Characters featured in Metropolis (2001)
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Kenichi
Voiced by: Kei Kobayashi (Japanese), Brianne Siddall (English)
A young boy who goes to Metropolis with his Uncle. He discovers Tima.- Beware the Nice Ones: While usually a sweet kid, when Rock fires a bullet at his uncle Ban, Kenichi furiously lunges himself on Rock and bites his arm.
- Crush Blush: His relationship with Tima doesn't have romantic undertones, but he does blush when at one point Tima thanks him for his help and starts staring at him affectionately.
- Determinator: Metropolis crumbling around him and Tima erratically harming him doesn't stop Kenichi from doing everything he possibly can to save her.
- Friend to All Living Things: His friendliness towards the robots of Metropolis is played out like this.
- Hair Color Dissonance: His hair is black, but in scenes with stronger lighting it appears dark green.
- I Choose to Stay: In the ending he decides to stay in Metropolis with the robots, and according to the post-credits picture, he's set up a mechanical shop as an adult working with them.
- Made of Iron: He gets beaten, drugged, electrocuted, strangled and thrown off from various heights throughout the film, but he keeps on going.
- Nice Guy: He's respectful, calm, empathic, levelheaded and all around a good kid.
- Red/Green Contrast: Kenichi's color scheme is mainly green, contrasting the Red Is Violent of Rock's outfit.
- Reused Character Design: A character from Osamu Tezuka's Star System.
- Technical Pacifist: While he is willing to bite if pushed to the extreme, he goes to great lengths to avoid trouble for himself and Tima.
Tima
Voiced by: Yuka Imoto (Japanese), Rebecca Forstadt (English)
A highly advanced robot modeled and named after Duke Red's deceased daughter.- Angelic Beauty: When sunlight makes her glow a second time with a pigeon freezing on her shoulder with a wing spread as it happens. Some passerby below even comment that she looks like an angel.
- Apocalypse Maiden: If Tima would've gone through with it, the probability of humanity's survival would've been only 30%.
- Baby See, Baby Do: Due to being activated before her completion, Tima is initially a blank slate of a person who mostly parrots Kenitchi's sentences when he tries to talk to her.
- Composite Character: Tima is based on both the robot child Michi and Emmy from the original manga.
- Death by Adaptation: As mentioned elsewhere, Tima is shown to survive in a scene not in the American version.
- Dying as Yourself: Before she falls she reverts back to her original personality.
- Expy: Tima is a blatant expy of Astro given her identity as a humanoid robot built in the image of deceased child and destined for grand schemes by the villain.
- Gender Flip: The main robot of the original manga was technically able to be either male or female with the flip of a switch on their neck but spends most of the story as a boy, whereas Tima is 100% female.
- Kill All Humans: Tima goes into this mode when she discovers that she's a robot, especially after she sits on the throne of power.
- Naked on Arrival: Kenitchi finds her naked in the fire of Laughton's lab and immediately provides her with his jacket when he approaches.
- Pink Means Feminine: Atlas provides her with clothes, consisting in a white shirt and oversized pink pants.
- Phosphor-Essence: Upon being found by Kenitchi, her whole body is radiating with blinding energy, and she glows-up again whenever the Sun illuminates her.
- Reused Character Design: Is based off Mary, Kenichi's love interest from Kimba the White Lion.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Seeing as even Rock said you can't tell the difference between her and a human, also, as she thought she WAS human through most of the movie.
- Tears from a Stone: Tima starts to cry oil when she realizes that she's not human.
- Two-Faced: When she goes berserk in the climax, half or her facial skin melts away exposing her robotic endoskeleton.
Shinsaku Ban
Voiced by: Kōsei Tomita (Japanese), Tony Pope (English)
Kenichi's uncle and Japanese detective who goes to Metropolis for a case.- Butt-Monkey: He's something of a comic relief since he doesn't know how to move around a city as deep and complex as Metropolis, usually providing amusing reactions to the crazier stuff going down, or forgetting to pay his food to run after Kenichi and getting assaulted by the vendor wanting him to pay his check.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While not exactly moronic, he's depicted as being a bit of a bumbling Fish out of Water who tends to be out of his depth in the dazzling and technological Metropolis, but when the chips are down, Ban can kick some serious ass and he's at last capable enough to understand Dr. Laughton's notes on his diary to re-activate Tima.
- Cool Old Guy: While being mostly presented as source of humor, he proves he's no pushover, he can do detective work well and even beats down Rock, even after he was injured.
- Cool Uncle: Ban is a well-meaning man of the law on a mission who takes his trusty nephew along for help.
- Nice Guy: Much like his nephew, he doesn't look down upon the robots or considers them mere objects, as shown by his friendliness towards Pero.
- Only Sane Man: Even if he's a source of Fish out of Water humor and can get overly emotional, Ban is easily one of the sanest characters of the film alongside his nephew, as he has arrived to the city to catch an organ-trafficking criminal and ends up uncovering Duke Red's more sinister scheme.
- Parental Substitute: Given how neither he or Kenichi himself ever reference any parents, it's very likely that he has custody over Kenichi and takes him along on his journeys.
- Skintone Sclerae: True to his standard appearance in Tezuka's Star System, Ban's eyes are black dots with spacious upper eyelids like an old timey cartoon character.
- Sweet Tooth: He begins tasting a large ice cream cone at a food stand using his finger, until he gets caught by the angry stand owner.
Rock
Voiced by: Koki Okada (Japanese), Michael Reisz (English)
Duke Red's adopted son and the head of the Marduk Party, a fascist group whose aim is to promote anti-robot sentiments.- Canon Immigrant: Rock wasn't actually in the original manga. His characterization here is largely taken from his appearance in Tezuka's next major sci-fi manga after Metropolis, Nextworld.
- Circling Monologue: Rock circles Tima before knocking her out.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Rock's eyes would otherwise look stunning if they didn't belong to a murderous psycho like him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Highly implied to be the case. He was adopted by Duke Red after the "Last War", meaning that he very likely lost his parents tragically and had to witness the worst of humanity at a very young age, causing him to develop a detached and murderous personality, but also an obsession towards his adoptive father, who according to a small Precious Photo, didn't always treat him like dirt.
- Disguised in Drag: Rock combines this with Latex Perfection in order to sneak into the Ziggurat.
- The Dragon: Averted. Rock appears to be set up as Duke Red's Dragon and right-hand man for the first two minutes, then they have a chilly conversation and work at cross-purposes for the rest of the movie.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Rock goes full Laughing Mad over Tima obliviously responding that Kenichi is her father.
- The Extremist Was Right: Rock had some serious concerns about having a robot in control of Metropolis' most powerful weapon, even if it was only motivated by his desperate desire to please his father, and his anti-robot agenda. He's proven right when Tima enters a Kill All Humans mode upon discovering she's a robot and sits on Ziggurat's throne.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Quite literally. When he attempts to shoot Tima inside the Ziggurat the bullet bounces off against her and fatally wounds him instead.
- Knight Templar: Rock plays his anti-robot agenda to the end.
- Lack of Empathy: On top of his general robot bigotry, he never seems to catch onto how his actions will impact others. While its largely apparently in his complicated relationship with Duke Red, its also notable in how he's surprised that Kenichi would attack him, seconds after he's just shot Ban.
- Locked Out of the Loop: He insists that Duke Red, not Tima, is the only one fit to sit on the Throne of Power in the Ziggurat. Clearly Duke Red never told him that the throne isn't a symbol of rulership, but the core of a computer system for which Tima is designed to be the final piece (under Duke Red's control), and Duke Red sitting in it would be about as productive as him sitting on a wooden stool.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Rock is essentially responsible for saving mankind by setting the Ziggurat to self-destruct and essentially frees Tima from her destructive mindset inadvertently.
- Psycho Supporter: Rock makes some very counterproductive attempts at protecting Duke Red. He refuses to let a robot have the power which he thinks can only be used by his "father", even it means completely going against his orders.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: For most of the film Rock sports a red turtleneck sweater and black pants.
- Sinister Shades: True to Rock in other Tezuka works, he's usually shown wearing sunglasses.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Although Rock is only Duke Red's (sort of) adopted son, his entire motivation for trying to kill Tima is to get him to love him, and only him, as his own, while hating Tima for being an artificial daughter surrogate made in the image of Duke Red's already deceased daughter.
Duke Red
Voiced by: Tarô Ishida (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)
The owner of the Ziggurat tower and the main antagonist. He's the adoptive father of Rock and funds the Marduks.- Abusive Parents: Only a small photo
◊ depicts a proud Duke Red being hugged by a very young Rock. For the rest, Duke Red is pretty toxic towards older Rock, never once telling him anything kind, yelling in his face that he isn't his son, smacking him before personally expelling him from the Marduk party and disowning him for good for attempting to destroy Tima. - Adaptational Nice Guy: While still the Big Bad, the film's version of Duke Red has some noble aspects as opposed to his completely power-hungry and heartless manga counterpart.
- A God Am I: Or rather, "A Goddess I'll make!" courtesy of Duke Red who despises how humans are ruled by emotions and inferior robots, so he has Tima created as a supreme creation to rule over the world as a computer weapon with Red in charge. Doesn't turn out well.
- Ambiguously Brown: He's not characterized being of African descent, but nonetheless has a rather dark skin color.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A wealthy influential industrialist who makes deals with the underworld, and created a robot for plans of world domination.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Genuinely cared about his daughter before her death.
- Expy: Duke Red is a blatant expy of Dr. Umataro Tenma/Dr. Boynton/Dr. Balthus from his views on his robotic ward to control mankind to his birdlike nose.
- Sinister Schnoz: Has a long beak-like nose.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Duke Red's motivation. Abusing Rock withstanding he gets no Kick the Dog moments, but does some rather nasty things to get on top.
Pero
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)
A robot detective assigned to help Shinsaku Ban with his case.- Androids and Detectives: The android to Shinsaku Ban's human detective.
- Brain/Computer Interface: His neural spike allows him to jack into other robots and download or upload information directly from his memory. By doing this with a robot that was cruelly mangled by two Zone 1 inhabitants, Pero and Shinsaku Ban discover that a revolution is being plotted.
- By-the-Book Cop: He calmly and diligently tries to uphold the law wherever he goes in a pacifist manner, even when he isn't being respected by the angry humans.
- The Comically Serious: When Shinsaku Ban asks if he believes Dr. Laughton to be hiding in Zone 1 due to his detective intuition, Pero explains that it's simply his neuro-simulator crunching a calculation of probabilities.
- Dissonant Serenity: He never changes the tone of his deadpan voice no matter the situation, even when being faced with impending doom.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He sends Shinsaku Ban away to try pacify Atlas' mob alone, to buy him time before being mercilessly destroyed.
- Job-Stealing Robot: The police officer giving him to Shinsaku Ban and Kenitchi informs them that he needs to be refueled every 5 years, commenting how soon real human cops won't be needed anymore. Atlas' friend is instead much more hostile towards Pero's presence for being a robot, smacking him and ranting about how his people have lost their job due to the robots.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Looks like and acts like a human who's blue.
- Robot Buddy: Shinsaku Ban views him as this, nicknaming him "Pero" and treating him no differently than a human despite his nature.
- Undignified Death: Atlas blows his brains out before he and all the revolutionaries charge, stepping over his body. Later, Kenichi mournfully picks up Pero's hat and covers his destroyed head with it to pay some respect.
- You Are Number 6: His real name is "DRP-DM4973C" because robots aren't allowed to have names as it's considered inappropriate, but that doesn't stop Shinsaku Ban from deciding to nickname him "Pero" for simplicity's sake and to humanize him in spite of Metropolis' rules.
Fifi
Voiced by: Rikako Aikawa
A trash compacting Robot who is confined to Zone 1- Disney Death: Has their head rebuilt.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Fifi takes the bullets Rock fires for Kenichi and Tima.
- Robot Buddy: Compared to the humanoid Tima and Pero, the cumbersome, quasi-mute, Gentle Giant Fifi is a more classical example of this.
Atlas
Voiced by: Norihiro Inoue (Japanese), Scott Weinger (English)
A leader for revolutionaries wishing to overthrow Duke Red's grip on the city.- Adaptation Species Change: Atlas in Astro Boy was a robot, here he's a human.
- Canon Immigrant: Much like Rock, Atlas wasn't actually in the original manga. His characterization here is actually based on an inversion of a character of the same exact name from Astro Boy.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Atlas may be violent and needlessly bigoted against robots over the problems Duke Red caused, but he's justified in wanting to overthrow him and the Marduk Party and genuinely cares for people around him, and doesn't kill for fun like Rock does.Atlas: Lets just not kill him! We aren't a street gang, we're running a movement here!
Doctor Laughton
Voiced by: Junpei Takiguchi (Japanese), Simon Prescott (English)
A shady scientist who's the creator of Tima.- Adaptational Villainy: In the original manga, Dr. Laughton was a respected scientist who was protecting his robotic creation, Michi, from Duke Red. In the film however, Laughton is a wanted criminal who Duke Red hired to create a robot version of his deceased daughter, Tima.
- Electronic Eye: His missing right eye is replaced by a cybernetic red one.
- Filling the Silence: In the english dub he mumbles a lot in a scene in which he's otherwise quiet in the original and other dubs.
- Mad Scientist: A classic example of one.
- Opportunistic Bastard: He tells Duke Red to be patient assuring him Tima is almost complete, but in truth Tima is already complete, and he plans to finish her before leaving taking her and all the money the Duke gave him to fund his project along.
Fridge Horror only knows what he would've done next had he escaped with a super-weapon like her at his disposal. - Pragmatic Villainy: Doctor Laughton doesn't use human organs in his robots, because he claims they don't last very long.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't have much screen-time before he is killed off, but he's the creator of Tima which makes him essential to the plot. He also uses his dying moments to point Shunsaku to his notebook, which he (Shunsaku) uses to deduce the true purpose of the Ziggurat.
- Still Sucks Thumb: Downplayed, but he's shown nibbling on his thumb twice.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Killed off minutes after being introduced.
