meeting. And their first meeting in their second life.
• Declaration of Protection: At the beginning of his route, subverted in that it's at the behest of Alma. Also in his bad ending, though his motivations are quite selfish.
• Happily Adopted: His only unhappiness was that he felt as though he couldn't pay them back for the happiness.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Twice. Slightly when Rinka and him inhale the same despair-inducing gas, he gives her the antidote. You later find out that he died saving a child from a car.
• Missing Mom: The backstory that led him to becoming Happily Adopted.
• Perpetual Frowner: A self-admitted one, at that.
• Real Men Hate Sugar: Just about says this word for word.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Despite their color schemes, the Red to Alma's Blue.
• Reincarnation Romance: In his good ending, he reincarnates as his brother's son and meets Rinka in the modern day.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Although he's all delinquent-like now, he used to be a fairly normal, though gruff, guy in the past.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Naraka.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Look at him.

Naraka

Voiced by: Junko Minagawa

"Don't sweat the little things! Cute makes right, after all."

Wears a gothic Lolita dress and a member of the Bad Apples. Naraka is good at sewing and designed nearly all of the Bad Apples' clothes. Naraka's Soul Totem is a sewing kit.

• Elegant Gothic Lolita
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Very much so, considering the crossdressing and his ability to sew.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Higa.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: While his clothes appear feminine, Naraka is a guy who just really enjoys making cute clothing. Particularly wholesome when you realize it was the Bad Apples that helped him feel comfortable expressing himself.

Enishi

Voiced by: Masakazu Sakimoto

"I am called Enishi. I am a samurai."

A young man wearing a fencing uniform and one of the Bad Apples. He thinks of himself as a samurai despite only being a member of his old high school's fencing club. His Soul Totem is a bamboo sword.

• My Sister Is Off-Limits: In Shikishima's route, it's heavily hinted that he's quite protective of his sister, for whom he died distracting pursuers from.
• Technicolor Eyes: Purple eyes.

Sanzu

Voiced by: Ari Ozawa

"You... what kind of tea you want?"

An aloof girl and a member of the Bad Apples. She is quite good at mixing up unique blends of tea and often serves it to the other Bad Apples. Her Soul Totem is a pair of headphones.

• Heroic Sacrifice: She attempted to save shield Yoh with her body during the accident. However, it wasn't enough to save either of them.
• Just Friends: Toyed at with Yoh. Though she states they're not together, there is a lot of Unresolved Sexual Tension. She also graduates through the hidden secret method of professing love.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Yoh. Her graduation causes him to give up and become a Good Apple so he can forget living without her.
• Sacrificial Lamb: No matter the route, Sanzu always graduates after giving her final concert through the hidden second method.

Yoh

Voiced by: Daichi Kanbara

"Well, whatevs. At this rate, she'll be a Bad Apple whether she plans to be or not!"

A member of the Bad Apples with an air of modernity. He's a light-hearted guy who always jokes around. He and Sanzu seems to be inseparable and have been attending the same school together since they were in junior high. His Soul Totem is a guitar, but he doesn't seem to have used it much recently.

• Affectionate Nickname: Calls Sanzu "Sunny"/"San-chan."
• Just Friends: Toyed at with Sanzu. Though not together, there is a lot of Unresolved Sexual Tension between them.
• My Greatest Failure: He holds himself responsible for his and Sanzu's deaths because he wished the bus would never arrive at the concert and because she attempted to shield him during the accident.

Good Apples

Satoru

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae

"Silence. Keep quiet... I'll forget all this vocab..."

A young man who was admitted to NEVAEH Academy at the same time as the protagonist. He is on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to his excessive study habits. Since the moment he came to the school, he has been studying furiously without giving much thought to the school itself or what happened to himself. His Soul Totem takes the form of a variety of study tools, including a special reference book.

• Beautiful Dreamer: Rinka finds him asleep in one of the classrooms after studying immensely for the Vexam.
• Bookworm: Cannot put his reference book down. Subverted in that he actually hates studying.
• Character Development: Goes from an anti-social, irritable young man to a brave, caring individual.
• Coat Cape
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: In his route, he seems to be on good terms with Alma and the other Bad Apples after accidently winning the Reaper game for them or in other words, breaking one of the seven rules.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: Very understated, but the purple under his eyes are meant to be eye bags.
• Expy: Kanato from Diabolik Lovers, another otome game. They're the shortest out of the possible love interests, they both love sweets, they're both associated with the color purple, and they're the most abrassive towards the main heroine at the beginning of their route.
• First Girl Wins: If you pursue his route. Not only is he the first of Rinka's love interests you meet at NEVAEH, but he's also the first out of the main cast.
• Freudian Excuse: Has incredible mommy issues after his father's death. He just wants to make her happy.
• Literal-Minded: Often responds to questions too literally.
• Overworked Sleep: Falls into one after his endless studying. This is also how he died.
• Sweet Tooth: He won't drink black coffee by itself because it's too bitter so he adds milk so it can be easier to drink. He also really likes cookies.
• Tap on the Head: Invoked by Satoru, who always bats away any hands getting to close to his head out of fear it will knock the knowledge out of him.
• Took a Level in Badass: Despite being a bookworm and one of the non-combative characters, he doesn't hesitate to jump in to defend Rinka when White Mask tries to hit her with his ruler sword.

WARNING: Due to the majority of his character not being explored until his route, the White Mask's spoilers are unmarked. Please only view it if you are comfortable with spoilers or have finished playing his route.

White Mask

Click here to see him without his mask ^note 

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana

"All of you ugly, warped souls. You must be corrected immediately."

A white-haired young man who serves as Prefect. Like the rest of the Prefects, he hides his face beneath a mask and wears their special uniform. His way of speaking makes one think of a soulless doll or a robot and betrays zero emotion. He stands in the way of the Bad Apples, making use of the Prefects' special ruler-type weapon provided by teachers.

• All of the Other Reindeer: By his own doing, as he was afraid of what getting close to anyone might do to them.
• Ambiguously Christian: His Soul Totem, his mother's prayer beads.
• The Atoner: In his NEVAEH ending, after Rinka saves him from having his soul shattered. He decides that he wants to atone for this by remaining in NEVAEH forever.
• Beneath the Mask: His route explores his past and how he came to NEVAEH and what drives his hatred of the Bad Apples' hope. Bonus points for literally wearing a mask that falls off when he begins to undergo Character Development.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: His ability to read people's aura comes across as this. It's only brought up in his own route and seems to only exist to establish his brief sighting of Rinka's white aura before she dies as that much more tragic.
• Born Unlucky: See his Dark and Troubled Past.
• Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Actively enforces the Good Apple behavior of brainwashing the students of NEVAEH into giving up their individual identities so that they may "graduate" a.k.a. be reborn again.
• Color-Coded Characters: White, for obvious reasons.
• Conflict Ball: His route takes this to absurd extremes. To wit, his mother, father, friend, grandfather, teacher, Stalker with a Crush, and even Rinka allegedly all die because he cares about them. His belief that this is the case is what leads to his ambiguous situation in NEVAEH.
• Contrived Coincidence: Rinka gets admitted to NEVAEH when the guy that indirectly caused her death is the head Prefect.
• Dark and Troubled Past: And how. Anyone that he feels for even a little bit dies. His mother died giving birth to him. His father died saving him from their burning house. The one classmate that he felt close to dies. His exceedingly kind grandpa dies in a tragic accident. His kind teacher who protected him from a stalker dies. The stalker that loved him dies. Even the protagonist, who he was touched by briefly at the intersection, dies because of him.
• Despair Event Horizon: See Dark and Troubled Past.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Ice King, in this case. Though the moment the ice cracks is quite ugly.
• Diving Save: Receives one from Rinka in his NEVAEH Ending.
• The Dreaded: Whenever he appears, he tends to draw Oh, Crap! reactions from other characters.
• Driven to Suicide: It's never stated outright, but many players assumed this is how he got into NEVAEH after Rinka gets hit by a car right in front of him. He blames himself for this event, and the accompanying CG right after makes it seem as though this is his final Despair Event Horizon that leads him to it. But since the game never claims this to be the case outright, it's mostly Wild Mass Guessing.
• Eating Lunch Alone: Voluntarily in the past, so that he would never get close to anyone.
• Freak Out: Has one right in Chapter 5, when Rinka presents him his mother's prayer beads (his Soul Totem), stirring feelings of hope that he had attempted to suppress.
• Given Name Reveal: Shou Watase. Oddly enough, it's Iku Watase in Japanese, making it averted as the kanji for Shou can also be used for the name Iku. It was simply a case of a literal translation.
• The Grim Reaper: His nickname when he was alive due to the curse that follows him, leading to the death of anyone that he likes even the slightest bit.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Beneath his wish of dying, this is his true wish. He just wants the right to love and be loved in a world that won't allow.
• Psychological Projection: Rinka helped him realize that he was only punishing the Bad Apples so severely for their hope because he was projecting himself on them.
• Red Baron: He's usually called White Mask, or the White-Haired Prefect. It's not until his route that we find out his actual name.
• The Scream: Let's one out, followed by his falling apart in Chapter 5. He also lets out some notable screams in his NEVAEH ending.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: A Gender Flip of this trope is at play in an easily-missed moment near the end of his route. He can see Rinka's pure white aura when he briefly sees her at the intersection before her death, and he's drawn to it because he's never seen an aura like hers before. It's implied this is why her death right after brushing past him is the last straw, as even a stranger with an aura like hers isn't exempt from his curse.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: He appears to be well established in his role as lead Prefect by the time Rinka arrives at NEVAEH, but his route implies that he actually died after she did, as he sees her at the intersection right before she gets hit, and runs away in despair after realizing what had happened to her. This is never directly addressed.
• Wall Pin of Love: Pins Rinka in one of his events.
• Wham Line: Receives one from Rinka.
  Rinka: HE'S NOT YOU!
• White Hair, Black Heart: Considering how he is the primary antagonist in most of the routes.
• You Are Number 6: His Prefect number is 1, being the leader, and this is how he's referred to by the other Prefects.

Teachers

Mr. Rabbit

"You. Are. Totally. Deadsies."

The first person the protagonist meets upon arriving at NEVAEH Academy. He wears a rabbit head and white suit. He is hyperactive and always seems to be in good spirits.

• Ambiguously Human: As with all the teachers at NEVAEH, it's unknown whether or not he's human.
• Animal Motifs: Rabbits, obviously.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Though not evil, his morality is skewed by the cast's standards.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Probably the most outwardly strange member of the cast, the guy's definitely got a few screws loose.
• Establishing Character Moment: The game opens with him addressing the player in a very Cloudcuckoolander fashion, breaking his tea cup, rambling about nonsense, and then finally sensing that someone new is coming to NEVAEH, and apparently goes to greet the protagonist upon her death.
• Evil Teacher: He enforces the school's policy of the Good Apples losing their senses of self in order to reach graduation and be reborn, but he's not necessarily evil, just...odd.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He wears a rabbit mask and is called Mr. Rabbit, or usagi-sensei in Japanese.
• The Faceless: His real face behind the mask is never shown.
• Game-Over Man: An in-universe example, he's the one who greets Rinka when she first arrives, and is possibly the one who brought her soul to NEVAEH in the first place. He informs her that she has died.
• Laughing Mad: Right off the bat too.
• No Name Given: He's only ever referred to as Mr. Rabbit.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He's only considered an antagonist as he works for NEVAEH Academy, his behavior and actions themselves aren't overtly hostile toward the protagonist or the Bad Apples.
• Pungeon Master: Just has to make rabbit-related puns.

Mr. Gas Mask

"Geheh... Shall we see just how ready you really are?"

One of the teachers at NEVAEH Academy. He wears a gas mask and a white lab coat and locks himself away in the school's laboratory to conduct suspicious experiments. He isn't seen much in the other parts of the school and is a self-proclaimed "garden-variety sadist."

• Ambiguously Human: As with all the teachers at NEVAEH, it's unknown whether or not he's human.
• Arc Villain: He's this in Watase's route.
• Cloudcuckoolander: When he starts rambling maniacally about despair and punishing students with it and his laboratory experiments dedicated to it.
• Despair Event Horizon: Delights in creating these in other people.
• The Dreaded: Though there's a rule against entering the science lab that can be broken, Alma forbids anyone from trying to break it because of Mr. Gas Mask.
• Evil Counterpart: He could be seen as this to Mr. Bucket Head as he's obsessed with studying and creating despair, and would jump at the chance to punish misbehaving students by inducing them into hopeless despair at the most minor infraction.
• Evil Teacher: Very much so, overlaps with Mad Scientist
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He wears a gas mask and he's called Mr. Gas Mask.
• The Faceless: His mask covers his face, which is never shown.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Not only is he the antagonist of Watase's route but he's also responsible for the weapons that the Prefects use.
• Jerkass: Made the weapons that the Prefects use to punish students with hopeless despair, and takes it to even greater extremes should he get you alone in his lab. Watase gives himself up to this fate in his route. Gas Mask is all too happy to oblige.
• Karma Houdini: Other than getting his despair machine destroyed he never gets any comeuppance for his abuse. The other teachers of the school don't really seem to care what he does.
• Mad Scientist: Though he teaches science, he's more focused on his lab and experiments.
• The Man Behind the Man: He supplies the Prefects with their weapons.
• No Name Given: He's only ever called "Mr. Gas Mask."
• Obviously Evil: It's not really a secret that the guy is more than a little unhinged, and delights in inflicting despair and suffering.
• Skewed Priorities: He's a teacher at NEVAEH but he couldn't care less about getting students to graduate. All he cares about his working on his experiments and creating his despair machine.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He isn't really dealt with much aside from Watase's route but he created the weapons the Prefects use, and even Alma instructs the Bad Apples to stay away from his lab.
• This Cannot Be!: Has this kind of reaction when his despair machine gets destroyed in Watase's good ending.
• Villainous Breakdown: He does not take the destruction of his despair emission machine well.
• Would Hurt a Child: Is all too happy at the prospect of using misbehaving students for his vicious experiments.

Mr. Bucket Head

"Whoa! No running in the halls! You almost plowed right into me!"

One of the teachers at NEVAEH Academy. Unlike the other teachers, he actively gets involved in student affairs with his bizarre behavior. He then watches events unfold, pretending to take a neutral position on them.

• Affably Evil: He's the nicest of the teachers, and seems to show at least some concern for Rinka and the other students. He still is a teacher at NEVAEH Academy and therefore has to enforce the rules, but calling him evil might be a stretch.
• Ambiguously Human: As with all the teachers at NEVAEH, it's unknown whether or not he's human.
• Create Your Own Hero: He makes Rinka a Prefect in the Good Apple routes, and his behavior implies he knows she'll shake up the system.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Though he gets introduced shortly after, the first CG of the game is of the teachers at the opening ceremony, of whom Mr. Bucket Head is the only one the player gets to interact with in the game.
• Establishing Character Moment: Rinka first meets him when she runs into him in the halls of the Academy. While he reprimands her, he does it without any malice and even gives her a friendly smile. He also proceeds to defend her from Mr. Gas Mask and takes the blame for talking outside the lab. Considering the Academy staff seen up until then, he almost immediately establishes himself as a little more sane than his colleagues.
• Evil Teacher: Somewhat subverted. He doesn't outright help out the Bad Apples and Rinka, but a lot of his character is implied to not be that bad of a guy were it not for his position.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He wears a bucket on his head and is called Mr. Bucket Head.
• The Faceless: Like with the other teachers and Good Apple students, he wears a mask or in his case, a whole bucket that obscures his face. However, his faint smile can be seen on one of his sprites.
• Good Counterpart: He can be seen as this to Mr. Gas Mask, being a Reasonable Authority Figure and a seemingly all right guy despite being a teacher at NEVAEH Academy.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He thinks Rinka would make a great Prefect, despite evidence to the contrary. This may be intentional.
• Innocently Insensitive: He happily remarks about the outcome of Sanzu's concert and subsequent graduation, seemingly oblivious to the sadness of the main characters.
• Mellow Fellow: He's pretty laidback, and despite being a teacher he dresses like a guy lounging in his living room.
• Nice Guy: He's the friendliest and seemingly the most sane of the three teachers shown, bucket head notwithstanding.
• No Name Given: Other than "Mr. Bucket Head" he doesn't have an actual name in the story.
• Pet the Dog: He defends Rinka in the prologue when Mr. Gas Mask wants to make her undergo one of his "experiments."
• Punch-Clock Villain: He's a teacher at the Academy, with all that entails, but he's friendly and the most reasonable of the bunch.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The closest the school has. Not only is he more affable and stable compared to his fellow teachers but he shows more affection towards the students.