Full Metal Panic!/Characters

A list of characters and character-related tropes from Shoji Gatoh's hybrid novel/manga/anime series Full Metal Panic.

This article is a work in progress.

Sagara Sousuke
"Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Chris Patton (EN)"



The protagonist of the series. He is an approximately 16 year old sergeant within the paramilitary counter-terrorist force, Mithril. He is a member of the SRT (Special Response Team) of the Western Pacific Battle Group "Tuatha de Danaan". His call sign is Uruz-7 and his ID number is B-3128, and operates as team point-man as an Arm Slave specialist.

Picture on the left is one of those rare moments where he actually resembles Bonta-kun.

--

Tropes associated with Sousuke:
"Sousuke: [Chidori] seems to be bothered by something. Either that or she's been abusing drugs. Kyoko: Er... I don't know about that..."
 * Accidental Pervert: It happens so many times that Kaname eventually knows that it's Not What It Looks Like.
 * Alliterative Name
 * Almighty Janitor: Despite being insanely skilled and competent, saving the day countless times, he remains a sergeant for the entire series. Partly explained by his lack of motivation to move up in rank and how he just plain doesn't care; Mao actually calls him out on it in The Second Raid after he admits that his only plan for his future is to keep following orders.
 * After TSR, he's now working at half his previous pay.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted. See below.
 * Virginity Makes You Stupid: An obvious virgin, and a complete idiot when it comes to anything not involving fighting.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: Thusfar, combining all the different canonical material for the series, Sousuke has received around five of these. Out of these five, he's misunderstood or blown off four of them.
 * Animal Motifs: A cute little dog, during more comedic occasions. Though a more plot significant one is a tiger (seeing how he's the "son of Bdakshon's tiger," as well as his eventually having a tiger as a pet).
 * Anti-Hero: Type III
 * Badass - Very, VERY much. Great potential of being a Colonel Badass or even a Four-Star Badass.
 * Bad Dreams: He's eventually shown (in the novels) to start having nightmares about, and even his dead mother (who died protecting him, telling him to "fight" and "never give up"). As a matter fact, these nightmares are pretty much the only mention and thoughts he has about his beloved mom (as he's normally not a very sentimental person).
 * Bad Liar: He sucks at it. Pretty much any Muggle he tries to lie to is not convinced.
 * Bandage Bishonen: There are quite a few Fan Service-laden instances where he's shirtless except for some bandages.
 * Beautiful Dreamer: He inspires this with many people. Now how well they restrain themselves is a different story...
 * Big Damn Heroes: The way Sousuke tends to make his awesome entrances to save the day. He does it so often, it gets to the point where Gauron actually Lampshades it mockingly when he tackles and holds him down. "Well well, how do you like this? It's such a disgrace like this, isn't it? You can't act like a big damn hero and save the day in a cool way."
 * Book Dumb: He's a Teen Genius when it comes to military strategies and techniques... but can't wrap his mind around his Japanese school homework assignments. Of course, part of this is probably because he was raised by the KGB, and is unable to understand normal civilian terms and concepts -- he has No Social Skills. Undoubtedly, if he were given material on battles and Arm Slaves, he would ace all of it easily.
 * Part of it is a language barrier/aversion of Eternal Japanese; most of the assignments he's shown struggling on are classical Japanese literature and poetry. He can read and write modern Japanese fine, but his understanding of the more archaic stuff is just shy of nonexistent.
 * He apparently has trouble with modern Japanese as well, as Kurz is shown lamenting that Sousuke sucks not only at Japanese History, but also Classics and Modern Literature.
 * Can't Hold His Liquor: Despite being in the military ever since he was young, he doesn't drink. He's shown to be disgusted at the idea of it, and can't understand how others can stand it. As a result, he has zero tolerance for the stuff. Especially pronounced in the manga, where he takes a small sip of amazake (a drink that has very low alcohol content), and promptly gets dead drunk, complete with the fever and loss of strength. Kaname even Lampshades it, telling him he really can't hold his liquor. He ends up dropping unconscious, and even after waking up, he's still drunk.
 * This could be a holdover from his KGB training; as an assassin in Helmajistan (what used to be Afghanistan), abstinence from alcohol would be a necessary part of his cover as a mujahadin.
 * As of recently in the novels, he literally Can't Hold His Liquor, due to
 * Sousuke himself is fine with that.
 * Catch Phrase: "Not a problem."
 * Before Kaname found out about Mithril and everything else surrounding Sousuke, he always used "It's a coincidence" to justify his following her.
 * Chaste Hero
 * Chick Magnet: Let's see, there's Kaname, Tessa, Nami (from the novels), Ena Saeki, Gray, and countless girls from his school (that are just too scared to approach him, but nonetheless fangirl and drool over him). And that's not even getting into how Even the Guys Want Him.
 * Another Century's Episode R takes it to a new level with . See for yourself (Possible spoilers within).
 * Clueless Chick Magnet, in that he never notices. At one point someone angrily yells at him about how much she loves him, and he never notices, and he should just admit he wants to be with ...and there's evidence he still didn't get it.
 * Child Soldier: He was trained as an assassin for the KGB ever since he was 2-3 years old.
 * Combat Pragmatist
 * Comedic Sociopathy: In Fumoffu and Overload.
 * The Comically Serious: He finds humor in practically nothing, and never gets a joke. Doesn't help that he's a Perpetual Frowner who has apparently forgotten how to smile. Despite, or perhaps because of, all this, he's well known for being the funniest and most beloved character in the entire series.
 * He eventually plays the straight man to his own mecha. The two of them agree that the mecha has a better sense of humor.
 * Completely Missing the Point: What he does with pretty much everything that isn't military-involved.
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Although his mother's death while protecting him, along with her dramatic Last Words for him to "live," "never give up," and "fight!" serve to help make him the Crazy Survivalist he is today, it mainly seems to serve the purpose of making him an orphan with no ties. Since he has no one waiting for him, it justifies why he can carelessly put himself in such dangerous situations without worry or care.
 * Crazy Prepared: Goes hand in hand with his Hammerspace and Hyperspace Arsenal. It's also Lampshaded numerous times by shocked and exasperated bystanders. Especially pronounced in an episode of Fumoffu, where he was asked to get rid of all of his weapons during a hostage situation. It takes him a long time to put all of his weapons out in a (huge) pile, which makes the kidnappers horrified.
 * Crazy Survivalist: Heck, he even carries a special biochemical suit on him, just in case.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: Too many to even list. Seriously just go look at the page.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming:
 * Cutting the Knot: His main solution to most problems.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Sousuke is a male version of the trope, at the hands of Kaname.
 * Subverted. Rather than being deliberately cold, he simply doesn't have the social experience to know to express himself in a friendly manner. Instead, you could argue that Kaname plays the trope straight towards him.
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: Boy, does he make one nasty drill sergeant. He breaks a whole army of cuties into Ax Crazy killers in record time. Extra irony in that it's hinted that he makes a more cruel and sadistic teacher even when compared with Gauron (who was actually a well respected AS instructor for a camp).
 * Granted, it was Mao's fault since he was using her guidebook.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait
 * Even the Guys Want Him: He's pretty much the closest thing to a canonical Memetic Sex God you can get. Almost every single male (and female) in the series has commented on or thought about how attractive he is, and a good percentage of them have actually developed crushes on him.
 * Fish Out of Water: Pretty much the whole premise of the series. Military nut who has no social skills gets shoved into a school where he wreaks havoc.
 * Forbidden Fruit
 * Good Looking Sergeant
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a cross-shaped "hero scar" on his jaw, as visible above.
 * Groin Attack: He's very fond of executing these.
 * Hammerspace / Hyperspace Arsenal: Lampshaded in both Fumoffu and The Second Raid.
 * Hates Being Touched: Due to his highly paranoid nature. It's shown later that only a select few (which you can count on your fingers) can without provoking a very violent reaction.
 * Best shown in one episode of The Second Raid where Chidori drags him out to get a haircut; he ends up freaking out and holding the barber at gunpoint.
 * Hero with an F In Good
 * Heroic BSOD: He has an epic one in The Second Raid.
 * Heroic Sociopath: He has some slight tendencies in the main storyline, played up into full-blown Comedic Sociopathy in Fumoffu. The Overload manga takes it Up to Eleven.
 * He's not really a "sociopath" so much as he was raised in an environment that cultivated paranoia, encouraged the use of violence to solve problems, and generally forced him to suppress emotions such as compassion and remorse. Put those traits together, and you have a highly trained soldier that is rendered completely incompetent when forced to deal with the norms of civilian life.
 * Also worth noting that he has a preference for using non-lethal force.
 * Hey, Catch!: With a hand grenade.
 * "Hey You!" Haymaker
 * Identical Grandson: In his backstory, he's shown to look exactly like his mother.
 * Improbable Age: Even beyond being a 16-year-old genius secret agent and sergeant working for an anti-terrorist organization, before that he was a prepubescent KGB assassin.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Again mostly in Fumoffu due to his obliviousness and Lack of Empathy being played up into full-blown Comedic Sociopathy. Even then, admittedly, he's rarely actively a jerk to people.
 * Just a Kid: Especially pronounced during the arc where he was sent to assassinate Gauron. All the teammates that he was forced to join up with (other than Gray) found it hard to believe that Mithril would send a child to help them, and refused to take his advice.
 * Karma Houdini: In regards to his school. He can wave guns around at people, plant land mines all around, bomb buildings, assault fellow students and his teachers... all of this is approved by the principal. Of course, this has nothing to do with how Mithril donates incredibly large sums of money to the school authorities.
 * Kick Them While They Are Down: He's definitely not averse to doing this to his opponents. To add insult to injury, he seems to love doing this in the form of Groin Attacks.
 * Killer Rabbit: BONTA-KUN. That is all.
 * Lack of Empathy: He finds it hard to understand other people's feelings, and tends to do very morally ambiguous things without much consideration for others. Most of the time it's played for laughs. There are numerous times where he finds himself unable to understand why someone feels fear or sadness (even when someone died).
 * Lethal Chef: In the manga, he's shown to be this due to his lack of common sense. He ends up cooking rice in a rice cooker... over a fire. Indoors. Which results in the others fainting from the fumes.
 * Love Hurts: And how. His whole Heroic BSOD in TSR was pretty much caused by being ripped away from Kaname after he was starting to feel something for her.
 * Luminescent Blush: He has a couple of rare moments in Fumoffu.
 * Mad Bomber: Definitely. Especially in Fumoffu and Overload. And no, it's not everyone from Mithril - it's mainly just him.
 * Magnetic Hero: He tries to not get attached to people and just stay a loner... but Nakama just keep flocking to him.
 * Married to the Job: Kurz and Mao tend to Lampshade this, calling Sousuke a bore that doesn't care about anything else except his job. This eventually becomes a major plot point for TSR.
 * Moment Killer: It's pretty much 100% guaranteed that if he's saying something or doing anything that could possibly be construed as romantic or seductive, he'll kill the mood almost immediately by revealing his intentions to be purely pragmatic if not actively violent.
 * More Dakka:.
 * New Transfer Student
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Happens a lot with Sousuke at school, but special mention to one act in Super Robot Wars W must be given;
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: Temporarily near the end of TSR, and in his backstory.
 * No Guy Wants to Be Chased: He does not take well to aggressive methods of romantically pursuing him. As a matter of fact, it almost seems like he subconsciously turns up the level of his obliviousness when his admirer becomes too direct. In contrast, when the girls act more shy and cute, and tell him touching things like "I trust you," his heart starts fluttering. (Case in point: Why Tessa is rather unsuccessful at wooing him, versus Kaname and Nami, both of whom he admits deeper feelings for.)
 * No Social Skills: He was raised by the KGB to be an assassin ever since he was 2-3 years old. Spending his entire life in the military has left him completely incapable of even understanding civilian life, let alone actually passing as a civilian himself, and tends to lead him to some very off-kilter interpretations of other peoples' behavior:


 * Not Good with People: Boy does he suck at dealing with people (in ways that don't involve explosives, that is). He's shown to actually be capable of understanding and relating to animals more than humans (such as in the cases of Mousuke and Shiro, both of whom he managed to communicate with, and even understood their actions).
 * Not So Stoic: He has a few memorable moments. Of course, the most obvious one would be his huge Heroic BSOD during TSR, where he thinks . But even then, he didn't cry. What really takes the cake is, in the novels, the one and only time he's ever shown to actually break down crying and show his vulnerability as a young boy is during the Behemoth Arc. Not over Kaname, not over Tessa, not over any of his comrades dying... but over his shame and hurt pride when his plan for the hostage situation failed to succeed. Heck, he didn't even cry when.
 * He does cry after the final battle where he is trapped on Merida Island with Al 1 minute before the island is nuked.
 * An often-overlooked (and utterly hilarious) one is in the third episode of Fumoffu!. After Kaname STILL hasn't come back from washing off the watermelon juice Sousuke accidentally covered her with (It Makes Sense in Context), Sousuke goes off to look for her. He's told that she was seen going to a mansion on a cliff, and after his attempts to ask for her there failed (she was seriously not happy with him and told the kid running the mansion that Sousuke was a sick pervert stalking her), Sousuke...imagines what the people there are doing to her. The resulting look of complete fury on Sousuke's face is enough to scare Chuck Norris. Keep in mind that all the times she's legitimately kidnapped this season, Sousuke is still his eternally composed self.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: He was shown to do this when Mao interviewed him for the position of being one of her underlings. He insisted that his victory in an AS match (where he won overwhelmingly over another AS that was much superior in make) was entirely a fluke, and generally came off as being very unwilling to elaborate or answer questions. Later, he even actively underperformed during tests just so he wouldn't get picked.
 * Oblivious to Love
 * One-Man Army: Even when he was a child, he's been shown to have been able to take down huge groups of trained soldiers. Later, Kurz even asks him, "What, are you planning on fighting the war by yourself?!" Looking at the way the novels are going, it should be safe to answer: Yes, Kurz, he is.
 * Perpetual Frowner: Alluded to even in the beginning. Kurz is exasperated when he tries to get Sousuke to put on a decent smile for his photo ID. He ends up looking like he has facial neuralgia. Also referenced by some characters feeling it's a pity that such an attractive boy looks perpetually angry and unapproachable (with slanting down eyebrows and lips pressed firmly in a straight line).
 * Unnervingly, one of the few times he's shown to smile naturally can be seen here. Yikes, Sousuke.
 * Person of Mass Destruction: He's the poster boy for this. You know he is when he considers blasting holes in the wall to get to the room next door as being more efficient than just using the door.
 * The Quiet One: Let's face it, no matter who he's with, he will always be the person who speaks the least. This is especially pronounced later in the novels, when he's with Nami's group.
 * The Rainman: He at least borders on this due to his extensive knowledge of all things military and complete lack of social skills. Heck, he didn't realise that kissing a girl without her permission was a bad thing in the anime.
 * Scars Are Forever: His little, cross-shaped scar on his cheek is permanent.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: A variation of this is found during the party on the Tuatha De Dannan, in regard to Kaname. Kurz: "Any man would fall for her." Sousuke (quickly and coldly): "I wouldn't know. I'm not interested." So Sousuke is capable of acting like a Tsundere...
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran
 * So Beautiful It's a Curse
 * Shirtless Scene: He has one even in the beginning, where he's being bandaged up by Kurz. And then there's that completely gratuitous shot in Fumoffu.
 * The Spartan Way: What Sousuke subjects his schools' Rugby team to. His results could be considered a little too successful.
 * The Stoic: He's famous for this. Not to mention that it's pretty much expected of him from his superior and colleagues. Any display of emotions by him tends to be met with shock by people who know him.
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: See Bad Liar.
 * Talk to the Fist: More of the form "Talk To The Bullet." Being the Combat Pragmatist he is, he tends to do this when his enemies show an opening and are giving long speeches.
 * He usually relies on firing a dummy grenade in his opponent's face to shut them up, at least if he's not in actual warfare.
 * Teen Genius: Gauron was well known for being a genius at handling AS in Amalgam. Gauron is 40-50 years old. And then here's Sousuke, who is 16 years old, and can actually fight evenly with Gauron (minus the Lambda Driver - and even then, Sousuke ends up being able to handle it extremely well in a remarkably small amount of time, with little guidance). It's even more pronounced when one considers that the boy was a genius even when he was only 8-12 years old.
 * Kalinin mentions during their final duel to the death that while Sousuke is good at everything, he can not beat specialists of the area, ei Kalinin in CQC, Melissa in strategy, Kurz in shooting, and Clouseau in AS piloting. Effectively making him Jack of All Trades.
 * That Man Is Dead: This reaction is provoked whenever Gauron calls him "Kashim." But only when Gauron calls him that. Because he hates Gauron acting like he was his friend.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill
 * Training From Hell
 * Trigger Happy: No matter which canon, he can definitely be described as this. Now how Trigger Happy depends on which source. He's at his most outrageous and violent when in Fumoffu and the Overload manga, where he has traces of Ax Crazy as well. In the Overload manga, he's even shown getting withdrawal symptoms when forced not to use his gun or shoot anyone.
 * Troubled but Cute: Good looking, 16-year-old male that has extreme Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, plants land mines around his school, bombs public and private property, and points gun at people? Yes, he qualifies. This is furthered even more when one realizes that, in his school, it's implied that a bunch of girls (and guys) have precocious crushes on him, but are just too scared to directly approach him.
 * The Unfettered
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: Although his eyes don't have a particularly special color, they are big and very pretty. Gauron initially became infatuated with him because of seeing his [[media:SousukeGaussianGirl.jpg|emotionless, cold eyes]]. To put it in Gauron's words: "Anyone would say they're beautiful."
 * What Is This Thing You Call Love?: For the majority of the series. He literally doesn't understand the meaning of "love," even when Kaname tries to explain it to him.
 * Would Hit a Girl: Or shoot, bomb, whatever. He definitely isn't sexist when he deems the person a threat, that's for sure.
 * X Marks the Hero

Chidori Kaname
"Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (JP), Luci Christian (EN)"



Kaname is the main female protagonist of the story, and appears to be a "normal" 16 year-old high school student at first glance. The character was taken from a friend of the authors, whose name was also Kaname Chidori, living in Japan. However, the discovery of her Whispered abilities attracts the attention of terrorist organizations. As a result, Sousuke has been assigned by Mithril to protect her. While Sosuke Sagara's battle intuition generally saves her from dangerous situations, she often considers Sosuke's instincts an irritant in daily high school events, leading to countless comical situations. Nonetheless, she and Sosuke continue to grow closer, to the point where they have expressed their feelings for each other. --

Tropes associated with Kaname:

 * Action Survivor -> Badass Normal (after The Second Raid)
 * Note that she's a an ordinary girl with no military training or anything aside from powers that are useless in a direct offensive purpose but she's managed to outwit and beat up assassins and is one of the few people Sousuke is afraid of.
 * As of the last published novel, it seems that might not be the case. Lampshaded by Leonard Testarossa, who claims that she survived all that (especially the assassination attempt) because she is NOT normal (long story), and Sousuke himself is forced to agree, at least partially.
 * Almost Kiss: An agonizing amount with Sousuke. Normally he doesn't even notice or realize that they almost did, much to Kaname's embarrassment and annoyance.
 * Anger Born of Worry
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: She's pretty much the only one who can successfully beat Sousuke up and deal as much damage to him as she does.
 * Aside Glance: What she does when she tricks Sousuke (who was the New Transfer Student) into doing garbage duty.
 * Boobs of Steel
 * Can't Stand Them, Can't Live Without Them: She constantly claims that she can't stand Sousuke and all the troubles he brings. And then she realizes just how much she needs and wants him when he gets redeployed.
 * Class Representative
 * Cute Sports Club Manager: In the Rugby episode of Fumoffu.
 * Decoy Hiding Place
 * Deuteragonist
 * Dude, He's Like, In A Coma: She almost brings herself to kiss him while he's sleeping, but quickly realizes this trope. So she ends up dunking his head in cold water, instead.
 * Genre Savvy
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Sometimes her Genre Savvy leads her astray, mostly because it's based on American action movies. For example, she refused to believe Tessa could be a captain because "captains are tough old bastards like Sean Connery. You're one of those people who read telegrams or something."
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: To Sousuke in The Second Raid.
 * Gratuitous English: "Don't worry, everything's gonna happy <3"
 * He Went That Way!: What she does to help Sousuke escape from the police while he's dressed as Bonta-kun during an episode of Fumoffu.
 * Hostage Situation: She tends to get in these a lot. Even when it doesn't involve terrorists. Sousuke always handles it in his typical crazy way.
 * Laughing Mad: She has a crazy one she gives whenever she's lying about something (most of the time involving Sousuke).
 * Love Hotels
 * Luminescent Blush: She tends to do this when she misunderstands Sousuke's actions as being "bold" and "romantic." Cue Sousuke doing something to completely kill the mood.
 * Modesty Shorts: She wears these in an early chapter to prevent Panty Shots
 * Moment Killer: What tends to happen any time it looks like things are getting too mushy between her and Sousuke. Most of the time, it's Sousuke who does this to her.
 * Nails on a Blackboard
 * The Ophelia: Becomes one temporarily whenever she goes into her Whispered moments.
 * Out-of-Clothes Experience
 * Paper Fan of Doom
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Saw It in a Movie Once
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: What she does in an episode of Fumoffu, where she dressed in one of her mother's old kimonos and posed as an older, married woman who is having an affair with Sousuke. Needless to say, it was enough to make Sousuke become uncharacteristically shy and beet red.
 * Sparkling Stream of Tears: She does this in one later episode of the first season. Kurz gets very angry at Sousuke for making her feel that sad.
 * Strapped to An Operating Table: She's subjected to this in the beginning of the first season.
 * Teen Genius
 * The Talk: Kaname gives Sousuke a variation of this... on exactly what it means to "flirt" and "pick up girls." Needless to say, whatever she explained to him (it wasn't shown) was enough to traumatize him, making him go completely white and break out in cold sweat, stammering that he "could never do that."
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Tessa and Kyoko's girly girl.
 * Troubled but Cute: She's actually known for being the most popular, beautiful girl in school... that no guy wants as a girlfriend. Her horrible temper really doesn't help. Nevertheless, guys are still shown to idolize her (and attempt to get naked pictures of her).
 * Tsundere: "Stupid Sousuke! It's not like I'm doing this because I like him or anything..." (Blush, blush)
 * Twitchy Eye
 * Wet Sari Scene: In The Second Raid.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: Especially pronounced in the novels. She takes great pleasure in giggling and discussing with her friends how Sousuke and Tsubaki would both be "receivers" if they were in gay relationships. And then there's how she tried to get Mizuki to think that Tsubaki was in love with Sousuke...
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: In the anime. The novels, however, describe her hair as black.

Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa
"Voiced by: Yukana (JP), Hillary Haag (EN)"



Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa is the clumsy but charming Captain of the revered TDD-1 'Tuatha de Danaan' submarine of the anti-terrorist organization 'Mithril'. She is American by birth but has lived on submarines and military bases for the majority of her life time. She is a child prodigy who rose to such a high rank at the age of only 16, has silver hair (described as platinum/ash blonde) and grey eyes.

--

Tropes associated with Tessa:

 * Alliterative Name
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: Which falls fantastically flat when Sousuke misunderstands it brilliantly.
 * Badass Adorable (She's freaking moe, but she's managed to outwit and pwn GAURON, of all people!)
 * The Captain
 * Clean Pretty Reliable: Tessa uses CPR as an excuse for trying to kiss Sousuke after he drowned. Kaname stops her in time for Sousuke to wake up by himself.
 * Curtains Match the Window: Gray eyes with silver hair.
 * Dojikko
 * Dude, He's Like, In A Coma: Unlike Kaname, Tessa has no problems whatsoever trying to take advantage of Sousuke in his sleep. It gets to the point of being a Running Gag that she tries to kiss/grope/molest him while he's sleeping somewhere else (and normally getting stopped by others before she goes too far).
 * Even the Girls Want Her: Kaname's classmate go goo gaa over her when she transfers.
 * Genius Ditz
 * Good Looking Captain
 * Gray Eyes
 * Improbable Age: A 16-year-old captain in a huge, anti-terrorist organization.
 * Justified by her Whispered status, her father being a well-known submarine captain himself, and Admiral Borda and Mardukas being family friends. Note that Borda repeatedly tried to discourage her from the task, and failed.
 * Memetic Molester: Apparently, her aggressive way of pursuing Sousuke romantically makes her one of these. Though, when you think about how many times she tried to take advantage of Sousuke when he was sleeping...
 * Moe: Especially in one of the Omakes. Awww
 * Moe of War: As stated above, Tessa is a damn dangerous opponent and has a rather firmly military outlook.
 * New Transfer Student: For all of two episodes in Fumoffu.
 * No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Her... methods of pursuing Sousuke were not very well done (or well taken, for that matter). She didn't really seem to wise up to the fact that he does not react well when girls try to actively seduce him by throwing themselves at him or forcefully put him in compromising situations. Numerous attempts at molesting him in his sleep probably didn't help things, either.
 * Second Love: Not in the anime, but in the novels, her first love was Bunny Morauta (the whispered that built the Arbalest) - they were girlfriend and boyfriend. He ended up dying, and she later ends up falling for Sousuke.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: Shows serious signs of this after the events at Merida Island, as seen in Sigma.
 * Sunny Sunflower Disposition: In one of her short stories. It leaded to a powerful Crowning Moment of Heartwarming for her.
 * Teen Genius
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl

Kurz Weber
"Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN)"



Kurz is a member of Mithril and has the rank of Sergeant in the SRT (Special Response Team) of the Tuatha de Danaan (TDD-1) Pacific Battle Group. He has the call sign Uruz-6 and his ID number is B-3127. He is an SRT Arm Slave pilot and designated marksman, equally proficient with sniper rifles and Arm Slave long range precision cannons. It is said he can visualize the exact trajectory of a bullet, resulting in an almost inhuman accuracy. He most often forms a three-man cell with squadmate Sousuke Sagara and squad leader Melissa Mao. He is regarded as a finicky genius, burdening the Mithril mechanics with extremely difficult to understand complaints and requests.

Tropes associated with Kurz:

 * Badass
 * Bishonen
 * Blue Eyes
 * Boisterous Bruiser ("This is Uruz 6, I'm in firing position. It's time to party!!" - snipe, snipe, snipe! - )
 * Chivalrous Pervert
 * Dead Little Sister: The novels reveal that a lot of his pay from Mithril goes towards the hospital bills of an Ill Girl who.
 * Friendly Sniper
 * Funny Foreigner: Not an actual example, but he plays the role shamelessly as a means of approaching Kaname and Kyoko while he's on bodyguard detail. "Hello, Japanese pretty girls!"
 * Good Looking Sergeant
 * Hair of Gold
 * Handsome Lech
 * Improbable Aiming Skills
 * Ladykiller in Love: Though he might not be as successful a ladykiller as he might think. In the later novels, however, he manages to.
 * : In the novel Approaching Nick of Time.
 * Lovable Sex Maniac: You may be noticing a theme.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity
 * Phenotype Stereotype: Blond-haired, blue-eyed, born and raised in Germany.
 * Not sure about the born part, but he was actually raised in Japan, where his father worked as a reporter. Cue jokes about him being more Japanese than Sousuke -- at least from a cultural perspective.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Not even just hitting - just simply making a girl cry. To the point where he hits Sousuke and chews him out for making Kaname sad. "People like you grow to be those violent, abusive husbands!" indeed.
 * Not sure about the born part, but he was actually raised in Japan, where his father worked as a reporter. Cue jokes about him being more Japanese than Sousuke -- at least from a cultural perspective.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Not even just hitting - just simply making a girl cry. To the point where he hits Sousuke and chews him out for making Kaname sad. "People like you grow to be those violent, abusive husbands!" indeed.

Melissa Mao
"Voiced by: Michiko Neya (JP), Allison Keith (EN)"



Serving as the SRT's second-in-command next to Gail Mc Allen, she serves in Mithril under the call sign Uruz-2. Her expertise in electronic warfare is valued by the Pacific Battle Group Tuatha de Danaan. Her rank was Sergeant Major, but by the novel Dancing Very Merry Christmas she has been promoted to Second Lieutenant, making her a commissioned officer. She is 25 years old.

Tropes associated with Mao:

 * Badass
 * Best Beer Ever
 * Bi the Way
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Very energetic and trigger happy.
 * Boobs of Steel
 * Bottle Fairy
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Cool Big Sis: She even refers to this trope by name. Kurz also calls her "Big Sis."
 * Chainsaw Good: Her Arm Slave has a goddamn chainsword.
 * Which is only used for one mission, to remove a bomb from the cargo compartment of a 747, and is never seen again.
 * Actually used again in
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sousuke's stint as one in Fumoffu comes courtesy of a manual given to him by Mao, who got it from Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Jack of All Stats: As opposed to Lambda Driver using Sosuke and Friendly Sniper Kurz, she doesn't really have a specialty, though she does like melee.
 * Actually, she specializes in squad logistics and electronic warfare.
 * The Ladette
 * Military Brat: Her father was in the Air Force.
 * Purple Eyes
 * Runaway Bride: She ditched her own Arranged Marriage to join the Marines, showing up at the recruitment office still wearing her wedding gown.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: An even better example than Kaname, who is generally agreed to be quite pretty even when she's not dressed up. Mao, on the other hand, rarely appears in anything but fatigues or a flightsuit, making the slinky dress she dons for her undercover operation in The Second Raid all the more impressive.
 * Semper Fi: Mao enlisted in the Marines on her wedding day, but was dishonorably discharged sometime before the story begins. It's hinted that she was a DI at Parris Island.

Andrei Sergeivich Kalinin
"Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (JP), Mike Kleinhenz (EN)"



Sagara's commanding officer and one of Tessa's military strategists with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, fulfilling the role of Operations Director. He is also the foster father of Sagara.

--

Tropes associated with Kalinin:

 * The Atoner: He always felt guilty that he couldn't save Sousuke's beautiful mother. And he also feels responsible for letting Sousuke get taken in by the KGB (who raised him to be a Nietzsche Wannabe-ish assassin). As a result, he desperately wants to humanize Sousuke.
 * A Father to His Men: Of course, in Sousuke's case, he did end up becoming his adopted father and legal guardian.
 * Majorly Awesome: Holds the rank of Shousa, which can be translated as Major (Army) or Lieutenant Commander (Navy). Given that he's the ground force commander, Major would be more appropriate.
 * Cool Old Guy: very much so.
 * Good Looking Commander
 * Grandpa What Massive Hotness You Have: How does he keep up that muscled physique exactly?
 * Gray Eyes
 * Lethal Chef: His Borscht almost killed Tessa. And it's horrific enough that Sousuke flees in terror. Worse thing? He thinks he's a great chef.
 * Main error of the soup: it's SWEET.
 * The real irony is this is his late wife's borscht, which she created because she resented him being away so much as a Spetsnaz officer. It backfired spectacularly in that he loves it, and continually tries to recreate it, out of devotion to her.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: He enjoys cooking, and wears a frilly, pink apron while doing it. He's nevertheless very Badass, even while doing that.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Real Men Wear Pink: He enjoys cooking, and wears a frilly, pink apron while doing it. He's nevertheless very Badass, even while doing that.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

Richard Mardukas
"Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura (JP), Andy McAvin (EN)"

Holding the rank of Commander, Mardukas serves as the second of Tessa's strategists and Executive Officer, responsible for keeping the ship running smoothly. Has a professional working relationship with Kalinin and defers to his judgment on ground combat. Very stuffy and very British.


 * Brits With Battleships: Mardukas was a submariner in the Royal Navy, his last command being the attack submarine HMS Trident.
 * The Captain: Mentioned to have been one in his backstory, which explains his assignment as Tessa's XO, as he's the best person to advise her... not that she needs it.
 * Commander Contrarian: Mostly averted, with one exception - when Tessa orders the Arbalest to be sent to Sousuke in Hong Kong, during TSR, Mardukas strongly disagrees.
 * His backstory reveals that Mardukas was a reasonable Commander Contrarian, but it also got him into trouble; late in his career with the Royal Navy, he submitted a brutally honest report that ran contrary to and embarrassed his superiors, causing him to be demoted and relieved of his command; this ultimately accumulates to his eventually joining of Mithril.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Has an epic moment in Dancing Very Merry Christmas. A team of Amalgan underwater fighters/AS/submarines attack the TDD-1 while Tessa is on an adjacent ship. Mardukas steps up to bat and owns them hard. See below.
 * Red Baron: Known to the submarine communities of the US and UK as The Duke of Undersea Warfare.
 * Training From Hell: Mardukas is both a graduate and instructor of Perisher, the Royal Navy's submarine equivalent to TOPGUN... but harder.
 * If you flunk TOPGUN, you're still a Naval Aviator, and you can still come back and try again. If you flunk Perisher... you will never serve on a submarine for the rest of your life.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess: How he takes down the Amalgam naval taskforce. Also something of a military maverick, in that none of his tactics are convential tactics, but he points out that their foe isn't conventional.

Gauron
"Voiced by: Masahiko Tanaka (JP), Mike MacRae (EN)"



While little is known about Gauron at the present, he is Sousuke's strongest and most formidable enemy throughout the TV series. He's a terrorist of the highest caliber sponsored by a mysterious organization, but little is known about Gauron's benefactors other than the fact that they appear to be more formidable and possess greater resources than even the notorious Soviet KGB. Believed to be Japanese, or at least of Asian ethnicity, Gauron and Sousuke have a long and bloodstained history together. Sousuke left a big scar on Gauron's forehead when he and then Soviet Spetsnaz commander Major Kalinin ambushed Gauron in a sniper attack back in Sousuke's Afghan guerrilla days. This is but one of many battle scars Sousuke inflicts upon this vicious man slayer over the course of the series. ---

Tropes associated with Gauron:

 * A Love to Dismember: His infamous (and thankfully unfulfilled) desire to.
 * Abusive Parents: What he is to the twins Yu Fang and Yu Lan.
 * Almighty Janitor: Mentioned in the novels, where Harris, another member of Amalgam, explains that with Gauron's capabilities, he could have easily become commander. However, due to Gauron's Jerkassery, most of the other members had a hard time getting along with him, and adding to that, he had incurable cancer. As a result, they decided instead to give the position to Gates, who was very much inferior.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: "I LOVE YOU !!!"
 * Animal Motifs: His is a lion, according to Kalinin. Languid and bored at first sight, he shows his ferocity the next second. Contrasts with Sousuke's tiger motif.
 * A more symbolic and significant one might be a dragon, from his name "Gauron" (which means "nine dragons" in Chinese). And considering that Sousuke is a tiger, as well as that the dragon and tiger are natural born enemies (think Toradora!)... well, just look at the Tiger Versus Dragon trope page. It describes their relationship perfectly. ("This refers to two spirits so wildly different and yet wildly similar at the same time, intricately linked together in destiny.")
 * Anything That Moves
 * Arch Enemy: Sousuke's, apparently self-appointed.
 * Ax Crazy: As Ax Crazy as they come. Pretty much everyone knows that he gets off on killing people. Including his associates and partners, who actually get annoyed at how he keeps killing people he shouldn't kill.
 * Badass
 * The Berserker
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: Pretty much has the biggest eyebrows out of every character in the series.
 * Blood Knight
 * Catch Phrase: He loves to drawl "Baakaaa" (Idiot) to his would-be victims.
 * Child Soldier: It's revealed that he was a soldier at least since he was 12, in the Khmer Rouge. Probably even younger than that.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
 * Death Seeker: Which is revealed to stem from the fact that he has incurable cancer, and wants to get as much pleasure from death as he can. Extra Irony points when, the more he tries to be suicidal, the longer he seems to survive.
 * Depraved Bisexual / Homosexual: Depending on whether one follows the novels or the anime.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Pretty much all of his incredibly gay innuendos toward Sousuke.
 * Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: His comes in the form of Dead Baby Comedy.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is one of the deepest in the series... and he's evil.
 * Faux Affably Evil. It really depends on if you appreciate his Dead Baby Comedy or not. However, by the time of The Second Raid, it's pretty clear that he is a heartless sociopath with no redeeming personal characteristics whatsoever.
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: For all the wrong reasons.
 * First-Name Basis: It doesn't matter who, he calls everyone by their most familiar name possible. And pretty much everyone is shown to be disturbed, creeped out, or annoyed by it. He calls Kaname "Kana-chan" (something only Kyoko, her best friend, calls her), he calls Dunnigan by the name "John" (which causes Dunnigan to get pissed off, only for Gauron to threaten Dunnigan with castration if Dunnigan doesn't let him call him that), calls Kalinin by the name "Iwan" (something no one else calls him)... and then there's the pet names he has for poor Sousuke.
 * Foe Yay / Ho Yay: People describe Gauron as Ho Yay on XTC. It's a pretty accurate description. It can be Mind Rape for not only the characters in-series, but also for the viewers when his perverted fantasies toward Sousuke are revealed.
 * For the Evulz: His main reason for doing most things, really. Including betraying and killing his employers for no real reason.
 * Go Out with a Smile: He had a very happy smile on when he died.
 * Grandpa What Massive Hotness You Have: He's really muscular and well built for his age, as is made really obvious.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Lord help anyone else that gets too close to Sousuke.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Delivers a big one in  towards Sousuke.
 * The Hedonist
 * Hey, You: Being the rude jerkass he is, he has a habit of doing this to everyone. See also First-Name Basis.
 * I Love the Dead: Something he shares in common with Gates.
 * Actually, the male assassin had been ordered to "shoot her to death, disgrace the body,take a picture and send it to hong Kong." So the rape was going to be post-mortem in this case.
 * I Surrender, Suckers: What he pulls off on Mithril as part of his plan to.
 * In Love with Your Carnage: His face is the page image with a rape face. Any more questions?
 * Interplay of Sex and Violence:
 * Irony: Everything about the man is filled with it. He of all people calls other members of Amalgam "fucked up psychos." He wants to die a sensational death with Sousuke, but the harder he tries, the less he's able to. Amalgam tries to play a joke on him and consider him an outsider? Well, he.
 * In the latest novel, it's revealed that he's pretty much the only one who couldn't be swayed by Leonard Testarossa's smooth-talking and grandiose plans. Well, him and Sousuke. Leonard was baffled and amused by the situation: "Even though you were fated enemies, you have the same opinion. Isn't it cynicism?" (Sousuke, on the other hand, finds it perfectly normal.)
 * Knife Nut: It's revealed that Gauron's Weapon of Choice and specialty is with knives.
 * Lack of Empathy
 * Large Ham: The guy manages to make everything he does hammy. Especially by including Evil Laughter after saying anything. In the novels, he even literally eats ham while dramatically giving orders to the AI on the Tuatha de Dannan.
 * Love At First Sight: Apparently what he felt when he first saw 12-year-old Sousuke. He was immediately so smitten with Sousuke that he literally took a double look, immediately parked his jeep, and attempted to get Sousuke to come with him. Four years after being rebuffed and never seeing Sousuke again, he actually manages to recognize Sousuke as soon as he gets a clear view of his face. Scary.
 * Love Hurts: Gauron angrily tells Sousuke that, ever since the boy fell in love, he's become weaker, more messed up, and has a bunch of conflicting feelings.
 * Manipulative Bastard: He certainly managed to manipulate the two twins he took in and raised into falling in love with him and doing anything he bids them to. And then he managed to manipulate and piss Sousuke off to the point where he finally managed to get.
 * Mind Rape: What he loves to do to all of his intended victims. For some reason, however, Sousuke seems to be his most consistent target.
 * Murderers Are Rapists: At first, it looks like violently killing people is enough to satisfy him. But then TSR comes along, and he goes on to reveal his additional rapist tendencies (along with the fact that he's eyeing Sousuke's ass virginity).
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: His unreasonable anger and and jealous grudge against Kaname is explained in TSR, where it's completely and seriously explained that he wants her dead because Sousuke likes her. Yep, his main reason for ordering.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe
 * Nightmare Fetishist: Shall we list what he's into? Pedophilia, necrophilia, erotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism, hybristophilia, autassassinophilia...
 * No One Could Survive That: Which he continues to pull off around maybe... 5-6 times in the series. Each incident getting increasingly ridiculous as to how he could possibly survive.
 * No Sense of Personal Space: Directly Lampshaded in the novels, where numerous victims of his note his smug way of breaching on people's personal space.
 * No Social Skills
 * One-Man Army
 * Orgasmic Combat: The final showdown between him and Sousuke at the end of Season 1 is this in spades. It ends with him raping grappling and holding down Sousuke's Humongous Mecha, with Sousuke panting and trying to get away, and Gauron grunting and breathing heavily (not to mention the suspicious thick white liquid that was dripping down his grinning face). The manga even has him yelling out happily, "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! Ah, what a rush!" And as impossible as this sounds, Gauron's moaning and loud orgasms are actually more pronounced in the novels, where he literally yells out happily, "RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT! FASTER! MORE! MORE!!" It makes Sousuke very unnerved and disgusted, and is pretty much what pushed Sousuke to conclude that this makes Gauron completely insane (as opposed to before, where he simply thought Gauron was excessively cruel).
 * Perma-Stubble
 * Pick on Someone Your Own Size: He takes this to illogical extremes with Sousuke. What exactly did the boy do to deserve his obsessive stalking and persistent attempts to make his life miserable?
 * Post-Rape Taunt: Part of his original Revenge by Proxy / Murder the Hypotenuse plan against Kaname. He apparently wanted her to be violently raped before being killed.
 * Psycho for Hire: He is this trope. He pretty much backstabbed every single person he's worked for. And his main goal and purpose for taking jobs is so that he can get his rush from killing people.
 * Or meet his beloved Kashim.
 * Psychotic Smirk: His default expression. Only changed when he's having his Slasher Smile.
 * Replacement Goldfish: In the novels, a rather disturbing (and slightly implied) view of what he does with the two (male) twins he takes in can be seen as this. After Gauron's failed attempted to get young Sousuke to come with him, he ends up later on taking in the two twins whom he tells Sousuke "were quite similar to you." It gets more disturbing when one takes into account that: The twins are Asian, just like Sousuke, are around the same age, and are described using terms uncannily similar to terms describing Sousuke's physical looks ("slender" build, similar style of haircut)... not to mention that one twin even uses the same kind of gun that Sousuke normally uses - an automatic pistol (which is also why Kaname knew how it worked more than if it had been a different gun).
 * Scars Are Forever: Every battle with Sousuke leaves him a brand new wound or scar.
 * Shotacon: Someone who has Gaussian Girl memories of trying to pick up a young, "beautiful" Sousuke definitely counts. Especially when one learns that he wanted to.
 * Slasher Smile: See his mug up there? That's his rape face.
 * He gives an officially Lampshaded rapeface to Sousuke when he first sees the boy. Sousuke feels unnerved and disgusted just remembering the guy's "dark smile" he gave him. And lord, every canon material illustrating that "dark smile" (including the anime, Sigma manga, and the novel's illustration) certainly make it a textbook rapeface expression.
 * Smug Snake: How many times exactly has he been described as being "smug" in the novels? Good lord.
 * Smug Super: Despite possessing hubris in abundance, he truly is an unstoppable force on the battlefield. With the exception of Sousuke Sagara, none of the soldiers of Mithril can hold a candle to his abilities as an Arm Slave pilot. Perhaps most significantly, he has consistently demonstrated an almost supernatural ability to cheat certain death right up until the moment he drove Sousuke to help him commit suicide.
 * The Sociopath
 * Stalker with a Crush: If there's anyone that acts like one in this series, it's him. Recording footage of Sousuke (while the boy didn't even know) and watching it with ecstasy, completely destroying an entire city and creating an incredibly complicated message that only Sousuke would understand just to lure his "precious boy" to him, and then... there's how he even got Sousuke's background information (which he shouldn't even know, considering that most people who are close to Sousuke don't know any of it).
 * Straight Gay: When in the presence of Sousuke, he becomes one of the gayest characters in the entire series, spouting outrageously homoerotic innuendos at the boy (including the moment during their fight in the finale, where he was described by numerous people to be "dry humping" Sousuke). But when he's not around Sousuke, he certainly doesn't seem at all like a stereotypical gay. No signs of effeminacy, his clothes aren't flamboyant or gay at all, and he's in fact one of the most macho, manly (albeit predatory) men in the series otherwise.
 * Taking You with Me: What he tries to do with Sousuke at the end of season 1. He also takes the opportunity to dramatically confess his love for Sousuke, which sort of falls flat when Sousuke blasts him off off the ship so only Gauron's AS explodes.
 * Terms of Endangerment: He calls Sousuke things ranging from "Kashim," "Honey," "Darling," and "My Precious Boy." Sousuke does not react well to these.
 * Too Kinky to Torture: Don't even try to torture him. He'll definitely enjoy it. You know the guy is hardcore when he doesn't even seem to mind that . And apparently, it's normal for members of Amalgam, seeing as how he even had a thing going on with the female scientist, where he would strangle her and they would both get off on it.
 * Too Much Information: Please, did Sousuke (or the readers) really need to know that he ?
 * Trigger Happy
 * Villain Team-Up: Works with Dr. Hell and Hau Dragon in Super Robot Wars Judgment.
 * Wife Husbandry: What he successfully executed with the twins Yu Fang and Yu Lan. What he attempted (unsuccessfully) with a Genre Savvy young Sousuke. He never got over it.
 * Why Won't You Die?: Sousuke ends up screaming this at him in.
 * Would You Like to Hear How They Died?
 * Yandere: Way over the "psychotically crazy" side. However, the fact that he managed to raise twins and succeed Wife Husbandry means something.

Mr. Gates
"Voiced by: Hochu Otsuka (JP), John Swasey (EN)"



An Amalgam agent and the head of Amalgam's Execution Squads, Gates seems to have two personalities. He is known to be killing his subordinates whenever Gates messes up an operation, hears that an Amalgam-sponsored mission is a failure or doesn't display any regard for life, for the most part when he is angry such as pushing one of a chopper, dragging another down on the swimming pool, shooting an Amalgam terrorist in the head and even played around with Xia Yu Lan's corpse. But on the other hand, Gates showed his intelligence that he was able to note the Arbalest and the M9s that were in Balic. --

Tropes associated with Gates:
""Gates has broken through! He's no mere racer; his moves are pure art! The machines are rounding the final corner! The audience is going wild!! Will he make it?! CAN HE MAKE IT?!""
 * Ax Crazy: Even more so than Gauron, and that's saying something.
 * Bad Boss: Killing a bunch of his subordinates for no apparent reason certainly isn't a sign of a good boss.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: A dark version of this trope. For crying out loud, he randomly starts singing the Ave Maria as his men commit wholesale slaughter.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
 * Curb Stomp Battle: His final battle with Sousuke.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * I Love the Dead
 * Lack of Empathy
 * Large Ham: He's made of ham. Singing "Ave Maria" while his underlings mass slaughter for one thing. And those wild gestures he makes while yelling out nonsensical gibberish and playacting for another.

--
 * Mummies At the Dinner Table: He likes to do this with people's corpses. Most notably with Yu Lan's. It's also implied that he might have... err... done perverted stuff to it. Looks like necrophiliacs are not uncommon within Amalgam.
 * Laughably Evil: It's hard to not laugh at how utterly random his actions are.
 * Lolicon: Towards the twins Gauron adopted, Yu Fan and Yu Lan. Apparently, he's been making up for lost opportunities to rape them when they were younger ever since "inheriting" them from Gauron. He also frequently calls them "lolitas."
 * Psycho for Hire: Someone who kills off his own men at the drop of a hat definitely qualifies. Where does Amalgam go to find these guys?!
 * Psychopathic Manchild: His over-emotional nature combined with the sheer crazy of some of his antics makes him seem something like an overexcited child - at least until you realize just what he's doing.
 * The Sociopath
 * Talkative Loon
 * Trigger Happy: He tends to pull the trigger before even thinking. For example, killing the man who was supposed to pay them for their goods, before even thinking of a way to get the money from him. And then immediately killing his own soldier when the soldier pointed this out.

Leonard Testarossa
"Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (JP), Blake Shepard (EN)"



A child prodigy and Whispered like his younger sister, he is known as "Mr. Silver" in the executive circle of the Amalgam organization. Is extremely infatuated with Kaname. --

Tropes associated with Leonardo Testarossa:

 * Affably Evil
 * Aloof Big Brother
 * Badass Longcoat: So badass, it even blocks throwing knives (and bullets) aimed to the head
 * Big Bad
 * Bishonen: To the point of being Dude Looks Like a Lady.
 * Broken Ace
 * Camp Straight
 * The Chessmaster
 * Curtains Match the Window: Same as his sister, with gray eyes with silver hair.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas:
 * Fan Nickname: Leotard, apparently for his cocky, girly way of mincing around.
 * Gray Eyes
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Kick the Dog
 * Knight Templar
 * Mind Rape:
 * Moral Dissonance: He considers himself to be morally superior to Sousuke, because Sousuke has killed and he has not. This completely ignores the fact that while he has never killed anyone with his own hands, the number of people who have died or been put in mortal peril due to his actions far exceeds the number of people Sousuke has killed. How is ordering the death or deliberate endangerment of thousands better than killing hundreds in person?
 * Narcissist
 * Noble Demon: At first, but then... see above.
 * Romantic False Lead
 * Sissy Villain
 * Smug Snake: Starts out as a promising Magnificent Bastard, but his superiority complex, his stealing Kaname's Sacred First Kiss, and the various Kick the Dog actions he performed ended up landing him in this trope. He still remains highly effective and high functioning, though.
 * Stalker with a Crush
 * Teen Genius: Even more so than Tessa
 * What Does She See in Him?: What Leonard bitterly keeps wondering about Kaname, citing that Sousuke is a worse choice for a boyfriend because he's killed hundreds of people. Of course, if he would sit down and start figuring out exactly what makes Sousuke so appealing, maybe he would find it easier to woo women.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Wicked Cultured: Let's face it - he's definitely one of the more "refined," "cultured" characters in the series. And he's a hell of a lot more cultured than Sousuke. The thing is that, in this series, being more cultured does not necessarily make you more attractive to the opposite (or same) sex.
 * Yandere
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Wicked Cultured: Let's face it - he's definitely one of the more "refined," "cultured" characters in the series. And he's a hell of a lot more cultured than Sousuke. The thing is that, in this series, being more cultured does not necessarily make you more attractive to the opposite (or same) sex.
 * Yandere

Xia Yu Fan and Xia Yu Lan
"Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (Xia Yu Fan, JP), Christine Auten (Xia Yu Fan, EN), Miyuki Sawashiro (Xia Yu Lan, JP), Kira Vincent-Davis (Xia Yu Lan, EN)"



--

Tropes associated with Yu Fan and Yu Lan:

 * Action Girl Badasses
 * Ascended Extra: In the novels, they had less scenes and smaller roles. Not to mention that they were actually male.
 * Badass
 * Badass Adorable
 * Beauty Marks
 * Chinese Girls: Complete with all the stereotypes. Yu Lan, at one point, wears her hair in the Odango hairstyle and a Qipao. Both are shown to be very adept at martial arts and using knives, and they even have the accent when attempting to pronounce "Chidori" (instead calling her "Chinniu").
 * Creepy Twins
 * Decoy Damsel: Yu Lan, who pretended to be one of the kidnapped hostages. She played the part pretty well, giving the Mithril agent who untied her an appreciative, admiring look. And the guy definitely looks very self satisfied that he had rescued a pretty Damsel in Distress... until she slits his throat immediately afterward.
 * Evil Counterpart: The twins serve as mirror images to Sousuke, being stoic teenage mercenaries who were adopted and cared for at a young age by a seasoned soldier. Unfortunately for the twins, the soldier they were raised by was Gauron. To further contrast with Sousuke, a Chaste Hero uncomfortable with sexual situations or with being touched, the twins are shown to being willing to use their sexuality as efficiently as machetes or firearms... and occasionally as a precursor TO those weapons.
 * Happiness in Slavery: Despite Gauron caring little for their wellbeing (to the point where he only seems to care for using them as his pawns to lure Sousuke, sending them  with no regard at all), their only happiness seems to come from being together with him. They're shown to , and the only thing that gives them temporary comfort is that they are reunited with him.
 * Given what we know about Gauron's attitudes toward love and death, providing them with  could alternatively be interpreted as a loving gesture on his part - especially given that their alternative is being stuck with Gates.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Out of all the villains, these two seem to garner a lot more sympathy among fans. The fact that they were taken in by Gauron of all people at such a young age certainly deserves sympathy.
 * Knife Nut: Since Gauron's specialty is in knives, he apparently taught it to Yu Lan as well. She's shown to be very skillful and graceful wielding two large knives during her fight with Mao.
 * I'm pretty sure those are machetes.
 * Love Martyr: They're so heartbroken by the fact that Gauron is on the edge of death that they knowingly undertake a mission that  is heavily implied to require sleeping with Gates, so that they can grant their Sensei his last request.
 * Odango Hair: The hairstyle Yu Lan wears during a mission.
 * Show Some Leg: What they did to some of the Amalgam engineers, in order to distract them and carry out their Sensei's plan. Yu Fan kisses one of the men, while Yu Lan... apparently jacks one of them off.
 * Single-Minded Twins: They can even finish each other's sentences.
 * Slow-Motion Pass-By
 * Twincest: As heavily implied as it can get. They take very intimate showers together, hug their naked bodies to each other while kissing each other on the lips, and... err...
 * Twin Threesome Fantasy: Their relationship with Gauron can definitely be considered this.
 * Wife Husbandry: Implied to be what Gauron very successfully executed with them. Although he failed in his attempt with Sousuke, he managed to get his hands on these two, and certainly managed to make them fall very much in love with him.

--

John Danigan
"Voiced by: Yoshiyuki Kaneko (JP), David Born (EN)"



Sergeant John Danigan of the SRT, Uruz 12 is a traitor to Mithril, and serves as a valuable asset to Gauron. He was told he would be given a large sum of money so he made the ship's controls accessible by Gauron. His past military history included the airborne division of the American Army. His distinguishable feature is a large vertical scar over his right eye. A rough sort of guy, he detests when people address him solely by his first name without his permission, claiming "I only let a few people call me by that name."

--

Tropes associated with John:

 * Dumb Muscle
 * Hey, You: Gauron once called Dunnigan by his first name "John," to which Dunnigan angrily told him to not do, since he only allows close friends to call him that. Gauron's response? Attack him, hold a gun to his privates, and threaten to shoot them off if he doesn't let him call him that.
 * Giant Mook: He is very muscled and huge. He tends to use brute force and strength, which was also the reason for his downfall when fighting Sousuke.
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Scars Are Forever
 * Turncoat

--

Zaied
"Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (JP), Illich Guardiola (EN)"



A former friend of Sousuke's from their time as guerillas, Zaied served as something of a mentor to the younger Child Soldier, and the two of them grew closer than brothers. While Sousuke and several others were away from camp, Zaied and the other guerillas were apparently killed in a raid by Gauron's mercenaries. Sousuke does encounter Zaied again though, during the "Wind Blows At Home" arc. Zaied is revealed to have survived, and is now on Gauron's payroll. .

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Tropes associated with Zaied:

 * Ambiguously Gay: His memories of and attachment to Sousuke have an almost romantic cast to them.
 * Badass: Okay, he may not be on par with Gauron, Gates or Leonard, but the guy does go several rounds with Sousuke, one of the biggest Badasses ever, and on a fairly even footing.
 * Big Brother Mentor: In the Backstory.
 * Broken Pedestal: A mild version of this. Not that Sousuke really worshipped him or felt so eternally grateful to him... but Zaied was a respected memory to Sousuke of an honorable, dead comrade of the past. Needless to say, any feeling of goodwill on Sousuke's part completely vanishes when he realizes that Zaied decided to team up with Gauron and kill a bunch of his current comrades.
 * Child Soldier: Played frighteningly straight. Sousuke may be raised by the KGB and have No Social Skills but Zaied is too screwed up for words. His experiences have left him with the impression that winning is all there is to war, and that it doesn't matter what side you're on as long as you are victorious. He's been like this since he was at least twelve.
 * The Dragon: Serves as Gauron's during the "Wind Blows At Home Arc". He's the latter's second-in-command and is the group's best pilot after him, is a Foil to The Hero, and has to be defeated by Sousuke before he can engage in combat with Gauron. Possibly Justified as Gauron may have been appraising him for membership in Amalgam.
 * Empty Shell: Is there anything left inside Zaied?
 * Evil Counterpart: Chillingly demonstrates what a few more years of warfare could have turned Sousuke into. Zaied plays the whole Child Soldier thing very straight as opposed to Sousuke's more humorous portrayal, and takes every one of the tropes associated with Sousuke to their worst possible extreme. Sousuke's repressed, Zaied's emotionless. Sousuke's a Combat Pragmatist, Zaied will do anything to win. Sousuke hates Gauron, Zaied seems to be using him as a reference to get into Amalgam. He even serves as Gauron's guide to the local area, directly mimicking Sousuke's role with the Mitrhil team.
 * Evil Former Friend
 * Eyes of Gold: His eyes are pretty much the closest thing to being yellow for all the characters in the series. It's more of a brown-ish yellow, but in certain light, it definitely looks gold.
 * Forgotten Childhood Friend: Not so much "forgotten" as "thought he was dead" but the results are about the same. Unlike many examples, they don't get over it either, or even really address their issues, but spend all three of Zaied's episodes trying to murder one another in the most brutal fashion possible.
 * Gatling Good: Uses one as his Arm Slave's primary weapon.
 * Hired Guns: Appears to have become a mercenary since the destruction of his old guerilla cell. The episode implies that he is seeking Gauron's assistance in applying for Amalgam membership.
 * It's All About Me: Preemptively betrayed his guerilla cell in order to ensure his own survival, and didn't care if his only friend died in the process.
 * Lack of Empathy: If you don't buy into the Ho-Yay interpretation of Zaied, it's pretty easy to see him as an emotionless sociopath. He doesn't bat an eye while committing atrocities or trying to kill his former friend, has no problem working for the man who murdered his comrades, and betrayed his all his friends just so he could "be on the winning side". Not to mention that he's emotionally a corpse, and willingly transports nuclear weapons in exchange for a paycheck.
 * Last Breath Bullet: Subverted. He unexpectedly still had enough life to be able to aim his gun at Sousuke and tell Sousuke that the person who has remaining ammunition is the winner. Sousuke is shown wincing and waiting for the impact, but instead Zaied falls back in his seat and opens fire into the air (whether this was involuntary or deliberate is up for debate).
 * Law of Chromatic Superiority: Pilots a blood-red suit, in comparison to the rest of his troops in their tans and greys. His Arm-Slave, the first Shadow to appear in series, is actually the precursor to Gauron's own similarly coloured Venom suit.
 * More Dakka: And lectures Sousuke on the need to keep additional bullets so that this tactic is workable.
 * Never Found the Body: Apparently, Sousuke didn't even bother really looking for his body before putting a flag marker grave in honor of him. So much for that...
 * Not a Game: All that matters to Zaied is winning.
 * Not Quite Dead: And nearly manages to take Sousuke with him before expiring.
 * The Quiet One
 * Scars Are Forever: The scar under his left eye.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran
 * Sociopathic Soldier: Type III.
 * The Stoic: But unlike Sousuke, who's simply repressing his feelings, Zaied is legitimately dead inside. He has essentially no emotion to speak of.
 * Tempting Fate: He tells Gauron: "I've seen a lot of idiots die because of their stupid ideas of love and friendship. I'll never be like that." after Gauron (justifiably) makes sure that Zaied won't go easy on Sousuke. Next episode: Zaied ends up.
 * Or Zaied just . And he was certainly trying to kill him during their actual fight;.
 * Turncoat: Betrayed his and Sousuke's guerilla cell to Gauron's mercenaries, because he was more concerned with winning than the cause he was fighting for.

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Takuma Kugayama
"Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (JP), Spike Spencer (EN)"



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Tropes associated with Takuma:
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 * Ax Crazy
 * Child Terrorist
 * Dead Little Sister: Dead older sister. And he thinks that Seina is her. He's very screwed up.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: With Tessa.
 * Freak-Out: Whenever he's off his meds.
 * Law of Chromatic Superiority: The Behemoth, like the Venom I and Venom II, and Zaied's Shadow, is of course, red.
 * Meta Casting: Spike Spencer, playing Shinji yet again. This time with more psycho.

Seina
"Voiced by: Mayumi Asano (JP), Kelli Cousins (EN)"



As a young girl without any family, Seina found sanctuary in the A21 juvenile assistance group. The leader was the only father she ever knew and her dedication to the group was unmatched by any other for this simple fact. When the A21 fell into the hands of the mass media, the outlook of this oufit was turned into one of public disapproval ? affecting Seina greatly. Once the great leader Takechi fell to suicide, Seina took it on her own shoulders to continue the name of the group. --

Tropes associated with Seina:

 * Adaptation Expansion: See below.
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: Super Robot Wars W rewrites Seina's fate completely,
 * It is intersting to note that Seina's seishin commands are the exact same as Cagalli's set, except that Seina has "Lock-On" in place of "Zeal". She comes with the "Sword Cut" ability, and is able to make her M6 Bushnell cut down projectiles and counter melee attacks, despite the Bushnell not have a melee weapon at all.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: With Kalinin.
 * Hoist By Her Own Petard: Dies when Takuma takes off in the Behemoth, the mech she forced him into flying. The roof falls on her as he makes his escape.
 * Manipulative Bastard: At least towards Takuma, pretending to be his sister in order to get him to fly the Behemoth.
 * Parental Substitute: And an unpleasant one at that.

Sophia
A 'Whisperer' - the one who the Whispered hear and receive their knowledge of Black Technology from.

Tropes associated with Sophia:

 * Meaningful Name: Sophia is Greek for "wisdom" or "knowledge."
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Sophia/Sofia.

Kyoko Tokiwa
"Voiced by: Ikue Kimura (JP), Monica Rial (EN)"

Kaname's humble best friend who is usually seen carrying around her trusty camera. She is constantly trying to bring Chidori and Sagara together, however impossible it may seem given Sagara's tendency to blow things up at whim. However, in the novel 'Continuing On My Own', she was held hostage by Amalgam's agents as bait to lure Sousuke so they could kill him and find Kaname. Kyoko was seriously injured during the rescue attempt and is currently still recovering in the hospital after being rescued by Wraith.

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Tropes associated with Kyoko:

 * Beautiful All Along: Just look at her in the onsen chapter of the Sigma manga.
 * Camera Fiend
 * Genki Girl
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * The Matchmaker
 * Meganekko
 * Shipper on Deck: Ships Kaname/Sousuke.

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Shinji Kazama
"Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (JP), Greg Ayres (EN)"



Sosuke's Arm Slave loving classmate. He shares the same amount of passion to AS as Sousuke and could be considered Sousuke's best school friend besides Kaname. His father is Shintaro Kazama and a secretary of Narashino's Assault Machine Troop. Shinji's love for AS began when his dad failed to become an AS pilot. As a result of his father's failure, Shinji strives to discover the result of the failure and to fulfill his father's dream of becoming a pilot. There is no indication as to what happened to his mother, but it's assumed that Shintaro is a widower before the series started.

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Tropes associated with Shinji:

 * Cross-Dressing Voices: He is voiced by Mamiko Noto in the anime.
 * Expy: He's a nerdy kid, obsessed with the military the protagonist works for, and strives to be a mecha pilot. Is he related to Kensuke Aida?
 * Otaku: He's a straight-up version of the trope, specifically a military AS fan.

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Issei Tsubaki
"Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (JP), Nomed Kaerf (EN)"

The leader of Jindai High School's karate club, he is very skilled at karate. However, he is extremely nearsighted and can see clearly only when wearing his glasses, which leads to several comical incidents. His sense of pride cannot accept the fact that he was defeated by Sousuke, and he is constantly challenging him to rematches - which Sousuke usually avoids - intentionally or not. He also has a huge crush on Kaname. --

Tropes associated with Tsubaki:

 * Anguished Declaration of Love: He accidentally gives one to Sousuke (instead of Kaname) during a novel side story. Extra irony points in that, for every single one of the other love confessions Sousuke had received, he had either misunderstood them or blown them off. But for this one, Sousuke happened to vaguely understand the implications of it, and ended up getting weirded out by it, acting shocked that Tsubaki would be that kind of person.
 * Arrogant Karate Guy: He's a more comical (and less evil) example; his extreme nearsightedness prevents him from being taken seriously. Think of Mousse and you'll have an approximate dimension.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: An episode of Fumoffu shows how they manage to do this when they're forced to team up. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work considering who they're up against.
 * Battle Aura: Putting on his glasses improves his combat effectiveness so much that he manifests one of these.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: Has the biggest eyebrows out of all the characters in the series, after Gauron anyway.
 * Bishonen
 * Blind Without'Em: Sort of. He's actually reasonably functional without his Nerd Glasses, but his poor vision and his reluctance to wear his glasses does result in regular bouts of mistaken identity comedy (see above).
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Ho Yay / Foe Yay: Some Lampshaded and teased Ho Yay / Foe Yay is found between him and Sousuke, with their constant bickering. In the last episode of Fumoffu, when Tsubaki thinks he's going to die, he even tells Sousuke that confessing to the girl he loves isn't as important to him as having one last fight between them. Matters aren't helped when, in one side story of the novels, Tsubaki makes a mistake and accidentally confesses that the one he loves is Sousuke. Afterwards, Kaname is shown to giggle and discuss who would be the submissive "receiver". She says both of them are.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Mistaken for Gay: In the novel's side story, where he accidentally confesses to Sousuke instead of Kaname (due to his glasses being off), while he was trying to reveal to Mizuki that he won't reciprocate her feelings because of this person he loves. Sousuke is shown to become very disgusted and nervous after receiving this confession, and afterwards, the entire school thinks he has a gay crush on Sousuke.
 * Nerd Glasses
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Rivals Team Up: After an entire episode in Fumoffu dedicated to the Janitor trying to get him to work in harmony with Sousuke... this ends up happening after . They end up working in harmony to fend off the guy's attacks... except even then, they still end up getting overwhelmed.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

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Hayashimizu Atsunobu
"Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Chris Ayres (EN)"



The mysterious president of the Jindai High's Student Council and a third year student. He is highly intelligent and seems to be able to deal with any situation - no matter how difficult. His behavior is always calm and he is never seen angry. He often considers Sousuke's behavior a reasonable response to the kind of situations he finds himself in, much to the frustration of Kaname. He assigns Sousuke to be the head of security in the Student Council. He and Sousuke share a mutual respect.

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Tropes associated with Atsunobu:

 * Bishonen
 * Cloudcuckoolander: He really does consider blowing up lockers that shows sign of tempering....appropriate.
 * Sort've. He understands the logic behind it and, using that interpretation, finds it appropriate.
 * The Comically Serious: On par with Sousuke
 * Cool Old Guy: Really acts like one.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: Well, to a degree.
 * Limited Wardrobe: ALWAYS wear his white school uniform, even in the Beach Episode.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Well, only on Kaname, and nothing ever malevolent.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses
 * The Stoic
 * Stoic Spectacles: Extension of the above two.
 * Student Council President: And is scarily efficient at manipulating Kaname to his bidding.
 * Team Dad: eh...sort of.
 * Younger Than They Look: Looks like he's early 20's, if you ask me.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Anyone who can keep their...cool around Sousuke deserves the title.

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Ren Mikihara
"Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (JP), Nancy Novotny (EN)"

Ren Mikihara is the Secretary of Jindai High's Student Council, friend of Kaname's and. A Yamato Nadeshiko, beautiful and dependable. She seems to have feelings for Atsunobu Hayashimizu, the Student Council's president. However, much about her is still unknown. Kaname prefers to address her as Oren-san. .

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Tropes associated with Ren:
"Kaname: Oh, for the love of.. Uhm, Oren? A girl like you really shouldn't go into those kind of place alone, you hear me?! Ren: Uhm, huh?"
 * Big Fancy House: With a requisite The Thing That Goes Doink.
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Daddy's Girl
 * The Ingenue: She once walked into a red-light destrict and was approached by many people with....not good intention and didn't seem to mind them a lot. Kaname, who was listening to story, was not amused.


 * Katanas Are Just Better: She doesn't use them but certainly thinks so. That probably has to do with her.
 * Keigo: Even to her classmates.
 * Lady of War: She could definitely be this if she wanted to. Polite, graceful, gentle...all she needs to do is learn to how to wield a katana.
 * Nice Girl
 * The Ojou: The novel describes as one.
 * : as revealed in ep 10 of fumoffu.
 * Purple Eyes
 * Satellite Character: Well, started as one.
 * Sexy Secretary
 * Spot of Tea: Whenever she finds opportunity.
 * Team Mom
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Has this dynamic with Kaname.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: A tea serving, katana liking, dependable japanese lady
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Mari Akutsu
"Voiced by: Mayumi Asano (JP), Christine Auten (EN)"



She is a leader of a large gang and older sister to Yoshiki. When three members of her gang were assaulted by Sousuke Sagara after threatening Kaname, Mari vowed revenge. To fulfill this Mari planned to take Kaname hostage to ensure Sousuke would not back down from her directives.

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Tropes associated with Mari:
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Yoshiki Akutsu
"Voiced by: Masumi Hamada (JP), Tiffany Grant (EN)"



A middle school attendee and younger brother of gang leader Mari. While his older sister maintains an aura of fear layered over her kindness, Yoshiki exudes the softer qualities of their childhood. As such, Mari is quite protective of him despite her disregard for the lives of other people.

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Tropes associated with Yoshiki:
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Masatami Hyuuga
"Voiced by: Junko Noda (JP), Kevin Corn (EN)"



A young boy enamored with Kaname. Surprising for his young age, he lives in mansion atop the coastal highland overlooking the numerous ocean activities. He preferrs to be called "Master Masatami" by his 3 servants Washio, Samejima and Gyoudou. He's suffering from a nervous disorder that prevents him from going outside by his psychiatrist's orders. The pathology of his disease state arose from a traumatic incident at age six, long ago when he had dreamed of marrying his cousin one year his senior. --

Tropes associated with Masatami
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 * Clingy Jealous Boy
 * Bishonen: Bordering on Dude Looks Like a Lady.

Senpai Fuwa
"Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (JP), Blake Shepard (EN)"



A former senior classmate of Kaname's when they attended the same junior school together. He and Kaname happened to meet again on the train several years down the road and since it has been almost 3 years since they've seen one another he doesn't hesitate in asking her to go out with him. She agrees to go with him to Fumo Fumo Land upon his persistent text messaging requests.

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Tropes associated with Fuwa:

 * Bishonen
 * Romantic False Lead

-- Go read more about the series and its tropes here.