Chirin no Suzu/Characters

Characters from Chirin no Suzu include:

Chirin

Played by: Barbara Goodson (as a child, English), Gregg Berger (English; as an adult), Akira Kamiya (Ram, Japanese)

I will be stronger than a wolf!

The most pivotal character in the story, whose decisions changed the fate of upbringing. Chirin was born in a pasture where he lived happily with his family. That is, until a certain black wolf came down to eat everyone. Now he wants revenge....

And Then Chirin Was An Evil Ram
Badass:
- Badass Abnormal: He was abnormally strong, even by the standards of a normal ram.
- Badass Adorable: During the training montage in the anime adaptation.
- Heartbroken Badass: After killing Woe
- One-Man Army: In the final half of the story where he deals with the German Shepherds.
- Took a Level in Badass: Between the three years, obviously.
Being Evil Sucks: Chirin learns just a little too late the ultimate cruelty of the nature, after having left the pasture, leaving his surviving flock worried, horribly transformed after training with Woe, and ultimately killing him when he could have just accepted him before killing him as a father figure. Now, because of his selfish actions, he's going to be alone, freezing in his own self-loathing. Forever.
Berserk Button: Killing someone he loves. Woe found that out the hard way in the end.
Break the Badass: His mourning speech to Woe, as the book puts it.
Break The Cutie
Byronic Hero
Despair Event Horizon: Woe's death. The mountain is all he has left.
Disappeared Dad: His father only appears physically in the 1977 Lyrica comic adaptation, plus the kamishibai version and a flash version by Storygate Picturebooks in 2003.
Fallen Hero
Freudian Excuse: His upbringing as a domesticated sheep was peaceful, but after Woe eats his mom, he absolutely loses it.
He Who Fights Monsters
Protagonist Journey to Villain
Red Eyes, Take Warning: After turning to the Dark Side, his eyes become jaundiced.
Redemption Equals Death: Inverted, Chirin redeems himself by killing Woe, but his victory is a pyrrhic one as he decides not to go back to being a sheep. It is also implied that he dies of hypothermia.
Revenge: his MO.
The Starscream: He tries to be this to Woe before accepting him as his father figure.
To Be Lawful or Good: To be a predator or prey is more like it.
Tragic Hero: His entire flock is eaten alive and he tries to avenge them by training under Woe, but thanks to an implied case of Stockholm Syndrome, he grows to love Woe, but eventually kills him during the attack on the sheep farm. Woe manages to posthumously twist the knife even further by ensuring that Chirin's physical appearance and altered personality would ensure that no sheep farm would ever accept him.

Woe

Voiced by: Bill Capazzi (English dub)

Cry, cry as much as you wish. Someday that resentment will become your fangs.

The main antagonist who is responsible for the deaths of Chirin's mother, father and his entire flock.

0% Approval Rating: Implied by Chirin's mother and the rest of the flock for understandable reasons.
A God Am I: Inverted, he believes himself to be incarnate of Hell and the harshness of nature. No wonder he's called the Wolf King in the English dub.
Abusive Dad: Inverted: He actually cares for Chirin while the abusive parts come from his training of the lamb.
Adaptational Jerkass: In the book, he immediately agrees to train Chirin. In the anime, Woe wants nothing to do with the lamb until the snake and the bird incident.
Affably Evil: He eats because he's hungry and he's kind enough to spare a bear in the anime.
Awesome McCoolname: "The Wolf King". Even so, he has no subjects.
Badass: In the anime, we get a glimpse of Woe's surprisingly awesome fighting skills.
- Badass Grandpa: By this point in time, he's an old wolf.
- One-Man Army: Was able to kill and eat Chirin's flock.
The Bad Guy Wins: A posthumous variation. Chirin succeeds in avenging his mother by killing him, but it is Woe who gets the last laugh in the end by securing Chirin's final fate. He practically turned the lamb into a monstruous beast and Chirin spent his adult years looking up to him as a father figure. Because of this, the other sheep have grown to fear Chirin just as much as they did Woe and Chirin himself is left taking his place as the lone wolf of the mountains.
Big Bad: The definitive one for all versions of the story.
Blue and Orange Morality: Woe may be a savage wolf, but that doesn't mean he has no standards or personal principles. Woe's greatest trait is his understanding of the Laws of Nature in the anime version.
The Corrupter: To Chirin.
Dark and Troubled Past: Although his life prior to the events of Chirin no Suzu have yet to be given too much detail (including his signature scar), what we do know from the Storygate Picturebooks adaptation is that he had been living alone since he was born.
Dark Is Evil: He has black fur.
Et Tu, Brute?: His death at the horns of Chirin qualifies as such, as Woe certainly did not expect his own apprentice to betray him.
Everyone Calls Him The Wolf King: In the English dub anyway.
Nothing Is Scarier: Not once in any version of the story do we ever see him consuming his victims. This is a children's book after all...
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: All he wanted for one certain night was a large feast, but unfortunately, the sole survivor of his attack did not take too kindly to this and the little lamb set out on a path that would lead him to the dark side...

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