Characters / Pumpkin Night

Main Characters

Naoko Kirino/Pumpkin Night

• Ambiguously Human: Pumpkin Night's resistance to injuries, drugs and further torture, Scarily Competent Tracker skills, One-Man Army levels of weapon mastery and athletics, influence on others and being brought Back from the Dead makes her certainly abnormal on par with classic slasher villains. When put under an MRI, even her perfect brain scan leaves the doctors in awe.
• Ax-Crazy: Most definitely not the sanest person in the world.
• Baby Talk: A creepy case, where she uses this with her soon-to-be victims, complete with mispronouncing their names.
• Back from the Dead: Volume 4, billed as the end of Part 1, ends with Naoko rising from her grave. A doctor that took her in is in disbelief she survived a high fall and turned out fine after being buried for 3 days.

• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Naoko's constant bullying and finally her disfiguration were what drove her over the edge and made her Ax-Crazy. The time she spent in a mental ward only further cemented this.
• Break the Cutie: Before she snapped, Naoko was somewhat eccentric but incredibly bubbly and kindhearted. This demeanor became twisted once her bullies shattered her sanity, going full-blown psychotic Cloudcuckoolander.
• Bully Hunter: Naoko's goal is to get revenge on the people who bullied her. By the end of Part 1, they're all dead and she's seemingly returned Back from the Dead to hunt all bullies.
• Butter Face: As much as her face is disfigured beyond repair, Naoko still has the body of a curvy teenager. She does get her face fixed somewhat near the end of Part 2.
• Cloudcuckoolander: A rather terrifying one, post-snapping, as her speech shifts from cutesy to snarky and she genuinely believes herself to be some force of darkness.
• Cop Killer: Kills two random policewomen with an argument that Police Are Useless.
• Covered with Scars: Her arms and legs have scars all over them, presumably due to the bullying she suffered.
• Covers Always Lie: Manga covers show her having a Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon. In the story, she literally doesn't have a face anymore, due to the events of her Start of Darkness. And she was rather friendly and kindhearted back when she still had one.
• Dead Guy on Display: Sometimes she goes out of her way to decorate and pose the corpses of her victims for intimidation.
• Driven to Madness: The bullies destroying her face also destroyed her sanity, turning her into a messed-up psycho on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Evil Versus Evil: Although the bullies are horrible people, Naoko is far from being a hero, since her victims are not limited to bullies, but also include dozens of innocent people who just happened to be in her way.
• Facial Horror: Naoko's full face is rarely seen, but it's exactly as horrific as you might think. Her entire face is a hideous mask of scarring from acid burns, with a lipless mouth wrenched into a permanent toothy smile by hardened scar tissue.

• Magnetic Hero: Considering how much of Asshole Victims her (intended) targets tend to be, this hasn't gone unnoticed by normal citizens and she gains a few allies on her quest. By Part 2 Pumpkin Night has become sort of an "idol" of The Deep Web with a small cult following.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: Her most iconic weapon to date is a carving knife taped to a pumpkin scooper, good for stabbing and gouging her victims simultaneously as well as fitting in with her pumpkin theme.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: When about to get buried by Naruto and his father, she starts yelling about how she'll return from hell to get them. It certainly left an impression on Arata, and this technically turned out true.
• Pumpkin Person: She resembles a pumpkin person, with a jack-o-lantern helmet she wears.

• Pungeon Master: When about to use a new weapon she tends to make a joke about it.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: Naoko herself is so badly damaged she acts like a gleefully deranged child, while also almost always using Baby Talk towards her victims and not even pronouncing their names properly.

• Tall Poppy Syndrome: She was the most energetic and prettiest girl in school, but with odd mannerisms, which resulted in her entire school hating her.
• Took a Level in Badass: Went from a normal, if eccentric, bullied girl to a killer skilled with knives, though her sanity didn't survive the transition.
• Unexplained Recovery: She is impaled when she lands on several rods of rebar at a construction site, gives a Dying Declaration of Love, and gets buried. Three days later she climbs back from earth with Ryuichi only requiring basic surgery to heal her completely. The only logic working here would be Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Naoko was a bit eccentric, but she was a still kind girl, despite all the bullying she experienced. Her disfigurement and stay in a corrupt hospital turned her into an insane serial killer.
• Villain Protagonist: Thought to be the Big Bad at first, but after her backstory gets revealed, the story moves to her perspective. Despite being tragic and pitiable due to the circumstances that caused her to snap, she's far from a hero as she's willing to kill innocent people if they have the misfortune of standing in her path.
• Walking Armory: She swept all the weapon categories for her onslaught, including both knives and guns.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Naoko was once a kind girl who was bullied because of her slight oddball behavior. Then the bullies horribly burned her face, and when she tried to tell adults, they turned a blind eye to her and threw her in a mental hospital, completely breaking her mind and turning her into the psychopath she is now.

Kazuya Makino (Unmarked Spoilers)

• Alone with the Psycho: After the episode in the hospital, Katsuya ends up finding Naoko and being with her in the elevator, the two converse with each other briefly before she goes away, saying she intends to save him for last.
• The Atoner: Finally decides to fix his Bystander Syndrome and protect Naoko. Then he takes it to deranged levels by taking her place in killing her tormentors after she's apparently been killed.
• Ax-Crazy: After taking Naoko's place, as Pumpkin King he is just as, if not more, deranged than her.
• Bystander Syndrome: He did nothing about his friends bullying Naoko because he was too cowardly. Despite not being involved with the bullying directly, to Naoko, it was just as bad.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: While Kazuya wasn't already sane after what happened in Part 1, in Part 2 Sae brainwashed him into thinking Naoko is still his enemy.
• Deuteragonist: Kazuya is the male lead of the series, with declining focus from Part 2.
• Distressed Dude: In Part 2, he's locked in a mental ward and it's up to Naoko to save him.
• Driven to Madness: Naoko's apparent death utterly breaks him, as he claims to be possessed by the spirit of Pumpkin Night.

• Karmic Jackpot: Despite being Pumpkin Night's target just like the rest of Naruto's posse, him being involved with the bullying the least and eventually allying himself with Naoko saved his life.
• Legacy Character: Became the next Pumpkin Night, called the Pumpkin King, in Naoko's absence.
• Love Makes You Crazy: He admits to Naoko he has feelings for her and finally becomes a close ally to her, which becomes mutual. His love for Naoko is what made him Ax-Crazy after her death.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: As of chapter 20, has Naoko's vengeful spirit really possessed Kazuya to continue her Roaring Rampage of Revenge, or has Kazuya been Driven to Madness after Naoko's death and take up the mantle of Pumpkin Night to avenge her?
• The Mole: Served as one to Naruto during the Deadly Prank to lure Naoko into the trap. When Naruto asks him to do this again, Kazuya decides to have a Heel–Face Turn.
• Take Up My Sword: As of chapter 20, Kazuya has taken up the mantle of Pumpkin King to avenge Naoko and finish what she's started.
• Token Good Teammate: Kazuya is the only member of the group who didn't partake in the bullying of Naoko. This eventually leads to him turning on his friends to save Naoko and confess his love for her.
• Took a Level in Badass: After being a cowardly pushover for the majority of Part 1, after taking the pumpkin head he becomes as competent of a killer as Naoko was.

• Split Personality: The death of Naoko causes him to be Driven to Madness and don the homicidal persona of Pumpkin King. Hayakawa even states flat out "He's got Dissociative Identity Disorder" while watching him speak to the Pumpkin Night mask.

The Bullies

In General

• Asshole Victim: They bullied Naoko for years and later disfigured her face in a prank that could have killed her, for no stated reason but to amuse themselves. Therefore, they get no sympathy as the thoroughly snapped Naoko hunts them down and murders them.
• Barbaric Bully: They've harassed Naoko for the longest time and made the prank that destroyed her face, which caused her to become deranged.
• Create Your Own Hero: They are the reason for Naoko snapping and going after them.
• Deadly Prank: Naoko won a contest at school, and was meant to have a pumpkin put on her head as a "crown", as is the school's tradition. The bullies decided to play a prank on her by setting off firecrackers inside the pumpkin. Even worse, Naruto went above and beyond and put sulfuric acid in the pumpkin to melt her face off, it's a miracle she survived.
• Dirty Coward: They're all completely terrified of Pumpkin Night, and when cornered will shamelessly beg for mercy despite their own crimes.
• Dwindling Party: One by one, the bullies fall victim to Pumpkin Night throughout Part 1.
• For the Evulz: After Naruto admits that he was responsible for what happened to Naoko, Kazuya questions Fukutani about why they bullied Naoko. He simply replies that there's no reason other than to amuse themselves. However, Naruto later admits in Part 2 that part of the reason he bullied Naoko is because he felt something was off about her and it scared him.
• Hate Sink: They feel little remorse for bullying Naoko to amuse themselves even as she confronts them and has little to no redeeming qualities in the slightest.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: With Naoko locked away they've thought they were safe, and the rest of the school likely wouldn't object even if they knew the full story behind the pumpkin mask. Even if something came up, Naruto's father would take care of it. A year later, Naoko escapes.
• Self-Serving Memory: They remembered Naoko as childish, selfish, and violent, but only the first part is true and the last two actually apply to them.
• Teens Are Monsters: They've disfigured Naoko's face. With firecrackers. And sulfuric acid. For the Evulz.
• Two Girls to a Team: Asumi and Saki are the only female bullies out of the five.
• Vigilante Man: They decide to go after Pumpkin Night before the police do so she wouldn't get sent into Cardboard Prison, but likely because they don't want to get arrested themselves.
• With Friends Like These...: Although they work together when all is going well, at their core they're all selfish cowards who would happily stab each other in the back to save their own skins.
• Would Hit a Girl: Arata and Naruto had no qualms about kicking Naoko in school.

Asumi Nakatani

• Alas, Poor Villain: Her death is treated with some degree of tragedy, as she dies before getting any characterization and while Pumpkin Night's motivations were still unknown, she actually apologizes for her actions.
• Eye Scream: Pumpkin Night literally scoops her face like an ice cream, with an eye in a spoon.
• Look Both Ways: Blinded by Pumpkin Night, she gets ripped apart by a passing truck, which gets reported as an accident.

• Offstage Villainy: Out of all the bullies, her role in Naoko's trauma is not elaborated at all.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's the Girly Girl to Saki's Tomboy.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: She was the first bully to be killed in the series, and in the first chapter no less.

Saki Chiaki

• Alas, Poor Villain: Her death is treated with some degree of tragedy, as she doesn't display on-screen villainy and Naoko fails to kill her the first time. However, Naoko later remembers her as being physically abusive.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: While all of Naoko's bullies die horribly, Saki experiences the worst of Naoko's wrath before her life comes to a merciful end.
• Dramatic Irony: Naoko changes place with Saki, pretending to be the one in the bed. While the reader knows this, the characters are unaware.
• High-Voltage Death: She gets electrocuted to death by Naoko with a broken cable.
• Kill and Replace: Naoko kills Saki and takes her place in the hospital bed, in order to approach her other victims.

• Never My Fault: Says Naoko deserved to be bullied because she was an oddball.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Hearing that Naoko is after her, all she does is panic and try to hide. Naoko finds her right away.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's the Tomboy to Asumi's Girly Girl.
• Too Dumb to Live: When it becomes clear that Naoko is coming for all of them, she's the first to panic and run away. It doesn't take long for her to get caught by Naoko.
• Trauma Conga Line: Oh dear. First, she gets beaten within an inch of her life by Naoko, then stuffed into Asumi's coffin on top of the corpse bound and gagged, which is then taken to be cremated. She is rescued from the crematory and barely survives, albeit burned almost beyond recognition. In the hospital, she wakes up just in time to witness Naoko killing the hospital staff attending her, then she finally gets to die by electrocution.

Arata Fukutani

• The Brute: He's the imposing muscle of the group.
• Dirty Coward: He tries to convince Naruto that they should turn themselves in to the police, not because he genuinely regrets his actions, but because he thinks it's the only way to escape Pumpkin Night's retribution.

• Dumb Muscle: He's not quite bright, but he is quite strong.
• He Knows Too Much: Naruto suffocates him with a Vorpal Pillow to silence him when he expresses a desire to confess their crimes to the authorities.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Arata is given a Vorpal Pillow when confessing to Naruto that they should turn themselves in to be spared from Pumpkin Night's wrath.
• Villains Want Mercy: Goes through a Sanity Slippage after Pumpkin Night's Dying Curse and tries to turn himself in.
• Vorpal Pillow: Naruto kills him by suffocating him with a pillow.

Naruto Kuroki

• The Atoner: He comes back as a spirit to make up for his misdeeds.

• Arc Villain: After Naoko turns out to be a Villain Protagonist, Naruto is revealed as the true villain of Part 1, as the leader of the bullies and the one who inadvertently created Pumpkin Night by spitefully disfiguring Naoko with firecrackers and sulfuric acid.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Part 2, his spirit is the one who helps Kazuya overcome his brainwashing and convince his mother to give up on her plans.
• Bad Boss: Killed his own underling Arata to prevent him from spilling the beans on what they did.

• Death Equals Redemption: It seems in death (or after it), he accepted how much of an asshole he was, and he actively helps Kazuya to overcome his brainwashing. He ends up stopping his mother's plans before fading away for good.
• Dirty Coward: Once he's cornered he tries to save himself at the expense of others and also tries to hold Kazuya responsible for the prank.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He is the Arc Villain of Part 1, but the story continues after he's been dealt with.
• Fingore: Gets his thumb cut off, with the hand it was on being split in two while facing off Pumpkin Night.

• Heel Realization: When being pursued by Kazuya as the new Pumpkin Night and onlookers not lifting a hand to save him as they were thinking it's All Part of the Show, Naruto realizes the situation he's in is the receiving end of his bullying of Naoko. In Part 2, death seems to have mellowed him a lot when he witnessed all the suffering Kazuya and Naoko went through.
• Karmic Death: Gets killed by Pumpkin King melting his head with sulfuric acid, with no one trying to help him, just like what happened with Naoko.

• Master Actor: He told a taxi driver a heartbreaking story about Asumi he just made up so he would get to the crematory fast and for free.
• Smug Snake: He is very overconfident and looks down on people who can't fight back.
• They Know Too Much: After hearing about Naoko's escape, he originally plans with his gang to hunt her down first before she does to them and make it appear she had committed suicide to prevent her from exposing them for their crimes against her. Then when Arata desired to turn himself in, Naruto suffocates him to silence him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In Part 2, his ghost seems to have realized the mistakes that he made in life, glaring at his mother's actions and helping Kazuya overcome his brainwashing.
• Villains Want Mercy: When facing his potential killer, he begs for her to spare him.

The Police

Matsui

• Cowboy Cop: He isn't afraid to get into action if it's to get Pumpkin Night.
• Face of a Thug: He has a face similar to Frankenstein's Monster, but he's perhaps the only unquestionably good character in the manga.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: After hearing the story from Kazuya, he decides to stop Naoko within the law and gets him to cooperate.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: He tries to stop Pumpkin Night by using Kazuya. Considering her Roaring Rampage of Revenge, it's fairly reasonable.

Hayakawa

• Action Girl: She's a policewoman and a skilled one.

• Cowboy Cop: She seeks to bring justice outside of the law to avenge her father's death at Mayor Kuroki's hands and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.

• Reasonable Authority Figure: She takes Naoko's side once she hears her out.
• Vigilante Woman: Seeks to bring justice against Mayor Kuroki outside of the law, even if it means murder.
• You Killed My Father: Wants to take down Tatsuo Kuroki who killed her politician father to eliminate the competition.

Yoshimoto

• Eye Scream: Got shot in the eye and dies.
• Frak Out: When the army comes for him, Matsui, and Yuki, he understandably loses his cool for a bit.

Others

Nomizu

• Abhorrent Admirer: She's not unattractive, but Naruto isn't really interested in her, which cannot be said for her, as she’s utterly head-over-heels for him.
• Asshole Victim: She saw Naruto setting the Deadly Prank on Naoko but kept quiet about it and hid the pumpkin mask the bullies used, so she could blackmail him with this information later. Naoko stabs her for being just as responsible for it happening in the first place.
• Blackmail: Naruto interprets her advances to him as this when she reveals that she hid the pumpkin mask used in the bullies' prank on Naoko.
• Secret-Keeper: She figures out Naruto's involvement with Naoko’s Deadly Prank and instead of reporting her findings, she decides to protect him.
• Stalker with a Crush: She's one to Naruto and very open about it. He obviously doesn’t reciprocate.

Tatsuo Kuroki

Naruto Kuroki's father. Also the town's mayor.

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• Cop Killer: Mayor Kuroki hastily backs up his van in an attempt to run over Kazuya and rams into the policewoman friend of Kazuya's. She appeared to have been killed instantly if her lying on the pavement with rolled-up Dull Eyes of Unhappiness as she Dies Wide Open is any indication. Subverted as the next couple of chapters revealed she was still alive and en route to the hospital.
• Corrupt Politician: He used his criminal connections to advance his political career and force the police to overlook cases by his demand.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being willing to murder people to protect his and his family's image, he's seriously creeped out when he sees that Naruto killed his own friend Arata, and messily dismembered him in a bathtub.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Turns out to be a bigger problem of Part 1. He used his position to help cover up what actually happened to Naoko and had her locked away in a mental hospital. Later on, he squashes Detective Matsui's investigation into the killings and their connection to the incident with Naoko and gets all evidence of Naruto's confession scrubbed.
• Kill It with Fire: He gets incinerated along with his car.
• Papa Wolf: For all his corruption, he does care enough about his son to cover his crimes and personally take care of any trouble.
• Smug Snake: He believes himself to be above everything and everyone, even potential demons.
• They Know Too Much: Earlier, Mayor Kuroki pulled the strings to cover up his son's bullying of Naoko to the point of having her and Kazuya dumped and left for dead at a construction site.
• Trumplica: Mayor Kuroki is very blatantly modeled after a certain 45th president of the United States.
• Yakuza: He supposedly worked with them to get elected, and he keeps a few around as bodyguards.

Sae Kuroki (Part 2 spoilers)

The chairman of the Hirayama Clinic and Naruto's mother.

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• Arc Villain: After Naruto and Mayor Kuroki have been dealt with, she becomes Pumpkin Night's next big target.
• Avenging the Villain: The deaths of her son and husband certainly upset her, though it doesn't affect her very much. It just gives another excuse to come back at Naoko.
• Create Your Own Hero: If Naoko getting her face destroyed didn’t already cause her to go Ax-Crazy, Sae's "medical" treatment certainly finished the job. Later on she gets on Naoko's revenge radar.
• Heel–Face Turn: At the end of Part 2, Naruto's spirit convinces her to give up on her plans.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: The mental ward she's the head of treats their patients as toys at best and lab rats at worst.
• Pragmatic Villainy: She holds the doctor who was supportive of Naoko and let her escape hostage. As Naoko is kind to people who were kind to her, this gets her captured in a moment of distress.

Saki's parents

• Eye Scream: The mother got her eye sockets destroyed with syringes.
• Genre Savvy: The father thinks angering Naoko is a bad idea. He is proven right.
• Mama Bear: The mother treats the hospital staff with complete disrespect while calling Saki all sorts of endearing nicknames.
• Too Dumb to Live: Like their daughter, they're not very smart. They should have prioritized escaping from the mentally unstable serial killer instead of insulting her to her face.
• You Monster!: From their daughter’s words they didn't have a high opinion of Naoko to begin with, but with her now being a Serial Killer the mother outright calls her a monster.

Ryuichi Higa (Part 2 spoilers)

• Abhorrent Admirer: By his admission, the internet loves Naoko Kirino and what she is doing, and as the user of The Deep Web, he was the luckiest to meet her in person.
• Arms Dealer: In Part 2 Pumpkin Night has some fancy customized weapons like a spiked shotgun and bladed shoes. The only logical explanation of how she got them would be if she made them.
• Back-Alley Doctor: He's a graduate of the Imperial University of Medicine, though currently, he can't work openly.
• Entitled to Have You: The moment Naoko decides to go on her own business without asking him first, he starts ranting about how she owes him and how he can't have Pumpkin Night free roaming without him being there for her. Naoko responds by running over him with a bike.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: He managed to completely restore Naoko's face, though the skin gets rotten soon after. By the end of part 2, he manages to restore most of it.
• Parental Substitute: For a while, after Naoko had Laser-Guided Amnesia, Ryuichi tended to her injuries and personally helped with her Pumpkin Night activities.

Yuki Ogita

• The Cracker: Is a skilled hacker.
• Fan Boy: He's a complete fan of Pumpkin Night.
• Shipper on Deck: Thinks Naoko and Kazuya are a cute couple.

Babyface

• Momma's Boy: Loved his mom and was haunted by her death that he accidentally caused.
• Psychotic Manchild: Thanks to the drugs and experiments, he has the mentality of an infant.

Ayumi

• Facial Horror: Got half her face messed up as punishment for helping Naoko escape.
• Parental Substitute: She was a mother figure for Naoko.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She was one of the few people who treated Naoko with kindness and died for it.
• Token Good Teammate: Is the only known moral doctor from Sae's clinic.

CEO of Farms

• Arc Villain: Becomes the main Pumpkin Night's problem in Part 3.

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