Inu-papa
The unnamed protagonist and narrator of the story, who eventually grows up to become Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father. He was raised as an ordinary dog in a human village until one day the village was attacked and destroyed, and his mother mysteriously disappeared. On his own for the first time, he sets out to discover what happened to his mother and village.
- Action Pet: He acts as Akagane's pet dog for a good chunk of the story, and often uses that form to kick some ass.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Akagane calls him "Bake-inu", which just means "Monster Dog".
- Animorphism: He can take the form of a human or a dog.
- Big Friendly Dog: He's big. He's friendly. He's a dog.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Put through a brainwashing regimen by the Big Bad in an attempt to snap him out of his Heroic BSoD. Sent him on a murderous rampage instead.
- Child by Rape: Euphemistically implied all the way back in chapter 1, then more explicitly confirmed in chapter 104.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: He just can't say no to someone who needs help.
- Conveniently an Orphan: Conveniently, but not willingly.
- Determinator: He really can't say no to someone who needs help.
- Doomed Hometown: Given that there's a rampaging army of oni going around razing everything in their path this is seen quite a bit.
- Enemy Within: His Brainwashed and Crazy half splits from his
Woobie half, and the two duke it out in his subconscious until they acknowledge each other's merits and merge back together.
- Facial Markings: The blue stripes aren't just a fashion statement.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: It's the only thing that saves his life on a few occasions.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: When he finds out what happened to his mother. The fact that his head was pumped full of miasma at the time didn't help.
- Morphic Resonance: He keeps his tail, teeth, and claws in human form.
- O.C. Stand-in: He's technically a canon character, but, since almost nothing is actually known of his canon personality or history, he may as well be an Original Character in this work.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Since he has no given name.
- Sapient Pet: Type 2. He'll speak and use his human form around humans he knows, but generally plays "normal dog" around strangers.
- Sizeshifter: He's able to control his size as a canine by remembering how to felt to be smaller in size, however he can not make himself any larger than he is naturally.
- Talking Animal: Sort of. In dog form he can project his voice into a person's head, but he can't actually talk.
- The Unpronounceable: He does have a name. It's "Woof". But no one can say it quite right.
- Victor Gains Loser's Powers: But only if he kills them with his fangs.
- You Are Who You Eat: He is able to gain the traits and abilities of what he eats.
- Youkai
Yachouon
A sound-based youkai who takes the appearance of a 12 year old child with bat ears. He carries two bells, Kakyou and Genkyou, which can amplify and suppress a target's power, respectively. Genkyou has been stolen, and he enlists in Inu-papa's canine tracking skills in order to get it back.
- Fair-Weather Mentor: He will only train Inu-papa in abilities useful to him personally, not abilities Inu-papa wants to learn.
- Little Bit Beastly: He has bat ears, even though he's not actually a bat, but sound given form.
- Older Than They Look: He might look like a kid, but he isn't.
- Weapons That Suck: Tamaokuri no Nari will rip out a soul and send it straight to the next world.
Akagane
A skilled blacksmith who abandoned his trade after his sister's soul was stolen by the mysterious "One-Eyed Youkai". He begins working as a taijiya, contracting his services to slay youkai in the hopes of finding and defeating the One-Eyed Youkai that killed his sister. Inu-papa ends up on his hit-list, and must convince Akagane that he is not a threat.
- Animal Nemesis: He doesn't like dogs very much especially since one completely destroyed his family and home as a child.
- Badass and Child Duo: The Badass to Inu-papa's Child.
- Badass in Distress: Seems like Inu-papa has to save him every battle they get into.
- Badass Normal: Don't let the bloated speech, massive spear, or tight leather fool you. He is very much a normal human.
- Break the Haughty: Sometimes legitimately, sometimes just to make him the Butt-Monkey to knock him down a few notches.
- Broken Bird: Detaches himself from other people after his sister's soul is stolen and he makes it his singular mission to retrieve it.
- Butt-Monkey: It's so fun to tease the serious ones.
- Cerebus Retcon: Akagane is frequently hit on by other men and put into demeaning situations as a way to Break the Haughty. However, he later implies that he was sexually assaulted when he was younger, which makes his earlier treatment by the plot decidedly darker.
- Characterization Marches On: He was quite a bit more of a Jerkass when he first showed up, and also regularly used contractions. Both these traits were toned down within a few chapters.
- Childhood Friend Romance: With Hisui, whom he's lived with since he was six or seven.
- Cultured Badass: In his speech patterns, at least. He's also an artist.
- Delusions of Eloquence: While he typically doesn't bungle his inflated speech (unlike his sister when she attempts to imitate him), he's still faking it. He's just been doing it so long that it's stuck.
- Even the Guys Want Him: His looks only seem to draw attention from men.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: Youkai killing? Easy. Blacksmithing? No problem. Reading and writing? Pfft. Accounting? Oh God no!
- Everyone Has Standards: Most notable in his very first interaction with Inu-papa.
- Happily Married
- Hates Being Touched: Particularly with Hisui, at least initially.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Yeah, pretty much.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Black, form-fitting snakeskin leather bodysuit.
- Jack of All Stats: In the Cock Fight that was Chapter 100, was revealed to match or beat Inu-papa in every stat but speed, even then only because of an injured leg and Inu-papa's speed being artificially augmented.
- Men Can't Keep House: Lives in a glorified storage shed that's so cluttered with junk that he has to sleep in a hammock hanging above it. Once he moves into the house, he wastes no time in decorating his room with piles of old clothes.
- Missing Mom: His was killed by rampaging youkai when he was six.
- Mr. Fanservice: Regularly wears skin-tight black leather, gets two naked scenes and a few more topless scenes.
- Multi-Melee Master: Is proficient with both a spear and a sword. Sometimes both at once.
- Papa Wolf: Woe to anyone who threatens his family.
- Primal Fear: Afraid of heights. Or, specifically, afraid of flying, where he has no direct anchoring to the ground.
- The Queen's Latin: Is meant to sound stuffy and aristocratic, which in English tends to come across as a British accent, despite the fact that he is quite Japanese.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Affected the speech patterns of the nobility in order to sound more refined because Kogane thought it sounded cool
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Or rather, "Tall, Dark, and Human", according to Eika.
Hisui
The daughter of the chief of the Artisan Village where Akagane lives. She crafts women's hairpins to sell in the city, and has a passion for accounting and record-keeping. She supports Akagane's quest to find his sister's killer, at odds with the rest of the village who demand he return to proper work. She is the first person to treat Inu-papa kindly after the loss of his mother, so he becomes instantly attached to her.
- Cuddle Bug: She is very affectionate, initially to Akagane's chagrin.
- Hime Cut: A young Yamato Nadeshiko and Chief's Daughter with even bangs sidetails, and long hair.
- Missing Mom: Hers died of a pregnancy complication when Hisui was three or four.
Ryakki
A little oni girl trapped in the cursed forest at the base of the cursed mountain. She is a kleptomaniac and makes a hobby of ransacking the corpses that are regularly thrown from the mountain. She desires to someday be taken seriously despite her gender and speech impediment. Ryakki first meets Inu-papa when he approaches the cursed mountain in search of his mother, and she agrees to guide him in return for his "treasure".
- Collector of the Strange: Has a cave full of all the random crap she's pilfered
- Fang Thpeak: Mutht avoid the bad wordth.
- Sticky Fingers: She steals. A lot.
Eika
A sound-based youkai who can manipulate people like puppets with her musical instrument. She is constantly seeking the perfect man with the perfect aura, and chases any man she sees to varying degrees of success. She had a past relationship with Yachouon that didn't work out, so decides that Inu-papa is going to be her perfect man once he grows up.
- Commuting on a Bus: She was an important character in Yachouon's arc, then only infrequently appears again, sometimes seventy chapters apart.
- Harmful to Minors: She convinces Inu-papa to be her boyfriend at age eight, and contemplates sleeping with him at age fourteen.
- People Puppets: She can manipulate people's auras, and the people by extension, through a musical instrument.
- Wandering Minstrel: She tends to randomly show up, and is often introduced as playing music.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Normally refers to everyone by childish nicknames, but will revert to their real names when being serious.
Wakage
A shapeshifting kitsune who is the last surviving guardian of the forest. She sought revenge against humans for the deaths of her family and her forest, until she discovered that the one who betrayed her wasn't who she thought. Now, abandoning her duties, she seeks out her sister's true killer. Deception is the only means by which she knows how to interact with people, and her hatred of humanity runs deep.
- Ascended Extra: Was originally intended to be a one-shot character, but after readers pointed out that she had every right to go after the Big Bad as well, she was added to the team to storm the cursed mountain.
- Forest Ranger: She's tasked with protecting her forest after the rest of her family is killed.
- Kill All Humans: Killing all humans isn't an active goal of hers, but she lumps all of humanity together with those who killed her family and treats them all accordingly.
- Little Bit Beastly: She has fluffy black fox ears.
- Master of Illusion: Can create illusory monsters out of small toys.
- Older Than They Look / Really 700 Years Old: Unclear exactly how old she is, but she implies that her Shapeshifter Default Form is a ruse to make people think she's younger than she really is.
- Stocking Filler: She wears knee-high white stockings.
