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Rinko Ozaki (Mizushima)
Rinko has a birthmark on her left arm, which has gradually grown darker over the years. Now, whenever she feels a strong impulse of emotions, her body grows hot and she loses consciousness, only to wake up in unfamiliar places.
According to Sonehara, Rinko is one of the humans who have the ability to turn into a beast. Rinko turns into a leopard, but is referenced in-universe as a 'golden panther'. Now, faced with the fact that she turns into a bloodthirsty beast, Rinko tries desperately to escape Sonehara's clutches and to keep her secret safe.
Eventually, Rinko gets taken advantage of by Mitsugu Odagiri and gives birth to a daughter, whom she calls Mai. Intent on bringing things to an end, Rinko faces off against Sonehara, to keep Shinya and her daughter safe, falling off a cliff.
Rinko manages to survive, but was frozen for 15 years, leaving her at the same age she was, at the time of the fall. She was used to lure Mai into a trap. When she and Shinya are about to meet up again, he dies of his injuries and she joins him in fire.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Rinko is really not okay with the possability of being hated, which is why she repeatedly tries to leave Shinya without telling her anything about her transformation or pregnancy.
- Damsel out of Distress: Whenever Sonehara captures her, Rinko has enough brute force in her panther form to break free.
- Driven to Suicide: After transforming mid-fall when she jumps off the school roof, she cut her wrist with a broken bottle becuase she can't live as either a monster or as an experiment. Sonehara manages to save her.
- Go On Without Me: When she, Mai and Akio are caught in a fire, Rinko tells the two of them to go on without her. She knows that she'll die soon, anyway and hits the switch for the fire shutter door, locking herself in with the fire, but giving Akio and Mai the chance to flee.
- Happily Married: As short as the marriage to Shinya lasted, they were both happy.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Since the fire shutter works only from the inside, Rinko chooses to stay with Shinya's corpse, letting Mai and Akio get away from the burning building.
- Human Popsicle: Shortly after disappearing, Sonehara kept her frozen for 15 years, which is why Rinko still looks the same when she reappears.
- I Am a Monster: Rinko has an increasing anxiety if she can continue living as a human, as she tends to kill someone nearby when she transforms. Eventually she tries to jump off a building to see if she'll instinctively transform, and with Odagiri doing nothing helpful for her either, she decides to cut herself.
- Mama Bear: When Sonehara kidnaps her newborn daughter, Rinko freaks out and is absolutely determined to kill Sonehara.
- Meaningful Name: According to
Shinohara, Rinko's name comes from the phonetic pronunciation of Lynx (Rinkusu) and then used the Rin from Rinka and Ko for child. Rinko is a Lynx-Child. - The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Rinko notes her habit of licking her wounds, landing on all fours and increased preference for raw meat.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Subverted, Rinko gets a romantic last night with Shinya, before leaving to confront Sonehara. Played straight when, 15 years later, Shinya dies just before Rinko can see him again.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Rinko's transformation is powered by her hatred and she notes she loses herself during it.
Shinya Mizushima
Shinya has been friends with Rinko since childhood and has held feelings for her just as long, too. When she begins to act strangely, he tries to help her any way he can, before finding out about her transformation.
After learning that she's pregnant with Odagiri's child, Shinya vows to take care of her and the baby, and they even get married. After Rinko disappears with Sonehara, Shinya raises Mai on his own.
Years later, Shinya was out to help his daughter and was close to being reunited with Rinko, but died from injuries before it could happen.
- Chick Magnet: According to Rinko, Shinya used to have a lot of fans in school and several confessions.
- Fake Defector: After seeing the footage of Rinko's transformation, he sells her out to Sonehara because he can't date a panther. Turns out he was buying time to steal the tapes and protect Rinko.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Rinko tries to avoid telling him about her situation, afraid he'll reject her. Until Sonehara tells him herself.
- Morality Pet: Rinko would have embraced being a monster if not for Shinya stopping her going to a deep end every time.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Subverted, when he has a romantic night with Rinko and watches as she and Sonehara fall over a cliff. Played straight, when he dies just before Rinko can see him again.
Kaoruko Sonehara
Daughter of Professor Sonehara, who began his research on humans with the ability to transform into beasts. His theoretical notes proved that it was a possibility, but died before he could bring physical proof. His daughter took over his research.
When she finds Rinko's birthmark, she begins to hatch plans and to force Rinko into transforming into a leopard. Sonehara repeatedly tries to catch Rinko, but she keeps escaping. After learning that Rinko is pregnant with Odagiri's child, she puts her sights onto the baby and intends to kill Rinko. However, Rinko went after her first and both fell down a cliff.
Sonehara managed to survive the fall and joined up with the Clan, but wishes to continue to expose their abilities to the world. Her main focus now is Mai, as she is a pureblood transforming human.
- Attack Animal: Aside dogs, Sonehara traps her houses with poisonous snakes and spiders, just in case of intruders.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: After encountering a black panther who saves Rinko, Sonehara pieces together that a journalist from yesterday was interested in her and goes to his address from his business card, finding Rinko there.
- Cool Shades: Wears sunglasses in the second half, mostly to hide her lacking right eye.
- Eye Scream: Rinko slashes her right eye in the middle climax, making Sonehara permanently lose it.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Akio finally takes her down by throwing an industrial rod through her.
- Mad Scientist: Just to prove her father's theory that human cell's transformation is possible, she kidnaps and experiments on Rinko while still in school, and isn't above killing anyone even accidentally on her way. In the second half she's deda-set on making Mai het scientific slave.
- Moral Myopia: Sonehara fears for her life whenever Rinko transforms and feels offended Shinya sees no value in her research, despite many murders, children included, she has done for it.
- Revenge Myopia: Sonehara swears vengeance again Rinko and Mai for injuring her, despite her trying to kill them and in fact killing many people around them for her selfish goals. Sonehara even detonates Kanto TV Station with explosive just so Mai wouldn't escape.
- Returning Big Bad: Presumed dead, turns out she was cooperating with the Clan for the next 15 years and takes the spotlight again. Eventually Sonehara gets leader Sakaki imprisoned and completely takes over.
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: She keeps a pack of guard dogs to hunt Rinko.
- Scars Are Forever: In the second half she has no right eye and retains the scars that Rinko's claws slashed onto her face.
- The Sociopath: She sees no issue in torturing and killing children under an excuse that it's not like they're human, and is even happy if she learns something new from that. She doesn't find killing normal people a problem either and is skillful at manipulating them.
- Villain Ball: A lot of times Sonehara misses her chance "to present a transformer to the world" on a live TV because she wants to research them herself first, without publishing anything when she does capture one for years. This keeps victims leaving opportunities to escape and leaving Sonehara empty-handed.
- Villains Never Lie: Many times Sonehara takes someone hostage and promises to release/cure them if someone else surrenders, she's being completely honest. She just believes that the second person will still be at her mercy and keeps losing both.
- Villain with Good Publicity: To anyone not involved in the plot, she's just a biology teacher.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She is mainly motivated by justifying her father's research, who tried to burn himself alive after his paper got rejected.
- Would Hurt a Child: Sonehara has absolutely no qualms with sending dogs on Rinko's little sister, shooting her students, even holding the newborn Mai under water, just to serve her research or manipulate Rinko and Shinya to do her bidding.
Mitsugu Odagiri
A freelance photographer, who is the same as Rinko. He can transform into a black panther and is insistent on making Rinko his woman. Eventually, he drugs Rinko and sleeps with her, inadvertently getting her pregnant.
After learning of her pregnancy, Odagiri becomes a thorn in Sonehara's side. She traps him in a warehouse, trying to get him killed. Odagiri dies when he grabs explosives and blows himself up, creating a diversion for Rinko to escape.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite everything he's done, Shinya can't help but to feel sympathy for him, learning that he didn't have long to live and has left a lot of money for Rinko just in case.
- Cool Shades: Wears his sunglasses majority of the time when he's outside just to look cool.
- Dark Is Evil: In contrast to Rinko's golden color scheme, Odagiri transforms into a black panther and shows no remorse killing civilians.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Upon learning that Rinko was pregnant and followed by police, he grabs explosives and goes down with them, so Rinko can get away.
- Immoral Journalist: Hearing the situation from Shinya, he does the same as Sonehara. He abducts Shinya and sends a few men to rape Rinko just to confirm her transformation. Later turns out out he's a member of Rinko's race and journalism is just how he fits into the society.
- Kick the Dog: If the post-story chapter is of any indication, Odagiri has killed Ayano's classmate just to make her stressed out to transform.
- My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Odagiri can tell his livespan is fading away, which is why he's focused to sleep with Rinko who is of the same species. Even when she voluntary stays at his place, he drugs and rapes her just to make sure she won't run off again.
- Spiteful Suicide: Dying from a gunshot, Odagiri finds enough strength to get a dynamite from his car and blow himself up just so Sonehara wouldn't get anything for the autopsy.
- Taking the Bullet: When the police were going to shoot Rinko, he threw himself in front of her and took the brunt of the force.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's a darkhaired pretty boy with a manipulative side with some snark.
- Villain's Dying Grace: Discovering that Rinko may actually be pregnant with his child, he throws his life away to rescure her from the police raid.
Mai Mizushima
Rinko's and Odagiri's daughter. Sonehara wishes to use her as her experiment to get information on transforming humans from a pure-blood like her, but Rinko and Shinya kept Sonehara away from her.
Mai was raised by her father Shinya, but has feelings for him. She doesn't know that she is not related to her father, at first. According to Shinya, she's athletically super-talented and never told her about her mother's heritage.
When Mai runs from the Clan and Sonehara, she vows to finally get rid of Sonehara, for the sake of getting revenge for her mother and father. In the end after Sonehara has finally been killed, Mai gets onto a plane and leaves Japan with Akio.
- The Beastmaster: As a baby, Mai could summon a horde of cats to to save herself. Sonehara realizes this early and drugs her to sleep, making the cats go away.
- Child by Rape: Mai doesn't know that she's actually the product of rape by Odagiri and Shinya never tells her until it becomes relevant.
- Dead Guy Junior: She is named Mai, after her mother's deceased sister, Maiko.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Shinya first had Mai grow her hair out to look similar to Rinko. Since her hair didn't grow that well into that hairdo, she had it cut short.
- Psychic Powers: As a pure-breed, Mai can inflict headaches to Clan members, break glass when scared, and nearly crushes a helicopter by intensely staring at it.
- Replacement Goldfish: Mai tries to love Shinya as a man and is fine if he sees her as Rinko. Shinya refuses, since she always was and is his daughter.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Shinya notes she looks exactly like Rinko, her hair aside.
- Superpower Lottery: While seemingly unable to transform, as a pure-breed, Mai has animalistic agility, infrared vision and Super-Strength even as a human, can control others with the Clan's blood and some Psychic Powers.
- Tragic Keepsake: She wears a fang pendant, which is actually Rinko's fang. Her father gave it to her and implored her to take good care of it.
Akio Takashina
A basketball player, who can transform into a black panther with a silver mane. He actually belongs to a Clan that wishes to eradicate all humans with the ability to transform into beasts, though he was treated differently.
When he realizes that the Clan hates him, he goes off with Mai and Shinya, vowing to help Mai bring down Sonehara.
Eventually, Sonehara captures him and uses a device to force him to do her bidding, locking him into a cage and making him transform from panther into human on live TV. After breaking out, he runs off to the airport and leaves Japan with Mai.
- The Casanova: Has a lot of girls he meets, but he isn't serious with any.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Shinohara says that Akio is effectively the second half's Odagiri, but slightly more levelheaded, to counter Mai's hothead. Compared to Odagiri, who was a loner and tried to find his mate, Akio works along with his Clan to eliminate the purebreeds until he takes Mai's side.
- Heel–Face Turn: Realizing that his Clan (which consists of both humans and transformers) plan to sacrifice Mai for their own beliefs, he helps Mai escape and becomes a renegade.
- Ladykiller in Love: When he meets Mai and Shinya has some father-words for him, Akio decides that he might as well become serious with someone who is of the same species as he is.
- Second Love: He becomes Mai's lvoer, after she sorts her feelings out about her father.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He looks a lot like Odagiri, to the point that Rinko first thinks Akio is him.
