Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Main Characters

Recette

Capitalism, ho!

The hero of our tale and the character you play as. Recette is a young girl who, up until now, had practically not a care in the world as her father took care of everything. He's run off to go "be a hero", however, leaving her alone... and apparently saddled with the debt of a massive loan he took out from Terme Finance! Now it falls to Recette to pay back the debt, using her house as an item store.

Recette can be a little "air-headed" at times, but she's also very sincere. Despite the hardship placed in front of her, she never seems to lose her sunny disposition.

  • Bird Run: Does this when running through dungeons.
  • Buffy-Speak: Dips into this sometimes.
  • Cat Smile: Has a very minor one on the pause screen.
  • Cheerful Child: Her optimism is pretty much her defining character trait.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Particularly when food can somehow be brought into the picture.
  • The Ditz: Many of Tear's jabs just sail right over her head.
  • Exposition Fairy: Is kind of this for adventurers in the dungeons.
  • Genre Savvy: Recette proves to be something in this line during her argument with Griff at the top of the Obsidian Tower. Roughly paraphrased:

A darkly handsome evil overlord? In this day and age? Are you kidding?

  • Gosh Darn It to Heck: "What the Heckles?" is probably the closest that Recette even comes close to swearing in this game.
  • Hair Decorations: Recette's double hair bubbles.
  • Improbable Age: Recette is maybe 13 years old at oldest and opens up her own business. Justified though due to her Disappeared Dad leaving her no real choice and having Tear to guide her.
  • Meaningful Name: Amongst other meanings, "Recette" in French can means "receipt" or "takings".
  • The Messiah: Recette: reforming villains left and right by sheer force of adorability.
  • Parental Abandonment: Recette's father left home on an adventure and never came back. It's not clear what happened to her mother.
    • In Lapis Ruins, Recette abandons her own father in the dungeon after feeling too embarrassed at her father's terrible state.
    • In the ending theme, Recette gives someone (apparently Louie, since he's the one who frequently reminds her of her father) a sandwich her mother made.
  • The Pollyanna: Recette generally sees the best in people and, while bad news can make her panic, she adjusts very quickly.
  • Shipper on Deck: Subverted: she feels Griff is in love with Tear and actively says she doesn't want that to happen.
  • Sweet Tooth: Though she pales in comparison to Tielle.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: Her Cheerful Child outlook on life occasionally slips into this when she takes bad events in stride with surprising maturity.
  • Young Entrepreneur: Forced to become one.


Tear

Merde... really now...

Recette's straight-laced, long-suffering fairy advisor. She's the one who has been sent to collect on the loan Recette's father has seemingly skipped out on. Seeing that Recette had no way of paying her back immediately, Tear is the one who suggested starting the item shop. There are times she wonders if this was such a good idea though...

Tear is a fairy, not a human. As such, she doesn't really think like a human, and there are times when the behavior of Recette or others absolutely mystifies her. She's cool and analytical, but she isn't cruel; she seems to honestly want to help Recette, in addition to getting the loan repaid.

  • Bare Your Midriff: As clearly visible in her portrait.
  • Becoming the Mask: While she was sent by Terme Finance to help Recette with her debt, this was nothing but a cover for her main duty, which was to gather information in Pensee and report it back to Avall. Once she got the relevant information, she realized no mortal should know about it and focused on taking care of Recette.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Starts out as one, but relaxes her attitude a bit once Recette's gotten a hold of things.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Her most common attitude, acting as a foil to Recette and everyone else.
  • Fairy Companion/Exposition Fairy: To Recette. In fact, Fairy Companions were specifically bred by The Fair Folk; upon being genocided by humanity due to them being.... The Fair Folk. Facing extinction, they recreated themselves into something; anything that humanity would find useful and not kill off. This involved inhuman breeding, training and banishing of anyone who showed aspects of the old ways.
    • Is kind of this for adventurers in the dungeons.
    • Was this to Avall until she stopped reporting back to him.
  • Foreign Cuss Word: "Merde", which Tear likes to say when Recette or others are being particularly frustrating.
  • Gratuitous French: See Foreign Cuss Word above.
  • Insistent Terminology: Tear is a loan shark. She just doesn't like being referred to as one.
  • Loan Shark: Subverted. Tear is essentially a loan shark, but she's committed to helping Recette pay off her father's debts and even gives her the idea of starting an item shop. However, she still won't bat an eye at repossessing Recette's house and kicking her to the street if she can't pay up in time.
  • Meganekko: As clearly visible in her portrait.
  • The Mole: See Becoming the Mask above.
  • Only Sane Woman: Considering how weird everyone else is, this is not difficult to become.


Adventurers

Louie

You guys are pretty new at all of this too, huh?

A newly-arrived adventurer who Recette soon befriends. In a different sort of tale, Louie may well have been our protagonist: brave, earnest, loyal and trustworthy, he's everything you could want from a swordsman. Too bad he's also dead broke and doesn't seem likely to be any less broke anytime soon.

Louie is the first adventurer you get, and he fights with a sword and shield. His repertoire of special moves is a bit limited, but if you can help him out with equipment, he can become quite formidable!

  • Denial of Diagonal Attack: Louie has a wide attack arc to compensate for this.
  • The Ditz: It's no surprise that he and Recette get along well and drive Tear crazy.
  • Expy: Gameplay wise, of Link (2-D).
  • Heroic Wannabe: Wants to sign up for the hardest missions at the pub that no one's taking because the reward would set him for life. Not really bright enough to realize why no one is taking the best-paying missions.
  • Idiot Hero: Emphasis on "idiot".
  • Jack of All Stats: He's right in the middle in terms of speed, range and power, though his shield and wide attack range also make him perfect for beginners.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Louie has the ability to block certain attacks with his shield.
  • Meaningful Name: Louie's name in the original Japanese is "Lui", which can stand in for both "Louis" (as more or less translated in English) or "Lui": "Him", as in, "that generic guy".
  • Perpetual Poverty: Eventually, he resorts to eating plants growing around the town square.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Potentially. He tends to request scarves and other cold-weather items, and his True Card has a piece of his muffler attached.
  • Ship Tease: His true card says he'll be with Recette forever, that said, just say with a straight face that there's no chance he might have a crush on her.
  • Sword Beam: Signature attack for Louie once he's leveled up a bit.


Charme

So. Your treasures, valuables, and assorted shiny bits. I'll be taking them, if you please.

The self-titled "Lady Thief", Charme is a bit of an enigma. She's a self-admitted cutpurse who'll steal from any "berk" who she thinks is an easy mark, but she takes a liking to Recette (after getting her behind handed to her) and seems to be a nice person at heart (if one with a moral framework that can only be described as "loose"). She also seems to have a thing for using her ill-gotten gains to fund trips to the local pub...

Charme is a dagger-wielding thief. In dungeons, she's a bit faster than other characters (and can equip shoes that allow her to go even faster), can sprint by double-tapping a direction, and possesses several unique skills that she's apparently picked up from her life of crime.

  • Bare Your Midriff: As seen in the portrait.
  • Bird Run: Due to dual wielding knives.
  • Can't Hold Her Liquor: Especially compared to Nagi.
    • Playing Drunk: She's actually a lot less drunk than she lets on...
  • Cool Big Sis: Charme is one to Recette during the rare times she isn't drunk.
  • Defeat Equals Friendship/Playable: How Recette first meets Charme. Tear doesn't think that telling a thief who just tried to rob you where your item shop is located is such a great idea though.
  • Difficult but Awesome: It will take a lot of practice, but if mastered, her block can stop nearly all enemy attacks.
  • Doppleganger Attack: One of Charme's abilities is to create a temporary shadow that can attack along-side her mimicking her actions. She can create quite a few at one time.
  • Dual-Wielding: Charme only looks like she dual wields daggers as her sprite has a blade in each hand. But she only equips one weapon and only attacks once. Well, until you make clones of her.
  • Easily Forgiven: By Recette, anyway.
  • Fallen Princess: You hear about this from time to time in the game. One of the more prominent examples is when Nagi and Charme are seen in an event at the bar. Both are talking, and at one point, Nagi notices and asks Charme about her very refined eating manners, hinting that it's something only royalty would do. Charme despite being "drunk" immediately tries to change the subject.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Possibly unintentional on the part of the translators, but her fondness for the word "berk" is this. It's actually short for the cockney rhyming slang "Berkley Hunt", and given Charme's other mannerisms, the character might just know this.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She's spotted in the bar during many evening/night events there.
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me: Charme mentions wanting to do this with Recette. She was drunk and possibly kidding though.
  • Loveable Rogue: Charming, refined manners and good looks? Yes. Can be ruthless at the job, even threatening murder? Double-yes.
  • Never Live It Down: In-Universe, it takes a while for Tear to warm up to Charme, but then again, she did try to rob them before.
  • Redemption Demotion: Charme's hitpoints go down drastically, and she loses the fiery charge and web shooting abilities when she starts working for you. She eventually re-learns the special moves on levelling up though.
  • Redemption Promotion: On the other hand, Charme gains the Mirror Image ability only after she starts working for you.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Unlike all the previous bosses, she will actively circle around, leap away if cornered, and quickly punish you if you miss with an attack. She may also throw down some traps that will restrict your movement in the arena.


Caillou

Awwww maaaan, you gotta be... ahem. Well, yes, that's acceptable.

Caillou is, at first glance, simply a young boy in odd-looking clothes. You call him a "boy" at your own peril; however... despite his age, Caillou is an accomplished magician and is very proud of his achievements. Even though he's young, he speaks and acts in a fashion far beyond his years (usually), and seems to expect to be treated like an adult in kind. He finds it just a little hard to believe that someone like Recette could be nearly as successful as he is though...

Caillou is a magic-user, and thus controls fairly differently than the other adventurers. He's a bit fragile, but his repretoire of special attacks is unmatched, and his magic staves work quite differently from most other weapons too!

  • Beam Spam: His signature attack.
  • Black Mage: He's a Squishy Wizard who has a grand total of one utility spell, with the rest being solely for offense and weak melee combat ability (though said melee attack and its fireball version also recharge his mana).
  • Cute Shotaro Boy: He hates being treated like a child, even though he has shown some childish tendencies.
  • Emergency Weapon: Caillou's standard attack is downright pitiful, but does return some of the damage done as MP.
  • Genius' Sweet Tooth: He's a child wizard who keeps an eye out for promotional mud pies and used to go to church for the candy.
  • Insufferable Genius: Is charitably this, or not-so-charitably just a Jerkass.
  • More Dakka: Caillou can hold down the ability key to spam one of his magic in a cone, though it runs on mana to keep him restricted.
  • Running Gag: Caillou will never believe Recette's claims that she is the owner of the store.

You dare make a fool out of me?! You must think I'm just some idiot kid... You expect me to believe someone as SHORT as you owns this establishment?!


Tielle

That's right, I need to find sis!

Tielle is that rarest of things: an elven child. Roughly Recette's age, she came to Pensee with her older sister, but after a trip to a certain dungeon, has gotten lost... and she may have trouble trusting strangers in her fear.

Tielle is an archer, and thus all of her attacks hit the enemy from range. If she takes time to prepare (by you holding down the attack button), she can even perform some very impressive trick shots... that can cause a lot of damage!

  • The Archer: Has the obligatory Multishot, trick arrows and ability to single handedly bring down a Rain of Arrows.
  • Badass Adorable: Anybody who can do what she can with a bow has to be Badass and she's definitely adorable. One of her abilities is even named "Cuterage"!
  • Beam Spam: Her signature attack.
  • Big Eater: Especially when it comes to sweets.
  • Charged Attack: Tielle's bow is a hold-type charge, with 6 power levels (0-5). At 0, the arrow travels a short distance and then falls to the ground, at 1, it flies in the fired direction indefinitely, at 2 she shoots 3 arrows as such, at 3, 5 arrows, at 4, 5 arrows in front of her and one behind her, and at 5, 5 in front, 3 behind.
    • She gets a 7th level when she enters "Berserk Mode": 5 arrows on both sides with a slight power increase. She also charges a lot faster when berserked, going from 0-6 in less than 3 seconds.
  • Cowardly Boss: The fight with Tielle has the adventurer chasing her down through three different rooms while clearing a path through various crates to reach her, after which Tielle runs off to the next room. The last room is where the adventurer gets to fight her proper. Justified as Tielle is lost in the dungeon at the time and understandably scared.
  • Defeat Equals Friendship/Playable
  • Determinator: Unlike the other character bosses, who generally know when to quit, Tielle forces you to wound her almost fatally before collapsing.
  • Hair Decorations: Tielle's flowers.
  • Redemption Demotion: Tielle loses most of her hitpoints once she decides to work for you, but she at least has the decency to keep all of her special moves and gains another one after about five levels.
  • Sweet Tooth: She apparently subsists on nothing but sweets in huge quantities.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: After several bosses with predictable movement and little health to make up for their weakness, in comes a three-stage battle! Once you survive through her arrow barrage, you get to fight her directly, who boasts a ridiculously great health bar for her size, and has instant reaction that allows her to attack you faster than your attack actually completes its animation. The infinitely-respawning, rock-throwing kobolds throughout the whole battle don't help the situation either.


Elan

Then whatcha standin' around here for?

Elan is a somewhat gruff but good-natured aspiring priest who focuses on training his body as well as his mind. He seems to have an attachment to the Pensee orphanage, and tries his best to make the lives of the children there better. He seems attached to one former orphan in particular...

In combat, Elan is purely a brawler: all he needs are his fists, helped along by gloves. He can land quite a few blows faster than anyone else Recette can hire, but it means getting pretty close to your foes!

  • Gentle Giant: His dialog portrait[1] towers over everyone else, yet he's a priest in training who spends what little money he has on presents for orphans and even wants to run an orphanage himself.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: His Weapon of Choice.
  • Meaningful Name: "Elan" is French for "spirit" or "zeal", and can also mean "momentum" or "running up".
  • Never Live It Down: In-Universe, it's only about the fifth time meeting Elan buying sweets for orphans, discussing his (insane) training regimen, or how he's a priest in training that Tear finally realizes that Elan's not so bad in spite of coming across him running up a bar tab he couldn't pay the first time she met him.
  • Perpetual Poverty: Elan is at one point noted to be even worse off than Louie, and not just with bar tabs... Elan's shopping budget is much, much lower.
  • Shoryuken: A favored move of Elan's.
  • Warrior Monk: In training.


Nagi

Oh, don't worry. My sense of direction is excellent.

Nagi is a young woman from a country located far to the east of Pensee. Exactly how she ended up so far from home is a bit of a mystery, even to her, although many suspect it has something to do with her sense of direction... either way, she's still a welcome sight in Pensee due to her calm, polite demeanor and willingness to help others.

Nagi uses spears in combat. This gives her the greatest reach of all the adventurers, but also means the arc of her attack is the narrowest by far. Still, she has several unique abilities, and can wear all but the heaviest of armors.

Nagi: Oh, don't worry. My sense of direction is excellent. I think I can find your shop with no problems at all.

      • She later admits she was wrong in that regard.
    • Recette and Tear actually express shock when Nagi somehow manages to find the store.
    • Later in the bar, Recette and Tear notice how Nagi is wearing clothes that are very 'eastern' (she is wearing a kimono). It dawns upon them that she might actually be much more 'lost' than they first guessed...

Recette: {Jokingly} You didn't get so lost that you ended up here, right?
Tear: Oh, do not be cruel. Even Nagi could not manage that.
Nagi: {After a long pause} Ah, well...

    • Further hinted at in a different cutscene: Nagi mentions she's not much good at using a knife and fork yet. Maybe she's used to chopsticks?


Griff

... How happily, moronically innocent young humans are.


Arma

"Missarma". Negative. Arma.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: In the Lapis Ruins storyline by Avall.
  • Dungeon Master: She is the administrator of the entire region and all dungeons in it.
  • Emotionless Girl
  • Golem
  • Meaningful Name: Arma's name complements another fellow Golem and final boss of the story mode Geddon. It also means "weapon" in several languages.
  • More Dakka: Some of Arma's equipment allows her to spam bullets in a large range as her standard attack.
  • Purposefully Overpowered: Arma's various weapons give her a wide range of attack options with impressive stats, and several even recreate the special attacks of other adventurers while being based on a quickly-recharging ammo bar with no significant nerf. In fact, her only real drawback is she joins you last, yet starts at level 1. On the other hand, she's your reward for clearing every adventuring challenge save the Brutal Bonus Level, so this was probably intentional.
  • Robot Girl: A magical one, specifically a golem.
  • This Is a Drill: One of her weapons.
  • Wave Motion Gun: Arma's special attack. You can only fire it once, and it consumes all your SP; you need to completely refill your SP bar to fire again.


Other Characters

Guild Master

Alright, little lady! Give 'em your all!

The master of the Merchant's Guild, and one of Recette's most important allies. He oversees the activities of all the merchants in the city, and handles wholesaling of items to anyone registered with the Guild. Staying on his good side is probably a wise idea, but he's naturally rather protective of Recette in any case. He even keeps the guild open late at night, although that might be in part to avoid going home...


Alouette

This confirms it! You are indeed worthy of being my rival!

The self-proclaimed rival to Recette. Alouette is the wealthy daughter of the head of the retail chain Big Bash. She has a taste for the finer things in life and will not hesitate to remind Recette of this, addressing her as a plebian and peasant.

Although she calls Recette her rival, Alouette appears to have little grasp around the concept of rivalry and will often stop by to aid Recette's store with acts of charity.

  • Hostile Show Takeover: Attempted to do so when the main storyline finishes, but she was only able to describe the post-game content.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Alouette does her best twelve year old imitation of this at every opportunity.
  • Rich Bitch: Players will love her precisely for this reason. You can present ridiculously high prices for already ridiculously pricey items, and she is always ready to pay for it.
    • She's also the only customer who will gravitate towards treasures without explicitly asking for them.
  • The Rival: Appeared to be this to Recette in their initial encounter. However, there are no game mechanics that actually have her compete against Recette, and in fact, she will be your favorite customer as she buys at some of the highest percentages. The subversion is intentional in the end since what Alouette really wants is a friend, not a rival.
  • Tsundere: To Recette, Type A. She is nothing but tsundere in the Lapis Ruins storyline.


Prime

Shyeah, yeah, what's up?

The self-proclaimed guardian to Alouette. She has quite the history with Alouette's family and owes a great deal of gratitude to Alouette's father. As acting guardian, she often acts as the voice of reason to her young charge.

While she, like Tear, is a fairy, she seems to have a better grasp on human concepts. In particular, she has a fondness for biting sarcasm which she delights in using at every opportunity.

  • Deadpan Snarker: Even moreso than Tear, and she's rather blunt about it too.
  • Fairy Companion/Exposition Fairy: For Alouette. Subverted in that she's not contracted to Alouette, and is in fact Free. However, she helps Alouette out due to respect to her father, who freed her. Also, it's probably not a good idea to advertise that she's not Bound.
  • Only Sane Man: For Alouette.


Euria

Ain't there some rich, foolish adventurer out there with more money than good sense?

A conniving young scam artist with an eye on the world's riches, Euria just set up shop in Pensee. She has a reputation for cleaning out the wallets of countless rich clueless marks and won't accept anything less. She has set her sights on our heroine Recette who has recently come into quite a bit of money.

Despite her underhanded nature, rare treasures lie buried among her many trinkets, but only if Euria is feeling particularly generous.

  • Con Man: Especially when she comes into your shop to sell stuff. She just loves to try and sell you stuff at over 300% the base price, and that's only because you usually don't have enough money to fulfill her standard 500% demand.
  • Honest John's Dealership


Avall

The head of Terme Finance, and the man Recette owes her debt to.

  • Big Bad: Technically this, since he's the one forcing Recette to pay a ridiculously huge sum in a short amount of time. He plays this straight in the Lapis Ruins storyline in which his Evil Plan is to control the power of the dungeons. The debt was also a lie to give Tear an opening to gather information about the dungeons.
  • Xanatos Gambit: If Recette fails to pay her debt, he gets a new shop to expand his business with. If she does succeed in paying it off, than, through Tear's reports, he'll have all the information he needs to take control of the world's dungeons, and by extension, the world.

Back to Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

  1. ↑ All of which appear to be scaled correctly against each other, save fairies, who seem to get sized up.
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