Characters / Balan Wonderworld

These are the characters that appear in Balan Wonderworld. Please be aware that spoilers from the novel, Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theater of Wonder, which was released alongside (but sold separately) from the video game, will be mentioned here, as the video game itself has practically no characterization whatsoever outside of short, dialogue-free cutscenes for everyone. Everyone's story is expanded upon and explained in the novel, to the point that the novel is considered essential to understanding Balan Wonderworld.

Playable Characters

Balan

Balan

Portrayed by: Kenichi Suzumura

^{Without his hat (SPOILERS)}

The titular maestro who guides Leo Craig and Emma Cole through Wonderworld. Those who see him never tire of his unexpected and comical antics. He is a charismatic entertainer and the host of the Balan Theater.

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• Aside Glance: Tends to do this during a post-dance cutscene, usually followed by a wink.
• Berserk Button: Downplayed since Balan rarely loses his temper, but he still gets annoyed from time to time.
  • Having to repeat himself. Just hearing Emma reintroduce him to Leo is enough to make Balan sigh.
    Balan: I've lost track of how many millions of times I've introduced myself to the theater's guests. To speak the same words to the same person is something I thoroughly detest.
  • Asking him too many questions. The narrative mentions how Balan "gave an exasperated snort" after saying the following quote.
    Balan: Me oh my, asking questions you certainly do adore. Especially all the ones I've answered before.
• Big Good: The host of the Balan Theater, who guides Leo Craig and Emma Cole through Wonderworld in order to save its inhabitants from their despair.
• But Thou Must!: If you get the 110 trophies needed to go to the final boss, but haven't even beaten all of the Nega Bosses yet, he'll pop up to remind you of that fact.
• The Cameo: Balan has a tendency to show up in both the pre- and post-boss fight cutscenes. While his appearances in the pre-fight cutscenes tend to be blink-and-you'll-miss-it-affairs, the post-fight cutscene oftentimes has him out in full show, sometimes even being the focus of a shot.
  • He also shows up during the sports minigame as a puppet; as the goalie in the soccer minigame, the pitcher in the baseball minigame, and his face adorns the pins in the bowling minigame.
• The Corruptible: At least according to Lance, but he warns Balan that if he grows too attached, then he'll be the new Lance someday, despite the latter's protests.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Balan is hidden in almost every cutscene depicting an inhabitant's backstory. Some have him Hidden in Plain Sight, others are more blatant but can still be missed due to how quickly the scene changes. Generally speaking, he usually shows up right before the backstory takes a turn for the worse.
  • He can sometimes show up in the cutscenes after the dance sequences too. These examples tend to be much more obvious however and may not even attempt to hide him.
• Great Gazoo:
  • He is an incredibly eccentric shapeshifting, foppishly dressed magical being capable of many amazing feats, including flight, the ability to move between the real world and Wonderworld, self-replication, and general Toon Physics.
  • Balan waits until after Leo gets gassed in the face by an aroma-shroom^note a mushroom in Yuri's stage that usually expels pleasant-smelling spores when poked to tell him to stay away from the now noxious mushrooms. Leo calls him out for this, but Balan just tells him that experience is the best teacher before disappearing again.
• Heroic BSoD: When he learns that Lance was the original Balan until he was corrupted by humanity’s collective despair and created the current Balan to replace himself as the Maestro of Wonderworld.
• Hidden Depths: Despite usually being a goofy showman (see Great Gazoo above), he has his moments of wisdom, such as whenever Leo saves an inhabitant from Lance's corruption.
  Balan: (to Lady of the Midnight Sun) I wish I could say your suffering's done, but I fear that it's only just begun. There's no fast way through this, no shortcut to take, though I hope you'll weather the distance for your dear parents' sake. They wouldn't want to see you in pain, to see you throw life and love down the drain.
• Humanoid Abomination: It's not made clear, in the game or the novel, exactly what Balan is. All we know about him is that he isn't human (at least, not physically) and has existed for at least three thousand years.
• Humans Are Bastards: Agrees with the Watcher of the Woods' misanthropic worldview.
  Watcher: Humans are so cruel, so unbelievably selfish and greedy. I hate them. They'll destroy anything in the name of ‘development.' You couldn't pay me to live in one of those big houses. Not when they're built on the bones of the lazulibirds, and who knows how many other poor creatures.
  Balan: Humans are everything you accuse. Between them and the sweet lazulibird, I know which I'd choose.
• Humans Are Special: Acknowledges humanity's problems, but loves them all the same. Lance, however, warns him this love may potentially doom him to become like him someday.
  Balan: My theater exists for only one end: to protect people's hearts, as long as they've hearts to defend.
• Humble Hero: When Cass compliments Balan's looks after he takes his hat off in front of the inhabitants, Balan thanks her and admits to being flattered before putting the hat back on.
• Infinity +1 Sword: His own costume allows the user to jump and glide as many times as they want without no real drawbacks. Unfortunately, it's also locked behind a complicated Tim breeding minigame with no hint on how to actually unlock it in-game.
• Invisible to Normals: A variation: The Balan Theatre only shows up to those whose hearts are out of balance. If Attilio's account is anything to go by, even if a person were to see the Theatre themselves, nobody else around them would.
• It Has Been an Honor: Non-lethal example. When Balan is wishing the inhabitants farewell, he tells them this:^note It's not subtitled in the game, but the novel explains what he actually says
  "But with full certainty this I can declare: it was a delight to have you, my friends, a joy beyond compare."
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Once a person's heart has their balanced restored and they can go home, their memory is wiped, hence the spiel about how 'nobody seems to remember the theatre when they leave' in supplementary materials. Lance's Breaking Speech towards Balan has him call out the latter for seemingly willingly defying this trope and making an exception 'this time' at the end of this set of residents' stay, warning him that if he becomes too attached, he'll become Lance as well.
• Light Is Good: He wears bright colours, is the embodiment of positivity, and a generally helpful and friendly, if eccentric, individual.
• Light Is Not Good: At least according to Lance, who claims that he and Emma (given the nickname of 'Fighter') are out to destroy their homes. Justified because Lance is using Wonderworld as a Lotus-Eater Machine to keep the residents there forever.
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: The Balan Theatre will appear only to those whose hearts were thrown out of balance, at anywhere, and anytime. This is especially apparent in the opening, where Emma and Leo both seem to end up at the theatre at the same time, and Balan greets them more or less the same way.
• Magical Clown: Balan is a mysterious, but charming entertainer who runs the magical Balan Theater.
• Non-Ironic Clown: Despite his mysterious nature, he ultimately wants what's good for his visitors. Lance warns him, however, that this attachment to humans might ultimately come back to bite him and turn him into the new Lance in turn.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's almost always wearing his top hat. So if he takes it off, he's either bidding you farewell from Wonderworld or emotionally distraught.
• Perpetual Smiler: He's always seen with a toothy grin on his face. Even if he feels defeated in the Balan's Bout minigame. Until he takes his hat off and reveals his true form to you; one of the only few times he's not this is in the novel when he consoles both Cass and Iben over their losses, and during Lance's Breaking Speech.
• Pretty Boy: Under his mask, he's quite the looker. Cass lampshades this much to Balan's embarrassment.
• Protagonist Title: Both In-Universe and out. Not only is the game named after him, he's the host of the Balan Theatre.
• Really 700 Years Old: He looks pretty young (especially without his hat), but is said to have existed for at least three thousand years.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Not very noticeable in-game, but definitely so in the novel.
• Screw Destiny: Balan refuses to accept that his growing attachment to mankind could turn him into another Lance one day and promises that he never will. Lance himself, for his part, just thinks that Balan is kidding himself and that the cycle is doomed to repeat.
• Single Tear: He sheds this at the end of the game after Leo and Emma bring him into a Group Hug, at which it forms into a tear shaped crystal. It's implied by Lance that said tear was actually the memories he refused to wipe this time around, but rather keep as a memento.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Balan believed that he had always been the Maestro of Wonderworld. It takes Lance asking him if he remembers anything from the real world to convince him that he was created to be Lance's replacement.
• Vocal Dissonance: Assuming his deep voice isn’t a part of his showman persona, one probably wouldn’t expect Balan to be a Bishōnen under his mask.

Leo Craig

Leo Craig (Streetbeat)

Portrayed by: Shimba Tsuchiya

The Boy Who's Fine with No Friends

The male protagonist of the game. Several years ago, he had an argument with his best friend, and since then, he has preferred to be alone.

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• Character Customization: You can choose one of four options to change Leo's hair and skin color. The default art uses the version with blond hair and blue eyes.
• Friendless Background: In his backstory, he decided it was better to be alone after a falling out with his best friend. This would ultimately throw his heart out of balance and bring him into Wonderworld.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: In this case, he's wearing wireless earbuds in the opening cutscene and dancing by himself, before walking off sadly.
• In-Series Nickname: "Streetbeat."
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: In the novel, Lance wipes his memories of the outside world and puts him on his own stage, just like the rest of Wonderworld's residents. He gets them back after an encounter with Balan and Emma.
• Ship Tease: Gets one moment with Emma in the ending when they take each other's hand and start dancing together.
• Shout-Out: His slicked-back, spiky hair is almost certainly intended as a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog, as Leo was designed by Sonic character designer Naoto Ohshima, and the game was developed by Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: In the novel, Leo actually goes out of his way to avoid attacking Cass's Nega Boss form Purrla, despite being willing to fight the other Nega Bosses to save the inhabitants from Lance's corruption, and instead tries to end the fight and save Cass as quickly as possible. Doubles with Wouldn't Hit a Girl.

Emma Cole

Emma Cole (Fighter)

Portrayed by: Lynn

The Girl Who No Longer Trusts

The female protagonist of the game. She is worried that people talk ill of her behind her back.

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• A Birthday, Not a Break: The maids were actually planning a birthday party for her, but she doesn't learn this until the end of the game, after a whole adventure rescuing people from their personal Despair Event Horizon and facing off against a Monster Clown.
• Character Customization: You can choose one of four options to change Emma's hair and skin color. The default art uses the version with blond hair and green eyes.
• Demoted to Extra: She gets less appearances in the novel, her character arc already taken care of off-page and instead helping Balan while Leo is the one who saves the inhabitants from their despair and returns them to normal.
• Hero of Another Story: Leo remains the viewpoint character for the majority of the book, while Emma's role and character arc are only briefly described long after it's been taken care of. Emma instead helps Balan to save Leo from Lance's corruption and while Leo is saving everyone else, she takes the fight to Lance, which is never shown.
• In-Series Nickname: "Fighter."
• Lonely Rich Kid: She doesn't seem to have any friends before going to Wonderworld, and her family's maids appear to talk about her behind her back. They were actually planning a birthday party for her.
• Ship Tease: Gets one moment with Leo in the ending where they take each other's hand and start dancing together.

Inhabitants

In General

• Adaptation Expansion: While the game does give backstory to the inhabitants, it does so using dialogue-free cutscenes that only give you the Broad Strokes. In the novel however, several of the characters get their reasons for going to Wonderworld expanded on.
  • Jose Gallard: He has a wife and son, and he was hoping to use the profits from his corn crop to send his son to college. After the tornado wrecked his harvest, his son tried to comfort him by saying he didn’t have to go to college, but that just pushed Jose over the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Yuri Brand: She brought in some caterpillars for her class to take care of while they were studying butterflies; while she got some help initially, eventually she was left to take care of them alone. It didn't help that one of them required a special food that didn't grow anywhere near her home, meaning she had to get up at dawn just to go find it. Eventually, the other kids started bullying her over her devotion towards the caterpillars, disheartening her.
  • Haoyu Chang: He decided to test one of his homemade flying machines by flying across the river in his town. He didn't make it; instead, he crashed so badly that he broke a number of bones and had to be carried away on a stretcher. When the doctor told him he could have been paralyzed by the accident, he became so terrified that he locked up his workshop and refused to make another attempt.
  • Sana Hudson: The birds she was watching over were lazulibirds, an endangered species. When their home was destroyed, she discovered that all the eggs they'd laid had been smashed. The parent lazulibirds then refused to move on from their broken nest when winter came, leaving Sana to find their frozen bodies in the snow.
  • Cal Suresh: After his first loss, he started obsessively trying to take back his spot as number 1, only to keep losing over and over again to younger players. Tragically, his obsession with chess led to him neglecting his terminally-ill wife, and he only realized how much it was hurting him after she died. This left him crushed, and he threw away all his chess sets, trophies, and medals afterwards, but he still felt empty inside.
  • Lucy Wong: After her paintings started becoming popular, she started stressing over how the public would perceive them rather than just painting what she wanted. The art block she's suffering from comes from the stress over trying to create another "masterpiece".
  • Eis Glover: He used to be enthusiastic about his job as a firefighter, and loved the feeling of being a hero every time he went out. Then he and his coworkers were called on to keep a fire in an abandoned factory from spreading — a fire that quickly turned into an inferno after hitting something combustible. Eis was frightened and ended up being the only one to back away from the fire, leaving him ashamed — especially when the papers came out the next day and hailed his coworkers as heroes.
• Amnesiac Resonance: While Lance wiped their memories, hints to their lives and trauma can be found in the stages they live in — Yuri's has no butterflies because they remind her of why she was bullied, while Cal creates a "queen" for himself as a sort of replacement for his dead wife.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Their boss forms are massive, with Fortstopher IV arguably being the tallest of the bunch.
• Back for the Finale: All of the inhabitants you saved throughout the course of the game come back to cheer Emma and/or Leo on during the final battle with Lance's One-Winged Angel form to help give them their second wind, and to give them their signature costume to take on Lance. This occurs in the novel as well.
• Bittersweet Ending: While most of the inhabitants get a happy ending, some of their character arcs end this way after their hearts are healed.
  • Downplayed in Jose Gallard's case in the game at least. Jose Gallad regains the will to keep working on his farm, vowing to to start over and rebuild what tornado destroyed, and is happy when he finds out that one of his crops managed to survive at least. The end credits showed he eventually suceeded in regrowing his crops. The novel instead turns this into a Earn Your Happy Ending by revealing that it took 2 years to harvest the crop necessary to pay back his loan from the bank and send his son off to college.
  • Unlike in the game, where Fiona is able to instantly forgive the dolphin that almost drowned her and start happily swimming again, the novel has Fiona instead take steps to recover from her trauma. Despite knowing the dolphin that pulled out her regulator didn't mean any harm, she still can't bring herself to forgive that specific dolphin just yet, but she is able to start swimming again with other dolphins at Chang's encouragement.
  • While the forest is still destroyed, Sana Hudson is able to find a compromise with the construction workers and build homes for the birds alongside the hotels. In the novel, Sana has a nature reserve build for the lazulibirds, and while happy for the most part, it's clear that she still has some grievances with humans and could slip back into her despair with the right trigger (namely if lazulibirds were to die while humans aren't even trying to save them).
  • Cal Surresh never reclaims his title as a champion chess player, but he has reignited his passion for chess and becomes a better sport when it comes to losing. In the novel, he has vowed to never let his obsession and pride blind him to what's most important to him again, opening a chess workshop and teaching young players how to play chess. He even manages to find a second hobby in cooking.
  • After her heart is healed, Iben Bia accepts the loss of her parents, but is able to love again, get married, and become a parent herself. In the novel, it's mentioned that while she will still miss her parents, she promises to never again let her grief take over, becoming a Good Parent for her son and newborn daughter.
  • In the novel, it's mentioned that Eis Glover still has a fear of fire, but he's still able to do his job as a firefighter without the fear holding him back.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Each stage hosts a series of costumes for Leo and Emma to pick up, giving them a variety of abilities to help tackle whatever obstacles and bosses they need to face.
• The Corruption: Each of them were corrupted by Lance into giant monsters with their own despair, and it's up to Leo and Emma to save them. The novel reveals he gave them their powers to defend their Happy Place.
• Despair Event Horizon: Each of the inhabitants fell into despair at some point in their lives, allowing them to be affected by Lance's corruption. Once they're saved, they manage to come back from the brink and pick themselves up again.
• Disappears into Light: All of the Nega Bosses shrink down into a small ball of light when defeated, only to be replaced by their respective human that's been saved from their despair. Said humans also do this in the final battle to help Leo and Emma fight Lance's One-Winged Angel form by giving them the energy to utilise their signature costume during his battle. By the time the final dance number rolls around, they're perfectly fine.
• Dub Name Change: Not for the humans, but for each of their respective monster form (although none of the bosses' names are mentioned in-game):
  • Howling Wolf = Barktholomew
  • Jelly Dolphin = Anjellica
  • Brilliant Worm = Wormsworth
  • Riot Plane = Worville Wright
  • Crazy Bird = Cuckoo
  • Fat Cat = Purrla
  • King Fortress = Fortstopher IV
  • Terror Reaper = The Grim Creeper
  • Nightmare Princess = Princess Marey
  • Pain Kraken = Inkabelle
  • Dragon Hydrant = The Hydrac
  • Invisible Hoover = Hooverton
• Final-Exam Boss: Downplayed. In order to earn all three Balan Statues, you need to hit them a total of three times in a different way in order to defeat them. This usually comes in the form of the costumes of their respective world.
• Five-Token Band: They seem to have a decent variety of ethnicities and ages.
• Happy Place: All of the stages are intended to be a physical version of this for the residents during their stay in Wonderworld. Lance exploits this in his plan to keep them happy and placid forever, while giving them the ability to transform into monsters to defend their homes.
• In-Series Nickname: All of them have nicknames in the novel courtesy of Wonderworld itself. Jose is "Scarecrow," Fiona is "Seagazer," Yuri is "Bugsy," Haoyu is "Skygazer," Sana is "Watcher of the Woods" or "Watcher" for short, Cass is "Clocktower Kid," Cal is "Checkered King," Iben is "The Lady of the Midnight Sun," Attilio is "Pensive Pierrot" or "Pensive" for short, Lucy is "Madam of the Mansion," Eis is "Sentinel of the City" or just "Sentinel," and Bruce is "Invisible Custodian." That's because Lance wiped everybody's memories, including their names, to keep them placid forever.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Each stage is actually this for the residents, meant to keep them in there forever so they don't have to face reality, which flies in the face of Wonderworld's true purpose.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Each of the Nega Bosses are composed of at least two or more costumes of the inhabitant's world, using their respective abilities to hinder the protagonists.
• No Name Given: The game does not reveal the real names of the humans (except for the player characters) during normal gameplay, instead referring to them with titles such as "The Man Who Rages Against the Storm," "The Former Champion Who’s Stuck in the Past," or "The Girl and the Kitten." In-game, the only way to actually find out their real names is to check the theatre mode or watch the end credits. The novel, on the other hand, clearly gives each human a name during the story.
• Purple Is Powerful: While it's more apparent on some bosses more than others (like the Hydrac, due to the fire hydrant that makes up his body), each of the Nega Bosses primarily sports a purple colour scheme and pattern thanks to Lance's corruption. Unsurprisingly, they're much stronger than regular Negati, to boot.
• Puzzle Boss: Each boss needs 3 hits to kill, and you need to kill them in different ways if you want the Balan Statues.
• Rule of Symbolism: All of the inhabitants' stages and monster forms, as well as the costumes obtained in each of their stages, represent their respective trauma in some way.
• Victim of the Week: The game's plot is to help each inhabitant after a certain trauma affected them. The novel's third chapter is separated into one segment per inhabitant, detailing Leo's journey to save each one. Their despair combined with Lance's power causes them to become Monsters of the Week.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The end credits show a montage of all the inhabitants meeting up in the real world again. The novel expands upon this by showing in greater detail on what happened to each individual.
• Would Hurt a Child: Each Nega Boss has no qualms with doing anything to protect their stages from Leo or Emma, even if it means having to fight them. Doubles as Would Hit a Girl if playing as Emma.

Jose Gallard

Jose Gallard (Scarecrow)

Portrayed by: Biichi Sato

"The storm stole everything from me..."

The Man Who Rages Against the Storm

^{Click here to see Barktholomew}

The inhabitant of World 1. Jose is a farmer whose hard fought-for crops and farmland were ruined by a tornado. In his despair, Jose was corrupted by Lance and transformed into Barktholomew.

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• Assurance Backfire: On the receiving end of this in the novel. After the crops he grew to get the money needed to sent his son to college were ruined by the tornado, his son tried to comfort him by saying he didn't have to go to college, but that only made things worse for Jose.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: At some point in the battle, Barktholomew summons a series of pillars and stands on them, leaving him open to Pounding Pig stomping on another pillar and striking him.
• Book Ends: The Tornado Wolf costume (his signature costume) is, if you play the stages in order, the first costume you get in the game. He gives you the costume once more to help defeat Lance in the final battle against him.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Jose's backstory, Balan appears to be pretending to be a scarecrow just before the tornado is revealed.
• Noble Wolf: He's represented by the Tornado Wolf costume.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • His stage has themes of a castle protecting his crops. His 'happy place' includes a fortress in which his farm will never be endangered by outside forces again.
  • Before his corruption, Jose's stage was a farm where his crops always grew but never ripened. This was because he was too afraid of a storm destroying his crops right before the harvest season again.
  • Why does the Tornado Wolf costume grant super strength? Because the tornado was the strongest force Jose had ever experienced.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The source of his despair. Jose had grown so many crops only for them to all be destroyed by a twister. In the novel, he was hoping to sell the crops to fund his son's college tuition, but the tornado ruined all that work hard, and his son's attempt to reassure made it worse. After Barktholomew is defeated, Jose decides to start over, and is pleasantly surprised to find that one of his crops survived the storm. The ending showed that he managed to succeed, and the novel has him take two years to harvest the crops necessary to pay back his loan from the bank and send his off to college.
• Savage Wolves: His Nega Boss form, Barktholomew (he's actually a combination of Tornado Wolf, Jumping Jack, Dainty Dragon and Pounding Pig).

Fiona Demetria

Fiona Demetria (Seagazer)

Portrayed by: Natsu Yorita

"We belong to different worlds, you and I."

The Dolphin and the Diver

^{Click here to see Anjellica}

The inhabitant of World 2. A diver who loves dolphins, she nearly drowned when a dolphin she was swimming with knocked her air tank off^note or yanked the regulator out in the novel, leaving her bedridden and traumatized. Fiona's trauma allowed Lance to corrupt her into Anjellica.

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• Dark Is Not Evil: Double Jumper can be found in her stage, and while they resemble an evil-looking imp like creature, complete with spikes on their head, tiny fangs, and a dark purple colourization, they're actually on your side, and you can transform into them.
• Delinquent Hair: The top of Anjellica's head is shaped like a pompadour.
• Devious Dolphins:
  • Her cutscene has a dolphin she was swimming with seemingly attack and attempt to drown her, with the last thing she sees before passing out being it looking at her with evil red eyes. In addition, her Nega Boss form, Anjellica (it's not as apparent but she's a combination of Dynamic Dolphin and Jellyjolt) has traits of a dolphin. Her Japanese name is even "Jelly Dolphin". Once her heart is healed, Fiona discovers it was truly an accident on the dolphin's part (and thus the above was only how she saw it through her trauma), with the dolphin showing sadness when they're reunited, subverting this trope.
  • Ironically, the Dynamic Dolphin costume is her representation of herself.
  • Subverted from the start in the novel. Fiona acknowledges that the dolphin just wanted to play and didn’t mean her any harm, but the experience traumatized her regardless.
• Easily Forgiven: An odd zigzagged example. The game shows her instantly forgiving her dolphin buddy for knocking out her breathing apparatus, and playing with it in the end credits (though in shallow water, implying she learned her lesson and is avoiding the risk), while the novel explains she's "not ready to forgive just yet" but in the end joins the friendly dolphins in a swim after some encouragement from Haoyu.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Fiona's backstory, Balan can be seen doing some of his own diving in the background just before the dolphin knocks Fiona's air tank off.
• Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Apart from the aforementioned dolphin in her backstory, her signature costume is Dynamic Dolphin, a mermaid/dolphin like creature that allows the user to swim through currents.
• Hartman Hips: Her Anjellica form has very wide hips, and she sways them constantly.
• Near-Death Experience: The source of Fiona's trauma that send her to Wonderworld was nearly drowning because knocked her air tank off in the game or pulled out the regulator in the novel.
• Non-Indicative Name: Downplayed in the Japanese version: 'Jelly Dolphin' (Anjellica's Japanese name) doesn't resemble a jellyfish or a dolphin too much. However, she's actually a combination of Jellyjolt and Dynamic Dolphin.
• Obliviously Evil: Not Fiona, but the dolphin that almost drowned her in the novel. That dolphin yanked out the regulator on her air tank in a misguided attempt to play with her, not knowing that doing so would put her in danger of drowning.
• Rule of Symbolism: The water in her stage is solid if you're human. Given it's essentially her happy place, it makes sense that given her trauma, there'd be water she couldn't fall into.
• Ship Tease: Has some moments with Haoyu Chang, dancing together with him during a commercial and receiving flowers from him during the end credits scene.
• Tennis Boss: Two of the ways to defeat Anjellica is to either knock back one of the balls she flings at you, or use Jellyjolt to fling back the electrified jellyfish.
• Water Is Womanly: Her level is water-themed. Justified as she is a diver.

Yuri Brand

Yuri Brand (Bugsy)

Portrayed by: Miyuki Sato

"Who says I need to like the same things as everyone else?"

The Girl Who's Gaga For Bugs

^{Click here to see Wormsworth}

The inhabitant of World 3. A shy and socially awkward girl who loves insects, arachnids, or any creature considered a "bug". Yuri was considered the class freak due to her passion scaring everyone else away. Her loneliness allows Lance to corrupt her into Wormsworth.

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• Artistic License – Arachnids: Spiders are included in her stage despite them technically not being insects. Justified since Yuri's interest isn’t limited to strictly six-legged arthropods.
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • In the game, she is ostracized by the other kids because they find her weird for liking bugs, and this is what lead her to Wonderworld.
  • In the novel, the reason is narrowed down to her caring for a bunch of caterpillars long after everyone else stopped helping her.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Nega Boss, Wormsworth, is actually a combination of the costumes Dusk Butterfly, Sickle Slinger, and Web Wrangler. Most of the costumes in her stage (with the exception of Itsy-Bitsy Elf) are also this, being based on bugs (or in Web Wrangler's case, spiders).
  • Her cutscene just before she transforms into Wormsworth also shows her surrounded by giant bugs before she gets trapped inside her 'cocoon'.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: Wormsworth starts her battle by causing an earthquake that sends pillars onto the floor, which you can use to knock into her instead.
• Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: The cutscene that plays after you defeat Wormsworth shows Yuri literally breaking out of her web by spawning a pair of giant butterfly wings double her size.
• Determinator: In the novel, Yuri was determined to care for the caterpillars even after the rest of the class stopped helping her, which led her to be ostracized. She even goes out of her way to visit a mountain far from her school to get food the caterpillars need. Her determination eventually pays off when it motivates the other students to help her once more.
• Four-Legged Insect: Wormsworth only has 4 stubby legs, not that she needs them anyways.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In Yuri's backstory, just as Yuri's classmates start running away from her, Balan appears as one of silhouettes in the bottom left window, jumping from window to window as the rest of the silhouettes disappear.
  • In the post-dance cutscene, Balan appears as a teacher in Yuri's class. He picks up some books and walks away before passing by the camera, followed by butterflies and transitioning to the next scene.
• Friend to Bugs: Yuri loves to examine and take care of any creature considered to be a bug, which unfortunately drives away her classmates and keeps her from making any friends.
• Giant Spider: Both played straight and downplayed. In the former example, her cutscene shows a giant spider as one of the many creepy crawlies just before she transforms. In the latter, Wormsworth may not resemble a spider too much, but one of her components is the anthropomorphic spider costume, Web Weaver.
• Non-Indicative Name: Both the Nega Boss' English and Japanese name, Wormsworth/Brilliant Worm, despite neither looking like an actual monster worm nor having a single worm as part of her costume.
• Rule of Symbolism: Yuri claimed that she wanted her stage to be a place where all bugs can live together in harmony, but there's one bug that's mysteriously absent: butterflies. They remind her of the kids that bullied her for diligently caring for a bunch of caterpillars she brought to school, hence their jarring exclusion. Ironically, not only can you find the Dusk Butterfly costume itself in her stage, but it's also her representative costume.
• Slaying Mantis: Her Wormsworth form uses the Sickle Slinger costume to fling her own sickles at the enemy like a boomerang.
• Tennis Boss: Like Anjellica before her, Wormsworth also spits out balls you can knock back at her to damage her.

Haoyu Chang

Haoyu Chang (Skygazer)

Portrayed by: Takuma Sasaki

"I guess I flew too close to the sun. Who knows when I'll be able to take flight again..."

The Boy Who Would be One with the Wind

^{Click here to see Worville Wright}

The inhabitant of World 4. Haoyu is a young boy who dreamed of flying, leading him to build several inventions that would allow him to carry out his dream. Unfortunately, they all ended in failure^note with his latest attempt seriously injuring him in the novel, and his frustration allows Lance to corrupt him into Worville Wright.

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• Alliterative Name: His Nega Boss' English name, Worville Wright.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His airplane designs in the first cut-scene become more and more elaborate, and continue to blow up in his face.
• Bat Out of Hell: Worville Wright, his respective Nega Boss, albeit he has jet wings and turbine hands where his wings should be.
• Bat People: Aero Acrobat, his signature costume, allows the user to perform a Homing Projectile on Negati and balloons. He gives you this costume in the final battle as well, and dances with it in the final number.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: Worville's pupils are outright jet black, which fits how Haoyu himself went crazy trying to make his flying machine.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: One of Worville's attacks is to summon a series of fans before firing bigger propellers at you. Problem is, you can also find the Soaring Sheep costume here too, and you can use it to fly over the arena and strike him.
• Bungling Inventor: Deconstructed. Chang's constant failures in making a flying machine leads him to grow increasingly frustrated, allowing Lance to corrupt him. It's even worse in the novel as one of his tests leads him to get seriously injured and too afraid to make another attempt.
• Call of the Wild Blue Yonder: What lead him to Wonderworld in the game. Haoyu dreams of flying into the sky and tries to create several flying machines that ended in failure, leading him to grow increasingly frustrated. It's even worse in the novel where his latest test flight ended with a Near-Death Experience that left him too afraid to try again.
• The Cameo:
  • In Haoyu's backstory, Balan appears as the sole audience member in the invention presentation Haoyu is hosting.
  • In the post-dance cutscene, Balan watches the maiden flight of Haoyu's latest flying machine, anticipating the moment when it finally stays airborne.
• Darker and Edgier: His backstory in the novel compared to the game. In the game, he failed at making a flying machine so many times that his frustration drove him over the edge. In the novel, his latest attempt at a flying machine landed him in the hospital where a doctor made it clear that he could’ve been killed, convincing Haoyu to quit his dream.
• Flying Seafood Special: There's a giant flying whale island in the second act of his stage, and it hosts the goal on its head.
• Goggles Do Nothing: He wears a pair of aviation goggles at all times, even when he's not flying (or attempting to, at least). Same with Aero Acrobat (his signature costume) and Worville Wright (his Nega Boss).
• Meaningful Name: 'Skygazer' nickname aside, his last name 'Chang' can translate to either 'flourish', 'prosper', 'good', 'sunlight', 'smooth', 'free', and/or 'unrestrained'. The latter translations would easily fit best into his love of flight and his odd inventions.
  • Worville Wright's name is based off the inventors of the first aeroplane ever, Wilbur and Orville Wright, to the point his first name is a combination of them.
• Near-Death Experience: In the novel, one of Haoyu's failed test flights landed him in the hospital, and his doctor told him this incident could have killed him. This makes him too afraid to try again and leads him to trap himself Wonderworld. This may also be the reason why he has such a close relationship with Fiona, someone who also suffered a near-death experience because of her hobby.
• No Name Given: The flying whale island in act 2. It's named 'Cetacean Island' in the novel.
• Power Floats: In the first act, a giant version of Hayou can be spotted floating in mid air and relaxing. Justified, as it's actually an illusion of him.
• Sanity Slippage: In the game's cutscene, his repeated failures cause him to use bigger and more convoluted designs each time, showing this trope at work.
• Ship Tease:
  • Has some moments with Fiona Demetria in, dancing together with her during a commercial and giving flowers to her during the end credits scene.
  • In the novel, they think about each other often and even have similar nicknames.
• Simple, yet Awesome: After being taken from his happy place and his negativity defeated, he creates a new airplane design that is inspired by a simple paper airplane, and it flies beautifully and he's seen using it in the credits to fly over the sea! (To deliver flowers to Fiona.)
• Tennis Boss: Worville Wright can summon propellers out of his arms, which, of course, you can fling back at him to get a chance at damaging him.

Sana Hudson

Sana Hudson (Watcher of the Woods)

Portrayed by: Farahnaz Nikray

"Humans are oh-so powerful and yet I'm unable to achieve anything."

The Lady Filled with Avian Admiration

^{Click here to see Cuckoo}

The inhabitant of World 5. An activist who loves nature, Sana enjoys watching birds in the forest. However, when construction workers tore down the trees to make way for hotels, Sana's distress leads Lance to corrupt her into Cuckoo.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: The Lucky Egg costume in her stage allows users to draw in items from far away, yet if the user jumps or falls from a great height once, it breaks. Its act 3 equivalent, Lucky Bird, averts the "impractical" part entirely, since it lacks this same drawback.
• The Cameo: In Sana’s post-dance cutscene, the camera pulls away from Sana and her newly built birdhouses to show Balan sitting on a branch overlooking her, surrounded by birds and acknowledging the player.
• Eggshell Clothing: Cuckoo wears it on her bottom, which also serves as armour to protect her weak point. Lucky Egg also counts, being a costume and all (it's body is all eggshell).
• Feathered Fiend: Cuckoo. She is, after all, the corruption of Sana's heart caused by Lance.
• Fighting Clown: Despite Cuckoo's immensely wacky appearance and equally crazy behaviour, she's no less capable of packing a punch than the other Nega Bosses.
• Humans Are Bastards: Watching a family of lazulibirds (an endangered species) lose their habitat and eventually their lives to humans left her with a misanthropic worldview.
• Humans Are Special: She laments the fact that 'humans are oh-so powerful' compared to her in her poster.
• Maddened Into Misanthropy: In the novel, Sana developed a misanthropic world view due to the endangered lazulibirds losing their habitats to human development and also seeing a family of lazulibirds dying from the cold because they refused to move on from their ruined nest. While her heart is healed at the end, it's shown that she can still relapse into her misanthropy with the right trigger.
• Nature Lover: Sana loves nature, going out into the forest to watch birds. Seeing their homes torn down leads to her distress and her corruption.
• Ship Tease: Gets some of these with Eis Glover in the novel, whom she seems to be the closest to in Wonderworld. When they reunite in the real world, Eis is able to save Sana from falling back into despair and misanthropy.

Cass Milligan

Cass Milligan (Clocktower Kid)

Portrayed by: Yo Taichi

"If only I could turn back the clocks. It's all my fault..."

The Girl and the Kitten

^{Click here to see Purrla}

The inhabitant of World 6. Cass was a young girl who apparently saw her beloved kitten get run over, leading her to wish to go back in time and prevent it. Her grief causes Lance to transform her into Purrla.

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• Ascended Extra: One of the main characters in the novel.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She's the younger of the twelve inhabitants, and is the only character younger than the protagonists.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: Purrla is a notable example as not only she can be knocked down from the traffic lights she loves to stand on, she prefers to stand there and taunt you instead.
• The Cameo: In Cass' post-dance cutscene, Balan watches Cass cuddle her kitten (who wasn’t killed in the car crash after all) before he winks at the player and closes the doors behind him.
• Cats Are Mean: Purrla, being the corruption of Cass's heart, loves to taunt the player in her boss battle, leaving her open to attack.
• Cute Kitten: Cass' own kitten. Her apparent death was the reason Cass herself ended up in Wonderworld, and while Purrla is certainly not this, she's mostly based on her despair over the cat. You can also find Air Cat in this stage, who not only allows you to walk on air, but also is Cass' representative costume.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Purrla has a second set of catlike eyes on the sides of her belly.
• Fat Bastard: Purrla's original Japanese name was "Fat Cat", and fittingly enough, she's not a nice boss.
• Floating Limbs: Both Pumpkin Puncher and Purrla can throw punches with their limitless hands.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Cass' backstory, Balan can be seen winding up a Jack-in-the-box behind Cass just before the accident is shown.
• I Shall Taunt You: Purrla often taunts the player while standing on one of the many traffic lights or when she stops time.
• It's All My Fault: She utters this trope word-for-word in her chapter poster. It's reflected in Purrla herself, who spends most of her boss battle taunting the player.
• Lost Pet Grievance: Cass ends up in Wonderworld after her kitten is seemingly run over in traffic. She desperately wishes she could turn back time to save her cat, which is reflected in Purrla's ability to stop time. Once her heart is healed however, it turns out the kitten never got run over after all.
• Official Couple: Becomes this with Attilio in the future when he finally confesses his feelings for her, with her reciprocating. The novel's ending even has the two of them get married while they're searching for all the other inhabitants.
• She Is All Grown Up: The novel reveals she's Princess Merry, the princess Attilio is in love with during his chapter. Some of the inhabitants are quite surprised to see her as an adult in the real world, especially Yuri, who was the second youngest of the inhabitants and is now the youngest in the real world.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: When using her time pause attack, she also summons a series of platforms that you can climb on to jump on her instead.
• Time Stands Still: Purrla has the ability to stop time, and the player, in place, unless the player is wearing the Chrono Bunny costume, leaving her open to attack while she taunts them.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the novel, it's implied that she's the one who caused the death of Iben's parents.

Cal Suresh

Cal Suresh (Checkered King)

Portrayed by: Kunihiro Kawamoto

"There's nothing wrong with me. Nothing whatsover."

The Former Champion Who's Stuck in the Past

^{Click here to see Fortstopher IV}

The inhabitant of World 7. Cal was an unbeatable chess champion whose winning streak finally came to an end when he lost to a young player. This loss (compounded by the death of his wife in the novel) leads him to lose his passion for chess, allowing Lance to turn him into Fortstopher IV.

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• Animate Inanimate Object: Quad Cannon is his signature costume, complete with similar looking Gag Nose, and his entire body resembling the king chess piece.
• Authority in Name Only: His Wonderworld name is 'Checkered King'. It Makes Sense in Context because Lance gave him that name, and a fake 'queen' to go along with it. His boss form reflects this in both his design (being that his true form representing his vulnerability, and his vessel form being a visual representation of his former status as the undefeated champion of chess) and English & Japanese names (Fortstopher IV/King Fortress).
• Bait-and-Switch: When the player goes to encounter Fortstopher IV in the depths of Cal's heart, they encounter... a tiny, imp-like creature just a little shorter than them, only for the imp to run off and enter his vessel, a giant humanoid monster resembling the king chess piece.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: Cal was a champion chess player whose winning streak came to an end after he lost to a young player, leading him to Wonderworld. In the novel, Cal's obsession with reclaiming his title led him neglect his terminally ill wife until it was too late, which became his greatest failure.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: When playing chess against a kid in his post-boss cutscene, he hums the game's main theme to himself while waiting for his opponent to make the winning move.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In Cal's backstory, Balan appears as one of the audience members watching Cal's first losing chess match.
  • In the post-dance cutscene, Balan's upper body is seen in the foreground as he seems to be playing his own game of chess.
• Gag Nose: He has a rather large, beaklike nose. It's featured prominently on both his signature costume, Quad Cannon, and his boss monster form, Fortstopher IV (both his vessel and true form).
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Whenever Fortstopher IV is ejected from his vessel, he tries to flee from Leo or Emma. Unfortunately for him, he's way too slow.
• It's All Junk: After ignoring his wife in favor of chess and losing her to terminal illness in the process, he's so grief-stricken and guilt-ridden that he threw away all of his chess-related possessions, including his championship awards. But doing so just made him feel worse, which summoned the Balan Theatre.
• The Lost Lenore: The novel adds this angle to his character — after his loss, he became so obsessed with becoming number one again that he neglected his terminally ill wife, leaving him regretting not spending more time with her after she passed away.
• Moving Beyond Bereavement: In the novel, Cal is led to Wonderworld by the loss of his wife and keeps an illusion of her as his queen at his side. Leo has to help Cal come to terms with his wife's death. Once Cal's heart is healed, he promises not to let obsession blind him again to what's really important.
• My Greatest Failure: He blamed himself for letting his wife die to a terminal illness because of his sudden losing streak, and subsequent obsession to be back on the top again.
• Never My Fault: His poster implies that he believes there's 'nothing wrong with him'. However, this is ultimately inverted as revealed in the novel, as he confesses that, with his long losing streak, he failed to notice his wife's terminal illness until it was too late, and fell into deeper despair even after tossing out all his chess memorabilia.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's 'king' of his own personal Happy Place, and transforms into Fortstopher IV to ensure it remains safe.
• Sore Loser:
  • He fell into despair after losing one match to a younger player, and in turn, lost his passion for the game of chess itself.
    • The novel alleviates this by having him lose several more matches against younger players, including a 14 year-old boy who pulled the Marshall Swindle^note In chess, a swindle is a move where you bait your opponent into a vulnerable position by sacrificing one of your pieces. The Marshall Swindle in particular uses the Queen (i.e the most powerful piece in the game) as the bait, making it easier for even an experienced opponent like Cal to fall for it. on him. While he definitely didn’t take the losses well and was desperate to get his winning streak back, it was his chess obsession leading to his wife's early death that ultimately brought him to Wonderworld rather than the losses themselves.
  • Graceful Loser: That said, once he's saved, when he loses a game against another rookie player at a cafe, he does take the loss in stride. The novel reveals later on he went on to teach chess to younger players after his time in Wonderworld.
• To Be a Master: Deconstructed. For a long time, he prided himself as the world champion of chess. However, after he was struck by a losing streak by the younger players, his focus on 'becoming the best' again ultimately cost him his wife, which he confesses to in the novel.
• White Mask of Doom: The vessel form of Fortstopher IV has an unmoving, masklike white face with a wicked grin (the true form also wears this, but it's stuck as a permanent sneer instead).

Iben Bia

Iben Bia (Lady of the Midnight Sun)

Portrayed by: Yu Shimamura

"A heart of ice is a heart that can't be hurt."

The Lady Too Scared To Love

^{Click here to see The Grim Creeper}

The inhabitant of World 8. A young lady who had wonderful parents, Iben was engaged to be married. However, when her parents died, Iben closed off her heart and became too afraid to love anyone. Her grief causes Lance to corrupt her into the Grim Creeper.

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• Adaptational Badass: In the game, her boss form isn't any more difficult than any other boss and is only the 8th boss out of 12. In the novel, her boss form is established as easily the most powerful and dangerous one, and is also the last one to be faced before fighting Lance, making her a Climax Boss of sorts.
• Babies Ever After: The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue in the end credits shows she had a child sometime after the events of the game.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The Frost Giant costume can be found in this stage and resembles a friendly yeti-like monster.
• The Cameo: In Iben's post-dance cutscene, Balan appears as the priest for Iben's wedding. He hides his face behind his hand and sheepishly peeks at the camera when Iben kisses her newly wed husband.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Metaphorically and literally. Once The Grim Creeper is defeated, she literally defrosts from her icy tomb and embraces her boyfriend once more.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: The Grim Creeper, her Nega Boss, is a giant ice demon.
• The Grim Reaper: Both the Nega Boss' English and Japanese name invoke this. That's because they represent the death of Iben's mother and father.
• Harmless Freezing: The Negati in her stage are capable of freezing you, but it doesn't even damage you. Rather, you need to move the joystick around to escape.
  • Same goes for Iben herself. At the end of her first cutscene she seemingly freezes into an icy tomb, yet once she's freed from her despair, the tomb melts away and she's freed from that as well.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Her hairstyle leaves only her left eye visible.
• An Ice Person: Her Nega Boss, The Grim Creeper, uses ice attacks to fight Leo and Emma. He's composed of Frost Fairy, Frost Giant and Hardy Hammer, which are also ice-themed costumes.
• In the Hood: She starts wearing a hoodie after the death of her parents, showing how she's cutting herself off from the world.
• Kill It with Ice: Downplayed. You can use any costume to fight The Grim Creeper. However, her arena, like every other boss, carries its own set of costume boxes relevant to her level, which includes the Frost Giant costume. In fact, one of the ways to defeat him is to use the icicle it drops down to fling it back at him.
• Moving Beyond Bereavement: The loss of her parents led Iben to close her heart off, leading her to Wonderworld. Once her heart is healed, she accepts her parents' deaths and vows not to let her grief close her off from the people who still love her.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In both English and Japanese. Does Terror Reaper/Grim Creeper sound friendly to you?
• Never Be Hurt Again: The death of her parents made Iben too scared to love again and it led her to shut herself away even from her fiancé, and it's what led her to Wonderworld.
• Older Than They Look: She looks like a teenager, but is referred to as a "lady" rather than a "girl" and has a husband and children.
• Our Fairies Are Different: The Frost Fairy is her signature costume, which allows the user to summon a temporary platform made of ice to walk on.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Her entire stage, up to and including her Nega Boss room, is a giant winter wonderland with ice-themed costumes.
• Snow Means Death: In her story, it starts snowing, and her room fills with ice, as she mourns the death of her parents.
• Tragic Ice Character: She has an ice motif, with her being the inhabitant of an ice world, and her monster form having ice powers. As it turns out, she's struggling with the sudden loss of her parents.

Attilio Caccini

Attilio Caccini (Pensive Pierrot)

Portrayed by: Shotaro Uzawa

"I have neither the courage to act nor to stand still. I am truly worthless."

The Man Who Fell For a Princess

^{Click here to see Princess Marey}

The inhabitant of World 9. Attilio is a clown and amusement park entertainer who had a crush on a girl playing the princess in the parade. Unfortunately, he's too afraid to confess his feelings in fear of rejection, allowing Lance to corrupt him into Princess Marey.

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• Ascended Extra: Becomes a major character in the novel.
• Amusement Park of Doom: Downplayed. His stage is a normal amusement park at night, yet it houses Negati, blocks that can squash the player in the second stage, and bottomless pits, to name a few. It's also home to Princess Marey, a giant Monster Clown.
  • Marey herself also summons massive merry-go-round horses in her boss battle to attack the player.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: His monster form, Princess Marey, has black eyes with green pupils, giving her a deranged look.
• Cannot Spit It Out: His inability to confess his feelings to the amusement park's princess out of fear of rejection is what leads him to Wonderworld in the first place. Once his heart is healed, he finally confesses his love, with the princess reciprocating his feelings.
• Demonization: Princess Marey is the representation of his misplaced resentment towards Princess Merry, the princess from the parade. Bonus points for actually looking like a giant demonic clown.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Princess Marey's dress hides a second creepy face underneath, with its own set of pupils and Jagged Mouth.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Attilio's backstory, Balan briefly appears over the tunnel Attilio's rollercoaster rolls into.
• Gender Bender: Upon being corrupted into Princess Marey, his gender shifts from male to female, making him the only corrupted inhabitant of Wonderworld to do so, albeit against his will.
• Jagged Mouth: Princess Marey has a jagged smile, adding to the Monster Clown look.
• Magical Clown: While not to the extent of either Balan or Lance, Attilo's representative costume is Happy Blaster, a weird clownlike creature based on his own clown costume in the real world. Princess Marey is also a monstrous variation of this trope.
• Monster Clown: His Nega Boss form, Princess Marey, has Happy Blaster as one of her components.
• Never My Fault: While he's a sympathetic character overall, the novel has him resent the girl he has a crush on for his inability to confess to her, something that Leo rightfully calls him out on. Attilio's transformation into Princess Marey not only represents his fear of rejection, but also his misplaced resentment.
  Leo: Seriously? You lose your nerve and suddenly she's the villain in all this? I thought you loved her!
• Non-Ironic Clown: He starts off as this, but thanks to his fear of rejection, he gets corrupted into Princess Marey, the opposite of this trope. His signature costume, Happy Blaster, also happens to resemble his own clown costume.
• Official Couple: Becomes this with Princess Merry (aka the grown-up Cass Milligan) once his heart is healed and he finally works up the courage to confess to her, which she reciprocates and accepts. The novel's ending even has the two of them get married while they're searching for all the other inhabitants.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Happy Blaster can be found in his stage, and allows the user to inflate themselves and explode harmlessly, while taking out enemies in the process.
• White Mask of Doom: Invoked with his monster form, Princess Marey, which has a white, masklike face with a hollow-looking mouth and Black Eyes of Crazy.

Lucy Wong

Lucy Wong (Madam of the Mansion)

Portrayed by: Hiroko Kiso

"My canvas was pitch-black long before I realized it."

The Artist with Painter's Block

^{Click here to see Inkabelle}

The inhabitant of World 10. Lucy was a famous painter who was unable to enjoy her work as a result of artist's block. Her dissatisfaction leads Lance to corrupt her into Inkabelle.

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• Art Attacker: Inky Blaster can shoot out coloured ink from their arms. Justified, as she's Lucy's signature costume.
• The Cameo: In Lucy's post-dance cutscene, Balan appears at Lucy's art exhibit and applauds with the audience before looking and winking at the camera.
• Celebrity Is Overrated: In the novel, it's stated that her artist's block is a direct result of her newfound popularity, as she became more obsessed with how the public would perceive her works and stressed over trying to create another "masterpiece".
• Funny Octopus: Inky Blaster is her signature costume, who resembles an octopus with paintbrushes for hands (well, tentacles).
• Killer Rabbit: While a costume you can find in her stage, Double Trouble (a rabbit-like creature with a Jagged Mouth and the ability to summon a clone), isn't this trope, Inkabelle has this costume as one of her components, and she can summon giant floating inky black rabbit heads to strike at the player.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her Nega Boss is called 'Pain Kraken' in the Japanese version of the game.
• Tentacled Terror: Her Nega Boss, Inkabelle, uses Inky Blaster as one of her main components. She's also called 'Pain Kraken' in the Japanese version.
• Writer's Block: Well, artist's block; her despair over having to deal with this leads to her corruption.

Eis Glover

Eis Glover (Sentinel of the City)

Portrayed by: Ryunosuke Watanuki

"What kind of firefighter's afraid of fires?"

The Firefighter Who Longs to be a Hero

^{Click here to see The Hydrac}

The inhabitant of World 11. Eis is a firefighter who is ironically pyrophobic, which unfortunately hinders him when he has to enter a burning building to rescue the person inside. Eis's fear allows Lance to turn him into the Hydrac.

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• The Cameo: In Eis' post-dance cutscene, after Eis makes his first rescue and is hailed as a hero in the newspaper, Balan is seen reading it before he looks and winks at the camera.
• Cowardly Lion: He's insecure over his fear of fire but is a heroic and brave soul otherwise.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Eis' backstory, Balan is seen in the driver's seat of Eis' fire department's truck.
• Ironic Fear: A firefighter with a fear of fire. He even lampshades this irony in his chapter poster. For extra irony, his stage is an entire Lethal Lava Land, and his boss form is a giant stationary fire breathing Hydra-like monster.
• Kill It with Water: You need to use Water Blaster's jets to harden the lava oozing out of the Hydrac's four holes so you can knock it out and hit one of it's heads. Ironically, one of it's main components is Water Blaster itself.
• Lethal Lava Land: His entire stage is set inside a volcano-like labyrinth.
• Making a Splash: The Water Blaster costume can be found in his stage, and it does exactly what'd you expect it to do.
• Only Sane Man: The novel heavily implies that his superior thinks of him as this. The reason he went to Wonderworld is that he became insecure after backing away from a chemically-enhanced fire that his fellow firefighters showed no fear towards; however, when he got back, his superior chewed out his colleagues for stupidly risking their lives like that while he didn't get criticized whatsoever.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The Hydrac is a giant fire-breathing dragon attached to a fire hydrant. Ironically, it has no dragon costume as part of its components.
• No-Sell: The Flame Blaster costume can't get hit by fire or lava.
• Panthera Awesome: Flame Blaster's hair happens to look like a lion's mane.
• Playing with Fire: The Hydrac's main attack is to shoot jets of fire at the player and summon massive pools of lava around himself. It also just so happens that one of its components is Flame Blaster, which can also shoot fire to attack.
• Red Is Heroic: Water Blaster is his signature costume, and it's primarily red in colour. And it also just so happens to be a major component for the Hydrac, the inverse of this trope.
• Ship Tease: Gets some of these with Sana Hudson in the novel, having the closest relationship with her in Wonderworld. He's even able to stop her from slipping back into despair and misanthropy.

Bruce Stone

Bruce Stone (Invisible Custodian)

Portrayed by: Yohei Tadano

"I need to know: is my time actually worth anything?"

The Man Seen by No One

^{Click here to see Hooverton}

The inhabitant of World 12. Bruce is an elderly man who picks up litter to keep the park clean, only for people to keep littering and dirtying the park no matter how many times he does it. This leads him to feel invisible and helpless, allowing Lance to corrupt him into Hooverton.

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• Cool Old Guy: Leo calls Bruce cool in the novel because, despite people littering and ignoring his efforts, it never stopped him from doing his best to keep the park clean.
• Floating Limbs: Hooverton's arms. The Invisible Man costume is also a major component of his, also gives an illusion of this within his neck, only with bandages wrapped around to form a fake 'neck'.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Bruce's post-dance cutscene, Balan appears in the background carrying some trash bags, presumably helping to clean the park.
• The Generation Gap: Bruce suffers from this as a result of people continuing to litter no matter much time and effort he puts to keep the park clean, making him feel he's getting left behind as an old man. This forms the basis of his world; a cyberspace inside an old ruin.
• Honorary Uncle: More like "Honorary Grandparent", but the trope remains in effect in the novel. Bruce Stone gets along so well with Iben's son that he's become a grandfather figure to him.
• Panthera Awesome: The Jolt Tiger costume can be found in his stage, which allows the user to electrocute themselves while standing still.
• Time Stands Still: Sun Walker, a costume that can be found in his stage, freezes time when the player stands still.
• Weapons That Suck: Vacuum Blaster can suck up Negati and fire it out at other Negati. Hooverton is also capable of doing this by sucking up debris and firing it out at you.

Lance and the Negati

Lance

Lance

Portrayed by: Takahiro Sakurai

^{His true form (SPOILERS)}

The main antagonist. A mysterious individual that traps visitors to Wonderworld within their own hearts, creating monsters out of negativity.

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• Affably Evil: The novel has him speak cordially and politely when interacting with the other inhabitants, apparently believing that the best thing for the inhabitants is keeping them in Wonderworld permanently so they can ignore the traumas that led them there. After his defeat, he mentions that he's always loved them. Considering he was once the original Balan who got corrupted by humanity's despair due to growing too close to humans, none of this appears to be an act all and he sincerely wants what is best for the people who enter Balan Theater, even if it's been corrupted by negativity. He does go out of his way to warn Balan that he will become another Lance if he grows too attached like he did.
• All There in the Script: His name only appears once in game during the end credits.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Asks Balan three of these in the Breaking Speech below.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In the novel, Leo decided to fight Lance first before helping the residents, only to lose and be put on his own stage instead. It takes Balan and Emma to explain to him what really happened.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the game, who turns the residents of Wonderworld into monsters by taking advantage of their misery and despair.
• Big Good: He was this as the original Balan before his corruption. And even now, the novel reveals he's still trying to be this to the residents... except he's doing this by trapping them by way of turning Wonderworld into a Lotus-Eater Machine disguised as their Happy Place, the complete opposite of what Wonderworld is intended to do.
• Break Them by Talking: Intentionally or not, he manages to give Balan a Heroic BSoD moment after revealing that he himself was the original Balan.
  Balan: Masquerading as Wonderworld's maestro was quite ill-advised. I hope I can take this to mean you've been properly chastised.
  Lance: It was no masquerade, not in the sense you imply. But I suppose yes, by omission I did lie. To call myself maestro I indeed have cause―not of Wonderworld now, but Wonderworld that was.
  Balan: Oh?
  Lance: I was the one who kept positive and negative powers in harmony. Before I was called ''Lance'', my name was ''Balan'', you see.
  Balan: No—
  Lance: Denying it won't make it any less true. But now I have a question for you. Have you ''any'' memory of the real world you can recall? Three thousand years it's been, after all.
  Balan: No, I… Why―
  Lance: Before you became Balan, it was my part to play. But I grew too close to the humans, and to their sorrow and sadness fell prey. Balan no longer but Lance I became, and negativity began laying upon Wonderworld its claim. To save, there was only one thing I could do, and that was to create a new Balan: you.
  Lance: But now you're falling in love with them too. Be careful, Balan―or Lance they'll soon call you.
  Balan: Never!
  Balan: That won't happen―ever!
  Lance: Honestly, enough with the self-deception. You normally take everyone's memories when they leave, so why this time did you make an exception?
  Balan: Why? Because―I…
  Lance: And what is that running down your cheek? Don't tell me your eyes have started to leak. Face it, you don't stand a chance. It's only a matter of time until you become Lance.
  Balan: I don't―I won't―
  Lance: That's what I said, too. But it was too late for me, and it's too late for you.
  Balan: I swear on my top hat, I will not end up like that! Do you hear me? I refuse to share your destiny!
• Brown Note: Lance was the cause of an unintended real life example, which was patched out of the game on the first day of release. Before the patch, one of his attacks, in which he destroys part of the ground, during the final boss fight has a intense, rapidly flashing, white light take up the whole screen for a short time. This strobe-like effect caused seizures in some people, and anyone susceptible to seizures should be wary of playing Balan Wonderworld unpatched.
• Composite Character: He has similarities to both Reala and Wizeman; the former in that he's the Evil Counterpart to Balan, the latter in that he's the Big Bad as well as Balan's creator.
  • Although most likely unintentional, he also shares a lot in common visuallly with Kuja in his true form.
• The Corrupter: Uses the inhabitants' despair to transform them into monsters. The novel reveals he does this to give them the power to protect their 'homes'.
• The Corruptible: According to him, his love of humans resulted in him succumbing to their 'sorrow and sadness', leading to his own corruption. His Breaking Speech heavily implies that Balan too will be next on the chopping block should he himself grow too attached.
• The Corruption: Ironically, while as the original Balan, his love for humans led to him falling prey to their 'sorrow and sadness', corrupting himself into his current form in the process and having to make a new Balan in his stead to restore the balance. And at the end, he warns Balan himself the same will happen to him, despite the latter's protests.
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice: Downplayed. His tenor voice isn't as high-pitched as most other examples of this trope, but it's still noticeably higher-pitched than the voice of his Good Counterpart, Balan. He's still the Big Bad, though.
• Cthulhumanoid: Lance's design is ripe with tentacles, with his One-Winged Angel-form delving into Eldritch Abomination territory.
• Dark Is Evil: His colours are dark black and purple and he's The Corrupter who transforms people into monsters made from their own despair.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: See the Well-Intentioned Extremist example below.
• Despair Event Horizon: After growing too close to the human visitors, he ended up being personally affected by their pain and negativity, leaving him vulnerable to the exact same corruption the visitors experienced.
• Dramatic Irony: Despite his role as The Corrupter towards the humans, he himself ended up succumbing to the human race's 'sorrow and sadness' because he grew too attached to them.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Platonic example. After he presumably dies following the final battle, he tells all the residents this. However, after the residents leave, Lance gives a (possibly unintentional) Breaking Speech towards Balan warning him not to fall into the same trap he did.
  "You may not believe it’s true, but I only ever loved all of you."
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: During Lance's Breaking Speech above, the novel's narrative describes him has having a sad smile, implying that Lance doesn't want Balan to become another Lance, but believes such a thing to be inevitable.
• Fallen Hero: He was the original Balan before he grew too close to humans and was corrupted by their negative emotions. Having become unfit to be the Maestro of Wonderworld, he created the current Balan to take his place. Lance warns Balan that the same fate will befall him should he grow too close to humans as well, but Balan refuses to accept this.
• Final-Exam Boss: The final part of his battle relies on you using all the signature costumes of the inhabitants in order to dodge his attacks or hitting his weak point in order to defeat him once and for all.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: In the game, Lance's role and why he's doing evil things is given no explanation whatsoever. He barely has any dialogue, either.
• Get Out!: His only words in the game, just before the final boss battle:
  "Be gone!"
• Hazy-Feel Turn: In the novel he's still around and still embracing his role as Lance, but is cordial with Balan and although he delivers an (Unintentionally) devestating Breaking Speech, he's doing so from a place of concern and warning.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: In the game the fight against him is able to restore his original, uncorrupted form but before anyone is able to reach out to help him, he's Dragged Off to Hell by the Negati, presumably to be re-corrupted.
• Humanoid Abomination: Just like Balan, neither the game nor the novel explains exactly what Lance is. Balan himself describes Lance as "The product of all the chaos and war since civilization's birth―three thousand years, give or take, for what dates are worth."
• Humans Are Special: Like (the new) Balan before him, he also loved humans and wanted what was best for them. Unfortunately, he succumbed to their own 'sorrow and sadness' and ended up getting corrupted himself. And he warns Balan that it'll happen to him too if he gets too attached.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: He did this to Leo and the rest of the inhabitants and put them on their own respective stages, so they can be free from despair.
• Magical Clown: Like Balan, Lance is a magical entertainer who is able to turn anyone who visits Wonderworld, suffering from their own despair, into monsters.
• Meaningful Name: His name is the other half of the word 'Balance'. That's because he was the original Balan before he got corrupted, and he made him just to restore the balance.
• Monster Clown: To Balan's Non-Ironic Clown. He wasn't always like this. When he grew too close to humans, he ultimately got corrupted into this, and made Balan in his stead to take over his original role.
  • Non-Ironic Clown: He was this as the original Balan... at least until his attachment to humans corrupted him into the form he is now. He briefly returns as this after he's purified, but it's unclear what happens after the Negati drag him off through a portal.
• Purple Is Powerful: His primary colour scheme, both in his regular form and his One-Winged Angel form. It's less apparent in his true form, but he also adorns purple on the ends of his sleeves and long boots, fitting for the (former) maestro of Wonderworld. This goes for the Nega Bosses he creates too, with most, if not all, sporting a primarily purple colour scheme.
• Really 700 Years Old: At least according to Balan, he's around three thousand years old, give or take.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Shares this quirk with Balan.
• Sissy Villain: He's a Bishōnen villain with what looks like makeup or facepaint, and an effeminate-sounding voice.
• Slap-on-the-Wrist Nuke: At some point during his second phase, Lance fires off a powerful, and undodgable, laser beam that shallows the entire stage and instantly defeats Leo and Emma, no matter what costumes they're wearing or how many they still have. All it takes is Balan, and the residents they saved, encouraging them to keep fighting and giving them their signature costumes, that they're able to regain their strength to fight back.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the game, he gets Dragged Off to Hell by the Negati after he's defeated; in the novel, he leaves of his own accord after giving Balan a Breaking Speech.
• Tentacled Terror: Lance is a humanoid with tentacles emerging from his back that he uses to initiate these transformations. His hair resembles a mass of drooping tentacles as well.
• Tentacle Hair: His hair looks like a clump of drooping tentacles. This complements the tentacles emerging from his back.
• Uncertain Doom: In the game, he doesn't explicitly die after his defeat, but gets dragged by Negati into a portal after reverting to his good form and isn't referenced by any character afterwards, leaving it ambiguous whether he can still be saved or not.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims to genuinely love the humans who visit Wonderworld and wants nothing more than to make them happy. Unfortunately, his idea of "making them happy" is erasing their memories of the real world, keeping them in Wonderworld forever and transforming them into monsters so they can defend their stages (i.e. Happy Place) from Balan and anyone else who tries to help them. Balan himself just thinks Lance only cares about the drops the humans produce. Considering how Lance was corrupted by humanity's despair after growing too attached to them, Lance's claim to feeling nothing but love for humans may be true after all.
• White Mask of Doom: Except he wears a pair of them on both sides of his hips.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Lance's attitude towards Balan when he warns him that the latter's attachment to humanity will corrupt him as well one day. Balan is determined to prove Lance wrong, however.

Negati

The main enemies of the game, the Negati are manifestations of the worries and weaknesses born from the hearts of the inhabitants.

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• All There in the Script: None of the Negati types have officially shown names, only given names in the internal files, or trophy/achievement names.
• Dark Is Evil: All Negati are primarily dark in color and antagonistic.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Whether Lance created them or not, they now control him more than he does them.
• Elemental Powers: Depending on what mid-boss Negati you're due to face:
  • Blow You Away: The Endlessi in the first world sends tornadoes at you.
  • Casting a Shadow: The Nessi fires off dark spheres in world 3.
  • Playing with Fire: Nessi is also capable of spitting fireballs at you.
  • Shock and Awe: The Multipli charges at you with an electric barrier.
• Epic Flail: Smalli attack by swinging their arms at you.
• Evil Counterpart: Where the Tims are born of positive emotions, the Negati manifest from negative emotions.
• The Heartless: The Negati are formed from the negative emotions of Inhabitants who enter Wonderworld.
• Feathered Fiend: Pelicanli are pelican-like Negati that swoop at the player.
• Malevolent Masked Men: While not men per se, all Negati wear at least one mask.
• Mooks: All the generic enemies in the game belong to the Negati.
• No Name Given: Neither the Negati themselves, nor their respective types, have their names mentioned in-game whatsoever (unless you count the trophies/achievements associated with defeating certain ones).
• Stuff Blowing Up: Bombii explode if you jump onto them.
• White Mask of Doom: A lot of Negati wear white masks.

Other

Tims

Portrayed by: Hina Kino

Creatures that inhabit Wonderworld and aid the player throughout their journey. The Tims are formed from the joy felt by the inhabitants in Wonderworld, and live on the Isle of Tims. They can be raised and taken care of by the player, and in return, they can use their unique abilities to help the player while they're exploring the inhabitants' stages.

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• Expy: Both the Isle of Tims and the Tims themselves are this to the Chao garden from Sonic Adventure. Also, if we go by the obvious NiGHTS parallels, they’re this to the Nightopians.
• Guide Dang It!: In order to unlock the Balan costume, you need to complete an entire Tim breeding minigame, which the game never hints at at all.
• The Heartless: Inverted. Unlike the Negati, they're born from positive emotions from the inhabitants instead.
• Light Is Good: In contrast to the Negati, they're the embodiment of positivity, and are generally warm-colored in design.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Some Tims sport cat ears and rabbit ears.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Small, round, fluffy, and make high-pitched noises.
• Use Your Head: The book depicts them breaking the Heart Tree by ramming their head (or rather, whole body) into it to break the negativity. They also attack any Negati close by this way.
• Waddling Head: They consist of a round body with a face, two tiny wings, and occasionally a pair of cute animal ears.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: You need to have at least one Tim with you to break the Heart Tree. Let them all get eaten by the Tim Traps and you can't finish the level.

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