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This character page contains the various characters of The Crossroad. Due to the number of OCs, spoilers for the separate backstories of various characters are bound. Read at your own risk!
For Touhou characters, visit the Touhou Characters Page.
The two main characters of the story. Much of the focus stems from or surrounds them. They both belong to Kigurou-Enkou.
Makoto Yoshio
The protagonist of the story, Makoto is an energetic and naive middle-schooler who has made it his life's goal to become a perfect hero. After being spirited away to Gensokyo by totally-not-Yukari, like many others before him, he sets out to prove himself as a worthy hero. Things rarely go his way, no matter how many times he tries, and when they do...
- All-Loving Hero: Deconstructed. He attempts to invoke this but realizes he absolutely despises certain people or things, particularly Miki.
- Author Avatar: Surprisingly Averted. For all the many Self Inserts the story has, he is NOT one.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Does this very frequently, almost culminating in Leeroy Jenkins
- Apologises a Lot: Does this during the first few parts, to the point of it becoming a Running Gag
- Badass Cape: As the profile image indicates. Not yet, but soon...
- Badass Normal: Has no innate abilities, but has a Gun-sword that will do the job for him.
- Big Good: Really, really, really wants to be one.
- Break the Cutie: This is downplayed for the most part until the death of the Valkyrie Zauber overwhelms him. He goes through more and more as the story progresses.
- The Cape: He wishes and aims to be one. Needless to say, it doesn't work out.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed, as you might expect. Needs a reason to motivate himself, after all.
- Cool Sword: Gun Sword
- Determinator: The number of time he's given up is next to none, even though he's usually wrong and never listens to anyone else.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: This is why he rushes into everyone situation to help someobdy, to the point of copying the other heroes in an attempt to adapt to Gensokyo and become a perfect hero.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Too bad that's not how things work in Gensokyo. Thankfully, he has a GUN-sword.
- Heroic Wannabe: Him being this is the moving force of the ENTIRE story.
- Idiot Hero
- Ignored Epiphany: Far too many.
- I Just Want to Be Special: See Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life. He honestly believes being a hero will bring him happiness.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": To many characters in the story.
- Meaningful Name: His last name, Yoshio, means Righteous Man.
- Naïve Newcomer
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Several, but especially when he and Souta defeat the underground youkai and forget to seal the hole the latter made, causing more to be released.
- Rookie Red Ranger
- Small Steps Hero: Zig-Zagged. He's too desperate to care.
- Stupid Good: And how.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: And in his case, automatically activates gun mode!
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Classic example.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: And HOW.
Alyss Baraen (Kazuko Nakamae)
The Deuteragonist of the story, Alyss (real name Kazuko) is a plucky teenaged outsider who also happens to be the President of Visionary Requiem, the local Youkai-Protection/Relocation organization. She quickly becomes friends with Makoto, but is far from agreeing with his ideals. More often than note, she's giving advice to him on his heroism, trying to help him grow and mature.
- Action Girl: Considering what kind of place Gensokyo is, this is normal.
- Anti-Hero: Type II
- Badass Adorable: Oh look, it's a little red witch, she doesn't seem so baAUGH MY FACE
- Little Miss Badass: She's as old as Makoto, which is roughly 14 years old.
- Badass Normal: Well unless her unexplained Teleportation ability counts. Word of God says she can use some danmaku, but afterwards it's more bombs, more missiles, more rocket launchers, more explosives.
- Berserk Button: Alyss is a Christian and the easier way to provoke her is to talk something wrong about her Faith or misinterpret it.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Due to the above
- Big Good
- Brutal Honesty: Downplayed, but still present.
- Cute Witch: Her outfit, at the very least
- Flash Step: Her only innate ability
- Foil: To Makoto.
- Fragile Speedster: She does her best to avoid close-combat unless necessary, what with her being a squishy human.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Despite being a Mr. Vice Guy for her over-assertiveness, she genuinely wants Makoto to change his ways and help the rest of Gensokyo while still kicking lots of ass. Kurisu lampshades this early in the story and, being the Knight in Sour Armor he is, claims she needs to learn the hard way.
- Honest Advisor: Especially during the training montage, where she calls out on Paul and Co. for teaching Makoto more survival skills and dealing less with his inner issues. Moments later, she launches a series of Armor-Piercing Questions towards the poor boy.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Spends roughly 70 parts being a passive Cool Teacher and even has to refrain from fighting Baal Michey...cue the Sorror Sepulti fight.
- Nice Guy: Sure, she appears like a Hot-Blooded Little Miss Snarker on a few occasions, but she genuinely has concern for others, and in the case of a Naïve Newcomer like Makoto, she will attempt to change their minds.
- Plucky Girl: Part of her Hidden Depths
- Real Women Love Jesus: The most prominent example.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Misaka's Blue
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: How she responds to the above. She is also the first to give Makoto an official Armor-Piercing Question.
- The Heart: She focuses a lot on the emotional side of people, leading her to pinpoint one of Makoto's Fatal Flaws. Her strong empathy is why Kurisu, a jaded Elder Youkai, greatly admires her.
- The Hero: Despite being an Anti-Hero, she ends up being this in contrast to Makoto's Heroic Wannabe
- The Leader of Visionary Requiem
- Tsundere: Hovering somewhere between Type A and B
Makoto's own Ragtag Bunch of Misfits when he decides to try out a Five-Man Band. All of them are rather loony, save for Rein.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Are they ever.
- Parody Sue
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
- Take That!: Towards the typical archetypes of the Five-Man Band
Rein
The Only Sane Man of Makoto's team, but her reasons for joining Makoto are unknown. She mostly moves to wherever she wants, quietly being The Watson while also being a Deadpan Snarker along the way. She bears resemblance to Makoto's penpal, Etoile.
It turns out she is a Shinigami, and she is the one who brought The Valkyrie Zauber to Gensokyo, testing them as heroes and killing them. Even then, little else is known about her goals.
She is a character created by REVO, but was only featured in one song, Rein no Sekai, so much of her character and backstory has been made by Kigurou-Enkou.
- All-Powerful Bystander: Would explain why she is always being a Mysterious Backer.
- Deadpan Snarker: See the above quote
- Don't Fear the Reaper: She is very respectful towards The Valkyrie Zauber for being of service as heroes and is even regretful that she has to kill them.
- Mysterious Backer: She is always supporting Makoto, and by that, we mean silently follow him around, without ever knowing why.
- Parasol of Pain: It has a scythe attached to it. Fitting, considering what her job is.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Come then, Valkyrie Zauber...show me who you are!"
- Shinigami: For Magical Girls
- The Watson: Also spends quite some time questioning Makoto on his motives for being a hero. Done especially so during his Heroic BSoD after The Valkyrie Zauber's death.
Laurencin
- The Lancer: Laurencin. He has no purpose other than to be Makoto's cool and suave Foil, and he apparently spends him time brooding over a past he refuses to disclose.
Susumu
- Gadgeteer Genius: Something he ONLY good for.
- The Smart Guy: Susumu. His ONLY good point is being a Gadgeteer Genius, and Nitori lampshades that his devices may not have any purpose. He is an Ineffectual Loner otherwise.
- Dirty Coward: IT ENDS BAD FOR HIM, even gundoc laughs at his expense.
Souta
- The Big Guy: Souta. POWER OVERWHELMING! EVERYTHING IS ABOUT POWER! He accidentally causes a minor incident with his 'training'.
- Dishing Out Dirt: What he seem can do. As he 'training' open a hold to the underground and letting under Youkai attacked the upper ground.
It was originally started by Alyss's good friend Elyse Hakujou and run by the rest of the Akimoto family.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
- 0% Approval Rating: Downplayed but still present. Thanks to their job and the Asylum of Souls incident, they aren't very liked much by the Human Village.
Misaka Akimoto
The Vice-President of Visionary Requiem and the Eldest sister of the Akimoto family, Misaka is an Ineffectual Loner and the Sour Supporter of the team, handling all the administrative things Alyss can't. Despite this, she makes it clear what she thinks of Makoto's idealism.
- Action Girl: Obviously.
- Anti-Hero: Type III
- Badass Normal: Even more so than Alyss, for she has NO innate abilities, but makes it up with pistols, knives, and her BIKE.
- Badass Biker: The picture says it all.
- Berserk Button: ANYTHING resembling Wide-Eyed Idealism, or harming Cerise.
- Cool Big Sis: Despite being quite the Ineffectual Loner, she cares a lot for Alyss and her youngest sister Cerise.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was once a Child Soldier and killed her own brother. You can read it here (but the writer warns of it being an old shame).
- Deadpan Snarker
- Good Is Not Nice: Delivers a VERY harsh lecture on Makoto for his Wide-Eyed Idealism.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has one where her right eye used to be.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Very.
- My Greatest Failure: Her days as a Child Soldier
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Alyss's Red
- She Is Not My Girlfriend:Makoto: Is she your—Misaka: NO SHE IS NOT!
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Thankfully Downplayed, but much of her character today is defined by it
- Stalker with a Crush: Is on the receiving end.
- The Stoic: At first, until Makoto pushes her Berserk Button...
- Unfazed Everyman
Five Human Planeswalkers who keep the Magic of Gensokyo in check, with the help of their weapons made by the Gods who chose them. They are one of Makoto's greatest sources of inspiration, and it doesn't help that he thinks of them as a generic human-protecting team. They try to be the Cool Teachers towards him, but considering what they did to him, it doesn't end so well. All of them really do not like Zero.
They all belong to PMiller1
Also take a look at PMiller1's Characters page for them for more tropes.
Paul Miller
The White Champion of Morality & Order and The Leader of the Team, using White Magic to fight or take care of enemies. He's had an...interesting history, initially wandering into Gensokyo and being a Heroic Wannabe much like Makoto, even participating in The Shanghai War all because he felt a debt to Alice, even his sword (or rather the god contacting with it) disapproved of him. Still, he has improved, and the spark has since ignited, turning him into the Planeswalker he is now.
- Cool Sword: The Sword of Morality & Order. A Magic Sword that not only hurts Youkai and helps him in combat, but also where he got most of his white mana for his White Magic.
- Deflector Shields: Due to his Telekinesis and White Magic.
- Heroic BSoD
- My Greatest Failure: The Shanghai War. Back in his beginning days as a hero, Paul foolishly helped Alice get revenge on Reimu for her harbored anger caused by the events of Mystic Square, starting a war against Gensokyo with her dolls. He was eventually stopped by Reimu, Seth and Ni. Still, Paul is very ashamed of this incident.
- Technical Pacifist
- White Magic: Paul's can cast any spell that have White Mana with it.
Max "Laxup" Saibaa
Blue Champion of Logic and Technology, The team Intelligence. Was an enemy from Paul, do to a believed that he was a killer. Do his action in Gensokyo, letter find her error and latter help Paul's for the Espionage along with Paul's sister Kari to spy on Zero. His then since ignited, being come the Planeswalker like all other.
- Gadgeteer Genius: It was more offend make Cybernetics Technology (and Robotics too) pre-spark, But even now he make Blue Mana Power and Magical Technology.
- Heel–Face Turn: Mind you, it was more of Poor Communication Kills on Max's part, thinking that Paul was the 'bad guy', unaware that he was unwittingly becoming one (and not helped by Zero).
- Magic Staff: Staff of Logic and Technology.
- Telepathy: Downplayed, given that he may have read Makoto's mind about talking about the Dragon God.
Edward McDeviant
Black Champion of Parasitism and Amorality, The Team's second in lead, He are a young man, who power was Art Ability, that inculcate Dark Arts. He was the first to have his spark igniter becoming a Planeswalker with the power of Black Magic. He also Paul's best friend.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Even if he's one of the Heroes and uses Black Magic, and darkness related at that, he always likes to point out that it's always the user, not the object itself, that's evil.
- Necromancer: Used for Makoto's Training from Hell.
Sore Thunder Hikari
Red Champion of Chaos and Impulse, The Team's fire (and any other 'hot' element) work, she used Red mana to being goodness to the other with powerful results, She's Paul girlfriend and is a hothead. Just like what are All Red Planeswalker.
- Expy: Unintentional, She do look at lot like Kyoko Sakura. She was made before the Maker know of Kyoko Sakura.
- Fiery Redhead
- Playing with Fire: What she did to Makoto's Training from Hell.
- Shock and Awe
- Tsundere: Well not really... but She is very Emotional.
Ni Fureya
The Green Champion of Instinct & Interdependence, Ni is Reimu's other apprentice and half-sister, as well as the team Archer and Ranger who takes care of the Balance of Nature (Not Good and Evil). She was adopted by some outsider who gave her the Bow of Instinct and Interdependence and only came to Gensokyo for a job opening as Reimu's apprentice (even if she had one or two already). During that time, her spark ignited, turning her into the Planeswalker, she is sometime defends the Hakurei Shrine when Reimu is away.
Susanne Steube
The Self-Proclaimed leader of the Valkyrie Zauber (at the very least the first Magical Girl).She is based off Rose-Red from Snow-White and Rose-Red
Valerie Steube
Susanne's sister and Second-in-command-sort-of.She is based off Snow-White from Snow-White and Rose-Red
Jorinda
The Hot-blooded, Deadpan Snarker but still rather wise mentor of the team. She appears very early in Part 2, being the mysterious stranger that Makoto offers his umbrella to. She was known to be a rather hard to work with member of the team back in their early days, but has since matured.- Cool Big Sis: To EVERYONE she meets. Even Makoto starts looking up to her as such.
Jorindel
Level-headed magical boy (yes) and former Butt-Monkey of the team.Marlene
The most Deadpan Snarker of the team who has become quite dulled by her own life, but she's still a loyal asset to the team.- Cool Big Sis: To Sylvia
Sylvia Kruse
The youngest of the team (not just in appearance).Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Or rather, they are characters without a specified large group. For example, the residents of The Hakurei Shrine do not count.
Kurisu Youseikyo
An ancient youkai from before the Hakurei Border and Gensokyo, Kurisu is closely associated with Yukari, Yuka, and Mamizou. Despite this, he's basically passive and lives quietly in the Human Village, running a day care and zoo. However, it's a far cry from his early life as a mercenary.Kurisu belongs to WatcherCCG and was typically shown in the works of SagashiIndustries, though he has since been discontinued as a character.
- Almighty Janitor: Basically this for the Human Village, given he has the ear of Yukari and connections to many other factions. But most of the time he prefers to keep his head down and not cause trouble. His day job boils down to "zookeeper" and "babysitter"
- Cool Big Sis: Yukari is this for Kurisu. She adopted him when she was around ten and they've considered each other family ever since.
- Combat Pragmatist: Outside of official spellcard duels, Kurisu has almost no concept of fair play and will do or use nearly anything to win a real right.
- Fairy Companion: Kurisu made the Cirno his shikigami with the promise of helping her unleash her full potential, and she follows him with little question. In fact, most of Gensokyo's fairies adore him due to a long history of gifts and food bribes. Their Undying Loyalty to him as a whole is part of where he got his surname, which translates to "Fairy Lord".
- Family of Choice: Though he has a biological family in Sagashi's comics, Kurisu's family in most other continuities consists of his adopted daughters Hikari and Haruna, adopted sister Yukari (plus Ran and Chen), and childhood friends Yuuka and Rumia. Cirno is also treated much like a daughter when she's willing to tolerate his affection.
- Fatal Flaw: Kurisu has one major weak point: his strong protective instinct towards his family and friends. It can make him quite savage and downright unreasonable. It also causes him to underestimate said friends' ability to defend themselves. However well-meaning, it comes off as slightly smothering, especially to Aya. His hatred of the Outside World blinds him to the problems closer to home, which bites him later on.
- Foil: To Yukari. Whereas Yukari is bizarre, mysterious, and more than a little nutty, Kurisu is level-headed, upfront, and very down-to-earth. Alyss is another foil, as her incredible optimism and idealism run completely parallel to Kurisu's low opinion of the Outside World and overall cynicism.
- Flunky Boss: Fighting Kurisu means potentially fighting Gensokyo's six most powerful fairies (Cirno, Daiyousei, Lily, Sunny, Luna, and Star) and then some.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Kurisu's preferred method of dealing with troublemakers.
- Full-Contact Magic: How he fits into the spellcard system on a "normal" day, mixing danmaku with melee attacks similar to one of the fighting games.
- Heroic BSoD: Gets put through the wringer by hallucinations of various canon figures about his flaws and borderline Gary Stu traits, and is subsequently Buried Alive by a pair of fake fairies. The gang gets him out, but he is completely shaken by the experience and moves to the background for the rest of the story.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Some have called youkai monsters. Kurisu will gladly point out humanity's many, many sins against itself and the planet at large as being far worse than simply snacking on people every so often.
- I Own This Town: Subverted. Kurisu claims the Human Village as his private hunting ground and used to kill lesser youkai he caught attacking people near it in the pre-spellcard days. He's also funded several major structures being connected to Utsuho's nuclear power grid and has the ear of prominent village leader Keine. However, he holds no true power or position in the village, and he likes it that way, preferring that the humans be able to govern themselves. He usually just uses his claim to screen youkai who wish to do business or seek residence in the village.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He's not very happy with how humanity is doing in the Outside World, and believes their greed will destroy them. But he will stand with other humans he sees as being above the greed, like Alyss.
- Nice Guy: He may be a cynic. He may have a low opinion of the Outside World's ability to govern itself. And he may be a very old, very powerful youkai. But he's one of the nicest characters in the Walfas Club and always has a kind word for those he respects, enemies and allies alike. It takes some serious misdeeds to earn this man's hatred.
- Beware the Nice Ones: But piss him off and you invoke the wrath of a man who will personally see to it you never threaten anyone he cares about ever again, even if it means ripping you apart with his bare hands.
- No-Sell: Kurisu can completely ignore Sakuya's time manipulation because he has magical training and blessings from The Fair Folk, who tend to have Un Stuck In Time as one of their traits.
- Really 700 Years Old: Take whatever you think Yukari's age is. Subtract ten years. That's Kurisu's age. He stood at her side when she made the Covenant of Gensokyo with the Great Dragon Ryuujin, and has lived in or near large human settlements in the region going back beyond the living memory of the Human Village.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: This is a card Kurisu loathes playing, because he considers it well beneath even his own brutal pragmatism, but it's in his arsenal. Name a canon faction in Gensokyo, and Kurisu almost always has a friend in it due to past history. Nevermind that he grew up with Yuuka, Rumia, and most importantly Yukari.
- Seen It All: Kurisu's been around for over a thousand years, and has seen many things, both wondrous and terrible. It takes a lot to impress him, but sometimes someone will do something that makes him take a step back and blink. In recent memory, Alyss did just that during Asylum of Souls by sticking to her faith and forgiving Chika despite the village wanting the girl's head. Makoto almost pulls it off during his Good Samaritan phase, but then loses all of Kurisu's respect once he goes full Glory Hound and his hero complex reaches critical mass, causing the incident of the story.
- The Big Guy: Kurisu stands at six-foot-four, effectively towering over most of the Ancient Japanese-born humans of Gensokyo. He also has the strength to match his frame.
- Undying Loyalty: Ask any fairy in Gensokyo what they think of Kurisu, and nearly all of them will tell you he's the best youkai in the whole world and they would follow him (and his bottomless supply of candy) nearly anywhere. Kurisu himself is unfailingly loyal to all of his friends, his fellow childcare worker Keine, and his spiritual mentor Byakuren. But his greatest loyalty is to his big sister Yukari, who reciprocates the familial bond wholeheartedly.
- We Used to Be Friends: Kurisu and Aya have not gotten along well since Bunbunmaru took a turn towards tabloid-esque journalism. He still cares about her, and on some level she still respects him, but things are not good between them.
Seth Bird
An extremely friendly human boy who routinely hangs out with Team Nineball (mostly Rumia) and is training as Reimu's apprentice alongside Ni and Emma. As it turns out, he's a hanyou; half-human and half-darkness youkai. A few years before the story, Zero decided to kill him on a lark, leading Rumia to imbue him with her power of darkness, saving his life, but also turning him into what he is now. Despite an initial bout of violent insanity, Seth's managed to resume a reasonably normal life.- Beware the Nice Ones: Seth is a really sweet boy and a little derpy, but bring out the inner hanyou rage and he will tear you to pieces. And then eat you.
- BFS: Seth's blade, the Midnight Claymore.
- Blood Knight: REALLY loves fighting and spilling blood. Probably because he likes his dead opponents pre-carved before eating them.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Seth may be the pet of the Youkai of Darkness and frequently quite merciless in combat, but he's a true good guy through and through.
- Extreme Omnivore: Seth shares this disturbing trait with Rumia. Darkness devours everything it touches, and Seth frequently asks allies if he can eat the bodies of slain foes. Lose a fight of the fatal variety to this kid, and you're dinner.
- Dissonant Serenity: And he asks if he can eat people with the happiest expression.
- The Power of Friendship: It's literally his ability.
Emma Foulke-Hirose
A gynoid living at Hakurei Shrine. Emma's story is extremely complex, and spans at least four different canons. She belongs to Michael-777, who prefers to develop her character through roleplay rather than comics.- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Robotic can for a fighter pilot AI turned Bydo Core turned robot with a soul turned biomechanical lifeform turned Watcher-like divine entity turned part-time Hakurei Shrine apprentice miko. Yes, it's complicated as hell.
Joe Palmer
A young man from America (Texas, specifically) who sought out Gensokyo to escape the growing political corruption and moral bankruptcy of the First World Nations. Joe lives close to Misty Lake and generally keeps to himself, but does sometimes interact with others.- Badass Normal: Despite being a human with not that many abilities, his survival skills, intellect, and wit helps him get through Gensokyo.
- Badass Bookworm: Part of how he survives in Gensokyo is the fact that his intellect allows him to adapt quickly in battle, and he's created weapons that help him survive, such as a Gravity Gun. This can be seen when Makoto visits Nitori's lab for the first time.
- Berserk Button: While naturally a nice and friendly guy, there is one thing that one should defiantly avoid doing to him: Don't call him "Joey." Doing the aforementioned typical ends badly for who those who invoke it.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Like many others here, attacking those that are close to Joe or just friends of him will incur his anger.
- Nice Guy: Joe is actually friendly people regardless of whether they are human or youkai and are not trying to attack him. He even helps out others if he can, as seen when helping Nitori make Makoto's sword for him, although the end results of arming Makoto isn't what was expected.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He actually disagrees with the anti-youkai sentiment in parts of the human village, as he himself is friendly with some youkai. This is partly influenced due to some of his back-story, in which one reason he fled the outside world because he abhorred the hypocrisy of people or countries claiming to not discriminate, be it gender, nationlity, religion, or orientation, when it was apparent that this was not true. This makes him more sympathetic to Byakuren's movement.
- Shout-Out: Joe in Part 16 mentions surviving in Gensokyo with his skills and a Gravity Gun. Admittedly, he will say was inspired from a certain game.