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The protagonists
No-Name
No-Name (Nanashi)
A nameless and mysterious Rōnin who has tied his sword for it to remain sheathed. He gets by chance involved with the orphan boy Kotaro and the Ming who pursue him, becoming the boy's hired bodyguard.
Voiced by: Tomoya Nagase (JP), Michael Adamthwaite (EN)
- All the Other Reindeer: His natural red hair was a cause of much mistreatment, as it made him seem like an outsider to those around him.
- The Atoner: He eventually comes to view protection of Kotaro as repentance for the two children he killed.
- Badass and Child Duo: The Badass to Kotaro's Child.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: He breaks his vow to unsheathe his katana during the climax.
- Big Heroic Run: He's forced to run for miles during the movie's latter half in order to reach the Ming fortress and rescue Kotaro.
- Boring, but Practical: His fighting style for most of the movie. Keeping his sword sheathed means he can't slash or stab anyone with the blade, but he can still use it as a less flashy weapon. He sometimes wields it like a katana, but can also hold it like a baseball bat or short staff, or use it as a lever in grappling and against chains. Essentially, it's a versatile club, and he's perfectly capable of killing with it.
- Combat Pragmatist: He makes up for his refusal to draw his katana by being opportunistic.
- Covered with Scars: The bathing scene shows the scars earned from his life as a warrior.
- Determinator: Runs over miles and then engages in combat with the Ming warriors to rescue Kotaro until emerging victorious from a duel with Luo-Lang.
- Dye or Die: He has dyed his red hair black since his departure from military service (if not earlier than that) so that he'd be left alone by mockers and seekers of retribution.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. Most of his major fights show him on almost equal footing with the Ming assassins, winning against their exotic weapons only with strategy and luck, despite wielding a sheathed katana. Even once he draws his blade, his katana isn't particularly superior to any other weapon, just sharper than it was in its sheath.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: He gets Luo-Lang's broken wodao in his forearm and uses it for the remainder of the Final Battle.
- Made of Iron: Upon arriving to the Ming fortress after running for miles, No-Name gets a tower collapsing upon himself, yet needs just a short nap to recover. He then endures several cuts, an impaled forearm and twice a fall of several stories. He's afterwards shown just exhausted and slightly bleeding.
- Meaningful Name: Nanashi is Japanese for nameless.
- My Greatest Failure: The reason for his refusal to draw his katana is his act of not going against the order to execute two children.
- Never Given a Name: He only goes by different titles adopted while moving from one place to another, with Nanashi being one of those titles.
- Pocket Protector: The trinket given to No-Name by Kotaro as payment saves him from being impaled by Luo-Lang.
- Reluctant Warrior: He'd rather not engage in fighting, but he can still own you even if he refuses to draw his katana.
- Sheath Strike: While he refuses to use his sword, one cannot say the same about the sheath.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: His dreams are haunted by his days as the soldier who didn't resist an order to execute two children.
- Shown Their Work: Nanashi is not just a swordsman but also uses a bit of grappling, groundfighting and throws in a few altercations, usually to compensate for his sheathed sword or to struggle against an opponent who has him cornered. Samurai of the period were typically familiar with old school Jujutsu, then called yawara, kumiuchu or taijutsu, a last resort system of painful jointlocks, rough grappling and straightforward throws intended to disarm opponents or stun them long enough for the samurai to draw or acquire their own weapon.
- Somebody Named "Nobody": Nanashi is Japanese for nameless.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: During the final battle, he somehow defies all the laws of physics by throwing his katana from an impossible distance without missing Huo-Chou who's about to kill Kotaro.
- Underestimating Badassery: Who'd expect some random guy who doesn't unsheathe his sword to be able to fight off armed bandits and soldiers?
- Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: In a sense. He keeps his sword sheathed, which means when he fights with it, he's essentially wielding a bokken, not a katana. Yet he consistently defeats opponents with far more deadly weapons.
- Worthy Opponent: Becomes this in Luo-Lang's eyes. To the point that Luo-Lang prevents Bai-Luan from shooting No-Name.
- You Can Barely Stand: By the time the final duel with Luo-Lang happens, No-Name's fairly injured and exhausted, yet he still rises up to Luo-Lang's challenge while refusing to use the anesthetic drug offered to him. And he still wins!
Kotaro
Kotaro
An orphan boy who's chased by the Ming squad without him knowing why. Traveling only with his faithful dog Tobimaru, he meets Nanashi and hires the nameless ronin to act as his bodyguard.
Voiced by: Yuuri Chinen (JP), Aidan Drummond (EN)
- Badass and Child Duo: The Child to No-Name's Badass.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Kotaro can act quite cheeky towards No-Name.
- Crucified Hero Shot: He's tied up this way in the Ming sacrificial shrine.
- Despair Event Horizon: Crosses this after he's caught by the Ming squad and is being prepared as a human sacrifice, following Shouan's betrayal and his separation from Tobimaru and No-Name.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Given that what he was chosen for was to be the guest of honor at an alchemic ritual involving human sacrifice, yeah.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a Bratty Half-Pint towards No-Name and wants nothing to do with him initially, but he loves dearly Tobimaru and is willing to bribe No-Name into helping him seek aid for the dog's poisoning.
- Living MacGuffin: He's sought out by the Ming squad because he's believed to be an important ingredient of an immortality elixir craven after by the Ming Emperor.
- Parental Abandonment: Kotaro says that his mother died while giving birth to him, and his father died when he was six years old.
Tobimaru
Tobimaru
Kotaro's loyal Shiba Inu.
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: He's smarter and more loyal than a real world dog, and at one point even catches a knife thrown at his master.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: He's notably restless when Shouan leads Kotaro into the hands of the Ming warriors.
- Heroes Love Dogs: The hero, No-Name, takes an instant liking to Tobimaru who reciprocates.
- Heroic Dog: He will face anything to keep his master safe.
- Licked by the Dog: While Kotaro is initially highly suspicious of No-Name, Tobimaru trusts the ronin from the very beginning.
Ming Squad
A group of Chinese warriors dispatched by their Emperor to seek out Kotaro and use his blood for an immortality elixir.
Tropes related to the entire Squad
- Annoying Arrows: Even if arrows can't cause any pain, they should still affect the target's physical prowess. In the case of the Ming warriors, however, they can keep going for as long as the arrows miss their more vital parts.
- Black Speech: Their usage of their native Mandarin in front of the Japanese is meant as this. It's not as scary in the English dub, though.
- Blood Knight: Several of them, not just Luo-Lang, express thrill in combat.
- Feel No Pain: They have access to a drug that renders their sense of pain null. One agent even withstands untold hours of horrific torture, but once his drug wears off, he's reduced to the same agony and fear any normal human would feel in his situation.
- Major Injury Underreaction: As long as they're affected by their anesthetic drug, they tend to shrug off about all the injuries that'd render anyone else into a wailing mess.
- One-Man Army: Any one of them can take on many enemies. It's telling that the final battle is about half a dozen Ming warriors vs. a full army of Japanese soldiers, and were it not for No-Name, the Ming would have likely eventually won, since even with him personally taking out several Ming, the Japanese forces are still defeated.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Most of them would like nothing more than to just get their mission accomplished and return home.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: These elite warriors are a rather eclectic group, having two women and a European, among other things.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: They wear red capes and rather dark conical hats and clothes.
- Two Girls to a Team: Mu-Mao and Mu-You.
- Would Hurt a Child: They're after Kotaro to sacrifice him, and they're not against roughing him up to subdue him.
Luo-Lang
Luo-Lang (Rarou)
A highly skilled Western swordsman who's seeking a Worthy Opponent to test his skills against.
Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (JP), Scott McNeil (EN)
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: He cleanly bisects an incoming bokken that was hurled his direction by simply drawing his blade and leaving it in the hardwood sword's trajectory. The cut is so smooth he doesn't even flinch.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: His approach to combat. When outnumbered, he charges through the enemy group, cutting them down one at a time in a couple strokes. When fighting one on one, he applies constant pressure and attempts to overwhelm his opponent with rapid strikes and unpredictable movement.
- Ax-Crazy: Downplayed Trope. Most of the time, Luo-Lang is just a Blood Knight who loves the thrill of combat, but occasionally, his facade slips and he becomes downright animalistic in expression and movement. Not that it stops him from being a Genius Bruiser, of course.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: He does this two times; first with a bandit leader in the beginning and secondly with No-Name during the Final Battle.
- Blood Knight: Luo-Lang's love of combat is his key trait. His current lack of contentment stems from not having faced strong enough an opponent while in Japan. While he admits the practical value of the Ming anesthetic, he chooses not to use it because he thinks that takes away the thrill of combat.
- Combat Parkour: He cuts down archers while swiftly scaling a cliff, then later leaps around the precarious, collapsing tower during his final duel with Nanashi. Justified, as Chinese swordsmanship is typically agile and acrobatic, especially with the dao style of sword he wields.
- The Coroner: He's able to examine a bunch of burned bodies and draw accurate conclusions about who died how and who died before the others without any modern tools. He's also able to tell that Tu-Si is not among them because the corpse that has Tu-Si's clothes lacks a certain scar Luo-Lang knows Tu-Si to have. (Knowing him, he's probably the one who put it there.)
- The Dragon: The most powerful fighter of the Ming squad and seemingly the one in charge after Bai-Luan.
- Dragon with an Agenda: While Bai-Luan is diligently trying to accomplish the mission entrusted upon him by the Emperor, Luo-Lang's main concern is to find a Worthy Opponent.
- Establishing Character Moment: His actions in the beginning of the movie leave no shadow of doubt about his character; he rushes to fight attacking bandits all by himself, slaughters them like cattle, discards his sword when facing the armed leader and expresses disappointment that the battle wasn't more challenging.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He doesn't seem to approve of Bai-Luan shooting Shogen Itadori in the midst of their duel, and he outright prevents the old man from doing the same to No-Name.
- Evil Counterpart: Like No-Name, Luo-Lang is a supreme warrior who's nonetheless regarded odd for having non-Asian traits. Both men also disregard the Ming anesthetic because they believe pain makes you feel alive. A flashback indicates that No-Name used to be as much of a Blood Knight as Luo-Lang until the guilt over the children he executed made him the Reluctant Warrior he's nowadays.
- Final Boss: The duel between No-Name and Luo-Lang is the ending of the overall Final Battle.
- Genius Bruiser: Not only are Luo-Lang's fighting skills superb, but his mind is sharp as well. For one thing, he makes for an excellent coroner, considering the setting. He also seems to be the only Ming to speak Japanese (even if it's a little "broken".)
- Go Out with a Smile: He dies with a slight smile over having been bested and how strange pain feels to him.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Luo-Lang has blue eyes that can appear grey, reflecting his rational and stoical character.
- Lightning Bruiser: Luo-Lang towers over all the others but Huo-Chou, is a Master Swordsman who could easily rival Yoda's reflexes and leaping abilities, and can jump from great heights without injuring himself. And he's not even using the anesthetic the other Ming are dependent on.
- Mighty Whitey: The only European character of the film who outweighs all the other combatants, except for the possibly mixed-raced No-Name.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Zig-zagged. He openly dismisses the likelihood the ritual will yield any results, and he doesn't even particularly believe immortality is achievable at all. Even so, he claims he has no objections to carrying out the dirty work for the Emperor. However, he is also perfectly willing to lie to the Emperor about the details of their ritual or postpone it for another year to make things easier. And once he finds a worthy opponent, all bets are off.
- Noble Demon: Though Luo-Lang's going through with the Ming Emperor's quest for immortality, he personally scoffs at the absurd idea of a child's blood granting eternal life. He also respects No-Name's battle prowess to the point that he saves him from being shot and offers him anesthetic to even their final duel.
- Noble Top Enforcer: He's clearly the best warrior of the Ming and seemingly the highest authority under Bai-Luan, but he dislikes stooping to cowardly or convenient methods of warfare and battle. Whether he is truly noble or nothing more than a Blood Knight who doesn't want "cheap tricks" to get in the way of his thrill is not fully explored.
- One-Man Army: He curb stomps two dozen bandits all by himself in his introduction scene. Feng-Wu even prevents Mu-You from assisting him by reassuring her that against that many bandits, Luo-Lang alone is quite enough. He's also used to capture Lord Akaike, sent in alone and unarmed against multiple people, most of whom are armed.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He kills Bai-Luan before the old man can shoot No-Name and deny him the duel with the Worthy Opponent Luo-Lang has sought for a long time.
- Self-Imposed Challenge: In-Universe, he imposes some sort of advantage to his opponent in most of his fights. He attacks the bandit gang alone, despite having his entire squad of elite assassins to back him up, and disarms himself before facing their leader, who has a sword. During his final battle, he even offers Nanashi some of the Chinese medicine, which he himself refuses to use, to help his foe fight at his full strength. When Nanashi refuses it, Luo-Lang expresses surprise yet also approval as he destroys the vial.
- Servile Snarker: Like his comrades, he is beholden to Bai-Luan, but he's not above expressing skepticism regarding certain plans to the point of blasphemy or speaking out of turn. He is actually amused when the Japanese storm their fortress, smiling and cracking jokes as Bai-Luan loses composure.
- Slasher Smile: As befitting his Blood Knight tendencies, he grins with delight during his fights with Nanashi.
- Straight Edge Evil: He is the only member of his group who refuses to use the painkiller drug.
- Sword Plant: Executes one of these into the throat of a fallen bandit, both as a Coup de Grâce and to taunt the surviving bandit leader.
- Villain Respect: He regards No-Name as the Worthy Opponent he has waited for, saving him from being killed afar, approving his decision to decline the offered anesthetic despite being injured, and accepting his victory without ill thoughts.
Master Bai-Luan
Master Bai-Luan (Lord Byakuran)
The Ming squad's elderly aristocrat leader and a loyal servant of the Ming Emperor.
Voiced by: Atsushi Ii (JP), Ken Kramer (EN)
- Aristocrats Are Evil: A highly regarded Chinese noble and the Big Bad.
- An Arm and a Leg: He gets both of his arms cut off by Luo-Lang.
- Beard of Evil: This ruthless geezer as a goatee.
- Berserk Button: Disloyalty and just suggesting to lie to the Emperor.
- Big Bad: He fits the definition of the trope even though the movie is chock full of independent villains. Bai-Luan is the leader of the exhibition, having received his authority and resources from the Greater-Scope Villain. His orders are what put Kotaro in danger and kick off the plot, and it's his faction that needs to be defeated for the heroes to attain victory.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's shocked when Lord Akaike is killed by his own vassals.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: More like "Evil Cannot Comprehend Another Type of Evil". Despite Luo-Lang making it clear the reason he stopped Bai-Luan from shooting No-Name was because he wants to fight him man-to-man, the old man can only believe the "barbarian" just wants the immortality elixir for himself, which he has never shown any real interest in.
- Evil Old Folks: This veritably old man doesn't care what he has to do and who he kills in order to fulfill his Emperor's will.
- Glass Cannon: His musket and bombs have devastating power, but he's still a frail elder, he's quickly subdued in the climax once Luo-Lang chops off his gun and arms.
- Glass Eye: His left eye is replaced with one of these.
- Honor Before Reason: When Luo-Lang points out that they may lose everything if they have to wait for another year to sacrifice Kotaro and suggests adjusting the plans (postponing the ritual by a few days or sacrificing Kotaro in their more secure home country the next year), Bai-Luan has none of it, thinking it outrageous to return empty-handed or stray from the royal instructions.
- Hypocrite: He calls Luo-Lang selfish when he believes that the swordsman wants the immortality elixir for himself while claiming that he deserves immortality far more, in practically the same breath.
- Immortality Seeker: While Bai-Luan's attempting to prepare and bring the immortality elixir to the Emperor, he confesses to Feng-Wu that he hopes to be rewarded with a taste of the elixir.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Gets a dagger thrown in forehead while he's ranting at Luo-Lang.
- Light Is Not Good: He dresses in a white robe that is mostly white, setting him apart from his darker-dressed subordinates. In addition to that, his skin and hair are pale due to old age.
- Long-Range Fighter: Being old and frail, he's practically useless in hand-to-hand combat, but he's able to make himself useful with his musket and bombs.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Just seems annoyed at Luo-Lang for mostly chopping his arm off. Of course, the fact he can Feel No Pain is the cause of it.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He looks down upon Luo-Lang by regarding him as a Western barbarian in spite of his skills.
- Tantrum Throwing: He throws his charcoal at Luo-Lang when the swordsman doesn't drop the subject Bai-Luan doesn't want to hear.
- You're Insane!: Aside from just being annoyed at getting his arm chopped off, he questions if the assailant has lost their mind.
Feng-Wu
Feng-Wu (Fuugo)
A young Ming warrior who takes care of the squad's messenger hawk and greatly admires Luo-Lang.
Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima (JP), Kyle Rideout (EN)
- Arrow Catch: He saves Bai-Luan from an incoming arrow by blocking its path with his forearm.
- Dual Wielding: He uses two daos in combat.
- Fragile Speedster: Feng-Wu is fast and nimble as well as deadly with his blades. However, he's quickly overpowered when he ends up in a wrestling match with No-Name who's blinded, no less.
- Homoerotic Subtext: His admiration of Luo-Lang has a homoerotic feel to it, with Mu-Mao commenting that he looks like a wife missing her husband when Luo-Lang's away.
- Ignored Enamored Underling: As stated above, Feng-Wu has a thing for Luo-Lang, but the Western swordsman is distant towards him as much as towards everyone else. Feng-Wu's last act upon dying is to reach out for Luo-Lang who callously ignores him in favor of Feng-Wu's killer.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Feng-Wu's own blade pierces his throat without him even noticing.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Feng-Wu's death includes him walking around in a confused state and looking for his sword with him coughing blood, his left arm broken, and the blade sticking out of his neck.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: He gives one to Itadori's soldiers during the climax (in Chinese no less)."I'm enough for all of you!"
Yue-Shen
Yue-Shen (Gesshin)
The short Ming warrior who has a scar over his left eye and fights with scythes attached to a three-sectional staff.
Voiced by: Masaki Aizawa (JP), John Payne (EN)
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He has shades of this with the way he lies to Luo-Lang about killing No-Name with his iconic weapon.
- Blatant Lies: He tells Luo-Lang that he killed No-Name while escaping from the temple. Luo-Lang doesn't buy it and says No-Name is too skilled for Yue-Shen. He turns out to be right.
- Blood Knight: He appears to enjoy violence as much as Luo-Lang.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: He's killed by No-Name slicing through his waist with his katana.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: His weapon is a three-sectional staff that has scythe blades attached to each end. This allows it to be used both as a double-bladed spear and two blades attached to each other.
- Red Right Hand: He has a hideous facial scar that immediately has him pegged as a bad guy, especially amongst the fairly good looking Ming Warriors.
- The Worf Effect: Following the body count Yue-Shen leaves behind in two scenes, he's easily cut in half by No-Name when the ronin finally unsheathes his sword.
Jin-Hai
Jin-Hai (Kingai)
The first Ming warrior who faces the protagonists and is the first one to die.
Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (JP)
- Blade Enthusiast: He has an arsenal of knives for throwing and close combat.
- Blood Knight: If the expressions he makes while battling No-Name are any indication.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: No-Name kills Jin-Hai with a powerful Sheath Strike to his throat.
- Poisoned Weapons: One of his poisoned throwing knives paralyzes Tobimaru.
- Psycho Knife Nut: His personality is one of the least explored among the Ming warriors, but he wield knives and clearly likes using them.
- Starter Villain: He's the first enemy the heroes must fight before having to face off the others.
- Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: No-Name uses Jin-Hai's discarded whip to get him close enough to receive a killing blow.
- The Voiceless: He's the only Ming warrior who doesn't have a single line.
- Weapon Specialization: He uses a whip against No-Name, beginning with an impressive waving demonstration.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He gets the least amount of screen time than the rest of the Ming squad and serves only as the catalyst for No-Name and Kotaro to start working together.
Mu-Mao
Mu-Mao (Mokubo)
One of the only two female members of the Ming squad who arms herself with a bow.
Voiced by: Fumie Mizusawa (JP), Tabitha St. Germain (EN)
- All There in the Manual: She and her sister are the only Ming warriors whose names are never mentioned in the movie.
- Boom, Headshot!: Mu-Mao dies when Jurota's arrow pierces her head.
- Dark Action Girl: She takes up arms to defend the Ming fortress against Itadori's forces with her archery skills.
- Sibling Team: With her elder sister Mu-You.
Mu-You
Mu-You (Mokuyu)
One of the only two female members of the Ming squad who arms herself with an ax.
Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (JP), Marÿke Hendrikse (EN)
- All There in the Manual: She and her sister are the only Ming warriors whose names are never mentioned in the movie.
- Blade on a Rope: She fights with a hatchet attached to a rope, which allows her to spin the blade over a larger distance.
- Blood Knight: Not one of the most blatant ones amongst the Ming, but when she's first hit by several Japanese arrows, she grins sadistically.
- Dark Action Girl: She kills several Japanese mooks and Jurota before being subdued by Itadori.
- Defiant to the End: Even after being pinned to a wall, she never stops struggling and fights to the end.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Only the shot of arrows piercing the wall behind her is shown of her demise.
- Human Pincushion: She's absolutely riddled with arrows after being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by a spear.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: She's killed by Itadori driving his spear through her, pinning her in place, and allowing the archers to finish her off.
- Sibling Team: With her younger sister Mu-Mao.
Shui-Chen
Shui-Chen (Suishin)
The mustached Ming warrior.
Voiced by: Kohei Fukuhara (JP), Andrew Kavadas (EN)
- An Arm and a Leg: His left forearm is cut off right before he gets killed by No-Name. Blood showers from the stump onto No-Name's eyes, blinding him momentarily.
- Fingore: When Kotaro bites Shui-Chen's left middle finger and the Ming punches him, the finger comes off.
- Informed Attribute: Luo-Lang surmises that Nanashi must be quite skilled to have defeated Feng-Wu and Shui-Chen. The fact that Luo-Lang singled those two out when Nanashi also killed Jin-Hai, Yue-Shen and Huo-Chou suggests Shui-Chen may have been one of the best fighters among the Ming warriors, though his actual screen time shows him losing his finger to a child and being defeated by Nanashi relatively quickly. Alternatively, Luo-Lang may be impressed that Nanashi managed to defeat Shui-Chen and Feng-Wu while fighting them both, whereas he fought all the others one-on-one, and he obviously wasn't at his peak condition at the time.
Huo-Chou
Huo-Chou (Kachuu)
The large Ming warrior.
Voiced by: Katsuhisa Hoki (JP), Brian Drummond (EN)
- Giant Mook: Gigantic size is practically his only defining feature, for he's not shown fighting against anyone else but Tobimaru (and it was more like him trying to shake the dog off).
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: No-Name's thrown katana pierces Huo-Chou's throat, after which he falls from the altar.
- Stout Strength: A tall and stalwart guy who's strong enough to raise up a long pole with Lord Akaike tied up to it.
Tu-Si
Tu-Si (Doshi)
The slender Ming warrior who's captured by Akaike's soldiers following Jin-Hai's death.
- Badass in Distress: He kills off-screen a good deal of Japanese soldiers before he's subdued. This trope is later deconstructed because while in captivity, he loses his ability to Feel No Pain and ends up telling about the Ming squad's mission before he's put out of his misery.
- Battle Strip: Tu-Si's reaction to his escort turning on him is to remove his hat and prepare to defend himself.
- Death Faked for You: Tu-Si's capture is attempted to cover by placing his clothing and sword on a burned corpse belonging to one of the soldiers he killed. However, this doesn't fool Luo-Lang one bit.
- Due to the Dead: Upon finding Jin-Hai's body, Tu-Si cuts off his top-knot as a sign of respect.
- Mr. Exposition: An indirect example; Shogen Itadori learns from Tu-Si details about the Ming warriors' mission and recounts them on-screen to Lord Akaike.
- Not So Stoic: He frustrates his torturers by calmly and quietly suffering all their methods. They're completely floored by his pain tolerance, but once his drugs wear off, even the stalwart assassin is reduced to a writhig, frantic mess, as anyone would be in his condition and circumstances.
- Torture Is Ineffective: Tu-Si is able to hold out torture without blinking because he can Feel No Pain. However, this ends as soon as the effects of his anesthetic drug wear off. He becomes a suffering wreck and ends up answering Itadori's questions before he's killed.
Other Characters
Shogen Itadori
Shogen Itadori
An ambitious warrior and a chief vassal of Akaike.
Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (JP), Brian Dobson (EN)
- Ambition Is Evil: Itadori admits to his wife that he's highly ambitious. In fact, he's so ambitious that he has his own master killed when the situation is convenient.
- The Dragon: The number two and lead henchman to Lord Akaike, who trusts him implicitly.
- Dragon-in-Chief: For the Japanese. Lord Akaike is the Big Bad of their side, but Itadori has all the physical and military might.
- Empowered Badass Normal: He's a skilled fighter, no two ways about it, but when he takes the Ming soldier's drugs, he's even stronger.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Itadori has a wife and a toddler son. He spends one scene with the wife treating his wounds while he plays with the son and confides to her about his ambitions.
- Leave Him to Me!: He orders his men to let him have his personal second duel with Luo-Lang.
- Power High: It is revealed that he had taken the Ming soldiers' drugs, explaining his cavalier attitude and feelings of invincibility in the climactic fight.
- Shoot the Hostage: He orders his lead archer to shoot Lord Akaike after the latter had been taken hostage, both to cement his power and to ensure his troops wouldn't be concerned with saving him.
- The Starscream: He plots to kill his lord and take over in a coup. He's fairly successful in that regard, but he couldn't take on all the Chinese soldiers.
Lord Akaike
Lord Akaike
Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (JP), Paul Dobson (EN)
- Smug Snake: He's confident that the Chinese warriors will come begging for his help in finding Kotaro, underestimating their knowledge of Japan and willingness to face his forces' superior numbers. It clearly also never occurred to him that he had a treacherous second-in-command willingly to take advantage of any opportunity to get rid of him and cement his own power.
Shouan
Shouan
Voiced by: Naoto Takenaka (JP), Hiro Kanagawa (EN)
- The Mentor: Starts out the movie calm, kind, and friendly to Kotaro. He is not strong-willed enough to make it stick, and eventually lets Master Sekkai sell Kotaro out to the bad guys.
