Characters / Tokyo Debunker

Characters appearing in the mobile game Tokyo Debunker.

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Main Character

VA: Haruka Sato

A young woman who gets attacked and cursed by an anomaly while going home one night, she becomes a student at Darkwick Academy and inspector to the ghouls' missions in order to find a way to break her curse.

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• Bequeathed Power: The Sage’s Ring gives her the power to amplify stigmas.
• Butt-Monkey: Truly, the poor girl cannot seem to catch a break.
• The Chosen One: For whatever reason, the Sage’s Ring artifact chose her.
• Contrived Coincidence: The veil she picks up turns out to be the Hera's Snakes anomaly which also ends up being the legendary Sage's Ring.
• Dude Magnet: Several of the ghouls seem to develop feelings for her.
• The Faceless: Except for one of her eyes being shown in the opening cutscene, she generally is shown without a face. This is so the player can imagine what she might look like instead.
• Fate Drives Us Together: Her seemingly random receiver of an anomaly’s curse, and the Sage’s Ring, which make her an essential asset to Darkwick.
• Fish out of Water: Being a regular human who knows nothing about the supernatural, to a cursed amplifier of a ghoul’s stigma suddenly confronted with the existence of said ghouls and anomalies within a matter of hours understandably leaves her a little confused.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: By the end of Episode 3, most players will probably be at or near the level 50 mark, but she’s only marginally less clueless by this point in the story.
• Guardian Entity: Briefly, in the Prologue, the Hera’s Snakes artifact is this for her.
• Hidden Eyes: Her eyes are always covered in shadow.
• Magikarp Power: Her ability to enhance stigmas is shaky at best and not well understood by most others, let alone herself. It’s implied she’ll have to work to make it, and by extension herself, stronger.
• Magnetic Hero: While maybe not at first, she slowly starts to find her place among Darkwick’s ghouls and staff as the story progresses.
• New Transfer Student: Technically an honor student, she’s also one of these since she gets placed in the second year to start with.
• Nice Girl: She’s kind and caring to others, even when she wants nothing more than to go home, she worries about what it might cost those she leaves behind at the academy.
• No-Sell: The Mesmer Matches, which would erase her memories up to a day, don't work on her. This ends up being good and bad for her. The bad news is that it can't remove the curse that reduces her lifespan to one more year. The good is that she can be a non-biased inspector for any investigations she gets sent on.
• Positive Friend Influence: She becomes this for the ghouls she works with.
• The Power of Friendship: Even she’s surprised when Professor Hyde tells her the ghouls of Frostheim and Vagastrom were beside themselves with worry and wanted to join the search and recovery team to find her when she and Towa went missing in Episode 3.
• Shrinking Violet: Is often afraid and intimidated of the ghouls at first, especially the ones that display more Jerkass behavior.
• The Smurfette Principle: Being a joseimuke protagonist means she’ll likely be the only female member of the main cast.
• Suddenly Speaking: She has her own voice acting in the comic strip cutscenes, a rarity for this type of game.
• Super-Empowering: Her ability to enhance stigmas.
• Support Party Member: Her role in the missions. She’s not a ghoul and hasn’t had any combat training, so helping with the investigation and amplifying the ghouls’ stigmas is all she can do.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Her ability to enhance stigmas is a powerful asset but she has no training or education in the world she finds herself in.
• You Are Not Alone: The ghouls she befriends want to help her end her curse. Haru says this to her word for word.
• Your Days Are Numbered: The curse by the Anomaly means she will die within a year's time.

Darkwick Academy Staff

In general

• Always Male: The staff are all male, presumably due to the game’s genre.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: They prefer the anomalies to be captured instead of destroyed, so they can be used as research subjects.
• Crazy-Prepared: They have to be ready to intervene when any anomaly is present, especially when civilians are involved, and there are several staff who aren’t teachers but rather researchers, rescuers, and special ops, whatever a case might need in order to be swept under the rug.
• Non-Action Guy: While it’s implied some of them can fight, they mostly let the ghouls fight the anomalies while they collect and research them.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being a bit quirky, Cornelius and the professors are all shown to be capable guides and mentors for the students under their care.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: They send the ghouls on missions whenever something happens that could be supernatural in origin. This usually means they’re forced to react to the anomalies’ actions.

Chancellor Cornelius

VA: Shinnosuke Tokudome

Darkwick's Chancellor, a young-looking boy with blue hair and feminine features who loves cats. As unconventional as the school he runs, he offers the main character a scholarship to attend the Academy if she agrees to be an inspector and research subject.

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• Ambiguous Situation: How a cat-obsessed, childlike, young man became the chancellor is anyone’s guess.
• Animal Motifs: Cats, of course.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Thanks to his appearance, his staff and students regularly fail to take him seriously.
• Expy: He looks like a more studious version of Hajime Shino.
• Improbable Age: Or at least he looks about twelve.
• Nice Guy: He’s a Kindhearted Cat Lover through and through, and although his position means he can’t let the main character go home, he does his best to make her as comfortable as he can while promising to research a way to break her curse.
• Non-Indicative Name: He’s the chancellor, and he looks about as far from most people’s idea of a chancellor as one can get
• Perpetual Smiler: His default expression is a small, serene smile.
• Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: He runs the most elite academy in Japan and yet a fair few of his students are delinquents or otherwise average at best. Justified, in that the elite school veneer is mostly a front hiding the Institute’s education.

Professor Nicolas

VA: Tomoya Ito

Teaches anomalous medicine, the advisor of Mortkranken House, and the first staff member the main character meets. Kind and compassionate, yet not much of a fighter.

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• The Medic: The head doctor at the academy, and the House advisor for its medical students.
• Nice Guy: Far and away the nicest staff member.
• Non-Action Guy: Even more so than his colleagues, he’s implied to be the worst when it comes to a fight.
• The Reliable One: He’s the most reliable of the staff, always ready to help anyone injured and offer his assistance in what (non-fighting) ways he can.

Professor Hyde

VA: Daiki Abe

A strange young man who walks around with a blindfold and a playful, teasing attitude. Teaches anomalous biology and is the advisor of Jabberwock and Sinostra.

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• Badass Longcoat: He wears a long black coat over his outfit, and he’s one of the world’s top anomalous researchers, and it’s implied he knows how to fight too.
• Creepy Good: Haku says he looks like someone you’d cross the street to avoid, but he’s one of the good guys.
• Expy: His look, personality, and role as a teacher for a group of superpowered teenagers makes him a dead ringer for Satoru Gojo.
• The Faceless: He has a face, but it’s upper half is concealed by his blindfold.
• Improbable Age: He looks awfully young to be as accomplished a researcher as he is. Of course, that’s if you believe him when he says it.
• Nice Guy: While he’s certainly quirky, he does care for his students and tells the main character that includes her as well.
• Once an Episode: Him teasing Dante for his soft spot toward his students in need.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If something gets him to be serious, you know it’s something big.
• Perpetual Smiler: It’s more of a smirk, but he apparently never leaves home without it.
• Shout-Out: His character is a giant one to JJK’s Gojo.
• So Proud of You: He feels this way toward his ghoul students and the main character, as well as his younger brother, Sho.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Again, for Satoru Gojo.

Professor Dante

VA: Tetsuei Sumiya

A wheelchair-bound man and advisor of Frostheim and Vagastrom Houses. As chilly as the house he oversees, but not without compassion himself.

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• The Quiet One: As a contrast to Professor Hyde, Dante only talks when he has to.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He helps out the characters only enough so that they can handle things themselves, and he's not without compassion, as much as he dislikes when Hyde points this out to him.

Professor Moby

VA: Hiroki Shimowada

Professor of anomalous law. He's a large giggling, octopus-like creature.

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• Ambiguous Situation: What Moby is and how he works for Darkwick remains a mystery.
• Animal Motifs: Octopi, obviously.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Played with, in that his mask can change into one.
• Creepy Good: He's some kind of octopus-like creature, but he's one of the Darkwick professors, who are seemingly the good guys.
• Eldritch Abomination: Whatever Professor Moby is, he's not human, though he seems to be one of the good guys.
• Expy: He makes one wonder if he can match Koro-sensei's Mach 20 speed.
• The Faceless: He wears an electronic face mask of sorts that emotes with him.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Darkwick has something inhuman on staff and no one really makes mention of it.
• Gonk: His coworkers (that are shown so far anyway) are all handsome young men, and his boss is an Older Than They Look boy. Then there's Professor Moby, the octopus-like creature on staff.
• Horrifying Hero: The professors at Darkwick are the good guys keeping the peace against anomalies and training ghouls, one of them just happens to look monstrous.
• Perpetual Smiler: His mask always has a smile on it.

Benkei

VA: Naoyuki Shimozuru

The clerk of Darkwick Academy's student store.

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• All There in the Manual: His name was first revealed in a post on the game's official Instagram. It doesn't even come up in his first scene.
• Ascended Extra: He started out as just an unnamed chibi character on the game's shop screen before being formally introduced to the story in Episode 4, nearly two weeks after the game's release.
• Double Entendre: He tells the main character that he's there for her to vent her frustrations to, within five minutes of meeting her, and then immediately worries that came off as him coming onto her.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: He's seen as early as the game's release as a chibified version of himself on the shop screen, far before he's introduced as a character in the story.
• Sixth Ranger: Of Darkwick's staff, as he gets introduced a full three episodes after Professor Moby in Episode 1, and he runs the school store as opposed to being a professor.
• Socially Awkward Hero: He seems like a good guy, but in his first on-screen introduction he worries twice that his attempts to comfort the main character come off as sexual harassment.

Darkwick Academy Cats

A variety of cats that tend to different matters around campus, such as running errands or messages for the chancellor, conducting the Galaxy Express, and even routine maintenance work. Cornelius says they're more cohabitants on the campus than pets.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Why there's a horde of cats living at Darkwick, and intelligent enough to do things like conduct trains and perform routine maintenance, is a mystery.
• Logical Weakness: They may be highly intelligent and capable, but they're still the size of normal housecats.

Darkwick Academy Houses

In general

The seven student Houses of Darkwick Academy. Each contains general and ghoul students.

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• The Ace: In addition to their abilities and role in the school, a few of them are also quite good at academics.
• Always Male: Even though anyone of any gender can presumably make a pact with a demon and become a ghoul, the ghouls in the game are all male, likely due to the game’s genre.
• Ambiguous Situation: How and why they made pacts with demons to begin with. They all wished for something enough to do it, but that’s all we know. Leo even touches on this in his character quote.
  Leo: Aren't you curious about what wish all these ghouls sold their souls for?
• Ambiguously Human: It’s apparently an in-universe topic of debate as to whether ghouls are a separate race or not, but they started out as humans, and beyond their stigmas there’s really not a lot of difference.
• Bequeathed Power: Their abilities stem from power gained from a demon they made a pact with.
• The Chosen One: As ghouls, they’re the ones able to fight back against the anomalies, even if they didn’t ask for it.
• Dark and Troubled Past: What made them make their pacts to begin with is probably nothing pleasant.
• Deal with the Devil: How they became ghouls.
• Fate Drives Us Together: They’re forced to work with the main character on missions, regardless of how anyone feels about it.
• Jerkass: Jin, Leo, Ren, and Taiga may all take some getting used to.
• Magic Knight: They are trained to fight anomalies using their stigmas, but some of them are physically capable as well.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: They’re the heroes of the story (at least for a given value of “hero”) and they’re very powerful.
• Positive Friend Influence: Professor Hyde suggests that the main character’s ability to get along with the ghouls creates this.
• The Power of Friendship: They all form a bond with the main character, some of them in spite of themselves, and it helps them to finish the mission.
• Recurring Element: There’s at least one ghoul in each house who resists the main character’s accompaniment, or otherwise can’t be bothered with the current mission at first. There’s also implied to be at least one ghoul that develops romantic feelings for the main character as well, if the appearance of the Like Dove in each chapter is any indication.
• Smug Super: They have powers and durability granted to them by their demon patrons, and some of them are pretty smug about it.
• Stepford Smiler: All of them wished for something enough to make a demon pact, and then lost something along with their humanity in return. They all seem mostly well-adjusted all things considered but a few moments imply it’s more this trope.
• Superpower Lottery: Their stigmas vary far and wide, not to mention they’re stronger and more durable than regular humans.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The ghouls tend to conflict with each other both within their own Houses and even more so between Houses. It becomes evident fairly early on to the main character that there’s a simmering tension between all of them.
• You Are Not Alone: By the end of Episode 3, the main character realizes she needs them as much as they need her, and for better or worse they’re all stuck together.

Frostheim

In general

The first of the Houses and the focus of Episode 1 “The Man Who Grants Wishes.”

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: The dorm uniform is a three-piece suit, and the ghouls are badass. Well, excepting Kaito, anyway.
• A Day in the Limelight: The focus of Episode 1.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Being the House that embodies prestige comes with this in its wheelhouse. Again, excepting Kaito.
• Meaningful Name: It’s probably not surprising the House called Frostheim is a little chilly, both physically and personality-wise. Luca and Kaito actually seem to be exceptions to the rest of their House.
• Motifs: Frostheim has the most of any House. Given their name and nature, they’re naturally associated with wintry themes. They’re also most often depicted by chess pieces, usually a rook or king, emphasizing their prestige and wealth. They also are associated with swords, with two of the ghouls using them as artifacts (Luca’s twin swords, and Jin’s more traditional longsword) and the other two having sharp blades in non-sword artifacts (Tohma’s halberd and Kaito’s arrows). Finally, royalty themes are abundant in Frostheim. Jin, the House captain, and his vice-captain Tohma are referred to in chapter titles as the King and King’s Advisor respectively. Luca is also referred to as the Knight while Kaito is called the Archer (albeit reluctantly), which while not be explicitly royal still has similar medieval connotations. There’s also a crown on their crest.
• Pride: The Frostheim students by-and-large come from wealthy backgrounds, and have quite a lot of pride as a result.
• Stealth Pun: One feature of their dorm is a safe covered in frost. They have frozen assets.

Jin Kamurai

A party? No thanks. I don't waste air on bootlickers.

VA: Hayato Dojima

Year: Third year
Birthday: 8/31
Blood Type: B
Star Sign: Virgo
Likes: Chess
Special Artifact: Sword

Captain of Frostheim House and heir to the influential Kamurai family. Though surly and arrogant, he is highly capable. Once the charismatic ruler of Frostheim, lately he spends his days locked away in his icy chambers, and few can even claim to have seen his face.

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• The Aloner: Spends a majority of his time in his room, and prefers to spend it alone.
• Ambiguous Situation: Jin's mother is implied to have recently passed away due to some mental illness but the specifics have yet to be explored.
• Badass Bureaucrat: Maybe not quite yet, but his father is the President of the Anomalous Research Institute and he's the heir of the family. He's also a badass ghoul with a giant sword as his special artifact.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The situation with his mother and the fallout from The Clash are why he started holing himself up in his room.
• Defrosting Ice King: He starts to show more compassion by the end of Episode 1 when he asks the MC to dance to help her save face, as well as when he reprimands Lucas for instigating Vagastrom because it put the MC in danger.
• Fairytale Motifs: His being someone of high power and authority asking a commoner like the MC to dance is reminiscent of the story of Cinderella.
• Ice King: Captain of the icy Frostheim House, and with a cold personality to match.
• Jerkass: Not a very friendly or approachable person, when the MC enters his room for the first time he essentially threatens to kill her if she shows up again. He gets marginally better by the end of the Episode but just barely.
• Missing Mom: His mother apparently passed away recently after struggling with some kind of illness, but this is only mentioned in passing.
• Mystical White Hair: He's a rich and influential ghoul, the captain of his House, and has white hair.
• Pride: The captain of Frostheim, which is full of prideful students, and his isolation hasn't done much to dull his own arrogance, thinking that many things are beneath him.
• Signature Move: His stigma Bianerus makes others follow his commands. Fitting for the “King” of Frostheim.
• Synchronization: His stigma works on larger groups as well, making them all move how he wants them to in unison.
• You Are Not Alone: His reasoning for asking the main character to dance at the end of Episode 1 is implied to be due to this - other Frostheim students won't look down on her for coming alone and not being from a prestigious family if she dances with Frostheim's captain.

Tohma Ishibashi

I lend a sympathetic ear to those in need—that's all.

VA: Wataru Komada

Year: Third year
Birthday: 5/31
Blood Type: O
Star Sign: Gemini
Likes: N/A
Special Artifact: Halberd

The vice-captain of Frostheim House is not afraid to get his hands dirty in pursuit of his goals. He has been running Frostheim in Jin’s absence. His calm and collected demeanor and distinguished monocle mask the insidious glint in his eye.

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Kaito Fuji

How would you know what it's like to be at the bottom of the food chain?

VA: Reiji Kawashima

Year: Second year
Birthday: 12/11
Blood Type: B
Star Sign: Sagittarius
Likes: Dime-store DIY
Special Artifact: Rogue bow

A trend-chasing social media enthusiast, Kaito works hard to fit in with the Frostheim elites despite his modest upbringing, but his efforts are overshadowed by his tendency to be a gutless coward.

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• Expy: Matches Zenitsu's looks and cowardliness, and his crush on the main character is reminiscent of Zenitsu's crush on Nezuko.

Lucas Errant

I came to this school to learn how to subjugate demons.

VA: Takehiro Urao

Year: Second year
Birthday: 3/22
Blood Type: A
Star Sign: Aries
Likes: Puzzles
Special Artifact: Twin swords

A transfer student from Darkwick’s sister school in the UK, Lucas is friendly, honest, and chivalrous, but tends to lose perspective when anomalies are involved, and is unusually fixated on demons. He is searching for his twin brother.

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Vagastrom

In general

The second House and the focus of Episode 2 “Live from the Other Side”.

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• Chained by Fashion: Their dorm outfits all have chain accents.
• Cool Car: Their main dorm area is a giant car garage, and most of them seem to have interest and knowledge in cars and machinery.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Alan himself says most of the students in his House are rough around the edges, but came to Darkwick to make something of themselves for people back home.
• A Day in the Limelight: The focus of Episode 2.
• Face of a Thug: They’re a group of primarily Japanese Delinquents and look the part.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: As expected for the delinquent House, its members like to hang out in the Pit - which is pretty much a fighting ring that prohibits the use of any weaponry.
• Hot-Blooded: Not unexpectedly, this House enjoys fighting and gets riled up easily.
• Japanese Delinquents: The theme of the House; its students all look and act the part, though they’re not as bad as they initially seem.
• Jerkass: The House known for taking in delinquents, and all three of its ghouls embody this to some degree or another: Alan has the Face of a Thug and is rumored to have killed someone, Leo is an It's All About Me social media influencer who has no qualms about using people for his own benefit, and Sho has a foul mouth and general disinterest in other people and their schemes. Although, by the end of the episode all of them prove to have Hidden Depths beyond this trope.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: By the end of the episode they are more toward this, while never quite losing their gruff exterior. Alan proves that he’s a capable and responsible captain clearly haunted by past mistakes. Sho warms up to the main character and fully embraces his culinary skills, even opening his own food truck, while displaying moments of compassion and integrity. Leo shows off his sharp wit and intellect while solving the case, as well as prowess as a hacker, though in his case he never sheds his scheming and willingness to use others.
• Motifs: Chains, they’re everywhere from their crest to dorm outfits to official card art. Also one for cars, and just things with an engine in general. Their dorm is a car mechanic garage, many of the students are implied to be proficient in working on cars, Alan and Tohma hold their meetings in a car, and Sho’s artifact is a motorbike.
• Positive Friend Influence: By the end of Episode 2, at least most of the Vagastrom students seem to accept the main character, perhaps barring Leo. Alan and Sho certainly become more open after meeting her, and when the main character goes missing in Episode 3 Hyde says “even one or two” of the Vagastrom ghouls wanted to join the search and rescue for her.
• We ARE Struggling Together: None of the Vagastrom ghouls get along particularly well, even as “partners in crime” Leo and Sho seem to only tolerate each other at best.

Alan Mido

I got something I need to do here.

VA: Hinata Tadokoro

Year: Third year
Birthday: 4/25
Blood Type: A
Star Sign: Taurus
Likes: Driving
Special Artifact: Steel pipe

Captain of the roguish Vagastrom House. Rumor has it he killed someone, but everyone is too afraid of him to ask if it’s true. His sharp, steady gaze reveals unshakeable conviction and unshatterable will.

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Leo Kurosagi

Aren't you curious about what wish all these ghouls sold their souls for?

VA: Yuya Hozumi

Year: First year
Birthday: 5/23
Blood Type: AB
Star Sign: Gemini
Likes: Baths
Special Artifact: Chewing gum

A top social media influencer with lightning-fast wit who can talk anyone into a corner. His shameless egotism and cynicism put him in constant conflict with others. Always in search of the next thrill and never hesitant to use others to get it, “demon” is a word that fits him well.

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Shohei Haizono

Pass. I'm not going on some kindergarten field trip with you.

VA: Wataru Urata

Year: First year
Birthday: 8/19
Blood Type: B
Star Sign: Leo
Likes: Cooking
Special Artifact: Motorbike

A multitalented delinquent with diverse interests who can pick up any new skill with ease. His cocky attitude tends to rub people the wrong way. He and Leo have been partners in crime since before they came to Darkwick. A capable cook, he is particular about his dishes.

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Jabberwock

In general

The third of Darkwick's Houses and the focus of Episode 3 “It Came from the Sea.”

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• A Day in the Limelight: The focus of Episode 3.
• Green Aesop: Respecting and living in harmony with nature is a major theme of both the house and the ecological missions they undertake.
• Married to the Job: Jabberwock is the busiest of the Houses, being the one looking after anomalous animals.
• Motifs: They have an axolotl on their House crest, and are symbolized by a four-leaf clover on the WickChat screen. Axolotls certainly look like they could be anomalous animals, and they’re an animal/nature-themed House.
• Nice Guy: One of the nicest Houses at the Academy, even Ren has his moments of reluctant heroism.
• No Social Skills: The three ghouls that make up this House are all socially challenged in some way: Haru, while friendly and outgoing, tends to rope people in his sales pitches a little too readily. Ren would rather be cooped up in his room gaming and watching movies than socialize. And Towa is….well, Towa.
• Shout-Out: Their house name is a reference to a draconian character from Alice in Wonderland, and Jabberwock itself looks like the paradise Wonderland is said to be.
• Theme Naming: It makes sense that the House in charge of handling animal anomalies is named after the Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland.
• Violation of Common Sense: Their part of campus exists in an idyllic summer landscape full of anomalous animals that is essentially a Pocket Dimension within Darkwick’s campus. Also there’s an anomaly in Jabberwock that’s both a tour bus and capybara in one.

Haru Sagara

You'll be right, you got this! I believe in you!

VA: Masamu Ono

Year: Third year
Birthday: 9/20
Blood Type: AB
Star Sign: Virgo
Likes: Energy drinks
Special Artifact: Deck brush

The Jabberwock captain’s feet are never still as he spends day and night running around after the creatures in his care. Though relentlessly cheerful and energetic, he drags those around him into trouble with his comical and haphazard antics. Peekaboo rarely leaves his side.

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Towa Otonashi

... ♪

VA: Daisuke Hirose

Year: Second year
Birthday: 3/23
Blood Type: Unknown
Star Sign: Aries
Likes: Romance
Special Artifact: Bubble wand

Jabberwock’s vice-captain loves flowers and playing with bubbles. He is strikingly whimsical and capricious, but is quite attached to Haru. He has a peculiar skill for making supernatural creatures do his bidding.

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• Expy: Towa is quite possibly the most egregious example in this Cast of Expies, as he's almost the same character as Misumi Ikaruga, right down to sharing the same voice actor.
  • Beyond sharing an actor, Towa and Misumi are both the eccentric free spirit of their respective casts with an ambiguous disorder, hyperfixation on a specific thing (flowers for Towa, triangles for Misumi), are the only characters of their casts to have oddly-shaped pupils (horizontal rectangles for Towa, triangles for Misumi), and an almost childlike innocence to them that belies a deeper understanding of their surroundings and the people in them than one would assume. Not to mention they're both absurdly athletic, pulling off acrobatic feats like jumping higher than should be possible though in Towa's case it can at least be partially explained by his capabilities as a ghoul.

Ren Shiranami

That's harassment. Is everyone in this place from the past?

VA: Shoya Chiba

Year: First year
Birthday: 7/25
Blood Type: O
Star Sign: Leo
Likes: Horror B-movies
Special Artifact: Swim ring

Assigned to the endlessly busy Jabberwock House despite his total lack of motivation. Convinced all his misfortunes are the fault of his environment, his phone is his only sanctuary. His grievances are unending, and he flat-out refuses to get involved in anything troublesome.

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Sinostra

In general

The fourth of Darkwick's Houses, and the focus of Episode 4 “The Carnivorous Casino.”

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• A Day in the Limelight: The focus of Episode 4.
• Guns Akimbo: Fittingly, for a Mafia/yakuza-themed House. Both the captain and vice-captain have gun artifacts.
• Hand Cannon: Both Taiga and Romeo’s guns are at least the size of their forearms.
  • At least in the prologue, in Chapter 4 Taiga is seen more often with a revolver.
• Motifs: Skulls and playing cards. They have a “Mafia-running-a-dubious-casino” theme so it makes sense.

Taiga Hoshibami

Quit squirming around. You that excited to be my next meal?

VA: Jin Ogasawara

Year: Third year
Birthday: 10/16
Blood Type: O
Star Sign: Libra
Likes: Gambling
Special Artifact: Machine gun

Captain of Sinostra and owner of the extravagant casino housed there. His impulsive and unpredictable behavior puts him in constant conflict with others. Though an uncannily skilled gambler, his money squandering causes violent arguments between him and his partner Romeo.

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• Expy: Seems like a slightly more bloodthirsty Rinne Amagi.

Romeo Scorpius Lucci

Hmph. If you want to survive here, you better not piss me off.

VA: Fumitake Ishiguro

Year: Third year
Birthday: 11/14
Blood Type: A
Star Sign: Scorpio
Likes: Luxury goods
Special Artifact: Sniper rifle

Vice-captain Romeo holds the purse strings in Sinostra’s casino, and is forever dissatisfied with the bottom line. This stoic perfectionist will forgive no compromises in his quest to sate his greed and maintain his trademark good looks.

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Ritsu Shinjo

As long as I am your attorney, I will not allow you to stand trial before anyone.

VA: Arthur Lounsbery

Year: First year
Birthday: 1/13
Blood Type: A
Star Sign: Capricorn
Likes: Client acquisition
Special Artifact: Compendium of Laws

A resilient first-year striving to become Japan’s next top attorney. Though initially disgruntled with his placement, he quickly sets his sights on reforming Sinostra’s notorious reputation. Rumor has it he is the son of one of Tokyo’s most morally bankrupt lawyers.

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• All There in the Manual: He invokes this trope in-universe, whenever he recites an article from the Japanese penal code, which he has memorized of course.
• Berserk Button: Taiga presses the normally-unflappable Ritsu’s button twice: first when he says his handwriting is illegible and again when he tells the lithe Ritsu he needs to bulk up more.
• Character Catchphrase: He’ll be quick to tell you that his going rate for consultations is “5500 yen per 30 minutes, tax inclusive.” That’s just about $36 USD in case you were wondering.
• Crazy-Prepared: He carries around a notebook dossier on all the students and staff of Darkwick, a briefcase containing important documents, or documents that might become important later, and at least two voice recorders recording every conversation he has for use down the line should he need it. To him, this is just what a prepared lawyer does.
• Defrosting Ice King: It’s subtle but it’s there. At first he creates a partnership with the main character for the mission because their goals are aligned, and he might as well use her if she has to be inspector anyway. By the episode’s end he seems genuine in his apology that they couldn’t capture the anomaly to get it to reverse her curse and promises that they will take on more missions in their partnership so that the MC may put an end to her curse.
• Determinator: In his quest to get either Taiga or Romeo to sign the investigation order, and thus begin his larger goal of getting the Darkwick Gala reinstated, he endures several guns pointed at his head. Thankfully, his stigma prevents there being any real danger of bodily harm to himself.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ritsu’s jerkass tendencies mostly stem from his cold professionalism and ideas of what a proper lawyer should act like (ie: his morally-questionable attorney father). He doesn’t seem to be too bad of a guy past that.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: So much so that he’s at first shocked that he isn’t placed into Frostheim.
• Married to the Job: See Crazy-Prepared above for just how much he is. The guy is pretty much always thinking of what could be used as evidence down the line.
• Meaningful Name: Ritsu is a Japanese male name that means “law.”
• Non-Action Guy: We never see him use his artifact to fight, and his stigma is defense-oriented. He’s more likely to strategize the plans and leave the roughing up to Taiga and Romeo.
• Signature Move: His stigma, Acimo, turns his body hard enough to withstand any force.

Hotarubi

In general

The fifth of Darkwick's Houses, and one known for having exceptionally gifted and artistic students. The focus House of Episode 5, “The Cursed Temple”.

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• A Day in the Limelight: The focus of Episode 5.
• Motifs: Hand fans, fitting for a House themed on traditional Japanese culture.
  • Also, fireflies. One is prominently displayed on the House crest, and it’s even in the House name Hotarubi, with hotaru (蛍) meaning “firefly” and bi (火) meaning “fire/light”.
• Nice Guy: Of all the houses, Hotarubi's ghouls are shown to be the kindest of the lot. Subaru is a soft-spoken and humble captain, Haru claims he's lazy but helps out his classmates when they need it and is the one to come to the main character's aid in the prologue, and Zenji is outright stated to be a worrywart and caring.

Subaru Kagami

Oh, you don't need to call me Captain... I'm just a figurehead, really.

VA: Masahiro Yamanaka

Year: Third year
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Special Artifact: Parasol

Hotarubi is known to house excellent students, and its hardworking captain is the embodiment of that. However, his strong sense of responsibility often leads him to bottle things up. Though a prominent kabuki actor since childhood, he is currently on hiatus.

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• Beneath the Mask: There is definitely more to him than meets the eye, a fact Leo notices when he determines to find out why a prominent and well-off kabuki actor would make a pact with a demon.
• Nice Guy: A soft-spoken, humble, and kind ghoul. He and the rest of Hotarubi stand out for being this by the time their Episode rolls around.
• The Quiet One: Is noticeably much less talkative and outgoing than most of the rest of the cast, with the possible exceptions of Jin and Towa.

Haku Kusanagi

Don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's okay to half-ass stuff, you know.

VA: Wataru Katoh

Year: Third year
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Special Artifact: Flute

Despite his insistence that he’s lazy, the easygoing Hotarubi vice-captain is often in the position of being everyone’s minder, and is frequently relied on to clean up his fellow students’ messes. He is the heir to a prominent Shinto shrine, and often sees things others can’t.

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• Demoted to Extra: Despite being the one to find and bring the MC to Darkwick, due to his House's A Day in the Limelight not happening until Episode 5, he swiftly takes a backseat to the ghouls of Frostheim, Vagastrom, Jabberwock, and Sinostra until he and the rest of Hotarubi become plot-relevant again.
• Nice Guy: The first friendly ghoul the MC meets, he helps her to the Academy to get help for her injury and figure out why the matches aren't working on her. He shows up again in Episode 1 when the MC is trying to run away again, and gently persuades her to stay.
• Oh, Crap!: Basically his reaction to the Mesmer Matches not working on the main character.
• Put on a Bus: He introduced the MC (and the player) to the titular academy, and then disappears more or less until Episode 5.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The vice-captain of his House, and a pretty reasonable guy, especially by the rest of the cast's standards.
• Reality Warper: Implied to be one of the abilities of his artifact, as when he meets the main character he mentions "cordoning off" the entire train station to protect civilians from Taiga's encounter with the anomaly, insinuating this is the reason why there's suddenly no one else around.
• The Reliable One: Whatever it says about everyone else, the most reliable member of the cast is the one that claims laziness.
• Supernatural Sensitivity: Perhaps due to being a Shinto priest, he is stated to have a higher awareness of the unseen than most others.

Zenji Kotodama

Ha ha. Zenji Kotodama, inspired man of the quill, shall regale you with a romance smoldering with hope and dreams!

VA: Naoya Miyase

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Special Artifact: Marionette

A self-proclaimed “inspired man of the quill,” Zenji spends each day seeking inspiration. The people around him struggle to understand his unique sensibilities, but he always seems to be in good spirits. Though eccentric, he cares deeply for others and can be a bit of a worrywart.

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• Expy: If Homare Arisugawa dyed his hair dark purple and became a ghoul he'd be Zenji Kotodama.
• Meaningful Name: His surname, Kotodama, is roughly translated as "soul/power of words." Fitting for the inspired man of the quill.
• Nice Guy: Zenji's always in a good mood, and cares for the people around him.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted, he has red eyes but is one of the nicest characters in the game.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's essentially Tokyo Debunker's Homare Arisugawa from A3!

Mortkranken

In general

The sixth House, housing students specializing in anomalous medicine and doubles as a medical facility. The students in this House are responsible for administering the student health checks.

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• The Dreaded: Given Yuri's penchant for experimenting, Mortkranken has become this for the students of other Houses.
• Gratuitous French: The "mort" of Mortkranken is likely a reference to the French word for death. Not very encouraging for a House of doctors.
• Meaningful Name: The House name. "Mort" likely refers to le mort - meaning death in French. "Kranken" meanwhile is the German word for "suffer." Oh and the House is for medical students.
• The Medic: The students of Mortkranken deal explicitly with anomalous medicine.
• Motifs: Hourglasses.
  • To a lesser extent, butterflies, in a context reminiscent of the Butterfly of Death and Rebirth trope.

Yuri Isami

Allow me to grant you the privilege of becoming my test subject.

VA: Koseki Kogure

Year: Third year
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Special Artifact: Syringe

The domineering captain of Mortkranken, which doubles as a medical facility and houses students who specialize in anomalous medicine. Sly and calculating, he will take any opportunity to turn anomalies and other ghouls into lab rats for his experiments.

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• The Ace: He's an extremely capable and intelligent doctor. He just so happens to like experimenting a little too much.
• Berserk Button: Implying he isn't the greatest doctor that ever lived is sure to set him off.
• Creepy Good: He apparently likes to experiment on others. He's also one of the ghouls the story revolves around, and is meant to fight off anomalies like the rest of them.
• The Dreaded: Fear of being roped into his experiments keeps other characters wary of him, if Kaito's conversation with Luca during a campus character scene is any indication.
• Hot-Blooded: He's loud and self-confident, playing against Jiro's The Stoic.
• Jerkass: He's very self-important, and likes to remind others of his prowess.
• Married to the Job: His first appearance is him conducting the main character's health check with Jiro, something they're said to do for all the students. Jiro also mentions he didn't come along the second time because he passed out from staying up late experimenting.
• The Medic: Shares this role with Jiro.
• Smug Super: Believes he's the only capable practitioner of anomalous medicine at Darkwick.

Jiro Kirisaki

Did it really break so easily? That's annoying.

VA: Hideyuki Kobayashi

Year: Second year
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Special Artifact: Chainsaw

The vice-captain of Mortkranken and Yuri Isami’s right-hand man. He is fearfully referred to as “Frankenstein,” and rumor has it he simply woke up in a lab one day. Cool and apathetic, he has an impressive knowledge of medicine.

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• Ambiguously Human: Putting aside the fact that all of the ghouls are this, Jiro is also called Frankenstein for the rumor he woke up in the lab one day.
• Artificial Human / Humanoid Abomination: The rumor that he woke up in a lab like Frankenstein asserts this. Whether or not ghouls themselves even count as still human in the first place is debated in-universe.
• Butt-Monkey: His mysterious illness and accompanying nausea seems to present itself at the most inopportune times. It's even one of his home screen lines.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: He’s a capable medical student with a wide knowledge of the field, and yet seems to show less regard for his own illness.
• Creepy Good: He's one of the heroes of the story, and yet it's rumored that he was made in a lab, and he follows Yuri around to assist in his work.
• The Dragon: To Yuri, though a more reserved example than most.
• The Lancer: To Yuri, as his vice-captain.
• Married to the Job: His initial appearances all revolve around him giving the player character health checks.
• The Medic: Shares this role with Yuri.
• Mr. Fanservice: Surprisingly, Jiro has the most seductive-looking initial SSR, laying cuffed to an operating table, disheveled.
• The Quiet One: Jiro is very stoic and unemotional - especially compared to how boisterous and loud his captain can be.

Obscuary

In general

The seventh and newest House. It's members are shrouded in mystery.

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• All There in the Manual: The only indication in the beginning that there are other ghouls in Obscuary besides Rui is the opening portion of a new game where the player is asked to pick a ghoul they'll "save" (receive their SR card of, and the one that appears in the opening In Medias Res cutscene): Obscuary has three silhouettes of its ghouls but only Rui is revealed while the others remain in shadow.
• The Faceless: Both in and out of universe. Not many of the students know who is in Obscuary, and at launch only Rui was a confirmed member, vice-captain of the house. The captain and other ghoul part of the Obscuary cast remained silhouettes.
• Foreshadowing: Their ambiguity is basically a red flag that they're pretty important to the plot.
• The Ghost: Similar to The Faceless above, despite being the seventh House of Darkwick, it doesn't receive a lot of screentime at first, outside of Rui and some brief mentions, living up to its name.
• Meaningful Name: They certainly are the most obscure House.
• Motifs: Bats and candles, emphasizing their mysterious and occult theme.
• The Quiet One: The House as a whole is this due to being more shrouded in mystery and seclusion than the others, at least at first.
• Sixth Ranger: Of the Houses. They're the last and most...well, obscure, of the seven.
• The Unmasking: Will inevitably be the case when it's their turn in the spotlight.
• Walking Spoiler: The House's origins, as well as most of its members, all being unknown means that their connections to the rest of the cast and Darkwick as a whole are this.

Rui Mizuki

Hey, cutie! Want to grab a bite after this?

VA: Yoshiki Nakajima

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Special Artifact: Scythe

Obscuary's vice-captain and an outgoing playboy. Friendly and sociable, he is popular among Darkwick's female students. Though born human, he now bears the curse of a reaper following an accident during a past mission.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: He’s a goofy laidback flirt. He also can kill people just by touching them apparently.
• Grim Reaper: What his curse effectively makes him, the chapter titles even call him the Reaper. He also carries a scythe as his artifact.
• Perpetual Smiler: Always seen with a flirty smirk on his face.
• Stepford Smiler: Heavily implied to be more thoughtful and grim about his predicament than he lets on.

Antagonists

Anomalies

The main villains of the story, the reason the Anomalous Research Institute and Darkwick exist, and what the ghouls are sent out on missions to fight against. They're supposed to subdue anomalies and bring them back to Darkwick for research, but they usually destroy them instead. The main character is assigned as mission inspector in order to provide an accurate account of what happens and to hopefully circumvent this, without much success.

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• Always Chaotic Evil: They're irredeemably evil abominations without a conscience.
• Ambiguous Situation: How the anomalies come to be varies on a case-by-case basis. Finding out what they are and where they came from is the main goal of the missions, right after capturing them. The ghouls usually only manage the first part.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Takeru's Ghost and the Anomalous Dealer are this respectively for the rumors spreading about Takeru wanting revenge for his death and Taiga's discontent and gambling obsession.
• As Long as There Is Evil: The ones born from humans are implied to be this, as truly destroying them would require humans to have a firmer grasp on their thoughts, emotions, and actions.
• Big Bad: Each are the big bads of their respective episodes, and the flower anomaly is one for the story as the one who cursed the main character.
• Big Eater: The Faceless Men like eating human hearts, and the heroes come across a giant pile of corpses they've fed from.
• Body Horror: Seemingly a requirement for anomalies.
• Boss-Altering Consequence: This is the key to defeating Takeru's Ghost as changing the general population's perception of his ghost therefore changes the anomaly that they created.
• Cool Mask: The Anomalous Dealer wears one bisected down the middle by black and white and happy/angry expressions.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Takeru's Ghost to a certain extent as it's not really Takeru himself but rather the masses' impression of Takeru after his death. The Faceless Men are a straighter example.
• The Dreaded: Even Otohime's subjects are afraid of her. Since she can't see they're as likely to be devoured as her enemies.
• Eldritch Abomination: They're largely unknown entities from ambiguous origins and with nebulous goals that torment humans.
• Enemy Without: The ones born from human thought are this.
• Expy: The Faceless Men look like a horde of Slender Mans. In a Cast of Expies like this, even the Monster of the Week isn't immune.
• The Faceless: The Slender Man-esque anomalies of Episode 1. The anomaly that cursed the main character is also this, having a giant eye where her face should be.
• Faux Affably Evil: The flower anomaly pretends to be a kind fellow fan of the concert the main character went to before the prologue's beginning, in order to lure her in.
• Fisher Kingdom: Puns aside, Episode 3's anomaly's palace collapses into its true form - the Flying Dutchman, a legendary ghost ship - once she's defeated.
• Flunky Boss: The fish monsters of the Dragon Palace are this for Otohime.
• For the Evulz: It's in their nature to be evil, and they seem to have no real reason for it other than it's what they're made to do. The Faceless Men play with this trope, as they do what they do in order to feed, but they don't seem to have a problem kicking it up a notch and don't mind playing with their food beforehand.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Faceless Men aren't said to be created by human thought, but where they came from isn't made clear either.
• Gonk: Otohime/Princess Oto is a giant shifting mound of fat with stringy hair and a stretched, deformed face. Not at all the beautiful young woman from the story.
• The Heartless: At least for some of them, they're the emotions and enduring fears of humans given form.
• Humanoid Abomination: All of them so far are human in shape but something utterly other in nature.
• Humans Are Flawed: Some of them are born from human thought and emotions.
• It Can Think: Rather than mindless monsters, these anomalies all have enough self-awareness to plot and deceive. It's part of what makes dealing with them a necessity.
• Knight of Cerebus: In an otherwise fairly lighthearted game, their appearances are always disconcerting and even downright frightening.
• Logical Weakness: The anomaly of Episode 3 can only harm those in the water.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: The Faceless Men prey on wealthy citizens, and so look the part in order to blend in.
• Morphic Resonance: Takeru's Ghost resembles the fake video of Takeru posted after his death, because that's what the general populace sees when they think of him.
• Obviously Evil: By the end of Episode 4, not a single one has looked remotely friendly.
• One-Winged Angel: The Anomalous Dealer, after Taiga proves he can't win against him since he was created from him, and thus removing Taiga would be removing himself, turns into a giant scorpion-like monster and tries to flee.
• Perpetual Smiler: Takeru's Ghost always has a painfully-large smile on his face.
• The Quiet One: Otohime never talks, just hums her Siren Song ominously.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: They are assigned a letter rank based on how dangerous they are.
• Reality Warper: The flower anomaly and the Anomalous Dealer both have this in their skillset. The flower anomaly turns the train the main character rides into a Dark World version of the real one, and the Dealer only appears at his table in some kind of pocket dimension within the Sinostra casino. He's given the first A Rank on the case report submitted by the episode's end for a reason.
• Shapeshifter Default Form: As their name implies, when they aren't wearing the faces of their victims The Faceless Men have a long-limbed and blank-faced form by default.
• Shout-Out: The Faceless Men to Slender Man and Otohime to the Japanese folktale of Urashima Taro.
• Slasher Smile: Sported by the flower anomaly, Takeru's Ghost, and the Anomalous Dealer (or at least half of its face does).
• Stalked by the Bell: The flower anomaly in the prologue does this to the main character, taunting her through her phone all the way.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: If The Faceless Men hadn't gotten greedy by hosting wish-granting demonstrations among Tokyo's elite they could've gotten away with their feasts a lot longer before Darkwick stepped in.
  • The Anomalous Dealer apparently never stopped to think about what doing in Taiga would mean for him.
• This Cannot Be!: The Anomalous Dealer's reaction to Taiga admitting the anomaly came from him and thus he will always win against it when he wants to.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Darkwick steps in only after hearing about an anomaly's actions, since they apparently don't know enough yet to be able to anticipate their appearances.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Takeru's Ghost gets explained in Episode 2, but who or what killed the real Takeru is never addressed. Presumably because if it isn't related to an anomaly it's out of Darkwick's jurisdiction.
• White Mask of Doom: Half of the Anomalous Dealer's mask is white.