Speed Grapher/Characters

As usual with character pages, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

Characters from  include:

Tatsumi Saiga
Voiced by Yuji Takada (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN)

An Intrepid Reporter who used to be a war photographer and is renowned for the quality of his shoots. An interesting byproduct of his job is that he is sexually aroused by taking his photos. Despite being jaded and cynical, he is still passionate about his job and works for a regular magazine. It's during an infiltration mission that he sets foot in the Roppongi Club, a depraved secret society of wealthy hedonists whose primary goal is to indulge in their basest desires.

He ends up captured and is given a Spit Trail Kiss by a hypnotized young girl named Kagura Tennozou, the club's "Goddess" whose ethereal beauty captivates him instantly. He was supposed to die, but the kiss triggered the "Euphoria Factor" in him instead. Apparently a latent gene that only people known as "Euphorics" have, this virus know grants him the power to make the targets of his photo shoots explode and makes him practically invulnerable to conventional injury. Using his newfound abilities, he escapes, taking Kagura as a hostage.

Both grow quickly close as Kagura comes to her senses. She realizes just what had been done to her and breaks down in tears, begging her abductor to take her away with him. (And considering how fucked up her life has been until then, she's got all the reason in the world to wish for that). Saiga decides to free Kagura from the Roppongi club and her unkind mother's clutches.


 * Action Survivor - veteran war photographer before the series, fits the trope in appearance and methods.
 * Anti-Hero: Type II
 * Asexuality - for one reason or another. Of course, in an All Men Are Perverts All Women Are Lustful world, everyone finds it easy to assume he's physically intimate with Kagura.
 * Badass
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Abnormal
 * Blessed with Suck
 * Bad Powers, Good People
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Ephebophile: Mind you Moral Guardians, Kagura has long hit puberty when she and Saiga hook up.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Oh my...
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Oh, Bob!
 * Nightmare Fetishist
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * Iron Woobie
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A huge heart of gold indeed.
 * Knight in Shining Armour: To Kagura
 * Knight in Sour Armour: Saiga knows the world is corrupt and one man can't change it all. That doesn't stop him from being a good person.
 * May-December Romance: Kagura is 15. Saiga is 33. Do your maths.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: Only decapitation can kill him,.
 * Red Right Eye: Subverted. His eye becomes red upon using his power but he isn't evil per se.
 * Shirtless Scene: The guy is so damn ripped it's no wonder Ginza lusts after him.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome
 * Wife Husbandry: Sort of. He didn't raise Kagura but he sure is a mentor figure to her. He's still 18 years older than her, and she's 15.

Kagura Tennozu
Voiced by Kei Shindou (JP), Monica Rial (EN)

A sweet, demure and innocent young girl who lives sheltered in a high skyscraper in Tokyo. Abused and mistreated by her horrible mother, she still endures it quietly, hoping that one day her courage may pay off and that her mother might grow to genuinely love her. Besides this, she is unwittingly the object of worship of the depraved secret society of Roppongi and is known as "The Goddess".

When Saiga abducts her to save himself, she eventually realizes how she's been manipulated and used by her entourage and begs Saiga to take her away with him. Captivated by the purity of Kagura, he complies.

Kagura's growth has been artificially stalled so that she may not loose her catalytic powers that trigger the Euphoria virus in the carriers of the gene. Since she is under constant medication, she also runs a risk of dying if she doesn't go through intensive rehab due to how intoxicated her body is with the drugs she was force-fed back in the days.


 * Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Hibari's Veronica
 * Break the Cutie: Where do we begin?
 * Die for Our Ship: Oh GOD!
 * Damsel in Distress: She can't be blamed.
 * Gilded Cage: Her home life in the beginning, and her capture later.
 * Ill Girl
 * The Ingenue
 * Living MacGuffin
 * Magic Skirt: As much Male Gaze as the camera gives her, the Lolicon Fan Service is kept to a minimum and Panty Shots are (usually) averted.
 * May-December Romance: With Saiga.
 * No Periods, Period: Played with. It is mentioned that she mustn't have her period else her powers might decrease... so she gets injected with a serum that stunts her growth.
 * No Social Skills
 * Orphan's Ordeal
 * Spit Trail Kiss / Kiss of Death: Her kiss implies to exchange saliva with her target. And that's never hot.
 * Split Personality: As the Divine Goddess
 * Token Wholesome: Even as her Goddess persona, she appears with more decorum than the surrounding debauchery of the club.
 * Troubled Fetal Position: In the Eyecatch, and every time she's confined
 * The Woobie
 * Your Days Are Numbered: Six months left to live, six months left to save her.
 * Zettai Ryouiki

Chouji Suitengu
Voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Chris Ayres (EN)

A mysterious and enigmatic figure, known to the public only as the right hand man of Shinzen Tennozu. To the wealthy and powerful, he has another side, that of the master of the ultra-exclusive Roppongi Club, a black club where the elite can satisfy any fetish, perversion or delight they may have, no matter how depraved or the cost in human life.

In reality, Suitengu despises the wealthy and powerful amongst whom he walks, and while he outwardly seems to revel in the obscene amounts of wealth he has access to -- chainsmoking long cigarettes rolled in 1000 yen notes, which he tends to casually discard when they are only halfway burnt, is the most obvious of his vices -- the reality is that he has no greater desire than to see them all torn down for their corruption and decadence.

A Euphoric, Suitengu's power is to manipulate his own blood.


 * Anti-Villain:Type III
 * Badass
 * Badass Abnormal: As with all Euphorics.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Bloody Murder: His main ability
 * Break the Cutie: His backstory
 * Break the Haughty: Deliciously yet you feel a little sorry for him all the same.
 * Broken Bird
 * The Chessmaster
 * Dragon-in-Chief: As well as a.
 * Evil Smoker: Effeminately thin, long cigarettes rolled out of money.
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant
 * Four Eyes, Zero Soul
 * From Nobody to Nightmare
 * Game Face: He doesn't show it to anyone unless he intends to kill them.
 * Gold Digger: A rare male example.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: His birthmark.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: Shinzen and most of the other corrupt rich people he interacts with think he's in it for money and power, when inr reality, he's a brutal Well-Intentioned Extremist who is plotting against them.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Along with And Now You Must Marry Me.
 * Likes Older Women: He's Shinzen's lover but well, there are other reasons to that.
 * Magnificent Bastard
 * Money to Burn
 * Pet the Dog: Even while keeping Kagura confined, he shields her from her mother's abuse. When a club member is unable to pay dues and his daughter naively tries to offer play money, Suitengu is touched and lets him off the hook.
 * Red Right Hand
 * Scary Shiny Glasses
 * Shirtless Scene
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child

Hibari Ginza
Voiced by Takako Honda (JP), Clarine Harp (EN)

A very proactive, sultry and shrewd Rabid Cop, Hibari is also Saiga's Stalker with a Crush who wants to have him for herself. Dressed in a red jumpsuit to highlight her knock-out body, she uses her golden-plated guns as a weapon and is far from being a by-the-book cop.

Able to hold her own in a fight, she usually doesn't hesitate to use physical force to get the info she needs and isn't big on morality either. Seeing Kagura as a wedge between her and Saiga, she coldly gives her back to her horrible mother in exchange of

Despite her initially obstructive behaviour, she eventually becomes intrigued with the Roppongi club and eventually understands that her enemy isn't necessarily the one she believes....


 * Action Girl <- -> Dark Action Girl
 * Ambiguously Brown
 * Anti-Hero: Type V-IV
 * Badass
 * Betty and Veronica: the Veronica to Kagura's Betty
 * Biker Babe / Badass Biker
 * Bling Bling Bang: Her gold handguns.
 * Catch Phrase: Self defense!
 * Cool Shades
 * Die for Our Ship: A Betty and Veronica situation? OF COURSE THIS WILL HAPPEN!
 * Although, it's a much happier occurrence than usual:
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Male):.
 * Dirty Cop / Rabid Cop: A Rare Female Example
 * Dual-Wielding
 * Fair Cop
 * Femme Fatale: She knows she's a hot piece of ass and she always uses it to her advantage.
 * Heel Realization:
 * Karma Houdini: Never really receives any punishment for
 * Lady in Red: Sorta, she doesn't wear a red dress but a red jumpsuit
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: She wishes to, and even tells that to Kagura with tears rolling down her cheeks but she doesn't proceed.
 * Playing with Syringes
 * Stalker with a Crush
 * Tomboy: Can pull this off along with being a Femme Fatale. Nice!
 * Visual Innuendo: Some of her...weapon handling, especially in the second OP.
 * Intentionally so; it's pretty obvious that, much as Saiga has a fetish for photography, she has a fetish for guns and shooting people.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl

Shinzen Tennozu
Voiced by Gara Takashima (JP), Pam Dougherty (EN)

The ruthless, domineering and abusive mother of Kagura. A former actress who used to have some success back in her prime, she is now the head of the Tennozu Foundation, a powerful financial company that oversees the political and monetary landscape of Japan, often corrupting politicians and businessmen through the promise of indulgence in their basest desires in the Roppongi club.

She highly resents her daughter for  and is kind of a bitch in general.

She is involved with Suitengu but  and unapologetically indulges in her lustful desires with him. Still good-looking for a woman her age, she doesn't waver in personally corrupting those who may obstruct her schemes or who just want to protect her daughter from her.

Her only weakness seems to be the fondness she has for her former mentor,Gotokuji, now a disabled and delirious old woman. She is eventually


 * Abusive Parents
 * Affably Evil: Bitchy but polite all the same.
 * {{Big Bad Wannabe]]
 * Depraved Bisexual: Rare Female Example
 * {{spoiler|Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Kaguras's right after Suitengu strangles her and shoots Gotokuji in the head.}}
 * Evil Matriarch
 * Flower Motifs: if she cuts one, it's never a good omen.
 * Genre Savvy
 * {{spoiler|Wrong Genre Savvy: Shinzen knew Suitengu didn't love her and only had her as his Meal Ticket... but she didn't know what he would do about it!}}
 * {{spoiler|Laser-Guided Karma.}}
 * Manipulative Bitch
 * Meal Ticket: To Suitengu but subverted in that {{spoiler|she knows it all too well}}.
 * Pet the Dog: She truly cares for her mentor, Ms. Gokutouji
 * Rich Bitch
 * {{spoiler|Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She once was a quiet, shy young actress with all of her dreams broken. Now look at her... she's a horrible bitch.}}
 * White Dwarf Starlet
 * Widow Woman
 * Woman Scorned: If she only knew the truth...
 * Woman Scorned: If she only knew the truth...

Tsujido, Makabe, Niihari & Kikukawa
Voiced by Hiro Yuki (Tsujido), Hisao Egawa (Makabe), Kenjiro Tsuda (Niihari), Kaoru Fujita (Kikukawa) (JP), Greg Ayres (Tsujido), Bob Carter (Makabe), Robert McCollum (Niihari), Brina Palencia (Kikukawa) (EN)

Tsujido, Makabe and Niihari are Suitengu's most loyal minions, a trio of gangsters he rescued from death at the hands of their superiors when he coincidentally chose to kill off those superiors so that he could take over their turf. Tsujido, noseless from the incident, is also a Euphoric; his fetish for smells has given him an incredibly sharp nose and the ability to track people by scent.

Kikukawa is Shinzen Tennozu's right-hand woman, confidently handling any tasks her mistress presents her with and content to stay in the background.


 * Anti-Villain: All of them!
 * Because You Were Nice to Me - I Owe You My Life: Tsujido, Makabe and Niihari to Suitengu, who rescued the three from horrifying fates
 * Bishonen: Toyed with in regards to Tsujido: he is good-looking, but mostly to the prosthetic head-piece/mask he wears. It's implied that his nose was cut off while he was tortured.
 * Due to the Dead:
 * Evil Is Hammy: Niihari mostly
 * Five-Bad Band or Five-Man Band?:
 * The Smart Guy / The Evil Genius : Tsujido
 * The Big Guy / The Brute: Makabe
 * The Lancer / The Dragon: Niihari
 * The Chick / Dark Chick: Kikukawa
 * Friendly Enemies: Played with. They are by no means friends to Saiga or Kagura but they hold no grudge against either of them.
 * Gayngster: Tsujido.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Our Werewolves Are Different
 * Punch Clock Villain: Most of them, Kikukawa in particular, have no interest in being assholes apart from their jobs.
 * Sissy Villain: Tsujido
 * Satellite Character: Kikukawa, who stays mostly in the background although she shows up consistently.
 * Subordinate Excuse

Bob
Voiced by Kouji Ishii (JP), Antimere Robinson (EN)

A flamboyantly gay American man whose passport was invalidated, trapping him in Japan, Bob runs a massage parlour out of his apartment and lives in the same building as Saiga. The two are friends, and Bob is a good person, so he regularly tries to help Saiga as he gets more caught up in the mess with Suitengu and his Roppongi Club. Bob has a sister (a male-to-female transgender) named David, who runs "Le Pub David", a cabaret staffed by male-to-female transgenders.


 * Camp Gay
 * Kouji Ishii
 * Nice Guy
 * Only Sane Man
 * Pet Homosexual

Genba Ryogoku
Voiced by Rikiya Koyama (JP), Kent Williams (EN)

A doctor that was responsible for operating on and saving the life of Saiga after he. Afterwards, he got married and settled down in a private clinic in Japan, until his wife died of cancer. After Saiga becomes a Euphoric and rescues Kagura, he comes to Genba for assistance in finding out what is wrong with the both of them.


 * Action Survivor
 * Hospital Hottie: He's very Tall, Dark and Handsome
 * Non-Action Guy
 * The Medic
 * Weak but Skilled

Miharu Shirumaku
Voiced by Maya Okamoto (JP), Laura Bailey (EN)

One of the Roppongi Club's assassins, a Euphoric with the power to manipulate water and turn herself into a mermaid-like creature.


 * Anti-Villain (one of the few non-evil Euphorics)
 * Kill It with Water: She can turn her body into water
 * The Vamp
 * The Woobie
 * The Vamp
 * The Woobie
 * The Woobie

Kazuya Shirogane
Voiced by Takehito Koyasu (JP), J. Michael Tatum (EN)

A great ballet dancer, but obsessed with flexibility (and, by extension, rubber) to the point of insanity. First seen breaking a would-be pupil's arm for not being flexible enough, he later becomes the first Euphoric to be seen in the series. His power is to become living rubber, a talent he uses to serve as an assassin for the Roppongi Club.


 * Ax Crazy
 * Catch Phrase: Flexible... flexible...
 * Madness Mantra
 * Complete Monster
 * Kick the Dog: That poor little girl whose arm he broke...
 * Rubber Man
 * Sissy Villain

Kamiya
Voiced by Takehiro Koyama (JP), John Swasey (EN)

The Prime Minister of Japan, and involved in the Roppongi Club up to his eyeballs, with plans to seize control of the club from Suitengu and place it under government control. A Euphoric, his fixation on food and eating gave him the power to mutate into a huge head-creature with acidic saliva, so he could more easily eat anything he pleased.


 * Big Eater
 * Complete Monster
 * Evil Chancellor: As the Prime Minister of Japan
 * Fat Bastard
 * Game Face: "Even fatter bastard" is a crude way of putting it. In essence he becomes a giant, horrifically bloated head that drags itself around with tongue-leg appendages jutting out of its mouth.
 * No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Invites Kagura to gloat over breakfast
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can turn himself into a HUGE spidery monster.