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The Izumi Family
Ken Izumi
Our "Hero".
The hero of the series, Ken is a ten/twelve-year-old boy who saves the Earth from the Juralians. He uses the power of light to turn into Chargeman Ken and defeat the Juralians.- Adaptational Heroism: Boken-O manga Ken is far less brutal towards his enemies than his anime counterpart.
- Age Lift: Ken in the Boken-O manga adaptation (see Papa's folder below) is older, taller and more muscular than the anime version. As a 70s shonen protagonist, said manga Ken also sports thick eyebrows and sideburns.
- Apologetic Attacker: In Episode 35, when he infamously drops Dr. Volga as a human bomb on an incoming Juralian spaceship.
- Ax-Crazy: This may be unintentional on the producers/writers' part, but Ken tends to act like a deranged sadist, examples include mercilessly shooting a Juralian in the back, after a) Ken spent the entire episode pining after it and b) it was running away and posed no threat to him; and the time he used Dr. Volga as a bomb, despite there being little to no indication that he even was implanted with a bomb to begin with.
- Big Brother Bully: He frequently plays mean-spirited pranks on his younger sister Caron.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Ken's casual outfit is a yellow jumpsuit with a large letter K on it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Almost every battle Ken fights is this, as it's pretty much guaranteed he'll win; he can even come up with never-before-seen abilities to beat his enemies, most of which he only uses once.
- In the TV Land manga version
, Ken only takes a single panel or two on average to defeat a Jural.
- In the TV Land manga version
- Distracted by the Sexy: Ken has a weakness for girls. The Juralians often use this to their advantage.
- Does Not Like Spam: Hates tomato juice.
- Expy: Ken is one of Kantaro from Knack Productions prior work's protagonist, Kantaro Hoshi of Astro Ganger. Ken looks like Kantaro with brown hair instead of black, and they both have a burning hatred for an alien race (Ken hates the Juralians, Kantaro hates the Blasters). But while Kantaro is often chided by his father for his recklessness and violence, and told not to hate them all for killing his mother, Ken never gets any pushback and is portrayed as in the right no matter what.
- The Good Guys Always Win: Ken always wins his battles against the Juralians effortlessly without a scratch on him. Subverted in the manga's second chapter, where he is (at first) defeated and badly injured, leading him to have a BSoD moment. He gets hurt again later in the same chapter when the same villain hits his still-injured heel.
- Jerkass: Ken revels in killing Juralians, often in human disguises, plays cruel pranks on his sister and pet robot, and then there's Dr. Volga's death.
- Karma Houdini: No one ever calls him out for, at best, his cruel pranks/abusive behavior towards Barrican and Caron, and at worst, causing mass genocide, while also killing a few humans (such as Dr. Volga) in the process.
- Kid Hero: A young boy who repeatedly saves the world.
- Light Is Good: Ken uses it to power up himself and is the hero of the story.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Since the show never stops to explain exactly what Ken's powers even are, there are constantly moments where Ken will suddenly develop new abilities, such as super strength or telepathy, in order to resolve the plot. Many of these abilities will only be used in one episode and never be seen again.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: At one point, he successfully punches in the stomach a Jural boxer, Tiger M, who earlier has beat up and killed a grown man (and is said to have killed 13 boxers before as well).
- Refuge in Audacity: Part of the reason his Karma Houdini instances are so goddamn laughable.
- Sociopathic Hero: Ken revels in shooting down Juralians (including one he spent the episode being in love with), playing cruel jokes on his sister and pet robot "dog" and he's the cause of Dr. Volga's infamous death. This was possibly unintentional. Not to mention the fact that there have been numerous episodes where he flat out murders animals for even being in league with the Juralians.
- Would Harm a Senior: Instead of saving Dr. Volga when the Juralians plant a bomb in his brain, Ken opts to throw him to his death instead.
Caron Izumi
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Her hair is blonde in the anime but (save for one panel) dark in the manga's first chapter. It becomes a shade lighter in the second chapter, only to become dark again by the final chapter.
- Age Lift: Caron in the Boken-O manga adaptation also looks slightly older than her anime counterpart.
- Demonic Possession: Is, at one point, possessed (through biting) by a doll sent by the Juralians.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon: Caron becomes one in episode 45, due to her piano teacher (who, predictably, is a disguised Juralian) brainwashing her into trying to kill Ken. She's snapped out of it when her mother slaps her.
- Implausible Hair Color: She has blonde hair despite being Japanese.
- Precocious Crush: On Hoshi-kun. Sadly, it doesn't last, mainly because he's dead by the end of the episode.
- Tagalong Kid: She and Barican often follow Ken around on his shenanigans.
Barican
- Adaptational Badass: As with pretty much every other thing in the Boken-O manga, Barican gets some level of badass upgrade.
- His reaction when Maou is trying to abduct Caron in the first chapter? Headbutting Maou in the chest. It doesn't work.
- He later repeats the same strategy with random Juralian mooks who were also trying to abduct Caron. This time it works.
- He sacrifices himself to protect Caron again in the final chapter.
- Adapted Out: He is nowhere to be seen in the later chapters of the TV Land manga version.
- Badass Adorable: Barican can be this in rare occasions, such as when he smashes the Kichigai Record where it bursts into flames in episode 16.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: In the Boken-O adaptation, he 'dies' (read: his head falls off) protecting Caron from falling debris caused by Maou's rampaging giant robot, but not before pointing out where she is to Ken. It is implied he gets better, being a robot and all.
- Gonk: He certainly looks... weird, to be sure.
- Guardian Entity: Manga Barican always protects Caron from harm, leading to the aforementioned moments of badassery.
- Informed Species: Barican is referred to as a "robot dog" and/or "grandpa robot", and the only thing he genuinely resembles is a robot, and even then...
- Leitmotif: A bouncy flute theme with a jew's harp.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Is pretty much (supposed to be) this in all media.
- Robot Buddy: To Ken.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ken.
Hiroshi Izumi (aka Papa)
Ken and Caron's father.
- Adaptational Badass: In one of the two manga tie-in adaptations made during the anime's original run (published in the now-defunct manga magazine Boken-O), he made Ken's gadgets after receiving word from a gravely-injured alien that the Earth is in imminent danger, three years before the actual invasion takes place.
- All There in the Manual: Both his and his wife's first names (Hiroshi and Saori, respectively) are only revealed in a character profile published years after the anime's original run.
- Herald: Boken-O Dad asks Ken to don the suit he made and save the earth from the Juralians.
- Informed Attribute: Once claims to be a physician, although we never see him practice medicine onscreen. In fact, this claim is made to his wife; apparently, she doesn't have any clue about his job either.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: His Boken-O counterpart. In the first chapter, he is revealed to dabble (or have dabbled) in astronomy, as well as being the inventor of Ken's suit and other gadgets. He is later seen performing laboratory tests on a capsule dropped by Ken's friend Lily who turns out to be an alien in disguise.
- Unnamed Parent: In-series he is only referred to as either 'Papa' (by his children) or 'Mr. Izumi' (by everyone else).
Saori Izumi (aka Mama)
Ken and Caron's mother.
- All There in the Manual: Likewise; see in Papa's folder.
- Unnamed Parent: Likewise; see in Papa's folder.
The Juralians and Other Extraterrestrials
Juralians in General
- Always Chaotic Evil: Generally, but Subverted sometimes with X-6 and J-7.
- Chest Insignia: All of them have a sign with a blue outline, red center, and yellow inbetween on their chest.
- Cyclops: They all have one eye, except Maou-sama.
- Ditto Aliens: Every single one, barring Maou-sama (who, oddly enough, looks human, the same race he is trying to wipe out), is identical.
- Even Evil Has Standards: They kill a man who is willing to betray his species and help them kill 30,000 people in exchange for money.
- Evil Sounds Deep: They generally sound deeper than human characters. In some cases, their human disguises will have high-pitched voices until the audience either gets to hear their thoughts or they ditch the disguise entirely.
- Eye Beams: Firing beams from their eyes is their preferred method of attack.
- Fangs Are Evil: They all have pointy teeth.
- Informed Flaw: Juralians are repeatedly described as "emotionless" in the series, despite clearly and consistently showing emotion, and Maou mentions in Episode 8 that emotions have been forgotten by the Juralians.
- Immune to Bullets: Normal bullets won't hurt them. It takes a blast from Ken's ray gun to kill them.
- Humanoid Aliens: They look fairly humanoid despite having antennae and one eye, among other things.
- Humanshifting: In the anime, they use this ability to disguise themselves as various people to trick Ken and other people. Their methods are so good one human even unknowingly marries a Jural. It is unclear whether they still have this ability in the Boken-O manga, since this adaptation only shows aliens of other species donning human disguises.
- Mooks: Serve as this to their leader/king/emperor, Maou-sama.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Both played straight and subverted. Some can pull off quite convincing human disguises; others ... not so much. (From the viewers' perspective anyway.) Apparently, among some Juralians, having purple hair in their human forms is a thing.
- Planet Looters: Serve as this, although some of the dialogue in Episode 47 implies that they are a Dying Race.
- Red Shirt: Most of them are killed very quickly.
- Space Nomads: In the manga, Maou claims that the Juralians traveled from two million light years away to conquer Earth.
- Shapeshifter: Juralians can shapeshift into humans.
- Shapeshifting Seducer: A standard tactic among the Juralians.
- Top-Heavy Guy: In their natural form, Juralians have a noticeably top-heavy frame, further accentuated by their narrow waists and thin tentacles.◊
- Weaksauce Weakness: Juralians - in the manga at least - are weak to fire (according to Maou). That might explain why Ken's ray gun can kill them quickly.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Nearly every Juralian that appears in an episode dies by the end of the episode, with the sole exception of Maou-sama.
Maou-sama
- Adaptational Villainy: The anime's Maou is an incompetent ham prone to overly-complicated plans that rarely, if ever, work; Boken-O's Maou, on the other hand, is a more cunning, ruthless, and significantly less hammy figure who uses - even forces - members of other alien races to do the dirty work for him and the Juralians.
- Adaptational Decay: By contrast, TV Land's Maou is defeated by Ken in the same chapter as his first (and only) appearance, within the space of four panels.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: A totalitarian dictator with an entrenched cult of personality who seeks to wipe out the "inferior" race to take over their resources and give their homeland to his own race? Who you gonna call?
- Asshole Victim: For all his crimes he commits during the invasion of Earth, he eventually dies in Episode 65 when his spaceship explodes.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Surprisingly. In Episode 10, he turns into a cute, fragile little girl, which causes Ken to fall in love with "her".◊
- Bad Boss: Downplayed: during one of his minions' concern about Ken Izumi, he ignores it and says that humans' attempts to stop them are futile, and, in Episode 8, has one of his minions whip X-6 for failing to kill Ken.
- Bald of Evil: His head, however, is covered with a blue hat/outgrowth/whatever it is supposed to be.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: In the TV Land manga version, the Izumi siblings first encounter a gigantic Maou in outer space while going on a picnic to Mars.
- Big Bad: He is responsible for the invasion of Earth in the first place.
- Creepily Long Arms: Alongside his very lengthy legs, his arms are very long. Can also turn into tentacles in the manga.
- Creepy Long Fingers: For extra creepiness, they're also hollow and tube-shaped.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Except in the Boken-O manga, where he is simply called 'boss' by one of his underlings and 'Jural' (Jural-seijin) by everyone else. Speaking of which, he is never called 'Maou' in any of the manga adaptations.
- Evil Sounds Deep: One of, if not the, characters with the deepest voice in the series.
- Faux Affably Evil: A composed, soft-spoken villain who almost always addresses his nemesis politely, and at one point even apologizes to his teacher for violently kidnapping her. That said, he's still a monstrous dictator who has no qualms with executing children. Best shown in Episode 10 and Episode 11.
- Forgotten Phlebotinum: Boken-O Maou sports certain abilities like being turning his arms into tentacles, stretching his neck and shooting a laser beam that can melt metal from his mouth. Which he never uses beyond the first chapter because he spends the rest of the manga either using non-Juralians as pawns or riding a robot.
- High Collar of Doom: It's exaggeratedly huge and resembles a pair of tentacles.
- It's Personal: Boken-O Maou's feud with Ken is getting more and more personal with each chapter. This all comes to a head in the end when Maou comes to Ken's house riding a giant robot with the express purpose of killing the Izumis once and for all.
- Lack of Empathy:
- He despises the human race - in fact, pretty much anything that is not Juralian - and cares very little for his own minions. The one time he joins Ken to save Earth from a meteor, it is because he would have nothing to conquer.
- Amplified in the Boken-O version, where he sends non-Juralian aliens to kill Ken.
- Large Ham: Considerably, although not so much as other examples.
- Lean and Mean: He is pretty tall◊ and incredibly mean.
- The Men First: In episode 10, he orders his men to escape before where they are explodes.
- Perpetual Smiler: Maou is almost always seen smiling, though it is downplayed.
- Ojou Ringlets: In his "Hitomi" form.◊
- Satanic Archetype: His name literally translates to "Demon King", and one point Ken refers to him as a "devil".
- Spikes of Villainy: He has these on many parts of his body, such as his chin.
- Sinister Schnoz: A very pointy one, too!
- Third Eye: Unlike the rest of the Juralians, Maou has three eyes: two human ones and a red Juralian one.
- Villainous Cheekbones: They are very noticeable◊.
- Would Hurt a Child: Oh yes. Aside from trying to kill Ken and trying to execute Caron in Episode 10, he is the one to come up with and initiate Operation Mad Green in Episode 36, which involves poisoning the food supply at child hospitals, killing/disfiguring/doing God knows what to newborns.
- Maou's first appearance in the manga involves grabbing Caron using his tentacle-like arms.
- Manga Maou forces a (non-Jural) alien named Lily to kill Ken by holding her parents hostage. And then proceeds to kill her ''and'' her parents upon releasing them.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Invokes this trope towards Lily and her parents in the manga.
- Zany Scheme:
- Many, many schemes of Maou are ridiculous and destined to failure, with the only non-zany, genuinely evil one being the Operation Mad Green. For example, in the very first episode he has his men kidnap all children in the world and hold them as hostages, and in the second he creates a set of rockets that deliberately explode in mid-air and create fog only to disadvantage Ken in a fight, instead of firing them on Ken's house.
- Averted in all four chapters of the Boken-O manga, where Maou is more brutally direct. First, he makes all the mutated plants in the botanical garden Ken's class went to come alive. Next, he coerces and compels non-Juralian aliens to kill Ken for him - one of them even managing to gravely injure Ken. Finally, when all means have apparently failed, Maou controls a giant robot across the city, heading towards the Izumi family residence to kill Ken and family himself.
X-6
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She can't bring herself to kill Ken after he saves her from a falling tree without knowing who she is.
- Graceful Loser: When she tries and fails to kill Ken again in the hospital, she gracefully accepts her loss because his saving her life without knowing who she is made her remember empathy the Juralians have lost.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: When she tries and fails to kill Ken again in the hospital, she gracefully accepts her loss because his saving her life without knowing who she is made her remember empathy the Juralians have lost. When she runs away from him, several Juralians come and kill her for betraying them in favor of their enemy.
- Makeup Is Evil: She wears dark blue eyeshadow and red lipstick when disguised as a human woman.
- Villainous BSoD: When she tries and fails to kill Ken again in the hospital, she breaks down and gracefully accepts her loss because his saving her life without knowing who she is made her remember empathy the Juralians have lost.Ken: (wakes up) Ah! You're the lady from before! Now I see! You're a Juralian, aren't you?!
Maou: Kill him! Why won't you kill him?!
X-6: I can't kill him. I just can't kill him! Chargeman Ken, why did you save me before?
Ken: Why? Because it was just common sense.
X-6: I've lost, Chargeman Ken. There's something left in me that I thought I'd abandoned. (runs away) - We Hardly Knew Ye: She dies by the end of the episode.
K-11
A Juralian soldier who disguises himself as Ken Izumi. He kidnaps Ken and Nagisa and attempts to murder Ken's family.
- Master of Disguise: Is extremely good at disguising as Ken. Only a single, largely minor thing ends up blowing his cover: he drinks tomato juice without a second thought.
- Wink "Ding!": Apparently, it can cause people to fall down spontaneously.
Hoshi-kun
- Badass Normal: Lasts significantly longer in a fight with Ken than the average Jural. In his Juralian form, no less!
- Curbstomp Battle: He is good at playing football, scoring all three touchdowns in an 18-point shutout! He gets curbstomped himself when Ken fights him as a Jural.
- In a Single Bound: Shown to be capable of jumping very high.
- Improbable Sports Skills: See In a Single Bound above.
The Delinquent
A juvenile delinquent who hides out at the warehouse. He has recently beaten up Ken's class and class B and they return for vengeance.
- Badass Biker: Has epic motorcycle skills and successfully fights off a group of his equals; however, he is villainous.
- Blood Knight: A villainous example. He loves fighting and is one of the few Juralians to stand his ground against Ken and beat him up.
- No Name Given: He is only known as the Delinquent.
J-7
A kind, gentle young man who fights Ken in a Kendo duel. He is an undercover Juralian sent to kill the townspeople; however, unlike the rest of the Juralians, he genuinely values Earth and thinks it is beautiful.
- Heel–Face Turn: He was sent to kill the townspeople but abandoned his mission when he realized the beauty of Earth.
- Master Swordsman: Is extremely good at kendo and manages to hit Ken.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He is one of the two Juralians to be a good guy, the other one being X-6, but, unlike X-6, who starts to question her species' values during the episode, J-7 is a good guy from the start. He doesn't survive.
- Nature Lover: He says to the Juralians that Earth is full of beautiful things, and, instead of trying to destroy it, the Juralians should embrace Earth. They don't listen.
- Token Good Teammate: To the rest of the Juralians.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies, just like X-6.
Mr. Fukuda
A character seen in Episode 50. The head of National Space Development Agency... supposedly. He adopts an enormous group of children from the orphanage.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Of children, no less.
- Would Hurt a Child: The very reason he adopts the children is that he wants them to serve as child workers for the Juralians.
"KMIY"
A pair of shady men who appear in Episode 25. They blackmail Yuichi into helping them burn down buildings because they're actually Juralians.
- Fat and Skinny: One is stocky, and one is lean.
- No Name Given: Yuuichi only refers to them as "Mister!" when they start approaching him, but they never actually introduce themselves.
- Sunglasses at Night: The stocky man wears opaque sunglasses in both of his scenes.
Zairasu
A non-Juralian alien coerced by Maou to conquer the Earth for the Juralians under the promise of a reward in the Boken-O manga.
- Beard of Evil: His human disguise has a goatee.
- Brain in a Jar: Apparently his only remaining non-bionic body part. Also doubles as his weakness.
- Cyborg: Most of his body seems to be this.
- Horns of Villainy: He sports a pair on his helmet/headgear.
- Mechanical Horse: He rides a flying bionic stingray piloted by Juralian mooks. A space stingray.
- The Bad Guy Wins: At first he successfully pulls off what no Juralian ever did: defeat and injure Ken and give him Heroic B.S.O.D. in the process. He eventually gets defeated.
Lily
A young alien from the planet Apollo forced by Maou to assassinate Ken by holding her parents hostage in the Boken-O manga.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Ken is utterly shocked at seeing her death at the hands of the Juralians, leading him to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Composite Character: She is pretty much the Boken-O manga's equivalent of X-6, Miyuki from Episode 20 (A Juralian in disguise) and Hitomi/Maou.
- False Reassurance: Maou said he would let her parents go if she kills Ken for him. He does, before proceeding to have the whole family killed since they are no longer of any use to him.
- Hostage Situation: The Juralians hold her parents captive, promising to release them if she kills Ken.
- Insectoid Aliens: Her true form looks like this.
- Sorry That I'm Dying: She lives long enough to be able to apologize to Ken for tricking him and telling him that she enjoyed her time with him.
Minor Characters
Nagisa
Ken's teacher.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Becomes this for Episode 13.
- Damsel in Distress: Becomes this for Episode 45.
- Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed; though she was presumably intended to be this, what's with scenes and sounds like these.
Dr. Volga
- Breakout Character: Only in one episode. In spite of this, said episode is probably the most commonly parodied and referenced.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: A beard of good. Subverted, as he becomes a human bomb, but he doesn't know this.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies twice, first at the start of the episode, shot by Juralians, and then at the ending, dropped as a human bomb at the Juralian spaceship.
- Why Am I Ticking?: The case with him. He is revived as a human bomb by the Juralians, who intend to use him to kill Japan's leading scientists. Instead, he gets used by Ken as a way to destroy a Juralian spaceship.
Yuichi
- Abusive Parents: His parents' relationship was very strained, and the resulting abuse from his mother caused him to burn his house down. They seem to become better by the end of the episode, though.
- Flaw Exploitation: By the Juralians.
- Kill It with Fire: His way of "solving" his parents' abuse. Of course, the Juralians exploit this.
- Parental Neglect: A victim of this; his parents are shown in a nasty argument, and when they notice he is sitting outside their room, they tell him to go to bed and even kick his toy car away.
- Tears of Remorse: When he meets Ken.
Mental Clinic Director
A mental clinic director. However, he is also a megalomaniac who seeks to rule over the ashes of the world, which is why he builds a rocket factory under the mental clinic. He is helped by the Juralians.
- Driven to Suicide: Shoots himself after Ken defeats his Juralian allies.
- Evil Old Folks: Seems to be in his sixties.
- Pretty Little Headshots: The only clue given that he shoots himself is a sound effect over a still image; there is no blood shown when the camera shows his corpse, either.
- Take Over the World: His ultimate goal.
