This universe has, if nothing else, numerous characters. This page contains info on characters from the whole series, so be wary of any potential unmarked spoilers.
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In General
Characters from this series provide examples of...
- Alternate Character Reading: Happened to several of the guards/supervisors not yet translated. Their kanji were on this page
without any pronunciation guide, leading to names as Niemichi Teiga note , Hachimata Orochi note , Kyuubi Kitsune Inosuke note and Juhaku Tatsuzou note . The eleventh guard hasn't stated its name and is assumed to be named Rianni-Ju-Ichigo and the twelfth guard has conflicting sources on its romanization in regards to its name. - Everyone Has Standards: Most people who have seen Hajime beat Jyugo into a five day coma agree he went too far and his suspension for doing so was justified. Hajime doesn't share that opinion.
- Institutional Apparel: The four main characters wear it at least. Jyugo wears the classic striped look, while Rock and Nico wear American orange jumpsuits (Nico has a ball and chain attached).
- Manchild: Invoked by Seitarou in regards to the inmates of Cell 13 when Hajime tells him how to keep them in check. Downplayed with other inmates, who seem to be more mature than our protagonists.
- Tattooed Crook: In addition to their prison numbers, a few inmates (most noticeably Uno) have one or more tattoos.
- World of Technicolor Hair: Given the manga's pretty...light tone, most of the characters have brightly coloured hair that matches it.
Protagonists
Jyugo
ジューゴ
Voiced by: Yūto Uemura (JP), Daman Mills (EN)
One of the inmates in Cell 13 of Nanba Prison, and the main character. He is an escape master, but knowing that he’ll reach nothing if he escapes, his current desire is to stay with his fellow inmates. The shackles he wears have been applied by a certain person.- Ambiguously Bi: Jyugo claims he "likes guys too" in episode 1 when trying to think of ways to attract girls. At first we're lead to believe he's lying, but he never denies it, and at the end of the episode he's the only one of the guys still interested in being visited by Hitoshi after his true gender is revealed.
- And Then What?: The main reason why he doesn't break out for real. His only talent is lockpicking and the like, so it's the only thing he's really capable of doing (to the extent he's absolutely atrocious at any kind of other skill) but he has nothing outside of the prison, having no implied family or anyone else who cares for him. Bycoming issue is that his honorary family is inside the prison. He basically has no plan as to what would happen once he's outside, and so, he's pretty okay with staying incarcerated.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: His forearms turn into swords when the shackles are activated.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: After meeting his cellmates and becoming friends with them he noticed his dull, gray world began to have color and he started expressing more interest in "living" than simply going through the daily motions of living.
- Berserk Button: If anyone implies they know something about the man who put the shackles on him, he will try to punch that knowledge out of their brain matter if given an oppurtunity.
- Book Dumb: Since he's never had a formal education, he doesn't know how to read and cannot write kanji very well.
- Butt-Monkey: He's the one who gets in trouble with Hajime the most, and his inability to do anything except break out of jail is often mocked by other characters. In fact, according to Rock, he is so inept that the one time he managed to escape prison, he fell into a ditch, was forced to buy a weird pot, got mugged by a grade schooler, and was snagged by a weird palm-reader all in one sitting.
- Chained by Fashion: He has large manacles on his wrists and ankles that won't come off, and wants to find the Man with the Scar in order to find a way to get them off.
- Crippling Overspecialization: As stated above, he isn't good at anything other than jailbreaking. His cellmates even have to hold him up in the bath so he won't drown and he can't even solve basic math problems. According to Uno, he is hopeless when it comes to sports and games and admits that he doesn't really get the point of movies and tv shows.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He's more troubled by the fact that he doesn't have goals or hobbies in comparison to his friends than he lets on initially.
- Escape Artist: His forte. He's been trying to break out of jail for as long as he's been alive, and although the rest of the prison is known for escaping numerous times, he's the guy who does it the most.
- Family of Choice: The other inhabitants of Cell 13. He doesn't have anyone else and it was only after meeting them he could actually get any sort of enjoyment out of life. Hajime notes that any major escaping efforts on his side can be prevented by keeping the others from going with him.
- Heroic BSoD: First time, when he's thrown into the underground and Hajime cruelly taunts him about not having "greed" and being empty inside. Hajime did this to finally get Jyugo to admit he now had something to live for- being in Prison 13 with his friends. Second time, once Elf taunts him about having Jyugo's friends experimented on he is downright horrified and goes into a state of shock not knowing what to do.
- Inelegant Blubbering: When Uno, Nico and Rock are extatic to have him back after his stay at hospital and in solitary confinement, he tries to keep up a brave front, but it doesn't take long for the waterworks to start. One of them even hands him a cleaning rug to wipe his face with.
- Kaleidoscope Eyes: As stated in the manga, his eyes change colour "at different angles", so much so that they are each differently coloured from panel to panel. In the anime and stage play, Jyugo has a simpler case of heterochromia, with one eye being purple and the other being green, but his constant color change is referenced in the first OP.
- Magnetic Hero: Cell 13 was brought together by a mutual friendship and saving by Jyugo. He's the one that helped them with their personal problems and got them to escape with him, to the point where all of them are gathered together in the highest profile prison in the world.
- This applies to Tsukomo/Prisoner 99, too, as Jyugo helped him with some personal stuff in #7.
- Meaningful Name: Is also read as 十 (juu) and 五 (go).
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bratty, reckless, foul mouthed, petty and overall quite annoying, he genuinely cares about his cell mates and can be nice to talk to on some occasions.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His otherwise technicolor eyes turn solid red when the shackles activate. Things go downhill real fast after that.
- The Social Expert: As a part of his nature as a Magnetic Hero, the only other thing he excels at besides jailbreaking is understanding the nature of people around him.
- When He Smiles: While he's not a Perpetual Frowner per se, at the end of episode 12 in season 1, he smiles to himself, thinking that it is the first time that he has ever looked forward to the next day, and blushes too. And it's adorable.
- You Monster!: Gets this a lot after his rampage at the end of the New Year's tournament. His cellmates go ballistic at anyone who says it within their earshot.
Uno
ウノ
Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (JP), Alejandro Saab (EN)
One of the inmates in Cell 13 of Nanba Prison, and one of Jyugo’s friends. He is a gambler and he is very perceptive as such. He also says that he has a notorious history with women, but such a thing cannot be confirmed nor disproven.- Anger Born of Worry: The first thing he does after Jyugo comes back from hospital and solitary confinment is to punch in the face hard before they both go off at each other. They were all worried about him and Uno is the one mostly likely to express it through violence.
- Ambiguous Disorder: A short scene in the anime implies that he suffers from parental neglect. This is also shown in his attachment to the other inmates and to women.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Uno is extremely observant, and can tell what kind of person someone is just by looking at them, which is best shown when he faces Honey and Trois in the New Years' Tournament.
- Butt-Monkey: While Jyugo is the one most frequently caught by guards, Uno often falls victim to Amusing Injuries and mockery from characters who aren't in Cell 13.
- Imperturbable Englishman: Inverted. Uno is rather excitable and jumpy in the face of danger, unlike what one would believe of his compatriots.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Probably the most prominent one in the series; his official profile says that he is the kindest of the Cell 13 inmates, despite how rude and violent he can be if he's annoyed. He is also the closest to Jyugo, and spends a lot of his time taking care of him.
- In an extra manga chapter, it's shown that he despised Rock and Nico upon meeting them when the four Cell 13 inmates ran into each other after they all broke out of jail. Despite the fact that he and Rock kept butting heads and how Nico unintentionally gave Uno one of his weird diseases, Uno quickly warmed up, and gave them a cheesy speech asking them to be his friends. It especially showed through with Nico, who immediately latched on to Uno after finding out that he was good at gambling and gaming; Uno ended up playing card games with Nico for half the night.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The anime adaptation spares no sparkles when he undoes his multicolored floor-length, lustrous hair.
- Meaningful Name: Doesn’t use Goroawase, but he still follows the Theme Naming as Uno is Spanish for ‘One’. It's also the name of a famous card game, which may be the inspiration of his love for card games.
- Team Mom: He is shown to be very caring towards his cellmates (especially Jyugo and Nico), and this even extends to other prisoners at times. Nico lampshades it at one point, saying that "Uno's starting to sound like a mom."
- Urban Legend Love Life: He's reported to be a bit of a player before his time in Nanba, and he's greatly disturbed by the lack of women there. However, all of that was off panel, so we'll never know for sure what kind of romantic escapades he got into.
Rock
ロック
Voiced by: Ire Shiozaki (JP), Jarrod Greene (EN)
- Big Eater: Loves food and takes as much as he can any time he can get it. It's not Played for Laughs as there is a Freudian Excuse for it: every prison he was bounced into either had terrible tasting food, let him starve, or deliberately starved him. Jyugo busted him out and gave him a real meal, kickstarting his love of food.
- The Big Guy: The tallest and most muscular of Cell 13.
- Big Eater: Food, menu contents and lunch time, dinner time etc. are always on his mind. He wished for a stone oven to be placed in the kitchen and praised Jyugo for being the only one who waits until he is done eating.
- Byronic Hero: A good person with a dark past and a lot of angst who engages in hedonistic behavior; yep.
- Delinquent Hair: The only one of his group with it, as he rocks a multicolored mohawk for the whole series.
- Gentle Giant: Despite his intimidating appearance he is a huge teddybear unless something seriously pisses him off.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a scar across the bridge of his nose.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Has a huge soft spot for the cat that follows Hajime around, and takes it with him every time he sees it.
- Meaningful Name: Is also read as 六 (ro) and 九 (ku).
Nico
Click here to see his second personality SPOILERS
Voiced by: Daiki Kobayashi (JP), Justin Briner (EN)
One of the inmates in Cell 13 of Nanba Prison, and one of Jyugo’s friends. A guy who loves manga, anime and video games. He is considered an inmate with a number of ‘incurable diseases’ and takes a lot of medication.
- Afraid of Needles: To the point that he broke out of his previous prisons just to avoid medical checkups. He has very good reasons for this.
- Ambiguously Brown: It's never stated what ethnicity Nico is, though he might be Black, given the many that live in America.
- Badass Adorable: Nico is the youngest and cutest of all the Cell 13 inmates, but as shown during the New Year's tournament arc, he is capable of amazing physical feats when not medicated, though it can potentially endanger his life if he pushes himself too far. He's able to instantly copy Upa's Qiyong moves, which took the other inmate years to master, upon seeing them for the first time, just because he thought that they "looked cool". He's also apparently able to perform moves from different action anime for real.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Nico's one of the nicest characters in the series, just as long as he gets his medicine. He can also effortlessly copy attacks.
- The Cutie: Nico's an extremely cheerful and adorable Otaku who has the innocence and personality of a small child. Even though the cast is largely made up of loud and impulsive jerks, most of them have a soft spot for him due to how sick and frail he is, and are willing to set their pride aside long enough to help him if he's experiencing a medical emergency. He's also the Cell 13 inmate who's the least likely to get yelled at or smacked by the guards for his foolish behavior.
- Cute Bruiser: Nico is the smallest of the convicts and has a ball and chain attached to his leg (which should slow him down in theory), but that didn't stop him from breaking walls down while escaping from prisons in the past. Apparently, if he doesn't watch himself, his actions put a strain on him.
- Green and Mean: He has green hair, but he'll only be mean if he doesn't get his medicine.
- Meaningful Name: His name is usually rendered in katakana (ニコ) invoking 二 (ni) and 五 (ko) but can also be rendered as ニ子, literally meaning 'second child'.
- Otaku: Nico is a big fan of Japanese animation who spends most of his time watching Anime, reading Manga, and obsessing over video games (to the point that, according to Hajime, providing him with the former two will distract him from breaking out of his cell so much). Also counts as an Occidental Otaku, as Nico's American. This becomes more meaningful in season 2, where It's revealed that he was painfully abused in prison hospitals as a child, to the point that he was severely depressed and wished that he could die before he met Jyugo. The other inmate freed him from the lab he was locked in and, when they met again later on after they became cellmates, Jyugo introduced Nico to Japanese culture by giving him a manga magazine to cheer him up.
- Split Personality: If he's not taking his medicine, the pain will overwhelm poor Nico, and his more violent side pops up.
- Token Good Teammate: While the Cell-13 inmates aren't technically evil, he is definitely the nicest. He doesn't have angry outbursts like the others, and Hajime even calls him a good kid and says that he is the easiest to deal with. While he does go along with his cellmate's escapades because he finds their break-out attempts fun, he's perfectly content if he has anime, manga, or a game of some sort to occupy him.
Nanba Prison Staff
Momoko Hyakushiki
百式百子
Voiced by: Satomi Akesaka (JP), Marissa Lenti (EN)
- Affectionate Nickname: "Momo" by Mitsuru
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's tall, pretty, has dark blue hair, and a stern, serious attitude.
- Berserk Button: Mitsuru teasing her regarding her affections for Hajime.
- The Dreaded: Just mention the title of Warden and everyone shivers at the thought of being called in for questioning by her.
- Everyone Can See It: Everybody except the guy she's interested in. Poor Momoko.
- Gaussian Girl: Serves as this to Kenshiro whenever he thinks of her.
- Good Is Not Nice: She's a great warden and cares for the well-being of her guards and inmates but she is still a force to be reckoned with and isn't afraid to prove herself.
- Hair Antennae: Her whole hair looks like antennas.
- Hero-Worshipper: Thinks everything Hajime does makes "him look so cool!"
- Hidden Depths: Likes to cook and make cute dolls.
- Meaningful Name: 百 means ‘Hundred’ and is read in two different ways. (Momoko is the only one with who this happens, by the way.) ‘Hyaku’ is the normal reading, ‘Momo’ is an older variant.
- Mythical Motifs: She represents Momotaro himself, also known as the 'peach boy'. 'Momoko' can also be spelt as 'peach child'.
- Not What It Looks Like: Poor Momoko can't catch a break of Hajime catching her in inopportune situations when she's trying to make herself look cuter.
- Shoulders of Doom: Her uniform has very prominent golden spikes on the shoulder. Considering that people can prick themselves on her hair, the spikes are the least of anyone's concern.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Despite her sternness, she cares a lot about her guards, and compliments them on a job well done.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives this to Mushashi when he claims the guards can't stop him and she makes a point of reminding him of her guards's capabilities.
- The Unsmile: Whenever she tries to smile at Hajime, it's always depicted as a Slasher Smile that sends him running in terror.
Hitokoe Mitsuru
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (JP), Ricco Fajardo (EN)
- Affectionate Nickname: Called Mitsu or Tsuru by peers and fellow guards. Likes to fashion himself as "the lovely me" when talking to his peers.
- Attention Whore: Is quite known throughout the prison for his loud mouth and antics.
- Butt-Monkey: Whenever he's with Momoko since she tends to beat him up.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He's this to his friend, Hajime's Only Sane Man
- Fun Personified: Literally, he just likes to antagonize people for the hell of it and gets along with the inmates. He provides Uno with furniture for his recreational room despite protest from the supervisors.
- "Just Joking" Justification: Appears to enjoy teasing his fellow employees just for this reason.
- Meaningful Name: Literally ‘one voice, three crane’, because he’s the broadcaster, most of the inmates will mostly associate him with his voice.
Shiro
- Gentle Giant: Despite his brutish, intimidating appearance, he's a calm and kind individual. Just don't start a fight in the cafeteria or take his cat without permission.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Shiro has blond hair, and is one of the nicest characters in the series. That doesn't stop him from using force to quiet down a prison fight, though.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Has a white kitty he cares for
- Supreme Chef: His food is highly praised by the inmates, especially by Rock. Ties into National Stereotypes, as Shiro is French.
Otogi Okina and Kazari
Okina voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka (JP), Jeremy Schwartz (EN)
Kazari voiced by: Shizuka Okohira (JP), Linda Leonard (EN)
- Anger Born of Worry: The behavior of Okina around Nico.
- Hidden Depths: They may bicker constantly about the slightest of things (like the eggs being cooked wrong) but they care about their 'daughter' Kaguya and don't try to start fights in her presence. It is also implied from Kazari's skillset that she made Kaguya.
- Like an Old Married Couple: They are, and they behave like this.
- Volleying Insults: A common conversation between the two.
Building 1 of Industry
Guards
Ichiyou Tomato
一条兎万兎
The Supervisor of Building 1 is called Ichiyou Tomato.- Animal Motifs: A rabbit, with his buckteeth and bunny ears.
- Hidden Depths: Sure, he looks a bit strange and he has got a completely harmless animal as his motif, but he's a scientist and mechanic whose skills surpass Kazari's. He is also the person who made the traps.
- Meaningful Name: His name contains the kanji for ‘bunny’ or ‘rabbit’ or ‘hare’ (it’s all the same in Chinese) twice - 兎. As with almost all guards, his name has the Building number in it, ‘one’ in his case (一). Brings to mind the name Ichiyou Higuchi, a famous female writer whose likeness adorned Japanese banknotes at some point, and is one of the three women have done so. This can reflect his superiority in his field of work.
Building 2 of Money
Guards
Spoiler Character
Click here to see him. SPOILERS
The Supervisor of Building 2 is called Nakaido Teiga.
- Animal Motifs: A tiger. His last name sounds like 'tiger' and he definately shows sharp teeth and stripes in the image. He also wears a cape with a white tiger stripe pattern on it. Plus, it's similar to how tigers are 'big' cats and Mao is just a house cat.
Nimajita Mao
二舞下猫
Click here to see him when he was young. SPOILERS
Personalia
Nickname: Cat/Tamao
Age: 24
Height: 166 cm
Origin: Unknown
Blood Type: Unknown
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname: Cat/Tamao
Age: 24
Height: 166 cm
Origin: Unknown
Blood Type: Unknown
Eye Color: Blue
Voiced by: Yo Taichi (JP), Morgan Berry (EN)
The Deputy Guard of Building 2 is called Nimajita Mao.- Animal Motifs: A cat. He wears a hat with cat ears, had actual cat ears when he was young, his name refers to a cat, and he used to speak with cat puns in it.
- Break Them by Talking: Poor Samon falls under this by Mao.
- Cat Girl: The male equivalent of it.
- Cats Are Mean: He behaves like a jerk to some of his comrades.
- Jerkass: He acts like this towards Samon after the latter scolded him.
- Meaningful Name: ‘Mao’ is homophonous with the sound a cat makes (and is also the Chinese pronunciation of the word for 'cat'). It’s also the pronunciation of the word for ‘Cat’ in Chinese - 猫. 下 has a lot of meanings, under which ‘beneath’ ‘under’, ‘out’, ‘after’. 二舞 is ‘two’ and ‘dance’ - may both refer to his two tails and him being the Building 2 guard.
- Unwitting Pawn: As a child, he ended up letting the Scarred Man's gang and Elf know where Noriko was hiding because they told him they were doctors.
Building 3 of Study
Guards
Mitsuba Kiji
三葉キジ
Voiced by: Kimeru (JP), J. Michael Tatum (EN)
The Supervisor of Building 3 is called Mitsuba Kiji.- Agent Peacock: He can still kick your ass without messing up his makeup.
- Animal Motifs: A pheasant.
- Berserk Button: Don't call him a drag queen unless you want to spend the rest of your day in the infirmary. In the manga and anime he gets incensed whenever he thinks someone calls him an "okama," also. Okama means a gay man.
- Bullyinga Dragon: People tend to make the mistake of provoking him without realizing that despite his girlish appearance he's quite a fighter.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Gets these whenever someone ticks him off.
- It's All About Me: Doesn't like for "handsome men" to steal the spotlight from him.
- Mama Bear: Perhaps Papa Wolf would fit better if not for the way he dotes on his inmates and discusses techniques for skin-caring and wearing cosmetics with them.
- Meaningful Name: 三葉 is ‘three leaf’ because he’s the guard of Building 3. ‘Kiji’ is ‘pheasant’, and Kiji has a Pheasant motif because he represents the Pheasant in the story of Momotarou.
- Team Mom: Fulfills this role for Building 3.
- Those Two Guys: Get lumped in with Samon Gokuu for being an idiotic duo for shits and giggles by Mitsuru who does it to annoy them.
Inmates
Cell 6
Trois and Honey
トロワ and ハニー
Trois voiced by: Yuto Adachi (JP), Elijah Muller (EN)
Honey voiced by: Takao Mitsutomi (JP), Kyle Igneczi (EN)
Inmate number 3 and inmate number 82, usually mentioned in the same breath.- Chivalrous Pervert: These two are together the quickest to hit on Kaguya. (although Kaguya doesn't remember meeting Honey for some reason)
- Difficult, but Awesome: Honey's weapon. They're bullet shells with a needle through it, laced with monofilament wire. The threads are so thin they barely can be seen, and Honey needs a good eye to keep track of them. The needles aren't that strong either, and one thread can't pull a person. Bycoming factor is that Honey has been making these in secret, as he steals the bullets from the shooting range. The reason why he does this? They can bring immense devastation - see Ruka. They can slice pieces of the ground, even.
- Hidden Depths: Trois is quite proficient with mechanics if given the resources. Honey has a sharp eye, and that certainly comes in handy with his strange weapon.
- Meaningful Name: 'Trois' is French for 'three' as he is French himself. The kanji used for ‘Honey’ is literally 八 (ha) ‘eight’ and ニ (ni) ‘two’, the ー is there to indicate that the kanji in front of it has an elongated pronunciation.
Building 4 of Education
Guards
Yozakura Kenshirou
四桜犬士郎
Personalia
Nickname: Ken/inu (dog)
Age: 30
Height: 183 cm
Origin: Japan
Blood Type: A
Eye Color: 'Sakura-colored'; Pink
Nickname: Ken/inu (dog)
Age: 30
Height: 183 cm
Origin: Japan
Blood Type: A
Eye Color: 'Sakura-colored'; Pink
Voiced by: Shoma Yamamoto (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN)
The Supervisor of Building 4 is called Yozakura Kenshirou.- Animal Motifs: A dog, more specifically an Akita.
- Cherry Blossom Girl: The male equivalent of this. Dons a cape with cherry blossom patterns, his name refers to the sakura, his eyes and hair are both sakura-pink and he is a very calm character.
- Eyepatch of Power: One of his eyes is covered, it's unknown how or why.
- Meaningful Name: 四桜 means ‘four sakura’. He’s the guard of Building 4 and he has a sakura theme going on. 士郎 is a common name for a son. 犬 is literally ‘dog’ and Kenshirou has a Dog motif because he represents the Dog in the story of Momotarou.
- The Stoic: Always has a calm and unemotive composure.
- Tranquil Fury: He doesn't emote much even when he's angry.
- Whip of Dominance: He's an arrogant, stern, and cold man who's one of the strongest and most feared guards in the prison. Fittingly he wields a whip in combat, which helps to make him look even more imposing and authoritative.
Hitoshi Sugoroku
双六仁志
Voiced by: Eishin Fudemura (JP), Howard Wang (EN)
A guard in Building 4.- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Invoked.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Subverted. He has blue eyes, but they're contacts. Naturally, they're dark red.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: There are three possibilities: His hair is naturally that long, he let it grow long, or it's a wig.
- Meaningful Name: For his last name, go to his brother’s section. 仁志 is ‘benevolence aspiration’ which may refer to his crossdressing.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: It's pretty hard to believe he's a boy.
Inmates
Cell 10
Musashi
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (JP), Jason Liebrecht (EN)
- Ambiguously Brown: He's German, despite the Japanese name. The brown skin is a side effect of his powers rather than any ethnic origins.
- Book Dumb: Averted, he went to college and surprises his supervisor and peers with his intellect.
- Dark and Troubled Past: See the main page.
- Eye Scream: Pressing Jyugo's Berserk Button cost him his eyesight in their previous encounter.
- Hidden Depths: Back when he was in college he wanted to be an intrepreter and claims to know 42 languages. He usually is found reading books in Braille in his cell.
- Meaningful Name: Is read as 六 (mu), 三 (sa) and 四 (shi).
- No Social Skills: Since he was ostracised back home he finds it difficult to socialize with people.
- Playing with Fire: He was born with ability to produce fire, which was then experimented on by the man with scar so he could control it.
Building 5 of Training
Guards
Goku Samon
悟空猿門
Click here to see him when he was young. SPOILERS
Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (JP), Brandon McInnis (EN)
The Supervisor of Building 5 is called Samon Goku.- Always Second Best: Falls into this category compared to Hajime and Enki.
- Ambiguously Human: His 'tail' is semi-prehensile, he has dentition more appropriate for a monkey than a human, and in flashbacks he's borderline furry, particularly having a lot of chest hair that resembles fur even as a child.
- Animal Motifs: A monkey, natch.
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to Enki's Cain.
- Can't Catch Up: Feels this way in regards to Enki and Hajime.
- Heroic BSoD: When some guards taunt him regarding his brother and claim he will become just like him-a murderer.
- Hot-Blooded: This guy will kick your ass and hell try to kick his own ass. He is easily irritated and loves to fight.
- Meaningful Name: 空 is ‘space’ or ‘void’. 猿 means ‘ape’ or ‘monkey’, and Samon has a Monkey motif because he represents the Monkey in the story of Momotarou. 門 is ‘gate’, may refer to his profession. He’s the odd one out in that his Building number isn’t literally in his name, but the right upper half of 悟 still reads ‘five’ (look closely!)
Hakkai Inori
八戒猪里
Voiced by: Mitsutaka Itakura (JP), Randy E. Aguebor (EN)
The Deputy Guard of Building 5 is called Hakkai Inori.- Animal Motif: A swine.
- Meaningful Name: 八 means ‘eight’. 猪 is ‘pig’ or ‘swine’ (it’s the same character in Chinese). He represents Cho Hakkai/Zhu Bajie/the Pig Monster in the story of Journey To The West. ‘Inori’ is homophonous with the word for ‘prayer’.
The three Daisens
From left to right, 九力大仙 (Kokuriki),六力大仙 (Rokuriki) and 八力大仙 (Youriki)
Kokuriki voiced by: Shin Nagai (JP)
Rokuriki voiced by: Atsushi Kosaka (JP), Joel McDonald (EN)
Youriki voiced by: Yamato Kinjo (JP)
Three guards with the same last name. Their first names are Youriki, Kokuriki and Rokuriki.- Ambiguously Brown: Kokuriki.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: All of them fall victim to this at one point.
- Meaningful Name: ‘大仙’ is ‘big wizard/mage/hermit’. In the following order: six, eight, and nine.
- Theme Naming: All their names end on 'riki'.
Houzuki and Noriko Sanzou
三蔵法月 and 三蔵法子
Houzuki voiced by: Fuyuka Ono (JP), Matt Shipman (EN)
Noriko voiced by: Fuyuka Ono (JP), Dawn M. Bennett (EN)
A pair of siblings.- Bad Powers, Good People: Noriko can draw lifeforce out of people to sustain herself. Even though she protects the morally-unsound Enki Goku, she does it because he protected her when she had nowhere to go.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Noriko was ostracized by society because she had the power to draw lifeforce from people, albeit unwillingly. Her body did it out of instinct to strengthen its weak state. After years confined in a building, she was led outside by Enki Goku. She lived in the mountains with him and his brother for some time, until she was taken away and met her brother. Part of her memories were wiped and she was sent back into society again, who was still very afraid of her although she had learned to control her powers a bit while in the mountains. She was locked inside a cave for ten years, only surviving by drawing out the life of all the plants in the surroundings, leaving the area barren. When her brother heard of a 'monster in the mountains', he sought her out and finally freed her.
- Meaningful Name: Their names refer to Genzou Sanjou/Tan Sanzang/Tripitaka, or rather, the monk or priest that travels with the other three animals in Journey To The West. 三 is ‘three’, as you may have noticed. 法月 is ‘law moon’ and 法子 is ‘law child’, they share the same character (法) with only a different pronunciation.
Inmates
Cell 8
Liang
Voiced by: Yuki Fujiwara (JP), Blake Shepard (EN)
- All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu
- Berserk Button: Don't call him a girl.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was blackmailed by Hachiman and when he refused to kill the targets he was assigned to, he got beaten up and used to threaten Qi.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: With his qipao and his long hair worn in a braid.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Chinese, as he's Chinese.
- Meaningful Name: Chinese for ‘a pair’ (两, Liǎng).
Upa
ウパ
Voiced by: Yuu Kobayashi (JP), Aaron Dismuke (EN)
Inmate number 58.- All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu
- Chinese Vampire: Dresses like one.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Discussed in an omake.
- Organ Theft: Was kidnapped by Hachiman and had his organs essentially held for ransom to force him to use his qigong for the Chinese Mafia.
- Meaningful Name: Derived from 五 (wǔ) and 八 (bā). Isn’t a perfect representation but the closest to that pronunciation you’ll get in Japanese.
Qi
Voiced by: Genki Okawa (JP), Gabe Kunda (EN)
- Berserk Button: Don't call him an old man.
- Meaningful Name: Derived from 七 (qī) and 一 (yī). Same as with Upa above.
Underground Prison
Enki Goku
悟空猿鬼
Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN)
Inmate number 5900, in the underground prison. Samon's older brother.- Animal Motifs: A monkey, just like Samon.
- Meaningful Name: Just like Samon, 猿 means ‘ape’ or ‘monkey’, only with a different pronunciation. 空 is ‘space’ or ‘void’. 鬼 means ‘ghost’ or ‘demon’. He represents Son Gokuu/Sun Wukong/the Monkey King in the story of Journey To The West.
Ruka Gojou
五浄 流河
Voiced by: Naozumi Takahashi (JP), Stephen Fu (EN)
A former correctional officer.- Animal Motifs: A water monster.
- Meaningful Name: The kanji for ‘five’ is literally in his name. ‘Ruka’, that can also be rendered as ‘Luka’, is the same kanji that is homophonous with the name of another Luka - 流 is ‘flowing’ or ‘circling around’, and contains partially the kanji for ‘water’; all references to how he represents Sha Wujing/Sa Gojou/the Water Monster in the Journey to the West. It’s a running gag to call him a kappa, which is what Sha Wujing is often confused being.
- Spell My Name With An S: Can also be spelled as Luka.
Hachiman
Voiced by: Koji Takeda (JP), Chris Guerrero (EN)
The head honcho of a Chinese mafia.- Animal Motifs: A pig, as he represents Zhu Wuneng/Pigsy in the Journey to the West.
- Fat Bastard: He has played a part in the pasts of Liang, Qi and Upa, and it's not a good part.
- Malevolent Masked Men: In the flavor of a Creepy Mascot Suit, he wears a rotting pig head and skin as a full face-covering hood.
- The Syndicate: Used to be the head of the Chinese mafia, specializing in assassinations, drug smuggling, and organ trafficking.
Building 6 of Terror
Guards
Damian
ダミアン
The Supervisor of Building 6 is called Damian.- Hidden Depths: From what we've seen, despite his overwhelming and scary appearance, he's the first to worry when the Warden announces she's going to leave Nanba for a while and he shakes when asking who is going to take care of the prison now. Later chapters reveal that his personality is a bit split; altering between a Shrinking Violet to Ax-Crazy.
- Meaningful Name: His name means 'to tame, to subdue'.
- Shout-Out: His appearance is one to many horror movies, like Friday the 13th.
- Spell My Name With An S: Damian or Damien?
Building 7 of Dreams
Guards
Nanairo Nijimasu
七色虹升
The Supervisor of Building 7 is called Nanairo Nijimasu.- Establishing Character Moment: Appears in chapter 66 for a bit, offering candy to the other guards.
- Face Framed in Shadow: One of his eyes is normal, and one of his eyes is just a white dot on the black half of his face. It's more than a little reminiscent of Kriemhild Gretchen.
- Meaningful Name: His name can be translated to 'seven-colored rainbow'.
- The Pollyanna: Is one.
- Sweet Tooth: One of his defining traits is this.
Building 8 of Arts
Guards
Yamada Orochi
Click here to see him. SPOILERS
The Supervisor of Building 8 is called Yamada Orochi.
- The Eeyore
- Meaningful Name: Refers to the Yōkai known as Orochi, the 8-headed snake monster.
- Theme Naming: With Kyuubi. Their Building numbers are part of the Yōkai they reference.
Building 9 of Fate
Guards
Kyuubi Koisuke
Click here to see him. SPOILERS
The Supervisor of Building 9 is called Kyuubi Koisuke.
- Meaningful Name: Refers to the Yōkai known as the nine-tailed fox.
- Overly Long Name: What it looks like.
- Spell My Name With An S: Kyuubi, Kyubi or even Kyubey? It's all possible with the current spelling.
- Theme Naming: With Orochi. Their Building numbers are part of the Yōkai they reference.
Building 10 of License
Guards
Tatsumi Jubaco
The Supervisor of Building 10 is called Tatsumi Jubaco.
- Animal Motifs: Chinese dragons.
- Meaningful Name: Like with almost all guards, the character for their Building number is in it - 10, in this case. Unusually, another number is also in it - ‘three’. 'Tatsu' is also homophonous for the word meaning 'Dragon'. The character used is the Earthly Branch kanji that corresponds to the Dragon sign.
Building 11 of Galaxy
Guards
Spoiler Character
The Supervisor of Building 11 is tentatively called Rianni Ju-ichigo.
- Companion Cube: This guard looks like a small planet-shaped thing.
- The Needless: States that its favorite food is air.
Building 12 of Sun
Guards
Spoiler Character
The Supervisor of Building 12 is tentatively called Scara B Kepri.
- Punny Name: Kepri is the Egyptian Scara B. (scarab) god.
Building 13 of ??????
Guards
Hajime Sugoroku
Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Ian Sinclair (EN)
The Supervisor of Building 13 is called Hajime Sugoroku.- Aloof Big Brother: To Hitoshi, but he does care for him.
- Big Damn Hero: Whenever he comes to rescue someone, mostly his inmates.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has one across his eye. It helps make him look intimidating, but he's firmly on the side of the law.
- Meaningful Name: His name is spelled with the characters that mean ‘a pair’, ‘six’ and ‘one’. Multiply 6 by two and add 1, which number do you get?
- My Hero, Zero: As the top guard of Nanba, he's appointed with the No.0 position.
- Oblivious to Love: Has absolutely no idea that the Warden is in love with him. In fact, he's terrified of her because of her monstrous strength, and the fact that her violent antics with others makes her even more terrifying.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Hajime is as manly as one can get with his gruff attitude and his smooth, masculine features. His brother Hitoshi, however, is a different story.
- Team Dad: For the Building 13 boys. He looks after them like they're his problem children, and seems to be a Parental Substitute for Jyugo.
- Workaholic: Hajime lives for his work, and when he's suspended for three days on account of his thrashing of Jyugo, he becomes depressed for a while. He finds ways to work even then, doing everyone's paperwork out of boredom and contributing to building projects when he's finished with that.
Yamato Godai
Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi (JP), Marcus D. Stimac (EN)
The Deputy Guard of Building 13 is called Yamato Godai.- Charles Atlas Superpower: His unrivaled strength isn't the result of any latent powers. Just training and exercise, and a lot of it at that.
- Hot-Blooded: He can make Kamina look like a slouch if he tries.
- Meaningful Name: 五 is ‘five’. Yamato is an old name for Japan, which fits with his overall theme.
- Super-Strength
Seitarou Tanabata
七夕星太郎
Voiced by: Keitou Okuyama (JP), Dallas Reid (EN)
A Guard in Building 13.- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The prettiest one in Nanba, in fact.
- Meaningful Name: His name is of a very astral origin. ‘Tarou’ at the end is the normal name for the oldest son. 星 means ‘star’, and 七夕 is ‘Evening of the Seventh’. Very quickly spoken, his name sounds like ‘star’. Tanabata is an important Japanese festival prominently featuring stars, held on July 7th (7-7).
- Pretty Boy: Has the best face in Nanba Prison, and looks very feminine due to his large eyes and long hair. Uno hates him because of this.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted. He has cherry-reddish eyes (not visible on the picture), but he's harmless.
Inmates
Cell 11
Tsukumo
九十九
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga (JP), Sam Biggs (EN)
Inmate number 99.- Be Yourself: Jyugo tells him to stop pretending because no one inside the prison will think of him any less. Tsukumo is weirded out by that revelation, but pleased, even though he has a problems with properly expressing any of that.
- Child Prodigy: A gifted child actor, who grew up to be a famous star of action movies.
- Cool Mask: It covers the lower half of his face and he rarely removes it to not break character. Jyugo is surprised to catch a glimpse of his face for the first time in #7, prompting him to it (and the act) back on immediately.
- Crippling Overspecialization: A self-admitted moron, who is absolutely useless outside of acting.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was abandoned by the rest of his village as a little kid for being a failure and got adopted by a down-on-luck actress, who pretended to be his mother so she could use him as her claim to fame.
- Day in the Limelight: #7, It's a Surprisingly Sad Story explores his past through a meeting with his former manager, who finally found him in Nanba Prison.
- Deliberately Monochrome: His "mother" and her assistant are always shown in black and white in his memories. Their shades, nails and mouths are in color, though.
- Disappeared Dad / Missing Mom: His real parents were gone before he was old enough to even remember what they look like.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: His mother adopted him for her own ends and needs. Needles to point out, she lied about being his real mother.
- Former Child Star: Grew up as an actor courtesy of his "mother". The "former" part is all on him, because he didn't want to continue his career after finding out the truth about his past.
- Hates Their Parent: He doesn't want to see his "mother" ever again after finding out what she did to have him.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Damn, he sucks at being a ninja. It's all he ever truly wanted to be in life, but he sucks at it so much.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: It makes sense he got sent to Nanba Prison because of his escape attempts at previous prison, but the reason why he ended up there in the first place is because he was arrested for accidentally tresspassing on someone's private forest patch. Jyugo is neither amused nor surprised. On the other hand, Tsukumo actually likes his stay at Nanba Prison and has no desire to return to his previous life even after being released, so definitely not ruined from his point by any means. His former manager has a different opinion.
- Large Ham: He is melodramatic and doesn't leave any scenery enchewed. His own focus episode shows that he is actually pretty polite and serious on his own, but has an ingrained habit of putting on threatics when presented with a viable audience.
- Lost in Character: He has been an actor for most of his life and has played so many roles he admits to have only little idea of his own identity.
- Meaningful Name: His name isn’t read in Goroawase. It’s literally ‘99’ in Japanese.
- No Social Skills: No idea how to interact with people as himself without putting on an act, because there might not be any "himself" to start with.
- Tyke Bomb: His "mother" made him a perfect actor so he could revive her ailing directing career. He doesn't actually have any idea about what to do outside of playing a role or even what who he really is.
- Ungrateful Bastard: According to his former acting manager. It doesn't matter that his "mother" lied to and used him, she raised him in luxury and fame.
Cell 13
See Protagonists.Others
The Scarred Gang
The current stand-in name for the servants of the Man with the Scar. The Man with the Scar
Voiced by: Masanori Ikeda (JP), Phil Parsons (EN)
- Big Bad: Looks to be this way for the series as a whole, given his experiments on people like Jyugo and Mushashi.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Decidedly on the Evil side. This guy isn't a pleasant man.
Elf
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (JP), Austin Tindle (EN)
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: For a guy named Elf, he certainly looks the part. He shares the blonde hair, lanky appearance, and pointed ears of them, but leans more towards a malevolent member of The Fair Folk than anything.
- Dead All Along: He isn't exactly human; he's more akin to a spirit that can possess people.
- The Dragon: To the Scarred Man.
- Meaningful Name: Elf is German for eleven. Possibly also relevant is the fact that actual German elves (called Alps or Albs) are some of the most unambiguosly sinister fairies in European folklore— the German word for nightmare is Albtraum, or less commonly Alptraum.
Spoiler Group
Spoiler Character
Click here to see him SPOILERS
The Warden of Nanba Women's Prison is called Shin Sauzando.
- Meaningful Name: His last name is a Japanized version of 'thousand'.
- Spear Counterpart: To Momoko. He is the complete opposite of her in terms of personality, and in assignation - a male Warden in a Women's Prison. Like Momoko, his name refers to a higher number than the rest, but instead of hundred, it's thousand.
Others
Spoiler Character
Click here to see him SPOILERS
Zakuro
- Meaningful Name: Is read as 三 (za), 九 (ku) and 六 (ro). Plus, 'Zakuro' means 'pomegranate'.
