20th Century Boys/Characters

Kenji Endou

 * Action Survivor
 * Adorkable
 * Anti Hero: Starts out as Type 1, a former rock guitarist now living with his mother and working at a convenience store.
 * Badass Pacifist: He managed to
 * Cool Shades
 * Determinator: His main trait, even noted as such in Friend's virtual reality game.
 * The Hero
 * Messianic Archetype:
 * Nice Hat: Eventually gives it to Kanna as a memento.
 * Messianic Archetype:
 * Nice Hat: Eventually gives it to Kanna as a memento.

Otcho (Chouji Ochiai)

 * The Atoner: See Parental Neglect below.
 * Badass
 * Badass Beard: After the timeskip.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Badass Nickname: "Shogun"
 * Badass Grandpa: After the timeskip.
 * The Berserker: In Friend's virtual reality game, and occasionally in real life.
 * The Lancer: Both in his childhood and as an adult in the La Résistance.
 * Parental Neglect: Since he didn't spend much time with his family, he blames himself for his son's death.
 * Salaryman: Originally was one, but quit after he realized the effect his workaholism had on his family.
 * Simple Staff: He's skilled with a bo, but usually uses a pipe instead of a wooden one.
 * Training From Hell

Yukiji Setoguchi

 * Closer to Earth: A subversion when younger, being a rather fiery Cute Bruiser, but sort of grows into the role post-timeskip.
 * Cool Bike
 * Cool Old Lady: after the timeskip.
 * Cute Bruiser: as a child.
 * Grandma What Massive Hotness You Have: Ages very well post timeskip.
 * Heir to The Dojo
 * Parental Substitute: For Kanna.
 * Old Maid

Yoshitsune (Minamoto)

 * Heroic Self Deprecation: At first it's just regular Self Deprecation but as time goes by
 * Salaryman
 * Salaryman
 * Salaryman
 * Salaryman

Maruo

 * Big Eater
 * Eyes Often Shut: More so as a kid.
 * Flashback Echo: He seems to develop post-traumatic stress disorder after the Bloody New Year's Eve.
 * : Comes very, very close to doing this

Mon-chan (Masaki Shimon)

 * : Until Bloody New Years when he reveals  to Yukiji.
 * : Until Bloody New Years when he reveals  to Yukiji.

Yamane

 * Creepy Child: When he was a kid, of course.

Keroyon

 * Animal Motifs: With the frog, both in looks and name ("kero" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a frog's croak)
 * Badass Normal: Lacks the kind of training that Otcho has, but
 * Gonk: Sort of. Keroyon isn't hideous, but he has a very froglike visage.
 * Refusal of the Call: Ignores Kenji's request to stop Friend, and terribly regrets it.

Donkey (Saburou Kido)

 * Agent Scully: Even as a child he firmly believed in science over superstition.
 * : What ultimately leads to his death is
 * The Pig Pen
 * Posthumous Character: Him dying starts the story.
 * Massive Numbered Siblings
 * Never Suicide / Starts With a Suicide: His, to be precise.

Sadakiyo (Kiyoshi Sada)

 * The Faceless: He always wears a mask

Yanbo and Manbo

 * Fat Bastard -> Bishonen -> I Was Quite a Looker: Hilariously, they go from portly in childhood, to slim in attractive in adult-hood, back to fat and ugly when they become elderly.
 * Jerkass
 * Single Minded Twins: Up until they grew very old, they acted entirely as one.
 * Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: They don't even realize they were bullies.
 * Wrestler in All of Us
 * Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: They don't even realize they were bullies.
 * Wrestler in All of Us

Kanna Endou

 * Action Girl: Sort of.
 * A Father To Her Men
 * Almighty Janitor: waitress in a crappy restaurant who breaks up mob gunfights.
 * Cunning Linguist: Dealing with various mafias has given her a command of Thai and Chinese.
 * Early Bird Cameo:
 * Guile Hero
 * Heroic BSOD: Twice. First when  and again when
 * Like Uncle Like Niece
 * Messianic Archetype: Unites enemies, has unique abilities . In a subversion
 * Nice Hat: She got her cap from Kenji as a memento.
 * Parental Abandonment
 * Plucky Girl
 * Rebel Leader: In the final arc.
 * Tagalong Kid: On the Bloody New Year's Eve
 * Rebel Leader: In the final arc.
 * Tagalong Kid: On the Bloody New Year's Eve

'God/Kami-sama' ()

 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: A homeless man with psychic powers and obsessed with bowling. He eventually uses his precognitive abilities on the stock market to become one of the richest men in Japan.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Crazy Homeless People
 * Insistent Terminology: "Don't call me God."
 * Mad Oracle: He loves to use bowling metaphors left and right but most characters acknowledge his intelligence and insight. Being an actual psychic helps too.
 * Though he himself casts some doubt on his powers, attributing them instead to the Power of Trust. It is left ambiguous.
 * Rags to Riches: Goes from homeless man (with psychic powers) to self-made millionaire and the first Japanese person to go into space.
 * Serious Business: takes bowling very seriously.
 * Wisdom From the Gutter

Shouhei Chouno

 * Adorkable
 * Butt Monkey
 * By the Book Cop: Was one until
 * Early Bird Cameo: An off-screen example, but he's the young grandson who's birthday party Chou-san is supposed to attend.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: "Chou," pretty much the equivalent of Butterfly.
 * Ensign Newbie: A detective, but incredibly inexperienced and living in his grandfather's shadow.
 * Ship Tease: With Kanna.

Chou-san

 * Great Detective: So great that he
 * Retirony
 * He Knows Too Much
 * Married to The Job
 * Memetic Badass: Invoked among the police force.

Kiriko

 * The Atoner:
 * Chekhov MIA
 * Expy: Possibly of
 * Missing Mom: Left Kanna to Kenji shortly after she was born

Kyoko Koizumi

 * Break the Cutie: Her experience at Friend Land. Slightly subverted in that, traumatic as that was, she seemingly remains as adjusted as ever after her ordeal.
 * Butt Monkey: Provides most of the comic relief in the seriously dark series.
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Well, not exactly a Badass, but she did some very important things in the series.
 * The Ditz
 * The Gift: For... bowling, which she doesn't really like and mostly just gets her pestered by an old man.
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Intergenerational Friendship: With
 * She also has one with Yoshitsune,
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Her name itself isn't generally mistaken, but she's often annoyed by people claiming the "kyo" in her name means "misfortune/disaster" instead of "echo/reverberation".
 * Resigned to The Call

Father Nitani

 * The Atoner
 * Badass Preacher
 * Tattooed Crook: Back when he was a criminal.
 * Turbulent Priest

Father Luciano

 * The Atoner
 * Badass Preacher
 * Tattooed Crook
 * Turbulent Priest

Shikishima

 * For Science: One of the primary reasons for

Haru Namio

 * Chekhov's Gunman: Appears early on as a successful enka singer who works with Friend,
 * Stepford Smiler:

Friend

 * The Antichrist
 * Big Bad
 * Big Bad Friend
 * The Chessmaster
 * Cool Mask: No, the fact that it's a cartoon monkey mask does nothing to stifle it. Probably because it's really a Ninja Hattori-Kun mask.
 * Dark Messiah: "Our Friend! Our Friend!"
 * Disproportionate Retribution
 * Evil Counterpart: He lives in the past, unlike Kenji.
 * Hidden Villain
 * Luke I Am Your Father:
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Omnicidal Maniac
 * Plaguemaster: His main method of mass-killing,
 * Psychopathic Manchild
 * The Sociopath:
 * Villain With Good Publicity: And HOW! He managed to become World President and got every leader in the world eating out of his hands. Willingly.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: And HOW! He managed to become World President and got every leader in the world eating out of his hands. Willingly.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: And HOW! He managed to become World President and got every leader in the world eating out of his hands. Willingly.

Police Officer Assassin

 * Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He has a mole on his face.
 * Eyes Always Shut
 * Good Eyes Evil Eyes: He had incredibly narrow eyes.
 * The Mole

Prisoner #13 (Masao Tamura)

 * Ax Crazy
 * Bald of Evil
 * Career Killers: Hitman for the Friend group, though he's in it for loyalty rather than money.
 * Psycho for Hire
 * Psycho for Hire

Manjoume

 * Beard of Evil
 * The Dragon
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Villain With Good Publicity
 * Villain With Good Publicity
 * Villain With Good Publicity
 * Villain With Good Publicity
 * Villain With Good Publicity

Takusugi

 * Bifauxnen: At one point, two characters confuse her for a man.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Lady Macbeth: Tries to be one of these to after, but he doesn't show much interest.
 * Slasher Smile
 * Stepford Smiler: When acting as a "Dream Navigator".
 * Stepford Smiler: When acting as a "Dream Navigator".

Moroboshi's killer

 * Blonde Guys Are Evil
 * Card Carrying Villain: He is very insistent that's he's evil and even compares himself to many famous anime villains.
 * Career Killers
 * No Name Given
 * Smug Snake