Characters / The Silver Case

For an outline of the characters and their factions, it may also be helpful to view the manual.

It should probably go without saying, but due to the heavy focus on a mystery storyline, there will naturally be some unavoidable spoilers in these profiles, especially in the "major antagonists" section.

Transmitter thread

Heinous Crimes Unit (HCU)

One of the units in Ward 24's Administrative Inspection Office, it's in charge of investigating serious cases.

Sumio Kodai

Sumio Kodai

One of the younger members of the HCU. Graduated from Central. A serious man when it comes to work, he doesn't get involved in division drama.

• Dark and Troubled Past: He and his friends were disabled, and their other friend killed, in a tragic event when they were children; all his actions since have gone towards getting revenge.
• Decoy Protagonist: He's always listed first in character introductions (like in the opening or on the website), and looks the most like a cool 'hero' character. But you play as someone else. Then Sumio gets arrested midway through the game, after his involvement in #3: parade.
• Hidden Depths: He comes across as the most level-headed and normal member of the team, but he's actually deeply troubled and biding his time to enact revenge on the man whose actions lead to his disability and the death of his friend.
• Hiding the Handicap: Learned lipreading and bribed and cheated his way past the police tests in order to hide the fact that he's deaf.
• The Plan: As the mastermind of the Mikumo Boys, he created the plan to take down the Yukimura Group.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue (good cop) to Kusabi's Red (bad cop). His calmer demeanor hides the colder side he acts on as the leader of the Mikumo Boys.
• Was It Really Worth It?: His long spiel on the importance of killing the past is immediately followed by a genuinely happy memory: meeting Kusabi for the first time. This hints that Sumio isn't entirely happy with throwing away their friendship for the sake of his plans.

Tetsugoro Kusabi

Tetsugoro Kusabi

Sumio's partner. A veteran agent who arrested Kamui during the incident known as "The Silver Case". Impolite, but very skilled.

• Ambiguously Bi: He has a daughter and has been married, but his interactions with Sumio and the fact that they're on a First-Name Basis (when he isn't even on these terms with even his oldest colleagues) suggest that he might have feelings for him. It's conspicuous enough that in Flower, Sun and Rain, Tokio expresses his belief that Tetsu is in love with Sumio.
• AM/FM Characterization: Played With. In Lunatics, Kusabi's listening to a mellow piano piece on his car radio. He doesn't like it. So he changes the radio station and complains that the radio plays "nothing but shit".
• Cool Old Guy: He acts abrasive, but he's really this at heart. Not to mention, he's still incredibly deadly even though he's getting on in his years.
• Jerkass: Especially comes off as this early on, such as in Decoyman where he berates Chizuru over very little.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: By the end of the game, though, it becomes clear that he's a good person who cares for his friends deep down.
• Perpetual Frowner: Appears to be in a perpetually bad mood which has the side effect of making him look older and craggier than he actually is.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Reflecting both his abrasiveness and old-fashioned values, he isn't all too shy about throwing out homophobic and ableist slurs.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red (bad cop) to Sumio's Blue (good cop).

Chizuru Hachisuka

Chizuru Hachisuka

The mayor's daughter. A traditional detective who understands forensic profiling and data collection.

• All Periods Are PMS: This is what she blames her irritability on at the end of Spectrum, but given her turnaround in personality afterwards, this may be a bluff.
• Lack of Empathy: She tends to come off as blunt and insensitive. This aspect becoming more pronounced in later cases foreshadows her becoming the next Ayame.
• Office Romance: She has this going on with Morikawa, which also counts as an Age-Gap Romance considering his seniority.
• Only Sane Woman: Her methods are the most realistic, yet the other detectives get praised for their intuition, much to her exasperation. Ultimately goes out the window after she takes the mantle of Ayame.
• The Smurfette Principle: Much to her annoyance. It no longer is the case after Sakura joins late in the game.
• Tomato in the Mirror: She's the next iteration of Ayame after the Ayame who appeared in #1: decoyman.

Kiyoshi Morikawa

Kiyoshi Morikawa

Chizuru's partner. An old friend of Kusabi's. Skilled, yet often comes across as lazy or temperamental.

• Brilliant, but Lazy: Very respected in the department, but it can seem like he's not doing much of anything useful.
• Office Romance: With Chizuru, which also counts as an Age-Gap Romance considering he's in his 40's at the very least, while she's in her 20's.

Morichika Nakategawa

Morichika Nakategawa

A loner who works from the office.

• The Aloner: He might carry a gun, but he's rarely assigned to work outside the HCU building.
• Big Bad Friend: He's not disloyal to the HCU and his co-workers, and honestly seems to be the most cool-headed member of the HCU, but he also happens to be a high-ranking member of the FSO, and near the end attempts to steer Akira away from investigating the conspiracy.
• Lolicon: He implies as much on a few occasions, which just makes him all the more creepy.
• Only Sane Man: Him along Chizuru are the most level-headed members of the HCU, with him seeming to nearly always keep his cool unlike the rest of the HCU. He's just as ruthless as the rest of them and is a powerful member of the conspiracy.
• Rank Up: Is promoted to the chief of the HCU in the climactic chapter.

The Player Character

Akira/Big Dick/???

You. A former member of the Republic task force, you are recruited into the HCU following the former's near-destruction.

• The Big Guy: Kusabi and Sumio comments that he is built like a criminal and in the few illustrations where he is side by side with the crime unit he is clearly the most imposing.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Subverted; although Kusabi's nicknames for Akira (first Chinchilla and later Big Dick (yes, seriously)) seem... questionable, Sumio actually thinks they're cool.
• Face of a Thug: Whenever his face is actually shown, we see that he is pale, his eyes are hidden and has a scar.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: When starting a new file, the game will ask "Who Are You?", at which point you type in what becomes your codename.
• Heroic Mime: Deconstructed. He can't talk due to suffering from psychosis following his failed mission, and rather than heroic, people find it intimidating and creepy. In Whiteout prologue, this is actually a problem as he's unable to answer Shiroyabu, who shoots him because of it...or so we're led to believe until #06: white out in The 25th Ward proper.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: It seems that he doesn't actually have a real name.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: In a sense; the 2016 remaster's new "Whiteout" prologue chapter ends with him seemingly being shot to death by Shiroyabu. Come The 25th Ward and #06: white out, and it turns out to be subverted; Officer Shiroyabu never gets to shoot Big Dick, because Kusabi shows up just in time to shoot Shiroyabu in the ear instead.
• Tomato in the Mirror: You are the next iteration of Kamui.

Sakura Natsume

Sakura Natsume

An ex-Republic operator who got transferred to the HCU, and the daughter of Republic's former chief Daigo Natsume.

• The Chief's Daughter: To Republic.
• Faux Action Girl: She barely gets deployed during her time with Republic. Subverted when it turns out that she is an Ayame vessel. She guns down Hachisuka, an "activated" Ayame vessel, with ease.
• Logical Latecomer: She is unfamiliar with how the HCU operates, which has her taken aback. This is completely subverted by the climax of Lifecut, though, as she learns about the truth behind the Silver Case.
• New Meat: A recent transfer from Republic.
• Sixth Ranger: The most important and prominent of the new additions to the Unit.

Other HCU Members

Kenta Mikoshiba

Riley Kawabata

The medical examiner in charge of conducting autopsies.

Shinji Kotobuki

The boss of the HCU.

• Da Chief
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: He all-but-outright asks Kusabi to off him near the end of the story, feeling like his fate has been sealed now that the higher-ups have no reason left to keep him alive. Kusabi agrees and kills him.
• Smoking Is Cool: Is usually seen smoking a cigarette.

Republic

Republic Personnel

An elite anti-crime/terrorism unit under the AIO's Public Security Department, its job is to handle criminal/terrorist matters when regular police officers are not deemed suitable for the job. At the start of the story, it was almost wiped out during the mission to retrieve Kamui. It's known as the Special Security Unit. They stand out as they're seen in public with SG 552 carbines.

Ultimately a Red Shirt Army with the exception of the player character.

Daigo Natsume

The head of Republic. As of shortly into the game, he's confined to the IMM Hospital due to serious injuries sustained in the case.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: Averted. Despite being in the field, Kamui (Ayame) was able to severely injure him so that he ends up in an apparently permanent coma.
• Da Chief: Head of Republic.

Kenichi Sakamoto

The second in command of Republic. Responsible for leading a Republic element to arrest Kamui in "Operation Secure Kamui".

• Number Two: Second in command of Republic.

Haruhiko Inomata

A Republic operator. He's very skeptical that arresting Kamui is easy to do.

• Tempting Fate: During the debriefing, Inomata keeps insisting that arresting Kamui may be very hard to do since he kills anyone standing in his way. He's one of the first to die in the line of duty.

Placebo thread

Tokio Morishima

Tokio Morishima

The protagonist of the Placebo side of the story, Tokio is an introspective freelance reporter who lives in a small apartment with his pet turtle. Although Tokio is only a private citizen, his investigations into the events of the Transmitter side embroil him further and further into the main story.

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• Classical Anti-Hero: Starts out as a Brilliant, but Lazy washed-up ex-journalist who sleeps until noon, does the bare minimum of investigative work before shuffling off to buy cigarettes or alcohol, and shamelessly asks other people to do his research for him. However, he gradually develops into a more involved and passionate seeker of truth as Placebo proceeds.
• The Dog Bites Back: Upon discovering that his real client was hiring him to prevent the awakening of a new Kamui and that they were forcing him into a situation where he has to kill Akira to prevent Kamui's awakening, Tokio himself seemingly awakes to his own inner Kamui for a moment and kills his client, revealed to be mayor Uminosuke Hachisuka, and steals his silver eye for good measure.
• Hearing Voices: Here and there this happens. In the 25th Ward it's revealed that he's been picking up a few "lingering consciousnesses" of dead characters in his mind, in a manner not unlike Harman's Remnant Psyches in Killer7.
• Heroic BSoD: After the attempt on his life in "AI", he lends away his turtle Red and becomes completely detached from everything to the point that he doesn't answer his e-mails for a whole month.
• Long-Lost Relative: Subverted; he's this to the Hachisuka family, but by the time he learns this Chizuru is already dead and they never actually met.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He's actually the son of Mayor Hachisuka, but he doesn't know it as he was adopted by another family.
• Perception Filter: His character portrait in Placebo presents him as a hardboiled reporter, but when he shows up in Transmitter, he's actually rather baby-faced despite his age.
• Power Parasite: He steals Uminosuke Hachisuka's silver eye and places it into his own eye socket at the end of Placebo, effectively granting him immortality. He gives up on it by the end of The 25th Ward however.
• Screw Destiny: His father, mayor Uminosuke Hachisuka, tries to convince him during the finale of Placebo that killing Akira is something he has to do in order to prevent the awakening of a new and uncontrollable Kamui, and in order to free himself of the lingering consciousnesses of the dead. Tokio responds by killing Uminosuke and stealing his silver eye; still haunted by the consciousnesses, he curtly tells them to "fuck off".
• Smoking Is Cool: He seems to think so, at least. Placebo cigarettes in particular seem to be his favored brand.
• Un-person: He intends to invoke this by the end of "Hikari".

Red

Red

Tokio's pet turtle and his closest companion.

• Morality Pet: Quite literally. He's one of the few individuals that don't mind Tokio in the present.

Antagonists

Kamui Uehara

Kamui Uehara

A legendary serial killer/assassin from twenty years ago, he was notable for killing individuals who had done some evil in the past, always in the middle of winter. His crimes came to an end when he was caught and arrested in the incident known as "The Silver Case". Following his arrest, he has been in and out of the hospital for the past several years. However, at the onset of the game, multiple signs are pointing to his reawakening.

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• Attack Its Weakpoint: Silver Eyes make their owners virtually immortal and maintain their bodies to the peak of health and youth. However, this longevity can be taken away if said eye is removed or destroyed.
• Big Bad: Set up as this. Subverted, though; in his current state he's unable to do anything, and by the time he does become active (much later in the game) you've become well aware that something bigger is going on.
• Cassandra Truth: Kamui being unable to kill, let alone do anything, is first disclosed by IMM Hospital staff Tachibana. Kusabi vocalizes his dismissal of this claim, given that Kamui's counselor has turned up dead, ostensibly by Kamui's hand. Then when he's brought into the HCU headquarters, he find that Kamui really can't do anything.
• Cop Killer: Supposedly killed law enforcment personnel when he does his kills.
• Dark Messiah: This is how people see him, regardless of his unclear intentions.
• Dead All Along: The original Format Kamui was killed years ago.
• The Dreaded: Responsible for killing several people, including various government and corporate officials. He's known as the Angel of Absolute Zero for a reason.
• Empty Shell: When Kodai and Akira discover Kamui, they find a silent man who lacks any potential to kill anyone.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: The impossible murders he commits that inspire a multitude of criminals and revolutionaries in a dystopic, authoritarian Japan are just that. Impossible. As the original Kamui was a civilian who was killed by the Mayor of the 24 Wards for his Silver Eye, and every other Kamui after him was a government assassin harvested from its Shelter Kids program to take out key targets under the auspice of underworld terrorism.
• Legacy Character: It turns out that there have actually been several Kamui's, created through transmitting the original's personality to people who are primed to receive it. All this time, the public is told that there is only one.
• Sex Slave: His councilor at the hospital takes advantage of his semi vegetative state for an untold amount of time.
• Vigilante Man: Some of the profiles seen in the game describe him as only killing other criminals who had avoided proper procedure under the legal system.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Some parts of the public paint him as an anti-hero who goes after the corrupt and the abusive.
• Walking Spoiler: Suffice to say that Kamui is not at all what the game says he is.

Ayame Shimohira

Ayame Shimohira

Kamui's digital artist partner during a time when he was out of the hospital. The HC Unit takes an interest in her due to all signs pointing to her being the potential next victim of Kamui's reawakening.

• Cop Killer: Takes out the Republic task force in Operation Secure Kamui.
• Dark Messiah: Although not as well-known as Kamui, those that are aware of her seem to revere her even more.
• Distaff Counterpart: "Ayame" is actually just the designation for females with the Kamui personality.
• Jack the Ripoff: Imitates Kamui in Decoyman, to the point that even the narration presents Kamui as the culprit.
• Killed Offscreen: It's implied that she dies between Parade and Kamuidrome.
• Legacy Character: See above.
• Meaningful Name: The verb "ayameru" means "to kill".
• More Deadly Than the Male: Deliberately invoked by the government experiment she was a part of.
• Walking Spoiler: Much like Kamui, except in her case even the fact that she's a killer is a spoiler.

The Bat

The Bat (Kaiji Enzawa)

A mysterious hacker who sends the protagonists threatening e-mails.

• Animal Motifs: That's "the bat" as in the animal, not as in the sports tool/weapon.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: That random Ayame fanatic Tokio met early in Placebo turned out to be a lot more important than he looked.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Enzawa appears early in the game as the Ayame fanatic that Tokio meets with in YUME.
• He Knows Too Much: He warns the protagonists not to get involved any more than they already are.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He seems to be a relatively minor threat in the grand scheme of things. However, in the Triangle Towers you eventually find out from the notes you find that he's the chief supervisor for the Shelter Kids experiments.
• Stalker without a Crush: To both protagonists.

SPOILER CHARACTER

Mayor Uminosuke Hachisuka/Kaoru Hachisuka

Uminosuke Hachisuka was the mayor of the 24th Ward at the time of the original Silver Case. Since then, he has been succeeded by his son Kaoru. In reality, Uminosuke killed Kaoru and took his place, thanks to the immortality granted by Kamui's silver eye back in 1979.

• Already Done for You: While Kusabi and the HCU remnants plan for a mission to take down Uminosuke in the game's epilogue, the post-credits stinger reveals that Uminosuke is already dead. The final cases of Placebo imply that he was killed roughly a week after Kusabi and Akira's assassination of Nezu, and that his killer was Tokio, who had potentially awoken to his inner Kamui as he was compelled to steal Uminosuke's silver eye.
• Dead All Along: Downplayed, the game mentions him in passing as a central figure of the backstory, but by the time Kusabi identifies him as the Greater-Scope Villain, he's already implied to have been killed by Tokio during the events of the Placebo scenario.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Uminosuke caused a lot of the plot by killing Kamui and stealing his silver eye. He's still around, but not directly confronted on-camera; instead, the direct Big Bad is his associate Nezu.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Uminosuke isn't clearly shown onscreen at all, except at the very end of Hikari.
• Karma Houdini: While he appears to play this straight, the cliffhanger at the end strongly implies that he wound up being killed by the latest Kamui. To add insult to injury, Tokio has seemingly stolen his left eye.
• Kill and Replace: Uminosuke killed Kaoru and took his place as Mayor.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: To Tokio. Subverted in that he only reveals this indirectly, but Tokio still realizes it.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about them without revealing that for the most part, they're one and the same.

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