Disgaea/Characters

Characters for specific games:

 * Disgaea Hour of Darkness
 * Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories
 * Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice
 * Disgaea 4 a Promise Unforgotten

Characters that appear in multiple games in the Disgaea series:
Prinnies

Not actually a character per se, but still deserving of mention. Prinnies are exploding demon penguins who talk like Surfer Doods which serve as the primary labor force of the Netherworld (Though they exist in Celestia as well and are treated better there). Etna keeps a squadron of Prinnies with her at all times. In fandom, they have been upheld by fans as the unofficial mascots of the franchise, a position since adopted by the developers, leading to their own spinoff game. All Prinnies contain the souls of sinners and criminals and, as such, are designated by the Powers That Be as the Butt Monkeys of the universe.

Tropes associated with prinnies: "Valvatorez: Prinny Rule No.1! A Prinny must include the word "dood" in every line they say!"
 * Adorable Evil Minions
 * The Atoner: Prinnies are the souls of dead sinners trapped in penguin suits, and must work at the Netherworld and Celestia to repent and be reincarnated. In Celestia they must do good deeds (usually cleaning and housework) while in the Netherworlds they do menial tasks (cheap labor and soldiers) for low pay in order to earn enough money to literally pay off their karmic debt.
 * Butt Monkey
 * Death of a Thousand Cuts: Their standard attack is slicing at the opponent multiple times for multiple hits. Because of this, they don't always do very much damage to the opponent unless properly leveled and equipped.
 * The Ditz: With some exceptions, Prinnies seem to lose a lot of IQ points upon becoming one.
 * Everything's Better with Penguins: The shape of their "suits".
 * Fastball Special: They blow up upon impact (but can easily get better).
 * Immortal Life Is Cheap: Since "reviving" a prinny involves little more than stuffing them into a new prinny suit, it's impossibly cheap (1 HL) to bring back even the strongest prinny -- which is partly why their bosses have no issue with abusing them to their hearts content.
 * Killer Rabbit: They're certainly not the most powerful monsters in the game, but like all Disgaea characters you can level/equip/reincarnate one into a wrecking machine. Watching an adorable penguin slice monstrous demons to ribbons is always good for a laugh.
 * Made of Explodium: Their human souls, combined with cheap crafted bodies, means Prinnies are highly unstable. Sufficiently jarring impacts cause them to explode. On the downside, this means you can't toss them around the grid for fine unit positioning, which is normally a useful tactic. On the upside, they make great impromptu weapons!
 * Mascot Mook
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot
 * The Other Darrin: Grant George did the voice for the Prinnies from Disgaea Hour of Darkness to Makai Kingdom. Starting with Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, Dave Wittenberg took over as the voice actor of the Prinnies until Trinity Universe, where Grant George becomes his voice actor once again.
 * Averted in Japanese, where their sole voice actor is Junji Majima, he of Ryuuji Takasu and Teres Tolue fame.
 * Player Mooks
 * Series Mascot
 * Servant Race
 * Stuff Blowing Up: When they are thrown.
 * Verbal Tic: In Japanese, it's tagging a "-su" at the end of sentences, as a slangy version of 'Desu'. In the English dubs, they replaced that with saying "dood" at the end of sentences.
 * In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, Valvatorez punishes a trainee Prinny for not using the tic in its speech. Apparently they're under contractual obligation!


 * We Have Reserves: Prinnies are treated this way in both the story and the gameplay, since they only cost 1 HL to heal or resurrect.
 * Who's Laughing Now?: They did this to Etna in the second game.

Baal

The Bonus Boss, Baal first appeared as a Demon Lord in La Pucelle. He Took a Level In Badass in Disgaea 1 where he became known as Supreme Overlord (or "Tyrant") and was the one who was ultimately In this game, he became a Prinny after his first defeat; it was assumed at the time that this was a reincarnation. Baal appears again in Phantom Brave, this time taking the form of a Mushroom-esque monster, an Eringer/Funguy. It was assumed at the time that he had gone through his reincarnation period as a Prinny, yet retained his incredible strength. More of his true nature became known in Makai Kingdom, Baal does not die when his body is killed, rather he merely finds other host bodies to inhabit and he is as old as the universe itself.. This became worse in Disgaea 2 when he started getting more than one body. In Disgaea 3, Baal has more of a storyline, he is stealing traits from various characters for some unfathomable reason. Expect lots and lots of Level Grinding to be anywhere near capable of fighting Baal, his HP tends to be in the millions.

Notably, Baal was absent from Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku; in fact, Valvoga's description states that he conned Baal out of the Bonus Boss position. Nevertheless, Baal's made his appearance as a Bonus Boss in Prinny 2 and has made his mainstream Disgaea return as a DLC Bonus Boss in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.

Tropes associated with Baal


 * Body Surf
 * Bonus Boss: Probably the ultimate example.
 * Scarily enough, he's not the hardest example; really, beating Baal is a trial in level grinding and patience to get your stats high enough to kill him in one round.
 * Bragging Rights Reward: Beating him usually results in little beyond a title change to Lord of Terror. Of course, if you did actually get anything from beating him, it'd be rendered useless simply on the basis that you already just beat the one guy literally one thousand times more powerful than anything outside of a Nippon Ichi game ever.
 * In order to justify this, there is usually a stronger version of Baal lurking somewhere in the game.
 * Also, each game has a set of "Stronger Enemies" and "Weaker Enemies" bills you can use to make him tougher, along with the rest of the game...
 * Eldritch Abomination: Really powerful and as old as the universe itself. How is this not an H.P Lovecraft reference?
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: His castle.
 * Dimension Lord
 * Impossible Thief: A plot in Disgaea 3 revolves around everyone gunning for him, outraged that he stole things such as Mao's "precious item", Flonne's commemorative DVD Box set, Laharl's height and screen time, Marona's innocent and pure heart, and the second "A" and space in Master Big Star's name.
 * Our Giants Are Bigger: In his traditional Tyrant form, his sprite will almost always tower over everything in the game. Case in point...
 * Exemplified in Prinny 2, where he's the biggest enemy in the game!
 * Physical God
 * Power Levels: The lowest level he's ever been at was 2000, during his La Pucelle incarnation. Later titles made his default level 4000.
 * Killer Rabbit: Not always, but always taken to the logical extreme when he is. Level 9999^23 prinny, anyone?
 * His Eringa form in Disgaea 3 screamed Killer Rabbit with it's cutesy voice and lovable shroomy exterior. But as soon as the party checks his level...
 * Multiversal Conqueror
 * Serial Escalation: Baal takes the concept of the overpowered Bonus Boss. Progressively more so in each installment.
 * The Speechless: With the exception of Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, Visible Silence and battle grunts are his only form of communication.
 * Villains Out Shopping: His appearance as DLC in Disgaea3 has appear at Evil Academy applying for a job.
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: In all his appearances, his attacks all consist of summoning giant swords.

Pringer X

Take all the stats of Baal; and take out any plot description, and you get Pringer X. A Robot Prinny who tends to be even stronger than Baal and has slowly phased him out as final Bonus Boss in the series. Originally based on a joke Etna made in her fake trailers in Disgaea Hour of Darkness, Pringer X nevertheless made an actual appearance in Makai Senki Disgaea Episode 8, and became a true Bonus Boss in Phantom Brave. While Etna has made cheap knockoffs in the Prinny series called "Pringer Z", they aren't nearly as strong.


 * Bonus Boss: Gained this position in Phantom Brave.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: He's only had plot description twice in the series: once in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories's remake, where he was created by several of the bonus characters, and in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, where apparently, according to Flonne, he is Great Flonzor X's rival.
 * Humongous Mecha: Prior to Phantom Brave.
 * It Only Works Once: His evility, Special Skill Solved, makes it so that any special move used on Pringer X in a battle cannot be used a second time for any damage. This includes when there are multiple bodies. (The immunity is then given to all of them.)
 * Lethal Joke Character
 * The Speechless: Valvatorez learns this the hard way.

Asagi

The intended heroine of Nippon Ichi's next game following Makai Kingdom, Asagi's game was dropped after Zetta defeated her and she has become a vagrant Bonus Boss in all Nippon Ichi games since, wandering from game to game in the attempt of plugging her own disowned game or trying to commit hostile takeovers to put herself in the main character spot.

Tropes Associated with Asagi:
 * A Day in the Limelight: The alternate mode in the sequel to Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? in which you play as her in her Prinny form. Possibly the closest she'll ever get to becoming the main character.
 * Alliterative Name: Her full name, as shown in both Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? and it's sequel, is Asagi Asagiri.
 * Bonus Boss: Specifically, the one Bonus Boss who has appeared in every NIS game since her initial appearance. Not even the mainstays like Laharl or Baal can boast this.
 * Except in La Pucelle: Ragnarok.
 * Break the Cutie: Asagi seems to be getting increasingly insane with each game she shows up in that isn't hers.
 * Character Development: By the end of Asagi Wars,.
 * She is back to her old self in the sequential NIS games though.
 * Demoted to Extra: One of the most tragically hilarious cases ever.
 * Determinator: She's tried how many times to get her own game already? And she shows no sign of slowing down.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten
 * Failure Is the Only Option: Several fans have pointed out that if Asagi ever does get her own game, her main shtick goes 'poof'.
 * Guns Akimbo
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Her Japanese voice actor switches with almost every appearance. Among those voice actors include Kana Ueda, Chiwa Saitou, and Kaori Mizuhashi.
 * Her English voice actor is Wendee Lee in all except two of her appearances. Lara Jill Miller provides her voice in Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice and Laura Bailey provides her voice in Disgaea Infinite.
 * Hostile Show Takeover: She figures if she can beat the main characters of the various games, she'll prove herself worthy of being a main character. Unfortunately, the inverse also holds - if she's gotten beaten seven times by a Prinny...
 * Non-Standard Character Design: Happens to her in Disgaea 4. That game uses HD sprites by default, but Asagi doesn't have one, and looks decidedly odd next to the other characters. An HD Asagi is free DLC, however.
 * Also in Disgaea 2, where she retained her original sprite from Makai Kingdom, causing her to look distinctly chibi-ish compared to everyone else in the game. Both cases are lampshaded to hell and back.
 * Pretty in Mink: Her fur-trimmed jacket in some of the games.
 * Split Personality: Hinted at in her various appearances, but manifests itself most obviously in Prinny PSP.
 * Throw the Dog a Bone: The ending to Asagi Wars in Prinny 2..
 * Weapon of Choice: She's most commonly portrayed with a pair of handguns, but she's been known to supplement her arsenal with a bazooka and a flail whose head is as big as she is.
 * The other two weapons originated from Makai Kingdom, the game in which she made her debut.
 * Zettai Ryouiki
 * Zettai Ryouiki

Pleinair

Yuichi "Haradaya" Harada's mascot, she first appears in the first game as a guide to the Dark Assembly (and in the remakes, a very broken recruitable character), and then returns in the second game to take over Etna's role of providing "previews" of the next chapter, in the form of a news broadcast. Accompanied by her rabbit, Usagi, who is also her emergency food source. Usagi's the one who actually does all of the talking.

Tropes associated with Pleinair:

"Pleinair: How would you like to die socially? I'll delete you from all public records."
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Moreso in art that may or may not be canon. While it's by the original artist, but doesn't quite fit with the canon, although eating Usagi isn't exactly very nice.
 * When recruited as DLC in ''Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, Mao is scared of her or rather her legion of fans.
 * As is Adell when recruited as DLC in the Updated Rerelease of Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. She is considered in the game as invincible as simply touching her would enrage the fanbase.
 * Adell also appears to be a member of the fanbase.
 * In the Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories manga, after leaving Laharl's employ after the fiasco with Etna, she's seen working at Netherworld City Hall, where Etna heads to try and get a title change to Overlord. When the title switch fails due to her not meeting any criteria, Etna contemplates trying to blackmail Pleinair, and we get this gem, which gets Etna to back down very quickly:


 * Cute Mute: She actually did get a voice in her DLC in Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice and Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, but it's incredibly low. You'll have to turn off the BGM just to hear it.
 * Game Breaker: She has incredibly high dodging and hitting numbers. The latter also goes well with her high gun skills (since their damage is calculated by hit stats more than attack stats).
 * In the first game, she can even become a Disc One Nuke, if you get the New Game+ at the earliest opportunity.
 * In the second game, she is Downloadable Content on the PSP version, and you don't even have to fight her.
 * Girls Love Stuffed Animals
 * "On the Next...": In Disgaea 2. Usagi does all the talking, temporarily replaced by Axel after apparently she eats one of her Usagi, then when she's left alone due to Axel running off to save the day, in true Cute Mute form, :she acts like she's reporting on the next chapter, visual aids and all, but doesn't say anything.
 * Peek-a-Bangs
 * Sexy Santa Dress: Harada likes to draw Pleinair with this.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Zettai Ryouiki

Prism Rangers / Nijiranger

Self-proclaimed heroes of justice, the Prism Rangers cameo in each of the main series of Disgaea games. They fight evil, declare the power of love and friendship, and fail miserably in each and every one of their appearances. Really, they're not even on the protagonists' radar. They are almost the human equivalent to Prinnies. But they mean well! Well, Prism Red does. And they're all pretty moronic. And this is Disgaea. But they try really hard.


 * All Your Colours Combined
 * Butt Monkey
 * Large Ham
 * The Other Darrin: Their voice actors are constantly changing. It's actually explained in-universe in Disgaea Infinite that the Prism Rangers often die and the producers search for kidnap possible candidates.
 * Running Gag: That's not enough colours for a rainbow!
 * Shout-Out: Guess to what.