Sakana/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


WARNING! Spoilers are unmarked. Read at your own risk.

The Main Four

  • Animal Motifs:
    • Jiro: Shark
    • Taro: Crab
    • Yuudai: Eel
    • Taisei: Octopus
  • Face of a Thug: They can come off as far creepier than they actually are. Their exaggerated expressions don't help in the slightest.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: While the four already knew each other to some extent, one of the main plot points is the four of them becoming this.

Jiro Sakana

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Not as much as Taro, but the guy can turn terrifying if pushed too far. Made more impressive in that he doesn't even need to get violent.
  • Book Dumb: As a teen, he had some difficulty getting good grades, to the point of being surprised when he did extremely well in one test. He got better as he grew up, however.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: He has been harboring a crush on "Cashier Girl" for two years, yet he couldn't even ask her name until late in the story, and that was thanks to Taro and Taisei's help.
  • Determinator: Now matter how much troubles he goes through, he never gives up. This trait is what makes him an idol in Michio and Kento's eyes.
  • Grew a Spine: He's determined to do this, and it's working so far.
  • Nice Guy: Despite his social anxiety, he's very kind, compassionate, forgiving and empathetic.
  • The Social Expert: Ironically enough, he proves to be this regarding other people's problems, acting as a sort-of counselor.
  • Tranquil Fury: When pissed off, and it's terrifying. Even more remarkable is that, unlike his brother, he doesn't use physical violence (nor does he need to).

Taro Sakana

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Despite first impressions, Taro is a very nice guy. Mess with him or the people he loves, however, and you'll be sleeping with the fishes.
  • Fetish: Mad confirms he's fond of angry sex and big butts.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite being one of the smallest characters in the series, he's also one of the strongest.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Cousin rivalry, actually, but he has a nasty one with Genji.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: After getting a job in his uncle's fish stall, he softened up until becoming the Nice Guy we see in the present, although he still has his trademark temper.

Yuudai Tanaka

  • Because You Were Nice to Me: He tends to become less ornery once he's sure someone shows genuine kindness to him, as seen with Taisei, Shigeru, Taro and even Jiro.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Let's see: sick mom, harsh relationship with his dad, growing up poor, being subjected to an horrendous abusive relationship for years... Yep, you get the idea.
  • Dirty Coward: Not as reprehensible as other examples, but he has his moments, especially at the start.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: In a different way than Taisei. He thinks everyone is out for his head, when in reality most of them are actually concerned and do care about him.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: To a freaking T. He's grouchy, rude, distrustful, and short-tempered; but he really does care about others, even if he's reluctant to admit it. He combines this trope with Jerkass Facade, as he uses his Jerkass behavior as a defensive mechanism, dropping it when he's comfortable enough.
  • Nervous Wreck: As he states at one point, everything makes him uncomfortable.
  • Straight Gay: Hobbies aside, he doesn't show any stereotypical traits.
  • Tsundere: Very much so. He tends to be tsun around his coworkers, and very dere around his cat. To say nothing about his huge crush on Taisei...

Taisei Tachibana

  • The Ace: Jiro mentions that he's just good at stuff, and it shows.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Don't let his childlish, goofy demeanor fool you, he's a very intelligent and successful assistant director in a big company.
  • The Cutie: Hard to believe a tall man like him can pull this off without a hitch.
  • The Fashionista: He's very interested in fashion, and loves to go shopping.
  • Foil: To Yuudai's ex Arata. While they have some common traits, they couldn't be more different.
  • Gentle Giant: He's by far the tallest member of the cast, as well as the kindest.
  • Man Child: He has the energy and enthusiasm of a ten-year-old, and tends to like things most people find "juvenile".
  • Morality Pet: To Yuudai. His presence motivates Yuudai to actively avoid acting like a jerk to not hurt his feelings, as well as act nicely to others to impress him.
  • Stepford Smiler: Implied, as he's shown to have some insecurities behind his cheerful demeanor.

Secondary Characters

Shigeru Watanabe

  • The Ace: About as close as one can come in this comic. Cool-headed, responsible, very attractive, and capable to lift 200kg of tuna (according to Taro, anyway).
  • The Caretaker: To Yuudai once the "bottle incident" happened. He also takes this role to Jan, and frequently acts as the cast's personal therapist.
  • Face of a Thug: Not exactly "thug", but he can come across as off-putting at first glance.
  • Fingore: He lost two of his fingers due to an accident with a bandsaw.
  • The Idiot From Osaka: Hell no. He's from Osaka, and has the Southern accent to match, but he's the one with the most common sense in the cast.
  • The Stoic: Incredibly calm and composed, showing either friendly sarcasm or well-meaning exasperation as his default expressions.

Jan Pieter Krieger

  • Because You Were Nice to Me: When he got wrongfully sent to Japan, Shigeru pretty much gave him a home, a job, and some well-needed advice and language lessons to fit in. As such, he often latches onto him.
  • Fiery Redhead: Downplayed, as he's cheerful and enthusiastic rather than outright fiery.
  • Gratuitous German: Justified, given he's a german foreigner trying to fit in another country.
  • Stepford Smiler: Mad confirms he's quite homesick, and considering the struggles he faces in fitting in another country (that he wasn't supposed to go in the first place), this isn't unwarranted.
  • Wingdinglish: Which serves as a reminder the rest of the cast speaks japanese.

Ren Sakana

  • Cool Uncle: He treats his nephews like his favourite sons, and even gives them the afternoon off so Jiro can go on a date with Taro checking on him.
  • Nice Guy: A caring, compassionate father figure. It's baffling someone like him is the father of Genji.
  • Parental Favoritism: He clearly has a better relationship with his nephews than with his own son. Hard to blame him for this, though, considering it's Genji.
  • Parental Substitute: To the brothers ever since their parents' tragic deaths. Yuudai also sees him this way (secretly, of course).

Genji Sakana

  • Nervous Wreck: A much meaner version than Jiro, but Genji is constantly on edge, mostly because of Ryoji.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks of himself as a tough gangster, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
  • Tsundere: Mad referred to him as such, even doing a "Tsundere Battle" with fellow tsundere Yuudai in extra material.
  • The Unfavourite: His father clearly has a better relationship with his cousins than with him, although most of it is his own fault.

"Cashier Girl" (Chie Yamamoto)

  • Cute and Psycho: She's usually a very nice lady, but is capable of becoming creepy in seconds. More obvious as a kid.
  • Obliviously Evil: As a kid, she did not seem to understand that bullying her crush Jiro was something terrible. She only started to realize it when Jiro left and got out of juvenile detention, and tries desperately to make up for what she did in the present.
  • Plucky Girl: If one of her jobs is training huge dogs, she qualifies as this by default.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Downplayed. She's usually a perky, caring girl, but every time she suspects Jiro's in danger, she quickly intervenes in his defense.

"Angry Lady" (Moriko "Mori" Yamamoto)

  • Does Not Like Men: As a result of her godawful breakup, the mere mention of men makes her cringe. She even shows disgust at her sister and Sango's guy talking, and only tolerates her sister's relationship with Jiro for her sake, and even then she's distrustful of him (which puts her in conflict with Taro).
  • Innocent Flower Girl: Subverted. While she works as a florist, she's short-tempered and can hold a hell of a grudge.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She tends to be cold and rude with others, but like Yuudai, this is a result of personal problems. She cares a lot about her loved ones, especially her sister, to the point of reluctantly swallowing her dislike for guys for her sake.
  • Tsunshun: She's rude and distrustful of others, but it's clear she's suffering depression as a result of a particularly awful breakup.
  • Uncanny Valley Makeup: Her excessive makeup can come across as this, and is definitely the case with Chie and Sango. This is most certainly intentional, as it symbolizes her turn into Broken Bird-dom.
  • Woman Scorned: She had a nasty fight with a cheating ex-fiance, causing her to live with her sister Chie, seemingly this being the cause of her anger issues.

Sango Iijima

  • Bishonen: Tends to imagine the male characters as this.
  • Shipper on Deck: She's more than happy to support Chie's relationship with Jiro, in contrast to Mori.

Genkei Tachibana

  • Brutal Honesty: He openly says what he has in mind, which unexpectedly works when dealing with Yuudai's neuroses.
  • Emotionless Boy: Seems like one, but later subverted. He does have emotions, he just sucks at expressing them, at least physically.
  • Happily Married: With his equally quiet wife Kaede, with whom he has a daughter.
  • Shipper on Deck: From the moment he heard of him, he vehemently ships his brother Taisei with Yuudai. When meeting him personally, he eagerly gets him to join the family for dinner and tries to ease his insecurities by assuring him of his brother's feelings and sharing his experiences with his wife Kaede.

Hideo Mura

  • Troll: He takes a kick in messing with Yuudai.

Michio and Kento Kusagawa

  • Beauty Mark: The only way to differentiate them, with Michio having one and Kento having two.

Jiro and Taro's Parents

  • Like Father, Like Son: Taro is very similar to his father, especially as a child, while Jiro took after his mother.

Antagonists

Ryoji Nishimura

  • Blackmail: A master in this. He does this to Genji to persuade him into going along with his plan of taking Ren's stall for his own shady businesses.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Apart from some moments of being Laughably Evil, he's still a serious threat. The fact he outright threatens Genji should be a dead giveaway.

Endo and Billy

  • The Bully: To Genji. Billy in particular likes to mess with him and use him as a punching bag.
  • Obviously Evil: Unlike their boss, they make no attempts at pretending to be good people.
  • Troll: Billy constantly messes with Genji with sadistic glee.

Arata Tasaki

  • Dirty Coward: Implied. He's perfectly happy to bully those he thinks are weaker than him (like Jiro and especially Yuudai), but if someone threatening approaches him (like Chie), he's quick to chicken out (not that he'll admit this).
  • Exotic Eye Designs: His pupils are shaped like diamonds. A striking case, considering no other character has those. This probably hints at his creepiness.
  • Jerkass: The worst one in the entire comic.
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