Character trope page for the Tsugumomo anime.
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Main Characters
Kazuya Kagami
- Amnesiac Hero: His memories of his mother and his role in her disappearance were suppressed, though fusing with Kiriha awakens them.
- Blood Knight: Downplayed compared to his mother. He has inherited his mother's taste for combat, but is still a fundamentally good person.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets regularly beat up by a living Kimono sash.
- Chick Magnet: All of the female characters and several female tsukumogami have a crush on him, to the extent where he is frequently molested.
- Covert Pervert: He almost always instinctively look up a girl's skirt when given the chance.
- Creating Life: As a child, he was so powerful that he could spontaneously create Amasogi. The one time he deliberately tried to do so, he created Azami and everything went downhill from there.
- Dirty Kid: When he was a child his elder sister manipulated him into masturbating her, leading to him naively touching Kiriha and Kukuri in their sleep. He's shocked and disgusted to learn this, though Ouna jokes he inherited his mother's tendencies.
- Fusion Dance: His Divine Possession with Kiriha.
- Incest Subtext: His dream's self's favored girl in a harem dream is his real, gender flipped self. Which just so happens to look identical to his mother.
- Intimate Healing: He can share his monstrous amount of spiritual energy with Tsukumogami or another person by getting intimate with them. In series, this is known as Spiritual Intercourse (a term Ouna Oriobana coined herself).
- Screw Yourself: When everyone goes into his dreams to see who his ideal woman is, it’s the female version of himself from when he went into their teacher’s dream world.
Kiriha
Voiced by: Naomi Ozora (Japanese), Sarah Wiedenheft (English)
- Berserk Button: While she is quite easy to tick off, calling her a Youkai is guaranteed to make her fly into a rage, that is unless you are Kazumi.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Kiriha is brash, arrogant, and rude; prone to lashing out and even taking advantage of her apparent age to pitch tantrums to get what she wants.
- Cloth Fu: Her specialty, given what she is
- Combat Tentacles: She can project strips of cloth to act as tentacles.
- Cute Little Fang: When she is not sporting Grin of Audacity or Slasher Smile, she always has a fang visible when she opens her mouth.
- The Corruptible: Before Kiriha met Kanaka, she was calm and dignified. Afterwards she was lewd and boisterous.
- Depraved Bisexual: Kiriha cares nothing for consent and frequently molests Kazuya, and was on the opposite side of a similarly forceful lesbian relationship with his mother Kanaka.
- Double Standard: Rape, Female on Female: She was molested and raped by Kanaka under the pretence of "skinship" until she began enjoying it.
- Fusion Dance: She can merge with Kazuya into an ascended state, but doing so leaves him temporarily paralyzed.
- Going Commando: She often doesn't wear panties, not always but quite often which Kazuya often finds out the hard way.
- Groin Attack: When angry at Kazuya she frequently grabs or stomps on his crotch.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It really doesn't take much to get on her bad side.
- Immortal Immaturity: As a result of Kanaka's influence, Kiriha is a volatile, lecherous brat who is prone to throwing tantrums if something doesn't go her way.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A good majority of the time she very unpleasant to be around and frequently resorts to violence if something displeases her. However, she genuinely cares about Kazuya, as she reveals during their skinship sessions.
- Groin Attack: Pulled this on Kazuya multiple times by literally grabbing his testicle with her bare hand.
- Not Quite Dead: It's implied throughout the Tournament Arc that she survived being shredded by Kanaka, and is eventually indeed revealed to have survived.
- Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: She destroys Kazuya's alarm clock multiple times, making him late for school.
- The Rival: She and Kukuri get along like cats and dogs, but are former lovers and Vitriolic Best Buds.
- Sadist: Kiriha enjoys torturing and embarrassing Kazuya, often by grabbing and squeezing or stomping on his crotch. However, she genuinely cares about him and his wellbeing.
- Sleep-Mode Size: Her apparent age correlates to how much power she has and who her owner is. With Kanaka she resembled an adult, while when bonded to Kazuya she initially resembles a teenager but expends so much power fighting Kukuri that she reverts to a childlike form.
- Sleep Squashing: She is extremely wild while asleep that Kazuya almost always wake up in funny positions or a foot on his face.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Pudding, and she's not above throwing massive tantrums to get it.
- Tsundere: Heavier on the TSUN, she does care for Kazuya, even though she often hits him.
Supporting Characters
Kukuri
Voiced by: Yurika Kubo (Japanese), Apphia Yu (English)
- A-Cup Angst: Even when both she and Kiriha are in Sleep-Mode Size, she is aware and unhappy that Kiriha still beats her there even in her child form.
- Immortal Immaturity: Kukuri may be a centuries-old goddess, but as a result of her past relationship with Kanaka, rivalry with Kiriha, and her enormous crush on Kazuya, she is prone to acting her apparent age — although she is still more mature than Kiriha.
- Killed Off for Real: Is murdered by Kanaka in Chapter 70 and has her stone shard removed. Unlike Kiriha, she doesn't come back to life. However, later chapters (such as chapter 130) have revealed that a small fragment of her is left, or possibly a new version of her has formed, so she could possibly be revived or return in some form in the future.
- Making a Splash: As a water goddess, she has several powerful water-based attacks, though she can only use them in her true form.
- Mask of Power: She has a magic mask that lets her assume her true form and use her powers.
- Physical God: She is a powerful water goddess, even with the majority of her power going into maintaining a mystical barrier.
- Ship Tease: She has a crush on Kazuya and her first thought upon regaining her true form is that she can have an "adult relationship" with him, but was previously in a lesbian relationship with his mother Kanaka.
- Sleep-Mode Size: As a result of expending the majority of her power, she is trapped in a childlike form until the seal on Kanaka is broken.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: She and Kiriha go way back and were even intimately involved to a degree, but constantly bicker and fight.
- Water Is Womanly: Kukuri is a kind water goddess dressed in a kimono and hakama.
Kokuyou
Voiced by: Eriko Matsui (Japanese), Leah Clark (English)
- Big Eater: Eats through basically everything.
- Miko: She is Kukuri's attendant and priestess.
- Statuesque Stunner: She is pretty tall, the stunner part needs no explanation.
- The Stoic: Doesn't emote very much.
- When She Smiles: She looks prettier when she occasionally smiles.
- Yōkai: She is a tengu, capable of sprouting wings at will.
Chisato Chikaishi
Voiced by: Noriko Shibasaki (Japanese), Megan Shipman (English)
- Childhood Friends: She has known Kazuya since when they were children.
- Childhood Friend Romance: She’s got a pretty obvious crush on Kazuya.
- Class Representative: She's the class representative of Kazuya's class.
- Paper Fan of Doom: She has one to use on slackers or often times on Kazuya or Shiramine.
- Tsundere: Normally sweet, but when Kazuya does something questionable or slacks off, she immediately turns violent.
Sunao Sumeragi
Voiced by: Yo Taichi (Japanese), Megan Emerick (English)
- Arranged Marriage: To avoid punishment from her mother, she lies that she and Kazuya are engaged. Her mother calls her bluff and tries to force them into getting married and having sex, though this is interfered with by Sunao's violently overprotective father.
- Best Her to Bed Her: Inverted, her mother thinks that she should marry Kazuya to restore her honor for being defeated by him.
- Butt-Monkey: After losing her antagonistic traits, she becomes a lot more prone to find herself in humiliating situations.
- Consummation Counterfeit: In order to trick her mom into thinking she and Kazyua have had sex, she cuts her hand and smears blood on her bedsheets. Her mother immediately spots the cut and harshly punishes her for lying.
- Cool Mask: She shows up during the Tournament Arc wearing a kitsune mask to hide her identity, and doesn't even take it off when in the bath.
- Fiery Redhead: She has flaming red hair and an equally hot personality.
- Heel Realization: After she loses her duel to Kazuya and gets a very stern talking from her mother. She realizes her actions were in the wrong and that she needs to treat her partner tsugumomo, Kotetsu, better and actually work with him rather then seeing him as a tool. Especially since her loss ended up with the hilt on his sword form broken.
- Honor Before Reason: A major flaw of hers when we first meet her, she's very prideful and puts alot of stock in her abilities so that she feels she doesn't need to listen to Kotetsu's advice. This bites her in the duel with Kazuya as Kotetsu tries to warn her to pull back since she's putting too much power during her rapid-fire sword swings against Kazuya's Ascension form. She refused on the account of not wanting to stain her reputation. As such Kotetsu's sword form reaches its limit and the hilt breaks from her exertion, leaving her defenseless and allowing Kazuya to land the winning blow.
- Hot-Blooded: Her introduction to Kazuya had her punch him right out of the blue and instigate a fight for no apparent reason because she felt he wasn't worthy of being an exorcist after seeing him in action (this was around the time he was getting used to his spiritual powers). And a flashback later showed her rushing headlong into finding a youkai who killed her brother without any training whatsoever. If Kanaka hadn't found it first, it's likely she would've been killed. The manga later implies she got it from her mother.
- Insane Troll Logic: Her brother was killed by a powerful youkai and she went to try and combat it only for Kanaka to kill it. So she figured to challenge Kanaka since she had robbed Sunao of her revenge. She got beaten swiftly but Kanaka made a promise with her to fight her when she was more properly trained. Years later, after becoming a full exorcist, she went to seek Kanaka to fulfill that promise only to find out she had died and her son is in her place. So naturally she challenges him.
- Tsundere: Despite her brash attitude and vehement protests that she's not interested in Kazuya, she starts developing feelings for him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Her mother gives her a very scathing one for attacking Kazuya without warning, losing a duel which she forced on him, and getting Kotetsu damaged. Kihara gives her another one later in regards to her Insane Troll Logic.
Kotetsu
Voiced by: Rumi Ōkubo (Japanese), Orion Pitts (English)
- Adorably Precocious Child: Looks like this due to his youthful appearance and retiring nature, but is Really 700 Years Old.
- Fusion Dance: By the time of their re-appearance he and Sunao have managed to achieve Ascension Mode/Divine Possession
- Katanas Are Just Better: Probably one of the more justified examples in the sense that he's one of a relatively few tsukogami born from an actual weapon.
Taguri Kaneyama
Voiced by: Mao Ichimichi (Japanese), Amber Lee Connors (English)
- Comedic Lolicon: She is one. Kukuri doesn't like getting loans from her because of this combined with Kukuri's Sleep-Mode Size.
- Eyes Always Shut: Although she opens them on occasion.
- Extra Oredinary: She has the power to control metals, especially money.
- Physical God: She's a money goddess.
Shirou Shiramine
Voiced by: Sachi Kokuryu (Japanese), Kyle Igneczi (English)
- Butt-Monkey: Has managed to create not one but two amasogi and on both occasions wound up suffering the backlash from its destruction.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: A firm believer that bigger breasts are better.
- Casanova Wannabe: Has confessed to over a hundred girls, and has been rejected every time.
- Large Ham: Constantly loud and overacts.
- Likes Older Women: While never explicitly said, he has a preference of women with large breasts, in particular Kokuyou and Kazumi.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Osamu's blue
Osamu Osanai
Voiced by: Shiho Sasaki (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)
- Beware the Nice Ones: While he has no powers on his own, when he gets his hands on an amasogi or something similar that lets him use its powers, he's damn dangerous.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: We almost never see his eyes, and when we do, he is getting serious.
- Otaku: Given how much he knows about dating sims and comics and the clothing he gave to Kazuya.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Tends to bring out the big guns very quickly.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Shirou's red
Kazumi Kagami
Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese), Jeannie Tirado (English)
- Beware the Nice Ones: Seemingly the only one in the house that Kiriha is afraid of.
- Brother–Sister Incest: She is attracted to her younger brother Kazuya.
- Dirty Kid: When she was a young teen, she would bathe with Kazuya and use washing him as an excuse to masturbate him and trick him into masturbating her.
- In the Blood: She's a powerful exorcist like her mother, but not nearly as powerful as her little brother.
Kyouka
A flute Tsukumogami formerly of Mayoiga and currently of Tsuzura Temple, who is the first of the Mayoiga tsugumomo to partner with Kazuya after Kiriha is presumed deceased, and his second partner overall.
- Attempted Rape: When she and Kazuya were body-swapped, she was overwhelmed by his libido and attempted to rape him — "rationalizing" that she could do whatever she wanted to her own body. Kazuya undid the body swap at the last second, and she was left shocked and amazed by his superhuman self-control.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Wets herself in terror after Kazuya stops just short of killing her while fused with Kiriha.
- Heel–Face Turn: Like the rest of the Mayoiga tsukumogami, she was originally an antagonist before Mayoiga's attack on Kukuri was stopped, and she eventually became Kazuya's partner and joined his ever-expanding harem.
- Loud of War: As a flute, her attacks consist of playing melodies that have affects ranging from sonar to destructive sonic waves.
- Tsundere: She's in love with Kazuya and jealous of his relationship with Kiriha, but is too stubborn to openly admit it.
Arumi
A crystal ball Tsukumogami formerly of Mayoiga and currently of Tsuzura Temple.
- Attempted Rape: She forces herself on Akito thinking he was Mimane, whose shapeshifting abilities she was using for sexual purposes. Upon realizing he's the real deal, she's horrified and mortified — though this doesn't stop her from continuing things with Mimane.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She does not like how Akito gets along with his new female Exorcist, fuming over it and venting her frustration to Mimane.
- Not Blood Siblings: She and Akito were kept by the same owner and call each other brother and sister, though she has very blatant feelings for him.
- Seers: Her special ability allows her to see into the future.
Akito
A scissors Tsukumogami formerly of Mayoiga and currently of Tsuzura Temple.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Due to being a pair of scissors, he can cut through most things.
- Like Brother and Sister: He considers Arumi to be like a sister to him, and is — or at least was — completely oblivious to the fact that she wants to be his lover.
- Oblivious to Love: He was oblivious to the fact that Arumi is in love with him, at least until she unwittingly forced herself on him.
Shinobu
A needle Tsukumogami formerly of Mayoiga and currently of Tsuzura Temple, who is the third of Kazuya's five partner tsugumomo.
- Heel–Face Turn: Like the rest of the Mayoiga tsukumogami, she was originally an antagonist before Mayoiga's attack on Kukuri was stopped, and she eventually became Kazuya's partner and joined his ever-expanding harem.
- Razor Floss: One of her main combat utilities is the ability to manifest razor-edged thread that can be used to restrain or dice apart opponents.
Mimane
A mirror Tsukumogami formerly of Mayoiga and currently of Tsuzura Temple, who is the fourth of Kazuya's five partner tsugumomo.
- Clone by Conversion: Mimane is able to do this to herself, shapeshifting into the appearance of someone she reflects, while also copying their abilities. Arumi and Kyouka take advantage of this to have sexy-time with Akito and Kazuya respectively without having to go through the process of actually confessing their feelings.
- Heel–Face Turn: Like the rest of the Mayoiga tsukumogami, she was originally an antagonist before Mayoiga's attack on Kukuri was stopped.
- Older Than They Look: Mimane has the appearance of a small child, but like the other tsukumogami is centuries old.
- Power Perversion Potential: Arumi and Kyouka use her shapeshifting powers to have sexy-time with Akito and Kazuya respectively without having to go through the process of actually confessing their feelings.
- Thinking Up Portals: Mimane's main utility is her ability to teleport herself and others by linking up with mirrors in the vicinity.
- Token Mini-Moe: Of the Mayoiga tsukumogami, Mimane appears the youngest, looking like she's only 10 — if not younger.
Sosogu
A sake cup Tsukumogami formerly of Mayoiga and currently of Tsuzura Temple, who is the fifth of Kazuya's five partner tsugumomo.
- Heel–Face Turn: Like the rest of the Mayoiga tsukumogami, she was originally an antagonist before Mayoiga's attack on Kukuri was stopped, and she eventually became Kazuya's partner and joined his ever-expanding harem.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: She is rarely used in combat and thus sees herself as useless, having been abandoned by her original user in favor of a more combat-oriented tsukumogami.
- Status Buff: The liquor she manifests can temporarily amplify the drinker's strength, speed, durability, and healing.
Antagonist
Antagonist **Warning! Unmarked spoilers!**
Kanaka Kagami
Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)
- Action Mom: She was by far the most powerful exorcist in Japan.
- Blood Knight: She was initially emotionless until she discovered the thrill of combating a strong opponent.
- Depraved Bisexual: She enjoyed molesting and forcing Kiriha and Kukuri to have sex with her, but to their dismay she ultimately married a man.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: After she was corrupted by Azami, she was sealed away by Kukuri.
Misc. Characters
Suzuri Sumeragi
Voiced by: Hiromi Igarashi (Japanese), Morgan Garrett (English)
- The Ace: By far the strongest swordsman in the series.
- Action Mom: She is a Master Swordswoman, so strong that she was untouchable in her youth.
- Best Her to Bed Her: While studying swordsmanship as a young woman, she agreed that the first man that scored a point off of her would become her husband. She thus married her husband Susumu after he accidentally hit her in the head with a mop.
- Curtains Match the Window: Pink hair and eyes.
- Dissonant Serenity: She maintains a very calm, outwardly-sweet smile even when performing horrifying acts of violence.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: She is effectively the head of the Sumeragi household, using violence (and the threat of violence) to keep others in line. However, it's very much Played for Laughs.
- The Dreaded: Everyone in her family is absolutely terrified of getting on her bad side. Eventually, Kazuya learns to fear her, as well.
- I Gave My Word: She married the man who bested her, even if he's a loser who just got lucky, because that's her family rule. It doesn't keep her from being the boss in the home though.
- Inthe Blood: Like her daughter, she shares swordsman skills, and a distinct Honor Before Reason trait (taken to Insane Troll Logic levels) in dealing with a love interest/rival.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Between her and her Henpecked Husband, she’s the stronger of the two, despite his sculpted musculature.
- Serious Business: Suzuri holds the prestige of the Sumeragi Dojo above all else. Tarnishing its flawless reputation by losing is punishable by disinheritance, unless it's Sumeragi vs. Sumeragi. Thus, only way to negate the shame of outsiders getting the best of one of their own is to marry them into the family, and training them if necessary.
- Did the guy you tried to clobber stumble and accidentally hit you with the mop he was holding before you could draw first blood? Put a ring on it.
- Shipper on Deck: She noticed Sunao's feelings for Kazuya after Sunao reported how their fight went. She decided to enforce the rule about Sumeragi heirs marrying the person who defeats them in order to push the two together. Her scheme almost worked, except for her husband's continued interference.
Susumu Sumeragi
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese)
- Accidental Marriage: Got into this with Suzuri, thanks to...
- Accidental Pervert: Meeting Suzuri when she walked into the bathroom while he was cleaning it. He slipped on soap and hit her accidentally, making him the only man to have landed a strike on her.
- Ass Shove:
- His "Thousand Years of Pain" and "Ten Thousand Years of Pain" attacks are overglorified kancho, with him trting to either shove a finger up the target's butthole, or crush their genitals. Unfortunately for him, he only lands the attacks on his beloved Sunao by accident.
- Becomes a victim of this with his own bamboo breathing tube, courtesy of his enraged wife.
- Bait-and-Switch: His introduction shows Sunao being hammered through a wall of their dojo, and then a very stressed Susumu appearing from where she originated as if he were the one who launched her through it. A moment later, he breaks down in tears and cradles her, admonishing his wife (the real attacker) for being too rough during their training.
- The Chew Toy: His purpose in the narrative is to complicate the relationship between Sunao and Kazuya by constantly attacking the latter only to unintentionally injure the former, and then be punished for the attempt in horrifically gruesome ways by his wife. To his credit, he bounces back quickly, and doesn't let being mangled discourage him from foiling his beloved's attempts at playing cupid.
- Doting Parent: He adores his daughter Sunao, often being moved to tears if she gets hurt in training and develops Hate at First Sight for Kazuya after learning Sunao is supposed to marry him.
- Henpecked Husband: It is blatantly clear that his wife dominates him in the household, often with violence if necessary.
- Non-Action Guy: He was the weakest student at the Sumeragi Dojo in his youth, and is still not that great as a middle-aged adult.
- Shout-Out: Him calling his kancho attacks "Thousand Years of Pain" and "Ten Thousand Years of Pain" are a reference to Kakashi Hatake from Naruto, who does the same in some translations.
- Took a Level in Badass: He was forced to do this as a condition of marrying Suzuri. It's an impressive milestone, considering his dismal record at the dojo before. He's still nowhere near his wife's level.
